Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 41

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After the call ended, a silence hung in her lab for a while.

Well, she hadn’t expected that at all.

She probably thought she could get away with a small payment at first, but how could she have known she’d suddenly have to pay fifteen million stones in compensation?

‘These people really lack imagination.’

Actually, it wasn’t that she had no way to win the argument.

If she had asked any random 9th-grade explorer trying to make a living, she would have gotten a more than satisfactory answer.

There wouldn’t have been a situation where her argument was so easily defeated.

But the person she contacted was an explorer who clearly seemed skilled.

‘If she’s talking about a master, it must be a master mage, and someone who knows such a person privately can’t be an ordinary explorer.’

This was her crucial mistake.

So now it was time to take the spoils—

“Hahaha! A barbarian who can outwit a magician with words, you’re even more amazing than I heard!”

The one who burst into the room without knocking was an old man with wrinkled skin and white hair.

However, he wasn’t hunched over, and he looked very spry for his age, which was quite unusual.

I was momentarily taken aback by the sudden intrusion, but I quickly deduced the identity of this old man.

“Ah, I haven’t introduced myself. If you must know, I am the master of the lady you just made cry.”

“Ah, I didn’t cry!”

Raven’s master.

That is, the master of the great Artemion school, which independently occupies five floors in the magic tower.

In some ways, he was as influential as the regional director I met earlier, or even more so.

“Anyway, I heard your conversation clearly.”

“Excuse me? You heard it? Surely the soundproofing magic was working—”

“Ah, that needs a little more reinforcement. There were so many gaps in the spell, tsk.”

His tone made him seem like a neighborhood elder, but his position made me feel intimidated.

Especially considering what I did to his precious disciple.

“Haa, you completely shattered my magic circle. It must have been difficult even for you, Master, to break it without me noticing… Why did you go to such lengths to eavesdrop?”

The old man chuckled.

“Hahaha! My youngest disciple brought a man for the first time. And a living barbarian at that. Wouldn’t you be curious?”

But something about his words was strange.

“Living?”

I muttered without realizing it, and the old man laughed heartily again.

“Hahaha! Most of them come dead! Or they just deliver the heart!”

“……?”

“Cheer up. It’s a joke, a joke!”

Ah, I see.

Is this a magician’s joke?

I, too, am a barbarian who knows how to read the room, so instead of being serious, I responded with a hearty laugh.

“Hahaha! I want to smash your head!”

A so-called barbarian joke.

“…Wh-what?”

But why aren’t they laughing?

Ah, I messed that up.

“Hahaha! It was a joke!”

No matter what nonsense you say, you just have to say it’s a joke later, right?

“So cheer up and laugh, old man!”

“O-old man…?”

“Ah, that was also a joke! Hahaha!”

“……”

My joke made the master of the Artemion school, or the old man for short, frown as if he was displeased.

Looking to the side, Raven was gaping, as if she couldn’t believe the situation.

“…Mr. Yandel, are you perhaps a crazy bastard?”

Is this a polite expression, or just a curse?

It’s confusing because she used honorifics…

‘I made a mistake just now.’

Seeing her like this, I definitely think I went a bit too far just now.

Well, is it any wonder?

A lowly barbarian spouting such crazy jokes in front of the head of a magic tower school.

“Haa… I should have realized it when I saw you doing that at the guild…”

But I’m still a little wronged.

It might sound like an excuse, but how could he make jokes about dead barbarians in front of a barbarian who had just come back from the dead this morning?

“I think I took a defensive stance without realizing it because I was on edge. If you were offended, I apologize.”

It was a rare, long-winded explanation, but Raven shouted as if she couldn’t believe it.

“What kind of defensive stance is that!”

“The best defense is offense.”

It’s my lifelong belief since I was very young.

‘So how do I clean up this mess?’

I glanced over and saw that the old man was still standing there blankly with a dazed look.

As the silence continued, I began to genuinely worry about my safety.

