Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel - Chapter 577
Chapter 577: Return (3)
With Fox’s departure, our members decreased once more. Wolf, Goblin, Queen.
Now, only these three were participating in the game.
With a glance at the empty Round Table, Auril Gavis muttered, “I’ve prepared a lot for this, so it’s a tad disappointing, really. There’s already only three left.” Yet instead of displeasure, the sense that I got was that he was more surprised than anything.
Well, I understood how he felt at least. I also didn’t expect things to pan out this way.
I didn’t think they would give up such a precious ticket to freedom like that.
Losing their anonymity and their real identities being revealed? In this world where evil spirits were executed on the spot, that was far too dangerous of a thing.
However, none of that mattered if you could go home. I had assumed it would lead to a game of chicken among the members.
However, Clown and Black had disappeared before the game could begin, and Butterfly dropped out quite quickly. Fox had decided that she didn’t mind living in this world and gave up. These members had left before the main game could even begin…
“Then I will continue.”
It was when Auril Gavis went to resume the game.
Goblin carefully raised his hand. “I…I’ll also stop there…”
It was already the third declaration of concession after Butterfly and Fox.
Auril Gavis clicked his tongue. “Is that so? Then leave now.”
“Are you not going to ask me for my reason…? Just… Well, I-I’m not faulting you… I’m just curious…”
“…So, what’s your reason? Did you perhaps have a change of heart after hearing what Ms. Fox said?”
“Uh…that…doesn’t have nothing to do with it, but…”
“But?”
“It’s… I don’t know how to say this…”
“I don’t care, so go on and say it,” Auril Gavis snapped.
Goblin avoided his gaze and quietly mumbled, “I just feel like something is off.”
Hmm, Goblin’s gut feeling was dependable.
That was the first thought I had when I heard him say that, but Auril Gavis didn’t seem to hold the same sentiment.
“I see. Then since I know your reason as well, leave now. Ah, do you also need time to say farewell?”
“Ah, yes… Then I’ll just take a little bit…”
With that, Goblin turned to the rest of us.
“In the past, a friend I met at language school told me that even brushing past another person was a relationship created. Just as that saying goes, being dragged into an unknown world like this to meet you all with masks on was definitely not an ordinary relationship for me. S-some of you even know who I am.”
He used many words to say it, but what he meant was very simple.
“So even if some of you might be able to kill me, when that time comes, please don’t. Aren’t we all players here?”
Why would you say that?
“…Is that all?”
“Pardon? Ah, yes… That’s all I wanted to say.”
“Then leave.”
“Oh… Right… Well then, everybody…”
After Goblin left, Queen and Wolf glanced at each other with awkward looks on their faces. It somehow became the finals with just two people left.
So are they going to go to the end from here?
Yet still, the situation continued to turn in a way I didn’t expect at all.
“I’ll stop here as well.”
“…What is your reason?”
For the first time, Auril Gavis let his real feelings show. It went beyond displeasure.
His voice was bordering on fury.
Not that I could blame him, exactly. He had apparently prepared a lot for this, but it wasn’t going his way.
“It’s quite simple. I can’t trust you.”
“A lack of trust… I do have the ability to send you home.”
“Yes, you may very well be capable of that. In truth, I believe that the probability of you having such an ability is very high. However, I still can’t trust you.”
Queen glanced at Wolf and continued, asking, “You’re quite close with him, no?”
It seemed that Queen had suspected that Auril Gavis was using the hope of being sent back home as bait for us to be thrown deep into despair later.
“I have no way of knowing whether you might have constructed this so he wins in the end. Also, for me to win the game at this point, Mr. Wolf would need to give up, but I don’t think he’ll make that decision either.”
It was an explanation rooted soundly in logic. However, it was clear that she was affected by how quickly the others gave up before her, not just because of her distrust in whether or not Auril could send her back.
“I don’t need to give my farewells. I’ll be leaving.”
With that, Queen left without saying another word, and the winner of the quiz game was decided in quite an anticlimactic way.
“Uh… Huh…?”
Wolf had obtained this sweet prize. In apparent disbelief, he just sat there dazedly before quickly coming to his senses. “Lord Gavis, then…does that mean I can go home now?”
Was this guy incapable of reading the situation?
I didn’t know myself, but as a mere observer, it was an entertaining sight.
“Of course. A promise is a promise.”
“Th-thank you…! I, truly, thank—”
“So can you shut up for a moment?”
He looked so excited when he introduced the quiz to us.
He’s angry. He’s so angry.
What a precious sight.
After belatedly noticing the mood, Wolf quickly closed his mouth, and a heavy silence fell over the room. Even then, however, Wolf still found some courage in his victory.
“So then…when…? When can I receive the…reward…?” Wolf once more asked Auril Gavis about his reward.
