Chapter 54
Chapter 54
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: The Pope (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
It had been a long time since I’d last visited the Holy Kingdom. Though it showed more signs of age than on my previous visit, they were by no means ugly marks. Rather, they added a certain dignity that only time could bestow.
During my time as Prometheus, I had visited the Holy Kingdom several times in search of a way back home. Of course, contrary to my expectations, I never received any answers.
Looking back, I think I broke down quite a bit then. The hope that I might be able to return was thoroughly crushed there.
“Wow… this is my first time in the Holy Kingdom. It’s incredible. All the buildings are white. And… is this all spiritual power?”
“Me too! *Sniff*. Thanks to Kratos, I get to see a place like this. And getting to go inside is something not just anyone can do.”
“What are you making such a fuss about? Anyone can visit the Outer Sanctum.”
“A fuss! We’re not going to the Outer Sanctum, but the Inner Sanctum! And the Grand Temple, no less! A place not just anyone can go! A place that even nobles from other nations can’t visit lightly!”
Seamus and Doug Reinhardt, who had remained for the mission, couldn’t hide their awe at the sprawling sight of the Holy Kingdom.
The Holy Kingdom was largely divided into three districts. The Outer Sanctum, where the common folk lived and outsiders visited; the Inner Sanctum, where the priests of the Holy Kingdom or nobles from other nations stayed; and the Grand Temple, the core of the Holy Kingdom, which housed the Pantheon and was the residence of the Pope.
“Welcome to the Holy Kingdom.”
As our party entered the Inner Sanctum with expressions of wonder, the accompanying priests puffed out their chests with pride.
And for good reason. In a world literally ruled by sword and sorcery, was there any place that better demonstrated the existence of God than the Holy Kingdom?
When people faced difficult situations, they naturally sought God. And they were bound to seek out the Holy Kingdom, where God’s representative resided.
“From here, please follow us.”
“I hope to see you again, brother. Thank you for your help in Granok.”
“Thank you. It would be good to see you again.”
Following the largest central road through the Outer and Inner Sanctums to the Grand Temple, our party was immediately handed over to other priests and bustled through the Grand Temple’s interior.
“You must leave your weapons here.”
“Please dust yourselves off here and wipe any blood from your armor.”
We brushed the dust and bloodstains from our armor and tidied our faces and clothing.
Even this was an abbreviated process. It showed just how seriously they were taking this matter. According to proper protocol, we would have first gone to our lodgings to wait, and once an appointment was set, we would have had to prepare from the crack of dawn with all sorts of fuss.
“You will proceed directly to the Grand Temple and wait in the reception room. His Holiness will meet with you after he concludes his current schedule.”
Kratos handed over only the hammer he was holding and held up his hands. He wasn’t the type to carry extra daggers or other weapons scattered about his person anyway.
“Please understand that your wait may be extended if the preceding schedule runs a little long.”
“Yes… yes, of course. Phew. Absolutely.”
Seamus, looking completely dazed, nodded mechanically to whatever the priest said.
“There are no particular rules to be aware of, but I trust you know to be mindful of your words and actions.”
“Of course, of course. Naturally. How could we dare.”
“I will inform you when His Holiness arrives. Until then, please rest comfortably.”
Doug Reinhardt was also half out of his mind, busy answering. Both of them were devout believers, after all.
Kratos, on the other hand, simply sat down on the sofa with a nonchalant air, relaxing and enjoying the refreshments the priests had set out.
“Oh, this is good. The skill in brewing this tea is something else.”
“Kratos, aren’t you nervous at all?”
“Hmm? Why would I be nervous? It’s not like we asked to see him. They’re the ones who wanted to meet.”
“I know, but still. It’s the Pope.”
“Just think of it as a private meeting with the Captain.”
“Even that’s hard for me.”
“I wonder if we might receive a blessing or something. That would be a true honor.”
*Bang—!*
“Goodness. Your Holiness—Your Holiness—! You must arrange your vestments!”
“Ah, for fuck’s sake. Damned old geezers. So deaf. No, it’s not that their ears are clogged, their brains have just turned to stone!”
Suddenly, without warning, the door burst open and someone entered, unleashing a torrent of coarse language. The way the curses rolled off his tongue, it was clear he was no amateur.
He was at least in his late forties. Graying hair, simple yet clearly holy-looking vestments. And the ornaments.
“Damnation. Don’t they know the saying that when you get old, you should close your mouth and open your ears? Why do they have to nitpick so much?”
“Your Holiness, the guests for your next appointment are already in the reception room…”
“Ah, right. I had an appointment, didn’t I? Huh? *Ahem*. Welcome.”
