Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel 2025 - Chapter 628
Chapter 628: Abandoned City (1)
I had discussed this once before with my allies.
“It’s also odd that they aimed for two districts at once. They’re so unstable that holding just one district would be difficult…”
“And there’s Bifron between District Seven and District Thirteen, so it’s even more difficult to defend their territories.”
“…That’s right. So why did they do this? Are they aiming to do something in Bifron?”
While we didn’t know the details, we surmised a hidden purpose behind their actions. Now, that guess was confirmed to be true.
The vice-captain couldn’t hide his shock as soon as I mentioned Bifron, but tried to cover it up by saying, “Hm, well, I don’t know what you are talking—”
It was too late for him to try and bury his secret again. My hypothesis had already been confirmed.
“I don’t think you’ll need to open the path for us,” I interrupted him. I mean, the answer was already out in the open, right? “We’ll be going to Bifron.”
I didn’t know what these guys were planning to do at Bifron, but I at least knew that doing the opposite of what my enemy wanted was sometimes good enough.
Given how he was suddenly taking the time to think after what I said, once more realized that there wasn’t much difference between talking and fighting. What just happened proved it. If I hadn’t aimed for a critical opening at an unexpected time, I wouldn’t have been able to get that sort of reaction out of him.
The silence continued.
“Why are you going to Bifron?”
“I think you’ve got the wrong idea here.”
He didn’t misdirect by dishing out such excuses. He only looked at me from afar and said nothing. It seemed he was running it through his mind over and over without speaking rashly. Still, it was far too late.
“We’re going to leave now.” I grinned. “Are you still not going to stop us?”
The vice-captain spoke lowly. “I heard you were intelligent, but I never expected this.”
I mean, that was how I felt as well. I only knew that he was the second-in-command of Orcules. I never once heard that he was a strategist of this scale.
“So? What’s your answer?” I asked brazenly.
The vice-captain snorted. “Do as you wish. You want to go to Bifron? Then go there. We won’t stop you.”
He’s bluffing. Right?
That was my initial suspicion, but I couldn’t be sure. I always needed to keep all possibilities in mind. And honestly, all he did was get a little flustered at the mention of Bifron. It actually might not matter to them whether or not we went there.
Hah… Another bout of mental warfare here.
My head hurt. Although we hadn’t had any physical altercations yet, I could tell from our conversation that this guy was considerably powerful.
At some point, the vice-captain had collected himself, as his voice was calm when he said, “It is your choice. What will you do?”
What, did he think he regained the initiative or something? Yet somehow, when the floor was given back to me, I found myself hesitating to make a final call with how complicated things had started to feel.
“I hope you make the right decision,” he taunted. “You have the fate of many on your shoulders.”
Barbarians didn’t get decision paralysis. They were the race that acted without hesitation if they deemed that action necessary no matter how difficult something was.
And they were used to making choices in situations where they didn’t have any choice, to begin with.
“Why do you keep talking? Stop chirping in my ear.”
The vice-captain narrowed his eyes at my words, not understanding what I meant.
I spoke frankly to him in response. “What decision? Didn’t I already tell you? We’re going to Bifron.”
That guy probably didn’t realize that the moment he tried to agitate me in front of the other people, the choice to go over the walls disappeared.
Yeah, how could I go there in this situation?
For starters, I was an evil spirit. Then during the Ice Rock Expedition, I had killed the Order of the Rose and feigned ignorance, and I had even tried to evade taxes by distributing the wealth of the palace.
If I gave the palace any excuse whatsoever to investigate me, I would be in even greater danger than I would be going to Bifron right now.
“Anyway, good to hear you won’t stop us. Stay safe out there. We will see each other soon…” With a shrug, I asked, “You’re not going back on your word, are you?”
The vice-captain answered nonchalantly, “Not at all. I keep every word I speak.”
“Oh, looks like you’re more manly than you look.”
“More than I look…?”
“Haha! Picking up on small things like that makes you less of a man! Anyway, could you get out of my sight now? I want to go to Bifron now, but it’ll be annoying if you guys just stand there.”
The vice-captain paused at my low tone before replying, “All forces! Move back to the walls!”
A murmur swept through the forces of Noark that were stationed opposite us as if they didn’t understand why the vice-captain would order such a thing, but they didn’t go against them.
“They’re going…”
As I watched them leave for the castle walls, I recalled the final expression on the vice-captain’s face before he fully turned around. He’d worn what looked like a smirk—either to mock me or express joy.
“…Are we really going to Bifron?” Amelia asked me with a worried voice, perhaps because she had seen the very same thing.
Versyl also made her worry known. “Is this the right choice? I think you’re being lured there…”
What lure?
