The Life of a Wise Cult Leader - Chapter 2

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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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Fire

When I opened my eyes, I saw what looked like cave walls.

‘What?’

I was confused, but I got up first.

I was on what could only be called an altar.

I had awakened in this place where the living and dead coexisted, covered in blood from head to toe, with a nauseating smell filling the air.

‘Why am I here? I was definitely…’

Game

…

My thoughts wouldn’t continue wouldn’t continue wouldn’t wouldn’t wouldn’t wouldn’t don’t think thoughts thoughts thoughts.

*

When I tried to get down from the altar, I had no shoes.

My feet were stained bright red. My hands and clothes were the same. It was as if I had taken a bath in red paint.

In this situation, who cares about shoes or anything else.

I stepped down. The floor was damp, so I expected it to be cold, but it wasn’t particularly cold.

Wait, I’m… standing?

How long has it been since I stood on my own two legs without holding onto anything?

My amazement and emotion at the fact that I was standing was brief.

I heard signs of someone approaching from somewhere.

“Ughh…”

A blood-covered person, someone so mutilated they could hardly be called human, came staggering toward me.

“…!”

My mind went blank.

“Our… god…”

The half-corpse walked toward me step by step.

I froze solid while standing.

Because a person with a half-crushed head was approaching me with entrails spilling out, reaching their hand forward.

“Salvation…”

They say when you’re too shocked, you can’t even scream, and that was exactly it.

Thud.

The person collapsed next to me with a loud noise.

“Hah- hah…”

I was gasping for breath.

No, was I gasping?

My breathing remained quietly unchanged.

My heart should have been beating wildly from such shock, but like my breathing, my heart remained calm without fluctuation. It felt like my mind and body were operating separately.

I was accepting this situation with composure, even indifference.

I felt a strange and mysterious sensation as my panicked mind, which had seen a half-dead person, adjusted to match my body.

I looked down quietly at the person who was mutilated beyond recognition. They didn’t… feel like a person.

Right, you don’t usually empathize with extras dying in movies.

Then, a bright blue Quest window from the game I played most filled my vision.

[Main Quest! Spread faith to people all over the world.]

[Penalty for failure: Death]

I read through the text.

“…What?”

Have I finally gone insane? Even if I’m crazy, can I be this vividly crazy?

[Number of believers: 0]

Number of believers?

As I stood still trying to understand this incomprehensible situation, this time a bright red window filled my vision.

[WARNING!]

[System: If believers remain at ‘0’ after 3 hours, physical deterioration will begin in stages.]

Physical deterioration? What the hell is this terrifying term “physical deterioration”?

[02:59]

It’s already counting down? Why is this system so strict?

Shouldn’t it at least give me time to figure out the tutorial before starting the timer?

More importantly, after dumping someone in a place they don’t understand, it suddenly wants me to become a missionary? What kind of nonsense is this?

If you want to increase believers, bring missionaries or bring someone who was already running a cult, why drag an innocent person like me into this?

The blood pooled stickily on the floor squelched under my feet.

I pulled at the clothes I was wearing with my blood-stained hands to check them, and even someone like me who knows nothing about fashion could tell these were luxurious white clothes.

They were so red with blood I didn’t even know they were white. But why is my hair so long?

My hair was also completely red with blood so I couldn’t tell what color it was, but it didn’t seem black. The color seemed light – blonde maybe?

Did they bring me here and put on a wig or something?

I picked up one of the candles placed at regular intervals on the floor. There were many candles arranged around the altar.

When I held it down to the floor, the red liquid rippled and reflected my appearance. It was just a shimmering image, but I could be certain.

This isn’t me.

“Wait…”

So this isn’t me.

But it was a familiar appearance.

Where had I seen this before?

I searched through my memories. I wouldn’t have seen someone like this in reality. I didn’t have anyone to meet anyway.

“Ah.”

I was able to find the memory soon enough.

As someone who devoted their life to gaming, I remembered all the story and main NPCs of my life’s game.

