24 Hearts

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The twenty-fourth fragment, Carpe Diem

Cute… I chuckled as I thought of Tia calling me this.

Perhaps due to the alcohol, a reddish blush has appeared on her cheeks, and her eyes were dull, not containing their usual sharpness. Her tongue was twisted, and she garbled her words.

The drink that Chapelin Peerchen offered her wasn’t just delicious, but strong as well.

I hadn’t been thirsting for it. I had never been a drinker on Earth, but I do like sweet cocktails and the occasional drink. Especially when I am with people, liquor and beer – which I didn’t usually imbibe – goes over well.

When I thought about drinking more, I figured that it was a thirst that could not be quenched by water alone. I sighed as I looked over at Tia.

“If it was so delicious, you should have given me some.”

“Ah, our Judah! We are still having fun! And you are so young… Are you all right?”

Tia seemed younger. Her eyebrows were raised all the way, and she was laughing and laughing as she looked at the horses pulling the carriage as if she found the sight of them charming.

She looked so innocent, and I chuckled as I shook my head.

“Hey, what is it? Why are you laughing! I’m your teacher! You can’t laugh at me like this! Come on – I’ll give you a hug!”

Tia opened her arms wide and raised her head, really wanting me to come into her arms. I decided that I had to humor her so that she would stop shouting out of the carriage. Tia firmly embraced me. Rather than smelling warm and fluffy, the sweet smell of liquor was on her body.

She drank a whole lot.

Tia hugged me tightly and groaned. Her soft chest felt the same as ever. As I became self-conscious, she didn’t seem to notice it. Rather, Tia hugged me even more intensely. I gave a bitter smile, feeling a bit of guilt.

“Ah, my pretty Judah! How can you be so pretty and so cute? This Suin says that she likes our Judah. Huh, Judah?”

My heart pounded at those words. I wanted to tell Tia I loved her, but I couldn’t.

“I like you too,” I timidly whispered into her ear, so soft that she surely could have barely heard my words. I thought it good that I had revealed my feelings to her.

The moment Tia heard my answer, she kissed me all over my face.

‘Sdla!’ a sound resonated as the carriage went over a large cobblestone. I laughed when I saw Tia’s surprised face.

When she wakes up later, will she remember this? Maybe she saw that my face was full of lipstick stains, so she paused for a bit, as if worried. Then Tia smiled, and because she was so mature, it was a truly enchanting smile.

“Weee! Judah, sooo, you said you wanted to drink, right?”

“Yeah?”

At that moment, I felt pain as Tia crushed my cheeks between her palms. Inevitably, I looked ridiculous once my tongue stuck out of my mouth.

Huh?

“Soohooo! We’ll give this young Judah a taste- Whoohoo!”

I was amazed – my eyes wide – at what Tia did next.

As she kept hugging me, she kissed me full on the mouth. In that single moment of amazement, I could feel my heart pounding and raging at the touch of Tia’s soft lips.

And my heart wasn’t merely pounding – it was jumping up and down like crazy.

Tia was the first woman that I had thought beautiful since I came to this world. I had given her my heart, but she had never responded because I was so young.

The love that I had thought to be folded away and out of my reach now arose in my breast.

By instinct, I closed my eyes and stretched my arms around Tia’s neck. Tia skillfully bit my lower lip, suckling on it with the slightest of movements from her own lips. And in no time, she pushed her tongue into my mouth.

Tia’s tongue felt soft, and the kiss I had imagined to be sweet did, of course, taste like liquor. It was nice, though. Tia was leading, greedy, as she violated my mouth.

“Hah, hah? Oooh-“

Tia slurped all the saliva from my mouth and licked every corner of it as her tongue roved over my teeth. Every time it moved on, it left sensory traces of its presence.

“Haah. Aaeup. Tswooo!”

Both Tia and me broke from the intense kiss as we caught our breaths. A silvery line of spittle ran between our lips, connecting us. Tia was silent, while it felt as if I was gasping and gasping.

“How was it? Drinking?”

“…Uh, um- Yes, it was very… delicious,” I replied with some regret, still immersed in the rapture of our kiss.

“See? Delicious after all!” Tia said happily. The ears protruding above her hair twitched. While still in Tia’s arms, I reached out and touched an ear.

“Hoowa!?”

It was a very sensitive area, so the moment I touched her ear, a sharp burst of breath escaped from her mouth. Shivering, Tia slowly pushed me from her. Her expression seemed as if she was holding something in.

“Ya! Judah, we of the Suin race are… sensitive creatures. You will be scolded if you touch my ears.”

