Chapter 109 - Baby Barbarian (2)

“Urgh.”

“Don't move yet. Your wound hasn't fully healed.”

“... You saved me?”

“Even used a top-tier potion.”

Now awake, Mister Bear wore a complicated expression. He was glad to be alive and all, but something seemed to be bothering him.

Well, he must have known just how much we stood to gain if he died.

[“Thanks. That should be worth thirty million Stones—”]

Thirty million Stones.

It might not be the exact amount, but that was Jenssia's estimate, and with all her plundering experience, it ought to be fairly close.

Mister Bear, who must have known explorers' ways inside out, murmured quietly.

“... I got lucky.”

I agreed. How many explorers would choose to save him in this situation rather than wait for him to die?

“I'll pay you for the top-tier potion.”

Well, that went without saying.

“How much do I owe you?”

“Hmm, five million Stones should do.”

“... A top-tier potion should cost about a million Stones, though?”

“Really? Then the merchants must have ripped me off.”

My brazen reply left Mister Bear blank-faced for a moment before he chuckled.

“True enough. Prices do change with the circumstances.”

As expected of a seasoned rank-five explorer, he seemed to understand exactly what I meant.

“Five million Stones... A reasonable price.”

“Glad you think so.”

“... What on earth are you two talking about, nyah?”

You just sit tight. The grown-ups are talking.

“But I don't have that kind of money on me. I'll pay you the five million Stones once we're back in the city.”

“Hmm.”

“I'll leave this with you instead. I'd like you to return it after I pay you in the city.”

Mister Bear took out a skull-shaped bracelet and handed it to me.

“It's a Numbered item. I did just use it once, but it's still worth far more than five million Stones.”

He went on to briefly explain the item, but I already knew what it was.

No. 7611, Necromancer's Arrogance.

When the wearer took fatal damage, it put them into a state of suspended animation and granted damage immunity for a set period of time. It broke after three uses.

'I wondered how he was still alive. So this was why.'

I asked if he would just give me this instead of the five million Stones, but Mister Bear firmly refused. It was only collateral, and he would pay me in cash later.

“Don't even think about running off with it, Bjorn, son of Jandel.”

What? How did he know?

When I flinched, Mister Bear chuckled.

“I've heard about the barbarian who travels with a catfolk woman. And that young lady called you by your real name a few times.”

“Huh? I did, nyah?”

“Don't worry. I understand not wanting unnecessary attention. I won't go around telling people.”

That was a relief. Whatever else happened, things would get a little troublesome if Dwalki or that dwarf heard about this. I'd bowed out by saying I'd taken a commission, after all.

“So what happened? Is that fucking bitch dead? And you two took down the Guardian?”

Having narrowly escaped death, Mister Bear settled the price of his life before asking what had happened next.

There were too many awkward details to explain, so I simply nodded. Thankfully, he knew an explorer's etiquette and didn't pry.

“Little Valcan, Bjorn, son of Jandel. I thought the stories were exaggerated, but after what I've seen today, perhaps they weren't.”

Jenssia was one thing, but he seemed surprised that the two of us had dealt with the Guardian.

Anyway, by the time we'd arranged a place and time to meet back in the city and I'd handed over his share of the magic crystals, his wound had fully healed.

“Bjorn, son of Jandel, and Misha Karlstein. Thank you for saving me. I won't forget what you've done today.”

With that, he promptly stepped through the portal and left the rupture.

What a cool customer, right to the end.

* * *

After Mister Bear left, I spent a little time examining Necromancer's Arrogance. Two of its three gems were glowing, meaning it had two uses left.

'I'll just wear it until I give it back.'

I slipped it onto my wrist, just in case. I did remember Mister Bear telling me to take good care of it and make sure to return it, but...

'Well, I can put it to good use and then return it.'

Anyway, I put that aside and took a moment to think.

'Five million Stones...'

I'd gotten a pretty decent reward in exchange for a top-tier potion. A drop in the bucket compared to thirty million Stones, of course.

'I've really become a barbarian.'

Honestly, I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been tempted at all. I wouldn't even have had to lift a finger. Whether Mister Bear was a good man or a bad one, all I had to do was wait, and I'd have gained more than enough money to raise my Spirit Seal straight to stage six.

But... I'd poured potions onto his wound.

It wasn't out of some philosophical concern about how letting someone die for money when I could save them was any different from being a plunderer.

I'd simply refrained because of Misha.

“... Wh-why are you looking at me like that? You're making me nervous again, nyah.”

“It's nothing.”

Whatever depths my morals had sunk to, I decided that wasn't something to do in front of a companion I'd be traveling with from now on.

But now that it was all over, a thought occurred to me.

'What if I'd been alone?'

This wasn't simply about enjoying wealth and luxury. In this world, money was power. It was life itself.

If Misha hadn't been there, what choice would I have made in the face of that enormous temptation?

'... No need to worry about that just yet.'

Whether I wanted to or not, I'd find out someday if I kept working as an explorer.

So I ended my musings and packed our things.

“Huh? Aren't we leaving, nyah?”

Leaving? We still had two things to collect.

I led Misha down an icy passage. It had originally been blocked, but Tyrant Tarunbas's entrance earlier had exposed it.

Following it all the way would take us back to the second chapter.

“Wow... How do you even know things like this? Information on ruptures is incredibly expensive, nyah.”

“It's thanks to Lagna.”

