Episode 166

5.

It was an inevitable part of human nature.

No matter how casually you start something, once you've poured in effort, money, and sincerity, you naturally grow attached. You become obsessed. You don't want to lose it.

Whether it was a Gold Mission, a career, or money, it was all the same.

When you came in empty-handed, you could act however you wanted without feeling burdened, but once you had something in your hands, the price for doing whatever you wanted often had to be paid with what you were holding.

Kim Buja was no different.

Whether in games or in reality, he was still human, no different from anyone else.

Especially when his real-world livelihood was at risk if he didn't bring something back from a game he'd entered empty-handed. In those situations, he often had to swallow his pride rather than act however he pleased.

Of course, even so, people still called him a lone wolf and a one-man army because he had the talent to back it up. As long as he kept within certain lines and bowed only to the people he needed, he could get by.

That had carried over into reality and brought him to where he was now, and he still lived with the same mindset.

It was just that he had been under unusually heavy stress only in the Gold Missions, because every time he returned, the situations he had so carefully arranged were gone. He found himself at the center of a storm, tossed about by forces too massive to resist.

He reflected.

"Yeah, I've been playing this game like an idiot."

That wasn't his style.

He had always tried to make the best of whatever situation he was given, introducing his own style to cleverly clear the Gold Mission objectives, but he had hit a wall.

He could keep going the same way if he wanted.

But there was no fun in that.

The excitement he had felt when he first met the princess as a slave, the hopeful, dreamlike idea that he could revive the empire of such a beautiful heroine, win her favor, and establish a perfectly legal harem kingdom—that had long since vanished.

It wasn't because of the continent's despairing political climate.

Besides, the saintess had even entered the picture now.

Just seeing the faces of the saintess and the princess should have been enough to make him happy enough to toss the Gold Mission aside.

"I've been too hung up on the rewards."

He admitted what he needed to admit.

The pressure that he couldn't fail, the private fear that a single failure might cause the Gold Missions to stop altogether—those had locked his thinking and actions into a fixed frame.

"I'll tailor the quest to fit me."

He should have focused from the start on the fact that the Gold Missions' content changed dynamically each time.

So much had happened, and he had been distracted by events in reality, so he had never really thought deeply about it.

He would change that now.

"I'll find the Black Magic Cult and conquer the continent."

He would do it his way.

With the mindset that he had nothing to lose.

When he declared this with firm resolve, the saintess stared at him in disbelief.

"By Black Magic Cult… do you mean black magic?"

"Yeah. Cool name, right? A Martial Arts World cult leader on a fantasy continent. Not bad at all."

"…How."

"How can a saintess create a black magic cult, is that what you're asking?"

"No matter how thin the line between good and evil is, is that not going too far?"

There was clear distrust in the saintess's eyes.

She might be obedient to Kim Buja now, but if she believed she was right, she was the type who would turn her back even on a friend of many years.

This time was no different.

This wasn't just about reforming the Temple.

It was a statement that completely denied the very foundation of her existence as the saintess.

That was why she reacted so strongly.

He had expected it.

Deciding to do whatever he wanted didn't mean he would act without thinking.

If anything, the more extreme the situation, the sharper his scheming became.

"Do you know why the Temple became corrupt?"

"Pardon?"

"The Allied Forces and the Empire. Sure, the fall of the Empire isn't actually that important. The truth of who first dabbled in forbidden black magic doesn't matter either. In the end, it's a power struggle. The Empire failed to strengthen its core, and the Allied Forces played the political game wisely and caused internal strife. That's just reality."

She fell silent.

"But what about the Temple? They threw themselves into a war, waving the banner of justice in a fight where they didn't even know which side held the truth, and now they're trying to join hands with those same people and play politics."

This was the kind of argument that would hit the saintess hardest.

He raised his voice, driving it home while she remained silent.

"Humans must be good. They must believe in God. To believe in God, they must follow the Temple. If you do not pray, you are evil. Evil must be killed. How is that any different from a black magic cult?"

It was also what the non-religious Buja thought whenever he observed organized religion.

It wasn't the right answer.

It couldn't be the right answer.

There was no such thing as a right answer when it came to human thought; it was only a matter of which side you put more weight on.

But in this world, on this continent, this was the right answer.

A truth he did not want to avoid.

If he hadn't been aware that he was God's agent—a vessel for God's direct descent—he would never have associated with them, let alone said something so rude. But the saintess remained silent for a long time.

Then, as if she had made up her mind, she opened her mouth.

"The Temple does not interfere in the political affairs of the continent."

It wasn't her personal opinion, but the first rule every priest recited upon entering the Temple.

"They do not covet power and never forget that they are servants who serve God."

Was the current Temple keeping the rules it had set itself?

She knew better than anyone that they were not, and because she knew, she couldn't answer easily.

Watching her hesitate until the very end, Kim Buja gave her a clean, simple answer.

"Alright then."

