The Life of a Wise Cult Leader - Chapter 42

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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

Calebrin checked the tree with the embedded face several times using some unknown sorcery. Having recruited a maxed-out utility sorceress was truly reassuring.

Her hair floated up with a red aura, then settled down as her spell ended. Her blindingly bright red eyes also slowly returned to their usual bright red color.

“Um… there’s something that’s a bit… troubling… could we go to the basement…?”

“Let’s do that.”

She seemed to have discovered something, but it appeared somewhat puzzling.

Yelena’s expression of interest in the sorcery disappeared, returning to her usual indifferent look.

“Then may I stay here and draw the tree in more detail?”

“Of course.”

“Do as you please~”

The Marquis had an anxious expression the entire time. Cardil and Calebrin followed behind Yelena as she walked briskly toward the ancient castle.

I gently grabbed the Marquis’s wrist as he tried to follow her. The Marquis turned around in great surprise. Dawn light was shining and his hood nearly came off, so I quickly grabbed it and pressed it down firmly.

“My brother, what are you so afraid of?”

“…I’m afraid I might become such a monster.”

What a completely useless thought he was having.

“So that’s what you were worried about. But don’t worry. You’ve already been declared innocent before God’s scales. And I will always be by your side. That incurable disease of yours will also be healed once my power returns. There will be no problems whatsoever.”

“I trust you, Ascetic… What I cannot trust is myself…”

I bent my knees slightly. Though the Marquis was also tall, I had to bend my posture to see his expression since the robe hood was pressed down deeply.

I brought the Marquis’s black-gloved hand to mine. Human warmth is naturally the most stabilizing thing. Though embracing would be undignified, this level of contact was just right.

“It’s perhaps natural that you don’t trust yourself. After all, the person who knows themselves least is themselves. Moreover, Brother, until yesterday you were covered in human blood. I understand your anxious and painful heart. I can hear the sound of your anguished inner heart.”

“…But I really.”

I infused healing power. Since it wasn’t purification, it shouldn’t hurt. Warm green light surrounded him.

“Does your heart feel a little more at ease? Though I can only heal physical pain, I hope it helps you as well, Brother.”

“Thank you… To think you would care so much for someone as worthless as me…”

The Marquis had a bitter expression. I fidgeted with the hand I was holding.

“Brother, don’t worry too much. I will always be by your side, and you need only rely on me.”

Only then did the Marquis curve his thin lips into a smile. Still, compared to Calebrin or Cardil, he seemed to be showing his age, making him quite difficult to handle.

Is it just low self-esteem? Anyway, he’s a high-anxiety unit, so I need to pay more attention to him.

Cardil is definitely more comfortable. Though he’s hard to win over to my side, he’s still a unit that works well automatically and is refreshingly straightforward.

I straightened my back. When I let go of his hand, the Marquis bowed his head deeply and fidgeted with the hem of his robe.

“At this rate we’ll lose track of our neighbors. Come, if we keep sitting around, we’ll lose the strength to move forward. Even if it’s burdensome, am I not here? Since I won’t tire or die, you can give me all your troubled heart. I was born into this world with the mission and purpose to do just that.”

Talking like this is really hard~

I started walking. Alderion spoke from behind.

“Are people born because they have a purpose?”

What does he mean by asking that?

I turned around. The Marquis had a somewhat solemn expression.

Suddenly a philosophical question? I tried hard to remember what I learned as a required liberal arts course in sociology a few years ago.

“If we’re born according to purpose, then humans would be no different from tools.”

I smiled earnestly while comforting the Marquis.

“I understand. That was an answer. Thank you.”

Why do I feel so uneasy? It’s like the feeling when you press the right choice in a dating sim but the result isn’t what you wanted.

‘Whatever. This is beyond the scope of what I can worry about.’

I headed to the basement with Alderion.

*

“Uh… so-“

Calebrin began reciting in some unknown language.

“This magic circle’s axis… isn’t the magic circles used by the Empire, but is also interwoven with sorcery… so the basic activation method of sorcery is making wishes to the magic power in the air. A sorceress’s talent is 99% determined here… uh, it wasn’t drawn by an Imperial mage. Of course, it has some framework of human mages but…”

Yelena, unable to watch any longer, cut her off.

“Calebrin? Could you summarize please?”

“Um. The person who drew this… isn’t an Imperial mage… someone from another country. I don’t know where… ancient sorcery circles are also mixed in…”

“Where is that attendant from?”

Cardil asked Alderion. Alderion thought for a moment then said.

“Probably from a small village in the Eastern Empire. Of course, we’ve already finished checking and confirming with all the people from those villages.”

“So it wasn’t something done alone~”

“It wouldn’t be easy to kill this many civilians at once even alone. Even using heretical methods, gathering them without being caught would have been a challenge from the start.”

“Yes, they were offered as sacrifices while still alive. So… um. To activate the magic circle, at least two people’s worth of magic power was needed…”

Calebrin paced restlessly between the corpses and the magic circle.

“What was the purpose?”

Everyone seemed to have learned that it was faster to ask the questions they wanted rather than wait for Calebrin to explain.

Though the stammering Calebrin was frustrating enough that someone might have pressed her, everyone waited for Calebrin. They all had good character indeed.

