Sounds of chaos and fighting immediately came from the front of the villa.
Ronald, hearing the noise of people rushing in, didn't even think about activating the "Fury" power.
As the sound reached his ears, he guessed who the newcomers were.
Ronald, holding a child he had just untied from a pillar, turned and headed towards the hall.
However, before he could get to the hall,
several casually dressed Casters rushed in at the corridor, and someone pointed at Ronald:
"You, hand over the person, the child to me..."
Suddenly, someone slapped him on the back of the head and corrected:
"Shut up, what we should be shouting now is 'Put the hostage down!' and then lie down on the ground and don't move!"
The person who was slapped immediately looked up:
"Right, quickly put the hostage down, or I'll curse you to death tonight!"
Ronald was somewhat helpless at these people's antics.
"Let me clarify, I just rescued this child from the back, and the original Casters here have been laid out on the ground by me."
Hearing Ronald's explanation, someone among those who had entered the villa immediately went to check the back room:
"There are indeed two down here, the guy isn't lying."
The person left in the corridor to watch Ronald didn't ask further, and upon getting the reply, immediately instructed Ronald:
"Go wait in the hall for now, keep the child with you."
The Casters in front of him were clearly here to deal with issues of the folk cult, and he didn't mind cooperating with their work for the time being.
Ronald returned to the hall with the child.
At this moment, over seventy percent of the people in the villa had been herded into the hall, making the originally spacious room feel somewhat crowded.
At a more interior position of the hall, a curtain that had been drawn was torn away,
revealing a luxurious chair and podium behind it.
However, in what seemed to be a spot reserved for the cult leader, a girl in a black robe was now standing above.
She watched the 'audience' below with her beautiful green eyes.
Then, with a wave of her hand in the air:
"My dear little ones, don't be deceived by these heretics! The true chosen ones, blessed by the divine, are devout people like us, the great beings that govern all, even blessing us with their grace!"
As she spoke, a green mist exploded from her hands. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs 𝗇𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗅•𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾•𝗇𝖾𝗍
Then, under her manipulation, it changed shapes back and forth, demonstrating her mysteriously powerful force.
The 'audience' below were people susceptible to the folk cult's allure.
Witnessing the girl's magical spell, someone trembled and asked:
"What... what is this?"
The girl made the green mist, now shaped like a bird, sweep across the face of the questioner. Only when he touched his face due to the cold sensation did she reply with a smile:
"This is, of course, the knowledge bestowed by our great ruler."
"If you embrace the righteous path, you too will have the opportunity to receive this glory, to learn all sorts of knowledge unimaginable to ordinary folk."
At that moment, the girl's expression was pure and her beautiful face seemed enveloped in a divine glow.
Ordinary people watching below had never witnessed such a scene.
Some even immediately knelt down and started to pledge allegiance to the beautiful girl on the stage.
This kind of spread of faith often has a group effect.
One person knelt down and immediately others followed. Within a minute, everyone in the hall except Ronald, who remained nonchalantly standing, was kneeling.
Just at that moment, even someone kindly tugged at Ronald's trouser leg:
"Hey, you better kneel down quickly."
"This is a great opportunity, if you miss it now, you'll have no hope later."
However, Stark had almost fallen off the stage.
The cult girl stood there, seeing Ronald holding a child and staring at her, her brain could only process the information in her own way.
"Ronald… you and Costak created such a big child in just one week?"
Ronald immediately corrected:
"I just rescued him from behind!"
The Caster leading his subordinates to raid the assembly, then began to absorb followers on the scene.
It was actually Stark brought all the way to Waterfall City by R'lyeh.
Ronald, however, didn't react as vehemently as Stark.
He just had a subtly complex expression and then gestured towards the direction away from the villa:
"Stark, let's go outside and talk."
Stark clearly understood the gravity of the situation and immediately accepted Ronald's suggestion.
She left the follow-up work of the villa to her subordinates.
They quickly walked to the villa's front yard which had already been cleared.
"Explain what this is all about," Ronald asked with a complex expression as they walked on the well-maintained lawn.
Stark did not dare to fluff her words and directly answered honestly:
"It's all R'lyeh's instructions!"
"That guy brought me all the way to Waterfall City, just to use my identity to unite the power of the cult Magicians and then consolidate the messy sectarian forces within the city."
"In this respect, we are the most professional."
"You're letting cult Magicians consolidate beliefs?"
"I can understand the mysterious side's Casters handling this kind of job, but letting you manage it, isn't R'lyeh afraid of mishaps? It's not like he doesn't have people under him who can handle this."
Ronald's days spent walking the streets of Waterfall City weren't fruitless.
Thanks to his excellent perceptual abilities, he was extremely certain of the supervision R'lyeh's Casters and secret police had over the city, which was definitely more outrageous than investigators protecting Springs.
If they really wanted to devote effort to this.
They definitely had the capability.
Faced with Ronald's confusion, Stark very casually spread her hands:
"I don't know about that."
"Perhaps R'lyeh plans to cultivate powers outside of government regulation, or he wants to save funds this way, or he intends to catch all the cult Magicians lurking in Waterfall City in one fell swoop."
"There are too many possibilities, and I can't be bothered to ponder them."
Ronald's expression darkened:
"You might possibly be caught in one fell swoop and you can't be bothered to think about it?"
"Our sect's people are like the wild grass on the prairie, cut down a batch and another grows!" Stark then confidently and even proudly replied, "Especially in this era where knowledge spreads without limits, who's afraid of whom?"
Ronald looked at Stark with a subtly complicated expression for a long time.
Finally, when they reached the villa's entrance, he gave Stark a thumbs up.
"You guys are really something."
"Since you all have your own ideas about things in Waterfall City, let it be."
Having said that, Ronald walked out of the villa, ready to send back the child he was holding.
And before his figure disappeared, the cult girl immediately shouted from behind:
"Ronald, there's a mysterious side's banquet this week, come and join us!"