The manor was brightly lit. A group of well-dressed men and women were dining together in the hall.
They were all senior members of the Happiness Science Cult. Tonight happened to be the sect's monthly "Night of Prayer," when many of its higher-ups gathered to offer sacrifices to God and pray for blessings.
That was what they called it. In reality, it was just the monthly tribute collection, when the sect's mid- and lower-ranking members handed over the money they had earned from the believers to their leader.
Normally, they could simply transfer the money through a bank, but the leader, Okawa Ryuho, had a strange habit: he liked to touch and count the money himself.
So his subordinates had to withdraw the money from the bank every month, then personally deliver it to Okawa Ryuho.
He had graduated from the University of Tokyo and founded the Happiness Science Cult in 1986, devoting himself to the great business of proselytizing—and fleecing his followers.
At first, the Happiness Science Cult had been a small, obscure religion. Its doctrine was a mishmash cobbled together from other beliefs, and its sole purpose was to line its pockets with money from believers. Its performance among active cults was unremarkable.
That changed after Okawa Ryuho communicated with a real "god" during a meditation session. From then on, the Happiness Science Cult expanded at an astonishing rate.
Although Okawa Ryuho had graduated from the University of Tokyo and had experience working at a major trading company, he was not very good at managing people. After the Happiness Science Cult grew, it quickly spiraled out of control and slid toward criminality.
By around 2015, the Happiness Science Cult had already been designated an illegal cult by many countries, including Area 11.
However, the Area 11 government took