How the Cult Saves the World

Troy did not stop there and tried to hit his head on the floor. Fortunately, Kyros's pink jelly paw touched Troy's head and it was aborted.

"There is no need for that, child. I just came to talk to you because I have something to say to you."

"Oh, I see."

I was a little surprised. Troy spoke politely to Kyros. I felt strange because I heard his polite speech for the first time.

'He wasn't bad at speaking politely after all.'

Kyros and I had an insurmountable gap between human and God, so it couldn't be helped...

But I couldn't help feeling a bit of bitterness and betrayal. On the other hand, Kyros spoke softly to Troy.

"Child, I know everything about your situation."

"Yes, Kyros, Sir."

Troy quickly sat up straight. He knelt down and looked at Kyros, who was floating in the air. It was a sight I had seen before, but Kyros was still cute. But his words were solemn.

"But child, revenge breeds more revenge."

The puppy Kyros stared at Troy. Then Troy's eyes wavered for a moment. Troy, who had been silent for a while, opened his mouth cautiously.

"Sir Kyros, they took everything from me and trampled on me."

"Yes. I know. Your sorrow, your pain, all of it. But child, sometimes you need to let go of the burden in your heart."

"......"

"Of course, I'm not forcing you. I don't force anyone. I just want to tell you that being obsessed with revenge is hard to bear the weight of your heart."

"Then what should I do?"

Tears welled up in Troy's eyes.

"Let go of some of the burden in your heart. Revenge should not be the purpose of your life."

"...Then what about my people? My family who were trampled by them..."

Kyros's front paw touched Troy's hair again. He gently stroked Troy and said calmly.

"I will take care of their souls. Don't worry."

Tears flowed from Troy's eyes at the gentle and warm voice. Troy cried like a child, endlessly. Kyros quietly comforted him as he stroked him.

When Troy's crying stopped, Kyros returned to his spiritual body. I couldn't say anything as I watched Troy's tears.

I couldn't understand all of his feelings. But I also felt sorry for him.

"...Troy, are you okay?"

I opened my mouth carefully when Troy's tears stopped. Troy looked at the bonfire instead of me and answered.

"I don't know."

"Kyros meant well for you."

It felt like I was being an old man, but it was true.

Kyros wanted to lighten the burden that Troy had and give him some peace.

"Kyros said that revenge breeds more revenge, and it becomes a heavy burden that crushes people. The weight gets bigger and heavier."

"...Yeah."

"But Troy. Don't worry."

Then Troy's gaze turned to me. I smiled faintly at Troy.

"...?"

I declared to Troy who didn't know why.

"The Rizes Church will eventually disappear from this land."

Troy's eyes widened a bit. More surprised than that was Kyros.

---Child?

I hurriedly said to Kyros.

'I'm not saying that I'll take revenge for Troy or anything like that. It's just that this land will eventually be purified by Kyros' power.'

---Ah, yes. That's right.

Troy still looked puzzled.

"What does that mean...?"

"Just remember one thing. In the end, the Kyros Church will save this world."

That's the only way for me to live.

---

At the same time, somewhere in the Bahano Kingdom.

It was late at night and there was no light except for the moonlight, but there were people wandering around the dark alleys.

"Huh, huh!"

He ran with something precious in his arms.

"Don't stand there!"

"Stop! We can just share it!"

Two other men ran after the man who ran away. The men who looked like vagrants cursed at each other as they ran. Then at some point, the man reached a dead end.

"You should have stopped when I told you nicely."

"What would you do if you were me? Huh?!"

The man who held something in his arms leaned against the wall with no way out and shouted at the men who came closer.

"Don't come near me! If you come closer, I'll break this! You know this is all I have left, right? Huh?!"

The man threatened them as he shouted, but the two men didn't stop. They came closer slowly.

"Why are you doing this? Why break it? If you break it, you can't eat it either."

"Yeah, yeah."

The two men got closer and closer. Then, the man who was cornered by the wall took something out of his pocket with his free hand.

"I told you not to come near me!"

What he took out was a sharp dagger that shone with a silver light. But even though he swung it, the two men were relaxed.

"Are you going to stab me? Come on, try it."

And as if to show off, one of them approached him.

Puck!

It was an unexpected thing. Blood gushed out from the man. The man who had been chasing the man who was cornered by the wall had a stiff expression on his face.

"That's why I told you!"

The one who had the potion took out the blood-stained dagger. And he ran towards the remaining man.

Puck!

The man who was surprised by the sudden situation and couldn't take any action also collapsed.

He was finally alone, and he had secured his Happy.

"Damn it."

The man cursed as he looked at the two corpses that fell beside him. Then he quickly opened the cap of the potion he was holding, the Happy, and gulped it down.

His face, which was stained with horror, instantly sank into a blissful ecstasy.

