CHAPTER 105: RELIGION

"Morvath, open the shadow," I tell my dragon, and then he raises his wing and positions it like a door that’s a neat trick I discovered he can do, even though it’s not a true skill.

However, he can send things through the shadows, and since he’s so big, he practically opens a portal with his wings.

"You may enter," I say to everyone who decided to come with me on this arduous journey, and then that child speaks to me.

"Ma’am...will you really help us if we go with you?" Her question carries a glimmer of hope but also doubts about this choice.

"You can call me Isabel, and yes, I can assure you that I’ll take care of you, but listen closely, little one I only look after those who have true faith in my goddess."

’I’ll kill the useless ones who only joined this to escape,’ my allies and I make a strict and harsh selection. First, we take them with us, then we teach and care for them.

However, if they don’t show interest in our faith during the first few days, they’re eliminated, and after a few weeks, those who are just pretending to have faith to live comfortably will also be killed.

Of course, it won’t be like this in the future, as not everyone will have genuine faith, just numbers. But since this is the beginning of the religion and resources are limited, we need to ensure that everyone is a true believer.

"Now you can enter, little one," I say as I see the bravest ones start to enter the shadow of Morvath’s wing.

She soon enters, and that’s it for now.

"Those who won’t come with me can leave," I start to leave with Morvath, not wanting to leave unnecessary traces. Soon, Morvath and I go to a secret spot.

Once there, I change clothes.

"What do you think, Morvath? Aren’t I beautiful?" I say to my dragon as I spin around to show him. I never thought I could have a better life one day.

It’s all thanks to my goddess. I even managed to get a name, something I never had in the past.

Isabel is the name of a heroine from a children’s story. She had a tragic beginning and end, and the context of the story was to show that life may not improve.

So I chose this name, which shows the opposite, as my life has improved greatly since I found my goddess.

I soon burn the clothes I used and, with Morvath, go to the secret ruins that I currently use as a base. The whole journey took 6 hours.

I can’t enter Morvath’s shadow because then he would stay in the same place, as he can’t come with me. That’s why I can only send other people and things through Morvath’s wing door.

As soon as I arrive at the worn-out and ruined ruins in a remote area, I enter and go to a passage in the ground. As soon as I do this and enter, I see the scenery change.

Here, in the underground, the condition is much better, as I and others I brought have repaired a large part of it. Of course, I can’t say I trust them 100%, just basic trust.

That’s why the treasure I steal is kept in a secret place that only I know about, just like this place has several escape routes in case of an emergency.

As soon as I enter the main room, I see several people wearing black robes with white details, a common attire here.

"Hello, Miss Isabel," several of them greet me with a smile. They are all people I have saved from various places and brought with me, in exchange for their faith, they receive food and shelter.

It may not be the best, but for them, it’s a much better destination than what they had before.

"Isabel-sama, I’m here..." A cheerful girl runs up to me, waving her hand to get my attention.

"Hello, Mikaela." She is Mikaela, one of the few I truly trust here. She is a girl I saved from being killed. She was used as a plaything in a brothel, the kind where customers could pay to break her.

So she was constantly beaten during sex. When I found her, her condition was near death. I saved her and took care of her, and when she recovered, she swore she would do anything for me and that she owed me her life.

And as a way of showing her gratitude, she joined this religion without any problems and became my right-hand woman.

"Isabel-sama, I did what you asked." Overall, she is a rather broken girl. I think her situation was worse than mine, although I was constantly injured and beaten, I was never sexually abused.

"Great, congratulations, Mikaela. I’m glad you managed to do it." Unfortunately, I can’t read or write, and Mikaela can’t either, just like many of the faithful here who don’t have this basic "education." That’s why I asked those who can read and write to teach Mikaela, and then she will teach me.

"Hehehe," she laughs cheerfully at the praise. She usually has panic attacks and is a bit paranoid about people, so the best thing I can do for her is to praise her good work.

