24 Hearts

116====================

Chapter 3-1. ‘Black Tree’ Tribe

Shrkkk!

The magical spear had managed to cut off the Orc’s hard muscles. Blood splattered from the stab that ran from its belly to its right shoulder, but Judah moved back before the blood even got on his body. Altemia, which appeared from his hand like magic, pierced the Orc’s belly with its sharp blade and sucked out its blood. Feeling that something was sucking his energy, the Orc threw the weapon in his hand, grabbed Altemia, and tried to pull it out, but it didn’t budge as it dug into his flesh.

Roar!

The orcs howled as Judah moved ceaselessly. By dealing with the group of black wolves alone in Serenia, he avoided their attacks with less difficulty than expected. Rather, he felt like this was even more comfortable than when he faced the wolves.

With Potential Liberation, Magic, and Spreading Shadows activated, he had no problems in evading their attack, and with the help of Altemia, Judah was able to perform counter-attacks correctly. Despite there being thirty of them, they couldn’t even touch Judah. He even managed to kill several orcs with one attack. However, Judah, who had been moving quickly like a squirrel amongst orcs, glimpsed the wounds on their bodies. If one guy had it, he might’ve thought it was his doing, but a whole lot of them had scars.

‘Who hurt these guys?’

Although their wound’s depth was thin and was healing because of their unique high regeneration power, they had countless lacerations. Some cuts looked like it came from a sword, and some wounds looked like they were scratched or swamped. There was even dark, dried blood in the leather clothes they were wearing.

“Wait.”

It had distracted him, almost allowing the enemies to strike him. The moment he was about to hit his dagger at the nape of an orc’s neck, a sound dashed into the air, and his enemy jerked. An arrow stuck to its head. Starting with that, arrows rained down all around Judah. Surprised, he ought to get out, but he couldn’t move because of the Orcs nearby. And Magic cautioned him that it was dangerous to move.

Whenever he tried to attack, an arrow would fall, so he stood still, and the arrows and fall would strike the orcs around him. After the shower of arrows, there were only three orcs left standing. The orcs were dumbfounded.

Blood splattered on his face. Judah wiped it with the back of his hand and looked in the direction the arrows came from. The Black Tree chief stood alone in the direction. She walked leisurely with a bow, like a model strutting with power. Judah grew flustered when he didn’t know how to look, his eyes falling on her buttocks instead. She was in good shape, making him unable to tear away from his gaze as a man. Turning his head, Judah pretended to look around him to see if anybody survived the shower of arrows. Then he suddenly felt strange.

‘Did she shoot all of this alone?’

There were certainly dozens of arrows that fell upon them. The hands came at them at a simultaneous speed, and he had to think that several shots were drawn. But there was only one person that could have fired the bow.

‘Indeed.’

Studying the arrows at the head, heart, and vital spots of the Orc, the tip of the arrows were dyed red. He hadn’t seen any other arrows to compare it to, so he didn’t know if it was the sign of the chieftain, but she must have shot it alone. Being the chieftain, this would be possible. After all, her tribe was one of the four great tribes. Judah bowed his head when she approached him.

He then said, “Thank you for helping.”

Whether she thought it was polite, she then replied with a pleasant expression.

“What? It’s nothing compared to helping our children.”

“Did the kids tell you that?”

It wasn’t long since they ran into the tribe, but it was enough to reach the chieftain’s ear. The village was quite large, but their ability to transmit information was quite fast. However, she shrugged her shoulders at his question.

“You can just say that my ears are sensitive. I heard an orc screaming. I just ran out with my bow and arrows. I met the kids in the middle, and they said you helped them. So I took my time. Who thought you were willing to fight alone a horde of orcs?”

Chief Isabel looked at Judah’s body from head to toe with approval. It was covered in blood orc. He didn’t have injuries, and he fought them well. She didn’t know how old he was, but none of the tribesmen possessed that skill at his age.

‘You’re not the kind of kid I want to simply hug.’

She gulped. The strong can take everything in Regen, a world of lean meat. It was possible to have multiple wives or husbands, regardless of gender, as long as they were capable. However, she, who had been in the chieftain position until now, could not find her favorite. But looking at Judah now, she finally felt something for the first time.

