24 Hearts

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Chapter 3-1. ‘Black Tree’ Tribe

Perhaps it was because he slept a little last night, and even though it was still dark, his eyes opened. When he looked out the window with his faintly open eyes, he saw the dark blue dawn sky.

‘I think I got up too early.’

It seemed that there were at least two or three hours left for the sun to rise fully and the day to brighten. He wanted to sleep better, but he decided to get up because he didn’t know when Isabel would send someone. He got up but fell back down to sit still as if his drowsiness came over and stalled on him. He stayed blank for about five minutes, then snapped awake again, bending his neck from side to side before really coming to his senses. After tidying up his duvet and changing his clothes, Judah saw Jeanne and Arhil still sleeping, so he went out briefly. As he took a deep breath, cold air entered his body. He felt his drowsiness thoroughly wash away.

‘It would be nice if there was a place to sit and rest… Wait, there’s a chair.’

He didn’t know who had brought it, but there was a chair to sit and rest on. As he sat on the chair, cold energy crept through his clothes. His body trembled once as he looked on at the scenery of the village. It was too early, so he didn’t see anyone wandering around the town.

“Huh?”

He thought he should have a cup of tea, and while he thought of opening the -Bag- to take out the hot water, he saw a man walking from afar. He was wearing a bearskin, and he noticed who he was. It was Arek, who he had already spoken to several times. He raised his head as he walked, breathing out when he found his gaze. When their eyes met, he stopped.

‘Why did you stop?’

Judah tilted his head as he sat on his chair and watched him as he walked. Even though he was far away, he might be the person that Isabel sent last night, seeing his fixed gaze. Maybe they brought this chair just for him. Judah beckoned to come over toward him, as he stood still while thinking. He yelled out for him, not really bothered if Jeanne and Arhil would hear him, who was still sleeping at home. After seeing his gesture, Arek walked again.

“Did the chief send you?”

“That’s right. It’s because I had the most conversations with the spirit. Oh, you don’t have to leave your seat.”

As he was an elderly man, he naturally tried to give up his seat, shaking his hand. Judah, standing in an awkward posture, sat back on the chair.

“You came very early.”

“I didn’t know when you would get up to leave. I was thinking of waiting.”

“You didn’t eat?”

He nodded.

“Then later, my brother… No, when my wives wake up, we can eat together.”

“Can I do that? It would be uncomfortable.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll need to prepare one more serving of food, that’s it.”

Judah shrugged his shoulders. He was a bit excited to see if he would have the same funny reaction as Isabel, who ate a sandwich yesterday. He leaned against the wall, staring at the village landscape like Judah, and when the awkwardness became rather uncomfortable, he decided to ask about the orc tribe he was going to scout today.

“You mean the orc tribe? We’re um… We’ll be departing from the east side of town.”

While he contemplated how to explain, Judah opened the -Bag- and took out a paper and a pen to give to him. He glanced at it as if to ask what it was. When Judah demonstrated it, he exclaimed and drew a circle in the center of the white piece of paper to try it. He looked at the pen, surprised by its smooth lines, and then drew again. He drew a triangle not far from the circle. Perhaps this tribe was the orc pack or the habitat of the dangerous monsters equivalent to it.

“There are many dangerous things out there…”

“Yes, all orcs live in groups or form tribes. This is what we’ve figured out, but maybe there’s a lot more.”

There were many places to scout, but he would have to think about fighting the orcs if there were a lot of them. As they talked about their path of movement, they heard the sound of shuffling from inside the house. Judah went inside for a while and asked Jeanne, who got up first, to know if they had taken a bath yet, and then came out again to chat with Arek.

After a reasonable amount of time, Arhil apologized for being late and asked them to come in. Judah prepared rice with the thought of having a heavy breakfast. Because they were in a building for the Baekje empire’s people, there was also a rice cooker available, so all he had to do was take out some rice. He took out the side dishes that Gentia gave him and made fried eggs. The side dish Tia made was very new to Arek’s eyes even though they’ve had fried eggs before. They also had chickens here, so they ate it quite often.

“It’s delicious, so try it.”

Eating new food required courage, and he tried the food with unfamiliar chopsticks as he watched Jeanne and Arhil eat.

“It’s delicious.”

He muttered sheepishly, but he eventually ate faster than before. Not quite as much as Isabel, but he had a pretty fresh response, and it was fun to see him enjoy his meal. As the morning dawned, they left with a full stomach and with laughter. He knew the road best, so Arek took the lead, followed by Jeanne, Arhil, and then Judah.

Whether it was Isabel’s consideration or whether Arek knew the way well, the path to visit the orc tribe was not as difficult as he thought. No branches were blocking their view, and no vines held their feet. He walked through the woods with a light footstep, and when Arek stopped walking and lowered his posture, Judah’s party followed his gesture the same way. In the distance, he saw two orcs wandering in search of food. Arek held two arrows on the bow in his hand and shot them at the same time. Surprisingly, the two arrows accurately pierced the orc’s head and killed them instantly. Without a scream or a single pip, the orc’s body doubled on their feet and fell with a thumping sound.

“Isn’t this a simple reconnaissance mission?”

At Jeanne’s innocent question, Arek looked back and laughed.

“You can’t abandon the opportunity to reduce their number. It’s better to reduce their number in advance for later.”

“…”

“Do not worry. They will kiss the ground first before they come to us.”

He was a hunter that took pride in his bow skills. After recovering the arrow that pierced the orc’s head, Arek kept moving forward, shooting an arrow at each orc he saw, defending what he said. There was no need for Judah’s party to use their hands. The arrows he shot were spot on and struck the vital places of orcs and killed them. Perhaps because of Arek, walking around the orc’s realm made them feel like they were taking a walk. Strangely, however, as the orc tribe got closer, the number of orcs decreased, and the orcs seemed to be angry with something.

“I think they’re angry, but what happened to them?”

“I do not know. Maybe so. It doesn’t seem like this is because of starvation.”

Arek responded in speculation and asked to go first. The orc tribe was located under a rocky hill. Arek, looking down carefully with his head out, was astonished.

“Unbelievable… Who the hell?”

Someone had already swept the orc tribe before they came. Their bodies scattered with blood. This was the reason why the nearby orcs seemed to be looking for something with great anger. The party went down the rocky hill and frowned at the bodies of the orcs who mangled terribly. They didn’t know who did it, but they killed them pretty brutally. Some had their organs trail out of their bodies. Some laid face down on a rock with their neck cut off. Seeing this, Arhil groaned and covered her mouth, nausea creeping up her throat before vomiting all that she had eaten in the morning. Judah patted Arhil on the back and spoke to Arek.

“Arek, were there other tribesmen other than us who decided to scout this area?”

“I don’t know. It was only me who was ordered by the chieftain to watch the nearby packs.”

“Then someone else… I have no choice but to say somebody else could only do something like this.”

It was a good thing for the orcs to die, but the fact that someone they didn’t know was doing something like this made them feel cautious. In particular, Judah recalled from Isabel yesterday that the bodies she found were surprisingly lacerated neatly into pieces back in the ruined village. If they looked closely at the corpses before them, the cuts were neat as well.

‘If you have a spirit sword… This is not impossible.’

Who the hell did this? Judah cracked a nearby branch and stabbed the orc’s body into pieces. He didn’t know how long it had been since they died, but it doesn’t seem that old. The others might not even know about it yet, and if he thought about the orcs wandering around in anger, this could have happened within the day.

“Where is the next orc clan? Let’s go there.”

He hurried Arek to lead, who nodded his head.