Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Episode 191

Bifron (1)

11th day into the labyrinth, 7 AM.

After seeing off three people outside the rift, we returned to the forest.

And then…

“Hey, how about we eat something?”

“That sounds good.”

Only then did we feel hungry and gathered to cook together. But it’s human nature that when you’re full, you get sleepy.

“…Let’s just sleep today and start fresh tomorrow.”

Feeling extremely tired, we set up camp and without further ado, everyone fell asleep.

It wasn’t just because we had pulled an all-nighter.

We had wasted mental energy playing the mafia game in the third chapter, and had a series of one-on-one PK battles.

Followed by the Doppelganger boss fight.

Drrrrrrrrrr

As soon as I closed my eyes, a wave of fatigue hit.

When I opened my eyes again, a whole day had passed.

[07:12]

I had gone to sleep after 8 AM, but checking the clock, the hour hand had moved back by an hour.

Meaning I had slept for nearly 24 hours.

“Nyang, you’re awake?”

“…Why didn’t you wake me?”

“We just woke up ourselves.”

It wasn’t like they were considerate of me or anything.

I took out my water bottle and washed my face quickly, then I smelled something delicious nearby.

“If you’re awake, come and get your dishes. Oh, but wake up Aynar first. You know she won’t wake up easily if it’s not you.”

After waking Aynar, we all had breakfast together, and then wandered through the forest to gather necessary items.

“Don’t just follow; check the ground carefully. This root is worth 10,000 stones.”

A herb native to the Doppelganger forest.

“Jandel.”

Boom!

Crushing the now useless Seal Stones, which had a probability of dropping ‘Sealed Fragment of Evil’

“How much is this worth?”

“About a million stones each.”

“I see. I’ll buy up to five.”

I ended up consuming five of the seven fragments we collected.

After that, the effects wouldn’t be effective.

[Character has consumed a ‘Sealed Fragment of Evil’]

[‘Magic resistance permanently increased by +1.’]

Incidentally, the remaining two fragments were bought by Misha for consumption.

“Eh? Me?”

“You’ve made a lot of money, haven’t you? Don’t be stingy.”

“It’s not that it’s too precious…”

Misha looked guiltily at Aynar.

She really should be more selfish as an explorer.

After all, Aynar would later consume an essence with significant magic resistance, so it made sense for Misha to use the fragments.

It’s not like she wasn’t paying for it.

“Whew, but no matter how much we look, we can’t find it.”

“We have a day, let’s keep searching.”

Although there were no monsters, the forest was so vast that it took a whole day just to find it.

However, we invested the next day as well, thoroughly searching the forest once more, and soon found what we were looking for.

“Everyone, cover your ears… No, just stay far away. I’ll pull it out myself.”

Mandragora root, one of the ingredients for an elixir.

Raven protected herself with magic as she uprooted it, marking the end of all tasks possible in the ‘Doppelganger Forest.’

However…

“I’m really sorry, but could you give us a bit more time? I want to explore this place further.”

“Why is that?”

“It’s purely personal curiosity.”

At Raven’s request, we decided to stay longer.

Surprisingly, no one objected.

“After all, even the author of the book ‘the Rift Chronicle’’ might not know everything!”

“Who knows, we might discover something more.”

The team’s eyes gleamed with unexpected hope.

Well, I think the chance of finding another hidden piece that I don’t know about is almost nil, but…

‘At Least she’d asked.’

When we first met in the “Blood Tinted Castle,” there wasn’t even an apology. She just used the dwarf and me to assist with her research.

“So, where shall we start exploring?”

“Let’s start with the cave we were in at the beginning.”

We meticulously checked everywhere from the Shadow Cave, the first chapter, to the Boss Room, the Plunderer’s Hideout.

Well to be more precise, we searched and smashed everything that looked suspicious.

As I expected, there were no hidden rooms or items.

However, during the process, we encountered numerous questions.

“Why exactly was it a cage?”

“Maybe it was because we had to wait until the other teams were all ready?”

“Then it would be more logical to synchronize the timing, like when we enter and exit the labryinth.”

Why does ‘Doppelganger’s Forest’ start in a cage?

What is the [Book of Sacrifices] acquired from the altar, and why describe it as ‘sacrifice’?

