Surviving game as a barbarian Episode 551

The Secret Chamber (4)

To sum up what we gained from the secret room:

‘A mysterious golden book containing the story of a brother and sister.’

Well, it’s of no immediate use.

But the rest of the spoils were a different story.

‘Seven summoning books.’

Not just any summoning books—each one was something I hadn’t seen on the shelves outside.

One had over ten rare mimics drawn inside.

Another had monster illustrations painted in colors like blue and red, instead of the usual black and white.

And there were books where the monster illustrations were marked as ‘???’.

Seven books, each with unique characteristics.

‘A suspicious fountain pen.’

On top of that, we also snagged the fountain pen that had been on Hamsiki’s desk.

“Hamsiki, how do you use this fountain pen?”

[W-well…]

[Th-that’s… um…]

After a long hesitation, Hamsiki finally spoke, starting with a reluctant, ‘Well, since we’re friends…’ and confessed honestly.

[If you use that pen to color over a picture in a book… you can obtain the essence of that color.]

“What?!”

[D-don’t yell! You scared me!]

Seriously, he should’ve just said it calmly if he didn’t want me to freak out.

A pen that lets you secure the essence of a chosen color for sure?

Was something like this even allowed to exist in this world?

It felt so absurdly broken.

Unfortunately, the pen did have its limitations.

Level 3 or below only.

And it could only be used twice.

‘Yeah, no way it was gonna be unlimited use.’

I was disappointed, but considering this was [Dungeon & Stone], it wasn’t too bad.

If anything, it was an insanely good item for this game’s standards.

‘So this is what an unexplored area gives you, huh…’

Now I understood why explorers had been so obsessed with the newly opened Basement Floor 1.

Probably when floors 5, 6, and 7 first opened, they had hidden pieces like this too.

“By the way, Hamsiki, how did you know about the pen? Had you used it before I came?”

[Of course not!]

“Hm, you sure seem to know a lot about it for someone who hasn’t used it.”

[I just knew! Since I was born!]
He’d never used it, yet he somehow knew its purpose.
When I slipped the pen naturally into my breast pocket Hamsiki had another fit.
[Y-you can’t just keep that! It must be given to the one who is worthy…!]

“Oh? But you said it has two uses, right?”

[And…?]

“We use it once, then give it—still with one use left—to whoever’s worthy.”

[T-that’s ridiculous—!]

“Or is there some kind of rule that says you have to give it away in unused condition?”

[Uh… not exactly…]

“Then it’s all good!”

Problem solved.

I’ll use it once after leaving here, then think carefully about where to use the remaining charge before persuading Hamsiki later.

With that, I turned my attention to the last piece of loot.

“A map…”

It seemed to compress the entire basement level 1 into one sheet.

Centered around the rocky island where we started, several other islands were drawn…

The pen is nice, but this map is a huge find too—it’ll save endless scouting time.

“There are two islands we haven’t been to yet.”

After consulting with Auyen, our sailor, we found out that one island was about a week’s journey from the library, while the other would take nearly a month to reach.

“A month… This floor is much larger than I expected.”

“Yes… However, there’s one thing that bothers me. The other island is in the direction where we saw the rainbow.”

“So, the thing beyond the rainbow might be this island?”

“Maybe. I can’t say for certain yet, but it doesn’t seem like a mere coincidence.”

Well, I thought the same.

So, for now, I’ll call this island the Rainbow Island…

“Hamsiki, do you know what’s beyond this map?”

[I don’t…!]

Hamsiki, who had been staring blankly at the wrecked room, replied grumpily.

He looked a bit sulky, but he didn’t seem to be lying.

‘So he doesn’t know…’

It’s probably best to assume that this map doesn’t show everything.

I was left wondering.

What would happen if we went beyond the edges? Could we even go beyond them?

I can see why people in the flat-earth era were so curious about the edge of the world.

‘Anyway, I’ll find out when I get there. …….’

“Mr. Jandel, take a look at this part.”

Vesil pointed to a section of the map.

It was the area with the Giant’s Island—more precisely, the cave where we had stayed.

