Chapter 130: Now I Have a Friend
We successfully subdued ten outlaws from the Hyena Guild.
Our expedition suffered zero damage.
Meanwhile, all ten Hyena Guild members, excluding Pierre, had been knocked unconscious.
It was, in every sense, a crushing victory won through tactics.
“Remarkable.”
Watching Rosalia inject paralysis poison into each of the fallen outlaws one by one, Pierre spoke calmly.
“Thanks to you, I saw quite the spectacle. It was very entertaining.”
During this battle, Pierre did not intervene even once and merely stood well back and watched.
If he had been my enemy, he might have neutralized my tricks through the exquisite detection ability produced by his high Sensory stat.
“It’s a little regrettable.”
“A little regrettable indeed.”
Had we coincidentally been thinking the same thing?
Pierre, who spoke almost the same words at nearly the same time as I did, let out a dry little laugh.
“If I had known you could employ such interesting tactics, I might have quietly joined the plundering myself. If I had, I think I would not even have regretted becoming a living sacrifice today.”
“I too was secretly regretting that if Pierre had joined the battle, it would have become much harder for us to win.”
Abel paused, his shoulders stiffening as he prepared dinner.
“What is it, Abel?”
“It’s just that… after Bartimir, that person too seems to think far too similarly to you, Sponsor.”
I nodded and turned toward Pierre.
“Would you like to be my son?”
“I refuse. If that happened, then when we met in the future as outlaw and explorer, I’d become a rotten bastard who killed his parent.”
“Now that I think about it, that’s true. Understood. I also don’t want to become a rotten parent who kills their son.”
As expected, this parent-child sort of feeling should probably be reserved only for Bartimir, the youngest.
“…….”
Rosalia, who had been laying out the outlaws, suddenly looked back and forth between Pierre and me, then gave a small shake of her head.
“Then would you like to at least be ‘friends’?”
“Bad friends are still friends. That’s acceptable.”
“Hurray.”
Now I could say it proudly in front of Marlin.
I have a friend now!
“I had assumed the entire expedition would be waiting for us, but I never expected only three of you to be here.”
My friend Pierre stared blankly at the ceiling as he spoke.
“And since that tiger beastman boy never even fought, it was really just two of you.”
“There was no reason to bring that child into the fight.”
Before the battle began, I hid Abel’s body.
By using the Mystery [Illusion] granted by Lord Okail to project “a space where Abel did not exist.”
Naturally, it was an act that consumed enormous amounts of Mental Energy, but thanks to the Tear Mint I had consumed beforehand, I barely managed to avoid being confronted by the full mental illness variety set again.
“If I had participated in the battle, the first thing I would have done was throw an axe at the place where that boy had been standing. It is the law of predators to go for the weakest prey first.”
“…….”
Abel flinched again.
His tail had already been hanging limply downward for quite some time.
“Don’t scare the child.”
“He is not a child. He is an explorer. Don’t be so overprotective of him. If he entered a labyrinth, does that not mean he was naturally prepared to die?”
“That is not incorrect, but I am that child’s guardian.”
“Oh, in that case, then it is acceptable to be overprotective. I acknowledge it.”
Pierre obediently nodded.
But I had already driven home the judgment I had made before.
I really was right not to recruit him into the expedition.
With the exception of Bartimir, the rest of the Le siblings were all painful weak spots too violent or too extreme to shower with love.
Rather, even Ymir, owner of the trait [Explosive Body], who foolishly died after causing harm to others, was practically the gentlest of the lot. That said everything.
“My friend, the Mystery that made our guild members sob and wail was that assassin’s [Dream Shuriken], correct?”
“That is correct.”
[Dream Shuriken].
An Assassin-class Mystery that dredged up bad memories from the past.
It was an especially effective Mystery against outlaws, most of whom had grown twisted because of bleak pasts.
“So my rough guess was right. But the thing that turned everything pitch-black around us….”
