Bjorn Yandel the Barbarian

If you keep going up the stairs that look like an infinite staircase, you will come across a hidden space where you can get a mystery box and obtain new armor.

We were definitely confused when we finally got there.

Because the middle boss, ‘Makairo’, was already dead and in a coffin as a skeleton····

“······”

“······”

When we visited the stone chamber again, we couldn’t help but be confused in another sense.

“Where on earth did this guy go? His body couldn’t have moved by walking.”

When I opened the coffin, the body was gone.

“Hey, Aureus. Wasn’t it you who came to investigate alone last time?”

“I see…?”

“Was it there then? In the coffin.”

When Baekho Lee asked with a sharp look in his eyes, Aures avoided his gaze and trailed off.

“that····”

“What? You were telling me clearly back then?”

“···I don’t know·”

“You don’t know? What does that mean?”

“When I came back then, I couldn’t open the stone coffin to check it out···”

“Hey, are you kidding me? You came all the way to the stone chamber and didn’t even open the coffin before you left…? You didn’t just come back after slacking off without even going to the stone chamber, did you?”

Aures waved his hands violently and denied Lee Baek-ho’s words, which seemed like an interrogation.

“That’s possible! I’m sure I went there and back properly! My legs hurt so I went up a little slowly, but···!”

“Don’t say anything like that. It was a mistake.”

But did it give you strength when Jaina, who was next to you, offered words of support?

Aureus’s voice also became louder than before.

“Young kid! Don’t you know that I was the only one who was making you do the most annoying things! Even so, you worked hard without complaining, so I feel so bad when you say this···!”

It wasn’t quite the opposite, but it was enough to make the listener burst into laughter.

It was the simplest investigation I had ever done, even though it took a long time, but he couldn’t even do that properly.

“Ha! Are you upset? Are you really making me upset?”

“Stop it. Weren’t we the ones who sent Aureus alone? We should have expected that he wouldn’t be able to handle such a simple task alone, but we didn’t, so it was our fault.”

At the words of the old man of destruction, Aures seemed to hesitate for a moment whether these were words of criticism or words of protection, and then nodded.

“······Just as Lord Lu Luingenes said!”

It seems like the guy took those words as a warning.

But when I see this, I feel weak for no reason.

Should I say that, as the old man said, we felt bad for giving him that mission?

In fact, Baekho Lee seemed to have had similar thoughts to me, as he only sighed deeply and did not say any more words of reprimand.

“Ha… Okay, that’s not important…”

“How on earth did the body disappear···?”

The story that was lost in Samcheonpo returns to the main topic and each person expresses their opinion.

“There is room for interpretation, but I think there is a possibility that someone else is hiding in these ruins.”

“There’s no guarantee that there will be exactly one person.”

“Yes, and if that’s true, then it’s highly likely that he has a high level of stealth ability. I searched so thoroughly and couldn’t find even a single hair.”

“···Oh! Now that I hear it, maybe you could be bald!”

Baekho Lee nodded at GM’s guess that someone might be hiding in the ruins.

“There might definitely be someone hiding here.”

“Yes, I think I can rule out that possibility—·”

“Well, there might be someone among us who has some kind of ulterior motive.”

This one is really consistent too.

Is it a habit to be suspicious of your colleagues first?

‘That’s almost a disease····’

Of course, since I know roughly about Baekho Lee’s painful past, it’s not that I don’t understand his behavior at all.

but····

“Stop suspecting your comrades. That’s something you really have to save until the very end.”

“···What did I say? I just said that it could happen. You have to keep the possibility open, right?”

Let’s talk about it, Baekho Lee, who is ticking like a gold leaf.

I sighed inwardly and changed the subject.

Well, I think it’s time to listen to it now.

“Okay, now speak properly. This time, don’t try to change the subject or anything.”

“When did I ever do that?”

When was it like that? It’s been like that all along.

“Why did you come out of the castle walls?”

Why did Baekho Lee lead his comrades out of the castle walls?

I have asked about this many times, but have not yet received a single proper answer.

“···What does that have to do with the current situation?”

“Of course it is. No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t seem like the things I’ve experienced so far were aimed at me and Havellion.”

Someone also committed suicide by breaking the magic circle that led back to the city.

While we were wandering around trying to collect materials for restoring the magic circle, a mysterious man guided us to the dimensional stone monument.

And now, even being trapped in this golden relic,

“Whoever the unidentified mastermind behind this trick is, I believe he is after you.”

“······”

“So now, tell me frankly. If you know what your purpose was, you can at least infer what the other person’s purpose is.”

Let’s speak firmly. Baekho Lee looked at my expression and opened his mouth as if he had no choice.

“I didn’t come out to do anything grand. I just wanted to investigate a little more about the ‘ashy world’ the Baron was talking about.”

“Investigation? Tell me exactly.”

“I really wanted to find out if that gray world was really expanding.”

“Isn’t that something you can figure out just by watching?”

“No, not really. It seems like it’s slowly approaching, but then one day, when you go back, it’s far away again. It’s like the tide.”

“So what’s the conclusion?”

“I haven’t come to a conclusion yet. I wanted to conduct an exact experiment, so I was just going to mark a few places and go back.”

