The Life of a Wise Cult Leader - Chapter 95

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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

Since I stepped out barefoot, the sensation of plants touching my soles felt remarkably different.

But neither the Ascetic nor Sernuan Lumiere had stepped on the ground barefoot many times. Or perhaps it wasn’t such an important memory, as no particular data was accumulated.

A village could be seen in the distance. There must be a stream, as the sound of trickling water could be heard.

The Ascetic’s first memory came to mind.

 

-Character Recovery Work until…. 37%-

 

It was… the memory of walking alone out of a cavern filled with corpses and seeing a windmill peacefully turning in the golden hour of sunset.

It was a beautiful sight where the Ascetic first saw with his own eyes the world he had loved.

 

-Character Recovery Work until…. 39%-

 

While I was blankly looking at the scenery, the sound of sheep bleating was heard.

It was the first time seeing one. It was an animal that neither the Ascetic nor Sernuan Lumiere had ever seen. Of course, I knew about it intellectually, but….

A sheep approached. When I touched it, it wasn’t as soft as I thought, but having an animal wasn’t bad.

Before long, the sound of jingling bells and rustling footsteps could be heard.

“…Could it be, Ascetic?”

It was an ordinary Shepherd Boy holding a wooden staff with a bell attached in the middle.

He seemed to know the Ascetic. But he wasn’t a person in the Ascetic’s memories.

However, the system knew. He was the Ascetic’s believer. Though the Ascetic didn’t know this.

The Ascetic has a persona for when meeting believers.

 

-Character Recovery Work until…. 40%-

 

A smile bloomed from the rigid expressionless face. A gentle, elegant, and somewhat sharp and charismatic impression emerged.

If this had been the Ascetic with complete data, he would have said, ‘Hello, Brother.’

But since Friend told me not to speak, let’s follow that to some extent.

“Ascetic! I was truly moved by the speech you gave at the last ceremony! To share such knowledge even with ignorant people like us…. I was moved by your character befitting the title of Saint!”

The believer was quite overwhelmed. It was unfortunate that the current Ascetic couldn’t say anything.

His power seemed well-controlled, as there was no frightened atmosphere compared to when the Ascetic was more intact.

At first, when he couldn’t control his power due to lack of faith and believers, everyone was terrified.

When I silently smiled and brought my index finger to my lips, the Shepherd Boy’s eyes widened and he nodded enthusiastically.

Then the boy whispered.

“You’re in Silent Meditation…!”

The target seemed to have misunderstood.

However, since that misunderstanding worked in my favor, I left it alone.

This kind of situation seemed to have been repeated several times for the Ascetic.

Several similar memories came to mind.

 

-Character Recovery Work until…. 41%-

 

…I became tired. A body that couldn’t contain Divine Power and was broken needed management soon, which was bothersome.

Still, with this walk I raised the progress to just under 50%, so the Ascetic would soon regain his self-awareness.

When that happens, the current Ascetic’s data made of temporary data would also be appropriately inherited as needed.

“Ascetic!”

I heard my friend’s voice calling me from a distance.

When I turned my head, Friend was running toward me with blonde hair fluttering, accompanied by his spirit.

“What are you doing here. You should have told me if you were going out. You startled me.”

“Who are you?”

“This guy’s Guardian.”

“This guy? Your manner of speech toward the Ascetic is terrible! Even if you’re a close associate, please show proper respect!”

“What are you saying. Hey shepherd, it would be better to just leave before you see something unpleasant.”

“Are you threatening me, a servant attending the Ascetic?”

“Are kids these days this brazen?”

Seeing his spirit reminded me of something….

The contract spirit that formally invited the Ascetic to This World and made the contract.

Ife.

The Ascetic had definitely given it that name.

-{…To call me only now. Aren’t you quite a bad fellow.}

It was a familiar voice…!

 

-Character Recovery Work until…. 47%-

 

At some point, Ife wriggled out from my stomach and wrapped around my wrist.

Last time it had grown enough to barely wrap around my neck, but now it had shrunk to barely wrap around my wrist.

And Ife’s characteristic deep male voice was also weakened and drooping. It seemed to be in pain.

-{You should sleep a bit more…. The cracks in the shell haven’t been repaired yet. Isn’t it time to back up.}

I decided to follow Ife’s words. Ife had always given good advice.

It was also thanks to Ife that the Ascetic could directly ‘operate’ skills rather than just using system shortcuts.

“You should have said something if you wanted to come out.”

I just smiled and blinked. Friend sighed deeply and held out the shoes he was carrying.

“Let’s go. I don’t need to carry you, right?”

So I returned to Friend’s House.

 

*

 

-Character Recovery Work until…. 50%-

 

[System Temporarily Paralyzed]

[Until System Recovery: 13 days]

 

“Ascetic. I contacted your friends.”

Friend seemed eager to help me regain my memories.

I looked at Ife, who had coiled around my wrist and fallen asleep, then looked up at Friend.

If he means my friends…. who would that be?

“They’ll be here soon.”

[Question: Who are the friends?]

“Oh, that’s right. I’m talking about Yelena and Kalebrin.”

That was information I had remembered from the beginning. However, they were believers, not friends.

Even Yelena, who had become a believer relatively recently, wasn’t a ‘friend.’

I don’t remember how we became separated. I think I’ll remember when I meet them.

That’s probably why Friend is trying to bring them here.

