Barbarian in a Failed Game

『Level Up!』

Khan dismissed the rare level-up message and took a quick step back.

Swish!

A deadly blade sliced through the space his head had just occupied, followed by Leniyar’s agitated voice.

“Invalid!”

The statement came without context, but there was no need to ask what he meant.

“Gambling leads to ruin. You should’ve learned that last time.”

“I could have killed her…!”

“Maybe so. But you would’ve lost an arm or a leg in the process. And let’s not forget, you’re the one who brought it up first, blockhead.”

Gritting her teeth, Leniyar glared at him but remained silent. She had been the first to recognize that the best outcome was a draw or mutual destruction.

Moreover, she was the one who started the whole talk about becoming a pet if she lost.

“From slave to pet… If players knew about this hidden setting, the popularity polls would have been different.”

“Shut up! Just shut it!”

Leniyar screamed, turning her back and fleeing the scene. Left alone in the partially destroyed bank building, Khan couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly.

‘She’s like a grown-up child….’

Acting on impulse, driven by her competitive spirit, Leniyar could be seen as endearing in some ways. Yet, it was unfortunate that someone with such a personality was considered a top-tier swordswoman on the continent.

“She’s the real walking disaster.”

『As if you’re one to talk.』

Quiet.

Ignoring the spirit’s ever-present grumbling, now so loud that even a dwarven-crafted scabbard couldn’t suppress it, Khan moved forward.

The battleground where Serenil, Leniyar, and Khan had fought was now nothing but rubble. The collapse had occurred when Serenil’s spirit took physical form, but Khan wasn’t worried about finding anything useful.

‘Should be around here.’

Standing over what had once been Serenil’s office, Khan poked the ground with his sword’s scabbard.

‘Do you sense anything?’

『Do not treat this noble being like a hunting dog! Wait a moment… hmm. Yes, over to the left.』

Ever since absorbing the soul of the golden dragon Areolus, the spirit had gained something called the “Golden Dragon’s Eye”.

Even the well-hidden vault of a bank couldn’t escape its sight. Digging through the rubble by hand, Khan unearthed an iron door made of a special alloy, hidden beneath the debris.

‘In the main story, if I couldn’t meet the conditions, I had no choice but to either return without opening it or break the entrance….’

Whether it was by chance or fate, the key to this safe was right next to Khan.

“You’ll have to step up.”

As Khan quietly turned his head, the wind spirit, flapping its small wings in flight, was startled and pointed at itself with a fingertip. Its gesture seemed to ask if he really meant it, and Khan nodded with a smile.

“It’s not particularly dangerous. At least, it’s better than being thrown into a demon’s stomach.”

Despite the words that couldn’t be taken as comforting in any way, the wind spirit’s small body trembled slightly.

***

The place Leniyar fled to in an attempt to escape from Khan was also somewhere within Paradise Bank.

She still had matters to finish at Paradise Bank, and her pride couldn’t allow her to run away completely. The psychological boundary she permitted herself was the outdoor area of Paradise Bank, slightly away from where the battle took place.

‘Since when did it come to this…!’

Among the superhumans of the Empire, she was one of the rarely matched strong ones. The swordsman, rumored to soon surpass her master, faced the humiliation of consecutive defeats, something even she hadn’t anticipated.

Of course, if she wanted to make excuses, she had reasons for both defeats. At Hoarfrost Gorge, her battle took place when she was already at her physical limit.

And because of the peculiar nature of spirit magic, she couldn’t completely finish it off. Even in the battle with Serenil, wasn’t it that she hadn’t been defeated?

‘If only I hadn’t spewed such nonsense unnecessarily…!’

The problem was her big mouth that blurted out nonsensical bets each time.

She wanted to smash the barbarian’s face, who called her ‘block head’ in derision, but she utterly despised actions that didn’t take responsibility for words, just like the Empire’s nobles.

“Argh…! So frustrating─!”

In the end, burdened by the disaster she brought upon herself, all Leniyar could do was try to calm her anger alone.

“Hoo. Hoo…. Who are those guys now?”

As Leniyar ruffled her hair in frustration, she finally sensed distant presences and looked up.

From when it began wasn’t clear, but soldiers in flashy armors had surrounded the outside of Paradise Bank. The peculiarity was that, although their eagerness to check the situation here was palpable from afar, they hadn’t made a hasty approach.

“Hey.”

Leniyar’s temper wouldn’t allow her to leave them alone. Without hesitation, she approached the soldier presumed to be the leader, wearing a distinctive feathered helmet, and frowned.

“What are you guys doing?”

“Who… who are you? Who dares to commit such atrocities?”

“What’s with this small fry…? You don’t know me?”

“How arrogant for a criminal─!”

It wasn’t clear if it was because of the completely ruined scenery of Paradise Bank or if they were intimidated by Leniyar’s aura, but the knight, already frightened even before the fight began, suddenly drew his weapon.

Even in a psychologically intimidated state, the smooth emission of his aura showed he was at the level of a high-ranking knight, which made Leniyar even more puzzled. Shouldn’t someone at his level recognize her at a glance?

“Kyaaak!”

There wasn’t even a sound of slicing.

