Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 72

In a quiet office,

A man sipped his tea and muttered,

“Little Balkan, huh…”

It was an interesting story for a change.

How many explorers could earn a title in just three months? At least, not more than three since he took this job.

“Intriguing.”

Even the essence records he checked through the guild were fascinating. Most explorers slowly climb the ranks, starting with 9th-grade essence.

But what about this guy?

Corpse Golem, Vampire, and now the essence of an Orc Hero he supposedly consumed.

“This is beyond just being lucky.”

It was as if he had used a cheat code.

Well, if you look back in history, you could find a few who left similar footprints.

There are definitely people in this world who are born with special destinies, talents, and luck.

“I wonder which one this guy is…”

Most of them are recorded in later generations as heroes or great figures and are praised.

So, what about this barbarian?

At least, judging by what he’s done so far, he seems to have enough potential.

Of course, his foundation needs to be proven first.

“I should check him out before he gets any smarter.”

This time, he would have to be more careful and cautious than usual.

***

Inside a luxurious pub with private rooms.

As soon as I opened the door, the dwarf and Dwarki, sitting on dwarf-sized chairs, greeted me with delight.

“Oh, you’ve come! Sit down! Haha!”

“I’m so glad you’re both safe.”

I sat down opposite Misha, who had come with me.

“Where’s Rotmiller?”

“He’s not here yet. Won’t he be here soon?”

We ordered food and chatted for a while, and then Rotmiller arrived.

It was 8 PM.

Is being punctual a professional habit or something?

“Bjorn, Kalstein. I’m glad you’re safe.”

“No, it’s good that Rotmiller is safe. I heard you got hurt while running away back then…”

“Ah, I feel guilty about that. If only I hadn’t been injured, I wouldn’t have left you there—”

“Enough.”

I cut him off mid-sentence, as he seemed like he would keep wallowing in self-pity forever if I let him.

“Why don’t you sit down first? The food’s here.”

“…Alright.”

Once Rotmiller was seated, it was the first time in a while that the whole team was together.

It was a miracle that everyone had returned alive after the team had been torn apart in the labyrinth.

“It must be that the gods were protecting us.”

With Rotmiller’s silly remark, the real conversation began.

The main topic was, of course, each other’s recent events.

“So, Hikurod, what happened on your side?”

“Ah, you mean that?”

At my question, the dwarf explained what had happened in the labyrinth, in chronological order.

Rotmiller was ambushed as soon as we were separated. But he managed to defeat the enemy scout with a counterattack and escape.

The beginning was not much different from what we heard at the cabin, but since the dwarf was the one talking, we could hear the details.

“I used [Emergency Restoration] to use the ‘Guardian’s Wrist Guard’ one more time to create an opening.”

I had a feeling, and he did use that combo.

“Wow, I didn’t know you could link Numbers items [Items with a unique numerical designation] with abilities like that.”

“Haha, how could I be so great? It’s all the wisdom passed down from our ancestors.”

[Emergency Restoration] is a skill that doesn’t repair but returns equipment to its state from 5 minutes ago.

Numbers items are no exception.

It has the disadvantage of consuming more MP than usual, though.

“The wisdom of the ancestors…”

As expected of the dwarf race, who value Numbers items, related tips are passed down within the race.

Anyway, to summarize the rest of the story:

“First, we ran far away and treated Rotmiller. Then we tried to find you, but…”

Because the distance was too great, Rotmiller’s search ability couldn’t find us.

Still, they didn’t give up and wandered around the Witch’s Forest.

But on the third day, they encountered Elisa.

“What? You met that crazy woman again?!”

“Yeah. I don’t know how she did it, but she kept chasing us even in the forest.”

“So? What did you do?”

“Haha, what else could we do? We had to run!”

While running away from Elisa’s pursuit, they had no choice but to take a portal to the 4th floor.

And that was the end of it.

The 4th floor, [Sky Tower], has a stage-like structure.

Somehow, they finished the first stage and chose to stay there until the labyrinth closed.

They judged that they could be wiped out if a 6th-grade monster appeared in the next stage.

“It was quite a hardship to kill time for over ten days… but I was able to endure it thanks to Rotmiller and Dwarki.”

Hardship my ass.

That’s what we should be saying.

“Ha, and after all that, they just went home saying they were tired?”

Somehow, my lower abdomen is starting to hurt.

I can accept that they were chilling while we were struggling like dogs…

“Oh, by the way, I didn’t mention it. Surprisingly, essence came out in the first trial.”

“Essence… came out…?”

Damn it, is this a game?

Essence that didn’t come out even though we fought countless monsters in the Witch’s Forest, regardless of our intentions.

It just popped out over there.

From the rare 7th-grade monster ‘Mimic,’ which is famous for being at least a mid-tier jackpot if essence drops.

