24 Hearts

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Judah looked down through the window on the second floor of the village inn. A crowd gathered outside that made the village feel small. Calypso’s mages, adventurers teaming up with priests, mercenaries, and more people come to the town as time went by. In the end, there were few places left to stay in the village, so people began to retreat.

Since this village had first been built, this was probably the first time many outsiders visited the town.

The wizards scattered to investigate and watched the villagers by visiting their homes. Cherishing this time to enjoy a glass of water, Judah sat leisurely in his room’s rocking chair.

A knock then came from the door.

“Are you up?”

It was the owner of the inn house.

Judah sighed with his eyes closed and opened only one to glance at the closed door. He refused to answer and pretended to sleep. But, as if it were a little urgent, Judah had to get up because she kept knocking and calling for his name.

“Excuse me!”

“Yes! I’m awake!”

Judah opened the door with a scowl. The hostess looked relieved.

“I’m sorry, were you sleeping and I woke you up?”

“No, it’s okay. What’s wrong?”

“Well, the official from the tower and the adventurer branch manager came to me. They told me to send you down.”

“The official and the branch manager?”

“Yes.”

Why did they come here? When she told him that they were waiting on the ground floor, Judah stepped out. His feet met the creaking, rustling wooden floor before he shut his door and descended. He thought it would be crowded because many people were outside, but only two men were on the first floor. One of them made eye contact with him.

“Ah, it looks like he’s coming down now. You’re the adventurer that was said to protect this town from ghosts, right? Let’s sit here.”

A stubborn-looking man stood up and greeted Judah politely. He didn’t know how they found him, but he sat down without an utter.

He didn’t know which of the two was the branch manager or the official, but both of them looked uptight. He wanted to take a rest a little more, but they bothered him. Judah laughed hard, following with a sigh.

“You’re looking at him. Can I ask you to introduce who you are first?”

“I’m Poga, the head of the Adventurers Guild branch of Kaora Castle. This is Jerian Andria from the Langrisa Tower. I need to confirm a few things about this. You see, the villagers said you were an adventurer. Could you please tell me your name and grade?”

“Judah Arche, I’m bronze.”

Did he not check in with the Adventurer Guild of the town? Judah thought, then remembered that the town had none. So, they probably had no data on it. The moment he heard that he was bronze, the man made a confused expression and laughed.

“Bronze? Hmm. Maybe there’s a mistake somewhere. The chieftain must’ve lied.”

The official glanced at the branch manager in dispute.

“The village chief would not dare to tell a lie so boldly. And when you went to the mansion, did you not see him? Count Jinmu and his body. He did a crazy thing. He decided to stop him. If he hadn’t, we couldn’t even be stepping on this ground right now.”

Judah understood why they came. Were they looking for the person who killed Count Jinmu?

The official looked at Judah smugly with his arms folded.

“I want to make some things clear, Adventurer.”

“Sure.”

“I want you to tell the truth. This is very important. Did you take care of the ghosts that appeared in this town? Did you really need to visit this town despite the heavy rain?”

There was a reason why he came. He received a quest from Aslan and heard from the Adventurers Guild of Kaora Castle that the subject was here. And on his way to this village, he met a hunter who was chased by a ghost and saved him.

Judah explained it down to every detail.

“I know that bronze adventurers are merely beginners, but you dealt with the ghost? Really? I heard that your team had no priest. Do you have any silver weapons?”

“No, a priest’s divine power or a silver weapon are not the only things that can strike a ghost. Do you not know how to inflict direct damage to intangible enemies?”

The official’s eyes widened with interest.

“Did you use magic power?”

“Yes, of course. But is this why you came here? You seem to be interrogating me like I committed a crime.”

“That’s right. I was just checking whether you’re the one who really killed Count Jinmu, who was called Baekje’s war hero and whatnot.”

“You’re right that I killed him, but is there a need to go through this bothersome interrogation? I’ll just show you the evidence.”

The official laughed.

“You didn’t kill him. Maybe someone else did it. Do you know the saying ‘Bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered’?”

“You’re looking down at me because I’m a bronze adventurer. You shouldn’t treat me like the rest.”

“Are you so confident in your skills?”

“Yes.”

The official stared right through him and muttered, “You’re confident.”

Then, they heard footsteps, and someone came down from the second floor. When Judah turned his head, it was Jeanne. She wore breathable clothes and stomped her feet as she descended.

“Are you a companion of Judah Arche? I’m sorry, but I’d like you to come over here and talk to you.”

Said the branch manager, who was sitting still. When he said that, Jeanne, halfway down her steps, turned to see Judah sitting and nodded her head to approach.

