Chapter 42: The Wizard and the Barbarian (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 42: The Wizard and the Barbarian (2)
Drop.
After the transmission dropped, Raven's laboratory fell silent for a while. To be fair, she couldn't have expected this. How could she have known that her plan to rip me off would instead end with her having to give me five million stones?
The people here really have no imagination.
Actually, there was a way she could've won the argument. If she had asked that question to any rank-nine adventurer living paycheck to paycheck, they would've replied that they'd have been happy to take the essence, and her point wouldn't have been so easily dismantled. However, the adventurer she had contacted was clearly a skilled one.
If it's someone close to her master, he can't be an ordinary adventurer.
That had been her decisive mistake. Now it was time to pay for it.
"Hahaha! A barbarian who can best a wizard? He's even more fascinating than I heard!"
A grey-haired and wrinkled old man opened the door without a knock. His back was not hunched, and he looked very youthful despite his age. After being momentarily bewildered by the sudden interruption, I was able to quickly deduce the identity of the old man just as he spoke again. "Oh, I didn't introduce myself. I am the teacher of the young lady you just made cry."
"I-I didn't cry!"
It was Raven's teacher. In other words, the master of the Great School of Altemion, a school that occupied a whopping five floors of the tower we were in. In a way, he was as much of—no, an even more powerful figure than that district chief earlier.
"Anyway, I heard your conversation."
"Pardon? How? The soundproofing spell should be active—"
"Ah, you should reinforce that spell. It had too many holes in its design. Tut."
His speech was no different from that of a neighborhood grandpa, but because of his position, I couldn't help but feel a bit intimidated. It was clear he cherished Raven as a disciple, and I was kind of the bad guy here.
"Ha... You completely destroyed my magic circle. It couldn't have been easy to destroy that without me realizing, even for someone like you, Master... Why did you eavesdrop on our conversation?"
The old man chuckled. "My youngest disciple has brought home a man. And a living barbarian at that! Of course I'm curious."
Something about that was strange. "Living?" I mumbled.
The old man gave another hearty laugh. "Haha! Most of them come here dead! Or just get delivered as a heart!"
I stared at him.
"Don't give me that look. It's a joke!"
Oh, I see. Is this what a wizard's sense of humor is like?
Since I was a barbarian who could read the room, instead of looking unamused, I responded with a hearty laugh of my own. "Hahaha! I want to smash your head in!" This was a barbarian joke.
"...W-What?"
Why isn't he laughing? Oh, right. I didn't mention that. "Hahaha! It was a joke!" No matter what bullshit you spewed out, all you had to do was say it was a joke afterward, right? "So don't look like that, Gramps!"
"Gramps...?"
"Ah, that was a joke as well! Hahaha!"
At my joke, the Master of Altemion, Gramps for short, frowned in apparent displeasure.
When I looked to the side, Raven was watching us with her jaw dropped like she couldn't believe what was happening. "...Mr. Yandel, is it possible that you are a lunatic?"
Was she trying to be considerate, or was that just an insult? Her polite tone of voice confused me.
My mistake.
Judging by her reaction, I may have taken things a bit too far. I guess that was fair. A fucking barbarian had just cracked an unhinged joke in front of the head of a magical school in the middle of the magic tower.
"Ha... I should've known from how you acted at the guild..."
Still, this was a bit unfair. This may sound like an excuse, but joking about a dead barbarian in front of a barbarian who had just escaped being executed was insensitive, too.
"It seems I am on the defensive thanks to the stress. I apologize if my words made you feel bad." It was my first time making an apology like this in a long time, but Raven immediately shouted at me as if it was in no way enough.
"How is that being defensive?"
"The best defense is a good offense." This had been my motto from a very young age.
So. How should I fix this?
I glanced at the old man and noticed he was still standing frozen with a blank look on his face. As the silence stretched on, I was beginning to feel genuinely concerned for my safety.
Then the old man started laughing out of nowhere. "Hohoho! This fellow is definitely something!"
