Chapter 77

Chapter 77. You Can Sleep Forever If You Die

Contrary to the slight irritation Oskal felt at having been called over for something so trivial, he also held a faint sense of anticipation. It was his first time seeing Balun fight in person, after only hearing about him through rumors.

Just how skilled was he that he had dealt with more than a hundred Black Moon Assassins by himself? Just how remarkable was he that he had captured the interest of the mighty Count Rotenfeld?

Oskal was able to resolve that curiosity a little here.

Truly, only a little.

“That son of a…!”

Whack!

“Block him! Block hi…!”

Thud, thud!

If Balun’s battle could be summarized in a single phrase, it would be merciless violence.

Balun literally wielded merciless violence. Whenever his axe swung, someone inevitably collapsed to the floor, and there were no exceptions.

‘He really fights with brute ignorance.’

Oskal clicked his tongue. As expected of a Barbarian, even the way he fought was ignorant. This was practically the battle of a monster, not a human.

‘But with this kind of method, it should be difficult to defeat true experts. How exactly did he win over the discerning Count Rotenfeld?’

While Oskal was wondering that, the fight was already on the verge of ending.

Balun’s claim that it would not even take five minutes had not been empty boasting.

“D-damn it. You monstrous…”

DONG!

Thud!

After striking the head of the last remaining Rogue with the flat side of his axe blade, Balun placed Crimson Moon on the table and straightened his clothes.

Oskal looked at the men sprawled across the floor, letting out only pitiful groans. Not a single Rogue had died, but that was because Balun had deliberately struck them only with the flat side of the axe rather than its blade.

The only unhurt Eclipse Rogue who remained standing was the bartender who had been guarding the counter.

Glancing at the bartender, who had sunk to the floor in terror and was trembling, Oskal asked, “Why did you not kill a single one of them?”

“Because there was no need to kill them. Why? Is there a problem?”

‘How am I supposed to deal with such a large organization if I kill them? Of course I have to keep them alive.’

For reference, Balun had not yet given up on learning Stealth.

He had already paid fifty gold too.

“No. It is not a problem. I was simply wondering. This is the first time I have seen a Barbarian show such excessive mercy to enemies.”

“I had to keep them alive if I was going to question them anyway.”

“Would it not have been enough to keep only a few of them alive?”

“I did not come here to kill these bastards. I came here to punish the bastard who targeted me.”

Oskal’s eyes filled with a conflicted look. How should he put it? It felt strange. Balun was vastly different from every Barbarian he had seen until now.

“Now, you come here first.”

“Uh, huh? Pardon?”

“Do not suspiciously lower your hand under the table. Put your hands up. Yes. Come out in that position.”

The bartender came out from behind the counter while trembling in fear.

“P-please spare me. P-please.”

“As I said earlier, if you cooperate quietly, I will become a customer again. Our relationship can improve again. I will learn Stealth, and you people will teach me. Do you understand what I mean?”

“Yes! Of course!”

“Honestly, there is no need for us to fight each other. Is there? Is it not good for you if you earn money too?”

“Th-that is right. Absolutely!”

The bartender had become quite obedient.

Seeing her wretched appearance as she trembled and nodded vigorously, even Balun felt a little wistful for no reason.

‘That is why none of this would have happened if you had cooperated from the beginning. Why do you have to make me the bad guy?’

Of course, just because she looked pitiful did not mean Balun was the sort of person who would go easy on her.

If he had been that soft, he would have died long before his coming-of-age ceremony.

“Lord Balun. What do you mean by Stealth? What is this about?”

Oskal, who had been watching, asked in curiosity.

“Exactly what I said. I came here to learn Stealth. They agreed to teach me. But then this mess happened.”

“Pardon? You are going to learn Stealth?”

“Yes.”

“A Barbarian?”

“Why? Is there a problem?”

“No, it is not that…”

Oskal let out a hollow laugh. The more he watched this Barbarian, the harder he became to understand.

“Mage. You have not forgotten what I asked, have you? Use that thing, the lie detector.”

“Please call me by my name. How long are you going to keep calling me Mage?”

“Uh, that…”

For some reason, Balun suddenly hesitated and trailed off.

He opened his mouth with difficulty.

“What is your name?”

“…You did not even know my name until now?”

“I am sorry.”

Seeing Balun scratch his head awkwardly, Oskal shook his head.

To treat a Mage of the Red Tower this way without a second thought. This man truly was astonishing in many ways.

Well, Oskal was not angry. Barbarians’ hatred of Mages was nothing new.

In Oskal’s view, Balun was already showing him an immense amount of goodwill by Barbarian standards.

Of course, thinking that and accepting it emotionally were two different matters.

“It is Oskal. I am quite certain I told you before.”

