A week after Shiba and Eini met Beike, the things remained the same on the academy, but that day was when Gregor finally woke up.
"Where am I?"
He was confused, and his memories were a mess for a while.
He needed a couple of minutes to remember the battle against the bandits. However, he didn't remember a single thing about the conversation with Liye's shadow.
"You finally woke up."
The leader of the merchants finally noticed that Gregor and woke up.
At that moment, they were all on an inn, and Gregor had been resting on a private room, so the merchants didn't notice that he had woken up immediately.
However, they were going inside the room at intervals to check his condition.
"How much did I sleep?"
Seeing that he was on an inn, Gregor could guess that he hadn't just slept for a couple of hours.
"About a week, but don't worry. After what happened, it is normal that you were exhausted."
The leader of the merchants didn't mind waiting a bit more than a week. Even if Gregor needed a year, he would have still waited.
Gregor hadn't only saved their lives thanks to that strange lucky phenomenon that triggered around him, but also helped the leader of the merchants to fulfill his revenge.
"Eh, I feel far stronger than before. What happened?"
Gregor noticed that the energy on his body was far stronger than before. The difference was so much that he couldn't calculate exactly how strong he had gotten.
"After you fell unconscious, you went up to Rank 2 directly. Although your advancing speed reduced a lot afterward, in this week, you have been nearing steadily to Rank 3. Maybe in a month or so, you will be able to advance."
All the merchants were speechless with Gregor's training speed despite being unconscious, but since they all felt that a real God was supporting Gregor, they couldn't consider that speed as something impossible.
"Rank 2? A month for Rank 3?"
Gregor was far more shocked that the merchants. After all, he knew about the curse.
If he had just reached the limits of Rank 1 in one go, he might have been shocked, but having surpassed that meant that the curse had broken.
He didn't expect that so soon after leaving the Forest of Illusions, his curse would break, and his strength would increase that much.
"You are definitely a favored son of a God. In fact, we want to ask for your help."
The face of the leader of the merchants turned serious.
"My help? Even if I have become as strong as you say, your group is still far stronger than me. How can I help you?"
Gregor didn't think that he could help them. He wasn't sure to properly control his new strength, and he also lacked experience in battle compared to others of similar levels.
"The strength isn't a problem. What we need is a proper leader."
Gregor was even more confused after hearing those words.
"Leader? Aren't you the leader of your group of merchants?"
Gregor didn't know a single thing about trading items or selling them, so he didn't think that he could do anything leading a group of merchants.
"Of course, I am. However, I am not asking you to take my place. I want you to be the leader in something else."
Gregor sighed in relief after hearing those words. He didn't have the slightest bit of confidence in acting as a merchant.
"Leader in what?"
He was curious about on what aspect he did have the talent to be a leader. As far as he saw, luck had been his only merit. He was lucky to meet Shiba and leave the Forest of Illusion, and the luck he had on the battle against the bandits was abnormal.
However, luck wasn't something he considered enough to be a leader because that luck might disappear at any moment. It might be called luck or fate, but those didn't guarantee that everything would go well later.
"Our Holy War against that demonic cult. They say that they serve a Goddess, but you have already seen how they act. They are nothing more than demons. A lot of people hate them to death. They were too good at brainwashing others. Even your best friend might try to kill you if he joined the cult, and he was ordered to do it."
Since the brainwashing was just using normal words, it was obvious that it wouldn't work with everyone, so the cult used those closest to the non-believers to kill them.
Those who survived or had people close to them die in such circumstances developed an insane hatred against the cult, but they feared opposing them directly.
"When I told about what happened to us, everyone thought the same as us, that you are a child chosen by a real God to save us from the demonic cult. It doesn't matter if your strength isn't great yet, just your presence is enough to motivate them all. If you accept to be our leader, we will have the strength to oppose that demonic cult. We will be able to resist them, to fight for freedom."
The leader of the merchants was extremely motivated since he also thought that Gregor was someone chosen by a real God.
What the people needed to resist was just a symbol. A symbol to put their faith in.
If they had Gregor, who they believed to be a child chosen by God, it would serve as proof that such God existed, which would erase the claims of the cult of the Goddess, claiming that their Goddess was the only one existing.
Humans were simple creatures. Most of them needed to believe in something to move forwards. After being filled with hatred towards the cult of the Goddess, a God that directly opposed that cult was what they wanted, and what happened around Gregor against the bandits was far more than enough for them to believe in the existence of that God.
"I will do it."
When he heard about the objective, Gregor couldn't say no.
Those bandits belonging to the cult of Goddess almost killed him. If it weren't for that strange super luck that triggered out of nothing, he wouldn't be alive.
Moreover, he had the feeling that he should battle against that cult. He felt as if that was his fate.
That sensation seemed to come from nowhere, but it originated from the fact that Liye's shadow wished for the annihilation of the cult.
After all, that cult was the reason for Shiba's death in the previous timeline, which provoked at failure in the end.
Gregor was too weak to face them, but it would be different if he were to command an army.
"Great! Come with me. There are many people in this town that had gathered as fast as possible to meet you. There are far more coming after the rumors spread. The demonic cult might want to attack us, but we fortified this town a lot. It shouldn't be easy for them to do it."
Some towns were already fully controlled by the cult, so many non-believers had fled to other towns, making that the towns that weren't under the cult's control were filled with people hating them.
Gregor followed the leader of the merchants outside, where he found a sea of people.
That town was quite a big one, and others from nearby towns had already gathered there.
They couldn't avoid but be attracted to the sudden ray of hope that appeared.
If they didn't fight back, it was just a matter of time that the cult killed them all.
"People. This young hero at my side is the child chose by a real God. Nothing like that Goddess venerated by the demonic cult. Fate itself changes to help him! If my guess is correct, he has been chosen by the God of Fate. I am willing to put my life under his orders. MY loyalty won't waver at all. What about you all!?"
The leader of the merchants spoke in a loud voice, and the people looked at Gregor.
They had heard the rumors, but many of them were still quite skeptical since they hadn't seen anything in person.
However, at the same time, they felt that even if Gregor was just a useless symbol, as long as he served to unify them all against the demonic cult, he was as good as anyone else. Moreover, since Gregor was a child, they felt that he should be able to manipulate.
They were willing to nominally follow Gregor's orders, but they wouldn't really be loyal to him.
At that moment, a surge of energy was released from the body of the leader of the merchants. He had advanced to Rank 5 on the spot.
The face of everyone changes. They all knew how powerful that merchant was before, and he was far from reaching Rank 5.
Moreover, it happened just after he announced his loyalty to Gregor, so there was a lot that thought that maybe Gregor was really a child chosen by the God of Fate and that those that were really willing to follow him would also be aided by the God of Fate.
"I also pledge my loyalty!"
A person on the crowd shouted, and instants later, he also advanced one full rank.
After that, many people started to pledge their loyalty, and they all were crazily advancing after doing it.
At that moment, no one had the slightest doubt that Gregor was a child chosen by the God of Fate.
However, they didn't know that Gregor was just serving as a proxy for Liye's shadow to affect all their fates.
Their talent and power skyrocketed, but in the same way as Gregor, their path to immortality had shattered, and their only fate, in the end, would be death.