The Life of a Wise Cult Leader - Chapter 31

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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

I had somehow charmed the Knight Order member or at least gained their favor.

What used to be bread crumbs and a bowl of soup with unknown contents had changed to something actually edible for humans, so it seemed I had gained quite a lot of favor.

I thought about testing whether they had truly become a believer by performing a baptism… but I held back since it seemed too obviously scheming.

‘Couldn’t they support a believer window feature or something in the next update? With name search functionality.’

Anyway, the Knight Order member had gone off duty and only a guard was watching the entrance. He was half-asleep too.

Hmm. Since no one was around, I should stop stealing glimpses of the world through the baptized believer’s vision and try using the Faith Additional Skill.

Using faith to activate ‘Prophecy’.

I could use prophecy by consuming one-tenth of the nine-tenths of faith I possessed.

‘I’ve been too busy using this for Sacred Relic upgrades rather than this… but since I heard something other than a death threat, it wouldn’t be bad to use it for an overall check.’

I had wanted to test it at least once anyway.

Moreover, while execution was definitely off the table, it was obvious I wouldn’t be able to retrieve the Sacred Relic within the system’s set timeframe, so I needed to prepare for which of my five senses might disappear.

‘It tells the future… I wonder exactly how it will show me.’

I hoped it would at least tell me which of my five senses would disappear.

A light blue, semi-transparent window appeared. The familiar system window.

 

[system: Would you like to use ‘Prophecy’?]

I might feel empty without it now.

 

[y/n]

‘y.’

However, what was different from usual was that instead of a light blue semi-transparent system window, a red system window appeared.

 

[The second clock begins to move.]

[You glimpse the second loom of the Nine Gods.]

[Prophecy accuracy: 90%]

 

As expected of prophecy, even the system window became something special.

Along with a feeling of my heart sinking, my vision suddenly went pitch black.

 

*

 

The sound of drawing a sword.

The rustling friction of clothes.

For some reason, a dark and gloomy vision.

“Damn it, that crazy bastard finally…!”

Is that voice Cardil’s?

Crash-!

Thud thud.

It seemed like stones fell to the side. My body was heavy and I couldn’t move.

“Run away-!”

What? Where to?

My hands… are still tied. Ah, is this a future when I’m still in prison?

The trembling of air.

Thoom-

My body hit the wall. My back hurt. My vision cleared. I could see Cardil’s back.

What’s in front of Cardil is, damn… it’s too dark to see anything. Put some magic lights in the prison…!

A light purple sword aura wrapped in black smoke came flying.

Blood…

At that moment, my vision went dark.

No, at such an important timing…!

Then bright red semi-transparent system windows appeared simultaneously.

 

[Interference detected.]

[Blocking interference.]

[Blocking interference.]

[Blocking interference.]

[Blocking interfer───]

[Error occurred]

[Unauthorized entity contact]

[Rejecting.]

[Rejecting.]

[Rejecting.]

[Reject───]

 

My vision.

Is red.

Everything.

So red.

…

 

[Approving.]

My eyes opened and closed and opened and closed and opened and closed blinking blinking flashing there’s light and darkness constantly blinking flashing.

Opening.

Closing.

Blinking.

…

 

Third person?

I was floating about 3 meters above ground, two steps behind Sernuan Lumiere.

And what came into my vision was… a man.

Sitting on a throne, leisurely resting his chin on his hand, looking down at me with a faint smile…

“I wondered when you would come. You’re finally here.”

As he tilted his head, black hair scattered.

He was completely black and red, the exact opposite color of Sernuan Lumiere as if their palettes were inverted.

“I was waiting.”

Swish.

He raised his head and made eye contact precisely with me, floating behind Sernuan Lumiere.

“Don’t we two have things left to discuss?”

The voice that made my head ring was so painful it felt like it would burst my brain.

“This time I’ll send you back intact. Fellow Apostles of the Forgotten God in the same situation should get along well, shouldn’t we?”

As a palm with sharp claws cast a shadow-

“My patience is not particularly good, so come before me quickly.”

Whoosh-

My vision went pitch black.

Ding.

 

[Blocking unauthorized entity contact]

[Blocking attempt (1).]

Ding.

[Blocking attempt (2).]

