I’m slowly chopping up Yasle’s memories and sending them to people.
Of course, memories aren’t neatly connected like scenes from a movie or a drama.
They’re more like a wiki. A person’s memory is a massive information lump made up of chunks and connections.
But it doesn’t come out in a nice, tidy package. When you pluck out the needed information from a memory, it doesn’t just yield the info you want; emotions and other pasts cling to it and come pouring out.
If I slice it too thin, I lose context somewhere and can’t grasp the overall meaning.
The good news is there are some rough partitions.
For instance, this edition might be about a first love letter, or that one is about a mortifying incident.
Among them, I gathered all the memory chunks related to the event that summoned me. I gave up on extracting specific information and am throwing out the entire memory, bit by bit.
But I’m not sure if it’s working.
So, I need to run some experiments.
*
A lot of time passed during the experiments.
Shall we sort out what happened in the meantime?
First, Tisah and the soldiers of Ansellus Kingdom learned about the terrible situation of the capital disappearing from Ansellus. They figured out that the cause was none other than Future Hope Church.
Wide, though clumsily, started to establish the kingdom.
He gathered people around him, demanded they crown him king, and used violence to seize resources. So, it was hard to miss what was happening around.
Honestly, Wide pretty much adopted the same system used by Future Hope Church.
But he doesn’t seem to realize that while religion and state may look similar, they’re quite different.
Since that’s all he’s learned, it can’t be helped.
In fact, what he learned reflects a distorted reality, and Tisah, who judged that to be strange, is clearly a heretic.
He sees through the truth without having learned it and runs toward the right direction. He’s an odd one, a type of person that typically doesn’t appear.
And people bestow titles like hero or great figure upon such individuals.
Regardless, Tisah and the Blessed Ones seemed likely to live well. Even if the methods are a bit different, overwhelming violence can cover that up.
But things are creaking more than expected.
The reason is pretty predictable.
The ones who could observe their surroundings previously all died, making it hard to grasp the situation.
It means they’ve lost the ability to see far.
It’s like a snowball rolling down a slope, gradually picking up speed.
And there’s an overlap of occurrences that became a big slope.
The enemies I had driven mad and killed before must have thought their end was nearing.
More and more people are trembling, fearing they might die suddenly.
If I were to compare it to a game, the fear of death is steadily lowering their mental stats, adversely affecting Wide’s rule. And in situations like this, a foe is needed.
It’s a way of projecting fear back outward as hatred or loathing.
It’s a method many rulers have used in the past.
And just in time, a foe is approaching.
To reclaim their nation, for the revenge of their fallen comrades.
Of course, not everyone in Ansellus thinks this way.
There are also those who move solely for their own greed or well-being.
Those are the lords. But each territory has people, situations, and loyalties of varied kinds.
Everyone knows that a troop full of superhumans is incredibly tough to handle. This is well known by those who went to the underground temple in Skad Stone Desert, as well as the lords.
To face them, they know they must gather soldiers from the surrounding territories and attack all at once.
So, they joined Tisah.
For their own desires.
Of course, I’m moving for my desires too.
Meanwhile, Andrew and Witga established a cult named Mira in the East. Based on the methods learned from Future Hope Church, they’re running a cult with a sophistication that greatly surpasses Wide’s awkward imitations.
I’m curious about what they’ll do next, but neither of them has received my blessings, so it’s hard to know right away.
It’s a bit frustrating not knowing what the two leading figures are thinking.
But Andrew and Witga both have underlings. Blessed ones at that.
So, I can observe their actions. Moreover, they explain to their subordinates what they plan to do next. Even if what they say isn’t the entirety of their plans, it’s not difficult to speculate on their next steps.
Andrew learned how to run a cult more elegantly from Future Hope Church and is filled with thoughts on trying it out.
Witga desires to invade Cogni Kingdom. Before I accidentally wiped out a few people, one of the Blessed Ones who could see far informed me of what Wide was doing.