The official’s eyes blinked, and he stared at Jeanne. He looked at the pendant that was hanging around her neck. The moment he saw the silver pendant made in the form of a horseshoe, the branch manager gaped.

“Oh, are you a member of the Blue Lancers…?”

“I’m still an apprentice, but I am. I’m Jeanne Art Loire.”

She replied, pulling out a chair next to Judah and sitting down. It seemed that the official’s attitude changed. With his arms crossed and looking out of suspicion, he nodded repeatedly and squinted.

Judah almost laughed at his change of attitude. It was doubtful that the position of the Blue Lancers was influential in Calypso, like in the Byron Empire. But Judah thought otherwise. He knew how it looked; after all, Count Jinmu was a man who was hailed as a hero by the Baekje Empire.

But as expected, their attitude changed the moment they met the Blue Lancer.

“I’m sorry, but could you summon your lance?”

Jeanne looked at Judah, tilting her head in confusion. Judah nodded to give his permission.

When Jeanne reached out her left arm, silver particles gathered in his hand and summoned her lance. He noticed that she had cleaned her weapon as she flashed her spear. The spectators gazed at it, and the branch manager made a sound with his eyes wide open.

“Did you use this to defeat the ghosts? How?”

“Yes, it was this lance. I believe this alone can explain that.”

The official seemed convinced but puzzled. He frowned and tilted his head.

“But Count Jinmu was a famous war hero, and he was defeated by adventurers at your age. I can’t believe it. Is he too old?”

The official rubbed his chin.

“I want you to explain everything. It won’t be a waste of time. I’m going to express my gratitude to you on behalf of the Langrisa Tower once I’m sure that you defeated Count Jinmu.”

Were they going to get rewards they didn’t get in the dungeon? Judah explained to him again, in more detail, from the very beginning.

He received a request from Aslan, how he came to this place, met a hunter, found a mansion, met Count Jinmu, talked to him, and even told him that he was doing a ritual while the ghosts possessed his body.

Of course, he couldn’t say he had used a fragment, so he mixed up his lies in moderation. He struggled to go to the underground to fight him, and at the last moment, he thought he would die. But at the last moment, the Count regained consciousness, stopped the ghosts, and asked Judah to kill him to end it all.

“Huh… The one who was praised for being a war hero was a broken human being. What a terrible death.”

He nodded his head, muttering in defeat as if he was bitten by a dog he had raised. And finally, he asked Judah and Jeanne to show him the items they recovered.

It was in the -Bag-, but Judah had gone up to the second floor, telling him that he left it upstairs because he did not want to show it. When they saw the item riddled with a ghost’s curse, they frowned. Then they nodded, after confirming that Jeanne’s Ring of Count Jinmu was also a genuine item.

“I have no choice but to believe this much.”

He opened the backpack he had brought and gave Judah a heavy pocket from it.

“Take this. This is the reward for the one who killed Count Jinmu and the ghosts, so this belongs to you. The mercenaries might rebel, so we’ll have to tell them you’re the one we hired. I’ll tell them it came from a higher power.”

Judah nodded gladly and opened the pocket. Something glistened inside. There were as many gold coins in the pocket as it weighed. The man wasn’t finished, pulling out another pocket.

“And.. I’ll give it to you if you’re sure to give it to us everything, including a book that you haven’t recovered from the mansion.”

Judah couldn’t hide his surprise when he said that he would give him another pocket of gold coins, even though he left a magical boom that seemed useless to him. The magic book might have a considerably high value.

‘Were his books and tools that valuable?’

“I’m surprised. Even without that condition, a powerless adventurer will be satisfied with just this reward.”

“I can’t afford to neglect the one who killed the war hero who almost endangered Calypso. I think I can give you a big job later, but consider this a payment of our debt in advance.” The official said, “I haven’t laughed at all until now, but I’m smiling.”

“You can do that. I won’t claim ownership of any items left in the mansion.”

“Then sign here.”

The official took a piece of paper from the bag and handed it over to Judah with a pen. Wasn’t it just a verbal promise? Admiring their meticulousness, Judah signed it only after confirming nothing was strange in the paper.

And the reward didn’t end there.

The head of the Adventurer Guild had nothing to give, but he wrote a certificate stating that he decided to use his privileges to promote him from bronze to silver plate, which was unusual. Still, it was all for his efforts to save several other villages from turning into ruins. He told them to show it when they visit an Adventurer Guild to be promoted to a silver plaque.

It was a good enough deal. The branch manager didn’t really make any other fuss.

They offered their farewells, got up from their seats, and left with some of the visitors outside, leaving only a few behind.