Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel - Chapter 569
Chapter 569: Closed Doors (3)
The private chat between the village chief and I went on for a bit longer. I asked him about what I didn’t know about the floor and what I needed to do to open the portal headstone, trying to pry as much information out of him as possible, but the chief avoided the questions with vague responses.
“You’ll learn when the time comes. And what’s the point in worrying about them now? You will one day leave this place and return to the city.”
“Why aren’t you just telling me? Are you—?”
“It’s not because I have ulterior motives. It has simply occurred to me that telling you might not be helpful to you.”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s a chance that there is something on this floor that even I haven’t discovered. If I point you in certain directions, the possibility of finding those secrets will decrease because you will only move with my advice in mind.”
Is this what they meant by lions pushing their cubs off cliffs to make them stronger?
If that was the case, it became more difficult to fathom. The chief and I didn’t have a strong bond like a parent would with a child. I found it difficult to trust the notion that he was trying to “help” me.
“Heh heh, don’t look at me like that.” The chief gave his signature smile as he looked at me and said, “Since this is how things have turned out, I am on your side for now. Surely you have also considered how I could be helpful to you in the coming future, no?”
“Well…it’s not like I hadn’t thought about it.”
“The same goes for me. The growth of my accomplice will open more doors for me.”
Don’t try to be slick with your words.
“So I will think more on this before I tell you. It’s not as if I am going anywhere anytime soon.” He said it as if he was calming down an angered child, and I just nodded in the end. It was still difficult for me to accept his words, but it didn’t seem like the situation would change just because I pushed further.
I would rather spend the time talking about something more productive.
“Then what are you going to do now?”
I had already asked this question several times today. However, this time, the nuance behind it had changed ever so slightly. The questions before were about the chief personally, and this was more about the entirety of the expedition group.
“Are we going to stay on this island for longer?” I asked.
What was the plan for the expedition group going forward?
The village chief gave a direct answer to my question. “We will stay on the island for today at least. We haven’t officially discovered the dimensional headstone yet.
We should ‘discover’ it first and give the wizards time to research it.”
“Would Jerome Saintred have done that?”
“He would have.”
“Okay, then what about after that?”
“That’s undecided. However, I will think about it more and tell you tomorrow.”
“…Sure.”
With that, our conversation came to an end.
I returned to where my allies were, and we killed time until the deputy commander announced a new order. We were to go around the village once more, looking for potential secrets we missed, and each squad was able to move as they pleased.
“It’s more like they’re giving us more time to rest. We’ll go and find someplace to relax.”
My Temporary Squad Four followed my command to find an empty house to relax in. However, a few people seemed dissatisfied with wasting time like that.
“We will go and take a look around,” Myul Armin said. “Just staying still here is a bit…”
“Are you worried about what the commander will think?”
“More than that, something could really be hidden here and we could miss it if we just stay in the house.”
Myul Armin left with his Adventurer Group, and Wyatt Hektz of the Hektz Clan echoed the sentiment before leaving with his own group.
“…If we find something, we will be recognized for it.”
If Armin was putting more importance on the adventuring part of the equation, these guys were more looking for potential monetary gains.
Well, not that I was in a position to care. We would soon receive word that the cave with the dimensional headstone was discovered if we just waited, so all I needed to do was walk over there and put on a decent show.
But it somehow ended with just us again.
With the Hektz Clan and the Armin Adventurer Group gone, only the members of the Anabada Clan were left.
“Ack! D-don’t look at me!”
As I scanned the members, Erwen freaked out and quickly covered her face when we met each other’s eyes.
Agh, so she was still doing that.
My heart sank as I watched Erwen run off into a corner to hide. Versyl used the moment to approach me.
“Don’t worry, I have a potion to help her grow her hair again. I’ll make it and deliver it to her when we return to the city.”
“Oh, that’s good to hear.”
“Wow… So you are pretty set in your preferences.”
“…Huh?” Why was she talking about my preferences now?
As I looked at her in confusion, Versyl avoided my eyes. “I just…think Ms. Tersia looks pretty good with short hair as well…”
I thought so too. But every time I looked at her, she went and did that. If I said anything about it, she would only take it as me trying to console her, so I didn’t even try.
But we’ll need to stay here for a while longer…
I was worried about the future, but since I didn’t have a solution at hand, I chose to file that thought away.
