Dream 7

The entire world was covered in darkness.

Flash—!

Like the first rays of dawn, light broke over the horizon and quickly filled the world with color.

The wind blew so fiercely that I thought it might sweep me off my feet.

A sharp ringing filled my ears as new information flooded my mind.

Well, it wasn’t exactly new information.

“Finally… I feel alive.” I gasped, slipping into Raphdonian.

When the psychiatrist in the dream told me to try speaking in Raphdonian, I was utterly ashamed because I couldn’t say anything and just kept opening and closing my mouth like a fish.

But that doesn’t matter now that I’m back.

Swish.

I looked down at my hands.

Unlike Lee Han-soo’s small, stubby hands, these are the rough, crude hands of a barbarian.

Squeeze

I clenched and unclenched my fists, testing the condition of my body.

Click, click.

Just then, I heard the familiar sound of heels. I looked in that direction, and sure enough…

The girl I’d seen when I was first pulled into the dream world appeared like a ghost, walking straight toward me.

“Ellis Groundia.”

When I called her name, the Earth witch stopped walking and stared intently at me.

“I told you not to come back.”

“……”

“Why did you return?”

There was a hint of sadness in her voice.

I let out a short laugh and answered.

“Because this is where I belong.”

But my answer didn’t seem to satisfy her. If anything, she looked angry as she shot back, “It was the world where your dream came true.”

“But it was fake.”

“You know it wasn’t fake.”

Hmm… perhaps.

The longer I stayed there, the clearer it became that it wasn’t just an ordinary dream.

But, as I said earlier.

“It doesn’t matter. Because that’s not where I belong.”

When I reaffirmed my resolve, the girl was left speechless.

Whoooooooooosh—!

The wind swept by and, as time passed, the white light spread until it covered more than half of the world.

Crackle—

A sharp cracking sound rang out, and a boundary of light and darkness appeared between me and the Earth Witch.

“I’ve made my choice clear. Time to send me back, don’t you think?” I asked, finally breaking the silence that somehow felt both long and short.

“You’ll only face more pain and sorrow there.”

Oh, so that’s how she wants to play it, then?

“Do you still want to go back?”

It was a childish question befitting of her appearance, but I answered it seriously.

“Yeah. I’m going back.”

Sure, it’s a hellish world where I constantly have to watch my back and worry about my comrades’ survival.

“You’ll lose something precious again. What you’ve suffered so far will feel like nothing compared to what’s coming. You’ll fall into despair.”

Just hearing her words made my chest tighten.

“So what?”

That’s life, isn’t it?

It’s hard and painful, and it always makes you want to run away.’

And Lee Han-soo… always ran away from reality.

He lived his whole life not knowing that running away isn’t the answer.

The life of a warrior taught me that.

Yeah, so…

“No matter how much it hurts, I will move forward.”

“No matter what kind of shitty things happen, I will struggle viciously to survive until the very, very end.”

“Because I am a Barbarian.”

 

With those final words, I stepped into the darkness where she was standing, and she took a step back.

Whoooooosh—!

Strangely, as I moved forward, the darkness receded.

Oh? That’s kind of fun.

Step.

I took a bigger stride this time.

She didn’t retreat.

She simply stood still and spoke quietly.

“So you’ve chosen… the life of Bjorn Jandel.”

Step.

The witch, who’d been staring up at me all this time, finally smiled—a tired, defeated smile.

“So you, in the end… were no different from us.”

…Huh?

“Us? What are you suddenly talking about?”

I stopped in my tracks, confused by her words, but she didn’t answer.

“You talk like you’ve stopped running, but you’re still running all the same.”

“What does that even—”

The moment I asked and took one step forward, it happened.

“So, we were right after all.”

The girl turned her back and walked into the darkness.

Click, click.

The gradually fading sound of heels.

And the receding darkness along with it.

“Hey, wait!!”

I tried to follow her, but for some reason, the distance between us didn’t close at all.

Click—.

And when even that faint sound of her heels vanished and the world filled completely with light—

“Jan… dam…! Del… Baron…!”

A man’s voice thundered through the air.

At first, it was distorted by static, but it soon became clear and sharp.

“Hey! Baron Jandel, you bastard!”

“Haa…”

The ending had been a little unsettling, but—

“Hey! Wake up already, for god’s saaake!!”

“I’m awake. Stop shaking me.”

“…Huh?”

At last, I’d returned.

To where I belonged.

***

Honestly, I’d been a little worried.

If I cleared Dungeon & Stone again, where would I end up?

Would I wake up in another barbarian’s body and have to redo the coming-of-age ceremony?

Or maybe I’d wake up in a world decades in the past—or maybe decades in the future. Perhaps my allies had long since vanished into history, and the few who remained would greet me in their old bodies.

Well, to cut a long story short, it turned out to be just delusions.

“Stop shaking me, I’m awake.”

I opened my eyes on the deck of a ship.

I was lying flat out and soaked, while Lee Baek-ho gripped my shoulders and shook me hard.

“Uh? Br—o, Baron! You’re awake! Are you okay?”

Rather, when I opened my eyes, Lee Baek-ho seemed flustered and stepped back.

I quickly and briefly checked the most important things first.

“What’s our situation? Are we in danger?”

“N-no! It’s all over. We’re safe now.”

Good.

The last thing I remember is being chased by Draizen and falling into the water. Given how desperately he’d been yelling, I’d thought something urgent had happened.