"So, how many were there?" I ask her to get the answer to the task I had given her.

"How many what?" She tilts her head and asks with doubt.

"Haaa..." I sigh. This is another serious problem she has. To deal with problems, she has developed some kind of strange dual personality.

This current one I’m talking to is what she shows "normally," but the real Mikaela is a depressed and unenthusiastic girl. The difference between the two is their ability to act.

This cheerful Mikaela is afraid of violence and can barely see a drop of blood without feeling sick, while the other Mikaela is the one I asked a favor of.

"Yes, Isabel-sama, I did what you asked," in a moment, Mikaela changes, becoming cold and distant, while her eyes lose their lively shine.

"Okay, and how many were there?" I don’t know if Mikaela’s problem can be cured, but as long as it doesn’t interfere, I don’t see any issues with her dealing with the suffering by temporarily forgetting about it.

"390 dead and 109 true believers." As I trust Mikaela, I left her the task of supervising and eliminating the rats who pretend to be believers just to live here peacefully.

"I brought 87 more of them. I want you to keep an eye on them." This depressed Mikaela remembers everything the cheerful Mikaela does, but the cheerful Mikaela never remembers anything the depressed Mikaela does.

I take advantage of this dual personality to assign different tasks, so the cheerful Mikaela is learning to read, while the depressed Mikaela is taking care of eliminating the freeloaders without faith.

Of course, Mikaela is weak like me, so she memorizes who the false believer is and then passes it on to the elimination team to kill them. I know my power comes entirely from the dragon I received from my goddess.

That’s why I want to get stronger and impress my goddess when I meet her.

The elimination team is made up of peculiar people. They are mainly people I have taken in from rather unusual places and who were in terrible conditions, so they don’t mind killing as long as they have everything I promised.

And all the faithful who have been here for some time know that false believers are killed, and they particularly don’t mind it, precisely because they have true faith, they understand that the false believers must die.

Of course, I can’t let just anyone in. I’m not foolish. The people I bring here can’t leave without permission and must always follow all the rules of the place, and most of those I’ve brought are people who have nowhere else to go.

This type of person clings to faith more easily, I know this because I was in a similar situation and just happened to have something to guide my faith in a moment of despair.

Another thing that helps prevent information from leaking out is that they don’t know where they are, since I brought them through the dragon, so even if they try to escape, they won’t succeed.

"Isabel-sama, let’s eat something. I’m starving. Reading and writing is so hard," Mikaela soon returns to her cheerful self. I particularly like this cheerful Mikaela. She is my first friend I’ve had since I was born.

Thanks to her, I can experience a little of what it’s like to be a normal girl, and fortunately, I have a lot of money and items I’ve stolen from nobles, so I can keep the facilities perfectly functional for now.

"Yes, let’s go," I say as I go with her. The new believers I brought are also here, but they are going through an inspection, after all, I need to make sure no one will ever find this place.

Luckily, I have a very skilled mage. She was a slave, and her talent was being wasted because she was used as a prostitute. She has so much talent that she learned magic on her own, just by observing its use or through books she saw from some clients.

Of course, she never had a choice in this regard. She was sold by her family because of debts and then locked up to be used as a whore until the day she died. Thanks to me saving her, I managed to get a talented mage willing to help.

She’s not as loyal as Mikaela, but she still has a debt of gratitude and said she would obey me as long as I let her learn magic and steal magic books for her.

In other words, with her, it’s more of an exchange than loyalty, although I see in her gaze that she considers me her friend, which is good. She also showed interest in my goddess and decided to adopt our faith without any problems.

Although we still don’t have any specific religious rules or special prayers, we are quite united, and that’s what matters.

Every religion starts somewhere, so I think I’m doing well. I even know a bit about administration and can count, as I had to buy drinks for my "father."

I can’t wait to tell my goddess about my special achievements. I just hope I can get more talented and reliable people to help me. I’m really looking forward to it.