When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 139



Only Noblemtl

140. Your benefactor is mighty.
2024.03.19.

I expected her to be a noble, but it was no way she was the sister of the Grand Duke of Crelin.

Since we were about to go there, it was a good thing, so I told her.

“You were stranded, right? I’ll take you there, so come with me.”

“No, I wasn’t stranded. I was just… looking for someone.”

“Who?”

Nadia hesitated a bit when I asked her.

“I’m… looking for my fiancé.”

“My fiancé?”

“Yes… … My fiancé who came into this forest and disappeared. It’s been a week since he disappeared and he hasn’t come back… … .”

“Um, then why were you looking for him alone without the help of your family?”

She hesitated when I asked her, then answered.

“I’m embarrassed to say this, but… my younger brother, the current Grand Duke, doesn’t recognize my fiancé as his fiancé. That’s why he’s not helping me search.”

“Ah.”

It seemed that she was in love with someone her family opposed.

In this case, the family of her fiancé was much more likely to be inferior to the Grand Duke’s.

Did she fall in love with a commoner?

In any case, it seemed that she was not receiving any help from her family in finding him. Even so

, it was a bit strange that the Grand Duke had left his older sister alone and headed into the forest in danger.

I thought that perhaps this young lady had secretly escaped from the house without the family’s permission.

If that’s the case, then she must have run away now… … .

I hesitated for a moment and then opened my mouth.

“I’ll find her. Her fiancé.”

“Huh?!”

“We need to find something here, too.”

According to the ninth main oracle, there was a chimera here.

After defeating it, we had to catch Micheln, who created it, to complete the oracle.

There was quite a lot to find.

“So while we’re looking for what we’re looking for, I’ll look for your fiancé as well. It’s not that hard.”

“Is that true… … ? Thank you! I really appreciate it, Your Majesty!”

“So let’s go back to the Grand Duke’s Mansion. It’s dangerous to wander around here alone.”

Nadia looked around the forest as if she was thinking

about it for a moment. Then, she decided to follow my advice and boarded the ghost ship.

We continued flying towards the Grand Duke’s Mansion.

The ship arrived there shortly.

We landed the ship carefully in the large smokehouse there. Since we had already

flown a carrier pigeon to the Grand Duke’s Mansion to stay for a few days while we hunted the chimera, the Grand Duke was there to greet us.

After landing, when Nadia and our group got off together, the Grand Duke who had come to see us off immediately called my older sister’s name.

“Sister Nadia!!”

The Northern Grand Duke who ran to us as he said this looked quite young.

He must have been about eighteen at most.

It seemed like the previous Grand Duke had given up his position a little early due to some circumstances.

The young Grand Duke ran to Nadia with his silver hair fluttering and grabbed her.

“Why did you come with His Majesty? You went to that forest alone again and got found by His Majesty? I told you it was dangerous to go there alone!”

“It’s okay now, Leo. I don’t think you have to go there anymore. His Majesty said he would help me.”

After hearing Nadia’s words, the young Archduke looked at me.

I smiled at him and answered.

“That’s right. I was looking for something, and while I was at it, I decided to look for my fiancée as well.”

“… I’m sorry, Your Majesty. If my sister is forcing me to ask you a difficult favor—”

“It’s not a difficult favor, so don’t worry. I’ll be staying here for a few days, so we should do that for our own good.”

Only then did the Archduke let out a shallow sigh, as if relieved.

“I’ll show you inside first. Please come in.”

After that, we followed the Archduke into the Archduke’s residence.

The interior of the Archduke’s residence was quite luxurious.

It couldn’t compare to the imperial palace or the cathedral, but it was still quite spacious and old-fashioned.

It was not strange for the mansion of the Grand Duke who ruled the North to be luxurious.

The part that really bothered me was something else.

The rest of the group was guided straight to their quarters, and as soon as I followed the Grand Duke to the reception room, I asked about the part that bothered me.

“I see a lot of armed knights. What’s going on?”

“That… …”

“You can tell me. I like to meddle in other people’s business and help them out. While I’m looking for Nadia’s fiancée, I’ll help you solve your problem if I can.”

Only after I said that did the Archduke finally open his mouth.

“It’s because of the monsters that suddenly started appearing in the Demon Forest.”

I nodded as I sat down across from him.

‘A monster that suddenly appeared… You mean the chimera created by Micheln, right?’

It seemed that the chimera created by Micheln had already caused damage to the Archduke.

That’s why the Archduke ordered his knights to arm themselves to defeat it.

However, the Archduke only knew that it was a monster.

That it was a chimera created by Micheln was something that only my colleagues and I knew.

I pretended not to know and asked.

“If it’s the Demon Forest, it’s the forest we passed by when we came, right? The one Nadia was wandering through… … . But what exactly is a monster… … ?”

“It’s a monster that suddenly appeared a while ago, and we still don’t know its identity. The only thing we know is that it looks like a mixture of several animals, and it’s large… … .”

“Hmm… … .”

A monster that looks like a mixture of several animals. It

definitely looks like a chimera that Micheln created by combining animals here and there with his skill.

I said to the Grand Duke as if I was being generous.

“Fine. We’ll take care of that too.”

“Huh? But is that okay? In the letter you sent me earlier, you said you were only visiting for tourism.”

