Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel 2025 - Chapter 641
Chapter 641: Political Schemes (5)
To think Albrenive Karlstein, of all people, would say something like that. How ironic, coming from the family head of the Red Cat Tribe. He didn’t even have a good father-daughter relationship with Missha and spent a good amount of time despising me as well.
But if this is the moment he’s chosen to intervene… Well, he must have found some political value in using the situation.
Although I knew there was a good chance that was the case, I couldn’t quite bring myself to look him in the eye. No, it wasn’t just him either. It was difficult to keep my head held high in front of Mr. Dragon and the representative of the elves as well.
“Go on.”
“Are you speaking the truth?”
“Then are you suggesting that I am lying?”
It felt as if I’d been caught in the crossfire of three quarreling elders. Mr. Dragon, for his part, was bearable at least—I didn’t have a personal connection with his daughters—but the same couldn’t be said for the Karlstein family head and the elven representative.
I smothered a sigh. Why was I always so uncomfortable when dealing with these two? I would honestly rather lay in a bed of thorns. Both physically and mentally.
…Should I even have come to the meeting?
Just as I began to regret attending the Races Summit, a saving grace shone its light upon me from a totally unexpected source.
“How about you all calm down a little?” said the head of the dwarves, making his dissatisfaction known even as he tried to calm the waters. “I understand the heart of a father to a daughter, but you’re making it seem as if this meeting was for matchmaking.”
They all went silent.
“And everyone here knows how much of a political faux pas this is. Excluding the humans, our five races have avoided deep relationships with each other, and this has allowed us to maintain balance and stability. However, if someone begins to cross the line, then that line would lose all meaning.”
The old dwarven leader’s comment was justified and logically sound. However, Mr. Dragon didn’t seem to agree to jump to rebut him.
“Hmm, but I believe that line the Dumoka speaks of lost its meaning a long time ago. Our friend here is already the leader of a race and recognized by the crown as a noble. Has something like this ever happened in the past?”
“That… is a problem that was resolved back when the palace told us not to make a fuss about it.”
From what I could tell, the dwarven leader here had gone to make a complaint to the palace as soon as I became a chieftain with a noble title.
Well, since he’s a dwarf, his heart would be as small as he is tall, so I get it… So of course I’d want to confiscate his good-for-nothing chair even more after his offensive—
“That is why there is no meaning to maintaining that line anymore,” Mr. Dragon argued, interrupting my thoughts. “With the intervention of the palace, the balance has already crumbled.”
I held myself back and continued to take in the conversation for now. I could tell that this was a pretty important topic.
“The palace has no intention of seeing our five races work together in harmony… Many think this way. What say you, Lord Viscount?”
Mr. Dragon’s comments seemed to be pointed at the dwarven leader before he suddenly changed his target to the human representative, Viscount Maxiland.
“Haha, how could I know the thoughts of the palace?”
Viscount Maxiland only let out a dry laugh and avoided the question like an eel. It was honestly pretty amazing that he could respond so brazenly when he was the representative of the humans by name only.
“Are you saying that I am wrong?”
“Please consider me as if I am not here for this meeting. That may be better for everyone involved. Will that be too difficult?”
Seeing how strongly he responded on points like this, however, I could tell that this Viscount Maxiland wasn’t a pushover either.
I mean, that was probably why he was sent here.
At that, Mr. Dragon didn’t say much and remained quiet. The viscount gave an apologetic smile after having dismissed him so soundly. “Haha, I find myself embarrassed. It’s my first time acting in this position. I came here in the hopes of learning, so any excess attention weighs too heavy on me.”
“You hope to learn… That much is enough. You have shown us what the palace thinks of us.”
The viscount remained silent, signaling that we would be left to come to our own conclusions, and the conversation finally ended.
We then returned to the main topic.
The dwarven leader glanced at the viscount, quietly chuckling away from where he sat in the corner. “Ahem. My mind still hasn’t changed. It is not right for the chieftain to marry a woman of another race. Balance must be maintained. That is the only way for us nonhumans to show our loyalty to the palace.”
He seemed to want to appeal to the palace even in this situation. As if he wanted to make clear that the dwarves weren’t a threat to the palace.
Why is this grandpa so timid? Is it because he hasn’t been an adventurer?
The way the dwarven representative acted was different from the other dwarves I knew, but still, I understood where he was coming from. I knew the pressures that came with a position of responsibility.
Of course, that didn’t mean I was just going to laugh it off.
“Then according to you, I need to marry another barbarian?”
“That would be the best outcome, but I am not pushing for it either. Even if you marry a beastwoman or an elf, it won’t matter in the political sense so long as they are a common woman.”
In short, it couldn’t be Erwen or Missha.
“A political problem…” I was listening at first because I found it amusing, but I could no longer just sit by. “Dumoka, I suddenly have a question. Can I ask you?”
“Go on.”
