24 Hearts

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Calypso’s Nightmare

Bel-Therja disappeared after leaving him a reminder to remember their bargain. Unlike his threatening entrance, he disappeared rather instantly. Finally free from his overwhelming presence, Judah collapsed to the floor with a sigh. He felt the cold sweat of his body loosen.

‘Everything’s twisted.’

Bel-Therja, who he thought would never be summoned, stood there in the actual flesh, leaving him at a loss for words. This was a much different experience compared to his last dungeon. He received the monarch’s blessing and advent in exchange for a fragment, for a distant future that he didn’t know when would come. It was a one-sided deal he couldn’t reject, but with this, Judah won the favor of two of the seven monarchs.

‘Wait… When can I unseal the 1st monarch’s protection?’

He was yet to receive a message about it, even after reaching level 30. He began to question when the hell it would show up, so he checked the skill, and the ranks were raised without his knowledge.

[The First Lord’s Protection (Growth)]-Rank: B

You have gained the protection of Xian, First Lord of the demonic realm.

Due to your low level, the higher functions of this talent remain inactive.

-Rank. C. Your experience gain rate and the speed at which knowledge is absorbed is increased.

-Rank. B. attack, speed, agility, recovery speed increased by 10%, magic power consumption decreased by 20%.

[The 6th Lord’s Protection]-Rank: S / Workmanship: Master

You are protected by Bel-Therja, the 6th monarch of the demon realm, the lord of death.

Even if death comes to you, you can be resurrected again.

Heals all injuries and instantly recovers strength and magical power by 50%.

However, since this power goes against rationality, it takes a long time of 30 days to activate again after being activated.

[Sixth Lord, Bel-Therja Advent] Rank: SSS / Workmanship: Master

The sixth lord of the demon world, Bel-Therja, will heed your call, but only once.

He will help you in any situation.

When you activate a skill, the skill is deleted.

Xian’s protection paled in comparison to Bel-Therja’s protection, but there were two seals left, and he looked forward to seeing its full potential once it was released. The 20% reduction in magic power consumption didn’t affect him much, but if he became a Wielder of the Spirit Sword, the tides would change for him. Judah stood from his seat, recovering enough of the energy drained from him in his interaction with the monarch.

‘Wait. Jeanne!’

He had forgotten her because of Bel-Therja’s overwhelming presence. He remembered how a slam to the wall knocked her unconscious. Judah ran to his companion, staggering and trembling, his legs giving up the moment he reached her.

“Jeanne, are you okay?”

He raised her, checking her vitals. Her head hit the wall, feeling the blood trickling from her head. Startled with the blood in his hand, he scrambled to check her information window, only to read nothing but her stats, skills, and traits.

“Jeanne?”

He shook her shoulders as he called out her name, but Jeanne could only groan, nothing more. Judah frantically pulled out a potion from the -Bag-, the one sold at the temple of Serenia Castle with quite an effect. He opened the lid and applied it to her wounds. Thinking it might not be enough, he took one out of the two shards he got from the altar and fed it to her.

The dark crystallized glass melted into a red force as it slipped through her lips. Her complexion seemed to be brighter. Judah couldn’t keep her in that state, so he slung her on his back and ran out of the basement.

It was very easy for him to go back through the path they took.

As soon as they exited the basement, he scoured the mansion for a bedroom. Climbing a set of stairs, he finally found a decent room. He dusted the blanket to get rid of any dust. He laid Jeanne on it, took a clean cloth out of his -bag- and tended her with it. He walked to the window and lifted the curtains to find the rain had stopped outside.

He was a bit concerned about the other dust in the room, but he had no time to clean it given their situation. Judah ended up watching over Jeanne for a bit before leaving the room. The mansion’s magical lights continued to burn brightly, so it wasn’t as dark as Judah thought. He had taken care of Count Jinmu, the owner of the mansion, and the ghosts of the place had also perished.

He began his search. He started by going back to the basement to search Count Jinmu’s body. Unfortunately, there was nothing left to find in his decapitated body. As for his clothes and accessories, it carried a heavy amount of curses from the dead that he couldn’t use it unless he were a necromancer. He checked the second basement level, but the tools in it were nothing that money can’t buy somewhere else.

