How the Cult Saves the World

As we arrived at the northern border of Bahano, the guards stopped our carriage.

"Hello."

I greeted them with a smile. They were surprised and straightened their posture, then bowed their heads to me.

"Oh, Leader! How are you?"

The influence of the Leader of Kyros Church was stronger than I thought in Bahano.

"Where are you going?"

"I have something to see."

"I see. Well, okay. Please go ahead."

Without any further explanation, the guards let our carriage pass easily.

"As expected of the Leader!"

Katu looked at me with shining eyes. It wasn't such a big deal, though.

We didn't go far before our carriage stopped. Our destination was the 'Black Moon Lake'. It was a dangerous area, but it wasn't far from the northern border of Bahano, so it didn't take much time to get there.

"Thank you."

I handed some money to the coachman and looked around.

'Now we have no other means of transportation, so I guess I have to ask Troy.'

I felt sorry and hesitated to say anything. Then Troy transformed into a black panther on his own.

"Master, I'm fine, so get on."

Troy knew that the distance to Black Moon Lake was quite long and he was considerate of us.

"Thank you always, Troy."

"No. I will always assist the Master, so there's no need to apologize or thank me."

He was so kind.

---He's truly my child.

I grabbed Troy's soft fur and climbed onto his broad back. Zain followed me naturally. He used to be scared of Troy, but he seemed to have adapted by now.

"Wow! Troy is a Mont tribe!"

And Katu looked at Troy with bright eyes. He examined Troy from all angles and then smiled brightly and followed us onto Troy's back.

"Wow, thank you so much, Troy!"

"It's nothing. Hold on tight. We're leaving now."

After Katu settled in, Troy started running.

The black panther's sprint cut through the barren land without hesitation. I couldn't even open my eyes properly and held onto Troy's fur tightly.

"Woah! This is so fun!"

Katu's innocent voice of joy reached my ears. Zain, on the other hand, seemed to be speechless.

Thanks to Troy's sprint, we were able to reach the vicinity of Black Moon Lake in no time.

Troy stopped and we got off him. Then Troy returned to his human form.

"That's Black Moon Lake over there."

"Yeah, I can see that."

I could tell without Zain's explanation.

Black Moon Lake was a bit far away, but it was so wide that I couldn't see the whole thing at once.

It looked like a sea, and that was our destination.

---The terrain around here is strange.

'Indeed. It doesn't look like a lake shore...'

As Kyros said, the terrain around Black Moon Lake was bizarre. There were lush grasses growing everywhere, but there were also pillars of stone rising up here and there.

They varied in size and shape, and they looked like they were artificially made at a glance.

I knew it wasn't ordinary from seeing it on the game screen, but it was even stranger in reality.

"Grrr."

As I looked around for a moment, a nasty cry came from behind a stone pillar as tall as a building.

'I knew it wasn't quiet.'

Black Moon Lake was a place where you had to beat up a lot of monsters to get through for a quest.

I had hoped for the best, but of course I couldn't pass by quietly.

"Be careful, everyone."

I took out the holy mace from my inventory and told my companions. Zain and Troy quickly got into battle mode, and Katu took out the hammer he had been carrying on his back.

"One-horned orcs."

Zain said as he saw the monsters coming out from behind the stone pillar. They were dark green orcs with one horn. They were about two meters tall, taller than me.

"Orcs are dull but strong, so you have to avoid their attacks."

I nodded at Zain's explanation.

---My little bird, be strong!

'Don't worry.'

I answered Kyros and lifted my foot. Then six orcs charged at us.

Thud, thump, thud!

The ground shook as if there was an earthquake from the heavy orcs' charge. I barely kept my balance and hit the abdomen of the orc that ran at me first.

Splurt!

"Ugh!"

The orc vomited green fluid. Yuck, it got all over my mace.

I pulled out my mace in a hurry, and the one-horned orc that was attacked by me rolled on the ground.

Whizz- thwack!

An arrow imbued with power hit the eye of the orc that was behind it.

"Kraaak!"

Another orc fell with a scream of pain, and Troy attacked another one with his sharp claws.

Splurt! Thwack!

Then Katu joined the battle and hit the orc's leg.

Swoosh-!

I quickly jumped into the air and swung my mace at the one-horned orcs without stopping.

"Haa."

The battle ended quickly thanks to our combined attack. The orcs all lay on the ground, breathless.

"Huff, huff. You all, huff, really, huff, fight well!"

Katu breathed heavily and smiled at us. Sweat dripped from his forehead.

"Phew, I was so nervous that my hands are still shaking."

Come to think of it, Katu had never fought before. He was clearly soaked in sweat from the tension.

"Brother, you don't have to join the fight if you don't want to."

