Barbarian in a Failed Game

“So, you’re saying… you have holy power now?”

“Yes.”

Maya answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, opening her hand.

‘Oh, my God…’

『A masterpiece indeed.』

Even after squeezing his eyes shut and reopening them in disbelief, the gray shimmer in Maya’s hand did not disappear. It was an aura different from a knight’s aura, a paladin’s holy power, a dark mage’s dark magic, or even mana. Was that holy power? And it came from him?

Seeing the proof Maya presented, it was hard to believe, but the fact that such energy was emanating from Maya’s hand, who was neither a knight nor a paladin, was highly surreal. He couldn’t help but internally question, ‘Is this real?’

“Is that real, Leo?”

“… Uh, well. It’s not exactly like the holy power from the Pantheon, my lord. But it does resemble holy power.”

Leo, who had previously declared Khan a loser and sworn to kill him in the name of his faith, answered with his face flushed with self-reproach and embarrassment. He confirmed it was indeed holy power.

“The doctrine of the Pantheon does not recognize any God not aligned with the heavens. However, high-ranking demons like the Scion of the Arch Demon can be considered as dark gods. The wild gods of the Great Forest should also be seen as dark gods. The commonality between holy power, dark magic, and the shamanism of the Great Forest is that their source of power comes from faith.”

“So, that means… that thing also comes from faith? Are you saying Maya gained that because she worships me like a God?”

“Hmm… Yes, that seems to be the case.”

“I don’t feel any holy power myself…”

That was the strange part.

The gray aura emanating from Maya’s hand was definitely related to the gray power Khan possessed. He had known it from the first moment he saw it, which is why he had reacted so surprised. Yet, Khan himself did not feel any connection with Maya.

‘Aren’t gods and their apostles supposed to be spiritually linked or something?’

“I haven’t experienced being a God myself, but… The Goddess of Justice always used the eyes and ears of his followers to oversee Midland.”

It was a question of whether he could do the same.

‘… There’s no way I can.’

“So, to summarize… you’re saying I’m a God and Maya is my apostle? Like the Goddess of Justice and a paladin.”

“But you’re human.”

“Jan, in my personal opinion, it’s a bit hard to see Khan as just a human anymore.”

Ron was as blunt as ever, speaking disrespectfully right in front of Khan.

“You seem to think that holy power might emerge from you too. You don’t seem to think being called a God is entirely nonsense, do you?”

“… Well.”

The unexpected sharp question left him at a loss for words.

If someone asked him whether he was closer to a transcendent or a mortal, he would hesitate a bit. After all, it was none other than Esperus who told Khan that he was “on the boundary between transcendence and mortality.”

『Hmm. Could it be like that? Fascinating.』

‘What do you mean, like that?’

『I mean your current state and that woman’s holy power. Now that I think about it, it doesn’t seem that strange.』

At that moment, the Spirit of Resentment, who had come to a conclusion about the confusing situation, chuckled and shared his thoughts. Why Khan didn’t feel anything despite having a God-apostle relationship.

『Even if you possess a minuscule amount of divinity, or even a fraction of a God, if there is a believer who worships such a minor God, the relationship between a God and an apostle can still be established. It seems that woman has been deeply admiring your combat skills for a while. The issue is, you’re not aware of your divinity—or rather, you’re rejecting and lingering at the threshold.』

It was quite, no, very plausible.

Khan’s judgment after hearing Spirit of Resentment’s conjecture was that although he was a being who was neither fully God nor fully human, he could at least function in a role similar to one.

Thus, it’s possible for holy power to be bestowed upon someone who worships him… Without knowing the exact mechanism of how holy power is transmitted, this vague assumption seemed the most reasonable.

“Maya, how do you use that holy power?”

“Physical enhancement. It doesn’t allow for miracles or make my body abnormally tough like Leo’s holy arts, but…”

Crunch!

Maya approached one of the many large trees in the Great Forest and suddenly crushed its trunk with her hands. It was an act of superhuman strength beyond any human capability.

“I’ve become stronger. Several times stronger than before… perhaps even more.”

The effect was somewhat related to him as well.

Strength.

One of the strongest means of proving Gordi Khan’s existence.

“Wow. Maya, so you suddenly got stronger because of that? I wondered if something happened when you started punching holes with your spear, but now it makes sense…”

“Yes. I struggled a bit to adapt to the sudden increase in strength.”

“And when exactly was that ‘sudden’ moment? Wait, how many months have passed since I disappeared?”

While the group was reacting to Maya’s incredible strength, Khan interrupted the conversation. It was a topic he had been curious about since returning to Midland.

How much time had passed while he was in hell?

“So, you weren’t in Midland this whole time, huh. Asking about time… that makes sense.”

“Getting caught in a dimensional collapse and ending up in another dimension… My mentors at the tower would light up with interest at that.”

“Enough. So, the answer?”

