Viers told Farley to sit again to continue their conversation. There were still many things he wanted to talk about.
This explains why Farley recruited me to the cult. According to her mother, I would only be a wandering existence and passed her by if she didn’t reach out first. And indeed it seemed to be the case. If she didn’t recruit me, I would finish my year at the Training Center then journey around the world, not tangling myself with this cult and church business. Farley’s mother is not so simple… perhaps she had some special bloodline or something similarly cliché.
“Now that I have decided to help you, I want to know about our target. In a few years I definitely will have enough raw power to easily clear this dilemma. Unfortunately, time is not on our side. What can you tell me about your father?” Viers put his elbow on the table while supporting his chin with his palm.
“Benjamin Styria, the leader of Luxore branch Cult of Dumuzin. A former level 3 Path-seeker, he leveled down because of an old injury. One thing worthy of note is that the injury also damaged his vitality. Although he’s about 40 years old, his appearance is someone at 80 years old. He needed a wheelchair to move around and often bedridden. That’s why August handled the cult’s matter since a few years ago.”
“Whoa, someone that old and still have level 2 power? What a tough old dude,” commented Viers after realizing a decrypt fossil as his first kill contract.
“Yeah, father’s vitality problem would make it a lot easier to target his life. I even though that even if I died this winter, he won’t live for much longer. At first, I thought the main problem is how to deal with the cultists and my siblings to get to him… This all changed recently.” Farley’s voice took a turn for worse.
“Ah… my loot?”
“Yes, one of the things we got from your hidden treasure, the medicine pill helped him tremendously. It didn’t heal him completely but he’s much better than before. He still looked like an old man but he’s no longer married to his bed. He could walk around and his body could use the strength of a level 2 Path-seeker now.”
Naturally, the thing Farley talked about was the medicine he plundered from the woman that fought with the bull. The light user flying woman that Viers stabbed in the throat.
“So he got some of his strength back and added a few years to his dwindling life… There should be about three pills left, did he ate them all already?” Viers asked.
“I’m not sure, it could be he ate only one or already ate them all. I’m not privy to such information.”
Viers took a deep breath and adjusted his sitting position.
“That pill healed me from a fatal wound. What a shame it fell to the hands of a mid-boss… among other things,” words couldn't convey the regret in Viers’ heart.
“I’m sorry, mid-boss?” Farley asked clarification.
“Just a simple analogy from my homeland, don’t think too much of it.”
“Yes, My Lord.”
“There’s no need for that, just treat me usually. I’m not big on manners and etiquette. Treating me as your lord will invite unnecessary attention.”
“…Okay Viers,” Farley followed his proposal.
“That reminds me, what about the other things of my treasure?” Viers got curious about his former buried treasure.
“Actually, we’re still not sure about most of those things are. The materials are very high level but we can’t really utilize it. The earrings seem to be a normal accessory, other than the fact even an enchanted hammer couldn’t damage it in the slightest. The spear is abnormally sharp but we couldn’t find any hidden abilities that a magic item should have. The other things are clearly from a high-level monster material but we couldn’t really find the use of it.”
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“The monster core clearly the most special out of them all but I’m afraid you don’t really understand the value of it. If words spread that the Dumuzin Cult in Luxore have a tier 5 or higher monster core, the whole Coalition would swarm us like bees to honey. Perhaps tens or hundreds of level 5s would come to take it from us. It would be a catastrophe, like a mountain of diamonds just fall from the sky and everyone wanted to have it. That’s why the monster core, sapphire, and silk were kept secret very tightly for the time being. Possessing a wealth you cannot keep often mean a curse than a boon.”
Viers was in deep thought after listening to Farley’s story.
As I thought, the bull should be an absurdly high-level monster since he had human-like intelligence. At least he should be a level 5 but I suspect he was higher than that. A level 6 or higher!
I’ve always wanted to get my things back from the cult. Thankfully I still got the chance. If Farley’s father successfully murdered, I can recover my buried treasure!
The bull Guo Song was a demigod with otherworldly power. If I followed the guidance of fate and accepted him as my spirit advisor like in those xianxia novels, those treasures would be my first start-up arsenal. Clearly high level but couldn’t be used until some plot points in the future. If I have Guo Song as my spirit advisor, I suspect he could use some method to make me keep the treasure instead of losing it to some random people. Alas, that is a story for another parallel timeline.
“OK, I got the image of him now. What are his abilities? What path he walked?” Viers crossed his arms and asked.
“He’s a fire Path-seeker. I only know in the past, he used to utilize black colored flames. He didn’t fight for a long time and any info on him is scarce.”
This reminds me of a certain MC who used all kinds of those fancy named flames, especially his famous Buddha lotus flames technique… Wow, it’s been a really long time since I read that novel, how nostalgic. I was just a teenager back then…
Viers let the nostalgia engulfed him for a few seconds before asking Farley again.
“So according to the prophecy, your father would be the cause of your and Gwen’s death. Any idea about the motives?”
“No, but I have a guess. I think it’s for a sacrificial ritual.”
“I see… yes, I could see his motives.”
So, so, so cliché. Either a ritual for restoring his health or for summoning a wish-granting demon, or even for just the sake of getting stronger. It’s a trope used in more than a thousand stories. How predictable.
While Viers was smirking in his head, Farley didn’t stop speaking.
“I think so because my mother was a victim of a ritual. Officially, she died because of an illness but because of my mother’s vision, I determined to seek the truth. I believed, he sacrificed my mother to sustain his life. My mother was growing weaker and weaker in a short span of time that winter. I surmise her vitality was taken.”
“…Vitality…” Viers mumbled, he would need to settle a debt about vitality tonight.
“What about your half-siblings? Why don’t you just spoke this to them and convince them to support you?”
“Father has fire element, August has lightning element, Monica has blood and Bernard has darkness. I don’t know their mother’s element but whatever it was, don’t you find it strange those three have rare elements?”
“Sure, but then again you people are members of an evil cult. I thought there should be a number of ways to make that happened.”
“Correct, but even an evil cult couldn’t conjure miracles without price,” Farley said with a stern voice.
“Let me guess, their mother’s life. Then using brainwashing and education from a young age to instill loyalty to your father.”
“I have been plotting this for two years and did some digging. Either they won’t betray their father or they can’t. Magical item effect, Suggestion embedding Arte, warped psyche, or whatever else. I don’t know the specifics but they will stand as enemies if we move against father.”
“If they’re so loyal to your father, why aren’t you like them? Why no blind loyalty?”
“I also think like them in the past. After mother’s passing and the letter she left behind, I started to see things differently.”
“And what’s that? They did evil things as cultists and must be stopped for the betterment of the world?” Viers asked, genuinely curious about her answer.
“…I don’t want to fight with my siblings, half-blooded or no. But if they defended the person who killed my mother and plotting to use mine and Gwen’s life for his gain, I will fight them. Gwen is the only true family I have left, I will protect her no matter the cost.”
“Ah, but what will Gwen think about this I wonder… she’s ten years old, yes? Will she be grateful for killing her father and other people she knew all her life?”
“…Her life comes first, if she resents me after that… I will shoulder it.” Farley looked a little sad as she said that.
Hmm, it seems Farley main objectives are Gwen first, revenge on her father or survival second. I’m not sure which drives her more.
Viers and Farley had been talking for a long time. He took this moment to drink a glass of water. Somehow, he felt this is an interview for a job application with him as the interviewer while Farley was applying for a job as his employee.
Job interview… hehe, I didn’t expect this happening in an isekai story.