When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 124
Only Noblemtl
124. Don’t doubt!
2024.03.03.
The method of provoking and luring the Siren was simple.
It was a creature that was called a ‘monster’ because it was aggressive and attacked humans. That
‘s why Petros only had to shout this to lure it.
“Birdhead!!”
-Kyaak!! Kyaak!!
The Siren immediately reacted violently and chased after Petros.
Whenever the Siren seemed to be going in a different direction after chasing him, Petros repeated the same provocation.
To buy Nickelus time.
‘Didn’t you tell me to go around that mountain peak and come back?’
Nickelus had said.
He told me to lure the Siren far away and buy time before coming back.
He would prepare a new trap in the meantime. Since
they were both wearing sound-blocking items and talking with their hands and feet, Nickelus couldn’t exactly understand what Nickelus said.
But since Petros had said he would prepare something while he was stalling for time, he must have done something.
‘… … Yes, I’ll have to believe it.’
He circled the mountain, trusting Nickelus.
However, as he circled the mountain and started to return, he began to feel worried.
What if Nickelus had returned to the village alone without preparing anything in order to cause Petros trouble? In
that case, Petros would have to be left alone
to deal with the Siren. Nickelus was not the kind of person who would do that, but he was still a little worried.
What if… what if Nickelus really hadn’t prepared anything… … .
And when he was so worried, the accident happened in that moment of carelessness.
-Kyaaaaak!!
“… … !!”
It was definitely the Siren who had been luring him while maintaining a good distance.
The Siren suddenly increased her speed and followed Petros behind.
Then she grabbed Petros’ shoulder with her sharp claws.
“… …!!”
Petros, caught up in his own thoughts, swallowed the pain before he could dodge the attack.
‘Damn it, I can’t get caught yet… … !’
He had already circled the mountain, so he only had to move a little further to the place where he had parted ways with Nickelus.
Nickelus would have prepared something for him there.
So he couldn’t stop here.
“Get out!”
-Kyaaak!!
Petros swung his spear and stabbed the Siren in the torso.
While the Siren hesitated to attack, he was barely able to escape the Siren’s claws.
However, there were already three large holes in his shoulder from the claws.
He bit his lips tightly to keep from losing consciousness from blood loss.
‘… … I have to stay conscious until the very end.’
If he got to Nickelus, something would definitely work out.
Petros clung to that one sliver of hope and forcefully flapped his blood-soaked wings.
-Kyaaak!! Kkaaaak!!
The Siren squeaked happily behind him.
Unlike before, when he could easily shake off the siren, now he couldn’t move quickly due to the bleeding.
Feeling like a sparrow being chased by a hawk, Petros barely managed to lure the siren.
“Huk, huk… … .”
Insufficient blood. His vision starting to waver. His breathing
getting faster. Despite the bad situation, he continued to fly.
And finally.
“Your Majesty!!”
He saw Nickelus.
However, Petros’ face, which had been dyed with joy, soon began to sink into despair.
‘What! There’s nothing prepared!’
Nickelus had clearly said that he would prepare a ‘trap’ to catch the bird.
However, there was nothing resembling a trap near Nickelus that he could see now.
Ominous thoughts crossed Petros’ mind.
‘Did I come back too quickly and not have enough time to prepare a trap… … ? No, I wasted enough time. Then why is there nothing… … ?’
While Petros was so flustered, Nickelus, who had found him on the ground, waved his hand loudly and shouted,
“Lure him here!!”
Petros could hear Nickelus’ voice because he had shouted so loudly.
However, even if he had heard it, it was not like he could understand it.
‘What are you talking about? Lure him towards me… … .’
There didn’t seem to be any traps or snares set up around the area.
In that situation, luring the Siren towards Nickelus would only result in Nickelus being attacked.
It was a stupid plan.
Petros, who had decided so, crossed his arms to make an X in rejection.
Nickelus shouted back,
“Don’t doubt it!!”
In this situation, “don’t doubt it” probably meant that he shouldn’t doubt his plan.
Petros thought for a moment and then looked back.
Before he knew it, Siren was right behind him. There was no more time.
“I don’t know… …!”
Petros lured Siren toward Nickelus as Nickelus had told him to.
He trusted Nickelus, who had come up with various methods to overcome danger in the dungeon.
When he lured Siren toward Nickelus, the Siren soon discovered Nickelus.
-Kyaaaaak!!
Nickelus, who was standing defenseless without even a weapon, roared in delight. Nickelus
spread his arms wide in response.
As if waiting for a hug.
Petros screamed when he saw that perfectly defenseless posture.
“Your Majesty!!”
I thought there would be some way out for Nickelus.
However, Nickelus, who was visible now, was simply preparing to fall victim to Siren’s attack without any defense.
As if he was prepared for death.
As if things were not bad enough, Siren activated a skill toward Nickelus.
Skill, Downward Hunt.
It was a skill that was mostly used by monsters that could fly, and it was a skill that allowed them to descend from the air at a speed close to the speed of sound and attack their prey.
With the skill activated, the monster quickly descended toward Nickelus.
Petros could not bear to watch and tightly closed his eyes.
He did not want to see Nickelus, who was not even holding a weapon, being pierced by the monster’s sharp claws.
However, he had no choice but to open his eyes again at the loud noise that followed.
Boom!!
Petros opened his eyes and soon witnessed.
The monster that had descended quickly to hunt Nickelus was banging its head against a large tree.
Nickelus, who was standing defenselessly with both arms outstretched, was nowhere to be seen.
