Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel 2025 - Chapter 657
Chapter 657: Outsider (1)
During my adventure into the past, I’d learned it well: knowing a future that couldn’t be changed was closer to a curse.
“So… Are you saying something will happen after a year?”
“Yes. Something will. A huge and fun event.”
Still, I needed to keep a positive outlook. If what Baekho was saying was true, then it meant I could spend the next year not worrying about any major shakeups.
“But you’re not going to tell me what that event is?” I pressed.
“Bro, if you know in advance what it is, it won’t be an exciting event.”
“Then at least tell me this. When that event happens, will District Seven be blown up again…?”
“Hmm, probably not…? The event I’m talking about isn’t anything like that…”
The news came as a relief. I was planning on making it big in the real estate market soon, after all, so that was a very important piece of information to have.
But…what other types of events are there?
As I quietly spun my wheels, regret flashed across Baekho’s face. “Ah, did I give you too many hints?”
Too many hints? I didn’t even have a clue what he could be talking about.
“In any case, since we’ve talked about everything we needed to… You know.”
Know what?
I tilted my head. “What?”
Then, Baekho disappeared.
“Pyong.”
I sighed. I needed to get even stronger, and quickly.
***
A few days after my visit to the marquess, the reconstruction of District Seven officially began.
Our manual labor warriors and the pride of our tribe, adult men of Bifron, and many different construction engineers and craftsmen sent to us by the House of Count Goldbeard and many other houses affiliated with Melbeth—they all worked together to initiate the demolition, and construction began immediately upon its completion.
Since tens of thousands of people were working together, the whole thing progressed pretty quickly. By its speed alone, it was faster than even modern construction.
BOOM!
Although we didn’t have any heavy machinery, we had magic. Also, we weren’t erecting any high-rise buildings that were complicated to construct, and—most importantly—our workers were much better than any modern workforce.
“Wait! If you lift it like that, your hips will—!”
“Hmm?”
“…You people surprise me every time I see you. Is it not heavy?”
“This much isn’t even exercise!”
Since the barbarians were capable of doing work with their bodies that only machines could do in the modern era, we were able to progress relatively speedily.
“The House of Baron Taylan said if we give them a bit more money, they would sell the entire 7-2 commercial district.”
“The entire thing? Buy it immediately.”
While the construction was ongoing, I continued to buy up the land of District Seven at a cheap rate from the nobles the alliance leader introduced to me.
“The 7-2 commercial district? I’m pretty sure the plan was to work on it much later.”
“The schedule has changed. Orders from Baron Yandel.”
Perhaps it went without saying, but we tore down and built up on the land that I bought as quickly as possible. I needed to quickly put up those houses so that I could find renters who would pay jeonse, and use that money to buy even more land.
“So this is the home I will spend the next two years in…!”
“It’s a little cramped, but everything you need is here!”
“I’m anxious, being so close to Bifron, but I don’t have a choice. The house prices in the other districts have climbed too high…”
It was far less difficult than expected to find the jeonse renters, despite my unease leading up to its implementation. Since each of them only took one room, each building was able to house dozens of people at once. The success allowed me to feel a bit more relaxed, and the fact that the bank lent out money with low interest rates along with the residential funds given out by the palace to the original residents of District Seven helped out a lot as well.
“With how dense the population is here, I realized that even if I set up shop here, I won’t be in trouble.”
Also, as more and more people settled into their homes, it led to more interest in the merchants setting up shop nearby and a subsequent harmonious spike in business. Of course, that itself did come with a few troubles.
“Ahem… I apologize, but please forget about the offer to sell my land before.”
Since District Seven was rapidly returning to a normal rhythm once again, the nobles who were going to sell their lands began to rescind their offers.
“So, Lord Baron…?”
“Ah, I’m busy here. Why do you keep looking for me?”
“I’m only here to ask why only our house’s land isn’t being worked on—”
“Don’t rush me. Can’t you see everyone working hard?”
“That’s not the problem…! All the buildings nearby have been constructed, so why is only my land empty?! I’ve already sent over the construction plans for the building, and you can just build it now—!”
“Oh, I’m telling you to wait. Who said I wasn’t going to build yours? It’ll all be done in time.”
The other houses didn’t have the option of employing their own workers to erect their buildings. The reconstruction rights of District Seven were held solely by my Yandel Barony.
“Fine. We’ll sell the land…”
Many houses couldn’t handle my open scheming against them and raised their white flags, but many held on until the end.
We can build these guys last…
And so, one month, two months, three months…
Time flew by, and when the business found its groove, the things I needed to worry about slowly began to decrease. Because of that, I began to focus on things beyond the business. Although it was nice to earn a lot of money, nothing good would come out of focusing solely on it.
“We’re finally a family. Welcome.”
“Hah… I didn’t expect it to take this long.”
Sawtooth Clan’s vice-captain, James Calla.
Paladin Sven Parav.
