Farley led Viers to a room, but contrary to Viers’s expectations, it wasn’t a room with a magic circle carved on the floor or a room with a fountain of blood in the center. It was a simple ordinary room like old Viers father's office. Behind a big wooden desk, a man was busy writing something. A single chair was put in front of the desk, the whole thing reminded Viers about a job interview that he went through in the past.
There were a total of five people in the room including Viers and Farley. The man behind the desk, a woman with a kind gaze on who stood on his right, and a young man with a scowling face who were leaning on the side wall.
“Farley, welcome back. It seems you brought us a new recruit, good work.” The man behind the desk stopped writing and addressed Farley.
“Brother August, it’s good to be back,” Farley replied.
“Farley, I missed you. Is this boy the one from your letters?” Asked the woman.
“Yes, sister.”
“He seems ordinary to me, he just got lucky.” The last stranger spoke with irritation in his voice.
“Let us no longer delay and address the main topic of this meeting.” The one Farley called August spoke.
“Welcome, Viers Isuel, to our humble manor. I’m August, the first son of Styra family and the vice-leader of the Luxore branch. This is the second daughter Monica and the third son Bernard. Please sit down… how much Farley has told you about the cult?”
August is a blonde-haired man in the late twenties. He had a composed face that oozed with serenity. His voice was deep and his gaze was sharp. He gave the impression that he was used to having a position above other people.
Monica was visibly younger than August, in her early twenties. Her brown hair was beautifully braided. Dark-colored eyes adorned her face, she had a beauty mark below her left eye. Her body was well-shaped with curves in the right places, the butterfly patterned dress that she wore wasn’t able to hide her curves. She seemed to be the kind older-sister type in Viers’s eyes.
Bernard was a tall and skinny man, also in his early twenties. His golden hair was cut crisp and short. Behind his black-rimmed glasses, two condescending eyes were scanning Viers from head to toe. He held a book with leather cover with his left hand.
“Just the basics, Dumuzin-” Viers sat before answering but the one called Bernard interrupted him.
“Lord, Dumuzin. Speak of your betters with more respect, boy!”
“…Lord Dumuzin is a Greater Devil. We advocate power and freedom. Our lord wants us to sow chaos in the world. We are enemies with the church and other cults. I’m supposed to fight the cult’s enemies and kill other humans after get my talent raised… that’s it.”
“Mmm, and what are your thought about our cause?” Aught nodded.
Viers looked into August’s eyes, trying to discern his intentions. Viers decided to answer his question frankly.
“I am forced to join a cult that was unknown to me until a few hours ago. I’ve got no attachment to your cult or your cause.” Viers said with a flat voice.
“You! Don’t you see our glorious-”
August stopped Bernard’s outburst by raising his hand, unlike the third son, August wasn’t offended.
“Reasonable, not everyone shares our views and values, especially after only a few hours. Calm yourself, brother, he wasn’t finished. There’s a ‘but’ in his sentence, am I right?”
“…But, I’m willing to fight your enemies as long as I am fairly rewarded for my efforts.”
“Mmm, many of our members have the same sentiment. We have no problem with that, contribute to our cause, achieve results, and you will be properly rewarded for your actions. Sign this parchment and you shall be considered one of us, do you have any other questions?”
Since August was offering, Viers didn’t refuse. Viers was silent for a few seconds to choose his questions.
“Luxore branch… so there are others.”
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“Of course, Dumuzin’s faithful are spread far and wide throughout the continent.”
“I assume my activity will be limited to Luxore and its surroundings, at least for the time being, am I correct?”
“Yes, we have no intention of moving you to other places for now.”
“Are we the most powerful organization in this town?”
“No, in Luxore, we are at the top and about equal with the church in terms of battle strength and influence. There are other cults and other underground organizations but as long as they don’t cross the line, we can tolerate them… because our manpower is already stretched thin as it is. Our main focus is battling the church and consolidates our power in this region.”
“…Suppose we won and gain superiority against the church in Luxore, won’t the church higher-ups will just send more powerful people here?”
“Indeed, they also have their own circumstances so it isn’t that simple. But that is certainly a possibility, in fact, it happened many times in the past. Which is why we don’t simply hammer the church in Luxore with our strongest forces. If we kill their people too much, they will simply get reinforcements from their headquarters, and those reinforcements, are no pushovers. There exist a balance in our war with the church that you will learn in time.”
