The Pope Who Returned After Having Three Children
My heart is at peace.
Wearing the sunglasses blessed by the Goddess herself in response to my prayers has kept my heart incredibly calm.
This is the power of blessing.
The ability to bring the wearer to an extremely tranquil state. A zero-grade blessing that stabilizes both mind and body to the utmost.
So outstanding in performance that even the usual sponsor voice and chat that scratches at my inner self left me completely unfazed.
[haven received 1,000 won donation]
“haven, thank you for the donation. Yes, I am indeed the Pope.”
Even the nickname of Pope combined with ajumma was barely enough to stir my currently overflowing heart.
“Please refrain from spamming. I’ll let this one slide for now.”
Normally I would have left it to the chat administrator Liam for a temporary block, but today I felt like playing nice instead.
My bold personality and generous heart. Actually, I had always been like this, but the feeling was several times stronger.
More amazing than I thought.
After all, the Goddess is a warm person. She wasn’t called the Sun for nothing. I had asked lightly, and I never expected her to grant such a tremendous blessing.
Even as Pope I cannot bestow this kind of blessing. It is truly a privilege reserved only for those who receive the Goddess’s love.
Of course, it does come with the fatal drawback of having depleted holy power to the bottom.
Returning to normal will take at least a month. Holy power cannot recover smoothly here because mana is scarce in this world.
But there was no helping it. One must be prepared to lose one to gain one.
“Everyone, today whatever you say to me, I will forgive all of it.”
Playing up the joke freedom day, donations of one thousand won started pouring in immediately.
[walking_parrot received 1,000 won donation]
“That makes you look so pretty, even if you’re older.”
[iambasa received 1,000 won donation]
“You said how things would turn out with Chunchu, right?”
[evil_boss received 1,000 won donation]
“Pope ajumma.”
How mischievous you all are. Even so, I don’t mind…
Suddenly a strange feeling stirred in me and I fell silent.
…Why do I feel uncomfortable?
Even though the highest-grade zero blessing was keeping my mind peaceful, I felt unpleasant. It was an odd occurrence.
Feeling something was wrong, I removed the sunglasses. Immediately a surge of irritation rose in my chest.
Then putting them back on brought back the same calm I had felt moments ago. At least the blessing was functioning properly.
As I checked the performance of the sacred sunglasses, Liam suddenly sent a chat.
[☆) riamclytia: Should I remember all the locations?]
Probably thinking I was angry after staying quiet for a moment. The chat window was also confused by the misunderstanding.
The atmosphere of the chat was growing more confused the longer I stayed quiet.
I almost blurted out that I wasn’t angry, but I stopped myself.
With the blessing calming my mind, it was the perfect opportunity. A chance to prove my papal special humor was also fun.
Here, if I told Liam to remember the people who were spamming the chat, they would all pretend to be scared. It would be the “tick-tock” with the viewers I only heard about.
Perfect.
This time I would be able to make people laugh for real. I suppressed the satisfaction rising in me and opened my mouth.
“Liam, you don’t need to. Not yet.”
Along with those words, I gave a meaningful smile. The proof that what I had just said was a joke.
That way no one would be taken aback like before, thinking it was a real warning.
While I was quietly smiling, the chat window suddenly started scrolling quickly. But unusually, there were many question marks.
I skimmed the confusing chats and only then did I realize in shock.
…Informal speech?
Just now, informal speech had come out of my mouth. It was so natural I had almost missed it.
How long had it been? Even rough calculation put it at nearly ten years.
Yet I felt a bit uneasy about finally being free from forced honorifics and saying I liked it.
I couldn’t rejoice without knowing the reason. If I tried to force the speech correction to lift, my brain would melt.
There’s no way it would just release naturally.
The person who developed the transforming holy spell that applies speech correction to my head was the high priest.
The high priest was higher than the archbishop who had always stuck by my side, below the Pope, but his skill was superior to mine.
Even calling him an expert in holy power manipulation would be no exaggeration. There was no way the speech correction he had applied would release naturally.
So the cause must be an external factor that had suddenly intruded and affected my head.
There was exactly one item that matched all the conditions.
The Goddess…
Probably the Goddess’s grace applied to the sunglasses had caused this change.
I guessed that the blessing calming me had recognized the speech correction as some kind of unpleasant thing and suppressed it.
That is, when I took off the sunglasses, the correction would return. A little disappointing, but still satisfying.
It’s not bad.
