Chapter 88: Baron Martoin (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 88: Baron Martoin (4)
The core of the baron's request was simple. In two months, some count was holding a big banquet. All I had to do was accompany him there.
"Is that it...?"
"Hmm, and I also wish for you to show off some tricks in front of the people. Something like bending steel with your bare hands." In a nutshell, he was going to use me as a trophy to make himself stand out at the banquet. "Can you do it?"
Well, what do you think a barbarian would say?
"That is no problem," I agreed.
"All right, then."
The reward was one million stones and the dismissal of Dwalkie's ban. Wow, was this what nobles were like? To think he would waste that much money just to show me off to people.
Well, all I have to do is sweep up the crumbs.
Even if it weren't for Dwalkie's predicament, it was good bang for my buck. One million stones for humoring him for a single day? The smelly sewer request had been 150,000 stones.
"Hmm, good. Then I'll deal with your friend's problem right away. Think of it as a favor to you." The baron was even charitable enough to solve Dwalkie's problem first. I wondered what he planned to do if I didn't keep my promise.
Nobles are entities that don't have to worry about things like that.
Once again, I felt that I had a long way to go. I had created some amount of protection for myself and even earned a decent reputation.
But I'll have to come up with a plan for this soon too.
I needed power, just like in the game. Ever since waking up in this place, I'd found that events that threatened my life didn't just happen in the labyrinth.
***
The next morning, we gathered at our meeting place again to check if Dwalkie had been granted permission to enter the labyrinth.
"How did it go? Did the baron keep his prrromise?"
"When I checked today, they said there was no problem," Dwalkie answered.
"But why don't you look happy?"
"Haha, it's nothing..."
Nothing, my ass. Had it been such a shock that his half-brother, Baron Martoin, couldn't even remember him properly, let alone pay attention to him? Ever since yesterday, Dwalkie had been completely out of it, although he tried not to show it.
"Whew..." He became lost in thought several times a day and kept sighing deeply. I hoped he'd come to his senses before the labyrinth opened up again.
"Oh, before I forget, take this. It's the reward I promised." Hikurod offered me three hundred thousand stones.
"Reward?"
"You came with us to face the baron."
"It's fine, we'rrre a team."
"I didn't go there seeking a reward," Rotmiller added. "Besides, we faced the baron for the party's sake."
I decided not to take it. The other two had waved off the money, so it would be awkward to accept it.
It's not like I'm in need of three hundred thousand stones right now anyway.
It would be better to save this one as an IOU for later. If we continued entering the labyrinth together, there would be more give-and-take and also times when we'd each have to make concessions.
"Anyway, thank you," Hikurod said to me. "It must not have been easy to throw away your pride as a warrior."
Uh, well... To be honest, hearing that only made me sheepish. One million stones was too much money to care about self-esteem.
"I will never forget this and will pay you all back," Dwalkie vowed.
"Why would you pay it back? Bjorn, I will surely repay this debt tenfold," interrupted Hikurod.
"Either one of you is fine, so you guys can figure it out," I said.
"Hehe, Bjorn is shy!" giggled Missha.
No, I'm serious.
***
There were eight days left until the labyrinth opened. What I'd gotten done so far was simple. Aside from daily routines such as helping Missha train and reading the hidden books at the library, I found out the year The Complete Book of Rifts II had been printed.
"The paper was made 150 years ago." It was just a plain sheet of paper that had been the standard for printing at that time.
Huh, what the hell happened 150 years ago?
That had been the same year the game began, the year the first king of a dynasty had died, and even the year this book had been made. Many question marks kept popping up no more and no less than 150 years ago.
I'm sure that's not a coincidence.
The events above were somehow related. That was all I had found out so far, but that was still enough motivation to move forward.
I'll have to look into historical events from 150 years ago.
Who brought the players here? What was their purpose, and who the hell was Auril Gavis? If I kept collecting clues, I might be able to learn the truth one day. Anyway, onto the next one.
"Uh, uh...you want to do that? No! Not that I don't want to, it's just a bit sudden..."
I opened an Alminus bank account with Missha, and we designated each other as our next of kin upon death. In the future, I planned to put some of the money we earned together in this account and use it as shared funds.
"In that case, I'm going to put the two million stones we earned this month in here."
"Ehh? All of it?"
"We're not using it right now, are we?"
"Ugh... Are you sure you're not trrrying to use it for something strange without me knowing?"
"What kind of person do you think I am?"
I decided to put two million stones in the account and keep the remaining nine hundred thousand stones in cash. I didn't have a place to use it right now. Plus, gone were the days of barely scraping by each month. It was about time I started saving up.
"You... Bjorn, son of Yandel?!"
