When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 115



Only Noblemtl

115. First Summon of the Legion of God
2024.02.23.

The 3rd and 4th forms can only be used if you accept demonic energy into your body.

Of course, Grandmother Heukmoon’s declaration surprised me.

“You have to accept demonic energy… … ? So, you mean ‘magic power’?”

“Yes, that’s what it’s called.”

“But all I have is divine power.”

“That’s why I’m telling you to be more tense. It’s definitely not going to be easy. It’s definitely going to strain your body.”

I cautiously refuted Grandmother Heukmoon’s words.

“It’s not just that it’s not easy… It’s downright impossible. I thought people could only use one type of power… … .”

“Usually that’s how it is. But it’s not impossible.”

Grandmother Heukmoon continued to explain firmly.

“Usually people only have one type of power in their bodies their entire lives, but sometimes they can have two… or even three types.”

“Acquired?”

『Some are born that way, and some become that way through training.』

“So, are you saying that I should receive magical power into my body through training?”

『Yes. That’s what I have to do to learn the third and fourth forms that I have yet to learn.』

I felt like I had hit a huge wall.

I’ve never seen anyone who has both divine and magical power in their body before, and I have to force them to do so through training.

My face must have shown concern as Grandmother Heukwol added.

『It will definitely be very difficult, but if you succeed, you will simultaneously hold the power of yin and yang in one body.』

“Then… … .”

『You will become so strong that no one in the world can keep up with you. You may even be able to reach the realm of a sage.』

A sage is a being close to a god.

Becoming a sage meant that your status would rise from where it was now.

‘Sage… In other words, becoming a second-class being?’

This was certainly a great thing.

My appetite was piqued. I wanted to see beyond the limitations of a human.

“Good. “I’ll do anything, so teach me how to hold magic.”

“Yes. But I think it would be better to teach you a little later. It seems the ship has reached its destination.”

After saying that, Grandmother Black Moon disappeared.

I belatedly looked behind me where Grandmother Black Moon had pointed.

The cathedral was right in front of us.

We had finally finished our long dungeon conquest mission and returned to our home, the cathedral.

* * *

I went around waking up the group, telling them that the ship had arrived at the cathedral.

Since it was early in the morning, everyone was getting ready to get off the ship with sleepy eyes.

I also packed my things in the cabin and went out onto the deck, when Elodie suddenly approached me.

“Nickelus. I have something to tell you. It’s about Luciana.”

“Huh?”

Elodie opened her mouth again at my question.

“But it’s not something we should talk about here. There are a lot of ears listening.”

After hearing Elodie’s words, I looked around.

No one seemed very interested in our story.

The ship was just waiting for the landing at the cathedral.

There was only one person who seemed to be eavesdropping on our whispering, and that was Luciana.

She was staring at me for some reason.

Did you hear?

Elodie also seemed to notice Luciana and lowered her voice.

“Come to my room by noon today. I’ll tell you there.”

“Okay. Let’s talk about it then.”

In the meantime, the ship landed at the cathedral.

However, I couldn’t touch the ground because I was so happy like the rest of the group.

It was because I was concerned about what Elodie had said.

‘How important is it that you want to make time for us?’

I walked with a slightly anxious heart.

* * *

It was dawn when everyone in the cathedral was asleep.

Only one polydroid was still flapping its tail without sleeping.

It was Rubin.

Rubin, who had been anxiously waiting for the dungeon raid party to return, flew to Nickelus as soon as he got off the ghost ship.

“Nike!! You’re finally back!!”

“Yes, Rubin. “How’s your previous injury? Are you feeling better?”

Nickelus asked Rubin as he disembarked from the ship and passed through the main entrance to the cathedral.

Rubin waggled his tail again and replied.

“I’m almost better now! I think I can go next time I clear the dungeon!”

“Ah, good. Get better soon.”

Nickelus patted Rubin on the head.

After that, the two chatted together as they headed to Nickelus’ bedroom.

Just after they finally reached their own lair, Nickelus opened his inventory.

He took out two items:

an immortal egg and a warm feather cushion.

Watching Nickelus carefully place the immortal egg on the cushion, Rubin couldn’t help but ask.

“Nike? What are you doing?”

“An egg, trying to hatch it.”

“Huh? An immortal egg…?”

Rubin asked curiously. After a while, he quietly asked again.

“But isn’t that egg really old? Will it hatch?”

“Probably.”

Nickelus answered briefly and lifted the egg again.

Then he held it up to the dim dawn light.

The life budding inside the bluish eggshell was clearly visible in the light.

“I can feel it alive inside. Something great will be born.”