The saintess was taken aback.

"If you don't like it, forget it. I won't force you."

It was clear from the way he turned his back and walked away without a moment's hesitation that he wasn't just putting on a show of having no regrets.

For a moment, the saintess stood there in a daze, staring at his back as it grew more distant.

'Should I follow him?'

That thought came to her, but along with it came the question 'why?' and a sting of hurt.

His decisiveness didn't feel like disappointment in her for hesitating. It felt like he truly had no lingering attachment.

The moment was so absurd that her pride began to sting.

In the end, the saintess could not bring herself to follow Kim Buja.

Maybe she thought he would turn around.

Or maybe his decisiveness had hurt her feelings instead.

Whatever the reason, in the end, her convictions held her back and kept her hesitating.

And so, the two of them parted ways.

* * *

The reason Kim Buja left the saintess behind without hesitation was simple.

He no longer needed to travel with her.

He had met the saintess at the start of Chapter 2-2 and escaped the Forbidden Mountains with her because he believed she was the key to this chapter.

He still believed that.

Along with the reform, the hidden mission "Corrupt Temple" focused on helping the saintess purge the temple's corruption.

Without the saintess, it was nearly impossible.

But if he changed his thinking, things looked different.

'Is it really impossible to clear the mission without the real saintess?'

It would be difficult.

However, if he founded the Black Magic Cult and conquered the continent, then in the grand scheme of things, there would be no problem reforming the Temple.

Whether the mission cleared or not would stop mattering.

That was why he no longer needed to stay with the saintess.

'She'll manage on her own.'

The saintess was one of the people he absolutely could not leave out if he was going to build a harem kingdom.

But he had no intention of risking his life for her.

No, he was willing to risk his life, but not to change his entire plan for her.

For him, the top priority in the Gold Mission was always the princess.

The saintess might have dismissed the conflict between the Empire and the Allied Forces as unimportant politics, but for Buja, the temple's internal corruption was even more trivial.

She would try to handle it on her own, and if she couldn't, she would come find him.

Even if he had decided easily and spoken lightly, the term "Black Magic Cult" was not something that would be easily accepted on the continent.

It was essentially a declaration of war against the entire continent.

That was why he had to be even more resolute.

The princess and the saintess.

He had raised both of their favorability high enough to unlock "Communion," but Kim Buja could say it plainly.

If he had to choose one of them, it would be the princess, without question.

Even setting aside superficial metrics like looks and physique, he was certain because of the fundamental difference in their trust.

The princess followed Kim Buja the person, unconditionally.

The saintess followed God.

On this continent, she had been tricked by Buja's impersonation of God and had given him her trust, but she could revoke it at any time.

This incident had made that clear.

So he would go to the princess.

"This time, I should at least give her some breathing room before I leave."

Pretending to be a good guy had never been Kim Buja's specialty.

[Reformation]

▶ Grade: Chapter 2-2

▶ Objective: Found the faction "Black Magic Cult," which will reform the continent, and establish its foundation!

▶ Reward: Special Stat Points (5), 50,000 Gold, Level 3

▷ This mission has been altered during chapter progression.

It was only now, in Chapter 2-2, that Buja finally realized something crucial: it wasn't the princess or the saintess who caused the Gold Mission chapters to change.

Once he understood that, nothing could hold him back.

That was the same reason he had turned and walked away without a second thought.

"This is going to be fun."

The moment he stepped off the predetermined path and onto the road he wanted to take, an endless list of things he needed to do lined up in front of him, weaving themselves into a single story.

He no longer had to care about the movements of the Allied Forces or the pope.

No matter what schemes they came up with, he would not be responding to them.

They would be the ones forced to respond.

To the schemes he set in motion.

"For starters…"

Robed in a cloak, Kim Buja headed toward his first destination. Chaos is not some grand, dramatic event.

More often than not, chaos takes the familiar, intimate form of poverty, and the hardships that follow grind ordinary people down. That burden alone is crushing enough, but now, the entire continent had been ravaged by war.

Countless people had lost their families, their homes had been destroyed, and their possessions had been seized for the war effort.

But did the lives of the citizens of the victorious allied nations suddenly become prosperous?

War, from its very inception, is a struggle fought for the sake of those already in power.

In truth, those who fought and died on the front lines were the commoners, sacrificed for the ambitions of the elite.

Sons never came home. Breadwinners died one after another.

Life grew harsher. With no joy to be found in the so-called victory, their unchanged, grinding existence wore down the masses.

On top of that, misfortunes multiplied: bandits prowling in the confusion, nobles indulging in tyranny to their hearts' content.

In their hearts, people couldn't help but wish that the leeches sucking them dry would drop dead, rather than the remnants of the Empire.

Perhaps God heard their prayers.

A new rumor began to spread quietly across the continent.

"Have you heard of the Black Magic Cult? They say it's a group of black mages who follow the will of God."

* * *

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