“It was because I found it cute.”

Tia tilted her head and paused for a while as if worrying. Then she blushed and gave a bright laugh.

“Because you found it cute? Then, oh, it can’t be helped. Your mistress gives you permission!”

I reached out when I saw her twist her head so I could comfortably touch her. When both of my hands stroked over her ears, I saw her tail twitching in delight behind her back.

“Hmm, that feels nice.”

“Oh yes.”

As I saw Tia’s body trembling, I realized that I was breathing harshly. And then the carriage slowed. It seemed that we were approaching the front of my house. Couldn’t the journey have been longer? I just wanted the carriage to be soundproofed.

When I lifted my hands from Tia’s ears, she looked sad, but it couldn’t be helped. We had to get off now.

“Juuuudaaah.”

“Tia?”

As she leaned her head on my shoulder, Tia’s head drooped, and she passed out. ‘Tuk-tuk,’ I poked her, but there was no reaction.

She just groaned and wriggled her hands as if annoyed. As I watched Tia, I smiled.

“What- Really?”

I lay her back and pinched her cheek. I turned around, giving up a little, and then swung back and grabbed her wrist, saying, “Look at me, Tia!”

She showed no reaction. I had thought that I had seen all her charms, but this was a new aspect of her nature that she now bared to me. As I contemplated the situation, I moved her sleeping face back and forth until the carriage came to a complete halt.

And after it stopped, the carriage door was opened by the coachman. He greeted me with a friendly face as if he had heard nothing. I asked him to take the box that was next to me and place it by my front door. Then I looked at Tia, lifting her up with care, and stepped out of the carriage.

The coachman drove away, back to the castle.

Tia’s breath on my neck tickled my ears. The night air was cool. I took out my key and unlocked the door, opening it. I figured that I had to move her to her room before closing the front door, so I took off my shoes and dragged her on.

Her drunk and unconscious body was heavy, and due to the differences in our physiques, her dress dragged on the floor until I could lay her down on her bed.

Tia slept as if lost to the world.

I could only laugh as I saw her tail flick, with her mumbling something.

What had happened in the carriage felt like a dream. I sighed as I removed the heeled shoes that Tia wore.

Should I change her clothes?

Tia had said that she loved the dress that she was wearing, so if she slept in it, it might become wrinkled. It must also have caught a bit of dirt when I dragged her in, but that couldn’t be helped.

I thought about changing her clothes, but I knew that if I took off her clothes to change them, I might lose all reason.

She was sleeping unprotected, very drunk, so no matter what happened, she would not awake.

I shook my head, banishing such devilish temptations, and then thought for a moment.

I didn’t want to twist my relationship with Tia for momentary pleasure, so I tucked her into a warm blanket and closed the door.

I don’t know if she will complain about her dress being wrinkled tomorrow, but that would be her problem. I had told Tia from the beginning to drink moderately, but she kept drinking because she had found the liquor to be delicious.

I moved the box containing Lord Chapelin Peerchen’s gift into the house and closed the front door.

Even though I wasn’t that sweaty, I still went into the bathroom and took a quick shower.

I then sat down on the living room sofa, and while shaking the water from my hair, I opened the wooden chest I had placed on the small table.

The Bastard Sword, which looked almost too flashy to carry, boasted a graceful form.

It was an object given by a lord, so the experience of taking it from its box was pleasurable, as the chest has been lined with a luxurious, soft cloth.

It felt as if I had received some great treasure.

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[Name: Bastard Sword]

[Rating: rare _ ordinary sword]

[Equipment Class: Long sword]

[Durability: 30/30]

[Attack Power: 40]

[Effect] Strength + 1

[Description]

One of the merchant guilds, ‘Mami’, commissioned the blacksmith’s guild to forge a long sword, a true blade to curry favor with the lord. It was intended as a sword for practice, as it is not great enough for the \7b Wielder of the Sword] to use it. Still, its center of gravity and the quality of its steel is excellent, so it is an adequate weapon to be used by those with lesser skills.

-Previous maintenance (Passive): Because organic matter (blood, fat) does not adhere well to this blade, sharpness is maintained, and its durability decrease rate is low.

-Renown (Passive): This is a sword forged for \7b The Wielder of the Sword] Of course, the wielder of a spirit sword cannot use a sword like this in battle, but your renown is enhanced by owning it.

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…Okay.

As I lifted it and stirred it slightly through the air, I felt that its balance was indeed excellent, as its description stated. It was quite good compared to conventional swords.

I didn’t think that the normal weapons sold in the forge were that good the more I used them. This sword was definitely different.

