The Life of a Wise Cult Leader - Chapter 82

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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 Demon Realm…?!”

“Why would Lumensia’s sacred relic be in the land of such blasphemers?”

“It’s obvious. Those blasphemers must have stolen it to use for their own power, right?”

The figures in the banquet hall each showed different reactions. However, since it was news that a sacred relic had appeared in an unimaginable place, their surprised reactions were all the same.

Only the Widow remained calm. Even the Young Lady looked surprised.

‘She seemed surprised that I found the location of the sacred relic so quickly, but the fact that it’s in the Demon Realm doesn’t seem particularly surprising to her.’

At this point in time, there actually isn’t a sacred relic in the Demon Realm. This story is just a pretext to meet with the Demon King. Without doing this, there would be no way for the Demon King and me to meet.

“We can’t send the Ascetic to such a dangerous land.”

“The Central Church’s unity has finally improved, ceasefire discussions are actively taking place, and the citizens’ reactions are good too. If we send him to such a place and lose the Ascetic, it would be a disaster~”

Hmm. Were they thinking of me as more precious than I thought? Though it probably isn’t for such warm reasons.

“However, isn’t retrieving the sacred relic from the Demon Realm something only the Ascetic can do?”

“That’s right~ Only the Ascetic can sense the sacred relic’s aura and retrieve it. Then… how about we focus the Ascetic more on finding sacred relics and establish a new ‘Pope’ who can act as the Saint’s proxy?”

…Things are taking a strange turn.

If I stay quiet here, I might not even be able to bring up the ‘Saint’ topic later and just end up running around looking for sacred relics.

This is a position I worked so hard to create and climb to. I can’t let it be taken away so absurdly here… Hell no.

“There’s no suitable candidate for Pope.”

Everyone began murmuring about the Pope again. The Widow didn’t stop them.

She was just staring at me intently through her veil.

‘So that’s how you’re going to play it…’

She won’t bother to stop them or add her voice to the discussion.

She’s telling me to handle it myself.

I opened my mouth.

“I went to the enemy nation Centa, which we’re currently in conflict with, successfully concluded ceasefire negotiation discussions, and retrieved sacred relics. I even strengthened the Empire’s domestic affairs and united citizens who had negative opinions about the Central Church. If you establish a proxy to replace me… the citizens will follow the proxy instead of me, or some anti-Saint factions within the Central Church will support the proxy.”

“That’s too much speculation…”

I cut off their words. I need to ride the momentum here.

“The Empire that I’ve carefully held together will split apart again. No matter how much Centa wants a ceasefire, they’re not fools who would sit still when their enemy nation splits.”

At those words, several people seemed restless. Though their expressions weren’t visible due to their veils, I could tell they were sufficiently shaken by my words.

“Are you saying Centa will covet the Empire?”

I continued speaking in this atmosphere.

“Centa is a major power that cannot be ignored. If such a major power decides to wage war, the Empire will inevitably waver and see unnecessary bloodshed.”

“That’s why we should establish a separate Pope so the Ascetic can focus on activities…”

I cut off their words politely but not submissively.

“You’ve forgotten about the recent Terra incident. If we had established just a substitute Pope instead of me in that situation… I wonder if they could have handled it as well as I did.”

The person who was about to continue speaking dropped their hands from the table. I leisurely cut and ate my dessert.

“Let’s just keep it simple. If you continue to present me as the Saint and establish smooth ceasefire agreements even with the Demon Realm, the secondary benefits would be enormous.”

“Secondary benefits… meaning?”

“Think about it. The reason monsters and demons are so strong… The Demon Realm’s land has a different mana concentration than here.”

I picked up a small chocolate ball on top of my dessert and rolled it around.

“Here, a thumbnail-sized magic stone can barely light a lamp, but in the Demon Realm, a magic stone of the same size has such high purity that it can lift five suits of armor in the air. If we establish smooth agreements with such a nation for regular trade, and combine it with Centa’s abundant resources and numerous craftsmen…”

I paused and crushed the chocolate I was rolling with my finger. As soon as I recognized it as something dirty, purification power flowed out and turned the crushed chocolate into light.

When I looked up, I saw them staring at me in silence. It was quiet greed.

“This generation’s Empire will become a land where the sun never sets.”

Yes, support me instead of some Pope or Saint. I’m offering to spoon-feed you everything. Just sit there and clap.

“The question is whether you can really do that.”

A man sitting in the middle spoke sharply.

“But I believe I’ve already sufficiently proven my abilities.”

Now I’ve become a card they can’t discard. If all the people in the banquet hall unite together, they could discard me.

But would they really be able to do that?

When all those eyes hidden behind veils are tainted with greed.

How could people who are calculating how to use me, trying to suppress those next to them and covet the seat where the Widow sits, discard me?

If they were fools who would discard a joker card like me, they wouldn’t have climbed to this position in the first place.

‘The Widow really… If she had been ruling alone as a dictator, she could have done everything according to her own thoughts, so why did she create something like a banquet hall?’

Ding.

The Widow rang a bell.

“The Ascetic has already proven the Saint’s abilities, so questions related to that are a waste of time.”

The Widow finally spoke.

“…Yes.”

The man who had spoken sharply to me answered dejectedly.

I brushed back the long hair that had fallen forward and continued speaking.

“I heard from the Second-in-Command that something quite significant will happen in Centa.”

“Something significant?”

“Yes… He said monsters will appear soon.”

“Monsters… It would be a similar situation to Astrapolis then.”

“When that happens, rather than waging war with Centa, I hope you’ll dispatch me to Centa.”

“The Ascetic?”

The Widow waved her teaspoon in the air as if telling me to continue.