‘Why isn’t there anything useful?’

After checking each basement floor, all he could find useful were the books on the first level. Judah sighed and decided to step out of the basement to investigate the rest of the mansion. In a turn of luck, he was able to find rewards inside a study room on the ground floor.

There were a few jewels and about twenty gold coins in a desk drawer, and atop the desk was a luxurious fountain pen that was made by a craftsman, although dust covered it in.

The last drawer was locked. The possible contents of the drawer piqued his interest, so he tried budging it by force. The chest of drawers broke open. Inside was a notebook with a leather cover, and a pendant with a peculiar shape sat next to it.

The red ruby was carved into a rhombus shape, framed by silver twisted into a Mobius strip. He gazed upon it, put it down on the desk, and checked the notebook first. Seeing that there was no such thing as a title, it seemed to be just an ordinary notebook.

“It’s a journal.”

[xx.06.25]

[The days are starting to get hotter. The ghosts are groaning like they’re tired.]

[They are already dead, but I want to kill them one more time.]

[xx.07.21]

[I felt the need to find a secret place to revive my wife and son.]

[Is it right to believe in the ghosts and their whispers?]

[xx.11.11]

[Once again, I called the craftsmen of the Mantium Kingdom who had completed this mansion. I asked them to make a third basement level.]

[They were in distress but soon agreed and decided to start construction next week.]

[xx.11.17]

[The ghosts are rushing me. They want me to move fast and conduct the ritual to summon Bel-Therja.]

[For a moment, I almost lost my body to them.]

[They saw me writing that. Someone next to me laughed.]

[If I continue fighting, they can never take over me.]

After reading the first few passages, he was sure that Count Jinmu had written it.

A part of the date was omitted, but the content was quite long as if he wrote in it almost every day. In it was the story of how the ghosts had taken over him and slaughtered the personnel in his old mansion, his departure from the Baekje Empire to settle in the Calypso kingdom, the completion of this mansion, and his dreams of meeting his deceased wife and son. All of it was written on it. It was something he already knew.

He looked through it and found a long entry.

[xx.04.21]

[I do not know how long time has passed since the ghosts controlled my body.]

[Then suddenly the ghosts fled and gave me back my body, and when I woke up, a woman stood in front of me.]

[It was a beautiful woman. Her rare violet hair was fascinating.]

[Her gaze upon me was powerful, and the ghosts refused to appear, terrified of what she used against them.]

[She claimed to be a “collector of fragments” and told me she would help me against the ghosts using my body, that was, if I worked for her.]

[But I’m already old and exhausted to accept her offer, and I had no intention of moving forward.]

[I declined her offer. She then threw a pendant at me if I ever changed my mind in joining this group named -Collector of Fragments-, before disappearing without telling me the ways to find her.]

[What is the organization for? An organization with the aims of recovering the famous fragments, as the name suggests?]

[…This is a thing of the past. I have no business worrying about it anymore.]

Collector of fragments?

He rocked his memory, but it was the first time he heard it. His eyebrows furrowed. He had no recollection of writing about such a group, just like how he had no memories of Arhil. This group was never in the story.

Judah’s gaze turned to the pendant.

──────────────────────

[Name: Collector of Fragments]

[Rating: Only]

[Equipment: Pendant]

[Durability: 30/30]

[effect]

Unknown.

[Explanation]

An object that acts as a symbol of a member of a group named “Collector of Fragments.”

-Passive: It is a special item. However, it is only a normal pendant because it is sealed.

──────────────────────

He hoped to get hints by reading its information window, but it showed little to no options. All he got was the basic idea of the pendant. He kept it in mind before keeping it in his -bag-. He came here to defeat the dungeon, but a lot had burdened him since then.

He searched the mansion a little more, but unfortunately, Judah could obtain nothing more.

It would have been nice if he received some code, but leaving behind the regrets; he headed back to the bedroom where Jeanne was sleeping. She was still in slumber.

As he watched her sleep quietly with her steady breathing, Judah took a chair and sat down by the bed. He looked out the window and realized that it had gotten dark already. Judah continued watching his companion with his arms crossed. Eventually, he lowered his head and fell asleep without knowing it.