I didn't know what was going on, but I laughed along. "Hahaha!"
"Hohoho! What an interesting fellow!"
Anyone could tell I was just laughing along, pretending to be unintimidated. But that might be enough to resolve this mess.
"Don't worry! This old man is different from other sensitive and narrow-minded fools." Even as he said this, however, his lips were still quivering. But there was no point in drawing attention to that.
I can roughly guess what kind of character he is, along with how to deal with him.
"Haha! What barbarian line do you come from?" I asked. "Forget my earlier words! You took my joke very heartily! I've never seen such a spirited wizard in my life!" I hadn't met a lot of wizards, to begin with. But, oh well.
"Haha, well, this old man has a side like that to him, too. I have a feeling we'll get along!"
"I agree!"
The cold air between us quickly dissipated. Raven watched as we cheerfully laughed with a dumbfounded expression on her face. "Ha... What exactly is going on?"
I actually wasn't sure, either, and I was pretty sure that even the old man didn't know what he was doing. "I am Bjorn, son of Yandel! Great wizard! I want to know your name!"
"Bjorn Yandel! Meeting you after rubbing elbows with such narrow-minded wizards is like a breath of fresh air! Nice to meet you. This old man's name is Deian Tveherion!"
For some reason, the old man introduced himself in a loud voice. The sight of the veins sticking up on his neck made me worry for his health, but I pretended not to notice.
"Amazing! That's the voice of a true, ambitious man!"
I, Bjorn Yandel, was a barbarian with social skills.
***
"So what I said to those narrow-minded wizards then was—"
"Amazing!"
When I looked to the side, Raven was watching us with her jaw dropped like she couldn't believe what was happening. "...Mr. Yandel, is it possible that you are a lunatic?"
Was she trying to be considerate, or was that just an insult? Her polite tone of voice confused me.
My mistake.
Judging by her reaction, I may have taken things a bit too far. I guess that was fair. A fucking barbarian had just cracked an unhinged joke in front of the head of a magical school in the middle of the magic tower.
"Ha... I should've known from how you acted at the guild..."
Still, this was a bit unfair. This may sound like an excuse, but joking about a dead barbarian in front of a barbarian who had just escaped being executed was insensitive, too.
"It seems I am on the defensive thanks to the stress. I apologize if my words made you feel bad." It was my first time making an apology like this in a long time, but Raven immediately shouted at me as if it was in no way enough.
"How is that being defensive?"
"The best defense is a good offense." This had been my motto from a very young age.
So. How should I fix this?
I glanced at the old man and noticed he was still standing frozen with a blank look on his face. As the silence stretched on, I was beginning to feel genuinely concerned for my safety.
Then the old man started laughing out of nowhere. "Hohoho! This fellow is definitely something!"
I didn't know what was going on, but I laughed along. "Hahaha!"
"Hohoho! What an interesting fellow!"
Anyone could tell I was just laughing along, pretending to be unintimidated. But that might be enough to resolve this mess.
"Don't worry! This old man is different from other sensitive and narrow-minded fools." Even as he said this, however, his lips were still quivering. But there was no point in drawing attention to that.
I can roughly guess what kind of character he is, along with how to deal with him.
"Haha! What barbarian line do you come from?" I asked. "Forget my earlier words! You took my joke very heartily! I've never seen such a spirited wizard in my life!" I hadn't met a lot of wizards, to begin with. But, oh well.
"Haha, well, this old man has a side like that to him, too. I have a feeling we'll get along!"
"I agree!"
The cold air between us quickly dissipated. Raven watched as we cheerfully laughed with a dumbfounded expression on her face. "Ha... What exactly is going on?"
I actually wasn't sure, either, and I was pretty sure that even the old man didn't know what he was doing. "I am Bjorn, son of Yandel! Great wizard! I want to know your name!"
"Bjorn Yandel! Meeting you after rubbing elbows with such narrow-minded wizards is like a breath of fresh air! Nice to meet you. This old man's name is Deian Tveherion!"
