Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 649

Marquis Terserion, the Chancellor of Lafdonia, sighed deeply the moment he saw me.

Doing that right in front of someone isn’t proper etiquette in noble circles, but is it because it’s me? Now, even this old man doesn’t hold back.

“Aren’t you going to speak?”

“Before that, can I ask you just one thing?”

“Go ahead.”

“Why have you been avoiding me all this time?”

Even I think it’s a bit pathetic, but I had to ask him directly when we met.

“Avoiding you? What do you mean?”

“I tried so hard to make an appointment to meet, but you ignored all my messages.”

It’s an action that I can’t understand unless he intentionally tried to avoid me. So, why would the Marquis do that? It’s not like he’s trying to play hard to get with me. Until recently, he even gave me a seat at the royal council and showed interest in marrying off his own daughter to me.

The truth I heard from the Marquis was very simple.

“I was busy.”

“Too busy to even send a reply?”

“I didn’t even know you contacted me in the first place. I’ve been staying in the royal palace for the past few days.”

Looking at the Marquis again, there was undeniable deep fatigue under his eyes. And is it because of that? The Marquis’s voice is also sharper and more sensitive than usual.

“I heard that the butler explained that to you in the first place?”

“Oh……”

I did hear the explanation, but I didn’t know it was true and not just an excuse. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, I kept my mouth shut, and the Marquis looked at me as if I was absurd.

“You’re strange too. You come here complaining that I avoided you because I didn’t meet you. Isn’t that too arrogant?”

“……Huh?”

“Don’t think that everyone will drop everything and make time for you just because you want to meet them.”

“Okay, I apologize for this matter.”

“It’s not an apology, but a promise. Don’t come to me like this again. Some rudeness can be tolerated as a cultural difference, but this is an act of disrespect towards me.”

“……I said I understand.”

Is it because I came here in a position of disadvantage? He’s being so serious and blunt that I’m too scared to say anything.

‘…I’m also curious why he’s been so busy lately.’ What could have made the Marquis, who commutes from the capital Carnon, so busy that he couldn’t leave the royal palace for days? I was curious about the reason, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask. He didn’t give me a chance to ask in the first place.

“Now, tell me your business. I can’t waste any more of my precious rest time.”

As the Marquis had emphasized several times in our short conversation that he was short on time and tired, I got straight to the point without any complaints.

“I came to ask you to select our Yandel family for the reconstruction project in District 7.”

But is it because this is the first time I’ve made such a blatant request? Or is it because he didn’t expect someone like me to make such a request?

“……Huh?”

The Marquis, who let out an exclamation filled with disbelief, looked at me and asked, “Is there even a need to go this far? I don’t know what method you used, but I heard that Melbes has already selected you as their representative.”

Well, that’s true. With the support of Melbes, I wouldn’t be at a disadvantage even if I participated in the bidding competition normally. But that’s how business is.

“If there’s a way to handle it for sure, there’s no reason not to take that way.”

“I agree with that way of thinking, but……”

The Marquis narrowed his eyes. “I cannot agree with your attitude as if you’ve come to pick up something you’ve entrusted to me.”

It was a side of him I had never seen before. Even when he joked about smashing my head earlier, he didn’t sound this annoyed.

‘Did I come at the worst possible time?’ I belatedly felt regret, but I decided to think positively. What can I do? If I had just waited, I don’t know when I would have been able to meet and talk like this.

“Tell me. Why should I grant your request?”

I responded with the same shameless attitude. “Consider it a bachelor gift.”

“A bachelor gift……?”

The Marquis tilted his head, hearing the term for the first time. Well, that’s how old people are.

“Why can’t you give me a gift since I can’t get married in the future?” In fact, there were such cases in our society before I was dragged into this world. It’s unfair for those who choose not to marry, right? They pay congratulatory money but don’t get it back.

“……”

At my logic, the Marquis paused as if he was lost in thought. Well, even if it sounds forced, he couldn’t just ignore it as the person who blocked my marriage prospects.

“…There’s some truth in what you say.” Fortunately, the Marquis was also someone who understood the law of give and take.

“However, I can’t decide on matters related to national affairs on my own. What should I do……” The Marquis muttered to himself as if he was in trouble, but I didn’t really sympathize with him. This old monster, who is in the second-in-command position, does whatever he wants. It’s better to think of his groaning as just a lubricant before getting to the main point and filter it out. Just like this.

“Ah, then how about this?” As expected. Soon, the Marquis proposed a compromise.

“I’ll give you a chance to compete fairly.”

“A chance……?”

“The truth is, there are a total of five families, including the Yandel family, that are being considered as strong candidates. However, the possibility of the Yandel family being selected is extremely low.”

Well, that was expected. So far, the Yandel family has never shown anything related to construction. If it weren’t for Melbes’s support, they wouldn’t even be on the list of candidates. The reason I couldn’t wait patiently and tried to meet the Marquis was because I knew that fact well.

“So? What exactly do you mean by giving me a chance?”

“It’s exactly as it sounds. I’ll set up a stage, so you can prove your qualifications yourself.”

How exactly is he going to set up a stage? It was hard to imagine, so after listening to the Marquis’s explanation, it was truly absurd.

“To summarize… you’re saying that the five families should gather and have a construction competition?”

