Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel - Chapter 724
Chapter 724: Terminal (3)
What was the king of the New World planning that his condition for my freedom was that I kill the prime minister?
Because it’s impossible to kill the prime minister with just the power of the palace?
No, there was no way. Having played through the traitor route thousands of times in the game, I knew better than anyone just how powerful the palace was.
Then is it simply just so that I’ll do the dirty work while he gets to conserve his power?
Hmm, it was a better theory than the last one, but it still didn’t make sense. It wasn’t as if I was a trusted contractor who had worked with the palace multiple times in the past. There was no need for the palace to risk such an unnecessary variable.
He even planned all this by keeping me chained to the palace for nearly a week…
I refused to believe that it was just for the king’s entertainment. Especially now, knowing the King of the New World’s time was more precious than anyone else’s.
In the end, I could narrow down the possibilities to two. Two theories as to why the King gave me this order.
Either circumstances prevent him from personally eliminating the prime minister, or there is something he can only gain if I am the one to kill the prime minister.
They were just theories, of course, and I had no clue what said “circumstances” or “gains” could be.
“Looks like you suddenly have a lot on your mind.”
The King of the New World chose that moment to prod at me, and only then did I rein in my focus to answer him. There was only one answer I could give in the first place.
“I’ll do it. It’s not like I like that bastard either.”
“Ah, because of that incident…? I’ll say this just in case, but I had nothing to do with that. It was an action taken solely by the prime minister.”
He was probably talking about the Ice Rock Exhibition. So, the palace had an idea as to what we were thinking as well.
“That’s why you should take your revenge and unleash it on the right target.”
His words did nothing to improve my opinion of the palace. Even if the prime minister had acted of his own accord, the palace was the one who granted him enough authority to do so in the first place. I was the type of person who believed that those who overlooked evil deeds and those who allowed them to happen were both contributing to the evil.
Still… It does make me feel a bit better to hear him say it.
He had contributed to the problem, yes, but there were levels to this sort of thing. I figured there was some wiggle room left for him, and my rage for the palace wasn’t so extreme that I would risk my life to ruin them.
Well, I thought that because viewing the palace as my enemy would do nothing to help me live in this world.
“Alright, then let’s end our talk here—”
“Wait!” I hurriedly stopped the King of the New World as he stepped up to the Life Preservation Device. There was one last thing I wanted to ask him, even if there was no guarantee that he would actually answer me.
“Down there… What’s the thing trapped down there?”
The king stared at me for a moment without speaking. “Well… I see you’ve lost your manners now that you’ve accomplished your goal.”
Uh…
That wasn’t my intention, but I shamelessly remained quiet and stared at him, waiting for an answer. I only got one after a short moment of silence, and strictly speaking, it wasn’t much of an answer in the first place.
“How did you know something was trapped there?” Answering a question with a question.
I took a moment to think before answering honestly, “I heard someone asking to be freed from it. It sounded like a young girl around ten years old.”
I’d made the logical assumption that the ten-year-old girl in there could be the Earth Witch.
“I see.”
“So, what’s the answer?”
The King of the New World paused once more, falling deep into thought.
Was it that difficult of a question to answer? It sure seemed like it, given how he wasn’t giving me a straight answer after all that.
“Bjorn Yandel… You know nothing. You do not know how this world continues to survive nor how much we are sacrificing for this world… Our talk ends here. We’ll newly resume this conversation after everything is done.”
Hah, that was it?
Feeling cheated by his answer, I went to call out to him again but found I wasn’t able to.
“Your talk has ended there.”
As I was about to take a step toward the king, the knight drew his sword and stopped me.
Seeing how the King of the New World didn’t say anything about the knight’s actions, it really seemed like our conversation was over, and I just looked on like a dog who lost its toy.
Even as I stared after him, the king took off his clothes without shame and stepped with practiced ease into the device. Soon enough, with the sound of whirring machinery, the mysterious liquid began to bubble up in a flurry that slowly eased as the king gradually closed his eyes.
It really looks like he’s sleeping…
Thus, my short yet somehow exceedingly long audience with the King of the New World finally came to an end.
***
“Follow me.”
After watching the king go to sleep in his device, I followed the overbearing knight back up. When we arrived at the audience hall, which felt somehow emptier than usual, the knight spoke.
“The King of the New World has informed me to help you with whatever you might request to the best of my abilities.”
Oh, I see. So he wasn’t asking me to kill the prime minister all by myself.
“What do you want?”
My answer to that question was already decided. “I’ll watch the rest of what I was watching before.”
“I will go prepare it.”
I went back and watched the video the King had shown me. Oh, but since we didn’t have all day…
“Could we skip a few parts?”
“I will adjust the speed.”