I could tell from this final expression. Letting go of lingering hesitation, I turned my back to the walls.
“What are you all doing? Follow me! We will head to Bifron!”
I would know when I got there. Just what was hidden there, and just why he hated the idea of us going to see it.
***
Vice-captain of Orcules, Roland Banozant, looked below the empty walls and let out a dry laugh.
“He really went.”
A woman wearing provocative clothes approached him.
“Mr. Vice-Captain, is it okay? We let them go without doing anything.”
Lyranne Vivian.
Although she was once a promising pupil of the Magic Tower, she conducted multiple experiments into forbidden magic and became a dark wizard. It was said that she was a brutal and cruel person even before she stepped onto the path of becoming a black wizard, and from Roland’s perspective, he couldn’t tell if her personality had become less or more extreme,
Including her trait of joking.
“You got flustered because he really just left, right?” When he didn’t respond, she said, “Aha, you looked flustered. You always act so smart, but looks like even you didn’t expect him to actually leave.”
Banozant found people like her distasteful. No, his feelings were closer to hatred.
But she’s still useful.
He put on a kind smile as he looked at the woman. “Haha, how can a person know everything in the world? However, given how you are talking, it seems you expected that outcome, Ms. Vivian?”
“No? How could I expect that? He made that decision even when you gave him the option of letting him leave for the city… But shouldn’t we at least chase after him even now? Won’t we be in big trouble if he goes to Bifron and something goes wrong?”
Banozant nodded with a bitter expression.
Although she gave off a ditzy vibe, Vivian was not a dull woman. Just as she said, letting someone unpredictable like Bjorn into Bifron was definitely not a good idea for them.
“But chasing after him now will be even more dangerous. If we vacate the walls, the palace will notice. It is not yet time to give them District Seven.”
“That’s true, but wasn’t it still too much to say you’d let them go without doing anything?”
Banozant only smiled calmly at Vivian’s prickly tone. “That’s true. I am also regretting that decision.”
“Hehe, you’re making it sound like I’m bullying you. I’m just curious, you know? Why our smart Mr. Vice-Captain made that decision.”
With how insistent she was in getting an answer, Banozant had no choice but to give it to her.
“Ms. Vivian. Most people wouldn’t be able to make such a reckless decision in that situation. Even more so with so much on the line.”
He wasn’t saying this to brush off the situation. He had met countless people and points of decision in his life. Though, to be precise, he had observed them.
It was the reason behind his title of “Demon Eyes.” Most people thought he was named such because of an ability, but it just happened to match up at some point.
In truth, he didn’t have such abilities when he first got that title. He had just been capable of inferring the thoughts of others since a young age.
“Whoa, then our Mr. Vice-Captain isn’t really that smart?”
Even with his serious answer, Vivian only mocked him, and Banozant made his displeasure known by furrowing his brow.
She recognized that she had crossed the line as well. “I mean, you said that’s what most people would do. But Bjorn Yandel isn’t like most people, right?”
With that quick add-on, Vivian shrugged and left the area, and Banozant let out a small chuckle.
“Not like most people…”
He learned about Bjorn Yandel when the barbarian received that baronet title after his contribution to the Goblin Forest Battle. At that time, he’d thought Bjorn was simply exceptional and left it there. Someone who had merely lucked into an accomplishment, not anyone Banozant needed to be wary about.
But what about now? In the end, Bjorn Yandel ended up as quite the powerful individual in the kingdom.
I don’t even know how many times it has been anymore.
For some reason, he always clashed with Bjorn Yandel, even back during the Dragon Slayer, Regal Vagos’s, time as well.
After hearing that the one he found in the labyrinth after he regained his memories was Bjorn Yandel, Banozant was astonished—that was before he obtained his fame and received a noble title.
So this is… an ill-fated relationship.
Although he didn’t believe in superstitions, he could feel it. Bjorn Yandel would continue to become a huge hindrance to him.
“I’ll need to report back to the captain first.”
After collecting his thoughts, he used a communication technique to relay the news to the captain who was in District Thirteen. With the report complete, he looked at the empty walls and recalled his conversation with the Dragon Slayer.
“Hmm, you want me to tell you about Bjorn Yandel?”
As an adventurer growing at an incredible pace, he asked the Dragon Slayer about all sorts of information after he regained his memories. Among them, there were things like this as well.
“…Ah, Vice-Captain. One more thing.”
When he heard it back then, he’d taken it as a random piece of advice.
“If possible, I advise that you do not talk with him.”
But now, he could understand it a little.
“As soon as you start talking with him, things will suddenly start going his way. Before you can even realize it.”
He could now grasp the reason the Dragon Slayer would say something like that.