24 Hearts

22====================

To live in this world.

I had just washed, and stepping from the bathroom, brushed off my dampened hair, feeling refreshed. I figured that it was the perfect day to drink a glass of water while lying in bed.

I went to the kitchen and pulled out a cheap, monochromatic porcelain cup from the sink’s shelf, filled it with water, and started to head to his room on the second floor.

“Judah,” Tia called to me from where she was laying on the three-seater sofa. She patted the armrests, calling me over. I didn’t go at first, as she seemed so lazy since I started hunting alone. I then walked slowly over, putting my arms behind my back, and looked down at her. I noticed that she held a small book in her hands, Hunter of the Wind.

It was an interesting book, but I figured that she wasn’t calling me over to discuss its contents.

“What’s wrong, Tia? Would you like some water?”

Tia just covered her mouth with the book and shook her head.

“You sure?”

She threw the book she was holding to the floor as she stretched her arms out. I flinched and tried to avoid them, but she had stretched them out in an instant. Tia wrapped her arms around the nape of my neck, and she dragged me down with force.

“Ah, you cute guy. It would be perfect if you were cuter!”

Huh!? It was hard to breathe in, and her fleshy scent penetrated my nose. I could feel the soft yet elastic skin through her clothes. As Tia hugged me so close to her breasts, I felt my face getting flushed. I tried to escape, but she wouldn’t let me go. I sighed a little when I realized the difference in our abilities was so big that I couldn’t even escape by force.

“Why are you sighing while you’re comfortable? Are there no girls who hug you like this?”

“Oh yes, but-“

I looked up to her face, my chin on her chest. Her golden eyes were full of affection. The act of rubbing my face over her heart had raised her favorability. So, I checked it out. Her favorability, which had been 49, was now 50, on the level of great interest.

[——]Favorability rating: 50 (great interest)[——]

[——]Reliability: 75 (trust)[——]

At first, I had been picking flowers in the forest and bringing them to her to increase her favorability. Surprisingly, only her reliability had risen. When a young child gives flowers to someone he likes, he just seems cute. That was common. I had given up on my attempts due to the favorability that did not rise. Of course, I wanted it to develop into a romantic relationship, but my age and child’s body hindered me. So, since half a year ago, Tia’s favorability had not risen past 49.

Today, it had reached 50, all of a sudden. It had actually happened when I had been washing, as I had turned the status screen on and saw that it had risen by 1. It was a good thing; after all, she was the first woman I thought of as beautiful in this world, and my thoughts on the matter had not changed, even now.

However, it seemed like torture that I couldn’t fall asleep on her chest. I repressed such impulses and looked at Tia with a smile.

“Oh, What’s going on?” I asked.

“I have to have a reason to hug you like this? You’re cute, so I’m hugging you.”

I didn’t know whether I looked could, but I couldn’t argue with Tia. As I looked at her happy expression, Tia hugged me tighter. There was a moment of silence, and then she spoke.

“Are there really no injuries?”

“No, really. Why are you so worried?”

“Sure! It’s not like my pupil almost went into the southern forest. How must I feel? I want to head to the south gate and kill a bunch of wolves right now!”

Tia embraced me like a doll as she stroked my head. Who knew that black wolves would appear in the southern forest after they had always remained in the western one? If Tia had known that, she probably would not have sent me out alone.

“I’m so glad I didn’t get hurt. How was it when you killed a wolf? Did your training help?”

“Definitely. Throwing daggers helped me a lot. Thank you, Tia. The only reason that I came back alive was because of you, my teacher.”

“Woohoohoo!” she exclaimed.

“And the experience was important, as I was in the position of the hunted, not the hunter.”

“Surely? Then, shall we go hunting together after this long time? Going through the east forest and into the southern forest. We have to get some revenge on those wolves.”

Already, I had claimed two of their pelts.

“It would be nice if you could come with me, Tia, but-“

I paused for a moment. Tia sure was asking a lot of questions today. It seems as if she was trying to keep the flow of conversation going. There seemed to be something she really wanted to say. I didn’t care and had tried and wait for her to speak. But- I was still on her body, and right now, a reaction was taking place in a certain part of my body. Maybe she had noticed?

I looked at Tia in agony, my heart pounding in my breast. Maybe she was even enjoying my awkward reaction!

“Tia.”

“Huh? What?”

“Do you have anything to say to me?”

“Uh- well, Judah, my cute disciple, do you know what I hate?”

“I don’t.”

There were a lot of things I knew of that she didn’t like, but I figured that none of them would be the answer in this situation.

“You’re a quick-minded kid. I’ve been having a long conversation with you now, but I’ve only lit the candle; I haven’t yet shown you the way. Your teacher feels a little hurt and betrayed.”

Tia said she was in pain while gripping my head tightly in her arms, all the while subtly increasing the pressure on me. I groaned and unintentionally buried my face in her soft flesh. At this point, such acts of affection were almost torture. It was difficult to bear.

“Judah.”

As I groaned, Tia relaxed her grip and made me look into her eyes. With a small sigh, she said, “Look into my eyes!”

“Yeah,” I replied.

“What do you want to be in the future?”

“Are you asking what my dreams are?”

She nodded. I, well, I was thinking. If you asked children of this reality what their dreams are, there was a set of careers to choose from. The children of Earth usually dreamt of becoming police, firefighters, or teachers. In this world, they wanted to be mercenaries, adventurers, wizards, and knights.

Of course, you didn’t usually get the job you dreamed of getting, and the same counted for this world. Tia opened her mouth for a moment, obviously wondering whether I was hesitating, or thinking.

“I’ve been with you for two years, but we have never talked about your dreams for the future. Have you ever thought about it?”

