24 Hearts

100====================

Chapter 3. Flag Competition.

Later, Judah went to Arhil to check her condition, and when he confirmed that she had fully recovered, they decided to return to Kaora Castle with Jeanne. Before they left the village, the village chief and other people visited them and gave them food for their journey. After thanking the townspeople, they packed the food. Among them were the hunters Judah and Jeanne saved from the ghosts.

Shortly before leaving the village with a send-off crowd, an old companion of Arhil came to see if she would change her mind, but she didn’t. They had to watch Arhil’s departure in despair.

“Ah, honestly… I don’t know why they keep sticking to me like that.”

When the village was finally out of sight, Arhil groaned, kicking a stone on the side of the road.

“Keep? Did they keep on doing that?”

Jeanne asked. She nodded her head eagerly and replied.

“That’s right! Even after I said, I was going to leave. They kept coming by every few hours and asked that I should think again. They keep pretending not to hear me even after I said no again and again.”

“Oh no. Why didn’t you tell them off?”

“Maybe I should. I’ll be annoyed if Mr. Judah makes us return, but I’ll do that if it ever happens.”

“Okay.”

When Judah turned his head to see her laughing and speaking to Jeanne, Arhil skillfully controlled her expression. With a cheeky smile, Judah took the lead and moved his pace. They felt even more secured after bringing the priest as their companion. In addition, their mood was different because she was energetic.

“You can stay without paying attention to us. Just tell us what you want to say. We want to see more of that side of yours!”

“Hey, really?”

“Yes. You are so serious for your age. In fact, you haven’t been very fun until now.”

Hearing that he wasn’t so much fun, Judah dropped his shoulders a little, as if Jeanne’s words had hurt him. Arhil, who did not miss the gesture, approached and encouraged him with a pat on the shoulder and a slow nod.

“What is it? Don’t look at me like that…”

“It’s okay. I’m here now, don’t worry too much. We’ll have fun without getting bored on the way.”

Arhil hummed confidently. He didn’t know why, but she looked pleased.

+ + +

It wasn’t raining, so they arrived at Kaora Castle much faster than when I headed to the village of Cherryu. The adventurers and mercenaries who had previously been hired by the Langrisa Tower, were staying in the castle. More people were coming and going than when they had come before. Without switching for another way, they headed straight to the Adventurer Guild.

The guild looked as secluded as it was when it rained. Judah went to the counter and presented their bronze medal along with the certificate from the branch manager. It took a while to make the silver plate, so they decided to wait inside the guild. When they sat at a table that had been cleaned, they bought something to drink.

Jeanne and Arhil talked to each other, and Judah fell into his thoughts about his plans. He had already obtained two fragments in a short time, less than two months after he went through his coming-of-age ceremony and left Serenia castle.

-The Tenth Fragment, Altemia-

-The 24th Fragment, Carpe Diem-

However, these two fragments were relatively easy to obtain because they had no owners, and all the fragments to be obtained were held by an owner or unattainable with his current skills.

When he glanced at Arhil and Jeanne, they were busy talking to each other. Pretending to look out of the window, he opened -Notes- and checked the information on the next fragment.

‘The next place to go to… Is it Regen?’

Although the area had not yet been revealed in -Map-, it was not difficult to confirm its location and all related data as there was a picture attached.

Regen was a country surrounded by the country of knights, Philoria; the country of entertainment, Urun; the magical kingdom of Calypso, and the slave kingdom of Silan. Regen was famous as a tribal nation or the land of mercenaries.

In particular, Regen’s mercenaries were famous for their excellent skills, and there was a reason for that.

Regen was not rich in minerals, unlike Philoria, and there weren’t any knights with a high value in skill and fame. Nor was it a magical land blessed with magic powers unlike Calypso, nor did they have mages present in their country.

The land filled with mountain ranges, large and small, and the food was all fruits and animals from the mountains. Plains were scarce for farming, so harvesting provided them little. Their population was larger than in other countries. That was all they had.

Born and raised from the mountains, they fought monsters and competed for survival. They lived in a barren environment where they never know when they will die. Naturally, they did not know when they would die, so they thought that they had to keep their bloodline alive by having descendants, so they enjoyed sex a lot.

Whether men or women, it was possible to have multiple spouses if you had the ability and skills. Of course, there were not many cases where women were stronger due to physical differences unless they were born in power. Children born in the mountains grew up running around the mountains and fighting monsters and vicious beasts at an early age.

Children died, but many survived as well. Those that survived grew stronger and learned a lot. So they lived hundreds of years beyond decades.

One day, several tribes in Regen united into one and became an alliance. When it was difficult to cope with the growing population, they sent talented warriors to nearby countries to work in mercenary guilds.