If the attack power is 40…

The grade is subdivided along the value and quality of the weapon and its attack power. If the weapon’s attack is 40, then it has the stat grade of [Ordinary], the lowest stat grade. The description’s statement that this sword was forged for practice was not in error.

Compared to the [common] swords I used, its attack power was about double, but I still felt that it was insufficient.

The stat grade was a little low for a sword given to the \7b Wielder of the Sword], but as I thought about it for a moment, I figured that there was a way to increase the attack power. The \7b code] I had gained after killing Alpha Wolf Korkan and the \7b code] I had used and then removed from the longsword after was broken were removed from my \7b Bag], and applied to the Bastard Sword.

[—]Would you like to give »Bastard Sword« the effect of «Code Suffix: The sneaky one who aims only at the enemy’s wounds»? Y/N]

[Would you like to give »Bastard Sword« the effect of«Code Prefix: Sharpness of ~»? Y/N]

[—]As the prefix and suffix [codes] were successfully added, the name of »Bastard Sword« is changed to »The sharpness of the sneaky Bastard Sword that aims only at the opponent’s wounds«[—]

And so, a strange name was born.

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[Name: The sharpness of the sneaky Bastard Sword that aims only at the opponent’s wounds]

[Rating: rare _ worthy sword]

[Equipment Class: Long sword]

[Durability: 30/30]

[Attack Power: 51.5]

[Effect] Strength + 1

[Description]

One of the merchant guilds, ‘Mami’, commissioned the blacksmith’s guild to forge a long sword, a true blade to curry favor with the lord. It was intended as a sword for practice, as it is not great enough for the \7b Wielder of the Sword] to use it. Still, its center of gravity and the quality of its steel is excellent, so it is an adequate weapon to be used by those with lesser skill.

-Previous maintenance (Passive): Because organic matter (blood, fat) does not adhere well to this blade, sharpness is maintained, and its durability decrease rate is low.

-Renown (Passive): This is a sword forged for \7b The Wielder of the Sword]. Of course, a wielder of a spirit sword cannot use a sword like this in battle, but your renown is enhanced by owning it.

-Code Suffix: The sneaky one who aims only at the enemy’s wound

└5% increase in blood loss\\\Damage 10+3% increase\\\2% increase in Durability Decrease Rate

-Code Prefix: sharpness of~

└Wound Worsening(3% Increase in blood loss\\\1 % decrease in regeneration)

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“Good.”

With this, the attack power exceeded 50 and escaped from the lowest level of [Ordinary] to [Worthy].

I gazed at the sword, satisfied, then put it into my \7b Bag]. When I stretched out, with nothing to do, tiredness came over me. It would be too troublesome to head up to the second floor and lie down on my bed.

I just decided that I would sleep on the sofa when I smelled something.

It was the scent that had been on Tia’s body. I rolled around the couch as I thought of how Tia smelled. And as I thought of her, my face flushed as I recalled what had happened in the carriage a while ago.

Perhaps she had pretended to be drunk?

Maybe she was just thirsty as well and…

But I soon thought that there was no possibility of her having been sober. I shook my head to erase such wacky thoughts from entering my mind, and yet, I still couldn’t sleep properly.

All I could feel was my rapid heartbeat.

* * *

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Hint: In the case of items, the grade is subdivided according to the number of skills and attack power.

In the case of common [white], the number of skills granted to the weapon is 1 or less.

In the case of rare [green], the number of skills granted to the weapon is 3 or less.

In the case of unique [purple], the number of skills granted to the weapon is 5 or less.

In the case of ancient [orange], the number of skills granted to a weapon is 7 or less.

In the case of legend [yellow], the number of skills granted to the weapon is 10 or less.

The number of skills a depending on your weapon’s stats grade. Of course, this isn’t always the case, but even though a weapon is of a legendary class, it might still only have one skill.

The weapon’s stats grade, which is subdivided according to its attack power or defense power, is classed into «ordinary→ worthy → luxury → treasure → myth»

For example, to explain this with a sword possessing attack power:

If the attack power of the sword is 10 or higher, it is classified as an [Ordinary Sword]

If the attack power of the sword is 50 or higher, it is classified as an [Worthy Sword]

If the attack power of the sword is more than 100, it is classified as an [Luxury Sword]

If the attack power of the sword is over 150, it is classified as an [Treasure Sword]

If the attack power of the sword is 200 or higher, it is classified as an [Mythical Sword]

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Don’t worry, everyone. I will not betray you.

Within 10 chapters… You will see it.