Chapter 123 - Veteran (2)

“Misha and I are just companions.”

“I-is that so? Ah... I thought as much...”

What did he mean, he thought as much?

I did my best to ignore his knowing look and took a sip of my drink, only for Dwalki's head to hit the table.

THUD!

So that was why he'd been downing drink after drink when he couldn't even hold his liquor.

'Goddammit.'

And so our daytime drinking session ended for good before it had lasted even a few hours. I left the unconscious Dwalki in the care of his best friend, the dwarf, and stepped outside. It was still the middle of the day.

Which meant...

'Might as well go to the library.'

I abandoned my plan to go home and rest, changing my destination. There was still so much I didn't know about this place.

'It's almost identical, yet subtly different.'

The troll we'd encountered this time was a perfect example. We'd stabbed its eyes and blinded it, but it had sensed Dwalki's mana and charged at him. There was no such mechanic in the game.

But who knew? Books in this world might have mentioned it. I couldn't simply be content with my knowledge of the game. I needed to keep studying.

'Auriel Gabis. I need to keep looking into that name anyway.'

Somehow, I seemed to read far more books here than I ever had in civilized society.

“You made it back safely.”

When I arrived at the library, Lagna greeted me with sleepy eyes.

Perhaps it was because a few months had passed since we'd exchanged names, but we'd grown much closer than before. Close enough that she now took it upon herself to meddle.

“I understand resting two days ago, since you'd only just returned. But why didn't you come yesterday?”

“I had other things to do.”

“I know explorers are busy, but that's no excuse to neglect your studies.”

She really did have her odd side. Telling a barbarian not to neglect his studies, of all things.

“All right. The usual, then.”

“... Bierdou Farcitiev.”

After our brief exchange of greetings, I received the usual [Special Book Detection] spell and headed inside.

This time, I focused on material about monsters. I'd rarely bothered looking into the subject before, since I had my game knowledge, but things had changed.

“I'm getting hungry, so I'd better go. Keep up the good work.”

“Um...”

“Yes?”

“I haven't either... Never mind. Please forget it.”

The sun had set by the time I left the library.

But what was this now?

“Hello, Mr. Jandel.”

I returned to my lodgings feeling I'd had a fairly productive day, only to find someone hovering outside my door.

A woman dressed in black from head to toe, as though attending a funeral, with a distinctly refined air about her appearance.

Now, what was her name...?

“You're... Urbans?”

“... Julie. Julie Urbans.”

“Right, that was it.”

“... Mr. Peta told me, but I didn't think you really wouldn't remember.”

She sounded deflated as she wound a brown curl around her index finger. It might simply have been a habit, or perhaps an unconscious sign of anxiety.

'Her face doesn't show it, but is she nervous?'

With that thought, I started with a question.

“So who's Peta?”

Lady Urbans's eyes trembled at my question, as if she couldn't believe what she'd just heard.

“... You don't even know Branch Manager Peta's name?”

“Oh.”

So that was the mustached man's name. But how was I supposed to know? We'd never exchanged names.

To be honest, I did feel a little embarrassed, but I didn't show it and got straight to the point.

“So what brings you here? Alone, at that.”

“You wouldn't meet me, so I had no choice but to come.”

“I'm pretty sure I turned down that proposal.”

“Couldn't you take this as a sign of how desperate I was?”

Desperate, huh...

If a district manager's daughter was saying that, there was clearly a story behind it. Probably something she couldn't easily discuss with others. Otherwise, she wouldn't have come alone to see the man who'd taken her hostage.

But I was a barbarian who knew nothing of meddling.

“Enough. Go home. I'm not interested in trouble.”

I dismissed my curiosity and went into my room.

But just as I was closing the door...

CLACK!

Lady Urbans swiftly thrust her parasol into the gap.

Of course, that wasn't going to work.

SLAM!

With just a little extra force, I shattered the parasol and shut the door firmly.

“Huh?”

Apparently not expecting things to go this way, Lady Urbans urgently knocked on the door.

“W-wait! Let's just talk! It won't take—”

“Stop it and go home.”

“Oh, come on! Aren't you even curious? About why I'm doing this?”

“No.”

“Ugh!”

Had my stubbornness worked?

Lady Urbans, now saddled with a broken parasol to boot, kicked the door in irritation and walked away, her heels clicking against the floor.

Only then did I breathe a sigh of relief.

'Whew. Looks like I managed to get through that—'

CLICK, CLICK.

Just then, the retreating footsteps began heading back my way.

Had she still not given up?

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.

The moment I heard the knock, I started snoring.

SNOOOORE!

I figured that would make her give up for good without my having to answer her again.

“Haah, seriously, why am I even...”

I heard her lament through the door.

But had she decided to change tactics?

“I know you're awake, so just listen.”

Lady Urbans spoke quietly through the door, almost in a whisper.

“Braun Rotmiller. Be careful of him. I don't know the details, but he met my father today... Eek! You can't just open the door like that!”

... This was worth hearing.

* * *

A man and a woman sat together in a room late at night, with nothing but awkwardness hanging between them.

Naturally. I'd gone to the trouble of opening the door, only to find she had nothing of substance.

“So that's all?”

“Yes...”

Rotmiller had been summoned to the district manager's office and had left five minutes later. That was the entirety of Lady Urbans's information.

If I'd known, I wouldn't have opened the door.

“So what are you after?”

Since it had come to this, I decided to satisfy my curiosity. I was even more curious now, anyway. Why would his own daughter tell me this, even at the cost of antagonizing her father?

Lady Urbans spoke with grim determination.

“My goal is my father's downfall.”

“... Huh?”

“I have no choice. At this rate, I'll really have to live like a doll. Anyway, to accomplish that, I absolutely need your coopera—”

“Get out.”