“Rotmiller absorbed it first, and then we opened the [Treasure Vault].”

[Treasure Vault] is Mimic’s active skill.

It’s not combat-related, and when used, it opens a personal subspace vault.

The key point here is…

“So? What came out?”

When you open the [Treasure Vault] for the first time, various items are randomly inside.

If you’re unlucky, you might just get a few high-grade potions and that’s it.

I hope they were one of those cases—

“There were about 2 million stones worth of magic stones, three top-grade potions, and two Numbers items.”

“What the hell?”

“…Why are you suddenly cursing?”

“Sorry, I was too surprised.”

I felt like I was going to throw up, but I held it in and asked.

“So, what number were the items?”

“Unfortunately, one was in the 8000s, and the other was in the 9000s.”

Well, they still made well over ten million stones.

Of course, since the two of us weren’t there, they would have split it three ways.

Why is this dwarf so lucky?

“After looking into it, it seems like they’re not very useful for us, so we decided to sell them. Rotmiller, who absorbed the essence, decided to deduct the guild’s standard price for the essence.”

“I see… Congratulations…”

Rotmiller got a new essence, and the dwarf and Dwarki hit the jackpot.

Is that why?

I could somehow smile and congratulate them, but…

Snap-!

The spoon I was holding snapped in half.

“B-Bjorn? Why did you suddenly break a perfectly good spoon!”

“It’s because I can’t control my strength due to the Orc Hero essence.”

“Huh? You didn’t have that problem yesterday!”

That’s because this didn’t happen yesterday.

Damn freeloaders…

***

Now that we’ve heard the dwarf’s side, it was our turn.

“Actually, we’re more curious about your side. There are rumors, and I heard a rough outline yesterday, but… what exactly happened to you?”

I stepped forward to summarize briefly, as Misha might make a mistake if left to her own devices.

Our life after being stranded.

Misha’s ‘accidental’ awakening.

“Kalstein, I sincerely congratulate you. You must have suffered a lot in the meantime…”

“No, I didn’t do anything, it’s all thanks to Bjorn.”

“…Thanks to Bjorn?”

“Ah, no! I mean, I wouldn’t have made it back alive if it weren’t for Bjorn!”

It’s true that she sometimes went off on a tangent.

The three religious fanatics we met at the cabin.

And then, for some reason, a floor lord was wandering around.

As our dynamic story, which was on a different level from those who were just killing time on the 4th floor, continued, the three listened intently.

“Huh, to think you’d go to the Orc settlement there, you’re really smart.”

“I wouldn’t have even thought of the Dzarwi Clan.”

“So? What happened next?”

Their reactions were sincere, making it fun to talk.

However, rather than getting carried away and exaggerating, I continued the story from an objective point of view.

However…

“Huh, you demanded protection money in that situation?”

“You paid 2 million stones for the two of you… I’m ashamed. Rotmiller, Dwarki, how about we gather some money and give it to them?”

“That’s a good idea. We can’t say it’s not our responsibility.”

Did they feel sorry for me after hearing the story?

They gathered 1 million stones after hearing that we paid protection money, some of our equipment was destroyed, and we spent 500,000 stones on repairs.

To be honest, I was taken aback.

“…Are you really giving this to us?”

“Of course. We made a lot of money this time, can’t we do that much for you?”

What is this?

Was the dwarf actually a light, not a dwarf?

“Hikurod, you’re a really great team leader…”

“Haha, thank you for the compliment. Let’s continue the story.”

“Okay.”

Repenting for calling such a great dwarf a freeloader, I decided to continue the rest of the story more sincerely.

“Huh, a floor lord appeared in that situation!”

The Lord of Chaos that appeared with 5 hours left.

“To pour that much resources into it, you deserved to receive the protection money.”

A subjugation battle that required massive resources.

And the riot that broke out internally.

The [Abyss of Evil] pattern that was finally activated.

“I see. I was wondering what you meant by the Orc Hero’s essence earlier, so that’s what you were talking about.”

The essence we obtained through negotiations with the Dzarwi Clan, who didn’t have a tank.

And the escape.

By the way, I even mentioned that I had the Vampire essence here, and the dwarf surprisingly understood.

“Even I was hesitant to talk about the existence of Numbers items at first. We’re fine, so you don’t have to bow your head like that.”

Don’t bow your head?

Well, I just happened to look down because I spilled food on the floor…

There’s no need to correct them.

“Anyway, congratulations. You’ve already consumed two 5th-grade essences? It’s like you’ve laid the foundation to become a top explorer.”

“…Thank you for saying that.”

After that, I finished the story by calmly recounting how we escaped from the [Abyss of Evil] and were chased by the floor lord while carrying Misha on my back.

