Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 838
Novel: Surviving Game as a barbarian(SGB)
Ups and Downs(5)
After returning to the group, we held a simple funeral for Carlson.
Calling it a funeral would be an exaggeration. In reality, it was little more than cremating his body at the priests’ suggestion.
Aynar objected at first, insisting that she wanted to return his remains to his family.
“The choice is yours, but after everything this warrior has endured, wouldn’t it be better to let his soul rest?”
“…All right.”
Persuaded by the priestess, Aynar finally relented. The priestess argued that giving him a proper cremation was far more respectful than preserving his stiff corpse inside a subspace storage.
And with a priest present to recite the prayers for eternal rest, Carlson had surely gone to a better place.
“…Thank you for allowing this.”
As I watched Aynar carefully gather the ashes into a container, the vice-captain of the Sawtooth Clan approached me.
He carried an urn of his own, still warm from the fire. Since we were already holding a funeral, he had asked for permission to cremate his captain as well, and I had agreed.
“I still can’t shake this feeling, we’ve been together for years. I knew he’d started losing his way a long time ago, but I couldn’t bring him back.”
“Is that so?”
“It is. You may find it hard to believe, but the man he was at the end wasn’t the man he used to be.”
“Really?”
Thinking back to the bitter curses he hurled at me before his death, I found that difficult to imagine.
The vice-captain looked down at the ashes in his hands.
“…Thank you again for giving us a chance.”
“You don’t need to thank me. I needed the extra hands anyway.”
“Even so, we won’t forget this. The mercy you’ve shown us today will stay with us for the rest of our lives.”
Maybe. Or maybe not.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he spoke sincerely now only to turn on me the moment we made it back to the city.
Then again, if he ends up repaying me the way Carlson did—
That would be a surprise.
A huge surprise.
Still, I wasn’t going to expect anything.
Either outcome was possible, but I wasn’t interested in betting on either.
“…Do as you see fit.”
Taking my indifferent response as the end of the conversation, the vice-captain gave a small nod and quietly withdrew.
Even after he had left, I was still preoccupied with my thoughts.
Eventually, I decided to stop dwelling on it.
Did any of it really matter?
There was no single correct way to survive in a world as chaotic as this one. What mattered was choosing the kind of person I wanted to be.
I didn’t offer kindness because I expected repayment.
Nor did I shy away from necessary actions out of fear of what they might bring later.
Those principles alone were enough to guide me through this merciless world.
“Viscount, if I may ask, what are your plans from here?”
The question came from Maize Rayner, the first temporary member to join our group.
Our plans?
“We rest.”
“…I’m sorry?”
“We’ll take this opportunity to recover before the dimensional collapse begins again.”
Although I had already confirmed that there were no other survivors in the area, there were still plenty of things I could have done.
The labyrinth held more than a few valuable opportunities.
The reward for defeating the boss, the Restrained Wish, was valuable enough on its own. Beyond that, there was always the possibility of stumbling upon another hidden event like the one where I encountered Zephyros in the cabin, which only appeared during the dimensional collapse.
Still…
There was no telling when the safe period would end.
Simply travelling from one place to another was dangerous, and none of us had been able to take advantage of the respite anyway. We’d spent the entire time running.
Before the next collapse began, we needed to recover at least a portion of our strength and stamina.
“W-We can rest!”
“The Viscount said we’re allowed to rest!”
“Ooooh!”
“Y-You mean I can actually sleep?!”
Their reaction was far more enthusiastic than I expected.
Then again, considering everything that had happened, maybe it wasn’t surprising.
From the moment we entered the Eternal Hole until now, not a single one of them had truly rested.
With the dimensional collapse potentially resuming at any moment, I gathered the surviving explorers in a small area so that we could respond quickly if necessary.
No one complained.
The moment they understood they were free to rest, they simply dropped where they stood.
And soon—
Snore.
Zzz… Zzz…
A chorus of snores gradually filled the area.
Listening to it, I closed my own eyes as well.
SNOOORE!
For now, rest came first.
***
We were standing inside the Glacier Cave. Desperation filled her face as she pleaded with me.
“I want to go home… Please… I don’t want to die here.”
She begged for her life.
I brought my hammer down on her skull without the slightest hesitation.
And then—
“M-Mommy…”
Jencia suddenly became a little girl.
At the same time, the scenery around us changed.
We were no longer in the Glacier Cave but in the underground city of Noark decades in the past.
A young Jencia was walking through the streets alongside a group of thugs. The moment our eyes met, she shot me a hostile glare.
Without looking away, she plunged a knife into the girl standing beside her.
“Die!”
Only then did I recognize the victim.
It was Amelia.
I tried to rush forward and stop her, but my body wouldn’t move.
That was where the dream ended.
“Hah…”
I woke with a sharp gasp.
After replaying the dream in my mind, I arrived at a simple conclusion.
“It was only a dream.”
There was no reason to search for hidden meanings.
However, I didn’t think I’d be able to fall asleep again.
Snore.
Zzz… Zzz…
Careful not to wake the sleeping survivors, I slowly sat up.
Only five or six hours had passed.
But perhaps because my body had long since surpassed human limits, I didn’t feel particularly tired.
He’s awake too.
