Chapter 78
Chapter 78
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: The Pope's Secret
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Onyx quickly climbed onto an inconspicuous railing and scurried up to the upper floor.
Unexpectedly, the baby dragon was self-aware enough to know he was the king of magical beasts.
“Pewk!”
Having climbed to a high spot to search for Juliet, the baby dragon glanced around and easily spotted what he was looking for.
The red hair stood out at a glance, even from afar.
It was definitely one of his master's subordinates. And in front of him stood a woman with a back that resembled his master's.
Onyx was about to joyfully leap down toward them when, having gotten a bit closer, he suddenly tilted his head atop the railing.
“Hey! Do you have any idea how long I’ve been searching for you since yesterday?”
The red-haired man venting his anger was indeed the one Onyx had in mind.
However, the woman he had mistaken for Juliet from a distance gave off no familiar aura.
“Peep?”
The baby dragon merely tilted his head, not dwelling on it too deeply.
He just felt a little downcast at not having found Juliet.
After that, Onyx roamed the inside of the building for quite a while, pattering along nimbly.
Poking his head here and there, he even snagged one of the small floral crowns the priest apprentices had mentioned, circled the massive terrarium completely, but still failed to find Juliet.
Onyx wasn’t tired, but as he plodded along, he started feeling hungry.
Glancing around, he realized it was a secluded spot. He flopped his belly against a random pillar and lay down when suddenly his scruff was grabbed, and his body was hoisted up.
“Mew?”
The startled baby dragon flailed his legs but soon locked eyes with the one who had seized him.
It was a human man with red eyes.
“Pwee…”
Warily gauging the situation, Onyx let his body go limp.
Hanging dangling by his scruff was humiliating, but when facing an overwhelmingly stronger opponent, instinctively baring his belly and playing dead was the baby magical beast’s instinct.
However, the rude man who had snatched up the dragon seemed utterly indifferent to whether Onyx bared his belly or not.
“Where is your master?”
“……Peep?”
Onyx, who had been desperately avoiding eye contact, slyly cracked his eyes open.
He knows Juliet?
Sniff sniff.
It was the same scent as the one permeating Juliet’s clothes.
Onyx tilted his head, recalling that he had seen this man a few days ago.
“?”
He was scary, but somehow, it felt okay.
* * *
In the end, after causing a huge ruckus, Theo was confined in the temporary holding facility.
“We’ve sent out the Marygold Merchant Company people to search for her right now. We’ve also contacted the elder.”
Stepping in to search for Juliet on Theo’s behalf was Esselrid.
As Theo had insisted, Esselrid confirmed that Juliet was nowhere inside the terrarium.
While contacting Lionel Levatan and dispatching people to inquire if anyone had spotted Juliet in the streets of Lucerne,
Theo sat obediently in his cell.
Thanks to running around all night, Esselrid hadn’t even had a moment to catch his breath.
Only after visiting the imprisoned Theo could he finally breathe.
Esselrid leaned against the bars and marveled.
“As expected. They’ve got a proper prison right out in the open, just like a temple.”
It was truly a religious order that had been infamous as inquisitors of heretics just half a century ago.
But surprisingly, Theo was being docile.
Esselrid felt oddly puzzled.
“What are you doing?”
Before coming in, he had thrown every tantrum imaginable, demanding they find Juliet.
Normally, he’d be unleashing his full fiery temper…
Yet once actually locked in the cell, he was quietly gazing out the window.
“Hey, Esselrid.”
“Yes?”
“That thing over there.”
Theo pointed at whatever he had been intently watching and asked.
“Do you think it resembles Juliet, or am I imagining it?”
Esselrid narrowed his eyes and looked in the direction Theo indicated.
As befitting a temple, there were commemorative towers, chapels, and angel statues everywhere.
What could possibly resemble her?
Tilting his head, Esselrid spotted one angel statue and jolted in surprise.
“Ah?”
Among the thirteen angel statues, one in particular stood out glaringly.
**
Thud.
Juliet looked down at Sebastian, collapsed on the floor.
