24 Hearts

26====================

To live in this world.

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The City of Serenia – East Gate

I entered the city through the gate, exhausted. The clouds over the distant mountains were tinged by the glow of sunset. It was a beautiful sight, but unfortunately, I was too tired to appreciate it. As my level rose, some fatigue disappeared, and all the magic I had consumed was restored. Still, my mental exhaustion remained. I sighed due to the tiredness of my mind, and Gentia giggled next to me, then laughed as she patted my shoulder.

“Good work.”

“Hah, I know.”

I didn’t deny that I did a good job. I couldn’t even remember how many wolf packs I had defeated. Once I passed the count of forty wolves, I could no longer keep track of the number of kills.

I could always check the number of gemstones in my -bag-, but it would be a schlep to load and go through my inventory screen.

As we headed home from the hunt, I became worried that I would be refused entry through the city gate because of my blood-covered body and clothes.

So, Tia squirted something like a spray over my body. The blood, which had hardened on my clothes, face, and hair, turned into a jelly-like substance and splashed to the ground. It was said to have been created by Ahman’s alchemists, and it was a very strange substance. The blood had flowed from me, but it didn’t mean that I stopped sweating like a sailor.

We headed straight home without going anywhere else, and the first thing I did was to wash. As I washed the sweat away under cold water, refreshment came. After I was clean, I wiped myself off with a thick towel and felt great satisfaction.

[—]The effect of the statue of -Second Queen Jopiel- has expired[—]

‘Has it been a week already?’

The time had come to visit the temple. I didn’t know if this was an error in the world’s code or a true blessing, but by simply looking at the statue of the Goddess Jopiel in the chapel, I gained a useful buff.

The buff, which lasts only a week, makes me gain experience at a greater rate and also helps me recover from fatigue. I never forgot to visit the temple every week, because I kept gaining the same buff every time.

Thanks to that, I was treated as a devout believer.

Religion here, as on modern Earth, is not subject to coercion.

You can trust in it or choose not to. However, in this ugly monster-filled world, you have to believe in the King and his apostles to receive help from the temple. So, many people visited the temples and prayed for safety.

I did not have much faith in the gods, knowing that no matter how hard I believed in the Holy Kings, only I could save myself.

I was just cosplaying as a believer, mumbling the words.

I immediately changed my clothes and decided to go to the temple, but as I thought about it, I realized that many people would be gathered in the chapel at this time of day.

So I rather took a moment to catch my breath as I lay on my bed. It wasn’t fluffy, but it was a sensation I had gotten used to, so I closed my eyes for a moment.

Perhaps I was more tired than I had figured because my consciousness quickly slipped from me. After a while, I jumped from my bed, startled, and looked through the window.

The sky, which had been lighted by the setting sun, had suddenly become dark. I checked the holographic clock in the corner of my field of view. I had been asleep for an hour, and dusk had turned into dark night.

I had just wanted to catch a break but had almost fallen asleep for the night. I scratched my head and inhaled, then changed my clothes and slowly descended the stairs to the first floor.

“Where are you going?” Tia asked as she tilted her head, coming out of the bathroom with water still steaming from her body. Her eyes showed curiosity as to where I was going at such a time of night.

“I’m going to the temple for a while.”

Tia’s curiosity disappeared at once as she heard the word ‘temple.’

“Ah- Has a week passed already? You are a very sincere believer. Yeah, just come back home. What about some rice? You must be hungry.”

“Let’s eat later. I will come back soon.”

She nodded as if she wasn’t having fun.

“Then, as you come back, buy some extra stuff from the bakery if they’re open. Something with plenty of cream or chocolate in it.”

“Don’t you like their sandwiches?”

“Buy my sweet stuff first. The other breads are a bonus.”

Tia pulled five silver coins from her wallet, which she fetched from the sofa, and threw them at me. I reached out and grabbed every coin as they arced irregularly through the air.

“Nice catch,” Tia mumbled, and I laughed at her.

I closed the door and walked for a short distance, coming out of the alleyway onto the avenue.

