Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel 2025 - Chapter 501
Chapter 501: Age of Exploration (2)
Plan B. The moment I heard that, I had a bad feeling.
“So, does that answer all your questions?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
I no longer felt as hostile toward Baekho Lee as I once did. It was better to think of him as someone who honestly answered all my questions rather than someone who was trying to deceive me and hide his intentions with a smile.
“Even if I ask you what your Plan B is, you’re not going to tell me, right?”
“I really can’t tell you. I need to have at least one card left, right?”
I sighed. Still, he had a point. Although it was a shame I couldn’t hear it, I understood why he couldn’t tell me about it and, instead, chose to move on. It wasn’t like I had told him everything either. We only showed each other as many of our cards as necessary. That was enough for now.
“Then, does this make me your enemy or your friend?”
I answered without much hesitation. “I wonder. It feels like at best, we are temporary partners.”
“…Temporary partners?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
Baekho didn’t seem to get quite what I meant by that.
Well, it’s a good idea to clear the air between us.
“I will cooperate with you to make sure you can go back home,” I clarified.
“And in return, I help you whenever you need?”
“Something like that.”
“That’s not so bad, but what if there’s a disagreement or something goes wrong…?”
I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. It was unlike Baekho to speak in such a cautious and worried tone. “Then we’ll just have to go our separate ways. There’s nothing else to it. I hope it doesn’t happen, but like you said, it’s impossible to guarantee that things will turn out the way you hope.”
“…Big bro, you’re so cool.”
“Yeah. So that Plan B of yours, just keep working on it. I won’t get in the way.
Meanwhile, I’ll also take care of what I need to do.”
It was human instinct to prepare for the worst. And in my opinion, anyone who didn’t have that instinct was someone I wouldn’t want as a partner.
“Temporary partners. Alright, let’s do that.”
Baekho reached his hand out as if he was happy with the idea. But why was he doing something so cringy now? Even though I hated it, I accepted his handshake.
“…Hey, bro, I just got goosebumps.”
“You don’t have to tell me. I feel the same.”
After a short handshake, we each sat on the sofa with a smile on our faces.
“We should have done this from the start.”
“I know.”
This actually wasn’t all that bad of a feeling.
***
After that, I continued to talk with Baekho on the sofa. One of the topics we discussed was the hidden area.
“You gotta tell me, bro. Just what in the world did you do?”
“I don’t know either. I think I activated a special condition somehow, but I really don’t know how it happened.”
“Really? That’s a shame, but… Even if you did know, that wouldn’t change much.
After all, a feat that’s recorded on the Stone of Honor can only be done once.”
“Oh, really?”
“What, you didn’t know? I guess you really don’t know much aside from what was in the game…”
Well, that couldn’t be helped. I practically lived in the library for a while there when I first came to this world, but the only information I could find there was public and basic.
“…It’s already time. I should get going.” After talking about this and that, it was time for Baekho to log out.
“Hey,” I said to catch his attention, “why don’t we start meeting each other in the city from now on?”
“I’d love to, but I don’t think I can for a while. I’m going to go outside for a bit.”
“…Outside. You must be talking about outside the walls?”
“Yeah. I finally found a way out. I seriously searched through the underground city for so long to find one.”
Wait a minute, this sounds important.
When I asked him to tell me the details, he shook his head, expression pinched in regret. “I wish I could but it’s a bit difficult to tell you here. I’ll send a letter to your house before I head outside. I’ll even give you the instructions in case you want to go out as well.”
“Thanks.”
Is this what people mean when they say that you should surround yourselves with smart people?
Without lifting a figure, I’d procured a way outside the empire. Like Baekho, I’d been curious about that for quite some time now.
Still, I brought us back to the main point. “But why do you want to go there?”
“Auril Gavis. I think he’s out there for some reason, so I’m going to look for him. I’m sure that old geezer has the answers to most of my questions.”
Come to think of it, I should have asked Baekho about that old guy as well. Given our current relationship, he would give me an honest answer.
Well…I guess I can just ask him next time.
“Well then, I’m off. See you next month!”
“Yeah, see you. If you find him, let me know.”
“Yep.”
