Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel - Chapter 566
Chapter 566: Destination (6)
“If it’s Iblus…”
“Don’t worry. I’ve already confirmed that he’s activated a Heretic Altar inside the palace.”
That was truthfully only a guess on my part, but I said it regardless. And honestly, I was practically sure of it anyway.
“…That’s a surprise.”
“I thought it might be. The essence of Iblus isn’t a common—”
“No. I didn’t expect you of all people to suggest something like this,” the chief said before going quiet again.
A heavy silence fell over us, but it was ultimately to my advantage. I had been thrust into this situation before I even opened my eyes. I needed some time to collect my thoughts.
Jerome Saintred…
What would happen if I gave his body to the village chief? Although I had been the one to suggest it, I hadn’t had an opportunity to truly consider the consequences before jumping at the chance.
…It should be fine, right?
The village chief becoming the commander of the First Royal Guard would be a positive for me. It would take one of the palace’s main fighters off the board, for one, and since the two of us had a secret connection, the village chief and I could share information and make deals with each other.
The problem here was more a moral one…
But he’s the one who backstabbed me first.
If he hadn’t handed me over to the chief, this wouldn’t even be happening in the first place. No, there was even a world where we could have teamed up to defeat the village chief together. If the village chief had really been as confident in his strength as he made himself out to be, he would’ve just killed all of us and taken my body by force, but he hadn’t.
“But I’ve become certain since arriving on this island. You are the man who operated under the name of Iron Mask decades ago in Noark.”
That wasn’t even getting into the fact that Jerome was convinced that I was Iron Mask, so I needed a way to either convince him otherwise or shut him up. If that information reached the palace’s ears, it would become a major liability—
“I’ll ask you this,” the village chief said cautiously, interrupting my thoughts. “What happened after I was defeated?”
Yeah, I figured you’d be curious.
He probably still wasn’t sure whether I was speaking the full truth, so it made sense he’d want a bit more information before making his final verdict. To that end, I decided to give him an honest answer this time.
“You’re immediately executed by Jerome. He swings down with his sword seven times, decapitating me.”
“That cannot be—”
“And once I’m dead, one of my allies uses the Stone of Revival on me.”
This was the final scene I saw in my vision of the future.
“You have… a Stone of Revival?”
“It’s the truth, even if you don’t want to believe it.”
The chief once again fell silent, turning this information over in his mind, and I gave him all the time he needed. “If that is true…” he finally said. “That makes sense.”
“What exactly makes sense?”
“Why you would make me such an offer if I am truly going to fail, as you claim.”
Sure enough, he was sounding me out. Although I was inwardly grumbling about what a cunning bastard he was, I kept it cool on the outside as I said, “In any case, as long as we have the Stone of Revival, you’ll never be able to achieve your goal.”
The Stone of Revival had two main characteristics. One was that it could revive a dead person so long as their corpse was intact, and the other…
“When the Stone of Revival is used, you lose your memories.”
The other was that it wiped your memories. Even in the game, if you used the Stone of Revival on someone, the character in question would forget everything, and all relationship and intimacy stats would reset to their base state.
This was reminding me just how shitty an item it was. I’d once gone out of my way to use its two precious charges to revive two of my party members, yet the people I revived both ended up leaving the party soon after.
“That… is definitely a problem.” Thankfully, it seemed the village chief was already aware how the Stone of Revival worked. If he wasn’t, I would’ve had to take the time to explain it to him. “According to the Records Stone, Bjorn Yandel will one day leave this place… but so long as that item exists, we cannot be certain if that person will be you, me, or even someone completely different.”
The turn his thoughts had taken told me that this conversation was nearing its end.
The biggest reason the village chief wanted to steal my body was because it was the “surest way” out. My body was fated to one day escape this floor, so if he stole it, he was guaranteed to be able to leave too. However, the presence of the Stone of Revival had thrown his certainty into question.
“So,” I prompted, “what are you going to do?”
All that was left was for him to make a decision.
Would he steal my body, even with the Stone of Revival in play, or would he use Jerome Saintred’s body to escape to the city?
Sitting around waiting for his answer was way too nerve-wracking, so I threw in one more thing to sweeten the deal. “If you decide to steal his body, I will help you.”
“You… are completely different from the things I’ve heard about you.”
“Really? I don’t know what kind of background check you ran, but this is only fair.
He’s the one who stabbed me in the back first.”
“That is true.”
“So,” I said, swallowing, “what’s your answer?”
“I refuse,” replied the chief.
…Damn it.
“You… You refuse?”
I didn’t get it. I had thoroughly, logically explained why he needed to choose Jerome instead of me, but he’d still turned me down. There was no way this coldhearted guy would’ve made this decision based on emotions, so…
“…What’s your rationale?”
“It’s because you’d still be alive.”
“…What?”
The answer left me reeling, but I had no time to question his train of thought because he was nice enough to explain it himself. “Even if I stole his body, you’d still know my true identity, no? I might escape after all this time only for you to go around running your mouth, throwing the life I fought so hard to obtain into chaos.”
In other words, he wanted to dispose of the witness. “So?”