Moreover, no one saw the process of the high-ranking knight losing both his arms and rolling on the ground; strangely, it seemed Leniyar hadn’t even unsheathed her sword, appearing to be bare-handed.

“If you’re a noble’s henchman, you should have been trained to watch out for someone like me, right?”

“Stop! How dare you harm a knight of the capital…! Aren’t you afraid of the Imperial family?”

“The Imperial family, my ass… What are these guys really?”

Their appearance was elite among elites. But their actions seemed worse than the rabble of a frontier kingdom. Moreover, they were acting as if the grounds of Paradise Bank were an inviolable territory like the Imperial city.

“Hey, if you’re a knight, I know you’ll survive something like this. Stop the whining….”

“It hurts! I’m in pain…! I said it hurts─!”

Crack.

Leniyar clicked her tongue, silencing the knight who was wailing like a newborn baby over a mere loss of his arms by kicking his helmet off.

‘Something’s strange…’

It’s strange.

But she couldn’t pinpoint what was strange. For someone at the high-ranking knight level, they should be a battle-hardened veteran, but it seemed as if they had taken some drugs… their mind…

“Drugs?”

At the sudden thought, Leniyar’s face hardened.

‘No way…’

Although she rationally denied it, she couldn’t shake the suspicion that her recent speculation was correct.

‘Given they live alongside the Elves, it wouldn’t be surprising if they eagerly accepted and used herbs from them.’

Indeed, the herbs from the Elves were extremely effective. From cosmetic benefits prized by noblewomen to effects warriors needed. It wouldn’t be surprising if knights, driven by a desire to grow stronger, were infatuated with the herbs provided by Paradise Bank.

And if continuous consumption of those herbs resulted in their mental deterioration?

“Damn it.”

It wasn’t someone else’s issue.

‘If it weren’t for that bastard…’

Perhaps Leniyar herself could have ended up as miserable as the knight fainted at her feet. The thoughts led to her feeling not rage, but emptiness filled her mind.

So far, she hadn’t even managed to repay the debts she owed properly. Not knowing this, she’d let his anger rise recklessly, making bets on whims about being a slave or a pet. And she’d lost all those bets too.

‘He must have found it hilarious.’

Leniyar felt like burying her face into a hole to hide her blushing face. She even seriously considered going to Khan right away to beg for forgiveness.

That is, she would have, if the familiar voice hadn’t called her name.

“Leniyar…?”

“What, what on earth happened!”

The owner of that voice.

Cain Leichtahp, who should be guarding the Sword Mountain on behalf of their master, appeared in a disheveled state. And right next to him was the deputy bank manager, lown.

“Sword Demon! What on earth happened here! Who did this to the bank!”

Despite his face glowing even in his ragged state as if he had been homeless for days, Leniyar showed no noticeable reaction. Feeling frustrated, lown grabbed her shoulders and shouted.

“Sword Demon! I’m asking you!”

“Wait…!”

Shwiing!

“Huh?”

Roun’s face, which had been pushing Leniyar with a face distorted like a demon, went blank. He should clearly be holding onto her shoulders with both hands…?

“My, my hands! Sword Demon, what are you doing──!”

“Step back! You idiotic elf bastard…!”

Clang!

The sound of swords colliding resonated and echoed like a hum. It was a bizarre phenomenon created when two individuals who had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship, swordsmen, clashed.

“What do you think you’re doing all of a sudden, Leniyar!”

Even though he was inwardly surprised by the unimaginable swordsmanship, Cain didn’t show it. More than that, he was more taken aback by Leniyar’s sudden action of cutting off Roun’s hands without any attempt at a conversation.

‘They said half the work was already done!’

Roun must have believed that too and placed his hands on Leniyar’s shoulders. But seeing it with his own eyes, Leniyar didn’t seem like someone whose mind was half-destroyed.

Rather, she appeared calmer and more composed than at any other time he had seen her. Her sword carried a cold, honed fury!

“I finally understand.”

At that moment, Leniyar’s eyes sparkled as if she had realized something.

“These bastards messing with me, it was all your doing, wasn’t it? Cain.”

“What nonsense are you talking about!”

“If it wasn’t you, would they have dared to mess with my head? You must have had something to believe in to pull off such a stunt, right? Huh?”

Cain felt like he was going insane.

‘Are you saying I orchestrated this? No, it was those idiots acting on their own!’

The problem was that it was true that a deal concerning cooperation with Paradise Bank had taken place, with the condition of an intoxicated Leniyar. Moreover, even Cain had to admit that the timing was too perfect.

She realized she was nearly taken down by the drugs and got furious, only to see the deputy bank manager and himself appear together? It was as if the most likely suspect had shown up asking to be killed.

‘Where did it all go wrong…!’

It was just a few days.

In those few days.

He, who was the disciple of the sword master and the next owner of Sword Mountain, had to flee like a criminal and ultimately found himself on the brink of death at the hands of a fellow disciple.

Even a nightmare couldn’t be this severe and horrifying. But the presence of Leniyar, exuding a palpable killing intent, told Cain otherwise. This was indeed reality.

“What went wrong─!”

Cain Leichtahp cried out in despair. And then a thought crossed his mind. It felt like he was being toyed with by the devil.

TL’s Corner:
Getting your just deserts.