24 Hearts

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To live in this world.

It was very pleasant to see her likeability had risen. I decided that our heartfelt talk was over, and I wanted to get up, but Tia wasn’t about to let me go.

“Sorry, Tia, I’m going to bed now. Won’t you let me go?”

“Well, no.”

Tia shook her head slowly as she kept on hugging me. Her legs were crossed behind my waist, firmly gripping me. She laughed.

“Let’s sleep together tonight.”

She wanted me to sleep like this, without a blanket? She kissed my forehead and closed her eyes. As she held onto my body, I opened and closed my eyes countless times. I thought that I wouldn’t be able to sleep at all, but strangely, as I listened to her regular breathing and faint heartbeat, I slowly dozed off.

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From the depths of my slumber, I felt a slow return to consciousness. My eyes were closed, so I frowned and moved my hand. Something soft fell under my fingertips. I rubbed it reflexively, and so good was the texture of it, that I became addicted to the sensation. I wanted to see what it was, so I opened my eyes and awoke fully. I heard an unexpected sound.

“Aaaah.”

“Hm?”

My eyes had slowly opened, but now they were open wide. I saw that Tia was lying right before me.

No way, I was sleeping…? I noticed that her hands were resting across her chest.

She smiled as she curled up her mouth as if she was a bit embarrassed. I didn’t even think this would happen, so I was amazed and tried to get up, but for a precarious moment, that which had been supporting my body shifted, so I fell to the floor. A hand snatched out, catching me before I fell and pulling me to the couch.

“It’s dangerous.”

I sighed in relief, and only now fully awoke. Tia was making snorting noises as she laughed.

I slowly recalled yesterday’s memories.

I had talked about my dreams with Tia, and she didn’t let me go, so we slept together. I wondered whether I would stay up all night, with us hugging each other on the cramped sofa, but I fell asleep at the soft touch of Tia stroking my hair. That didn’t matter much.

I slowly looked at my hand, which had rubbed her chest in circles. I clearly remember the texture I had touched a while ago.

It was… really soft.

After a while, my heart pounded in my chest, knowing that I had touched the breast of a woman.

“I’m sorry, Tia,” I bowed my head and apologized.

“It’s okay. I don’t care if you touched me – your reaction was cute.”

Tia giggled and laughed. As if it wasn’t a big deal, she stood up and headed to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. I hastily followed her to help with the morning chores.

In the mornings, there was no need to worry about side dishes like in Korea.

You take the coleslaw, mayonnaise, and fruit, and you make a salad. You then slice the bread into bite-sized portions. You place everything into a single bowl. Each foodstuff has eight small portions. Once the meal was ready, I took the milk from the refrigerator and put it on the table.

“To travel the world, you will need more skills, or it will be difficult.”

“Hm?”

I paused after I had scraped fruit jam from a jar and smeared it onto a slice of bread. Tia was picking through the coleslaw and fruit with a fork, all the while resting her chin on her other hand.

“Don’t you remember what you said to me yesterday? You said you want to travel the continent.”

Ah, it was so. I applied even more jam, nodding as if remembering.

“Skilled mercenaries and adventurers are likely to get caught up in some trouble while traveling. Individuals not in groups are rare, so there are more cases of sudden disappearances among them. It’s because of that risk that I warn you.”

I was well aware that traveling the world without special abilities is ridiculously dangerous.

This world was just as well-polished as my original one. Still, there were no embassies in each country. If something was beyond reason, you had to do it yourself. Even if your liberty was a little restrained by it, it was a good move to start work as a mercenary, wandering here and there. But if you did that, you wouldn’t be able to go around collecting fragments.

The purpose of my travels would be to collect Pernen’s fragments. I had to do it. Besides, I wasn’t so afraid of dying. If I did, I could start over. And once I collect a fragment, I could load back to where I got it if I died.

The fact that I can resurrect from death has helped me to overcome my fears.

“I know. I’m still going to go.”

Tia giggled.

“So, let’s have more experiences before you leave. As I said yesterday, we can go through the eastern forest to hunt wolves in the southern forest from today.”

Serenia was a great place for adventurers and mercenaries to gain experience. There were many dangerous monsters to the west, but the risk was lower to the south. Still, the reason that many people were afraid of entering the southern forest is that the number of wolves there can exhaust them, both the black and white ones.

You weren’t likely to be disturbed by other people to the south, but also not likely to get help from anyone.

As soon as our meal was done, Tia and I prepared to head for the forest. I stuck out my tongue when I saw her preparing for the trip, planning to camp. Adventure is less romantic than you think. We had to cram a lot of things into a backpack in case of an emergency.