The video was played back at eight times the speed. However, it ended much quicker than I expected. It meant that the video itself was quite short to begin with.
“Is there a second part?”
“No.”
“Then that was all…?”
The montage of my Anabada Clan gathering the remaining adventurers at the front line ended with them arriving at the holy land of the barbarians after breaking through the encirclement. The reason it ended there was simple.
“Our enemy knows the palace better than anyone else.”
“Huh, what does that have to do with this?”
“This foolish action was taken because they have already prepared methods to avoid our ‘eyes.’”
According to him, the reason this video was able to be recorded was because of some strategic device the palace possessed, and the prime minister did something to mess with it at the point the video ended.
“The King of the New World stated that you would fall to your knees even with this much.”
Yeah, well, his expectations were way off. I fell to my knees even without having to see the entire video.
Alright, then what should I do now?
After thinking for a moment, I asked the knight his name, and he flinched for some reason. “I do not believe there is any reason for me to share my name with you.”
Oh, what’s this?
I only asked because I didn’t want to keep calling him “the knight.” Since this was his reaction, as a barbarian warrior, I couldn’t just ignore it.
“Hoh!” I boomed with a grin. “You dare go against the royal decree?”
The knight’s lips twitched as he looked me up and down like I was a moron. I was honestly used to that look at this point, but really now. That was just uncalled for this time.
“You said it yourself. The merciful and wise King has told you to help me to the best of your abilities,” I kindly explained.
The knight went from chuckling at my supposed nonsense to suddenly falling into confusion.
“Huh?” his expression seemed to say. “Now that I think about it, is he right? Then if I don’t answer his request, am I going against the king’s orders?”
An error born from an excessive level of loyalty to the king. In the end, the knight let out a sigh and revealed his name to me.
“I am Astarota Berun.”
Hmm, the name was pretty normal, unlike what I expected. I thought he had a famous name or something since he refused to share it at first.
Then what was that reaction for?
Was it simply just because he didn’t want to share names with a mere barbarian like me?
“Astarota… It’s got a nice ring to it. What a pretty name.”
I threw out that compliment as bait just in case, and I ended up reeling in a winner.
“I do not have a girl’s name.”
“I never said anything about it being a girl’s name, though?”
Astarota went quiet when he realized he had ended up confessing with his own mouth.
“In any case, we’ll be in a working relationship going forward, so I’ll be in your care, Elizabeth.”
“It’s Astarota.”
“Ah, sorry. My mistake.”
He remained silent, probably realizing I was making fun of him.
There was no point to that, of course. The beauty of being a barbarian was being able to wield these negligible weaknesses against their targets in the first place.
“Well… What are you going to do now?”
He made an obvious attempt at moving the conversation along, and I didn’t resist either.
I wasn’t heartless or anything. I would only mess with him when I needed to.
“I don’t know, but there is something you need to do.”
“Speak.”
“Bring me Raven.”
Considering her personality, she was probably worried to death.
***
Ricardo Lüchenprague. The captain of the organization Orcules, and the man nicknamed the Traitor.
Having finally met the man, whom he had previously only heard word of via the reports given to him by the Department of Intelligence, the marquess felt off balance.
The Traitor, huh?
He was sure that a fearsome nickname would be removed from that man after this event, be it a success or a failure.
Because soon enough, that nickname would be given to someone else.
No…
If the operation ended in success, maybe the nickname itself would disappear. There wouldn’t be anyone left who would dare oppose the authority of the kingdom.
I’ve gotten distracted.
The marquess re-focused his attention on the man standing in front of him. He’d ended up self-reflecting in a moment where he could take the first steps to accomplish his original plan.
“From what I heard, you requested a private meeting. If you have anything to say, speak freely.”
The man slowly began to speak at the marquess’s invitation. As someone who usually didn’t talk much, his words were short and concise.
“Bjorn Yandel was spotted on the front lines.”
For a moment, the marquess was silent. Then, he nodded at the direct information transfer. “I see. Thank you for telling me. I will take care of the rest.”
The man then turned and left the room, knowing there was nothing left for him to do.
The marquess’s expression wasn’t different from usual, but his twitching finger exposed his nervous heart.
“Bjorn Yandel…”
He had hoped the man would have died when the prison collapsed. But perhaps he should have expected otherwise.
“In the end, it’s him once again…”
The marquess wasn’t particularly surprised.
At first, the man was only a nuisance at best, but maybe this feeling had been burrowing deeper ever since that day.
That a day like this could come in the future.
That he could be the biggest obstacle in accomplishing the great work.
Ba-dump!
At that, the marquess’s heart began to race.
However, it changed nothing. In the end, what must never come to pass had come.
“All will take their course.”
It was now up to fate.
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