Only the monster’s corpse, which was crushed to the point of being unrecognizable, was there.
While Petros was looking around for Nickelus in confusion, Nickelus suddenly flew to Petros.
“Your Majesty?!”
Petros, bewildered, looked back and forth between the ground where Nickelus had been standing and Nickelus who had appeared next to him.
“Weren’t you originally down there…? How did you get here…?”
“Ah, that was an illusion.”
“An illusion?”
Nickelus showed Petros, who still didn’t understand, the white gloves on his hands.
And also the white belt and boots on his waist.
“These gloves, belt, and boots are a set, and if you collect and wear the entire set, you can activate a special effect. A special effect that shows illusions.” A
sacred white item set that does not fade.
These items were obtained through the affection event, and if you collect the entire set, you could activate a special effect that shows illusions.
Nickelus continued his explanation while wearing the items that shone bright white.
“I used that item’s special effect to create an illusion on that large tree, making it look like me. So that the monster would fly towards me quickly and smash its head into the tree.”
Just as Siren had made them crash into the tree earlier, Nickelus had also used an illusion to lure Siren into the tree.
In other words, he had set a trap using an illusion.
Petros, who had figured out the situation, scratched his cheek awkwardly.
“I didn’t even know that… …”
When Nickelus taunted Siren without a weapon, he thought she had decided to commit suicide.
Petros regretted suspecting Nickelus for a moment.
If Nickelus hadn’t shouted “Don’t doubt!” earlier, the whole plan would have gone awry.
Should he apologize? While he was pondering, Nickelus said,
“Let’s go down first. I have to check the monster’s condition.”
* * *
While Nickelus and Petros were killing the Siren,
Luciana was also swinging her sword.
The opponent was the female mercenary who had harassed her the moment she went to see the count.
She was a person who wielded a large sword as big as her body.
However, the fight did not last long.
“Eww!”
Not long after their swords clashed, a scream erupted from the mercenary.
It was a scream that burst out because his wrist was twisted while blocking Luciana’s attack.
The mercenary eventually dropped his sword and rolled on the ground, and Luciana immediately aimed her sword at the mercenary.
“Do you want to try more?”
The mercenary who dropped his sword clenched his teeth without answering Luciana’s question.
Since he had dropped his weapon, the victory was already decided. Even
if Luciana went to meet the count without waiting in line, she would not be able to stop him any longer.
The mercenary, who was extremely angry at this fact, cursed as if he was cursing.
“Damn it!! You’re a noble and you’re good at handling a sword, you idiot!!”
The guide who was trying to guide Luciana shrugged his shoulders when he heard those words.
A situation where a commoner insulted a noble while using curse words.
If Luciana wanted to punish the mercenary by picking on this, she could easily punish him for insulting a noble.
However, Luciana simply shrugged and spoke to the guide.
“Take me to the Count.”
“I… Are you okay? That woman just swore at the High Priest—”
“As I’ve said repeatedly, we don’t have time. I can’t waste time on personal matters.”
The guide nodded and tried to lead Luciana into the castle.
However, Luciana stopped him.
“Wait a minute, now that you mention it—”
Luciana stopped the guide and looked at the mercenary this time.
The mercenary, who had been rolling around on the ground earlier, glared at Luciana. As if he had nothing left to say.
Luciana asked.
“Didn’t you say your little brother was sick?”
“… … What was that?”
“Take this and feed it to him.”
As she said that, Luciana opened her inventory and threw a vial of potion at him.
The mercenary looked at the vial of potion he received in bewilderment before asking Luciana.
“This is?”
“A miracle potion.”
“… … ?”
“If you make him drink that, your little brother will get better. “Don’t feel pressured, this is an apology for not waiting in line.”
The mercenary frowned as if he didn’t know what was going on, but put the vial in his bosom.
After confirming the situation, Luciana urged the guide again.
“Guide me.”
“Yes, High Priest.”
After that, Luciana was able to follow the guide into the castle.
The interior of the castle, which seemed to have been built a long time ago, was dark as expected.
The guide guided Luciana through the dark path here and there, and Luciana followed him, walking silently.
Their steps stopped when they reached the highest floor of the castle.
The guide stopped and turned to Luciana and said,
“The sage is inside. I will go in first and inform the High Priest of his visit.”
“Wait.”
Luciana nodded, and the guide stepped into the room on the top floor.
There was a rustling sound as if they were talking about something inside, and soon the guide came out again.
He said to Luciana with a troubled expression,
“That… “I’m sorry… He said he’s tired right now. Could you wait until tomorrow… … ?”
“What?!”
The clock is ticking!
He even sent out mercenaries and swords outside to meet us a little earlier!
Luciana, who couldn’t bear it any longer, pushed the guide aside and stood in front of the door.
Then she knocked on the door, shouting, “Bang, bang, bang!!”
“Open the door right now! How many times have I told you that this is a matter of world peace!!”
There was no answer from inside the door.
The guide who had been guiding Luciana tried to push her away in shock.
“The sage is very tired right now—”
“Is relieving your fatigue more important than world peace!!”
“Lu, High Priest Luciana, calm down for now! If the sage gets angry like this… … !”
“Let go of this!! I have to meet the author inside right now!!”
Luciana continued to shout, shaking off the guide who was trying to stop her.
“I… I have to know! “About the skill called ‘the one who stole the golden lily!!”
It was then that the tightly shut door slowly opened.
With a ‘squeak-’ of old hinges, the sage poked his head through the narrow gap in the opened door.
“Did you just say ‘the one who stole the golden lily’?”