Chapter 46 - The Line (3)

Tarikan Lien.

Of course, that probably wasn't his real name, but anyway.

'I should get some food into him before we talk.'

My lodgings weren't far away, so I brought him to my room, then bought him a meal downstairs.

For the record, it was the 300-Stone daily special. All it consisted of was chicken stew, a few slices of bread, and some roasted vegetables, but even that moved him beyond measure.

There was just one thing that bothered me...

"I shall n-never forget this kindness!"

Seriously, what was with this half-assed barbarian act?

I was glad he'd apparently gotten his head on straight, but if he was going to do it, he could at least do it properly. He lacked confidence, and his voice was too quiet.

We barbarians show a lot more enthusiasm when someone buys us food.

'... At least he's eating well. Has he been starving? '

Watching him wolf down the food, I hid a bitter smile. It was because of something I learned in the brief conversation we had after his meal.

'Who would've thought he wasn't a newbie...?'

Surprisingly, this man had seniority over me. Only by a month, admittedly.

He'd been summoned to this world a month before I woke up in Bjorn's body.

And there was another surprising fact.

"The c-coming-of-age ceremony? Ah, that really was a shock. Who could have known there was an e-evil spirit among us?"

'An evil spirit was exposed...?'

As it happened, this man and I had gotten off to similar starts. At his coming-of-age ceremony, too, an evil spirit—in other words, a Player—had been executed by the chieftain.

Which raised a question.

'How did he survive that?'

At the coming-of-age ceremony, they called you by name. But when evil spirits first opened their eyes, they knew nothing about these bodies. That was why I'd had to count silently, taut with anxiety, each time the chieftain called a name.

'... Wait, would nobody have suspected me even if I hadn't gone through all that shit?'

Hmm. That was possible.

Or perhaps he'd used a strategy similar to mine to avoid suspicion.

Curious, I slipped the question into our conversation, only to receive a rather anticlimactic answer.

"What number was I called at the ceremony? I don't know why you'd ask that... but I think I was last!"

Right. He'd been last.

Then he wouldn't have needed to know his own name. There wouldn't have been any other warriors left.

All I could think was how lucky he'd been, but he didn't even seem to realize it.

How irritating.

"So what happened after that?"

"Wh-what happened? Well... why do you want to know?"

Why else?

Because I was an evil spirit too.

This was research. Research.

"If I hear you out and your circumstances are bad enough, I might help you."

I deliberately made my answer as vague as possible. But had he already decided in his head that my helping him was a given?

"I-I see! Then let me tell you!"

Without even trying to hide the hope in his eyes, he slowly began to tell his story, from the day he'd woken up in Tarikan Lien's body to the present.

From what I heard, his situation was less pitiable than self-inflicted.

"... You didn't get into the Labyrinth after the coming-of-age ceremony?"

"I-I couldn't help it! I got lost on the way..."

For starters, he hadn't entered the Labyrinth. He offered the excuse that he'd gotten lost, but...

'I can take that with a grain of salt.'

The real reason was probably that fighting monsters had seemed insane. Slipping away from a group of worked-up barbarians, on the other hand, would have been all too easy.

The problem would have come afterward.

Left in the city, he survived on stone bread for a week and went around looking for work, but nobody would hire him because he was a barbarian.

'That's pretty much the biggest drawback to being a barbarian.'

The other nonhuman races could work on the side. Just visit a tavern and you'd find Therianthropes waiting tables, and dwarves employed at forges weren't uncommon either.

They gathered magic crystals when the Labyrinth opened, then earned money working during their month in the city. Unlike barbarians, whose only option was combat.

"But didn't you know that? They teach all of that at the sanctuary, don't they?"

"W-well... I f-forgot for a moment! And I t-told you earlier! I got lost, so I had no choice..."

Yes, and I knew that was bullshit.

I'd brought up lessons at the sanctuary, but what I'd really been asking, indirectly, was whether this wasn't basic lore he ought to know if he'd played the game.

'And that's his answer...?'

I was beginning to have doubts. Did "evil spirits" really mean people who'd opened the Gate of Abyss on the final floor?

Someone skilled enough to do that should have known the lore about barbarians.

"... May I keep going?"

"Ah, sorry. Go on."

Anyway, back to his story.

After going hungry for days, he'd sold his starting weapon for 50,000 Stones. Whoever bought it was a real sly bastard.

As far as I knew, a barbarian's starting weapon was worth an average of at least 150,000 Stones.

'Well, that's not the important part.'

With that little bit of money, he'd somehow scraped by for a month.

Then came the next opening of the Labyrinth. In other words, the day I'd woken up in this body and decided to enter.

"Ha! You didn't enter the Labyrinth that day either? Are you out of your mind?"

"But how could I fight monsters without a weapon?"

That was why he should have just gone in the first time.

He was supposed to be a Player who'd made it all the way to the Gate of Abyss, wasn't he?

Couldn't he figure out even that much?

"B-besides, I must have eaten something bad that day! My stomach hurt!"

'That really leaves me speechless.'

My thoughts grew tangled.

'It's not like I can ask him outright whether he's actually played the game...'

Now that I thought about it, I wasn't even sure whether all evil spirits, including this guy, came from Earth like me.

This was a world where monsters and magic existed. It was entirely possible for the lore to include evil spirits summoned from other alien dimensions.

"Anyway, go on."

I doubted there was much more to it, but I held my tongue and heard out the rest.

Naturally, it wasn't far from what I'd expected.

He'd run out of money, been kicked out of his inn, and spent his days battling hunger, cold, and illness.

One day he'd learned of lodgings where barbarians gathered and gone there hoping for help, only to be shunned for some reason...

"Now that I think about it, you're quite unusual! Everyone else just looked at me strangely."

