Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 453

When people gather, it becomes an organization, even if it’s just four people.

As I gathered the four administrative staff and began assigning them the backlog of work, they naturally divided roles based on their areas of expertise.

Ah, of course, Shavin Emuer’s contribution was significant.

“Mary, from now on, you’ll be in charge of organizing and calculating data. For now, you can start by processing the old data left by the former elders.”

“…C-can I really do it? Looking at the remaining data, it’s all in a rough, unformatted style, and the writing is hard to read…”

“You can do it. I’ll help you a lot.”

“Yes…”

Mary Jayna, in charge of statistics and information.

“Mr. Lamden, please prepare for the coming-of-age ceremony in two days.”

“C-coming-of-age ceremony…?”

“It’s an unfamiliar task, but it’s a small-scale event, so you should be able to handle it. If you don’t know something or have questions, ask Pnelin. Pnelin, you can help, right?”

“Ah, ah! Of course! Trust me!”

“…What will I do after the coming-of-age ceremony is over?”

“Once the statistical data is ready, please prepare the budget. Not on an annual basis, but on a monthly basis.”

“…Understood.”

Shepherd Lamden, in charge of financial planning and management.

“Mr. Anderson… you know what to do, right?”

“Yes… the land…”

“Looking at it, nothing is prepared. First, go to the forest and survey the land. Since you’ll be building new roads later, make sure to leave space for the roads. Ah! We also need to leave land for the children to grow up on. We need to build new childcare facilities.”

“…Isn’t that practically urban planning! C-can I really handle something so important?”

“You’ve been given the authority, so what can’t you do? Besides, you’re not managing the entire holy land right away. You’re selling land on the outskirts, so just take care of that for now.”

“…I’ll try.”

Rick Anderson, in charge of road traffic and urban development.

“Right now, the work is simply divided, but when new personnel come in later, it will function as a department. Then, you will all become heads of a department.”

Of course, Shavin Emuer will become the director.

Ah, was this the source of that strange motivation?

I don’t know, but Shavin Emuer’s personnel management was quite impressive to me. Not only did she finish the reorganization of the organization that started from scratch in an instant, but she even motivated them?

‘She’s doing a much better job than I thought…’

She used to be a young lady who would look for dessert shops whenever she had a chance.

I never imagined she had this side to her.

That’s when I was witnessing the birth of the Barbarian administrative agency with my own eyes.

“Um…”

Mary Jayna, the statistician, cautiously raised her hand.

“W-when is quitting time…?”

Shavin glanced at me instead of answering.

This must mean that it’s not within her discretion.

Since time is as precious as gold from today, I quickly answered the question.

“Why would you quit?”

“…Huh?”

“Are you guys stupid? If you work at night, you get double pay!”

“…?”

The administrative staff, unable to comprehend my words, froze like stones, so Shavin Emuer interpreted my words in detail.

“It’s a very busy time right now. It’s not like we haven’t worked overtime before. Fortunately, they said they’ll pay us more for the work we do, so let’s all work hard for the time being. We’ve all rested enough, so being this busy isn’t so bad, right?”

“…Yes.”

And so, the Barbarian tribe rolls on today as well.

***

After the administrative staff’s work began, I headed to the former tribal chief’s tent.

There was something I hadn’t had a chance to ask last time.

“Bjorn, son of Yandel—”

“I’m the tribal chief.”

“…Okay, tribal chief. What’s the matter?”

I cut to the chase and got straight to the point.

“I want to know about Balkan.”

“Ah, you mean the owner of your first epithet [a descriptive name or title].”

Balkan, Kagureas, son of Shalik.

A hero of the tribe who died 21 years ago at the age of 55.

Actually, I only recently learned his real name.

Until then, I hadn’t bothered to investigate him because I thought he was already dead.

“…So, what are you curious about?”

“Everything about Balkan.”

“This is going to be a long story again. Sit or lie down, whatever you want.”

The tribal chief sighed as if he was annoyed, but he faithfully answered the questions I asked.

