When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 130



Only Noblemtl

130. Strange Forest
2024.03.09.

We had clearly come to Ernen’s bedroom according to the map Bliss had drawn.

However, when we opened the bedroom door, a forest was spread out before us.

Of course, I froze in place, and Dionique and Elodie, who were behind me, muttered a few words.

“Can there be such a huge forest indoors?”

“It must be a space distortion skill.”

Elodie said and continued to explain.

“It must have been an ordinary bedroom originally. Then, an Awakened One with the power of the space distortion skill connected another space entirely with the power of the skill.”

“So, the forest you see right now is not the palace, but a completely different space?”

“That’s right. It could be an illusion created by the illusion skill… But I think it’s a space distortion skill.”

Elodie continued to talk.

“I’ve seen it with my own eyes before. Among the erased ones, there was an Awakened One with the space distortion skill. I think it might be that one’s ability.”

“Then, beyond that… … .”

“It would be better not to go. As soon as we enter there, they might try to warp the space again and trap us forever.”

After hearing Elodie’s words up to that point, I couldn’t help but let out a long sigh.

“Then where should we look for Your Majesty? Where did your original bedroom go?”

When asked where the bedroom had disappeared to, this time Dionique answered.

“In cases where different spaces are connected like this, if you destroy the connected space from the inside, the original space will return.”

“If we go into the forest and destroy it from the inside, the bedroom will return to how it was?”

“Yeah. But it won’t be easy. If we were to destroy such a vast space—”

“Let’s go in.”

Elodie and Dionique fell silent for a moment after hearing my short suggestion.

I continued to talk to them.

“Let’s destroy this strange space and return the bedroom to how it was. That way, we can safely find Your Majesty who is hiding and take him out.”

“This doesn’t seem like a good idea… … .”

Elodie muttered before finally saying,

“What if we go in and fail to destroy the space and we get trapped there forever? And we can’t even be sure if the Emperor is in there or not.”

“It’s okay. There’s a safety device.”

I answered, then raised my hand to show him.

To be exact, the Hidden Peace ring on my finger.

“With this ring, I can turn back time. If you’re trapped there and can’t get out, I’ll turn back time.”

“… … Really?”

I nodded at Elodie’s surprised question.

“There’s no way I could lie about someone’s life. We don’t know what His Majesty’s situation is or where he is, so we have to search every nook and cranny.”

After saying that, the demons exchanged glances.

It seemed like they had exchanged opinions, and soon Dionik opened his mouth.

“Ha… … I understand.”

Dionik added,

“We normally wouldn’t go to such a dangerous place, but since you said we should, we’re going.”

“Okay, let’s just go in.”

Since we were going in anyway, there was no need to delay.

I confidently walked toward the forest.

At first glance, the forest there looked similar to the forests we often saw, but when we actually entered, we noticed something different.

First of all, the appearance of the trees was unfamiliar.

All the trees there were thin and long, so they looked like several giant wooden chopsticks placed upright.

The insects passing by also looked unfamiliar.

I absentmindedly watched a heart-shaped butterfly fluttering nearby.

At that moment, Dionik, who had followed me, shouted,

“The door we came in is gone!!” When I looked back, it was true. The door seemed to have disappeared right after Elodie entered. Elodie shook her head as she looked at the empty back. “It seems like it’s a space that’s hard to get out of once you enter.” “Don’t be surprised. I expected it.” I said as if it was nothing and continued with instructions. “Let’s look for His Majesty here for now, and if we don’t find him, let’s tear down this space and return the bedroom to its original state.” “Okay.” Elodie said so, and then Dionik opened his mouth. “If it’s a space created by magic, there should be a core somewhere here. If we destroy it, the space will naturally disappear.” “Then we just need to find the core with His Majesty the Emperor. Shall we move?” I then led the group and walked through the forest together. * * *

The quiet second audience room

, where no one had arrived yet. Julian whispered to the bound Ernen.

“Shall I tell you one more piece of good news?”

“… … .”

Ernen did not answer.

Still under the power of the skill, he just stared blankly into space.

Julian ignored him and continued talking.

“It seems the Pope just entered the ‘room of reflection’ that I created.”

“… … .”

“Oh, the room of reflection is a subspace where reality and the flow of time are slightly different, and once you enter there, you can never come out unless I take you out.”

“… … .”

“That’s why everyone who is trapped there goes crazy. I think the Pope will soon be like that too. For me, things have become much easier.”

Even though Julian had said that, Ernen still did not respond.

Since he had not expected an answer, Julian did not care.

He just had a smile of joy on his lips.

‘The Pope is now captured.’

There was no exit from the room.

There was only an endless forest.

So everyone who entered there would wander through the forest and go crazy, and soon Nickelus would become the same.

‘There’s no need to capture him alive while he’s still sane.’

What they needed was Nickelus’s soul and body.

If they could just get their hands on that, they could access the system that ruled the world.

So even if Nickelus’s mind became a little strange, there would be no major problem in using him.

‘All we have to do is wait… … .’

Praying that Nickelus’ mind would soon collapse, Julian stroked Ernen’s hair.