Bernard started to tap the ground with his foot to show his impatience. Viers decided to no longer ask questions and took the parchment to read what was written there. There were only about three things, the first was about to not tell other people about the cult. The second was to not do anything detrimental to the cult as a whole. The third was about a breach of contract shall result in his death. Just like what Farley told him earlier, but Viers wasn't so easily convinced.
He checked each wording carefully like a veteran lawyer. He read the words more than ten times before he started to search for traps in the wording and hidden meanings. Viers made sure that there were no tiny writings on the parchment itself, in front and in the back. Viers checked the entirety of the parchment very meticulously. He didn’t want to suffer from vile tricks like those characters in other movies and books.
Naturally, this invoked the ire of Bernard but Viers ignored him. He read while stealing glances on the Styra siblings from time to time. While Bernard was fuming, Monica and Farley were talking in whispers, mostly just small talk and catching up, but August caught Viers’s attention.
August put his elbow on top of the desk and joined his hands together in front of his mouth and nose, silently examining Viers who sat right in front of him.
Add thirty years then give him a brown wig, a pair of white gloves, and glasses with shining lenses. Then this August will be the spitting image of a certain maniac that led an organization for killing angels. Since the cult enemies are the Goddess forces, maybe he will really be fighting angels in the future… His wife needs to die first though, and must have a son that really wimpy and abused and insecure and indecisive and… no no no, stop daydreaming and concentrate on the contract.
Even after making sure there were no traps Viers wasn’t convinced, he negotiated to make the wording more specific and add more clauses so any tampering or hidden writing made the contract invalid. It took some time but Viers was satisfied in the end and signed the contract, and the evil cult didn’t disappoint him for he needed to sign with his blood.
“That’s certainly very thorough inspection, I assure you there were no traps in the contract but I suppose you won’t believe me. Nevertheless, you signed and have now become one of us, I welcome you once again to the Cult of Dumuzin with my capacity as vice-leader.”
“Welcome, it’s nice to have young blood for our cause.” Said Monica.
“Humph, don’t screw up.” Bernard snorted.
“Welcome, as I said before, you won’t regret this.” Farley gave him a genuine smile.
That was it for the entrance ceremony. Viers thought it would be more religious and ominous but since he didn't wish for complicated things, he didn't complain. Viers was glad that apparently he didn’t have to get tattooed or the like.
“Now we shall proceed to the next part, we will upgrade your water affinity. Your current affinity of two… we will turn it into four.”
Hearing August's words, Viers felt very elated and excited. His heart was beating faster because of the anticipation, but he didn’t lose himself in his joy.
“Raising someone’s affinity, isn’t a simple matter, correct?” Viers asked.
“Indeed, precious materials and resources are needed.”
“…Farley, what tier are your TRUE water affinity?” He asked her.
“I know you would realize, I'm actually tier 4,” Farley said followed by soft giggles.
“Since your own sister wasn’t tier 5 yet, that means raising affinity wasn’t a simple matter even for you guys. It wasn’t a regular treatment for new recruits, yes?”
“Correct, Farley was right, at least your head isn’t a decoration. Unlike so many of our new recruits lately.” August nodded while smiling.
“And so I must ask, why you gave me such extravagance for my recruitment? And don’t tell me because I saved Farley earlier, I know she didn’t really need my help to survive. In fact, why Farley even recruited me? Somewhat forcefully even, I’m not someone of ability nor of great influence. I’m just the child of a somewhat rich family in a small town.”
“Hmph, at least you have some self-awareness.” Bernard gave Viers a sarcastic smile.
“Correct again, your recruitment is entirely because of Farley. We have no hand in that. As for your luxurious treatment… Why, because you have made a big contribution to our cult. We simply did what should be done.” August returned to his previous pose, the ominous guy pose.
“…What do you mean?” Viers got a bad feeling.
“This.”
One of August’s rings brightened and a few items came out from it, the items clattered when hit the table. Viers felt as if someone threw a bucket of ice-cold water on his head.
“Without you, we would never acquire these. It’s rare for new recruits with as many merits in their name such as yours. You’ve certainly made a new record. Hahahaha.”
A blue crystal, a spear, two sapphire, a pair of earrings, a bottle with three pills, and a big bundle of blue silk.
It was his buried treasure.