The toffee nosed twins

"Aimi! Let her go, you beast! If you really want to kill me, at least leave her alone!" shrieked Taiki desperately after realizing how blue the elf had already turned and also how weak she became with every second that elapsed. However, Hebior ignored the young boy's pleas and replied, "I will destroy every witness and my target! That was the mission that my mistress sent me to! I live only to serve the Child of Darkness!" Out of nowhere, the undead began to choke Taiki as well, who then thrash about with his legs. He looked at Aimi, whose eyes were now completely swollen.

 Tears were squeezed out of them. Taiki tried to fight back, taking only one blow in response. "It can't end with me like that! I have just met new comrades with whom I can go on even more adventures. I don't want to die yet! I don't want to lose anyone! I want to kill this monster!" thought Taiki. When Taiki and Aimi almost lost consciousness, it happened suddenly. Shadows poured out of his body, enveloping him like a coat. Suddenly, Taiki's eyes, which were blood red, opened. All of a sudden, the young boy cut off the undead's hand with a simple stroke. Hebior was stunned. He didn't know where Taiki got the sudden power from. "How can that be! He struggled against me and now he just cut off my hand, even though not even an iron blade accomplish this!" pondered Hebior.

 Finally he let go of Aimi, who was fainting on the ground. Hebior quickly recognized the darkness that his mistress mentioned before he went to complete his mission. The undead could only see death. It was a hidden power that could hardly be described. "No matter what tricks you use, you can never defeat me! I am Hebior, one of the supreme servants of my mistress! I will never fail! I will crush you with my magic!" Out of the blue, Hebior pulled a dagger out of his belt, which was previously hidden by his coat, and hissed forward in a flash to  lightning speed to deal Taiki a fatal blow. However, the young boy swung his blade so fast that Hebior could not believe his eyes. 

As a result, the blade of the undead was cut in half. "What the.....!" he winced. When Taiki wanted to carry out another attack, the skeleton jumped backwards to avoid a hit. "At first, I thought this task would be pretty easy. I wanted to convince my mistress that you are not a danger and that you are just a weakling, but i am pretty amazed by your sudden power, although I doubt that I am fighting against the real Taiki here." Hebior said. Suddenly, Taiki, wrapped in shadows, replied: "I am the real one! The other was an imposteraton! And I will make you atone for your deeds!" 

Before Hebior could say anything, Taiki rushed forward and hit the undead with his fist, which then crashed against the other side of the cave wall. Now Hebior wanted to use a spell against the young boy: "Darkness Spear!" All of a once, a shadow formed in front of Hebior, which looked like a spear at one end. Without hesitation, he threw it at Taiki, who did nothing but to stay put. Hebior was sure of his victory until suddenly the shadow spear simply bounced off Taiki, as if a barrier had been formed around him. "How can this be?! He didn't even do anything! how...... What...", Hebior began to think in panic when Taiki interrupted him: "Look at my stats." "Analysis!" shouted the undead, giving him a complete view of the young boy's abilities. Hebior froze in awe.

Now he understood why his mistress commissioned him to destroy him. "You are resistant to all shadows, fire and earth magic?! But how can that be!? I analyzed you from the shadows and you had completely different stats!" "I've always had these stats! This power has always been in me! I will take revenge! I will take revenge on this world and that God who condemned me! I will destroy them! And you will be my first victim!" snorted Taiki with hatred. "That looks bad! I should have taken this mission seriously and ended him quickly," Hebior reproachfully reproached himself. Out of the blue, two fireballs formed in both of Taikis palms, which grew bigger and bigger. As a result, the tendrils and other plants burned down. Hebior feared that he had no choice but to flee, otherwise he would die.

"It seems as if I have to postpone this fight to another time," the undead said to himself. Suddenly, Taiki pointed his hands to Hebior and fired that spell: "Hellfire! Fire of Wrath!" The fireballs were so hot that they melted some stones and every single plant that sprouted in the cave was gone. Even the water of the lake evaporated. Shortly before the two fireballs could hit Hebior, a shady snake escaped from the skeleton body, which then fled as far as possible from Taiki. When the inferno completely enveloped the body of the undead, nothing remained of him. Not even ashes remained. After the fire disappeared, peace finally returned to the cave. 