This appearance…

It’s the Main Quest Chapter 1.5 boss.

With this long hair and pale eyes… and hearing the recently dead corpse muttering about god and whatnot, this was definitely it.

I am the leader of a cult.

I had possessed Sernuan Lumiere.

“Fuck…”

The curse came out naturally. No wonder I, who had been paralyzed from the waist down, was standing and walking on two legs.

As I grimaced and swept my hair back, Sernuan Lumiere shimmering in the red water was also sweeping back his hair.

What a fucked up life – failing so badly that I end up possessing a game character who’s about to die.

No matter how much I loved games enough to devote my life to them, I never wanted to possess a game character!

Normally I would have panicked completely, but my mind kept thinking coldly.

Are these thoughts and emotions also influenced by the possession?

Right, now it’s not a matter of whether possession makes sense or not.

I’ve already been possessed, so what’s the point of trying to deny it? It would just be a waste of time.

Let me think through this carefully again.

If this really is inside a ‘game’…

I can roughly predict what happened just before I possessed this body.

The Central Church’s cult suppression operation.

A dungeon-type story Main Quest that players can participate in.

It was the main quest to stop the cult’s special ritual and retrieve the stolen sacred relic of the Central Church.

In the process, all the cult followers died and even the cult leader met an execution ending…

Something seems to have gone seriously awry from the predetermined storyline.

My calmed mind spins rapidly in tune with survival instincts.

The fact that I, who possessed Sernuan Lumiere, am still alive must mean the story has changed.

I gulped down my saliva.

In the story, Sernuan Lumiere and his followers are executed. That was the game’s main story after all.

‘I’ll pass on the execution ending. I absolutely must avoid it…!!!’

There was a behind-the-scenes setting that they were tortured extensively before that execution.

And this country had no mercy for heretics, cults, or apostates to begin with. You could say it was worse than China’s sensitivity to drugs.

Torture is the default, and they’re so sensitive about faith they’d exterminate three generations of a family. If it’s discovered that I, a cult leader, am alive in such a situation…

I’d probably be lucky to die peacefully.

At worst, barbaric medieval torture would surely begin, like being tied to a horse and dragged through the streets, then forced to walk on nails.

I stopped thinking such horrible thoughts. No matter how I thought about it, only miserable endings came to mind.

More importantly… what does this “gradual physical collapse begins” written in this system window mean?

Creating followers in this situation isn’t something I can do either. What if I’m not eloquent, what if I don’t have the ability?

Should I just die?

Then would I return to reality? But… what would I do back in reality?

I’m disabled, have no one waiting for me, and only have debts.

Perhaps… if I could just avoid execution or torture…

Except for the fact that incomprehensible “physical collapse” will begin in roughly 2 hours.

‘Let me examine this space first and then go outside.’

I need to get a weapon before going out. I refuse to die in vain or be tortured like this.

Around me, near the altar, there weren’t just candles placed. Some kind of incomprehensible magic circle was drawn in red liquid.

Probably blood.

And there were things like goat skulls placed around, and many dead people too.

Whether my nose had adapted to the bloody smell or what, I was grateful there was no rotting stench. If there had been, I would have wanted to run out immediately.

I searched among the corpses and obtained a sword.

The sword, covered with blood and flesh, didn’t even show the typical sharpness of a blade.

Even if I, who had never done kendo or taekwondo, swung it around, it probably wouldn’t be threatening at all, but it looked quite decent for use as a club.

I put the sword in its scabbard and searched through a corpse’s waist strap to tie it around my waist. Then, holding a lit candle in one hand, I wandered among the corpses.

Candle wax melted and touched my hand, but it wasn’t particularly hot.

‘There’s nothing particularly special here.’

I just searched the corpses and obtained some money and a few valuables. Well, it’s not a very good spot for farming anyway.

While searching the cavern, I saw a suspicious book soaked in blood, but it had been drenched for so long that even tearing off a single page would be an ordeal.

