When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 101



Only Noblemtl

◈101. I have something for you

The rewards of this surprise sub-trust were threefold.

First, 100 karma points.

Second, one ticket to use the White Moon Shop.

And finally, unlock the new skill 「Legion of God (S)」.

Yes, just press the completion button that appears in front of you and the new skill will finally be unlocked.

‘Press… … .’

I slowly raised my hand.

After that, I swallowed my saliva again and pressed the complete button.

Messages indicating the completion of the quest appeared one after another.

[You have completed the surprise sub-trust! Would you like to receive your reward?]

―Yes

―No

Of course, my answer was set.

Yes.

As I touched the button with my hand, the message I had been waiting for appeared.

[You have earned 100 Karma points as a surprise sub-trust completion reward. Your current Karma is -432 points.]

This makes my karma points -432 points.

It’s still a low point, just like a serial killer’s… but it’s still a huge improvement over before.

A message also appeared saying that I had soon received the second reward, a White Moon Shop ticket.

I put the store voucher that I got that way aside for now.

Because I had a place to use it soon.

And the last message that appeared was―

[Skill “God’s Legion (S)” has been unlocked!]

It was the message I had been waiting and waiting for.

The legions of gods.

Just hearing the name, it seemed like it would definitely be an amazing skill, but I still opened the detailed description and looked at the skill information.

[Legion of God (S)]

– Summon the legions of God to your side.

―The number and grade of soldiers that can be summoned are determined by the skill user’s ability.

This time too, the skill description was incredibly simple.

The explanation is woefully inadequate to properly learn how to use it.

If so, there was only one way.

‘I guess I’ll have to try it myself.’

So I decided to try out the skill right there.

But soon it came to a halt.

‘No, but come to think of it, it might be a bit dangerous to use it right now?’

When I was possessed by the Black Moon, I tried to test out her skills and ended up destroying the entire warehouse.

If this skill is more flashy than I thought… … .

‘… … The entire interior could be destroyed.’

I gave up on using the skill.

It seemed like a good idea to take advantage of the time when it got dark and go out to the practice range to try it out secretly.

So now there was only one thing left for me to do.

Delsey, who had arrived just in time, called me from outside the door.

[Your Majesty, I heard you were looking for me, quack quack―]

“Okay, come in. I have something for you.”

The office door opened cautiously, and Delsey’s head poked out through the gap.

[Will you give it to me?]

“You did a great job this time. Here’s your reward for that.”

[But I just did what I had to do… , squeak―]

“What’s so obvious? What you did well was good. Just sit there and wait a minute.”

I took a deep breath and used the “1-time White Moon Shop Ticket” I had received earlier.

Soon after, a store window opened in the same style as the one I had seen before.

‘Let’s just open and close it ten times. If the item doesn’t come out, just buy any other good item.’

Items sold in the White Moon Shop changed randomly each time the shop window was opened and closed.

So if I didn’t have what I needed when I first opened the shop window, I could just keep opening and closing it.

Because the store’s sales list keeps changing, you might find the item you want.

So I opened the store window and―

‘……does not exist.’

The item I wanted to give to Delsey was gone.

First attempt failed.

I closed the store and reopened it.

And I looked at the newly changed list of items for sale.

‘… … It’s not here this time either?’

The second attempt was also a failure.

Without giving up, I quickly closed the store window and opened it again.

Surprisingly, the third attempt also failed.

The item I wanted was still not listed in the store.

[Your Majesty? Should I just keep waiting, quack quack… … ? Your expression looks serious, but is there anything I can help you with… … .]

“No, I can’t help you. Just wait there for a moment. I’ll give it to you in a minute.”

Delsey looked a little puzzled.

It was strange that he just called me and made me wait.

But soon, as I said, he began to wait quietly again, and I opened the shop window for the fourth time.

‘It doesn’t come out dirty… … .’

Have I been this unlucky?

I’ve already opened and closed it four times, but the item I want still hasn’t appeared.

I was starting to get tired, but I didn’t give up and opened my fifth store―

‘It still hasn’t come up…? Why is it happening when there are so many items for sale!’

I still couldn’t see what I wanted.

There are already hundreds of rare items that I have seen.

It was surprising that among the hundreds of items that appeared in the store, the one I wanted never appeared even once.

I took a deep breath to calm my mind and continued to open and close the shop.

Originally I was only going to do it ten times, but ten times became twenty, then thirty.

I didn’t stop. I really wanted to give that thing to Delsey.

[Your Majesty, the sun has set… … .]

“Oh, it’s that time already?”

It was during the day that I called Delsey.

But when I looked out the window, the sunset was already setting.

I was so absorbed in opening and closing the shop windows that I didn’t even realize how much time had passed.

“I’m sorry for keeping you for so long. I meant to find it and give it to you right away, but it’s not easy to find it.”

[It’s okay, kk- I don’t know exactly what the situation is, but there must have been some reason.]

“Thank you for understanding. I’ll look into it one last time. Please wait a minute.”

[Yes, Your Majesty. Quack quack―]

I took a deep breath.

After that, I closed the store and reopened it, thinking that this would be the last time.

‘Damn, not this time either… Wait a minute.’

I was about to press the close button out of habit when I stopped.

At the very bottom of the list of items for sale, the name of the item I had been waiting for appeared.

I thought I was hallucinating because I had been waiting so long, so I read the item name and description over and over again.

But I wasn’t mistaken.

