Warlock of Oceans: My Poseidon System

"Aether Celestial."

I couldn't help but smile as I reached out my hand. The boy looked at my slender pale fingers and then grabbed onto them with his own hand.

This was the youngest an apostle has ever been since you normally awaken to aether through a class up, yet it doesn't seem like he's old enough to have one.

But, if he has had one, then not only does that mean he's talented, but he's hard-working and willing to follow through with essentially anything.

"Welcome, fellow Apostle."

…

(Cyrus POV)

I smiled as the man spoke those ever-so-sweet words that continuously hung in my ears. I just couldn't get rid of them until we shook hands, and the corpse-like feeling of his flesh turned me off.

"Huh… what are-"

"Please do not worry about it. My body has long been destroyed, but my soul continues to live on through the Light God."

I wasn't very interested in joining some kind of religion or cult, but if they could provide me with something, then I wouldn't mind sticking around.

I just didn't want to be helping out around a temple when I could be doing something better… like uhhhhh… uhhhh… Something. I don't know, there has got to be something better.

"What does it mean to be an apostle?"

"Well, clearly, you have very little faith, which makes sense seeing how you were barely aware of your own skills and status. And being an apostle essentially means you become a general of the light god's army. Our religion spreads wide across the continent, and we are even branching out to some other continents, but as of now, we have one-hundred-fifty temples."

The man almost looked disappointed that I wasn't already worshipping his god, on my knees begging for forgiveness that I didn't recognize the god earlier.

Like I said before, I had no interest in joining some kind of cult without a plus side… yet what he said did intrigue me.

The ends of my lips turned slightly upwards as the man gestured for me to sit down on the stone table right beside us.

I, of course, took a seat, and while the woman that took me here, who I assumed to be a priestess, phased through the stone below us, never to be seen again during this meeting.

"Is there anything you would like to discuss? Maybe you have some qualms about joining our religion, which I can surely help to ease."

"Well, this cult that you have…" I watched the man's expression slightly twitch as I used that word before following through. "... how many followers do you have. Because you said all apostles are generals, and if my hunch is correct, all of the chairs here represent a general."

"And what makes you say that?"

"The all-powerful violin just sitting there, right behind us… and if there is really that many generals, then you must have an expansive army, correct?"Nôv(el)B\\jnn

The man leaned forward, placing both of his elbows on the table while interlocking his slender and pale fingers. "Correct. Fifty-thousand men and women who are willing to fight for the sake of the Light God."

"Yeah… yeah… yeah… okay, well, how many would I be commanding. I could only assume it's a small amount seeing how I just joined."

The man's smile continued to grow as he released his intrigued posture and relaxed back in his chair.

"Just a few thousand, but…. you have yet to join. You may be an apostle, but you must show some level of faith in order to actually join our religion."

"Then I refuse the position."

I leaned back in my chair as well, plastering a genuine uncaring expression on my face because I had absolutely no interest in worshipping some god.

There is proof everywhere that these gods that people around the world worship exist, but that just makes me not want to worship them even more.

I don't want something controlling my life.

"There is no refusing, boy. You either join and worship our god, or we will be forced to kill you."

"You aren't making any sense at all…." I chuckled, spinning a few words together that would set this conversation in my flow.

"And what makes you say that?"

"You see… there are these dreams that I've been having where time reverses back to the period where Ser was fighting the Demon Lord of Avarice. I can explain to you just exactly how the end of that event unfolded, detail by detail… and who betrayed us."

The man's eyes shifted once again as if he wasn't looking at me like I was a child but a full-grown adult who had some actual value.

Clearly, he was going to let me join, but for what reason? Sure, I was an apostle, but immediately making me a general, especially when I was a child, especially without even testing me… it was suspicious.

Did I hold some other kind of value? Something that this man couldn't help but wait to get his hands on?

"Okay, you may be some kind of fortune teller or a seer. But how can I make sure you're telling the truth?"

"Well, do you have some kind of leader?"

"We do, but I refuse to let you meet her. In addition, she is currently out on another mission against the disgusting dark temple."

"Then I won't be telling you anything. Let me join, or let me talk to your leader. Either of those will do in order for you to hear what I can explain, what I can tell, and what I can give."

The air in the room was getting tense, but I refused to back down as I was just getting the upper hand.

"You have a lot of confidence for somebody so weak."

"You won't be killing me now that you know I have valuable information. And I doubt you'll be getting some kind of information out of a dead body since that is a skill exclusive to the dark temple…." I smiled, and upon hearing the man click his tongue, I knew I had won.