Taiki's shadow coat evaporated and his eyes returned to their normal color. After Taiki's transformation was completed, he fainted, as did his group members, who fortunately survived the attack of the undead. "Taiki! Taiki! Are you okay? What happened?", Aimi tried desperately to wake him up, but he did not move. Gloin then sprinted to his friend, opened his mouth and poured a red potion into his mouth. "Wake up, laddie! Come back to us," the dwarf jostled. Suddenly, Taiki slowly opened his eyes. A fright went through him: "Are you all okay?" "We are doing well. Aimi relieved all our pain and healed our wounds," Ronin reassured him. 

"I'm relieved......But what happened? Where did this Hebior disappear?" Taiki wanted to know. "We don't know that ourselves, only that...", Ronin began to speak as he gazed over the burnt cave walls and the ground: "...... he was destroyed by something very powerful. Not even ashes remained of his body." "Couldn't you see what happened?" the young boy asked, to which Aimi replied, "All I know is that we were all incapacitated and when we woke up, you were still unconscious and this skeleton Mage was gone." "Strange! I could feel a great power before I passed out. But that's all I know....That's really strange....But it's not important now. The important thing is that we survived....Let's collect the remains of the undead and make our way home," Taiki said. 

"Well you heard the man! Collect everything you can find from the undead. And you,Taiki, should rest a bit. You look completely drained," Ronin ordered, after which the group went to work and collected some parts of the skeletons. "It`s such a pity that we don't know what happened to this one wizard. If we had defeated him, then we could have received a vast amount of money!" complained Gloin. "Rather, be glad that we somehow managed to survive this monster. Otherwise you would no longer be a half-person, but a quarter man," Ronin mocked his dwarf colleague. "What did you just say! I think I interrogated myself!" said Gloin. Ronin began to laugh, whereupon Aimi, Taiki and even Tsuyoshi could not resist giggling. 

Taiki's laughter was interrupted by a stabbing pain in his back, which Aimi immediately noticed and therefore immediately applied a spell for pain relief: "Pain absorption maximum!" On the spot, the pain became less until it completely disappeared. "It's best to stay here and do nothing. We'll help you out when we're done here," Ronin assured Taiki. "And then we go for a lift! I want to get drunk again. Thus, we can finally receive Taiki in our group properly. Nothing works without beer," said Gloin.

 "You are a real drunkard. The last time where you got drunk was only two days ago, after we completed this assingment with the slimes. Maybe that's why you have a rounded belly," teased Ronin. "Watch out, my friend. When we are in the inn, I will show you what it really means to dump beer into yourself. I invite you to a drinking competition at the inn! May the better drunkard win!" the dwarf announced. "With the greatest pleasure! But don't be disappointed if you lose to me, Half-Man!" quipped Ronin. "Don't worry! I won't! Drinking runs in the family!" said Gloin confidently. After collecting all the remains of the undead, the group made their way home.

At another Place in the cave

"That was a pert near! He almost sizzled me away! Next time I will be prepared better! I will pay this weakling back that he has humiliated me!" Hebior spoke to himself as he continued to try to flee from the place where he had failed his mission. "My mistress doesn't have to know that I've failed! Before I give her any information, I will set out again to destroy this Taiki!" the snake spoke to himself. Out of the blue, a girl's voice sounded out of the darkness: "I warned you that this boy should not be underestimated! You just ignored my warnings and just act as you please!" "Mistress!? I....so I wanted.....didn't want to insult you........ It was just like that, that.....so....", Hebior stammered in front of her, when he was then interrupted by his mistress: "It's fine! I will see over your failure. I hope my next plan will kill him, before Chizu does anything else with him! This witch should finally feel what it's like to lose everything!" 

"What are your commands, Mistress! What should I do now?" Hebior wanted to know. "Watch them from the shadows! I want to know every little detail about Taiki! He must not cross my plans! Don't attack them and veil our presence like last time! No one should know that you are following them!" the Child of Darkness ordered his servant. "As you wish, Mistress!" said the serpent as his red eyes shone, before Hebior set out to carry out his mistress`s orders. "Even though this is a small setback, I now know what to do to unleash his true power. That probably means that I have to redouble my efforts to get rid of him and Chizu's machinations! I will shape this world the way I want it! I'm excited to see what your next move will be, Chizu," she said in her mind. . The darkness burned the room. Voices echoed through the cave. She proclaimed the lamentation of a poor soul. The suffering was soon to be poured over the world. That is her plan. This is the legacy of the Child of Darkness.