“Here you are. I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
A man entered the house we were using to waste time.
“Kaislan? What are you doing here?”
“I saw the Armin Adventurer Group going around by themselves. I talked to them a bit, and when I heard that you were resting here, I came to visit.”
“Welcome. You should rest a little as well. Don’t get too caught up on your work.”
“That was what I was thinking. After this expedition is over, my life as a soldier will be over.”
It seemed his hostility against the royal house after the Ice Rock incident had reached its peak. Doing no work like this while still getting paid wasn’t something Kaislan of the past would’ve ever done.
Well, that wasn’t something I needed to care about either.
In any case, surprisingly enough, Kaislan wasn’t the only guest we had.
“Hello…are you there…?”
Another person carefully entered the building.
“Sven Parav? Why are you here?”
“I met the Hektz Clan as they were going around… Could we perhaps have a little talk? Just the two of us.”
“Of course.”
At Goblin’s request, I left the building by myself, and we went over to another empty house to chat.
It seemed he was curious about a lot of things.
“So…what happened?” he asked vaguely. He didn’t specify what he meant by “what,” but I could guess he would be wondering what was going on in general. I may have given my allies a decent explanation, but this guy hadn’t heard a word of it.
That was why I gave a summary.
“Giving you the full rundown isn’t possible right now, but it all ended well.”
“Eh?”
“We’ve avoided the scene you saw in your oracle.”
“Ah…then that’s quite the relief…”
I could tell that he was curious about the parts I had omitted, but he swallowed his questions. This was proof that he was at least decent in social interactions.
Seeing that, I tapped his shoulder in encouragement. “Sven Parav. Thinking about it now, I wasn’t able to tell you this before. Thank you.”
“Pardon?”
“There’s a reason I can’t tell you the details, but whatever the case, I don’t know what would’ve happened if not for you.”
“Ah…”
“I’ll be in your care in the future as well. If you ever need something sorted out, come find me. I’ll support you with everything I have.”
He seemed surprised by my gratitude as he stood there, struck speechless. A moment later, he shook himself from his daze and humbly said it wasn’t a problem.
“You’ve been through a lot as well.” He seemed in a hurry to leave—I did remember him saying the archbishop would throw a fuss if he was away for too long—so I ended the conversation with, “Sure, I’ll see you later.”
By the time I entered our building again, Ainar was running up to me while shouting.
“Bjorn!”
Hmm? That was the tone she used when she had something she wanted to show off to me.
I glanced around, then immediately noticed a change in our little rest area.
“Raven?”
Raven was here, and…
“Ignore Aruru! There! Look over there!”
Erwen was wearing a dark, steel helmet.
“…What’s with that?”
I asked it while looking at Raven, not Ainar, and the former let out an explosive sigh before explaining, “Ms. Tersia looked down, so Ms. Fenelin seemed to have thought up a strategy.”
Oh, so that was why she looked so proud.
“Hahaha! Am I not a genius? Wearing that, she can hide her embarrassing short hair. No, that isn’t all! If you wear this, you can protect your head as well!”
Ainar spoke proudly after pulling out a barbarian solution.
“Whatever. If you’ve seen it, how about you stop her?” Raven whispered with a sense of urgency.
However, I ignored her answer and met Erwen’s eyes.
“Um, mister…h-how is it…?”
Surprisingly enough, Erwen didn’t avoid my eyes anymore now that she was wearing her helmet. I was worried that it might make her even more conscious of her hair during combat or perhaps restrict her movement, but the helmet solved all our problems.
“…It’s not bad?”
Of course, her clothes blended both fashion and effectiveness as an adventurer, so putting a metal helmet on her head made her look a little unbalanced. But who cared about that?
“You used your head, Ainar,” I acknowledged.
“Hah! It wasn’t easy. But Erwen is my friend!”
The problem was resolved.
Raven, however, seemed to disagree. “Are you really going to let Ms. Tersia go around like that? She’ll definitely become a laughingstock. Hey, Ms. Raines? Shouldn’t you say something—?”
“Leave her be,” I cut her off. “She says she’s fine.”
“Ms. Tersia! Are you really okay with this?”
