Surviving game as a barbarian Episode 666

Companion 4

What’s my relationship with Lee Baek-ho?

The GM had clearly been reluctant to ask this question, but had finally decided that he couldn’t wait any longer. There hadn’t been a good moment to ask before, and, judging by his choice of words, he’d given the matter a great deal of thought.

“It’s not that I’m trying to be nosy,” he began carefully. “I was just curious. Earlier, I saw the two of you step out to talk…”

“So?”

“The fact that man consistently uses honorifics towards you, Baron… I just found it a bit strange……”

That must have been the deciding factor.

Why did Lee Baekho, who usually treated everyone like dirt, speak politely to me?

He must have been dying of curiosity.

‘Especially since he knows how Baekho and I first met.’

The memory of my first meeting with Baek-ho still sent shivers down my spine.

At the time, GM, disguised as Hans I, had a clash with Lee Baek-ho and I happened to witness it and get caught in the crossfire.

‘At the time, I honestly thought he was out of his mind.’

Just because he was “curious,” Baekho had grabbed me by the collar in a royal courtyard full of knights and demanded to know if I was a player.

‘Hard to believe that was years ago already…’

Feeling the passage of time, I slowly opened my mouth.

“Well… it’s not like we’re on good terms. We were enemies when we first met.”

“Enemies?”

“Yeah. Some crazy guy dropped out of the sky and tried to kill me. Then he just vanished before I knew what was going on.”

“…I see.”

The GM tilted his head, pretending like this was the first he’d heard of it. His blank expression was so ridiculous that I nearly laughed, but I held it in and continued.

“The next time I met him was at Gnometree.”

“Gnometree…?”

“Yeah. I went there with my allies for a request, and we ran into him by chance. A lot happened after that, and he has a bad history with one of my allies, too.”

If I slipped up anywhere, it’d just make me look like a half-baked liar, so I stuck to the core of the story and skimmed through the rest. He likely knew about what happened with Missha too.

He probably knows about Misha as well.

“Your ally…?”

“It’s not something I can explain in detail, but we made some deals back then, and things have settled down now.”

“When you say settled……”

“Settled how?”

“It’s basically a ceasefire. Both he and I know that if either of us makes a move, someone’s going to bleed. So we keep our distance.”

At my words, the GM looked slightly surprised.

It was the kind of look that said, ‘That Lee Baekho?’

And maybe also ‘You’re strong enough to stand against him?’

‘Hey, now. That’s a bit insulting.’

I’d embellished things a little for the sake of explanation, but it wasn’t a lie.

I couldn’t say I was confident of winning in a one-on-one fight with him.

But I wasn’t confident I’d lose, either.

Anyway—

“You asked what kind of relationship we have, right?”

When the GM nodded, I defined my relationship with Lee Baek-ho in one sentence.

‘To me, Lee Baek-ho is…’

There was no need to lie here.

We only tolerate each other because we both have something to gain.

There was nothing confusing about it anymore.

“…a bastard whose skull I’ll crush someday.”

Lee Baek-ho is an enemy.
***

“Is that all you were curious about?”

“Yes……. Since he is a dangerous person, I needed to first your relationship with him.”

“I see.”

“I’m relieved to know you’re not on his side. Nothing good ever comes from being involved with him. Not that you don’t already know that, of course.”

Maybe he’d picked up on the sincerity in my tone earlier. The GM seemed to have no doubts about my animosity towards Baekho. In fact, he looked satisfied.

‘Well, I suppose it’s only natural to feel reassured. If I said I was close with Lee Baek-ho, he’d lose the only person he can rely on here.’

Anyway, that concluded my conversation with him.

When I returned to my spot, Baek-ho called out to the GM.

“Hey. You. Come with me for a sec.”

“M-me?”

The GM flinched, like a student caught by a school bully.

He glanced at me, silently pleading for help.

“What do you need him for?” I asked

“Relax, Baron. I’m not gonna lay a hand on him. I know we need him to fix the magic circle. Do you think I’d do something?”

Well, I’m not worried about that.

But the GM’s desperate eyes made it hard to ignore him.

“…Fine. Talk where I can see you.”

“Yeah, sure. That okay with you?”

“…”

Once the situation was settled, the GM followed him like a lamb to the slaughterhouse, and they started talking about something.

‘Maybe I should learn lip-reading when I have time later.’

Because of the sound-control spell, I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

Judging by their expressions, Baek-ho was venting his irritation while the GM laughed awkwardly and tried to explain himself.

‘Come to think of it, those two didn’t part on good terms last time…’

 

The GM had expelled Baek-ho from the community, and because of this, Lee Baek-ho had held a grudge against him.

I don’t know if they have met since then.

‘Huh. That ended faster than expected.’

Unexpectedly, their conversation ended quickly and the GM returned looking drained.

“What did you talk about?”

“There was a… bad incident in the past. I was just explaining myself, that’s all. Haha…”

Tch, so he can’t tell me.

Guess I’d have to ask Baekho about it later.

“Anyway, we should get some rest. It’s almost morning, so we won’t get much sleep anyway.”

“Yes… Then, please rest as well, Baron.”

After that, there were no particular incidents, and everyone managed to get a little shut-eye.

By morning, Baek-ho had already begun preparing to activate the “portal.”

“A dimensional stone…?” I asked

“It looks similar, right?”

