Month 13 (7)

The Stone of Resurrection.

Even in Dungeon and Stone, a world filled with all kinds of strange items and abilities, it was one of the very few items related to “revival.”

It could only be obtained with an absurdly low probability even after meeting extremely special conditions on the 9th floor, making its rarity beyond description.

Honestly, it seemed almost easier to gather all nine Single Numbers items instead.

In fact, even in Raphdonia, despite thousands of years of exploring the labyrinth, the “Stone of Resurrection” was practically treated as a myth or legend. People weren’t even sure such an item actually existed..

Anyway, that’s not important right now…

The first emotion I felt when Erwin’s uncle mentioned the Stone of Resurrection was confusion.

It was, to say the least, a strange moment to bring it up, and not something I ever expected him to mention at all. Still, once I steadied myself and confronted the situation directly, a different feeling began to surface.

Curiosity.

No, to be precise…

Suspicion.

‘Could this guy be “Crescent Moon”…?’

The thought came to me out of nowhere, but once it surfaced, I couldn’t just brush it aside. It wasn’t entirely without basis, either.

A fairy.

High-ranking.

Obsession with the Stone of Resurrection.

There couldn’t be many individuals who fit all three of these keywords.

And considering that most old evil spirits were typically in their mid-30s to early 40s, he seemed even more suspicious. Still, the problem remained. I couldn’t exactly just come out and ask him if he was Crescent, could I?

“I apologize if that was too abrupt. However, Lord Baron, I’ve heard you prefer a straightforward conversation like this…”

As I remained silent to organize my thoughts, “Crescent Moon” offered a cautious apology. I took the opportunity to think things through a bit longer.

‘How should I react?’

There were two options: play dumb and claim I didn’t know what he was talking about, or admit it and hear more details.

After much thought, I chose the latter.

After all, it didn’t seem like he came here based on mere speculation. He looked convinced.

“How did you hear about that?”

Though it wasn’t a complete confirmation, I gave a somewhat affirmative reply to his question. As I did, I caught a faint shift in Beleg’s expression.

After a quiet exhale, Beleg replied.

“I received an anonymous tip in the middle of the night.”

“A tip…?”

“As I said, I do not know who sent it. However, it mentioned Miss Karlstein’s story in detail, so I didn’t dismiss it as nonsense and came to ask you.”

“May I see it for myself?”

At my request, Beleg handed me the letter without a second thought, as if he’d been expecting me to ask.

Fortunately, it wasn’t like the Ghostbusters’ invitation where the writing vanished after a set amount of time.

I quickly read through it.

‘As expected.’

Figuring out who sent it wasn’t difficult.

[LOL]

The single word written at the end, almost as if it were mocking the reader, was unmistakable proof of who sent it.

My thoughts grew heavy. I had always been on guard, knowing he could cook up some god-awful scheme at any time, but I hadn’t seen a trace of him since that day. To think he was pulling strings like this from the shadows.

‘…What on earth is his goal?’

I couldn’t tell. And because I couldn’t, it felt even more unsettling. Why did Lee Baek-ho pass information about the Stone of Resurrection to Beleg?

‘I really can’t predict that bastard’s actions.’

Noticing my gaze fixed on the final part of the letter, Beleg added a comment.

“I am told those are characters used by the Evil Spirits.”

“I see.”

“So, is it true? That you possess the Stone of Resurrection.”

“It’s true.”

It would be ridiculous to deny it at this point, so I just admitted it frankly.

He had been fairly certain, but the confirmation seemed to overwhelm him, judging by how excited he became.

“…Is—is that truly so!!”

Now I was even more convinced.

It was hard to believe that there was another fairy who was so interested in the Stone of Resurrection.

He really did seem like Crescent Moon.Though, there were still parts that didn’t quite add up.

‘Erwin’s uncle being an evil spirit…?

But if he were an evil spirit, would he really care so much about Erwin’s family? From what I’ve heard, he treated those three sisters like his own blood… no, even more than that—’

Click.

Just then, the front door opened with a sharp clack, and voices carried in. One was Erwen trying to hold May back, and the other was May’s angry outburst.

“Let us continue this conversation later. I will visit you personally in the near future.”

With that, Beleg brought the conversation to an end, a hint of disappointment in his eyes, and I nodded in response.

A moment later…

“Ma-May…! Uncle and the Baron are talking in the room—”

With Erwin’s desperate voice trailing behind her, May threw the door to our room open and stormed in. She was breathing hard with anger, and sensing the faint edge of threat in her presence, I gave a quiet nod.

