Chapter 36
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 036
Chapter Title: The Cult Leader and the Fanatic (1)
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“Hm?”
After entering the village, Bear glanced around.
His face was filled with puzzlement.
It wasn’t a strange reaction.
The scene unfolding before them was just that bizarre.
‘Why is it so quiet?’
There wasn’t a soul in sight in the village.
Well, more precisely, no one was wandering about.
It felt like they’d stumbled into an abandoned hamlet.
But the gazes prickling from all directions made it clear there were other humans here besides us.
And it wasn’t just a hunch—it was real.
While scanning the surroundings, my eyes accidentally locked with someone peeking at me through a gap in a door.
‘Hiding in their houses, spying on us.’
The moment our gazes met in midair, that someone yanked their head back and vanished.
The motion felt deeply unsettling, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.
‘Are they wary of outsiders?’
That seemed to be the only reason the villagers weren’t showing themselves.
Step.
At that moment, the guard halted in place.
He’d stopped in front of the village’s finest-looking mansion.
The guard promptly called out toward the interior.
“They’re from Eremus.”
A brief silence followed.
Then a reply came from inside the mansion.
“Come in.”
The voice was so gentle and soothing it could put any listener at ease.
Which only made it all the more repulsive to me.
It felt utterly unnatural for mere sound waves to trigger such a psychological response.
“You may enter.”
Once permission was granted from within, the guard opened the door.
Creeeak.
The door swung open with a spine-chilling groan.
I stepped slowly into the mansion’s interior.
And there, waiting at the entrance to greet me, stood a man.
A middle-aged fellow draped in a crimson robe.
He had to be the cult leader.
‘Gives me the creeps.’
The cult leader regarded me with a faint smile, and the sight stirred the same intense revulsion I’d felt upon first hearing his voice.
His mouth was smiling, but his eyes weren’t.
A fake smile.
It set my guard up immediately.
“Welcome. You’re not the one who came before.”
The cult leader greeted me warmly.
His clear eyes flicked toward Bear and Gilbert behind me before returning to me.
The fact that we outnumbered him didn’t faze him in the slightest, so he must have been confident in his abilities.
Or perhaps he was already prepared for a surprise attack.
Honestly, everything about the guy’s behavior screamed suspicious.
“Pleased to meet you.”
I gave the cult leader a brief nod.
I kept my words as curt as possible.
A slip of the tongue could tip him off that we weren’t with Eremus.
And there was another advantage to my brevity.
‘He might spill some info first.’
Just as that thought crossed my mind, the cult leader guided us into the parlor and spoke.
“My answer remains the same. I have no intention of joining Eremus. I already serve another—how could I bow to someone else?”
Luckily, my hunch was spot on.
He’d brought up enough context for me to piece things together.
Okay, let’s recap.
The cult leader had received a recruitment offer from Eremus.
But he’d turned it down.
So all I had to do was play the part of a black mage from Eremus here to press him again.
And then...
‘Chat to gather intel, then strike.’
Seeing the ruins of Rabbit Farm had solidified my resolve: this guy had to go.
“Please, have a seat.”
The cult leader arrived at the desk and pulled out a chair as he said it.
Meanwhile, I focused my senses to prepare for any tricks he might’ve pulled.
If he’d cast any spells, their residual mana would surely linger in the space.
Fortunately, I didn’t detect anything.
But I did spot something unexpected.
A grimoire.
Actually, two of them.
On the bookshelf against the wall, among a few ordinary books, one was a grimoire.
And the other...
Was tucked inside the cult leader’s robes.
I desperately wanted to listen to those grimoires’ voices right then, but I held back.
Right now, I needed to focus on the cult leader.
“Thank you.”
Finishing my scan in an instant, I thanked him and sat, with Bear and Gilbert standing behind me.
The cult leader then turned to Bear.
“Your guard should sit as well. Standing all that time must be tiring. We’re not skeletons, after all.”
“I’m fine like this.”
Bear shot down the suggestion flat.
The cult leader’s brow twitched for a split second before smoothing over.
Seizing the opening, I spoke first—to convince him I was a black mage from Eremus.
“If your mind hasn’t changed, why bother guiding me here? You could’ve just sent me packing.”
“I can’t very well turn away a guest.”
The cult leader replied leisurely.
He soon turned the question on me.
“You look quite young. To achieve such things at your age... impressive.”
“Nothing worth bragging about.”
“Hm...”
He stared at me intently for a moment.
Then he grinned.
“Why not leave Eremus and join me in serving the great one? With promising talent like yours in our cult, we could expand our influence. Surely that would please Him.”
A recruitment pitch?
An unexpected move.
But not a bad one.
It was proof he took a liking to me.
So I could probably pry more info out of him.
“Who exactly is this great one you serve?”
Did my interest in his god please him?
The cult leader broke into a beaming smile.
“This one right here.”
With that, he pulled out an object.
A book with a blood-red cover—one of the two grimoires I’d sensed moments ago.
‘Blood Pond Grimoire?’