Mercenaries from Regen had superior stamina and combat skills compared to other mercenaries, and they performed their missions well to increase their value. When they signed a contract, they worked hard to keep their promises and carry out their duties unless they were treated unfairly. And death did not scare them. Naturally, Regen became famous as a country of mercenaries.

As they became famous, hiring them grew expensive, but everyone who had hired them raised their thumbs and praised them. They were sent to harsh environments, but it didn’t cause a problem. Once they’ve signed a contract, even if it’s dangerous enough that would lead to their deaths, they didn’t withdraw. None of the mercenaries from Regen had ever been told that they had violated a contract during a quest.

They were enthusiastic about life-threatening battles, unafraid of death, and considered sex to be their hobby. They had to go where they lived. He needed to get the fragment there.

‘…Yakal.’

The Thirteenth Fragment, the Great Sword of Wrath.

It was a sword made by processing minerals extracted from meteorites that had fallen from the sky. Pernen took it and cut down countless beasts, monsters, and demons.

It could absorb blood and souls, just like Altemia. The more it injured an opponent, the more it can restore the user’s energy. The spirits of the souls killed by the sword resided within the blade and had the power to strengthen the user. It made its wielded extremely powerful.

‘Sigh.’

The owner of the fragment was in Regen. Judah closed his eyes as he sighed.

As he rested his eyes, he clicked his tongue. The owner of Yakal was a warrior and a -Wielder of the Spirit Sword- with tremendous skills. How could he take the fragment from him? Judah felt his head hurt.

In the case of Count Jinmu, there was a reason his difficulty was reduced when they fought. But it was impossible to kill and take away this fragment because he couldn’t tip the scales against enemies who can handle themselves very well.

‘And with Arhil or Jeanne around, it would be even more difficult to do that…’

But if that was what his -Notes- told him, then there was no way around it. But he wasn’t sure if it was really possible.

“Isn’t it too unfair?”

Judah turned his head in surprise as a voice spoke to him. He looked at Jeanne with his eyes wide open.

“Yes? What?”

He couldn’t get any sense of what she was saying because he wasn’t listening to any of their conversations.

“You’re not listening to me at all.”

“Oh, that’s… That’s because you’re already talking happily with Arhil. What’s unfair?”

Jeanne pointed her finger at the counter. There was no one and nothing there.

“I’m talking about being promoted from bronze to silver. I carried out numerous small missions to meet the conditions of becoming a silver plate, and I thought I’d completed it by now. But then Judah becomes a silver plate with only a few missions?”

Jeanne puffed her cheeks.

“I think he was lucky. Why would you even say that? Maybe he was meant to be the one.”

“The one?”

Jeanne looked up at Arhil, and she laughed at her when she saw the look of confusion on her face.

“It’s a simple phrase. Maybe that’s how it was meant to happen. Like taking a shortcut. That’s what happened to you, Mr. Judah.”

“I see… I hate it even more. I was just thinking of making fun of Judah a little more because he got his sooner.”

Judah smiled as he watched her grumble. After having his train of thought intervened by their conversation, he decided to think about the thirteenth fragment at Regen later.

Judah and Jeanne soon ascended into a silver plate. An X was engraved on the back of their bronze plaque, but it seemed like it was given as a commemorative plaque.

Jeanne, Judah, and Arhil, who were issued their silver plaques, sought a carriage heading for Aslan and left Kaora Castle on that day.

* * *

──────────────────────

Tip 21. The methods and conditions for a mercenary or adventurer to be promoted from bronze to silver, silver to white silver, and white silver to gold are all different.

To become a silver plate, you must perform various missions such as escort work, errands, and monster kills a certain number of times.

For a silver plate to become a white silver plate, you must handle magical power and have the same skills. It’s also a bonus to perform one or two heavy missions. When you achieve this, you will now have the words ‘Advanced’ in the title of ‘Skilled’ in front of your name. Advanced adventurer, advanced mercenary, and the likes.

A lot of conditions are required for a silver plaque to become a gold plaque. Gold plaques are among the best. When it comes to adventurers, the number or type of missions doesn’t really matter. They must practice quite a lot. If the silver plaque owner has been active for more than ten years, the guild will judge them. Leadership, personality, honor, number of missions, mission performance, and many more are checked and reviewed to confirm their ascension to a gold medal, and then take the test. Only those who pass the exam can become the holders of the gold plate and qualify to create a mercenary corps.

The way from gold to platinum was indeed very simple.

If you could become a -Wielder of the Sword-, whether you were in an Adventurer Guild or a Mercenary Guild, they would give you a platinum plaque as a gift. How about that? Wasn’t it really easy?