Surviving as a Barbarian in a Fantasy World

Chapter 127: The Isolated Village (1)

They kept moving forward as the sun set and the moon rose.

While preparing a place to sleep for the night, Heize spoke cautiously.

“May I go and offer my final prayers for the day? I’d like to do it quietly.”

“Feel free to go.”

“Thank you. Uh, Naplas, why don’t you come along?”

“Hmm?”

Naplas looked puzzled.

But soon, understanding dawned on his face, and he followed Heize.

They walked along the dark path until they reached the riverbank.

The water was muddy, likely due to the heavy rain a few days ago.

Heize looked at Naplas, his voice almost drowned out by the roaring water.

“Naplas, what are you doing? Are you really going to accept a barbarian into our church?”

“Why not? Is there a problem?”

“Do we really need to?”

Heize couldn’t understand Naplas’s decision.

Bringing that barbarian into their church seemed fraught with potential issues.

But Naplas’s expression remained firm.

“We must. Our church is very weak. We need strength.”

“But we have the Holy Knight.”

There was one superhuman in the Kalosia church.

Not just a marginally powerful individual, but someone who surpassed the typical limits of strength.

Despite the persecution they faced, it was solely due to the Holy Knight that the Kalosia church had been able to survive.

“And we have the Saintess. Do we really need more power? Even if it means bringing in that barbarian?”

“Yes.”

Naplas spoke calmly.

“If we had more strength, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

“……”

Heize fell silent.

Their sanctuary was in jeopardy.

It was on the brink of collapse due to the invasion of evil.

If they had another superhuman, the situation might be significantly better.

Naplas gave a bitter smile.

“We can’t cooperate with other churches. It’s hard to get help from them. So we need to increase our own strength.”

In normal circumstances, there was no need for an church to amass so much power.

Usually, if an church faced difficulties, external help was available.

But that wasn’t the case for them.

They couldn’t receive help from anyone.

“But that’s…”

“Yes, it’s the sin of our ancestors. They committed many crimes.”

Naplas narrowed his eyes.

“But that doesn’t mean we should perish like this.”

“……”

“We need to grow stronger. We need power.”

Naplas lifted his gaze and looked into the distance, in the direction of Ketal.

“That barbarian can be the power we need.”

Heize said nothing more.

They returned to where Ketal was waiting, who greeted them with a smile.

“You’re back. Did the prayers go well?”

“Yes.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Ketal murmured, causing Naplas to feel a strange unease.

‘…Could he have heard us?’

Had he overheard their conversation?

Naplas doubted it.

It was quite a distance away, and the roar of the river would have drowned out their voices.

No matter how keen his hearing, it would have been impossible.

Naplas dismissed the thought.

The next day, they continued their journey towards the sanctuary.

Naplas kept talking to Ketal, who responded well.

Their conversation flowed seamlessly for over an hour.

‘We get along so well.’

Naplas looked at Ketal with growing affection.

How could there be such a barbarian in the world?

Even if not for his strength, he was a person one could naturally feel fond of.

Naplas felt he was getting to know Ketal better.

As such, one question inevitably arose.

‘How strong is this barbarian?’

He couldn’t quite grasp it.

According to Heize, he was incredibly strong.

He had fought against a named demon, which would put him on par with their Holy Knight.

But Naplas didn’t fully believe Heize’s words.

The reason was simple.

The amount of mystery he sensed from Ketal was very small.

In this world, mystery was almost synonymous with strength.

It was impossible for someone without it to be powerful.

Considering that an Inquisitor of the Sun God was also present during the battle, Naplas assumed Ketal must have played a supporting role.

‘Of course, he wouldn’t be weak.’

But without sensing any mystery from him, it was hard to get a clear idea of his strength.

That doubt was soon resolved.

“Um.”

Ketal, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped.

Naplas, following behind, widened his eyes.

“This is….”

A bridge stretched over a wide river, and a huge boulder blocked the path.

Ketal murmured.

“It looks like the rain caused the boulder to roll down.”

“It seems so. This is troublesome.”

Naplas frowned.

The river was very wide and the current strong, so they had to use the bridge.

But a massive boulder blocked the way.

Clearing the boulder was not an option.

It was the size of a house, requiring dozens of strong men to move it.

“It’s astonishing that such a large boulder exists.”

Naplas murmured in amazement.

He had never seen such a large boulder before.

“We need to find another way.”

“There’s no need for that.”

As Naplas was about to turn back, Ketal stood in front of the boulder.

Ketal grasped the boulder, and Naplas’s eyes widened even further.

Rumble….

Ketal lifted the boulder with one hand.

“N-no way.”

Naplas’s mouth fell open.

Holding the boulder, Ketal spoke calmly.

“I’ll just toss it to the side.”

“Uh, uh, uh….”

“Hmm.”

Ketal threw the boulder.

Though it seemed as if he was tossing an empty ball, when the boulder hit the ground, the earth shook.

Boom!

Their feet left the ground momentarily from the impact.

“It’s done. We can go now.”

Ketal said nonchalantly.

Naplas was speechless.

* * *

After that, Naplas spoke even more enthusiastically with Ketal.

Excitement shone brightly in Naplas’s eyes as he chattered away.

