How the Cult Saves the World-Chapter 157

The puppy Kyros half-stuck out his pink tongue and cutely shouted at me,

"Hurry up, child!"

I gently patted Kyros's head, who was floating in front of me, urging me on. The soft, fluffy fur that fit so well in my hand felt extra pleasant today.

"Just a moment, Lord Kyros. I need to wash up first."

Although I wanted to go outside right away, just like his urging, I couldn't do that yet. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

I had been asleep for an entire day, so I had to take a shower first, didn't I? Then, Kyros openly showed that he was upset. Reluctantly, I turned to Alphius, who had been smiling while listening to our conversation.

"Alphius, could you take Lord Kyros to the restaurant first?"

"Yes, I'll do that. Lord Kyros, shall we go?"

Alphius reached out his hand to Kyros, but Kyros quickly turned his head away.

"No. I will go with the child!"

"Lord Kyros, why are you being so stubborn?"

I asked while petting Kyros's fur, who was acting like a child. Then, Kyros looked up at me with bright, shining eyes.

"Well, child, you've had...a really hard time this time, haven't you? So I want to be there for you!"

"Ah. I see."

At my response, Kyros's expression brightened. But I didn't stop there and continued speaking.

"I understand how you feel, Lord Kyros. I completely understand. But...that doesn't mean you need to throw a tantrum like this, does it?"

Although his appearance may suggest otherwise, Kyros isn't really a child.

"B-b-b-but...!"

Kyros seemed flustered by my comment and stammered. Perhaps he didn't expect me to show this kind of attitude, since I always used to say, "Yes, yes." But still,I have to do what I have to do.

"I'm not saying I'm going to take a bath all day, I'm just going to take a quick shower. During that time, there's really nothing that you can do to help me... Lord Kyros, is there?"

The puppy Kyros's shoulders slumped. But, perhaps knowing that my words were true, he no longer threw a tantrum.

"Anyway, Lord Kyros, please go to the restaurant first."

I said to him and immediately headed to the bathroom.

'But, why is he acting like this all of a sudden?'

Kyros, who was unusually clingy to me today, felt strange.

***

After Revelof entered the bathroom alone, Kyros stared at the closed bathroom door. Alphius, noticing the puppy looked somewhat down, asked him,

"Lord Kyros, are you okay?"

"...Mm. I'm fine."

Kyros replied with a forced smile.

Then Alphius said, "It seems like your affection for the Church Leader has grown even stronger today, Lord Kyros."

"Something like that, but..."

Kyros had many thoughts as he watched Revelof, who had not woken up the entire day. Throughout their journey, Revelof had faced countless dangers and managed to overcome them. However, some of those situations involved threats to his life. Because of that, they had occasionally relied on the power of the one known as the "Administrator".

'And in this situation as well...'

Revelof had sacrificed himself and killed the Child of the Demon God. Seeing that, Kyros could no longer stay still. He had just acted impatiently, wanting to be of any help to Revelof, just like earlier.

'Yeah. Okay. I guess I was acting like a child out of guilt.'

As a god, being lectured by his followers---Kyros finally lowered his head in embarrassment.

"Tell him that I'm going ahead."

After speaking to Alphius, he returned to his original world.

***

After finishing my shower, I came out to find Alphius waiting for me alone. I shook my wet hair and asked Alphius.

"Alphi, where is Lord Kyros?"

"Ah, he went back to where he was originally."

So, that means he released his manifestation.

'Lord Kyros, you left without eating?'

I called him just in case, but there was no answer. Could he be upset?

'No, wait... It's not like I said anything wrong.'

After all, it was true that Kyros had acted more excessively than usual. He would come back on his own later anyway. So, I quickly put on my clothes and left my room with Alphius.

"While you were sleeping, Jacob made a lot of delicious dishes!"

"Really? I'm looking forward to it."

Normally, we would have eaten in my office, but since Zain and Troy were in the restaurant, I headed to the restaurant for the first time in a while.

Creak-

As soon as I opened the door and entered, the first thing I noticed was Troy, who was enthusiastically eating. And next to him, Zain was shaking his head while looking at Troy.

"Zain, Troy."

As I called their names and approached, their eyes turned toward me.

"Oh, Master! Are you feeling alright? I heard you slept for almost a whole day again. You're not about to faint suddenly or anything, are you?"

"Ch-Church Leader! Are you alright?"

Both of them jumped to their feet with shocked expressions. I waved my hand at them and sat down across from them.

"I'm fine, so just sit down."

After repeatedly urging them, the two finally calmed down and sat at the table, their faces still filled with excitement.

Just as Alphius had said, the table was set with a feast. Jacob must have been tired from his work, but he had prepared the meal for us.