“How long was I out?”

“Not long.”

“Exactly how long?”

“Uh… about thirty minutes?”

Thirty minutes, huh…

I felt relieved, but also somewhat empty. After all, I’d spent what felt like half a year in there.

“And the others?”

“The mages are exhausted and have started meditating. The rest are fine, as you can see.”

Okay, so nothing major had happened while I was out.

So, I took my time and listened to what had happened during that period.

“Tell me everything that happened after I fell overboard. Don’t leave out a single detail.”

Recognising the importance of sharing information, Baekho promptly delivered his report. In summary…

“As soon as you fell, I jumped in after you.”

He’d dived into the water to rescue me.

Apparently, he’d nearly died because the awakened sea monsters started swarming him.

(Yes, I did gloss over the overly heroic parts of his story.)

Anyway, thanks to a combination of cunning and luck, Baek-ho managed to pull me to safety.

He said it was lucky the barbarian’s skeleton was heavy and that I’d been in full armor; otherwise, the current would’ve carried me straight under the waterfall.

“After that, we barely made it back onto the ship and ran for it.”

“So easily…?”

It sounded too convenient.

Even if the mages had burned through all their mana to activate the ship’s defensive runes, surviving long enough to escape a rank-one ‘special boss’ like Draizen was hard to believe.

And the fact that “we just escaped somehow” was even more suspicious.

“I know, it sounds weird to me too,” Baek-ho said. “But that’s really what happened. We just kept running, and it stopped chasing us. Even when it attacked the ship, it only kinda poked at us.”

Baek-ho’s account of the Draizen’s behavior didn’t sit right with me. That creature just wasn’t supposed to be that docile.

But, since he says so, I’ll let it pass for now…

 

‘But why were you so desperate to wake me up? It didn’t seem like there was any particular danger.’

At this, Baek-ho’s face twisted into a strange expression.

“You really don’t know? Oh… right, you don’t.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

He cleared his throat awkwardly before continuing, pretending nothing was wrong.

“Ahem! Well, of course I was desperate! Your heart stopped, you know!”

“…What?”

“Seriously! I thought you were dead!”

When I finally took a proper look at Baekho, it was clear that he hadn’t been exaggerating when he said he’d almost died in the water.

He was drenched from head to toe and his gear was battered and broken in places. There were a few open wounds visible, too.

He’d nearly died diving after me, and then my heart had stopped. No wonder he’d freaked out.

Still…

‘So he really did all that to save me?’

For a moment, I felt ashamed, remembering that I had considered pushing him overboard earlier.

But then again…

‘He had a reason. It wasn’t out of kindness.’

He had his own motives.

He’d saved me because it benefited him, and nothing more.

That’s the kind of mindset that fits Raphdonia.

“Baek-ho. I was going to ask something.”

“What is it?”

“Never mind. Forget it.”

“What? Come on, tell me. Don’t drive me crazy, man!”

I flinched at his sudden use of “Man,” but luckily, the others didn’t seem to notice. I mean, Baek-ho is the type to just blurt things out to anyone.

“What is it! What is it! What is it! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!”

“I said it’s nothing.”

“Argh! You’re gonna make me lose my mind!!”

He was shouting louder than usual. For a moment, I almost told him, just to shut him up, but I stopped myself.

Because the question I’d meant to ask was—

‘Why didn’t you just let me die?’

After all, this guy once planned to kill me and resurrect me using the ‘Stone of Resurrection’.

If I died today, he could use the ‘Stone of Resurrection’ I possessed to resurrect me. Then, he could manipulate me, with my memories erased, as he pleased.

But…

‘He probably wasn’t sure.’

He couldn’t have known whether I was still carrying the stone.

Maybe Misha had it. Maybe I’d entrusted it to someone else.

Well, since he’s a smart guy, he probably judged that the probability of me having the ‘Stone of Resurrection’ was the highest.

‘But he can’t open my subspace unless I’m alive. For him, it would have been a gamble.’

 

And if I mention this, he will know that I have the Stone of Resurrection. That could cause problems later.

‘Yeah… this really makes it feel like I’m back.’

I laughed quietly at the thought, and Baek-ho suddenly spoke up.

“Ah, right! Since we’re done with what you wanted to ask, can I ask you one more thing?”

“Go ahead.”

“You were smiling while you were out cold…”

“And?”

“What kind of dream did you have?”

I paused.

‘What kind of dream, huh…’

Even if I told him the truth, he’d think I was crazy.

Just like everyone else did in that world.

If I mentioned witches, parallel worlds, and all that, he’d say it was just hallucinations from a field effect.

‘Funny how that works.’

But the funnier part was—I wasn’t even sure myself.

Whether what I’d seen was really a dream… or another reality altogether.

Whether that witch was real… or just a phantom.

Badump—

Even now, I couldn’t quite tell.

In fact, ever since I woke up, the memories from there have been gradually fading, too.

It’s just like when you wake from a dream and only remember a few striking scenes.

illusion full of, you know, decadent pleasures or something…”

“It wasn’t anything like that. Stop talking nonsense.”

“Then what was it? You can at least tell me that much, right? Between us.”

What exactly is ‘between us’?

I felt like cutting him off to ask that back, but it would’ve only made the conversation longer, so I settled for a quick summary.

“Just a dumb dream.”

So, there’s no reason to feel regret about it either.

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