Pierre glanced at my right hand.
“That was the power of [Orb of Lumerlan]?”
“More or less.”
The Great Sacred Relic [Orb of Lumerlan].
Its effect was dominion over light and darkness in a specific area.
Simply put, it was a sacred relic that allowed me to call forth light and darkness at will.
That was why vampires and ghouls had been so desperate to seize it.
“So that was the Hidden reward…!”
There was unmistakable greed in Pierre’s admiring brown eyes.
I shyly hid my right hand behind my back.
“Please do not covet it. Unless you are a priest of Solmiran, you cannot remove it from my body by force.”
In theory, a priest of Selvaran, the moon divinity, could do it as well, but their order existed only on the Eastern Continent, so they were hard to encounter on the Western Continent.
“In any case, thank you for the sincere answers.”
Pierre looked at me with clear satisfaction in his expression.
“We are allies, are we not? Then we need to get to know each other better like this. Don’t you think so?”
“That is correct. And if we know each other well, then later, when we meet in a labyrinth as enemies, we will be able to fight even more fiercely.”
The end of the Copy Alliance was the death of one side.
It was a destined future I was freshly reminded of today.
“Sponsor, the meal is ready.”
As we spoke quietly together, Abel finished all the cooking.
“Then shall we eat first?”
“Let us.”
Our expedition happily enjoyed the food Abel had prepared together with Pierre, our surprise dinner guest.
However, the other team members were so wary of Pierre that they could not eat comfortably.
“…….”
“…Sponsor, may I stay a little closer to you?”
Rosalia glared at Pierre the entire time, and Abel stuck close by my side, trembling.
It seemed likely that eating at the same table as Pierre would not happen often.
Still, the food was so delicious that I ate as many as four bites.
“You’re going to make me fat, Abel.”
“Is that so….”
Now that my stomach was full, it was time to fulfill my duty as a cultist.
“Truthi.”
As I walked toward the outlaws Rosalia had lined up, I spoke.
“Check all of them and classify which Evil God each would be suitable to offer to, and whether any of them have any unsuitabilities.”
《Leave it to me and wait. :D》
Truthi completed the task immediately.
Based on the analysis results, I selected the outlaw who possessed the thickest aura of demonic energy and malice.
He was a rat beastman of the Tracker class, an utterly vile one whose veins might as well have run with demonic energy instead of blood.
“Is this really the time to be doing that?”
Abel, having put away the cooking tools and dishes, strolled over.
“To whom will you offer him?”
“Well….”
I only pretended to ponder, but in truth I had already decided who it would be for.
“Lidni, please look forward to it.”
《:)》
《The Wise One is pretending otherwise, but is secretly excited!》
“Please do not feel too disappointed, the rest of you. Once this expedition ends, I will, for the first time, offer full-power offerings equally to all of you.”
With Odilon’s power, since he could obtain any desired item or ingredient so long as it could be bought with money, I planned to provide abundant offerings to the other Evil Gods as well.
“Abel, shall we begin?”
First, I summoned a crescent-moon-shaped altar with [Full-Moon Slayer].
After setting up the candles as well, I briefly examined today’s offering, the rat beastman.
“So this is a cultist’s ritual of offering a living sacrifice. This is my first time seeing one.”
Pierre was swaying his tail as he watched us closely.
This was also my first time performing an offering ritual with an audience.
As a model cultist, I decided to display some professional showmanship.
Slice, slice.
The first step: remove the head.
With the sharp [Full-Moon Slayer], I severed the rat beastman’s thick neck with an exaggerated and stylish motion.
“I will give you the head as a gift.”
Thud, roll.
The outlaw’s head rolled over to Pierre.
“Thank you.”
Pierre accepted the head of his former comrade with a splendid smile.
“And now, what ingredients will you be adding to the offering?”
Abel asked gravely, recipe notebook for offerings in hand.
“Did you say that the Forerunner of the Twisted Truth absolutely prefers offerings that are new and unique?”
