This was my second coming-of-age ceremony as Chieftain.
Since I had already done it once, the ceremony proceeded much more smoothly.
'No newbies this ti, I guess.'
None of the young warriors acted suspiciously.
It was a good thing.
The warriors wouldn't have to worry about their bodies being stolen, and the players wouldn't have to suffer as evil spirits.
That damned ga needed to disappear.
"Charon."
"Yes, Chieftain?"
I asked the 2nd Elder about the newbie from last month.
"Bekta, Kiltau's third son? Ah, the one who chose the shield!"
"Yes. How is he doing?"
"Heh, worried about him, are we?"
"Just answer the question."
"He's doing well. I heard he did quite well in the labyrinth..."
Charon, the tribe's gossip king, gave a detailed report.
"He's like a younger version of you. Just like you went to the 2nd floor on your first expedition, he also went to the 2nd floor with his teammates."
"The 2nd floor...?"
The newbie had made good use of the team system and starting items I had introduced.
He had traded a potion for a torch and cleared the Dark Zone.
On the 2nd floor, he had acted as a tank, protecting his teammates...
"He earned quite a bit of money on his first expedition."
So he was adapting well.
It wasn't easy, even with ga knowledge.
But I was a little worried.
'If he keeps showing off, he'll attract the attention of the Secret Police's Evil Spirit Hunters...'
Well, he would be fine.
If he was foolish enough to reveal his identity, he wouldn't survive for long anyway.
"We should add a torch to the starting items from next month."
"That's a good idea."
Our conversation ended, and I escorted the young warriors to the city.
As we were walking...
"Chieftain."
Charon called out to , his voice tense.
"I... found sothing."
"...?"
"I know why those warriors died. You asked to investigate, didn't you?"
Ah, that.
The first thing I had done after returning to the sanctuary was to check on the casualties.
Seven warriors had died.
It was a record-high survival rate of almost 90% for a first expedition.
But I wasn't satisfied.
I had given them potions, shoes, and even ford teams of three or four... and yet three of them had died?
"So what was the cause of death?"
Charon's voice was grim.
"It seems like they were killed by looters. There were reports of barbarian corpses found in the Crystal Cave."
"..."
"According to the reports, there were signs of foul play."
"As expected..."
I had suspected as much.
But there was sothing that didn't make sense.
"It's strange. They were in teams of four, and yet they were killed by looters? On the 1st floor?"
"I thought so too, so I investigated further. And..."
Charon lowered his voice so the young warriors wouldn't hear.
"The price of barbarian hearts has increased significantly."
My heart sank.
"Increased...? What do you an?"
"The standard price set by the Mage Tower has skyrocketed."
"Damn it."
Now I understood.
The supply of barbarian hearts had decreased, and the demand had increased.
'With each heart worth millions of stones... it's only natural that so would resort to looting.'
It was more profitable than exploring the 4th or 5th floor.
No matter how many potions or teams I gave them,
They couldn't stand against experienced looters who specialized in hunting lower-level explorers.
"According to the witnesses, most of the bodies showed signs of being ambushed."
Those bastards.
"...."
I needed to take action.
___________________
I escorted the young warriors to the Dinsion Plaza and had a guild mage cast the Bonding spell on them.
It wasn't the sa mage as before.
We had a mage in our clan now.
"It's a low-level spell, but... it's still tiring with this many people."
"Thank you, Bersil Gowland."
"Ah... I wasn't trying to take credit..."
"It's fine. You should be proud of your skills."
I patted Bersil's shoulder, and Alia sighed.
"...There he goes again."
I didn't know what she was talking about.
"Yandel, let's go."
After the warriors were bonded, we entered the labyrinth.
「Entered the 1st-floor Crystal Cave.」
The Crystal Cave. A familiar sight.
We headed straight for the central Dark Zone.
"...This feels strange. Coming back here..."
Bersil muttered, looking around the cave.
But Erwen wasn't impressed.
"What's so strange about it? You just opened a portal and ran away."
"...Sorry."
Bersil flinched, but she apologized instead of getting angry.
It made the atmosphere awkward.
"Don't apologize. It wasn't your fault."
But Erwen didn't seem to agree.
"It was her fault. If she hadn't run away, more people would have survived."
She had lost her sister in that incident.
"There are always consequences for making the wrong choice."
"...You're right. And I'm paying the price."
Bersil seed genuinely remorseful, and Erwen didn't press her further.
She even apologized to .
"...Mister, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."
"Huh...? It's fine. Don't worry about it."
"Okay..."
What? She was surprisingly calm.
She usually held grudges for much longer...
"Bjorn! When are we going to fight that monster?! I've been waiting for this!"
Ainar's excited shout broke the awkward silence.
Alia frowned.
"Barbarian, you've asked that question countless tis."
"...I forgot!"
"And?"
