The Life of a Wise Cult Leader - Chapter 7

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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

Despite approaching him only when the work was nearly finished, I succeeded in earning hostility from Cardil.

Amazing, just amazing!

This isn’t my fault, it’s Sernuan Lumiere’s fault, right?

Even after hearing such words, I didn’t lose my smile as I stroked my lower jaw.

‘I thought I had a pretty decent face for earning goodwill though.’

What was the problem?

Cardil should be seeing Sernuan Lumiere for the first time.

No, maybe it’s not the first time?

What if something happened when he met ‘Sernuan Lumiere’ before I possessed this body?

I acted quickly.

‘I should just keep my mouth shut before things get worse.’

Cardil frowned deeply and pointed to what wasn’t quite a door.

Thinking he meant for me to get lost, I looked up with a smile, and Cardil made a strange expression.

Was that trembling voice from earlier anger? In a calmer voice than before, he said.

“…Let’s go outside and talk.”

At least he’s willing to talk.

I followed behind Cardil. Even after we came outside, Cardil didn’t speak and maintained silence for a while.

He struggled to spit out a single sentence.

“Why did you come here?”

Because you’ll get a Healing Relic later and if I get close to you now, you’ll probably hand it over to me right away, so I came to befriend you in advance!

There’s no way I could say that.

“…”

As I maintained my silence, I could see veins bulging on Cardil’s forehead.

“Last time you ran away from the deal without saying a word.”

Ah~!!!

Sernuan, you bastard! What the hell did you do!

I was trying to work on building some rapport, but I’m starting in the negatives.

“I guess you finally need something now? Coming here so eagerly when you have business, without any pride…”

While Cardil was busy getting angry at me, I activated my skill.

[system: Activating skill.]

With a cheerful notification, system alert windows appeared floating in the air.

[Activated Skill | Weakness Detection Lv. 1]

[Target: Cardil ‘Healer of Destruction’]

[Would you like to identify weaknesses?]

[Y | N]

‘Y.’

When I pressed yes, a loading screen appeared.

Really like a trash game…

“…”

While I was cursing the Game Company in my mind, my vision slowly began to distort…

I feel nauseous. It doesn’t seem to be because I activated the skill.

Glancing at the edge of my vision, I saw a notification window showing 10 minutes remaining until I would spit blood and put on a self-harm bluff show.

In the gray world, text lined up in the system notification window.

[Cardil ‘Healer of Destruction’ weakness analysis complete]

-Fatigue: Body excessively depleted from prolonged use of Healing Magic. (Remaining Healing Magic time | 00:31 minutes)

It even tells me the remaining usage time?

It’s like a Phone Battery telling you how long it will last.

I’ll take back about 1/100th of calling it a trash game.

-Fear: Subject is extremely tense.

No more information appeared. Probably because weakness analysis is low level, only this much information shows up.

But more than that… fear? Of whom?

I looked down at him and tilted my head slightly to the side. It was because Cardil’s gaze was too fierce.

“Say something, will you? Don’t just smile.”

He’s glaring at me like that and saying such things, so he can’t be scared of me, right?

I really couldn’t guess why he was feeling fear.

I turned my head again to look down at Cardil. The height difference between him and me was roughly half a head.

Pure white hair brushed across my shoulders with the movement. I curved my eyes upward and smiled as warmly as possible.

Smile. Smile. It’s an important element.

“I was wondering if Brother had finished speaking…”

*

Cardil held his breath.

That thing, that monster.

Earlier, its eyes were like a dead fish, pale beyond pale, almost milky white.

The overwhelming pressure like seeing an Apex Predator in the Forest. And those golden glowing eyes.

Staring at them for a few seconds made his head throb painfully. This definitely wasn’t his fault but that bastard’s doing.

In any case, that thing was different from when he met it before.

Even then it felt alien, but now even more so…

Fortunately, the creature didn’t seem upset by the words he had spouted earlier.

Still wearing that smile, it slithered like a snake toward the door and put its robe back on.

When it did, the unsettling feeling of its reversed appearance diminished somewhat.

The thing with golden light flickering sharply in its eyes slowly closed them.

When the languid-looking creature opened its eyes, there were no glowing eyes, only those grayish-white eyeballs in their place.

It fumbled at the worn Wooden Door without a Door Handle with its long fingers and said.

“There are many inside that House who need salvation. Brother’s hands seem busy, so I thought I could offer some small help.”

Serve ■■!

That voice seemed quite holy, enough to bewitch anyone who heard it.

Serve ■■!

…Wait. What kind of thought is this?

The only God is Sun God Lumensia.

But…

Perhaps… it would be okay to receive his help, just a little.

Cardil pushed the Wooden Door that barely hung on its Hinges.

Inside, Patients lay as if dead, and occasionally those who let out inhuman groans were sprawled across sickbeds.

“I don’t know what kind of help you came all this way to offer, but let’s see you try.”

Cardil crossed his arms. It was because his hands were trembling.

The thing glided across the floor. Then it stood before a Patient who made no groaning sounds and only waited for death, looked at him, and smiled.

‘Why is it grinning like that?’

Of course, that thing had been smiling without losing its smile from the first time he saw it. As if that smiling face was sewn on permanently.

It doesn’t seem human.

He had that intuitive thought.

And then a disgusting nausea rose up.

Something felt completely blocked and twisted in his stomach…

Cardil reflexively covered his mouth as nausea welled up inside him.

“Then by God’s mercy, I shall grant him rest.”

