Barbarian in a Failed Game

004. The Kind mage (1)

“Please, don’t misunderstand. I didn’t come here with any bad intentions.”

Seeing Khan’s eyes immediately become fierce, the woman finally seemed to get scared and began to frantically gesture with her hands.

“People usually say that.”

“Who does?”

“Those who try to trick me. Now, they are all buried under the ground.”

Even after hearing what sounded like a threat, the woman remained calm.

“Have you only been deceived all your life? I’m telling you, that’s not the case.”

‘Really, having only been deceived would explain it.’

These cunning medieval fools seemed to act as if backstabbing was encoded in their DNA. This was especially true when dealing with barbarian, who were infamous for their ignorance; they would openly try to deceive them.

In this world, mistrust in humans wasn’t a flaw but an essential skill for survival.

“Ha… You really don’t trust people’s words, do you? Look, I’m not a suspicious person. See for yourself.”

[Gray Magic Tower affiliated mage, Eliya]

Khan’s aggressiveness subsided upon seeing the gray lettering engraved on a gold identity plaque. He recognized it as an identity plaque issued by the Magic Towers.

‘Why would a mage from the Magic Tower be in such a remote place?’

Regardless of the reason, a mage affiliated with the influential Magic Towers was surely a significant proof of identity.

Nobody would dare to falsely claim association with the Magic Towers unless they were mad or had no will to live.

“Now do you believe me? I’m not suspicious or here with bad intentions. Meeting you was nearly coincidental.”

“Coincidental?”

“To be precise, it wasn’t entirely by chance… I went east because I heard there was an ogre slayer, but then I heard from someone that you had hidden yourself while being chased by border guards.”

It turned out to be a complete waste of time. Eliya, having completely given up, had boarded a carriage back to the west.

“How fortunate. To think that the person I was searching for would be on the same carriage, with the same destination.”

“…Considering it’s a coincidence, it’s rather peculiar.”

Although it felt awkward to describe it as luck, the story was not inconsistent.

However, one thing bothered him.

“It mustn’t have been easy to gather information related to me. Perhaps for nobility or influential figures in the east, but does the Magic Tower have greater intelligence capabilities than I imagined?”

“Not really. A noble, who is close to my mentor, resides in the east, so I received a bit of help. Initially, it was my mentor’s command to search for you…”

“The Magic Tower’s mage ordered his disciple to search for me?”

Khan subtly caressed the handle of his axe.

‘Who could it be? Did they find out about my deed of burying two gray mages in the north? Or is it because I beheaded that old man who wanted to use me as an experimental subject? Or perhaps…’

It’s said that a thief feels a tickle on his own feet. Khan thought of grudges first upon hearing that a mage was looking for him. It was inevitable.

After all, the number of people he had killed with his own hands exceeded dozens.

“Your expression seems to be pondering something fierce, but it’s simple – we need you. More precisely, your strength is needed for the expedition to vanquish an ogre, but that’s beside the point.”

“My strength? Do you need me to move something heavy?”

“Not exactly… We need to catch a mutant troll found nearby. We intend to use it as research material, so it needs to be as intact as possible.”

“Sounds like a bothersome and troublesome request.”

The standard tactic for hunting trolls involved hacking them to pieces with a sword or completely demolishing them with powerful spells. If not, they could quickly regenerate.

“Accept or decline, that is secondary. The reward will be substantial, considering the difficulty of the task.”

“I’m aware of that. What I can offer is gold or enchanting your equipment with spells. How does that sound?”

Enchantment, huh? Not bad. Khan leaned forward interestedly across the table.

“An enchantment that can return a thrown weapon back to its place. Is it possible?”

“I don’t know the distance you’re thinking of, but yes, it’s possible. Though, as a barbarian lacks mana, the efficiency might be poor.”

“Hmmm…”

Enchantment meant inscribing spells on equipment to turn them into magical tools. Think of it as akin to an item effect for easier understanding.

However, unlike other races, barbarian lacked mana, necessitating the swapping of magic stones like batteries.

If Khan could indeed receive the enchantment as he envisioned, there would be no need to manually retrieve his thrown axe.

This would be akin to a fantasy version of Qi-controlled sword…

“Additionally, I can provide information related to ancient gods that I am aware of.”

Hearing this, Khan no longer needed to ponder.

“Get up.”

“Huh?”

Eliya, bewildered by the sudden demand, seemed of no concern to Khan as he abruptly sat up.

“Lead me to where the troll is. Right now.”

*

*

*

Naturally, Khan’s request was not accepted.

“How can you think of hunting after such heavy drinking? I need time to prepare… Let’s just rest today and move out tomorrow!”

Eliya strongly advised against it.

Since the client was not willing, Khan couldn’t force her, so he ended up drinking a few more glasses with her before falling asleep.

“I feel sluggish.”

The words he uttered after emptying a bottle of beer overnight were merely about feeling sluggish.

Truth be told, since falling into this accursed world, instances of him getting drunk were few and far between.

Whether all barbarian from the North were like that, or Khan’s body was particularly special, was unclear.

“Ah, do you feel alright?”

“I’m fine. Just a bit sluggish, is all.”

“That’s a relief.”

Eliya, with bleary eyes, greeted Khan at the agreed time on the first floor.

Magess have a lot to prepare, after all. Perhaps she spent the night storing spells for the hunt.

“Isn’t it a bit bad, coming out later than your client?”

“Am I late? It seemed like you were just early.”

Khan retorted playfully to Eliya’s teasing remark.

“I’m more worried about you, though. According to what I heard yesterday, we have to go quite deep.”