“From the time I had just finished my coming-of-age ceremony, Balkan was a famous warrior in the tribe. Actually, I wasn’t very interested in the tribe, but he was the strongest in the tribe, so…”

“How strong was he?”

“Stronger than I am now.”

Well, with that kind of wording, it’s safe to say he was stronger than I am now.

“Because he didn’t mingle much with other warriors, some called him ‘humanized,’ but the Balkan I saw was more of a warrior than anyone else. He was only interested in becoming stronger.”

“Weren’t they all like that back then?”

“Hahaha! That’s true. Those were really amazing times! Unlike now, there were hundreds of explorers who explored beyond the 8th floor and into the 9th floor [referring to levels in a dungeon or tower]. All six races competed to go into the abyss, and it was common to pass down the Genesis Artifact [a powerful, often unique item] to the warrior who reached the front lines. Balkan was one of those warriors.”

That golden age that older explorers still talk about sometimes.

“But in the end, most of the top explorers were wiped out by the dimensional collapse, right?”

Titana Akuraba was a member of that generation.

She survived that tragedy firsthand.

Perhaps that’s why she still questions the royal family about the truth of the dimensional collapse and demands strict management.

“It was a terrible disaster. Well, it has nothing to do with Balkan’s death.”

“Why did Balkan die?”

“No one knows the reason. He and his companions all went into the labyrinth and never returned.”

“I see. Since the Genesis Artifact was newly born in the holy land, no one would have suspected anything.”

“Do you think he might still be alive?”

“It’s possible he was in a similar situation to me.”

“Puhahaha! Suspicion is a warrior’s talent.”

The former tribal chief seemed to think my opinion was absurd, but he didn’t criticize it or try to change my mind.

“Anyway, I heard that the Genesis Artifacts that returned at that time weren’t just from our tribe.”

“Huh… I can’t believe you even know that. The noble title is really something.”

The source was Baek Ho, but there was no reason to explain, so I just asked again.

“Which tribes were they?”

“The Elves and the Dwarves.”

“I see…”

After that, I asked if he knew anything about the Genesis Artifacts that were stolen from all six races on my coming-of-age day, but unfortunately, I didn’t get the answer I wanted.

“Well, I don’t know anything about the whereabouts of the Genesis Artifacts.”

Tsk, I was hoping he might know something more.

“Ah! Now that I think about it, I should tell you this. There was a strange incident related to the Genesis Artifacts.”

“A strange incident?”

“While the former tribal chief was away, someone left a letter. It was a letter with a prophecy that a holy war would break out in the future, and that someone would steal the Genesis Artifact on March 1, 153.”

Ah… that…

I couldn’t help but flinch, and the former tribal chief continued in an excited voice.

“Isn’t it amazing? It’s clear that our ancestral gods helped us! The shaman said so too!”

I don’t know about the shaman, but since the topic came up, I asked what I was curious about.

“But if you received such a letter, how did it end up like that?”

At first, I thought it was because they ignored the letter. But now that I see it, the Barbarians were clearly aware of the letter.

Then, what was the cause?

The truth I heard from the former tribal chief was this.

“At first, they thought the letter was a prank. They must have thought that the young warriors were playing a prank. But later, when the holy war actually broke out, the former tribal chief seemed to think that something was amiss.”

Okay, I can accept the holy war part.

“Then what about the Genesis Artifact? Why was it stolen even though you knew about it?”

“I don’t know. We were clearly well-prepared, but when I went back after letting you into the city, all the warriors were collapsed.”

“Did you share the letter with other races?”

“We didn’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“Would they believe us if we said that our ancestral gods gave us a revelation?”

Oh, that’s true.

After that, I asked what preparations the tribal chief had made to prevent the theft of the Genesis Artifact, and the tribal chief explained in quite detail.

‘They were preparing quite diligently. I really didn’t notice anything on the coming-of-age day.’

What exactly happened that day?

Now that I’m the tribal chief, I need to investigate it properly. If I have the Genesis Artifact, I can gain an advantage in my relationship with Baek Ho, and…

It’s practically graduation equipment.

