Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 320

The First Royal Knight Commander, Jerome Saintred.

A young knight in his mid-twenties, he ascended to the position after the previous commander was killed by a Blood Knight, leaving the post vacant.

“If I hadn’t learned about the ancient refuge beforehand, the plan would have been ruined.”

He swept his short silver hair back from his forehead and headed down the dark stairs.

Thud, thud.

The reason he was in the lord’s castle basement, not on the eastern battlefield, was simple.

The offer to help the lord eliminate the rebels in exchange for overlooking this city was just a pretext to bring troops into the city.

The royal family’s true goal was different from the start.

The fragment of record.

According to the lord’s aide, it was likely kept in the form of a necklace.

Of course, Jerome didn’t know much about this item.

However, since the order was given, he had to return to the royal family with it, no matter what—

Thud.

His steps halted as he descended the stairs.

He found a corpse lying there.

The cause of death was a head injury, likely from blunt force trauma. The victim was almost naked, as if his equipment had been stripped away.

And the time of death was…

‘At most, 30 minutes ago.’

Jerome’s expression hardened as he bent down and touched the wound.

Someone had infiltrated this place first.

Perhaps the target was the lord, who was likely hiding below.

Then, is the intruder still down there?

Tap, tap.

Jerome quickly ran down the stairs.

Soon, he saw a widened passage and a wide-open stone door. However, beyond it was only the corpse of a plump middle-aged man.

This time, there were also signs of being crushed by a blunt object.

‘Whoever it is, they’re one step ahead.’

Jerome bit his lip in frustration but quickly surveyed the scene.

First of all, the most important fragment of record was missing.

Judging by the wound on his neck, it seemed to have been forcibly taken…

‘I never thought there would be a competitor.’

Jerome was momentarily flustered by the unexpected situation, but he turned around and quickly retraced his steps.

It was too early to give up.

‘Thirty minutes isn’t enough to go far.’

He had to find them.

***

Auriel Gavis said.

[Once a timeline is observed, it doesn’t change.]

Certainly, as he said, it might be impossible to completely change the future.

But what if there was an error in the observation itself?

For example, what if I could make young Amelia believe that her sister had died? And what if I made the rescued sister live in hiding for 20 years?

Then, wouldn’t it be possible to save her?

The thought sent shivers down my spine, but soon I faced a major obstacle.

[That day, my sister died in my arms.]

Amelia saw her sister’s death right before her eyes.

Just like Dwarki in the Larcaz Maze, she directly witnessed the scene of her burning her last flame.

How on earth am I supposed to deceive her about this?

I have no idea.

It wouldn’t be easy to make Amelia, who has killed countless people since she was young, mistake her sister’s life or death…

‘Well, it’ll work out somehow.’

It felt like I was back to square one, but it wasn’t as hopeless as before.

That’s because the lord said in his will, didn’t he?

That once all the tasks are completed, the fragment of record will naturally activate. In other words, it means that there are still things I need to do here.

Then, what is the ‘role’ left for me?

It’s too obvious.

That’s why…

Bang-!

I shoulder-charge into the alchemist’s door after running for a while.

Maybe the door was just open…

So what?

Probability is just a number. Therefore, I decided to live every moment to the fullest—

“U, aack!”

Huh?

“What is it?”

As I smashed through the door, I saw an old man in the corner of the workshop, startled and terrified.

It wasn’t Marfa Iphaelo, the owner of this workshop.

“Who are you?”

“That’s…”

When I asked, the old man started rolling his eyes.

He clearly looked suspicious…

‘Huh?’

While examining the old man’s attire, a peculiar brooch on the front of his robe caught my eye.

“Are you perhaps an alchemist?”

The old man flinched at my question.

Thanks to that, I didn’t need to hear the answer.

Thud.

I took a step forward, cautiously looking around in case there were any guards hiding.

Then, the old man backed away, making excuses.

“O, misunderstanding! It’s a misunderstanding! I was never trying to steal anything…”

“I see.”

No wonder he was so startled, like someone caught doing something bad.

He came to steal something, taking advantage of the chaos.

“I, if you keep this a secret, I will surely repay you—”

There was no need for a long conversation.

It seemed like he had left his guards behind to steal.

Thwack-!

As expected of a non-combatant, the alchemist couldn’t do anything until I dashed in and slammed a hammer into the top of his head.

“Wow, he even has a subspace?”

Since I didn’t have time, I roughly looted the alchemist’s subspace ring [a ring with storage space] and quickly searched the workshop, soon finding what I was looking for.

The prototype of Lethe’s Blessing.

A consumable with the insane ability to make you forget all your memories for life if you take it.

‘Okay, so I got the first item…’

Now it’s time to go meet Amelia.

In a world without phones, we didn’t set a place or time to meet, but it didn’t matter.

It’s been six hours since I fell asleep, so she’s probably…

‘She’s probably being chased right now.’

There’s no need to rush—

“I’ve found you.”

I turned around quickly at the voice from the entrance and saw a silver-haired knight.

“Hand over the fragment of record.”

What the hell, who is this guy?

***

Traitor, Ricardo Lühnphraha.

A swordsman once called a Sword Saint.

Those who have seen him wield his sword or faced him directly all say the same thing.

That it’s different from that of a typical knight.

Whoosh-!

The aura rippling at the tip of his sword.

This itself is not special.

The aura, minimized to reduce energy consumption, had a sharp edge, but that was all.

It didn’t boast the mountain-like aura of the ‘Knight of Light’ or change the form of the aura freely like the ‘Knight of the Moon’.

But even so.

Swish-!

This man’s sword is considered to be above them.

Not because of the aura, but because of the ‘way’ he wields the sword.

