Reincarnated as a Cultist Mob - Chapter 3

 Maybe I Can Still Turn Back

Let me briefly explain why the Arlos Temple Cult is considered an "evil cult."

The cult's origins were originally a weak connection formed purely for making money. At first, it operated under a different name like "Some-or-Other Merchant Group," where members had superficial relationships and didn't even know each other's full names.

However, things shifted drastically when the ambitious Arlos took over the merchant group.

Skilled in controlling human hearts, Arlos drew people's interest through masterfully persuasive speech. The organization gradually grew radicalized and eventually renamed itself the "Arlos Temple Cult."

Here is why they are considered an evil cult: Setting up their base deep in the mountains, they began kidnapping young children from towns and villages to grow their follower count.

The abducted children were misled by Arlos's smooth rhetoric, gradually losing all doubt regarding the cult's ideology. Thus, a "nation" with Arlos as its autocratic sovereign was complete.

By the way, I awakened to the memories of my past life shortly after being kidnapped. It was a hopeless start right from the beginning.

As their immoral actions became known to the world, the Kenneth Orthodox Church and the state designated the Arlos Temple Cult as an evil cult. Since then, conflicts have broken out everywhere, with civilian casualties continuing to spread.

A religious organization that repeatedly abducts and brainwashes children—and occasionally assassinates anyone in their way.

So? Sounds pretty terrible, right?

That's right, it's terrible. Someone please save me.

When I was around ten years old, I actually planned an escape from the facility. After all, I had original knowledge of the game and understood the layout of the cult's grounds.

You can probably guess how it went without me telling you—the guards caught me red-handed. The instructor lectured me, saying, "We are teaching you Arlos-sama's doctrines for your own sake," and confined me for three days, utterly crushing my spirit to escape.

Now that I've completed the brainwashing curriculum and been raised as a rank-and-file soldier, I still want to escape, but I can't bring myself to take that decisive step. Part of it is trauma from that confinement, and another part is that being under the executives' watchful eyes makes it impossible to even plan an escape.

And from here on out, I'm bound to get involved even deeper with the cult—just a moment ago, Yoanne ordered my reassignment. To put it simply, I've been promoted from a nameless mob soldier to the dedicated role of a Marker.

A Marker, as the name implies, is a target holder—a nickname for the person carrying a piece of Yoanne's flesh.

Yoanne's main fighting style combines sheer brute force in hand-to-hand combat with throwing objects weighing tens of kilograms. She possesses the ability to sense the exact location of her own flesh, allowing her to hurl boulders or artillery shells directly at the Marker. The impact is powerful enough to scoop out terrain within a dozen meters—more than enough force to obliterate a person.

Furthermore, if she throws her severed head at a Marker, she can regenerate her body at the point of impact, effectively "teleporting." In that sense, carrying a Marker is mandatory whenever executing operations with Yoanne.

Originally, Marker duty was assigned randomly and fluidly. Last time, it just happened to land on me by chance, but starting today, it has become my exclusive role.

What happens if I die? Well, I suppose the Marker role will just go back to a random rotation then.

"Ocree. Hold onto this for now."

"Understood."

"It's my earlobe."

"...Understood."

And so, I obtained a piece of Yoanne's flesh to act as her Marker. I really don't want this.

Her earlobe was still warm. I was hit by the terrifying illusion that it was twitching. Since being handed a raw chunk of flesh was sickening, I decided to place Yoanne's meat inside a box-shaped pendant.

By the way, this pendant is a piece of trash handed out upon completing the educational curriculum. Wearing it around your neck serves as proof of being an Arlos Temple Cultist, and inserting a photo of Leader Arlos's face inside is highly recommended.

Seeing me stuff her earlobe into the pendant, Yoanne stared at my hands with an intrigued expression.

"You... care that much about a part of me..."

I couldn't hear what she said at the very end, but I had a bad feeling about it.

"Hey, Ocree."

"Yes?"

"That earlobe... you can think of it as my alter ego."

That's a unfunny joke. It's not an alter ego—it's literally a piece of you... I feel like throwing up.

"Thank you very much."

Since I couldn't brush off her joke, I replied with a plastered-on smile.

