Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 329

A dazed sensation spread from the back of my head throughout my body.

Thud.

I snapped back to my senses at the sound of something falling.

It was a fragment of the record.

I was sure I had been holding it tightly even when the light burst out, so why did it fall from over there?

“…….”

I quickly went over and picked it up.

It was only then that I realized there were more things on the floor.

“Clothes……?”

It was a robe made from high-quality fabric.

Well, the material wasn’t important right now, but rather who it belonged to.

It wasn’t just any high-quality robe; it was the robe that Aurell Gabis had been wearing. And it was lying on the floor.

In the spot where that old man had been standing just a moment ago.

It was as if only his body had been sucked somewhere, leaving just this behind.

“Could it be…….”

I looked down at the fragment of the record in my hand.

“This, it activated on that old man……?”

The situation was slowly starting to make sense.

I was momentarily stunned by the unexpected result, but…….

The fragment of the record had reacted not to me, but to Aurell Gabis.

‘Ugh, this is confusing.’

I tried to regain my composure and went back to the beginning.

There were two possibilities.

One was that Aurell Gabis had received a ‘call of the era’ like me.

And the second was…….

[Have you ever used a fragment of the record?]

[I have used it before.]

That Aurell Gabis had already used a fragment of the record.

In this case, it meant that the old man had been living in this era after receiving the call.

Then, after meeting me and finishing his task… or rather, his required ‘role,’ he would have returned to his original timeline.

‘In the former case, it would mean he went to the past, and in the latter, it would mean the opposite, right?’

That’s how it naturally sorted itself out in my head.

But…….

‘No, it’s too early to jump to conclusions.’

I realized I lacked information and changed my mind.

I don’t know enough about the fragment of the record.

So, it’s wise to keep all possibilities open.

‘The ‘call of the era’ might not only happen in the past.’

It could also happen in the future.

Therefore…….

‘I’ll think about this part later…….’

I put the fragment of the record back into my subspace and picked up the robe that had fallen on the floor.

And then, I excitedly rummaged through it.

‘Looting……!’

This was a drop from Aurell Gabis, after all.

There was a high chance he was carrying something interesting…….

‘Are you kidding me.’

After rummaging through it thoroughly, there was nothing but the robe. Just ordinary socks and shoes, and even a pair of high-quality white silk underwear.

“Ugh, damn it!”

I realized the purpose of the cloth I was fiddling with was underwear and threw it on the floor.

Annoyance washed over me.

‘What kind of old man has nothing?’

I had high expectations because he had the aura of a final boss, but this was a complete bust…….

“Ah.”

Belatedly, I remembered the scene where Aurell Gabis had taken out water from his subspace and drank it.

At the time, I just thought it was a subspace ring, but…….

“It must have been a subordinate subspace.”

A subordinate subspace that only the highest-level mages could use.

In this case, it’s directly connected to the soul by tattooing the body, so there’s no physical object.

‘Oh, wait a minute…….’

Then, if you use a subordinate subspace, does that mean you can take the equipment you collected here back to your original timeline?

That thought suddenly occurred to me, but it wasn’t enough to shout ‘Eureka.’

Because I’m not a mage.

Unlike magic tools, a subordinate subspace can only be opened by using the mage’s own magic power.

‘Ha, so this is a bust too…….’

I sighed and shook off my lingering attachment.

No matter how annoyed or disappointed I was, nothing would change, and there was something I needed to do right now.

‘Let’s meet Amelia first.’

I picked up Aurell Gabis’s belongings again and put them in my subspace, then moved back to the sewer.

They were just ordinary clothes, but I decided to check them one more time in case I missed something.

Splish, splash-

As I retraced my steps, I came across half a dozen corpses.

‘This is where the infighting happened.’

They weren’t so clueless as to leave behind equipment without an owner, so I looted everything.

They were all trying to move to the surface, so they had expanded bags or subspace rings, so there were no inventory issues.

‘Wow, how much would all this be worth if I sold it?’

I slung bags all over my shoulders, neck, and arms, and continued on my way.

However, Amelia wasn’t at the place I soon arrived at.

Judging by the traces of the fight with the commander, this was definitely where she had been knocked out.

Where did she go in the meantime?

I didn’t need to think about it for long.

‘She must be there…….’

I couldn’t hide my bitterness as I quickened my pace.

And how much time had passed?

“…….”

Amelia was visible, clearing debris in a passage that was more than half blocked by a collapsed ceiling.

She was moving her hands so diligently that she didn’t even notice me approaching.

“Aaaah!”

What, why is she suddenly screaming? It’s scary.

She looked so fierce as she grabbed her head with both hands, so I quickly approached and grabbed Amelia’s wrist.

Thud.

The moment our skin touched, Amelia shuddered and turned her head.

“…………Yandel?”

Her eyes were surprised when she saw my face, but she immediately tried to shake off my hand.

“Let go. I have to find something…….”

What is she talking about?

“You won’t find anything even if you look.”

“What?”

I grinned.

“That’s why I told you earlier. When you woke up, everything would be over.”

Even after my words, Amelia had a blank expression.

It seemed like she didn’t understand what I was saying…….

“Whatever, just follow me.”

Well, it would be faster for her to see it with her own eyes.

***

When she regained consciousness, she was filled with despair.

She was alone in this dark sewer, and the familiar silence meant that everything was over.

‘Yes, is it all over…….’