“By the way, what about the letter? Is it still around? I’d like to see it myself.”

“Well? I heard the former tribal chief had it, but it didn’t pass down to me. He must have lost it somewhere.”

“I see…”

With the story of the letter I left in the past disappearing, I asked my last question.

“But what happened to the shaman? When I asked his disciple, he said he had retired.”

“Ah, the former shaman had some kind of problem during the soul-receiving ritual and has been bedridden ever since.”

“Bedridden…?”

“To be precise, he’s alive but unconscious. I thought there was no hope and told them to kill him, but his disciple was adamant that he might wake up someday and has been taking care of him with great devotion. So I just let him do it.”

Hmm, I see.

“If you’ve got all your questions answered, get out of here. I’m hungry after talking for so long.”

“Okay.”

I could see in real-time that the former tribal chief was losing interest in our conversation, so I didn’t bother him any further and quickly went outside. And before leaving, I headed to the tent of the old shaman, whose location I had asked about.

Swoosh.

The dark tent was filled with the smoke of incense.

A fishy and repulsive smell.

Soon, I walked to the bed where the old shaman was lying like a corpse.

And at that moment.

“…T-Tribal Chief?!”

The disciple shaman, whom I had seen once before, opened the tent and was horrified to see me.

“Ah, no! He still has so much to learn, don’t kill him just because he’s eating too much! I’m working hard!”

Uh…

I just came by to say hello since I was passing by.

“Please… Even if he’s an old man who’s dying, he’s a precious teacher to me…!”

In the end, I had no choice but to leave the tent as if I was being chased out.

***

Thanks to the appearance of Shavin’s administrative corps, I had some time to breathe, but even so, I had to move busily until the last day without any time to rest.

I was the owner of the Yandel barony, the leader of the Anabada Clan, and the tribal chief of the Barbarian tribe.

I was so busy preparing for the exploration, completing tribal quests, and even getting scolded by Amelia for not coming home that I was exhausted.

‘Next month will be even busier than this month…?’

Well, it probably will be.

Next month, I have to attend the Melves assembly, a union of different race nobles, and start selling the land of the holy land in earnest.

‘It’s a relief that Melves scheduled the assembly for the day after the exploration…’

If the assembly had been this month, I would have had to take a day off to attend it.

“Hoo…”

Thinking about the homework that piles up every day makes me a little depressed, but what can I do? It’s inherently impossible to ignore the daily quest.

In fact, I can’t stop halfway now.

“Tribal Chief, everything is ready.”

While I was taking a breather inside the tent, First Elder Ainar came in and called me.

[20:58]

It’s already time.

Soon, I followed Ainar out of the tent and walked, and I was able to reach the place quickly.

Whoosh-!

A clearing in the middle of a lush forest.

What illuminates the dark night are not LED streetlights, but flickering torches, and everywhere you look, there are muscular barbarians, and…

Thud.

The very place where I first opened my eyes in this world.

Thud.

Soon, as I entered the clearing filled with various weapons, the eyes of the young warriors focused on me.

Eyes somewhere between excitement and tension.

‘…Something feels strange.’

I looked around at the young warriors once, then shouted with all my might.

“Congratulations! Young warriors!”

Just like I heard in this forest that day.

“From today, you will leave the holy land and be reborn as true warriors!”

There’s no need for long speeches.

“Now, come out one by one and choose a weapon that suits you!”

Ah, of course, unlike that time, one line was added.

“Leather boots and two potions are provided as a basic package!”

It’s time to move into a new era.

“Behel—raaaaaaaaaaa!!!”

The young warriors, pleased with the welfare system that started with this class, shouted.

It wasn’t intentional, but thanks to that, it was easy to find him.

In the midst of everyone shouting.

“…”

A warrior with a stiff expression, rolling his eyes.

Slurp.

As soon as I found him, I couldn’t help but lick my lips.

‘This is 100 percent.’

A newbie.