Chapter Two: The Difference Between a Kettle And a Brain (Pt.12)

Early in the next morning, I put a washbasin in front and began to wash, I almost cried.

"I never knew that washbasin is such an important thing!"

And there is even soap in the bathroom. I had only heard of this precious thing, and now I get a chance to use it, but it's taking me a long time. This thing is really difficult to hold. Sanson laughed when he saw me like this, but his face looked a little anxious. When he was walking to have breakfast, he was absently looking around.

We woke up early, so there are no other guests in the dining hall yet. Jusina actually pretended that she didn't see us when we came in, continued cleaning the tables.

"Hey, Jusina, obtuse girls like you of course would be dumped by men."

"You want to make trouble in an early morning?"

Jusina is getting angry again. I blithely said:

"I want to order, bread and soup, any kind will do."

Karl and Sanson also ordered theirs. Sanson is looking anxiously at the entrance, but Karl didn't seem to notice Sanson' face. He looked around, found that there is a large piece of paper on another table, he picked it up and read.

"What's that?"

"It's a magazine, Nedval."

"Magazine?"

"This is a weekly magazine, documenting what is happening in this city every week. It can be used to deliver messages to the people of the city."

"Isn't it something like public reports by our thane?"

"No, this is something issued by the citizen. It records someone's cow missing, whose birthday is on this Tuesday, or news from the southern war with Zypern, etc. Quite interesting, this article tells 'Why Zypern has a Strong Navy?' opinions!"

"Well, even people like me know the reason why. Because they got a lot of desert, so they can only develop on the ocean, right?"

My answer gives Karl a very satisfied face.

"Brilliant! Nedval. In short, they collect information from travelers, and post on here. Selling this magazine can also make money. "

"Oh, you mean someone will pay for this? Ha! You can just ask people for the information, can't you?"

"The price will not be very high. And this city is much larger than our hometown, it is difficult to spread all the news. Look! Take a look at this ad. Message from The Temple of Gran Elver on the Hertz Mountains. Temple of Gran Elver offers a winter religious research,  interested members can apply for trainee positions during Winter, participate in the researches about Gran Elver. The Autumn harvest has ended, so temples won't be busy in farm works, of course, they can then do catechisms."


"Oh, that kind of message, can't they just announce...... it?"

"Because this is a huge city, people who want to deliver a message can pay the magazine money, and then ask it to publish the message. Plus this is not just a fief, but a city, if institutions like the municipal government want to announce something to the public, they also give money to the magazines and ask them to publish. So the retail price can't be too expensive. "

"But, no matter what, paper is very very expensive isn't it?"

"Well, maybe the magazines signed contracts with the shrines, paper are provided by the shrines here. And in return shrines and temples can publish news in cheap prices."

Karl smiled. I shook my head and said:

"Amazing. If it's not this trip, I might not get to know magazines such things until I die."

Jusina who was cleaning another table chuckled after she heard what I said. Hum, so what, I am very ignorant. If you were born and grew up in a place like Fief Haltant, what would you become? Karl said:

"Travel often brings us new knowledge. This is a pleasant gift of trips. "

"Right. Ah! That we can sell messages to the magazine too."

"Huh?"

"'The Ninth Amurtaat Crusade is defeated.' How about that?"

"This is a good idea. But we should report to the King first. Things should be sequenced. So we should still report to the King first."

Then another voice came.

"You said the king's dragon is defeated?"

We focused into the chat so much that we didn't notice Iruril walked over. Iruril sat down at our table and asked:

"Who defeated the king's dragon?"

Who? Well, why didn't she ask 'What"? Why she asked 'Who'? This seems a odd way to ask. Karl replied:

"What a fresh morning! Miss Sereniel, since you have heard our conversation, you must know we have to report to the King His Majesty first."


"He is not my king."

Iruril pointed out Karl's mistake gently. Karl smiled sorrily and said:

"My apologies, Miss Sereniel,. Cathselprime is defeated by Amurtaat."

"Is Cathselprime the white dragon of Hustheil?"

"Oh, you are very clear about that."

Iruril looks very cautious.

"Speaking of Amurtaat...... The Watcher of Sunset, the Black Window of Helkanes, Amurtaat is also a name of this Black Dragon. Did it wake?"