I hung the pendant around my neck, keeping it outside my clothes so it wouldn't touch my skin directly. Ah, I want to throw it away right now. It's sickening. I want to vanish.

Tomorrow, our mission to make up for our failure begins. While tracking down Celestia, who escaped, we are tasked with abducting enough children to replace the lost personnel. I've killed people before, but this is my first time being involved in a child abduction mission. The feeling that I'm fully turning into a cultist is impossible to shake off.

(Aaaah...! Even though I was thinking up all sorts of ways to fake my death during operations and desert the cult!! Out of all people, I got caught by Yoanne, who can long-distance teleport whenever she wants!! And on top of that, I have to keep this 'Marker' on me at all times... What am I supposed to do now?!!)

Yoanne Sagamix is a girl who looks good purely on the surface.

A blue wolf cut, a split tongue, and a petite, skinny frame where you can see her ribs. Yet she's stacked. First-time players are practically guaranteed to be charmed.

...Of course, to hardcore players, she is an object of absolute terror. After 'teleporting', a fanservice scene always plays where she ends up completely naked, but rather than being happy about her nude body, the shock and fear of an enemy executive 'teleporting' in takes over completely.

And don't forget: entering her route guarantees confinement and limb amputation. It's a famous story among players, but if you try to pivot to another heroine's route right before entering hers... she'll say something like, "So you're the one who did bad things!" and rip your groin open like a banana peel to kill you!!

They even thoughtfully prepared a dedicated CG variation for it, driving male players out of their minds. Combined with the voice actress's passionate performance, I couldn't even look directly at the screen back then.

(I want to defect to the Orthodox side. But Celestia saw my face, so that's hopeless. Sigh...)

"Lady Yoanne, what do you plan to do now?"

"I'm resting today."

"I see. Thank you for your hard work."

"Mm."

After glancing at my chest multiple times, Yoanne vanished somewhere with quick steps.

Finally released from the immense pressure and fear, I let out a long, deep sigh. I fanned my collar to let out the hot air from my cold sweat, then began searching for the meaning behind her final action.

"...Was she looking at this pendant? Maybe putting it inside here was a bad idea..."

Did I offend her, perhaps?

I mean, I stuffed a chunk of raw flesh into a pendant, but what else was I supposed to do with it? I couldn't just shove it into my pocket. I don't know if there's any proper etiquette for this, but that might have been rude too.

Maybe it would have been better if I ate the chunk of flesh, became the Marker myself, and said, "Now we are one in body and soul"?

(If I said that, entering her route would be 100% unavoidable. Or would she just find it creepy instead? Either way, I am NEVER doing that.)

I looked up at the old castle from the residential area at the foot of the mountain. From the base of the mountain to the surrounding forest, everything was the cult's private territory—a small autocratic state enclosed by high walls and moats. For those who were brainwashed, it was the ultimate environment where they could serve the executives and Leader Arlos. For those not fully brainwashed, the constant fear of being reported created an extreme environment where everyone monitored each other.

If I cling to Leader Arlos, maybe there's salvation. If I follow him, I might receive blessings—if things go well, I might even gain power like the executives.

—Arlos was exceptionally skilled at planting that single ray of hope in people. The minds of somewhat normal cultists oscillated in the middle, grew exhausted, and gradually dyed in darkness.

"I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay..."

Sometimes, I ran into cultists on the verge of going mad like this. Cultists were not a monolith. In fact, the nameless mobs aside from the executives could be considered victims themselves.

...They would be used as disposable rank-and-file soldiers and die in the near future. I wanted to save them somehow, but there was no way. Neither I nor they had awakened to magic power.

To awaken to magic power, one must be recognized and blessed by a 'Lord' who gathers the faith of the people—whether from God in the Kenneth Orthodox Church, or from Leader Arlos in the Arlos Temple Cult. Those recognized by their respective 'Lords' hold the executive seats in each faction.

After compounding poison to coat my arrowheads, I lay down on my back to sleep in the crowded communal quarters.

(...If I can't escape the cult, maybe I could climb the ranks to executive and take over as leader instead... No, that's impossible. Everyone, including Yoanne, is completely devoted to Arlos.)

While rolling around thinking about such things, I lost consciousness before I knew it. Even when trying to look for hope, all I could see was despair. The next morning brought the absolute worst awakening.

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