Chapter 195 - Bifron (5)

Auriel Gabis. A man from at least 150 years ago.

When I had asked Raven to date the Comprehensive Record of Rifts, she had determined that its paper came from that period.

That made this all the more shocking.

'... That bastard is alive?'

I had simply assumed he was dead. Though now, I wasn't sure why.

He was the creator of [Dungeon and Stone], and the likeliest culprit behind sending me and countless other Players to this world...

And this was, quite literally, a fantasy world. Of course there was a chance he was still alive. Didn't even draconic humans live for hundreds of years?

THUMP!

My heart gave a powerful lurch at that realization. It felt a little different from when I first heard his name.

This beat carried anticipation, not shock.

THUMP!

If that bastard really was alive. If I could find him and meet him...

I might have a way back to my own world. For the first time, a tangible lead toward that vague idea of going home had appeared before me.

'... Calm down.'

I forced my racing heart under control and regained my composure. I could indulge in hopeful fantasies later, before bed.

Right now, I needed to focus on the present.

"Barbarian, you really are an odd one."

Amelia gave me a meaningful look as she spoke. For a moment, I wondered if she had seen through my lie about just pretending to recognize the name.

But...

"Should I call you gutsy? You can joke in front of me even after what happened. Aren't you... afraid of me?"

Apparently, that was all she found surprising. Or perhaps she had never met anyone like this, and this sort of conversation felt a little awkward.

What mattered was that, thankfully, I'd gotten away with it. This was why you had to act like a lunatic all the time. Then nothing you did looked strange.

"What are you talking about, human woman? I am not 'barbarian.' I am Bjorn, son of Jandel."

"Right, Bjorn Jandel."

Amelia chuckled. To me, that felt like a sign that I could relax now.

On that note, next question.

"So, is this person a man or a woman?"

"A man."

"Could he be disguised as a woman?"

"Well, probably not. The records describe him as an extreme male chauvinist."

"So whether he can or not, he wouldn't do it. What about a child? Could he disguise himself that way?"

"... He wouldn't choose a very young child."

"Why not?"

"He cared a great deal about his dignity."

"I see."

I nodded, then casually slipped in a question.

"But why are you looking for him?"

I had followed a string of easy questions she would naturally answer with that one. I'd read about it in some book. Apparently, asking this way increased your chances of getting an answer?

Of course, I had no idea if it would work in practice... but that was no reason not to try.

And an answer did come soon enough.

"... It's personal."

Personal business. A phrase people back in the modern world often used when they didn't want to talk, or wanted to draw a line and say you weren't close enough to ask. It was also a handy way to dodge a question.

Coming from her, though, I wasn't so sure.

["You don't need to know that."]

["Why should I answer you?"]

She might refuse to answer outright like that, but she had never once lied to evade a question.

Was that why? It occurred to me that this might really be personal business, rather than orders from Noark.

'Well, that isn't what matters anymore.'

Auriel Gabis.

If he really was in Bifron, I had to find him. I had a mountain of questions to ask.

* * *

After our conversation, Amelia said she would stop by the city and return that night. Something about having business there that afternoon?

She said it so naturally that I nodded without thinking at first, but...

"Wait. How are you going to get into the city? Do you have some way to avoid the guards?"

"There's a secret passage beneath the sewers."

I would have missed out if I hadn't stopped her to ask.

A secret passage connecting to the city!

"Could you tell me where it is, too?"

"Hmm."

"What's there to think about? You're acting as though I'd asked for something I couldn't handle myself."

"... Fine. I'll tell you."

Once I subtly alluded to the fact that I was helping her search for Auriel Gabis, Amelia readily told me about the passage. If anything, she even looked relieved.

Did she think that made us even?

'Well, I got something useful out of it.'

It was effectively a pass allowing me to visit Bifron whenever I wanted in the future. Of course, I had no intention of using the passage during my exile.

I knew I stood out. Getting caught outside would only complicate things. Hadn't the knight who brought me here given me just one warning?