Why did the clones turn into imperial soldiers after the third chapter?

And what exactly is the ‘Empire’?

“Thinking about it now, it’s a shame. Even though it spoke awkwardly, we could have learned something if we captured one…”

Despite Raven’s thought-provoking comment, the whole team discussed it but couldn’t come up with any solid answers.

Thus, the rift exploration came to an end.

“I’m sorry, everyone. We’ve wasted two days meaninglessly because of me.”

“Don’t apologize. Aren’t you our team’s mage? It was a legitimate request. We agreed to the search.”

“Right, and I actually had fun exploring! Right, Ayna, Nyangr?”

“Uh? I was bored.”

“Please, be more observant, okay?”

Seeing Misha scolding Aynar, who then looked sullen, Raven chuckled.

“Thanks, everyone. But now that I think about it, there might be no need to feel sorry. Just selling one mandragora root covers the value of several days of hunting, right?”

“Finally, our mage is back to normal.”

“Back to normal? What do you mean by that, Frid?”

Mr. Bear shrugged his shoulders, avoiding the question, and Raven also looked suspicious but didn’t probe further.

「You have entered the fourth floor, Sky Tower」

On the afternoon of Day 14, we returned to the Labyrinth through the portal in the boss room and continued our exploration. It took us about six days to reach the fifth floor.

After that, we took the ‘Hellfire Gorge’ route as originally planned and concentrated on the hunt for the ‘Milarodon’.

Oh, and by the way, finding the black moss made everything easy afterwards. I didn’t even have to suggest using detection magic.

Raven, encouraged by our previous exploration, cast detection magic every five minutes throughout.

“…nothing again.”

As a result, we managed to hunt three Miladons, but all were duds.

It’s a common occurrence, really.

The chance of a Miladon’s corpse remaining after using distortion magic is 20%.

‘Looks like it’s a bust this time.’

With five days to go before it closed, I didn’t bother looking for Miladon.

There was no point in going in if we couldn’t do much anyway.

After obtaining the Fire Orb, I wanted to venture into areas we hadn’t been able to reach before, but alas

「You have defeated a Stoneburn. EXP +4」

「You have defeated a Fire Wraith. EXP +2」

「You have defeated a Redmud. EXP +3」

「You have defeated a Hell Flame. EXP +5」

Still, the hunt itself wasn’t bad.

This was the only good thing about the failure of the Noahark exploration.

With more than 90% of the clans occupying the field gone, the entire fifth floor is overrun with monsters.

Of course, this situation wouldn’t last long.

 In a few months, the clans would recover from the damage, and those clans that hadn’t entered due to the unstable condition would probably do so soon enough.

Time passed.

「Your character is moving to Raphdonia」

The day of return dawned.

***

The sunlight warmly enveloped my skin.

 As always, I stood idly for a moment, enjoying the coziness. Looking around, I saw other explorers doing the same.

‘Shall we go then?’

Heading to the checkpoint for our rank, I saw my colleagues already there.

Except for one.

“Is Abman not here yet?”

“Oh, there he is. Coming with someone else.”

It’s a strange sight every time I see it.

No matter how wide the square, how can someone not find their way here?

“Haha, so the line is shorter this time?”

“It’s not because we came quickly, it seems like there were fewer explorers entering the labyrinth this time.”

“Ahem, I didn’t say anything?”

Anyway, as we all lined together, our turn came quickly.

The income from converting magic stones was much less than before.

“It’s 7.08 million stones.”

Split among five, that’s 1.41 million stones each.

The income was almost 4 times less than the last time.

But it was unavoidable.

We hadn’t entered the Otherworld, and the nature of Doppelganger forest made it difficult to gather magic stones.

“So, is that it?”

 “Yes, you all worked hard again this time”.

 We hadn’t made a ridiculous amount of money, so we didn’t get any suspicious looks from the staff.

However, just as we were about to leave after exchanging the stones.

“Ah, please wait a moment!”

Huh?

“…Is there a problem?”

The staff urgently stopped us.

And then spoke rapidly.

“Team Apple Narak, and the team leader Bjorn Jandel. Is that correct?”

“And?”

“…Please wait here for a moment. This also applies to your team members.”