Oh, and this happened. While walking down the street, I accidentally reunited with one of my barbarian peers. His name was Karak, the third son of Fanun. We didn't do anything, just asked each other what was going on and parted ways. Apparently, he'd become a rank eight adventurer and was working as a tank in a party of humans.
"What are the other guys doing? Most are dead. Aside from you, Ainar, and me, there aren't many left. As you know, the labyrinth is no playground." Since teaming up with those humans, his personality had changed quite a bit. I was pretty sure he used to be more simple-minded. "If they had told us more about the place rather than sticking to the old traditions, we wouldn't have lost so many..."
"Anyway, thank you," Hikurod said to me. "It must not have been easy to throw away your pride as a warrior."
Uh, well... To be honest, hearing that only made me sheepish. One million stones was too much money to care about self-esteem.
"I will never forget this and will pay you all back," Dwalkie vowed.
"Why would you pay it back? Bjorn, I will surely repay this debt tenfold," interrupted Hikurod.
"Either one of you is fine, so you guys can figure it out," I said.
"Hehe, Bjorn is shy!" giggled Missha.
No, I'm serious.
***
There were eight days left until the labyrinth opened. What I'd gotten done so far was simple. Aside from daily routines such as helping Missha train and reading the hidden books at the library, I found out the year The Complete Book of Rifts II had been printed.
"The paper was made 150 years ago." It was just a plain sheet of paper that had been the standard for printing at that time.
Huh, what the hell happened 150 years ago?
That had been the same year the game began, the year the first king of a dynasty had died, and even the year this book had been made. Many question marks kept popping up no more and no less than 150 years ago.
I'm sure that's not a coincidence.
The events above were somehow related. That was all I had found out so far, but that was still enough motivation to move forward.
I'll have to look into historical events from 150 years ago.
Who brought the players here? What was their purpose, and who the hell was Auril Gavis? If I kept collecting clues, I might be able to learn the truth one day. Anyway, onto the next one.
"Uh, uh...you want to do that? No! Not that I don't want to, it's just a bit sudden..."
I opened an Alminus bank account with Missha, and we designated each other as our next of kin upon death. In the future, I planned to put some of the money we earned together in this account and use it as shared funds.
"In that case, I'm going to put the two million stones we earned this month in here."
"Ehh? All of it?"
"We're not using it right now, are we?"
"Ugh... Are you sure you're not trrrying to use it for something strange without me knowing?"
"What kind of person do you think I am?"
I decided to put two million stones in the account and keep the remaining nine hundred thousand stones in cash. I didn't have a place to use it right now. Plus, gone were the days of barely scraping by each month. It was about time I started saving up.
"You... Bjorn, son of Yandel?!"
Oh, and this happened. While walking down the street, I accidentally reunited with one of my barbarian peers. His name was Karak, the third son of Fanun. We didn't do anything, just asked each other what was going on and parted ways. Apparently, he'd become a rank eight adventurer and was working as a tank in a party of humans.
"What are the other guys doing? Most are dead. Aside from you, Ainar, and me, there aren't many left. As you know, the labyrinth is no playground." Since teaming up with those humans, his personality had changed quite a bit. I was pretty sure he used to be more simple-minded. "If they had told us more about the place rather than sticking to the old traditions, we wouldn't have lost so many..."
As I watched him express bitterness toward the ways of our race, I even momentarily wondered if he was truly a barbarian warrior. To be honest, I was saddened to hear all this. A lot of things must have happened for a guy who used to be a warrior to the core to change like this.
I guess not all barbarians are the same.
Thanks to that, I learned something new: barbarians could grow psychologically. They may have been weak in words and numbers, but with a change in environment, they could gain wisdom.
...There may even be some elders whose personalities are almost like the humans'.
"Bjorn, what arrre you thinking about?"
"Nothing." I cut off my train of thought at Missha's voice. The whole time she had been laboring over the stove to prepare a meal for me, I was sitting there mindlessly ruminating.
"Hey, Bjorn... I think you grew tallerrr?"
"What?"
"Maybe I'm wrong. Stand here for a sec!"
...I'm too lazy.
But I still stopped mid-meal and measured my height. Missha brought her hand from the top of her head to my chest and nodded. "I was right, you grrrew! About this much?"
"Are you sure you're not mistaken?" It was honestly hard to believe. Aside from the fact that I could even grow taller here, the difference was less than half an inch, so how could she know that?
"Hmm, I have a good eye for this kind of thing. You can trrrust me."
"...If you say so." Rather than arguing, I just nodded. Maybe I did get taller. I'd been eating a lot of meat dishes lately.
...If I really did, though, does that mean I should eat more meat in the future?
If true, it would be worth it. I was genetically taller than average, which was the decisive reason why I used a barbarian as a tank rather than a dwarf. The Giantization mechanism itself multiplied the base height.
To be exact, it was something like 1.771 times the character's original size.
This was another reason to eat meat.