I could do anything I liked, as long as I didn't escape.

"Then have a good trip."

"A good trip?"

"Didn't you say you'd be back tonight?"

"Yes, I did..."

I went down beneath the sewers with her to learn where the secret passage was, then saw her off at its entrance.

Afterward, I checked the time and found that three hours had already passed since I'd ordered everyone to assemble. So I made my way to the meeting point, asking people for directions along the way.

The Dimensional Plaza, which must once have been bustling with explorers.

"Hey, do you know anything? Why did the boss suddenly call us all here? And what's with those Western Federation bastards over there?"

"I'm not 'hey.'"

"...?"

"I'm your boss."

"What do you—"

"No questions allowed."

I pushed through the crowd toward the center. Here and there, Western Federation members recognized me and greeted me.

"LOYALTY!!!"

Yeah, that was the stuff.

"What's going on...?"

The Western Federation members knelt before me, while the eastern men could only look bewildered. Still, they had the sense to clear a path, making it easier to reach the center.

"You've arrived, sir. Please head up there."

Once I reached the center, Whiny Jin met me and escorted me toward a platform. Apparently, he'd anticipated the need and prepared it in advance.

'He really knows how to get things done.'

It occurred to me that I could take him outside and try putting him to work as a butler. Now that I had a secret passage, wouldn't it be a waste to use him only here?

Though if the guards caught us, it wouldn't end with a fine.

I was about to climb onto the platform, mulling that over, when...

CRUNCH.

The wooden stairs shattered. Planks this thin couldn't support the combined weight of me and my equipment.

Unable to hide my dismay, I spoke.

"Whiny Jin, what's the meaning of this?"

"My apologies."

An immediate apology without a single excuse. That mollified me somewhat, but...

Whoever had built this platform clearly hated barbarians. Otherwise, they would have designed it sturdy enough for a barbarian to climb.

Yes, which meant...

"This is a harmful platform."

"Yes, sir. I'll burn it down immediately."

Whiny Jin brought a torch and set the platform alight. When he poured what looked like oil over it as well, the flames surged, engulfing the three-story-high platform in an instant.

Now it felt like we were having a campfire.

FWOOSH!!

My heart grew as warm as the flames. Back then, there had been nobody around me. But now?

I had over a thousand subordinates with me.

"What will you do now, sir?"

"The founding ceremony will proceed as planned."

"The founding ceremony... Of course. So that's why you wanted everyone gathered in one place..."

"Obviously. Didn't you know?"

"My apologies."

I patted Whiny Jin on the shoulder in forgiveness, then used [Leap] to launch myself high into the air.

My destination was the roof of a nearby four-story building.

BOOM!

Hairline cracks appeared in the rooftop, but thankfully, it didn't collapse. I felt oddly relieved. It would have been terribly undignified to make a magnificent jump only to fall straight through the roof.

'Is this what they mean when they say the position makes the person?'

I was trying to maintain my dignity without even realizing it.

"Ahem."

Anyway, when I approached the railing, the crowd packed into the plaza spread out before me in a spectacular sight.

Time to get this founding ceremony properly underway.

"VEHELLLAAAAAA!!!!!"

I led the cry.

"VEHELLLAAAAAA!!!"

The Western Federation members, with their one-day head start, immediately answered.

The eastern men merely blinked at us, their eyes asking what sort of lunacy they were witnessing.

I clicked my tongue.

"Tsk."

Still so much to teach them.

* * *

After the founding ceremony had firmly impressed their new boss's face upon the members, I summoned Whiny Jin and Baldy and gave them an order.

"Check the back of everyone in Bifron. Bring anyone with a tattoo to me."

Women and children fourteen or younger, who hadn't even undergone the 'qualification test,' were excluded, of course. Before the first day was over, thirty-seven suspects had been hauled before me.

But...

"This isn't the tattoo."

Amelia returned that night, inspected each of them, and shook her head.

