The Life of a Wise Cult Leader - Chapter 89

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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

‘Last time with the Widow too, and now the Ascetic seems to have a lot going on.’

Erendor thought lightly.

Of course, if asked which of the two he preferred between the Ascetic and the Widow, he’d choose the Ascetic…

But he had no intention of helping him to the point of suffering losses.

They had exactly that kind of relationship.

So when the order came to annihilate the Rescue Team, he wasn’t particularly surprised.

After all, hadn’t he already accepted the mission from the ‘Widow’… to kill the Ascetic when the time came?

‘The proof of our faithful transaction still remains.’

Another tattoo carved on his wrist. Rather than proof, it was closer to a curse written by mutual agreement.

The tattoo that glowed purple enough to hurt Erendor’s eyes… seemed to cry out for their contract to be fulfilled without issue.

Honestly, it wasn’t much of a problem for Erendor.

“Hmm.”

“Don’t want to do it?”

“No. Just… I got curious about the reason?”

The Boss blinked slowly for a moment. Then tilted his head to the right.

His severed horn was illuminated by the light coming through the window.

“A reason. Did you ever need reasons before?”

“That’s true.”

Erendor backed down without saying anything more.

“Then I’ll just take one thing from the warehouse.”

Violin, who had finished his outburst, snapped from the side.

“Did you come here just to take that?”

“Of course.”

“I knew it! I could tell from the moment you came here so casually! You ungrateful bastard!”

“Ungrateful for what.”

“You should be grateful that the Commander spared your life!”

Violin growled from the side, then suddenly shouted.

“Follow me!”

Thud, thud.

The footsteps of two people going down the stone stairs echoed.

In the dark passage, the crackling of the torch Violin carried and two shadows cast on the walls were visible.

“Why does the Commander keep such a guy…”

Violin grumbled as he irritably descended the cylindrical staircase.

Erendor didn’t care whether Violin grumbled at him or not.

Violin’s dislike of Crotal wasn’t something that started yesterday.

“Here.”

Clank.

Violin opened the Underground Warehouse door for him.

“You came to get something for this performance, right?”

No matter how much the organization’s motif was close to ensemble and concerts, the only fool who called missions ‘performances’ was Violin, who acted like the Boss’s bootlicker.

“No? It’s for a friend.”

“A friend? You had friends?”

Erendor ignored this too. And he was soon able to find a familiar item in the warehouse.

“Wasn’t that something you only used when you were young?”

“Yeah.”

“That friend, is he a Spirit Mage?”

“Mm… Well, you could say that. More importantly, why are you so interested in my friend?”

“Interested…! You just, how should I put it. You didn’t have friends, right? That’s why I’m asking.”

“That sounds pretty harsh when you put it like that?”

“It’s the truth.”

He fondled the object that had come into his hands.

“I don’t know if they think of me as a friend. Anyway, since I like them, I guess I can call them a friend.”

“That person you call a friend is pitiful.”

“Why? Aren’t I a pretty good person?”

“People who kill others aren’t usually called good people.”

“I haven’t killed that many.”

“Normal people don’t kill any. Do you even know what normal means?”

Erendor left the basement as he was.

“Hey!”

He was thinking of going to meet his friend.

*

Right, we’re isolated!

As a result of contacting Young Lady and Antonio through Voice Transmission, the rescue team encountered bandits on their way and was annihilated.

‘What the fuck, a rescue team getting annihilated after meeting bandits…’

They even said they only received this news after 2 days had passed.

‘We really would have all died in this foreign land if we hadn’t secured food.’

“The Rescue Team’s arrival is unexpectedly delayed.”

Yelena said while looking at the distant horizon through a telescope.

Right.

We’ve been camping out in these desolate Northern Plains for a week now!

No matter how much I like romance, I think I’ve suffered enough hardship by now and would like to live comfortably.

‘Of course, I’m living the most comfortably here…!’

Sigh… What useless bandits. Why do these kinds of events keep happening in life?

‘Come to think of it, am I suffering too much…?’

It seems like I’m experiencing every hardship there is?

Forget it, thinking about this now will only make me more depressed.

For now, let’s be satisfied with the fact that being in this game world is happier than being in that trashy Real World.

‘The Fugru steak was pretty tasty too.’

Eating monster meat in reality. It was even meat with whole bones attached, like something that would pop out of a comic book.

Normally it would have been tough, but maybe because it was a monster, it was tender!

‘It was satisfying.’

Beside me, Yelena muttered while harboring all sorts of worries.

“If we continue to be isolated like this, our food supply… No, even if we hunt, our supplies…”

Fortunately, since it snows periodically here, we could melt snow for water, and there were many edible monsters around that we could use as food.

The corpses of the War Dead also naturally froze in this freezer-like cold, preventing decay.

But the problem was firewood. If we stayed like this for just 3 more days, we’d run out of nearby firewood and would have to burn the corpses’ clothes.

‘It’s a 4-day walk to the Nearby Village.’

Rather than waiting for the rescue team’s arrival with no guarantee, walking to the Nearby Village would have a higher survival rate.

