Surviving game as a barbarian Episode 554

Déjà Vu (3)

“…Tell me the details. What happened?”

I checked the details before coming to any conclusion.

“Ah, that? On the day of departure, he disappeared, so the commander personally went to look for him. But when he was finally found, he made excuses like having a stomachache and said he couldn’t go.”

“…”

“He made such a scene—crying and screaming—that they even called in a mage to examine him.”

“Examine…?”

“Examine…?”

“They used magic to check if he was really sick, but apparently, there was no issue. And when they tried to accuse him of attempting desertion, he reluctantly changed his attitude and joined… but…”

“…But?”

“Because of that rumor, his reputation within the expedition has been tarnished. Even the priests from his own order no longer treat him like a person.”

“I see…”

Sigh, I shouldn’t have asked.

Seeing how desperately he tried to avoid joining the expedition, it must’ve been because of that ‘instinct’ of his.

Thump-thump!

I hope we’re not going to have to go through the same crap we did in Ice Rock…

***

The four ships that had left Rock Island finally reached the Library Island and docked. And after quickly forming up, we descended the stairs.

Our 4th Squad led the formation, so all thirty-eight of us stood on the front line

For some reason that felt ominous, but I shook off the thought.

‘They put us in front just because we got here first, that’s all’

Yeah, yeah, we’re not disposable pawns or anything.

Even if I were the commander, I’d have done the same.

Ugh, but why does my back feel so uneasy?

‘……Damn those royal bastards.’

Berzak… and then the Ice Rock incident. After being stabbed in the back twice by the royal family, I just can’t bring myself to trust these bastards—

“We’ve arrived.”

I was so busy watching my back that we reached the underground library before I knew it.

The books had already been neatly organized.

And then…

[……You’re here earlier than I thought… uh……?]

Hamsiki, who had come out to greet us, tilted his head in confusion when he saw the expedition forces following behind me.

Ugh, what’s he doing here? I waved at him to hide, but he just stood there, looking clueless.

So…

Swish, swish.

I pointed my thumb at the expedition force, then at Hamsiki with my index finger, and finally drew my hand across my neck.

These guys aren’t nice like me. They’ll cast distortion magic on sight, kill him, and start dissecting. No joke.

Maybe he understood me,

[Eeeek—!!!]

Hamsiki screamed and ran away.

And at that moment—

“Baron, is something wrong? I thought I heard a terrible scream from somewhere.”

Someone from the main force, trailing at a distance, rushed up to me.

Okay, looks like they didn’t see Hamsiki.

“It’s nothing.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t know the cause, but sounds like that happen here sometimes.”

“Ah, I see. Understood. I’ll relay that.”

With this, even if I secretly meet with Hamsiki from time to time, the expedition won’t find it suspicious.

Well, there might still be someone who’d want to investigate the scream, so I’ll have to be careful.

“So this is the place Baron Jandel mentioned.”

“What do you think?”

“What do I think? My personal impressions are meaningless. Now, let’s not waste any time and get started. We’re not just conducting an exploration—we’re carrying out a sacred mission bestowed by the royal family.”

Ugh, talk about a royalist.

Jerome immediately began issuing orders to his deputy commander, who then shouted in a booming voice:

“All units! Begin the area survey! Search every inch!”

And so, the area survey began.

I sidled up to Jerome and asked,

“You said time is tight, so is there really a need to re-survey? We’ve already finished everything here.”

Maybe, just as I don’t trust the royal family, Jerome doesn’t trust me either.

That was the first thought that came to mind, but…

“Heh, our expedition is composed solely of elite exploration experts carefully selected by the royal family. I’m not disregarding your skills as an explorer, but… Just watch. We might find something new.”

From the way he spoke, it was clear he was just looking down on me.

‘Experts in exploration, my ass.’

Most of the mages are from the military, and the rest are just knights and priests—a combat-heavy group.

“Do as you please. But we’re staying here.”

“Very well. It’s not like you’d find anything new that you couldn’t before, anyway.”

……Should I just punch him?

The thought flashed through my mind, but I suppressed it with superhuman patience.

And after some time passed…

“We didn’t find anything on our side.”

“Same here.”

The explorers returned empty-handed, and only then did the library raid begin.

“We’ll proceed as you described, Baron. Unlike you, we have the strength to clear out every last bookshelf.”

His tone was still annoying, but once things got rolling he acted like a pro.

“So this is how it works.”

After using a few Summon Books, he reorganized the formation and efficiently deployed all two hundred troops.

Dozens of explorers clung to the shelves searching for books, while twice that number waited at the stone gate, slaughtering monsters as they came out. Still—

“At this rate we’ll be here forever.”

Apparently, even this was too slow for Jerome, so he pulled out his trump card.

