Reincarnated as a Cultist Mob - Chapter 4

 We Love the Cult Leader! Everyone Gets Along! A Friendly Workplace!

Mornings in the cult come early.

Late to bed, early to rise, lacking sleep. One meal a day—a truly healthy lifestyle.

But... but still! Everyone can push through if it's for Arlos-sama, right?! Serving Arlos-sama is the ultimate joy! Working without rest or pay to serve such a miraculous existence is something to be thrilled about, isn't it?!

Here's some good news!

Wow! If you become an executive, your working conditions get better! Plus, you get granted magic, allowing you to work yourself to the bone for him even more efficiently!

"ARLOS-SAMA IS THE BESTーーーー!!!!"

Waking up in the crisp morning air, I stepped outside and shouted at the top of my lungs, hoping for an echo. As if agreeing with my sentiment, vast nature itself echoed my words right back at me four whole times.

"Ah~ the best, the best..."

I continued to openly vent my frustration.

When a large group of people is crammed into a tiny, dilapidated shack, deep sleep is a fantasy. That said, if you sleep outside, wild dogs or wolves that occasionally show up will take a bite out of you. Consequently, the interpersonal relationships among us mobs are terrible. The toilets are smelly and filthy. The food tastes awful. Some colleagues are on the brink of depression or madness, but most of them just disappear eventually. Ah, what a wonderful workplace!

Honestly, the only solace in this world is getting to admire untouched nature up close. Since my only free time is in the early morning before anyone else wakes up, I don't really have anything you could call a hobby.

Gazing into the distance, a thick fog hung over the dim landscape. The mountain silhouette was blurred, making it hard to judge distance. It was foggy enough that things turned hazy just ten meters away.

Hmm, today's weather is absolutely perfect for kidnapping children. I stretched comfortably and loosened my spine. Just as I was about to hurl another shout at this crappy world, someone tapped my shoulder from behind without making a single sound.

"Yo, Ocree."

"Goo——Good morning, Lady Yoanne!!"

Yoanne, who was standing behind me before I even realized it, greeted me with a smile so refreshing it looked like a scene out of a youth drama. I dropped to my knees with enough force to look like I was bowing in deep apology.

That was close. I was literally a second away from screaming something about Yoanne. A sound like I was being choked came out of my throat.

Seeing me like that, Yoanne directed a smile toward me that undoubtedly belonged to a beautiful girl. Stop it, that's way too scary.

"It's foggy out—a great day for kidnapping."

Look at you talking like, 'Hehe, what a breezy day today!' Thinking that today is a "great day for kidnapping" just by looking at this weather... it's a genuine shock that her thought process matches mine. I really didn't want to think of the exact same words, even as a joke.

"Haha, I was thinking the exact same thing. What a coincidence."

"...I-I see. We really are on the same wavelength..."

Yoanne covered her mouth and squirmed slightly. Speaking as someone who was completely unpopular in my past life, I could tell—her affection for me just dropped. She definitely sealed her mouth before she could say "gross." Please, let her affection keep dropping at this rate. Though... dropping too much wouldn't be good either.

"By the way, Ocree, do these clothes suit me today?"

...Huh? What kind of question is that?

"...Lady Yoanne's clothes? Of course they suit you very well."

Yoanne was wearing a black cloak—the worn-out robe for regular cultists that I had draped over her to cover her naked body the other day—over a dress shirt and a skirt. Usually, her clothes get torn to shreds in battle, but she joins every operation in this exact style. Meta-wise, it was probably just too difficult for the developers to prepare different standing artwork for every scene.

"I-I see. That's good then. Nnn... fu... ............"

After trembling for a moment, Yoanne suddenly went dead quiet and stared down at my limbs as if licking them with her eyes. Hands, elbows, shoulders. Then feet, knees, and thighs in order. Her wide-open, spiral-patterned eyes moved at high speed.

Then, as if leaking out unintentionally, she muttered in a voice barely audible to me:

"—This... might be in the way..."

Her tone was utterly devoid of emotion.

"...Eh?"

"Ah, no. It's nothing. Don't worry about it..."

H-Hey... you just said I was "in the way," didn't you? Terrifying. She really does hate me. Feeling a primal instinctual fear from that remark, I excused myself by telling the mob cultists sleeping in the shack, "I'll go wake everyone up," and ran.