Huh? What does it mean? Did it wake? Did it sleep before? But Karl replied blandly:

"Yes, it woke fifty years ago."

"Really?"

Strange. This elf lady didn't know get to know of this news for 50 years? I wanted to question her, but then Jusina carried the breakfast over. Jusina saw Iruril on the same table with us, asked:

"What do you want for breakfast?"

"Bread and milk please."

Jusina immediately carried the food over. Simple orders really result in fast service. I don't know whether elves chat when they are eating, so I am not talking. Sanson is worshiping Iruril with his admirers eyes while she is eating. Do you really want to watch people eating? He can actually be able to focus on watching someone eating! I kicked Sanson's feet under the table to warn him, he hurried began to eat his own breakfast. But pretty soon, he held his spoon motionless and stared at Iruril again, he didn't notice even the soup is flowing out of the spoon and making the table wet. God! I can't take this anymore. Iruril noticed Sanson's action, she was surprised and say:

"Mr. Sanson, the soup is all going to the table!"

"Ah? Oh, I'm sorry!"

Sorry for what? I'm really going crazy. Iruril is also surprised and looked at Sanson. Sanson is sticking his  face on the plate, eating his stuff hastily.


Jusina's brother, that Breadie, is really good at cooking. I finished my soup, could not help but wanted to lick the soup plate, I spent a lot of efforts to control myself. If it's not Jusina watching me like watching a clown, maybe I would really do that. After we finished our breakfast, Jusina asked what drinks do we want. Everyone ordered juice, only Karl ordered coffee. What the heck is Coffee? After a while, Jusina brought over a cup of black and hot smoking thing. Because it's in a cup, it looks something like tea.

Karl drank the coffee joyfully.

"Wow, I haven't drank a coffee for a long time."

In the end what is that? Is that tasty? I absently finished my juice, and ordered a cup of coffee from Jusina. Jusina seems to think that I look ridiculous, and then immediately sent me a cup of coffee, she even put that in front of me with excessively careful action. I took a sip of that thing, Sanson kept looking at me asked curiously:

"Hey, Huchi, is that thing good?"

I didn't answer him, so he made a more curious face. That's because I made a very ominous speculation, so I couldn't answer him. Soon, I glared at Jusina furiously:

"Ju... Jusina! Are you trying to poison me!!?"

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Chapter One: Riding Towards the Dawn (Pt.19)

"Unfortunately, you're correct."

"Then, then how about the other soldiers? Only this soldier came back, then where are the other soldiers?"

Tyburn is still staring at me with his non-functional eyes, and then casually said:

"That is unable to find out now, Huchi. Earl Huritchell and the thane should be safe.I guess it would send the soldier back, is likely to ask for ransom. If Amurtaat's purpose is ransom, then she might also capture all soldiers as captives. Because if she has more captives, she can request more money. "

"Is, is that so? Really?"

At this time the soldier spoke.

"He is correct."

I don't know what to do, suddenly shouted:

"That stupid dragon!"

That white body, love eating mint stupid dragon in the end still lost to Amurtaat. Garbage! That dragon only knows raising its head arrogantly, only knows eating the food offered by the others! Amurtaat hunts its own food by itself. However, that thing only knows how to eat what humans feed it. Now I think of the White Dragon Cathselprime, get even more angry than thinking of Amurtaat.

Deacons Hamel held a meeting. Because our thane is not here, so deacon Hamel became the deputy of  the thane, Tyburn who is responsible for public safety is also attending. Karl also attended. I desperately begged Tyburn, so I am able to attend with the title of his assistant. The Guard Captain Sanson is not here, so Turner is also participating. And there are also several adjuvant officials, the village head, and a few elders. This can't be said a decent conference, so it feels very tragic.

The purpose of the meeting is to listen to the statements of Snow Malhand. The injured heavy infantry is called Snow Malhand. Although he feels very uncomfortable, he still sat down on a chair. No matter how strong his self-control is, he is able to participate in the meeting one hour after the surgery, that's simply unbelievable. He also turned down the blanket, just sat there quietly and explained the situation.

