<h4>Chapter 384 - [28th Round] Omnipotence of Mon’s Teachings</h4>
Frankly, there were nopanions in Fantasy that I wasn’t aware of.
… If I searched as hard as I could, there might be one or two. Even so, if I ignored them in the past, then they werepletely useless dummies. That left me with nothing to worry about.
My point was…
“I… lost?”
“It was inevitable, Tomato.”
I knew the fighting style of any of mypanions as well as my own. On the other hand, they didn’t know anything about me.
And that difference alone could determine the oue of a battle since spines, once bent as a consequence of a single mistake, could no longer be fixed.
“Thomas lost…”
“My prince…”
“I thought he was the strongest!”
“I feel manipted.”
The mermaids watching him raised theirints.
Though they had previously fully supported him, the fish’s attitudes changed dramatically.
They were brutally honest about it.
Before Tomato lost to me, they really were rooting for him with all their hearts.
But now?
They doubted his genes after he lost to a weak Hero.
They could fall out of love just as easily as they fell in.
Such was their nature.
… Thetter happened quite rarely, though.
? Luke: Holy Knights Commander Thomas. He’s ranked 3rd in terms of poprity among female Heroes, but his fame has since dropped due to his promiscuity in the new curriculum. Regardless, his skills remain top-notch. Did I say everything right?
? Isis: 3rd?
? Luna: That’s outdated information based on the 4th curriculum. Thomas from the 5th curriculum is of little interest. Chris, the Northern Continent’s genius swordsman, is the new craze!
? Lilith: The poprity ranking of malepanions ording to monwiki: Green Cake (younger version) in 1st, Green Cake (older version) in 2nd, Chris in 3rd, Nasus in 4th, Kang Han Soo in 5th, and Thomas only in 6th.
? Maria: Hey! Stop ndering Thomas!
Holy Knights Commander Tomato, refusing to apany the impregnable Saintess A, founded a harem with mermaids and reigned over thiske as its king ever since. However, this glorious life came to an end when he was defeated.
All the mermaids abandoned him.
“Ah, my harem…”
The tomato, who had lost everything he had, fell into depression.
He turned into ketchup, not tomato juice.
Nevertheless, I decided to help him.
“Open your soul to Mon, Tomato, and you shall understand how pathetic and little of a tomato you’ve been all this time. Henceforth, you must realize your true purpose.”
“My name is Thomas! How many times do I have to repeat… Kh?!”
“You talk too much. Spend the next year begging to be forgiven for your sins.”
Everything went ording to n.
My poprity skyrocketed when I converted Aqua and Tomata into neophytes.
I didn’t recruit them aspanions.
I made believers out of them.
There was a big difference between those two concepts.
Aqua and Tomato abandoned atheism and became Master Mon’s loyal followers after hearing doctrines about his teachings from the righteous G-ss Hero!
When rumors about it spread, all the glory went to me.
“What’s the difference between this method and recruitingpanions?”
Despite previously iming she would remain silent, Disco suddenly raised a question.
She couldn’t seem to make sense of anything.
“Companions are pests that devour the Hero’s reputation. Even if the Hero did everything alone, they would be forced to share their glory with them.”
“But they provide a lot of help, don’t they?”
“How is that any different from mercenaries?”
“The Hero leads the people.”
“Then how is that any different from mercenary leaders? Is it that Heroes are cheaper? Haha! There are quite a few like that among mercenaries. Despite having high skills, since they’re not being advertised, they suffer from low visibility. However, that also means their service fees are a lot more economical.”
That was howpanies worked.
Despite having outstanding capabilities, new employees couldn’t fully spread their wings and soar due to their low positions.
Likewise, in the mercenary industry, reputation was more important than skills. After all, there were many cases in which mercenaries turned into bandits during missions.
In that sense, the Hero was nothing more than a mercenary whose reputation was guaranteed by a Fantasy god.
No more, no less.
“…”
“For a Hero to be different from a mercenary, they must have power so overwhelming they would no longer require the help and sacrifice of a third party. Such power can onlye from Mon!”
“Everything you said sounded convincing, but why did you have to bring it back to Mon?!”
“That’s a stupid question. All roads lead to Mon!”
I couldn’t understand her.