“Kehehehe! This guy is quite something!”

The old man suddenly started laughing loudly.

I didn’t know why, but judging by the atmosphere, I laughed along with him.

“Hahahaha!”

“Kehehehe! You’re a funny guy!”

No matter how I looked at it, I could sense that the old man was forcing a bold laugh…

But if I played my cards right, I might be able to get away with this.

“Don’t worry about it! I’m not like those other petty people who get sensitive about every word.”

That said, his lips were still trembling, as if he still had some resentment left…

But there’s no need to mention that.

‘I think I know what kind of character he is.’

I have a feeling of how to handle him.

“Haha! What kind of barbarian blood do you have? I take back what I said about you being an old man! How can you take our jokes so well? I’ve never seen such a hearty magician in my life!”

I haven’t seen many magicians in the first place, though.

Who cares?

“Hehehe, I do have that side of me. I feel like I can connect with you!”

“I agree!”

The tense atmosphere was gone in an instant.

Raven looked dumbfounded as she watched us laugh.

“Haa… What is going on?”

Well, I don’t know either.

And I’m sure that old man doesn’t know what he’s doing either.

“I am Bjorn, son of Yandel! A great magician! I want to know your name!”

“Bjorn Yandel! I feel so refreshed meeting you after being around petty magicians! It’s nice to meet you. I am Dayan Tvehilion!”

For some reason, the old man also introduced himself in a booming voice.

However, the veins on his neck were bulging, making one worry about his health…

Let’s pretend we didn’t see that.

“Amazing! I can feel the ambition of a man in your voice!”

I, Yandel Bjorn.

I’m a barbarian who knows how to socialize.

***

“So then I said to those petty guys—”

“Amazing!”

“Huh? I haven’t said anything yet—”

“It will be amazing!”

After continuing this kind of complimentary conversation for a few minutes, the old man, as if he had come to his senses after bragging about himself, slyly returned to the main topic.

“So, what are you going to do about Aru?”

“Aru?”

“Ah, it’s like a nickname for our youngest disciple.”

Did they take Aru from Arua Raven?

It seems like this kind of culture exists everywhere.

“Anyway, about that fifteen million stones from earlier, if I—”

“It can’t be undone.”

My social mode was only temporary.

The old man clicked his tongue as I cut him off with a serious expression.

“Tsk, tsk, who said I wouldn’t give it? If you’re okay with it, I’d like to replace it with something else…”

Then the story changes again.

“What is it?”

“This is it.”

The old man reached into his robe and pulled out a box the size of his palm.

However, I was more interested in the robe he was wearing than the box.

‘Could it be that the robe itself has a subspace attached to it?’

Well, I wouldn’t get it even if I asked for it, right?

“What are you doing? Open it quickly.”

I smacked my lips inwardly and opened the box, revealing a ring inside.

“It’s called the Frost Spirit Ring.”

“Frost Spirit Ring?”

The old man continued to explain the ring to my mutter, but there was no need to listen carefully.

Because it was something I already knew.

“Although it’s in the 9000s, if you’re an explorer, you’ll know how precious Numbers items are.”

Numbers items.

They can only be obtained from the guardians of the rifts, and each one has its own unique special ability.

In fact, except for ‘crafting’ and ‘discovery,’ Numbers items are the only way to obtain equipment in [Dungeon & Stone].

Of course, most of them are expensive regardless of the number.

But…

“You’re very lucky. If I didn’t like you, I would never have given you this item—”

“But isn’t it something that no one uses anyway?”

No.9425 Frost Spirit Ring.

The Frost Spirit Ring, which is only dropped in rifts below the 3rd floor, has only one unique ability.

It’s not an ability that helps in combat, but it seals one of the essences absorbed by the wearer.

Of course, the stats are applied as they are, and only the skill is sealed…

‘It’s cheaper to remove the essence at the temple.’

Think about it.

It becomes astronomically difficult to level up as you go.

