When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 136



Only Noblemtl

136. Arom’s Parental Qualification Test
2024.03.15.

Perhaps Arom liked the name I gave him. He

spread his ears wide and twitched his long nose here and there.

I’m not sure, but maybe it was an expression of happiness?

I repeated his name again to check.

“Arom. What do you think? Is the name okay?”

“Whoosh!!” He

was quite enthusiastic.

He flew around me like that for a while, whistling.

Then at some point.

“Whoosh… … .”

Suddenly, he let his ears hang limply and fell on my bed.

“Arom?”

“Whoosh… … .”

His voice sounded weaker than before.

I stroked my chin and thought about the reason for a moment.

‘Are you hungry?’

Now that I think about it, I remembered that I received Shinsoo baby food as a dungeon reward before.

I thought it was a reward for this kind of situation, so I took it out of my inventory right away.

[Baby food for 6 months (for Shinsoo only)]

– Baby food for the healthy growth of newborn Shinsoo babies.

– It has a mysterious power.

– It seems like you should feed it one pill a day.

The detailed description of Shinsoo baby food said to feed it one pill a day.

I took out one pill from the bottle full of baby food.

The baby food I took out was a blue, transparent mineral that looked more like a jewel than an edible object.

Anyway, since Shinsoo eats this as baby food, I decided to feed it this instead of food. However

–

‘Isn’t the grain a little big?’

It seemed necessary to break it up a little.

If I fed Arom this sharp, large mineral as is, it would be a big problem if he got a cut in his throat.

“Just wait a minute. I’ll give him food soon.”

I soothed him with those words, then called Toma.

Then I asked Toma to bring me a small bowl and a pepper grinder.

Toma eventually brought a bowl and a grinder, and I used them to grind a baby food grain.

It was ground better than I thought.

‘Okay, if I grinded it to this much powder, it won’t get stuck in my throat.’

I held out the finely ground powder to Arom.

Arom sniffed the powder a little, then began licking it with his tongue.

Judging from the way his small pink tongue was busily licking the powder, he must have been very hungry.

And then.

[Arom’s affection for you has increased to the maximum!]

That system message came to my mind.

I just gave him baby food because he seemed hungry, but his affection increased to the maximum.

Arom seemed to really like food.

I gently patted Arom’s head, who was still eating baby food in a hurry.

“You really like the person who gives you food, don’t you?”

“Whew!!”

Perhaps because he was eating baby food, he answered much more vigorously than before.

I felt the heart of a father with a child who eats well, and smiled happily at him.

* * *

It didn’t take long for the injured comrades to recover.

This was the cathedral… wasn’t it the place where the elixirs were made?

As the number of injured increased, the priests hurried to make the elixir, and soon everyone in the group was able to recover normally with the power of the elixir.

And when they were all healed, I called them to the conference room.

I told them that I had a new family member to introduce.

They responded with reactions like “Huh? A new family member all of a sudden?”

And now, Luciana, Bliss, Mongmas, Cheonggwang and Petros, Argelio and Delsi, and even Rubin were all gathered in the conference room.

Luciana spoke first.

“Your Majesty, I heard that I have a new family member to introduce to you.”

“Yes, should I say that he’s like my child?”

At those words, Dionik couldn’t hold back and interjected again.

“You had a hidden child?!”

As soon as he said that, the conference room began to stir in an instant.

Delsey opened her mouth quietly and muttered,

“Your Majesty… has… hidden… irony…”

Bliss added,

“I’m surprised. I thought you weren’t interested in dating, but you already have a child.”

If I just sat there like this, I would be branded as a person who has been promiscuous since a minor and has even had a hidden child.

Before the misunderstanding got any deeper, I quickly stepped forward.

“No, wait a minute, everyone. What are you misunderstanding? When did I say ‘child-like beings’? When did I say my child?”

I thought I was trying to clear up the misunderstanding, but somehow the conference room became even more chaotic than before.

Petros asked me in the meantime.

“Not a child, but a child-like being…? Does Your Majesty not recognize the child as your biological father? Because he wasn’t born after a formal marriage?”

“No! How far do you plan to turn me into trash! I told you he’s not a child in that sense! The child I’m going to introduce to you is not a human, but a divine being!”

At that, the commotion grew even louder than before.

This time, Elodie asked a question.

“Did you have a child with a female divine being?”

“… … .”

At this point, it was hard to argue back.

I just quietly went to the next room and brought out Arom, who I had hidden there.

Then I introduced him to my colleagues who were shocked.

“This is Arom. He hatched from a Bulgasal egg. He hatched when I warmed the egg to a certain temperature. Didn’t I explain to you about Bulgasal eggs before?”

Only then did they seem to believe that Arom was not my biological son.

Of course, Arom looked like an elephant, so it was hard to see him as my biological son.

No matter where I looked, I couldn’t find any traces of my DNA.