Right. So it wasn't going to be that easy.

To improve efficiency, I gave Whiny Jin and Baldy, the deputy commanders of the 'Vehel-La Federation,' a hard time. On days two and three, they brought in far more suspects.

Naturally, none of them was our man. Worse, the increased quantity came at the expense of quality.

"This looks like a birthmark, not a tattoo."

"You heard her. What's the meaning of this?"

"I'll rectify it, sir."

In short, he would give his own subordinates a hard time to improve efficiency. Thankfully, he must have done a good job, because from the next day onward, they brought in fewer people with things that couldn't possibly pass for tattoos.

Day four. Day five.

Two more days passed that way. Again, we had little to show for it. Admittedly, the very idea of finding someone as significant as Auriel Gabis through such a crude, brute-force method was a little ridiculous.

But what else could I do?

'I have to try something. It's not like I have a better idea.'

Even if it was like searching for a needle in a desert, if that needle might send me home, I had to try.

So I kept the search going. I did change the method a little, though.

Nothing major. I added a 'reward.'

"Anyone who fails to meet their daily quota will undergo mental reeducation that night."

Some might ask how that counted as a reward, but happiness was always relative. Simply put, living better than other people was a reward in itself.

Did eating raw meat and sleeping naked in caves mean there were no happy people in prehistoric times?

Day six. Day seven. Day eight...

Time continued to slip by. But there was no sign of Auriel Gabis, and I gradually let go of some of my hopes.

It would be a lie to say I wasn't disappointed, since this was my first lead on getting home... but I'd originally had another reason for helping her.

So I decided to focus on that.

None other than Amelia Reinweils.

Just who was this woman?

With Auriel Gabis giving us a reason to meet every day, I chatted with Amelia and fished for information. Surprisingly, she was quite willing to answer my questions.

Though only when the information wasn't important.

"I don't eat anything containing wheat. It makes my skin itch for some reason."

She had a wheat allergy, for instance. Or, if she had to name a hobby, it would be reading.

She answered things like that without difficulty, but avoided my questions about the barbarian she said she owed a debt to, and what had happened between them.

"You don't need to know that."

"But I'm curious. If he could make a woman like you so flustered, he must have been a great warrior! At least tell me what he was like!"

"... If I had to say, he was a little like you."

Uncharacteristically, she added that extra comment, but it wasn't meaningful information. He was another barbarian, after all. There were bound to be similarities.

Anyway, perhaps all that casual conversation had lowered her guard a little?

"Why do you go around plundering? Honestly, it doesn't suit you at all."

"Doesn't suit me?"

Rather than getting angry at a potentially touchy question, Amelia sounded puzzled.

I smoothly delivered the line I'd prepared.

"I've met plenty of other plunderers since then. And that's made me more certain. You aren't someone who would kill for money."

"... Ridiculous. What do you know about me?"

"Nothing. But I do know that someone at your level has plenty of ways to make money besides plundering."

"..."

Amelia fell silent for a moment. Then she gave a brief explanation.

"... I don't normally do it."

"Then what about that time?"

"Those men... committed crimes they deserved to die for."

"You mean you had a personal grudge against them?"

"Yes."

Amelia answered as she gazed into space, as if recalling some distant memory. I wanted to know the deeper story behind it, but I didn't get to hear what sort of grudge it was.

She came back to her senses.

"I don't know why I'm telling you any of this."

"Don't make a fuss over nothing. We'll be parting ways in a few days anyway. Some things are easier to tell a stranger."

"Things you can say because we're strangers..."

My words seemed to leave an impression. Amelia mulled them over, then chuckled and rose from her seat.

"It's late. I should go."

"Will you come at this time tomorrow, too?"

"Probably."

Amelia vanished before my eyes without a sound, just as she had arrived.

Well, was that it for today?

I stepped out onto the terrace for a change of pace. Bifron's nightscape was completely different from the city districts outside.

Streets and buildings lay buried in darkness, without a single light.