Chapter 195: Bifron (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 195: Bifron (5)
Auril Gavis was a figure from at least 150 years ago. When I once asked Raven to discern the age of a scrap of paper I gave her from the Complete Book of Rifts, that was the time period she came up with, which was why this was even more surprising.
That bastard is still alive?
I thought for sure he was dead. Of course, now I had no idea why I thought that. This was the creator of Dungeon and Stone, and most likely the culprit who had brought countless players, including myself, to this world. This place was literally a fantasy world—the word fantasy was in the name itself. Of course, there was a chance that he was alive. Those of the Dragon Tribe even lived for hundreds of years.
Thump!
When I realized this, my heart began to race. It was a different emotion from the first time I heard that name, a palpitation full of anticipation rather than shock.
Thump!
If that son of a bitch really was alive and if I could just find him, there might be a way to return to my original world. A clue to guide me on my murky road home was dangling right in front of my eyes.
...Calm down.
I reined in my beating heart and found my cool. I could overinflate my expectations and run hopeful scenarios in my head before bed later. Right now, I needed to pay attention.
"Barbarian, you really are unique," Amelia said enigmatically, staring at me. For a moment, I thought she might have seen through my lie. "Or should I say brazen? To think you can joke around in front of me after everything... Aren't you afraid of me?"
Now that I was looking closer, it seemed she was just fascinated. Or she felt uncomfortable about the fact that we were having this conversation, having never met someone like me before. The important thing was it was a nice save. This was why people needed to live with one of their screws a little loose at all times so that no matter what they did, no one would look at them strangely.
"What are you talking about, human woman? I am Bjorn, son of Yandel, not Barbarian."
"Okay, Bjorn Yandel," Amelia snickered. To me, that felt like a sign that I could relax.
To that end, my next question was, "Is Aruil Gavis a man or a woman?"
"He's a man."
"Could he be disguised as a woman?"
"I don't think so. The records show he was a man with a severe male supremacy complex."
"So he wouldn't do something like that even if he had the ability to. Then what about a child? Could he disguise himself as one?"
"...He wouldn't turn himself too young."
"Your rationale?"
"Because he was a person who put a lot of value into appearance."
I nodded and decided to prod a bit. "I see. But why are you looking for him?" This was a follow-up question to the easy questions that she would have no choice but to answer. I read this in a book somewhere. Posing questions in this order increased your chances of getting an answer, although it was unclear whether it worked in practice. Still, there was no reason not to try.
I got an answer a moment later. "...It is a personal matter."
Modern people often used that excuse to shut a conversation down when they didn't want to answer or wanted to avoid forming a relationship. It was also used to dodge a question. But since Amelia was the one saying it, it was hard to tell.
"That's not for you to know."
"Why should I answer that?"
She sometimes refused to answer like that, but she had never lied or tried to cover anything up. As a result, I started to wonder if perhaps this really wasn't an order from Noark, but truly a personal matter.
Well, that's not important right now.
If Auril Gavis really was in Bifron, I had to find him. I had a mountain of questions I wanted to ask.
***
After our conversation, Amelia said she would drop by the city and return at night. She had business there in the afternoon. At first, that seemed so natural that I nodded without thinking. "Wait a minute, how are you going to get into the city? Is there a way to avoid the guards?"
"There is a secret passage under the sewers."
I would have regretted it if I didn't stop her and ask. A secret passage leading to the city! "Can you teach me where that is too?"
"Hmm."
"What are you thinking so hard about? You're acting like it's a tough request."
"...Fine, I'll tell you."
When I reminded her that I was currently helping her search for Auril Gavis, she readily filled me in on the passage. She looked relieved to do so. Did that mean her debt was now paid?
Thanks to that, I learned something useful.
I had a ticket to Bifron that I could use whenever I wanted. Of course, I didn't intend to use this during my exile. I was aware that I stood out in a crowd. If I ended up getting caught, it'd be a headache. The knight who brought me here had even warned me. He said I could do whatever I wanted except escape.
"Then, see you later."
"Huh?"
