Chapter 181
Chapter 181
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 181
Chapter Title: Sun and Moon - 7
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Two pairs of green eyes and two pairs of violet eyes alternated between staring at the staff in my hand and at me. They seemed utterly shocked.
“Th-that... Honored Guest...?”
Floretta gaped at me, her mouth opening and closing like a malfunctioning robot. Her face suggested she had a lot to say, but her tongue seemed frozen, unable to move properly.
“Honored Guest, that is...?”
Luna stepped in to speak for the stuttering Floretta. Even so, Luna's condition wasn't much better. Barely managing to open her mouth was the extent of it.
“The thing I mentioned. You know... For now, let's call it a holy relic.”
Calling a weapon that was far more useless than a broken straight sword a holy relic purely on performance specs pricked at my conscience. It had nothing going for it except its appearance.
With Faith at 99 and Divine Power at 99, under full buffs, even slamming a top-tier divine spell into a demon wouldn't yield three-digit damage from this thing. Why the hell was it a holy relic? It was just a fancy hand lantern.
Judging purely by damage, it felt like it had penalty modifiers instead of bonuses. The first time I tested it, I double-checked the damage numbers because I thought I'd misread the digits.
But from the Holy Kingdom's perspective, it was a holy relic, so what could I do? I had to call it that.
“Holy relic...”
Luna bowed her head deeply and murmured something. Her voice trailed off so low toward the end that it was hard to tell if she was speaking or just mumbling.
I ignored the four pairs of eyes drilling into me from all directions and approached Floretta, holding out the staff in my hand. Her eyes widened at the sight.
“Here, Floretta. It's yours.”
“...M-me, sir?”
“Who else is named Floretta here besides you?”
I lightly shook the arm holding the staff to signal her to take it quickly.
Floretta clasped her hands together cautiously and extended them. Her hands were trembling so badly it was questionable if she could grip it properly.
I placed the staff on her palms and pressed her fingers one joint at a time to make a fist around it. If I didn't, it seemed like she'd drop it the moment I let go.
Floretta stared blankly at the small sun emitting light from within her grasp, then shifted the staff to her left hand. Her freed right hand reached toward the tiny sun.
Her right hand approached right up to the sun, hesitated briefly in front of it, then—as if having made a decision—began slowly stroking its sunset-hued surface.
Luna, Stella, and Selene watched the scene as if entranced.
“It's not... hot...”
Those were the first words Floretta uttered after stroking the sun for a long while.
It looked exactly like the sun in the sky no matter how you examined it, yet it wasn't hot at all—that seemed to fascinate her. With moist eyes, she stroked it a few more times before lifting her head.
Our green eyes met, swirling with a complex storm of emotions.
“Honored Guest. How... how did you find this holy relic?”
“Who knows. Did God tell me?”
I replied with a slight smile, half-joking.
These four would easily realize my words were just a way to gloss over the situation. They'd catch that I was dodging the question, too.
“...I see.”
As long as they didn't take it so seriously.
“The Sun...”
But Floretta's expression was utterly earnest, as if she hadn't registered my joking tone, playful face, or the upward lilt at the end of my sentence.
The Moon Pope, Heresy Judge, and Heresy Interrogator were no exceptions. All four were taking my words very seriously.
“If you can hear God's voice... of course...”
'I knew it.'
It was entirely predictable, so I wasn't surprised at all. In fact, if Floretta or Luna had brushed off my words as a joke right now, that would have shocked me more.
It wasn't like believing that would cause any real issues anyway.
Considering my relationship with the popes, adding one more holy relic was like sprinkling a cup of salt into the ocean. Even if something happened here, it wouldn't dramatically change our dynamic.
Hearing God's voice? Popes did that every day. Someone besides a pope hearing it for the first time? I'd already been the first to capture a forsaken creation of God—what was new about that?
'I've done stuff like this plenty of times before.'
Looking back, I'd pulled off a ton of astonishing feats.
Interpreting divine revelations? Solo-clearing the Abyss Dungeon? Capturing a forsaken creation? Receiving God's blessing? Hearing God's voice?
I'd racked up quite a list. Finding a holy relic might seem like a huge achievement on its own, but lined up with the rest, it was just average.
Plus, I'd firmly told them not to publicize our relationship without my permission—what more was there to worry about?
I hadn't done this without thinking.
“Luna.”
“...”
“Luna?”
“...Yes, Honored Guest?”
Luna, staring at the small sun wrapped in angelic wings glowing in Floretta's hands as if mesmerized, snapped out of it and turned to me.
Her eyes were still half-dazed.
“Do you happen to know when the full moon rises?”
“Tonight.”
Luna answered my question without a moment's hesitation. As expected of the Moon Pope.
“...Oh.”
Even I hadn't anticipated that. A full moon tonight, of all days?
Just as 'noon' was required to activate the Sun's Easter egg, 'full moon' was needed for the Moon side. Bluntly put, a full moon night.