The streets were still crowded. Most of these people were adventurers or mercenaries, and most of them had gone out to search the western forest, returning late.

Streetlights donated and installed by the mage tower lighted the road for such nightwalkers, and few stores were closed; business was in full flow.

Serenia was a special place for adventurers. The territory of the ancient Magic Empire, upon which Serenia was built, is 50% forest. In the past, the Magic Empire was a great magical realm that ruled over this land, but it was destroyed for some reason.

Some say that it perished after becoming a battleground in the Godswar between the celestial plane and the demonic realm. Others say that the magical empire was destroyed in the aftermath of some great experiment’s failure.

Both theories are wrong, and I knew the truth.

As I created the game and developed this area, it was none other than the Fourth Lord, -Pernen-, who had destroyed the Magic Empire.

He had come to the middle-earth to test his weapons, and also because the only road to heaven was through the middle world. At that time, the Magic Empire had been a realm which believed in the Second Queen -Jopiel-, and they had desperately fought against the advent of the Fourth Lord. They were destroyed by the twenty-four armaments that he wielded.

In order to punish their arrogance and ignorance of daring to attack him without fear, Pernen opened thousands of small portals that connected to the demonic realm.

The powerless populace was slaughtered by the monstrosities that poured from the portals. It would sound like a problem that so many monsters entered this vast land at regular intervals. On the contrary, adventurers and mercenaries were able to obtain gemstones by defeating them and so laid the foundation for a decent mode of living.

Also, those who find relics of the ancient magical empire by getting lucky can get paid hefty sums, depending on the item’s worth.

However, the reason that mercenaries and adventurers continued to flock to this place, more than 150 years after the Magic empire fell, was because of the fragment dropped by -Pernen-.

Even a hundred years after the fragment fell upon the world, no one has found it. It was thanks to this that so many people visited Serenia to join the search.

“But you can’t find it,” I muttered as I glanced at the adventurers passing me by, the smell of blood on them like a perfume.

‘Of the twenty-four fragments, the one that fell here is the twenty-fourth, -Carpe Diem-. They won’t find it because it is already… No… perhaps, it is already with me. In the leather pouch that Xian handed to me when I first came here.’

I couldn’t open the pouch, but by touching the leather and by going off of what Xian had said, it was a decent guess that the gift I held in my pocket was -Carpe Diem-, which was a ring worn on the finger, just like the third fragment.

Each of the twenty-four fragments had different powers, and the abilities of -Carpe Diem- were -Enchantment- and -Subordination-.

I hadn’t been able to confirm how the abilities I had set out for the fragments in my game will manifest in reality and how they will be applied. What was clear was that the fragments belonged to their owners, and there existed no fear of them being stolen by someone else.

On my coming-of-age ceremony, I would acquire a fragment. I was now sure of it. Those who did not know what I carried wandered around here in vain, chasing the dead dream that one day they might become the owners of such a fragment.

“Ah.” As I thought about it, I arrived at the temple. I always felt that the stairs to the temple were too many. It wasn’t a temple built on the slopes of a mountain, and yet you have to climb a hundred steps to get inside. If it was not for the statue of Jopiel, I wouldn’t have taken the trouble to visit the here.

“Woo.” I wasn’t tired much, but I still exhaled as I reached the top. When I opened the door to enter, an old couple came out, stopping in their tracks as if a bit surprised. I held the door open for them so that they could pass me by.

“Thank you.”

Perhaps they were the last people from the service. They bowed their kind faces to me and then walked past. I watched their backs as they supported each other on their slow descent down the stairs and then stepped inside.

I saw that the priests were cleaning the temple floors under the bright illumination of magic lamps. The priests laughed as they met my gaze and bowed their heads, then silently returning to their jobs at hand.

Isn’t Seron here?

I had thought of saying hello to the paladin, but I didn’t see him.

So, I headed to the chapel, as Seron’s rooms weren’t close enough for a quick visit.

I didn’t know all the many paths that ran through this great temple, but I knew how to get to the chapel. Still, strangely, I felt that I shouldn’t head to the chapel.

‘?’