That was its name: Blood Pond Grimoire.
No clue from that alone what kind of magic it held.
“You worship a grimoire?”
I asked, and the cult leader shook his head firmly, enunciating each word.
“You must look beyond the surface. It’s the colossal being residing within this book. Ah, even now I hear the great one’s revelation. He desires you.”
I heard something too.
Whether it was a true revelation, I couldn’t say.
《Offer the blood of the blessed one.》
⟨ Blood Pond Grimoire ⟩
A brutally savage demand.
This thing seemed even worse than that meddlesome grub grimoire that had plagued me before.
And its voice matched—raw and feral, like a beast’s guttural growl.
Goosebumps prickled across my skin.
“Why treat a grimoire like a god?”
“On the contrary, I’d ask you: why not revere the entity within the grimoire as divine? It grants supernatural power to those who heed its pleas. If that’s not a god, then who is?”
“Who knows. Could be a devil.”
My response twisted his face.
He must’ve seen it as blasphemy.
But he quickly composed himself and spoke calmly.
“I understand. Facing the truth is frightening. But the god is real. And He still offers you a chance. Young mage, join our cult. Repent your sins.”
“I’ll pass.”
The second recruitment attempt.
I refused, and the cult leader sighed deeply.
Even then, the Blood Pond Grimoire urged him on.
《Slay the blessed one, cleave open their chest, and tear out the heart. Offer the blood that pours forth!》
⟨ Blood Pond Grimoire ⟩
What did “blessed one” even mean?
No idea.
But my instincts screamed that it meant me.
“Ah! How goes the plan?”
Out of nowhere, the cult leader asked.
I nearly shot back without thinking.
What plan?
Part of me wondered if he meant Eremus’s grand scheme, but I couldn’t be sure.
“Yes, proceeding smoothly.”
I lied flatly.
The cult leader stared into my eyes and smirked.
“Doesn’t seem like it.”
“Pardon?”
“You let Birch Baron slip away.”
Who the hell was Birch Baron?
I’d never heard of him.
“Impressive intel.”
That was all I could manage.
Dragging the conversation on a topic I knew nothing about would expose me as a fraud.
But the cult leader showed no signs of letting up.
“Come to think of it, that’s odd. I asked the same question last time, but the reaction was different.”
What was this now?
As I eyed him with that question in my gaze, his smile deepened.
“Before, when I asked if the plan was going well, they flatly refused to say. But today, you claim it’s smooth sailing. Suspicious, no?”
“Different visitor, different answer.”
“Is that so? Fair enough, perhaps. Then prove it.”
“Prove what?”
“That you’re with Eremus. Tell me plainly what I mean by ‘the plan.’ If you’re from Eremus, you’d know. After all, they proposed it to me first.”
He spoke with deliberate clarity.
Time to wrap this up.
He’d seen through me.
‘Ambush him now?’
As that thought formed, the cult leader flashed a brilliant, toothy grin.
The happiest face I’d seen from him in our talk.
And the creepiest.
Caught off guard by the eerie sight for a split second, I heard him ask.
“You’re not with Eremus, are you?”
His tone implied he’d pierced my lie.
The instant I sensed it, I unleashed Lightning Bolt.
Lightning Bolt
Bzzt!
A bolt of lightning materialized in the air before me.
It shot straight toward the cult leader.
Direct hit to chest!
Boom!
The bolt struck the cult leader’s chest dead-on.
He toppled backward from his chair.
Thud.
Moments later, the sound of his body hitting the floor echoed through the mansion.
‘Doubt it’ll end this easily.’
Thinking that, I sprang to my feet.
To confirm his death.
That’s when—
“KyaAAAAAHHH—!”
A bloodcurdling shriek erupted from outside the mansion.
A grotesque sound I’d never heard before in my life.
And it wasn’t just one or two.
At least dozens.
And they were drawing closer to the mansion.
“Gilbert, Sir Bear. Prepare for combat.”
I issued the order as I headed across the room.
I checked the cult leader sprawled on the floor.
His eyes were wide open, staring at the ceiling.
Then he rolled them toward me.
“Heh heh heh. Quite the jolt. But I bear the great one’s blessing. That’s not enough to kill me.”
Aside from his singed robes, he looked fine.
He hadn’t used any defensive magic, so it must’ve just been his physical prowess.
So what?
If one hit didn’t do it, I’d hit him several times.
“Whatever. Die.”
I fired another Lightning Bolt.
Lightning Bolt
“GRAAAAHHH—!”
The cult leader let out an agonized scream.
And at that exact moment, the mansion’s entrance doors shattered.
The source of those shrieks revealed itself.
They weren’t human.
Deathly pale skin.
Lips absent, exposing gums and teeth.
Arms dangling down past their knees.
Everything matched the intel we’d gotten from Staling.
I hadn’t realized it from the description alone, but seeing them with my own eyes made their identity crystal clear.
I remembered the picture book Master had shown me.
They were illustrated there.
‘Kudraks.’
The monsters bursting into the mansion were called Kudraks.
A type of vampire.