Surviving game as a barbarian Episode 562

Destination(2)

Jerome Saintred.

There was a high probability that eliminating him would solve most of my problems.

As the saying goes, the flapping of a butterfly’s wings could cause a typhoon on the other side of the world. And given that he was the main antagonist in the prophetic dream, his disappearance would undoubtedly bring about a significant change.

But…

‘How do I get rid of him?’

That was the problem.

First of all, the plan of quietly taking him to a secluded place and finishing him off with my comrades was nearly impossible.

Not only would he not die so easily, but…

[He probably didn’t die—he’ll most likely wake up in the royal palace]

I had seen it during my trip to the past. When he died by Auril Gavi’s hand, his body turned to specks of light and disappeared. I had a rough idea about the nature of that ability.

‘Iblis.’

A Level 2 monster that appears as the guardian of one of the rifts on the 8th floor.

And one of the active skills that bastard possessed was…

‘[Heretic Altar].’

When activated, this skill creates an ‘altar’ at the location chosen by the user. It is rergarded as one of the few resurrection abilities in Dungeon & Stone.

If you die, you unconditionally revive at the altar.

But the ‘altar’ can only be created once and is destroyed after three uses.

So, in other words…

‘Even if I assassinate him, he’ll just return to the city and have me executed as a traitor.’

It was likely because of this skill that the royal family entrusted Jerome Saintred with the command of the expedition force.

Even in the worst-case scenario, he could survive alone and return to the city with valuable information.

‘Ha… why the hell does he have a skill like that.’

It felt like something straight out of a game.

I continued to think of ways to eliminate Jerome Saintred, but no good ideas came to mind.

Instead, the more I thought about it, the more I imagined the scenario where my attempt would fail and the prophetic dream would come true.

‘Seriously… What if that’s exactly what happens?’

Maybe if I just stayed still, nothing would happen, and everything would pass peacefully.

Just as such thoughts began to sprout in my mind-

Knock, knock.

Two knocks interrupted my thoughts, followed by a voice from beyond the door.

“Come out, Jandel. It’s time for shift change.”

Right. For now, I should concentrate on my duties.

***

One day, two days, three days…….

Time flowed like water, and before I knew it, the rainy season had ended.

Once again, the rainbow appeared briefly before disappearing, but this time the Royal Force’s recording crystal captured the moment perfectly.

After giving the exhausted mages some half-day rest…

“We will now begin our advance into the island!”

Having spent days aboard the ship, we finally landed and began our raid.

Just as Jeju Island was said to have an abundance of wind, women, and stones, the Chief’s Island had two things in abundance after the rainy season.

“We have spotted a Monster group ahead!”

“They’re mutated variants!”

Monsters.

And tens of thousands of mana stones scattered across the island.

“If this sight becomes known, there’ll be chaos outside.”

“With this many magic stones, shouldn’t the royal family regulate them? If they can acquire this amount regularly every month…”

“Haha. That’s only from our perspective. Do you really think the royal family would be satisfied with just this? Think about how much money they make from the inspection checkpoints alone.”

Even Jerome, who had declared that he wouldn’t bother with the mana stones, visibly tensed and issued warnings.

“Anyone caught secretly pocketing them will be severely punished! The mages assigned to collection must ensure strict management—no mistakes allowed!”

Tch, weren’t you the one who said we weren’t here to make money?

Still, the sheer amount of mana stones boosted the morale of the expedition force.

Normally, when the royal family sent troops into the Labyrinth, they would leave the mana stone income to be shared amongst the explorers.

“We’ll have to be more proactive on this mission.”

“The rewards might be on a completely different scale. I’ve been wanting to buy a certain magic tool—this is perfect.”

The members chattered excitedly, dreaming of a prosperous future.

But Jerome became even more focused after spotting the mana stones scattered on the ground. Although we collected every stone we saw, we stayed as close to our planned route as possible and continued marching toward our destination.

“Baron, is this the right place?”

“Absolutely.”

And so we arrived at the entrance to the chief’s village.

But no matter how closely we examined the base of the tree hiding the entrance, all we found was dirt.

“What’s going on? Did they notice our presence?”

“Hard to say. But even if they did, they’ll have to come up eventually. They rely on magic stones as their primary food source.”

Unless they wanted to starve to death, they couldn’t stay hidden underground forever.

“Form a perimeter around this tree!”

Jerome gave the order to surround the village entrance and wait indefinitely. In the meantime, he formed a task force to collect the unclaimed mana stones scattered across the island.

The task force consisted of agile explorers who could move quickly, for quick movement and mages capable of rapid magic stone collection.

“Sir… Please stay safe until I return…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of Tercia.”

From our Squad 4, Amelia and Erwin were selected.

I wanted to stop them, but I couldn’t override the commander’s authority.

They had the justification, too.

“Making exceptions for the Baron’s convenience is one thing, but as temporary members of this expedition force, we can’t show favoritism in duties.”

My heart pounded every time Erwen and Amelia went out, but in the two days it took to recover all the mana stones, nothing major happened.

