24 Hearts

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Chapter 3-1. ‘Black Tree’ Tribe

Four days had passed ever since they had started along the road after entering the land of Regen without a guide. Judah wandered through the forest with his party, feeling like they had been going through the Amazon itself by how vast the woods were. Luckily, they hadn’t gotten lost in their journey.

They should be able to hear any signs of the kingdom by now, given the relatively large number of tribes that lived on this land, but he couldn’t figure out why he hadn’t seen a single human shadow yet. Instead, the Orcs and other monsters had all been showing up more frequently and violently. They had even made the futile speculation that the tribes might have already perished a long time ago.

‘As long as the fragment is there, they can’t be.’

With an owner of a fragment among them, what could these orcs do to destroy them? If so, then where were they?

“We’re going the right way, right? Please tell me that this is right.”

“Ummm…”

They continued walking with still no sign of any other living being. All they’ve been doing was keeping an eye out for different races and monsters jumping at them. Judah felt sorry for his companions, but he could only say yes to reassure them.

“Don’t worry too much. We’re not going around in circles, at least. And we’re following a road, so our path is right.”

Even if it was covered in bushes, the road didn’t magically appear in a day or two. With these facts alone, they kept their mouth shut. Well, Judah himself was also very annoyed, but they were different. Judah led as well as he could, still feeling sorry for them.

“Ah!”

Judah made a sound of hope for the first time. His shadow managed to detect a human, or maybe, an orc with a human skeleton. But the information that the shadow conveyed to him was human. As Judah quickly approached it, Arhil and Jeanne followed closely after seeing him walk briskly.

Whether the person heard them going through the bushes, they lowered their stance and hid. Despite it hiding in secret, Judah knew where they were. Judah looked for an opportunity as he hid behind the bush in front of the person, and when he emerged without thinking. At that moment, the person raised their head and reached out their hand. There was a sharp dagger in its grasp.

“Hey! Stop!”

Those hiding nearby shouted, but it was too late. The boy in front of Judah’s eyes wielded his dagger, aiming at Judah’s neck precisely. The shouting didn’t even get into his ears.

Despite the sudden surprise attack, Judah took a step without panicking. The dagger broke through the air and then came straight at Judah’s body. It was like a snake. With no intention of stopping, Judah attacked the boy with the dagger.

Groan!

Their strengths clashed. With overwhelming power, Judah struck away the dagger, sending it bouncing away from them. He then jabbed him with an elbow that sent him falling to his bosom, and then he grabbed him by the neck and lifted him into the air.

In tears, the boy grabbed his wrist to try and free himself, but he wasn’t powerful against Judah. Those hidden beneath the bushes emerged with fearful gazes in their eyes.

They were completely different. Boys and girls wore crude clothes made of leather covering their private parts, but in the case of adults, they wore animal skins of wild boars, wolves, and bears. Their tanned skin glistened by the sun seemed to make their fine muscles shine even more. However, compared to their skin, the color of their hair was uniquely colorful. They looked at Judah and pointed at his arms vaguely. If possible, they didn’t want to fight.

“Calm down. We do not wish to fight.”

Since they had asked so nicely, he obliged peacefully. Judah laughed and put the boy down as he clutched him by the neck. The boy was barely breathing, drooling, and snarling in tears. Then one of the crowd approached the boy, and the others bowed to Judah, kneeling on one knee and bowing.

“Huh?”

Was it so great that he spared the boy? He felt embarrassed by their manners, which seemed a little overkill. Suspicion grew within him. While the heightened his guard, a man wearing a bearskin, as if leading the group, spoke politely to Judah.

“Thank you for your mercy, spirit. Please forgive our rudeness.”

Spirit? Insolence?

Judah blinked and looked back at his party. Jeanne and Arhil were also blinking as if they didn’t understand English.

“I’m a spirit…?”

“Yes, maybe. I’m really sorry if you were going to hide the fact that you were a spirit.”

The spirit they referred to was taken from shamanism, and it could be seen as an independent god. The problem was that they saw Judah as a spirit.

‘I don’t remember this ever happening.’

He knew they believed in a spirit, but he didn’t understand the specific setting or nature of spirits. During the creation of quests, he had the NPCs say ‘The spirit is angry!’ or even say something along the lines of ‘The spirit will be with you.’ But the spirit itself was never clearly presented, like what kind of form the spirit was and what kind of existence it was.

He found no content of it either while reading the books of the library in Serenia Castle. Not much was known about tribes in Regen, and of course, there was no book to organize them.

“…”

It seemed that they, bowing their heads, were not trying to deceive Judah. Judah scratched the nape of his neck because he couldn’t stay this way.

“Will you get up?”

“Yes.”