Like that, Baekho Lee left. I sat on the sofa for a while as I stared at the fireplace, collecting my thoughts, before Hyeonbyeol returned.
“You came back later than usual today?”
“Do you think I just wait outside and stare at the number of people, waiting to join back?”
Uh…did she not? I thought that was what she did, given how she came in almost immediately every other time…
“So…your expression looks brighter than usual.”
“What?”
“You look like you took care of something that’s been weighing on your mind.”
“Oh…really?”
This woman was also strangely sharp when it came to that sort of thing. Without either denying or affirming her thoughts, she smiled and reclined on the sofa. As she lay down, I didn’t know where to rest my eyes.
“Hyeonbyeol…? You know you’re wearing a skirt, right…?”
“So? I’m wearing stockings.”
“Oh…”
Th-then, does that make it okay?
For some reason, her words worked, and I found myself convinced to stand still.
Hyeonbyeol watched me with a smile on her face. “Look at you, acting like that over something so minor. Now that I’m here…” She whipped out a book from the middle of nowhere, as if it wasn’t anything special, and started reading.
“…What’s that book?” I asked cautiously. “Where did you get it?”
“Don’t you know? This book is quite popular these days.”
I just looked at her in confusion.
“You really don’t know, do you? Well, you know how you can buy and sell clothes that can be used in the community, right?”
“Yeah.”
Ghostbusters was surprisingly similar to certain online communities in that there was a currency system. You could use it for cosmetics, such as decorating chat rooms or your character, but I, of course, had never once used it.
“This book is just like that.”
“Then there’s nothing written inside?”
“That’s not at all what I’m saying. No, this book was written by somebody who used to write on the free community board. Since their posts were so popular, they consulted with an operator of the system to start making and selling books instead.”
“Huh…that’s interesting. Is it fun?”
“Do you want to read it? Here, I have one of their older ones.”
“Yeah, let me read through it.”
I took the book from her and began to read through it. It was a regular fantasy novel with a modern background, but from the very start, it was addicting. Nevertheless, it was hard to concentrate.
…I’m going crazy.
Hyeonbyeol was just reading her book, sure, but why did she keep wiggling her feet like that?
“I’m stretching. My legs are numb.”
“…Did I say that out loud?”
“No. Just looked like you were asking that in your head.”
…I really can’t do anything in front of this woman without her finding out.
I decided to turn my back toward her, so I could focus on reading the book. The two of us continued to read in silence.
“Hey.”
It took me a moment to realize Hyeonbyeol was talking. “…Huh?”
“Don’t you usually leave around this time?”
“Ah…”
Why was this novel so interesting? Thanks to Hyeonbyeol’s reminder, I was able to quickly come to my senses and get ready to eat at the Round Table. I quickly apologized to her as I said goodbye, then hurried inside, throwing on the same navy suit I always wore and the lion mask on top since I was short on time.
By the time I entered, eight members had already arrived.
“You’re here, Mr. Lion. Pshehe.”
Clown was the first to speak, greeting me in a friendly manner. Next, it was Fox, Crescent, Antlers, Queen, Butterfly, Wolf…
There are eight of them?
Black Mask, one of the newbies that came last time, didn’t seem to have come today. With that thought in mind, all of a sudden.
Step.
Black Mask walked through the door on the opposite end of the room. She looked around the table for an empty seat, before sitting down.
“It’s nice to see you, Ms. Black…”
Goblin, who sat next to her, greeted her kindly. However, she simply crossed her arms, not saying a word back. For some reason, she also seemed like a powerful person.
Step.
In any case, I walked over to my usual seat, which had been left empty. The moment I sat down, the doors of the Round Table slammed shut.
“There are ten of us in total today…” Queen muttered to herself. “What a strange feeling, seeing so many people here.”
Crescent replied in a gentle tone, “Queen, it makes sense why you would feel that way.”
“Are you saying you don’t feel the same way, Mr. Crescent?”
The one who replied to Queen was not Crescent but one of the Newbie Trio whom I had first met last time. It was the one wearing the wolf mask, the same person who was given the title of returning user. “Hahaha! Back when Master was here, there were times when there were more than twenty of us! Ah, those days were really—”
“Back then, all you did was suck up to Master. Pshehe.”
