Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel 2025 - Chapter 497
Chapter 497: Quest (2)
Sometimes, a person could intimidate and utterly overwhelm others with just their eyes and presence alone. That was exactly what Teshelan Lengman Kealunus was doing.
“L-lord…!”
He was about five foot seven with a frame not so different from other wizards and skin that had become rather wrinkly with his age. To be honest, if it weren’t for that shoulder-high cane he was holding, I would think he was just an ordinary old man walking down the street.
Step.
However as he slowly walked down the stairs, none of the warriors were able to utter a peep. That gaze was sharp, unlike his age. However, that wasn’t the true reason why the warriors were dead silent.
They too felt instinctively.
Although the area of expertise between wizards and warriors was vastly different, there was no doubt which of the two was stronger.
“Baron Bjorn Yandel.” When he finally reached the bottom step, he looked up at me for a moment before saying, “You really are just like my older brother described. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
His reaction caught me off-guard. It was hard to believe that the lord of this tower would react to me, a barbarian, in such a polite way, especially after I’d broken inside with thousands of warriors. One would think he had gone insane or something.
Step.
As I took a large step forward, he took a step backward. The motion confirmed at suspicion of mine.
He’s purposely staying out of range.
Right now, the lord of the magic tower was taking particular care to stay out of range of Misplaced Trust. However, I pretended as if I hadn’t noticed and grunted,
“Well, I can’t say that I’m all that glad to see you here. Right now, I’m busy interrogating the criminals.”
While I had spoken in an outwardly hostile tone, he replied with a smile. “How about we put aside our emotions and have an honest conversation first?”
His response was calm, almost as if he had the upper hand in this situation.
Honest conversation, my ass.
Did this old man not know a thing? If you acted like that, how could you expect a barbarian to understand you?
“I refuse! I told you, we are busy interrogating the criminals now!”
“But surely you know that they won’t say a word now that I’ve arrived.”
That was true. The three wizards we had tied up all had a glimmer of hope in their eyes because this old man had appeared.
If they weren’t going to talk, I was planning on using force. But since this old man is here, I guess that option is off the table…
“You can take your time deciding on what to do. But at this rate, the royal army will soon arrive.”
I didn’t need much time. “Alright. If there’s something you want to say, tell me.”
“First, will you send your people away?”
“Only the warriors. Marco will stay here.”
“Marco? Are you talking about that man over there?”
Marco, who was focused on filming everything, flinched when the lord of the magic tower glanced at him. It was only natural that he would get scared, seeing such a powerful person look his way.
“The royal family has a right to know everything that takes place here.”
“Hm, is that so?”
“Are you denying that fact?”
“Of course not. As a subject of this city, I wouldn’t dare interfere with the affairs of the royal family. But…” He slowly trailed off and glanced at Marco once more.
Crack!
“E-eeek!” The crystal ball broke in Marco’s hands, and he fell backward, startled.
“It seems that’s broken.”
So that was how he wanted to play things? “I bought it here at the magic tower too. I guess it was a defect.”
“A magic-powered device is bound to occasionally malfunction, no matter how well-made it is. However, since you purchased it here, I will apologize on behalf of the magic tower. If you tell me the exact location where you purchased it, I will have them provide you with new ones.”
What an interesting old man.
“Ainar, take everyone downstairs. Including Marco.”
“Will you be okay…?”
I nodded at her as she quickly took everyone downstairs.
“You three should take a nap for the time being.” The three wizards suddenly fell to sleep on the floor, all at once. The old man had used basic sleeping magic on them.
With that, only the two of us remained.
“Alright, you’ve sent everyone away, now tell me,” I demanded. “What do you have to say?”
“I will be brief since there’s not much time.” He then took three steps forward, entering Misplaced Trust’s radius and looking directly at me as he said, “The magic tower will ban all research using a barbarian heart from this day forward. That means anyone who is caught researching it will be punished accordingly, as if they were studying a taboo.”
“And?”
“As for those who went to the black market to buy them, they will also be punished.”
