How the Cult Saves the World

"What do you need this time?"

Jain's mouth was hanging on his ears, maybe because he liked my wealth from our previous meeting.

I took out a money pouch from my pocket and threw it at him and said briefly,

"Mandrake root. As much as you can."

I didn't need to be nice to this guy.

As soon as he checked the money pouch, the smile on his face disappeared.

"Please wait a moment."

Jain put the money pouch in his pocket and went straight into the iron door. He came back soon with a pouch and handed it to me.

I immediately checked the contents. The shape that looked like aloe was the same as what I saw in the original novel.

"Customer."

As I finished checking the contents, Jain called me. There was still no smile on his face.

"Are you... going to Rovel? To help them?"

I didn't answer. I didn't even know what to say.

Then Jain took my silence as a yes and sighed softly.

"Be careful if that's the case. I'm telling you this because you're my customer. I don't want to lose a customer like you."

I'm sure you don't. There wouldn't be a loyal customer who gave him a lot of gold coins every time he came.

I nodded slightly instead of answering and left the shop.

The night was getting late, so I thought about moving slowly. But I knew I would suffer tomorrow if I didn't get enough sleep today.

'This weak body of mine.'

-My lamb.

As I walked quickly towards Rovel, Kyros called me.

'Yes?'

-Do you know what that man meant by being careful?

'Well...'

I knew, but I couldn't tell Kyros.

As I walked briskly, I arrived at Rovel in no time.

There were fewer people on the streets than during the day, but there were still some of them.

First, I approached the closest one.

I crouched down and took out the mandrake root. I took out one leaf and broke it into small pieces using my hand then shoved it into his mouth.

I did the same thing to the others around me. Some of them tried to resist the herb, but it was too late as the herb was already in their mouths.

After a while, their complexions improved rapidly. Their cloudy eyes gradually regained their focus and some of them fell asleep.

"Huh?"

They would probably wake up with a clear head.

The main symptoms of 'Happy' were blue spots on the body, lethargy, and impaired rational thinking ability.

In other words, they were in a perfect state to fall for cults or multi-level marketing schemes.

There were people who used this in Rovel. And, I was going to drive them out of Holden Territory.

"Excuse me..."

As I was looking at them,

A white-haired, skinny old man reached out to me.

He was the one I had just put mandrake root in his mouth. He seemed to have something to say to me, so I approached him and crouched down.

"Who are you? Who are you to help us..."

He seemed to realize that I was helping them because of the quick detoxification.

That's good.

"I'm... just someone who wanted to help you."

I almost said that I came from Kyros' religion.

The ones who made Rovel like this were also cultists.

In this situation, telling them about another religion might create a negative opinion about Kyros' religion.

For example, they might think that another cultist is pretending to help them and trying to control them or something like that.

"Your condition is not completely better yet. I'll leave this here, so please share it with the people in the village. There should be enough."

I put down the pouch with mandrake root in front of the old man.

"This is mandrake root. If you take it regularly, the drug will completely leave your body."

"Thank you..."

The old man hugged the pouch I gave him and fell asleep quickly.

Around me, there were sounds of breathing and snoring from sleeping people. I was still crouching and looked around at them for once and then turned my eyes away.

To the system window that appeared in front of me.

[Subquest <Saving Lives> cleared!]

[Subquest reward will be given.]

[You have acquired the skill 'Heal'.]

I had been aware of it for a while, but this was the first time I checked it properly.

I didn't expect to get a skill as a subquest reward.

I smiled and opened the skill window.

[Heal (Active) LV.1

Grade: Legendary

Description: You can heal LV.1 life forms.

LV.2 ??? (Locked)

LV.3 ??? (Locked)

LV.4 ??? (Locked)

LV.5 ??? (Locked)

Experience: 0/10]

This is...

-My lamb, you did a great job. You are truly my first believer. It would have been better if you had told them about my existence, but it's not too late to do that after they recover their health, hehe.

Kyros was talking excitedly, but I didn't have the time to pay attention to him.

I was surprised to get the skill in the first place, but what surprised me more was that I had never seen this skill in the original novel.

'Well, it's too late to react to this now.'

After all, the club and the glasses weren't in the original either.

But still, the skill itself was a kind that didn't exist in HSAW, so it was amazing.

You can level up your skills. That's crazy.

'Kyros, thank you---'

Shriek---

I was about to thank Kyros, but I couldn't finish my sentence.

A cold sensation touched my neck and goosebumps ran through my whole body.

'What? When did...'

Was he behind me this whole time?

A huge shadow that appeared without my knowledge felt like it was going to devour me.

"Who are you?"

The voice from behind me was low and heavy. At the same time, I felt killing intent for the first time in my life.