Khan, a bit anxious, pressed for an answer, and the response left him speechless and visibly shocked.

“It’s been a year and a half since you got caught in that dimensional collapse. I suppose you don’t know much about the current state of the Empire either. Where should I start explaining…”

Khan could barely hear the rest.

His mind was filled with the realization that 18 months had passed. It dawned on him what Esperus meant by a minor accident. Initially, he thought Esperus was referring to landing in the middle of the Great Forest, but…

‘Esperus, you bastard…!’

How could this be considered a minor accident?!

***

“By the way, what exactly have you been up to, Khan?”

As Khan managed to sort out his throbbing head and his grudge against Esperus, Ron, ever perceptive, approached and voiced a question that had been pressing on his mind.

While Ron and the rest of Khan’s companions had always believed he wasn’t dead, they had never fully dared to hope they would see him alive again. After all, how could a mere human survive being caught in a dimensional collapse and manage to return to Midland?

Yet here he was.

“And… what about that dark energy? Leo says it’s no ordinary dark energy. Did you actually make a deal with a demon?”

“Ron. Our lord hasn’t fallen to corruption…”

“Maya, I didn’t say he was corrupted. I was just wondering if Khan, being Khan, managed to strike a deal by punching a demon into submission.”

“Of course! If it’s Khan, he could do that!”

“Or our lord might have killed the demon and stolen its dark energy.”

Everyone seemed to be in high spirits now. Gone were the serious faces from a moment ago, replaced by fervent discussions about how formidable Gordi Khan was, drawing a chuckle from Khan.

Seeing his companions react so casually to his being tainted with dark energy made him feel relieved, as he had been hesitant about how they would accept it.

“To keep it short, since the full story is too long, I got swept up in the dimensional collapse and ended up in Hell until just recently. Hell, as in where demons dwell, similar to Heaven.”

“…..”

An awkward silence fell, as was to be expected. Though they had anticipated Khan endured tremendous hardships after falling into the demon’s trap, the reality far surpassed their imaginations.

“Hell… I see. And then…”

Leo muttered in a voice filled with somberness.

To Leo, a paladin of the Pantheon Church, hell was an unknown place described only in the horrific depictions found in the scriptures. Those scriptures, written by priests who had never actually been to Hell but transcribed the words of gods, were likely far from the reality of it.

Khan had survived there alone, in his mortal body, and returned to Midland with dark energy. He must have faced incredible trials.

“It wasn’t as bad as you think. It was livable. It’s pretty much the same as anywhere people live.”

“Huh… If you say so, Khan. But it’s hard to believe.”

“Really. It was better than Hoarfrost Gorge at least. It wasn’t bitterly cold, and I didn’t have to worry about dying just to find some prey.”

Anyway-

Deciding it was too much to explain all the twists and turns he had experienced, Khan brushed off the topic.

“This dark energy… It was given to me by a guy who claimed to be my brother. I helped him out with something. He also used his power to bring me back to Midland. I didn’t expect so much time to have passed, though.”

“Sir… but this dark energy is…”

Leo couldn’t bring himself to finish his sentence. He wanted to ask if this dark energy came from the descendant of the Arch Demon. If that were true, what then? Was he supposed to brand Khan a heretic and try to kill him on the spot? Even before considering if that was possible, Leo could still sense the remnants of the goddess’s presence within Khan.

‘The goddess still favors him.’

That was enough for him.

Leo’s faith had changed considerably since he directly confronted the corruption within the Pantheon Church. For him, good and evil were defined by the Goddess of Justice, her apostles, and the barbarian Gordi Khan.

“One day, I would like to hear the full story. A firsthand account of Hell would be an incredible addition to the church’s history.”

“We’ll do that when all our companions are gathered. There are still some I haven’t met yet. Speaking of which, what’s happening with the others? I’ve heard there are issues on the Empire’s side.”

“Ah.”

Leo’s face turned uneasy at the sudden question, causing Khan to sigh internally. Something had gone wrong, despite all his efforts to keep things running smoothly. A sense of foreboding crept up Khan’s spine.

“A civil war has broken out.”

“What? What broke out?”

Did I hear that wrong?

“… The war between the Elector families has diverted significant resources and troops away from the front lines. Meanwhile, the druids from the Great Forest have been infiltrating Empire territory, capturing people for their rituals. Smugglers dealing with the Great Forest have also gotten involved in the civil war. And to make matters worse—”

“To make matters worse?”

“Several months ago, the frequency of demon realms appearing started increasing. Before, we’d see one or two a year at most. Now, they’re occurring far more frequently. The Empire is now forced to deal with enemies both within and outside its borders.”

After hearing all this, Khan instinctively knew who was behind the chaos in the Empire.

‘It’s him!’

The so-called Law of the World had begun to move. The increase in demon realms was its worst tactic yet.

TL’s Corner:

So I will set the pronoun of the will of the world as he/him for now.