Noble Officer Melend Kaislan.
Magic troops soldier Lilith Marrone.
After leaving their respective organizations and becoming ordinary citizens, each of the members of the Ice Rock Expedition team was recruited into my clan.
“Is Ms. Akurava not joining us?”
“I don’t know yet. I contacted her to say I wanted to meet her, but I haven’t gotten a response.”
“Looks like it’s a similar situation to with Ms. Ravien.”
“…It’s not an easy decision. A lot of time has passed since then as well.”
“Still, I don’t get it! I still can’t sleep at night because of what happened then…!”
“P-please calm down, Ms. Marrone… Th-they must all have their own reasons, right?”
Well, rather than anything to do with logic, I was thinking of it as more of a personality thing. Some people were like Lilith Marrone, but most believed it was better to just forget and let live. It was even easier to actualize as well.
“So… We ended up joining you now… Is there anything for us to do, though?”
“I second that question. With the labyrinth sealed, I don’t know what exactly we could do by gathering like this…”
“Is… Is the labyrinth going to reopen soon?”
I shook my head at the new members’ questions. “No, even I haven’t heard any news about the labyrinth reopening. But I did hear something else.”
“And by that…?”
“In the festival of the thirteenth month, there is going to be a great competition.” It was a bit of high-quality information I obtained through my noble connections, so not many people knew about it.
“What do you mean by competition…?”
“The details might change, but I heard that it’s going to be a competition between clans. Our primary goal will be to win that competition.”
“Ah…! I do remember hearing that competitions like this happened a few times in the past!”
“But I don’t understand why they would run a competition like that in times like these.”
“They are running it precisely because of the times. The palace always wants to conceal trouble from the eyes of the people.”
“So if that’s our primary goal…are you saying we have a secondary one as well?”
Sven Parav seemed more curious about this than the competition itself, and I smirked in response. “Of course. But that’s a secret for now.”
“…Pardon?”
“Don’t make that face. It’s only an idea in my head for now. I’ll tell you later when I work out more of the details.”
With the acknowledgment of the secondary objective out there, I didn’t need to talk about it any further.
“Follow me! Everyone is waiting for you.”
I took the new members inside and began the welcome party. It was an event meant to allow the new and old members to sit down together and mingle with food and alcohol to deepen their friendship.
“You look a lot better, Ms. Karlstein.”
“Ah, do I…? I don’t really know…”
“You’ve definitely brightened up. During the underground floor expedition, I found it a bit difficult to approach you.”
“Ahaha… R-really?”
Goblin and Kaislan had spent time with us during the underground floor expedition so we had seen them then, but there were others here who were seeing each other for the first time.
“James Calla! Good to meet you!”
“Ah… Good to meet you too. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“I heard that you use a bow? Try shooting at me!”
“R-right now…?”
“Fighting is the best way to make friends!”
James Calla and Lilith Marrone, who hadn’t joined the expedition, were probably seeing Ainar and Missha for the first time today.
“Marrone, say hello. This is Missha Karlstein. And this is our navigator, Auyen Rockrobe.”
“Ah, yes… It’s good to see the two of you.”
I didn’t do too much, just going up to introduce them to each other and leave. The three people took the conversation from there.
That was, of course, until they caught Ainar’s eye.
“Hey! What are you three talking about? Let us in too!”
“…Pardon?”
“Oh, right! Do you want to see it too? This guy is going to fire an arrow at me.”
“…I-I haven’t said anything yet?”
Everyone seemed to get swept up in Ainar’s tempo, but I didn’t intervene. I mean, it was fine. Events like this needed at least one extrovert to smooth out the atmosphere.
“Yandel, come here for a second.” Amelia stealthily approached me from where I was standing at a distance and watching Ainar before dragging me to a quiet corner.
“What is it?”
“I’m here to tell you about the thing you asked me to do.”
I immediately lowered my voice. “Ah, did you find out…?”
“I’ll need to verify if it’s true, but I did find something.”
To be honest, I was surprised. Although I asked her to do it, I never expected her to return with the results so quickly.
“It’s fine even if the information is totally wrong. Just tell me,” I pressed.
She revealed all the information she had gathered, and I listened to everything without interrupting.
“So…” After finishing her explanation, Amelia looked at me with worried eyes. “Are we really going to do it…?”
She didn’t seem to believe me, even though she had found the method that I asked her to find.
“We don’t have a choice.”
The Noarkans were hiding a lot of things, and the palace hiding even more. Baekho and Clown had held back any useful information for their part, so there was nothing I could work with. But in this situation…
“So… Are you saying something will happen after a year?”
“Yes. Something will. A huge and fun event.”
Something was brewing in the background, and with my personality, I couldn’t just sit back and wait for it to happen. It wasn’t a choice befitting an adventurer either.
“Emily, don’t worry so much… It’s just time to do it.”
It was time to begin exploring outside the walls.