The Abyss Cult
The Abyss Cult
"Next, please come in."
Lately, a piece of news had been circulating among the people of the Goldpool Valley region: anyone who worked at the Somerset family's factory could earn big money.
Hearing that story, jobless and penniless craftsmen from the south began flocking to the Somerset family one after another.
Jensen had also submitted his resume to the Somerset family and come all the way for an interview for that same reason, but his worries were enormous.
'Haa... I'm just a guy who left after being an apprentice. Would they even accept someone like me?'
He had entered the tutelage of his master, a famous blacksmith in the capital, and trained under him—until he made the mistake of seducing his master's daughter, which was the root of all his troubles.
The moment his master found out, he kicked Jensen out that very day, and Jensen, who hadn't even finished learning the craft, would rather die than go back to his hometown with no money.
So he had come all the way here with his last hope, but there were more applicants than he had expected.
"Number 13, Jensen, please come in."
Just as he was sitting there with his heart in his throat, Jensen's turn came, and he entered the reception room, steadying his trembling heart.
Inside the reception room sat people who appeared to be the interviewers.
'What the hell? Why do they all look like that?'
Except for one blond young man sitting in the center, every one of them had severe dark circles under their eyes, and their pupils looked like dead fish eyes.
"Mr. Jensen, looking at your resume, I see your family lives in another region and you're not married?"
"Yes, that's right!"
The question came at him out of nowhere the moment he sat down.
It was a question from the young man sitting in the center. His status was obviously high, and Jensen unconsciously put some force into his answer.
'Is that Master Rupert?'
The artist behind the picture books and manga that had recently become the talk of the empire, the de facto ruler of the Somerset family, and a man famous for receiving an imperial plaque of appreciation.
Rumor painted him as utterly ruthless.
They said he was a cold, snake-like man who had seized the family and pushed his father, Count Somerset, into powerless retirement.
'There were even rumors going around that he was behind the disappearance of his older brother, the eldest son.'
Seeing the famous figure in person, Jensen thought the rumors weren't unfounded.
His bespectacled face, which looked composed, was certainly delicate, but it seemed far too cold.
Even now, the gaze fixed on him was like that of a beast eyeing its prey.
"Hmm... Do you have a lover?"
"No, I don't."
"Then how are your relations with your family?"
"...Not very good."
"Oh-ho. Do you happen to have any health problems?"
"...No, there's nothing wrong with me, but...."
The questions were strange.
Why was he only asking about his personal life instead of his skills?
Jensen felt a chill run down the back of his neck.
It was because a ghost story he had once heard in the capital suddenly came to mind.
[Jensen, you know about that? Dark wizards need living humans as sacrifices, so they lure people in by offering them decent jobs and then kidnap them.
But when they're selecting sacrifices, they're picky about it. To make sure there's no trouble afterward, they ask if you have family, if you have a lover, or if you have any health problems.
Be careful. The only people who ask those kinds of questions are human traffickers.]
As the words his senior had said half-jokingly flashed through his mind, cold sweat began pouring down Jensen's body in an instant.
'Damn it, I did think the pay was too high. There's no way a job like this actually exists.'
He resented himself for being blinded by money and failing to make a wise judgment.
The gaze of the de facto master of Somerset, who was now looking at him as if he were a delicious meal, was absolutely terrifying.
But the owner of that gaze was currently thinking something completely different.
'Wow, this is perfect. No lover means he won't whine about not being able to work overtime, and bad family relations mean he has nowhere to run when things get tough.'
And he was young, healthy, and had nothing wrong with him? Perfect. Instant hire!
Rupert was simply delighted to have found a worker with such ideal conditions.
Book production had exploded recently, and with the merchandise factory running as well, they had been severely short-staffed.
Moreover, people kept running away, which had been a headache, so discovering a talent with such perfect conditions made him want to kiss the guy, if he were being honest.
'A guy like this? He'll probably drink his Vitality Potions without complaining too.'
Rupert considered whether he should feed him a Vitality Potion right away, but decided that could be tried slowly later, and contentedly stamped a pass mark on the applicant's resume.
***
"O Mother Goddess in heaven, your child now prays earnestly, please grant your grace. Heal!"
Even though a light as bright as the sun was clearly enveloping my body, it didn't hurt my eyes at all.
