Barbarian’s Dark Fantasy Strategy Guide

Chapter 8: The Frenzy of Stoneberry （4）

“Do not forgive us, Khalid.”

Those were the last words Gunnar, chieftain of the Frostfang Tribe, spoke to Khalid before leaving the Ancestor’s Land.

Khalid inherited the position of chieftain.

The descendants of Volcan who remained in the Ancestor’s Land changed the tribe’s name to Thunder Axe and fulfilled their mission to the very end.

It has already been 10 years since then.

Khalid never imagined he would hear his name from Becky’s mouth.

‘How do you know Gunnar?’

『Uh…… should I say I know him or not?』

‘What do you mean?’

Becky found it difficult to explain as well.

The Gunnar she knew and the Gunnar here had completely different paths.

Originally, it was Gunnar, not Khalid, who was supposed to arrive in Windfall and embark on a journey.

It seemed like the hidden quest had overturned everything. Now, it became difficult to be sure of anything until she gathered more information.

It became an ambiguous situation where she couldn’t say she knew him, nor could she say she didn’t.

『So…… Ah! It’s like a kind of revelation.』

‘Revelation?’

『Sometimes, someone speaks to me in my dreams. That’s how I knew in advance that there were Vampire Bats here.』

‘Hmm.’

Khalid didn’t believe in superstitions, but because Becky’s existence itself was a mystery, he just let it slide.

‘Then where is Gunnar now?’

『Well, I don’t know that far. I’ve only heard his name.』

‘If I wanted to know where he was, I would have heard a different name, not Gunnar.’

『Huh? What do you mean by a different name?』

‘Gunnar is the name he used in the Ancestor’s Land. Since he abandoned his original name when he sought asylum in the Empire, he must be using a different name now.’

『Oh, is that so?』

Every time Becky heard new information from Khalid, she felt like she was getting further and further away from the game she knew.

『Well, anyway, if your goal is to find Gunnar, you need to find out his changed name first.』

‘That’s right. The 10 gold the Thieves’ Guild demanded includes that kind of effort. The tribute is gone, Becky.’

『We don’t know that yet! We just need to find out by the time we collect all the gold. You don’t know when I might receive another revelation, do you?』

‘Heh, I look forward to it.’

Khalid closed his eyes for a while and then prepared to return to Windfall.

“Did you sleep well, Mr. Khalid?”

Melissa came to find Khalid early in the morning.

It seemed she had finished preparing to leave as well.

“Shall we depart then?”

“Aren’t you going to tell the people?”

It was still the time when the villagers were asleep.

He wondered if she was intentionally avoiding the villagers’ faces because it would be difficult to say goodbye, but that wasn’t it.

“It’s okay. I told everyone last night that I was leaving. It’s just a habit to wake up early. Once you’ve decided to go, there’s no time to hesitate! Let’s go quickly!”

Melissa was smiling cheerfully.

She didn’t seem to be overdoing it like yesterday.

This seemed to be her original personality.

『She’s a spirited child.』

Khalid nodded once and helped her onto the horse.

“Hold on tight so you don’t fall.”

“Yes!”

As Khalid whipped the reins hard, the horse carrying the two of them spurred on, moving away from Stoneberry.

◈◈◈◈◈◈ ◈◈◈◈◈◈ ◈◈◈◈◈◈

The cool autumn night sky.

“Wow~! This is delicious!”

Melissa took a bite of the fish’s side and let out an exclamation of admiration. The taste of the fish grilled and eaten around the campfire was truly excellent.

『Really, this is much better than jerky. You know how to do this, so why have you been eating only jerky all this time?』

‘Because it’s convenient.’

『What? Melissa’s mouth is a mouth, and mine is a snout?!』

‘It’s not your mouth, it’s my mouth.’

The first camping trip after leaving Stoneberry.

Everything was fascinating to Melissa, who only knew the forge and the mine. Melissa looked around with a curious expression.

The thought of living in a new place from now on made her feel both scared and excited.

Then something caught her eye.

“Oh? Mr. Khalid. Come to think of it, what happened to the other axe?”

