24 Hearts

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Chapter 3-1. ‘Black Tree’ tribe

Judah sat face-to-face with Isabel in her room of exotic taste, which could not be considered under Regen’s style at all. The table made in Baekje intricacies was entirely covered with food. The glasses were filled with an unspecified beverage of either water or alcohol. There was nowhere else to put it, so they poured it inside that glass. From whole-grilled meat with thick thighs like straight out of a cartoon, there were also boiled meats and fruits that stood out nicely atop a huge leaf.

“This won’t taste better than the food you brought, but we did our best to prepare them. Eat a lot.”

It looked good enough. He was secretly ignoring the food here, but he felt the smell of the meals managed to convince him enough.

“I’ll eat well. But, um- do we eat with our hands?”

Isabel showed him a demonstration after Judah didn’t know how to begin. He didn’t know what kind of beast’s leg it was, but he still grasped it and tore it apart roughly. Oil filled his mouth, but he was more surprised by the flesh in his mouth. It had excellent taste and chewy consistency.

‘It would have been nice if Jeanne and Arhil also came.’

As soon as he ate the meat in his mouth, Isabel looked puzzled and lowered her head to look at his expression.

“Why? Is it tasteless?”

“No. It’s surprising. The taste is very good, but I remembered Jeanne and Arhil.”

“Ah, your wives? You seem to love your wives very much.”

They weren’t in love, but it wouldn’t be bad to let her think that way. It was true that the ladies joined the scouting quest, and she would favor them like Judah, but she was yet to feel fond of them, so she only said what she thought.

“Don’t worry, I’ve sent them food to not disappoint them. They’ll be full by now, so don’t worry too much and enjoy your meal to your heart’s content.”

“Then thank you…”

He didn’t know why she was suddenly treating him like this, but Judah ate his food without hesitation. They munched on their meal without much conversation. She poured liquor every time Judah’s glass was empty. The scent was sweet, but the moment it entered his mouth, it wasn’t very strong at all. After receiving his shot and drinking it, his eating slowed as he grew somewhat fuller.

“You drink well. Would you like more?”

Judah carefully rejected her offer. She only had one bottle, and he couldn’t empty it all. The chief poured the bottle into her sterling silvers, but while she emptied it, there were still some left for Judah. He felt that his face was burning, perhaps because he had been drinking for quite a while, saying, ‘I think I’m good now?’

Isabel nodded.

“A bummer, but I can’t help it.”

Regrettably, Judah was also disappointed. Oily food and alcohol went well together, so he didn’t get tired of eating without rest. His stomach wasn’t as full, which pointed to the matter of whether his digestion had improved. He was greedy about drinking, but he needed to hear why she was doing this, so he tried to restrain himself as much as possible.

“Do you have anything to say?”

“I guess. I’m full, and I’ve had alcohol, so where should I begin?”

“Is this a long story?”

“Well, it’s not that long of a story.”

He shrugged while Isabel laughed as she slipped a fruit into her mouth.

“I want to say thank you first. I heard from Arek. You stopped the berserker who killed the orcs with this sword as big as his height?”

Was she talking about Kain?

“Well done. If it weren’t for you, Arek wouldn’t have come back. And if you were any simple stranger, you would’ve probably died on the spot.”

Right. Judah listened silently to her, but he could survive because he was Judah, and he was himself. It was a skillful berserker with a fragment. If Kain had a party with him, it would be no wonder if Judah was annihilated. And if Quake, who appeared there at the time, had the heart to kill Judah, he might have been sent back to the moment he acquired his Altemia and started all over.

“And to that…”

Isabel bit her lips, looking down at the liquor left in her glass. She had something to say, but it didn’t seem easy. As he waited silently, she emptied her glass at once and closed her eyes tightly.

“I’m sorry.”

The words that came out a while later was an apology.

“What?”

What was she sorry for? As he ate his food, Judah greased his hands with the oil and looked at her with doubt. Having dropped her tough and unyielding demeanor, she blushed and gazed at the ground as if it was difficult and embarrassing for her to apologize. He didn’t know if she was red because of the alcohol, but it was true that she was shy.

She said, “Didn’t we almost bring you to your death?”

“…Ha? Hahaha!”

Judah erupted into laughter after hearing her excuse. Even though it wasn’t that funny of an explanation, he laughed and laughed due to the alcohol’s influence.

“Why are you laughing?” She puffed her cheeks and asked bluntly with disgruntled eyes. Judah’s cheerful laughter died down eventually, then glanced at her.