“What’s the punishment?”
“They will no longer be associated with the magic tower.” Simply put, they would be fired. “You may see it as a light punishment, but please understand our situation and know that we can’t punish them any further for such a crime.”
He spoke as if worried I wouldn’t agree, but I was actually more than happy with his offer. I may have made noise about execution and treason, but it was impossible to actually prove a crime of that level.
“Of course, if anyone tries to buy a barbarian heart through the black market in the future, the punishment will be much worse,” he elaborated. “It will be no different than trying to obtain a forbidden item, after all.”
Alright, he even made sure to add a preventative clause for the future as well.
“And?”
“We will not submit any complaints about your unauthorized intrusion into the magic tower today. You broke inside to scold us harshly for our crimes, but after hearing your side, we agreed to our wrongdoings, and you eventually forgave us.
That’s the story that will be known to the public.”
I was left speechless. Even though I knew he couldn’t lie within the radius of Misplaced Trust, I couldn’t believe what he was saying. “…Are you serious?” This old man was willing to officially admit that the magic tower was defeated by the barbarians.
“I am.”
Rather than feeling overjoyed, the only thing I felt was unease. Nothing came free in this world. “So what do you want in return?”
When I asked bluntly like a Barbarian, he responded with a name. “Master of the Tritten School, Lurendel Garlinbarret.” The same wizard that requested for my heart on the black market. “Please remove the charges you made against her.”
I sighed. So this was all about her. I paused to collect my thoughts before asking him, “Is that woman really worth it?”
“She’s an incredible wizard. She was momentarily blinded by her greed and ended up making a reckless decision. But I have no doubt that, one day, her research will greatly benefit this world.”
I didn’t doubt him. It was clear that there was something special about this woman.
Lurendel Garlinbarret… It seems I caught a bigger fish than anticipated…
Whatever the case, I could just ask Amelia to investigate her later on.
“What do you think about my offer? I’m hoping to hear your answer now.”
“Good. I agree.”
With that, the negotiations came to an end. It was a shame to let go of the charges against the woman who tried to kill me, but all things considered, it was still more than I had initially hoped for. There was no reason to be overly greedy.
For some reason, though, the old wizard still seemed uneasy. “Well then. I trust there are no hard feelings between us, right?”
He was gently questioning me, likely trying to take advantage of Misplaced Trust being active so he could see what I was thinking.
“What about you?” I countered. “Do you have hard feelings toward me?”
When I avoided answering him and sent the question back at him, he unexpectedly answered with a smile on his face. “Of course I have no hard feelings toward you, Your Lordship. Nor did I have any to begin with. You are the chieftain of an entire race, so you’re only doing what you must, right?”
It was a businesslike mindset. His response made it difficult to refuse to answerhim now. Doing that would only put me at a disadvantage.
“So,” he probed, “may I hear what you think now?”
My honest feelings…
“I would be lying if I said I don’t have any hard feelings. Thousands of my kind died in the labyrinth because you wizards were greedy for their hearts. Of course I hate you. But!” I turned my wrist just slightly so that the compass on Misplaced Trust was hidden as I answered him. “Don’t worry. I promise that as long as you don’t come near us, we will not attack the magic tower again!”
It was a trick that only the person in possession of Misplaced Trust could use.
“Plus, you ended up being a much better guy than I was expecting.”
When I lied, it didn’t work.
***
It was largely uneventful after that. Eventually, the royal army made their way to the floor we were waiting on. They were shocked to see a baron of the empire and the lord of the magic tower peacefully having a conversation. The lord looked their way and immediately defended me, arguing that this situation was the wizards’ responsibility and that we barbarians were not to blame.
“So…Lord Kealunus has asked Baron Yandel for forgiveness, and he accepted it?”
“That’s right.”
The military commander looked at us in disbelief but didn’t pry any deeper. It didn’t matter to them what sort of deal we ended up making. From the royal family’s point of view, the fact that the incident didn’t lead to a bigger dispute was all that mattered.