"Didn't you say you would come back later tonight?"
"Right, I did..."
To see the location of the secret passage for myself, I went with Amelia under the sewers and then said goodbye. Glancing at the time, I saw that it had already been three hours since I had made the order for everyone to gather. And so, asking for directions on the way, I headed to the rendezvous place, the Dimension Square that once would have been crowded with adventurers.
"Hey, do you know anything? Why did the boss call everyone all of a sudden? And what are those Western Alliance bastards doing here?"
"I am not 'hey.' I'm your boss."
"What are you—"
"Talking back is not allowed." I made my way through the crowd to the center.
On the way, members of the Western Alliance recognized and greeted me. "Salute!"
Yeah, this was more like it.
"The heck...?" The Western Alliance members knelt before me and the Eastern guys stood there with puzzled expressions. They at least had the sense to make way so it was easier to get to the center.
"Boss, the stage is over there."
After reaching the center, I headed up to the podium with Jingjing's assistance. Apparently, he prepared it in advance, thinking I might need it.
He's good at his job.
Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to use him as my butler outside. Now that I had the secret passage, it'd be a waste to only make use of him over here. Although it wouldn't just end with a fine if I were caught. With those thoughts in mind, I was about to climb the podium when...
"That's not for you to know."
"Why should I answer that?"
She sometimes refused to answer like that, but she had never lied or tried to cover anything up. As a result, I started to wonder if perhaps this really wasn't an order from Noark, but truly a personal matter.
Well, that's not important right now.
If Auril Gavis really was in Bifron, I had to find him. I had a mountain of questions I wanted to ask.
***
After our conversation, Amelia said she would drop by the city and return at night. She had business there in the afternoon. At first, that seemed so natural that I nodded without thinking. "Wait a minute, how are you going to get into the city? Is there a way to avoid the guards?"
"There is a secret passage under the sewers."
I would have regretted it if I didn't stop her and ask. A secret passage leading to the city! "Can you teach me where that is too?"
"Hmm."
"What are you thinking so hard about? You're acting like it's a tough request."
"...Fine, I'll tell you."
When I reminded her that I was currently helping her search for Auril Gavis, she readily filled me in on the passage. She looked relieved to do so. Did that mean her debt was now paid?
Thanks to that, I learned something useful.
I had a ticket to Bifron that I could use whenever I wanted. Of course, I didn't intend to use this during my exile. I was aware that I stood out in a crowd. If I ended up getting caught, it'd be a headache. The knight who brought me here had even warned me. He said I could do whatever I wanted except escape.
"Then, see you later."
"Huh?"
"Didn't you say you would come back later tonight?"
"Right, I did..."
To see the location of the secret passage for myself, I went with Amelia under the sewers and then said goodbye. Glancing at the time, I saw that it had already been three hours since I had made the order for everyone to gather. And so, asking for directions on the way, I headed to the rendezvous place, the Dimension Square that once would have been crowded with adventurers.
"Hey, do you know anything? Why did the boss call everyone all of a sudden? And what are those Western Alliance bastards doing here?"
"I am not 'hey.' I'm your boss."
"What are you—"
"Talking back is not allowed." I made my way through the crowd to the center.
On the way, members of the Western Alliance recognized and greeted me. "Salute!"
Yeah, this was more like it.
"The heck...?" The Western Alliance members knelt before me and the Eastern guys stood there with puzzled expressions. They at least had the sense to make way so it was easier to get to the center.
"Boss, the stage is over there."
After reaching the center, I headed up to the podium with Jingjing's assistance. Apparently, he prepared it in advance, thinking I might need it.
He's good at his job.
Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to use him as my butler outside. Now that I had the secret passage, it'd be a waste to only make use of him over here. Although it wouldn't just end with a fine if I were caught. With those thoughts in mind, I was about to climb the podium when...
Crunch.
The stairs made of wooden planks snapped. These thin slabs of wood could not bear the weight of both me and my equipment. Unable to hide my devastation, I said, "Jingjing, how did this happen?"
"I'm sorry."
