Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel 2026 - Chapter 549
Chapter 549: Secret Room (2)
A giant hamster that spoke like a person.
Even in this fantasy world that had magic and non-human races, this was a fantastical creature.
You simply couldn’t talk with monsters. There were a few rare cases where they could talk, but most of them only repeated lines that were given to them.
“(Unhand me! Unhand me this instant! You damn traitors!)”
So then, what was this thing?
I couldn’t help but furrow my brow. This thing was talking in the ancient language. And unfortunately, I recently met a “monster” who spoke in the “ancient language” not long ago.
Was this really just a coincidence?
The doubt began to sink deeper in my mind.
“Mr. Yandel, what is it?”
“Is there a problem?”
What was with these guys’ reactions now?
Confused, I quickly asked them in return, “Can you guys not hear what this thing is saying?”
“…Pardon? Is it talking?”
“I didn’t hear anything like that. It’s just screaming rather unpleasantly.”
“Ah! That’s what I hear too!”
Hmm, what was this?
I glanced back down to the hamster that had gotten a step more suspicious and noticed that it had stopped struggling at some point and was now looking back up at me.
“(You…! Can you perhaps hear my words?)”
What, was it asking if I could understand it? Something like that?
I couldn’t find a reason to respond.
I held the hamster even tighter so that it couldn’t even struggle if it wanted to and began trying to initiate a conversation in the ancient language. “(You.)”
“(Ugh…! Let me go…! You barbarian bastard… Don’t you know who I am?!)”
I did not, in fact, know what it was, no matter how high and mighty it acted.
“(What’s your relationship with the village chief?)” I demanded, directly asking it the most important question. I concluded that the first thing I needed to check was if this thing was an agent sent by the village chief or not. However, it looked back like it had no clue what I was asking, so I gave the chief’s other name. “(Cornelius Bruingrid. Do you know nothing about this name? Even though you’re both monsters who speak the ancient language?)”
If it said it didn’t know anything at this point as well, I was planning on bringing in a specialist to start an interrogation.
“(You wicked bastard! I am not a monster…!)”
“(Shut up. Just answer my question.)”
I flexed my hand to put a bit more pressure on it before relaxing, causing it to quickly rush out,
“(I-I don’t know! I don’t know! So don’t squeeze me! I-it’s going to make me throw up…!)”
“(You don’t know? That’s unfortunate. Then I’ll have to look into it directly myself.)”
“(Look into it…directly…?)”
You’ll know soon enough.
As I called for Amelia from the side, she drew her shortsword and checked its edge.
It seemed that the hamster saw its future flash before its eyes. “(W-wait!)”
“(Did you already remember something?)”
“(The a-ancient language…! If you’re talking about a ‘monster’ that speaks the ancient language, I can think of one! You’re, uh, you’re talking about the one that flies around on the dragon!)”
…Does what?
Thought, it was true that the chief’s title during his life as a human was the Dragon Knight.
“Emily, hold on a second.” I sent Amelia back before continuing with the conversation in the ancient language. “(You, tell me the details about this monster flying around on a dragon.)”
“(I-I don’t know it that well…! But it had come here at some point in the past. Blue skin and a huge eye on its head! It had a lot of subordinates… And the ancient language! It spoke the ancient language!)”
Blue skin and one huge eye. It seemed to be talking about the chief. There probably wouldn’t be another race of monsters who looked like that and also spoke the ancient language.
That bastard lied about another thing.
He had told me that they couldn’t leave the island and so knew nothing about the outside world.
Those were all just lies.
“(When did they come here?)” I demanded.
“(So long ago that it would be pointless trying to count.)”
“(I’ll decide if it’s pointless or not. Tell me the number.)”
“(I-I don’t know the exact time! The sky opened up tens of thousands of times since those monsters last came here…!)”
The sky opened up. That was probably the rainy season. If that was the case, I could agree with the hamster that it was pointless trying to count.
Ten thousand rainy seasons… would be about 833 years in the outside world.