“They’re monsters I can sufficiently repel with my abilities, and if I help their citizens during that process, Centa’s favorable feelings toward the Empire will increase even more.”

“Yes… Citizens are simple in any era, clapping and cheering with just a little help. It would certainly be effective. Continue.”

That’s quite an irritating comment from the perspective of a former citizen.

“Since the Empire’s hardline policies haven’t worked until now, we need a way to gently win them over at this point.”

“Hmm… That’s certainly true.”

The Widow spoke as if recalling old memories.

“As a gesture of reconciliation, the Empire withdraws first from minor conflicts to secure troops and preserve military funds. When something big happens in Centa, I’ll go to Centa with the Empire’s preserved forces to resolve the monster situation, and under the pretext of protecting them in the future, we’ll establish a branch to handle diplomacy and trade.”

“If we expand that branch later…”

“Yes, we’ll be able to peacefully control Centa.”

Will we? I won’t hand over Centa.

Another person nodded.

“That method is… certainly rational. However, what if Centa doesn’t allow it?”

“That’s why I’m here as the Saint. I’ll coordinate all the minor disturbances there myself.”

“In the end, it’s a plan that relies entirely on one Ascetic.”

“But there’s no loss in trying, right? We were planning to withdraw from the small-scale conflicts near the border anyway, and we could even receive support funds for dispatch purposes by sending idle troops to Centa.”

A subtly argumentative atmosphere formed.

They had taken the bait.

Those who wanted to use me gradually caught on and began throwing favorable opinions toward my side.

The Widow remained quiet after saying just that one thing. Last time she was most supportive of me, but I wonder if there’s been some change of heart.

Ding.

The Widow struck her cup with a teaspoon.

She quietly listened to the back-and-forth opinions and then summarized them in three lines.

“Let’s decide on this for now. Are there any objections?”

Everyone seemed to be wrapping up.

Oh no… I need to commission the assassination of the Saint…!

I created this atmosphere for that very reason!

“I’d like to mention one more thing.”

“What is it?”

“After returning to my country, I heard some news. A woman with blonde hair, golden eyes, and beautiful appearance is pretending to be a Saint and inciting people.”

“What bastard would do such…!”

“Must be a witch. If such talk reached the Ascetic’s ears… Where did you hear this?”

“From the Bishop of the Astrapolis branch.”

“Astrapolis… We’ll need to dispatch more people there.”

“What about the cultist pretending to be a Saint?”

The woman who had argued for setting up a proxy in my place kept her mouth tightly shut. The man was the same.

‘Are these two behind it?’

Even so, the widow who’s keeping quiet is also concerning. Those two might have taken the lead in causing trouble, but the widow might have turned a blind eye to it.

Whatever the case, the banquet hall atmosphere is currently favorable to me.

“Cultists should be treated as cultists. They must be judged by Imperial law. Not even worth asking about.”

“Then we should circulate wanted posters with her description and dispatch Inquisitors and Inquisitors to that area. Would it be too much of a waste of manpower to have the Lion’s Heart Knights pursue her?”

“The Dawn Festival will begin soon, so it would be better to handle this quickly.”

Thus, the Saint found herself facing a situation similar to what I had experienced before.

Hehe, brings back memories…

I too had been on wanted posters, met with Inquisitors, and nearly died at the hands of the Lion’s Heart Commander… Wait… How am I still alive?

The banquet ended. The Saint will probably die within a few days. This resolves it. But since it bothered me personally, should I briefly contact Antonio?

As the Young Lady left, she slightly lifted the edge of her veil. Inside the veil, violet eyes curved in a smile.

“Next time we meet will be during the Dawn Festival.”

“That’s right.”

“Take care of yourself.”

It was just a simple greeting wishing me good health, but with all the recent events, it sounded ominous.

I smiled and accepted the greeting.

“Yes. I hope your future is free from suffering.”

*

The Empire was busy preparing for the Dawn Festival. It’s the Empire’s biggest and longest holiday and festival.

Since the Empire itself was formed by conquering various countries and making them its own, this festival was created to unite and rally those diverse peoples…

In reality, it’s now similar to Christmas, Thanksgiving, or New Year’s in the real world. Just a big, long festival.

Of course, as a Saint, I was also incredibly busy.

I needed to ask Antonio about the corpses summoned at Alderion’s mansion and what those summoners were up to, but I was too busy to even send a quick voice transmission.

After all, I’m currently the Empire’s face and representative. Yeah, it makes sense I’d be busy.

I traveled to every city, blessed people under the pretense of using my Healing Relic skill…

Thanks to this, I easily completed the Quest.

For two weeks straight, I couldn’t even mention the ‘D’ in Demon Realm and only traveled around the Empire!

‘When will Ife return?’

Since I’ve been traveling all over the Empire and haven’t had a chance to visit my own mansion, I’m worried about what happened to Ife.

There’s no one who can see spirits to take care of her.

Ah, my heart aches for not being able to care for my pet… I don’t care if people die or whatever, but since she’s animal-like, my conscience really bothers me.

I delivered my final words.

“Infinite and warm light upon the Empire.”

Then everyone sitting before me prostrated themselves and crawled at my feet. Now I really feel like a cult leader…

Though compared to modern cult leaders, this is nothing.

Later, if any decent bands or bards emerge, I should sponsor them to expand my religious influence. Originally, infiltrating culture and arts is best. Like actors.

As I left the temple, someone was urgently running toward me from the far end of the corridor.

Yelena drew her halberd and blocked my path.

“Huff… Gasp. A-Ascetic.”

“Calm yourself and speak, brother.”

“In Centa… Something really terrible has happened.”

Finally, the long-awaited undead attack on Centa had begun.

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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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