“I will come look for you when the time comes.” His voice was filled with frustration and annoyance. “So can you leave the room for now?”
Wolf quickly bowed. “Of course… Then I will be waiting for you outside, Lord Gavis.” With that, Wolf also left, and it was just us two left at the Round Table.
After quietly observing the whole thing, I opened my mouth for the first time. “Are you really going to send him back?”
Now that it was just the two of us left, I said that to signal that he could speak freely to me. However, there was no way this scheming old man would answer me honestly.
“Hmm, what do you think?”
“Well, to be honest, I don’t think he’ll get the happy ending he wants.”
“You lack trust in my character.”
What a baffling statement. If you wanted my trust, you should’ve acted trustworthy in the first place.
“But more importantly, this is quite the shame,” Auril Gavis sighed. “If it went for one or two more rounds, you would’ve seen something very interesting.”
“Something very interesting? You have peculiar tastes.”
“I will not refute that…but should you be the one saying that?”
Well, I couldn’t refute that either. The actions I took while wearing this mask weren’t all that different from this old man’s.
I asked him directly, “Then why did you do this?”
Compensating for taking off their masks was all a lie. However, I still couldn’t tell why he prepared a quiz like this. What was the point?
“Trust is the same as gambling. You have to hope that the other person bets as much as you did.”
“So?”
“I wanted to show you something before talking to you. However…since it’s become like this, it’d be laughable to try and explain any more than this with words.”
“You have a knack for claiming something is a secret.”
“Haha, then perhaps your talent lies in summarizing events after the fact.”
This old man was trying to compete with me in everything I said. The more I looked at him, the more pitiful of an old man he became, but the Confucian value of respecting my elders that was drilled into me from my childhood held me back.
That, and since I finally ended up meeting him like this, I couldn’t waste the opportunity.
“Whatever. I have a question.”
“A question?” he echoed. “Go on.”
“How did you learn about me?”
It was a question I had been saving to ask for when it was just us two. I was certain he hadn’t been lying when he said it.
“After all, in truth, this place was practically made by you, no?”
It was one of the first things the old man had said to me as soon as he entered the Round Table today. To put it simply, he knew that Lion was the Nivelles Enze he met twenty years ago.
No, honestly, it seems that he also knows that I am Bjorn Yandel as well.
In any case, before we officially got down to business, I needed to check just how much this old man knew about me.
“But why does the way you speak to me change every time I meet you?”
“What? Do you want me to start calling you sir this, sir that after all this time?”
I’d smirked while saying it, but Auril Gavis seemed receptive to that idea. “Uh… could you? Now that everyone is gone, you don’t need to act like Lion anymore…”
So he was bothered by me speaking impolitely to him the whole time.
“Well, that’s fine. I can do that. It’s not that big of an ask either. In any case, what’s your answer to my question? Is that a secret as well?”
“Ah, you asked how I learned about who you are, right? The answer is simple. I waited and waited for the twenty years to pass. Since I had that much information, it was quite easy to figure out that you are Bjorn Yandel.”
Hmm, I see.
I could accept that, but there was one contradiction that arose.
“But there’s this one weird thing. If that’s the case, why didn’t you recognize me immediately when I saw you for the first time at the Round Table?”
“From your position, it was before you met me. I decided that it would be better for me to wait for the correct time.”
“And that time is now?”
“Something like that. Until now, I avoided meeting you as much as possible…but there is one thing I wanted to check as quickly as I could.”
Right, now that I thought about it, he did say he was here to ask me something.
“Then please, tell me now. What is it that you’re curious about?” I asked in an even tone to suggest I would answer whatever he asked.
The old man took the opportunity to quickly announce his question.
“Didn’t you say at the Round Table that you met with a witch?”
“Yes. So?”
“I want to hear in detail where and how you met her.”
Was I having deja vu? It was the exact same question Wolf had asked me before.
Ah, is he personally asking me since I didn’t answer him that time?
Hmm, that seemed to be the most plausible explanation. It also meant that this particular piece of information was important enough to the old man that he would alter his original plan for it, meaning…
Don’t I have the upper hand now?
The moment I realized that, I noticed I was leaning back in my chair with my legs crossed in a proud stance. An instinctive reaction of a K-Barbarian who caught on to the fact that he was in an advantageous position. Auril Gavis looked at my change in stance with a questioning look but didn’t say much.
Alright, so you can overlook that much?
Tap, tap.
Soon, the paddles that had been left on the table caught my eye. They were items that had been created with one wave of the old man’s hands.
Now that I think about it, he said that he recovered his full authority, right?
With that, I licked my lips and made a “request” to Auril Gavis. “So, sir? I’m a bit thirsty, so could you pour me a cup of soda?”
“Hm…?”
“Ah, and please put ice in it.”
English