But it opened tens of thousands of times? That meant the chief had visited this place thousands of years ago.
With my calculations concluded, I asked, “(What did you mean by flying on a dragon?)”
“(It’s just as it sounds! Whenever it came here, it rode on a huge dragon and brought all its subordinates with it!)”
“(By whenever, are you saying it came here multiple times?)”
“(It came here pretty regularly, but at some point, it stopped coming for some reason…)”
“(What did the chief do here during those times?)”
“(The same as you! They ripped out all the books that I carefully organized and just threw them around everywhere! Really, you—!)”
“(Wait, you organized the books?)”
“(… Yeah?)”
What was this thing?
From what I could tell, it hadn’t lied to me yet, and to be honest, my suspicions that it was a spy sent by the chief were melting into pure curiosity about what this hamster was.
“(Why did you organize the books?)” I settled on asking. The most important factor in understanding people was their motivations, after all.
The answer that I received was unfortunately too vague. “(Th-that’s…! Because I need to…!)”
“(What…?)”
“(Organizing the books…is what I need to do. That has been the case since I was born here!)”
“(So…your reason for existence is to organize the books?)”
“(I-It’s not that grand of a reason…but it’s true that it’s what I have to do.)”
It didn’t seem to be trying to hide something. I asked it several more times, but the answer I received didn’t change in the end.
“(…Ugh! You fool!)” it huffed. “(Do you think everything needs a reason? Some things are just as they are! They just are! And I just need to organize the books!)”
So why did you have to organize the books?
When I asked the hamster yet again, it sounded confused as well, as if this was the first time it had to think about this question. Still, it erupted in anger in the end.
It seems like even it can’t understand its own actions.
I probably wouldn’t be able to get anything more even if I asked it any more questions, so I moved on to the next level.
“(Is there anything else here?)”
It only became more puzzled.
“(You know. Things like special books, treasures, or special monsters. Maybe a hidden area… If not, things you want to hide from outsiders.)”
Its expression blanked.
“(Nothing?)”
At my quiet questioning, the hamster shouted in denial, “(I d-d-don’t!)”
Sometimes, a strong act of denial was in itself a strong affirmation.
“(As I thought… You do, don’t you?)”
I couldn’t help but salivate.
The conversation repeated in a similar vein.
“(I-I told you I don’t. What are you saying?!)”
The hamster continued to repeat that there was nothing like a parrot.
“(Ah, I just want to take a look.)”
I ignored what he said as a barbarian should.
“(H-how many times am I going to have to tell you?! There isn’t a-anything like that here!)”
“(You know, who said we would take them? I really just want to take a look at it. You’re pissing me off now.)”
Really, why couldn’t this hamster just do as I said?
I concluded that being nice to it wouldn’t get me any closer to what I wanted.
“(Hey.)” I lowered my pitch, and the hamster flinched before looking up at me nervously. “(Am I your friend? Do you not understand your situation?)”
“(… No, that’s not it. Th-there really isn’t anything… R-really…)”
“(Ah, so tell me something else then.)”
“(Something…else…?)”
“(Yeah. for example, a way to get out of here. Do you know of one?)”
“(…No.)”
“(The chief’s weakness or a secret he has?)”
No response.
“(Then what do you want me to do? I need a reason as well, don’t I?)”
“(A reason…?)”
“(Yeah. I need to get something from you so I can let you go or do something like that for you.
Actually, you know what? Should I just check if you drop an essence?)”
Hoh. It had nothing to say, so it was staying quiet. Was the secret that precious?
Seeing how my threats also didn’t work, I altered my course of action a little. “(Hey, then at least tell me about yourself. What are you? Why are you here, and how did you learn to talk like a person?)”
“(Ah, that’s…)”
Maybe that topic was a more approachable one. It responded to my question quite kindly, though there wasn’t much substance to its answer.
“(So to summarize, you were here from the moment you were born, and you were able to talk like a person then as well?)”
“Y-yeah… That chief! That chief was the first foreign creature I saw.)”
“(Does the chief know about you?)”
