Surviving as a Barbarian in a Fantasy World

Chapter 159: The Inquisitor of the Sun God and Magician of the Tower (6)

Baker looked extremely gloomy.

It was inevitable. In this world, gods held higher value than any other being.

If Ketal was truly acknowledged by a god, he would possess more authority and honor than a superhuman-level magician.

It wouldn’t be strange if Ketal ignored him.

“…Hmph. Fine.”

Baker, the magician who delved into the truths of the world, decided to acknowledge Ketal a little.

But only that much.

He was superior to a barbarian, after all.

They continued their journey.

Aquaz, who was calculating the remaining distance, spoke up.

“We still have a long way to go. We need to pick up the pace.”

They were inland, and their destination was a city by the sea, so the distance was considerable.

At this speed, it would take months.

Baker’s eyes gleamed at Aquaz’s words.

“Really? Then how about we get serious? Hmm, how about this?”

Baker spoke as if the idea had just come to him.

“Let’s have one person keep going until they run out of stamina. When someone gets tired, we’ll rest. How about that?”

“Hmm. It doesn’t sound bad. What do you think, Ketal?”

“I don’t mind.”

With Ketal agreeing, Aquaz nodded.

“Alright. Since we have a long way to go, let’s do that.”

The decision was made.

Baker, whose plan was going smoothly, clenched his fist out of sight.

‘Got it!’

He was a magician.

As someone who was holed up in the magician tower researching, his stamina wasn’t great.

The Starrail School he belonged to didn’t particularly have any magic to strengthen or support the body.

But even so, he was a superhuman-level magician.

Even if he simply and bluntly strengthened his body with mana, he could travel much farther than a barbarian who couldn’t even handle the mysticism.

Baker’s plan was simple.

He intended to show Aquaz the unseemly sight of the barbarian collapsing from exhaustion and make her lose affection for him.

“Then let’s go.”

He stepped forward energetically.

This time, he was determined to show his superiority.

They advanced towards their destination.

They didn’t rest, traveling an unimaginably long distance at a tremendous speed for hours.

It was possible because they were all top-tier warriors.

And the first to get tired was none other than Baker.

“Huff, huff.”

Baker struggled to catch his breath, barely managing to look at Ketal with eyes full of disbelief.

‘Why, why isn’t he getting tired?’

They had been running for half a day without rest.

Even a top-tier warrior would have long since collapsed from exhaustion at this distance.

Yet Ketal was fine.

On the contrary, he was the one getting tired.

Before he knew it, his mana, which was like a spring, had run dry.

Sweat flowed, and his breathing became rough.

He tried to endure it desperately, but his pathetically weak body quickly reached its limit.

“Huff.”

Baker clung to a tree and bent over.

Ketal stopped moving forward.

“You seem exhausted. We should rest here.”

“Huff, huff.”

He wanted to deny it, but he couldn’t even speak properly.

Aquaz nodded.

“It’s late, so let’s rest here.”

“Good idea. I’ll prepare the sleeping arrangements.”

Ketal took out a sleeping bag.

Baker was speechless at his relaxed attitude.

‘How is a barbarian, who doesn’t even handle the mysticism, so fine?’

He wasn’t even sweating.

His breathing was perfectly normal.

Aquaz was also looking at Ketal in amazement.

“You seem perfectly fine, Mr. Ketal. Impressive.”

“This body is all I have. You seem fine too.”

“Divine power is a special force.”

Divine power recovered much faster and consumed less than mana or aura.

Only at the level of a sacred scripture did it have significant consumption.

“Oh. So that’s how it is.”

Divine power was a force bestowed by another, and it seemed to have a high baseline.

‘It must have been a fierce battle.’

Shadrenes and Rakza were completely exhausted and couldn’t even draw on their divine power.

It was clear how intense the battle with the demons had been.

Baker sat on the ground, barely recovering his mana.

Aquaz approached him with a concerned look.

“Are you alright? You should drink plenty of water.”

“Th-thank you…”

Baker felt both pleased and embarrassed by Aquaz’s concern.

“You seem quite exhausted. Alright. I’ll cook dinner tonight. Everyone, rest.”

“Who would want to eat a barbarian’s cooking…?”

Baker muttered weakly.

Aquaz didn’t say anything in response.

Barbarian cooking couldn’t really be called cooking.

There were no seasonings, and the meat was not even cleaned.

They often threw it onto the fire without draining the blood.

It was no exaggeration to say that eating a wild animal that had died in a forest fire wouldn’t be much different from a barbarian’s cooking.

Naturally, one would have an aversion to barbarian cooking.

However, Ketal confidently rolled up his sleeves.

“I’m good at cooking, so just watch.”

Ketal took ingredients and cooking utensils out of his artifact pouch.

He began to skillfully prepare the ingredients.

Aquaz and Baker, who were watching with reluctant faces, were surprised.

They were amazed that ingredients kept coming out of the small pouch and that Ketal’s cooking skills were quite good.

The ingredients were neatly prepared, and he was tasting the seasoning regularly.

Anyone could see that he was skilled.

“You’re better than I thought.”

“Didn’t I say? I’m confident in my cooking.”

Soon, a white stew was bubbling in the pot.