As far as the crusade arrived the Gray Mountains, there were not anything unusual. Although got attacked by some monsters, those were nothing powerful. They finally reached the deepest part of the Gray Mountains, made their formation and began the war in the entrance of the Endless Valley. According to the words of the survivors of previous crusades, as well as other intelligence, Amuraat's lair is in the deepest part of the valley. The valley is not a good place to arrange army, nonetheless the army honestly couldn't do much, but it seems that Earl Huritchell still wanted to plan a best strategy to make full use of those soldiers.

He set the strategy, Cathselprime would trigger the battle, the army then should support on both sides of the valley and from the back. The light infantry form by the guards of our town covered the archery on the cliffs of both sides . The heavy infantry from the capital with the pikes together stayed in the bottom of the valley to wait for attacking Amurtaat. Of course, this plan is entirely presumed that Cathselprime is defeated. That is, if Cathselprime defeated Amurtaat, there would be no further action to take. In case it failed, then Amurtaat would probably also be seriously wounded, so the troops wouldn't let it go, shooting arrows from both sides to prevent it from flying away, and then the heavy infantry and pikes could approach to attack. Hearing this part, Tyburn frowned.

"What a silly plan..."

Snow heard that, his entire face was taut a bit, but immediately relaxed. Tyburn couldn't see the face, but he still started explaining his words.

"He actually divded the weak enough troops into three parts. Concentrating all forces is a better idea. And this plan is completely based on, Amurtaat would appear in the valley, isn't it?"

Snow made a surprised expression, and then continued.

In the morning of the battle, Cathselprime in the valley started roaring in order to get Amurtaat out. Soldiers above and in the valley held their breath to watch the scene. However, what Cathselprime attracted was not Amurtaat, but the army of trolls and goblins on the cliffs.

The small enough army and also got divided into three teams, in addition they were separated on the top and bottom of the valley, so they couldn't quickly assemble, and each team must fight the goblins alone. The heavy infantry and pikes in the bottom of the valley was doing fine. However, the light infantry and archery above got pushed by the goblins, while behind them were cliffs. Goblins and trolls enthusiastically charged, the weakly armored light infantry got pushed back gradually. Especially the archery team, In the friend or foe mixed situation, they couldn't use any power at all. Eventually the troops on the cliffs were either slayed by the goblin's falchions, or fell off the cliff to the bottom of the valley.

In the tangled fight, there was no room for Cathselprime. It could only flew behind the goblins spitting deadly breath, that couldn't help at all. Cathselprime also tried to roar and cast Dragon Fear, but the goblins and trolls had already been stuck in the Dragon Fear of Amurtaat, so they didn't react at all to Cathselprime's roaring.

Finally the troops on the cliffs almost annihilated, the rest of the people managed to flee to the bottom of the valley, that's when Cathselprime could really spit breath above the valley, and repulsed the goblins and trolls. During the period, the heavy infantry and pikes also almost eliminated the enemies under the valley. The heavy infantry melee attack is very strong, and the pikes could hold their fauchards fight the goblins in a distance.

But at this moment, a huge shadow shrouded the valley. Black Dragon Amurtaat appeared. Amurtaat didn't even fly down, only spitting breaths downward. Cathselprime was in the valley, it was unable to spread its wings in all a sudden, so it got some major wounds. Then Amurtaat stroke downward, biting the neck of Cathselprime. But Cathselprime also resisted, bit Amurtaat's leg. Because of the battle of the two dragons , even the cliffs next to them almost got destroyed. Every time when their wings hit the rock, or the dragons rolled the ground, there were huge noises like thundering. The stones were splashed everywhere, the trees were uprooted, and many large rocks rolled down. The dragon's blood squirted like a rain-storm. When Amurtaat's acidic breath encountered the cliffs, acrid smoke began to emerge, but the dissolved got frozon immediately after Cathselprime spitting freezing breath. That instant the valley was pretty much like the inferno.

Then Earl Huritchell issued the evacuation order. The soldiers started escaping on their own. All around the valley are all forest terrain, so it's better to run after spreading out. Snow also began to flee. But after he ran for a while, he heard the sound of flapping wings behind him, also felt a strong wind hitting. He was very scared, at the moment he turned back, Amurtaat's paw hit him straight away.

After this hit, his stomach was cracked. Snow couldn't even the scream, could only lie there waiting to die quietly. But then suddenly a huge sound of vibration was tearing his eardrum. Snow's stomach was wounded, yet he still had to cover his ears. After a while, the vibration slowly calmed down, became a voice that's understandable.

