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Chapter 162: A City by the Sea (1)

It lived under the sea.

Living in a cold, deep, and dark place where not even a ray of light could reach, it believed its small world was everything, like a frog in a well.

But one day,

It realized.

When what had existed since the beginning perished on the surface, the constraints that had once confined it disappeared.

The narrow well shattered to pieces.

* * *

A vast sea spread before them to the horizon.

Baker looked incredibly moved.

Seeing the sea for the first time, he was naturally overwhelmed by its vastness.

Ketal, too, murmured in awe.

“This is my first time seeing the sea.”

“What? You’ve never seen the sea before?”

“Yes.”

Of course, there was the sea on Earth.

There was the sea in the white snowy field, but that place was a Forbidden Land, so it didn’t count.

To be precise, it was his first time seeing the sea in a fantasy world.

‘It doesn’t look much different from the sea on Earth.’

But thinking of it as a fantasy sea made it feel different.

Ketal looked at the sea with a delighted face, while Aquaz looked at him with a puzzled expression.

‘First time seeing the sea?’

Ketal was a barbarian from the white snowy field.

And the white snowy field was connected to the sea.

From Aquaz’s perspective, Ketal’s claim of seeing the sea for the first time was a bit hard to understand.

‘…Maybe he’s never been to the part of the white snowy field that connects to the sea?’

The white snowy field was extremely vast.

Aquaz concluded that Ketal must not have reached the area where the sea was.

They approached the seaside city.

As they got closer, Ketal’s face lit up with joy at the deepening scent of the sea.

When they reached the city’s entrance, they encountered the guards.

“Who goes there!”

“Nice to meet you.”

Aquaz greeted politely.

“I am Aquaz, an Inquisitor of the Sun God. We have come to help upon hearing that the city is in danger.”

“What, what?”

“Inquisitor?”

The guards’ eyes widened.

Aquaz introduced Baker.

“This is Mr. Baker, a magician from the Tower of Magic.”

“…A magician from the Tower of Magic.”

The guards’ eyes widened even more.

“And this is the barbarian Ketal.”

“…What?”

The guards momentarily stiffened.

They looked at them with bewildered eyes.

“Uh… we’ll inform the lord immediately.”

They ran into the city in a hurry.

Watching their retreating figures, Ketal murmured.

“They seem flustered.”

“Of course they do.”

Aquaz gave a wry smile.

An Inquisitor, a magician, and a barbarian—a rather unusual combination, she thought.

It wasn’t long before the guards returned.

“The lord wishes to see you. Please come in.”

They entered the city.

Aquaz, looking around, murmured in surprise.

“It looks better than I expected. No, it looks prosperous…”

“Indeed. I thought the situation wouldn’t be good.”

The presence of the Forbidden Land had taken over the sea.

The city’s primary means of trade had been blocked.

Given that goods were not moving properly, Aquaz expected the internal situation to be bad, but it was the opposite.

There were no vagrants in sight, the citizens looked cheerful.

Their clothes were clean, and the buildings were well-maintained.

There wasn’t a single piece of trash on the streets, and the smell of food wafted from everywhere.

It looked more prosperous than the capital of most kingdoms.

They entered the lord’s castle, puzzled.

And they met the lord.

Aquaz, upon meeting the lord, spoke with a peculiar expression.

“You seem to be a benevolent person.”

“H, hahaha.”

The lord was three times the size of Aquaz.

He wiped the sweat from his plump cheeks with a forced smile.

“Nice, nice to meet you. I am Dorban Vulcan, the lord of the Vulcan territory.”

“Nice to meet you. I am Aquaz, an Inquisitor of the Sun God.”

“Pl, please, have a seat over here.”

The lord guided them to the sofas in the reception room.

He tried to appear calm, but his voice trembled.

Sitting on the sofa, Aquaz spoke.

“Despite the unfavorable situation, your territory seems very prosperous. Your governance must be excellent.”

It was a formal greeting.

There wasn’t any particular meaning behind it.

However, the lord trembled.

He had a face as if something had pricked him.

“Is that so? Thank you for coming all this way to help us.”

The lord desperately wiped the sweat streaming down his face.

He looked extremely flustered, and with good reason.

‘What is going on!’

The lord screamed internally.

Of course, it was true that he had sought external help because there were problems in the city.

But the help he had hoped for was at most some knights or soldiers from the kingdom.

But for an Inquisitor of the Sun God to come!

They were a powerful force, but also an equally terrifying one.

The Sun God’s Church was currently the most influential church on the continent.

The Earth Goddess’s Church also had significant influence, but in terms of sheer power, the Sun God’s Church was the greatest.

And Inquisitors were the most radical faction within the Sun God’s Church, judging heretics and burning the enemies of the church.