Wouldn’t an employee of Monsoft, one of the leadingpanies in the universe, know the greatness of Mon?
Shouldn’t she be considered a fraud otherwise?
“… The way you look at me is making me ufortable.”
“That’s great.”
“And you openly admit it! You really— Ahem! I should just stay silent.”
I spread rumors all over the ce afterward.
Delighted by the Righteous Hero’s words, Aqua and Tomato became ardent acolytes of Mon’s Teachings, believing in the Great Being withoutints.
Such was the difference betweenpanions and followers.
“Hero.”
“Did I allow you to speak using the humannguage, Tomato?”
“I need to ask you something.”
“No.”
“Please, listen to just this one request! Please!”
He reminded me of how Lanuvel pretended to be cute.
I didn’t like it, but my instincts, supported by my 200 years of experience, told me I should listen to him.
“Fine. I’ll allow it just this once.”
“Thank you! Ahem. Please convert the Holy Kingdom’s Saintess with your wisdom, Hero. In doing so, I promise to be a true worshipper of Mon’s Teachings!”
“Ah, that’s right. You’ve been dreaming about her ass, haven’t you?”
“Ahem.”
Realizing he had no chance, he left his homnd, which revered him as a hero, and founded a harem.
That event wasn’t in the 4th curriculum.
Even so, his unrequited love for her seemed to have remained unchanged.
“Alright. I’ll consider it, but you need to pray to Mon regrly.”
She would soon reveal herself on her own anyway.
To bring back her childhood friend Aqua the mermaid.
*****
When I challenged her, Saintess A didn’t evenst 3 seconds.
All I did was provoke her a little, and she swiftly flew into a rage and epted my challenge.
‘Whose faith is deeper?’
Hearing those words, Saintess A found herself unable to refuse.
“How could the recently summoned Hero have such faith…?”
Bearing witness to my blinding divine radiance, she fell down due to sheer shock, her ass plopping onto the ground.
Her reaction wasn’t that unexpected.
I, the Hero who just came from another world, turned out to be an ardent follower of Mon’s Teachings, one of Fantasy’s popr religions. What was possibly even more surprising for her was that the strength of my beliefs surpassed even hers.
Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t make sense. In fact, to understand it, one had to first learn the difference between mon and mun.
With the Righteous Hero’s smile, I replied, “Because I am the True Hero.”
All the others were just pathetic copycats.
? Ah: Did he teach the basics of religion in school? Achieving Z-rank Faith is already difficult enough as it is since its limit couldn’t be ovee by sacrificing skills, yet his is already ranked ZZZ?”
? Odin: And due to his Monk profession, he now has ZZZ-rank Divinity to go along with it. This is insane!
? Zeus: What’s wrong with the Saintess?
? Luna: I’m actually curious about her. What would happen if someone else’s faith defeated her?
A clever student among the idiots raised a really good question.
“You’re supposed to be the one most devoted to God in this world, yet your faith still lost to mine. You are not worthy of your Saintess position.”
“Ah…”
I had no way to strip someone of their profession.
The system itself was the only one who could do that.
However, it was important for her to feel unworthy of her current job upon hearing my words.
? Race: Holy Human
? Level: 1590
? Job: Saintess (Faith → Resurrection ↑)
? Skills: Faith ZZ, Healing Z, mor Z, Virtue Z, Preaching MAX…
? Status: Holy
That was her stats before she met me. Now, however, it had changed into this.
? Race: High Human
? Level: 1590
? Job: Religious Leader (Preaching → Brainwashing ↑)
? Skills: Healing Z, mor Z, Virtue Z, Preaching MAX, Charm MAX…
? Status: Despair, Confusion, Self-getion, Regression, Denial…
Saintess A’s new upation was truly rubbish.
It would’ve been apletely different matter if she had be the leader of Mon’s Teachings. Unfortunately for her, she only became the head of a minor religion prevalent only in the Holy Kingdom and a few small countries.
Her Brainwashing was probably only ranked B.
Compared to her previous profession, which allowed her to bring the dead back to life, it was utter garbage.
There were over 30 healers under Mon’s Teachings whose Healing rank was equal or even higher than hers now that she had lost her previous job.
I was in the higher education course, after all.
Even so, she could still prove useful to me.