Ding.

[Blocking attempt (3).]

Ding.

[Unauthorized entity blocking complete]

[Emergency maintenance]

[Maintenance time: ~Indefinite]

 

*

 

“Huff.”

When I opened my eyes, my heart was beating as if it would burst.

It’s been a really long time since I had such an intense physical reaction.

It was so severe that my eyelashes trembled. When I raised my hand, it was shaking uncontrollably.

It’s not something psychological. I was just… looked at.

Right.

The knows about me.

“Haha…”

Only then did I feel the thrill of fitting together mismatched puzzle pieces perfectly.

Right. This makes a bit more sense.

The Pope’s early death, and the reason why Astrapolis was attacked by monsters differently than before – this explains it all.

Premise

1. The Demon King that appeared this time is a different being from the Demon King in the original game’s main story. Whether it’s memories or whatever.

2. The reason is related to me possessing Sernuan Lumiere’s body.

I don’t know how the Pope died, so I’ll pass on that for now.

“Interesting…”

Apostle of the Forgotten God. This kind of easter egg setting didn’t even appear in the game.

I laughed.

Games are fun after all.

Even possessing Sernuan Lumiere, who was destined to die soon, was tolerable with this level of content.

This role-playing was becoming genuinely fun.

That Knight earlier hated me terribly, but then liked me after I laid hands on him once – that was funny too.

If I get out of prison, there’ll be plenty of people cheering if I just wave my hand once. They’ll try hard to shake hands with me. In reality, there wasn’t anyone who would even hold my hand once.

Anyway, I have no intention of returning to that shitty reality. I’ll live well here forever and enjoy the wise cult leader life 100%.

It might be unfortunate for Sernuan Lumiere, but if I hadn’t taken over this body, he would have become corpse #1 in that cavern, so I hope he understands.

Hmm, more importantly, the is looking for me.

The reason he’s looking for me is related to the Forgotten God…

Nine sacred relics.

The loom of the Nine Gods.

The Forgotten Gods and the one god Lumensia.

Then does Lumensia belong to those Nine Gods, or are there 10 gods with 9 being the Forgotten Gods?

There aren’t enough clues to confirm the speculation yet. I get the feeling it’s more like the latter though…

Gods exist. But? It’s not the one god Lumensia that the Empire claims, but Nine Gods. And the Demon King doesn’t believe in the one god the Empire claims.

‘There’s also the fact that the Tribe of Kalebrin was wiped out.’

Something cosmic was definitely happening. My possession of this body must be for the same reason.

I want to use Prophecy once more, but I can’t even use it because it’s under maintenance. Sigh…

‘Anyway, if I find all the sacred relics and create believers, I’ll be able to keep using Sernuan Lumiere’s body, right?’

Thinking about it again, I refuse to return to that shitty reality. After completing the quest, it’s a prepared feast – I have no intention of handing the spoon to the original Sernuan.

‘For now, after this incident ends, I need to go on a business trip to a foreign country, find one more sacred relic, then prepare to go to the Demon Realm.’

I heard that Antonio’s magic stone sales were also progressing. And incidentally, Antonio was managing things well with the game knowledge I had additionally provided…

‘Money is solved. Healing is also resolved…’

I just need to cross over to the neighboring country in civil war, find the World Tree, and bring back the sacred relic.

I really hate these complicated quests.

In the game, I could just hold down the shift key or travel with flying mounts. Now I have to move while considering national politics.

How annoying~ When Antonio comes for the next visit, I should tell him to devise a plan. I’ll make up an excuse that I need to go to the neighboring country due to divine foresight. It’s half true anyway.

The neighboring country is manageable somehow, but how do I get to the Demon Realm…

 

*

 

Being in prison, time seemed to pass both slowly and quickly.

When I was bored, I could steal the vision of baptized believers to sightsee and gather information, so solitary confinement didn’t matter to me.

I could even activate ‘Scales’ while stealing their vision, so it was truly a sweet time. I’d judge sins with the Scales and cast curses from a distance with ‘Punishment’.

What a sweet life this is. Hahaha, this is what auto-hunting is like.

The believers worked hard at evangelizing, empowered by the miracles I performed. Thanks to that, my faith and believer stats grew abundantly, and I couldn’t even remember when I last received a believer debuff.