“A person’s memory is imperfect by nature. Oskal. Come here and use your magic. Nod if it is true and shake your head if it is false.”

“Yes.”

Oskal muttered something, and his eyes turned blue.

Only after confirming that did Balun ask the bartender a question.

“Why did you target me? Did you attack me for my money?”

“N-no. That is not it. I did not know anything about this in the first place. Truly!”

True.

“You did not know? You mean this entire incident itself?”

“Yes! Truly! Please believe me!”

True.

“How many First-Class Rogues does your guild have?”

“Uh, I do not know about our entire guild. There are so many branches…. As for our branch, there are twelve in total.”

After that, Balun asked many more questions in meticulous detail. Not only to the bartender, but also to the Rogues he had knocked down.

Watching him ask dozens upon dozens of questions with painstaking care, Oskal shook his head with an exhausted expression. What kind of interrogation was this thorough? Anyone watching would think Balun was a professional interrogator.

“You are truly persistent.”

“I have to be if I want to catch the culprit.”

“I understand everything else, but why do you keep repeating the same questions? Do you forget what was already said?”

“To find holes.”

“Holes?”

“Yes. If their words change, that means something is suspicious.”

“That is… true.”

Balun stroked his chin and organized his thoughts.

‘These people really have nothing to do with it.’

Including the bartender, there were more than twenty people here, and none of them knew anything about this incident. In other words, these Rogues had simply been caught by a sudden flying spark.

‘It was not the will of the entire guild. It was probably an independent act.’

That was one of the reasons he had not killed any of them. After confirming that the timing of the crime did not match, he had expected it to be something like this.

Even so, he had wanted to confirm it meticulously just in case.

Now that he had confirmed it, he felt truly glad. At the very least, he would not have to make an enemy of the entire guild.

“Then call all the First-Class Rogues here.”

“R-right now?”

“Of course.”

“Uh, well…”

The bartender hesitated.

“We can call them, but it will not be easy. We normally do not gather them at dawn like this without a reason. If we call them, there will probably be people who will not come.”

“Then make a reason. Create a plausible reason.”

“A reason?”

“Yes. Say that an emergency has occurred. What about saying another organization has attacked?”

“I think that would work, but would that be all right? It is a lie…”

Balun let out a hollow laugh. What was a gathering of thieves being so concerned about?

“It is not a lie. I really did attack, did I not?”

“Huh? That is true.”

“Yes. Call them quickly.”

“Yes. I will try. Please wait a moment!”

“For reference, if you try anything foolish, I will split you open. If you run away, I will chase you down and split you open. Remember that.”

“Hiiik!”

“But if you do not try anything foolish, I will give you this. If you cooperate sincerely, I might even give you a lot.”

Balun flicked a gold coin with his finger and caught it.

“That? Gasp!”

The bartender’s eyes widened at the sight of the gold coin.

“I will cooperate diligently! Truly!”

True.

Seeing Oskal nod with blue-tinged eyes, Balun let out a faint laugh.

‘No, why is that part sincere?’

Did she not care whether he was the man who had beaten her comrades, as long as there was money?

“Please give me some time. I will be right back!”

“Wait.”

Balun stopped the bartender as she tried to move in haste.

“Yes? Why?”

“Were you just going to call them here directly?”

“Yes. You told me to.”

“That is a little inefficient. If they gather together, things may become troublesome for no reason. Let us do it this way instead.”

“How?”

“Call them separately, one by one. It would be perfect if you tell them they are being summoned because some sort of secret mission has come down.”

“Oh, that sounds good.”

“We will subdue them one by one and gather all twelve. Does that seem all right?”

“Yes! You are very smart! Though I think it will take quite a long time.”

“There is still plenty of time before daybreak, so it is fine.”

“That is true. But I am sleepy. Will that be all right?”

“You can sleep forever if you die. Shall I put you to sleep?”

“My sleepiness just vanished all at once. I think I can do it!”

“Good. Where do those twelve live? Do they live inside Mirehal?”

“Of course.”

“Then that will do. Since there are twelve people in total, call each of them to a different location one by one…”

Watching Balun soon explain the strategy and the bartender listen intently, Oskal thought in disbelief,

‘Is he really a Barbarian?’

It felt somewhat like a dream.

Because this scene itself felt far too unrealistic.

***

He had been worried that the bartender might try something foolish, but fortunately, nothing like that happened.

The bartender truly cooperated with Balun with all her heart and soul.

She even moved briskly like an elite soldier carrying out the orders of a superior, to the point that Balun was the one who became bewildered.

Was this really right?

No matter how one looked at it, he was the bastard who had stormed into her guild and caused a huge disturbance.

“Hahh, Lord Balun. The last of the twelve, hahh, I brought them all, hahh.”

“You did well. Go rest.”

“Yes…”

“Take this.”

