When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 117



Only Noblemtl

117. Don’t even dream of retirement
2024.02.25.

This place was definitely in my dream.

While I was talking to Elodie in my dream, Luciana and Dionique suddenly appeared, breaking the space.

‘Did Elodie invite her?’

As soon as I thought that, I looked at Elodie.

Her face was filled with embarrassment. It seemed that even Elodie had not expected this.

I looked back at Luciana and stammered.

“… …Why are you here?”

After that, my gaze naturally turned to Dionique.

If Elodie hadn’t invited them, then Dionique must have brought Luciana here.

However, Dionique also had a puzzled expression on his face, as if he hadn’t realized that we were having a secret conversation.

It seemed that Luciana had not told Dionique the exact situation and had only asked him to bring her here.

Dionique was still saying, “Were we having a secret conversation? “I thought the two of you were just playing around.” – He was babbling nonsense.

In the meantime, Luciana was walking towards me.

“Does it matter why we’re here?”

She approached me step by step, but soon stopped right in front of me.

“What’s more important is what Your Majesty was talking about just now.”

“… … .” “I heard that I was one of the erased ones… that is, I

was under the curse of Romun’s skill… … ? And yet you kept that fact a secret from me all this time?”

“… … Are you angry?” Luciana lowered her head in response to my cautious question. Because of the height difference, I couldn’t see her face when she lowered her head. Luciana said, hiding her face like that. “Yes, I’m angry.” You’re angry, after all. As expected, I wanted to apologize right away. Even though I hid the truth for Luciana, it was wrong to do something like that without her consent. However, I was speechless because of what she said. “I’m really angry. At myself.” “… … Not at me, but at you?” “Yes. I thought how unattractive and pitiful I must have been for you to hide my secret from me—” Luciana paused for a moment as if trying to control her emotions, then continued her interrupted speech. “I’m really angry.” As I looked at Luciana, who had her head bowed weakly, a sense of guilt weighed on my heart. Up until now, I had believed that hiding secrets from her was for her own good. I thought that hiding secrets would keep her from danger. However, it seemed that my self-righteous choices and actions had ended up hurting her greatly. Since it was related to Luciana, shouldn’t I have kept secrets from her? While she was reflecting, Luciana continued to speak in a dispirited voice. “Maybe I’m not worthy of being your Majesty’s sword. Rather than protecting you, I feel like I’m just a burden. So I… I think I should step down from my position as your sword.” “What!?” Stepping down from the position of the sword… That meant stepping down from the position of the knight commander. It meant handing over the position of the knight commander who protected me most closely to someone else. In a moment of panic, I shouted at her urgently. “What nonsense! If not you, who else is worthy of the sword…?” “Your Majesty, do you think I am worthy of the sword? Do you really think so?” “… … .” When I asked her that, I was speechless. I told Luciana that I was worthy, but I had never relied on her until now. I had even kept a critically important secret from Luciana and got caught… … . Maybe it was time for a change in our relationship. “… … I’m sorry for everything. I knew you were my knight, but I tried to protect you instead of relying on you. You were my oldest friend and a precious person before you were a knight.” “… … .” “I don’t plan on doing that anymore. I promise that I will trust and rely on you properly.” Let’s stop trying to unconditionally protect Luciana. With that determination, I promised Luciana that I would never consider her a protection again, and that I would consider her my knight and rely on her. Luciana didn’t answer as if she was thinking about something. Only then did I realize that I had forgotten something, and continued.

“Oh, of course I’ll tell you exactly what happened when you were sick as a child.”

“… … .”

“So, please continue to be my knight. Don’t even dream of retirement.”

There was still no answer from Luciana.

Feeling a little embarrassed by the prolonged silence, I opened my mouth again.

“Do you need time to think about it?”

“No, I’ve already thought about it. I was just… thinking about what to say to make it cool. Now that I’m done thinking about it, I’ll answer.”

Luciana took a deep breath and opened her mouth.

“First of all… thank you for saying that. And it’s an honor. For continuing to trust me as a knight despite my shortcomings.”

“That means… … .”

“Yes, as long as Your Majesty permits, I want to remain Your Majesty’s knight.”

In other words, I would postpone retirement.

I let out a deep sigh as I relieved my worries.

“Good idea. If not you, who would be my knight. Bliss? Argelio?”

I giggled as I said that.

Bliss would be lucky if she didn’t stab me, and Argelio would rather be the one who had to protect him.

Luciana followed suit and laughed.

Then, Dionik, who had been quietly watching the situation from the side, joined our conversation.

“Um… … . Hey, can I talk now? I was quiet because the atmosphere seemed really serious.”

Thinking about it, I was so absorbed in talking to Luciana that I completely forgot that the Mongma siblings were right next to me.