“What are you doing? Get to work!”
The commander then ordered all the barbarians and wizards that were detained to be set free while the lord of the magic tower summoned the thirty-six wizards who were suspected of using the black market and handed them over to Mozlan.
“But I’m afraid I don’t see the wizard who was aiming for your heart among these thirty-six, Baron Yandel?”
Using the black market was nothing but a misdemeanor. However, the attempted assassination of a noble was a felony punishable by execution. However, it was easy to drop the charges against her.
“Oh, her? I thought about it some more, and I don’t know if I remembered her name correctly. There were so many names to remember, I got confused. I’ll tell you later if I ever remember who it was.”
“…I see.”
Master of the Tritten School, Lurendel Garlinbarret…
The inspector seemed to notice that she was a part of the deal we made but simply left it at that. None of that actually mattered to them, after all.
“Thankfully, everything ended peacefully. Oh, but since you caused a disturbance in the city without royal permission using over a thousand warriors, you are unfortunately going to have to pay a fine. I hope…you can at least be understanding of that,” he injected, pleading with me to pay the small fine and not cause any more trouble.
The inspector then escorted the wizards back to their magic tower, signaling my time to head back home. “Don’t worry, Your Lordship. If their crimes are confirmed, we will make sure they are appropriately punished.”
“Alright, then I’m leaving. I’m hungry.”
With that, I started to walk back home. As I headed back, Ainar suddenly ran after me and dragged me back to the holy land like she had been waiting for me.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The holy land was already in full swing with a festival commemorating our victory against the magic tower. Even though we didn’t prepare anything in advance, the warriors were satisfied just dancing, singing, and downing alcohol like water. The scale of it was bigger than any festival I had seen before. Even the barbarians scattered throughout the city came back to the holy land to celebrate.
“Bjorn!”
“Chieftain, you mean.”
“Chieftain! Say something! Everyone is waiting for you!”
When the time was ripe, Ainar pushed me to give a celebratory speech. Of course, I kept it short in good old barbarian fashion.
“We—!”
“Wahoo!”
“Wooooooon!”
“Behell—aaaaaahhhhh!”
My one-sentence speech was enough to make the already frenetic atmosphere even louder.
I can’t miss this opportunity to advertise.
I ordered Kharon to have our comrades spread stories about real estate to the other barbarians. They all spread apart as they brilliantly executed their duties, becoming perfect advertisers.
“Did you know? Victory isn’t over with just this. There’s something else we should do!”
“Now we will prosper even more. And the price of housing will rise even higher!”
“Everyone who doesn’t buy land now is a fool!”
“What? You’re going to spend your magic stones on a new weapon? What year is it? Why would you use it to buy a new weapon when you can buy land?!”
This will surely help our real estate plan.
After enjoying the festival some more, I secretly left the holy land to return home.
When I stepped inside, Amelia was waiting for me on the couch in the dark living room.
“Yandel.”
“…Huh?”
“Do you have some disease? One that makes it impossible for you to live just one day quietly?”
Amelia seemed irritated for some reason. Maybe it was because I didn’t tell her the details of my plan when I broke into the black market. Thinking that was the most likely reason, I quickly responded, “I’m sorry. I didn’t even discuss it with you beforehand, and I went and did my own thing.”
Amelia’s expression softened, as if I had given the perfect response. “…So you know.”
“Huh? You just smiled, right?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You smiled! I’m sure I saw it?”
“…Don’t insult me.”
What the hell does she mean by insult? When I sat on the sofa with a grin, Amelia cleared her throat, then asked, “So. Do you feel better?”
This woman can always read me like a book.
It was a strange feeling, but I replied to her honestly. “Yeah. Very much so.”
Amelia nodded her head. “That’s good.”
After a moment of silence, we changed the topic to talking about our days.
Seeming to have heard us chatting, Erwen also came downstairs, rubbing her eyes as she joined us. The next morning, they were here.
“I-it’s me… Bjorn…”
A visitor that I’d been waiting for arrived.