The Case of Being Reincarnated as a Heretic Mob Character in an Eroge Where Everyone is Extremely Determined - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: I Love Guru-sama! Everyone’s Friends! It’s a Homey Workplace!

The morning of a Heretic starts early.

Late to bed, early to rise, sleep-deprived, one meal a day, a healthy lifestyle.

But… But! Everyone can work hard for Aaros-sama, right!?

Serving Aaros-sama is the ultimate joy!

It’s almost a delight to be able to devote ourselves to the miraculous one without rest or pay, isn’t it!?

Here’s some good news!

Wow! If you become an Executive, the treatment gets better!

Plus, you can receive magic, so you can work even harder for him!

“Aaros-sama is the best!!!!”

Waking up to the cool air and stepping outside, I let out a shout with all my might, hoping for an echo.

As if the vast nature agreed with my sentiment, it echoed back four times.

“Ah~ the best, the best.”

I continue to openly vent my grievances.

Because a large number of us are crammed into a small, run-down house, a good night’s sleep is out of the question.

But if you try to sleep outside, you risk getting bitten by the occasional stray dogs or wolves.

Consequently, the relationships among us are strained.

The toilets stink and are filthy. The food is terrible. Some colleagues are on the verge of depression or madness, but most of them just end up leaving.

Oh, what a wonderful workplace this is!

Honestly, the only solace in this world is being able to admire the untouched nature up close.

I don’t even have something I could call a hobby since my private time is only in the early morning when no one else is awake.

Looking into the distance, the dim scenery was covered in a thick fog. The mountains were blurred, making it hard to gauge the distance.

It was a day when the fog was so dense that everything turned white just about ten meters ahead.

“Hmm, today’s weather is perfect for kidnapping children…”

I mused while stretching my limbs freely and feeling good about it.

Then I felt a tap on my shoulder from behind just as I was about to shout once more at this shitty world.

“Hey Oakley.”

“G-Good morning, Joanne-sama!!”

Before I knew it, Joanne was standing behind me while speaking with a refreshing smile that seemed like it could come straight out of a page of a youth novel.

I dropped to my knees with enough force that it was almost like a prostration.

That was close. I was about to shout something about Joanne. I let out a voice like when I was being strangled.

Seeing me like that, Joanne directed a smile at me that was something like a pretty girl’s smile.

Stop it, it’s too scary.

“It’s a good day for a kidnapping children because it’s foggy.”

She’s talking with such an ‘Ehehe, it’s such a refreshing day today, isn’t it’? vibe.

But seriously, looking at this weather and thinking it’s perfect for kidnapping children?

Realizing that someone else’s thought process is the same as mine is genuinely shocking.

I didn’t want to think of the same words, even if it was only a joke.

“Haha, I was thinking the same thing. What a coincidence.”

“…Oh, is that so. We seem to get along…”

Joanne covers her mouth and twists her body in a gesture.

I can tell because I wasn’t popular in my past life, it seems like my likability just took a hit.

She must have stopped herself from saying ‘creepy’.

Please, let my likability keep falling at this rate. Though, it wouldn’t be good if it fell too much either.

“By the way, Oakley, do you think my outfit suits me today?”

Huh? What kind of question is that?

“…Joanne-sama’s clothes? Of course, they suit you well.”

Joanne’s attire consists of a black overcoat, a shabby robe for the ordinary Believer that I had draped over her naked body the other day, and a dress shirt and skirt.

Although it usually gets torn to shreds in battle, she participates in every operation dressed in this fashion.

If you read between the lines, it’s probably because it was difficult to prepare different standing illustrations for each outfit.

“I see, that’s good then. Mmm… Huh…”

After trembling violently, Joanne fell silent and began to stare at my limbs as if licking them with her eyes.

Hand, elbow, shoulder. Then, in order, leg, knee, thigh. Her spiral-shaped, wide-open eyes darted around rapidly.

And then, as if letting it slip unintentionally, she murmured in a voice so faint I could barely hear it.

“―This might be… in the way…”

Her tone was devoid of all emotion as if her expressions had fallen away.

“…Huh?”

“Ah, no. It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it…”

Hey, hey… Did you just say I’m in the way?

That’s terrifying. Seems like you really do hate me.

Instinctive fear gripped me after that comment, so I told her, “I’m going to wake everyone up”, and ran away to the ramshackle house where the mob of Believers was still dozing in.

I plunged my upper body through the entrance door and I screamed at the top of my lungs with enough force to burst everyone’s eardrums.

