Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 724

Astarotta, who received the ‘request’ to bring Raven, gave instructions to another member of the Guardian Knights outside the audience chamber.

In a way, it could be seen as a subcontract of a subcontract…

“He was staying not far away, so he’ll be here soon.”

Well, I had no reason to look at it with a sour face.

Even if a subcontract gives a subcontract, and that subcontract’s subcontract gives another subcontract, the top person doesn’t change, and…

‘This means I can talk a bit more.’

I had no intention of wasting the remaining time, so I immediately started gathering information.

“Astarotta, what’s your official position?”

“……”

“I need to know that so I can plan for the future. But surely you wouldn’t disobey His Majesty’s order to cooperate with me—”

“…I’m the Captain of the Guardian Knights.”

Oh, I knew it.

So, she’s the next generation ‘King’s Knight’ after the old Royal Knight.

“If your curiosity is satisfied—”

Hey, it can’t end here.

“What’s the identity of that sword you’re wearing? It looks very sharp.”

“……”

Come on, stop rolling your eyes.

“I need to know your abilities to help me plan—”

“…It’s a sword given to the Captain of the Guardian Knights.”

“What’s its performance?”

“It’s not inferior to a Genesis Relic. Ah, even if you’re a tribal chief, you probably don’t know much about Genesis Relics?” [Genesis Relics are powerful, ancient artifacts].

Come on, that’s not true.

I’ve collected all the Genesis Relics several times.

Of course, I know their performance better than anyone.

“Then, how many Guardian Knights are there?”

Anyway, I slowly raised the level and extracted key information about the royal palace.

Astarotta seemed to think this was wrong, but whenever I mentioned the king, she sighed and spilled the beans.

“Do you have children?”

“Our Guardian Knights cannot have families.”

“Oh, then you should be more careful about contraception?”

“……”

“You, by any chance… have you never… in your life…?”

“……”

As I learned information I didn’t even know in the game, it was about time for Raven to arrive.

I had heard most of what I needed to, and suddenly, I became curious.

It was pure curiosity.

‘How far will it go in the name of the king?’

The reason she’s so obedient is because of a malfunction caused by excessive loyalty to the king.

In other words, it’s a kind of bug.

So, I kept my distance while gathering information.

Like the life support system in the royal palace’s basement.

Or the prison that appears further down.

Or even the king’s lifespan.

Even if she’s a bit dim-witted, she wouldn’t answer these questions.

She would definitely refuse, and once she ‘refuses,’ she’ll know.

That refusing isn’t that difficult.

‘Yeah, exploiting bugs is also a player’s virtue.’

For that reason, I tried not to cross the line.

Just like a broken machine works when you hit it, I judged that it would be a loss for me if I shocked her too much and she returned to normal.

But…

‘I’m curious, though.’

She wouldn’t tell me information about the king, but if it’s not that, how far can I go?

If I ordered her to take off her pants in front of me, would she do it?

‘I’m curious, but…’

It was a bit disappointing but also fortunate, but I didn’t get to satisfy that curiosity myself.

“Hey, Yandel!”

Because Raven arrived.

***

From what I heard, Raven had been doing very well, even though he was feeling stuffy and uncomfortable.

Well, if you think about it, I wasn’t much different.

In the middle of a war, this kind of luxury would probably be among the top in the entire city.

“You’ve gained weight.”

“W-What are you talking about…! G-Gained weight?”

“A little.”

“Ugh… It’s natural since I’ve been stuck in the room…!”

After a brief greeting with Raven, who had returned to the audience chamber, I directly addressed the current situation.

I didn’t explain it in a long-winded way like a barbarian, but maybe it was because we had spent a long time together?

Raven summarized it in one line.

“So… we have to kill the Chancellor…? We…?”

“It just happened that way. And it’s not just us. We’ll have the support of the royal family.”

“W-Well, that’s a relief… But was the Chancellor really the instigator of the rebellion?”

“So they say.”

Once the goal was set easily and clearly, Raven poured out questions about the current situation.

Of course, I couldn’t answer any of them.

Because I had been locked in the room too.

“Elizabeth over there will tell you about the outside situation from now on. I was waiting for you to listen together.”

“Elizabeth… you mean?”

“Astarotta Berun. Call her Berun.”

“Ah… yes… Berun. Nice to meet you…”

Astarotta started the briefing without acknowledging Raven’s greeting, and we, who had no idea about the outside situation, were surprised at every explanation.

“What? You’ve lost half the city?”

“It’s not that we lost it, but the rebel forces are occupying it without permission, and it’s not half, but about a third. At most, in Lavigion, it’s only districts 13, 7, and 8, and in Commelby, it’s just district 4.”

Unlike the king’s reaction, which showed no sign of urgency, the situation in the city was more than serious.

Everyone who needed to know already knew that the Chancellor was the instigator of the war, and the Chancellor had even crossed over to the enemy lines to command the troops?

In fact, it was nothing short of a civil war, and even that civil war had the potential to become prolonged.

“So, my companions are in district 7, which has become enemy territory…”

“To be precise, it’s the Barbarian tribe’s sacred ground. If the information we received last hasn’t changed.”

“The situation is more troublesome than I thought.”

“Yandel, you’re planning to join your companions first, right?”

“Yes.”

However, just getting to district 7, where my companions are, is not an easy task.

“To do that, you must pass through district 5 or 8, which are adjacent to district 7…”

According to Astarotta, those places were the front lines, where fierce battles were taking place day and night.

“It’s difficult. Even if we pass through district 5 or 8, district 7 is right in the middle of enemy territory.”