The three, who had been listening intently, each expressed their admiration.

“Hahaha, I knew it from the start. I knew this guy would do great things.”

“Indeed! It was the most magnificent and sublime story I’ve heard recently. I’m almost sad that I wasn’t part of that story!”

“Certainly… with this much achievement, no one would dare to object to calling you the Little Balkan.”

There was one thing that particularly caught my ear.

It was what Rotmiller had said…

“Wait a minute, Little Balkan?”

When I tilted my head, the dwarf kindly explained.

“I was wondering, but it seems you haven’t heard yet? It’s your title!”

Little Balkan.

Following the Barbarian of Freedom, a new title was born.

However, I still didn’t know.

“A title…”

Whether this would have a positive effect in the future, or the opposite.

***

「Your character’s reputation has increased by +1.」

「Your character’s reputation has increased by +1…」

「…」

***

The day after the gathering.

I met Hikurod early in the morning and visited the guild.

It was to report Elisa Behenk.

“…Are you talking about the priestess of Karui?”

It wasn’t a common case, so the employee who received the report couldn’t hide their surprise.

However, when I submitted my 5-star identification badge and the video recording device that the dwarf had been wearing on his head throughout the exploration as evidence, their expression changed.

“This… this is not something I can handle. Could you wait a moment?”

We were immediately called to the branch manager’s office, where we told the branch manager what had happened.

And as a result of the news reaching the temple,

Elisa was excommunicated from the Leatlass Church and immediately became a wanted criminal of the highest rank.

“According to the checkpoint records, it’s certain that the wicked woman has returned to the city, so we’ll be able to catch her soon.”

The guild and the temple spoke confidently, but somehow, I didn’t think that she would be caught so easily.

There was no basis, but I had a feeling.

“Tch, I have a bad feeling about this.”

Therefore, I decided to keep an eye on the news about Elisa and put this matter aside for now.

There was nothing more we could do anyway.

We even got an unexpected reward.

“Haha! By the way, we’ve made an unexpected profit?”

“Justice always comes with a reward.”

The temple gave us a reward of about 3 million stones for providing important clues.

Well, we’d have to divide it into five shares here, but…

“Not bad.”

Originally, this kind of luck was perfect for taking advantage of. If it goes beyond that, I start to get scared of what might come back.

“Well, it took more time than I thought because there were so many things to testify. Let’s go now. Everyone must be waiting.”

After finishing the Elisa report, we headed to the agreed meeting place. And after discussions, we finalized the final distribution.

“Let’s divide what we acquired together before we split up into five equal parts. And then, let’s coordinate what we got after that.”

We divided the equipment and consumables of ‘Hanson,’ who was Elisa’s loyal servant, and the magic stones we acquired up to the 4th day, according to the number of people.

I had anticipated this and only paid with the religious fanatics’ equipment when paying the protection money, so there was no need to complicate the calculations—

“Ah, damn it.”

I belatedly remembered Hans C’s boots that were blown away by the landmine…

But I decided to just stay quiet.

It was too much trouble to recalculate…

Besides, they had used up all the holy water and potions they had, hadn’t they?

“Dwarki?”

“I-I’m calculating. Ah! We can divide it by 1.22 million stones per person!”

Including Misha’s and my share, it was a total of 2.44 million stones.

1.2 million stones from the reward given by the temple.

And 1 million stones that the three gave us as support.

The value of the religious fanatics’ expanded backpacks and the equipment left over after paying the protection money was 3.11 million stones.

The magic stones for 15 days were about 800,000 stones.

In short…

“A total of 8.55 million stones.”

If I split it with Misha, my profit from this exploration would have been 4.27 million stones.

If it weren’t for that ‘promise.’

“Ugh…”

Just by looking at Misha’s eyes, which seemed to be dripping with regret, I could tell that all the profits were mine.

That was the promise.

Well, at the time, I mainly agreed to the offer to make her feel at ease, but…

“It would be better if I kept and managed it.”

Misha is now my main companion.

Not only the essence, but also the equipment she will wear in the future, and even the overall training method will be in my hands.

Of course, there will be many expenses.

“In that sense, if I deduct 300,000 stones for Misha’s and my equipment repair costs and treatment costs…”

The net profit from this exploration is derived.

7.65 million stones.

Even considering the losses such as the boots I broke in the labyrinth and the mace I lost, it was an absurd profit.

No matter how you look at it, it was far beyond the amount you could get just by hunting.

“It’s not much considering the money I’ll need in the future, though.”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It’s nothing. Just finish what you were eating.”

The situation has changed.

Following the Vampire essence, I consumed the Orc Hero’s essence, which I thought I would get much later.

Also, I found a companion to grow with.

“I should start with that when I get back.”

Therefore, a re-evaluation of the plan is needed.