'I should thank him later.'

I licked my lips as I looked at the meat, glistening with a shiny sheen. Since my stomach had been empty for a day, I first quenched my thirst with salad and soup.

"By the way, what about the other senior members?"

While eating lightly, I asked the two of them. Troy, who was eating aggressively, didn't respond, so Zain sighed and answered.

"Including Madam Helena, all the other senior members went to take care of the temples in other regions."

Due to the large-scale rift crisis that had occurred over the past few days, it was only natural that the temples in other regions hadn't been attended to.

By the way, my grandmother also went with them? She's probably only managed an estate before, never a temple, so she must've been curious.

"By the way, Master."

As I was diligently eating Jacob's delicious food, Zain looked at me with a strange gaze. Wondering what was going on, I met his eyes, and he asked,

"Yesterday, when you were about to fall, who was the person who caught you?"

At that question, I almost choked, but I managed to hold it in. It seemed that the others hadn't noticed who he was. Now that I think about it, Terdius was wearing a robe to conceal his appearance, so I only recognized him by his voice.

'Kyros called him the child of the serpent though.'

Those who were far away probably hadn't seen Terdius properly. So, what should I say in response?

After some thought, I gave a vague answer.

"I'm not sure. I don't know who it was either."

"Huh? You don't know, Master?"

Zain looked at me with a suspicious gaze. I shrugged slightly and shook my head.

"Yeah. I really don't know. At the time, I was unconscious. You didn't see it, but when I fought the Demon God's Child, this whole place was blown away."

As I pointed to my waist, Zain furrowed his brows.

"All the flesh was gone. So, I was barely conscious, but in that state, I squeezed out the little holy power I had left to heal myself. Because of that, I couldn't see who saved me."

At my words, Zain sighed and roughly ran his hand through his hair.

"Sigh, I see. I thought it might have been that Diego guy from back then..."

"What would you have done if it had been him? What could you have possibly done?"

I said it playfully on purpose. At that, Zain snapped.

"Well, I may not be able to do anything, but still... I can't help being upset!"

"Calm down, Zain. Even if it really was him who helped me, don't get so worked up. I've been helped by that guy several times."

"Are you siding with the Apostle of Diego right now?"

"I'm not siding with him. I'm just saying it objectively. He didn't openly demand that I convert, and it's true that he's helped me several times."

I wasn't trying to defend Terdius. It's just that... Except for the first time I met him, I had received help from him quite a few times.

'It would be best if I could bring him into the Kyros Church.'

Well, still, for me, Terdius wasn't just a character in a game; he was the protagonist of the game I had enjoyed playing.

So...he felt like an old friend to me.

'I'd like to convert him to the Kyros faith someday.'

That's why, I wanted to tell at least to Zain that Terdius wasn't such a bad guy.

"No matter how much you say that, the fact that he's an Apostle of Diego doesn't change!"

Zain yelled at me. However, his face wasn't completely filled with anger. It seems like my words made some impact.

"Yeah, yeah. That's right. But you never know, right? He might switch to the Kyros faith. If things go the way I think, would you still be as hostile as you are now, Zain?"

"Well, of course."

"Hmm, I see. I think if that guy is on the same boat as us, he would be helpful since he knows so much about Diego Church."

"I don't understand on what grounds you think he might convert."

Zain sighed as he looked at me. I just smiled.

"Let's just call it the Church Leader's intuition."

Of course, even though I said it like that, it wasn't something I could be sure about.

'But...'

For some reason, recently, Terdius's attitude had been a little strange. I wasn't sure if he was still brainwashed by theDiego Church or if that brainwashing was starting to wear off.

'Well, I'll find out once we meet and talk.'

I took a sip of the refreshing fruit drink and stood up.

"Anyway, Zain, Troy, you both worked hard. You should rest for a while."

"Yes."

"Okay, Leader."

Now that the urgent issue had been resolved, I planned to give the two of them a few days of rest.

Although, I also wanted to rest a bit more myself, but I still had work to do.

***

"I'm tired."

While I was tidying up my office, I looked outside at the now darkened window. The bright moon had risen, and most of Rovel's lights had been turned off.

I took a robe from my inventory and put it on. Then, I opened the window and lightly jumped out.

'Maybe it's because I received more divine power from Kyros, but my body feels unusually light.'

With a faint smile, I immediately surrounded my entire body with divine power. Using Holden's breathing technique, I expanded my energy senses and focused on sensing the presence of a serpent nearby.

Immediately, I felt the enormous energy of the Evil God nearby. It was clearly trying to hide as much as possible but despite that, the energy unmistakably belonged to him.

'Terdius. What is he thinking?'