STGB Episode 479

The Big Fish (2)

Two warriors and one archer.

And…

‘The one without any gear—could he be an ability user?’

Yes, that must be it.

Mages, who have a lot to lose, usually don’t get involved in this sort of thing.

And Priests are out of the question.

‘Anyway, such a team at this rank performing a raid on the first floor…’

It’s heart-wrenching.

I wonder how helpless our baby barbarians must have felt.

I can’t exactly judge their feelings, but…

“……”

At least I can convey that feeling to these bastards.

“Are you laughing?”

One of them frowned.

Judging by his tone, he doesn’t seem to suspect my true identity. Rather, it sounds more like he’s mocking me—thinking I’m just a clueless Barbarian.

“Wow! No wonder they say their hearts are special. These guys don’t show a speck of fear.”

I decided to play along for now.

So…….

Swish.

I took a step back as though I had finally sensed something amiss, glancing at Aynar, who was still lying on the bare floor.

Snooore—! Snore…

How long is she going to keep pretending to sleep?

I kicked Aynar’s back with the tip of my foot, signalling that it was time to get up. Immediately, Aynar jolted awake.

“……Ugh! Wha, what is it!”

A reaction so realistic that it couldn’t be acting.

…So she was really asleep.

Sure, I can understand not noticing their presence, but sleeping on while we’re talking right next to her?

I don’t get it, but the situation isn’t too bad.

After all.

“Huh? Wha, what is it! Who are you guys!”

How could anyone not fall for this?

“Ah! You, you guys are……!”

Of course, Aynar seemed to realize the identity of the uninvited guests, so I quickly cut her off.

“Be careful.”

To be precise, I meant she should watch her mouth.

“Ah, got it…….”

Aynar grabbed her weapon and stood behind me as I raised my iron greatsword and scanned them cautiously.

They laughed mockingly and began to stretch.

“Just one question. Are you plunderers?”

They didn’t even bother to answer my question.

“Boss, let’s finish this quickly before anyone sees us. I think the guild is starting to catch on.”

What, are they treating me like I’m already dead?

All right, just throw the first punch.

From then on, it’s all up to me…

“Wait a minute! That barbarian… he looks familiar. Where… where have I seen him …?”

Suddenly, the hunchbacked crossbowman narrowed his eyes at me.

Could he have recognised me?

If so, I’ll have to go with Plan B-.

“Where would you have seen him? They all look the same. That’s why he looks familiar.

Right on time, backup arrived.

“Hmm, it doesn’t feel like that though…”

The archer’s survival instincts were admirable, but unfortunately the melee types seemed to have more say in the team.

“Think about it later. Let’s clean this up and get out of here first.”

That was the decided course of action.

“Heh heh heh.”

They grinned and began to close in.

And…

A thud.

The moment my back hit the wall as I stepped back.

The guy on my left swiftly swung his longsword.

Whoosh-!

A decent slash.

But I just stared at the blade as it moved towards my neck. Perhaps he mistook my inaction for being unable to react to his surprise attack.

” … ”

The swordsman’s eyes curved into a grin.

Well, that expression didn’t last long on his face.

Clank-

The blade stopped dead on my skin without even leaving a scratch.

“Huh?”

Yeah, judging by that expression, it looks like all my patience so far is paying off.

Swoosh.

I grabbed the blade with my bare hand, as if it were an annoying insect.

And then –

“-Urk!”

I gave a quick flick of my wrist to pull him in.

The swordsman, following the fundamental rule of never letting go of your weapon, came stumbling straight at me.

Crunch.

I shot out my other hand to grab his neck.

Then, right next to me, another of his comrade swung a double-bladed axe at my hand, probably thinking he had to save his comrade…

Click

Yes, it’s not easy to make the right decision in that split second.

“Aynar.”

The moment I gave the signal, Aynar swung her sword.

Her target was the warrior who’d just slashed at my arm.

BOOM!

As soon as the weapons clashed,  an explosion erupted, and the warrior holding the axe was blasted into dozens of fragments, spraying blood everywhere.

“…Explosive blade!”

The ability user shrieked as if he were having a fit.

That was the ability user’s last words.

Boom!

The Ability User was torn to pieces without even putting up a fight.

On the other hand, one of them made the right decision.

Tap.

Maybe it was his position, or maybe he instinctively sensed danger, but the crossbowman kept his distance from us.

“Bjorn Jandel!”

The crossbowman seemed to have already figured out who I was, and as soon as one of his comrades was blown apart, he turned and ran.

But—

[Your character has cast ‘Transcendence.’]

He thinks he can outrun me by just running on foot?

[Your character has cast ‘Eye of the Storm.’]

Like that’s going to happen.

***

As soon as I twisted the neck I was holding, the body went limp.

As I released my grip, the swordsman’s body collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.

“Please spare me. I’m not like them. I, I was just tricked into joining them. I, I told them not to do this! Really!”

The lone survivor, the crossbowman, lay on the ground, his head pressed to the ground, begging for his life.

Swoosh.

Aynar raised her sword as if hesitating, and the crossbowman screamed in panic.

“I, I have information!”

Hmm?

“Information?”

I raised my hand slightly to stop Aynar.

Seeing a glimmer of hope, the crossbowman made a condition.