I decided to use this sudden yet pleasant change directly in the broadcast.
Slowly crossing my arms, I eventually spoke in a slanted posture.
“Everyone, keep your mouths shut. I, the Pope of Spicy Flavor, am here.”
It was time to show off the rough personality I had been sleeping inside me for so long.
“Enough laughing, it’s annoying.”
For a moment escaping the interference of the auto-correction, I spoke coolly.
I was not acting violently just because the honorifics had lifted. As Pope, my etiquette had not disappeared.
Other than the change from honorifics to informal, there was no difference yet.
Still, everyone was liking it. Just my opening my mouth made them laugh.
Scrutinizing the chat, everyone seemed to think my tone was too stiff. Of course. I had made it that way on purpose.
I followed the laughing viewers and chuckled, then said more sternly.
“Next time, I won’t be watching the chat. Type properly. If you cross the line, Liam will come find you.”
It was a warning after a fashion, but no one was scared. Maybe they still thought it was someone else’s problem.
Soon I would actually send Liam to act as an example. Once they saw, everyone would be cautious.
“I really said it. Don’t regret it later.”
After giving the warning, I slid the sunglasses up over my head. Then the peace in my heart settled, and my mood became a little unpleasant.
Of course, I showed no emotion inside.
“I was unable to control my anger for a moment. I’m sorry.”
Then, returning to honorifics, I smiled gently. Honestly, this side felt more familiar now.
The viewers who didn’t know the details simply thought I had high tension today.
There was no need to explain, so I left it alone. And it wasn’t entirely wrong.
“I am in a good mood. Because of this.”
I pointed at the sunglasses with my index finger and continued.
“As I said earlier, these sunglasses are our church’s new holy vestment, the Sun Blocker. A holy and sacred item imbued with the Goddess’s radiance.”
As I was giving the belated explanation, the sponsor voice cut in. The donor was haven.
[havant received 1,000 won donation]
“Did you take the name from the actual holy vestment?”
haven had accurately pointed out the part I had been about to say. I had noticed before that haven was particularly interested in game settings. Maybe she had become a big streamer of game streamers.
“Correct, President. As expected, you’re sharp.”
Since it was a broadcast, I answered with more formality than when we actually met.
“Anyone who has played Apolis Tales will remember. It’s the vestment we just color red and call a holy item.”
The clothing-type holy vestment that appeared in the game, the Sun Catcher. It could be called the exclusive outfit for saintesses. That was the only thing I wore during my saint days.
The name “Sun Blocker” I attached to the sunglasses holy item came from the Sun Catcher.
[havant received 1,000 won donation]
“The Sun Catcher also appears in Solar Scepter.”
Now I saw it appeared in the sequel too. I wasn’t particularly happy about it. There was a reason.
“To be honest, I have no good memories of the Sun Catcher. Because…”
I started to say but quickly covered my mouth. The previous big spoiler incident came to mind.
And my quick choice was correct.
The holy vestment Sun Catcher was also important in Solar Scepter. It had almost made me unable to face Director Oh Pil-seong.
Thank goodness…
Letting out a short sigh of relief, I closed my mouth and turned on Solar Scepter before any more mistakes.
Soon the company logo flashed and the main screen appeared. But it was different from before.
The main screen had changed to a picture of someone holding a sword forward, not the woman I had seen last time.
Clearly a lot of money had been spent. It looked great, but there was a problem.
“…It’s an acquaintance again.”
Of all times, someone I knew and was on good terms with was decorating the main screen.
[havant received 10,000 won donation]
“Please, please don’t say anything.”
Before I could continue, haven had cut in first. The desperation in the donation message suggested she didn’t want to be spoiled twice.
“Of course I won’t. I’m not an idiot.”
After one spoiler incident, there was no way I would make the same mistake again. This time I was determined to keep my mouth shut.
I comforted the anxious viewers and entered the server where I had created the character last time.
And as I was about to start the game, another donation came in.
[ksy11 received 1,000 won donation]
“But isn’t it a spoiler that the Pope knows someone?”
“Ah.”
Now that I thought about it, Solar Scepter dealt with the distant future of Apolis Tales.
In other words, simply knowing meant I was not an ordinary person.
“……”
People always repeated the same mistakes, hadn’t they? I was going to become the protagonist of that tired old saying.
I quickly thought about what to do and made a decision.
I quietly put down the Sun Blocker.
“Game start.”
In moments like this, pretending not to know was best.