For some reason, the old man introduced himself in a loud voice. The sight of the veins sticking up on his neck made me worry for his health, but I pretended not to notice.
"Amazing! That's the voice of a true, ambitious man!"
I, Bjorn Yandel, was a barbarian with social skills.
***
"So what I said to those narrow-minded wizards then was—"
"Amazing!"
"Hmm? I haven't said any—"
"I'm sure it was amazing!"
After many minutes of friendly conversation like the one above, the old man finally seemed to come back to his senses after getting to show off and slowly circled back to the point. "So. What do you plan to do with Aru?"
"Aru?"
"Ah, that's sort of my nickname for my youngest disciple."
Aru as in Arua Raven? It seemed some things were culturally universal.
"Anyway, that five million stones earlier, what if this old man—"
My friendly barbarian mode immediately shut off. "I will not go back on that."
The old man clicked his tongue at the way I had cut him off so bluntly. "Tsk, who said you wouldn't get your payment? If it's okay with you, this old man would like to give you something else instead."
That changed things. "What is it?"
"This." The old man put his hand inside the robe he was wearing and pulled out a box the size of his palm. However, I was more interested in the robe he was wearing than the box.
Is there some kind of subspace enchantment on that robe? Hmm, he wouldn't give me that if I asked, would he?
"Well? Open it up."
Inwardly licking my lips, I opened the box to find a single ring.
"It's an object named the Ring of the Frost Spirit."
"The Ring of the Frost Spirit?"
The old man continued his explanations despite my mumbling, but I decided I didn't need to listen. I was already familiar with this item.
"Although it's in the 9000s, I'm sure an adventurer like you would know just how precious a Numbered Item is."
A Numbered Item: an item that could only be obtained from a rift guardian. Each held a unique and special ability. In fact, except for crafting and exploring, in Dungeon and Stone, the only way to create equipment was through a Numbered Item. Of course, most of them were still expensive regardless of the number.
"You are very lucky. If I hadn't taken a liking to you, I would never have—"
"This is an item no one uses."
No. 9425: The Ring of the Frost Spirit. The Ring of the Frost Spirit was only dropped in rifts below the third floor and carried a special ability. It wasn't an ability that helped in battle, but it sealed one of the essences absorbed by the wearer. Of course, the essence's stats still applied, and only skills were sealed, but...
In that case, it would be cheaper to remove the essence at the temple.
Think about it. Increasing your level became astronomically more difficult with time. And when you wore this ring, all the skills you got from an essence were completely discarded. It was the same as one of your skill slots disappearing altogether. Forward-looking adventurers would choose to erase the essence at the temple and absorb a new one rather than wear this.
"But this must be very useful to you, right?"
No doubt that was the case. When you were starting out, your stats were more important than your skill combinations. Moreover, even though the corpse golem had mediocre skills, its stats were quite high.
If you take into consideration the fact that you can always reactivate the essence's abilities by taking the ring off, it's not a bad item in itself.
I finished doing the math in my head. In fact, I hadn't even been considering rejecting the offer in the first place. That was because the information I had just listed was only a fraction of this ring's true value.
Judging by the fact that he hasn't mentioned it once, even though I was testing him, I guess he really doesn't know about that event.
Wizards were the foremost intellectuals in this universe. However, when I realized Raven was unaware of the Tears of a Goddess hidden inside the statue in the Bloody Citadel, I became certain. They were just newbies to me. And in any game, newbies were the easiest to extort.
"Why are you hesitating? To be honest, this ring isn't worth five million stones. But it isn't something you can get just by buying it, either."
"I see." I nodded in agreement. Even in the game, the auction price for this item was only about 1.5 million stones. However, since there was a lack of supply, I had only ever been able to acquire it one out of every ten times.
But he's giving me this valuable item?
I hadn't expected to receive all five million stones in the first place. Likewise, the old man must've been planning to send me back with whatever useless item he had from the start. Inwardly, he was probably thinking I was a stupid barbarian.
But I was thinking the same of him. "Thanks to you, I've acquired a great item. I'll put it to good use."