The guilt of killing someone, that sticky and unpleasant and heavy emotion, melted away with the Happy.

"Aah, yes. This is all I need..."

The man left the alley with a face full of joy. He looked almost peaceful.

He staggered along the street and soon disappeared into the darkness.

And on top of the highest building in the alley, two figures were watching him.

Whoosh-

A gust of wind blew. The man with purple hair who was standing on the building brushed his fluttering hair.

"He gave up on being human. How disgusting."

The man, Khalid, frowned as if he had seen something he didn't want to see. The one standing next to him, Terdius, felt the same way. Terdius' eyes narrowed.

Seeing them kill each other for Happy, he felt very sick.

"What are you going to do? Are you going to deal with him?"

Khalid, who had been quietly watching the situation, turned his gaze to Terdius. Terdius didn't answer. As if he was used to it, Khalid spoke again.

"From what I can tell, the High Priest of the Rizes Church who ate Happy is stuck in the Royal Palace and won't come out. And it seems like there's Maseen's Blessing in the palace."

"...This is getting troublesome."

"Yeah. Unless we can break the Blessing, we can't catch the High Priest. Well, we could kill him like we did this guy and wipe out all his underlings. But that's another hassle."

Bahano's size was much larger than Aldone nearby, so it wasn't an easy task.

Terdius raised one eyebrow as he watched Khalid complain bitterly. He didn't like how he casually spat out cruel words.

"Even if we do that, they won't fall apart."

Terdius said, and Khalid chuckled.

"I know. But I'm just bored of being here and doing nothing. And I don't see any pretty things either."

Khalid grabbed his shoulder and spun his arm.

"Then go back. I'll take care of this."

"Can you do it alone?"

It was a moment. Terdius' cold gaze turned to Khalid. For a moment, even his killing intent rose. Then Khalid pretended to be surprised and held out both palms.

"No, no, Third Lord. I'm not ignoring you. It's just that even with the two of us here, it's hard to break Maseen's Blessing. Well, we could bring some guys and break it with their bodies. But that's not your preferred method, right? Right?"

Khalid smiled.

As he said, there was a way to break Maseen's Blessing with their bodies. It would cost the lives of several innocent people, but they could break the Blessing for a few seconds. But Terdius didn't like that method.

'If there was another way...'

There was one more thing. The Leviathan of the Kyros Church, he knew how to do it. But unless he showed up in Bahano, it was almost impossible.

"I don't want to make you hate me either."

Khalid smiled again, but Terdius' gaze became colder.

"We'll wait for now."

As they had done so far, it would be faster to find a way to lure the High Priest out than to destroy the Blessing.

Khalid nodded reluctantly as he understood his intention.

"Yes, yes. As you wish."

Soon the two figures disappeared into the darkness.

---

As soon as day broke, we started moving again on our carriage. I looked closely at Troy's face. He seemed to have relieved some of his burden from last night's conversation, and his expression was much more relaxed.

---How do you like my skills, my boy?

'What can I say? You're perfect.'

I praised Kyros dryly and turned my gaze away.

I was terribly bored.

Before I knew it, my eyes were drawn to Zain's knitting. I had decided not to do it again, but I was tempted by having nothing else to do.

"Zain."

"Yes?"

"I want to do it too."

"...Again?"

He didn't say what he wanted to do, but Zain caught on right away. I nodded my head. But Zain looked displeased.

"Do you want to make another weird rag?"

"...I'm not trying to. I'm just bored."

"Sigh."

Zain sighed openly but handed me the knitting supplies anyway. Good. I tried to recall what Zain had taught me last time and moved my hands diligently.

"Zain."

It was then that Troy, who had been watching us silently, opened his mouth. It was almost the first time Troy had called Zain. I immediately looked at Zain.

"...What."

Zain answered coldly.

"I want to try it too."

"What? What do you want to try? Don't tell me, knitting?"

Troy nodded. I was surprised by his answer, and so was Zain. My goodness, Troy wanted to knit? A black panther knitting?

I was very surprised, but Zain's face crumpled. He showed his dislike for Troy but handed him the extra knitting supplies anyway.

"How do you do it?"

"Ugh, really! How can you take it without knowing how to do it?"

"Well... I saw you two doing it."

Zain snapped at Troy, who shrugged his shoulders. He looked quite sullen. Zain flinched at that.

"Sigh, fine. Just follow me."

In the end, Zain gave in first and made a gesture of reconciliation. He unraveled the thread I had been doing and started to teach Troy from the beginning.

"Master, please watch again too."

"What? Why?"

I had already learned it, why should I watch it again. As I looked at him with that expression, Zain's eyebrows narrowed.

"You're doing it wrong right now too. If you keep doing that, it's bound to be another rag."

"...Really?"

No wonder the thread kept coming loose.

In the end, I had to learn knitting from Zain again. Along with Troy.