In an inn in Kaishi

                                                                                                                       She put a full tray full of beer mugs in front of the adventurers. "I've already paid for the beer so we can compete immediately," Ronin explained. "Taiki would you be our referee? The only thing you have to do is to count the jugs of each one and determine when one of us clearly can't go any further. It's about who can drink more and who can drink faster," Gloin explained to the young boy. Taiki nodded in agreement, whereupon the dwarf turned to Tsuyoshi, who was enjoying a juicy roast pork: "And I ask you to give the starting signal when to start!" Tsuyoshi hummed nodding. "Then I would say. Let the Best Drunkard win!" said Gloin before he and Ronin prepared for the starting signal from Tsuyoshi. 

Suddenly, Tsuyoshi grunted quite loudly, after which the two comrades started drinking. They poured the stuff down. You could clearly see that Gloin was drinking faster than Ronin, as the dwarf had already drunk the third jug, while Ronin almost drank the first. However, Gloin felt dizzy with the beginning of the fourth beer. The crowd cheered them on that Gloin must continue drinking. So he did it and dumped the fourth jug into it. Ronin grinned at the sight of his colleague as he began to drink a second jug. 

In the background, various people danced to a cheerful music, while they also tosed with their jugs. After a few minutes, Gloin had already drunk 15 beer mugs, whereupon he lay like a wet sack on the floor. Ronin, on the other hand, was just starting his fourth jug. He was amused by the sight of the dwarf lying on the ground. "I would say that although Gloin has drunk more jugs, Ronin is still standing, he is the winner," Taiki announced. Shortly thereafter, Ronin explained: "I'll say that while I could drink more alcohol, Gloin is miles faster at drinking. That's why these competitions are actually pointless, because it can only end in a draw anyway, because of the two evaluation criteria, each of us is always the winner in one."

Aimi sighed and said to Ronin, "Oh man.... Couldn't you just not celebrate without a drinking competition where Gloin ist getting cockeyed again? We wanted to accept the next tasks tomorrow. And if Gloin isn't fit, that's a big problem." "Don't worry.......Normally, Gloin is doing well after such a competition in the morning. He will be just as operational as he was today. I also wanted to have fun with him again," Ronin replied. When Taiki drank from his beer mug and also took a bite from a chicken drumstick, two elves suddenly stepped through the doors of the inn. Taiki has already made acquaintance with one of them. One of the elves was ernone other than Leiko. He and his companion strutted with their heads held high forward to the counter. The elves passed Taiki and his colleagues, which led them to stop. 

"Oh! Who do we have here, the rats from the service! I knew your group was made up of failures, Ronin. But now you have even included this inexperienced rascal in your group, instead of a true warrior," the elf mocked the adventurers. The mood in the inn Immediately swung down. Everyone knew who the elven couple was and they all despised them, but no one dared to do anything against them. Not only were both elves on a high adventurer rank and therefore had a lot of experience when it comes to fighting, but the two are descended from noble elves from the north, which is why threatening, injuring and even fighting them could be bad. "Just leave us alone and annoy someone else with your claptrap!" Ronin replied annoyed. 

"What was that?! ! I hope I interrogated myself there! Or do you want to taste my blade you miserable mongrel! You'd better lick my boots before I cut out your tongue!" the elf snorted angrily. Suddenly, the elf next to Leiko calmly put her hand on the elven's shoulder and said: "Leave them alone, brother! They are not worth getting upset about! That's just the way the lower citizens are. You can see again how little manners these wights actually have, if they do not even pay the necessary respect to a higher-hanging adventurer." "You're right, Leika," Leiko agreed. "Hey, host! Give us your best wine you own!" leika ordered. Immediately, the innkeeper went to a back room to pick out the best wine. When the host did not come back after a few seconds, Leiko yelled impatiently: "What does it take so long! I don't have all night!"