“Summoning and… dimensional… um, anyway, as the Ascetic guessed, they were trying to call forth beings from another world.”

“Beings from another world…? What exactly do you mean?”

“Um… I’m not sure about that part.”

“…Probably gods.”

Cardil interjected.

“Gods?”

“There’s a story passed down only to Bishop-level clergy. Since I just obtained the Bishop position, I saw some forbidden books I couldn’t see before… The content of one forbidden book was like this: ‘Not long after the world was created, there were otherworldly gods, and when those gods tried to invade the world we live in, Lumensia personally drove them out and made them into stars in the night sky.’ It’s a mythological story. I don’t know why it’s forbidden, but there must be a reason. Perhaps heretics offered sacrifices trying to bring their gods here? Though it’s just speculation.”

“Bishop, you’re more helpful than I thought!”

Yelena clapped.

“Well, that’s quite appreciated.”

Cardil glared at her rude behavior as he spoke.

Endure it, Cardil! She’s skilled enough to turn you into mincemeat!

“So at least two people did this, and the purpose was to summon their own god? This is quite an uninteresting conclusion~ Feels like I got my hopes up for nothing.”

Yelena scratched her cheek. I’m not sure if I should say it’s a less significant conclusion than expected…

“Sister Calebrin. Then is this magic circle in an activated state? Or did it fail?”

“Um, neither…”

Sharp alertness returned to the eyes of those whose tension had loosely relaxed. Don’t tell me the magic circle will suddenly activate here and we’ll have to fight a boss battle?

“It’s disappointing to call it a success. But it didn’t fail either. Just… um… what they wanted didn’t come out…”

I listened carefully to Calebrin’s words.

So they failed at gacha and want to try pulling gacha again?

“This kind of thing will happen again.”

“The one we failed to catch will commit such acts again… People will get hurt.”

The Marquis was restless, busy worrying about the citizens.

“In any case, I’m a Bishop so there’s nothing I can do, but if I see anyone suspicious I’ll at least report it. If I report this to the lord and instill vigilance in the citizens, it should help somewhat.”

Cardil seemed to want to quickly end this situation and return. Yelena, who had been quiet, looked around the basement again carefully and brushed some unknown scratches on the wall with her hand.

“But you know what? If what they wanted didn’t come out… that means something did come out here, right? Then the heretics would have killed whatever came out or sent it back, but there are no traces of killing or corpses?”

Wait… that means…

“You mean there might be some unknown monster roaming around the Marquis Territory?”

Alderion, who had been trying to maintain politeness, asked urgently without caring about his tone.

Yelena didn’t care at all and struck the basement wall with her halberd.

Clang!

“Nothing can even scratch it. Well now… you built this quite sturdy~”

Though Yelena spoke deliberately lightly, the chilling tension was unavoidable. Unease enveloped the group.

I should be fine anyway since I’m a healer and won’t have to fight. There are several damage dealers here.

Even the Marquis is half-monsterized so his physical abilities are several times that of a human.

“Bishop. Wasn’t there anything else written in the forbidden books? We need to find out what kind of thing they summoned~”

“That would be difficult.”

“Still, think more about it~ You’re the only one here who studied doctrine.”

Cardil answered expressionlessly.

“I understand. But Inquisitor Yelena, may I ask you one thing?”

“What is it~? If it’s a sensitive question, I’ll have to decline.”

Yelena maintained a light atmosphere while smiling brightly. She was examining the corpses and investigating the basement in her own way.

“As an Inquisitor in a position higher than a Bishop, you have full access to forbidden books. Why do you keep asking me?”

“Ah~ You don’t know, Bishop? I’m also somewhat of an outsider like Bishop Cardil. I’ve been marked by the Central Church! So I mostly take jobs assigned by the Empire~ I can’t look at forbidden books.”

“I see.”

Is just answering “I see” really appropriate here?

In fact, Cardil seemed to avoid asking more because it would become bothersome. Not because he cared about person-to-person courtesy.

The Marquis had a dumbfounded expression at her answer. Kalebrin, as expected, wasn’t paying any attention.

“Let’s work well together as fellow outsiders~”

Yelena said with a giggle. The gentle atmosphere gradually melted away the tension that had been building earlier.

Now we only have people with a screw loose… Since I’m among these loose screws, am I also one of them?

“It would be better to report to the Lord quickly before the citizens suffer harm.”

“I agree~”

“Then what should we do about… the attendant in the garden?”

“We can’t just uproot that, can we? Well, there’s nowhere to take it anyway.”

Yelena said something chilling.

“Let’s just chop it up and use it as firewood. It didn’t seem to be in a state where it could provide information anyway.”

Cardil also said something frightening.

These scary bastards…

“The people here… should be properly handled.”

Only the Marquis seemed normal. Though if I had to pick the most inhuman person here, it would probably be the Marquis.

“That’s right~!”

Kalebrin, who had been quietly holding her staff, suddenly gasped.

“Ascetic…!”

She ran toward me with an urgent expression.

What’s happening?

Thud-

From somewhere came the sound of a large stone hitting the stone floor.

The moment I realized it, a thunderous roar followed.

CRASH!

The basement collapsed.

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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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