“It’s not exactly a competition, but more like a demonstration where each family shows what they’re good at and what their strengths are in front of people.”

It seemed like the same thing, but the Marquis’s following words were quite reassuring. “Just achieve a certain level of results so that my reputation isn’t damaged. Then, the Yandel barony will get this contract.”

I felt strange. Come to think of it, although it was a bit of a mess, Melbes originally tried to do something similar with a dwarf family.

“Okay, let me know when the date is set.” …I never thought a labor competition would be established like this.

***

When I returned to the Holy Land after finishing my conversation with the Marquis, our Chief Administrative Officer was still working overtime with the lights on. Well, or was he not?

“Shabin, what are you reading so diligently?”

“Ah… it’s… a letter. The branch manager of Alminus Bank is asking me if I’m interested in transferring to their company… It’s strange. I don’t have any acquaintance with that person……”

What is this? Could it be that Count Alminus gave him a hint? Like, if you can scout him, try to do it? ‘This old man, really……’

“Just ignore it, he’s definitely a scammer.”

“……I suddenly feel very insulted, though?”

“It’s just your imagination, your imagination.”

“So, what brings you here at this hour?”

“Do I have to have a reason to come here?”

“Yes. I know you usually don’t even come near this place because you’re afraid I’ll give you something to do, you know?”

Oh… he already knew everything. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, I quickly got to the point.

“I’m on my way back from talking with the Chancellor today.”

“…With the Chancellor?”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It’s nothing. It just makes you seem like a really amazing person……” Shabin trailed off with an uneasy tone, but that’s not what I came here to talk about today anyway. After that, I shared the conversation I had with the Marquis with Shabin, and then I declared that I would have a time to check the labor skills of our warriors tomorrow.

“Tomorrow…?” I felt a strange murderous aura in Shabin’s trembling voice, so I quickly added an explanation. “You don’t have to call too many. But instead, call out not just the good ones, but all of them so we can see the average.”

“Hmm… well, that’s not too difficult.”

“You don’t have to feel too pressured. For now, I’m just trying to see what the warriors’ skills are like and analyze what else we need to prepare.”

“Okay. I’ll prepare it like that.”

Okay, then I can see that directly tomorrow…… After finishing my business, I talked a bit more with Shabin about the affairs of the tribe and then secretly returned to my temporary accommodation and fell asleep. And the next morning.

“Oooooooooh!”

“The strongest warrior of the tribe has come to see our skills!!”

“It’s time to show my skills!”

“Behel—raaaaaaaaaaa!”

For some reason, the barbarians, who were called out from the early morning, were enthusiastically participating in the test. It was completely unexpected. It’s not like I’m here to see their fighting skills. ‘When did they become so serious about construction?’ Curious, I asked Ainar, and I got an unexpected answer. No, to be precise……

“It’s thanks to the Chief Administrative Officer’s brainwashing.”

A word that I couldn’t ignore as the tribal chief appeared. “…Brainwashing?”

“The Chief Administrative Officer said that with proper rewards and constant praise, even a goblin’s concept can be changed.”

I didn’t know what he was talking about, so I listened to the rest of the story, and it seemed that Shabin had made efforts in various ways to change the warriors’ perceptions. He gave small rewards to the warriors who finished their work, and he praised them greatly in front of everyone, satisfying their desire for honor. ‘Satisfying their desire for recognition……’ Did he accurately pinpoint the part where the barbarians go crazy? What is the reason why the warriors are so enthusiastic about power in the first place? It’s also because power is closely related to their lives, but…… The essence is that their desire for recognition is satisfied. Because everyone recognizes strong people, our warriors shed blood and sweat every day.

“I don’t know much, but recently, we even had a competition to build houses quickly! I participated because they said that if you win, you’ll become popular with the opposite sex, but it was difficult!”

“……”

“It’s a shame! If I had learned construction instead of going into the labyrinth, I could have done better!”

Even Ainar was saying things that were out of order, so there was no need to explain how high the status of construction was in the tribe…… ‘Is this a good thing or not……’ As the tribal chief, I was a bit worried, but I decided to look at the positive aspects as much as possible. If construction skills develop further, it means that they can make a living even if they don’t live as warriors. Having more options is always a good thing. ‘…But with this, I can have some expectations, right?’ I then watched the demonstration construction process that Shabin Emuer had prepared from a distance, and I took the time to evaluate the construction skills of our warriors.

“I can carry three steel bars!!”

“No, I can carry four!!”

Carrying capacity: Upper.

“Behel—raaaaaaaaaaa!!”

Work speed: Upper.

“What are you doing! Just put it in there roughly!”

Detail: Lower.

“…Mwe, Kirita, the second son of Mwelka! Th, the window doesn’t fit here. What should I do!!”

High-difficulty work skills: Lower.

“Everyone, do your best! If we finish everything today, the Chief will give us 10,000 stones each!”

Labor costs: Lower.

Also, some unique points to note are: They can only make rectangular structures. They don’t know how to make circular roofs. They are generally fast, but they make frequent mistakes. They can’t read blueprints at all…… ‘Is this the level……’ Looking at the clear disadvantages as well as the advantages, I clicked my tongue.

“Tsk……” …What should I do with this?