 "I would love to intervene to show the elves that they are not the kings here, but then I could get into big trouble if they attack me with weapons or something like that. I'm still too weak to take on strong opponents. I mean..... I barely survived the fight against Yukio. I only survived because of Chizu who interfered and in our first task we somehow escaped Hebior. I still don't know what happened. All I know is that I felt very powerful shortly after I woke up, but I don't want to rely on anything like a secret power i could posses." Taiki thought. Finally, the innkeeper came back and presented the elves with the best wine of the house. Leiko immediately opened the wine and drank from it. However, he spat on Ronin and scolded the innkeeper: "What a disgusting drink! Did you want to poison me! This is your best wine, my ass! If that's the best you have to offer, then I can chuck out of the sewer!" 

You could see that the host was extremely afraid and suffering from great stress. Tsuyoshi grunted angrily. "And you immediately shut up you warthog! You don't make any noices, except these sounds, you piglet!" shouted Leiko all at once. When the elf turned his gaze to Gloin lying on the ground, he said: "Low beast should just crawl around on the ground like this gross dwarf." Leiko turned now back to the host. Suddenly, Leika pulled a dagger and screeched: "Shall we teach you a lesson! Maybe we'll fill a tub with this best wine and let you drown miserably!" All eyes were on the elf twins. The situation was very tense. No one wanted to intervene. "My sister, this punishment would still be far too good for such a dung beetle of the lower breed. We should cut out his tongue and let him dip it in one of his wine glasses."

Taiki had had enough. He wanted to intervene, but Ronin and Aimi held him back. "Don't do it. Trust me. You don't want to mess with them," Ronin warned him, who was still totally wet from the wine that Leika spitted before. "But..." Taiki wanted to argue when he was interrupted by Aimi: "We don't want anything to happen to you. The elven siblings are known for always killing the opponent in official duels." Suddenly, Leika grabbed the innkeeper by the collar and pulled him over the counter, so that various alcohol bottles and glasses were smashed on the ground. Slowly, the elf moved the dagger towards the innkeeper's face. The innkeeper trembled all over his body. Sweat flowed down his face and his eyes looked wildly through the room, hoping that someone would help him after all. When hope was already lost and Taiki was determined to rush to help, a group of dwarves entered the room. 

"Let go of the man, Leiko Ikatteiru! Or do you want to fight me again!", the voice of one of the dwarves, who was also the leader of the adventurers, sounded. "That can't be! Grindol Iron Axe! I....I didn't want to do anything to the guy!", Leiko asserted, although his voice was a bit uncertain. Leika immediately let go of the host. "We wanted to leave anyway and fulfill our next assignment." leiko said before leaving the inn with his sister on the spot. In their voices you could hear the uncertainty and nervousness after the dwarf group entered. "Phew! That turned out well....Good that the dwarf was able to solve the problem, but who is that?....... Grindol Iron Axe......... That was one of the five strongest fighters in this country. That's why Leiko and Leika had great reverence for him. It would be very interested to see how strong he really is," Taiki pondered. Shortly after the elven siblings left the building, the dwarves sat down at a table and the host immediately rushed to them in order to to take their order. 

"Thank you very much, Mr. Iron Axe! That was rescue at the last minute!" the innkeeper thanked bowingly. "There is nothing to thank! Unfortunately, I wish that he, even as a high-ranking nobleman and adventurer, had more respect for others who have a lower rank than he does," Grindol replied with a sigh. "How strong is he?" Taiki curiously wanted to know. Ronin then answered Taikis question: "He once duelled with Leiko because the dwarf wanted to put a stop to the elven's arrogance. Grindol insisted on a one-on-one, which is why his sister was not allowed to interfere, which was accepted by Leiko, as he was fully convinced not to lose. The fight lasted less than ten seconds. And it was decided only with seven sword blows. First, Leiko attacked the dwarf head-on. Gindol dodged the first three blows. After the third goal, which the elf missed, Grindol shredded his axe with extreme force on the blade of Leiko. On the fourth hit, the sword simply shattered and the weapon hitted the elf by his chest. Since the axe only grazed him, it was not a serious injury, but after his blade broke, he immediately gave up. Since that day, he has been trying to distance himself from Grindol. This skill is the second further development of Gloin's Earth smasher. It´s name is "Diamond Smasher."

