When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 132



Only Noblemtl

132. Campfire
2024.03.11.

There must be a magic detection item, there was no need to delay any longer.

Elodie, Dionik, and I wandered through the forest with the items in hand for a long time.

After moving in the direction of the detected magic for about half a day, we finally collapsed from exhaustion.

Dionik wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and muttered.

“The magic source seems to be quite far away, I think it would be better to camp here.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to search a little more? The outside world will think we’re missing. We should quickly find the magic source, destroy it, and return to reality… … .”

“Don’t worry about that.”

Dionik said and continued to explain.

“Usually, time passes faster in these subspaces than in reality. Even if we wander here all day, only about 5 minutes might have passed in reality.”

“… … Really?”

“Yeah. So everyone probably doesn’t even know we’re gone?”

Well, that was fortunate.

We could leisurely search for the nuke without worrying about it.

“Then let’s prepare for camping.”

When I said that, Elodie and Dionique each moved. Elodie

went to get firewood, and Dionique left, saying he would get water.

And then I—

whoosh—!

I found an animal that could be used as food and threw my dagger like before.

Bam!

A koala-like animal that had been hit by the dagger fell from the tree.

I skinned it and started to prepare it for eating.

I prayed that the meat would taste good this time.

Elodie eventually came back and placed the firewood in front of me.

I used the flame effect attached to the Nerebloka sword to light it.

Crackle crackle.

The dry wood crackled and burned.

As I placed the prepared meat on top, I said to Elodie,

“Do you like camping?”

“No. I hate it.”

“… … .”

Elodie’s short answer left me speechless.

Well, Elodie didn’t seem like the type to enjoy things like camping.

Should I say that she would only stay at expensive hotels when she went on a trip?

That’s why I was feeling embarrassed, but Elodie said,

“But sometimes it’s not bad.”

That was fortunate. She didn’t hate it at all.

Feeling relieved, I immediately said to her,

“Yeah, sometimes things like this are good. We go hunting together, and have a campfire.”

“Campfire? What’s that?”

“So… it’s like sitting around a fire, eating delicious food, and chatting.”

It seemed like the concept of a campfire didn’t exist in this world yet.

So I gave her a simple explanation, but Elodie still seemed to have a hard time understanding.

“Talking and eating delicious food…? Why do you have to sit in front of a fire and do that?”

“That’s fun.”

“Fun?”

“Of course, eating delicious food in a comfortable home is fun, but there’s something romantic about eating outside like this, blankly staring at a fire.”

Elodie mumbled, not really understanding, “… … hmm.”

I continued to speak to her in a soft voice.

“When I look at a bonfire like this, I become emotional without realizing it. That makes it easier for me to share stories I’ve been keeping inside.”

“… … Is that so?”

“Since we’re on the subject, why don’t you share a story you’ve been keeping inside? For example, a heartbreaking past story.”

“… … It’s not really a heartbreaking story.”

“You don’t have to be heartbreaking, so just tell me. It’ll be boring if you just chew on the meat without saying anything.”

As I said that, I took a bite of the meat.

Fortunately, the meat I’d caught this time tasted pretty good.

I cut off the cooked part and handed it to Elodie, and she munched

on it. Her face brightened a little, as if Elodie liked the taste.

As she chewed and swallowed the meat, Elodie quietly opened her mouth.

“In the past, Dionik and I were missionaries… “I was born and raised in the land of dream demons, located in the abyss of the deepest depths.”

I asked her to tell me about her past, but I never thought she would start talking about something from so long ago.

A story about when she was born.

I listened, slightly surprised.

“You may not know this, but we are not born like humans, conceived by our parents and then given birth.”

“Then?”

“The dream demons… are born from human desires. When the human desires that the dream demons that were born before are infused into the tree of the beginning of the demon world, new dream demons are born from them.”

In other words, they are born from trees.

Despite the shocking story, Elodie continued calmly.

“Because they are beings born using desires as materials, dream demons instinctively go to humans’ dreams to seek desires. However, sometimes, there are mutations.”

She stared at the flickering bonfire and moved her lips quietly.

“There are dream demons who do not seek the desires they should seek, and instead feel disillusioned by such actions.”

“Are you talking about them?”

“Yes.”

I knew that story too .

The old prophets… So, unlike other dream demons, Dionique and Elodie were mutants who did not enjoy lust.

That’s why they did not seek desires, and instead enjoyed interfering with people’s dreams.

Then, they awakened their prophetic powers.

Elodie told me this calmly.

“We were mutants. And usually mutants aren’t welcome.”

“… … .”

“That’s why I was banished from the missionary world to the human world. The Succubus Queen, the queen who rules over the sleep demons… She didn’t like mutants.”