"Think of it as a gift from an old man."
As I watched him chuckle kindly, I thought, With some effort, I'll be able to extort more things from him in the future. I can see us getting along.
***
"Mr. Yandel, today is probably not the best day for you, right? You must be tired after everything you went through. Shall we meet in two days to discuss the rest?"
"Just what I wanted."
After a quick conversation to arrange the time and place for their more detailed discussion, Bjorn left the laboratory.
After that, Raven awaited her master's reaction.
"I'm sorry, Master, it's my fault..."
"It's all right. That item wouldn't have been sold, anyway. And once that barbarian realizes what that ring is worth, he'll be in for quite a headache."
"Is that right?" Fortunately, he didn't seem particularly angry that she had brought Bjorn here, so Raven relaxed and asked a question that had been bothering her. "But why did you do all that earlier?"
The master's attitude today had been very strange. He hated rude people and had never demeaned his fellow wizards as narrow-minded before.
"Ah, there was something I needed to check."
"To check?"
"That's not for you to know."
She pursed her lips grumpily. That made it clear that there had been some kind of reason behind him matching Bjorn's high energy, but she had no way to figure it out.
"Anyway, he's an odd one. So odd that I'm even starting to look forward to it... I hope I am correct..."
"Are you going to keep doing that? If you're going to talk to me, would you just explain things?!"
"I will tell you later when the time is right. Oh, when you have a moment, write down everything that happened with that barbarian and send it to me."
"Aren't you going to tell me why?"
"I'll tell you when I'm certain."
Soon after, her master left her laboratory with the same gentle smile on his face as usual. As she stared at the empty seat he left behind, she started to get a strange feeling.
What is he thinking?
She wondered if it had been a bad idea to bring Bjorn to the tower. She now remembered that the last days of the people her master took such an interest in usually weren't very good.
Oh, but would Mr. Yandel end up the same way?
As she thought of the rank-nine adventurer who had razed an entire guild, she started to grow anxious.
Nah, no way. The magic tower isn't some neighborhood convenience store.
The guild and the magic tower were completely different. This was without a doubt not the kind of place a single barbarian could take on.
"Hmm? I haven't said any—"
"I'm sure it was amazing!"
After many minutes of friendly conversation like the one above, the old man finally seemed to come back to his senses after getting to show off and slowly circled back to the point. "So. What do you plan to do with Aru?"
"Aru?"
"Ah, that's sort of my nickname for my youngest disciple."
Aru as in Arua Raven? It seemed some things were culturally universal.
"Anyway, that five million stones earlier, what if this old man—"
My friendly barbarian mode immediately shut off. "I will not go back on that."
The old man clicked his tongue at the way I had cut him off so bluntly. "Tsk, who said you wouldn't get your payment? If it's okay with you, this old man would like to give you something else instead."
That changed things. "What is it?"
"This." The old man put his hand inside the robe he was wearing and pulled out a box the size of his palm. However, I was more interested in the robe he was wearing than the box.
Is there some kind of subspace enchantment on that robe? Hmm, he wouldn't give me that if I asked, would he?
"Well? Open it up."
Inwardly licking my lips, I opened the box to find a single ring.
"It's an object named the Ring of the Frost Spirit."
"The Ring of the Frost Spirit?"
The old man continued his explanations despite my mumbling, but I decided I didn't need to listen. I was already familiar with this item.
"Although it's in the 9000s, I'm sure an adventurer like you would know just how precious a Numbered Item is."
A Numbered Item: an item that could only be obtained from a rift guardian. Each held a unique and special ability. In fact, except for crafting and exploring, in Dungeon and Stone, the only way to create equipment was through a Numbered Item. Of course, most of them were still expensive regardless of the number.
"You are very lucky. If I hadn't taken a liking to you, I would never have—"
"This is an item no one uses."
No. 9425: The Ring of the Frost Spirit. The Ring of the Frost Spirit was only dropped in rifts below the third floor and carried a special ability. It wasn't an ability that helped in battle, but it sealed one of the essences absorbed by the wearer. Of course, the essence's stats still applied, and only skills were sealed, but...
