The Life of a Wise Cult Leader - Chapter 140

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 140

 

The children had thought they would be jumping with joy when the Saint came, but they were frozen like sheep before a wolf.

 

The Ascetic seemed momentarily flustered by their reaction, then slowly adjusted his veil.

 

Surprisingly, the intimidating presence that had been heavily pressing down on one corner of their hearts lessened a bit.

 

Widget hesitated and stepped back.

 

“I apologize for startling you.”

 

A gentle voice.

 

Widget trembled with fear.

 

Widget trembled with fear. As expected. The adults were right. Something like that couldn’t be human!

 

Like his brother who had returned from confession, if he met that being’s eyes, he too would be brainwashed. Absolutely, absolutely must not make eye contact!

 

“I apologize for startling you.”

 

A gentle voice.

 

It was completely different from Mrs. Cool’s clear, ringing voice or the voices of the adults who occasionally visited. It felt exactly like the softest blanket in the orphanage.

 

‘No! I won’t be brainwashed! I’m different from those idiots!’

 

He wondered whether to push Clara, who was desperate to meet the Saint, forward, or just run away to the stable right now.

 

I hate Saints and such!

 

Then, the Saint lowered his body. And slowly removed his veil. The Central Church believers who had accompanied him gasped in admiration.

 

It was a face that could appear in sacred paintings. His skin was like pottery and pale as a corpse, his eyelashes were extremely long, and his lips formed a thin arc.

 

It was a face rarely seen in the Empire, where the standard of beauty was bronze skin closest to the sun god.

 

He had heard from his adopted brother that pale faces were popular among noble houses these days, and it seemed to be true.

 

The tall man knelt down and met eyes with 3-year-old Clara, who was sitting on the floor with tears hanging from her eyes.

 

“I’m sorry for frightening you.”

 

He took something out from his chest. It was… candy.

 

It was exactly that ‘candy’ that the child who had almost been adopted by a noble house had bragged about, which they had just said ‘oh really?’ to but everyone had actually dreamed of.

 

And it wasn’t just one. As if they came out endlessly, he distributed candies in sparkling wrappers to the children nearby.

 

“This…!”

 

Mrs. Cool’s eyes filled with shock. She had heard that candy with those labels was really expensive. It was probably the highest grade candy that would be hard to buy even with this orphanage’s operating budget for a year.

 

“You seem to have caught a cold.”

 

The Saint extended his hand to runny-nosed Linton. When Linton stepped back in fear, the Saint simply placed his hand lightly on top of Linton’s head. As if bestowing a blessing.

 

A warm wind blew. Linton’s runny nose stopped, and his red cheeks returned to normal.

 

“Huh…?”

 

Linton touched his nose, then opened his eyes wide as if breathing comfortably for the first time in his life.

 

The children forgot they had been frozen and looked back and forth between the candy in their hands and the ‘miracle’ that had just occurred.

 

‘But Mrs. Cool definitely said that the miracles Saints perform are just tricks used by fraudsters!’

 

Widget was confused.

 

The believers were uttering words of praise to the Saint who had healed the child. This was definitely a real miracle.

 

A gentle smile and snow-white eyes. He was surely the same person, but he didn’t seem human. Not human… He must surely be an angel!

 

He was so very different from the ‘trash’ or ‘spy’ that the anti-Saint faction adults had spoken of.

 

The Saint looked at Widget. Widget unconsciously gripped tightly the ‘Saint’s symbol’ carving he had hidden in his pouch, the one he had been whittling.

 

The Saint approached Widget, knelt down in the same manner, and met his eyes. In his hands was… a ‘Saint’s symbol’ pendant made of white crystal, incomparably more elaborate and beautiful than what Widget had made.

 

“I heard that the carvings made by the children of this orphanage are popular among the nobles.”

 

“…!”

 

Is he reading my thoughts? Widget forgot about gazing at the Saint in rapture and gripped the symbol in his pouch painfully tight, terrified.

 

“This is my gift. From now on, for all the carvings made in this orphanage, make them modeled after this.”

 

The Saint gently pulled Widget’s hand out from his pouch. The reddish marks quickly disappeared. He placed the pendant in Widget’s now softly opened hand.

 

“And tell the merchants at the marketplace. That the children of the ‘orphanage blessed by an Ascetic’ made these symbols after seeing the ‘original bestowed directly by the Saint.’ You’ll probably… be able to receive double the price you’re getting now.”

 

Widget stared blankly at the pendant in his hand. It sparkled tremendously and was beautiful.

 

Is he really giving this to me? How much is this worth? At least enough to feed this orphanage for a year.

 

As soon as Widget realized he was holding something indescribably expensive in his hand, the world became even more frightening. He became wary that everyone would try to steal this pendant from his hand.

 

Widget, who had thought ‘I’ll never meet him. I hate Saints so much!’ found himself unconsciously clutching the Saint’s hem of clothes.

 

I love the Ascetic so much.

 

*

 

Do you know what’s most important when trying to charm children?

 

First. Appearance.

 

Children care about faces more than adults. Liking pretty people seems to be human instinct.

 

Fortunately, this bastard Sernuan has quite a neat appearance. I should take off the veil and win favor with looks.

 

And second. Sweet things.

 

Candy, chocolate, marshmallows! The causes that make children go to the dentist. However, in this world, chocolate is hard to see and marshmallows are even rarer. Candy was chosen as the next best option.

 

And third. Shiny things!