“Here. Eat.”

“Um… thank you.”

Aquaz cautiously tasted the stew.

After a moment of chewing, her eyes widened.

“It’s… delicious.”

“Isn’t it?”

Ketal smiled as he brought a bowl to Baker.

“You should eat too. I seasoned it lightly, so it should be fine on an empty stomach.”

Who would want to eat barbarian cooking?

Baker thought to refuse.

But his mouth wouldn’t open.

“…Ah.”

A delicious smell wafted in front of him.

The appetizing white stew was right there.

He grabbed the bowl as if mesmerized.

That night, Baker ended up eating three bowls of stew.

* * *

The next day, Baker woke up with a gloomy face.

Eating barbarian cooking as if it were delicious was a humiliation.

The greatest humiliation was losing his dignity as a magician and eating three bowls of barbarian cooking.

“…Hmph.”

Baker was a magician.

He could observe and judge things objectively.

He decided to acknowledge Ketal a little more.

‘But that’s all.’

Even so, he was superior.

This barbarian might have the recognition of a god, great stamina, and good cooking skills, but that was it.

Although these were considerable advantages, Baker did not yield at all.

After all, Ketal was just an ignorant barbarian with no knowledge.

As they continued toward their destination, Baker spoke to Aquaz.

“Aquaz. Shall I continue the story about the stars from before?”

“Ah. Yes, please.”

“Where did I leave off?”

“You said this land revolves around the sun.”

“That’s right.”

“As I mentioned before, this land revolves around the sun. Not only this land, but there are many stars revolving around the sun. We’ve confirmed more than ten stars so far.”

“Really?”

Aquaz listened attentively to Baker’s story.

Baker was a magician of the Starrail School, which specialized in observing the stars.

He knew a lot about stars and the sun.

To Aquaz, a devotee of the Sun God, Baker’s knowledge was very attractive.

Baker raised his voice deliberately for Ketal to hear.

“How do you think that’s possible?”

“Isn’t it the power of the Sun God?”

“What kind of power do you think it is?”

“I’m not sure. What is it?”

“It’s simple. The sun has a gravitational force. This immense force holds dozens of stars, preventing them from escaping the sun.”

“Amazing…”

Aquaz murmured in awe.

Thinking that all of this was due to the great power of the Sun God filled her with pride as a believer.

After a moment of contemplation, Aquaz asked with a curious tone.

“Then I have one question. You said the gravitational force from the sun maintains the distance of the stars, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. You understand well.”

“Then I’m curious. Why don’t we get closer to the sun? If we are being pulled in, shouldn’t we eventually get closer to the sun?”

“Uh.”

Baker hesitated.

He had studied that part too, but it was such a long time ago that he couldn’t remember it for a moment.

As he was trying to recall, Ketal spoke up.

“Orbital revolution.”

“What?”

“What are you pretending to know, barbarian?”

“Hmm? Aren’t you talking about orbital revolution? The force that each star exerts.”

“Hah.”

Baker scoffed at Ketal.

The knowledge he had learned was from the great Starrail School.

An outsider, especially a barbarian, couldn’t possibly know about it.

Baker thought Ketal was pretending to know something with some half-baked knowledge he had picked up somewhere.

“Then explain it. What is orbital revolution?”

“It’s the ratio of the forces exerted by masses on each other. Let me explain simply. Aquaz, if you and I were to grab each other’s arms and spin around with pure strength, who would be the center of rotation?”

“Um… it would be you, Ketal.”

Ketal’s strength was greater than Aquaz’s.

If they exerted force and spun, Aquaz’s body would naturally revolve around Ketal.

“It’s the same. A massive object has an inherent pulling force. The sun is the largest and most powerful star, so the surrounding stars revolve around it accordingly.”

“So, this star doesn’t get pulled into the sun because…”

“This star also has a pulling force. Even if I pull you towards me, if you resist, we maintain a certain distance, merely rotating around each other. It’s the same concept.”

“Aha. I see.”

Aquaz was impressed.

It sounded plausible.

She looked at Baker.

“Is Ketal correct?”

“…”

Baker didn’t answer.

His face was stiff.

Aquaz was puzzled.

“Baker?”

“Uh, uh. He might be right…”

Baker recalled what he had learned.

He realized that Ketal’s explanation was accurate.

“Hmm. Seems correct.”

Ketal muttered as if he found it curious.

He wasn’t entirely sure since he was explaining using the principles from Earth.

He couldn’t be certain if this world operated under the same rules.

But based on the conversation, it seemed similar.

“The Sun God, huh.”

The great Sun God.

What relationship does this deity have with the sun?

“Interesting.”

Ketal became intrigued by the gods.

Meanwhile, Baker couldn’t hide his shock.

‘How on earth…’

The information Ketal had just explained was something that even the Starrail School, with its vast knowledge of stars, required long years of education to understand.

For an outsider, a barbarian, to know such precise information was unbelievable.

‘That’s… fine.’

Even if this barbarian had knowledge, it didn’t matter.

He was still superior.

The lovestruck young man reassured himself.

‘I’m still… superior, right?’

But the confidence he once had was no longer as strong as it used to be.

[PR/N: This what happens when u in love man 😔]