Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 346

Magical Engineer, Yurben Havelion.

A leader of a school of magic and a mage respected by countless crafting mages.

Sweat beaded on his forehead.

The task was that difficult.

Interfering with the laws of the spiritual world.

“Damn it.”

The man in the robe muttered, looking at the jewel on the workbench.

The jewel on the workbench had been given to him by an old man he met shortly after arriving in this world.

It was essentially a server and system for the spiritual world, now called Ghost Busters.

“What the hell is wrong?”

Inside this small jewel, countless magical circuits, large and small, were intertwined.

The man had honed his skills by analyzing and researching it. By modifying the circuits he had identified one by one, he had created the current Ghost Busters.

But…….

“…Is this method impossible after all?”

After a long time of injecting magic power into the jewel and modifying the circuits, the man sighed as if he had given up.

In fact, it was a bit ridiculous to be disappointed.

There was no way that something he hadn’t been able to do for decades would suddenly be done in a few days.

The biggest achievement recently was updating the system to secretly view the nicknames of players who entered the anonymous chat room using administrator privileges.

Zzzzzzz.

At that moment, his personal pager vibrated.

He didn’t even need to see who was contacting him.

“Yes, Soul Queens. Is there any issue about me?”

[No… there’s still no talk about Havelion anywhere.]

“…I see.”

The man felt both annoyance and relief at the same time.

His identity, which he had hidden well for nearly 20 years, had been revealed in such an unexpected way.

“Please keep an eye on that. These kinds of rumors need to be nipped in the bud before they grow. I will continue to find ways to identify the other members.”

[Yes. And… I’m sorry.]

“…….”

The man closed his mouth at the woman’s apology in the crystal ball.

It was because he couldn’t even say something like ‘it’s okay’ as a formality.

“Then… please contact me again if any issues arise.”

[Yes, rest well.]

The man, who had finished the call, turned back to the workbench.

And…….

‘Even if I just change the circuit so that the location information when connecting is stored on the server, it seems like reverse tracking would be possible……’

The man analyzed the complex internal circuits of the jewel.

As always, the answer would be inside this jewel.

***

Knock knock.

The moment I heard the knock, I jumped up.

‘…Who is it?’

I don’t know.

Erwen wouldn’t knock, so it must be an outsider…….

An outsider knocking on the front door, not the gate?

‘Shit.’

I held my breath, lowered my posture, and approached the door as quietly as possible.

And at that moment.

Click, click.

I heard the rattling sound of the doorknob, and then the lock was released.

Creak.

The door slowly opened.

I was about to clench my fist to subdue whoever it was, but I froze when I saw who it was.

“…Good thing you were inside.”

“Amelia……!”

“Ugh……! I told you not to suddenly rush at me……!”

No, it’s because I was happy to see you.

How embarrassing.

“…Come in quickly.”

“Excuse me…….”

Amelia seemed to dislike reunion hugs, so I skipped that and quickly brought her inside.

I had a lot of questions.

However, to ask them in order…….

“How did you know I was here?”

“…I was waiting in front of the bank and followed that fairy.”

“Huh? But why only now…….”

“Because there was no chance to approach.”

Huh?

But she always went out to the holy site during the day?

When I told her this, Amelia shook her head.

“That can’t be. That woman was always near the house.”

A chill ran down my spine.

“…Oh, so she never went to the holy site all this time?”

“Surely… you didn’t know?”

“…….”

“But recently, she seems to have had a change of heart and has been leaving her spot. I was late because I was watching for a few days, wondering if it was a trap.”

Still, I felt a little relieved at that.

If it was a change of heart, it must be about the conversation we had a while ago.

“So… what happened with the Blood Spirit Lord? It must have been hard for them to accept that you came back alive. And the evil spirit issue too.”

“Ah, that was resolved well.”

I gave a brief summary of what happened with Erwen, only telling the important parts.

Amelia looked a little surprised.

“Whether it’s an evil spirit or not, it doesn’t matter…… That’s not the way of thinking of an explorer from the surface.”

“She’s become a bit strange. I think it would have been hard for her to think that way before.”

“Well, I don’t think so.”

“Huh?”

“Isn’t she the woman who didn’t stop seeking revenge even after it was announced that you were an evil spirit? She must have already finished sorting things out in her mind. It doesn’t matter what you are.”

Well, that could be true.

“Anyway, I made it clear that I’m not an evil spirit. Just in case something happens later.”

Amelia chuckled.

“So, am I the only one in this world who knows your identity?”

“No, there’s one more person.”

“…Didn’t you say that Misha Carlstein doesn’t know you’re an evil spirit?”

“It’s someone else. They’re not even a local. They’re from my hometown.”

There was no reason to hide it, and there was a high possibility of it becoming a variable later, so I told her about Baekho Lee.

But her reaction was a bit strange.

“Baekho Lee……? That person is from your hometown?”

She looked like she had heard the name of someone she knew well.

Well, come to think of it, there were quite a few people at the Round Table who knew about Baekho Lee.

I was originally going to subtly ask Erwen about it, but it seems better to get information from her.

“Is it a name you know?”

“…Of course I know him.”

“Well, you came to this timeline much earlier than me, so you might have heard of him. Ah, but how long has it been since you came back?”

“It was two years ago.”