‘He lifted a boulder the size of a house with one hand.’

Naplas was not weak.

He possessed first-rate strength and had encountered superhuman beings a few times during his long travels.

So Naplas could tell.

The boulder from before was not something even a superhuman could easily move.

Breaking it down to smaller pieces and then removing it, or using extensive preparation to blow it away in one go was possible, but lifting and moving it as Ketal did was impossible.

‘How can he possess such strength without even handling mystery?’

He was a monster.

Someone hard to find in the entire kingdom, and greatly respected wherever he went.

A strong individual like that could change the stature of a nation.

If such a person became a priest of Kalosia, the church would not only overcome its crisis but also grow stronger.

Driven by this goal, Naplas continued to talk to Ketal.

Ketal accepted without any hesitation.

The conversation continued, and this time they were discussing the mythology of Kalosia. Naplas spoke.

“A boy stole bread to save his starving younger sister. The next day, a trial was held to find the thief. Just as the boy was about to be caught, Lord Kalosia, who was passing by, claimed falsely that they had stolen the bread.”

Naplas murmured with a moved expression.

“Kalosa showed that even through lies and deception, one can save others. Kalosia was a great being.”

“Ah, I see.”

Ketal nodded.

Naplas believed Ketal was impressed by Kalosia’s great deeds.

But in reality, Ketal was thinking something entirely different.

‘Which parts are true and which are false?’

From ancient times, those who worshiped someone tended to embellish their stories.

Something as simple as buying goods from a store became an act of mercy to save a failing shop, and crossing a dangerous bridge became the journey of a great person.

It wouldn’t be much different here.

‘Since these stories seem plausible, they must all be true, right?’

Contrary to Naplas’s expectation, Ketal approached it with the perspective of a meticulous researcher.

But unaware of this, Naplas was simply pleased.

“It seems I’m doing all the talking. Do you have any questions about Lord Kalosia? I can answer anything.”

“Questions, huh.”

After a moment of thought, Ketal spoke.

“There is one thing.”

“Oh. What is it?”

“I heard that your church caused various problems in the past. Is that true?”

Naplas, who had been smiling broadly, suddenly stopped.

His expression quickly turned sour.

“…You’re asking a painful question.”

“I apologize if it’s offensive.”

“No, it’s fine. It’s our karma. It seems you know about it.”

“I have a rough idea.”

Priests of Kalosia, the god of lies and deception.

They wandered the world, causing chaos through lies and deception.

In the end, they became targets of attack and had to submit.

Naplas gave a bitter smile.

“That’s mostly correct. It’s our original sin.”

“You don’t seem to have the power to shake the world.”

The Church of Kalosia was collapsing under the invasion of evil.

If they had that kind of power, they wouldn’t be in this situation.

“You’re quite blunt.”

Momentarily taken aback, Naplas began to explain.

“There’s a reason for that. After many problems, we changed the church’s policy.”

Even if they worship the god of lies and deception, they must not harm others.

To tarnish the name of the god is an unacceptable act for a follower.

After such discussions, the church’s policy was established.

The priests of Kalosia began to act like priests of any other god.

Since then, the priests of Kalosia stopped causing trouble.

But at the same time, the church’s influence began to wane.

“The divine power we received grew weaker. The number of people who could read the scriptures decreased. Some even lost their divine power.”

The power of the church comes from the god.

Without the god’s power, they inevitably weakened.

Ketal stroked his chin with interest.

“So that’s why your influence weakened.”

“It’s all because of our karma.”

Naplas said with a regretful tone.

“Kalosia was disappointed to see the priests tarnish their name, so they withdrew their divine power. We must do our best to regain their favor.”

Seeing the priests tarnish the name, Kalosia was disappointed and withdrew divine power.

Now, they had come to their senses and were atoning for their sins.

That was the belief of the priests of Kalosia.

“Hmm?”

But Ketal tilted his head.

“Do you really think so?”

“Yes, but is there a problem with that?”

“…No. If that’s what you believe, then it must be correct.”

He was an outsider.

He didn’t know much about their mythology or divinity.

Therefore, there was no need to question it.

Ketal changed the subject.

They continued on their way.

The journey was uneventful to the point of boredom.

They had already covered about half the distance.

“Um.”

Ketal, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped.

“What’s the matter?”

“There’s a village.”

“A village?”

Naplas looked puzzled.

There was no sign of people anywhere.

There was nothing but forest near the path.

But Ketal insisted there was a village.

“It’s about 1 kilometer from here.”

“…You sensed that?”

“Yes.”

Ketal looked blankly at Naplas.

Naplas was momentarily speechless but quickly regained his composure and said,

“A village, huh. We can restock supplies and spend the night there since it’s getting dark.”

“Good idea.”

Heize nodded quickly.

After walking non-stop for two weeks, exhaustion had set in.

He wanted to sleep under a roof for a night.

“Not a bad idea.”

“Where is it located?”

“Over there.”

Ketal pointed beyond the forest.

“…Over there?”

“Yes.”

Naplas frowned.

They were on a path in the middle of the forest.

In the direction Ketal pointed, there was nothing but forest.

It didn’t seem like a plausible location for a village.

“Hmm… we’ll see when we get there. Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Heize replied.

They walked towards where the village was supposed to be.