"S-Sorry...?"
"That's better."
Ainar had learned her lesson.
But she still asked the sa question.
"So... when can we fight him? I rember the strategy!"
Alia sighed and answered,
"...On the 7th day."
"W-We have to wait that long?! But we can summon him on the 3rd day!"
"You're saying the sa thing you said at the eting."
The 1st-floor Floor Lord could be summoned on the 3rd day, as long as there were five or more explorers in the area.
But the spawn rate increased exponentially over ti, so it was practically a guaranteed spawn after the first day.
Therefore...
'We'll start the summoning ritual on the evening of the 6th day.'
That way, we could guarantee a spawn on the 7th day, the last day of the labyrinth cycle.
That was the standard five-man strategy.
"So... we just wait here until then?"
Ainar looked bored.
I could already imagine her complaining about it every day.
But I wasn't worried.
"Ainar, don't worry. I have sothing for you to do."
"Oh! Really?!"
Ainar's face lit up, while Alia tilted her head.
"...Yandel, what do you an? I haven't heard anything about this."
Well, she wouldn't have.
It was a plan I had co up with on the way here.
"We can't stay together until the 6th day. You three can rest here. I'll be back soon."
"...What are you planning?"
Alia looked suspicious.
She thought I was going to cause trouble again.
"Don't worry. We're just going for a walk."
I would be removing my expensive equipnt first, though.
I would be disguised as a newbie.
___________________
I left the group with Ainar.
Erwen had offered to help, but I had politely declined.
There was a simple reason.
Only barbarians could do what I was about to do.
Therefore...
Step, step.
Ainar and I walked through the cave.
We didn't have a destination.
"..."
"..."
I had already stored my usual equipnt in my subspace pocket and put on the barbarian newbie set.
A pair of boots.
A cloth backpack.
A pouch.
And a random iron weapon from the coming-of-age ceremony.
"...Bjorn, do you really think they'll fall for this?"
Ainar seed skeptical, even though she had agreed to help.
"We're both pretty well-known..."
"They know our nas, not our faces."
"You're naive! They'll recognize you, even if they don't recognize !"
I didn't think so.
First impressions were based on appearance and deanor, not just nas.
"We're too old for this... They'll think we're strange."
She was worrying too much.
Barbarians all looked old. A few years wouldn't make a difference.
Ah, the source of my confidence was my own experience.
They all looked excited when I approached them...
"Gurgle, gurgle."
A goblin erged from a crevice in the crystal wall.
And...
Slash-!
...it was imdiately slain by Ainar's iron sword.
I was shocked.
"Ainar! What are you doing?!"
"W-What?! I just killed a goblin..."
She looked indignant.
"That's the problem! You killed it too easily!"
"...Then what am I supposed to do?"
"I'll show you."
I found a 9th-grade goblin and demonstrated the proper way to fight.
"G-Gurgle...!"
It was a single goblin.
"..."
I focused my killing intent on the monster.
Clench.
My grip tightened on the sword hilt.
"B-Behel—laaaaa!"
I roared and swung my sword randomly.
The goblin dodged easily.
And...
Slash-!
After a few more swings, I finally landed a hit and killed it.
Swaaaaaaaaaa!
I rushed to pick up the magic stone, as if I hadn't eaten in days.
"See? Can you do that?"
"Bjorn... even newbies don't fight that badly... I an, I—"
She was arguing with again.
"Just tell if you can do it or not."
"I'll try..."
"And always shout the war cry. It makes you look more convincing."
She was shouting our ancestor god's na for a 9th-grade goblin... but Ainar suppressed her embarrassnt and followed my instructions.
"B-Behel—la..."
Her enthusiasm seed to have waned, but it was good enough.
That concluded the basic training.
Now it was ti for the real thing.
"We'll be doing this from now on. Understand?"
"Understood..."
We began exploring the Crystal Cave, fighting 9th-grade monsters.
We avoided other explorers and ate rock bread when we were hungry.
It was the Barbarian Fishern Mode.
It was surprisingly difficult.
Even a glancing blow could kill a goblin...
But I gradually got used to it.
Day 1, Day 2...
Ti passed.
But we hadn't encountered any looters yet.
I wasn't worried.
'They'll be more cautious on the first few days, when there are more explorers around.'
Day 3. Most of the explorers had moved to the upper floors.
It was our chance.
Rumble, rumble...
I was on watch duty, trying to stay awake, when I finally sensed them.
Step, step.
Four explorers approached us, their footsteps heavy and unhurried.
Their equipnt was decent.
'At least 4th floor...'
It didn't matter.
Step.
They stopped a short distance away, surrounding us.
And...
"Finally, we found them. Those two have been running around like crazy."
One of them grinned at .
It was exactly what I had been thinking.
"We finally found you."
Indeed.
Smirk.
We had finally found each other.
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