“That is right.”
A recipe that had once clearly pleased Him still could not be used again.
Once something had been eaten once, it had already become “a stale flavor” by the standards of the Wise One.
“This time, I’ll have to use this.”
I pulled out a bundle of herbs from Yeongdae’s subspace.
It was Tear Mint.
“…I feel like the Evil God might dislike the scent of that herb.”
“Abel, are you by any chance saying that our Lord Lidni is a picky eater who chooses what offerings to consume?”
“No….”
“Try thinking up a proper cooking method.”
Abel immediately came up with a recipe.
Pleased, I vigorously mussed Abel’s hair and then called Rosalia.
“Noona, could I borrow Silsil for a bit?”
“…….”
Rosalia sent the white pseudo-slime out from the shadows.
It was [Poisonous Devotee] Silsil, created by combining various paralysis poisons based on [Gourmet’s Thread].
“Would you come over here and let me take pieces off your body several times?”
“Kkiiik!?”
“Oh, don’t be like that. Just a little.”
“Kkii!”
Silsil answered while bouncing around, then began splitting itself apart bit by bit.
After receiving roughly ten pieces, I stroked what seemed to be its head with my index finger.
“Mm, my index finger is gradually going numb.”
“Kkii!”
“Thank you. It’s an unusual sensation.”
Next, I scattered Tear Mint all over the outlaw’s body on the altar.
The concept of this dish was salad.
I added pieces of Silsil’s body with something of a ricotta-cheese-like feeling.
“And lastly….”
For an offering to Lidni, one could never omit the sauce: blood.
This time I wanted to give it a tangy feeling, so I decided to use a different method.
“Noona, please poison me.”
“…….”
Rosalia sprayed the deadly poison of the red Death Rose, her [Fresh Companion], into my mouth.
Splash!
At the moment the sensation of my whole body burning reached its peak, I poured my blood over the offering.
This should roughly create a tangy flavor.
《Absurd though it is, it is at least new, so the Wise One is viewing it favorably!》
Now all preparation was finished.
Special offering recipe.
Tear Mint Rat Beastman Salad.
“Lidni.”
With my hand resting on the offering’s body, I whispered softly.
“Your meal is ready.”
“Caw!”
It was time for the Wise One’s meal.
Chomp, chomp!
As always, the Blind Crow greedily devoured the offering.
【…This is exactly it! My child!】
Soon, Lidni cried out in delight.
【It tingles a liiittle in the mouth, but this much is fine. I like it!】
“Truly?”
【…You wretch! Are you suggesting that I would lie?】
“How could that be? I merely asked to confirm. It was for the sake of understanding the Wise One’s palate more clearly.”
The Forerunner of the Twisted Truth, who had awakened to all knowledge in the world, could hardly be the sort of divinity to react strongly with likes and dislikes to a mere ingredient.
Would that not make Him seem like far too small-minded a divine being?
“If you liked it, then later I will add herbs that feel similar yet exquisitely different to the offering.”
【…Very well. Now tell me what Mystery you desire.】
I spoke the name of the Mystery I wanted, and Lidni readily granted my request at once.
Sizzle.
Along with a slight pain, an eye-shaped tattoo was inscribed onto the middle finger of my right hand.
“Is the ritual finished?”
The moment the Wise One’s presence faded, Pierre spoke.
“Yes, He has just withdrawn.”
“But what do you plan to do with those remaining friends over there?”
Pierre pointed his thumb at the nine outlaws still lying unconscious and paralyzed.
“Do you have any means to ‘carry’ that many people?”
“Of course I do.”
As I gazed with satisfaction at the reserve offerings, reassuring just to look at, I raised my left hand.
“That will be solved through a ‘life of faith’ for the Silent One.”
One of the devotional acts for the Watcher of Lonely Silence.
Making the dead.
“Leria, I will turn the world into a land of quiet death to the extent of nine people.”