Surviving the Game as a Barbarian Chapter 728: Traitor (2)

The art gallery in District 4 that I had visited alone several tis before.

Abandoned and unmanaged after Noark’s invasion, there a woman was putting paintings from the walls into a pocket dinsion.

“Um... Emily?”

“I’m not stealing them.”

“...Excuse ?”

“If I leave them here, people who don’t know their value might damage them recklessly...”

“Oh... I see.”

“I’m definitely not keeping them to hang in my house later. If soone asks for them back, I’ll return them right away. Understand?”

“...Yes, I understand. But what I wanted to say was actually sothing else...”

At Auyen’s words, Alia cleared her throat awkwardly.

“Go ahead.”

“Well... it’s nothing special... Ah! And I’m not rushing you! It’s just... I was wondering what your plans are...”

At that question, Alia put a finger to her chin and thought for a mont.

“I’m still thinking.”

“...Excuse ?”

“For now, we’re holding out. There’s no urgent need to act. Bear with the frustration a little longer.”

“No, no! I’m not frustrated at all!”

“Good to hear.”

Alia continued walking the darkened gallery, putting art into the pocket dinsion, and Auyen assisted her.

Then...

“You’re not taking that?”

“Those works are trash. The artist was said to have done awful things with little girls while alive.”

“...Let’s burn them.”

After using the remaining works as kindling, Alia leaned back and rested, and Auyen didn’t bother her further.

“...”

“...”

A long silence passed.

As ti went on and darkness crept outside the window,

Auyen spoke in a hushed voice.

“...I’m sorry, Emily.”

An incomplete sentence, but Alia imdiately understood and chuckled.

“You an back when we got separated?”

“Yes... If I hadn’t fallen behind then... we wouldn’t be hiding apart like this.”

The day the main force abandoned them and retreated.

Auyen at the frontline couldn’t dodge an arrow in the chaos and fell behind.

Alia turned back right away to save her, succeeded, but ended up separated from the clan mbers.

Eventually, they moved cautiously to avoid enemies and arrived at this gallery in District 4.

“...Sorry for holding you back...”

“That’s not sothing to apologize for.”

“...Excuse ?”

“You say thanks in such situations.”

Despite saying this, Alia smiled sowhat wryly.

‘Thanks, not sorry...’

She would never have said that when she was full of bitterness before.

Thinking so, a strange loneliness blossod inside her.

Not just longing for people, but a feeling directed at a particular soone.

‘...I wonder if I caused any trouble in the anti.’

Worrying so, Alia realized this was the feeling called ‘missing soone,’ and it was different from what she felt for her real older sister.

She instinctively rose from crouching behind the wall with the least light.

Toward the window where the bright moonlight shone best.

She usually didn’t like such places.

Old habits die hard: she felt comfortable in darkness and irritated in bright places.

But...

‘Not bad at all.’

Bathed in warm moonlight, Alia quietly murmured,

“Emily Raines.”

A new na she created so as not to be a nuisance.

At first, just living openly with that na was satisfying enough.

Was I always this greedy?

“Alia Rainwails.”

For the first ti in a long while, she uttered her real na aloud and thought,

‘Maybe.’

Maybe it was ti to end the life hidden in shadows.

“...?”

Just as the thought ca, she noticed a strange bodily sensation and quickly activated her ability.

‘Self-replication.’

The ability she’d used like her own body for a long ti didn’t activate.

And...

“...Punishnt for greed.”

She knew exactly why.

「Character has entered the range of [Silent Spell].」

「All Essence skills are sealed.」

Betrayer.

At that word, my body stiffened and my ears pricked involuntarily.

Maybe it’s a human instinct to form a ‘society.’

‘...It’s a bit late to be chasing now anyway.’

I gave up chasing the corpse collector here.

But warned him, just in case he tried anything.

“If you talk nonsense, it’ll end painfully.”

It wasn’t an empty threat, and luckily, he seed to get it.

“...Of course. But it’s okay! I’m not lying!”

“Then prove it.”

Without wasting words, I got straight to the point.

Knowing my personality, Vivian swallowed once and began with the core.

“Arua Raven! That old mage you used to know is the betrayer!”

Huh, Raven was the betrayer...

My grip tightened on the hamr the mont I heard.

Not because of betrayal feelings.

“Waste of ti.”

Did he think I gave up chasing to listen to this nonsense?

No, I’ll settle it quickly and follow—

“I saw it! I saw it myself!”

Saw what?

I thought hearing more nonsense was a waste, but surprisingly, her mouth moved faster than my hamr.

“When Hwangdo Karnon was burning! She was there looking at that woman and said, ‘I never thought I’d be betrayed like this...’!”

“...Do you have so drug or sothing?”

“No! I know it sounds strange! But wait! Put down the hamr! I can explain.”

“Ten seconds.”

“...What?”

“Nine, eight...”

Ignoring her, I started counting.

Vivian understood and hurried into her final statent.

“I don’t know if you’ll believe , but she [N O V E L I G H T] used a first-rank dark magic called [Future Sight]. I wasn’t alone; many dark mages helped, and with trendous support, we barely succeeded...”

