The Life of a Wise Cult Leader - Chapter 46

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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

What a tone, like asking which mart I bought milk from.

I answered Yelena with a smile.

“Of course not.”

“It would be troublesome if you couldn’t bring the dowry.”

“Are you worried about me? What a kind neighbor.”

Yelena’s eyebrows twitched. Now that I’d been around her so much, I was starting to understand. That meant she was displeased.

She skillfully hid her displeasure and answered with a bright smile.

“Well. If I wasn’t kind, I wouldn’t have become an Inquisitor!”

If I hadn’t been watching her closely, I wouldn’t have noticed such subtle displeasure.

‘I need to keep track of this to avoid stepping on landmines.’

I considered using Weakness Detection, but at a third-class level, she might be over level 10, let alone level 3.

Even though she was marked by the Central Church, she was still reputed to be skilled. Her level would be incomparable to a pathetic moth like me.

“Then may I ask one more thing?”

I came out of the cramped confessional. I answered while fixing my hair.

“Of course, what could I possibly not tell my neighbor Yelena?”

“That voice that rang in my head back then, how did you do it? Was it magic?”

“Haha… It’s too miraculous to call magic, isn’t it? Though I live with the meager title of Ascetic due to my lacking abilities, I can still perform minor God’s tricks.”

“Oh~ To joke so brazenly in front of an Inquisitor, you have quite some nerve?”

“I told you. I don’t speak falsehoods. Whispering lies to a kind neighbor would be truly shameful.”

“You’re not saying that because you know I can’t kill you right now, are you?”

“I don’t know what you mean. I’m only telling you the truth. Whether to believe it or not, whether there are hidden intentions – that freedom belongs only to the listener.”

I was fortunate that Yelena was truly a kind person. After seeing her power, I felt awkward being cheeky, but she was having such a nice conversation with me.

“Now I’m thinking of going around the city to directly visit patients who have difficulty moving. Since the healing center isn’t ready yet, I’ll have to travel around quite a bit… Are you okay with that, neighbor Yelena?”

“I’m fine. The order was to ‘monitor’ you in the first place. You don’t need to worry about my circumstances, Ascetic.”

“Even so, since we’ll be moving together for a while… Whether it’s orders or whatever, mutual agreement between us is important. And Inquisitor Yelena, you also dislike being sick and suffering, don’t you?”

“Of course. Who likes being tired and in pain? If someone did… that would be quite a strange preference. Though I couldn’t stop them if they enjoyed it themselves.”

Yelena spoke decisively.

“Good, mutual agreement. Then let me make a suggestion. How about staying at home or at least touring the city center? I haven’t seen Astrapolis’s city center yet.”

For some reason, her reaction became cold.

“Um… It’s important for me to carry out my will, but I also want to listen to Yelena’s opinion. However… just as neighbor Yelena dislikes being sick and suffering, other neighbors feel the same way. And as an Ascetic, I’m someone who must bear their pain in their stead. Staying at home or walking through the city center would be far from my mission.”

“I figured as much. Well then, let’s go now.”

As soon as my answer ended, she waved her hands through the air without any lingering attachment.

*

A quiet tea party in the garden.

Green bushes and beautiful various flowers pleased the eyes.

On the white iron round table, four teacups with warm steam rising were placed.

In the dome-shaped glass garden, men and women chattered with each other.

“The banquet has been prepared.”

“This time that Sernuan Lumiere is coming, right? They say he’s handsome, so I’m curious about his face.”

“Why show such interest in someone who’s about to die.”

“Still, a handsome face has value. Even if he’s someone who will die soon.”

The young woman covered her lower face with a fan and fluttered it.

Plop. Plop.

A couple of sugar cubes fell into the teacup filled with red liquid.

“His healing ability alone seems useful, couldn’t we make use of him?”

The Young Lady spoke while placing Sernuan Lumiere’s wanted poster on the table.

“What are you saying. The ‘Widow’ won’t leave him alone.”

“Hmph… Are you afraid of the Widow?”

“It’s not fear, it’s being cautious. Our position in the banquet hall is solid, but… she’s the one who created this banquet hall. What kind of meals are served is all decided at her fingertips.”

Clink.

The teacup with elegantly crafted patterns was set down from fingertips.

“How long can the Widow really dominate this banquet hall? At most 10 years would be the limit. If we wait until then, we can dominate the banquet hall without having to bear any risks.”

“10 years is too long. By then, we’ll all be unable to leave our beds.”

“If we had the sacred relic that Sernuan Lumiere brought, we’d all remain just as we are now even after 10 years. We don’t want to lose our lives just to get the banquet hall a few years earlier, do we?”

“Hmph, how arrogant. What if he fails to bring the sacred relic? What will you do then?”

“Anyway, even if he brings the ‘sacred relic,’ the Widow will monopolize the power. Whether he brings the sacred relic or not isn’t our concern.”

“I have a plan for all of this-“

“Since it’s come to this, it would be better to contact Sernuan Lumiere first and steal the sacred relic.”

“That’s an even more unrealistic idea.”

“I have a plan…!”

