SSS-Knight in a Hero World

"A-are you sure you’re alright?" Prin asked, still questioning what she heard. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Ferris pressed his heart tightly, which gave Prin a shock when she thought he was about to collapse on the spot. But unknown to her, Ferris was just wondering why Judas was acting up in the moment.

He seemingly relaxed his face after a few seconds and sighed. "Yes, I’m fine, check again."

Magpie checked his condition with her eyes and declared that everything about his body had returned to normal. "Fascinating," she exclaimed.

Turning to Prin, Ferris gave her a stern look before looking back at the wall. "Have you looked into this?"

"...I have, but I never got a deeper understanding compared to what my father already had, even if I tried investigating myself.

The only thing I learned was the possibility of people like ’you’ existing."

Otherworlders, Ferris thought, and he understood why she wasn’t able to get anything from her father’s research.

Ferris rubbed his chin in thought and explained, "It’s a 100% possibility that the people who lead the serpent’s worshippers are from my world.

Even if it really is just the leaders of that cult that are otherworlders, they have enough knowledge and know-how to evade almost any form of investigation."

His face turned grim, and he felt an invisible weight placed upon his shoulders when he remembered the experience he had with the serpent’s worshippers and how much they took things away from him.

"Just like the serpent they worship, they’re snakes that like to slither around every crevice and surface they find themselves in."

"You’d be surprised how common it was in our world," he laughed coldly.

"At least 10% of the entire population had ties to this cult. That was the number that the knight orders came up with."

Prin contorted her face; the logic behind that statement irritated her, and so did the unfamiliar terms Ferris was saying.

"In reality though, less than 1% had any deep ties. The rest were either third-party assistants or their ’unwilling participants’."

Ferris paused to think of an appropriate sentence for these sacrificial lambs.

"You can think of these ’unwilling participants’ as brainwashed. More or less, that was their main way of causing disruptions."

Suddenly, Ferris shook his head and thought to himself, This world is so different though in terms of technology. So they’d have to adapt.

Worst-case scenario, this kind of world those cultists found themselves in is the perfect breeding ground to spread ideas. Ferris immediately thought of the internet. Yes, that’s one way.

Prin looked elsewhere in deep thought as she prepared to say her own analysis, while Magpie silently watched, not bothering to add anything of her own.

Prin returned her gaze."I know some heroes with Blessings that can affect the mind, but the most they can affect is up to a thousand at best and about ten at worst.

If your world had at least 10 billion people on it, then that cult somehow brainwashed 1 billion people, isn’t that a bit far-fetched?"

Ferris gazed at Prin’s doubtful expression. No? It sounds about right to me... he wondered to himself if Prin’s logic was the one that’s far-fetched.

Since Prin hadn’t experienced it firsthand, it made sense that she had her doubts. "Haha..."

Prin gave a concerned look to Ferris.

He smiled to ease her tension. "You see, they make use of the innate fear Jörmungandr brings to people.

The more you fear the serpent, the more likely you are to become a worshipper," he explained the best he could, but Prin still had her doubts, and Magpie was curious enough to start talking.

"But is that not a natural outcome? Where humans tend to worship things that fear them?" Magpie stated. Her emotionless face showed a sense of truth to her words.

Ferris nodded. "That is true, I’m sorry... I should’ve explained it better.

When I say that people are more likely to worship it, I mean in a literal sense. It doesn’t matter if you know that the serpent is evil. It doesn’t matter if you know that joining their cult following will lead to danger.

People will irrationally have the need to worship Jörmungandr."

Prin quickly jumped to her conclusion. "Then I assume that the governmental figures of your world hid the existence of that serpent?"

Ferris shook his head. "No, in fact, it was the opposite."

Recalling his most important memories, he recited the common prophecy that was known to all life in his world.

"There’s a prophecy. It stated that Jörmungandr would eventually awaken and grow infinitely, consuming our planet, then consuming the stars, then consuming the whole universe."

"Why did they spread it, even though it was risky?" Prin questioned.

"Because there were already a lot of worshippers embedded in the system. They simply wanted to cause mass hysteria as soon as possible.

For a year, we had no clue it was that bad."

Prin thought to herself quietly and changed her opinion. 10% was no longer a sizable amount, but quite a low amount. Prin expressed her opinion a second later.

"I wasn’t a high-ranking knight at the time, but I heard stories of the knight orders simultaneously purging a lot of people in a single night."

Prin darkened her expression. "T-that’s... what if innocent people were caught in that purge?"

Ferris closed his eyes and recalled even more of his past. "Undoubtedly, as a knight, I regret that my comrades went to such lengths.

I can’t hope to say that they could’ve done a better job. I also can’t say that it was for the best, and that sacrifices had to be made to save the many.

That event is something we should try to remember and avoid."

Prin questioned again, "Then how come did your people managed to keep the worshippers number at 10% of the population?"

She waited for a logical answer but was then met by Ferris’ smile once more.

"Knights, a terrible event like that doesn’t make us all terrible, right?."

...

When they were finished discussing the acts of Ferris’ old enemies, the living room’s soft sofa was their next destination.

Ferris checked the time on his phone and widened his eyes when he saw that it was already turning into evening.

We rambled on for that long? he thought, then realized that he was the one who rambled the most.

But it was a good thing. With Ferris’ personal experience and knowledge, he was sure that Prin, with her technical smarts, would digest almost all of what he said for the past few hours.

And if she forgot a key topic, Ferris wasn’t worried about her asking repeated questions, as Magpie was with them the entire time and was able to record the entire conversation.

If all was remembered, Prin’s mission now was to continue what Yaromech accomplished and ask Ferris for insights whenever needed.

After a minute of lying almost flat on the sofa, Ferris finally sat himself up, feeling refreshed.

He then saw Prin, who didn’t manage to endure all the hours of standing.

He stared silently and made a few comments about her condition. Are her legs actually shaking?

...What about Soleil, Ferris suddenly thought before walking towards Prin.

He looked over her with a smile. "May I please use your credit card? I need to run some errands for myself."

Prin snapped out of her dizzy state and looked at Ferris before looking at Magpie nearby. "Maggie, can you drive Ferris?"

Magpie blinked before trying to mimic a bow. "Of course... Prin."