“Ah… yes! It is an honor to meet you, Your Holiness—!”
“Right… the journey here… Ugh! Dammit! It’s all ruined because of those damned old geezers. Phew, whatever. Right. You’re the one, aren’t you? The Miracle of Granok.”
*Umm*… I was hoping for a strong Pope to prepare for the war. I wasn’t hoping for this lunatic.
***
What in the world was I to do about this awkward atmosphere? No, forget the atmosphere; what was I to do with the Pope lounging as if the whole affair was already a bust, and the priest wringing his hands beside him, insisting he shouldn’t act that way?
This was the multiverse of mad—well, not quite a multiverse. Just pure madness.
The quack priest I thought was doing well for himself was the Pope? It’s the end of days. The people of the Holy Kingdom must have finally lost their minds. To seat that man on the papal throne?
At this point, I was seriously starting to wonder if what filled the Holy Kingdom wasn’t spiritual power but something else entirely.
“Right. I’ve heard all about what happened in Granok. You’ve all worked hard. You two came with him, right?”
“Ah, yes, that’s correct. We came with Kratos.”
“Hardly an escort. You look like you could take down everyone in here by yourself without a weapon.”
I narrowed my eyes at the quack Pope’s words. He was implying he had some measure of my strength. Then again, he had always been a quack with outstanding skills.
“Alright, I shall bestow my blessing upon you two. You seem to be believers.”
“It… it is an honor.”
At the Pope’s unceremonious words, Seamus and Doug bowed their heads low and knelt on one knee. The Pope’s blessing was not easily received. To exaggerate a little, it was something you could use as a drinking story until the day you died.
“May you be protected.”
The words were incredibly short, but the spiritual power that flowed from his fingertips and seeped into the two of them was by no means something to be taken lightly.
It was enough to be considered an extra life in battle.
“Guide these two to their room. You and I need to talk.”
The priests led the two, who still hadn’t fully regained their senses, to their room.
The moment the door closed.
“So. Prometheus. You’re that bastard’s disciple?”
“Yes, Your Holiness, Pope Provino.”
The Pope, as if shedding what little dignity he had, leaned back even more crookedly in his chair and propped his feet up on a stool. But calling him a bastard? This son of a bitch.
“What’s with the name? Forget it, just call me His Holiness, or call me what he used to.”
This was a test. Most likely from Mike Hoare. Just as they had, he couldn’t easily believe I was a disciple.
“Well… I could, but I heard he was a money-grubbing quack priest who loves booze. Should I really call you that?”
“Insolence—!”
The secretary priest standing behind him shouted, but the Pope just chuckled and raised a hand.
“Puhahahak— He told you even that? You really are him. Prometheus’s disciple. He was the only one who called me a quack priest. And only when we were alone. In public, he always called me Father, Priest, or some crap like that. And there’s something else he always used to say like a habit whenever he saw me. Not that.”
It was my habit. Just looking at that damned quack gave me a headache.
“Father in Heaven, save this bastard.”
I mean, there were people watching. How could I call him a quack priest in public? Not that it wasn’t true. He was the only priest I’d ever seen who loved booze and money so much.
Others would put on a show of humility while holding out their hands, but that guy held his hand out openly. He’d even wiggle his fingers, asking for more.
Of course, though his actions now seemed extremely flippant, he was by no means a frivolous person. A disciple of Prometheus had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, after all.
“Puhahaha. That’s it. Right, that’s it. He’d say that crap every time he saw me.”
That self-paced demeanor hadn’t changed one bit. Still, I could trust him. We may have called each other a quack and a lunatic, but it was an act born of deep familiarity.
“So. I’m sure there’s something you want to say. Spit it out.”
But the person standing behind the quack priest was another matter.
“You can trust him. He’s my confidant. He’s not the type to go blabbing about what he hears here.”
“First, the Raelian Church that’s been gaining prominence lately. The stones of the Seven Deadly Sins are connected to them. In Granok, I saw those same priests from Lagaris, so I captured them, but after the battle, they had been killed and their bodies burned, as if to destroy evidence.”
“How coincidental. So very coincidental.”
As soon as the name Raelian was mentioned, Provino let out a smirk and glanced at the priest standing beside him.
“See, Gleb. I told you. The Raelian Church. Those bastards aren’t to be trusted. I had a bad feeling about them.”
“Is there any proof?”
“There is not.”
At my overly confident declaration, Gleb momentarily staggered.
“We cannot make a judgment based on testimony alone.”