“(He probably doesn’t. I saw that he could talk, so I approached him to talk… but that foolish bastard didn’t understand what I was saying.)”
“(Like the other people here who can’t understand you except for me?)”
“(By the way, what are you?! How can you talk to me, and why are you not afraid of me?!)”
What the, why did it become so ballsy all of a sudden?
“(That’s something you should be explaining. Why are you asking me?)”
Again, no response.
“(Whatever. Just explain that to me first. People are afraid of you? Do you have an ability like that?)”
“(…I don’t know. It’s just like that for everyone. Even that chief guy raised his weapon and swung it as soon as he saw me. You guys weren’t that much different… That’s why I tried to scare you enough to make you go away…)”
“(But you got caught like this.)”
It went quiet again.
“(Then why am I normal? From what I can see, you’re just a tiny mouse.)”
“(A m-mouse?! I’m not something like that!)”
“(Then what are you? Do you have a name for your species?)”
“(Well, I… No…)”
“(Then what about a personal name? Do you have a name?)”
“(…I don’t need something like a name.)”
I sighed. “(This is why people who haven’t integrated themselves into society are so… Well, whatever. Names exist to make it easier for everyone. So I’ll just give you a name at this point.)”
“(…Give me a name?)”
“(Yeah.)” I pitied this lonely thing that lived in this library for thousands of years by itself, so I thought very hard to give it a name. “(Hamsick. Yeah, Hamsick. That’s your name from now on.)”
It stared at me in silence.
“(What? Do you have a problem with the name?)”
“(N-no… Not really…)”
“(I am Bjorn son of Yandel. Yandel is my surname, and Bjorn is my name. Just call me Bjorn.)”
“(Bjorn… Got it.)”
Alright, then we exchanged our names.
However, as I was about to continue the conversation that had been stopped, Hamsick randomly asked a question.
“(Then…are we friends now…?)”
It sounded cautious but also nervous.
As I tilted my head to ask what it meant, Hamsick avoided eye contact as it mumbled,
“(But…from what I know, people who call each other by names are friends…)”
“(Where did you learn that?)”
“(I don’t know. I just knew it from the moment I was born. Like how I can talk right now.)”
“(Really?)”
This guy had a lot of points of mystery around it, but I also had a separate thought in parallel.
I think I understand how to handle it.
I let it go and personally let it stand up. And then, I looked directly at it while stretching my arm toward it. “(Hamsick, I’ll be in your care from now on.)”
It only looked at my hand in confusion.
“(What, didn’t you say that after we exchanged names, we’re friends? People who become friends usually shake hands when they do. Ah, do you maybe not know what a handshake is?)”
“(I-I do! Why wouldn’t I?!)” With that, Hamsick reached out with its furry hand and said with a shy voice, “(I-I’ll…also be i-in your care…?)”
Just how badly did it want a friend?
I didn’t know, but I successfully contracted it to become my friend.
“(Alright, then tell me. Where is it? Where is that treasure you’re hiding?)”
It was time to start collecting my “friend tax.”
Hamsick looked at me with eyes that screamed betrayal before taking a few steps back.
You’re going to make your new friend cry.
“(Hamsick, I’ll say this now, but secrets shouldn’t exist between friends.)”
“(B-but…)”
“(Am I not your friend?)”
“Squeak…” Hamsick squeaked repeatedly as if it was troubled by my question.
I didn’t say anything more and just waited.
“(G-got it… I’ll show you…)” it conceded. “(B-but when you’re in there, don’t touch anything! Got it?)”
“(Ah, of course.)”
Hamsick seemed to have calmed down after making its decision, but it still twirled its index finger like a dancer as if to show off its ability to its new friend.
Swoosh.
The books that had been on the bookshelves started to move out one by one just a bit so that there was a difference between the moved books and the stationary books.
Is this like a book code where if only the selected books are pulled out, a secret area opens?
While I stood there in a daze and watched all this unfold, the movement of the books suddenly came to a stop.
Rumble!
And then, the stone door opened to reveal a hidden area.
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