Taiki was fascinated about the power this dwarf possesses. This dwarf was the second figure who is powerful and who saved an innocent person. His eyes looked closely at the dwarf, who is now tipping beer down his throat. "I'd rather not make him an enemy," Taiki thought. They celebrated for many hours, until Taiki and his friends decided to got to bed. So they bought their drinks and went upstairs to some rooms. Gloin was carried on his shoulders by Tsuyoshi. Since the loot from the skeletons was not sufficient for payment, Taiki took over most of the payment. So they could afford two rooms for one night, which cost two gold pieces each. While Aimi and Ronin shared one room, Tsuyoshi, Taiki and Gloin had to share the other room. 

The whole matter was quite tight as Tsuyoshi and Gloin took up a lot of space as that room was actually only suitable for two guests. Taiki tried to close his eyes and sleep. However, out of nowhere, Gloin and Tsuyoshi began to snore really loudly. When he wanted to say something so that the two could be a little quieter, Tsuyoshi swung his arm from Gloin to Taiki and held it very tightly so that he could hardly breathe. "Tsuyoshi! Wake up! You're crushing me!" Taiki tried to wake his friend up, but it didn't work. "Well. There are probably worse ways to die," the young boy thought indifferently. To his surprise, he managed to fall asleep after a few minutes. Meanwhile, In the secound room, where Aimi and Ronin were, they laid opposite of one another. They looked into each other's eyes in love, but he quickly realized that the elf was a bit saddened: "What's going on?"

"Nothing... It's just that I wonder how long we have to go on dangerous adventures before I've finally raised enough money to buy my sister free. I don't know how long she can bear it," complained the elf. "Maybe Taiki can lend you some money if he had enough. The way I see him, he will certainly be happy to give it to you," Ronin said, but Aimi shook his head and replied, "I've already seen how many gold coins he owns. He has only two pieces of gold left. Even with the two coins with which he had paid the rooms, it would not have been enough. The people with whom my parents have all the debts want 25 pieces of gold. They also said that they would do immoral things with her if all the gold was not handed to them over soon. If I only think about the fact that this fat nobleman with his greasy smile attacks my beloved sister, then....." Aimi suddenly started sobbing, whereupon Ronin took her in her arms and gently stroked her head to calm her down: "Everything will be alright. We're going to do more guild tasks and if we run out of time, I'll take care of this guy personally."

 "Would you do that for me? But I don't want anything to happen to you," Aimi worried about her boyfriend, who just smiled and then replied, "Nothing will happen to me. We will get the gold together and then get your sister out of there! Trust me!" assured Ronin his girlfriend. "Now, we should sleep so that we are fit for our next assignment," the man added, before the two lay down next to each other, held each other in their arms and fell asleep. The next morning, the group met in front of the guild house. Gloin did not make a good impression, which is why Ronin quipped: "Dwarves are not as resistant to alcohol as you claimed, Gloin." 

"Asssssch Shut up! I'm still drunk from the eveninga! Whut jast happind? I heard someone with pointed earsa made problems," Gloin asked a little staggering. "That's true, but it all turned out well," Ronin explained. "Now we should look at what the new tasks that are available." Next, the group trotted into the guild house to the blackboard. The first task Taiki saw was the hunt for a monster whose name he had never heard before. "What is a Desuboringa supposed to be? The cattle should even have a name? Her name is Shi... But why does such a creature have a name?" puzzled Taiki. "It doesn't matter. This task is above our rank. Apparently, this cattle should not be underestimated if at least the mythrilrang is expected." the young boy kept thinking.

 They watched every task on the bronze rank closely, until Tsuyoshi grunted wildly when a very specific assignment caught his eye. "Are you sure? This tasks could put a strain on you, so you might not be able to fight at full strength," Ronin warned him, but Tsuyoshi grumbled confidently. He really wanted to do this job. "If you insist, then we will take this order," accepted Ronin. Taiki got a queasy feeling about the assignment, but task is task. He could not convince the others to reject this quest anyway. When they went to the reception and handed out the quest to Anja, she first looked at the group a little incredulously, but then said in a strict tone: "I want that you come back alive, understood! This mission was classified as a bronze rank, but you should not underestimate these opponents." 

"No worry! We'll grab it!" said Gloin. "What about him?" the woman wondered, to which Ronin only replied: "Oh, that's always the case. That is a pretty normal behaviour for dwarfs." "Hey.....you taked thut ba......" The dwarf wanted to complain, but Tsuyoshi then kept his mouth shut so that he could not continue to speak. "Then I have nothing else to say except good luck in saving this girl from a goblin tribe!"