‘She heard what happened in the village.’

Being hit when you knew it was coming was very different from being struck out of nowhere. Since I had time to brace myself for it, the impact wasn’t that bad.

“…I thought you were a decent person.”

May stared at me with eyes full of contempt and whispered softly.

“…Trash.”

There goes all the favourability I’d built up.

***

We were practically driven out to escape May’s anger, and after that, we headed straight back to the sanctuary.

Sometimes, when we had business in the city, we would stay there, and Erwin brought up that option again this time.

“We should sleep at home.”

I didn’t want to stay in the city during a crowded festival like this. It also felt like a waste of money.

‘Only two days left of the festival…’

As we rode the wall carriage, looking down at the city in the midst of celebration, all kinds of thoughts began to surface.

Even though the sun had already set, the city below was brightly lit, and the laughter and cheers were so lively that the energy reached all the way up here.

“Erwin, aren’t you going to enjoy the festival?”

“Hmm… I’m not really a fan of noisy places…”

“Is that so?”

“Well, I think it’d be pretty fun walking around with you, Mister… but next year. I’ll pass this time.”

“Why?”

“I don’t think you’re ready yet, at least not like I am.”

“…What kind of preparation do you need to enjoy a festival?”

I couldn’t find the words when her cheerful voice was paired with that sad smile.

“So let’s go later. Later… when we’re tired of feeling down and want to laugh and enjoy myself.”

“…Alright. Let’s do that.”

“Yes. And I heard this from my sister before—there’s a superstition that if you get married during the festival, you’ll live happily ever after without ever worrying about money.”

“Oh… really?”

Setting that saying aside, I could tell Erwin had recovered quite a bit. Even though no one else mentioned her, she brought up her sister first and even managed to smile.

Rumble—!

As we continued chatting and riding the carriage, we soon arrived at the sanctuary.

Naturally, the sanctuary was also bustling. It’s not like Barbarians don’t enjoy festivals. Some warriors probably went out to the city to enjoy themselves, but traditionally, most warriors spent the festival in the sanctuary, unless there was a reason not to.

“Then I’ll head in now. I’m tired…”

“Alright. I had a good time today. Get some rest.”

After parting with Erwin and heading toward my tent, the surroundings gradually became quieter.

Well, it was quieter compared to the forest where the festival was in full swing, though not completely silent.

“Bethelraaaaaa!!”

“H-Hey, keep it down! This is a quiet zone! If you make noise, Emily Raines will come!”

The only reason this area was relatively quiet was thanks to Amelia.

She insisted that since some people might want to sleep, this residential area should remain quiet. Her logic was perfectly sound, but in reality, she was probably being considerate of me—

“…That woman is so mean!”

“Exactly! Who does that during a festival!! Nobody even wants to sleep anyway!!”

Just then, a familiar voice cut through the rowdy barbarians. “What did you just say?”

“Hieeeeek! It’s Emily-Raines!!”

The moment Amelia appeared like a ghost, the warriors who had been whispering among themselves started slipping away one by one.

“I didn’t say anything! Really! I’m a quiet, well-behaved barbarian in the quiet zone!”

“It was Merrick’s second son, Kizan, who was loud!”

“Y-You guys…!”

“Merrick’s second son Kizan is a foolish warrior! If he wants to shout and laugh loudly, he should go to the noisy zone instead of doing it here!”

I wondered what exactly she had done to make them tremble just from meeting her eyes, but it wasn’t entirely unbelievable.

Even Aynar couldn’t defy her, so ordinary warriors stood no chance.

“Those who want to sleep, stay. Those who want to be loud, go to the noisy zone.”

“Ah, got it!! I’ll go make some noise! Sorry!!”

The warriors scattered as quickly as they could.

Even so, it was pretty amusing. I could understand the barbarians making that distinction, but hearing Amelia talk about quiet areas and noisy ones felt oddly out of place.

“…You are back?”

“Ah. Yeah…”

“Go inside and rest.”

“Alright…”

After exchanging a few words with Amelia, I went inside, washed up, and immediately lay down on the bed. But no matter how long I lay there with my eyes closed, sleep wouldn’t come. Just as I was struggling to empty my mind—

“Bjooooorn—!!”

“…Aynar? What is it? At this hour?”