* * *

Since there was no watch, it was hard to tell how many hours they had been walking through the forest.

It felt like three hours? When Elodie suddenly spoke.

“Doesn’t it feel like we came here a while ago?”

She said and pointed to a nearby tree with her finger.

“Look at the surface of the tree here. “This X-mark, I carved it an hour ago.”

Surprised, I asked her.

“So we’re back where we came from an hour ago?”

“Yes.”

“… … .”

Elodie answered “Yes.” in a rather bland tone, but this was serious.

If we were going around in circles, we would have been lost by now.

‘Come to think of it, we’ve been walking for three hours and the forest doesn’t end. And we can’t find Ernen or the core of this space… … .’

At that point, I had no choice but to admit it. We were lost. It seemed that the problem was that we had come in too recklessly.

I should have at least brought a compass. Feeling a headache, I washed my face and ran my fingers through my hair before saying to the group, “Let’s rest for a while and think about it. I’m starting to get hungry. There’s also some food that ’s perfect for hunting passing by.” The expressions of the demons who saw what I was pointing at immediately darkened. Neither of them said anything, and then Dionik suddenly opened his mouth. “You’re saying we should eat that?” He looked very reluctant, but that was understandable. For some reason, the forest here was filled with strange creatures that we hadn’t seen in the forests we used to live in. The creature I told him to eat was one of those strange creatures, a colorful snake with many legs. No, was it really a snake? Actually, I’m not sure. I wonder if it’s okay to call that thing a snake because it has legs attached to it. Anyway, Elodie muttered as she watched the strange creature with a long body that took a long time to pass by. “… … No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t look like an edible animal.” “Something that looks strange is surprisingly delicious.” “… … .” I didn’t say anything more and just threw my dagger and caught the snake. Kwack! The snake died instantly with a strange sound. I soon picked it up and skinned it. Watching me prepare the snake meat, Dionik asked quietly, “… … Are you really going to eat that?” “I’ll try it first as an example.” I peeled the flesh and cut it into bite-sized pieces. I then used the item to light a fire and placed the meat on the fire. Watching the meat sizzle and cook, I was lost in thought. ‘I’ll look for it all day, and if I can’t find it, I’ll turn back time and escape.’

I really hoped I could find Ernen before that, or at least destroy the core of this space.

It would be a shame to use the ring to turn back time without finding anything.

For some reason, I kept looking up at the bright sky and waited for the meat to cook quickly.

“Hyung, it looks like it’s cooked? Take a bite.”

“Okay. I’ll try it now.”

After hearing Dionik’s words, I picked up a piece of meat.

Then I took a careful bite.

“… …!!”

Surprised, I held out the meat to Dionik with my eyes wide open.

“Try it. It’s tastier than you think.”

After hearing me, Dionik also mustered up his courage and took a bite.

Dionik also spoke with his eyes wide open like me.

“… … It’s tastier? Elodie, you try it too. It’s tastier than you think.”

Following my brother’s recommendation, Elodie ended up taking a small bite of the meat.

Then—

“Tsk!! Tsk!! What the heck! It’s dirty!!”

As she said that, Elodie threw the meat.

Dionique and I ended up bursting into laughter as we watched her.

As Elodie said, the meat was disgustingly tasteless.

I couldn’t be the only one to eat this tasteless food, so I pretended it was delicious.

Thanks to that, I managed to feed Dionique a bite, and he also felt bad for being the only one to get it, so he joined in on my scam.

As a result, Elodie got to taste this disgustingly tasteless meat. Elodie was

still grumbling and getting angry at us.

“Is this the time to joke around?”

“Sorry, I felt so bad eating this tasteless food all by myself.”

When I said that, Elodie’s eyes grew even fiercer.

Only then did Dionique feel sorry for Elodie, and he made an embarrassed expression.

Then he said to me, “Hyung, if we

keep wandering around like this, we won’t be able to find the emperor or anything, so why don’t we just turn back time?”

“Hmm… … . It’s a shame to just give up like this… … . This ring can’t be used indefinitely. It only has one use left.”

“That’s true, but we’ve been going around the same place all along. We’ve been doing this for almost three hours and I haven’t even seen the tip of His Majesty the Emperor’s hair, and now I’m tired.”

“Hmm… … .”

I wanted to search a little more, but when Dionik said that, my mind wavered.

I asked Elodie one last time.

“Elodie, do you agree with Dionik?”

“Yeah, it looks like there’s nothing to be gained here. Let’s stop struggling and go out and find the Emperor.”

“Tsk, it’s a waste of the ring… I guess there’s nothing we can do.”

Thinking about it, it wasn’t unreasonable for them to want to go out. They

’d walked through the forest for a long time and even flown, but they couldn’t see the end of the forest.

Finding Ernen in this impossibly vast place was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

It was understandable to think of it as a waste of time.

In the end, I decided to accept their opinions and held the ring tightly.

Soon, a message emerged from the ring.

However, for some reason, the message contained something completely different from what I had expected.

[This ⑈⑈⑉ item cannot be used in this area. If you have any other inquiries, please call the management ⑉⑈!]