“Oh, r-right... That woman... nyah.”

When I used the secret library Lagna had given me access to as an excuse, Misha accepted it and let the matter drop. Maybe because she didn't usually read books herself, she tended to believe me whenever I said I'd read something in one.

CRASH!

After reaching the second chapter, I retraced our route up the stairs and smashed the third pillar from the top.

Inside was something I'd passed over while watching for the mafia member: an item that raised Cold Resistance when consumed, though only once.

「The character has consumed a ‘Mana-Infused Ice Shard.’」

「Cold Resistance permanently increases by +3.」

Misha had plenty of Cold Resistance, so I ate it. I planned to give her the next item, though.

We passed through the first chapter and left the Glacial Cavern entirely, then crossed the frozen lake toward the starting point.

CRASH!

There was a small pond near the starting point. I smashed through its surface with my mace, then dived into the icy water and retrieved a red ice orb.

“Here, eat this.”

“Shouldn't you tell me what it is first, nyah?”

Would I feed you anything bad?

Still, once I gave her a rough explanation, Misha's worries vanished, and she crunched it up and swallowed it.

「Misha Karlstein has consumed an ‘Ice Crystal.’」

「Cold Affinity permanently increases by +3.」

In fact, the Ice Crystal was the Glacial Cavern's signature item. Not only did it raise Affinity, you could consume up to three of them, so whenever I developed a freezing build, I always visited the Glacial Cavern first in the early game.

'We'll have to come here first again when the cooldown's up.'

The dive had left me pretty chilled, so I lit a campfire and dried off. Then I put on the clothes I'd taken off and folded beforehand.

“That takes care of everything.”

“Oh, are we finally leaving, nyah?”

What was she talking about?

I took a blanket out of my bag.

“... Why are you spreading out a blanket, nyah?”

“We barely slept last night with standing watch and all. Let's rest a little before we leave.”

In truth, nowhere in the Labyrinth was safer than a cleared rupture. It was a little cold, but... there was no better place for a good nap.

“Don't worry. There's no one here but us.”

“... R-right. So we're just resting for a little while before we go, nyah?”

“Yes. It's cold, so come here. Let's share the blanket.”

“... Sh-shall we, nyah?”

A chilly breeze brushed the bridge of my nose. The campfire warmed us. As night fell, a deep-blue Milky Way stretched across the sky, glittering.

And amid it all...

“Bjorn... Are you asleep, nyah?”

SNORRRRE!

“S-so you are, nyah?”

We got some shut-eye.

* * *

「You have entered the first-floor Crystal Cave.」

* * *

Avman Urigfried, a rank-five explorer, opened his eyes in the Crystal Cave and let out a long breath.

Only then did it begin to sink in.

'... I made it back alive.'

After an incident had driven him to leave his longtime team, he'd been working alone ever since. He'd faced many crises along the way. The Labyrinth was hardly a place one could casually wander through alone.

But he'd never been in as much danger as this time. He'd quite literally stood at death's door and barely returned alive.

'... I got lucky.'

It struck him again just how lucky he'd been.

Leaving aside his encounter with a crazy bitch who'd concealed her identity and entered the rupture intending to plunder them from the outset, there had been an explorer in the party kind enough to save a complete stranger like him.

And that explorer had even had a top-tier potion.

What were the odds of that?

'I should make an offering at the temple when I get back.'

No matter how many times he thought about it, it truly was a miracle.

After basking in the feeling of survival for a while, he turned his thoughts elsewhere.

'Still, Bjorn, son of Jandel...'

Little Valcan, Bjorn, son of Jandel.

He'd heard that name in the city time and again. Of course, he hadn't thought much of it then. Just that someone unusual had appeared.

As a rank-five explorer, he was hardly unfamiliar with explorers who had epithets.

But...

'He's an interesting fellow.'

He was different from the average barbarian. He might look like a simple brute, but he was experienced, perceptive, and a skilled negotiator.

If Avman had to describe him, he was like a barbarian who'd spent many years as an explorer. Purehearted, but by no means naive.

That must have been how he'd seen through that woman's dark intentions, which even Avman himself had missed.

'He earned an epithet in his third month, and he's already this seasoned... He'll certainly go far.'

Avman bore him no ill will whatsoever. No, he felt nothing but gratitude.

Chasing money might be an explorer's lot, but how many had let it consume them?

Being charged five million Stones for treatment? Simply not stripping him of every piece of equipment was enough to say the man had done his duty as an explorer.

Well, with so many people having forgotten that duty, perhaps that was what made his actions seem all the more extraordinary.

'I suppose that's why the young lady is so devoted to him.'

Avman recalled the young catfolk woman who seemed to be the barbarian's companion. The barbarian had given her both the yeti's and the Guardian's Essences without asking for anything in return.

'She's quite lucky herself.'

Having a companion like that was no small blessing.

Ah, if his old teammates had been even half the man this barbarian was, he wouldn't have ended up traveling alone like this—

'No, wait a moment...'

At first, it was merely a passing thought. But then his expression changed, and he gave it serious consideration.

'Someone like him really might not be a bad choice.'

After what had happened, he'd already been having doubts about traveling alone.

'... True, I can't keep going alone forever. And it seems there are still only two of them.'

Before long, Avman made his decision.

The many clans and established teams that had tried to recruit him would be crestfallen if they knew, but... why should he care?

'When we meet in the city, I'll bring it up.'

He liked this barbarian very much.