“What are you doing in the quiet zone right now?! Everyone’s out having fun! You’re too old to be growing anyway, so why go to bed early?!”

“…I went out, I’m tired.”

“You’ve been like that for three days!! Come out today and play with us!!”

‘At least she isn’t threatening to quit the ‘Anabada’ clan.’

I chuckled as Aynar went into full-blown nagging mode.

Of course, that didn’t mean I intended to go out and enjoy the festival. If I couldn’t sleep, I was planning to go to the graveyard like I had the past few days.

However…

“Bjorn, the warriors need you.”

That one sentence moved me. Since this was the first festival after the major incident, it wouldn’t look good if I didn’t show my face at least once.

“…Alright. I’ll go, so stop whining.”

“Oh! Really?! That’s great! Everyone will be happy!!”

After sending Aynar ahead, I quickly put on my barbarian traditional outfit. Well, “put on” might not be the right word.

To be precise, I took off the rest of my clothes. After all, traditional barbarian attire starts with removing the top.

“Hurry up! Everyone’s going to go crazy the moment they see you!!”

Honestly, I really hoped they wouldn’t…

“Alright.”

With that, Aynar dragged me along into the forest where the festival was in full swing, straight toward the noisy area amelia had mentioned.

“BETHELRAAAAA!!”

“Oh!! It’s the Tribe Chief!! The Tribe Chief is here!!”

“Bjorn, son of Jandel!!! The strongest, greatest warrior on earth!”

“The genius monster of all time!!”

Thank goodness Barbarian eardrums are sturdy. If a normal person were here, their ears might actually burst from the noise.

No wonder 99% of the people in the sanctuary were barbarians.

“Come on! Over there! Looks like they’re fighting right now!!”

The first place Ainar led me was a spot where two warriors were fighting as if they were trying to kill each other.

“Kill him!! Kill him!!! Pull out all his teeth!!”

“Snap his arm!!”

“It’s fine!! He won’t die from just that anyway!!”

Two warriors locked in a bloody struggle, surrounded by a massive crowd of spectators. I grabbed a nearby warrior and asked.

“Why are they fighting?”

“No idea. Never really cared about things like that.”

The warrior gave me a look as if I were the strange one for asking and went back to watching the fight.

So the fight mattered more than me, huh? It was almost laughable how they hyped me up as some great warrior, yet dropped me the moment something else caught their attention.

It was funny but understandable.

Dueling was the greatest form of entertainment for barbarians.

The measure of how enjoyable the festival was came down to how many fights you got into.

Well, it was pretty fun. Our warriors wouldn’t lose to anyone in close-quarters combat, and PvP was much fiercer at lower levels than at higher ones.

“Waaaaaaah!!”

In the end, the red-haired warrior who landed an elbow strike to the jaw won.

Just as I was about to move elsewhere—

“Everyone, listen up!!!”

Aynar suddenly shouted, drawing the crowd’s attention.

“As you can see, the chief is here!!!”

I didn’t know what he was about to say, but the warriors instinctively responded.

“Bethelraaaaaa!!”

I just stood there watching, but—

‘…Why do I have a bad feeling about this?’

Sure enough, my intuition was spot on.

“The chief will face all the warriors tonight!!!”

Wait, who decided that…?

“Oooooh…??”

“But… the Chief is the Great Warrior…”

“No matter how strong I am, I cannot defeat the Tribe Chief…”

Fortunately, the reactions from the warriors weren’t exactly enthusiastic either.

At this rate, if this atmosphere persisted, there was a high probability that this insane proposal would just fizzle out…

“Do not worry! The location does not matter! If you can make even a single drop of blood fall from the Tribal Chief’s body, it is a victory…!!”

Aynar immediately stepped in with a balance patch.

“Oh…?”

“If it’s only that much… it might somehow be possible…”

Of course, even then, a fundamental question still remained.

“But why should we do it?”

“We’re people too! It hurts when we get hit!! And even more so if it’s the chief!!”

For some reason, the warriors’ intelligence seemed higher than usual today. But perhaps Aynar hadn’t expected this far—

“Uh… uh…? It’s a chance to fight the chief! Any honorable warrior should… like it… right?”

After hesitating for a moment, Aynar shut her eyes in resolve and shouted,

“A house!!! I’ll give three houses to the winner!!”

There was no need for long explanations after that.

“…If it’s houses…”

“That’s worth risking our lives for…”

The warriors’ eyes changed instantly.

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