“Gasp! Thank you!”

The bartender ultimately performed Balun’s orders perfectly and achieved the miracle of receiving a tip of as much as five gold.

The other Rogues, who had been bound tightly with rope beside her, glared at her, but she paid them no attention and simply grinned from ear to ear while fiddling with the money.

“Mmph! Mmph!”

“Mmph, mmph, mmph!”

“What in the world is going on here?”

The twelfth and final First-Class Rogue who entered the guild lobby narrowed his eyes as he looked at the scene.

He stared for a long while at the chaos that had taken place in the guild lobby, then asked the bartender, who was fiddling with gold coins in the corner, “Hey, Darcy. Explain. What exactly is going on here?”

“What do you think happened? You were baited.”

The one who answered was Balun instead of the bartender. At Balun’s sudden interruption, the First-Class Rogue Dmitri looked Balun up and down.

“Was it you? Are you the one who did this?”

“Yes.”

“…”

Dmitri’s eyes sank coldly. Soon, a sharp tension appeared, but to Balun, it was nothing significant.

After all, he had already gone through the same process eleven times.

He had called out a First-Class Rogue, exchanged a murderous conversation with him, fought him, tied him up, and interrogated him…

He had repeated that eleven times, but gained nothing, and this was the final twelfth time.

“What rotten luck.”

Dmitri’s eyes moved quickly left and right. It was as if he were calculating his odds of victory.

His choice seemed to be to wait for now. He did not act rashly. He simply stood still while holding a dagger.

“Rogue. I will ask you one thing. If you answer honestly, I may let you live. Were you the one who ordered that bastard to follow me?”

Balun pointed with his finger at the man sprawled on the floor. It was the same man who had followed Balun. It was also the twelfth time he had asked that question.

Dmitri looked the man over, then shook his head.

“No. I know nothing about it. I do not even know who this man is.”

False.

Balun’s eyes deepened. For the first time, a lie had been identified.

Balun lamented inwardly.

‘Ha, what rotten luck. Why did it have to be the last bastard?’

It meant he had hit the one-in-twelve chance. In other words, an 8.33 percent probability.

Thanks to that, he had used up all the time there was to use.

The sun was already rising.

He had been doing this nonsense all through the dawn without even sleeping.

“Why did you target me? Were you after my money?”

“I do not know what you are talking about. Why would I target your money? I do not even know who you are in the first place.”

False.

“Since when did you know me? Was it from when I started going around taverns and throwing money around?”

“I told you, did I not? I do not even know who you are. What do I care whether you threw money around or not?”

False.

By the time he had asked that much, Balun’s instincts were shouting sharply.

They were telling him this was absolutely not a simple crime.

A sudden suspicion surged up and took over his mind. Balun did not hold back his words.

“Could it be that you knew about me even before I came to Mirehal?”

“…”

“Answer. If you do not want to die.”

A cold silence fell.

Dmitri looked at Oskal. Oskal’s eyes, which continued to shine blue. Only then did Dmitri recognize what they meant.

Soon, Dmitri’s eyes trembled.

It was visible agitation.

As if he knew what kind of magic Oskal was using.

The moment Balun saw the fingers of Dmitri’s empty left hand twitching, he immediately threw his axe.

WHIZZ!

Thud!

“Ghk!”

Balun charged in at once and grabbed the bastard by the collar.

“Krrgh!”

“I will ask again. If you do not answer, I will cut off a finger. Did you know about me even before I came to Mirehal?”

“Ugh, I cannot say…”

Slice!

“Aaaargh!”

“I will keep asking. I will cut one off each time you refuse to answer. Did you know about me even before I came to Mirehal?”

“I-I knew! I knew about you!”

True.

“Were you targeting me even before I came to Mirehal?”

Slice!

“Aaaargh!”

“Were you targeting me even before I came to Mirehal?”

“Y-yes! I was targeting you even before you came to Mirehal!”

True.

‘…’

Balun’s expression hardened. What he had suspected just in case had become reality.

“I will ask one last question. Are you affiliated with Black Moon?”

“Th-that…”

“I suppose I will have to cut again.”

“Y-yes! I am affiliated with Black Moon! So spare m… Mmph!”

Balun’s eyes narrowed. A chill ran down his spine in that instant. Along with a prickling sensation, unease swept over his entire body.

Balun trusted that feeling.

“Everyone, get away.”

“Pardon?”

“I said get away! You, can you not use Defense Magic?”

“I can use it, but…”

“Use it now. Hurry!”

Balun shouted loudly, quickly drew Black Moon, crouched down, and used it to shield as much of his body as possible.

And as he did, he saw it.

Dmitri’s body swelling like a balloon.

And then.

BOOOOM!

Dmitri’s body burst like a balloon, causing a tremendous explosion.