"Human, your wound will not deteriorate in a week. "

Snow widened his eyes and looked upward. Although Amurtaat was hurted due to the battle with Cathselprime, its body was bleeding everywhere,  looked upward in a lying posture, the height of the dragon still almost made Snow fainted. Don't know what magic the dragon cast, his abdomen wound started flashing a weak light.

"Within a week, you will not bleed, the wound will maintain its original state. But after this period, the wounds will begin to deteriorate and rot."

Snow was terrified and trembling looked at Amurtaat. Amurtaat seemed tired, straightened its shoulder up, and then continued to speak. But it's mouth was closed.

"I did so, so your two fragile legs could maximize their speed. Go to deliver a message for me. If you still want the lifes of your commander and stupid thane back, give me 100,000 Purcell gems. The sooner the better. If you procrastinate, they will not be also the see next year's New Year. "

Amurtaat slowly began flapping its wings. The wild wind with dust were spraying on Snow's face, so he covered up his face. Amurtaat's voice converted to strange sound tearing his eardrum again.

"The deadline is one week. Your life depends on how fast you are. Go now!"

Snow finally put his hands down after quite a while. He saw Amurtaat had already flown up the sky . He immediately stood up, kept running back for four days and nights without a single rest.

"Ah.... So the wound after that long, could still maintain and you are so soon to be able to participate in the meeting."

Tyburn nodded. Snow smiled slightly.

"Yes. It was very terrifying. Helding my stomach while I was running, in order not to let my organs fall out from the wound. It is really a very horrible experience I realized that neither bloodshed, nor feeling the pain, as if the wound is others', that kind of wound is the most terrible. "

Every faces in the meeting turned pale. I can no longer wait, so I interrupted.

"Then what about the other soldiers?"

Snow looked at me and shook his head.

"I have heard that. Your father joined the battle, right? But I'm sorry, I didn't see any other soldiers."

I lowered my head, Karl patted my shoulder.

"It doesn't matter, Nedval. You didn't really see your father dead, and didn't he just say, the pike team fought until the last minute, and almost didn't suffer from any damage?"

I lifted my head and cheerfully said:

"Yes. My father promised me that he will definitely be back. Ah, maybe he is now hiding at home, preparing to stun me when I go back."

I tried to talk happily, but seeing the reaction of the people around, I know my face must be very bad. I again lowered my head. Deacon Hamel gently shook his head, said:

"Anyway, first of all, we need to liaison with the King His Majesty."

Tyburn seems to disgree and said:

"Although that sounds reasonable... This war is looked after by the King?"

"No. His Majesty is only responsible for supporting. The responsibility of the success or failure of war is on our thane. And our thane authorized Earl Huritchell to be the combat commander."

"Then all responsibilities are on Heltant Fief. No matter it's the responsibility of getting both of them back, or the responsibility of raising the money. The King should be angry enough because of the White Dragon he sent to support got killed, will he help on the ransom?"

Deacon Hamel shook his head again.

"Even if we sell all the possessions of the thane, it might not be even close to within 100,000 Purcell... Plus these possessions are mostly land, not a random person can buy... Probably even the neighboring thane wouldn't want to buy it ...... "

At this time Snow struggled to say:

"If we contact the Huritchell Family, they should be able to give us some support. And we can often see some similar examples of this situation, if we request His Majesty, he would give the Heltant Fief a long-term interest-free loan. If you are going to sell these lands, not necessarily sell them to the thane nearby. In the capital there should also be some nobles who have the ability to buy it."

"We have to do some calculations. Today is?"

Turner said: "25th September."

"The Dragon said not allowing them to see the New Year. Then we should have around six months, right?"

Hearing deacon Hamel's question, Tyburn made a disagreed expression.

"Sounds right, our country listens to the edict of King Rhuterino, the New Year is on 2nd April. But do dragons use our calender? That's is an uncertainty. If you want an insurance, then you better treat the end of December as the deadline."

"That's... That's only three months left?"

Deacon Hamel's turned his expression into despaired. Hamel is not any famous deacon, just a little deacon under our poor thane. Asking him to raise one hundred thousands Purcell, it's simply impossible.

Damn!

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