The Evil God Summoned by the Saintess-Chapter 50 - 48: I Am Also a Believer

At the same time, on the other side.

Hilia had already met up with Eric.

"Eric, this is what you wanted."

Hilia took out a section of white fish tail.

"Why is it only the fish tail?" Eric frowned.

"That white monster is really heavy. You have to realize, it’s several hundred kilometers from there to here."

"Alright, the fish tail will do."

After accepting the fish tail, Eric turned around, ready to leave.

Hilia quickly called out, "Wait, Eric, I want to join your organization."

Eric, originally emotionless, suddenly spun around when he heard this, his tone enraged, "You... can’t join, the organization doesn’t need you."

He seemed to want to say more, but in the end, he suppressed his anger and refused Hilia’s request.

Hilia recalled what Emma had said about Eric—he had left the village, seeking an organization to support their village in the outside world, which was the Hiro Association.

He seemed to have joined, but everything he brought back to his family was tainted with heavy Evil God contamination.

But Jack, the legit member of the Hiro Association, didn’t have an ounce of contamination on him.

Hilia had also asked Jack about Eric’s issue; Jack explained that the Hiro Association only revealed itself to recognized friends, everyone else had to find their own way.

Put simply, Eric wasn’t the right person.

After all, the right person couldn’t possibly join a contaminated cult.

Now, face-to-face with Eric, even though he hid it well, Hilia could still sense faint traces of contamination if she focused.

She confirmed he was indeed a heretic, just not sure if he was with the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association.

"Why don’t you need me? I also want to contribute to the organization supporting us, I want to help others too." Disguised as Duke, Hilia said ’firmly’.

But Eric was clearly resisting her. His face twisted with complex emotions—anger, and maybe even pain.

He turned to go, leaving behind, "Impossible, I can’t... You’re not qualified."

"I can feel the God whispering in my mind. He’s guiding me. I am qualified," Hilia said.

Eric, who had been walking away, stopped in his tracks and suddenly whirled around. "What did you say?"

"I feel the calling of the God. The things you gave me—there’s divine power in them. I am already a loyal believer. Take me with you," Hilia said.

Eric froze, "Impossible, you... So that’s how it is, so that’s how it is, so that’s how it is..."

Hilia frowned at him.

Why did he suddenly go mad?

Looks like the contamination is already in his head, making him unstable.

But from the bits and pieces he’d said, Hilia could roughly guess the situation.

Eric brought things home, all of them contaminated. He probably didn’t realize that ordinary people exposed long-term to contaminated objects would become polluted, and once the contamination was serious, they’d start hearing the "Evil God’s Whispers."

In reality, the whispers are just hallucinations produced by a polluted brain—about the same as eating wild mushrooms.

However, according to the Holy Court’s records, this contamination can be manipulated.

High-level cultists can add spells or curses to contaminated objects to shape the specific effects of the pollution.

Most cults use this method to make their believers utterly devoted to their sects.

The Eric before her had not only fallen into a cult, but the higher-ups had set him up. The polluted items he brought home to supplement the family budget most likely contained guided rituals that eventually turned ordinary people into their believers.

Hilia didn’t know if Duke had actually become a cultist yet, but it didn’t matter—she could pretend she was now.

The Holy Court was very clear on all the cult’s schemes.

Maybe she couldn’t fool the higher-ups, but tricking an ordinary believer would be a cinch.

"I’m already a God-recognized believer. Please let me join you." Hilia said.

She wasn’t even really lying.

It’s just that her disguised eyes flashed red—a symptom of contamination that could be hidden.

Of course, this was faked with the Disguise Skill, so when Eric saw it, Hilia pretended to suppress it again.

"Sigh, I’ve let you all down. Since you already... then I’ll take you to meet ’Shark’."

With that, he started walking out of town.

Hilia followed after him, the two of them silent all the way.

Only once they left the town did Eric rasp out, "Before we go, I have to tell you something."

"What is it?" Hilia grew alert.

Could it be that joining the cult required something bizarre?

"The sect I joined isn’t the one I was looking for."

"Huh?"

Is that all?

She already knew.

Of course, Hilia still pretended to be surprised.

"I ran into ’Shark’ while looking for that organization. He said they were it, so I came along."

"Later, I found out they weren’t, but it was already too late."

"By then, I couldn’t leave anymore."

"I really regret it. I never should have sent that stuff to you all."

"I really deserve to die..."

"..."

Ignoring all his drivel, Hilia extracted the keywords: [Shark], [Mutual Aid Association].

So it really is the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association.

Shark is a title in the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association. The head of a base is called Shark, above them are Whales, and then Deep Sea Progeny.

While listening to Eric’s nonsense, Hilia called out to Rose, "Lord Rose, are you there?"

"I’m here. What do you need?"

"Yes, I’ve confirmed it’s the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association, but I don’t know if only the base leader is inside."

"Just go inside and see."

As the Holy Court’s Holy Daughter, secretly infiltrating a heretic base... hmm, no matter how you look at it, it’s dangerous as hell.

"I want to notify the school. Is that okay?"

"Up to you. But let me warn you—if you notify the school now, and they learn you’re planning to infiltrate a heretic base, they’ll just accuse you of being reckless and impulsive. Your Holy Daughter rating might drop, you know?"

"No way!"

"You can try. If you wait until after your infiltration and then notify the school to clean up the mess, not only do you make up for your mistake, you’ll earn extra rewards."

Hilia felt Rose was trying to tempt her, but she really was tempted.

If she couldn’t outfight the other candidate Holy Daughters, she’d earn more ’contribution points’ and use real action to boost her Holy Court rating—then she’d win!

The girl, led astray by Rose’s temptations, resolutely chose to step alone into the cult’s territory.

Oh, and she was bringing an Evil God along too.

After leaving Deep Red Town and walking for quite a while, Eric turned into the deep mountains, winding along narrow paths that twisted back and forth.

The mountain road was rugged, all kinds of plants blocking the way, leaves carpeted the ground, and you could easily slip if you weren’t careful.

Hilia suppressed her urge to ask Rose for a flying device and followed all the way.

Her backpack was on the magic puppet, carried by Rose.

And Rose followed her, neither too close nor too far behind.

Of course, he could enter Hilia’s mind any time and take over her body to fight if they ran into an unbeatable enemy.

"This time you have to fight on your own, build battle experience. Don’t call me unless it’s absolutely necessary."

Rose warned Hilia in advance—solve things herself, don’t rely on him as a stand-in.

Speaking of being a stand-in, Rose suddenly thought of something.

"Come to think of it, could I just take over Hilia’s body directly and train her all the way to the level where I can unseal myself?"

Keeping an eye on Hilia’s progress, Rose seemed lost in thought.

Hilia, trudging wearily along the path, suddenly shivered for no reason.