“Pardon? Yes…I definitely feel less embarrassed when I’m wearing this…”
Raven’s jaw dropped in disbelief, and that topic was left there.
Erwen would now go around wearing that helmet.
“By the gods…! How did we get here?”
What was she talking about?
“Let’s stop there,” I suggested. “And Raven, why are you here?”
“Ah, me? I was just wondering what you were up to.”
“Huh?”
“It was a free search order, right? I thought that you would’ve found something…”
Ah, so to put it simply, she was here to mooch off me. If she was next to me when I found something, she could be the first to research it.
“That’s unfortunate. As you can see, we decided to just rest.”
“…Yeah. I didn’t expect this.”
After talking with Raven, Amelia came to me.
“By the way, Yandel. Is your conversation over?”
“Yep, and Sven Parav is gone too.”
“I see…then could you give me some of your time as well?”
For some reason, many people wanted to talk to me today.
“Excuse me, Raven, this might take a while,” I said. “You can hang around here before going back.”
“Do I really look that free to you? I was about to leave right now.”
“Really? Then see you around.”
After sort of sending off Raven, I walked outside with Amelia. To be honest, I was a little curious. Why did she call me for a talk?
I soon learned the answer.
“I was going to ignore it, but I can’t just stay quiet after seeing her stay in the corner like that.”
Ah… Sure enough, that’s what it was.
“Did something happen between you and Missha Karlstein yesterday?” Amelia asked.
There was no reason not to tell her the truth—Baekho Lee, the Stone of Revival, meeting again after two years, the mistrust which bloomed from that, and more.
But for some reason, I couldn’t say those things.
That was why I responded with this.
“Nothing happened.”
A lie that even a three-year-old would not believe.
However, Amelia just quietly nodded in response.
“I see. Tell me when you’re ready. I’ll be waiting.”
She spoke as if talking to a child.
I smirked. “Sure.”
Still, for some reason, I felt a little better.
***
The time we spent on Chief Island dragged on longer than all expectations. The reason was simple. We were planning on leaving for our next destination the day after we discovered the dimensional headstone, but…
“The flow of mana from the dimensional headstone is showing a similar pattern to the flow of the two-directional transmission device we’ve seen in a recent paper!”
“With this…we might be able to forcibly activate the headstone!”
The wizards investigating the dimensional headstone seemed to have found something new and they requested that we stay on the island for longer while spouting some unintelligible jargon.
“I’ll give you ten days. Figure it out before then.”
The village chief accepted their request.
It couldn’t be helped, not with the role he had to play. Jerome Saintred would have absolutely made the same decision in his position.
He was probably holding onto a little bit of hope as well. If these wizards succeeded in activating the headstone, he would be able to return to the city immediately.
That, and the chief has no interest in exploration in the first place.
The village chief was only waiting to “get used to” his body and was planning on leaving immediately after that, so it didn’t matter to him if he was in the village or out there adventuring.
One day, two days, three days…
Time passed.
The wizards spent the entirety of the day next to the headstone, running through trial after trial. The others either rested in the village or went around the island defeating monsters to pass the time.
A few more days passed.
[Your soul has resonated and is drawn to a specific world.]
Once again, it was the day when the community forums opened up. A space where I could communicate with the outside world, and the only place I could meet with this Baekho bastard.
I can finally interrogate him.
Since I had been looking forward to this, the moment I awoke in my room, I turned on my computer and moved my mouse.
Click, click.
But for some reason, the moment I opened the community, half the screen was filled with a pop-up.
[A notice for all players using Ghost Busters.]
“…An announcement?”
I had no recollection of there ever being something like this. Did something happen outside?
After I quickly read through the whole thing, I froze, turning to stone.
[Hello, I am the GM.]
The announcement began with that, then went on to detail when the community started, why it was created, how hard the administrators worked to maintain it, and so on. It was filled with content that a gamer who enjoyed gaming even a little bit would be afraid to see.
Because whenever something like this was posted, the reason why was always the same.
Damn it.
I wished it wasn’t the case. But there was nothing more to see.
[I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to everyone who has used Ghost Busters until now, and I must apologize for giving you this announcement this way.]
[Due to the personal circumstances of the administrators, today will be the last day of Ghost Busters, after which, the service will end.]
[Any GP bought with real money can be refunded through the newly created refund tab…]
The server was dead.
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