Cold sweat ran down from both of my hands and my instinct warned me.

You'll die if you move recklessly.

'Be calm. Calm down.'

-What is this? How dare you touch my believer!

'Kyros, calm down. I can't think rationally if you act like this. We need to be calm at times like this.'

-Okay. I got it.

At this time, in this place, with this kind of presence.

I didn't need to check who it was.

I knew.

Terdius Austin.

Then, the blade that was close to my neck moved slightly away. I didn't miss the chance and turned my head and saw him as expected.

His red eyes which shone faintly in the moonlight stared at me piercingly.

Fortunately, his presence had subsided a bit. Maybe because he looked around.

I tried to hide my nervousness and opened my mouth with difficulty.

"I'm... a religious person."

I had no reason to reveal that I was a descendant of Holden, and I didn't want to lie either.

Except for lying, not answering was the worst option.

"Which affiliation?"

Terdius glanced at me and asked.

"I believe in Kyros."

"...Never heard of him."

As expected.

I forced a smile on my lips that wouldn't go up.

"It's a new religion that was established recently."

I remembered the smile I used while working a part-time job in service and gave him a harmless smile.

He said that while saving Terdius.

Terdius was wearing a robe like me, but his collar was slightly exposed.

On the black collar, there was a silver snake emblem.

'Damn, I wish it wasn't him.'

It was confirmed.

The protagonist of the original work, Terdius, belonged to the evil god, Diego Faith.

'...I had a rough guess, but now I'm sure.'

That's why he didn't harm me.

The god of Diego Faith, Diego, was a dictator in one word.

He oppressed other religions that had some influence, and even condemned and executed them as heretics.

But, he left small religions alone. There was no benefit in touching them, and small religions would disappear on their own anyway.

'Well, it's nothing but the whim of an evil god anyway.'

Anyway, thanks to that, I was sure that my life was saved. If he wanted to hurt me, he would have done it long ago.

Swish---

My thoughts were exactly right. Terdius finally put away the sword he had pointed at me.

Then he looked at me like a bug and said coldly,

"If you don't want to die, get lost."

Look at his attitude.

I was angry, but I could go to hell with one kick from him...

"Yes."

I still kept a smile and got up from my seat.

Life is precious. Well then.

It's not because I'm scared.

-My poor child, you were scared. It's because I couldn't help you. I'm sorry... Sob.

'It's not like that.'

I passed by Terdius and went in the direction to go back.

I was just going to check the situation today anyway.

'By the way...'

It finally hit me.

The difficulty level has doubled compared to the original work.

If I had to define Terdius Austin of HSAW in one sentence, he was a righteous hero.

But now it was different.

Terdius, who belonged to Diego Faith, had changed a lot.

'He's rude, cold-hearted, and most importantly...'

His eyes seem dead.

In HSAW, he was always smiling, giving hope to everyone, and was a bright individual.

What on earth happened to Terdius?

Even though I was an expert in HSAW, I didn't know this part either. It was frustrating.

'Well, I'll find out sooner or later.'

When I got out of Rovel completely, I finally relaxed a bit.

"Phew."

That was close.

My legs almost gave out, but I managed to walk with some strength. Then, I heard Kyros' voice, who had stopped crying.

-Are you okay?

'Yes. I'm fine.'

-How can there be such an impolite guy? Just because his face is half-half. Tsk!

'What can we do? He belongs to Diego Faith.'

-That explains it. I felt the filthy snake's aura from him!

'Ha ha.'

-By the way, my lamb also realizes what kind of guy the filthy snake is. Although, it seems that the humans of this world doesn't know much about him.

That's how the world is set up. But I made a remark for Kyros' sake.

'Yes. I realized it after meeting you, Kyros.'

-Oh really? That's really lucky!

'Yes. The believers who will believe in Kyros Faith from now on will also do that.'

I said that and entered the alley of Elyn.

It wasn't hard to find the way I had memorized beforehand.

As soon as I touched the ground, the passage opened. I lightly jumped down to the cave and took out a lantern from my inventory.

'I should go to sleep as soon as I get in.'

I didn't have much to do, but I was quite exhausted mentally and physically.

It must have been because of the aftermath of meeting Terdius.

-Hmm, my child.

'Yes?'

-I think I'm too anxious.

'Yes? What is it?'

-When I saw the guy you met today, I didn't know when my lamb would come to my side.

Does that mean he doesn't know when I'll die...?

-So squeeze out your last strength and help me!

'Yes, yes?'

-Hng!

Along with a sound that seemed like Kyros was exerting his power, which was very unpleasant, a system window appeared in front of me.

[You have acquired 2 tickets for a one-time gacha.]

...Huh?