‘That means tomorrow will be the third day since the end of the rainy season…’

As the number of monsters dwindled, the people at the tree had nothing to do but wait for the village’s monsters to appear.

While the expedition force members enjoyed the rare peace, to me, the time felt like the calm before the storm.

“Yandel, why are you staring so hard?”

“Can’t you tell? I’m keeping watch.”

As I fixed my gaze on the tree, Raven chuckled.

Tch, is she mocking me?

“So why are you here? Shouldn’t the mages be over there?”

“Well, there’s nothing else to do anyway. I’ve finished researching all the materials from the library.”

“Finished? Did you find anything useful?”

“No. Quite the opposite. I finally admitted there’s nothing left to gain from these materials and ended my research.”

“…I see.”

Whether she was genuinely bored or not, Raven stood beside me and began chattering away.

“Maybe the greatest discovery from the library was the summoning book itself. The origins of names, the characteristics of monsters that no research had uncovered—it was all clearly written there.”

Yeah, of course you’d love that.

“What’s with that blank look? Do you realize how significant this is? When this gets out, the academic world is going to lose its mind!”

“…What do I care if the academic world goes crazy or not?”

My indifferent reply seemed to bore her, so she changed the subject.

“By the way… those so-called ‘human’ monsters, right?”

“What about them?”

“I’ve been curious ever since I heard about them. What kind of beings are they? Ah, and the Chief who claimed to be a dragon knight—I wonder if it’s really him. If it is, I have so many questions. Records from that era are nearly impossible to find now…”

Maybe she thought she’d found some common ground, but honestly, it still wasn’t that interesting.

She’s always like this.

Once she starts talking, she just keeps going…

“Raven… behind you…”

Startled, Raven whirled around.

“Oh, I guess it’s nothing”

“…?”

It took her a moment to understand what had happened, and then she spun around in anger, her fists clenched.

Pfft, what’s she gonna do with those tiny hands?

“…So Annoying. You’re a baron now, but you’re such a child.”

“And you’re vice-captain of the 3rd Mage Corps, falling for such a simple trick?”

“…I was an idiot for worrying about someone like you.”

“I’m not human—I’m a barbarian. That’s a sensitive topic for me, so mind your words—”

“Ugh! So annoying! Fine, I’m leaving.”

Raven stomped back to her post, and I watched her go with a chuckle.

This was actually quite a productive conversation.

Especially since it eased some of the tension, and I even felt a little happier.

She really is fun to tease—

“Captain!!”

…Huh?

I turned at the sound of the voice and saw Auyen running toward me, drenched in sweat.

In that instant, a dozen thoughts rushed through my mind.

“Something’s happened! Something big!!”

What the hell happened?

Could there have been an accident?

But the village entrance is here…

Wait—could there be another entrance somewhere?

 

As countless speculations swirled in my head, Auyen Rockrov delivered unexpected news.

“Lady Teresia! Lady Teresia is trying to kill a mage from the expedition force! Please stop her!”

“…What?”

I immediately ran toward where the incident had occurred—and there

“Don’t stop me!! I’ll kill them! I’ll kill them! I’ll kill them…!! I said I’ll kill them…!”

Erwin was screaming like she’d lost her mind, while Amelia held her tightly, trying to calm her down.

“H-Hyuk!”

A terrified mage hiding behind a knight.

And a group of knights with their swords drawn, shielding the mage.

“…!”

Staring at the scene, I froze.

Though I didn’t know the details, one thing was clear.

“Her hair…!”

Erwin had short hair now.

***

The incident could be summed in a few lines.

Erwin and half of Temporary Squad 4 had been assigned to perimeter duty.

During their shift, a random monster approached from an area where the boundary between squads was unclear, so they ended up engaging it together with Team 1, whose zone bordered theirs.

However, the problem was…

“I-it was a mistake! Just a mistake! No one got hurt in the end…!”

A mage from Squad 1 had miscalculated the trajectory of their wind magic, and the spell ended up heading straight for Erwin.

An unexpected attack from an ally.

Fortunately, she managed to duck in time—but the gust cleanly severed her fluttering hair.

Damn it all.

“No one… got hurt…?” Erwin shouted with a murderous gleam in her eyes.

” Blood Spirit Queen…! Calm down! Don’t you realize this will only bring trouble upon the Baron as well?!”

“Jandel!” Amelia shouted “Do something! If you’re here, then stop her already…!”

Her words snapped me back to reality, and I quickly assessed the situation.

Sure, Erwin had changed her hairstyle to a bob, but that didn’t mean I was going to be executed right here and now.

Let’s calm her down and think about the situation.

Just as I was about to step forward—

“Mister… is here…?”

Erwin, who had been frantically looking around, suddenly spotted me and let out a shriek, covering her face and collapsing to her knees.

“No! D-don’t look at me!”

Huh…? Did I accidentally succeed in calming her down?

I turned away as she requested, looking elsewhere, and that’s when—

Rustle.

Something blue moved between the dense trees.

“…Huh?”

Was I seeing things?

The village entrance was supposed to be over there…

My mind went blank for a moment, but my mouth moved before my thoughts caught up.

“We’re under attack!!!”

They’d come out of the village.

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