An apology was made immediately without a word of excuse. That alleviated my mood a bit, but the maker of this podium was a barbarian hater. If not, they would have designed these stairs to be able to hold one. "This podium is dangerous."
"Yes, boss. I will burn it straight away."
Jingjing pulled out a torch and lit up the podium. When he poured a liquid I presumed to be oil on top of that, the flames soared and instantly covered the three-story structure. Now it looked like we were having a campfire or something.
Whooosh!
My heart warmed with the heat of the fire. Just a while ago I hadn't had anyone on my side, but now? I had more than a thousand subordinates.
"So what will you do?"
"The inauguration ceremony will go on."
"Inauguration ceremony... Yes, I see. That's why you gathered everyone..."
"Isn't that obvious?"
"I'm sorry."
As a sign of forgiveness, I patted Jingjing on the shoulder and used Leap. My destination was the rooftop of a nearby four-story building.
Kwaaang!
A crack formed on the rooftop, but fortunately, it didn't break. I was glad. If I had fallen through the roof after that cool jump, that would have been way too embarrassing.
So this is why they say the position makes the person.
I was trying to maintain my dignity without even realizing it.
"Ahem." Anyway, as I headed toward the railing, I could see the tightly packed crowd filling the plaza, creating a spectacular view. Now it was finally time to start the inauguration ceremony. I began. "Behel—aaah!"
"Behel—aaah!" The Western Alliance members immediately chanted back. The Eastern guys just blinked blankly, as if wondering what kind of deranged sight they were witnessing.
I clicked my tongue. "Tsk." There was still a lot left to teach.
***
After the inauguration ceremony to show off the face of their new boss was over, I called forth Jingjing and Baldy to give orders. "Check the backs of everyone in Bifron. And bring all the tattooed ones to me."
Of course, this excluded women, along with children under the age of fourteen who didn't have credentials yet. A total of thirty-seven suspects were dragged before me before the first day was over.
"This is not the tattoo." When she returned that night, Amelia checked each one of them and shook her head.
Yeah, it couldn't be this easy. To increase our efficiency, I berated the vice captains of the "Behel-a Alliance," Jingjing and Baldy, and many more suspects were captured on the second and third days. Of course, the person we were looking for was once again not present.
Plus, while the quantity of suspects increased, the quality declined.
"It's a birthmark, not a tattoo."
"So he says. How did this happen?"
"I will fix this."
Put simply, these guys were going to berate their subordinates to raise the efficiency, too. And I guessed the berating worked because the tattoos started to look more like tattoos after that. Still, after another two days, we hadn't made much more progress. It was ridiculous to think we'd be able to find Auril Gavis with such a simple and unimaginative method, anyway.
But what can I do? I have to try something. It's not like there's a better way.
Looking for a needle in the desert, if that needle would take me back home, was worth a shot. So, I continued my search. Of course, I changed my methodology a little. Not much, though—I just added a reward.
"Anyone who fails to meet their daily quota will receive mental training that night."
You might wonder how this was a reward, but happiness was always relative. Put simply, being better off than others was a reward in itself. What, do you think cavemen weren't happy just because they ate raw meat and slept naked in caves?
Three more long days went by. However, Auril Gavis showed no signs of appearing, and I started to pack away my expectations too. I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed since this was the first real clue I had about how to return, but the real reason I was helping Amelia was something else, so I decided to focus on that: none other than Amelia Rainwales herself. Who the hell was this woman? Using Auril Gavis as a point of contact, I gathered information from her every day. Surprisingly, she answered my questions thoroughly, although it was limited to information of little importance.
"I don't eat food that contains wheat. It makes my skin itchy for some reason."
Such information included the fact that she had a wheat allergy or that the only thing she did for fun was read. But while she answered those questions without trouble, she avoided questions like who the barbarian she was indebted to was.
"That you don't need to know."
"But I'm curious. For a woman like you to be hung up on him, he must have been a great warrior! Tell me what kind of person he was!"
"...If I had to describe him, he was a little like you."