I can survive without water or food, but if I keep taking direct hits from this northern cold, my Believers will turn into frozen statues.

While staying here, I’ve been sweetly maintaining my faith supply even with a small number of Believers, so I can’t let those Believers die…

“When will the rescue team come…”

“It’s a 4-day walk to the Nearby Village.”

“Are you suggesting we go?”

“This is when everyone has the best stamina. And when the weather is at its best. As time passes, the weather will get worse, and it’ll become harder to go out for food. If we can’t even light fires in that state… The wise Yelena would understand, right?”

I suggested to her that we leave the War Dead’s corpses behind.

Actually, I don’t really know about the weather. I’m not some expert who can predict the weather just by looking at the Sky.

“…”

“I’ll go gather everyone’s opinions.”

It would practically be tacit agreement. She probably knew this was the only answer too.

Even if the next rescue team came quickly prepared, if they encountered those same bandits, the same situation would just repeat.

And what if the rescue team encountered the suddenly worsened frost storm?

Just waiting for the rescue team might leave them rotting here for a month. In that case, it would be better to risk their lives walking for 4 days.

So Yelena gathered opinions and came out of the tent.

“Let’s prepare.”

I smiled gently.

*

The Vice Captain treated Erendor, who had the Captain’s appearance, familiarly.

“Captain, are you ready?”

“There’s no one watching, so you don’t need to do that role-playing, right?”

“Role-playing?”

A dagger was thrust coldly under Erendor’s neck.

“You’d better watch your mouth, Captain. Right now you’re the Captain. So act like the Captain.”

Erendor frowned in annoyance and irritation.

“Hah… I get it, no. I understand?”

Just going along with it would be less troublesome thinking ahead.

‘If I’d known I’d be traveling with Viola, I would have just refused.’

Viola seemed satisfied even with his halfhearted acting, smiling faintly as she slipped the dagger back inside her wrist.

‘Should I run away even now?’

Erendor seriously considered it.

If not for the small gem he could feel in his grip inside his pocket, he would have already abandoned the mission and fled long ago.

The Boss would probably be furious when he found out he ran away without completing the mission…

‘I just won’t return to headquarters for a few years.’

Erendor already had a precedent for this.

“The Ascetic is moving, Captain.”

“Should we catch him?”

“We should. But I’ll handle the Ascetic myself.”

“Oh.”

Erendor, relieved of the troublesome task, scratched his head making his wig shift. Light golden hair poked out because of it.

“Then have a good trip~ Vice Captain.”

“What are you talking about? The Captain deals damage to the Ascetic and takes hostages to perform the ‘villain’ role, and I rescue the Ascetic from that Captain to negotiate, right?”

“As Wizen?”

“I’ll appear as Wizen then reveal my identity.”

Viola rambled on about the climax of the play or something after that, but it didn’t reach Erendor’s ears.

‘I thought it was a mission to annihilate everyone, but there’s so much other stuff that it’s annoying.’

This isn’t what he joined the organization to do.

But while he could disobey the Boss’s orders, if he ruined this ‘play’ in front of Viola…

Well, it wouldn’t threaten his life, but it would obviously make various things troublesome.

Viola was the most helpful in terms of convenience, like arranging his identity and such.

“The hostages?”

“Don’t eliminate them, just capture them.”

The ones who were definitely beside the Ascetic were… Kalebrin and Yelena, wasn’t it? That friend Austin Gerard would have gone home.

‘The Sorceress is troublesome. I’ll deal with that Sorceress as first priority.’

Erendor calmly planned the attack on the Ascetic.

‘The Ascetic himself has no combat power. It would be troublesome if he figured out how to handle that spirit he met at the World Tree… but he probably isn’t skilled enough in spirit magic yet. He was someone who couldn’t even hear the spirit’s words.’

Viola handed him a scroll from beside him.

“It’s an artifact made by none other than Craftsmen. Most strong fighters won’t be able to move a finger if you just stick this scroll on and tear it.”

Erendor curiously handled the scroll with his gloved hand.

His eyes could see the subtle mana flow streaming from the scroll. Judging by the clean and neat mana flow, the claim that Craftsmen made it didn’t seem to be false.

“You want me to use this for the hostage situation?”

“Yes. Then I’ll go prepare for the hero role.”

Viola disappeared somewhere like that. She probably went to earnestly prepare in advance, thinking she’d put on a play in her own way.

‘I’ll get to see a friend’s face after a while.’

Erendor stuffed the scroll into his pocket. Then he threw off the useless wig.

Even though they said the ‘Captain’ would be the one attacking the Ascetic, the Ascetic would recognize him anyway unless he changed his face like Viola.

Since they’d met before.

Even if he tried to wear this wig that wasn’t even a proper disguise to match Viola’s ‘role-playing,’ the Ascetic would recognize him.

He wasn’t someone so indifferent to his surroundings. Who wouldn’t recognize someone just because they changed their hair color, eye color, and hairstyle?

“Hmm.”

He took out Ifrit, which could be considered his symbol.

Ifrit seemed stiff from being confined, slowly swimming once through the air and stretching.

“Good morning, Ifrit. Now… shall we go meet a friend?”

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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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