That item was exactly what I wanted.

[Skill Seal Ring (??)]

-A ring imbued with the power of a powerful seal.

-When worn, you can seal skills whenever you want.

I almost cheered.

Finally… Finally, the ??-class skill seal item that I’ve been longing for has appeared.

I pressed the purchase button cautiously, fearing that I might press the wrong button.

[The White Moon Store Ticket has been used “1” times!]

– Number of uses remaining (0)

Since it was a one-time use ticket, it expired as soon as it was used.

I handed over the remaining (??) grade ring item in my hand to Delsey.

“This is my gift.”

[Is this… a ring? Knock knock?]

“It’s a ring that allows you to seal skills whenever you want. It’s also a ‘grade undetermined’ item.”

[… … !!]

Items whose grade appears as (??) in the item information window are called grade-undetermined items.

It was given this name because it was a level higher than L-class and its grade could not be measured at all.

And Delsey’s skill is also a skill whose rank has not been determined.

To seal that skill, you need an item of the same undecided grade.

[Really… Really, if I just wear this, I won’t have to use this squeaky-squeaky doll… … ? Squeak?]

“Yes. Since it’s an item of the same undecided grade, it should be able to seal your skill properly. In other words, even if you speak with your real voice, your skill won’t activate on its own.”

[Ah, ahh… Oh my… … .]

Delsi, who had been able to speak through a duck doll until now because her skills would activate on their own if she spoke with her real voice.

So, even though the doll item became worn out, Delsey couldn’t throw it away and had to hold on to it.

But now that we have a better tool, we can say goodbye to the duck doll.

“Now, put it on quickly.”

[yes!!]

Delsey quickly put the ring on her finger.

Nothing happened right away.

There was just a ring on the finger.

The only way to check if it was functioning properly was to speak to it directly.

“Tell me something with your real voice.”

[Quack, that’s kind of scary… ]

“It’s okay. If the skill was sealed properly, nothing will happen. I just need to check.”

Delsey nodded slowly after hearing my persuasion.

Then he carefully extended his hand to me.

“Your Majesty, please take my hand.”

I stared blankly at Delsey’s hand, then grabbed the hand that was extended to me.

Delsey’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight.

“The item doesn’t work!!”

“No, that’s not it.”

I shook my head and told him the truth.

“I just held onto your hand because I felt bad about turning away from you. The skill seal item is working properly.”

As I said that and let go of the hand I was holding, Delsey covered her mouth.

“Really… is it okay for me to speak with my own voice now?”

“Yeah. When you asked me to hold your hand, I didn’t feel any effect from the skill at all. The skill was completely sealed.”

“Oh my god… Finally… I can use my own voice… … .”

Delsey, who was speaking with emotion, suddenly burst into tears.

I was momentarily taken aback, but I soon calmed down.

Those are tears of emotion and joy.

There was no need to offer any consolation.

So I offered comfort by simply handing her a handkerchief.

“Thank you… I really appreciate it… I’ll just… Ugh, I’ll go wipe my tears and come back… … .”

“Okay, calm down and come.”

Delsey left the office with her face buried in her handkerchief.

Left alone, I let out a deep sigh.

‘I’ve never clicked so many buttons before.’

I spent the whole day opening and closing the window with the sole intention of freeing Delsey from the duck item.

My arms still felt cold.

But thanks to that, I saw many happy faces, so the effort was worth it.

“Your Majesty, may I come in?”

“Luciana? Oh, come in.”

Since I had never called Luciana before, I asked her straight away.

“what’s the matter?”

“I saw Sir Delsey walking down the hallway crying.”

“iced coffee.”

I think I know why you came.

Since Delsi, who had come to see me, left crying, Luciana, who did not know the circumstances, could not help but be suspicious of me.

Because of this, I started having a headache.

Given Luciana’s personality, there’s no way she’d just let it go… … .

I probably would have had a hard time explaining it.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“I know.”

“hmm?”

I thought you were going to nitpick?

I couldn’t believe it because it was a more refreshing answer than I thought, so I asked back.

“You know?”

“If it were before, I would have suspected that you would have cried with harsh words… but now you’re different.”

“ah.”

“I just came out of curiosity. What did you say that made Sir Delsey cry like that?”

I forgot for a moment.

I want to let the people around me know that I am no longer a loser.

He scratched the bridge of his nose awkwardly and then answered Luciana.

“No, what… I just gave you a small gift. Ask Delsi when she comes later.”

“A gift… I see.”

“Aren’t you upset that I didn’t take care of you?”

Luciana immediately shook her head.

“You agreed to help me clear the dungeon that appeared near my hometown. That alone would be a gift enough for me. However―”

Luciana, who had been speaking, paused for a moment and sighed deeply.

“I’m just worried. I’m worried that Your Majesty might be in danger while preparing that gift.”

“Don’t worry about useless things and just leave it to me. I’ll clean it up in one day.”

“No, it’s not a needless worry.”

Luciana shook her head and continued.

“Before we begin to conquer the dungeon, I thought we needed to do some research first, so I gathered eyewitness accounts from the local residents.”

“Dungeon sightings?”

“Yes, according to the eyewitness accounts I’ve collected, that dungeon is… a bit strange.”

A bit of a strange dungeon.

After hearing that, I could intuitively sense it.

The perfect stage to test out my new skills was set.

I asked Luciana straight away.

“What specifically is strange? That dungeon.”