24 Hearts

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The twenty-fourth fragment, Carpe Diem

Judah took out the Flying Father’s spear instead of his broken bastard sword.

“Huh…”

Judah had to admit, the grip and balance of this weapon truly felt much better than the sword given by the lord. Judah felt wrong by wielding a dead person’s weapon, much less the weapon used to kill him once, but it felt wasteful to leave it alone for that same reason.

The outside of the mansion stood guardless, and the two of them approached the entrance warily. The walls surrounding the mansion was surprisingly intact despite the desolation of the ruins. It did its role as a wall, but the rest of its upper mantles seemed to have face the wear and tear of time.

By the entrance, Judah initiated his -Shadow Justice-. Judah’s shadow, then cast by the setting sun, grew to cover the entire area. Because of the creeping evening sky that cast heavy shadows of the night, the goblins didn’t notice his shadow that engulfed the whole ground. The number and location of each goblin across the area flashed on his -Map-.

‘There’s quite a lot of them…’

He wasn’t sure if they were the only ones in the building, but as far as he can see, twenty enemies lurked in the distance. About five or seven of them, he could take down in an instant, but for the rest of them, he had no choice but to ask for his companion’s help. Despite his concern, he had to stop worrying too much for Jeanne and her heavy armor.

“I’ll go first.” Judah nodded his head in command.

He took the lead, with Jeanne in the back putting on a brave face. He went a few steps ahead, focused on the -Map- to check the location of the goblins around. Judah activated a skill on his left hand, and as he did, a shadow emerged from his hand, conjuring a hefty dagger.

The moment Jeanne stepped beyond the entrance, the clanking of her heavy armor echoed in the open air. The Goblins gathered around the fire, who were too busy pulling apart the corpses of their kin to eat for dinner, snapped their heads at the two of them. Judah, with a final squeeze of his dagger’s grip, threw it at the goblins ahead.

Kiek!

A goblin about to stand up froze in place as Judah’s dagger shot straight for his head. In a moment, his body fell to the ground. Judah conjured another blade and whipped it towards another goblin. Whenever he conjured them, it decreased energy out of his Magic Power. With the help of -mercenary-style left-handed dagger-, every dagger went to no waste as they all hit his target perfectly. The rest of the goblins charged at him, but they had to go through Jeanne before reaching him.

The goblin squeezed its feeble spear as it pounced at the Blue Lancer, and Jeanne could only smile at its attempt to break through her shield. Unless an opponent was as swift as a Flying Fighter, there was no way anybody could win head-on against a Blue Lancer, especially not a goblin that possessed no threatening ability. She stomped her left foot forward and braced her shield into her arms.

“I will never let you through,” she said.

Quaang!

The shield in her left hand struck the goblin sending it back to air. Every goblin that dared to attack ended up as nothing but bodies rolling on the floor as they collided with her shield. There was nothing they can do. Even if they played dead, the man behind her would strike them precisely with his daggers. The Goblins, who thought they had no choice but to defeat the preceding knight, attempted to charge again as they screamed.

After taking down seven goblins with his Shadow Justice alone, Judah grabbed daggers in the stack hanging on his belt. One by one, he knocked down the goblins with a strike of his daggers as Jeanne wielded her shield in front of him, brandishing her lance in the other hand.

Kieh!

The goblins spending their peaceful day just like any other day found themselves cowering in fear at the mercy of their uninvited visitors. Even with just a tiny twitch of their muscles, a dagger would rain down at them and anybody near them. Those brave enough to continue attacking them were beaten down by the Blue Lancer, standing like an iron wall protecting the young man.

The goblins were peculiar, and while some were fearful, some continued charging at them despite the blow they’ve already taken. Despite their attempts, not a single one had reached the boy behind the Blue Lancer. They either shrieked as his blades pierced through their skulls, or their bodies ricocheted in waves as they were left groaning on the ground.

Jeanne walked over to the fallen and wriggling goblins, bursting their heads with the lance for a final and deadly blow.

“Judah! I can’t find the body of the Flying Fighter. It must be inside.” Jeanne cried out as she checked around the campfire.

If her body was nowhere in the garden, then it was indeed inside the mansion. The turmoil they caused should’ve been enough to draw out the other goblins, but their disappearance felt like a conspiracy. Goblins were cunning, so there must be something waiting ahead of them. As they descended further in, Jeanne decided to take the lead. She walked up to the threshold of the secured mansion and then struck the door with her shield.

Blag!

The ancient blasted and scattered all over the floor like it had been beaten to death by an axe.