“Hey, you lot, wake up! How dare you sleep in later than Joanne-sama!! Have you forgotten? Today we’re going to the village to kidnap people!!”

Before bothering Joanne, I started slapping the ordinary Believers who were sleeping like logs awake.

“Oakley is right. I’ll kill you if you don’t get up soon~”

That statement wasn’t a joke. There’s a difference in intensity between a cute child saying it in jest and a power-type psycho Heretic saying it.

The mob, awakened by Joanne’s husky voice began preparing for the expedition with their dark under-eye circles exposed.

How many innocent children will be kidnapped today?

And in the future, will they die unrewarded just like us?

Just as we are suffering now, the cycle of negativity continues.

“Everyone, take care.”

“We’re off, Guru-sama!”

Sent off by the eerie masked cult leader Aaros, we finally set out to kidnap people.

The squad from the cult, which set out from private land, dragged along about three carriages intended for cramming in children, rattling down the unpaved road as they went.

The number of people in the squad was around twenty.

Due to their rough use of manpower, they were chronically short-staffed. Coupled with the excessively harsh environment, while the enthusiastic Believers and Joanne were energetic, the exhausted Believers had already fallen asleep inside the carriage.

Inside the carriage were torture instruments and a small amount of food packed in tightly… It wasn’t just my imagination; there was no food for the return trip.

Despite the repeated plundering that must have brought in money, there was no food to give to those at the bottom huh…

Unaware of my thoughts, or perhaps doing it in spite of knowing, Joanne went about distributing preserved food to the Believers.

Dry jerky and rock-hard crusty bread. It felt like my teeth would give out.

“Hey, how about you there? I think you’re going to have a hard time if you don’t eat.”

“…I don’t need it…”

“I see…”

The Believer, clearly at his limit, refused the food that Joanne tried to hand him.

His body was emaciated, with nothing but skin and bones.

He had the appearance of the Grim Reaper himself.

…He might die during this operation. I chewed on the dried meat between my back teeth over and over again, pondering the cruelly brief lives of the expendable mobs.

Within this cult, 90% of the mobs live through a cycle of,

‘brainwashing education → training → missions → death.’

It seems that the custom is to start working at the age of 12 for missions and at the age of 15 for missions where there is a risk of death.

There are several methods to increase the number of Heretics, but the basic methods are either ‘kidnapping children,’ ‘scouting,’ or ‘human trafficking.’

In short, even if one person is lost, the cult can continue to expand if two are gained.

Although there aren’t enough people on the ground, as long as the current cycle is turning (or so the Executives believe), they probably won’t change their ways.

And so, those like the withered man who have reached their limits continue to die.

It’s the organization’s metabolism. Only a few survivors or fanatics can climb to the seat of an Executive.

No, no, you might think that if the Executive could use healing magic, then benefiting from it would reduce the mortality rate…

To elaborate on the healing magic used by the Executive, it exhibits its greatest power when used on oneself while the effects are somewhat lackluster when used on others.

In other words, a self-resurrection level of rapid recovery is impossible.

Even if the Executive is nearby, you’re still going to die if you suffer a fatal injury.

Well, it would be the end of the original work as we know it if they could use powerful healing magic on others as well.

It’s barely manageable because it’s a world where only monsters exist, and it’s the end of the century where everyone just happens to have a feasible healing magic.

No, that doesn’t make sense at all. The gap between mobs and Named is widening because of the healing magic.

“Oakley, do you want some of the dried meat I’ve nibbled on?”

“You jest.”

Moving through the forest and the fog, the scenery remains unchanged.

Bored out of her mind, Joanne starts to pester me, but I’m more concerned with how sore my rear is from the carriage’s constant rattling, so I deal with her half-heartedly.

Then, a (relatively lively) mob Believer begins to whisper.

“That Oakley guy, he’s in Joanne-sama’s good graces, isn’t he…”

“I’m jealous. I wish I could receive her favor too…”

I don’t understand what there is to be jealous of.

To me, all the Executives are equally undesirable and I want nothing to do with them. They have the combat power of a decisive weapon.

Moreover, their mental states are unfathomable to the average person, so you never know when they might explode. It’s best to avoid them as much as possible.

Now, the village we are heading to has a population of about three hundred.

Joanne is accompanying us on such a trivial mission not only to clean up after a failure but also because we’ve received information from spies hidden throughout the country that “they are waiting in a defensive position beyond this village.”