“Evost, speed it up.”

Necessity is the mother of invention, so…

“Huh? But I can only summon one book at a time, so speeding up here would be…”

“That’s why I’m telling you to find a way.”

“…….”

“After a brief moment of despair at his superior’s unreasonable demand, the deputy commander came up with a creative solution—one even I hadn’t considered.

“If we can reduce the time it takes for the gate to open and close, we can significantly increase the speed.”

“So the conclusion is?”

“What if we destroy the gate?”

“……!!!”

Even the barbarian next to him shivered at the idea, but Jerome simply nodded in approval.

“That’s worth trying. Execute it immediately.”

With permission granted, the expedition’s mage corps gathered in one place.

And then, dozens of them cast a joint spell.

“Mayrti Esta Fiolyev de Teila!”

The completed magic was a spell I’d never actually seen before.

Well, where would I have seen a Level 1 attack spell?

「Gahwian Vesillus has cast Level 1 attack spell [Orb of Genesis]」

As the magic completed, the magic circle glowed, and the air grew so thick with mana it was hard to breathe. Even a mana-insensitive barbarian warrior like me could feel its density.

As for the attack, it was impossible to see with the naked eye.

———————!

An instant flash.

I vaguely sensed something being fired and hitting its target. And when I opened my eyes—

Whooosh!

A scorching wind blew past, almost burning my face.

But there was no need to think about it.

“…We succeeded.”

The massive stone door, towering about 20 meters high, was completely obliterated — not even a shard remained, revealing only endless darkness beyond.

It actually worked…

‘That actually worked……?’

It felt as if I had achieved some kind of enlightenment.
***

With the stone gate destroyed, the summoning process was reduced to a fraction of what it once was.

“Now that the door’s gone, we can kill them the moment they’re summoned. Good work, Evost.”

“I am only obeying the royal family’s order, sir.”

After cutting down the monster summoning time by sheer brute force, the two carried on their conversation as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

In the end, I had to step in.

“Wait, look over there! It’s already starting to regenerate at the edges.”

This was a property of the labyrinth.

Excluding special areas, the labyrinth naturally regenerates—just like the crystal caves on the 1st floor.

In short, the expedition’s mages had just wasted a 1st-class spell for nothing, but…

“Is that a problem?”

Jerome gave me a look like he didn’t understand, , so I patiently explained—something quite out of character for a barbarian.

But this, too, was a waste of effort.

“Even after all that, I don’t see the issue. If the door regenerates, we’ll just keep destroying it, no?”

“Huh…?”

“Judging by the regeneration speed, we won’t even need 1st-class attack spells next time. We have plenty of mages—we can take turns destroying it.”

“……Oh.”

“Besides, we haven’t seen any monsters strong enough to require the mages yet, have we?”

Well… that’s true.

“Any more questions?”

“No. All clear.”

In the end, I had no choice but to agree.

‘The one lacking here… was me……!’

Those with power can achieve more, allowing them to envision higher-level strategies.

Thus, the reason I hadn’t thought of this method—or dismissed it as impossible—was entirely due to my lack of power.

Which is why imagination itself carries power.

Truly, the wisdom of the ancients.

They must have mastered this principle thousands of years ago.

“Then we’ll resume the mission!”

Anyway, whether I gained new enlightenment or not, Jerome didn’t waste even a single second.

Given that he was on a royal mission, perhaps this was to be expected.

And thanks to this seriousness, the pace of the operation was on a completely different level. Compared to them, what we had been doing before was hardly even worth mentioning.

“Leave the magic stones! We’ll collect them later.”

The expedition force didn’t bother collecting magic stones or arguing over who would consume an essence when one dropped.

Most monsters were killed with long-range attacks, so no one accidentally consumed an essence, and when close combat was necessary, knights with full essence slots took the field.

The result:

‘We reached Level 4 monsters in just one day…….’

To be precise, within less than 16 hours, Level 4 monsters began appearing here and there.

It was nearly five times faster than when our 38-member squad had been farming alone.

“Starting tomorrow, we can proceed normally. Relay that to the mage corps—there’s no need to prevent the gate from regenrat anymore.”

“Understood…”

“We’ll stop here for today. Prepare the camp.”

After a grueling, nearly breakless push, Jerome finally called things off and ordered us to rest.

The exhausted explorers of the expedition force skillfully set up camp, and while they worked, a few familiar faces came to visit.

“Are you busy?”

Meland Kaislan.

A knight and a fellow comrade from the Ice Rock Expedition.

“No matter how busy, I’d make time for you.”

“That’s an honor.”

Kaislan grinned and extended his fist, which I bumped in greeting.

We’d exchanged glances in passing, but this was the first chance we’d had to talk.

“Didn’t think we’d get to chat like this, though.”

