I Gain Infinite Gold Just By Waiting-Chapter 197: Episode 2-3_Holy War (8)

Episode 197

11.

The founding ceremony was held in a small village adjacent to the Forbidden Mountain Range.

It was a stretch of land so small that calling it a kingdom felt like an exaggeration. Bordering the Forbidden Mountain Range, it was mainly home to mercenaries and Hunters.

When news of the dragon's appearance spread, all the merchants fled, leaving only a handful of residents who couldn't bring themselves to abandon their homes.

As a result, there were no real disruptions.

Followers of the Black Magic Cult from all across the continent, who had rushed over as soon as they heard the news, gathered in the village.

There were hardly any remarkable individuals among them. Most who had joined the Black Magic Cult were ordinary people, worn down by the corruption and oppression of their world.

'Seeing them all gathered like this,' Buja thought, 'I have to admit, my conscience pricks me a bit.'

'If this were reality, I'd probably be some kind of cult leader.'

He was leading a group of exhausted, struggling people, teaching them sorcery—if not outright black magic—and urging them to fight. If there were no Saintess and no god to serve, they would have been branded a heretical cult without a second thought.

In any case, they had won the Holy War. The Black Magic Cult had proudly announced its existence to the continent, and now they were holding an official founding ceremony.

Few would likely acknowledge them. The Temple would still proclaim its own purity, and the countless people who had prayed at its altars since birth would surely shy away from a group whose very name—the Black Magic Cult—sounded so dark and ominous.

But none of that mattered to him.

'Well, one way or another, I cleared it.'

To Kim Buja, the continent was nothing more than a game. Not a game in the sense of being completely separate from reality, but something slightly different.

It was another reality where he could act without worrying about his image.

It wasn't the same as a video game. Even in games, a part of you remains conscious of reality, unconsciously trying to steer your actions toward what you believe is the "good" path.

On the continent, he didn't have to do that.

No one here watched Kim Buja act as he pleased and wondered what kind of person he was in the real world, or tried to hold him accountable.

And that was why he felt free.

He could judge and decide freely, and he could devise plans that broke the mold.

"So what are you going to do now?"

It was because of this freedom that the imperial princess now sought his counsel.

He was the official leader of the Black Magic Cult. He was the man who had dragged the princess of a fallen empire to this very point. He was the pillar that supported her life.

But it wasn't just for these hollow, nominal reasons. It was because he consistently showed her unexpected paths that were worth considering.

Meeting the princess's expectant gaze, Kim Buja replied, "What do you mean, what am I going to do? I'm going to finish the job. Are we going to let them crawl back and breed like cockroaches? If we want to build an empire, we have to bring down the Temple first."

Victory in the Holy War?

He had no intention of being satisfied with a victory he had practically stumbled into. If he hadn't met Cassius, he would have wasted time, burned through even more gold fighting the Allied Forces, and still failed to turn the tide. He simply wrote that alternate scenario off as a sunk cost.

The outcome was set; all that was left was to collect his reward.

"We tear everything down and turn it into a world for the Black Magic Cult. Then we rebuild the empire so the Allied Nations won't even dare to interfere."

Even with the Gold Mission completed, the amount of money in Kim Buja's wallet was still nowhere near enough to satisfy him.

'If I want to make back what I spent, I need to hustle.'

He was no longer a helpless sheep wandering the wide-open plains. He was no longer that low-level player who couldn't even take down a single slave trader and had to look for an escape while watching everyone's mood. The days of acting like an ordinary soldier, sweating bullets just to avoid being noticed among his enemies, were over.

Now, he was a player who could transform into a massive dragon, intimidate an army of three hundred thousand, and end a war not with some cheap trick, but with sheer, overwhelming power.

He had absolutely no reason to walk on eggshells anymore.

And for the sake of that power—the very source of his freedom from caring what others thought—he had to grind even harder.

"Crush them completely."

Of course, even villains came in different flavors. A villain without a reason was never compelling.

"A corrupt Temple acting in the name of God isn't exactly a good thing, is it?"

The saintess nodded, agreeing with his reasonable justification.

* * *

Naturally, the end of the Holy War didn't mean the Black Magic Cult could simply march out and topple the Temple.

The war's conclusion only meant that the Allied Forces, cowed by the dragon, had disbanded their army, and the Temple had likewise taken a step back. While the Temple and the Allied Forces were lying low, worried the dragon's wrath might follow them out of the Forbidden Mountain Range, the Black Magic Cult had seized the perfect opportunity to announce its official founding.

Nothing had truly changed.

The fifty thousand soldiers who had died were not a fatal blow to the powers that ruled the continent. The Allied Forces still had plenty of troops, and though many were disappointed by the Temple's true nature, countless households still enshrined a small statue of their god at home.

This was a religion that had seeped into the continent's culture for hundreds, even thousands of years. It wouldn't collapse overnight.

Kim Buja knew that was impossible. If it were, he wouldn't have just talked big; he would have gone around destroying everything himself.

Even so, there was a reason he could afford to be bold.

The imperial capital.

The Temple still stood there, massive and imposing. The imperial palace had fallen, but in contrast to its ruins, the Temple's splendor and lofty dignity shone even brighter, and a massive shadow covered the sky above it.

"It—it's a dragon!"