Honestly, I found him more remarkable.

How had he survived three whole months while being this careless?

'Or should I give him credit just for figuring out on his own that he needed to act like a barbarian?'

Though I couldn't understand a single choice he'd made, I also felt a growing sense of relief.

If I'd made a different choice back then...

'I probably wouldn't have fared much better.'

If I'd chosen to run away that day because I was afraid to fight.

"... By the way, how much does this place cost per day?"

I'd be sleeping on the streets by now, rather than in an inn with a window and a private bathtub.

Forget soup—I wouldn't even have stone bread to eat, and I'd be rummaging through garbage bins—

"A-ah! So what did you think of my story? Wasn't it pitiful?"

And perhaps I, too, would have been pouring out my misfortunes like this, relying on someone else's sympathy.

Before answering, I thought it over once more. Then I made my decision.

"It certainly was a sad story."

"Then you'll help me?"

His face brightened in an instant.

"O-of course I'll repay your kindness. You may not believe it, but I know a great deal about the Labyrinth! If we travel together from now on, I'll be an enormous help to you!"

He'd be a help?

'From the way he's talking, he does seem to know something about this world...'

I could more or less picture the future his wishful thinking was conjuring up. He was surely already imagining entering the Labyrinth with me as a team.

In his own way, he might genuinely have meant to repay me. He didn't know who I really was, after all.

But to draw a firm line before this went any further—

"I will not enter the Labyrinth with you."

I swore that future would never come to pass.

I had enough problems of my own, and I was supposed to drag dead weight into the Labyrinth just because we were in similar circumstances?

Why would I do something that insane?

"But you said you'd help me!"

Hearing the hint of resentment in his voice, I forced down another bitter smile.

"I'll help you another way."

"Another way?"

"Here. This is 150,000 Stones. Buy a weapon with it and enter the Labyrinth."

I took out three pieces of currency worth 50,000 Stones each and pressed them into his hand. His face lit up again.

"You're really just giving me this? Thank you! I'll be sure to repay this kindness!"

I didn't actually expect him to repay me. Even with this money, he didn't look likely to survive long with that attitude.

The Labyrinth I'd experienced firsthand wasn't a place you could easily navigate just because you knew the game.

But I gave him the 150,000 Stones anyway.

I handed him the money knowing it could do me no good whatsoever.

"Well, I'm tired. Would you leave now?"

"Ah, o-of course! All right! I'll come back another—"

"Don't."

I lowered my voice and spoke again to make certain he understood.

"Tarikan, son of Lien. Whether you squander that money or lose it, whether you survive the Labyrinth or make a fortune, even if things go well and you can afford to repay me—"

He flinched when I stepped closer and gripped his shoulder.

I could feel his bewilderment through my fingertips, but I continued without stopping.

"The same goes for any other reason. Once you leave this room today, never come looking for me again. Answer me if you understand. Do you?"

"... I understand."

After getting a definite answer, I all but forced him out of the room. Then I sprawled on the bed and mulled over what I'd just done.

A small chuckle escaped me.

'What, was I reminded of the old days?'

Perhaps I'd remembered a time when I'd desperately needed someone's help.

But even allowing for that...

'Even I think what I did was utterly hypocritical.'

Someone calculating would surely look at me and think I was a fool.

Someone emotional would think I was being sly, asking if that was all I could do to help.

Neither would be entirely wrong.

I had neither the coldness to step well back from the line nor the recklessness to cross it.

So I'd stopped right on that line.

'This must be what hypocrisy is.'

I closed my eyes and thought again.

Even if what I'd done today amounted to nothing but hypocrisy—

"Tarikan, try to stay alive as long as you can."

This was the best I could do.

A choice I could never have made today if I hadn't even had the money.

* * *

The next morning, I returned to the Explorer Guild branch I'd visited yesterday.

Unfortunately, a different employee was serving me, but...

"Five stars...?"

After checking my identification, the woman underwent the same instant change in expression as yesterday's clerk and began treating me courteously.

What the hell was this?

Had the district manager done something to my identification?

Curious, I questioned her, but couldn't get a clear answer.

"Stars? D-did I say that?"

Oh, now she was playing dumb.

I didn't press any further. It was probably some kind of internal guild code, like a label for VIPs or troublesome customers.

For a moment, I wondered which category I fell into, but...

'Either way, I benefit.'

What did it matter whether I was a VIP or a world-class problem customer? The result was the same: courteous service.

"Here is the list of teams meeting your criteria. Would you care to take a look, sir?"

Using the same criteria as yesterday, I checked today's postings. Aside from a few newly added teams, they were mostly unchanged.

'Will I find a decent team today?'

As I scanned the documents, focusing on the additions, my gaze stopped on one particular section.

I'd spotted a familiar name.

[Floor 3 Exploration - Hikurod Murad]

Preferred Exploration Area: None; to be decided through discussion later.

Average Rank: Undetermined.

Current Members: 1 dwarf melee-defense warrior (rank 7)

Recruiting: 4 members (any role; subject to change depending on team composition)

*Equal shares

'The team leader's name is Hikurod Murad?'

And he was a dwarf, too. It didn't seem likely to be someone else with the same name...

'Did his original team disband?'

Whatever the reason, this wasn't bad. The fact that he hadn't recruited a single member yet was a concern, but at least the leader was fairly trustworthy.

I was also curious what Numbered item he'd gotten in the Blood-Tinted Castle.

'I should at least meet him.'

I filled out a brief application and submitted it to the clerk, then left the building and headed straight for the commercial district.

The meeting would probably be arranged as early as tomorrow, or the day after at the latest.

'Then how about I spend some real money before that?'

I was certain this would be the most fun I'd had in recent memory.

'Uh... have I actually had any fun, though?'

I decided not to sweat the small stuff.