I shoved my upper body through the entrance curtain and yelled at the top of my lungs, enough to burst everyone's eardrums.

"Hey, wake up you guys! How dare you wake up later than Lady Yoanne!! Did you forget we're going to the village today to snatch people?!"

Before bothering Yoanne further, I pounded awake the regular cultists who were sleeping like logs.

"Ocree is right. If you don't wake up fast, I'll kill you~"

That statement isn't a joke coming from her. There's a massive difference between a cute child saying it jokingly and a high-power psycho cultist saying it with terrifying gravity. Awakened by Yoanne's husky voice, the mobs showed off the dark circles under their eyes and began preparing for the expedition.

How many innocent children will be kidnapped today? And will they die unrewarded in the future, just like us?

Just as we are suffering now, the negative chain reaction continues.

『Safe travels, everyone.』

"We're heading out, Cult Leader!"

Seen off by Leader Arlos's eerie mask, we finally set off on our kidnapping mission.

Departing from our private territory, our cult platoon dragged three carriages meant for shoving children into, rattling along the unpaved road.

The platoon consisted of about twenty people. Due to overworked conditions, we suffered from a chronic labor shortage. Combined with the brutally harsh environment, while the passionate cultists and Yoanne were energetic, the exhausted cultists were already falling asleep inside the carriages.

Inside the carriages, torture equipment and a tiny amount of food were packed tightly... and it wasn't my imagination: there wasn't even enough food for a round trip. Despite having plenty of money from repeated plunderings, they didn't bother feeding the bottom-feeders.

Unaware of my thoughts—or perhaps doing it knowingly—Yoanne began distributing preserved rations to the cultists. Bone-dry jerky and crushed bread that was hard as a rock. It felt like my back teeth were going to give up.

"Here, how about you over there? It's going to be tough ahead if you don't eat."

"...I don't want it..."

"Is that so~"

A cultist who looked to be at his absolute limit rejected the food Yoanne offered. His body was skin and bones, completely emaciated—looking just like a Grim Reaper.

...He might die during this operation. I chewed on the jerky again and again with my molars, pondering the brutally cruel lifespan of a mob.

In this cult, ninety percent of mobs live in a cycle of: Brainwashing Education -> Development -> Mission -> Death. Active duty starts at age twelve during peak physical growth, and there's a custom that high-risk missions start from age fifteen.

Furthermore, the executives seem to expect each person to bring in at least one replacement before they die. There are several ways to expand the cult, but the standard methods are Kidnapping Children, Scouting, or Human Trafficking.

In short, even if one person dies, as long as two more are added, the cult can keep expanding. Even if field numbers are insufficient, as long as the current cycle keeps turning (or as long as the executives believe it is), they won't change this method.

And so, those at their limits—like that emaciated man—die off. It's organizational metabolism. Only the few survivors or fanatical believers can climb to executive seats.

Now, you might think: If executives can use healing magic, wouldn't using it on subordinates lower the mortality rate...?

To clarify about executive healing magic: it exerts maximum effectiveness when used on oneself, but yields poor results on others. In other words, super-regeneration on a self-resurrection level is impossible for anyone else. If you sustain a fatal wound, you die even if an executive is right next to you.

Well, if they could use powerful healing magic on others, the original game balance would crumble. The post-apocalyptic state of the world barely holds together because only these monsters possess self-healing.

Actually, no, it doesn't hold together at all. Because of healing magic, a massive gap exists between mobs and named characters.

"Ocree, do you want this jerky I bit into?"

"You jest."

Since we were traveling through the forest in thick fog, the scenery remained completely unchanged. Bored, Yoanne tried to initiate conversation, but my butt hurt too much from the rattling carriage, so I gave half-hearted replies.

Seeing me like this, a few (relatively energetic) mob cultists started whispering.

"That guy Ocree... he's really favored by Lady Yoanne, isn't he..."

"Must be nice. I wish I could receive her favor too..."

What part of this is enviable? To me, all executives are equally terrifying individuals I don't want to get near or involve myself with. They possess firepower equivalent to decisive tactical weapons. Plus, with mentalities impossible for normal people to comprehend, you never know when they'll explode. Avoiding them as much as possible is the best policy.

Now then, the village we were heading toward had a population of around three hundred. The reason Yoanne was accompanying such a petty mission—aside from making up for our previous failure—was that spies embedded across the country reported: "Celestia is on standby at a defense outpost beyond this village."

