Barbarian in a Failed Game

That day, like any other, Patrick was enjoying a banquet.

“Good.”

The position of the Southern Borderland Marquis had always been regarded within the family as a sinecure or a spot for those who had fallen from grace. This was because the position held little sway in central politics and didn’t allow for a significant voice within the family either.

Though one might think a Borderland Marquis to be a powerful figure, the position required maintaining a significantly larger standing army than common nobles. Thus, it was intentionally stripped of political power.

In contrast, the responsibility was immense. The southern fortresses were the first line of defense against the Beastmen’s potential continental invasions.

Even though the Beastmen had calmed down considerably after the Empire’s victory in the past war, one could never predict when they might act up again.

‘Well, apart from that, it’s quite livable.’

However, Patrick was very satisfied with his position as the Borderland Marquis. For someone who was living as a cripple, the title of Borderland Marquis was more than enough.

If it weren’t for his past of competing for the heir position against the eldest and his remarkable abilities, he would have been buried quietly without anyone noticing.

‘Even those damned furballs have their uses.’

The southern region was uncharted territory for the Empire. Countless resources were buried there, and what seemed like trash to the ill-equipped Beastmen could be worth hundreds or thousands to the Empire.

Indeed.

Patrick’s true role was not “Guarding the Gate”.

‘It’s smuggling the rich resources of the south and selling them at high prices. What other business could be so profitable?’

His task was to accumulate funds for the family’s prosperity. Naturally, he had to use underhanded methods. Though few people remembered the war with the Beastmen, the fear that the very existence of the Beastmen instilled was something every Imperial citizen carried.

Considering his deeds that were unscrupulous enough to warrant his expulsion from the family, it was precisely because of this that he could hold the position of Southern Borderland Marquis.

He was the only blood relative trusted to handle such a significant mission against the enemies of the Empire while discreetly executing the task.

‘At the same time, I’m the only one who can be discarded at any moment.’

Of course, Patrick had not resigned himself to being discarded quietly. He personally developed routes for smuggling resources from the southern regions, utilizing his unique political acumen to completely take over the merchant groups involved.

He sent half of the money earned to the family, invested 30% to cover the Imperial Court’s surveillance, and spread 10% among his subordinates to ensure their complete loyalty.

Even with just the remaining 10%, Patrick succeeded in amassing an unimaginable amount of slush funds.

‘Now that the family can no longer dispose of me at will… It’s time to expand my influence further.’

During such a period, a face he longed for yet loathed came to find him, bearing the Emperor’s decree to prepare against the Beastmen’s movements.

‘Even though I have no choice but to comply…’

Despite maintaining an attitude of indifference in front of the Sword Demon and the young Paladin from the Istantil family, it was prudent to heed the demands of the Imperial Court, given his involvement in smuggling activities.

He could showcase such demeanor only because he had quickly surmised that neither the Sword Demon nor Leo was aware of these circumstances.

“Well, there’s no reason for those furballs to act up now anyway. I’ll just make a superficial show of it.”

Even if the Emperor had suddenly grown wary of the Beastmen for some unknown reason, Patrick, being the most knowledgeable about the southern affairs, questioned what there was to be wary about.

He received not just information from the Beastmen he traded with, but also from the Rangers of the Zartua Border Marquisate who brought back intelligence from beyond the fortresses.

Though he had heard of increased internal conflicts among the Beastmen recently, those dim-witted beasts brawling amongst themselves was typical.

“How will the Imperial Court react to my demands… This won’t be boring for a while.”

After finishing his solitary banquet and with a slight inebriation, Patrick quietly headed to his bedroom.

—Grrrr…

At that moment.

‘Is that… a howl?’

Faint but similar to an animal’s cry, a sound tickled Patrick’s ears. He wouldn’t typically find this strange; many residents lived with livestock, and it could just as well have been the hunting dogs the Rangers kept.

But an unsettling feeling enveloped Patrick.

‘Something… something is different.’