“I guess so…”

While the two of them were talking, Astarotta suddenly interrupted.

“Bjorn Yandel, let me give you some advice.”

“…Go ahead.”

“Think about what comes first.”

Well, I listened to her advice.

As expected of the king’s lackey, her advice was to prioritize the king’s orders rather than taking care of my companions.

‘She was acting dumb earlier, does she have a problem with her head?’

It was advice not worth listening to.

If that was the case, I would have stayed in the audience chamber for a week. Why did I agree to those conditions?

Therefore, I coolly skipped the advice.

“More than that… I need to go outside first.”

There are things you can’t know just by hearing, so I immediately made plans to go out, and as I was talking to Raven again, Astarotta interrupted the conversation.

“If you go out like that, you’ll be recognized soon? I didn’t say it earlier, but most people think you had a big problem due to the collapse.”

Oh, I see.

“How about wearing a helmet to hide your appearance?”

This advice seemed to be for my sake, but my answer was ‘NO’.

In the first place, this huge body can’t be hidden by wearing a helmet, and wearing an iron mask twice in my life is enough.

And most of all…

“I’ll just go as I am.”

“Why?”

“So my companions can also hear that I’m safe.”

However, Astarotta had an expression that she didn’t understand my decision.

No, to be precise, she looked at me with a pathetic expression.

“Since His Majesty told you to act freely, I won’t say anything.”

“Then don’t.”

“But with that mindset, can you really kill the Chancellor?”

A dry voice with no hint of concern.

However, it wasn’t difficult to understand the hidden meaning in that question.

If, by any chance, I fail to fulfill the conditions set by the king, the worst situation will come, and can I handle it?

But I shook my head and said firmly.

“Don’t worry about that.”

Fragments of records, time travel to the past, and so on.

I believe in fate now.

“The Marquis is already a dead man.”

It was a fate decided since the Ice Rock expedition.

***

The first impression I had when leaving the Gaebyeok Palace was that it was funny.

It was only when I was heading towards the main gate that I could see the exterior of this palace for the first time.

“Wow… I’ve only heard about it, but it’s really magnificent…”

In a way, we might be the first people in all of history to enter from the basement and exit through the main gate.

“Close the windows and be quiet until you leave the royal palace. You can’t let it be known that you came out of the Gaebyeok Palace.”

“…Understood.”

So, Raven, Astarotta, and I rode in the carriage leaving the Gaebyeok Palace, and one of the Guardian Knights was the coachman.

“But is it okay for you to leave the royal palace like this?”

“Weren’t you the one who asked me to come with you?”

Well, that’s true.

To be precise, I asked if I could mobilize all the Guardian Knights in the Gaebyeok Palace, and she said that she was the only one who could.

“Don’t worry about it. It was His Majesty’s order.”

“Hmm… but even in the middle of a war, is it okay for the Captain of the Guardian Knights to leave her post?”

At my question, she smiled nonchalantly.

“It’s not an easy place to allow those rebels to set foot.”

“Well, if you say so, I’m happy…”

Actually, I’m still not sure if it’s the right choice to be with her.

I’m sure her combat power is solid…

If I’m with her, all my actions will be immediately reported to the king. There’s a possibility that my autonomy will be reduced in case of an emergency.

‘But I still don’t know much about the current situation. It’ll be much easier if she’s with me.’

Soon, the carriage that departed from the Gaebyeok Palace passed through the 12 palaces around the Gaebyeok Palace and entered the imperial capital, and I could see the scene.

“I can really feel that there’s a war going on.”

I had visited several times for investiture ceremonies, promotion ceremonies, and victory parades, and as a result, the ‘Palace of Glory’ was the most familiar to me among the 12 palaces.

“Th-This is the Palace of…”

The large and magnificent palace was nowhere to be seen, and only its ruins were piled up like mountains.

Also, many soldiers were clearing the ruins, and every time they lifted a rock, a corpse appeared.

“What’s the identity?”

“A detailed investigation is needed, but for now, the insignia of the Nartuil Count family was found on the clothes they were wearing!”

“It could be Count Nartuil, so treat them with the utmost respect!”

“Yes!”

As I was passing through the narrow path made between the ruins in the carriage, I could hear the vivid conversations from the scene.

“…Did many nobles die in this incident?”

“At the time, many nobles were gathered at the military headquarters and other places. There’s even a joke among the civilians that half of the nobles died.”

Half of the nobles…

Strictly speaking, it would be half of the titled nobles. But even that alone was enough to show how serious the current situation was.

“Maybe the Marquis calculated that and gathered them all.”

“It’s not ‘maybe,’ the intelligence department is sure of it.”

Well, but then another question arises here.

I understand that the Marquis is the instigator of everything, but then why did he tell me to stay in prison for two days?

From the Marquis’s point of view, wouldn’t it have been better for me to get caught up in that and die?

Upon hearing my question, Astarotta replied like this.

“Well, I guess the Chancellor didn’t think you would die even if you were buried there.”

Oh, well… I can’t imagine myself dying if I got caught up in that…

‘So many titled nobles died, it must be a mess. There will be noble families that disappear completely… but will the succession ceremony be held all at once after the war ends? Still, the age range will be younger.’

As I was looking at the collapsed palace through the slightly opened window and thinking about that, Raven muttered.

“…It won’t be the same.”

“Huh? What did you say? I didn’t hear you.”

“It’s nothing… No matter how this war ends, it feels like the world we knew will be completely different.”

At his voice, which was filled with fear, I nodded without realizing it.