 

There are differences between kids, but when they receive sparkling toys, their eyes go wild.

 

I’m not confident at all in taking care of and dealing with children, so I plan to win favor with things like this. When you have a lot of money, there’s no real problem.

 

Though I can’t receive detailed assistance in skill utilization since the system is gone, I had Ife.

 

When I tried to use Weakness Detection on a child, Ife kept stabbing my heart with her tail saying I had no conscience, but cults originally have no conscience.

 

I charmed the children well using Weakness Detection and boiled them nicely. Ah~ faith tastes so sweet!

 

Now next, it was time to boil the head of the orphanage.

 

She was greedily staring at the candy I had distributed to the children and the expensive crystal pendant in Widget’s hand.

 

People with one-dimensional desires are easy to manipulate. Wanting to have more money. Wanting to have honor. Wanting to have women or men. And so on…

 

It’s fortunate that Mrs. Cool is such a typical person.

 

“I have something to discuss with just you, madam. Would that be alright?”

 

“Yes? Then, well…”

 

“I hope you’ll play nicely with the children.”

 

The believers dispatched from the Central Church just watched each other’s reactions. Since they were general lay believers close to ordinary faithful rather than bishops or priests, their hesitation was quite good.

 

I entered the director’s office. I could glimpse the rum bottles hidden behind books. Right. Director’s offices are usually like this.

 

There seemed to be no particular difference between 21st century nurseries and 18th century (estimated) fantasy world orphanages.

 

“This orphanage is difficult to operate, isn’t it.”

 

Mrs. Cool was restless, then suddenly straightened up like a student caught sleeping in class by the teacher.

 

“Yes? Ah, yes! The support funds coming down from the Central Church are woefully insufficient…”

 

“That’s enough.”

 

I cut off her clichéd complaints.

 

Thud.

 

I pulled out a heavy leather pouch from my chest and threw it onto her desk.

 

A few gold coins rolled out from the bulging pouch that looked ready to burst. Mrs. Cool’s eyes shook as if an earthquake had struck.

 

Don’t be too surprised! It’s just prayer fees I personally received while making rounds to noble houses.

 

“This is…?”

 

“This is your ‘personal’ service fee, madam.”

 

I emphasized the word ‘personal’. It was enough money for the cost of the rum she hid behind books, or even more luxuries than that. She realized this was a bribe, and that I had come knowing everything about her.

 

Why else would I have come to such a run-down orphanage in the first place?

 

“Saint, I…”

 

Because when the most worn-down and poor places are noticeably improved, the effect is dramatically highlighted.

 

“And…”

 

Thud!

 

I pulled out an even larger money pouch from my chest and set it down.

 

“This is the ‘operating funds’ for this orphanage. Starting today.”

 

Mrs. Cool seemed to have forgotten how to breathe.

 

That’s right. Hundreds of millions! All gold coins!

 

“I don’t care whether you cursed the Central Church or received money from the Penitent faction.”

 

I took a step closer to her. When I pressured her without much restraint on my Divine Aura, Mrs. Cool acted as if her soul had left her body.

 

“From today, this orphanage will be removed from the Central Church’s jurisdiction. It will become ‘my’ direct institution.”

 

“…!”

 

“You will maintain your position as director. However,”

 

I pointed at the two gold pouches on the desk with my finger, tap, tap.

 

“You just need to clearly teach who gives this ‘candy money’. Who feeds the children warm soup.”

 

Why would corporations sponsor young people and children?

 

It’s all because there are benefits, whether known or unknown.

 

I looked straight at her and whispered.

 

“Can you do it?”

 

“Yes…!”

 

Mrs. Cool nodded her head with such force it looked like she might slam it into the desk.

 

“Yes! Of course! Saint! I’ll do as you command! Anything!”

 

I smiled. As expected, money is the best.

 

“Hmm. The name for the new orphanage sign… Rest Orphanage would be good. When one escapes from suffering, the first thing that comes is rest.”

 

“I’ll, I’ll do that!”

 

Mm-hmm. Good. I left the orphanage with satisfaction.

 

The children who had been trembling when I first entered (I didn’t know kids were that fragile. I really couldn’t understand adults who beat or tormented such children.) were now waving their hands frantically as they saw me off.

 

As expected, winning children’s favor requires just three things: looks, candy, and gifts.

 

Of course, having the money to do all these things is what’s truly best.

 

“Shall we move to the next location?”

 

I said to the church members. I still had to do this same thing at least five more times.

 

*

 

The day after the Saint began his activities in earnest within the country.

 

The anti-Saint faction was in a state of emergency.

 

“One bastard reports that the ‘Saint’ is a crazy monster who chops people’s necks with an axe in a sea of blood, while another bastard reports that the ‘Saint’ knelt down at the orphanage, wiped children’s noses, and handed out candy.”

 

An old priest in one corner muttered.

 

“The first report can’t possibly be true…”

 

“I can’t understand that widow or that ascetic bastard. The widow… she’s just a common woman who’s clearly trying to protect her own power, but that Saint bastard is…”

 

“Maybe he really does like, like helping people…”

 

“That can’t be!”

 

Valerius, who was most hostile toward the Saint and had been lucky enough to be selected for the Banquet Hall, shouted.

 

“If we just expose his true nature, the Central Church will surely be normalized.”

 

“Then…”

 

“We need to arrange a situation to expose his true nature! The most excellent thorny path, befitting the Ascetic’s reputation!”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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