Ch.269Chapter 269 – Revival of the Demon Cult

“Praise Lord Enceladus! Glorify Him!”

“Enceladus! Enceladus!”

The Endless Tunnel had completely transformed from its former state, now becoming a gathering place for those who had fallen into fanatical worship of the demon god.

They were continuously chanting the demon god’s name.

“Bishop Leon.”

The water facility manager approached Leon, who was standing on the platform.

He had been promoted from a simple manager to the chief supervisor of all facilities supplying drinking water to the Endless Tunnel.

This was Leon’s small gift to a Devil Cult follower who had faithfully maintained his position for a long time.

“You’re here.”

“This is… incredible.”

The manager showed disbelief as he witnessed the scene of fanaticism unfolding below the platform.

“Why? Is it very different from what you imagined?”

“Yes. I never imagined people would chant His name like this…”

The manager’s eyes were filled with emotion.

Considering the days he had to live in hiding as a Devil Cult follower, what was happening now was truly like a dream.

“You’ll see this more often from now on.”

Leon said with a confident voice. He was certain that such scenes would continue.

“Do you plan to use the Fanaticism Potion elsewhere as well?”

“No, I won’t. I’ve heard that manufacturing the Fanaticism Potion is quite complicated.”

Leon shook his head as he recalled the answer he received when he asked his comrade who had given him the potion if he could get another one.

‘Making just this one used up half of our branch’s budget. If we made another one, our branch would go bankrupt.’

‘I could provide the funds.’

‘It’s too dangerous right now. Intelligence agencies from various countries are intensively investigating large-scale fund transfers. We barely avoided detection by conducting multiple disguised transactions in small amounts to acquire the necessary materials. But some fools got caught with obvious accounting fraud and had to struggle to destroy evidence.’

Upon hearing that large fund movements were being closely monitored, Leon had to abandon the idea of producing additional potions.

If he had just one more Fanaticism Potion, he could have expanded the cult’s influence and devoured this country.

It would have been enough to turn everyone gathered in the capital for Oberon’s upcoming Foundation Festival into his fanatical followers.

This was because during Oberon’s Foundation Festival, nobles and royalty would drink water from the river as the ceremony marking the beginning of the festival.

If timed correctly, the Fanaticism Potion could have completely turned the Kingdom of Oberon into the Devil Cult’s possession.

But investigations into large money transactions had suddenly begun, perhaps because someone had noticed something suspicious.

“But haven’t we already surpassed our previous numbers with just the people gathered here?”

“That’s not enough. We need more, many more followers.”

Leon was not satisfied with this. The number of people currently gathered in the Endless Tunnel was about 30,000.

Considering that the Devil Cult operating in the Gelebrio Empire had approximately 25,000 followers, this place now had the largest concentration of Devil Cult followers on the continent.

This would have been enough to spread people throughout Oberon and strengthen the Devil Cult’s power, but Leon was not satisfied with just that.

“The nobility and royalty. Furthermore, we must bring this country’s king under our control. Only then can preparations for Lord Enceladus’s resurrection proceed.”

“Ah, I failed to understand your grand vision, Bishop. Please forgive me.”

“It’s fine, raise your head. How could not knowing be a sin?”

Leon had no intention of accusing him of any wrongdoing. After all, this entire plan existed only in his mind.

So it would have been strange if anyone else had known about it in the first place.

“Soon. All preparations for Lord Enceladus’s resurrection will be in place. When that time comes, surely…”

A smile spread across Leon’s face as he looked up at the sky, a smile that seemed to mock someone in the heavens.

◈◇◈◇◈◇◈◇◈◇◈

Today was the last day of the year, but the academy received an unexpected visitor.

“It’s been a while, Ironbeard.”

“Heh heh heh. You haven’t changed a bit.”

Ironbeard, the ruler of the Grendillet Mountains, had come to the academy.

I had heard that Ironbeard rarely left the Grendillet Mountains, so his visit to the academy suggested that something serious had happened.

“What brings you here?”

I asked Ironbeard directly for an explanation of what had happened.

“Well… recently, we lost contact with the dwarf supervisors dispatched to the southern continent.”

“What?”

I was shocked by Ironbeard’s explanation.

Dwarf supervisors had been dispatched to the Endless Tunnel, a massive mining city located in the southern kingdom of Oberon.

They were responsible for analyzing minerals mined from the tunnels of the Endless Tunnel and sending resources that couldn’t be processed by human technology back to the Grendillet Mountains.

There were five supervisors in total, and they sent reports to the Grendillet Mountains once a week.

However, recently, the reports that should have been sent from the Endless Tunnel had suddenly stopped.

Moreover, the communication crystals used to contact individual supervisors were not connecting.

Ironbeard believed that something had gone wrong in the Endless Tunnel and had come to seek help.

“The last report from the supervisors stated: ‘All resources are being properly mined, and everyone is working diligently for Lord Enceladus.'”

“Enceladus?”

“That’s the name of the demon god worshipped by the Devil Cult, the main enemy of the Pantheon.”

“Huh.”

I had the strange experience of being unable to close my mouth at his words.

If what he said was true, it meant that the Devil Cult had resumed activities in the Kingdom of Oberon in the southern continent, where the Empire’s influence barely reached.

The Devil Cult.

The news that these creatures, who had been quiet for a while, were active again made my head throb.

“But is it such a big problem that the supervisors have turned?”

“Of course it is. We dwarves worship Valkena, the guardian deity of blacksmiths. Even dwarves who differ from those of the Grendillet Mountains unconditionally worship Valkena. So, the fact that Enceladus’s name came from their mouths… can only mean one thing.”

“And what is that?”

“Some form of forced brainwashing must have taken place. Our dwarf race is one that never puts down the hammer and never loses faith in Valkena, no matter the circumstances. For them to abandon Valkena and worship a demon god…”

In the worst case, we had to consider the possibility that everyone there had become members of the Devil Cult.

“This is the worst-case scenario.”

“From what I know, about 30,000 people reside in the Endless Tunnel. If they have all become Devil Cult followers, something very dangerous could happen.”

“Such as?”

“War. This continent could once again be engulfed in the flames of war.”

From Ironbeard’s serious face and resolute voice, I realized that his words were no joke.

“What they want is probably the resurrection of the demon god.”

“That’s obvious.”

“And perhaps they’re trying to completely devour the Kingdom of Oberon?”

“Hmm? What do you mean by that?”

Ironbeard questioned my statement.

“What they want is the resurrection of the demon god, and to achieve this, the most important thing is to expand their influence. If they have found some method to forcibly convert all people in a region into Devil Cult followers…”

“The Kingdom of Oberon… could fall into their hands?”

“That’s right.”

However, I couldn’t fathom what method they used to collectively turn people into Devil Cult followers.

What method did they use? Is there a way to brainwash people living across a wide area all at once?

Just then, the door suddenly opened, and a dwarf warrior entered the reception room.

“What’s this commotion?”

“I apologize, Your Majesty! But it’s so urgent that I must beg your forgiveness for this rudeness!”

“Urgent? What’s so urgent?”

“A demon has appeared in the Kingdom of Oberon in the southern continent!”

“What…?”

“What did you say?”

Both Ironbeard and I froze at the sudden news of a demon’s appearance.