I had pondered this for a while as I saw Tia carrying her heavy backpack. Should I explain to her about my -bag- and inventory system? Her favorability was 60, and her reliability was close to 80. If I told her about it, she wouldn’t have to carry so much. So, I asked her to take her backpack off, and I placed it in my -bag-.

Surprised, she asked how I had gotten to own a subspace. Tia was very shocked, evincing an expression I had never seen before, and she even asked if I was a Balaur. I was wondering how to explain it and finally said that a man had appeared and gifted me with it.

She didn’t seem to believe me but nodded as if convinced after a while.

She then told me that I should never use it in front of others. She made a little more fuss after that, but after she thought more about my -bag-, she asked me to also bring tools that were too heavy and big to pack in a backpack.

We put in a lot of things, such as bottles of water, cooking tools, and emergency rations. It was only until late mid-morning that we passed through the east gate.

+ + +

The southern forest, unlike the eastern one, was as dark as a jungle despite it being only noon. I had been on its edges yesterday, so I hadn’t known just how dark it was. When I saw the area on my -map-, I could see the difference. It wasn’t called the Black Forest without reason. As I walked on, I felt nervous, even at the rustling sounds of small animals. Compared to when I had been here alone, I felt less scared.

“There is no reason to stiffen your body like that,” Tia said as she tapped both my shoulders.

“Ah, yes.”

Unlike me, who was tense, Tia moved in her usual smooth and elegant manner. After all, the white-silver disk is given to those mercenaries who are more skilled and experienced than other mercenaries. It was just below the gold disk, and with Tia’s current level and stats, I knew she could easily defeat the wolves here. And if we got lucky, we could even defeat -Requiem-, the leader of the black wolves. Perhaps.

I glanced at Tia as we walked side-by-side.

“By the way, Tia.”

“Huh?”

‘Fwoosh.’

“You think those wolves would come to us if you smoke?”

As Tia puffed on her long cigarette, she opened her mouth slightly and exhaled the gray smoke. The flowing smoke slowly dissipated into the air.

Even if she always says that she burns medicinal herbs, not tobacco leaves, the smell was still dank and strong. It wasn’t the smell of Earth cigarettes; rather, it was a pleasant scent once it entered your nose.

The problem is that while it was an okay smell for humans, wolves, the forebears of dogs, would be able to smell it from miles away and so learn of our position.

Tia had drawn in and exhaled smoke multiple times by now. She looked at me, curled up the corners of her mouth, and then started to laugh fiercely. It sounded the exact opposite of yesterday’s loving and heartwarming laughter.

“Yes, they’ll come.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m smoking to attract them. It’s no fun to face them one by one. So if we can’t find them, we’ll make them come to us.”

“What if their numbers are too great?”

“That’s okay. You can hide then, and I’ll take care of them. Or we can both hide.”

She meant that we could use stealth, but what about the smell of smoke that was now on our bodies?

Since living together for two years, I haven’t seen her stealth, so I couldn’t get a sense of the skill’s power at C-rank.

“Oh, did you ever see me hide? Look.”

Tia’s body faded and disappeared from view. However, the moment that she moved, the air shimmered as if in a haze, and I could see her faint outline. If she stayed still, no one would know that she was there. This was the C-rank stealth, and he wondered to what level her smell would be obscured.

‘Rumffsh,’ and she unveiled herself.

“Did you see? I’ll run away like that, don’t worry. Whoo! Of course, I’ll try to fight before I run, or die.”

I wondered whether I had to reveal Shadow Justice to her, which I had kept a secret. I was worried that Kain might find out about it. I had already told Kaseun, after all.

“So, when a wolf comes, you can fight it yourself. Hahaha.”

Tia was smiling. She didn’t know what I was thinking about. It didn’t matter. Rather, now was an opportunity, a chance to kill a wolf without having to rely on my Shadow skills. I was prepared to suffer some injuries. I couldn’t stay in Serenia forever, and if I didn’t take risks, my growth would be very slow. I took a deep breath and nodded.

“Then let’s go. To kill a wolf, we have to enter a wolf’s cave.”

We traveled on like Hansel and Gretel, leaving cigarette ash as our breadcrumbs so that we would not get lost in the woods. The trees of the Black Forest shook in the wind as if they were welcoming me with great fanfare.

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[—]Hint: “Demon” refers to the beings who came from the demon realm and settled in the middle realm. It’s convenient to see them as a kind of alien species. They have a special substance called magic stones in their bodies, and they use it to strengthen their bodies, emit flames, radiate cold air, et cetera.[—]

[—]Hint: As the demons settled in the middle world, the world was engulfed in chaos, but there are not only disadvantages to their presence. We used the gemstones in their bodies to forge a new civilization, and it enriched our lives. The demons and we are constantly opposed to each other, but we need them for our prosperous way of life.[—]

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