Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel - Chapter 567
Chapter 567: Closed Doors (1)
“B-Baron Yandel…?”
As I emerged back onto the surface, a few knights stiffened when they noticed me.
To be fair, it probably looked like a ghost had returned from the dead from their perspective, considering how Jerome had thrown me into danger after I lost consciousness.
“Um…are you alright…?”
One of the knights seemed to have sensed something was off, as he didn’t approach any closer, keeping his distance. However, for some reason, he wasn’t able to look me in the eyes.
Was he feeling guilty or something?
“Call Count Saintred here,” I ordered. “I have something to say to him.”
“Pardon? Oh…yes! I will go relay your message!” The knight, one of the group who had been standing guard around the tree, quickly ran off.
Not long after, Jerome Saintred appeared with a huge band of knights. He stared at me for a while as if to check my identity before saying to the others, “Leave this place to me. Go and rest.”
Alright, I guess I’m safe for now.
Even so, I did my best to maintain a neutral expression. This was the core of our plan. I needed to make Jerome think I was the village chief.
Though it was now quiet enough for us to hold a conversation, we both fell into silence. I was the one to break it.
“Don’t worry. The ritual was finished successfully.”
I said it in a way that the barbarian warrior, Bjorn son of Yandel would never say.
Only then did Jerome seem relieved as he said, “I’m relieved to hear it. Then give me ‘that’ as promised. Or are you having second thoughts after coming all this way? If so, I suggest you perish the thought immediately. If you don’t, you’ll find it difficult to live with that body out—”
“I’m having no such thoughts. It is just that there is one thing I couldn’t tell you back then…” As I trailed off and left the rest unspoken, Jerome stared at me, silently asking me to explain. “That item is currently not able to be moved.”
“…What do you mean?”
“It’s as I said. When I awoke in this body, I was next to the dimensional headstone.
And…that item had fused with the dimensional headstone. I’ve tried multiple times but failed to take that item out.”
Surprisingly enough, this story was half-true. If I remembered correctly from what the chief had said, it seemed that the heart had then fallen off of the headstone when he tried to open a portal to escape. That was the moment he realized he couldn’t use the portal while in the body of a monster.
However, with no way of knowing that, Jerome became enraged.
“Damn you. Why are you telling me this only now?”
“There’s an order to all things.”
“Are you joking—?!”
“Is there a problem? I know that you’re trying to obtain that item for your king.
Couldn’t you just bring him here to use it? And although I didn’t find a way to separate the item from the headstone, you might find it.”
As I held my ground against his anger, Jerome quieted. Though rather than forcibly holding himself back, it seemed that Jerome was taking in the new information with cold, calculating eyes.
“…I will do it.”
And soon, Jerome spoke.
“I will personally check the item.”
“Hmm,” I hummed in a show of contemplation, “then I’ll take my warriors and leave the village. That way, you can take your time after we—”
“No, until I have seen it for myself, you won’t be going anywhere.”
…I knew you would say that.
“Do as you wish.”
Now, it was all up to the village chief.
***
The village of monsters hidden beneath a tree. After arriving at their location, the expedition group received an order. However, they were not commanded to charge it nor were they commanded to destroy it.
“Be at the ready until another order is given!”
Instead, they received an indefinite standby order.
However, the knights, priests, and wizards of the expedition group gulped at the order, their nerves plain to see on their faces. For as simple as the order was, the simple truth of it was that they weren’t just on standby. No, they were standing at attention while facing the hundreds of warriors from the village who stared right back at them.
“Ebost. If those monsters move or do something suspicious, charge and kill them all.”
“Understood.”
“And while I’m gone, assist Baron Yandel as well.”
From the way he said “assist,” I could tell that the deputy commander was in on the situation somewhat. However, knowing Jerome’s personality, he would not have given a detailed explanation to his deputy. The more likely scenario was that he just told him to keep an eye on me and keep me on a tight leash.
“But will you really be alright by yourself?” the deputy commander asked.
“Don’t worry. If you can do your duty in this place, nothing dangerous will happen.”
Though perhaps not apparent at a surface-level glance, truthfully speaking, Jerome’s actions were not reckless—not when he believed that the village chief was inside my body. And since he knew that the monsters of the village were bound to this place as well, being inside the village should have posed no danger to him.
“Ahem…”
So when Jerome went into the village alone, the deputy commander cleared his throat and awkwardly approached me.
I ignored him, choosing to focus on my thoughts.
Alright, then what’s going to happen…?
The chief had told me that if I could get Jerome Saintred to go into the cave by himself, he would take care of the rest. He sounded so confident that I allowed it, and even if the chief failed, I didn’t have much to lose. Whether the village chief overpowered Jerome and stole his body or Jerome fought back and killed the chief, I would win with either outcome.
Of course, if Jerome returned alive, the fact that I schemed with the village chief would be made public.
But he was the one who tried to betray me first.
This was just payback.
Some hostility would remain between us, as we had both acted against the others’
interests, but we could talk it over and reconcile later.
And if the village chief wins, I still benefit then too.