“You can be an amazing tool for public rtions. Tomato, I’m leaving her in your care. I don’t think you’d dare give up your love and run away now anyway.”
“Mon! Mon! Mon!”
Tomato hugged her narrow waist as he praised the Great Being. He couldn’t even hold her hand in the Holy Kingdom before.
I checked his stats.
? Race: Holy Human
? Level: 3214
? Job: Holy Knight (Divinity = Blessing ↑)
? Skills: Life Energy Z, Divinity Z, Faith MAX, Swimming MAX, Sword Mastery MAX…
? Status: Delight, Faith, Corruption, Praise…
His Faith skill’s rank, which used to be at the very bottom, sharply rose from F to MAX.
The power of love was impressive! At this rate, he would reach Z rank in no time.
My reputation had grown even more.
“That’s not a problem, is it?”
It was like rewriting history.
Without Saintess A, the Holy Kingdom was immediately annexed by the Holy Empire under the princess’s orders.
Having lost her faith and destiny, she could now only rely on Tomato, regardless of how unprincipled he was. Hence, in just a few days, she became his wife.
Their magnificent wedding ceremony took ce in the Temple of Mon’s Teachings.
More importantly…
“You’re a curious Hero.”
“You’re no different from me.”
I now faced the most dangerous person.
This was definitely not a coincidence.
He probably came to check the shocking rumor that Tomato and Saintess A were married.
“Haha! Nice to meet you, dear junior. I am the MAX-ss Righteous Hero.”
Kang Han Soo, my alter ego created by my cowardly wife.
“Get lost.”
“Oops.”
Fshuh!
Fshuh!
We grabbed each other by the neck between our 6th and 7th vertebrae. As I tried to tighten my grip, I stopped abruptly.
I realized it. If this continued, we would both die.
“… Let go.”
“You let go first.”
This was why I didn’t want to face him.
“Stop it, fathers… Heroes!”
If not for Green Cake’s intervention, everything would have ended rather disappointingly at that moment.
*****
As a result, Kang Han Soo, without anyone’s permission, joined my party.
However, he didn’t take control of my adventure as he did with our other pathetic juniors. After all…
“Starting today, junior—”
“What is more important to you? Master Mon or adventures?”
“Master Mon, obviously.”
“Since my Faith is higher, we will proceed ording to mymand. Mon.”
“Tsk.”
Kang Han Soo obediently followed my instructions, albeit with an anger-filled expression.
If we fought with each other, I would’ve lost, but I managed to avoid certain death due to my Faith’s absolute superiority. He couldn’t resist Master Mon’s will.
? Luke: This is the omnipotence of Mon’s Teachings… There’s no other way to describe it.
? Zeus: Omnipotence? That’s insane!
? Luna: Admit it already!
? Isis: Wow! Mon’s Teachings are truly impressive! He even tamed Kang Han Soo himself!
? Lilith: Maybe I should give it a try too.
? Piko: Embrace enlightenment. I have been trying to guide you towards the right path for so long now. This teacher is amazing.
? Ah: Now I feel sorry for Satan, who spent 19 years collectingpanions.
? Leon: Kang Han Soo ] 49panions
? Sieg: My condolences…
? M. Satan: It was the best avable method at the time since I wasn’t aware of Mon’s Teachings’ greatness. Its doctrines were tooplex…
With the entry of Kan Han Soo, the unit’sbat power increased by about 60%.
It was already possible for me to conquer the tower even now.
However, I decided to head to the Dumplings Kingdom instead.
“Greetings, Hero! My name is White Chicken!”
The Snow Woman, a mutant harpy, weed us by pping her wings.
She was d to see her owner after so long.
“And I’m Alex, her husband. That being said, I didn’t think you would actively help the Hero…”
Alex calmed his wife’s excitement and turned to Kang Han Soo.
Shrugging, he replied, “Don’t mind me. I’m a new convert. Mon.”
“Uh… Is that so.”
I showed my Righteous Hero’s smile to the GG-ranked swordsman who could single-handedly climb to the 80th floor.
“Mon’s Revtion: Chapter 8, Verse 19. Ignorant married man, remember who made you happy by bringing you an armless wife…”
“… Mon.”
“Mon will show us the way.”
With this dream team, conquering the Demon Lord’s Tower would be a walk in the park.