"...Don't just eat the meat, eat the rrrest too! Hey!"
After the meal, I did an inspection of my backpack to make sure I hadn't missed anything, since I'd be entering the labyrinth soon.
"Let's go, the otherrrs will be waiting."
When we headed to the agreed-upon meeting place, I could see our other party members in different clothes than usual. Hikurod was not wearing a shirt but heavy armor, and Dwalkie was holding a long, two-handed staff.
"Oh, Rotmillerrr! Why don't you have a weapon?"
"Don't worry. I put it in the Treasure Vault. Now that I'm used to it, it's more convenient to take things out every now and then instead of carrying them around."
"Oh, I see."
The Mimic's ability, Treasure Vault; I used to think of it as a skill that replaced subspaces, but maybe it was a convenient essence in many different ways for Rotmiller, who handled various pieces of equipment such as crossbows, shields, and swords.
"Can you all gather around me, then?" Dwalkie asked. "I want to start the Bind." When Dwalkie chanted a spell, a green light spread out and seeped into all of our bodies. It was a kind of party formation spell. It was with this magic that several people could enter the labyrinth and all start from the same location.
In the past, Ainar and I had to wait in front of the guild at the break of dawn...
I realized that there was a reason adventurers insisted on having a wizard on the team. If you had one, you didn't have to wait in line in front of the guild first thing in the morning. It also came with significant monetary advantages. For five adventurers with an average rank of 6.5 to form a Bind, we would have had to pay a fee of one hundred thousand stones.
"Then let's go."
As we all walked toward Dimension Square, there were more and more adventurers on the street. This was the kind of sight that could only be seen on the last night of each month, since on the way back, everyone always looked like beggars.
"Halt! I think we are lost."
"Unbelievable! We must get to the labyrinth within the set time!"
Coincidentally, I encountered the barbarians this time as well. These young warriors who had just finished their coming-of-age ceremony were heading to the labyrinth, full of anticipation and excitement.
"...Follow us." With the consent of my teammates, I assisted them. It wasn't out of a sense of responsibility toward my race... I just felt that I should.
"Really? Thanks. If you tell me your—what! Bjorn, son of Yandel?! Are you Little Balkan!? I admire you!"
Ignoring the overreaction from the young warriors, I gave them all kinds of advice on our way to Dimension Square. I told them that a barbarian's heart sold at a high price and so they should be wary of other adventurers—especially humans. They should acquire other races as night companions wherever possible. Watch out for traps, and take the paths with light, etcetera—knowledge I wish I had had on my first trip into the labyrinth.
"If I do that, can I become a famous warrior like you?" the leader asked.
Well, I don't know about that.
"That's right," I lied.
"Oooh! Is that right? Okay! I will definitely do just as you said!" It would be better for them this way. They could only understand when given simple instructions.
The dwarf spoke up quietly as he watched the young warriors heading off to the portal with my advice in mind. "You... are quite kind to your own people."
"I just did what I could. Isn't it harsh to learn only by experience?"
"Hm, that is true. Hahaha!"
After some chitchat, we also headed to the center of the square where the portal had opened.
Shaaaaaa!
My vision darkened, and a brilliant light consisting of five colors shone in my eyes. All of a sudden, the events of the past unfolded before me like a movie reel.
Is this the fourth time already?
During my first quest, I had reached the second floor by taking out countless bastards. The second? I had entered the rift with the determination to become stronger, but it happened to be a variant rift. Things only got worse on my next trip. A party was formed but got split up along the way. In the end, the Lord of the Floor started running rampant, so I was only able to come back after setting a foot past the threshold of the underworld.
Flash!
I hoped nothing happened this time. What could possibly happen? I discarded these thoughts before they could even fully form.
Hah, I wonder what son of a bitch will show up this time.
There was no doubt something would happen this time, too, so I needed to be prepared.
***
[You have entered the Crystal Cave on the first floor. TIP: You have reached the limit of essences you can currently possess. Hunt new monsters to level up!]
As I watched him express bitterness toward the ways of our race, I even momentarily wondered if he was truly a barbarian warrior. To be honest, I was saddened to hear all this. A lot of things must have happened for a guy who used to be a warrior to the core to change like this.
I guess not all barbarians are the same.
Thanks to that, I learned something new: barbarians could grow psychologically. They may have been weak in words and numbers, but with a change in environment, they could gain wisdom.
...There may even be some elders whose personalities are almost like the humans'.
"Bjorn, what arrre you thinking about?"
"Nothing." I cut off my train of thought at Missha's voice. The whole time she had been laboring over the stove to prepare a meal for me, I was sitting there mindlessly ruminating.
"Hey, Bjorn... I think you grew tallerrr?"
"What?"
"Maybe I'm wrong. Stand here for a sec!"
...I'm too lazy.