The climax of this operation was all on the village chief. He was the one who chose this path in the first place. The one part I was uneasy about was the possibility of them forming another agreement and betraying me yet again.
This is eating me alive. I can’t trust either the village chief or Jerome.
But the more I thought about it, the less likely a deal between them seemed, so I shook the thought away.
It wasn’t as if I didn’t have a plan for that situation either.
For now, I just needed to see how the situation played out.
“Ebost, could I talk to my allies for a moment?” I requested, trying to test the limits.
Nevertheless, I was refused without being given a chance.
“I apologize. When the commander returns, I will ask him to allow you to speak with your allies, so please wait until then.”
“…Sure.”
I was worried for my captured allies, but I quickly put that aside for now. Judging by his stubborn response, I doubted I could find any way to convince him.
…I need to ask Missha about the Stone of Revival too.
Of course, I wasn’t going to ask her directly. I was just going to have a little checkin, maybe see if my suspicions were true. The Stone of Revival had almost certainly come from Baekho Lee—I was nearly 100 percent positive. I also had a guess as to why he gave the stone to Missha at all.
Hah… Every time I think I can trust that guy, he pulls something like this.
To be honest, it didn’t even feel like a betrayal. I was just frustrated by how fixated he could be.
I sighed.
In any case, I passed the time by thinking over the next steps while being kept in check by the knights.
“The count has returned…!”
Jerome Saintred returned from the village alone, just as he had left, and stepped in front of me. For some reason, anxiety crept over me.
Is it the village chief, or still Jerome?
I soon got my answer.
The commander of the expedition group looked at me as he reached out with his hand. “Baron Yandel, thank you. I was able to defeat him thanks to you.”
Alright, it was a success.
I had no way of knowing what exactly happened when it was just the two of them.
There was only one thing I did know.
The village chief won.
The village chief had successfully overpowered Jerome Saintred and took over his body. In other words, the expedition group, which was made up of loyal dogs of the palace, had suddenly gone over to some random guy.
With this, we had command over the entire expedition group.
“Ebost, free Baron Yandel’s allies.”
“…Pardon? But…”
“You don’t need to worry. Everything I did to the baron was a plan to fool the village chief.”
“…To fool him?”
The deputy commander seemed confused by the sudden change in the situation so I quickly interjected, “The village chief has a method of watching everything that happens on the island. That’s why we needed to fool you all first to fool him.”
“What? Then…”
“It was an act from the beginning to kill that village chief.” I ended with that and didn’t give any more details. We didn’t have time for that, and I could end up making a mistake if I did.
“Baron Yandel, great work,” the commander said cheerily. “Acting like that definitely wouldn’t have been easy.”
“Haha! This much is nothing!”
Though the deputy commander was unable to fully accept the situation, he remained silent as the two of us laughed heartily. We were the ones saying it was so, so what could he do about it?
That wasn’t to mention that this person tended to want to believe the best of a situation.
“Huh…I was wondering why things were a little odd. I followed you believing that you had a plan…but it looked like you were abandoning Baron Yandel, commander…”
In the end, if we said that these circumstances had come about through a collaboration between me and Jerome, then there would be no trouble.
Perhaps because for that reason, even as the members of the expedition group doubted the process, they didn’t doubt our words.
I guess we’ve overcome the first hurdle for now.
Honestly, using an excuse like this to make the expedition group understand was very important. This would allow the village chief, who was now Jerome Saintred, to live his life without any further hurdles, and it would also allow us to proceed with the next steps of our plan.
The problem is we need to not get found out before that…
Of course, I wasn’t particularly worried about that part either. I knew just how immaculate this guy was in everything he did after experiencing everything that had happened until now.
“Commander…! The monsters are starting to go on a rampage!”
“Looks like they finally realized that their leader is dead.”
Soon, as the monsters staring back at us started to shout something in the ancient language, the village chief gave the order without hesitation.
“Charge! Destroy the monsters!” he commanded against the beings who were his subordinates until not long ago.
“Nia Rafdonia…!”
When the expedition group took up the charge to attack them, the monsters were slaughtered without much resistance. They couldn’t even fight back properly, and it wasn’t because they had lost their core, the village chief.
“They aren’t resisting at all…” I realized. “Just…what did you do?”
“It’s nothing much. I just told them to fight a little before dying. They’re useless now, no?”
…What the hell?
Despite feeling a chill go down my spine, I could understand why he did this.
…They’re intelligent and can communicate through the ancient language, so this is the most surefire method to getting rid of them.
Dead men didn’t talk.
The problem now was that I was the only person in the world who knew of the village chief’s secret. That was why, even though I would always be on guard against him, I didn’t let myself think too negatively about my prospects.
There were some positives to take into account as well.
“It’s all over…”
After the village was destroyed, the chief spoke through Jerome’s voice.
“Your contribution in this battle was significant indeed, Baron Yandel. As such, I wish to award you a suitable reward… The essences we’ve gathered until now?
Mana stones? Equipment? Tell me whatever you wish to have.”
I now had an official method of leeching off the wealth of the royal house.
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