The Life of a Wise Cult Leader - Chapter 24

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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

The man who stopped while calling Cardil’s name shook the blood off his sword with a single swing, then sheathed it.

I noticed the exact same sword decoration that I had picked up initially.

‘If I had carried that sword around as is, my neck would have been chopped off like that wyvern… my life would have been chopped off too…’

I encountered Austin Gerard, but I wasn’t particularly nervous.

Cardil was also thoroughly cooked by my silver tongue.

Austin Gerard, who seemed like a cold military man but had pudding-like mentality and gullible ears that could make him fly, could be devoured in one bite.

“That person… though wearing a veil, judging by those distinctive features, you’re definitely a wanted criminal. Priest Cardil, what is the meaning of this?”

A cold atmosphere flowed. My apostles collected the corpses with a strange tension.

Cardil pressed his forehead as if he had expected this.

“Sigh… That’s-“

Just as he was about to speak, I stepped forward first and blocked him.

“I threatened him. I said I wouldn’t treat patients if he exposed my identity.”

“…What?”

“Pardon?”

I heard puzzled responses from the two men. I smiled familiarly and slowly removed my veil and robe hood.

Austin Gerard tensed up sharply with his hand on his sword hilt. The Divine Aura effect was sweet.

“I was once Sernuan Lumiere, but now I have abandoned that name and follow only the path of an ascetic. My holy mission is to save the living from suffering. Then, in this unprecedented situation where this city is about to fall into the hands of demons, where is the reason for me not to step forward?”

Cardil was looking at me with an expression like ‘are you really insane’ but I ignored him.

“Priest Cardil opposed my actions that could be called heretical. However, since he couldn’t just stand by and watch this tragic situation, he is accompanying me under the pretext of surveillance. So if you intend to arrest Priest Cardil, please consider his position.”

“…I had no intention of arresting Priest Cardil from the beginning.”

He gripped his sword hilt. The sword was smoothly drawn from its sheath.

‘Huh? He wasn’t thinking of arresting me but cutting off my head?’

He drew his sword, took a stance, and swung it at me.

‘Cult leader heretic fraudster save me!!’

As I stared at the sword with my eyes wide open as my last pride, the sword grazed past my ear.

Queeeeek!

A beast’s death cry was heard from behind.

“So does that mean you can also provide treatment? Yes or no. Answer with one of the two.”

Thud!

Something heavy fell behind me. My hair swayed wildly because of it. Through my white hair, I could see Austin Gerard’s green eyes.

“Yes.”

Not a single drop of blood remained on the sword. He sheathed his sword again.

I, I’m alive.

Austin Gerard, this bastard. He’s damn scary.

“Then do you intend to be quietly arrested after this situation is resolved?”

I trembled inside while wagging my silver tongue.

He’s such a pushover with gullible ears that he gets backstabbed by fraudsters in public. Unlike his appearance that doesn’t look that way at all.

Anyway, to survive, I must seduce him! With full power!

“As an ascetic, I have only bestowed my power upon those who suffer, in order to fulfill my mission. If even this becomes a sin, then who in this world can truly be said to believe in and follow God? I have simply saved people from suffering without any compensation. If that is a sin, then where is justice in this world? What do you think, Knight?”

I roughly improvised the lines. It’s an ideology that even worked on believers. Let’s see how different Austin is.

As I stared at him intently enough to dissect his facial muscles to see how Austin would respond, he slightly frowned.

“That’s…”

I continued speaking in a trustworthy tone.

“It must be difficult to answer. I understand. I too know well. This world is certainly not a fair place where good people are rewarded and evil people are punished. That’s why inadequate me, this very inadequate me! I am striving to free this imperfect world from suffering, even if just a little. At least, with the thought that even if we cannot be rewarded, we should avoid unnecessary suffering.”

*

Austin Gerard was flustered.

“Being born naturally weak is not their fault. Being poor cannot be a sin, and there’s no reason to be criticized for lacking talent in magic, divinity, or martial arts. Lady Lumensia says that sins from past lives are paid for in this life, but why must one suffer in this life for sins from a past life that they cannot even remember?”

It was true. Having been a commoner, he empathized with what the man before him was saying.

How many neighbors had died of starvation while paying taxes for war during the great famine?

There were times when neighbors who couldn’t pay taxes were branded as heretics as an example and put on the execution platform.

To make matters worse, his mother wasted away from some unknown epidemic and half the village died. Not only that, but the surviving half also suffered permanent disabilities.

No priest came. Because it wasn’t a profitable village.

For nobles and high priests, branding troublesome people as heretics and putting them on execution platforms was routine. In such situations, who would care about remote villages?

Even in the Knights, noble children receive good treatment and are stationed at the rear lines during wars. Meanwhile, people like me with no connections often become meat shields at the front lines.

No matter how skilled, due to having no family background, all sorts of gossip circulates and various menial tasks become his responsibility as vice-commander.

If he fails, it’s his fault; if he succeeds, it’s the entire Knights’ achievement.

In overwhelming misfortune and suffering, even God becomes merely an object of resentment.

But if he thought about all such things one by one, he couldn’t become a knight. To survive, he had to become a knight.

Thus, the yearning and resentment that Austin Gerard had buried alone opened like Pandora’s box at his words.

“I simply want to be a light for those who suffer. That’s all.”

‘Honestly… everything he says is right.’

Austin Gerard empathized with his words that held a strange power.

Though he had quietly resented God many times in his life, this was the first time he had agreed so deeply.