Wolf went quiet.
“Clown, are you one to even say that now?”
“Pshehe. I guess elves must be quite attractive given that you’ve fallen completely head over heels for an NPC. So when are you going to try and find me? Aren’t you going to take revenge?”
“Wow! Are you two enemies? That’s awesome!” a cheery voice interrupted. “Please make sure to invite me when you guys fight!”
“Pshehe! Of course, Ms. Butterfly.”
I sighed. Since there were so many people gathered together, things had gotten quite chaotic.
When I turned my head toward Fox, she quickly caught my glare and swiftly went about establishing order in the room. “Since it seems like everyone has gathered, why don’t we start…?”
“Haha, let’s do that. We’re not here to just chat, after all.”
When things calmed down, the attention naturally gathered toward the person sitting next to me. After all, this was now an unwritten rule at the Round Table: the person next to me was always the first to go.
“Then I guess you’re first this time, Queen.”
“I guess so. I didn’t expect you all to sit over there, on the other side of me.” Queen was sitting three seats away from me, yet she was the first to go this time. She let out a heavy sigh as she slowly began. “This is related to quite a hot topic these days. The person who made the Stone of Honor was none other than the Last Great Sage, Diplan Groundel Gabrielius himself.”
Given that a green light showed, that meant the information was believed to be true, and less than half the people here knew about it. Nevertheless, it didn’t take long before people started to complain.
“Is it even important to know who made that thing? Pshehe.”
“Hehe, that’s what I was going to say. It’s not like we’re wizards who care about that stuff.”
“In the first place, all things strange and mysterious in this world end up being related to that guy.”
Apparently having predicted that response, Queen didn’t try to defend herself at all, instead pivoting to supply more information. “How about this, then? There is a credible record that the Stone of Honor itself is an Arrangement of Gabrielius. In other words, it’s proof of a hidden piece.”
A hidden piece…
“That’s not so bad.”
It seemed that the other members of the group were also willing to accept it. We quickly moved on to the next piece of info.
“A meeting among each race will be held next month. And it’s confirmed that the representative of humans, the Lord of the Magic Tower, will also be attending.”
Simply stating that a meeting among the races was to occur would not have been enough. That was why Crescent made sure to include who would represent the humans so that no one could complain.
So the Lord of the Magic Tower is the representative of the humans…
Not only that, I didn’t even know there was going to be a meeting next month among the races. How did he already know of that when even I didn’t?
Just goes to show the difference between being a part of a race with power and one without.
In fact, aside from the barbarians, every race had connections to the royal family.
The other houses of Melbeth hadn’t given up their hometowns for nothing. By pushing aside those beneath them, they were able to sidle closer to the top. In return, the power of their race would grow overall.
“Missha Karlstein has joined the Anabada Clan.”
Suddenly, it was Fox’s turn. I was a little bit taken aback hearing that name out of the blue, but it wasn’t too jarring.
News of her will be spread everywhere soon enough either way. Fox must have decided that there would be no problems using her name as information this time.
She wasn’t wrong in thinking so. The value of the information was objectively low, but no one raised any objections. After all, anything related to Bjorn Yandel was considered worthy here.
“Then that girl must have…”
“But…I thought she was on his team? Something must have happened.”
“Pshehe… Not bad at all, Ms. Fox. I didn’t know you had such information.”
After Fox’s turn, it was Goblin’s, then Black Mask’s, then Antlers. However, there was nothing particularly shocking this time around. Listening to them speak wasn’t much different than just watching the news at dinner time.
“Missha Karlstein. About that girl.”
What? What is she going to say?
While I was dozing off, Butterfly’s comment suddenly caught my attention. I watched her closely as she spoke with a grin on her face.
“She’s a traitor.”
Even though I clearly heard what she said, I couldn’t process it. Traitor? Did she mean that from Baekho Lee’s point of view?
While I was trying to piece together my thoughts, as if reading my mind, Butterfly quickly explained, “Oh, and I mean this from Bjorn Yandel’s point of view, of course.”
What in the world is she saying?
With that thought in mind, I quickly looked toward the jewel in the center of the Round Table.
Shwaaaaa.
The jewel quietly shined a bright green glow.