As the Grand Duke said, in the letter I sent through the carrier, I only wrote that I was staying here for the purpose of ‘tourism.’ If

I had honestly said that I was visiting to catch a chimera monster, he would have thought it was suspicious and asked, “How did you know that a monster suddenly appeared in our territory?” That’s

why I said that I was visiting to enjoy the hot springs, which were a specialty of this territory, but when I suddenly said that I would catch a monster, the Grand Duke was bewildered.

Of course, I answered back again, cutting off the clock.

“We can tour the hot springs, hunt monsters, and find Young-ae’s fiancée while we’re at it. Wouldn’t it be nice to take care of several things at once?”

“… … Is that good? That monster is dangerous enough to have already caused more than ten casualties. It could be dangerous.”

“Dangerous… … .”

Dangerous. When I heard that word, my past flashed through my mind.

I almost died at the Nerebloka Temple, I almost died at the hands of the sleepwalkers, I almost died when I went into a dream to lift the curse of the sage… … .

Recently, I was bitten by a phoenix and lost my entire arm.

I recalled those difficult pasts and told the Grand Duke.

“I’m already living dangerously, so it won’t change anything if it becomes more dangerous. Instead, prepare a hot spring for me. I’ll warm up a little and then go hunt monsters right away.”

* * *

Of course, the Grand Duke was taken aback when I said I would take care of the monsters myself, so prepare a hot spring for him.

He seemed quite surprised that he treated a dangerous monster so lightly.

It was unlikely that my inaction had been known to this far north, so he must have been secretly disappointed.

However, he did prepare a hot spring bath at my request.

We were soon guided to the hot spring by the Grand Duke’s attendant.

The indoor hot spring we arrived at was, as expected, luxurious.

‘They brought hot spring water and filled the bathhouse.’

It wasn’t the kind of outdoor hot spring you’d see in Japan.

It was a huge bathhouse made of white marble with hot spring water brought in and filled.

Bliss, Dionik, Cheonggwang, and Rubin all soaked in the bathhouse.

‘I wonder if Luciana and Elodie are in the bathhouse by now?’

Of course, they had entered the women’s bathhouse, so I didn’t know what they were doing.

Perhaps the two of them were soaking in the bathhouse and chatting?

While I was thinking that, Dionik said,

“Hyung.”

“You’re trying to make a weird pun again. You’re going to get in trouble.”

“… … Tch, hyung is so perceptive.”

It seemed like he was going to make another weird incubus-style joke while looking at my naked body.

Fortunately, I stopped him in time.

Then, Cheong-gwang opened his mouth this time.

“As expected, your place is as big as your benefactor’s—”

“Stop it.”

“Ahem, I’m sorry.”

I covered Dionik’s mouth, but I never expected Cheong-gwang to say something like that.

I felt a sense of defeat and kept a close eye on Cheong-gwang. I

planned to pour water on him if he said anything weird again.

Then Bliss opened her mouth this time.

“That place is impressive. It’s nothing compared to mine.”

“… … Did you guys come up with a plan as a group to make the atmosphere awkward? It’s already awkward because you’re completely naked, and if you keep doing that, I’ll throw water on you?”

“I’m sorry. I’m just too bored… … .”

Anyway, even if they were jokes, they were always weird jokes, which was a problem.

Anyway, since it was finally quiet, I relaxed my body and enjoyed the hot springs.

Then Rubin asked in a languid voice.

“But Nike, when do you plan on going to the forest?”

“Hmm… Maybe tomorrow morning. I’d like to rest a little more, but Nadia’s fiancée has gone missing. We can’t waste time. Let’s wait until the night is over and head to the forest as soon as the sun rises.” We

couldn’t head to the forest right away anyway.

If we met the chimera after the sun had set, we could get hurt or die if we were unlucky.

So we were planning to wait until the sun rose tomorrow morning and head to the forest together.

Dionik, who had been listening to me, opened his mouth.

“But didn’t you find it a little strange?”

“… … ? What?”

“The Grand Duke. Even though he didn’t like his sister’s fiancée, he didn’t even try to look for her.”

“Hmm… … .”

“Even though she went missing, he left her alone and eventually caused her to run away.”

Dionik spoke in a very low voice.

I thought about his words carefully and then asked him.

“So?”

“You’re saying there seems to be some kind of conspiracy.”

“A conspiracy… … ?”

“If you look into it, it seems like the Grand Duke took Nadia’s fiancée away somewhere or something? To prevent his sister from marrying that man.”

After hearing that, I quietly said to him.

“Stop talking nonsense and go take a bath.”

“Why, wasn’t that a pretty plausible theory? If my theory is correct, then it would explain why the Grand Duke left his fiancée missing. “ Actually, he’s not missing. He’s the

one who stole it, so they’re not looking for him.” “Not everyone in the world lives like you, scheming.”

When I didn’t respond until the end, he grumbled as if he was upset.

“Elodie would have agreed with what I said—”

Elodie would probably have been the first to refute her brother’s nonsense, but I didn’t bother to point that out.

That’s how the night at the Grand Duke passed slowly.

* * *

At the same time, Elodie and Luciana, who had entered the women’s bath, were just soaking quietly.

There was no friendly conversation between the two.

There was only a heavy silence that was suffocating.

As that silence gradually grew thicker, Elodie spoke for the first time.

“Should I soap your back?”