“It broke when I was fighting the demon.”

“Oh, dear.”

Melissa hastily finished eating the remaining fish and fell into deep thought. She seemed to be calculating something in her head, frowning.

“You don’t use daggers, do you, Mr. Khalid?”

“That’s right.”

“Then can I buy this?”

Melissa pulled out the soundproof dagger she had received from Khalid from her waist.

“Buy it, you say? Will you have a use for it?”

“It’s not that I’m going to use it for anything in particular. I feel safer when I have it with me. It’s like I saved my life thanks to this in the cabin. I can use it for self-defense in a pinch, too.”

“Hmm. If you need it, you can just have it. It’s a useless item to me anyway……”

“That’s not okay!”

Melissa suddenly jumped up from her seat.

She didn’t seem pleased with Khalid’s answer. She put her hand on her hip and spoke to Khalid as if lecturing him.

“Listen carefully, Mr. Khalid. With such a careless attitude, you’re perfect for being cheated by others. You have to be thoroughly calculating when dealing with ‘Fenced-in people’. Do you understand?”

‘Fenced-in people?’

Khalid’s eyebrows twitched.

However, he couldn’t interrupt the flow because Melissa was pushing forward with great momentum.

“How much were you originally planning to sell this dagger for, Mr. Khalid?”

“Well. I heard that the Runestone inside is traded only in gold coins.”

“So you were just going to accept whatever the merchant offered you?”

“Probably.”

“Sigh……”

Melissa sighed, putting her hand on her forehead.

The mercenary who had seemed so reliable had suddenly become a younger brother who knew nothing about the world.

“Merchants, by nature, are those who value money more than anything else, so they are also very greedy. If there are people like Mr. Khalid who are indifferent to prices, they will continue to try to deceive others. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Khalid thought of the swindler blacksmith in Windfall.

If Khalid had just ignored the loss he suffered back then, there would have been more victims.

It was Melissa’s sharp criticism, telling him not to set a bad precedent as a consumer.

“Buy cheap, sell expensive! This is the basic principle of trading.”

“Alright. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Good.”

Melissa finally seemed satisfied and crossed her arms.

『She’s smart, this kid. Are you really sixteen? You’re much more mature than that. Listen carefully to your teacher.』

Becky was amused to see Khalid being lectured by a young girl.

“Now let’s get back to the main point. First of all, the value of this dagger as a weapon is very low. Its strength and sharpness are ordinary, it’s not a great item. The price of the Runestone embedded in it is all there is.”

“Can you appraise it?”

“I don’t know much about magic, but I do know that the magic that can be imbued is limited depending on the size of the Runestone. With this size, it would be difficult to get anything more than the minimum price.”

Even at the minimum price, it could fetch one gold coin.

From Khalid’s point of view, that was enough, but Melissa continued her lecture.

“But I’m different. No merchant can value this dagger higher than I do. As I said before, it’s a special item to me.”

It was an item that saved her life and gave her peace of mind when she had it with her. Plus, it held her connection with Khalid.

She couldn’t bear to sell such a precious item for just one gold coin.

“So you’re saying you’ll buy it for more than anyone else?”

“That’s right.”

『Insisting on paying even when he’s offering it for free. She’s stubborn in a strange way too.』

In fact, that wasn’t Melissa’s only intention.

It was shameless to ask for his belongings after owing him her life. So she came up with a good idea.

“But I’m not in a position to pay you right now. How about this, Mr. Khalid?”

“……?”

“The Lord of Windfall called for me to entrust me with the blacksmith’s workshop, right?”

“That’s right.”

“If I take over the blacksmith’s workshop, I’ll give you a new axe as a gift, Mr. Khalid. I’ll pour all my effort into making the best axe for you, so you won’t regret it.”

“Alright. Do as you please.”

『Oh! An axe forged by a descendant of a master craftsman, you say. I’m looking forward to that.』

It was the perfect offer for Khalid, who needed a new axe anyway.

“By the way, what kind of axe do you want, Mr. Khalid?”

“What kind of axe?”

“I was wondering if you had any requests for the crafting process. For example, whether it should be double-edged, or if you’d prefer a large axe, and so on.”

