Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 117 I Swear, This Is Not a Cult

"Can… can I still join!? I'll stab my hand!"

[...Of course, but you would have to wait for a few hours before we can heal your wounds.]

"What? That's...

...that's not fair!"

"That's right!"

And in no time at all, the crowd that separated from those who willingly stabbed their hands joined forces; their voices, starting to fill the entire building as they protested. There were also actually a number of Lowborns in their group, and ironically, they were the ones with the loudest voices.

Ayesha, who was standing beside Rhys, could not help but sigh as she stepped forward. Before she could do anything, however, Rhys stretched his arm and blocked her from interfering.

"I've waited hours for this! I… I took a day off and I'd probably get laid off, please!"

"I… I promised my wife and children I'd be part of the guild. Please, she is already threatening to leave with my daughters!"

"I have diabetes so I hesitated. Can you please just make an exception!?"

The crowd started approaching the table filled with knives, but since the others who had already passed the Wilder's Harem's test, they were not really able to move further. There was also the fact… that those who passed did not seem to want to let them through.

"Oh, please. All of you just sound like little kids making excuses," the Commoner who licked her bleeding hand while retaining eye contact with Rhys stepped forward from the group, lightly waving her waving hand at the protestors before pointing at them.

"What would you know!? You're a Commoner!?"

"And they aren't?" The woman let out a scoff as she pointed at the Lowborns standing beside her, "As I remember, the first one who stabbed himself was a dregger too."

"You dare call us that!?"

"Hey, I'm just saying — I'm standing on this side, I have a pass already," the woman then softly chuckled as she glanced back at Rhys and winked at him.

Rhys, however, was slightly weirded out by the woman, not because she was quite promiscuous and aggressive with her advances—no, perhaps it truly was because of that, but for a very different reason.

Most of the women in the group that stabbed themselves all had three Hearts already filled floating above their heads. But this woman who was aggressively making her known to him… only had one Heart filled up out of five.

"I'm not making excuses! I really do have diabetes!"

"And I have high blood sugar! I'll stab my face if you want, please!"

"T…That's right! If I knew I was going to be healed immediately after, I would have even stabbed my eye!"

[Then do it.]

"Huh…?"

And before any of the protestors could say anything else, Riley quickly stepped off the stage. The people who had already passed the test, also quickly making way for him as he approached the table filled with knives. He then started picking up the knives that had not been used yet before proceeding to approach the protesting crowd.

"Stab your eye," Rhys then said as he dropped the knives on the floor. And whether or not everyone's hair stood up from hearing the knives clang in the air, or from Rhys's slightly deep voice, no one really thought it mattered as everyone just stared at the knives,

"Anyone who stabs their eye from now on will be healed and let into the guild."

"But… eyes can't regenerate if they are not healed seconds after they're damaged!" One of the Commoners stepped forward, "Are you… is the healer going to heal us as soon as we stab our eye?"

"Maybe," Rhys did not hesitate to reply as he turned to look at Katarina, who was already making her way to him with a slightly sour and worried expression on her face.

"Rhys, what are you doing?" Katarina quickly whispered in his ear, "This wasn't part of the plan. I thought we were going to just send them home? I can't heal that many, and especially not something as delicate as the eyes."

And of course, whisper as she might, the others could still hear her words, which caused some of those who had already resolved themselves to back away.

Rhys stared at Katarina for a few seconds, before just letting out a sigh and shaking his head.

"Ten," Rhys then said as he turned his focus back on the protesting crowd, "I will only accept ten more members, but you have to stab your right eye all at the same time."

"Rhys!? Didn't you hear what I just said to you!?" Katarina grabbed Rhys's bleeding hand, "I can't heal their eyes that fast, and you're asking them to stab their eyes all at the same time!? They—"

"I will do it."

And before Katarina could finish her words, a female Lowborn stepped forward and grabbed a knife from the floor. The woman then turned to look at Rhys; tears, already trailing from her eyes,

"I… I was scared before, but I am choosing to trust you now."

"May, stop!" Her friends seemed to want to stop her, but she just broke free and remained looking at Rhys. And soon, 9 more people stepped forward — all of them women.

The breaths of the ten women were enough to pierce everyone's ears; their high-pitched gasps, echoing through the air as they all pointed the knives at their eyes. People could see that they were hesitating, the tip of the knives going everywhere as their hands trembled uncontrollably.

Even then, however, they all started moving their hands closer to their eyes. And with a loud scream, they all pushed the knives through their eyes at the same time.

"Oh my god!"

"These people are cra—"

Or so everyone thought. Everyone was expecting to see more blood and hear cries of pain, but no—there were none of that.

Blood still did drop to the floor, but it did not come from the women's eyes, but instead from their hands. As before the tip of the blade could truly penetrate their soft eyes, Rhys pulled away the knives from the thread that was actually sneakily attached to the hilt of the knives.

"Welcome to Wilder's Harem," Rhys then approached each of the crying women. One even lunged toward him and embraced him, but Rhys did not seem to mind as he just brushed the woman's hair with his bleeding hand, "And I swear…

…this is not a cult."

"Thank you… thank you!" The woman cried out as she planted her face on Rhys's chest, "They… they also abused me daily and—"

"I know," Rhys whispered, "I am not going to let that happen again. From now on, it is up to you if you want to follow."

"I'll follow… I'll follow you," the woman whispered. And it wasn't only her, the 9 other women also looked at Rhys… as if he was some sort of deity.

And Katarina could see that, she could see everything that was happening here and… she was terrified. She was terrified of what was happening, she was terrified of what was about to happen. But all she could really do for now was to support him.

"Katarina, please," Rhys then gently pulled away from the arms of the crying woman, gesturing to Katarina to help them and start healing all those who were injured.

"Wait! I also—!!!"

Another Lowborn from the protesting crowd rushed to get one of the knives that was still on the floor. But before he could reach it, Rhys quickly kicked the knife away—causing it to stick and penetrate into the wall.

"I'm sorry. Recruitment is paused for now. We will notify all of you if we are going to accept more members in the future, but for now…" Rhys turned to look back at all the members they had recruited, and their numbers probably amounted to more than 70,

"...I think we have enough."

"You said you were going to help us, Rhys! Was that a lie!?" The protesting crowd seemed to truly not want to leave.

"I am," Rhys started to walk away, "Please, just wait and watch."

"But I don't want to watch! I also want to be a part of this, I also want to help! I'm… I'm tired of just waiting."

"Brother…" Rhys let out another small sigh as he placed his hand on the man's shoulder, "...You are a part of this, you have been from the start."

"I… I am?" The man's voice trembled as he saw Rhys's bright silver eyes looking at him beneath his hair.

"All of you are," Rhys then turned to look at the crowd, "Just because you're not a member of the guild, it doesn't mean you are not a part of it. You will be called, brothers and sisters. Just…

…not now."

***

"Fuck… fuck… fuck…"

After the commotion inside Wilder's Harem settled down and the protesting crowd slowly dwindled as they were asked to leave, one of the Lowborns quickly hid away in the outskirts of the settlement; his steps, hasty and slightly panicking.

He continued to jog, until he reached a pickup truck and immediately got in the car. And as soon as he was sure that he was alone… he pulled down his hair and revealed his brown, slightly golden hair.

"That… that was a fucking cult," the man then quickly grabbed something from under his shirt—a camera, "This… this is a good scoop, fuck. Whoever my source was, thank you for—!!!"

And before the man could finish his words, he could not help but quickly curl and hide his camera as he heard a knock coming from his window. He then very slowly turned his head up…

…only to see Rhys knocking on the window.

"Let's talk."