“Do you see the symbol here?”

“This… looks like the portal monolith.”

“That’s what I thought too.”

The monolith’s pattern was drawn in the cave section.

But below the pattern was an incredibly intuitive marking.

“An arrow pointing downward…”

What could this possibly mean?

‘Floor 2.’

Everyone looking at the map seemed to have the same thought, but no one voiced it.

In the midst of this silence…

“Now look here.”

Versil moved her finger to point at another location.

Auyen was the first to identify it.

“This is… the Chief’s Island…”

“Right. There are only two monolith markings on this entire map, and one of them is here.”

The moment I checked the spot Versil pointed to, I felt my breath catch.

I wasn’t sure if this was good news or bad news.

But one thing was certain.

“At least we’ve found the exit.”

The arrow beneath the monolith’s pattern was unmistakably pointing upward.

***

We had found the exit.

Or more precisely, a ‘possible’ exit.

Even so, for us, who had been wandering the vast ocean without any leads, this was incredibly good news.

But…

‘Of all places, it had to be the Chief’s Island…’

This fact alone was enough to make my breath catch.

It meant that, whether we liked it or not, we would have to face the Chief to return to the city.

“S-so we can go back to the city now?”

“We did it! Woo-hoo!”

Some of the crew cheered, overjoyed to have found the exit, but unfortunately, there were several problems before we could actually escape.

“But… is escaping really possible? The portal stone on the Giant’s Island didn’t work back then…”

“That’s true. Like when we descended, there must be some condition we need to fulfill first.”

As some of the more thoughtful members pointed out, we still had to figure out how to activate the portal stone.

Dealing with the Chief would come after that.

But…

“The rainbow! The island in the direction of the rainbow! There must be some key there, right?”

There were a few things we could try. After all, we hadn’t just been sitting around since we got here.

We can start with Rainbow Island, and if we don’t find anything there, we’ll try the other islands. We’ll find something eventually.

With that in mind, I asked Hamsiki one more question.

“Hamsiki, what kind of monsters are at the top of the bookshelf?”

I need to know how strong we need to be to clear Library Island.

Hamsiki didn’t give a direct answer about difficulty rankings, but he did list examples:

[Toll-Rapupa, Kashan, Leviathan, Prafel, Reedger…]

Hah, so we’ll have to take down a Level 1 monster eventually.

At least it’s just one, not multiple. That’s a relief.

“What happens if we beat them?”

Hamsiki answered solemnly:

[I don’t know.]

“Not even whether we’ll be ‘worthy’ or not?”

[Again, I do not know. That memory doesn’t exist.]

So basically, no shortcuts—we’d have to figure it out ourselves.

“Hamsiki, how do we leave—through that portal-looking thing?”

He tilted his head.

[Once you come in, you can’t go out.]

“…What? You’re telling me that now—”

[Squeak! Kidding! Yes, that’s the exit!]

Ugh, he scared me.

I let out a dumbfounded laugh, and Hamsiki, looking oddly pleased, grinned at me.

[Squeak-Squeak…! Friends play pranks on each other—it’s common sense!]

Seeing him so happy made it hard to stay mad.

Chuckling, I led the crew out of the secret chamber.

The stone gate was still open, glowing brightly, but as soon as Hamsiki stepped out , the light faded and the gate closed.

“By the way, Hamsiki, do you have to open the gate like that every time you enter?”

[Yeah?]

“I thought this was where you lived. Isn’t it inconvenient to go through that every time?”

[I dunno? It was never inconvenient before! I just couldn’t go in because you guys showed up while I was organizing the books!]

Ah, so that’s why he was wandering around outside and got caught by us.

The reason he moved around at night was probably because we were asleep.

“We’re going to rest and then continue hunting. What will you do in the meantime?”

[Watch!]

“What about organizing the books?”

[I’ll do it when no one’s around… after you guys leave.]

“Why? Oh, I’m not telling you to do it now, just curious. Since we’ve already seen you, couldn’t you just do it?”

[…I’ll do it when no one’s around. So don’t push me.]