So, Yasle’s death and the absence of those bestowing blessings is known.
But no one can see far anymore.
No map hacks.
They need to light up the map once again as they move forward.
I just remembered something that hasn’t been revealed yet: I also don’t know the whereabouts of Rebecca Rolfe and Hyungkesuni.
They’re probably living somewhere, right?
In that way, I watched people while gradually unraveling Yasle’s knowledge.
In the middle of it, I thought maybe I was expanding the capacity too quietly, so I made a significant leap and failed again.
A few Blessed Ones got messed up this time too.
They’re now confused about who they are. But they don’t think of themselves as Yasle. They act like they’ve suddenly developed severe dementia, unable to recognize people or things and spouting nonsensical words.
Their actions also get bizarrely tangled, stumbling over a floor with nothing.
It’s like symptoms of dementia.
So, I hurriedly modified the experiment.
I retrimmed the memories I was sending.
I lost some valuable individuals.
But it wasn’t all bad.
Successful cases began to appear one by one.
Of course, they haven’t reached the level of summoning me.
But someone appeared who could use the magic Yasle utilized. After sending all memories, I thought they’d be able to do something, but even before I managed to send a fraction, they somehow used his techniques.
I couldn’t understand the entirety of Yasle’s memories from start to finish. Yet, it seems they deciphered and began to utilize the techniques Yasle was using, based on just a portion of the knowledge I provided.
Sure, from Yasle’s standpoint, it’s a very rudimentary technique, but the important part is they used it.
They’ve taken a step closer.
This means I can instill Yasle’s memories and rise once more.
Hehe.
I can go back up again.
If I manage to go further, whether it’s a cult or any organization or individual, creating an environment where warmth can be supplied will be a challenge.
But at least it’s better than not being able to go at all.
If so, I have to work hard to persuade people to gain warmth.
Can’t I brainwash them if I can feed them information?
Fortunately or unfortunately, people with strong selves aren’t influenced by me. In the first place, changing their bodies is all that it takes to bestow blessings.
So, trying to brainwash them after bestowing blessings carries significant risk.
When caught, there’s no room for excuses, especially.
I can watch from inside, but I’ve never led thoughts or ideologies in a specific direction.
At least not until now.
That’s how it was.
Of course, from now on, if I can, I’ll twist things as much as I can. I need to do that to rise up!
First, starting with areas where I can leave room for excuses, bit by bit.
Practice is needed.
As I ponder about the future or break down Yasle’s memories while observing how the world flows, I came to a point where someone finally reached the point of attempting a summoning.
At this point, a lot of time had passed since Future Hope Church disappeared.
And many events occurred in the meantime.
I’ll explain in chronological order.
First, a fierce battle occurred between the remnants of Ansellus Kingdom and the people led by Wide.
And Ansellus Kingdom recaptured its capital. However, they couldn’t kill Wide. He fled with those who followed him when he began to lose the fight in the royal castle.
People can demonstrate superhuman abilities better while fleeing than when attempting to kill someone.
When Wide chose to escape, the roughly 40 Blessed Ones who were with him managed to survive and flee, despite taking some hits.
This means they defeated Wide.
Tisah became the hero of Ansellus Kingdom through this event.
He truly fought while risking his life to protect the people. His steps during that time were quite impressive to the people of Ansellus, leading them to praise him as a hero.
On the other hand, Wide developed a fierce grudge against Tisah. Listening to him speak from his perspective, Tisah’s always been a lowly loser, and he doesn’t take kindly to the fact that he was beaten.
But a fracture formed in Wide’s group as well.
The defeat was devastating. Because Wide had risen to the top through violence, when that power was broken, his authority tumbled down like a house of cards.
His dominance weakened.
A defeated leader is an appropriate target to shift blame onto. Wide’s group fractured severely, and eventually, a dozen or so men took the chance to flee.