As I looked around, I noticed Armin watching me.
Perhaps he had spotted me sitting up among the sea of unconscious explorers. When our eyes met, he greeted me with a small nod before carefully making his way over, stepping around the sleeping bodies.
“You’re awake,” he said. “Not tired?”
“I could ask you the same thing.”
A faint smile crossed his face.
“I woke up a while ago. Couldn’t fall back asleep.”
“I see.”
“By the way, would you like to take a look at this?”
“Hm?”
Armin handed me a notebook.
As I flipped through it, I quickly realized what it was.
A roster.
The names, classes, and ranks of every adventurer currently gathered here had been neatly recorded inside.
“You put this together yourself?” I asked.
“…I had some spare time, so I put everything together. We need to know who can do what if we’re going to organize formations.”
“Must have taken quite a bit of work.”
“Not really. Mr. Cutter and Mr. Kebron helped a lot.”
“Kebron…?”
“The vice-captain of the Sawtooth Clan. You didn’t know his name?”
“Ah. Right. I suppose that was his name.”
Since it wasn’t particularly important, Armin let the matter drop.
“Anyway, based on my experience leading adventuring parties, I drafted a formation. Would you like to see it?”
“Sure.”
I turned the page and found a surprisingly detailed deployment plan.
The toughest fighters formed a defensive wall, while the more vulnerable but valuable members were positioned toward the center.
“You’ve stationed a fair number of warriors in the middle as well.”
“You know how the dimensional collapse works. Monsters can appear from any direction.”
“I see. And you’ve deliberately split up the Sawtooth Clan members instead of keeping them together.”
Armin gave an awkward laugh.
“To be honest, I expected you to be more suspicious of them.”
He wasn’t wrong.
This was the sort of work I should have handled myself, yet he’d completed it while I was asleep.
“Good job. We’ll use this.”
A faint look of relief crossed his face.
“I’m glad I could help. Oh, and there was something else.”
Reaching into his subspace bag, Armin pulled out a pouch and handed it to me.
Right.
I never checked the loot.
Curious, I opened the pouch and looked inside.
There were quite a few useful items.
His equipment alone would fetch a good price,
and even his spare gear was worth a respectable sum.
But one item immediately caught my eye.
He had one of these?
Among the valuables sat a crimson gem that practically screamed luxury.
“…A Restrained Wish?”
Armin nodded.
“So you recognize it. From what I heard, the Sawtooth Clan obtained it after defeating the Minotaur during their expedition.”
I had already resigned myself to not getting one.
Yet somehow it had fallen directly into my lap.
The situation was almost absurd.
Still, my curiosity immediately took over.
The curiosity of a gamer.
…Could it work on the synthesized essence I got from the First Floor?
And if it did, what rank of essence would it produce?
Of course, that didn’t mean I intended to use it.
Even if it somehow upgraded my current essence into a Rank 2 essence, I wasn’t convinced it would be worth the trade.
My compound essence might be a mixture of Rank 3, 4, and 5 essences, but its overall value far exceeded that of an ordinary Rank 2 essence.
…A Rank 1 essence, though?
That was a different story.
That would be enough to tempt even me.
“Thanks to you, I’ve acquired something valuable.”
After that, Armin and I passed the time talking.
We discussed the dimensional collapse, the Lord of Tears, the Sawtooth Clan captain’s final words, my Anabada Clan, the fallen members of Armin’s party, and countless other topics that drifted into our minds.
As the conversation continued, an unexpected visitor approached.
“Priestess?”
“It’s Maria Shur Eloyd.”
“Ahem. Of course I knew that.”
He had probably called her “Priestess” simply because she was the only female priest among the survivors.
…Probably.
“It’s a pleasure.”
Maria greeted us politely before taking a seat nearby.
“So what brings you here?” I asked. “Couldn’t sleep either?”
It was meant as a casual remark, but she answered with complete sincerity.
“No. There was something I wanted to ask you.”
“Ask me something? Go ahead.”
I gave her permission to speak, but even then she hesitated.
“You said you had a question.”
“Yes…”
“Then ask it. Stop stalling.”
“…Very well.”
After gathering her thoughts, Maria finally spoke.
“I heard you accompanied Jun, the former Inquisitor of the Toberra Church, on his final mission.”
“…Jun?”
“Yes. I was told that, under the name Riehen Schuitz, you once undertook a special mission for the Royal Palace alongside him.”
The unexpected name caught me completely off guard.
But now I was curious too.
What exactly did she want to know?
“So?”
Maria lowered her gaze for a moment before speaking again.
“…What were his final moments like?”
“He died standing.”
“…Pardon?”
“He held the line against his enemies and protected his companions until the very end. Even after death, he remained on his feet. He stood so firmly that his enemies couldn’t immediately tell he was dead.”
I paused briefly.
“Death itself couldn’t bring him to his knees.”
Maria fell silent.
“…I see.”
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
“How remarkable. For someone like you to speak so highly of him…”
I narrowed my eyes.
“Either I’m hearing things, or that sounded suspiciously sarcastic.”
The moment my tone hardened, Maria bit her lip.
She didn’t deny it.
Nor did she offer an explanation.
Fine by me.
I wasn’t about to let myself be the only one put on the spot.
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