Seeing a chance to slaughter Celestia, Yoanne was fired up.

Our Arlos Temple Cult's goals are expanding influence and eradicating other religions. There couldn't be a more logical mission than this.

Alright, time to go snatch some kids~

Parking the carriages near the village, we drew our weapons briskly and entered the village.

"Hmm?"

Nobody was there. Not a single soul inside any of the houses.

Just as we realized this, a single figure stood in the fog. Yoanne narrowed her eyes.

"What a pity for you."

As a voice clear as a ringing bell echoed, a scream erupted from behind. Turning around, the man guarding the horses was slashed across the back, dying on the spot. Before we knew it, we were completely surrounded by Orthodox forces.

Yoanne and I instantly realized the truth.

The report that Celestia was waiting at the defense outpost was a lie. Celestia, a wind mage, had used this dense fog to set a trap for us.

Judging by the situation, their interception force was fully prepared.

We had been lured right into an ambush.

Without any pre-battle dialogue between executives, a merciless slaughter began. The dull twang of bowstrings signaled the start of full-scale combat.

"Gah!"

"Argh!"

Countless arrows rained down from beyond the fog, skewering our foot soldiers in an instant. It seemed we were hopelessly outnumbered as well. They intended to completely wipe us out without even allowing a counterattack.

I hid in the shadows to ride out the rain of arrows. Visibility was awful due to the fog, making it impossible to gauge enemy numbers. Should I use the fog to escape from both Yoanne and the Orthodox army...? No, impossible. I had the Marker on me, and we were completely surrounded.

"To be fed fake information... no wonder it felt too convenient."

"W-What should we do, Lady Yoanne!! Save us!!"

No! I don't want to die! For the first time, I voiced my true feelings to Yoanne. In response, her eyes turned quietly cold. To remain completely unfazed in a situation like this... she really is a different species.

"It's not all bad news. Having Celestia right here just proves my luck is in."

"A-Are you planning to slay Celestia alone...?"

"Of course. And I'll finish this without getting it dirty."

"Eh?"

Yoanne took a long, deep breath, then exhaled skyward with incredible force.

"EH?!"

Her massive lung capacity actually blew away the fog, instantly revealing the total enemy count: forty-five.

No way, she never used a galaxy-brain move like that in the original game... My mind couldn't even keep up with the absurdity.

"Celestiaaa! Found youーー!!"

"...Well, having you escape under cover of fog would be more troublesome. In that case, let us clear it all away."

Silver hair. Purple eyes. A figure whose incredible proportions were clear even over a habit. The wind mage—Celestia—finally revealed herself. Waving her hand, she blew away the fog within a several-hundred-meter radius and ordered her subordinates to continue attacking.

"So you came as well. I would be delighted if both of you died here."

For a brief moment, our eyes met.

"...A fine wind is blowing today."

(Crap, something's coming!!)

Sensing danger, I leaped backward. Yoanne, whose evasion was slightly delayed, had the entire left side of her torso blown away by a mass of wind. It was an immediate blitz attack unseen in her previous fight, but there was no way I could dodge it while Yoanne couldn't.

(Yoanne's reaction was delayed for a split second? Why...?)

"Her movement stopped! Fire, fire!!"

Arrows poured into Yoanne one after another. Slowly standing up, she regenerated her missing left side while heading toward the cloak that had been blown backward. Clasping the tattered rag of a robe with trembling hands, Yoanne collapsed on the spot like a young girl who had just broken her favorite toy.

(W-What are you doing at a time like this?! Who cares about that robe!!)

"...Pitiful child. I shall grant you peace immediately."

Speaking in a deeply sorrowful voice, Celestia began unleashing magic at Yoanne's defenseless back.

Taking magic and arrows to her back, Yoanne still didn't strike back. Even as her head was completely blown apart and her spine was exposed, she kept hugging that robe tight.

Regrowing her head once more, tears streamed from Yoanne's eyes.

"I have finally remembered that you, too, are human."

"............"

"If you will not resist, all the better. Die while clinging to that rag."

"...I'll kill you."

Something had crossed the line. Leaving a shockwave in her wake, Yoanne leaped forward at blind speed. Blown away by the shockwave without understanding what was happening, I plunged headfirst into a stack of hay and lost consciousness.

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