I’m a Young God, Won’t You Raise Me?

I did my best to understand what I had just heard.

But I couldn’t.

From the very beginning, it was impossible to understand.

‘Everyone in Mournveil was treated by Dominic?’

No.

Could it even be called “treatment”?

Was it appropriate to use that word?

No matter how small the town was.

Every single resident.

Every one of them had gone through Dominic.

At first, I thought it was an exaggeration.

Then I glanced away.

Dominic was looking at me.

When our eyes met, he gave me a faint smile.

I smiled back on reflex.

Beside me, Edel spoke cheerfully again.

“Oh, that’s right. I should introduce you to our Apostles.”

Her eyes had regained their focus.

With a wave of her hand, she summoned the Apostles, who had been standing motionless like ghosts.

There were twelve in total.

But apparently the others were away carrying out different tasks, because only six of them, including Edel, were present.

Young men and women of extraordinary beauty stepped forward in complete silence.

‘Please put some clothes on.’

I couldn’t even close my eyes.

I had no choice but to look at their peculiar outfits.

“If you need anything at all, simply give the order. We will serve you with all our hearts.”

“Uh… That’s not necessary…”

My reaction was far too lukewarm.

Edel shot the Apostles a withering glare.

It was a merciless look directed at a group of incompetents.

The Apostles silently withdrew, just as they had arrived.

‘I don’t see the Twelfth Apostle.’

Normally, I would first have to free an ordinary believer from the brainwashing and recruit them as an ally.

But since I had already skipped several stages, perhaps I could recruit an Apostle directly.

The problem was that I had to use Dominic to break the Twelfth Apostle’s brainwashing.

‘And now Dominic himself is the problem.’

I had no idea whether he would actually be capable of removing the brainwashing.

Judging by the current situation, it would already be a miracle if he didn’t end up implanting an entirely new one.

As I was thinking that, Edel gently placed a hand over mine.

“Mr. Lamb. Is there anything I can do for you? I’m quite skilled at many things.”

She smiled with a meaning that was difficult to interpret.

“For you, I would do anything.”

Ding!

A system window appeared.

— Do you wish to recruit Prophet Edel as a companion?

Wait.

The option to recruit her appeared here?

I stared at the system window in complete bewilderment.

In the journalist route, it was impossible to recruit Edel.

Even in the cult leader route, I had only managed to do it once.

‘That playthrough that ended because of a game bug… the one that probably led to the True Ending.’

Because of the abuse she had suffered during her childhood, Edel harbored an extreme hatred toward adult men.

To the point that every human sacrifice offered by the Order of the Apostles of the Void was an adult man.

Her greatest amusement was dissecting the sacrifices alive on the altar while delighting in their horrific screams.

During the game, she could appear to have completely opened her heart.

But in reality, that wasn’t the case.

Earning enough of her trust to recruit her as a companion required an enormous amount of effort.

And yet.

She had just placed her trust in an ordinary journalist from London barely half a day after meeting him.

It was surely all because of the resurrection.

Even so, I couldn’t help thinking.

‘Can it really be this easy?’

‘Well, so what?’

In truth, the moment I used resurrection during the journalist route, this had already stopped being a normal playthrough.

Recruiting Edel now was like owing one hundred million and borrowing another hundred thousand.

Besides.

I was curious.

‘Just how much easier would things become with Edel as a companion?’

In the end, I couldn’t resist the temptation.

I chose to become someone who owed one hundred million and another hundred thousand.

“Miss Edel. I want you to become my companion.”

“It would be an honor, Mr. Lamb.”

— Prophet Edel has joined your party.

Another system window immediately appeared.

— You cannot recruit Prophet Edel as a companion.
— Prophet Edel has joined your party.
— You cannot recruit Prophet Edel as a companion.
— Prophet Edel has joined your party.
— You cannot recruit Prophet Edel as a companion.

The windows began alternating as though the system were malfunctioning.

Eventually, only one remained.

— Prophet Edel has joined your party.

Explain to Prophet Edel what mission you wish to assign to her.
— Tell her that she may have to betray the Order.
— Tell her to perform a ritual for you.
— Tell her that she doesn’t need to do anything.
— Tell her that the two of you should perform the ritual to summon the Outer God together.

The last option seemed to be getting more and more specific.

Naturally, I ignored it and chose the third.

“But, Miss Edel, you don’t need to do anything for me. I just want you to stay by my side.”

Her eyes widened slightly.

Her red pupils, framed by long white eyelashes, remained fixed on me.

Clearly, that wasn’t the answer she had been expecting.

Then she whispered,

“Then there wasn’t even any need for me to become your companion?”

“I simply wanted to become closer to you, Miss Edel.”

“…You only had to order me.”

“I didn’t want to do it that way.”

“……”

Edel bit her lip.

I smiled faintly at her and, pretending to change the subject, asked,

“By the way, I’d like to explore the inside of the Order. Would it be possible to do so with Mr. Dominic?”

“Of course! I’ll make the arrangements right away!”

“There’s no need. You must be very busy. Just assign another member of the Order to guide us. Besides, your ritual is tomorrow, isn’t it?”

“But…”

“I’m really looking forward to witnessing the ritual you’ll be leading.”

Edel’s eyes narrowed sadly.

She sighed again and again, making it clear that she disliked the idea.

But she truly was busy preparing the ritual.

Besides, she had already spent quite a bit of time organizing that banquet in my honor.

The Apostles who weren’t present had most likely gone out to find sacrifices for the ceremony.

After thinking it over for quite a while, Edel finally gave in and decided to assign us a guide.

“I’ll send you our finest member. He’ll be more than worthy of accompanying Mr. Lamb.”

That was how I left the banquet hall.

Together with Dominic and a member of the Order, we began exploring the inside of the building.

Being able to move around so freely.

The Prophet’s authority was truly tempting.

The believer Edel had assigned to us radiated absolute loyalty.

He looked ready to do anything for Dominic and me.

Taking advantage of a moment when the man couldn’t see me, I lightly tapped Dominic a couple of times.

I was just about to signal with my eyes for him to get rid of the guide.

But I immediately added in a hurry,

“Don’t kill him.”

The believer turned around.

“Huh? I don’t think I quite understa—”

He never finished the sentence.

The moment Dominic lightly touched him with the tip of a finger, his body stiffened like a log and he collapsed unconscious.

“Thank you, Mr. Dominic.”

I dragged the unconscious man into a corner and left him there.

Then I took the camera out of my inventory.

“From now on, I’m going to gather evidence.”

Dominic watched everything I did and asked,

“Do you know the way?”

“Of course. Just follow me.”

In the journalist route, there were thirteen pieces of evidence that could be used for the grand revelation.

Some were decisive evidence, while others were ordinary evidence.

If you gathered only the thirteen ordinary pieces of evidence, the revelation would fail.

Finding every decisive piece of evidence was essential.

Excluding those that could only be obtained on specific dates or in other locations, I could still gather eight pieces of evidence inside the Order.

Some required recruiting a believer beforehand.

But I had just recruited none other than the Prophet herself.

I had nothing to worry about.

‘Today, I’ll collect all eight.’