When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 133



Only Noblemtl

133. Who gave me artificial respiration?
2024.03.12.

I took a stabbing stance with the sword I was holding perpendicular to my body.

The tip of the sword was of course pointed at the monster.

Towards the bee-shaped monster that was floating above

the water. ‘It might not be very effective underwater… … .’

However, this was not the time to consider the effectiveness.

Feeling the paralyzing poison spreading throughout my body little by little, I unleashed the second form of the Penetrating Full Moon.

Bang!

The sword energy shot out from underwater as if it was exploding onto the surface.

The Moonlight Sword Technique was not a skill, but a ‘technique’ that I had personally learned and mastered,

so I was able to perform the form without difficulty even here, where skills were not activated .

The monster hit by the Penetrating Full Moon died instantly without even being able to utter a final word.

And I—

‘Paralyzing poison all over my body… … .’

The poison spread throughout my body.

Thanks to this, my limbs were completely immobilized, so my body slowly sank into the water.

I knew I would die if I didn’t swim out immediately, but I couldn’t move a finger.

In the meantime, water filled my lungs and I was in so much pain.

I thought it would be better if I lost consciousness quickly.

As my consciousness gradually became hazy ,

“Nickelus!!”

I felt as if someone was calling my name from outside the water.

I opened my eyes that were closing with difficulty and looked forward.

Dionik jumped into the water and swam toward me.

With that scene, my consciousness suddenly disappeared.

* * *

Most of the monsters in the palace were defeated.

Luciana wiped the monster fluids on her sword and said to Bliss.

“Your Majesty, it’s too late. I think we should go up to your bedroom right away.”

Nickelus’s role was to explore the secret room hidden in Ernen’s bedroom and then return.

Since he was just exploring, he should have finished it already and joined the group.

However, Nickelus had not shown up even after all the monsters were cleared out.

Luciana, who sensed something was wrong, spoke in a more forceful voice.

“We may have encountered the erased ones.”

Bliss nodded.

“Then let’s go to the bedroom.”

After that, the group went up to Ernen’s bedroom, which Nickelus had headed to, on the third floor of the main palace.

They naturally opened the bedroom door and soon discovered it.

“… … What forest?”

Luciana muttered as she looked at the wide forest beyond the bedroom.

‘Is His Majesty there?’

Nickelus must have set foot in that unidentified forest to find Ernen. Just

as Luciana was about to step into the forest after making that judgment—

“Wait.”

Petros stopped her abruptly.

“You don’t even know what kind of forest it is, and you don’t even know what happens if you go in, so you’re just going to go in?”

“If His Majesty is there… … .”

“Then you shouldn’t go in. If you go in there and haven’t come out yet, doesn’t that mean it’s a space that you can’t easily get out of once you go in?”

Petros said to Luciana, whose eyes were wide open in surprise.

“It might be a trap that you can’t escape from once you go in.”

“… … !! Then shouldn’t we go in there right away and rescue His Holiness!”

Petros shook his head after hearing Luciana’s shout.

And just as he was about to say something, Bliss stepped forward and answered Luciana.

“If that space was created by the skill of the erased ones, it would be dangerous to go in blindly.”

“Then… … .”

“It would be better to find the caster who cast the skill and kill them. Then that space will naturally disappear, and His Holiness will be able to return to reality.”

“… … .”

Luciana thought hard after hearing Bliss’s words.

Certainly, it was dangerous to blindly go into a forest of unknown nature.

If they went to rescue Nickelus and the rest of the group got trapped there, in the worst case scenario, they might not be able to return to reality together.

It would be safer to find and kill the Awakened who created that space by casting a skill, or threaten them to bring Nickelus back to reality.

‘I want to go there right away and look for His Holiness, but… . . . ‘

Then everything could go wrong. Luciana decided to listen to reason more than emotion.

“Understood. Then let’s first find the Awakened One who created that space. If he’s still in the palace, then His Majesty might be caught by him.” It didn’t

seem like the one who did this had already escaped from the palace.

They were after Nickelus, so he must still be hiding somewhere here.

Luciana thought as she asked Rubin,

“Is there anywhere we haven’t found yet?”

“Hmm… , I think we’ve already been around everything… … Ah!”

Rubin, who was recalling the palace map that Bliss had shown him earlier, finally answered.

“The second audience room in the palace! I don’t think we’ve found that one yet! Let’s go there!”

* * *

I lifted my heavy eyelids with difficulty.

Through my blurry vision, I could see the figures of those who had saved me.

The pink-haired sleep demons.

“Dionich… Elodie… … .”

I didn’t call them Pink Hairs anymore. I had promised to call them by their names a long time ago.

So when I called them by their names, Dionique and Elodie each said a word.

“Are you okay?”

“Are you awake?”

I barely managed to get up and said to them.

“Thank you for saving me. I almost drowned. But which one of you gave me artificial respiration?”