“We should have killed him first. Then the stolen sacred relic wouldn’t have fallen into the Widow’s hands.”

“Isn’t the real problem how he managed to steal the sacred relic in the first place?”

The people deliberately ignored the Young Lady’s words.

“He must be in cahoots with the Widow. That woman’s cunning is worse than a spider’s web.”

“So Sernuan Lumiere is a moth? Hahaha!”

“Hoho, this is funny.”

Clatter.

Someone roughly set down their teacup, expressing displeasure.

Everyone fell silent.

“In the end, the Young Lady’s plan has no feasibility. To summarize, you’re saying we should wait until the Widow dies of old age? At that rate, all the food will get cold. Our teeth will all decay and disappear too.”

Slow hands opened a fan. All that could be seen from the covered lower face were eyes looking down on the Young Lady.

“I wondered if you’d say something useful, but you invited me to a tea party just to present such an opinion? This is… Young Lady, you sometimes act like commoners too.”

“…”

“The party is over.”

At the stern voice, people began leaving the garden one by one. Only she remained alone in the garden where only larks chirped.

She muttered while tightly gripping her skirt hem.

“You’re the ones who really don’t know anything…”

Her light purple eyes opened wide. Her knuckles turned white from gripping in anger. She gritted her teeth and pushed over the teacups and teapot on the table with her hand.

Crash!

The teacups that fell on the tiles broke with a loud noise. Her hand was stained red with glass shards.

“…10 years is too long? That’s because you’re milk on the verge of spoiling, so you’re needlessly impatient!”

She stared intently at the wanted poster with Sernuan Lumiere’s portrait. The wanted poster slowly became soaked with tea that flowed from the broken teacups.

Light from the glass garden’s ceiling flickered on her face.

“Well, that’s right… I never intended to ask those who won’t listen to a word I say to seize the Empire with me from the start.”

She had brought two pieces of paper in total.

One was the wanted poster she had presented earlier.

The other one was.

[The reason Sernuan Lumiere possesses a sacred relic.]

[Presumed to own two sacred relics.]

[The real name of the first sacred relic…]

“I’m the one who will become queen.”

*

I had finished all my work.

‘Strengthening the unity of believers through role distribution. Securing funds and information. I’ve also recruited the Marquis House and the Lord… I even put in some sponsorship for Celestia, telling her not to forget me when she becomes a Saint.’

Honestly, there wasn’t much more I could have done beyond this.

I did cough up blood two or three times in the middle, but I could turn the blood into light powder with my Purification Power anyway, so nobody noticed.

It would have been troublesome if Yelena had seen me in that state.

I dressed myself in the dressing room. I buttoned up my shirt completely and put on the flowing outer garment over it.

The flowing clothes resembled the vestments of a priest or bishop, but were subtly different.

The clothes embroidered with gold thread and pure white silk clearly showed their high quality, sparkling automatically under the sunlight even while standing still.

When I came out of the dressing room, the (former) Pregnant Woman’s Husband who had designed the clothes applauded.

“It suits you well, Ascetic.”

“Thank you.”

The shop where I had my clothes tailored was the Pregnant Woman’s shop where I had first performed baptism. She had given birth in the meantime, so I came to check on her and the baby’s condition while getting clothes made.

Supporting people you know is mutually beneficial, isn’t it?

“Wow~ It suits you well, Ascetic.”

Yelena, who was standing beside me, clapped her hands.

Come to think of it, when we’re alone she calls me ‘Mr. Ascetic’, but when others are around she says ‘Ascetic’.

Seeing how she pays attention to such small details, she really is quick-witted and perceptive. I shouldn’t be complacent about her current easygoing and humorous demeanor.

“Wouldn’t you like to have clothes tailored as well, Neighbor Yelena?”

“Oh~ it’s fine. Custom clothes don’t cost just a penny or two.”

“If money is the issue, I could give them to you as a gift.”

“Uh… it’s not that I don’t have money. I have plenty of clothes too.”

“I see. Please let me know if you need anything.”

Gift offensives have an important impact on NPC favorability. Of course, there was no system in the game for giving gifts to NPCs to raise favorability, but…

‘Anyway, people feel good when others give them gifts.’

[Sacred Relic recovery time: 5 days]

And as the plan proceeded smoothly, the Sacred Relic recovery time was also steadily decreasing…

‘What could the penalty be? I’m getting nervous for no reason. It really can’t be sight.’

Hearing? I could somehow cover it by reading lips.

Taste? It wouldn’t even show.

Touch? It would actually be great if I couldn’t feel pain.

Smell? Nothing much happens if you can’t smell.

But sight was different. If I suddenly became blind, people around me would worry tremendously. Just walking around, I’d bump into things everywhere.

Then my dignity as a Cult Leader would be over…!

“The carriage has arrived.”

Right. I couldn’t have prepared more perfectly than this.

“Let’s go~”

Yelena was also dressed in the Inquisitor’s uniform. I couldn’t see any bladed weapons, so she must have left that menacing halberd behind.

The carriage carrying Yelena and me thus left Astrapolis and headed for the Capital.

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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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