In that case I can’t say anything.

We wrapped up the secret room expedition and returned to camp.

The next morning, we immediately started hunting again.

「You have defeated a Mimic.」

「You have defeated a Mimic.」

「You have defeated a Mimic.」

「You have defeated a Mimic.」

「You have defeated a Mim…」

First, we used the Mimic summoning book. But despite killing over ten rare mimics, no essences dropped.

Without an essence you can’t loot items from the mimic’s [Treasure Vault].

Surprisingly, I wasn’t that disappointed.

Maybe it’s because even the best loot from a Mimic would only fetch around 30 million Stones.

It didn’t feel like much of a loss.

And it wasn’t the only summoning book I had picked up either.

So, I opened the rest as well.

“…A Drake?”

The book marked with ‘???’ summoned a Level 4 flying monster—a Drake.

Huh, I was nervous about what might come out.

Is it really just 100% random?

No way to know, but it dropped only one magic stone.

“Now, only the colored books are left.”

Five summoning books with colored monster illustrations.

After opening them all, we found a commonality.

The book with a red-colored monster dropped a red essence, and the one with a blue-colored monster dropped a blue essence.

‘The problem is, except for one Level 3, the rest were all Level 5 or below.’

We discarded the Level 5 and below, and the Level 3 essence went to the Armin Exploration Team since they had someone interested.

And with that…

‘We’ve already opened everything.’

Just like that, all the summoning books from the secret room were used up without much gain.

Well, the main prize was the ‘fountain pen,’ but…

‘It’s best to save this for a strategic use.’

As much as I wanted to use it now to extract Bellarios’ essence, I forced myself to think rationally.

We wouldn’t be hunting just for today.

There’s still a chance to get essences naturally, so using it now would be a waste.

So…

「You have defeated a Stone Winter.」

「You have defeated a Mechalote. EXP +7」

「You have defeated a Frost Guardian.」

「You have defeated a Vol-Herchan.」

「You have defeated a Mechanical Giant…」

「…」

Hunting after breakfast.

Hunting after lunch.

Hunting after dinner until bedtime.

We repeated the hunting days again and again.

After some time had passed

Day 99 in the labyrinth.

‘Tomorrow, the labyrinth will reopen in the city.’

Before I knew it, the time for the new explorers to enter had arrived.

***

“Deputy Commander, have you heard the news?”

“Ah, that…”

Alluva Raven, deputy commander of the Royal 3rd Magic Corps, forced a bitter smile.

Basement Floor 1, The records archive.

No matter where she went in the city, that was all anyone talked about lately.

A shocking rumor had begun circulating.

Bjorn Jandel was still alive and well down there.

And he had received two single-numbers items.

An unverified rumour spread by the community of evil spirits.

“Deputy Commander… could that rumor really be true?”

“Whether it’s true or not doesn’t matter. We just need to focus on our duties. I’ll head out first.”

Raven brushed off her subordinate’s question, finished her meal, and returned to her office.

Was the rumor true or not?

It didn’t matter.

Either way, what she hoped for was the same.

She hoped it was true.

That way, she wouldn’t have to worry herself sick every day.

“Sigh… It’s annoying either way.”

Floor 1.

An unknown area where nothing was known.

What kinds of mysteries and wonders existed there, and what grand adventure might Bjorn Jandel and his companions be enjoying?

“Whew…”

She let out a long sigh and lowered her head.

The uniform she’d grown so used to—
and the mage-battalion badge on her chest.

Today, for some reason, the outfit felt stifling and irritating.

“Enough—back to work.”

Repeating to herself the words she had just spoken to her subordinate, she turned back to her tasks.

That evening—

“Vice-Commander! A royal decree has arrived!”

An urgent royal message was delivered to her.

It was filled with elaborate formalities and complicated wording, but she was used to government paperwork and could summarize it in three lines.

The royal family plans to explore the Basement Floor 1.

They need someone with exploration experience.

You’re perfect for the job.

After reading the entire document, Raven sprang up from her chair like a fish out of water.

And immediately began packing her things.

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