Surviving as a Cult Leader in Another World (Going up)

"This fucking…"

Nomad couldn't sleep at all.
If he fell asleep, he would forget to breathe, and if he couldn't breathe, he would surely fall into an eternal sleep.
In this agonizing situation, Nomad recalled the words of the strange man.
"…Curse. Yes! That bastard said he would cast the Curse of Awareness!"
The man in the darkness called it a curse.
Fortunately, this was a monastery, so there were plenty of ways to lift a curse.
"I don't know who you are, but to cast sorcery on me, you're a fool! If I recover, I'll catch you and hang you!"
Nomad rushed out of the room in search of "holy water," which was most effective against sorcery and curses.
He headed to the chapel and was startled the moment he found the vessel of holy water on the dark platform.
"What the, it's all muddy water!?"
The holy water was already contaminated with dirt, and for some reason, it was bubbling.
The same was true for the other water bottles.
No matter how much holy power Nomad, a veteran priest with 20 years of experience as a monk, poured in, the water wouldn't clear up.
What kind of being in the world could contaminate holy water to this extent?
If such a being existed, it could only be something bearing the name of a Deadly Sin.
"Ah… Aaagh!"
Nomad finally lost his mind at this ominous sight and the reality where even breathing was difficult.
"It's a demon!!! A demon has appeared in the monastery!!! The demon has contaminated the holy water!!! As the Crescent Moon witches prophesied, a demon has appeared in the world!!!"
Nomad, driven to the edge of tension, staggered as he dropped the holy water on the floor.
Thud-.
The candlestick placed on the pulpit fell to the floor from the impact of colliding with Nomad.
As the candle flame touched the holy water that had soaked the floor, the heat surged like an oil-fueled fire.
Whoosh-! Crackle, crackle, crackle, whoosh-!
The chapel was engulfed in flames in an instant.
"No! My monastery! Everything I have! No! How did I get to this position! How! Huff, huff, huff!"
Nomad flapped his clothes to put out the fire, but the crimson flames spread beyond the chapel and consumed everything in the Emrys Monastery.
When the monks hurriedly woke up and came to the chapel, Nomad was shouting like a half-crazed lunatic.
"It's a demon…! A demon…! Puccino… There's a demon…! As prophesied, a demon…! Send a carrier pigeon to the Crescent Moon Sisterhood! A carrier pigeon! The demon… inhale, exhale…! Huff!"
Puccino, the overseer of the monks, was on the verge of losing his mind as he watched the crazed Nomad release the pigeons in the cage in all directions.
"Bishop – no, Abbot! Get a hold of yourself! What's wrong with your breathing? What do you mean inhale and exhale… Huff, huff, huff…!?"
Overseer Puccino touched his neck and chest.
Something was strange.
As he was letting out a series of rough breaths, the people who had woken up shouted.
"Fire! F-fire! Fire!"
"Everyone wake up! Put out the fire! Put out the fire! Contact the city!"
People busily moved around, drawing water with wooden ladles.
"Fire?"
I, who was testing my holy power with holy water in my room, was quite puzzled by the sight of the monks busily drawing well water.
The heat that had spread throughout the monastery in an instant was so intense that I felt like my face was going to get burned, and my expression crumpled.
"This is why people can't live after committing sins. If you sin, you'll have to pay the price."
In my opinion, this Emrys Monastery had received divine punishment. They deserved to be burned down for deceiving people, exploiting their labor, and colluding with the cult.
Why were there so many heretics colluding with the cult near this city of Sodomi?
It was clear that I couldn't concentrate and accumulate holy power because I was training in this den of iniquity.
If this was the case, I would have to train somewhere else.
"…"
As I looked up at the sky, the North Star was shining particularly brightly, and something seemed to flash in my mind.
"Come to think of it, there is a perfect place for training a little further north. If I go there, I might be able to acquire the Golden Plaque Prayer."
The Cathedral of Durgien.
Its master was Archbishop Archibald, a clergyman with a golden plaque.
I started to feel excited at the thought of going to see him.
I remembered that when I had no choice but to invade the royal capital, the Archbishop of Durgien fought fiercely against the cult.
I especially remembered the fact that the vicious Wrath of the Deadly Sins had raged, "Archbishop of Durgien, I want to kill that bastard with my own hands."
I had never met the man myself, but just the fact that the madwoman Wrath hated him showed that the archbishop was a truly devout believer.
"I want to meet him. I need a good teacher."
Saints, including myself, are like sheep, each wanting to go their own way, so we needed a good shepherd.
This was why I couldn't live a life of faith alone.
In this life, which I had gained thanks to the Holy Grail, I wanted to meet the devout archbishop in person, talk about faith, have consultations, eat together, and make him my spiritual teacher and companion.
If I was lucky, I might even catch his eye and become his disciple.
Becoming the archbishop's disciple meant a smooth path as a clergyman.
Compared to the 21st century, it would be like getting a job as a pastor at a large church, receiving a salary comparable to that of an executive at a large company!
With that feeling, as day broke, an investigation team was dispatched from the Durgien region to investigate the truth behind the fire that had broken out at the monastery.
The leader of the investigation team was a Templar knight wearing a surcoat over chainmail, a woman in her mid to late twenties.
If it had been five years ago, I would have been surprised to see a young woman wearing armor and doing the tough work of a knight.
But this world was a world where the three miracles of "Aura," "Holy Power," and "Mana" actually existed.
If a woman had an aptitude for Aura, Holy Power, or Mana, she could become as strong as a UFC champion.