In any case, it was confirmed that Arom was not my biological son. Now they were just concentrating on petting Arom.

“Huh, he’s pretty cute.”

Elodie said first.

“My benefactor… This child looks just like me when I was young.”

Cheonggwang said that. He

must have felt that they were similar, since he was also a divine being.

Dionyk then blurted out.

“Ugh, this cute kid will grow up to be a big adult man like Cheong-gwang? That’s a bit weird… … .”

Cheong-gwang made a hurt expression when he heard that, but Dionik didn’t seem to care at all.

Anyway, while they were adoring Arom like that, I said to them,

“Enough with the small talk, I’ll tell you the second reason I’ve called you here today.”

I waited for everyone’s attention to focus on me before speaking again.

“The first reason was to introduce Arom to you. And the second reason—”

I paused for a moment to create tension before continuing to state my main purpose.

“My second reason is to find prospective parents for Arom among you.”

When I said that, everyone’s eyes widened in surprise.

Well, it was understandable that they would suddenly have the opportunity to have a child.

I slowly opened my mouth in front of them who were surprised.

“As you know, I’ve been in danger a lot lately because I’ve been fighting off the Erased. Then, there is a possibility that something will actually happen to me. You never know what will happen to people. In that case, there will be no one to take care of Arom.”

After saying that, he continued.

“So, if something happens to me, I plan to decide in advance on a prospective parent who will take care of Arom in my stead.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Elodie carefully raised her hand.

“I’ll do it. I think this kid is pretty cute, so I want to take care of him.”

Dionique also seemed excited.

“I vote for Elodie too. When my brother disappears, Elodie and I will raise him with care.”

He looked excited for some reason.

Like children who want a new pet.

I was sorry, but I had no intention of handing Arom over to them so easily.

“No, thank you for your support, but this is very important to Arom. So I want to do a little test to see if he is qualified to be Arom’s parent.”

As I said that, I brought over the small blackboard in the conference room and started writing things down.

*Arom’s Parenting Qualification Test*

1st Test: Patience Test.

2nd Test: Judgment Test.

3rd Test: Arom’s Choice.

My colleagues looked bewildered at the words written on the board.

I explained to them one by one, starting from the top.

“There are three tests in total, but I plan to start with the patience test first. Raising a child requires a lot of patience.”

Bliss, who had been listening, nodded and asked,

“What is the judgment test?”

“It’s a test to see how much judgment you have. We need to see how quickly you can make judgments and move when a child is in danger… for example, when they approach dangerous water.”

“Aha.”

Bliss nodded as if she understood.

Then Delsey asked.

“The third test, ‘Arom’s Choice’… is it basically an interview?”

“That’s right, Delsey. The third test is to see who among those who passed the first and second tests will be chosen by Arom. The person who is ultimately chosen by Arom will become Arom’s second parent.”

Rubin shouted after hearing my entire explanation.

“It looks fun!! I want to participate too!!”

“Okay. Then, raise your hand if you want to take the test.”

Since it was a difficult test with three rounds, I thought only a small number of people would take the test.

However, surprisingly, all of them expressed their intention to take the test.

As expected, our Arom’s popularity… … .

I nodded in satisfaction and immediately said.

“I’ll start the first test right now.”

Then, I immediately clapped my hands “bang!”

Thomas, who had been waiting outside, heard the sound and came into the conference room.

The group focused on the tray Thomas had brought.

The tray was filled with embroidery frames.

“This is the first test I’ve prepared.”

As I said that, I picked up one of the embroidery frames on the tray and showed it to them.

Then, I picked up some thread and a needle and said,

“You’ll embroider with these tools. Those who can endure for a long time and complete the embroidery will pass the first test. Those who can’t will fail.”

Bliss nodded and answered.

“I see, it takes a lot of patience to embroider.”

“Yes, that’s right. That’s why I’m going to test your patience by embroidering.”

After hearing what I said, the group immediately put the fabric into the embroidery frame.

Surprisingly, Elodie and Luciana were already eliminated in the process.

In order to embroider, you had to first put the fabric in the embroidery frame, but because you didn’t control your strength well, you tore the fabric.

Elodie, who had been eliminated, grumbled in discontent.

“This test is complete nonsense. I won’t accept this nonsense test result.”

Luciana followed suit.

“That’s right. To test your patience with something like this… You should just swing your sword 10,000 times as the first test. If that’s the case, I’m confident you’ll pass.”

I immediately shook my head.

“That won’t do. I want to test your delicacy through the first test. If you want to test your delicacy, embroidery is the best.”

Having said that, both of them seemed to have decided to submit to the results of the test.

They quietly went to the seats for those who had been eliminated and started watching the others embroider.

I also stood near them and watched the others embroider.

‘Delsey is doing well, as expected. Hmm… … , but what is Bliss embroidering? Is she drawing something strange?’

I quietly walked over to Bliss and examined his embroidery closely.