“Oh, so you’ve been here for a 1:1 time flow—”

“But the time I came back doesn’t matter. I knew that guy long before that.”

Huh?

She knew Baekho Lee before that?

When I stared at her as if asking for a more detailed explanation, Amelia opened her mouth.

“Do you remember me saying that I worked with an evil spirit as a team for over a year?”

Uh…….

“That evil spirit was Baekho Lee.”

What the hell, this bastard.

He’s everywhere.

***

Amelia met Baekho Lee about five years ago.

She said she had intentionally approached him under the orders of the lord.

At the time, there were suspicions that he might be an evil spirit, and it was to confirm this.

Because if he was an evil spirit, it would be possible to persuade him.

“Explorers who could use aura were rare, so it wasn’t difficult to join his team. I spent about a year on his team.”

Amelia said that she obtained [Self-Replication] in the Doppelganger Forest and cleared the White Temple on the 3rd floor during that time…….

Wow, no wonder he knew all the hidden pieces.

If he was with Baekho Lee, it makes sense.

“So? What happened then?”

“Nothing much. After a year, the lord lost interest because he couldn’t find any clues, and I took another mission and left the team with an excuse. And…… I heard the news later.”

“What news?”

“I don’t know the details. The royal family thoroughly concealed the incident at the time. All I know from the investigation is that his identity was revealed due to a betrayal by a colleague, and many people died in the labyrinth that day. That’s all I could find out.”

After that, Amelia said that the royal family had disposed of Baekho Lee’s data and controlled information for years, leading his existence to be forgotten in the city.

Here’s one question.

“But how did you know the name Baekho Lee?”

“That’s a relatively recent thing. It seems that he’s been showing up everywhere and introducing himself as Baekho Lee, as if he’s really broken ties with the royal family. Oh, by the way, he used to use a pseudonym or just call himself ‘that person’ like everyone else.”

I see…….

I never thought that someone who knew about Baekho Lee’s past would be right next to me.

“What was he like back then?”

“Well, we weren’t very close. I didn’t like his frivolous behavior. But the others, except for me, were very close.”

“Close?”

“Yes, just like the teams you’ve created.”

I heard several stories related to Baekho Lee out of curiosity, and the more I heard, the stranger I felt.

“What? If you take him out of the team, they’re all women? And he’s dating all of them? Wow, did this guy build a harem in the labyrinth…….”

“Harem? I don’t know what that is, but isn’t it the same for you that all your team members are women?”

What is she talking about?

Bear Uncle is firmly holding his place.

Besides, in the early days of the team, everyone except Misha was a man.

“If you say so. Let’s just say that.”

“It’s not just saying so, it’s the truth. It just happened that way because I only chose people based on their abilities and aptitudes, and I never saw them as romantic interests—”

“No need to make excuses. I don’t care at all.”

“……?”

“In the first place, we don’t even live in the same country, do we? I don’t know what Korea is like, but that part must have been similar to the aristocratic culture here.”

No, Korea is a normal monogamous society…….

What does she think Korea is?

I feel like Baekho Lee and I have completely ruined the image of Korea, but I decided not to make any more excuses.

It’s not that important anyway.

Now that I’ve heard enough stories, it was time to move on to the next topic.

“Amelia. More importantly, what was the note you left at the bank about?”

“…What do you mean? It’s as I wrote it?”

“Ah, the last part of the letter Erwen gave me was torn. I only read up to ‘The Demon Crusher is…….’ and couldn’t read the rest.”

“…Oh, is that so.”

When the topic turned to my big and precious hammer, Amelia showed a noticeable sign of embarrassment.

“No wonder she didn’t mention it…… So, it was because you couldn’t read it…….”

“No, I mean, aren’t you getting anxious? Tell me. What happened to the hammer? It’s safe, right—”

“The hammer is safe.”

Amelia cut me off firmly.

And…….

She avoided my gaze and said demurely.

“It’s in the vault of the collateral loan department at the Alminus Exchange…….”

Ha…….

***

A heavy silence fell between Amelia and me.

Amelia, who was always confident, was avoiding my eyes, knowing that it was her fault, and in the end, I was the one who spoke first.

“…So why did you sell it?”

There must be a good reason.

Not Amelia of all people—

“There’s something to correct.”

“…Huh?”

“I didn’t sell it, I borrowed money using it as collateral.”

Oh, is that what you call it?

When I glared at her, Amelia coughed.

“Still, we need to address the wrong parts properly so that there are no problems later—”

“Enough, just answer my question. Why did you sell… no, borrow money using my hammer as collateral? What for?”

“…To protect you when you came back.”

Sigh, I knew it.

Whatever it was, there must have been a valid reason—

“…I bought an essence at the auction house.”

“…………What?”

After a long silence, I barely regained my senses and opened my mouth, and Amelia quickly continued.

“Don’t worry. You can get it back if you pay back the money by the due date.”

That made me come to my senses a little.

Well, if you need quick cash, you might do that.

It looks like she used this money to get the Twin Hydra’s [Dual Rule]. If you can buy it with money, it was a good enough essence to buy.

But I need to check what I need to check.

“…When is the due date?”

“Two months from now.”

“…Do you have the money to pay back?”

“Not right now.”

“Then what’s your plan to get the money?”

“…I had one.”

Yeah, it’s in the past tense.

A quest has been added in the middle of my busy schedule.