“So I would rather kill you here and steal his body later. That’s a far better option.”
“…Are you a moron? I’m willing to betray the commander of the Royal Guard to help you, but you’re worried I’d go blabbing about it after?”
“You never know with people. Although it is paradoxical, trust isn’t built on faith.”
In an ironic twist, I saw an opening for further negotiation in that one sentence. Trust wasn’t built on faith-meaning, if I gave him something he could trust, there was a chance he would take my deal.
“So then…” I hedged. “What do you want from me?”
The village chief made no secret of what he was after. “Your weakness. Just as you can destroy me with a single word, if I could hold that same power over you, then I’d be willing to shake your hand and work with you.”
What a guy. “And if I don’t have anything like that?”
“Someone with nothing to hide wouldn’t be asking that question.”
I didn’t have enough data to know if that was true or not, but in this case, he happened to be right.
The moment I heard the word “weakness,” several things immediately popped into my mind. The fact that I was an evil spirit. The time we killed the Order of the Rose in Ice Rock. Even the way I stole the Fragment of Records Stone right out from under Jerome’s nose decades ago in Noark. There were a few things I could give him here, and if doing so meant avoiding the future the goddess showed me, I wouldn’t even regret it.
…But I’m no pushover.
My reply was stern. “I refuse.” I didn’t lie and say I had no such weakness, but instead rejected his condition outright.
“You… refuse?” he asked just as I did a moment ago, but my answer didn’t change. The fact that he was making this demand in the first place told me that he’d found my offer very enticing.
“Like I said, you have two options. Either you take my offer, or you refuse and try to do it by yourself. That is all,” I declared, putting this negotiation to rest. “There’s no room for ultimatums.”
“…You are quite bold for someone whose life is on the line.”
“As any barbarian warrior should be.”
At my nonchalant response, the village chief seemed to smirk a bit before answering without missing a beat. “All right, then. Let’s put our heads together and come up with a plan to steal Jerome Saintred’s body.”
Phew, I nearly died.
***
After a successful negotiation with the village chief, we had a lengthy conversation in the cave. The topic of discussion: how we would get Jerome Saintred into this cave to steal his body. Honestly, it didn’t take long to iron out the plan, and it wouldn’t be that hard to pull off so long as the village chief and I worked together.
However, our conversation ran long elsewhere.
“So, what is the item you promised Jerome? Tell me. We’re practically on the same side now.”
This was something I had been wondering for a while. Just what did he offer Jerome that the latter had decided to hand me over?
Surprisingly, the village chief replied without a moment’s hesitation. “It was the Heart of Karui.”
“Karui…?” It’d been a while since I’d heard the name of the ancient, evil god.
When I tilted my head, the chief kindly gave me the explanation I was seeking, pointing to a black stone sitting in the middle of the cave. “That. In exchange for a human sacrifice, you become able to use one of Karui’s legendary abilities. That is how I can steal people’s bodies.”
This was an item that had never appeared in the game. Well, not that that was a huge shock.
“Then why does Jerome want it?” I asked.
“It is one of the royal family’s treasures, something that originally belonged to the Immortal King. The reason I am in this state is because I stole it.”
Rather than focusing on the village chief’s past sins, I was more concerned with something else. “A royal family treasure? Wait… Is this thing the reason the Immortal King was immortal?”
“Ah, did you not know? Whenever the Immortal King had a child, he would steal the child’s body in order to continue his rule. That is also why the Immortal King was known for always wearing a mask.”
This was a huge secret buried in the heart of the great kingdom of Rafdonia.
I didn’t expect the Immortal King to have hidden lore like this.
Maybe the reason King New World defeated and usurped the Immortal King wasn’t to “free the realm” or whatever, but to save his own hide from getting body-jacked.
And if not that… maybe the Immortal simply died because the Heart disappeared.
In any case, from the perspective of King New World, there was no putting a price tag on the worth of this item. It was understandable that Jerome would lose it a bit after hearing it was here. His loyalty to the palace was absolute.
“Wait, but that doesn’t make sense. If you ran off with this item, how did the Immortal live for thousands of more years afterward?” Just as his name suggested, the Immortal King had lived for what could be considered an eternity before finally dying about 150 years ago.
“Who knows? I was surprised myself when I heard. However, are they not the royal family? He probably found a different way to stay alive.”
“Okay, so you don’t know…”
The Immortal King, the Heart of Karui, King New World…
Just what the hell happened back then?
I was dying of curiosity, but I wasn’t going to get any more answers here.
“Does that answer all of your questions?” the village chief asked.
“No, one more thing. What happened to the captain of the Silver Lion Clan you sent to the library?”
“Oh, them? I sent one of the warriors from the village to confirm your whereabouts.
The offering required to take over a body for just a month is only… No, I don’t know why I’m even explaining this to you.”
Ah, so he noticed. To be honest, I’d been wondering why he was answering all my questions so readily.
“Enough talk. Let’s go back up,” he said, forcibly ending the conversation before stepping forward to lead me out of here. “He will be waiting for us.”
Jerome Saintred.
It was time to get some payback.
English