The heart of Austin Gerard, who had been a faithful knight, creaked.

‘Is it really okay to abandon Lady Lumensia? No. It’s not that I believe in him… but is it okay to just leave this heretic alone?’

He was clearly a wanted criminal and a heretic among heretics. Was it okay to be swayed by such a person’s words?

His stomach churned. The world spun around him.

“Sir Gerard, would you hang someone like me on the execution platform? Like that woman who was recently stoned?”

Flinch.

Austin Gerard clenched his fists upon hearing those words.

That woman wasn’t a heretic…

Since Austin Gerard had been in charge from arrest to interrogation, he knew her circumstances well.

‘She wasn’t a heretic, just a mistress that a Royal Family Member cared about.’

She was branded as a witch after being caught by the legal wife, and was framed with the lie that she had been seduced by a witch…

‘What if he’s the same? What if the bounty was placed because he was deemed a threatening existence?’

Austin Gerard added clues to his imagination.

‘Cardil said it before too. The Religious Order is rotten these days and even charges for treatment. Then an ascetic who provides free treatment would be an eyesore.’

Moreover, since he goes around doing volunteer work with such a good heart, it would make sense for those with bad intentions to put a bounty on him for their own benefit!

What if that cavern was actually set up for that purpose…

Unfortunately, there was no one here to correct Austin Gerard’s speculation.

Cardil spoke up from the side.

“…What he says is right.”

Cardil sighed deeply and continued.

“Honestly, this person looks suspicious and has a bounty on him… but I acknowledge his skills. In this situation that’s no different from wartime, he could save dozens of times more people than me… Sigh, it’s hard trying to negotiate when I’m not good at it. Anyway, I’ll vouch for him, so let it slide just this once.”

Even the only person he could call a close friend was acknowledging his skills and character. That prickly friend who wouldn’t even utter the letter ‘v’ in ‘vouch’ normally!

‘For now… let’s leave him be. It’s not that I believe in that person, but the situation is what it is…’

Austin Gerard was thus completely played by the Cult Leader’s silver tongue.

*

I smiled.

“Even if I get away with this, if I continue treating people, I’ll eventually get caught.”

Yes! He fell for it!

I don’t know what kind of relationship Cardil and Austin have, but indeed the world runs on school ties, regional ties, and blood ties. Having received help from an acquaintance, it was time to ride this momentum.

“Surely the citizens will understand. How can a person pretend not to see a miracle unfolding before their eyes? Let me introduce myself again. I am called an ascetic, one who walks the path of God.”

[Faith needed for enhancement: 200]

[Would you like to enhance the sacred relic ‘Chalice of Asclepius’?]

As I thought about pressing the Y button, green and golden light swirled around me, drawing a sun-like mark in the air.

While screams and fire could be heard from all around, a fantastical scene unfolded here.

The patients the apostles had moved near me stopped groaning and opened their eyes. Of course, those who had already died remained silent.

[Sacred Relic: Chalice of Asclepius | +2]

[New Additional Effect: Auto Healing of Bound Owner’s Body]

‘Since it’s not a regeneration effect anyway, it’ll probably only heal minor scratches at best. Though that’s still good.’

Thanks to the show I put on earlier in front of the believers, I still had faith left over even after enhancing the sacred relic. I was planning to enhance it once more when I needed another performance later.

Austin Gerard, who had been momentarily dazed by that fantastical sight, looked at me with an expression of disbelief.

“…Are you really not a priest?”

“I am merely an ascetic. Sir Austin Gerard, please call me whatever is comfortable. Names are of no consequence.”

I covered myself with the veil.

When I also pulled up the robe hood, the people around who had been looking uncomfortable suddenly seemed much more at ease.

“Now, even during this meaningless time we’re wasting, more souls are suffering. Sir Gerard, would you lend me your strength for a moment?”

“My strength? I don’t think I’ll be of much help.”

“No, Sir Austin Gerard. I know and believe in your power. We need your strength to resolve this crisis.”

From the distance came the screams of people and the roars of monsters. The ground shook with the sound of collapsing buildings.

I deliberately smiled and extended my hand to him.

“Come now, shouldn’t you hurry to deal with the demons and monsters and go save the citizens, Sir Gerard?”

He looked at my hand for a moment, hesitating, then grasped it at the sound of another building collapsing.

“What should I do?”

I looked at him and smiled.

I had been waiting for these words.

*

I sent Cardil and my apostles to the relief center. I had been planning to go to the relief center with them, but with Austin here, there was no need to go there.

From now on, I was going to eliminate the ‘demon’ that was the cause of this city’s half-destruction.

Rather than going around doing petty incitement at the relief center, it would be better for me to take the highlight.

‘I think I know which demon caused this situation.’

The types of monsters and even the invasion method reminded me of a certain named demon. It wasn’t named because it was particularly strong, but just a guy who was famous in the game community.

I picked up a sword that was lying around. Austin Gerard asked.

“Do you know how to handle a sword?”

“I don’t.”

“May I ask where we’re going?”

“We’re going to eliminate the demon, the culprit who made this city into this state.”

“I’m sorry, did I mishear…? It’s not just monsters that invaded, but a demon?”

“Yes. Sir Gerard, please listen carefully.”

I stopped in place. Gerard also stopped. I spoke while holding the edge of my veil with my hand, having wiped away any trace of a smile.

“If we can’t stop this demon, even the capital will be occupied. Only the two of us can stop it.”

Of course, it was complete bullshit.

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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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