Joanne is fired up as if this is her chance to kill Celestia.

Our goal at the Aaros Temple Order is the expansion of our power and the eradication of other religions.

There is hardly a mission more righteous than this.

Well then, it’s about time to start the kidnapping spree.

We parked our carriage near the village and, with a swift motion, drew our weapons and entered.

“Huh?”

No one around. Not a single soul inside the houses.

But then, a figure stands in the mist. Joanne squints her eyes.

“What a pity.”

As the sound of a bell-like voice echoed, a scream of terror followed from behind.

Turning around, I saw the man who had been guarding the horses, his back slashed open, dying.

Before we knew it, we were surrounded by the Orthodox army.

Joanne and I understood everything.

The information that Celestia was waiting at the defensive stronghold ahead of the village was a lie. Then Celestia, a wind mage, had used this dense fog to trap us.

Considering the situation, their counterattack was ready.

We had been lured in.

There was no conversation between Executives before the battle, just a merciless slaughter that began.

The dull ‘twang’ sound of a plucked string was the signal for the commencement of full-scale combat.

“Ugh!”

“Guwaa!”

From beyond the mist, countless arrows are released, and in no time, our foot soldiers are skewered.

It seems we are overwhelmingly outnumbered.

They intend to completely shut us down without even allowing a counterattack.

I hide in the shadows to avoid the rain of arrows. The mist makes visibility poor, and even the number of enemies is uncertain.

Taking advantage of the mist to escape from both Joanne and the Orthodox army… is impossible. No, it’s too much.

There’s a marker on me, and I’m surrounded by the enemy.

“We’ve been fed false information huh? No wonder it seemed too good to be true.”

“What should we do, Joanne-sama?! Please save us!!”

I don’t want to die! I lay bare my true feelings to Joanne for the first time.

Then, I could see Joanne’s eyes quietly and coldly changing. Even in such a situation, she doesn’t get flustered; I can’t help but think she’s truly a different creature than me.

“It’s not all bad. The fact that Celestia is here is proof of good fortune.”

“Are you planning to take down Celestia alone…?”

“Of course. I’ll settle it without a scratch… because I don’t want to dirty it.”

“Huh?”

Joanne took a long, deep breath, and then, with ferocious intensity, she exhaled towards the sky.

“Huh!?”

Her immense lung capacity cleared the fog, and suddenly the total number of enemies became clear. There were forty-five.

No, wait, even the original work didn’t have such a quick witted play… I can’t keep up with the retorts.

“Celestia! I’ve found you~~!!”

“Well, it would be more troublesome if they could escape using the fog. Let’s clear it all up while we’re at it.”

Silver hair and purple eyes. The good figure was apparent even through the robes of a nun.

The wind magician Celestia finally revealed herself.

She swept her hands while blowing away the fog within a radius of several hundred meters and continued to command her subordinates to attack.

“So you’ve come as well. I would be pleased if both of you could die.”

In an instant, our eyes meet.

“…Today, there’s a nice breeze.”

(Damn, something’s coming!!)

I sensed something and leaped backward.

Joanne, whose reaction was a split second too slow, had the left side of her body blown away by a mass of wind.

It was a swift attack unlike anything she had shown before, but if I could dodge it, there’s no way Joanne couldn’t have.

(Was Joanne’s reaction delayed for a moment? Why…?)

“Her movement’s stopped!? Fire, fire!!”

Arrows are fired one after another at Joanne. She slowly rises to her feet, regenerating her shredded left side, and heads towards the remnants of her robe that had been blown away.

Joanne, with trembling hands, clutches the tattered robe, then collapses to the ground like a little girl who has broken her toy.

(What are you doing at a time like this!? That robe doesn’t matter!!)

“Pitiful child. I shall ease your suffering right now.”

After murmuring with a truly sorrowful voice, Celestia began to cast magic towards Joanne’s defenseless back.

Even as she was struck by magic and arrows in her back, Joanne did not retaliate.

Her head was completely blown off, and her spine was exposed, yet she still clutched the robe.

Having regenerated her head, Joanne was shedding tears from her eyes.

“I remember now, you are a human too.”

“…”

“If you won’t counterattack, that’s convenient for me. Go ahead and die while clinging to that ragged cloth.”

“…I’ll kill you.”

What could have provoked such a reaction?

Joanne leaps with a speed that leaves a shockwave in her wake, too fast for my eye to follow.

Blown away by the shockwave without understanding why, I was sent flying into a pile of hay and lost consciousness.