“Stick to the point.”

“It was a spell to predict the success of this incident, and it failed! We saw Karnon burning but not the king’s assassination—only so random scenes!”

“...So you’re saying Raven betrayed ?”

“Yes! That’s why I said I saw it myself!”

Hmm...

Maybe I can listen a bit more.

“Thirty seconds added.”

“...No, I’m serious!”

“That’s the ti to prove your claim.”

“...Prove it in thirty seconds? How...?”

Well, that’s for you to figure out.

I just figured if she couldn’t, I’d prove equality with my hamr.

As I counted silently, a brief silence fell.

Seems she was at a loss on how to convince in thirty seconds.

“Fifteen seconds passed.”

Vivian spoke when half the ti was up.

“No matter how I think, I can’t prove it.”

“Ten.”

“If you gave more ti, maybe.”

“Eight.”

“Definitely not within thirty seconds.”

“Seven.”

“So...”

“Six.”

“I’ll just say why you shouldn’t kill .”

“Oh?”

A wizard’s judgnt was impressive.

“Good reasoning. Thirty more seconds.”

Tired of counting aloud, I switched to counting silently.

Vivian kept throwing out her gambits.

“You’re heading to the Barbarian Sanctuary, right? I can get you there without any noise.”

“I’m confident I can go alone.”

Though it might get a bit noisy.

No reason to accept help from an enemy unnecessarily.

Holding that attitude, Vivian quickly gave another offer.

“Communications.”

“...?”

“I can eavesdrop on the upper Noark comms.”

“Hm...”

“Just knowing general movents would help, not just strategies, but also if sothing happens to your comrades, you’d know imdiately.”

“...”

“That’s all. If you don’t need this, I have nothing else to offer.”

“Okay... what’s your choice?”

Though she spoke boldly before, now I sensed deep fear.

Sure, who’s indifferent before death?

No one anywhere.

Knowing that, I was influenced greatly by that guy’s choice back then.

“On hold for now.”

I couldn’t stay here forever, so I carried Vivian like luggage toward the fortress wall.

First, I planned to consult Raven.

But before that, one thing was clear.

“That story about the betrayer.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t tell anyone. Understand?”

“Yes, yes! My lips are sealed!”

Sealed?

The mont danger ca, she spilled secrets without asking.

As I returned, Raven and Astarotta waited just outside the slightly opened gate.

“Yandel!”

“It looks like things have settled here.”

“Had to. Most of the corpses lost power as soon as you chased them off.”

Hmm, maybe they were too busy fleeing to control them?

After a brief greeting, Raven’s gaze shifted to my shoulder.

“But that woman... she is, right?”

“Oh, you know her?”

“I would’ve known even if I didn’t.”

“Hahaha... Hello? Long ti no see. Sister...”

“...Sister?”

“Oh? Not really? I thought she was older than you, Yandel.”

Raven was montarily speechless at the bold question.

“Call by my last na. I never allowed anyone to call otherwise.”

“Hahaha... understood. Raven.”

It wasn’t a place to talk openly, so we went into a nearby building.

There wasn’t much to explain.

I chased and caught the corpse collector.

She persuaded she could help.

Leaving out the betrayal story, it boiled down to those two sentences.

“So, the question is? Use her or just take her out cleanly.”

“Yeah. I wanted your opinion, so I brought her alive.”

“Hm... then let’s first verify the conditions she offered?”

Raven approached Vivian.

“You said you can access the Noark upper communication network? Show us. Maybe you’ve lost access.”

“...Hehe, no way.”

“So prove it. We need to know how important the info is.”

“Okay.”

Vivian took out a black crystal ball, connected to the network, and it worked fine.

However...

[Jibne, Terea, Didivar.]

“What are they saying now?”

“Military coded words. Even the intelligence unit probably can’t fully decode it yet.”

“No wonder she connected so easily. They thought we couldn’t kill her even if we saw it?”

“Not that stupid.”

“Enough, try to decode it. What does it say?”

“Point 5-3, royal forces, gathering observed...”

At Vivian’s words, Raven and I quietly exchanged glances.

We both imdiately knew where 5-3 was.

Because I asked to move forces tomorrow morning to draw attention.

‘Eavesdropping... might be useful.’

Still, we had to check the function, so we asked for ongoing translations.

“Point 13-2, small-scale battle, support requested.”

“Point 5-1, enhanced guard, troop support requested.”

“Point 13-2, sweep complete, 31 enemies killed.”

“Point 4-7... huh?”

As Vivian translated the radio chatter like a translator, she suddenly flinched.

“What’s wrong?”

I stepped closer to warn her to stay focused, and she opened her mouth with a troubled expression.

“Point 4-7, two intruders detected.”

“What does that an? Why did you flinch just now?”

I asked, and Vivian cautiously answered.

“4-7 ans District 4... and those two intruders seem to be... Yandel’s comrades.”

“...Then ‘El’?”

“Ricardo Luhenpraha. That’s a code word for our commander...”

Damn it.