Their authority within the church was immense.

If Aquaz judged him a heretic, the Sun God’s Church would immediately send troops.

They would burn the territory to the ground and exterminate his entire family.

All such acts would be summarized in one line: Judging the heretics of the Sun God.

Of course, there would be many political repercussions afterward, but the Inquisitors had that much authority.

A single wrong word could lead to the destruction of his territory.

‘And a magician from the Tower of Magic!’

The Tower of Magic, where all the great magicians gathered.

The magicians of the tower had a strong sense of camaraderie towards their school.

Any rudeness could lead to the entire school becoming hostile to the city.

In the past, there was a lord who mistreated and despised a magician from the tower.

The school was outraged upon learning this.

And the lord’s territory received no rain.

The drought persisted until the lord personally went to the tower to beg for forgiveness.

It was a massive overreach, but the kingdom remained silent.

It was too foolish to antagonize the school of the Tower of Magic over a single territory.

Both were members of groups with enormous power.

Even as individuals, they were extraordinary warriors that the kingdom could scarcely match.

They were too much for the lord of a small city to handle.

His territory lacked the backing of a Sword Master like Barkan territory.

A single mistake could lead to the destruction of his territory, so he couldn’t help but tremble like a leaf.

‘And what’s with this barbarian…?’

And between the two stood a barbarian.

Barbarians did not acknowledge the existence of gods and denied them.

Naturally, the believers who served the gods were enemies to the barbarians.

Magicians were not much different.

They, who pursued knowledge and the secrets of magic, were merely weak, skinny beings to the barbarians.

The two groups that had the worst relationship with the barbarians.

Yet here was a barbarian with an Inquisitor and a magician.

No matter how he thought about it, it was strange.

‘Does this barbarian have something too?’

Each one of them had greater influence than the lord himself.

Naturally, his gaze shifted to the barbarian.

The barbarian was looking at him with an interested face.

A strange sense of pressure filled the space.

At first, the lord thought the pressure came from the Inquisitor and the magician, but upon closer inspection, it wasn’t.

It was the barbarian’s pressure.

The lord shrank back as if he were sitting opposite a beast.

‘What is this guy?’

The lord had seen barbarians before, but this one was different in quality.

He didn’t even seem like the same species.

Comparing as pure individuals, the barbarian in front of him was scarier than the Inquisitor or the magician.

Moreover, it was a barbarian.

A being with whom conversations were pointless.

If a problem arose, he could at least talk and negotiate with the Inquisitor or the magician. They could somehow solve it through dialogue.

But not with a barbarian.

They preferred axes and fists to words.

At any moment, the barbarian could mockingly call him a fat pig and swing an axe at him.

The lord had experienced such treatment from a barbarian before, so he couldn’t help but be terrified.

“Th-this person is…”

“A barbarian. Ketal. Please take care of me.”

Ketal bared his teeth.

“Eek!”

The lord shrieked.

Aquaz gave a bitter smile.

“He won’t harm you. There’s no need to worry.”

“I-Is that so…”

The lord’s face didn’t show much trust in Aquaz’s words.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve seen such an attitude.’

Even in conversation, the lord continued to be wary and fearful.

This hadn’t happened in the Holy Land of Kalosia.

Ketal found it refreshing after a long time.

“Relax. Anyone would think I’m going to eat you.”

Ketal tried to lighten the mood with a joke.

“Haha…”

The lord laughed dryly with a pale face.

Ketal tilted his head.

“I made a joke, but he seems even more scared. Was my joke wrong?”

“It’s more that your demeanor doesn’t make it sound like a joke.”

Aquaz said, soothingly.

“You really don’t need to be so afraid. He’s a very reasonable person. I, Aquaz, an Inquisitor of the Sun God, vouch for him. He won’t cause any trouble.”

“I-Is that so…”

“I feel like some kind of beast.”

“If I made you uncomfortable, I apologize.”

“No. It’s fine. I know I don’t look very friendly.”

Ketal spoke leisurely.

And the lord watched with a perplexed expression.

‘What is this?’

An Inquisitor and a barbarian were having a friendly conversation.

It was hard to believe even while seeing it.

‘…And what’s with that magician?’

Now that he looked, the magician was squatting.

He seemed visibly lacking in confidence.

He kept glancing at the barbarian as if he was watching his every move.

‘…A magician is watching a barbarian?’

An Inquisitor of the Sun God, who should judge heretics and reject those who deny the gods, was defending a barbarian who denied the gods and hated believers.

A magician, who pursued knowledge and despised barbarians, was watching the barbarian’s every move.

What was this?

It seemed as if the barbarian was leading the two superhuman beings.

The lord felt dizzy.