“Are these things hidden all over the continent?”

“Who knows? I’ve got no idea if there are more. This one was discovered by that mysterious old man… Aside from this and the one linked to it, I haven’t seen any others.”

The ‘mysterious old man’ must have been Auril Gavis.

“But it’s only similar in appearance. It’s different from the dimensional stones you’d find in the labyrinth—you can’t open it just by touching it; you have to channel mana into it.”

Hmm, so that’s why they kept talking about aligning mana waves or whatever.

Normally, when multiple mages share mana for a spell, it requires prior tuning or practice to synchronize.

“Then let’s begin.”

“Yes…”

The Ruin Scholar and the GM placed their hands on the stone and closed their eyes.

And then—

Woooooom—!

Mana gathered so densely that I could see its multicolored flashes with the naked eye.

Fwoooosh—!

The flowing mana kept condensing until it finally took the familiar shape of a portal.

“I’ll go first, so follow me in carefully! The portal only lasts for about 5 minutes!”

As soon as the portal opened, Lee Baek-ho jumped through it, followed by his allies.

“Uh……”

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going in?”

“Yes… I’ll go in first and check……”

I sent GM through the portal first, just in case, and hurriedly followed behin.

And…

Flash-!

The same floating sensation I felt when using the labyrinth’s portals washed over me, and soon my vision cleared.

I glanced around to take in our surroundings and was immediately left speechless.

There were unfamiliar man-made structures rising in the form of spires.

The ground had been smoothed and flattened, making it easier to walk on. Log-built houses lined both sides in a neat grid, and in the distance, I could see a half-collapsed wooden fence.

“A village…?”

“Oh, didn’t I mention it? This is where the Noarkans settled.”

This was the Noark settlement.
***

While the GM and I looked around in awe, Baek-ho shrugged and began to explain.

“It’s not a city, but it’s not bad, right?”

“There are houses, a fence surrounding the whole village and several wells, so there shouldn’t be any water shortages. Outside the fence, there are fields where they grow crops. To the east, there’s a river too, though it’s not a big one.”

The Noark settlement was far better equipped than I had imagined.

I could almost imagine living here peacefully myself.

Well, if it weren’t for the ‘monster’ he’d mentioned.

‘But now it’s a ghost town…’

The huge fence surrounding the village was half-destroyed, and many houses showed clear signs of damage.

Dark, dried bloodstains were visible in several places.

“Oh, and this.”

“Ah, and this.”

Lee Baek-ho tapped the now-inactive Dimensional Stone before continuing.

“They used this to open a portal to the labyrinth, too, but only that mysterious old man can do it. Even gramps couldn’t figure out how he did it.”

“I do have a clue. It’s magic that involves time and space.”

“Yeah, yeah, same thing. Excuses…”

 

Baek-ho smirked, teasing him. But honestly, it was Auril Gavis who was the strange one.

Creating a direct portal to the seventh floor… teleporting tens of thousands of people at once…

That old man acted like the laws of the world were just playthings to him.

“But why bother entering the labyrinth when they had a village like this?”

‘Well, they need to eat and live, right? I heard that when they fled, they couldn’t gather enough food and had to eat monster meat until they got here.’

“…Didn’t you say they had fields?”

“Yeah, but those came later. And even then, they were more like test plots. Crops barely grew, and there wasn’t nearly enough to feed everyone.”

“So, they did it because they needed Magic Stones?”

“But I heard there was another reason,” I suggested.

When I asked subtly, Lee Baek-ho nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders again.

“Well, there are monsters here too, right? This place only functions as long as they keep fighting for essences. And they were always worried the royal family might track them down.”

That… actually made sense.

The Noarkan settlement was located in the same area as the ‘Gray Plains’ on the seventh floor of the Dark Continent.

The monsters here would’ve been pretty high level.

“Ah, of course. After that monster appeared, everything became meaningless. It appeared several times and turned the village into a wasteland. Even that stubborn lord finally changed his mind and decided to go inside the city walls.”

“I see…”

“Anyway! Enough sightseeing. Let’s head out!”

After finishing his explanation, Baek-ho led us beyond the village walls.

Then—

‘It’s a completely different sight from the Gray Plains I know.’

I took in the sight of a vast field of green grass that rose up to my hips.

“Right? The labyrinth’s got way more of that apocalyptic vibe. But the monsters are the same. The terrain’s identical too.”

“R-really…?”

“I–is that so…?” The GM looked surprised that Baekho had responded so kindly, even though he’d only been talking to himself.

“Mr. Baek-ho, there is a monster ahead.”

Just as we left the village, the archer Layton Bright detected something and warned us.

And at the same time—

“Kuuaaaaargh!”

A monster hidden in the grass rose to its feet and let out a menacing howl.

“It’s a Biterion. A Level 3 monster. It is classified as a beast-type. It doesn’t have any particular elemental weakness, and its physical resistance is extremely high. Magic would be the most effective approach.” the GM explained, sounding like he was reading straight from an encyclopaedia.

I could roughly imagine what it must have been like when he was an explorer in the past.

‘He’s convenient to have around, but seems like the type who would be a bit exhausting to travel with.’

Anyway, to add to GM’s explanation, the ‘Biterion’ is a rare mob that is occasionally found only in the Gray Plains.

And…

‘Lucky me.’

It dropped a material I needed for the eighth stage of my Immortality Imprint.

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