The thing placed its long, unblemished hand on the patient’s forehead as if showing off to him, telling him to watch closely. Its eyes flashed gold again.

Then light burst forth from between its fingers.

The light that erupted in an instant filled the dim hut completely.

A warm breeze brushed against his cheek. The cloth strip hung in place of a window swayed gently in the wind.

What looked like golden rain, or perhaps dust, scattered throughout the hut. It was a fantastical sight. The light that felt sacred enough gradually faded away.

It made the figure standing before him truly seem like a ‘god’…

Its white hair swayed softly. The thing still wore that same smile.

The patient, with the hand placed on him, trembled his eyelids and regained consciousness.

The patient’s bright blue eyes came into focus.

‘He’s awake…?’

Cardil hurriedly approached the patient. Then he hastily conducted an examination to confirm that the patient had been perfectly cured of his illness.

The result was shocking.

‘How can this be possible? Really?’

Complete recovery.

Just from placing a hand on him.

Neither the priest’s prayers nor even consecration had worked. Even when he had borrowed the power of magic along with holy power to treat him, he hadn’t recovered.

The incurable disease he had struggled with so much was cured just by placing a hand on him once?

‘This, this is truly absurd…’

He looked up at the face of the thing standing beside the patient. Its eyes had returned to gray-white again.

It still wore that faint smile.

While fresh red blood flowed from between its lips.

*

While Cardil hurriedly took various measures for the awakened patient, I checked the countdown.

‘The self-harm extortion show will start soon…’

I couldn’t hide my smile as I thought about how to exploit this system side effect.

Though this face has always been prone to smiling anyway.

My stomach churned. My throat burned, and a mild headache began.

A feeling like alcohol poisoning and motion sickness hitting simultaneously washed over me in waves.

“Ugh…”

I reflexively covered my mouth. Then I coughed up a fit into my robe sleeve. That made me feel somewhat better.

[system: If believers remain at ‘1 person’ after 6 more hours, gradual physical collapse will begin.]

Blood and what appeared to be organ fragments came out onto my robe.

‘I shouldn’t let it drip on the floor, right?’

Since Cardil would probably crack my skull open while going on about “treatment requires cleanliness!!”, I stayed put obediently.

Cardil looked at me after apparently finishing treating the patient while I was coughing severely.

‘How’s that? Amazing, right? Your favorability is shooting up, isn’t it?’

I looked down at Cardil with a triumphant expression.

“You’re bleeding…”

Ah, it seems I didn’t wipe off all the blood. I showed an unseemly appearance.

“Does this act come with a price? That’s forbidden…”

I brought my index finger to my lips.

Shh.

When I made a gesture to be quiet with a slightly hoarse voice from coughing, Cardil closed his mouth.

“I am a being who has descended to this land once again, given the mission to bestow mercy upon the living. This is holy work that only I, and no one else, can do.”

I began my fraud in earnest.

And the effect of the Weakness Detection skill wasn’t over yet.

–

-Fatigue: Body excessively depleted from prolonged use of healing magic. (Remaining healing magic time | 00:09 minutes)

-Impaired judgment: Subject witnessed unrealistic scenes following fear. Additionally ■■ic corr■ption

–

The weakness had changed from fear to impaired judgment.

To think it even provided this kind of psychological analysis. For 3 points, the cost-effectiveness was overflowing.

‘Though the latter part isn’t very visible due to what seems to be a system error or something.’

Still, it was definitely an amazing skill.

“…What kind of trickery did you use?”

As expected, Cardil had a bad personality.

Even though I had helped a patient who was on the brink of death regain consciousness, he maintained a hostile attitude.

“Trickery? This is truly God’s authentic power. Brother, please refrain from words that diminish the holy power granted to me. This is blasphemy against God.”

I tried to put on a serious expression for a moment, but spoke with a smile.

I felt that if I showed a serious expression, Cardil would be displeased.

Cardil spoke with a gentler tone than before.

“I am also a priest. Though I’m a priest, I’ve never heard or seen such power. Even the Cardinal said these patients couldn’t be treated…”

His rambling seemed like it would show mental weakness on the weakness detection system window.

“Oh my. You really don’t know who I am… Brother.”

I said while wiping my mouth with my shirt hem.

Blood stained the wrist area of my pure white shirt.

It seemed there really was quite a lot around my mouth. I was embarrassed to show such an unseemly appearance.

I approached Cardil step by step, slowly.

The small candle flickering as the sun set cast my shadow over Cardil.

The weakness detection in the corner of my vision displayed again.

It seems… Cardil feels fear toward this slender exterior. I haven’t seen Sernuan Lumiere’s face in detail, but well, it could be frightening.

I’m just faithfully exploiting that fear. That’s what cult leaders originally do anyway.

Right, my cult activities needed a god.

However, I lacked creativity. I couldn’t create a non-existent god and spread doctrine… I couldn’t do such things.

Then, wouldn’t it work if I became the god?

Like the lie I told the coachman earlier.

Even in the cult den where I was kidnapped, they worshipped the cult leader as a god.

Since I’m already a cult leader anyway, I might as well be the god too, right?

I raised the corners of my mouth in a smile.

“That when a god is resurrected, they resurrect in the most humble place…”

Cardil’s Adam’s apple moved. Sweat drops flowed down his pale face.

I brushed back his blue-gray hair wet with sweat. He looked quite pitiful, trembling without being able to show his true personality.

“Brother, you believe in God, don’t you?”

“…”

“Then why do you fear me?”

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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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