It wasn’t like the time when the guards held me down violently, but it was enough to sense that something was wrong.

Did our team’s mage feel the same way?

“Excuse me, shouldn’t you explain what this is about first?”

Raven spoke aggressively, possibly feeling a PTSD flashback coming on.

And then.

“Inspector, are these the ones?”

“Yes, yes! That’s right!”

A knight entered the checkpoint.

Raven’s face turned cold.

“…Why are the Mozelans here?”

Mozelan.

An enforcement agency composed solely of knights from noble families, infamous for several notorious acts.

“Bjorn.”

Misha shivered, having seen Dwalki arrested before her eyes.

However, the knight was surprisingly kind.

At least, not like the overbearing bastards she’d seen back then.

“Pleased to meet you. I am Elmras from the Mozelan Enforcement Division.”

Although he speaks comfortably like a superior, this is a characteristic of nobility, so it’s natural.

It counts as relatively gentle.

Moreover, he even offered a handshake.

It meant that he was not particularly hostile towards us.

“…This is Bjorn, Son of Jandel.”

I sighed with relief internally and responded to the handshake.

But not all unease had dissipated.

Why had the inspector detained us, and for what purpose had Mozelan sought us out?

“Hello.”

“Hmm, and the lady is?”

“I am Alluva Raven, from the Artemion School. I would like to know why Sir Elmras has sought us out.”

Raven asked, and the knight responded with a smile.

“There’s only one reason an inspector would detain explorers. A warrant has been issued for you all.”

This news was like a bolt from the blue.

“What? What does that mean…”

“Don’t be too shocked. Looking at the charges, it doesn’t seem too severe.”

“But what’s the reason for this?”

The knight grinned and replied.

“Manifestation of powers within the city. And the crime of entering the labyrinth without permission, disregarding the instructions of the administrators.”

Ah, that…

All of us, including Raven, shut our mouths tight. With so much happening in the labyrinth, we had completely forgotten about that.

We had thought it would end with just a fine.

“I really don’t understand. Normally, such things would be settled with a fine?”

I asked a bit argumentatively, without realizing it.

There seemed no reason for a warrant to be issued, and even less for Mozelan to be involved.

So, what was going on?

 “The circumstances are such that it could be interpreted as disobedience to the royal command rather than a simple misdemeanour.”

Ah, that’s what it was.

I somewhat understood the situation.

It seemed Raven understood as well.

“…You’re trying to rein in the explorers.”

“Why hide anything from a mage? That’s right. It’s only been a day, but your story has already spread among the explorers.”

“Our story?”

“They feel foolish for having waited and followed instructions, saying they should have just dived in without waiting.  “They feel stupid for waiting and following instructions, saying they should have just jumped in without waiting. 

In other words, an example was being made.

Punish one to warn a hundred.

 “If explorers start acting out of line now, bigger problems could arise. Please understand.

I also understood why I was chosen.

I had gained some fame and had become a topic of conversation due to unauthorized entry, so it was likely easy for the story to spread.

“So, what’s going to happen to us?”

I asked, cutting to the chase, but before he could answer, he made a correction.

“To be precise, not you all, but you.”

Only I was to be punished.

The rest would end with a fine.

 From what I heard, it seemed that I was more involved, and since it was a demonstrative punishment, there was no need for everyone to suffer?

“Oh, how reasonable! Yes, that’s reasonable!”

Seeing Aynar delighted was heart-wrenching.

Raven did not step forward to argue the unfairness.

Mr. Bear was relieved he wouldn’t get into trouble with his wife.

Was I the only one to speak on my own behalf?

That misanthropic thought was swirling in my head when…

“Excuse me, Sir Knight? Since it’s just for show, could I take the punishment instead?”

Misha, the only one who stood up for me.

“What are you saying?”

I pushed Misha away with a smirk.

I appreciated the sentiment, but it was impossible.

After all, I was the main culprit in this incident.

And from what it sounded like, the punishment wasn’t too severe…

“It’s okay. I’ll take responsibility. So go ahead and tell me. What’s going to happen to me now?”

The knight nonchalantly responded.

“You’ll just spend 20 days in Bifron.”

It was a temporary exile.