Amelia got up and walked, dragging her feet.

There was a place she had to go.

Because she couldn’t do it that day.

[Forget all the painful memories that happened here.]

[A normal life… is finally starting for you too.]

She had to leave her sister’s corpse behind.

Later, when she came back to look for it, her sister’s corpse was already gone. The workers who were restoring the passage had removed all the corpses in the sewer, or so they said.

This became a lifelong regret for her.

That’s why…….

“I have to find it.”

She had to find it.

Even if it was just a dead body.

She had to find it and recover it.

Not leaving her sister’s corpse in the dirty sewer.

If she, who had returned to the past after 20 years, could do that much, or perhaps that was all that was allowed from the beginning.

“Ugh, huff……!”

Soon, Amelia arrived at the place where the tragedy had occurred that day and began to remove the stones haphazardly.

She looked so desperate that she seemed like someone who was half out of her mind.

And that wasn’t actually wrong.

“Wh, why…….”

Her sister’s body wasn’t visible.

It should have been around here.

Could it be that even this wasn’t allowed for me?

“Aaaah!”

For the first time in a long time, she screamed out loud.

She could endure even when her flesh was cut and her bones were broken with just a short groan, but not this time.

It felt like her heart was being torn apart.

Thud.

At that moment, she felt the warmth of a person’s touch on her wrist.

“…………Yandel?”

It was someone she had seen and spent time with every day for the past half year, someone who was too familiar.

“Let go. I have to find something…….”

She immediately tried to shake him off, but as always, the barbarian didn’t let go. And he forced her to stand up, saying something incomprehensible to her who was resisting.

And…….

“This is…….”

The place they arrived at after walking for a while was the surface.

The huge city of Lapdonia, where the power of the royal family reached everywhere.

“Ugh, the light…….”

The daytime city was too dazzling for her eyes, which had just emerged from the dark sewer.

However, before her eyes could adjust to the environment, the barbarian grabbed her wrist and led her somewhere.

“Wh, where are you going?”

“You’ll know when you get there.”

While being pulled by a strong force, Amelia scanned her surroundings with her eyes.

Passersby on the street.

Children and parents laughing.

Merchants soliciting customers and white marble shining in the sunlight.

It was a place she had once so desperately wanted and longed for.

A world where she could live a normal life, unlike Noark, filled with warm sunlight.

Of course, she knew now.

That the surface wasn’t a paradise.

That there were beasts with more malice than Noark, and that common tragedies happened every day.

But even so.

“Just once…….”

She wanted to see it just once.

The scene of herself and her sister living ordinary lives in this city, sometimes crying and sometimes laughing.

“Huh? What did you just say…….”

“Yandel, go alone here. I have something to find below—”

“Ah, I told you, you won’t find anything even if you look?”

When Amelia stopped walking, the barbarian looked at her, as if frustrated.

And said.

“Your sister is alive.”

“……What?”

Alive?

But how……?

“I’ll explain that later, so why don’t you just follow me for now?”

The barbarian led her, who was confused, and she didn’t resist.

She didn’t have the mental capacity to do so.

How much time had passed?

“Hah, I couldn’t hear where she was moved to, so I had to search for a while.”

Amelia arrived at a shelter located on the surface.

And she described her sister’s appearance to the staff and found her room.

Creak.

The sight of a girl lying on a bed by the window came into Amelia’s view as she opened the door.

The warm sunlight coming through the window was shining on her.

“S, sister…….”

An unreal scene that she thought she would never see in her life.

Amelia approached the bed as if she were possessed.

And she held her hand.

She could feel her heart beating through the skin that touched hers.

“How, how did this happen?”

In response to Amelia’s question, the barbarian told her everything that had happened so far.

The deal with Aurell Gabis.

How he used the early prototype of Lethe’s Blessing [a magical artifact that can erase memories] to erase her memories to eliminate the contradiction, and how he disguised it as a carriage accident.

“When she wakes up, your sister probably won’t remember anything. She’ll live thinking that the name on her ID is her own.”

“Ah, ah…….”

I see.

“But don’t be too sad. If you go back 20 years, there won’t be any problems anymore. When you go back, reveal your identity and become close with her.”

Thump, her heart beat.

Only then did it feel real.

“Besides, you said that the Dragonslayer guy tried to do something to get his lost memories back, right? When you go back, let’s find a way together. How to get her lost memories back.”

He really did it.

This man.

“Huh? So, say something. You’re making me anxious…….”

Amelia couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him, who had accomplished a miracle, looking at her and fidgeting.

“It’s okay.”

“Huh? What do you mean, ‘it’s okay’?”

“It means you don’t have to worry about me anymore. I won’t try to get my sister’s memories back…….”

“Huh? Why?”

Amelia raised the corners of her mouth at his question.

She hadn’t smiled much in her life, so the movement of her facial muscles was very awkward.

But…….

“It’s better if she doesn’t remember.”

From now on, her sister would be different.

The life she had longed for so much would begin.

And in that life, painful memories would only be a hindrance.

Yes, so…….

“…Goodbye, sister.”

I’m okay.

Even if I’m not with my sister.

Even if it’s far from the ordinary life I wanted.

Even if it’s still awkward to even raise the corners of my mouth.

The things my sister was worried about wouldn’t happen.

“Let’s go, barbarian.”

“It’s not barbarian, it’s Yandel.”

“Yes, Yandel.”

Because I’m not alone anymore.