“Sernuan Lumiere. Come out.”

A familiar voice. The Lion Heart Knight Commander came looking for me. He came alone without the knights he usually brought along.

I cut off the vision I was stealing. I obtained information that Cardil would come for a visit soon.

“What business do you have?”

“Hmph, I don’t need to tell my business to a heretic like you. Stop thinking of wagging that sharp tongue of yours.”

[System regular maintenance]

[Maintenance will be completed in 12 hours.]

System maintenance at a time like this.

Anyway, ever since I used the Prophecy skill until now while in prison, the system kept acting up.

I smiled nonchalantly and came out of the prison. The Knight Commander unlocked my handcuffs and brought out different handcuffs to put on me.

The ordinary iron handcuffs had some kind of engraving, probably embedded with magic. It was interesting seeing a magic tool for the first time in a fantasy world.

Soon after, a thick iron necklace was also put around my neck.

It looked like a dog collar, which hurt my pride because it was so uncool.

It doesn’t fit the concept and doesn’t suit the character! The handcuffs were okay, but…!

When the Knight Commander pulled the chain, my neck was yanked forward.

“Ugh.”

Then something was put over my head. It seemed to be cloth, but whether it was multiple layers of cloth, not a single ray of light came through and I couldn’t see anything.

Wait, I think I saw this with the Prophecy skill. That dark vision…

‘The Knight Commander isn’t trying to… kill me, is he? Huh? Surely not.’

There’s no particular reason for him to do such a thing. More importantly, in the future vision I saw with the Prophecy skill, the Demon King interfered so I couldn’t see what happened after.

I couldn’t see what happened after blood splattered on Cardil! At the most important moment!

“Revento.”

The Knight Commander whispered in the darkness.

“Kuk…”

My mouth and body gradually stiffened until I couldn’t move even a fingertip.

Damn, binding magic… This bastard, did he craft such a thing into the magic tool? This is cheating!

More importantly… him quietly dragging me like this means he really intends to kill me, right? Since he can’t execute me arbitrarily, he’s annoyed and wants to eliminate me!

“How does it feel to not be able to wag that smart tongue of yours?”

What kind of psychology is it to ask after gagging someone?

As if he didn’t expect an answer, I was dragged along without being able to resist even once.

‘Why won’t the system window open…! Ah, could it be because of the maintenance…?’

Then my skills are sealed and all I can use is the Sacred Relic Power…?

The maintenance will even be lifted in 12 hours.

In the meantime, it would be easy as pie for the Knight Commander to slit my throat!

Finding it uncomfortable to drag me by the leash, he slung me over his shoulder like laundry midway, and my stomach pressed painfully against his shoulder with each step. If I’m going to be killed soon, I won’t be able to feel this pain though.

‘No way! I was planning to use this body of Sernuan Lumiere for a long, long time to wisely enjoy the cult leader life!’

The way to break Revento: it gets released when given a certain amount of shock. That’s why it was important to strike the neck in one blow, deal a fatal wound, or land a critical hit…

‘Healing Relic, if my head flies off, you can’t regenerate that far, right? That’s probably the case, riiiight?’

I’ve experienced several life-threatening crises since possessing this body, but this time my heart was pounding the most. Ah, wait? Maybe the three questions when I got the Purification Relic were the most nerve-wracking.

Clang.

I heard the sound of the iron door opening.

“As expected. I knew this would happen.”

A familiar voice reached me.

Cardil! Good timing! Help me!

“Did you think a mere daytime Bishop could stop me? Hahaha, even if you look down on me, there are limits. I can cover up one powerless Bishop as the work of monsters. Rookie.”

Wait a minute, our Cardil isn’t the Healer of ‘Destruction’ yet, right? He hasn’t finished his skill tree yet, right? Kalebrin nearby… wasn’t there. Other dealers too… none.

No way, the only one who came to help is a healer? Even a squishy healer with no attack skills?

The other shoulder moved, making the position where I was placed a bit unstable. It seemed like he pulled out the sword.

“Put him down right now.”

“A heretical Lumensia’s Unfilial Child, how dare you. I’ll throw you into the Abyss along with that heretic bastard.”

We’re screwed.

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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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