“No- That’s not it.”

My path, my dream, was set in stone. However, I could not easily give voice to it. How could I tell her that I wished to become the demon king!? Could I even speak such words with confidence? Not exactly the demon king, but a high lord of that realm. Neither sounded good. And in order to achieve my goals, I would naturally have to do some dubious deeds.

“Hey.”

Tia must have decided that I didn’t want to tell her my dreams because I was shy.

“Judah, I mean, originally, my dream wasn’t to become a mercenary. I became one just to make a living. Now, you can spend your days without being poor because the commander is your guardian. I didn’t have a guardian.”

Tia slowly related her past, which she had never told me before.

“I was like you when I was young, but unfortunately, there was no one to take care of me. I learned how to survive in this harsh world alone. I wandered the streets, stealing from people. I lived a life no different from ordinary orphans. I hated it. Then, I happened to meet the commander and was trained by him. Then, I became a mercenary after I had learned things under him and doing my part. I charged through bloody battlefields, slew monsters with swords, and accepted contracts, with a lot of clients. I met different people, and my dreams developed a little by little until I finally left my fellow mercenaries.”

She now screwed her eyes into a line.

“It’s not a big dream. Once you hear it, you might laugh at me. My dream is very simple. It’s to meet a man who loves me, and I want to live a calm and peaceful life with that man. It would be nice to have kids, but it doesn’t matter if we don’t. I just want to enjoy a life where we can be happy together.”

“It sounds like an easy but also difficult dream.”

“Right? Contrary to what you might think, it is a very difficult dream to achieve. Being ordinary is the most difficult thing. Like a fairy tale. I’ve lived happily for a long time, but I know life does not unfold like fairy tales, Judah. Love can grow cold, and love can cheat you. You can get killed by someone because of your love. And money- Money can lead to a feud.”

“But it’s not a dream to laugh at, Tia. The dream you have is a beautiful dream, one worth fulfilling. If that’s the dream you want the most, I’ll cheer for you. If I can help, I’ll help. If someone laughs at your dream, I’ll be there for you. You don’t have to listen to their ridicule, because they don’t understand your dream.”

***

Tia opened her eyes as she heard Judah’s words. She was surprised that a young child would say such things. When she had shared her dream with her fellow mercenaries, they had laughed at her. Some said that she had to replace her dream with something bigger and grander. Only a few had nodded along in agreement. Tia felt better now. This child was becoming more and more adorable. She wanted to hug him tightly to her boobs like a doll, but she refused to succumb to such an impulsive desire.

“How do you make your words so pretty!?”

Tia pulled Judah up in a flash, her lips touching his cheeks and his forehead. She looked very satisfied.

“And that’s exactly what I want to say, Judah. Just as you want to help me, I want to help you. Even though we’ve been together for two years, I don’t know what you want to be. I don’t know what you want to do. It seems like you have no dreams. Wouldn’t you like to tell me more about your dreams?”

“Hahahaha,” Judah chuckled.

“I promise. No matter what dreams you tell me, I won’t laugh at you. I mean to seriously help you out.”

***

Help- I was grateful for her words, but it was difficult for me to speak, as my true desire so directly contradicted hers. I decided to lie, with a little bit of truth. She wouldn’t expect a child to so proficiently lie about his dreams.

“I don’t have a big dream, either.”

“It’s okay, tell me.”

“Hmm, it’s just- I want to travel all over the continent. I want to visit Urun, the country of entertainment, and Philoria, and Calypso, which is said to have the most magic towers, as well as being the supreme power on the continent. I want to visit Byron and the Baekje Empire, who are at war. I want to visit all the lands that desperate people have founded and lived in since ages past.”

The fragments of Pernen are scattered all over the land. Unless my memory was in error, and this world is far different from what I remember, there were eleven out of twenty-four fragments on this continent alone. Three of them, a hundred years after the fall, are nowhere to be found.

But I knew well where and how to collect the fragments. To get them, I had to visit every country and continent that I have spoken of, so my dream wasn’t a lie—only a half-truth.

“And, that’s what I want the most. When I return from the trip, it would be nice for someone to greet me. It’s also my dream to have a home to come back to after I have traveled.”

‘Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! I am ashamed, I am ashamed! I’m gonna say this! I feel like I want to put on a blanket and cook chicken with sprouts. Nothing brings peace of mind such as having a place to go back to. If I collect all the fragments, I will return to the original world. If I don’t, I will have to stay in this world forever. At that time, I would like to return to Serenia. It is not a place where I have a lot of memories, but it is a place where I can live undisturbed, a private life. If someone here sees you and welcomes you, they mean it.’

“Uuh?”

Whether my honest feelings had touched her, or whether she was surprised by my serious words, Tia made a silly sound. As I looked at her, I continued.

“Gentia, no. Tia. I will be leaving here for my dream two years hence, on the day of my adulthood. If you would like, I could give this house to you then. So that you can quit being a mercenary and have a place to rest. If you like this place, you can stay here. Oh, it’s not that- your luggage, uh, if you want, you can leave anytime. If you meet a man you love, you’ll be a honeymooner-“

“Shh.” Tia put a finger over my mouth, her expression happy. “You don’t have to say more. I understand what you mean. Still, I don’t think I have to worry.”

“Yeah?”

“I’ll wait. I’ll be here when you come back.”

Maybe something had rung through her heart. Tia’s actions had become so smooth, and I had given up trying to resist her tight hug. Then I noticed an info screen flash up on one side of my view. When I opened the screen and checked, I saw that her favorability had risen by 11, and her reliability by an additional 10.

What, was this a characteristic that could be raised so easily?