“Aack! S, save me—!”

None of the hundreds of explorers who were blockading the eastern region could withstand a single strike of his sword.

“I have to run away…! Aack!”

He cut down anyone who tried to block him.

His sword always seemed to arrive at the spot where they tried to dodge, as if he had predicted it.

It was a crude sword by anyone’s standards.

The flashy techniques that knights pursue were nowhere to be found.

However, Amelia couldn’t take her eyes off that sword.

“L, Lady Emily. W, we should run away too…”

Just watching it made her feel like she was facing a wall.

A swordsmanship that had been constantly honed to the extreme, with the sole purpose of killing people.

“What are you all doing! Hurry up and come here!”

As the one-sided massacre began, Clan Leader Felix Barker began preparing to flee, taking care of his members.

Amelia couldn’t just stand by and watch.

The reason she had been associating with them for over several months was for this very moment.

“Felix Barker.”

“Huh?”

The moment Felix Barker turned his head at her call, Amelia threw a thin needle and embedded it in his neck.

“……Uh, uh?”

His body froze like a statue, his head still turned.

Amelia hoisted Felix Barker’s body onto her shoulder.

“What on earth are you doing…!”

The clan members, who belatedly realized the situation, aimed their weapons at Amelia, but it wasn’t a big problem.

“How dare you betray us!”

It wasn’t betrayal.

She had never considered them her comrades from the start.

Swish-!

Amelia cut down the neck of the closest one.

Then, as expected.

“……”

“……”

The enraged explorers slowly backed away, seemingly contemplating something, and then fled, leaving their captured clan leader behind.

“Damn it, I don’t know!”

“……Forget it, let’s go!”

It was an expected action.

After all, the ‘traitor’ was approaching, carrying out a massacre.

There was no reason to risk their lives for the clan leader.

Unlike these two.

“……P, please let that person go.”

The moment her younger self spoke to her, looking at her.

Whoosh-!

A sound of air being torn came from behind, as if someone was ambushing her.

Amelia twisted her body to the side to avoid it, then used the rotational force to kick her wrist.

Clang-!

The dropped sword rolled on the floor, and she saw a girl holding her throbbing wrist, enduring the pain.

It was her sister, Laura Rainweils.

“Amelia, let’s run away!”

As soon as the situation became difficult, Laura took care of her younger sister and ran away, and Amelia just watched.

Her chest felt heavy without her realizing it.

Because she knew why these two were trying to save Felix Barker, even though all the clan members had fled.

It wasn’t about loyalty.

It was just because of the binding that Felix Barker had placed on Laura.

[Unsound Contract].

It contained all sorts of unfair terms, but the core was one thing. The moment Felix Barker suffered a fatal injury, he would receive all of Laura’s life force.

That’s why the two of them stayed behind to confront her.

But the reason they ran away without looking back as soon as they failed was…

‘Me.’

It was because of Amelia herself.

In that short moment, her sister had accepted her own death and made sure that at least her younger sister could escape.

Clack.

She clenched her jaw without realizing it.

Only a three-year age difference.

When she was young, her sister seemed like a giant, but now she knew.

She was only seventeen years old.

She couldn’t have been unaware of the hardships, and there must have been times when she wanted to give up and run away.

That’s why…

Tap, tap.

Amelia moved forward, carrying the stiff Felix Barker like a log.

Swish-!

Like a beast among herbivores, she headed towards the place where the man was, who was swinging his sword professionally, chasing after hundreds of people who were fleeing in panic.

“……?”

For the first time, emotion appeared on the face of the man who had been swinging his sword expressionlessly.

It was curiosity.

Well, it must have looked strange, since she was running towards him while everyone else was running away. And she was even carrying a large man on her shoulder.

Whoosh-!

The aura imbued in Amelia’s dagger turned black.

It was the transformation ability [Abyssal Power] she had obtained after acquiring the essence of the 4th-grade monster Gravanich.

While this ability was activated, all resources, including natural power and dragon power, were replaced with soul power, and its performance was doubled.

The same was true for ‘aura,’ which used mana.

For Amelia, who had a naturally low mana capacity, this ability was a great help.

But…

Sizzle.

The moment she got within a certain distance, the black aura returned to its original color.

It was because of the layer lord’s ability [Unspoken Decree] possessed by the traitor Ricardo Lühnphraha.

This ability nullifies all abilities within a certain radius.

So, in other words…

‘It’s done.’

Within this area, the [Unsound Contract] would also be disabled.

Thud.

When Amelia threw down Felix Barker, whom she had been carrying on her shoulder, Lühnphraha cut him down with a single blow.

Swish-!

The sound of a short cut and the body split in two.

She was worried, but the [Unsound Contract] didn’t activate and heal the injuries.

‘I guess I’ve overcome one hurdle for now…’

Amelia felt a sense of relief because she hadn’t seen how Felix Barker died when she escaped with her sister back then.

However, there was no time to be thinking such thoughts.

Tap, tap.

Having achieved her goal, Amelia quickly retreated.

Then, the man, who hadn’t said a word while massacring dozens of people, immediately chased after her and opened his mouth.

“I don’t know the details, but I know that you used me.”

It seemed he had understood the general situation just from the circumstances, and he seemed angry about it.

But for some reason, a word that the barbarian had taught her before lingered in her mind.

It wasn’t a particularly pleasant-sounding word, but…

Unfortunately, there was no such compressed word in Lapdonia.

‘It’s a place with a very strange nuance.’

Amelia unconsciously uttered the word.

“Gae-kkul…?”

She still didn’t understand the exact meaning.

Was it a sign of gratitude to someone who had helped her?