24 Hearts

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Chapter 3-1. ‘Black Tree’ Tribe

Isabel looked at Judah as he sat there, unresponsive. Eventually, she shrugged at him and then emptied her glass. She didn’t say anything more, whether she thought it would be somewhat overwhelming to continue.

He said, “Do you have any reason why you want me? And why you want the fragment?”

“That’s because there aren’t as many talents like you in the tribe. There are a lot of people who have skills similar to those of Arek, but all of them are stronger at long distances than melee fights. Unless they were a Wielder of the Sword like me, they’d be able to fight opponents without arrows. There’s no one like you. They can only run away.”

Just like she explained, there was no way an arrow can defeat Kain. It was unlikely that it would be different if they shot at him from a distance. He was a guy who could cut down even arrows flying from close range. He was able to ravage the armor he wore, but they had a blacksmith in the Red Bear tribe, and they could repair it. He may even have a new armor done. Isabel filled in his silence.

“But aren’t you different? You survived the knight with the fragment. I heard you fought against him equally with your strange dagger emitting a red line?”

How long did Arek see that? Judah closed his eyes. He can feel the nasty sensation of intoxication. She didn’t seem to think that Judah’s special weapon was a fragment.

… If he thought about it, she was the most reliable of the many tribes in Regen. She was the only chieftain who wouldn’t say anything else and gave the rewards she promised while progressing the quest in the game. At least that’s the case with the person he made. No matter how much he thought of the information set for her, he couldn’t think of her shortcomings.

In other words, she wasn’t a person who could hit him at the back of the head. He didn’t know what would happen once they’re in the face of the fragment, but will she prevent him from dying?

“Why don’t you do it alone? It doesn’t seem impossible since you’re a Wielder of the Sword.”

“Do you wanna know why I need the two of us?”

“Yeah.”

“Because I have to stop Quake. Didn’t I say that the person who inherits the fragment turns crazy? The only thing that can control those guys is the original owner. We can’t watch him do whatever he pleases. So, it needs to be us. It means he is planning to attack other tribes but tried to disguise it using orcs.”

She bit her teeth.

“So, Lady Isabel will stop the Red Bear chief, and in the meantime, you’re telling me to kill Kain, the one with the fragment? I mean, the knight?

“Right!”

“Will you give me the fragment then?”

At Judah’s words, Isabel had no answer.

“It’s a fragment… I was going to seal it, but if you can get rid of the knight, there’s nothing I can’t give. However, if another hit of damage occurs in the process, I have no choice but to kill you.”

“It won’t happen, so don’t worry. If I got the fragment, I wouldn’t stay here, so I’d like to ask if that’s okay.”

“…If you can take it, I’ll hand it over. Anyway, there’s nothing in Regen that can go against it. Hmm. Well, even if you take it, many people covet the fragment, so it doesn’t seem like you’re taking it for deranging reasons? And if it’s in your keepsake, you can put it inside that subspace of yours. If you didn’t show it off, they wouldn’t even know it’s lost.”

She tilted her head in question. The fragment was yearned for by many, and if she took it, she’d have a problem in dealing with its complications. It would be useless in her hands, and her primary weapon of choice was a bow. Still, it was stupid to hand over the sword to the tribe who had been dealing with it for centuries. Isabel happily nodded her head once again after she pondered.

“Okay, if you believe in me and act with me, and if you have the confidence that you can get rid of the fragment wielder, I will be willing to hand it over.”

And with that, they closed the deal.

Isabel lifted the bottle she had laid down on the floor and held it in front of her. Judah lifted his cup, making Isabel wonder if it meant he wanted her to pour him some, but he silently shook his head. She couldn’t understand what he meant, so for a moment, she looked at the bottle she brought up, and then, without a doubt, she raised the bottle to Judah. As if that was precisely what he meant, their cup and bottle clinked, and she giggled joyfully.

Judah was compelled to drink again. Taking his bottle, he took several gulps down his neck and pushed a full amount of alcohol. His drunken state elevated. Feeling a fever on his face, Judah ate the food left in haste.

It was delicious. The taste began to lessen, and if he cooked it, he would have adjusted it a little bit, but the exotic cuisine and taste excited him.

“Hahaha! You’re a great drinker. Bring some more drinks here!”

He tried to be moderate and get out of it, but he ended up drinking more, the fever of being drunk heightening the room. They even brought in even more food than they ate before it could cool down. As more came in, their hot steam rose into the air. His memory became hazy after toasting with her several times, chatting and eating the food before them.