Although she uncharacteristically tossed in that bit at the end, the information wasn't useful. We were both barbarians, after all. Of course, there was a resemblance. Anyway, our casual chitchat continued, and she lowered her guard a bit.
"Why do you plunder? To be honest, it doesn't suit you at all."
"It doesn't?" Instead of getting angry at a question that could be a bit sensitive, Amelia answered with a question of her own.
I smoothly recited the lines I had prepared. "I have met many plunderers besides you since then. Thanks to that, I've become more certain. You are not the type to kill people for money."
"...That's laughable. What do you know about me?"
"Nothing. But at your level, I know there are many other ways for you to make money."
Amelia was silent for a moment and briefly explained herself. "...I don't normally do it."
"What about back then?"
"Those guys... committed a sin deserving of death."
"You mean it was a personal grudge?"
"Yes," Amelia answered while staring out into space, lost in a memory. I was curious and wanted to delve deeper into the backstory there, but I couldn't dig that far. Amelia had come to her senses. "Why am I even telling you this?"
"Don't make a big deal out of it. We're going our separate ways in a few days, anyway. There are things you can only tell strangers."
"Things you only tell strangers, huh?" She pondered the words which seemed to leave an impression on her before she smirked and got up. "It's late. I should go now."
"Are you coming at the same time tomorrow?"
"Maybe."
Amelia disappeared from sight, just as silently as she came. Was that it for today? I went out to the terrace to give my mind a bit of a break. The view at night in Bifron was completely different from the districts outside it, its streets and buildings buried in darkness without a single light to be seen.
Only a few days left now.
I sat blankly on a rocking chair on the terrace, staring out into the darkness as I got my thoughts in order. I wasn't sure how long I spent out there, but after checking my watch, I headed to the bedroom. It was 11:57 p.m.—time to lie down for bed. It was going to take a long time for me to fall asleep, though.
[Your soul has resonated and is being drawn into a different world.]
Hopefully, everyone had logged in today.
Crunch.
The stairs made of wooden planks snapped. These thin slabs of wood could not bear the weight of both me and my equipment. Unable to hide my devastation, I said, "Jingjing, how did this happen?"
"I'm sorry."
An apology was made immediately without a word of excuse. That alleviated my mood a bit, but the maker of this podium was a barbarian hater. If not, they would have designed these stairs to be able to hold one. "This podium is dangerous."
"Yes, boss. I will burn it straight away."
Jingjing pulled out a torch and lit up the podium. When he poured a liquid I presumed to be oil on top of that, the flames soared and instantly covered the three-story structure. Now it looked like we were having a campfire or something.
Whooosh!
My heart warmed with the heat of the fire. Just a while ago I hadn't had anyone on my side, but now? I had more than a thousand subordinates.
"So what will you do?"
"The inauguration ceremony will go on."
"Inauguration ceremony... Yes, I see. That's why you gathered everyone..."
"Isn't that obvious?"
"I'm sorry."
As a sign of forgiveness, I patted Jingjing on the shoulder and used Leap. My destination was the rooftop of a nearby four-story building.
Kwaaang!
A crack formed on the rooftop, but fortunately, it didn't break. I was glad. If I had fallen through the roof after that cool jump, that would have been way too embarrassing.
So this is why they say the position makes the person.
I was trying to maintain my dignity without even realizing it.
"Ahem." Anyway, as I headed toward the railing, I could see the tightly packed crowd filling the plaza, creating a spectacular view. Now it was finally time to start the inauguration ceremony. I began. "Behel—aaah!"
"Behel—aaah!" The Western Alliance members immediately chanted back. The Eastern guys just blinked blankly, as if wondering what kind of deranged sight they were witnessing.
I clicked my tongue. "Tsk." There was still a lot left to teach.
***
After the inauguration ceremony to show off the face of their new boss was over, I called forth Jingjing and Baldy to give orders. "Check the backs of everyone in Bifron. And bring all the tattooed ones to me."
Of course, this excluded women, along with children under the age of fourteen who didn't have credentials yet. A total of thirty-seven suspects were dragged before me before the first day was over.