“That’s fine. Not all mages are frail, you see. Look.”

A snort of laughter escaped at her showing off non-existent muscles, while draped in a robe that hid her figure.

“Reassuring indeed. Then let’s head out.”

According to Eliya, the mutated troll was spotted in a mountain range owned by the Chernov Barony.

A place inhabited by various monsters, among them a two-headed troll that reigned supreme deep within…

‘Twin Headra. A classic mutation.’

This variant was larger, stronger, and had more formidable regenerative abilities than your average troll, making it a particularly troublesome beast to deal with. Khan’s job was to kill the Twin Head Troll in as intact a state as possible.

And to join in on gossiping about their employer.

“So, do you know what that old coot said last time?”

“What did he say?”

“If I’ve taken you under my wing despite your lack of talent, at least do the job you’re told to.”

Imitating her mentor, Eliya scrunched her face and spoke in a grumpy old man’s voice. Khan provided a noncommittal response.

For Khan, who had lived as an office worker, joining in on gossip was not a difficult task. In fact, he felt more at ease doing this than fighting.

‘Compared to pandering to those damned old fogies, comforting a pretty lady is actually welcome.’

“Nasty fellow.”

“Telling you. An old man on his deathbed trying to act young. Really a sight.”

As she vented, they had unknowingly entered the mountain range reportedly haunted by the mutated troll.

“Apparently, the area where the mutated troll appeared has been nearly devoid of people lately. There have been too many missing…”

“So, the monster hunting hasn’t been going well.”

“Seems likely. The journey is bound to be tough, so I’ll be relying on you when that time comes.”

Eliya’s warning about the rough path ahead quickly became reality.

From the very entrance of the mountain range, mutated beasts, transformed from animals, rushed at them, drawn by the scent of humans.

Crunch──.

As expected. Any beast that approached was met with the barbarian’s ruthless fist, shattering each monster’s skull without exception.

“You’re reliable. The ogre you caught before wasn’t even full-grown, was it?”

“That’s right.”

Khan recalled the moment he caught the ogre.

Even standing over 2 meters tall himself, he felt like a child in front of the ogre. And that was when the ogre had not even fully matured.If the ogre he had hunted had been an adult, it would have been impossible even to buy time at the vanguard.

“I’m not so sure now…”

“I thought it was a bit overrated, to be honest. Turns out I was worried for nothing.”

Eliya glanced at Khan’s profile with a look of distaste.

A black boar with sharp horns on its snout, known as a D-Hog, lay dead, decapitated.

The D-Hog was a monster that even experienced mercenaries found troublesome. Yet, this extraordinary barbarian had burst its head open with a single punch.

“Really. That’s incredible…”

Eliya murmured an odd exclamation. Khan checked her expression, but the strange look had vanished.

‘A misunderstanding?’

Is it because my prejudice against mages is too strong? No, it’s not like I detest them that much, is it?

“We should search the area since they often appear around rocky zones.”

“Let’s do that.”

The progress of the task was remarkably smooth.

Any monster that charged at them was no more than low-level fodder, and they reached their destination without any significant interruptions.

All that was left was to find the mutant troll with two heads and deal with it.

‘Traces. Traces.’

Although Khan’s tracking skills were far from being modestly described as good, large creatures like mutant trolls inevitably left traces.

But no matter how much they searched, they couldn’t find any signs. It would not have been strange for some excrement the creature had left behind to appear by now.

‘Could it already be dead…?’

“Still haven’t found it?!”

Eliya’s voice could be heard from a distance. Even she, who was fairly strong for a mage, had long since grown tired from the prolonged hike.

So, with a bold ‘leave it to me,’ she had searched the surroundings for nearly an hour…

“Nothing at all. It’s strange.”

Yes. That was the problem.

The moment they stepped into the rocky mountain area, attacks from monsters ceased entirely.

It is a sign that there’s an extremely powerful entity nearby. But not a single trace to be found?

[Search (D) – 10%]

Despite the low grade of his non-combat skill, Search, the situation was evidently peculiar.

‘I need to discuss this.’

Thinking it would be useless to continue like this, Khan turned towards where Eliya was. Given the strange anomaly they had discovered, leaving her alone for too long wasn’t a good idea.

As he was retracing his steps, Khan suddenly stopped in his tracks.

“Damn it.”

Something was there! The moment Khan muttered a curse, his hand flicked, and an axe shot out like a cannonball, swirling through the air and embedding far away.

Boom!

With a single axe, Khan whipped up a cloud of dense dust behind him. Crack! A beast-like monster split into pieces and flew apart.

Yet, Khan’s expression remained dreadfully stern.

‘The feel in my hand is unsatisfactory.’

It felt like bursting a rotting corpse. His keen gaze skimmed over the scattered flesh.

The flesh, discolored as if it had been dead for a while, was scattered everywhere. What this implied.

“Necromancer.”

A necromancer indeed, of the sort who raises dead bodies to fight as if they were soldiers. ‘Damn it…’ Khan swore under his breath unconsciously.

‘I thought it was weird that there were no traces. Did they hide the corpses under the ground!’

The axe he had reflexively thrown was now sorely missed. The thought of having to burst open rotting corpses with his bare hands was utterly loathsome.

“Eliya──!”

He called out for Eliya just in case, but no response came. Had she been taken by the necromancer during his brief return? Or else…

“Kr────.”

“Ki──.”

His reverie was short. Roughly counting, about a hundred corpses surrounded Khan, showing their hostility.

Their approach resembled an encroaching wave.

And beyond the endless wave, a dark green giant with two heads was looking down at Khan, holding the familiar axe in its hand.