They seemed to be just watching while Luciana and I had a serious conversation about whether or not to quit being knights. They

were holding their breath next to me with faces as if they were dying from embarrassment.

Feeling a little sorry for them, I opened my mouth.

“We’re done talking between us. So from now on—”

I looked around at the group and continued.

“I think we should talk about all of humanity. What the Erased Ones are, and what kind of harm they plan to do to humanity… .”

Starting with that, I told Luciana everything without holding back.

The Priscilians.

The erased ones.

The returnees who came here to represent them… …

And the last thing I said was about Romun.

I told Luciana everything he did when his childhood memories disappeared, which she had wanted to know so much.

After hearing the whole story of how I had acquired the power of the curse while defeating Romun and how my humanity had to gradually break down because of it, Luciana finally opened her mouth.

“So… it was all my fault? Your Majesty was called a loser… … .”

“No, it was because of Romun. The reason I was called a loser was because of the power of that guy’s curse.”

“But that curse was originally mine—”

“Luciana.”

I called Luciana in a firm voice.

After forcibly cutting off her self-reproach, I spoke firmly again.

“It was because of Romun. It wasn’t anyone else’s fault.”

Yes, it wasn’t Luciana’s fault that she was cursed. It was

n’t Nickelus’ fault for trying to lift the curse but getting hurt instead.

It wasn’t the fault of the previous Marquis who had entrusted Nickelus with the task that day, nor was it the fault of the church for not stopping Nickelus from going to treat Luciana. It was all Romun’s fault. That was all. “… … .” Luciana quietly lowered her head as if she understood. I continued to tell her, who was exhausted. “And most of all, I’m fine now. In the past, I had a hard time staying sane because of the power of Romun’s curse, but I’m fine now.” “Is that true?” “Yeah, maybe the power of the curse has weakened because of the passage of time.” In fact, the reason my personality didn’t deteriorate because of Romun’s curse… was because I wasn’t the real Nickelus. The one who became eccentric because of Romun’s curse was the original Nickelus. It was natural for me, who wasn’t the real original, to have a normal personality. Luciana let out a deep sigh after hearing that. “Whew… … . Thank goodness, really. Anyway, I think it would be best to let everyone know this fact.” “Everyone…?” “This isn’t something you can just shoulder alone. I hope you’ll trust us a little more.” “Hmm… … Okay, let’s tell them everything.” I’ve definitely learned this time that I shouldn’t just protect the others while keeping all the information to myself. That’s why I’ve decided. To tell the rest of the group everything about the erased ones, just like Luciana said.

Since our intentions were aligned, there was nothing more to talk about.

After that, Elodie said that we should go to reality to talk, and took Luciana with him and left my dream.

Now, only Dionik and I remained in the dream.

After he left, I tried to wake up from the dream, but for some reason, he just kept hesitating in the dream.

Did he still have something to say? Feeling puzzled, I suddenly asked him,

“Why aren’t you leaving?”

“That’s… …”

He hesitated unresponsively.

After waiting a little, he finally opened his mouth.

“I really didn’t know that you and Elodie were having a secret conversation?”

“Huh?”

“That’s why when Luciana asked me to bring you here, I didn’t think much of it and just brought you here. In short, it was a mistake.”

He seemed to be sorry that he had brought Luciana here and had exposed our secret conversation.

Who would have thought that I would receive an apology from Dionik?

While I was surprised, the guy spoke in a more clear tone.

“Anyway, I’m sorry.”

Even after saying that, he looked away and scratched his cheek, feeling embarrassed.

It was the first time I’d ever seen him apologize, so I couldn’t take my eyes off him for a while. Since

I was just keeping quiet, he finally asked quietly.

“… … Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“No, I thought you were the kind of guy who could apologize.”

After saying that honestly, I burst out laughing.

“This is really surprising… … . Things happen in life.”

“Don’t joke around, aren’t you angry?”

“You said it was a mistake. Then there’s nothing I can do.”

As I said before, I didn’t intend to nitpick Dionik’s mistake.

I waved my hand as if I was swatting away a fly.

“I’m not angry, so don’t worry and just get out of my dream. If you waste time alone with an incubus in my dream, people will have strange misunderstandings.”

When I responded playfully, only then did Dionik relax his tense face.

Then he slipped out of my dream as if he was disappearing.

Finally, all the visitors in my dream had left.

I also prepared to wake up.

* * *

Dawn when everyone was asleep.

Micheln was standing in front of a dungeon that resembled a giant baobab tree.

When he tried to knock on the surface of the dungeon, the barrier activated and pushed his fist back.

He smiled as he watched the fist being pushed back.

Smiling, he continued to give orders. To the beasts surrounding the dungeon and taking attack stances.

“Destroy the barrier.”