It wasn’t innate insight but a primal human instinct that warned Patrick. The howl just now was a predator’s signal.

“Chen!”

“Yes.”

“That howl just now. We need to check it out.”

“I will send the Rangers.”

Patrick still wasn’t reassured and ordered all his guards to be summoned. Still uneasy, he additionally called up a ready squadron of Rangers.

‘No, that can’t be it.’

Why did the Emperor’s decree to prepare against the Beastmen’s movements come to mind?

It was this peculiar sense of foreboding that unsettled him. Trying to calm himself, Patrick waited for the Ranger squadron. But—

“Why isn’t anyone coming! Those damned fools…!”

Despite Chen dispatching people to convey the command, neither the knights on standby at their quarters nor the Rangers gathered. Feeling the looming dread becoming reality, Patrick shouted, veins bulging in his neck.

“Useless fools! They take the money and then sabotage their duties?!”

“Your Grace, I will personally see to their punishment. Please, calm yourself.”

“Calm down…!”

“Your Grace.”

Patrick hesitated at the serious gaze of his guard, chen.

“If something had truly happened, we would have heard the alarm bells from the walls first. Moreover, the Rangers patrolling outside the walls would have reported back sooner.”

“… Yes. You’re right.”

Calming down as if infected by Chen’s composed voice, Patrick cleared his throat and accepted Chen’s support.

“Even so, just in case…”

“Yes, I will escort you.”

With Chen’s assistance, Patrick ventured outside the mansion. Only after seeing the quiet, dark fortress did he sigh in relief.

‘Wait… All the lights are out?’

“Your Grace!”

Just as Patrick sensed something was off, chen’s forceful grip pulled him back, flipping his view upside down.

“Ugh!”

Startled, Patrick screamed, and the next moment, he felt the hard armor enveloping him.

Swish!

Then, a chilling slicing sound thundered in his ears.

“Your Grace…! It’s the Beastmen!”

With a swift and lethal strike, chen cut down an approaching Beastmen and shouted urgently. He condensed aura in his feet and stomped forcefully on the ground.

Boom!

Cracks radiated out from where Chen’s foot struck, dispelling the darkness around them and revealing the true state of the fortress, hidden beneath a shamanistic veil.

“Ahhh…!”

“Help me!”

“It’s the Beastmen! They’ve invaded the fortress!”

How?

Patrick was momentarily bewildered by the sudden change in scenery, but then he remembered the shamanistic magic of the Beastmen. And the appearance of a shamanistic spell meant a large-scale invasion.

“Your Grace. We must go!”

With the invasion confirmed, there was no time to hesitate. A cripple needing crutches was only a hindrance on the battlefield. Moreover, the fortress troops were being overwhelmed by the Beastmen.

In such a situation, chen’s best choice was to ensure the safety of his master, Patrick.

Bang!

“Roar!”

A Beastmen with the mane of a lion and hideous fangs blocked their way, but it exploded under the force of a single swing of Chen’s sword. However, the Beastmen blocking their path weren’t alone.

The intense aura radiating from Chen stirred the Beastmen’s keen senses, drawing all attention towards him.

Gulp!

Then, from afar.

Chen locked eyes with a presence atop the fortress wall and hurriedly moved. As the Southern Borderland Marquis’ guard and a knight bearing the Marquis’ banner, chen determinedly made his escape.

No matter how elite the Beastmen forces were, it wouldn’t be easy for them to catch up with him.

‘Or perhaps…’

They might have let him go on purpose. Recalling the presence he locked eyes with atop the fortress wall sent chills down his spine. That presence was likely the Beastmen shaman who had cloaked the mansion in darkness.

What puzzled him was why the shaman seemed to be allowing his escape.

“Huff! Huff! What’s happening?”

The confusion in Patrick, who was being carried by Chen over the ridges, was even greater than that of his guard. In an instant, he had lost the fortress and survived shamefully with his life. Any sense of relief was fleeting.

‘Damn it…!’

