Surviving game as a barbarian Episode 572

Last Community (3)

My ultimate excuse: survival.

In this world, my belief that I would survive no matter what justified all my actions.

And…

“…I see.”

And deer horns has just become a victim of that belief.

“There has to be a body…”

When I first came to this round table, I was a pitiful existence.

Everything I encountered outside could have led to my death, and to gather information, I had to wander the pubs every evening.

So I wore the mask of the Lion.

To obtain the information I needed, I took someone’s wishes hostage and toyed with them.

In this world, honesty is a sin.

The moment I’m underestimated, I’ll be torn apart.

The more I gain, the safer my comrades and I will be.

Back then, I truly believed that.

But…

“As expected, the stories from legends and reality are different…”

What about now?

Although I still constantly worried about my survival, I was much stronger now.

I became the chief of a race, a noble.

The Jandel family was now a proper noble house under the Melbes Alliance of multi-race nobles. Because of that, I no longer had to rely on the Round Table for information as I once did.

But, I still wear the Lion’s mask and deceive everyone.

Why?

The answer came quickly.

The Queen, the Clown.

The wolf who seemed connected to Auril Gavis, the mysterious Black Mask, and the Butterfly.

I wanted to profit from the information they would bring.

Yes, that part was sincere. But..

“…Thanks to you, I can finally let go of that foolish dream.”

Soon, I realized.

I could no longer use “survival” as an excuse.

Just as white paper cannot lie beside black ink forever and remain unstained.

“But, I feel no sense of gratitude toward you.”

Now, it was simply who I was.

Deceiving and intimidating others to turn things to my advantage.

The kind of person I once despised.

In this world, with the sole purpose of surviving, I had rolled and rolled until, before I knew it, I had become that very person.

“……”

“……”

A heavy silence fell.

Normally, the Clown would have sneered, saying the one who got tricked was at fault—but this time, he stayed silent.
And after some time had passed like that.

“I…”

Breaking the long silence, Crescent Moon rose from his seat.

“I… I shall take my leave. It seems there’s nothing more for me to gain here.”

And with those words, he left the Round Table, giving none of us a chance to respond.

“Huh… he, he really left…”

This was an anonymous community where no one knew each other’s names.

In truth, when someone leaves like that, there’s no telling if you’ll ever see them again. But even knowing that, I couldn’t bring myself to say it.

That apology.

“….”

“….”

If I did, I knew it might turn against me later.

That thought lingered in my mind.

***
Even after Crescent Moon left the Round Table, the final meeting continued.

It might have seemed somewhat heartless, but considering the nature of this place, it was only natural.

After all, we were all here for business.

“Pssit, he really left. How boring.”

Everyone ignored the clown’s nonsense as the second round began.

Now it was Deer Horn’s turn.

But…

“This kind of thing…”

Instead of sharing intel, Deer Horns looked straight at me and asked,

“You really find this kind of thing fun? Do you?”

His voice and gaze were unmistakably hostile. While not particularly close to anyone, Crescent Moon’s sudden departure must have come as a shock to him.

“Deer… P-please calm down…”

The goblin tried to mediate, but Deer Horns paid him no mind.

It wasn’t just the Goblin, the other members were also looking at him with concern.

But Deer Horns was unperturbed.

“To offer hope to someone desperate, then snatch it away. Is that why you said it today, knowing it’s the last meeting?”

In my defense, it wasn’t really that.

It was actually out of responsibility… or rather, guilt, that I finally spoke up today.\

Obsessed with “fun” at the round table?

It was simply to maintain the Lion’s mask as a character. Or, more precisely, to deceive and manipulate the members as I pleased.

“Lion. You’re undoubtedly a big shot compared to someone like me. But I still have something to say.”

“……”

“You’re just a broken person.”

It wasn’t the first time I’d heard that.

When Baekho first said it, I brushed it off.

But at this point, maybe the problem really was me.

I was broken.

Even by the standards of this savage world, I had already crossed the line.

And as proof of that—

‘Should I use Killing Intent?’

The first thought that came to mind after Deer said all that was, What would Lion do?

He’d probably murmur something like, “How amusing,” and then release a wave of killing intent..

Because that was easier, and it served my purposes.

“Pssit, why don’t you stop? It’s getting hard to watch. Know your place, Deer Horns.”

I simply observed as the clown jumped in like some kind of bodyguard.

“Pathetic. Do you really think sucking up to him will make him care?”

“That’s none of your concern. Pssit. Enough rambling—just get on with your turn. Everyone’s waiting.”

In response to Clown’s arrogant instructions, Deer Horns quietly stood up.

“What, you’re leaving too?”

“I have no intention of being his plaything just to scavenge for scraps.”

“Then get lost already. Don’t waste our time.”

Clown cut him off sharply, and Deer Horns stared at him for a moment.

Then he muttered:

“This place didn’t used to be like this.”

And he left.

Silence returned.

“Ahaha… the mood’s weird again!”