I looked at the leader of the dwarves acting as my ever-so magnanimous senior and just asked him point-blank, “Who are you to tell me to do this or that? Do you think you’re better than me?”
I raised my head and took a look around. Naturally, the angle made it so that the dwarf was beneath my vision.
“I apologize if it offended you. I was only trying to give you advice—”
“Oh, then I’ll give you a piece of advice too.” I stared directly at the dwarf who looked clueless as to what was going on. “I am the chieftain of the barbarians and a noble of the Kingdom of Rafdonia. Also, I am the master of my Anabada Clan—”
To be honest, he probably knew all this.
“But most importantly, I am a warrior.”
But I got the feeling that he didn’t really get the full picture.
I looked down at the leader of the dwarves, who looked overwhelmed by the presence I exerted, and continued, “So you. Never order me again.”
Oh, right. It wouldn’t really be advice if I ended it there.
With that thought in mind, I added one more thing to end the conversation. “Unless you wish to fight me.”
Yeah, that was a good piece of advice.
The dwarf, who hadn’t even gone into the labyrinth once, had nothing he could say. Nor could the Karlstein family head, who made me freeze up just with one blast of his killing intent; nor Mr. Dragon, who was the leader of the dragonians, the strongest race; nor the elf, who was from the race said to receive the love of all the spirits.
I got the feeling.
“Understood?”
I wouldn’t lose to any of them.
***
Honestly, thinking about it again…
No, I didn’t even need to think about it.
I continued to stare down the dwarven leader, who seemed shocked at what I said.
“And isn’t it laughable to talk about keeping the balance at this point?”
The barbarians had been the weakest race until now. Their life expectancies had been abysmally low, and because of that, they always lacked manpower and never had the funds to do anything. The fact that they didn’t possess an instinct for politics and industry only worsened their status.
“I am the first barbarian in Rafdonia’s long history to become a noble.”
Surely it wasn’t as if we had been barred from such things just because we were barbarians.
It was something I had always thought, something I had jokingly complained about, but those complaints weren’t empty words. I remembered the time when I had nothing, when I, Bjorn, son of Yandel, was living the life of a weakling.
“I have endured countless insults, the prejudice and discrimination the city has against the barbarians. And within the city, our warriors found it impossible to find regular work, and we were forced to fight against the plunderers of the labyrinth that aimed for our lives. At the time, we couldn’t even get proper shoes for our young warriors. All we could do was hand them a weapon and enough stonebread to last them seven days.”
And the most important thing here…
“And what did you do then? Did you think you needed to maintain the balance even then?”
“That’s—”
“I doubt it.” I cut off the dwarven leader’s words before he could say anything. I didn’t need to hear him say it. “If you did, you wouldn’t have ignored the request of the former chieftain in previous Races Summits.”
I had the wrong idea about him in the past, but the former chieftain hadn’t done anything like let the barbarian tribes go and just stand back as they fell to ruin. Although he lacked the ability, he still tried his best. The fact that he asked the people here for help, had come here to get the magic tower to stop experimenting on the hearts of the warriors was proof of that.
Only then did the dwarven leader’s expression give way to understanding. “…So that’s what it was? The outcome of that day is the reason you hold such hostility toward us.” His voice sounded like an adult comforting a child. “However, it couldn’t be helped back then. We needed to avoid any conflicts between the magic tower and the barbarians. For the benefit of your people—”
What was this guy talking about? That wasn’t what I was trying to say.
“I think you’re misunderstanding something. Of course I know that, just as well as you do.”
Because I wasn’t a simple-minded barbarian. After becoming the chieftain, I looked through the records and thoroughly studied our history. I was able to look into the reasons underpinning the happenings behind the scenes.
“I also know that during the War of Sacred Relics, you supported the elves from the background. And that right before the Races Summit then, you secretly met up with the wizards of the magic tower. And that the rumor that prevented barbarians from getting regular jobs in the city was spread by the other nonhumans a long time ago.”
I already knew it all.
“Even then, I don’t hold any hostility toward you.”
I wasn’t just saying that. I was serious. I didn’t hate them or feel angry about the fact that they betrayed us when we needed help.
“I just hate it. I hate how hypocritical you are being talking about keeping the balance after all this time.”
Yeah, so…
“I hope you won’t say that in front of me anymore. This nonsense about cooperation and balance.”
After declaring my request, the room went utterly silent.
The silence wasn’t uncomfortable for me at all. Maybe it was because I was finally able to vent all my thoughts in front of the representatives of each of the races. If anything, their silence was refreshing.
“Hmm…”
Unfortunately, it didn’t last long.
“Bjorn, son of Yandel, I understand your intention,” the elven representative said, nodding.
Mr. Dragon also seemed to be in agreement. “I also have no intention of pushing you to marry someone we select, and will support you no matter the choice you make.”
“So then…” the Karlstein family head began, as if to wrap everything up. “Who are you going to marry?”
Ah, I was going to throw up.