If there had been a Blessed One capable of seeing far, they might have had a chance to stop them, but they had all died previously. So, Wide had no choice but to watch it happen.
Then, he began to rule the remaining people more violently, placing the entire blame for his current state onto Tisah.
Somehow Andrew approached him.
He was conveniently processed and ready for consumption.
A mind fixated on a single thought is easy prey for a cult. Moreover, Andrew had previously ranked higher in position despite being under Wide. So, it was very easy for Wide to accept Andrew.
Wide joined the Mira cult.
And there, he met Isla again, who had been following Witga all along.
It was just like the times when Future Hope Church existed.
Andrew, wanting to expand the cult, Witga, wishing to destroy Cogni Kingdom, and Wide, wanting to eradicate Ansellus Kingdom.
They’ve become like leftovers of Future Hope Church, to the extent that one would advise moderation in self-replication.
The only difference is that Witga had experienced betrayal once, and the one at the top was Andrew.
It’s not long since the cult perished.
No matter how much they were accustomed to using already successful methods, expanding their influence again is tough.
The number of people the Mira cult can mobilize is few. Because of its short history, there aren’t many deeply involved with the religion.
It’s a soft ground, with fragmented opinions, and the Mira cult seems on the verge of crumbling at any moment.
And someone, who didn’t care about any of this, is Witga.
He had no way back. At thirty-five, his nation was destroyed, and he vowed revenge. A man who prepared for retaliation in Future Hope Church had lost everything he built up until his late forties.
So, he pushed hard on Andrew. If they attack Cogni Kingdom now, it will be yours.
With many superhumans available, it’s more than enough.
Declaring his desires openly, he confronted Andrew. If Witga had been a strategist instead of a general, he might have chosen his words more carefully or exercised restraint here.
But he was a clumsy general.
Andrew incited Wide to assassinate Witga.
Inciting Wide was simple. If Witga leads people out now, it will become impossible to attack Ansellus Kingdom. They need a bit more time to gather people and won’t listen no matter how much you try to dissuade. It would have been better if you’d been the one leading the Blessed Ones.
He designated an enemy, explained the reasons, and promised rewards.
Of course, Witga didn’t die instantly in that ambush. He fought back fiercely.
But it was insufficient to defeat Wide. Although Isla fought alongside Witga, ultimately, Witga was killed.
And Isla fled.
In truth, when Witga was about to die, he wanted to leave something behind, and Isla was supposed to be part of that something.
Lucky for her, or perhaps extremely unlucky.
Witga recalled Isla as both his wife and child, and like a fool, he acted to save her one last time. Perhaps if Isla had fled without caring, she might have had a chance to live.
As a result, Wide missed capturing Isla.
However, he didn’t care much. Because in his eyes, she had always been someone below him. He merely thought a minor soldier had run away.
So Wide informed Andrew that he had dealt with Witga, and Andrew rewarded Wide.
Wide was delighted to receive a high position, and Andrew was pleased to have eliminated a potential threat while gaining a useful horse.
No one cared about the fact that Isla had escaped.
There’s a truly interesting twist here.
Where did the surviving Isla head?
She headed directly to Ansellus Kingdom. With the intent to inform Tisah about the Mira cult, Wide, and Andrew to seek revenge for Witga.
Isla had fought against Wide, and after Witga’s death, was utterly exhausted, both in body and mind. Perhaps that’s the reason she began to speak to herself more, and I could comprehend her thoughts.
Isla encountered Tisah, the hero of Ansellus Kingdom, without dying an empty death in between. Coming with very important information, she met a person who could utilize it.
Connections are twirling around.
While I’m conducting experiments from outside to re-enter the world, I’m observing how these individuals develop.
If I can make my way back to that world, it won’t be difficult to travel to another one afterward.
Yes.
The experiment is nearing its conclusion.
And it seems likely to end in success.
See you again, everyone.