Patrick became aware of the harsh reality. Would the family vultures, who were always eager to discard him, leave him be now that he had fled, abandoning the fortress and its troops?

No chance.

Patrick, having once vied for the position of family head, knew with certainty. The family would seize this opportunity to strip him of his authority and take over the lucrative smuggling routes he had established.

‘That can’t happen! Absolutely not!’

The fortress could be recaptured. With the Empire’s strength, they could reclaim it a hundred or a thousand times. The critical point was whether he could maintain his position as Borderland Marquis afterward.

‘If I claim that the Beastmen invaders were too overwhelming for the fortress troops to handle…!’

“Ah.”

Was that it-?

‘The Emperor! That damn old man!’

Patrick’s face twisted in a grotesque realization. The Emperor’s decree, the Sword Demon’s mission, and the Beastmen’s attack. All of these elements were pushing Patrick to the brink.

‘From the start, I was the target…!’

He could vividly see the events that would unfold in his mind. The invasion would shake the populace, and the Emperor, who had decreed preparations, would accuse Patrick of failing his duty out of personal vendetta.

And then, they would seek to take back the fortress’s authority into the Imperial fold, along with the smuggling routes and merchant groups Patrick had painstakingly built.

“Damn! Damn it all!”

Patrick didn’t blame himself for falling into the trap. He only burned with hatred for the Emperor and the Sword Demon, who had ensnared him. Having completely forgotten his initial plans to trap the Sword Demon.

“I will survive… and avenge this!”

“Your Grace! We must head to the rear fortress!”

“No! I can’t trust my family. Instead, we need the support of another Elector family…!”

Swish.

“Huh?”

As his vision tilted, a bewildered sound escaped Patrick’s lips.

What is this? What’s happening?

It was an unbelievable sight, as though he were dreaming despite witnessing it with his own eyes. Chen, whom he had been speaking with just seconds ago, had lost his head.

The body of Chen, whose skills Patrick had believed could rival the Imperial Bannerlords, simply collapsed forward, and Patrick, falling to the ground, desperately pushed himself up with his hands.

When he raised his head, he saw a face that should never have appeared here.

“Hello?”

Flaming red hair flowing like fire, a ferocious smile curling at the lips, and a broken, half-remaining old sword.

“You, the Sword Demon…!”

“Why so late? I thought I’d die waiting…”

“You were supposed to return to the Sword Mountain—!”

“I intended to, but I had one last thing to cut.”

The Sword Demon, Leniyar, spoke while cloaking the broken blade with a murderous aura.

“Your neck.”

“I am the Borderland Marquis—! You have no right to touch me!”

Patrick’s desperate struggle for survival was akin to that of a wild beast. Bloodshot eyes brimming with hatred and determination, he looked as if he would pounce on Lennyar if he had the strength.

“Of course.”

Lennyar laughed at the sight.

“Sorry, but you’re no longer the Borderland Marquis or anything else, you idiot.”

Just a corpse. Upon hearing those words, Patrick’s eyes widened, and Lennyar swung the broken sword through the air.

Then,-As if sliced by an invisible blade, a line appeared on Patrick’s neck. Seeing there was no need to look any further, Leniyar turned away from the now-still Patrick.

She wouldn’t waste any more time on such a trivial being.

‘Just you wait, you bastard.’

When Khan returned from wherever he had disappeared to, to shock that smug face saying, ‘I know everything’, she had to move relentlessly.

‘Even that bastard wouldn’t imagine inheriting the title of Imperial Borderland Marquis.’

***

“Praise the new king of the Blood Domain!”

“Even a lesser demonkin can become great!”

“Let’s expel the central demonkin legion oppressing the frontier!”

Sitting on a throne that was nothing short of magnificent, overlooking the flood of demonkins filling the ruined castle’s collapsed walls and ceiling, Khan muttered with a dazed expression.

‘How did things escalate to this point…?’

TL’s Corner:

Khan doing Khan things.