‘Even if I got a grimoire, it’s not like I’d become a mage…’

As I walked, I saw light. The entrance to the cavern had appeared.

At the same time, a blue window appeared in my vision. It was a status window.

[Sub Quest: Find ■■ and recover pow■]

[Upon failure: … loading]

If this damn system is going to work, why doesn’t it do it properly?

[Error!]

[Error!]

[Error!]

[Sub Quest!: Find the sacred relic and recover power.]

[Upon failure: Random deletion of 1 of the 5 senses]

What is this now?

Random deletion of the senses?

No, why are the game penalties so brutal?

It’s already absurd that I started without being given a single ability. How exactly am I supposed to handle this all alone?

Even newly created characters start with something. Unless it’s MinecraXt.

Even Minecraft lets you punch logs with your fists.

I looked down at Sernuan Lumiere’s arms.

Though they had some muscle, these slender forearms would surely just result in poor Sernuan Lumiere’s fists getting torn up if he tried punching trees.

[Uncollected sacred relics: 0/9]

[Time to collect 1 sacred relic: 10 days]

At least this isn’t as stingy as 3 hours, so that’s fortunate…

For finding one out of ten sacred relics in the world, it was a short timeframe though.

For me with game knowledge, it was a very easy task!

First, since I don’t want my body to melt… I need to create followers before I can obtain sacred relics or anything.

I stepped outside the cavern. As sunlight beat down, my eyes became unbearably dazzled and I instinctively frowned.

When I managed to open my eyes, I saw green grass and a blue, high sky.

Beyond that hill, I could see a peacefully turning watermill and dozens of houses that looked distinctly medieval fantasy.

First, I should meet people and gather information.

If possible, buy a map and some clothes too.

And like a proper cult leader, I should swindle some money and then clear the sub quest.

‘A sacred relic, was it?’

If this is the 1.5 chapter main story, I know the location of the sacred relic that’s easiest to obtain at this time.

‘The Purification Relic. With just that, playing the role of a cult leader would be easy.’

In the corner of my vision, the quest window blinked as if reminding me not to forget its existence.

[Penalty upon failure: Death]

Right, since I don’t want to die pathetically from quest failure in a game.

I have no choice but to try playing the role of a cult leader.

I washed myself at a nearby stream. A clean first impression couldn’t hurt.

If I went to the village covered in blood, I’d surely be reported to the guard unit.

And then torture and execution ending…!

Let me not think about it… it’s scary because it reminds me of those medieval barbaric torture compilation shorts…

I also washed the sword I brought.

With the flesh and blood gone, the sword regained about half its original sharpness. Though the blade seemed somewhat dull, it had acquired quite a threatening appearance for a club.

The reflection in the mirror-clear stream water looked more vivid than when I saw it in the blood puddle earlier.

From the long white hair to the ash-gray eyes and white eyelashes.

It was an appearance where the melanin pigment had been almost completely removed.

The face had such delicate features that you couldn’t tell if it was male or female, making me momentarily question the gender.

‘At least I’m grateful I’m not a woman…’

Anyway, Sernuan Lumiere was male. That was truly fortunate.

I washed until the blood on my body was no longer visible.

After walking a short distance from the stream, I reached a road, and I could see a carriage approaching nearby.

Before going to the village, I wanted to ask a coachman or passerby where this place was, so this was unexpected luck.

If I could catch a ride in the carriage, paying a little extra to get a ride would be the best option.

When the carriage approached close range, I gestured to the coachman. The coachman gradually slowed the carriage’s speed.

I deliberately smiled warmly and spoke in a gentle voice.

I deliberately smiled warmly and spoke in a gentle, soft voice.

“Brother.”

My choice of the word “brother” didn’t have any particular meaning.

Most people believe in the Central Church, so I chose that word to make him feel a bit more intimacy with me as a fellow believer.

When I spoke with a smile, the coachman’s expression twisted with something close to shock.

‘…Huh?’

Something seems a bit off…?

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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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