But if you wear this ring, all the skills of the essence you worked so hard to get will become useless.

It’s like one skill slot disappears completely.

An explorer who thinks about the future would choose to remove the essence at the temple and get a new one rather than wear this ring.

“But it’s definitely a very useful item for you, isn’t it?”

Well, that’s certainly true.

In the early stages, stats are more important than skill combinations. Moreover, even if the corpse golem’s skills are bad, its stats are quite high.

‘Considering that I can use the skills again if I take off the ring, it’s not a bad item. Just by itself.’

I finished my calculations in my head.

In fact, I never intended to refuse from the beginning.

Because the abilities I just summarized were only a small part of the true value of this ring.

‘He didn’t mention anything about it even after I probed him a few times… It seems like he really doesn’t know about that event?’

Magicians are the most knowledgeable people in this world.

But I was convinced when I saw that Raven didn’t know how to obtain the ‘Tears of the Goddess’ hidden under the statue in the ‘Crimson Fortress’.

After all, they’re all newbies in my eyes.

In any game, there’s no one easier to rip off than a newbie.

“Why are you hesitating so much? To be honest, this ring isn’t worth fifteen million stones. But it’s not something you can get even if you want to.”

“That’s true.”

I nodded as if I agreed.

Even in the game, the auction house price was only about 1.5 million stones, but it was rare to get this ring even once in ten tries.

‘And I got this precious thing like this?’

I didn’t expect to get all fifteen million stones in the first place.

In fact, that old man probably took this out thinking he would give me some useless item and send me away.

He’s probably laughing at me in his mind, calling me a stupid barbarian.

“Thanks to you, I got something good. I’ll use it well.”

Well, I feel the same way, so are we even?

“Hehehe, think of it as my gift.”

Looking at the old man smiling kindly, I thought.

If I play my cards right, I might have many more opportunities to rip him off in the future.

I should try to get close to him.

***

“Mr. Yandel, it’s probably not a good idea to meet today, right? You must be tired after what happened, so shall we meet again in two days to continue our conversation?”

“That’s what I wanted.”

After briefly deciding on the time and place, Bjorn left the lab.

After that, Raven looked at her master’s expression.

“Master, I’m sorry, it’s all because of me…”

“It’s okay, it was an item that wouldn’t sell anyway. That barbarian will be quite upset later when he finds out how much that ring is worth.”

“…Is that so?”

Fortunately, he didn’t seem angry because of Bjorn, whom she had brought.

Soon, Raven felt more at ease and checked what she had been curious about.

“But why were you like that earlier?”

Her master’s attitude today was too different.

He hates rude people.

He never belittled his fellow magicians by calling them petty.

“Ah, that’s because there was something I wanted to confirm.”

“Confirm?”

“That’s something you don’t need to know.”

She closed her mouth with a sullen expression.

This made it clear that there was some intention behind matching Bjorn’s tension…

But since her master was acting like this, there was no way to know his intention.

“Anyway, he was a unique guy. So unique that I can’t help but have expectations. I hope my guess is right…”

“Are you going to keep doing that? If you’re going to tell me, just tell me!”

“I’ll tell you when the time comes. Ah, when you have time, write down everything that happened with that barbarian and send it to me.”

“You’re not going to tell me why, are you?”

“I’ll tell you when it’s confirmed.”

Soon, her master left the lab with his usual gentle smile.

Looking at the empty space, she felt uneasy for some reason.

‘What is Master thinking?’

She also wondered if she should have brought Bjorn here.

It was because she remembered that the end of those who had gained her master’s attention was never good.

‘Oh, but isn’t that the same for Yandel?’

She felt uneasy as she recalled him, a 9th-grade explorer who had turned the guild upside down.

‘No way, would he do that? The magic tower isn’t some hole-in-the-wall shop.’

The guild and the magic tower are completely different.

It’s not a group that can be swayed by a single barbarian.

Surely, definitely.