One Hundred Nights with the Devil - Chapter 6

Using wealth and glory that would allow one to live idly for a lifetime as bait, the Grand Temple recruited ‘Exorcist Candidates’. Although the majority of people clicked their tongues, asking ‘Who would fall for those words’ at the lure that if one were revered as a saint, their soul would be blessed and their family would live in comfort forever…… surprisingly, quite a few people gathered.

“All my family members were trapped in the black fog and killed. If I could have saved them by offering my one body, I would have gladly done so. So, I want to do what I should have done, even if it is late.”

A priest who walked in on his own accord, burning with a sense of justice.

“My family has only eaten two pieces of bread in a whole month. Rather than all of us starving to death like this, I want to offer myself to God and protect at least the rest of my family.”

A poor commoner who sold himself, exhausted by hunger.

“These kids are still young and have never been touched by men. What is the meaning of that look? If you really doubt it, strip them here and see! I brought these guys because they said they’d rather sell their bodies to a Devil than sell their bodies in a brothel! Don’t doubt me and just pay the price properly!”

Adding to this the orphans and vagrants who were dragged in and sold blindly at the word that it made money, the Eclard Church’s ‘Exorcist Candidates’ increased rapidly.

And they were consumed quickly. Just as instantly as the speed at which the Devil devoured people.

“How did this happen? You clearly said the black fog would disappear if we offered an Exorcist! Do you know how much money we paid to the Grand Temple to bring that one Exorcist!”

“It seems the Devil’s power was too strong, so one person was unreasonable. We will send more Exorcists, so please calm down. God will surely reward the sacrifice.”

Some Devils, as if unsatisfied with just one, ate the Exorcist offered by the Grand Temple, then ate another, and just waited. Sometimes that number reached hundreds. However, the surviving Exorcists were only one or two out of a hundred, and the results of the exorcism were pathetic.

“The result of sacrificing a hundred Exorcists is only ten people. You mean only ten people returned alive out of the six hundred trapped in the black fog! Even they all died without lasting a month! What kind of exorcism is this? You just increased the victims to seven hundred when it would have ended with six hundred if you just left it alone!”

However, one could not blindly argue that exorcism was useless, as there were indeed Devils who were satisfied and retreated with a sacrifice of only a few dozen people.

Furthermore, Exorcists made money. Rumors that the Grand Temple gave priority to Exorcists for those who made large donations caused donations to pour in from all over. That was why the Grand Temple did not give up on cultivating Exorcists even while being pointed at as a ‘corrupt group using Exorcists for profit’.

“Cultivating Exorcists? Don’t make me laugh. All the Grand Temple does is buy guys with nowhere to go cheaply and resell them at a high price!”

Those trying to become Exorcists gradually decreased. The praise for Exorcists as holy sacrifices gradually faded, leaving only ridicule about how much they received in exchange for offering their lives.

“What use is money? They say if ten go, fifteen come out as corpses.”

There was not a single person in history who survived with their limbs intact. It was common for a twenty-year-old kid to come out as a ninety-year-old elder, and there were frequent terrible cases where a leg was attached where an arm should be, or a dead person’s face was found hanging like a lump on their back. There was no way the minds of those who experienced such things could be sane.

“Saying they’ll canonize surviving Exorcists as saints, or guaranteeing a comfortable life for the rest of their days, it’s all b******t. Has there been anyone among the Exorcists who returned alive so far who survived for more than a year? Even they all went mad and died crying like beasts while tied to beds every night.”

It did not take long for it to become known how worthless a sacrifice the existence called an Exorcist was to a Devil.

“We were deceived. Saying you can live if you just have faith is all b******t. Even if you survive, you’ll end up like those people tied to the beds in that annex begging to be killed!”