But I still stopped mid-meal and measured my height. Missha brought her hand from the top of her head to my chest and nodded. "I was right, you grrrew! About this much?"
"Are you sure you're not mistaken?" It was honestly hard to believe. Aside from the fact that I could even grow taller here, the difference was less than half an inch, so how could she know that?
"Hmm, I have a good eye for this kind of thing. You can trrrust me."
"...If you say so." Rather than arguing, I just nodded. Maybe I did get taller. I'd been eating a lot of meat dishes lately.
...If I really did, though, does that mean I should eat more meat in the future?
If true, it would be worth it. I was genetically taller than average, which was the decisive reason why I used a barbarian as a tank rather than a dwarf. The Giantization mechanism itself multiplied the base height.
To be exact, it was something like 1.771 times the character's original size.
This was another reason to eat meat.
"...Don't just eat the meat, eat the rrrest too! Hey!"
After the meal, I did an inspection of my backpack to make sure I hadn't missed anything, since I'd be entering the labyrinth soon.
"Let's go, the otherrrs will be waiting."
When we headed to the agreed-upon meeting place, I could see our other party members in different clothes than usual. Hikurod was not wearing a shirt but heavy armor, and Dwalkie was holding a long, two-handed staff.
"Oh, Rotmillerrr! Why don't you have a weapon?"
"Don't worry. I put it in the Treasure Vault. Now that I'm used to it, it's more convenient to take things out every now and then instead of carrying them around."
"Oh, I see."
The Mimic's ability, Treasure Vault; I used to think of it as a skill that replaced subspaces, but maybe it was a convenient essence in many different ways for Rotmiller, who handled various pieces of equipment such as crossbows, shields, and swords.
"Can you all gather around me, then?" Dwalkie asked. "I want to start the Bind." When Dwalkie chanted a spell, a green light spread out and seeped into all of our bodies. It was a kind of party formation spell. It was with this magic that several people could enter the labyrinth and all start from the same location.
In the past, Ainar and I had to wait in front of the guild at the break of dawn...
I realized that there was a reason adventurers insisted on having a wizard on the team. If you had one, you didn't have to wait in line in front of the guild first thing in the morning. It also came with significant monetary advantages. For five adventurers with an average rank of 6.5 to form a Bind, we would have had to pay a fee of one hundred thousand stones.
"Then let's go."
As we all walked toward Dimension Square, there were more and more adventurers on the street. This was the kind of sight that could only be seen on the last night of each month, since on the way back, everyone always looked like beggars.
"Halt! I think we are lost."
"Unbelievable! We must get to the labyrinth within the set time!"
Coincidentally, I encountered the barbarians this time as well. These young warriors who had just finished their coming-of-age ceremony were heading to the labyrinth, full of anticipation and excitement.
"...Follow us." With the consent of my teammates, I assisted them. It wasn't out of a sense of responsibility toward my race... I just felt that I should.
"Really? Thanks. If you tell me your—what! Bjorn, son of Yandel?! Are you Little Balkan!? I admire you!"
Ignoring the overreaction from the young warriors, I gave them all kinds of advice on our way to Dimension Square. I told them that a barbarian's heart sold at a high price and so they should be wary of other adventurers—especially humans. They should acquire other races as night companions wherever possible. Watch out for traps, and take the paths with light, etcetera—knowledge I wish I had had on my first trip into the labyrinth.
"If I do that, can I become a famous warrior like you?" the leader asked.
Well, I don't know about that.
"That's right," I lied.
"Oooh! Is that right? Okay! I will definitely do just as you said!" It would be better for them this way. They could only understand when given simple instructions.
The dwarf spoke up quietly as he watched the young warriors heading off to the portal with my advice in mind. "You... are quite kind to your own people."
"I just did what I could. Isn't it harsh to learn only by experience?"
"Hm, that is true. Hahaha!"
After some chitchat, we also headed to the center of the square where the portal had opened.
Shaaaaaa!
My vision darkened, and a brilliant light consisting of five colors shone in my eyes. All of a sudden, the events of the past unfolded before me like a movie reel.
Is this the fourth time already?
During my first quest, I had reached the second floor by taking out countless bastards. The second? I had entered the rift with the determination to become stronger, but it happened to be a variant rift. Things only got worse on my next trip. A party was formed but got split up along the way. In the end, the Lord of the Floor started running rampant, so I was only able to come back after setting a foot past the threshold of the underworld.
Flash!
I hoped nothing happened this time. What could possibly happen? I discarded these thoughts before they could even fully form.
Hah, I wonder what son of a bitch will show up this time.
There was no doubt something would happen this time, too, so I needed to be prepared.
***
[You have entered the Crystal Cave on the first floor. TIP: You have reached the limit of essences you can currently possess. Hunt new monsters to level up!]