Nickelus said and placed the egg back on the cushion.

Then he walked toward the shower room attached to the bedroom.

“Anyway, I’ll wash up and come back, so don’t touch the egg and leave it alone.”

“Okay!”

Nickelus then went into the shower room to wash off the dust and sweat on his body from the long journey.

After Nickelus left, Rubin stared at the immortal egg.

A soft soliloquy flowed out from Rubin’s small furry mouth.

“A new life is born…?”

Rubin couldn’t quite believe it.

As far as Rubin knew, eggs rotted away after too long and couldn’t hatch.

But if Nickelus said it would hatch… then a miracle could happen.

Rubin had never seen him talk nonsense before.

“You, when you’re born, you’ll have to listen to me?”

Rubin whispered to the egg and patted the eggshell.

Like he was patting his younger sibling’s head.

Pat pat.

That’s when it happened.

“… …!!”

Rubin, who had been patting the egg, hurriedly pulled his foreleg away from the egg.

It seemed as if he had witnessed something strange.

“It moved… …?”

When he had just tapped the egg, the egg had moved on its own.

As if it had an ego. As if it was responding to Rubin’s words.

Was it an illusion? Rubin watched the egg with trembling eyes.

He watched it for a long time, but—

“… … .”

The egg did not move again.

Only then did Rubin sigh and look away.

‘Did I tap it with my foreleg and it shook… …?’ He

might have used too much force when he patted the egg, so it moved left and right.

It wasn’t moving on its own, because it wasn’t moving at all right now.

Yes, the egg only shook briefly when I patted it. Rubin turned around, thinking that.

And he waited eagerly for Nickelus, who had gone to wash, to come out and play with him.

That’s why Rubin didn’t see it.

The immortal egg moved much longer and more clearly than before.

* * *

Since Elodie had told me to come back by noon earlier, I left my room right on time.

I had played with Rubin enough, and now that I had nothing else to do, I was going to go find out what that ‘secret conversation’ was and hear about it.

However, my plan ran into trouble before I could even take three steps out of the room.

I asked the two B-class knights blocking my way.

“… … What are you?”

“I have orders to follow His Majesty wherever he goes.”

“Orders? From Luciana, perhaps?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

One of the knights continued.

“I have a message from the captain. Would you like to hear it?”

“… … “Tell me.”

When my permission was granted, the knight cleared his throat.

Then he relayed Luciana’s message as it was.

“Your Majesty, if there is anything you are hiding, I would like you to tell me. – He said so.”

“Hiding something… .”

It was too early to deny it… It seemed as if Luciana had already caught on.

Earlier, when Elodie whispered something to me in secret, I had been paying too much attention to Luciana’s expression. It

must have seemed very suspicious to Luciana.

Furthermore, Luciana had good ears, so she might have heard her name mentioned.

So it was natural that she suspected that Elodie and I were secretly talking about Luciana herself.

‘I have to hear this in secret, but I can’t leave them hanging all over me… … . Should I just ignore them?’

As luck would have it, I had a good skill to ignore them.

It was a new skill that I had unlocked as a reward for completing the surprise sub-oracle last time, but I hadn’t been able to use it in the dungeon, “God’s Legion.”

I thought it would be a good idea to practice using it now.

I first apologized to the two knights who were blocking my way.

“Let me apologize to you in advance.”

“Huh?”

“Be my skill practice partner.”

“Huh!?”

They asked “Huh?!” but I didn’t have time to explain.

I immediately casted Legion of God.

Soon, a message window I had never seen before appeared before my eyes.

[Skill 「Legion of God (S)」 has been activated!]

[The sacred legion protected by the gods appears before your eyes!]

– Number of soldiers currently available for summoning: 2

As that message appeared, a halo of light gathered in the empty space.

Soon, it took the form of a person.

A soldier wearing white armor and a white cloak.

‘Am I only able to summon two people so far?’

I sighed as I examined the two summoned soldiers and the Legion of God.

It had only been a short time since I had used the skill… In other words, my skill proficiency was low, so it seemed that I could only summon two soldiers.

As time passed, the number of soldiers summoned would probably increase.

“Your, Your Majesty? Who are these people?”

The knights who had blocked my path showed their confusion.

I smiled and gave a brief explanation.

“These are soldiers summoned by skill. They have no will and only follow my orders.”

The Legion of God was a skill that summoned a legion of soldiers who literally had no will.

Since I could only summon two soldiers at the moment, it was a bit awkward to call them a ‘legion’… but it didn’t matter anyway.

The important thing was that they absolutely obeyed my orders.

“Take them.”

I ordered the summoned soldiers of God.