“Succubus Queen… … ?”

This was the first time I’d heard of a Succubus Queen.

When I asked curiously, Elodie explained in more detail.

“A queen who literally rules over sleep demons. She didn’t like us. As sleep demons, we should have gathered the desires of humans and contributed to sleep demon society, but we didn’t do that.”

“Ah… … .”

“That’s why when we foresaw the destruction of the world with our prophetic powers, she didn’t listen to us. She thought it was nonsense.”

If the Succubus Queen was the queen who ruled over the sleep demons, she probably considered the preservation of the sleep demon race to be the most important thing.

To her, talk of the destruction of the world must have seemed like pie-in-the-sky talk.

It seemed like I could guess how Elodie and Dionique, who had predicted the destruction, would be treated there.

Elodie spoke quietly, her voice filled with sadness.

“That’s why I’m a little grateful to you.”

“… … ?”

“You said that. You saw the world end a thousand years from now with your own eyes.”

It seemed like she was talking about when the Mongma siblings and I first met and fought. At that time, I had said something similar

to them, “A thousand years from now, everything would be destroyed. It was literally a destroyed world.” … In reality, this world was set to end a thousand years from now, and I was the one who witnessed that destruction, so I was saying this. So I was just telling the truth, but Elodie seemed to be grateful for that. “Until now, no one believed us even when we cried out that the world was ending.” “Ah… … .” “You were the first one to believe us when we said that the world was ending, and even prove that it was true.” Elodie looked away from the campfire after saying that. Instead of the campfire, she looked at me in her eyes. Then, she spat out one word at a time, “So thank you.” Not knowing how to respond to that gratitude, I just stared at the campfire. If I had only heard her say thank you, I wouldn’t have been so flustered— “You know how to smile.” She smiled at me as she said thank you. Although she often frowned or showed an irritated expression, it was rare for her to show me a smiling face, so it was quite a new feeling. I chose my words over and over again, and then blurted out, “Let’s fight harder when we get back. We have to stop the world from ending.” “I agree. That way, we can continue to glimpse dreams.” Was she joking? Elodie chuckled as she said that. I followed her and laughed quietly. For a while, we just laughed in front of the meat. The warm campfire. The delicious meat. And the fun story. It was the moment when the atmosphere was ripening. “… … !!” Elodie and I dropped the meat we were holding at the same time. Without even thinking about picking it up, I hurriedly asked Elodie, “What was that screaming just now…?” “It was Dionic’s voice!!” Dionic, who had gone to get water, had not come back for some reason, so I thought it was strange.

But then we suddenly heard a scream.

Without saying who would go first, we got up at the same time and flew to where the scream came from.

That’s how we arrived at the wide lakeside. That’s where I found Dionysius.

“Dionysius!! What’s going on!!”

“Ugh… … . Brother… … .”

Dionysius called out to me, his bloodied face covered in blood

. A little distance away from him was something huge, and I could immediately tell what it was even in the darkness.

“Monster… … !!”

I immediately tried to activate my Deification skill, but something felt strange.

“Why? The skill—”

“Your skill isn’t activating, Brother?”

Dionysius asked from the side.

Then he told me a desperate truth.

“It’s the same for me. My skill isn’t activating. That’s how I got hit by the monster.”

“… … !!”

That was the moment I heard that shocking truth from Dionysius.

Kiririk—!

A giant insect-like monster that resembled a bee ran towards us while making a strange noise.

We immediately flew into the air to dodge the monster’s attacks, but we couldn’t completely escape from it.

It had wings, too.

Boohoooong—

The monster chased us, making a sound similar to a drone’s wings.

I opened my inventory as I flew away.

Since I couldn’t use the Divinization skill, I couldn’t use the Sword of Judgement, so I planned to take out the Baekhwamyeongwoldo and cut down the monster.

But—

“… … Ugh!!”

A poisonous needle flew from the monster and pierced my shoulder.

In an instant, pain and paralyzing poison spread through my body.

I crashed to the ground without being able to fly any further.

“Nickelus!!”

Elodie’s face, calling my name as if she were screaming.

Her pupils dilated in shock.

That was the last thing I saw before I fell.

Splash!

I crashed into the lake below.

Soon, the bee that had attacked me flew in buzzing, but it seemed to hate water like an insect.

Unable to enter the water, he hovered above and waited for me to surface.

I stayed underwater and pulled out the poisonous needle embedded in my shoulder.

‘Damn, my left shoulder won’t move because of the paralyzing poison.’

If I delayed any longer, my entire body, not just my left shoulder, could become paralyzed.

I quickly took out the Baekhwamyeongwoldo from my inventory and gripped it tightly with my right hand.