“If I tell you, will you swear to… spare me?”

“Swear, huh…”

What a funny guy.

As I laughed softly, Aynar raised her voice in anger.

“Bjorn! It’s better to just kill this guy!”

“Enough. Calm down.”

“…….”

“Fine. I’ll swear. If the information you give is valuable, I’ll let you go.”

I made the oath coolly.

But the crossbowman’s expression was quite strange upon hearing the answer he wanted.

He seemed to be debating whether to trust me or not.

However, the crossbowman quickly made up his mind.

“Th, this will definitely be valuable to you, Baron…”

I guess he figured that someone like me wouldn’t break an oath… …….

“All right, just spit it out.”

As I urged him on, the crossbowman began to speak nervously.

“It’s… the mages……”

Mages?

Why mages all of a sudden?

I glared at him, telling him to get to the point, and he continued.

“Some mages… have posted requests on the black market. They’ll pay more if you bring them a barbarian’s heart…”

“Hmm……”

What’s that about?

“Is that all?”

“Yes?”

When I answered indifferently, the crossbowman’s face stiffened.

But what of it?

It wasn’t particularly valuable information.

There was no explanation as to who the mages were, and even if I knew who they were, there’s no way to punish them outside without evidence.

“If that’s all.

Then just die now.

As I was about to say that, the crossbowman interrupted me, shouting.

“There’s more! There’s more, Baron!”

“……?”

“Th, there’s also a request on the black market… for your heart… ……”

“…… What?”

Startled, I asked for more details.

The reward for the request was a whopping 2 billion stones.

The requester was unknown, he said.

“The black market, huh……”

As I fell into thought, the crossbowman began to appeal to me, sensing an opportunity.

“……So… what do you think? D-does this help you, Baron……?”

Ah, that?

It was definitely useful information.

Since I had no connections in that area, this was the first I’d heard of it.

I planned to investigate further once I returned to the city.

But…….

“No, not at all. Now, go ahead and die.”

What are you going to do if I say no?

“Th-this isn’t what we agreed—.”

What the hell is this bastard talking about?

Crunch.

I stepped on the crossbowman’s head and pressed down, causing him to writhe in pain.

I felt no pity.

Nor did I feel any guilt for breaking the oath.

“Promises are made between people.”

With those words, I applied more pressure.

Crack-

After finishing off the last one, I collected their equipment and bags and stored them in my subspace.

It wouldn’t be much, but it would be perfect to add to the barbarian treasury and use for the young barbarians—.

Squelch.

……Huh?

I heard a squelching sound from beside me and turned to see Aynar stabbing a corpse with her greatsword, gripping it in reverse.

“What are you doing, Aynar……?”

“Can’t you tell? I’m cutting out their hearts.”

“……?”

“Shouldn’t they know? If they want our hearts, they’ll have to stake their own.”

Hmm…….

Is she trying to say an eye for an eye?

“I’ll finish quickly, so don’t worry about it.”

After saying that, Aynar carved out the hearts from the two relatively intact corpses and laid the bodies out on a rock as if displaying an art piece.

“There, it’s done. Let’s go, Bjorn. We’ve got more bastards to kill, don’t we? I think I can act even better now!”

Honestly, she is pretty scary too.

***

Days 4, 5 and 6…

Time flew by quickly after the first successful fishing.

We spent our days wandering endlessly around the Crystal Cave, not even allowing ourselves a proper rest.

As time went on, our “fishing” strategy became more refined.

We smeared ourselves with goblin blood for extra detail, and hung the Level 9 mana stones we’d collected on pouches so they dangled in plain sight.

It would have been great if we’d been covered in real wounds, but that was realistically impossible.

Any wound that severe would regenerate in under a minute.

Anyway, the extra effort paid off. Before the end of Day 5, we managed to find another group of plunderers that felt similar to the first – and killed them.

For reference, these guys were more cautious than the previous group, secretly following us for a while to observe –

“Damn.”

I couldn’t exactly call it good news.

We found four fresh hearts in their packs.

They’d already finished a job before they met us.

“……Aynar, calm down. I’ll deal with this when we get back.”

“…….”

“So let’s go. Everyone’s probably waiting for us.”

“Got it…….”

After Aynar had calmed down, we went to the centre where our comrades were waiting.

“Mister!”

Erwin, who had sensed my presence from afar, came out to greet me.

Following Erwin, we went to the cave with the monument, activated a sound control spell and began our conversation.

“Emily, has anything unusual happened?”

“As if. The thing you were worried about has happened.”

“The thing I was worried about…”

“There are people nearby watching us.”

Yes, that’s what I thought…….

“What should we do? If they’re sent by Count Alminas, summoning the Floor Master could be extremely dangerous.”

Vercil spoke with a serious expression, offering advice.

But I just grinned.

“Don’t worry too much. It’s within the expected parameters.”

“…… You expected this?”

Yes, I even openly submitted a submission request to the guild, saying I’d be hunting somewhere, didn’t I?

It would be strange not to expect this level of interference.

Besides, it’s not something I was “worried” about.

If anything, it’s something I ‘expected’.

When Vercil asked about our next move, I answered decisively.

“We will summon the Floor Master as planned.”

The big fish has taken the bait.