In the game, both were one-time events triggered by specific conditions, so the difficulty was comparable. But here, it was different.
Unlike noon, where you could just wait for 12 PM any day, a full moon required waiting for its cycle. I'd been prepared to console her that I might not be able to deliver right away.
But if tonight was a full moon, no need for consolation. I could just hand it over. No need to time a revisit around the lunar cycle.
For reference, 'Praise the Moon' was no different from 'Praise the Sun.' The only distinction was whether the back of the hand faced outward or inward.
'I'll wait until midnight, give the staff to Luna, and head straight back.'
Perfect plan, even by my standards.
Luna stared blankly down at the staff in her hands. A holy relic with a pair of angelic wings and a full moon floating ethereally above them, casting a soft moonlight glow.
Her throat felt so tight she couldn't speak. It seemed like if she opened her mouth, words wouldn't come out—instead, some other emotion would burst forth.
Floretta felt much the same. Clutching her holy relic, she gazed vacantly at the small sun floating between the angelic wings.
Luna's slender fingers began stroking the full moon at the relic's tip. Her fingertips trembled faintly.
It wasn't cold.
Just as the sun wasn't hot.
“...Sister Seraphica.”
A familiar voice reached her. She slowly raised her head. Violet eyes sparkling in the moonlight turned toward where her younger sister stood.
“Do we... really deserve to receive something like this?”
A valid question.
The popes hadn't even fully repaid the debt of their own lives yet.
All they'd received was a farewell banquet and promises of maximum convenience—and even that had barely been used, except when sourcing holy water infused with light.
They hadn't properly repaid even the debt of their lives, yet now they'd abruptly received a holy relic unrecorded in Holy Kingdom history. How were they supposed to repay this?
What had the Holy Kingdom done for them? What had Floretta and Luna done to deserve such favor from the Honored Guest? What exactly was Raphael Holy Kingdom to him?
He hadn't even handed over the relic expecting something in return.
He'd brushed off their temptations, dashed outside, returned minutes later opening the door, and said he'd found something so let's go out together.
“...I don't really know either.”
Luna couldn't give a proper answer. She couldn't read the Honored Guest's mind.
After exchanging glances for a moment, the popes—as if on cue—both channeled their divine power simultaneously. Pure, transparent divine energy, chillingly clear, flowed into the staffs, intensifying the sunlight and moonlight.
White light and silver light pushed back the darkness, illuminating the space.
“He told us to treasure it.”
As he returned to the Empire with Selene's help, the Honored Guest had said not to use it anywhere else—just hold onto it. No need to hunt heretics or slay demons with it.
But Floretta and Luna knew. The true meaning was simply to cherish the gift he'd given them. He'd phrased it indirectly because he was too embarrassed to say it outright.
The popes knew.
“Even without you saying that... of course we would.”
They hugged their glowing holy relics tightly to their chests.
They would have treasured it even without those words. To the extent that if forced to choose between their life and the relic, they'd pick the relic without hesitation.
Telling the popes—whom the staffs recognized as their true masters the moment they took hold, staffs whose usage God Himself had revealed—not to use them against demons and heretics? Absurd.
No one else—not even the Honored Guest, so beloved by the Sun and Moon—could properly wield these staffs.
Of course. They were holy relics made from the start by the Sun for the Sun Pope and the Moon for the Moon Pope.
No one but the popes could draw out even 1% of their power. They'd realized this from the knowledge flowing into their minds from the relics.
“If it was the Honored Guest, of course he'd know, Evangeline.”
“He definitely did, Sister. Yes. He must have.”
The omniscient Honored Guest surely knew this too. If not just a plea to cherish the gift, what other reason could there be for telling them to simply hold onto it?
After gazing dreamily at the sunlight and moonlight for a while, the two spoke at the same time, without needing prompting.
“Evangeline.”
“Sister Seraphica.”
They smiled brightly, as if instantly understanding what the other meant to say.
They couldn't just passively accept this. They had to repay this grace, even if it took their entire lives.
But how?
They'd already offered their womanhood—delivering the Holy Kingdom's noblest, purest women to him.
Far from just offering, Floretta and Luna had instead fallen deeply into that pleasure, shamelessly tempting the Honored Guest at every chance during his rare visit to the Holy Kingdom.
That wasn't service; it was just indulging together.
Offering power and status? He didn't seem to want that.
If he did, he could seize the Sun Pope, Moon Pope, Heresy Judge, and Heresy Interrogator right now and dominate the entire Holy Kingdom.
If the lay faithful wouldn't follow, that'd be one thing—but if it came out that someone not a pope could hear the voices of the Sun and Moon, they'd flock to prostrate themselves before him.
Not doing what he could meant he had no interest.
That left only one option. The sisters exchanged glances once more and smiled brightly.
“Sister, we're thinking the same thing, right?”
“Yeah.”
The sisters' minds were still perfectly in sync.