“Isn’t it a coincidence? The sudden appearance of the Raelian Church. Spiritual power that affects monsters, and the continuous monster waves. And you must have heard the report from Lagaris, right?”
“What about it?”
“If that spiritual power were truly the power of God, it wouldn’t have failed midway, would it? And then there are the stones of the Seven Deadly Sins.”
That was the nature of spiritual power. It was borrowing the power of God. Unless there was a problem of faith, it shouldn’t have suddenly malfunctioned.
But, the other members had said it. That spiritual power had suddenly lost its effectiveness. As if it had no effect at all.
Why were the stones of the Seven Deadly Sins appearing where the Raelian Church priests were? Both in Lagaris and Granok.
Of course, I didn’t spell it all out. There was no way that quack didn’t know these facts.
“Heh, this young fellow makes some sense. But how long are you going to keep that shell on your face?”
At the word “shell,” Gleb gathered spiritual power in his hand. He had been talking to someone whose face he didn’t even know.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. A shell is just a shell. That one could probably beat me to death even without a shell.”
“Your Holiness!”
Kratos smirked and deactivated the Lupin mask, revealing his true form.
“Hoh… a Venatio. I see, so you’re of the Venatio species. You were alive. Worth hiding. Definitely worth hiding.”
As expected, the quack recognized the features of this face.
“So they weren’t all annihilated.”
“They were mostly annihilated, yes. I believe I may be the last survivor.”
“Taking a disciple from the species he wiped out with his own hands. That bastard was a lunatic, I tell you.”
It wasn’t that he took me as a disciple, it was just ‘me,’ but that wasn’t important right now.
“Right. So, what about that miracle?”
“It’s an energy I wield.”
As I gathered spiritual power at my fingertips, a grayish light with a strong white tint appeared. There was no point in hiding it anyway. This old man was asking, already knowing everything.
I had to reveal at least eighty percent, if not a full hundred.
“Hoo. Interesting. The color is a grayish light with a strong white tint. A power that devours demonic energy.”
Provino leaned forward, reaching out his hand to fully feel the energy.
“It’s compatible with spiritual power and has similar properties. I see, this is closer to the power of the soul than the power of God. The priests would look favorably on this. However, if mixed with ill intent, it’s an incredibly dangerous power.”
Provino stared intently into my eyes, as if trying to see right through me.
That look was very unsettling. Wasn’t that the look of someone who had just found a juicy bit of leverage? Though, given that purifying demonic energy was anything but common, that look was understandable.
“Yes, you are not a wicked man. In terms of color, you are gray. Yes, Prometheus was exactly this shade of gray. Neither white nor black. The power of spiritual energy, like the soul itself.”
Provino rubbed his temples as if momentarily dizzy.
“At the very least, he is not lying. Whether he truly believes it, or whether it is the truth.”
At the Pope’s words, Gleb looked at me in surprise. The Pope’s word was absolute. The fact that he said I wasn’t lying carried a different weight.
“The Empire is already beyond redemption. They have a relationship with the black mages so deep they can’t be separated. That includes enhanced humans and chimeras.”
At those words, Provino shook his head as if in disbelief.
“In this situation, there is only one outcome.”
“This one’s more amusing than I thought. We know that too. We’re just sizing each other up right now. As a disciple, you should know that war isn’t something you can just start recklessly.”
“War is a political affair, so it requires a just cause. It inevitably brings suffering to the people.”
“Heh, you bastard. I like your mindset. Your master must have taught you well.”
What was with this guy’s personality? Even Gleb seemed to have given up, shaking his head.
“I will give you a nominated mission.”
Provino, who had been lost in thought for a moment, slowly opened his mouth as if he had made up his mind.
“Uncover the link between the Raelian Church and black magic or the Empire. The payment will be top-tier.”
A nominated mission, just like that? And a top-tier one at that. This was a mission that would normally require one or two entire corps to move.
“Your destinations are Rzhev in the north, and the Demonic Realm. Those are the places where the Raelian Church is most active. Because that’s where the most monsters are.”
Rzhev. The city that marked my beginning. And beyond it, a place still shrouded in mystery.
“Understood. I will send a formal request to the mercenary corps for the commission.”
“Ah. And a priest will accompany you on this mission. Those old geezers will just spout nonsense day and night without concrete evidence. Gleb, tell Niceta. Tell her to stop praying and come out.”
“What? Niceta? That cra— I mean, Niceta is currently in the poison ch— no, the prayer room.”
“Traveling the world, she’ll come to feel things. I did too. She’ll surely get better. Besides, is there anyone as skilled as her?”
No, what was this quack trying to palm off on me