Episode 167

6.

Every human life is precious.

He agreed with that completely.

Reality, however, did not.

"Ugh, those damned bandits. Why won't someone just round them up already? They should stop making a fuss about hunting down the last scraps of the ruined Empire and go catch bastards like that instead."

"Tearing them limb from limb wouldn't be enough. This month, the lord took eighty percent of our harvest in taxes."

"What's the point of working ourselves to death? They take their cut here and there, and we're left with nothing."

There are people in this world who deserve to die.

The standard for that differs for everyone.

These personal standards, which have nothing to do with social ideology or lofty beliefs, coalesce into public opinion.

And more often than not, the people whom ordinary citizens deemed deserving of death were, unfortunately, the ones living high on the hog.

The lord of the Borea Territory was no exception.

His domain was not particularly large, and his title was only that of a viscount. Yet for the simple reason that his kingdom belonged to the allied nations, he indulged in tyranny, exploited his people, and wallowed in every kind of corruption.

None of it posed any real problem for him.

The Borea Territory lay on the outskirts of the kingdom, and he had maintained just the right distance from the central nobility, so there was no risk of his head being lopped off as an example.

Even though the continent had fallen into the hands of the allied nations and the real spoils were being devoured by those at the very top, the lord of Borea still had every reason to be happy.

It was a small territory, but it was his own little world.

Small or not, it still had a castle and a sizable population. If he wanted, he could take a concubine whenever he pleased, and while he couldn't afford outrageous luxury, he had more than enough wealth to buy whatever he needed.

All of it had been wrung from the sweat and blood of his people.

Even so, there was no "problem."

Each day was a delight, and he was certain these days would continue for as long as he lived. The Empire had been utterly crushed, and with the Allied Forces now holding power, there was no way that structure would collapse.

Any commoners in his domain who voiced complaints could simply be hunted down like rats. After he had executed a few of the loudest as an example, even the curses and anger directed at him stopped reaching his ears.

It seemed as though everything had been neatly resolved.

He pushed it all out of his mind and devoted himself to his instincts, living only for his days of luxury.

That day was no different.

Under the pretense of inspecting his territory, he had taken a ride around his lands, spotted a girl he fancied, and dragged her back by force. He was now indulging in the cruelty of a wicked lord, having satisfied his lust and now forcing her to attend him in his bath.

"Yo, long time no see."

"What the hell?!"

The bathhouse was filled with steam. At the sudden, bright male voice, the lord of Borea scowled and shouted.

It wasn't shock that hit him first, but fury.

Fury at the bastard who had dared interrupt his time with the woman kneeling before him, her face on the verge of tears.

The questions of how this man had gotten in here, or why he was standing there so casually, didn't even occur to him.

It couldn't be helped. Within the Borea Territory, he believed himself to be the absolute authority.

"You still haven't come to your senses, huh."

Kim Buja, of course, didn't panic. He had been in situations like this more times than he could count.

With a low hum of mana, two sharp spears formed in midair and shot forward.

Swish, swish!

"Aaagh!"

The black spears flew true, piercing both of the naked lord's thighs.

It was a flesh-tearing scream. For a lord who had never felt real pain in his life, it was utter despair.

And this was only a basic spell from the spear-type magic tree.

His scream was loud enough to shake the entire castle. Anyone nearby would have instinctively winced at the sound.

Yet thirty seconds passed, then a full minute.

The screaming didn't stop, but no one came to investigate.

Instead, Kim Buja approached with slow, unhurried steps.

When he reached the lord, however, he didn't go to him first. He extended a hand to the woman who was staring at him in terror.

The naked woman, too frightened to even think of covering herself, took his hand and stood. From her perspective, Kim Buja was her savior. The fact that she still couldn't shake her fear was a testament to how violently she'd been forced into this.

It was nothing new. Even in the real world, plenty of people used their power to satisfy their own greed. But this was a world with a rigid class system. Here, if you were lucky enough to be born to the right noble parents, you could live your entire life as someone's "master," a status far beyond that of a mere rich kid back home.

That was why she was trembling so badly.

She was here not by choice, but by force. Even if she escaped this situation right now, nothing would change. The lord would still be alive, and if she simply ran away, her family would inevitably become the target of his rage.

"Don't worry," Kim Buja said.

He wasn't the kind of person who took responsibility. He wasn't someone who cared whether the woman in front of him suffered retaliation.

But this time was different.

He had been waiting for this day.

"There won't be any retaliation."

"Guh!"

His hand, now blackened, clamped around the throat of the squealing swine and lifted him into the air. The lord's complexion darkened in an instant.

The woman's expression trembled as well. She had finally realized who Kim Buja was.

"Guh… spare… me…"

"Why bother living? God told me bastards like you should be sent off early."

"Aack…"

"Go live happily ever after in heaven."

The lord's heavy body thrashed in the air, but the hand gripping his throat didn't loosen in the slightest.

Soon, his movements stopped.