“Well…… I just want it to be sturdier than the one I have now.”

“Oh, I see. Well, the current hand axe doesn’t look very durable…… But would it be alright if the size gets a bit bigger?”

“As long as I can wield it with one hand, the size doesn’t matter.”

Melissa nodded and started designing the new axe in her head. It seemed he would soon find out why Hojae was willing to pay a large sum to bring her in.

Anyway, once the talk about the dagger and the axe was over, Khalid brought up something that had been on his mind.

“By the way, you called the people here ‘Fenced-in people’ earlier. Usually, I think they’re called Imperials.”

“Oh? Did I say that again? I must have been a little excited.”

“Have you ever met any other barbarians besides me?”

Melissa burst out laughing at Khalid’s question.

“You call yourself a barbarian too, Mr. Khalid.”

“There’s no other way to express it.”

Melissa sat down again. Then, she looked at the campfire and reminisced about the past.

“It’s quite fascinating, isn’t it? Both my grandfather and I have a deep connection with barbarians. Oh my! I even called myself a barbarian……”

“It’s alright. Go on. What do you mean by a deep connection?”

“When I was young, my grandfather also met someone like Mr. Khalid and received his help. My grandfather gave him an axe as a token of his gratitude. I remembered that incident and made the same offer.”

If it was a barbarian she met when she was young, there was a possibility that it was a tribe member who had sought asylum in the Empire. It was a statement that Khalid, who was searching for Gunnar’s whereabouts, couldn’t just ignore.

“When did you meet him?”

“Hmm…… It was around the time I started learning blacksmithing, so it must have been 8 or 9 years ago.”

“His name or appearance? Tell me anything you can remember, his age, his characteristics, anything.”

Khalid was slightly excited to have obtained an unexpected clue.

If he could find the tribe member who had sought asylum, it would be possible to find Gunnar as well.

He couldn’t help but feel his heart race.

Melissa also tried desperately to remember, hoping to be of even a little help to him.

“I don’t remember the details, but I’m sure he had a similar atmosphere to Mr. Khalid. When you appeared in the cabin yesterday, I was so surprised because I thought he had come back.”

“Was I that much like him?”

“Yes. And I used to imitate him because I found it funny when he called the Imperials ‘Fenced-in people’. So I sometimes use it without realizing it.”

“Anything else you remember?”

“My first impression was that he was a bit scary, so I was hiding behind my grandfather. The reason he was scary was…… Ah! It was because he was wearing an eyepatch over one eye. That’s right, I remember now. He had long gray hair and was wearing an eyepatch!”

“……!”

Khalid immediately identified one person just from hearing that description.

“Gunnar……”

『Huh? Really?! Gunnar came to Stoneberry?』

Becky seemed surprised as well.

（That’s right, Gunnar definitely had gray hair. I’m not sure about the eyepatch, but since Khalid recognized him right away, I’m sure it’s him.）

He hadn’t expected to hear news of Gunnar so soon. And from the girl he had saved by chance, no less.

The hidden quest line was progressing in a direction Becky hadn’t anticipated at all.

A story he knew well, yet didn’t.

Now even Becky was starting to get curious about how Khalid’s story would unfold.

“Didn’t you hear where he went?”

“I don’t really……”

Melissa shook her head.

“But are you looking for him now, Mr. Khalid?”

“Yes.”

“Is his name Gunnar? It feels a little different from what I heard……”

“No. He doesn’t use that name anymore. The name you heard is probably correct.”

“Then I just need to remember it!”

Melissa put her finger to her temple and tried to remember. But it was something that happened when she was very young, so she couldn’t remember the name exactly.

“You don’t have to push yourself that hard. What you’ve told me so far is enough.”

“No, it’s nothing compared to the favor of saving my life. Please wait. I’ll definitely remember it. Ugh…… Memories, come alive, come alive……”

Melissa rolled around on the ground, struggling, but she couldn’t recall the name until she eventually fell asleep.

The girl’s face, unknowingly hugging the soundproof dagger in her sleep, looked much more peaceful.