I was about to go back····

Those words suddenly gave me this thought:

Perhaps the unidentified person was trying to interfere with what Baekho Lee was doing outside the walls.

No, there is a high probability that his purpose is

[Oh, this is a mess. Grandpa said it would take at least a year.]

Preventing Baekho Lee from returning to the city

So he destroyed the return magic circle and destroyed the evidence.

‘But at that time, GM and I were outside, so we ended up joining in.’

Someone’s plan was ruined by the appearance of a GM who could fix the magic circle in an instant, so he lured us to the ‘Dimensional Stone’ and trapped us here.

‘If I say that, would that be a leap of faith?’

Well, I don’t think it’s a leap, but the evidence is weak to say that this is definitely the case.

So I decided to continue asking questions.

For example:

“That one year later you mentioned before”

Perhaps the most important thing to understand in the current situation is

“What on earth is going on then?”

“······”

“Tell me. If I know that, I can at least guess who broke the magic circle.”

“Haa… My head really hurts so much I could die.”

Lee Baek-ho touches his forehead with his hand and shakes his head slightly. But did he ultimately decide that continuing to hide it in this situation would not help?

“I’ll only say this once, so listen carefully.”

Within, Baekho Lee’s mouth slowly opened.

“It’s war…”

“···war?”

“Once the preparations made on Noark’s side are complete, we will advance to the imperial capital Karnon and kill the king of Lapdonia.”

Is it an illusion that I can already smell blood?

***

In Noark, they are planning to kill the king.

And it is highly likely that Baekho Lee is closely involved in this plan.

‘No, he must have a key role. This kid’s skill can blow up half of the palace with one hit.’

The problem is that if this happens, there will be too many people who will try to stop Baekho Lee.

Is it difficult to pinpoint someone?

‘But if we really have to be picky, it seems most likely that they got information from the royal family and took action····’

Even this kind of insidious handling of affairs is a technique that the royal family is good at.

“But, Baron, Baron, if it’s really us they’re after, then you know things are going to get even crazier, right?”

“···What does that mean?”

“We didn’t come here to spread rumors in the neighborhood. We didn’t even tell Lord Noark that we were coming out.”

“so?”

“There really was a traitor among us. Either he was attached to the royal family and was doing tricks, or he was just leaking information that we were leaving.”

When Baekho Lee opened his tiger eyes as usual and glanced at his colleagues, this time too, only Aures hesitated and shrugged his shoulders.

‘Why is this guy, the warrior, so spiritless?’

As I was watching with that thought, Jaina whispered quietly.

“I got beaten to death before, so that’s why I’m like that.”

“To Baekho Lee?”

“Then who would you like to give it to?”

aha·

Somehow, other kids just let it go even if I glare at them, but this kid was the only one who did that.

Thump thump

Within a few minutes, Baekho Lee slowly walked out and stopped in the center of the group.

“Anyway, I think it’s time to do some verification now. What do you all think?”

“I don’t care”

“Me too! I don’t mind either!”

“It might be better to just touch on this at this point.”

Everyone agreed to Baekho Lee’s proposal without exception.

If there really is a traitor, it is difficult to come up with a response.

But did you end up deciding that you still need to check it properly?

“Okay, so I guess we got consent······”

Within, Baekho Lee takes out an object from the subspace.

No. 7234 Misplaced Trust

That’s exactly what I’ve used several times so far.

But does this guy always carry around something like this that can detect lies?

“I guess this one has better judgment than my special ability. I’m going to do this. Is everyone okay with it?”

Even though Baekho Lee’s provocation brought out misplaced trust, his colleagues’ reaction was calm.

Hoooooow-!

As soon as I press the power button, the hour hand on the disc starts moving slowly.

And in that state·

“Jaina Flyer, have you ever told anyone that we were coming out?”

“No, there isn’t any.”

Baekho Lee takes turns asking questions to each person.

Although it was somewhat expected, no one was unable to answer the question.

But weren’t you satisfied even here?

“Rex Aures, were you not involved in the fact that we ended up here?”

I ask my colleagues the same question again, so that there is no room for escape.

No matter how many times I repeated it, the result was the same.

“No, I have never done that.”

“Lee Baek-ho, stop it. This proves that everyone is innocent.”

“I see? So there really weren’t any traitors among us?”

The tone of speech became a little less sensitive, as if the doubts had been somewhat relieved.

But Baekho Lee was more efficient than me.

“Baekho Baek? Then if all your doubts have been cleared, then let’s stop here—·”

“No, there’s still time left, but it’s a bit of a waste.”

“What do you mean by it’s a pity—·”

“Well, that’s literally it. Since we’re already on it… let’s spend some time getting to know each other a little more. We… have been together for quite some time, but we don’t really know each other that well, right?”

Lee Baek-ho, who had been speaking in a quiet voice, looks at Jayna Flyer with a grin.

“So in that sense, the first question is…”

“······”

“Jaina Flyer still wants to kill me, Baekho Lee.”

I couldn’t figure out why this question suddenly came up.

but····

“If it’s true, answer yes. If not, answer no.”

The playfulness in his eyes and speech suddenly disappeared.

At this, Jaina’s expression hardened and she soon answered in a cold voice.

“yes·”

···How on earth do these guys get along as colleagues?