‘…This is crazy.’

When he woke up, Judah realized that he and Isabel were sleeping and hugging each other like lovers. He couldn’t remember how many bottles he drank, but his last memory was of them sharing a bottle with their shoulders together. Even in his real life, he had never drunk enough to lose his memory, and suddenly, there he was, drinking that way. He made sure that he was wearing clothes, thinking that they might have done something in an accident. His top was off, but she, fortunately, was fully clothed underneath.

He tried to stand up with a small sigh of relief, and he noticed that one of Isabel’s leg was on top of him to keep him from running away. He had to get up, but found that he couldn’t. Judah took her breath deep as he watched her hug him, sleeping like he was a doll. Her sweet scent filled the air. As well as alcohol from the empty bottles they drank last night. Her scented candle also clung to their bodies. He felt like the scent would bring his intoxication back once again. Her red-brown hair curtained down her sleeping face. Judah stretched out her hand, and then she laughed out.

He thought, ‘There was a time when Tia was like this, too.’

When they slept together, he often found her like this. He recalled his memories of Tia, and he naturally recalled his memories of Serenia. Pink-haired Riel, Kain, who was taught by Kaseun, and the old librarian at the library… Judah shook his head and prepared to get up. He grabbed her trained yet soft thighs and pushed them away, and despite her light force, she naturally turned her body against him. Thanks to this, Judah, who easily slipped out of her arms, properly covered her with a blanket as he got up.

“Wow… I drank a lot.”

The moment he got up, his head stiffened, and his hangover rushed. It seemed to be better than he thought for drinking a lot, but he laughed at the scent of alcohol from his body. After stretching, Judah carefully opened the window of her room. A fresh morning breeze came in and took out the heavy air inside.

‘Can I go like this?’

Or maybe Judah, looking down at her messed up room, should do some cleaning for her? Looking around for a moment, he sighed at the appearance of the room that he couldn’t clean without making any noise. He was bothered to walk between them, sitting countless times with his back leaning against the wall near the window. He sat still as if he still lacked sleep, and eventually fell asleep.

“Wake up. Why are you sleeping here?”

At the call of Isabel, Judah opened his eyes, questioning the racket. He blinked, seeing that she got up. Rubbing his eyes, he opened his eyes and yawned.

“Okay, I actually got up first, but… I think I fell asleep when I took a short break.”

Isabel fled, laughed, kicked a bottle of alcohol rolling on her feet, and stepped outside. Judah followed after her. She must have sweated a lot from the liquor, so she dragged Judah to go and wash. Packed with clothes for changing and a bar of soap or something from Baekje, she hummed along as she moved.

She went to the back of her room as she mumbled something about washing, with Judah sneaking up from behind. As expected, the place she headed to was the downstream side of the river. There were no people nearby, and no one could peak at it from a distance.

As if she was completely conscious of Judah’s attention, she took off her clothes and entered the river without shame. The river flowed to her waist and drifted ever so slowly, so there was no need to worry about being swept down.

“Come on, come in and wash. We won’t have the time to go around looking for them in the afternoon.”

She wasn’t ashamed of Judah, but he was. She seemed to take it for granted, taking off her clothes and entering the river. She felt the alcohol wash away with the water.

“Woo.”

She laughed a little as her teeth gritted, dipping water to her head and lathering her body with hee soap. Judah admired her hygiene. She meticulously soaped the inside of her thighs, as well as every nook and cranny, and then her hair.

If he thought about it, he didn’t know if she was like this because of their relations with Baekje, but it was so hygienic that it was nothing strange compared to the normal. As he thought about it, she finished washing and stepped out of the river. Judah offered her breakfast, and Isabel gladly accepted it.

Judah took out ingredients from the -Bag- and boiled bean sprouts soup with red pepper powder to relieve their hangover. Isabel, seeing the soup floating around, felt overwhelmed. She was expecting something like a sandwich, but their breakfast was bean sprouts soup. As she drank it with a disappointed expression, her expression changed from moment to moment, and in the end, she drank it like alcohol. And at the end of their breakfast, Judah told Jeanne and Arhil about Isabel’s offer.

When the story of the fragment came out, they said that it was reckless to go together and said they would do it with them. He wanted to talk to them, but it wasn’t something that he could hide from them.

And Jeanne and Arhil would be helpful in any way. Isabel warned them that they might be in danger, but it didn’t stop them. She temporarily joined his associates, and they began to spend timeless days at Regen.