"This is not the tattoo." When she returned that night, Amelia checked each one of them and shook her head.
Yeah, it couldn't be this easy. To increase our efficiency, I berated the vice captains of the "Behel-a Alliance," Jingjing and Baldy, and many more suspects were captured on the second and third days. Of course, the person we were looking for was once again not present.
Plus, while the quantity of suspects increased, the quality declined.
"It's a birthmark, not a tattoo."
"So he says. How did this happen?"
"I will fix this."
Put simply, these guys were going to berate their subordinates to raise the efficiency, too. And I guessed the berating worked because the tattoos started to look more like tattoos after that. Still, after another two days, we hadn't made much more progress. It was ridiculous to think we'd be able to find Auril Gavis with such a simple and unimaginative method, anyway.
But what can I do? I have to try something. It's not like there's a better way.
Looking for a needle in the desert, if that needle would take me back home, was worth a shot. So, I continued my search. Of course, I changed my methodology a little. Not much, though—I just added a reward.
"Anyone who fails to meet their daily quota will receive mental training that night."
You might wonder how this was a reward, but happiness was always relative. Put simply, being better off than others was a reward in itself. What, do you think cavemen weren't happy just because they ate raw meat and slept naked in caves?
Three more long days went by. However, Auril Gavis showed no signs of appearing, and I started to pack away my expectations too. I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed since this was the first real clue I had about how to return, but the real reason I was helping Amelia was something else, so I decided to focus on that: none other than Amelia Rainwales herself. Who the hell was this woman? Using Auril Gavis as a point of contact, I gathered information from her every day. Surprisingly, she answered my questions thoroughly, although it was limited to information of little importance.
"I don't eat food that contains wheat. It makes my skin itchy for some reason."
Such information included the fact that she had a wheat allergy or that the only thing she did for fun was read. But while she answered those questions without trouble, she avoided questions like who the barbarian she was indebted to was.
"That you don't need to know."
"But I'm curious. For a woman like you to be hung up on him, he must have been a great warrior! Tell me what kind of person he was!"
"...If I had to describe him, he was a little like you."
Although she uncharacteristically tossed in that bit at the end, the information wasn't useful. We were both barbarians, after all. Of course, there was a resemblance. Anyway, our casual chitchat continued, and she lowered her guard a bit.
"Why do you plunder? To be honest, it doesn't suit you at all."
"It doesn't?" Instead of getting angry at a question that could be a bit sensitive, Amelia answered with a question of her own.
I smoothly recited the lines I had prepared. "I have met many plunderers besides you since then. Thanks to that, I've become more certain. You are not the type to kill people for money."
"...That's laughable. What do you know about me?"
"Nothing. But at your level, I know there are many other ways for you to make money."
Amelia was silent for a moment and briefly explained herself. "...I don't normally do it."
"What about back then?"
"Those guys... committed a sin deserving of death."
"You mean it was a personal grudge?"
"Yes," Amelia answered while staring out into space, lost in a memory. I was curious and wanted to delve deeper into the backstory there, but I couldn't dig that far. Amelia had come to her senses. "Why am I even telling you this?"
"Don't make a big deal out of it. We're going our separate ways in a few days, anyway. There are things you can only tell strangers."
"Things you only tell strangers, huh?" She pondered the words which seemed to leave an impression on her before she smirked and got up. "It's late. I should go now."
"Are you coming at the same time tomorrow?"
"Maybe."
Amelia disappeared from sight, just as silently as she came. Was that it for today? I went out to the terrace to give my mind a bit of a break. The view at night in Bifron was completely different from the districts outside it, its streets and buildings buried in darkness without a single light to be seen.
Only a few days left now.
I sat blankly on a rocking chair on the terrace, staring out into the darkness as I got my thoughts in order. I wasn't sure how long I spent out there, but after checking my watch, I headed to the bedroom. It was 11:57 p.m.—time to lie down for bed. It was going to take a long time for me to fall asleep, though.
[Your soul has resonated and is being drawn into a different world.]
Hopefully, everyone had logged in today.