The Life of a Wise Cult Leader - Chapter 207

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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 207

207

‘Did I really turn back time?’

Just like the previous Demon King did…?

From my memories, I recalled the final appearance of the Demon King in the game.

[How sorrowful. How unjust. I cannot end it like this.]

[Again, starting over from the beginning…!]

“But how could Teacher have done that…?”

What I held in my grasp was a rusted, broken pocket watch without hands.

A Sacred Relic of the God of Time. I had more than one or two questions about why Teacher had it, but now wasn’t the time to hesitate over resolving my doubts.

‘I need to find him.’

I need to find the Demon King. He must know something.

‘Then this must be that cavern where I first awakened.’

I skillfully dug through the pile of corpses and emerged.

It was a peaceful village where an ordinary sun painted the earth orange and a single windmill turned leisurely.

Nebria.

The place where I was ‘born.’

The location where I ‘awakened.’

I looked at my reflection in the river just like before.

Sernuan Lumiere…

No, it wasn’t.

It was the appearance of the Savior wearing a robe hood.

I grasped a reed in my hand.

Since I could even pull this out, there was no doubt I had returned through time in the Savior’s form.

Then was I the only one who returned? Do the others not remember?

If we returned, did Lumensia return too?

‘Kind of like in Av*ngers End*ame… When they turn back time, the final boss returns too. Isn’t that how it works?’

Then… then Lumensia and the demons returned again too?

‘Is this “I’ll be back”? Returns? Even Season 2 isn’t this bad…! Even Av*ngers End*ame flopped one after another after that!’

I sat quietly by the riverside, lost in anxious imagination, then suddenly stood up.

Antonio would be passing by soon.

Rather than meeting Antonio in this situation, it would be better to just move to the Demon Realm and meet the Demon King, but…

I might be able to test things with Antonio.

He’s the easiest to meet first right now…

And he’s also a good person to test with.

My heightened senses picked up the sound of horse hooves and the rattling of a carriage.

I stood beside the carriage. There I saw a familiar face driving it.

“Brother.”

I smiled brightly from within my robe hood.

“It’s been… a long time.”

However, Antonio only trembled in fear.

‘He doesn’t remember?’

Well, if everyone remembered, how would this be different from a happy world where we set up the game so we could win?

Then do I have to gather comrades from the beginning again, awaken Transcendents, gain trust… do I have to do it all over from the start?

‘Wow~ Now I understand why regressors go crazy~’

Since Antonio’s heart was pounding tremendously after meeting me, I poured ether into him to reassure him.

If I left him alone, it seemed like the perfectly healthy Antonio would have a heart attack or his heart would burst like in Anipang.

Then Antonio became calm like a wild animal given a sedative.

I was coming to deeply understand why angelic beings start their greetings to humans with “Fear not.”

‘Anyway, if everything returned to the beginning… Antonio’s daughter must be sick too.’

I made a clearly irrational choice.

Even though the world was on the verge of destruction and I needed to move quickly, I decided to heal Antonio’s daughter, something not particularly important to the situation.

The house was familiar, but the sight of his daughter lying down was unfamiliar.

In a way, it was natural. After I touched her once with my hand, she had been running around energetically.

“You… you really are God and came to save my daughter…!”

When I healed Antonio’s daughter, he embraced his daughter with tears in his eyes.

In Antonio’s carriage, and until I healed his daughter, I accepted the fact that Antonio and others truly didn’t remember.

And I deeply realized that time had truly returned.

“How can I express this gratitude…”

This Antonio was not ‘my Antonio.’

‘Why?’

It was a meaningless question and an unanswerable inquiry.

Knowing this fact, I left without saying a word.

*

I went to the cavern where the Sacred Relic had been, to check once more.

‘It’s not there.’

The Sacred Relic was gone.

‘Then there’s really a possibility that Teacher, the demons, or Lumensia returned.’

Walking through the streets, what I saw were Lumensia’s symbols and statues.

Lumensia’s emblem embedded in the national flag was still there too.

Then Lumensia is here, perfectly fine.

I have to fight again.

But I can’t win just by fighting.

‘The situation will be different from the previous Lumensia… If she also returned with her memories, it’ll be even harder.’

This isn’t just about memories, but about the world itself.

The reason Lumensia and the Widow joined hands with demons in the first place was to escape from a crumbling world, but even if we defeat Lumensia, the world still crumbles.

Rather, since we’ve turned the clock three times, it might crumble even faster.

Indeed, the most urgent problem is stopping the crumbling world.

The method to stop the crumbling world. Would Luan know? Since he was part of the system, he might know.

I wonder if Luan even exists in this world now.

Luan was strictly something like a homunculus I created.

‘For now, just me racking my brain alone…’

I think I need to meet the Demon King first to know whether memories returned or not.

Since he also met me with fragments of memories from the previous world, it would be easier to meet him than Luan or others who I don’t even know how to meet at this point.

Yes… it has to be that way. Otherwise, I’d really have to start over from the beginning, but if I start from scratch, the world will be destroyed before then.

*

I moved to the Demon Realm. The border that would have originally required tremendous suffering to cross was now very easy.

I thought they’d bombard me as soon as I entered, but no attacks came my way.

I wonder if I should call this as expected or fortunate.

One good thing happened to me, who almost became lost in time.

The Demon King was maintaining his memories perfectly intact.

He nodded his head.

“It’s probably because you escaped from causality.”

Just like when he escaped the Widow’s threads, the Demon King seemed able to ignore certain things.

“To get straight to the point, the demons are likely dead.”

That’s fortunate.

“Because they’re not of this world. And the Widow is also likely dead, if what you say is accurate.”

The Demon King tapped around the armrest of his chair with his black fingernails.