“No, if that’s what you’re apologizing for, then so what? The world is full of dangerous things. I came to the Regen with the fear that I could die. I have prepared countermeasures for that. You don’t have to apologize. Just say, “You did a great job. Thank you for living.” That’s enough.”

This world was nothing like the real world where living was as safe. One day, while climbing a mountain, a hungry mercenary may be robbed, die of hunger, or be eaten by wild animals. In this world, you can enter a vicious lord’s castle and die by their hands or by the hands of a mistaken nobleman. This was the world they lived in. If they didn’t have the skill or luck, they could die. And die so brutally.

“It doesn’t suit you to apologize.”

“Shut up!”

She knew, replying with a small voice. She looked down at her glass to see if she had something to drink, but nothing was left after her last gulp.

“Here you go.”

When Judah held the bottle to her, she stretched out her hand to receive it, hesitantly holding out her cup.

The drink filled the glass with a clear sound. However, after reaching a little over half, there was no more alcohol left. She laughed at the tiny amount it filled.

“What, you didn’t drink everything?”

“The bottle is empty, but I still have some in my cup.”

He lifted the bottle and tried to pour it into his cup. The remaining drops emptied out of the bottle. He drank half of his glass.

“You seemed to enjoy drinking. Why don’t you drink more? There’s food left, and we can talk a little more.”

There was no option. She shouted outside to bring some more of their liquor before Judah could even speak, and somebody outside the door soon brought two more bottles of alcohol. A new bottle was placed in front of each of them. They filled each other’s glasses, lightly bumped them, and then drank it all in one shot. They gulped and exhaled, and the taste of the drink passed down their throats.

“You know what?”

“What?”

“Fragments.”

It felt like the alcohol in his body suddenly came away. It was as if his test report came, and he hid it, but his parents had been asking for it. Isabel stayed silent for a bit, glancing at Judah as she poured liquor into her cup.

“The story goes like this. One day, the fragments fell from the sky. Surprisingly, one of the only twenty-four fragments fell on the hills of Regen. And then, a god appeared from the sky.”

God? He thought she might be talking about Pernen, but she was calling the lord of the demon world a god.

“God said that he would give everything to the one who could collect all the fragments he dropped. At that time, Regen was not a united system of large tribes, but a time when many of us were fighting against each other to find the fragment sent by God. Many tribes moved, and among them, the chieftain of the Red Bear tribe picked up a fragment. He destroyed most of the tribes that were there, and the survivors swore allegiance to him.”

“…”

“This fragment was a huge, reddish greatsword.”

When he didn’t respond, she kept talking.

“The chieftain of the Red Bear tribe passed it on to his children from generation to generation. And each time he passed it on, there was a great war or slaughter. Those who inherited the fragments were tried, and every time they lost their temper and went crazy. They killed their family, they killed their same tribe, and they also killed the troublesome monsters. If they could withstand that ordeal for days or even months, they can finally deal with the fragment.”

Isabel paused for a moment and poured more liquor into her glass.

“And Quake, the chief of the Red Bear tribe of this age, has no children because it died of a disease when it was a child. That means that there is no one to inherit the fragment. From the standpoint of the tribe, fragments are a powerful thing but a kind of curse. It’s treated as something they must deal with because if a non-owner took the fragment, it would go out of control. Who would want such a thing? Of course, I don’t mind, although lack of talent to overcome the sword’s ordeal is a factor as to why we avoid it.”

Watching Judah quietly listening to her story, she laughed.

“Aren’t you curious why I’m talking about this?”

“…Yeah.”

Isabel seemed to be intoxicated. She propped her chin on her hands, with her red cheeks and loose eyes glistening. She bent and bowed in front of him, and he was astonished at her face as she approached. Their noses were close to each other.

“Would you like to trust me and do a job together?”

“Job?”

“You remember the knight with the great sword who fought you?”

Whether Arek explained it in detail, she knew the knight’s appearance, combat method, and the great sword’s appearance and technique. No, it may be the result of combining the information she already knew. At that time, Arek was dealing with the orcs with Jeanne and Arhil. She sat back upright and extended her index finger as she held her wine glass.

“That greatsword, that’s the fragment of the Red Bear tribe. The knight in the armor is not of Regen descent. He’s a stranger like you, and Quake probably intended to hand over the fragment to him. Let’s take it away. The two of us.”

“…?”