The woman was too stunned to speak, her face going pale. It was probably the first time she had ever seen someone killed.

The sound of the massive body crashing onto the bathhouse floor rang out like a threat.

Kim Buja pulled her into his arms and gently rubbed her back.

"Are you scared?"

He could feel her nodding against his chest.

"Do you want to protect them? Your family? The people you care about?"

She nodded again.

To her, he offered something.

A Black Magic Cult alchemy manual.

"The Black Magic Cult is a sect that follows the will of God. Do you want to join?"

* * *

'Learning black magic itself wasn't a big problem. He just needed to use it for show, so he could spend about 3,000 gold to learn a simple skill and be done with it.'

The real issue was using it for show to recruit believers for the Black Magic Cult. That was where the problem arose.

'He didn't mind the gold spent on my own skills, since he'd be using them for a long time anyway. However, the cost of teaching all the future believers was bound to be a burden.'

No matter how much gold he had, this wasn't something that could be handled on the scale of a few dozen or even a few hundred people. His plan was to spread small cells across the continent to operate independently, and to do that, he'd need an unimaginable amount of gold.

'That was why, instead of choosing skill books that allowed people to learn skills directly, I'd gone with an alternative: black magic alchemy manuals.'

Anyone could easily read and follow them. They didn't allow casting black magic directly, but by mixing simple ingredients, one could create items with black-magic-like effects.

'Of course, the ingredients were the typical fantasy fare for black mages. However, they could be bought in bulk, and once he dropped a single manual into a group, the believers could pass it around among themselves. He could distribute them freely without worry.'

'Besides, it didn't even matter if not everyone became a believer. For now, my plan was to win the hearts of the commoners and stir up more chaos.'

It wasn't difficult. Even without seeking them out, situations like this unfolded everywhere he went. The continent was just that much of a mess.

The nobles proclaimed the Allied Forces' victory, shouting that justice had triumphed and that the forces of evil had been vanquished.

In reality, though, nothing had improved for the common folk. The continent was so rotten to the core that it was common to hear people say life had actually been better under the Empire's rule.

He'd known this in theory, but he hadn't truly felt it while focused on the Pope, the Allied Forces, and the Empire. Once he abandoned all that and started wandering the continent to found a new sect called the Black Magic Cult, it became painfully clear.

And he found his angle.

'I should have gone this route from the start.'

The Allied Forces, which had seemed to have built a perfect, impregnable fortress, were in fact full of holes. A golden tower that would burst if poked and collapse if pushed.

This explained how the Empire had ruled the continent for centuries.

The Allied Forces knew it, too.

They simply didn't care.

What mattered to them now was the throne they had coveted for so long. Drunk on that power, they had no intention of sparing a single thought for the most important thing of all: public sentiment.

"When you just do whatever the hell you want, the answer really does show itself."

Once he let go of his burdens, the list of things he wanted to do kept growing. Unlike before, when he'd risked his life for the princess or the saintess, he felt far more relaxed now that he'd adopted the mindset of only looking out for his own neck.

So, as he moved down from the north, he spent two weeks neatly resolving the grievances of commoners and slaves with the simple logic of force, all while spreading rumors about the Black Magic Cult.

"I heard the Black Magic Cult is holding a gathering near the eastern Imperial border."

"They say they're going to offer sacrifices to God."

"I heard the imperial princess is part of the Black Magic Cult, too."

"The princess is coming?"

"If she's part of the Black Magic Cult, she would be, right?"

"Isn't it basically a sect created by the remnants of the Empire?"

"Who cares? Honestly, I think the Black Magic Cult people are kinder."

At last, the news he had been waiting for reached his ears.

"So what kind of gathering is it supposed to be?"

"No idea. I heard they claim to be a group of true believers in God. Guess you have to go to find out."

"You thinking of going?"

"No way. I'm too scared. The temple's already gathering the Paladin Order to arrest the heretics."

The time had come for a real war, Kim Buja-style, not just a simple battle of pretexts.

* * *

People in black robes were gathered together.

Once, this had been a village. Now, in the center of the burned-out ruins, a simple altar had been erected.

Crowds of people surrounded the village, watching. They had all come because of the rumors. Some had traveled from the far side of the continent, despite the distance, and others had been living in hiding ever since the Empire fell.

They had all gathered here for one reason.

"The Black Magic Cult exists, yet does not exist as an organization. We do not formally accept believers. If you wish to become a member of the Black Magic Cult, then from that moment, you already are. If you wish to know its doctrine, take it. If you need the power of the Black Magic Cult, learn it. God is fair to everyone."

Their lives were hard and exhausting. They had come here to seize a new hope that had appeared at the very moment they felt even God had abandoned them.

Even so, they didn't step into the village itself because of what the people in black robes had said.

Instead, they surged toward the countless booklets stacked at the entrance. People grabbed one each and disappeared back into the crowd.

"Out of the way, all of you! Anyone who sides with heretics will be executed!"

Then, from all directions, knights in pure white armor and priests appeared.

* * *

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.