“I’d heard people say that serving under Count Saintred was hell, but I never imagined it would be this bad.”

Apparently, among the military folks, the Count had quite a notorious reputation.

“So what happened to you? Did the royal family order you to join?”

“That’s right. Haha, it looks like they plan to wring everything they can out of me before I’m discharged. Still, since one of the goal of this expedition was to rescue you, I can’t complain too much.”

“Discharged? You applied for it?”

“Yeah, I submitted my request about a month ago. It takes a while to process… I’m hoping it’ll go through by the time this expedition ends.”

“I see…”

“Why that face?”

“It’s nothing. Just thinking about what to eat for late-night snacks.”

I brushed it off, but that wasn’t the truth.

Honestly, the thought of Kaislan being dragged here just before his discharge reminded me of the Ice-Rock expedition.

‘If they had something going on, they’d have included Marone in the expedition too… but still, I’ll keep it in mind.’

Nah, probably not. Still, it’s always better to prepare for the worst.

“Sir Kaislan! Finally, we meet again!”

Soon, other former expedition members—Versil, Erwin, and Amelia—came over to exchange greetings with Kaislan. Then, another new face appeared.

“My apologies. The High Priest kept me busy since it’s his first time camping… I meant to come sooner.”

The Goblin Mask, Sven Parab.

The moment he showed up, Versil shot him a look “You’re here.”

“It’s been a while, Miss Gowland…”

“Indeed, it has been a while, Sir Parab.”

They’d literally met at the Round Table not long ago, but whatever. It was kind of cute, knowing their true identities.

“Could everyone step back for a moment?” I asked

“Yes. I shouldn’t stay too long either—the temple members might get suspicious——”

“Parab, not you.”

“…Pardon?”

After the courtesies, I dismissed the others and kept Parab alone.

“W-What’s this about…?”

“I hear you faked a stomachache to skip the expedition.”

“Did Sir Kaislan tell you that?”

“No—heard it elsewhere.”

“…From the golden mage, then.”

He must’ve deduced that my former comrade Raven was on our ship.

But that wasn’t important right now.

“Why’d you do it? Did you get that ‘weird feeling’ again?”

“Well… it’s a bit different this time……”

“Different? Explain. I’m trust your instincts.”

“How should I put this……”

“I think… I may have received a divine revelation……”

“What”

***

A world where gods truly exist.

Here, people occasionally hear the voices of gods or receive divine revelations. Sometimes they even receive holy relics to assist with the so-called revelations.

But that’s not the important part.

“You received a revelation…?”

“Please, lower your voice! Everyone will hear!”

Divine revelations aren’t something that just anyone can receive.

That’s why, in this city, those blessed with the ability to hear the voice of the gods are called “saints” or “saintesses.”

But……

‘This guy is a player.’

Sven Parab is an evil spirit from Earth.

And the Three Churches were as serious about hunting evil spirits as the royal family. So, the highest-ranking god of that church gave a revelation to an evil spirit?

“……Are you sure? That you… really received it?”

“W-Well, it… seems that way.”

This was troubling.

What the hell are the gods thinking?

Come to think of it, back when I almost died to the Dragonslayer and barely survived, they even bestowed a holy relic to help me.

“So, what was the content? What did you hear that made you go that far?”

“Um… well…….”

I tried to quickly confirm the details of the revelation, but unfortunately someone arrived.

“Sir Parab! The High Priest is looking for you! Come quickly!”

“Ah, yes……? Ah, yes! Understood!”

Parab hesitated, glancing at me nervously. When I nodded, he hurried off to join the church members.

‘…I’ll hear the details tomorrow.’

It was a shame I couldn’t hear it right away, but I decided to wait until tomorrow. After quickly filling my stomach with some jerky, I wrapped myself in a blanket and closed my eyes.

Some time passed.

‘Can’t sleep.’

Thinking about getting some water, I sat up and immediately felt a sharp look at me.

Looking around, I spotted Hamsiki hiding behind a distant bookshelf.

Cough…

“Baron, where are you going?”

“Can’t sleep. I was going to stretch a bit, but doing it here would be noisy.”

“I see…”

After giving the soldiers a plausible excuse, I approached the bookshelf where Hamsiki was hiding.

[W-What the hell are those crazy humans?!]

“Ah… they’re people from the kingdom. Don’t worry, they won’t cause you any harm—”

[Won’t cause harm, my ass……!!]

Hamsiki clenched his fluffy fists and stared at the still-unrepaired stone gate, then spoke to me in a voice heavy with despair.

[Not once, but twice… why do I have to go through this twice……!!]

“…….”

[Why are all humans like this……!!]

I couldn’t think of anything to say.

“I’m a barbarian, though……?”

Except that

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