In the syringe cylinder she held, crimson liquid sloshed around.
It was the exact same liquid she had seen on the train.
“How does it feel to experience it yourself?”
Juliet asked gently.
It must feel awful, right?
Sebastian’s shocked expression was answer enough.
“Zenobia… you, why….”
“Listen well, Your Holiness.”
Juliet sighed.
“I’m not Zenobia, so just open this door and let me out.”
In truth, that was the fastest and safest way to resolve this mess.
If Sebastian willingly released Juliet.
“Then I’ll pretend none of this happened.
How about it?”
But instead of answering, Sebastian just stared at Juliet with a stunned expression.
He wouldn’t refuse to answer right away, would he?
Juliet furrowed her brow.
“Let’s see.”
Letting out a deep sigh, Juliet began rummaging through Sebastian’s clothes.
All the clues were hidden in Hildegarte’s words.
Zenobia, who was not just born with divine power talent but was a genius at it.
“She died in a fire, and her body was burned.”
And Sebastian, her brother, who had no divine power as a child.
“Instead, he was handy, so we planned to raise him as a carpenter.”
After his sister’s death, Sebastian began manifesting divine power.
And now, as the youngest pope ever, he was hailed as a genius.
Though he had schemed his way into the papal seat, the divine power Sebastian wielded was real.
It ended droughts, healed people, but Hildegarte’s story had a slight twist.
“Not all children are born with the same talents.”
So what was Sebastian’s true talent?
“Found it.”
After searching through Sebastian’s stiffly frozen clothes, Juliet discovered a round orb tucked into the front of his robes.
Sebastian wore it like a necklace, strung on a chain.
Zenobia’s soulstone was a deep violet.
“It doesn’t look as gem-like as a mana stone.”
Juliet rolled the stone around in her palm, fascinated.
It resembled the smooth marbles children played with.
Soulstone.
An all-purpose item that allowed even those not born with divine power to wield it.
Just like how mana stones let even those without mana cast spells.
Its only drawback was its extreme rarity and expense.
Mana stones could be mined like regular gems, but creating a soulstone wasn’t so simple.
Soulstones were made by cremating the corpse of a priest with high divine power.
In other words, they required burning a human body.
Given the material, it was incredibly expensive and rare.
In fact, this was only the second real soulstone Juliet had ever seen.
‘I’ve seen plenty of fakes, though…’
The first time she had seen one was in her first life.
‘Dahlia had a soulstone.’
It was a memento left to her by a child she admired and followed, who had died of an incurable illness.
It was that same pretty violet shade as Zenobia’s…
‘Huh?’
Come to think of it, Dahlia was someone with exceptional divine power.
So why would Dahlia need a soulstone? Weren’t soulstones for people lacking or without divine power?
Like Juliet or Sebastian.
In any case, Zenobia’s soulstone was perfectly smooth like a bead, ideal in size and color.
‘It’s said the size of a soulstone corresponds to the divine power its owner had in life…’
Thinking that Zenobia’s talent had been this substantial even in death felt strangely odd.
On the other hand.
“Th-that… Ze, no….”
“Are you asking what I plan to do with that, Zenobia?”
Juliet shot a cold glance at the fallen Sebastian.
If Sebastian truly had a talent as Hildegarte said, Juliet figured it was probably theft.
Stealing his dead sister’s divine power via the soulstone to even snatch the papal throne.
“I wonder if this will actually work…”
Juliet fiddled with the soulstone worriedly, murmuring to herself.
She had never used divine power before.
She had hoped touching the soulstone would make something happen, but it just felt warm. Apparently, grasping a soulstone didn’t cause some dramatic burst of power.
Why make things so complicated?
Juliet sighed.
Nothing was easy.
There was a peaceful, simple way, yet because of one madman, she had to resort to this bothersome, violent method.
It was utterly infuriating.
Juliet gripped the soulstone, took a deep breath, and glanced upward.
‘First…’
She had to break the barrier. Even just one of the ninety-eight layers. Then she could use mana to summon the butterflies. Please!