The last thing I saw was his head and torso separated, rolling on the barren ground of the Demon Realm, so seeing him alive now made me feel quite relieved…

But I also felt guilty for being so pathetic, unable to protect anyone and meeting defeat…

Well, anyway, so I caught bits and pieces of what he said.

“…We need to make people stop believing in Lumensia.”

“Mm.”

Would he get angry if I asked him to repeat it again?

I pretended to have listened properly and changed the subject.

“I think we should find Luan.”

“Luan? Who’s that?”

“You could say he’s like my incarnation or a Saint… I think he might have information that could help with the current situation. Since he’s connected to me, if I focus on searching, I should be able to find him…”

Though what I fear most is searching and finding that Luan isn’t there… Either way, I need to find my child.

“It won’t take long.”

I need to find the most visible, exceptional root among the countless roots of believers connected to me.

After all, he’s my incarnation and a child I personally created.

I entered the mental world and rummaged through various roots, then paused.

‘But wait… why is this connected?’

A question flashed through my mind. The me of this time period hadn’t yet begun operating as the Ascetic Sernuan Lumiere.

At most, this should have been a peaceful time when I was just receiving dinner as a guest at Antonio’s house.

Then wouldn’t it be normal for there to be nothing in the ‘roots’?

I touched a familiar root.

When I grasped and touched the glowing stem, I saw Celestia.

Her eyes wandered through the air before she startled in surprise and dropped her water cup.

I carefully tried calling out to her.

-‘S-Savior? What’s happening?’

She remembers. She remembers me.

The Celestia from my perspective spoke to the air in confusion. Her appearance wasn’t that of a plain girl from an ordinary non-magical household, but that of an Archmage.

-“I’m sure I… died.”

Antonio didn’t remember,

but could it be…

‘Do those who believe in me, especially those I left my mark on, share memories from the previous cycle…?’

That hypothesis is strange though. I gave Antonio a mark too. If everyone with marks regained their memories, Antonio would have been the first to come looking for me.

Then the ‘memory sharing’ is…

‘People with a certain level of power… perhaps?’

Anyway, I don’t have to start from scratch. If that’s the case, most of those who prepared for Operation Prometheus would have recovered their memories.

I emerged from the mental world and grabbed the Demon King, practically bouncing with joy at this miraculously welcome situation.

Though the Demon King was startled by my sudden behavior, rather than explaining everything, I just smiled brightly and said:

“I think there might be an easier way. Want to hear it?”

*

We gathered together ‘once again.’

Though I couldn’t even find the ‘Harmony’ members who hadn’t followed me in the roots, Erendor was different.

“…It’s been a while.”

Despite being a member of Harmony, he was with me.

Roughly guessing, it might be related to the Ifrit…

But that’s not what’s important.

“It’s been a while, everyone. It feels like we haven’t met for a really long time.”

They recovered their memories of the previous world on their own, and those scattered across the globe gradually gathered at the Magic Tower.

However, for some reason I don’t understand, I couldn’t connect with Luan.

I found Gretchin instead. And I couldn’t even find Ife, who had contracted with me.

It seems I’ll need to go to Senta’s World Tree to find Ife.

And the biggest variable is that Austin Gerard also gathered with us.

He was both a believer in me and a skilled individual.

But he wasn’t in his right mind, having been shocked by the memory of his eyes being gouged out while still alive.

He was continuously receiving healing from Cardil.

‘It would be difficult to deploy him as actual combat power.’

Austin Gerard is quite good combat power, but we’re not so short-handed that we need to force him into action. Well, if it’s urgent, I’ll have to bring him along.

“So, to summarize…”

“So we all died there, and the Widow and demons fought each other… then the Widow self-destructed alone…? Self-destructed together with the demons? While turning back time?”

“So we’re in a world where Lumensia is perfectly alive…”

“How frustrating that she came back after we killed her…”

“We should be grateful since we all would have died if time hadn’t been reversed.”

He sighed.

“It’s fortunate that those who are Savior’s believers and have the mark engraved can recall memories of the previous world. I suppose it’s because the time axis returned to the Savior…”

I really think that’s fortunate too.

“So we could bring the holy relics as they were.”

What Alderion held in his hands was Pieta.

At this point in time, Alderion was in a state of demonic erosion severe enough to drive him mad due to the attendant who betrayed him.

However, even without me directly purifying him, Pieta’s additional function allowed him to regain his sanity on its own and respond to the call to gather.

“To lose like that… so frustrating!”

Celestia ground her teeth.

“I’m not sure if we can take them on with our current manpower. Should I try persuading the Boss?”

“That would be great. We need every bit of manpower we can get. Especially… well, the Commander has no memories but has power, so I’d really like to bring him along.”

Erendor nodded.

“Then according to what the Demon King said, instead of making people believe in Lumensia, we should make them believe in the Ascetic to reduce his position and drain his power.”

I nodded.

“But didn’t you say it would be a problem even if Lumensia disappeared…?”

“Since the world is about to end, literally… well, even looking at the current atmosphere, you can feel it’s on the verge of collapse…”

“We have to solve that?”

“Even the Sage couldn’t save the world from ending, so what can we do?”

Everyone chattered busily.

It felt strange, since it seemed like just minutes ago I had seen them all dead and sprawled out.

“Anyway, we should find Luan, right? Since you said he might know something.”

“We have no other clues or solutions, so we have no choice but to go looking.”

“But Savior, is he really alive? You said you made him. Then he might not exist in this time period.”

That’s a valid point.

But… he should be there.

It might be different if only Luan had disappeared, but since Ife is gone too…

“Senta’s World Tree. He might be there.”

Together with Ife.

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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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