They carefully watched Judah’s eyes as they raised themselves.

“Why did you see me as a spirit?”

The man stared at Judah as if to wonder why he was asking such a natural thing. He hurriedly lowered his head.

“Pure black hair and eyes are a token of our ‘Black Tree’ spirit.”

Black Tree Tribe!

Judah’s face brightened. There were numerous tribes in Regen, and several of them dominated the majority. One of those few tribes was Black Tree. Humble people who were good at handling bows and daggers and cannot tell lies. One of the tribes that Judah set up, and they were trusted allies. Originally, they were careful in showing favor, but spirits were revered as gods, so they did not use them to tell lies.

‘But in any case, I should be careful about what could happen.’

Judah put his dagger back in his leather belt.

“How do I do this… I’m sorry, but I’m not a spirit, you know, I’m just a normal adventurer visiting.”

“Hmm…? Oh, yes, that’s okay. I know what you’re talking about.”

It didn’t seem like that at all. Judah thought he did not understand what he was saying. Judah said that he wished to visit their tribe, and so he was willing to follow them. Jeanne and Arhil seemed to be wary of them, aware that some citizens of Regen were cannibals, so they walked cautiously with Judah.

They strolled for an hour, and finally, Regen unexpectedly showed them something they did not expect from the country. A clean river flowed through a bank, a wooden fence was erected, and a site with antique wooden buildings stood from a distance. Upon entering the village, their houses were quite unique. The house was built on a board supported by four thick logs. They were elevated one meter from the ground, so they had to climb the stairs to get inside.

And the villagers were also very clean, unlike Judah thought. The hunters who were guiding them were covered with animal skin and had unknown patterns tattooed on their skin. They had a strange smell, but their skin was clean and shiny.

But the villagers kept looking at Judah, kneeling politely to express their courtesy as the murmurs of him being called a spirit echoed everywhere.

“Wouldn’t you like being treated like a king? Whoo.”

Arhil, who followed Judah from behind, teased in a whisper. Hospitality, as she said. They stopped and regarded Judah as if their king had come. Their guide stopped them in front of a large house, asked them to wait for a while, and then went into the building alone.

“Is this the chief’s house?”

“Maybe. In a place like this, the size of a house shows the person’s authority or wealth.”

Arhil asked, and Jeanne answered. Since meeting the hunter, her voice brightened they began talking again. Overhearing their conversation, Judah felt relieved. And soon after, the hunter wearing the bearskin who had entered the building came out.

“The chieftain wishes the spirit… No, I mean, he wants to meet you, guests. Would you like to come inside?”

There was no option. Judah nodded his head, taking Jeanne and Arhil with him up the stairs and into the building, thinking that it would not be bad for them to meet the chief early on, as they would be helpful to some degree in the future. As soon as they entered the building, his eyes widened.

‘The door is made of paper? Are they trading with the Baekje empire?’

Since they would not have the technology and materials to make Korean paper on their own, it was probably something sent in by a mercenary. He thought they lived an utterly remote life, but it turned out they were a lot different. As he stepped on the wooden floor and followed the hunter inside, the people inside saw Judah and hurriedly bowed their heads.

‘If the chief is here… What are they like?”

Judah tilted his head, opened -Notes-, and found information about Regen. The chieftain of the Black Tree tribe, as he remembered, was a beauty named Isabel, who led the great tribe with her tough personality and excellent bow skills. She was also a popular NPC by giving players several quests. The fact that she could not be recruited as a companion was enough for the many people who supported her to protest against it. As he read the information about the chieftain, they arrived in front of the room where the chieftain was staying.

“Chief. The spirit, I mean, I have the stranger… I’m sorry. I brought the strangers.”

“Yes? Come in. I’ll look at them in the face.”

“Yes.”

The hunter stepped back, telling Judah to go inside. Judah, who understood the gesture, grabbed the closed window paper door and opened it from side to side.

==================Author Note==================================== <ol>If you can only score up to 100 points, Is the most effective way to distribute points, even if it is a little late, is to fill in the S-class potential stats, potential B-class or A-class stats to the limit, and then make 100 with points? -That’s right. That’s the most efficient distribution. However, even if the potential is SS, the limit of 99 can be raised with the usual points given each time you level up. It’s a way to get the lowest stats to the limit, but it’s also effective to raise the highest potential. I have a question about stats. If we compare the stats differently from the previous works, would you say that this is similar to Memorise? How is it similar to Memorise? (Even if the stat is about 1 point higher, the character with the higher skill wins if the skill or skill level is inferior) -I only saw Memorise before I went to the army, I should see it again after that, but I kept up with it after 3333 episodes. How can I answer this? Let’s see. If you give a knife to a child against an unknowing adult, an adult can still win. </ol>