Dionique asked me, bewildered.

“Artificial respiration? What’s that?”

“Oh, there’s no concept of artificial respiration in this world…?”

It seemed that instead of giving me artificial respiration, they had poured a potion into my mouth to wake me up, which was fortunate for me.

If one of them had given me artificial respiration to wake me up, I would have lost my first kiss that I had kept all this time. While

I was feeling somewhat relieved, Elodie said,

“Do you know how worried I was? If you fell into the water, you should have swam out quickly!”

“The paralyzing poison spread… .”

“You should have overcome the paralysis poison and swam out!”

“… … .”

I couldn’t understand why they were angry at someone who had come back alive.

Dionik sighed deeply and said next to me.

“Brother, you didn’t die when I tried to kill you like that. But if you drown and die in vain, what would my honor be?”

“… … .”

“So don’t die. At least in front of me.”

Should I take their words telling me not to die because it would hurt my honor as a good thing or not… … .

I responded to them with a somewhat ambiguous feeling.

“Yeah, thank you for worrying… but I… Gulp… !! I fell into the water and came out, so I’m a little cold?”

“Oh, now that you mention it, my clothes are all wet. Me too.”

Just as Dionik said, both I and him were soaking wet.

Dionik came in to save me from drowning, so his clothes got soaked too.

He seemed to be thinking for a moment, then smiled brightly at me.

“Brother, should we take our clothes off together?”

“… … .”

Well, taking off wet clothes and drying them was something that should have been done naturally, but why did it sound so strange when he said it? Was it

because he was an incubus? Anyway, he had a talent for making ordinary words sound strange.

“Yeah, since you’re wet, I should take them off and dry them… But why does it sound so strange when you say it? Try to hide your words.”

“How much longer do you want me to speak quietly here?”

“Well, that’s true… … . Anyway, let’s take our clothes off. There’s a blanket in my inventory, so you can cover yourself with it and wait until your clothes dry.”

I said that and gave Elodie a look.

Elodie said “Ah,” and turned around.

Dionik and I took advantage of that opportunity to take off our wet clothes together.

After that, I wrapped the blanket around my body, and Dionik… got inside my blanket. (…)

Of course, I jumped up in surprise.

“Eww!! It’s touching my bare skin, go away!! You put your blanket over yourself!”

“I didn’t bring a blanket or anything! Without this, I’d just have to be naked!”

“… … .”

Damn. In the end, I had no choice but to share a blanket with Dionik.

Because of that, the atmosphere became really weird.

But maybe it was lucky that Elodie wasn’t the one who jumped into the water to save me.

If Elodie’s clothes had gotten wet, I would have had to cover myself with the blanket.

Then the atmosphere would have become even weirder than it was.

“… … .”

“… … .”

“… … .”

We stared blankly at the bonfire in such a strange silence.

A long day had passed.

* * *

Following Rubin’s words that the only place they had yet to visit was the Second Audience Room, the group headed straight there.

And in front of the firmly closed Second Audience Room, they exchanged signals with their eyes.

Then—

bang!

Bliss and Petros, who were in front, kicked the door open.

The Second Audience Room seen through the open door was no different than usual.

At least, there was no trace of a monster having stirred things up.

There was just a luxurious table and sofa, and the back of someone’s head could be seen sitting on the sofa.

Bliss called out cautiously.

“Ernen?”

The man sitting on the sofa slowly got up.

Then he turned to face the group at the call.

Bliss, who had finally seen the man’s face, shouted with a bright expression.

“Ernen!”

He was sitting on the sofa, and Ernen walked towards Bliss.

At that moment, Luciana blocked Bliss.

“Isn’t it a little strange?”

“… … ?”

“The palace is in chaos like this, and yet Your Majesty is sitting here, unharmed.”

Luciana stared at Ernen, who was slowly approaching them, without letting down her guard.

“Besides, for some reason there are no traces of monsters here. We must be careful… … .”

Before Luciana could finish her words, Ernen came within striking distance of them.

Luciana quickly stopped talking, and Bliss pushed Luciana behind her again to approach Ernen.

“We’ll talk about that later. First, we need to check on Ernen’s condition.”

As Bliss said that, she approached Ernen, who looked a little strange. She

then held Ernen’s two cheeks and examined him.

Ernen’s golden eyes looked strangely hazy.

Looking into it, Bliss asked cautiously,

“Where are you hurt…?”

“I’m fine, hyung. Rather than me—” Ernen

suddenly moved his arm as he spoke up to that point. Bliss slowly lowered his gaze at the sensation of a blade digging into his abdomen. And then he saw it. The blade Ernen was holding was digging into Bliss’ own abdomen. Still unable to break free from the brainwashing skill, Ernen stabbed Bliss like that and continued what he had left to say. “You should be worried about you before me, hyung?”