In that case, it would be cheaper to remove the essence at the temple.
Think about it. Increasing your level became astronomically more difficult with time. And when you wore this ring, all the skills you got from an essence were completely discarded. It was the same as one of your skill slots disappearing altogether. Forward-looking adventurers would choose to erase the essence at the temple and absorb a new one rather than wear this.
"But this must be very useful to you, right?"
No doubt that was the case. When you were starting out, your stats were more important than your skill combinations. Moreover, even though the corpse golem had mediocre skills, its stats were quite high.
If you take into consideration the fact that you can always reactivate the essence's abilities by taking the ring off, it's not a bad item in itself.
I finished doing the math in my head. In fact, I hadn't even been considering rejecting the offer in the first place. That was because the information I had just listed was only a fraction of this ring's true value.
Judging by the fact that he hasn't mentioned it once, even though I was testing him, I guess he really doesn't know about that event.
Wizards were the foremost intellectuals in this universe. However, when I realized Raven was unaware of the Tears of a Goddess hidden inside the statue in the Bloody Citadel, I became certain. They were just newbies to me. And in any game, newbies were the easiest to extort.
"Why are you hesitating? To be honest, this ring isn't worth five million stones. But it isn't something you can get just by buying it, either."
"I see." I nodded in agreement. Even in the game, the auction price for this item was only about 1.5 million stones. However, since there was a lack of supply, I had only ever been able to acquire it one out of every ten times.
But he's giving me this valuable item?
I hadn't expected to receive all five million stones in the first place. Likewise, the old man must've been planning to send me back with whatever useless item he had from the start. Inwardly, he was probably thinking I was a stupid barbarian.
But I was thinking the same of him. "Thanks to you, I've acquired a great item. I'll put it to good use."
"Think of it as a gift from an old man."
As I watched him chuckle kindly, I thought, With some effort, I'll be able to extort more things from him in the future. I can see us getting along.
***
"Mr. Yandel, today is probably not the best day for you, right? You must be tired after everything you went through. Shall we meet in two days to discuss the rest?"
"Just what I wanted."
After a quick conversation to arrange the time and place for their more detailed discussion, Bjorn left the laboratory.
After that, Raven awaited her master's reaction.
"I'm sorry, Master, it's my fault..."
"It's all right. That item wouldn't have been sold, anyway. And once that barbarian realizes what that ring is worth, he'll be in for quite a headache."
"Is that right?" Fortunately, he didn't seem particularly angry that she had brought Bjorn here, so Raven relaxed and asked a question that had been bothering her. "But why did you do all that earlier?"
The master's attitude today had been very strange. He hated rude people and had never demeaned his fellow wizards as narrow-minded before.
"Ah, there was something I needed to check."
"To check?"
"That's not for you to know."
She pursed her lips grumpily. That made it clear that there had been some kind of reason behind him matching Bjorn's high energy, but she had no way to figure it out.
"Anyway, he's an odd one. So odd that I'm even starting to look forward to it... I hope I am correct..."
"Are you going to keep doing that? If you're going to talk to me, would you just explain things?!"
"I will tell you later when the time is right. Oh, when you have a moment, write down everything that happened with that barbarian and send it to me."
"Aren't you going to tell me why?"
"I'll tell you when I'm certain."
Soon after, her master left her laboratory with the same gentle smile on his face as usual. As she stared at the empty seat he left behind, she started to get a strange feeling.
What is he thinking?
She wondered if it had been a bad idea to bring Bjorn to the tower. She now remembered that the last days of the people her master took such an interest in usually weren't very good.
Oh, but would Mr. Yandel end up the same way?
As she thought of the rank-nine adventurer who had razed an entire guild, she started to grow anxious.
Nah, no way. The magic tower isn't some neighborhood convenience store.
The guild and the magic tower were completely different. This was without a doubt not the kind of place a single barbarian could take on.