“It’s dark.”

Concealed behind her shield, they took a single step inside, and as it met the darkness within, something pierced through the air coming straight at them.

“Move back!”

Jeanne fell closer to Judah to protect him, lifting her shield at the flying threat. It rolled onto the floor and squinting through the darkness, and they could see it was a simple rock. Judah opened his -Bag-, grabbing more bottles of the fluorescent liquid he had given Jeanne. He threw them all over the floor, and in a flash, its light radiated through every nook and cranny, chasing away the shadows of the mansion.

The goblins gawked at the light dancing in the air, and while they sat there mesmerized, Judah hid behind Jeanne again to check their enemy count.

“Four on the first floor and three on the second floor.” He instructed her.

Judah headed to the second floor. The goblins had gathered a pile of stones to throw at him as he came up, but none of them could hit him. He walked up to them with no ease and killed them off one by one with a swing of his spear, even without the aid of his Shadow Justice or Shadow Swordsmanship. Fighting them in the dark wasn’t hard; it merely annoyed him, but the creatures were just as weak as the ones he had killed outside.

The goblins on the first floor all faced the same situation, with Jeanne walking up to them and then striking them all down. Judah continued his killing spree, unaware of the door that opened behind him. When he turned around the moment he felt the threat approach, Jeanne was already there to attack the enemy.

He didn’t know how she saw it first, but her lance had already struck the goblin coming out of the door. Her lance passed by in front of his face, faster than a baseball flying through the air. Hearing a thump, it seemed that lance had pierced the goblin’s body and send it stuck on the wall.

“…”

Judah looked at Jeanne incredulously, who flashed him a thumbs-up as she stood there covered in green goblin goo.

“Don’t worry, Judah. It’s my job to protect you.”

He wanted to tell her no, but Judah bowed his head as a form of gratitude nonetheless. He praised her the same, telling her that she had worked hard. Afterward, they continued to look for Ea’s body. Judah wondered if there were no treasure chests, but he managed to find a wooden chest hidden underneath a fairly neat piece of cloth to his luck. When he opened it, he saw two gold coins and a sapphire.

‘I remember that I also put in accessories. Well, whatever. This isn’t a game, and perhaps there’s really none.”

Brushing it off, Judah settled for the gold coins, then gave the sapphire to Jeanne. As they scavenged the mansion further, they finally found the Flying Fighter’s body. Her clothes were ravaged like they tried to take them off, but she remained untouched.

In the end, they decided to burn her body along with the mansion for good. The mansion was far and isolated from other buildings, and burning it wouldn’t cause any chain reaction. After ransacking the place and coming out empty handed, both burned the entire area down to the ground.

Jeanne and Judah watched as the fire devoured the entire mansion before making their escape.

The mansion burned all night long, and there was nothing left of it by the break of dawn. The two of them came out of their shelter, feeling a bit of weight lift off of their shoulders.

“Should we go back to the castle now?”

“…Yes. I think so.” Jeanne, still regretful of the fragments, still nodded in response.

Judah walked off, the BLue Lancer following after him.

“What do you plan to do now?” she asked in the middle of the dull silence.

Judah rolled his eyes, dreading the question. “Well, I’m going to register as an adventurer first.”

“Oh, haven’t you done it yet?”

Judah laughed as he nodded his head, “I didn’t have time to register.”

After his coming-of-age ceremony, Judah took off right away to find Jeanne, giving him no time to register for it.

“But I’m still thinking about it if I should register as a mercenary or an adventurer.”

To register as a mercenary or an adventurer had no significant difference. Both roles received guild missions of the same nature. The difference was the team’s size and whether or not they stayed in one area for a long time. The class system for evaluating their skills was the same.

“I think adventurers are better than mercenaries.”

“Hm… Yeah. I’m going to several places anyway. After my registration, I’ll be leaving Serenia Castle within three days. Do you need more time for yourself?”

“No, three days is enough.”

“Good. When you arrive at the castle, take all the free time you need and then come to my home after three days. I will be ready to leave.”

Jeanne nodded her head. After leaving the ruins, they followed his map on the way back to Serenia Castle. On their second day, they found themselves back in the kingdom. Judah made an appointment to meet the Lord before going home. And once he stood by the threshold of their home, he exhaled the breath he had been holding, before knocking on the door. Inside, followed by a rough sound, the door opened.

“Judah!”

Tia stared at him in heartily bewilderment. Her Judah greeted her back with a wholesome smile.

“I’m back, Tia.”