I spoke to Katu with a merciful smile. We three had done all the fighting this time as well.

"No, no! This is for saving my brother. I can't just sit back, haha."

"Still, don't push yourself too hard."

"Yes, yes. Don't worry!"

He had such a likable personality. I thought so as I brushed off the orc's fluid from my mace.

Then I saw Zain collecting the horns of the one-horned orcs.

"Zain, what are you going to do with those?"

Troy, who was watching Zain, couldn't help but ask. Zain put the orc's horns in his bag and retorted disdainfully.

"The horns of the one-horned orcs are used as medicinal ingredients. They're worth quite a bit."

"Zain, you're really resourceful."

He said so, but Troy's expression didn't show any sincerity.

Even after the battle with the one-horned orcs, more monsters attacked us. From three-tailed scorpions to desert rabbits.

We fought every monster we encountered. Katu dropped out in the middle, but he wasn't a significant number to begin with, so we didn't lose any strength.

The only real problem was that there were so many monsters that Zain was exhausted, and Troy seemed to have consumed a lot of stamina.

After the battle was somewhat over, I handed them healing potions.

"Drink. They also have fatigue recovery effects."

"Do I have to?"

Zain looked at me with a 'You're wasting this expensive thing on fatigue recovery? How much money do you have!' look, but I shook my head firmly.

Thankfully, Troy drank the healing potion on his own. Now that their stamina was somewhat restored, it was time to move.

As soon as the brief rest was over, the battle continued. We killed the endless stream of monsters and gradually approached Black Moon Lake.

Just when we had killed five three-tailed scorpions,

"This is...!"

Katu had found something. It was an object stuck in the gap of a stone pillar. It was a necklace made of various animal and monster teeth.

"It's Lufu's tooth necklace!"

Katu picked it up and looked at me.

"He must have left it here as a sign for me to find him! He must be around here!"

"Okay, brother. Calm down. If you raise your voice, more monsters will come."

I calmed down the excited Katu. Katu nodded and put the necklace in his chest.

We quietly continued our search. We dealt with the occasional monsters and finally reached Black Moon Lake.

The Black Moon Lake looked like an endless sea up close. But the water of the lake was so dark that it didn't feel like it was of this world.

I felt a creepy feeling that if I fell into the lake, I would never come back.

---My child, be careful. There's something in there.

'Yes. I'll be careful.'

Kyros had a good sense. He realized that there was something sinister under the lake even though it was his first time here. But... yeah, I didn't want to face it either.

As I looked at the lake water, Katu's scream rang out.

"...Lufu!"

In the center of Black Moon Lake, there was a large rock sticking out. On top of it, there was a nest-like structure made of various grasses and branches, and there was a dwarf who looked just like Katu.

"How can this be, Lufu!"

Katu cried and threw himself towards the Black Moon Lake.

"Calm down, brother."

If I hadn't grabbed his arm, Katu would have already fallen into the lake.

"Lufu is right there!"

"Brother. Calm down. First of all, there might be monsters in this lake, so we have to be careful."

"But Lufu is right in front of me... What if he's badly hurt, or already dead?"

Katu sobbed and pleaded. Then, Troy grabbed Katu's shoulder.

"Don't worry. Fortunately, your brother is alive. He doesn't seem to have any serious injuries."

"Don't get too excited, dwarf brother. This guy is a Mont tribe. He has exceptional vision and smell, so he must be telling the truth."

Zain also calmed Katu down, and then Katu finally settled down.

"...I see. That's a relief. And I'm sorry, Leader."

"No, brother."

Well, the problem now was how to save Lufu.

As I pondered over the distant Lufu, Zain spoke first.

"People avoid Black Moon Lake not only because of the number of monsters around, but..."

Zain looked at the lake and continued.

"Because of the 'Black Moon Bear' that lives in the lake. That nest in the middle also belongs to the Black Moon Bear."

"Zain, how do you know that so well? You're smart."

"Well, this kind of information is common sense. The biggest reason I didn't want to come here in the first place was because of that thing."

Black Moon Lake was quite famous, so many people knew about it. Troy didn't seem to know, though. That was possible.

"Yes. There's a fearsome bear in this lake."

Katu also nodded and said.

"Yes. I also read about the bear in a book. And we have to kill the Black Moon Bear to save Lufu, brother."

Lufu was in the middle of the lake. We couldn't cross without killing the monster that lived in the lake.

Bubbling.

Then, bubbles started to rise from the lake near where we were standing.

"Everyone, back off!"

Everyone backed away at my shout. I clenched my mace and watched the lake.

Splash-

At that moment, the dark lake water parted and the 'Black Moon Bear' finally showed itself.

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