He had pure black hair and eyes that matched the spirits passed down through the legend of their tribe and had excellent combat skills necessary for survival. She liked his guts in fighting against a number of Orcs alone. Even if she hadn’t helped, which took a while, he still wouldn’t have much trouble in dealing with the orcs.

“Miss Isabel?”

At Judah’s polite call, she returned to earth by blinking her eyes.

“Ah, I’m sorry. Anyway, I’m glad you’re not injured. Maybe I helped you for nothing? Whoo.”

“That’s not true. Because of your help, we’re able to have a peaceful conversation like this.”

As they spoke, a few tribesmen ran in, armed but late to the combat. Isabel ordered them to retrieve the arrows. They kindly brought back two of Judah’s daggers. Accepting the dagger they handed over, Judah brushed off the blood and tucked it back into the belt on his waist.

“We’ll take care of the bodies. Do you want to stay here and smell their blood?”

He was asked if he wanted to stand still and watch.

“Can I do that?”

“No. Why? Do you want to help?”

Judah pondered for a moment before shaking his head in no time. He didn’t want to touch their bodies with a mixture of blood and stench. In response to Judah’s reaction, Isabel took the lead and walked. She turned her head, not fond of how he walked behind her.

“?”

“Why are you following from behind? Come to my side.”

He followed her without saying anything. As he moved to walk with her side by side, awkwardness came in. Judah filled in the silence.

“Do the orcs usually appear near the tribe?”

“Of course. Probably the most fierce realm fights in Regen are between the orcs and us. Other tribes are the same.”

She snapped like it was a stupid question. Since Judah was silent for about three seconds, she continued talking as if terrified of the silence.

“But it’s a little weird. The orcs are dumb, and there’s no way they would dare attack our tribe in such a small pack and without proper armor and weaponry.”

“Maybe they’re just wandering around?”

“They may be. But if so, they wouldn’t target us. The orcs in the vicinity do not attack our tribe.”

She said proudly. Listening to her gave Judah flashbacks of the past. It was like one of the NPCs he could talk to in their town.

“Be prepared to get a hole in your head if you dare oppose the Black Tree tribe in Regen!”

“Orcs? They don’t meddle with our tribe. They can’t touch us. No one could survive our arrows. Why? Can’t believe it? I can demonstrate it to you if you want.”

The NPCs spoke of their tribe in such a manner. The Black Tree tribe was skilled in assassinating enemies from a distance because of their excellent bow skills. The orcs also feared them for it.

“They might have come from other places.”

“That’s weird. Orcs from other places?”

“…The orcs had scratches on their bodies. It didn’t seem like it came from a fight; rather, it looked like scratches from trees or falling from a great height. Maybe it has something to do with the orcs coming from the upstream of the river?”

Not much information about this place was known, so he tried to speculate. Unsurprisingly, Judah’s words caused her to erupt into laughter.

“Silly. There’s a tribe upstream of the river with a red greatsword. They must’ve driven away the orcs. That’s crazy. We’ll be attacked from both sides.”

Red greatsword. That would mean the fragment. Judah confirmed in his -Notes-. A crude map that outlined Regen appeared. Like a clock, the Black Tree tribe was located at 5 o’clock, and the tribe with the red greatsword was the Red Bear tribe at 1 o’clock. And Judah remembered that there were small tribes in between.

“Then is there a space between the two tribes?”

“No, there are a few small tribes…”

This realization made her voice tremble.

“The orcs came down from the river. And like you said, chief, these orcs wouldn’t dare touch your tribe.”

“What do you want to say?”

Judah couldn’t be sure of his thoughts, so he thought he was rambling aimlessly. In the in-game story, he knew there was an event in which the Black Tree tribe attacked the orcs, but that didn’t happen here. However, he had already witnessed reality as it missed a couple of in-game events. He had thought of what was meant to happen, so now he tried to think of what could happen in their case now.

“What if… What if the Orcs attacked the little tribes and came down?”

“What?”

“I may be mistaken because I don’t know the location of the orc packs around here… but I think it doesn’t make sense for them just to wander upstream of the river. The children were playing around the river, so that means it’s been a safe zone for a long time, and then suddenly, these orcs appeared. That might mean something, right?”

Wasn’t his speculation good? At his theory, Isabel bit her lip.