"The demon took my breath away… S-save me… I was wrong… F-forgive me… the demon…"
"What's wrong with this guy? A demon?"
The female knight frowned as she looked at Abbot Nomad, who had become a half-crazed lunatic.
It wasn't just Nomad. Everyone in this monastery was complaining of pain, saying, "I can't breathe!"
I was the only one who was fine.
The brown-haired female knight, with her hair neatly tied back and a healthy tan, asked me, the only one who was fine in this place,
"Hey, you!"
"Who, me?"
"Yes, you."
This female knight.
Speaking informally right off the bat?
But that's how female knights usually were.
Female knights, regardless of whether they had bronze or silver plaques, had pride as hard as the armor they wore.
"I am Galatea, a Bronze Knight of the Templar Order. According to the abbot, a demon appeared, set a fire, and contaminated the holy water. Is that true? And he said the demon spread a curse throughout the monastery?"
"Bronze Knight Galatea."
I knew quite a few names of knights, but I had never heard of Galatea.
Still, a Bronze Knight meant she was a veteran with at least 10 years of experience.
She had freckles on her face, which made her look simple yet pretty, but she was not an opponent to be underestimated.
The Bronze Knight I saw before had stabbed 10 mercenaries by herself with a single sword. In this world, the "knights" were more like tactical weapons, like tanks, than humans.
I decided to tell this seemingly prickly human weapon as much as I knew.
"I haven't been a member of this monastery for long, so I don't know exactly what happened. However, I overheard the abbot communicating with the cult group 'Crescent Moon Sisterhood'."
At my answer, the female knight Galatea's brown eyes widened as if she was greatly surprised.
"Crescent Moon Sisterhood? With those evil and cruel witches?"
"That's right. Search the burned remains. The Crescent Moon Sisterhood and their followers mark themselves by dipping their palms in blood. If it didn't burn, they would have kept it somewhere."
"Really? Alright! The story about the blood palm prints was famous!"
Swish-.
At the knight's gesture, the men who appeared to be her squires rummaged through the burned remains of the building.
They soon found a safe that was sturdy enough to have survived the fire. It was a safe that looked too sturdy to be in this old and remote monastery.
Clang-!
Knight Galatea struck the safe's lock with her sword, and the door burst open.
Rustle, rustle-.
Inside, it was filled with rolled-up letters, so many that they spilled out.
It was about the "Crescent Moon Sisterhood" using the monks like their pawns. And as I said, there were a lot of papers with blood palm prints.
"These damned bastards! To think the cult's influence has spread to such a remote place! We need to take them to the church and investigate further. But before that, I want to investigate the curse that drove them mad…"
Galatea touched the necks of the men who claimed to be having trouble breathing.
Swish, swish-.
Her hands, which looked rough for a woman, glowed with white holy power for a moment.
Galatea, the brown-haired Bronze Knight, clicked her tongue, tsk-.
"I can't feel any trace of magic that should have been used in the curse or sorcery. There's no sign of a curse. It's not a curse, so holy water or blessings won't lift it."
Well, it's not a curse.
My "Curse of Awareness" was just a trick, like a wordplay.
But I decided to pretend I didn't know anything.
"Maybe their respiratory organs were damaged by the fire? The respiratory organs are delicate and vulnerable to heat, so they might not be able to breathe."
At my opinion, Knight Galatea nodded, saying, "That makes sense."
Then she took out a water bottle from her waist and opened the lid.
"Then why is this holy water so contaminated? Holy water bubbling with bubbles. I've never heard of such a thing in my 10 years as a nun and 5 years as a knight."
"…I really don't know what happened to that either."
I really didn't know.
No matter how much holy power I poured in, the muddy holy water wouldn't purify and just kept bubbling.
"I see. It smells strange too… the smell is like… hmm… the smell is… very peculiar and…"
Knight Galatea kept sniffing the leather water bottle containing the contaminated holy water. What did it smell like?
As I watched anxiously, Galatea coughed, ahem-, then slightly blushed her healthy tanned face and looked away.
"Ahem, I'll have to take it to the church and examine the ingredients myself. Anyway, tie up these heretics and take them to the Inquisition!"
Soon, Abbot Nomad, Puccino, and their followers were tightly bound with ropes.
They were all monks who had been caught with blood palm prints, pledging allegiance to the "Crescent Moon Sisterhood".
Unable to contain my anger at the fact that I had almost been deceived by them, I shouted and beat them.
"Dreaming of being a clergyman while colluding with a cult! Damn you, you deserve divine punishment!"
How dare they try to sell me as a sacrifice to the cult!
"You viperous bastards! How can a clergyman fall into the path of a cult! You deserve divine punishment! Hell awaits you! Nomad, you get two hits!"
"Ugh! Ouch! S-stop it! Eek!"
I was incredibly angry, but after shouting for a while, I felt a little better. But my hands hurt like hell. Punching someone isn't something just anyone can do.
Knight Galatea seemed quite impressed by my furious display.
"Monk Hyde! Thanks to your accusation, we were able to round up the apostates! I just heard from my squires that you were the one who reported the heresy of Nicola and Bluebeard Paltman in Sodomi?"
"Has that already spread?"
As I awkwardly scratched the back of my head, Galatea looked at the burned-down ashes and me alternately with a very regretful expression.
"So, Monk Hyde. Now that the place you were supposed to be has burned down, what do you plan to do from now on? If there's anything I can do to help, just say it. If there's divine punishment, there should also be good fortune, don't you think?"
Help me?