Friend occasionally kicked Viola rolling around in the Living Room. And fed me meals.

I felt like I could speak now and wanted to open my mouth, but he told me to keep it closed.

But I didn’t seem to be the type to follow Friend’s words like that. I felt rebellious.

“I don’t want to.”

“Oh my, talking back now.”

“Yes.”

Soon there was a knocking sound at the door. And the feeling of being strongly connected to me began to intensify.

It was Kalebrin and Yelena!

A subtle feeling of joy welled up in the Ascetic’s heart.

 

-Character Recovery Work until…. 52%-

 

“Viola, we have guests. Open the door~”

From far away, I could hear the sound of Yelena hitting Viola after seeing her. Friend didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping it, even though they were from the same organization as Viola.

“Ascetic!”

“A, Ascetic….”

Familiar voices. Soon I heard the sound of running footsteps, and the door to my room opened.

“Ascetic…!”

These were faces I missed. Even though it had only been a few days since I’d seen them.

 

-Character Recovery Work until…. 60%-

 

This must mean that the Ascetic cherished them and had spent a long time together with them.

“Are you hurt anywhere!?”

Yelena rushed to the bed where I was sitting and examined my face.

“I got hurt because of the Ascetic.”

Friend chattered from the side.

“You’re not injured anywhere, are you?”

Yelena ignored Friend. I nodded my head.

“If anything, my body got hurt because of the Ascetic. Look, no matter how much we did wrong, we took extremely good care of him until you guys came, you know?”

“Shut up! You heretic!”

“I’m an atheist though.”

“After treating a person like that and even staging a kidnapping, did you think you could leave with your limbs intact?”

Yelena growled. For some reason, Kalebrin had gone silent after making direct eye contact with me.

Red eyes were tearing up through her disheveled bangs.

“Ascetic…. No, that’s not right.”

“…What?”

“You’re not the Ascetic….”

Kalebrin burst into tears. Yelena, who had been about to draw her halberd, approached Kalebrin and patted her.

“Why, what’s wrong that you’re acting like this? What do you mean the Ascetic isn’t the Ascetic? Please explain, Kalebrin.”

“Huuung….”

For some reason, seeing Kalebrin cry made me feel uncomfortable in one corner of my heart….

 

-Character Recovery Work until…. 62%-

 

“Ascetic….”

Tears fell drop by drop. I knew in my head that she was sad, but I only knew it intellectually.

“Uh, d, don’t cry…!”

 

-Character Recovery Work until…. 66%-

 

Yelena panicked and tried to comfort her. Friend sent away Viola, who was standing at the doorway with a pale face. It seemed Yelena had hit her quite hard.

More than that, in this situation, the Ascetic would probably have said something like this.

“Don’t cry, Kalebrin. I’ll be back soon. Didn’t I tell you I wouldn’t die?”

…What should I say next?

I thought for a moment and then answered.

“Instead of dying and returning, there’s been a very slight loss of memory…. That’s what it is. Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon enough.”

“Sniff, r, really? Really? T, that’s right, but….”

I don’t know why she’s crying like this. However, from a long-term believer management perspective, it would be good to comfort her.

“If you all help me recover my past memories, I’ll return even faster.”

Right now I was temporarily playing the role of the Ascetic, but I became quite envious of an Ascetic who had believers like this.

It would be good if he managed his believers a bit better. If I pass this data on to him, he’ll probably put more effort into believer management in the future.

 

-Character Recovery Work until…. 70%-

 

“Then the current Ascetic is…. in a state of memory loss? You said he was healthy…!”

“His body itself is healthy. However…. since using power damages his physical form, he’s just recuperating.”

Yelena covered her mouth with one hand and made a serious expression.

“How did this happen…?”

“Because Viola killed me.”

Yelena immediately rushed out to find Viola and beat her up again, and Kalebrin gripped her staff and muttered curses.

Viola would probably be dragged back in front of me with broken limbs and blood streaming from her face.

Friend tried to stop the two of them from the side.

“Still, killing her would be problematic. Though it’s fine to beat her up as much as you’re angry.”

A few seconds later, Viola was dragged in front of me without a single uninjured spot on her body.

Since I was currently moving this shell as temporary character data rather than the Ascetic who had been directly murdered, I didn’t have much resentment toward Viola who had killed the Ascetic once.

However, since Viola was the root cause of all incidents, including making the system malfunction, I was feeling a bit of satisfaction about what happened to her.

 

-Character Recovery Work until…. 72%-

 

Meeting those I had missed seemed to make the recovery work go faster.

I recovered several pieces of lost data. Memories were being established, and my sense of self was becoming solid.

I am Sernuan Lumiere, an Ascetic and a Saint of the Empire. At some point, I opened my eyes in a cavern full of corpses, and I can only survive by gathering believers.

But I feel like I’m forgetting something big….

Yes, why I came to open my eyes in that cavern. Why I have such strong attachment to this world….

The fundamental data about how I came to handle such power.

As I continued my thoughts in a daze, Ife, who had been sleeping in my hand, flicked her tongue.

-{You, that’s classified as important data, so you don’t need to be impatient about recovering it. As time passes, the connections of that data will become solid and you’ll remember it automatically even if you don’t want to….}

Is that so. Then I was relieved.

 

*

 

Erendor heard everything Ife said.

‘Data? What is this about?’

—————
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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