The Wolf laughed awkwardly, trying to lighten the air.

When Master was here, everyone got pretty well! But what can we do? He’s not here now.”

Ugh, talk about a Master fanboy.

“Two people down, but let’s keep going, shall we? It’d be a shame to end it like this, right? We won’t get to gather like this again—”

“How about… we try what Crescent Moon suggested earlier?”

The suggestion came from Butterfly Mask, who had been quietly enjoying the whole scene.

“But this time, everyone has to answer truthfully. Ah, of course, revealing your identity is still off-limits. How about it? It’ll lighten the mood, don’t you think?”

“…I don’t mind, but isn’t ‘revealing your identity’ too subjective of a rule?”

“Eh, with the gem, what’s the problem? If you refuse to answer, just place your hand on it and say one word. Then we’ll know if you’re just making excuses or if it’s really something you can’t say.”

“Shouldn’t we get everyone’s agreement first?”

The Queen cut in sharply, and Butterfly’s eyes curved slyly.

“Heeh, you’re always like this, unnie.”

“…Since when am I your unnie?”

“It’s obvious just by looking. You seem older than me.”

“……”

The Queen had no comeback.

The Butterfly then steered the conversation toward a vote, and a decision was made.

And…

“Six in favor, two against.”

Surprisingly, the majority ruled.

The only ones who opposed were the Queen and the Black Mask.

“Lion, you’re in favor…? Why?”

“Tch, Queen, do you still not understand him? It’s because he thinks it’ll be fun!”

Whether it was fun or not didn’t matter.

I, too, had something I wanted to confirm before leaving the round table.

“Sigh… Whatever. Since it’s decided, I’ll go along. But let’s set the rules clearly first.”

At Queen’s insistence, we briefly discussed and established the rules.

“During each person’s turn, they will receive one question from each of the other participants at the table. Then, they can choose which question to answer. Does that work?”

“How much longer are we going to drag this out? Let’s just start. Unnie?”

“Ms. Fox, could you lead us off?”

“Yes. I’m ready.”

“After Fox nodded in acceptance, everyone took turns asking her questions”

“I remember you used to have a lot of faith in Master before… Is that still the case?”

“I… I’ll pass.”

The Goblin simply passed.

From my perspective, it was a disappointing move. Instead of passing, he could’ve answered a trivial question so she would have a safer one to answer.

Anyway, most of us passed, myself included, so Fox ended up with just two questions.

“You seemed to know too much about what happened on the first basement floor… Are you there?”

“…Isn’t that too close to revealing my identity?”

“Eh, with so many people, who could possibly narrow you down?”

“…Fine, I’ll answer.”

Once we were done, Fox picked one of the questions to respond to.

“You asked if I still have faith in Master, right?”

“Oh, you picked mine,” the wolf said, sounding pleased.

“My answer is ‘No.’ Back then, I didn’t know the Master was Auril Gabis.”

“Hmm… He only has a bad reputation because of the royal family’s trickery, but I understand. What a shame, though.”

With that, the Fox’s turn ended.

Next was the Wolf, who received four questions.

And…

“I’ll answer the Queen’s question.”

The Wolf chose the Queen’s inquiry.

“Your guess is correct. Sir Auril Gavis has the power to prevent the Ghost Busters from being shut down.”

The moment I heard that, my ears perked up.

‘Doesn’t that mean Auril Gavis was involved in the community’s shutdown…?’

If that’s the case, what is that old man scheming this time? The thought concerned me , but there’s little I can do right now.

“Now it’s Goblin’s turn.”

Goblin received three questions, one fewer than the Wolf.

And…

“Th-then I’ll answer the Fox’s question…”

The Goblin chose the Fox’s question, ending his turn.

“The Pope of the Leatlas Church doesn’t have much time left. The next Pope is to be decided from the group of young saints…”

It was insider information, but few showed interest.

Everyone could see he’d used Fox’s question as a convenient escape from his turn.

“Next up is the Queen, Pssit.”

The Queen received the most questions so far—five in total.

And finally, she answered the one everyone was curious about.

“Now that you all have some idea of what’s going on, I’ll tell you. It takes a certain device to run this spiritual world, and that device has slowly begun to lose power.”

“…So that’s why it’s being shut down?”

“Yes. We looked for ways to fix it up, but we couldn’t find one.”

“So Auril Gavis… if he were to help, it would be possible to revive this place?”

“Yes. But I doubt that will happen.”

With that final, firm line, Queen’s turn ended. We skipped Crescent Moon’s empty seat and moved on to Butterfly.

 

“Heeh… But is there really anything you’d want to ask me?”

Honestly, this was the real reason I had voted in favor of this truth game today.

There was something I had to confirm from Butterfly Mask.

However, instead of being the first to ask, I decided to wait and watch.

And sure enough—

“Yes, I have one.”

Fox immediately raised her hand and asked the question I had wanted to ask.

“You said Misha Karlstein was a traitor. I’d like to hear more about that.”

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