“What? No, you seem to have misunderstood. Helping me would also bring you tremendous benefi—”

Benefits, my ass. There was nothing to gain from making an enemy of a district manager.

“Eek!”

Though I'd known her only briefly, I'd learned just how persistent she was, so I simply picked her up and carried her outside. Then I shut and locked the door.

Was my unwavering attitude finally getting through to her?

“If... you change your mind, please come find me. Oh, and be careful. Father must have tried something with that Rotmiller man.”

With that, Lady Urbans left without causing any more fuss. I washed up and went to bed.

'Rotmiller, huh... I'll have to keep an eye on him for now.'

After that, life settled into its usual routine. Every morning, I ate the meat Misha grilled for me, and in the afternoons I spent time at the library. When Erwin came over, as she'd promised to do once a week, the three of us shared a meal and got to know each other better.

Oh, and we also held one of our regular meetings to plan the next expedition.

[“We did encounter a troll on the fourth floor last time, but from what I've heard, it seems we were simply exceptionally unlucky. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the floor itself, so I think we can proceed as planned. What do you all think?”]

I watched Rotmiller throughout the meeting but found nothing particularly strange. The only thing I could point to was that he was quieter than usual.

That only left me more conflicted. I'd secretly hoped that if something had come up during his meeting with the district manager, he'd tell us about it here.

'... Should I just ask him outright what happened at their meeting?'

A direct approach was an option, but I put it on hold for now. There was still time before the Labyrinth opened, so I figured a more cautious approach would be better.

Anyway, time continued to pass, and three days ago...

[“That settles my debt. Now give it back.”]

[“... Can't you just let me have this instead?”]

I received five million Stones from Mister Bear.

I tried asking if he could just give me the bracelet instead, but Mister Bear firmly shook his head.

Come on, it wasn't even meant for a ranged damage dealer. This item was most effective on a character with high regeneration, since their health would shoot back up during the damage-immunity period.

'If we become teammates later, I'll try talking him into selling it to me cheap.'

With that final thought, I opened my eyes and checked the clock.

[23 : 59]

There were now just ten seconds left until midnight on the fifteenth.

I closed my eyes again.

「The character's soul resonates and is drawn to a particular world.」

It was time for a slightly more unusual part of my routine.

* * *

Lee Hansoo's room, not Bjorn Jandel's.

Though it wasn't my first visit, I found myself marveling at it anew as I lay down on the bed.

'The softness really is on another level.'

I could really feel the gap between civilizations. It wasn't as though I'd bought an expensive mattress, either. Though I supposed things might be different with the very best that world had to offer.

I pressed the computer's power button with my toe while lying on the bed, and the monitor lit up without any boot time. I got up and sat in front of it.

I only had access to this place once a month, and even then there was a time limit. I had to use it efficiently.

CLICK, CLICK.

First, I checked the Trade market. Most of it was the same as when I'd last looked, but new posts were appearing in real time.

'I'll check this again in a little while...'

I opened the chatroom list. On my first visit, I hadn't had enough time to explore this feature at leisure, but this time was different.

[Wizardry]

[Therianthropes, Assemble]

[Elf of Night]

As I browsed, I noticed that unlike the [Newcomers' Room], which had held around ten people, the class- and race-specific communities attracted large crowds.

It made sense. Places like that would make it easier to find useful information. Builds and such.

'But... why isn't there one for barbarians?'

I froze as I continued scrolling. Aside from Draconic humans, who were locked out of character selection, every race had its own chatroom. Only barbarians were missing.

Well, not missing, exactly...

[BEHELLAAAA!] - 0 users online.

There was no one inside.

Looking closer, I saw that the last login had been months ago, and the username had a red line through it. That meant they'd either been expelled or died in reality.

Why was it only barbarians?

After some thought, I found a plausible reason. Two, in fact.

1. Barbarians weren't popular choices for main characters.

Even I had often picked Therianthropes or elves before perfecting the shield barb build. Or else I'd chosen humans for their strong late-game potential.

2. Barbarians had to pick up a weapon and enter the Labyrinth as soon as they started. Otherwise, they'd fucking starve.

There was the absurdly difficult coming-of-age ceremony. Then there were the hardcore progression conditions that forced you into the Labyrinth the moment you opened your eyes.

'There weren't many to begin with, and even those must have all fucking died early on.'

For some reason, I felt a surge of secondhand embarrassment, along with a heaviness in my chest on their behalf.

So I tried looking for a class community instead.

[Noblesse] - 21 users online.

[Treasure Hunter] - 34 users online.

[Swordmaster] - 17 users online.

Healers, archers, swordsmen, and so on. All of them had more than ten users online.

But...

[Shielder] - 3 users online.

There were only three tanks.

Zero in my race community, and three in my class community.

“...”

What kind of path had I been walking all this time?

Feeling rather miserable, I tried looking for a national community this time. Fortunately, there was a chatroom.

[Long Live Korean Independence] - 1 user online.

Only one, but that was better than nothing. This was a foreign game that hadn't even had a Korean translation. Honestly, I'd thought there might not be anyone.

'A fellow Korean, huh... '

Without hesitation, I double-clicked.

* * *

To my surprise, when I opened my eyes, I found myself in a room that looked like part of a noble's mansion. I'd expected a default setting, like an empty lot or a field—

“SOMEONE'S HEEEEEERE!”

Before I could even take a leisurely look around, the Player already online greeted me with an exuberant shout. He was a short-haired man who looked to be in his early twenties.

[Sergeant Lee]

I froze when I read his username.

“Sergeant Lee? Don't tell me you...”

“Man... You get it. It was the day I was discharged.”

How could anything be this fucking cruel!