'Is this Divine Power?'
My body, which had been exhausted and drowsy just moments ago, began to surge with energy once again.
"Brother, I performed this special healing for you this time because your faith is so steadfast, but ordinarily...."
"Does it make any sense that our territory doesn't have a single proper church for the Goddess Church? I intend to build one for you this time!"
"It is our duty as monks to visit brothers whose faith is strong, so please feel free to call for us."
The monk, whose head shone as brightly as his Divine Power, exited with a satisfied smile.
'It cost money, but it was a church I had to build anyway.'
It was truly unthinkable for a count's territory to have no church for the Goddess Church.
But when our finances collapsed a few years ago, the Somerset branch of the Goddess Church, no longer receiving our family's donations, had simply withdrawn.
When we were poor, it didn't matter since there was nothing to squeeze out of us, but now that the family's finances had recovered, if we couldn't even pay donations to the Goddess Church, it could very likely become a fatal weakness later.
'They'd spread baseless rumors about us being demon worshippers or dark wizards and try to shake our family.'
What an exhausting world. Everyone could simply mind their own territory and their own business, so why were they so obsessed with everyone else's affairs?
Anyway, now that the territory's finances had been normalized to some degree, I decided to resume donations and build a new church while I was at it.
At first it hurt to shell out hard-earned cash for it.
But since it was money I had to pay anyway, I figured I should make the most of it, so I invited a monk and received Divine Power like this, and the effect was outstanding.
At this rate, I could finish the first volume of the new manga even faster.
Honestly, the hardest part about reading manga is the waiting.
Most manga take months for a single volume to come out, so readers can't help but be on edge.
But
"I've already got the whole story figured out, and my art skills are insane. At this rate, one volume a month is more than doable."
The premise was so strong that ideas kept pouring out of me. Once the story fell into place, everything from storyboarding to final production moved at lightning speed.
The only thing I lacked was stamina, and that had been solved with the help of Vitality Potions and Divine Power, so now nothing stood in my way.
The exhausted artisans also received the monk's healing and, bewildered though they were, soon felt fully restored.
As I watched those craftsmen and sat back down at my desk, I felt refreshed, as if I had just woken up from a nap.
"Alright, alright! You've rested enough, so let's get back to work!"
At my words, murmuring arose from within the workshop.
"Again? Wait, is it night or day right now?"
"Damn it, I can't tell the time because of these blackout curtains."
"Rested enough? Seriously?"
In fact, it was already night.
I had been to the reception room to greet the monk, so I knew it was already past evening.
But the craftsmen trapped inside the workshop no longer seemed able to distinguish the time.
***
On the Silvania Continent, dark wizards were utterly loathsome beings.
First, they were wicked beings who borrowed the power of demons, the common enemy of not only humans but all surface-dwelling races.
Second, what they needed to create their spells was living creatures.
Not only that, but they dug up corpses from places like public cemeteries and battlefields to commit atrocities, so they were hunted not just by the empire but across the entire continent.
"Heh heh... You damn empire bastards, now it's your turn to scream and wail."
Venom, one of those dark wizards, wore a sinister smile as he continued tracing lines across the ground, letting blood trickle from a full pouch.
Most dark wizards had already been hunted down and disappeared after the relentless pursuit across the continent.
But one remaining black-magic organization still existed: a group called the 'Abyss Cult.'
Venom was a member of that organization, and he was currently carrying out an important mission.
March 14 was coming. The preparations were for a grand operation about three months away.
His heart still pounded when he thought of the new black magic the organization had poured its heart and soul into creating.
If only the magic circle that would manifest this black magic they had created could be completed, a true hellscape would unfold in the imperial capital.
Those vicious empire bastards who had indiscriminately slaughtered his organization comrades, who were like brothers to him, and forced the survivors to live like beggars as they fled.
Sure, they had offered up a few innocent villages as sacrifices to demons and plundered a few church charnel houses.
But how could the empire hound them so cruelly?
Now they would learn once again that blood is answered with blood.
They had poured every remaining resource the organization had into preparing this magic circle.
But if this succeeded, the era of dark wizards would surely return.
Just thinking about that made it bearable to hide like a rat on the capital's border, avoiding people's eyes.
"Just wait, empire! We, the Abyss Cult, have returned!!!"