"The Gold Dragon!"

"Why is the dragon from the Forbidden Mountain Range here?"

"N-no way. Is it really here to punish the Temple?"

"Why would it punish the Temple?"

People panicked. A dragon that hadn't been seen in thousands of years had not only appeared but had now left the Forbidden Mountain Range to reveal itself in a human city.

No one on the continent hadn't heard about the Holy War, and likewise, everyone knew why it had fizzled out, even if they pretended not to.

And now, it had appeared.

The very being that proved those rumors were true.

It didn't just appear, either. The massive dragon descended upon the imperial capital.

In the distance, people trembled, keeping a safe distance. The knights guarding the Temple forced strength into their shaking legs as they warily watched the dragon.

This time, however, no one knelt, sensing the dragon had no intention of fighting.

Realizing this, the Pope cautiously stepped forward. He was sweating bullets, worried he might end up like the last man who had stepped forward only to die for nothing. Fortunately, this time the dragon truly seemed to have no desire for a fight.

"I came to talk."

The saintess and the imperial princess riding on the dragon's back were proof enough.

A private audience.

The Pope could not refuse.

Everyone else withdrew, and in the now-empty space, a conversation began between the three of them: the saintess, the princess, and the Pope.

12.

"Recognize the Black Magic Cult."

The princess's blunt demand left the Pope momentarily speechless. It was an unprecedented threat. Who would dare say such a thing to the head of the Temple, the Pope who acted in God's stead?

"Even the Emperor would not dare…"

It was a humiliation worse than defeat in the Holy War. The Pope was old, which only meant he understood the situation all the better.

He knew exactly why the princess was speaking to him with such a tone. He knew exactly why the saintess stood quietly behind her, merely watching.

No one understood it better than the Pope himself. He knew why he, in his frail, aging body, could have easily overpowered these two young women, yet did nothing but seethe as he endured their humiliation after dismissing his guards.

Three people were talking, but it wasn't really three. The conversation was only between the princess and the Pope, but the Pope was acutely aware of the dragon looming over them.

That was why she could speak this way.

"His Majesty the Emperor is dead. The Empire no longer exists. I am here only to convey the will of the Black Magic Cult as its vice leader."

Aside from the saintess, the Pope was one of the few people outside her circle who knew the princess best.

She was smart. Had she been born a man, she would have been more than capable of succeeding the Emperor.

"You must be curious how I arrived with a dragon. That is also why you cannot reject my proposal outright."

He was cornered, and there was no way out.

The Pope closed his eyes.

"What would you have me do?"

The moment he had turned his back and admitted defeat before the dragon, the path forward had already been decided. His hope that things might return to normal had been predicated on the assumption that the victorious dragon wouldn't side with the Black Magic Cult—an assumption that had just been shattered.

The princess answered succinctly. "Another Temple that serves God."

"However…"

"Let us be honest."

Desires and deals. In this private space where all masks could be removed, the princess was the first to extend her hand.

"I want to rebuild the Empire through the Black Magic Cult. You want to preserve the Temple and restore public trust by reconciling with us. Is that not a fair trade?"

The Pope remained silent.

Wars were waged for profit. It was a cold, brutal truth, but countless lives were sacrificed for the interests of each side. The Holy War had also been fought for the benefit and future of the Temple and the Allied Forces.

The princess had cut straight to the heart of the matter.

"The saintess has already agreed to stand with me. Her original goal was to cleanse the corrupt Temple, and that hasn't changed. If she is given a new, uncorrupted Temple to oversee, why would she object? As for me, I only sought to bring down the Temple to weaken the Allied Forces and rebuild the Empire. There is no reason for you to risk everything either, Your Holiness."

If the Pope were a man without greed, her words would have fallen on deaf ears. But if that were the case, he never would have joined hands with the Allied Forces to bring down the Empire in the first place.

Human greed is a tenacious thing.

"You know very well that I didn't do all this just to spread the Black Magic Cult's fame across the continent. I have only one goal."

"But you must know it will not be easy."

The Pope finally spoke, his words striking directly at her ambition. His shift to a more formal tone meant he was already considering her offer.

"If we have come this far from the impossible, taking one more step is a risk worth taking, is it not?"

"What reason does an old man like me have to trust you, Your Highness?"

Having made his calculations, the Pope's question signaled they were nearing a conclusion.

This was the critical moment. How would they maintain their relationship with the Temple going forward? What would they give, and what would they take?

It was time to think and judge rationally.

The princess fell silent, quietly meeting the Pope's gaze. His gentle appearance, the aura and bearing that naturally exuded the image of someone acting in God's stead—even in old age, he was still the Pope.

But the faint smile at the corner of his lips and the greed in his eyes told her that this was no longer the Temple she had once known.

Perhaps it could be purified. Water was meant to flow, and stagnant water could be replaced with something clear.

"Have you forgotten?"

Grrrrrrr—!

But there was no reason to bother.

"The terms I am offering—my reward to you—is just one thing."

The princess spoke firmly, her eyes cold and devoid of pity or mercy.

"That we will not pursue the crime of destroying the Empire, brutally murdering my father and mother, and sacrificing countless innocent imperial citizens."

The Pope lowered his head.

And with that, their secret conversation came to an end.

* * *