When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 140



Only Noblemtl

138. Arom speaks!
2024.03.17.

I only gave Arom a single gold coin.

The message that came to mind surprised me greatly.

‘Arom’s first ability can be unleashed… … ?’

By the way, a ‘first’ ability?

It sounded like there were also second and third abilities.

I hesitated for a moment, then moved my fingertips to select Yes.

Then―

[You selected Yes. The first ability of the divine beast “Arom” is beginning to unleash!]

[The first ability “Language Ability” has unleashed!]

[To unleash the second ability, pay 100 gold coins!]

A message appeared saying that the language ability had unleashed.

Language ability? Did that mean that Arom could at least speak?

I looked at Arom.

At first glance, he looked exactly the same. He had big ears and a long nose just like usual.

A surprising thing happened when I called Arom’s name.

“Arom?”

“Papa!”

“… …!”

Until now, Arom had only been able to say “shoo.” or “shoo shoo.”

But just now, Arom let out a unique sound.

I couldn’t believe it even after hearing it, so I called Arom again.

“Arom, what did you just say… … .”

“Papa!”

I hadn’t misheard.

Arom had clearly said “Papa.”

Was this how a father felt? I felt overwhelmed and said to Arom,

“You just called me daddy, didn’t you?”

“Papa!”

“Did you all hear that?! Our Arom is talking!”

Everyone gathered around as if they had witnessed Arom’s first babble.

In the meantime, Bliss pointed at herself with her fingertips and asked Arom,

“Me?”

“Mama!”

Arom said such a strange thing while looking at Bliss.

Mama… … . It seems that he recognized the person who gave him the gold coin as his second parent. But

still, ‘Mama’… …

I spoke to him, thinking that I would correct Arom’s bad language.

“Arom, that person is not Mama. He’s a second daddy.”

“Mama!”

“Even if you’re not Mama. Where does that face look like? Have you ever seen a Mama that big and muscular?”

While I was teaching Arom like that, Luciana spoke this time.

“Do you want to call my name too? You can call me Lucy.”

“Ruti!”

Luciana blushed when Arom called her name with a short pronunciation.

She blushed and wiggled her fingertips, looking so cute that she didn’t know what to do.

Then, the other guys started pushing in here and there to make Arom call her name.

I lifted the guy up high in the crowd so that Arom wouldn’t get hurt.

“Stop! Arom is tired! You’ll eventually memorize the names anyway.”

When I said that, everyone finally calmed down.

After waiting for the commotion to completely die down, I spoke to Bliss.

“Anyway, Bliss, since you were chosen by Arom in the third test, you are now Arom’s prospective parent.”

“Mama!”

Arom, who had been listening to me, shouted in agreement.

Arom seemed to like Bliss quite a bit.

Should I say that the power of gold coins is truly great?

In any case, since the prospective parents had already been decided, I spoke to Bliss one last time.

“As Arom’s prospective father, tell me a word of determination.”

“Determination… … .”

Bliss stroked my chin as if she was thinking about what to say.

Then she opened her mouth.

“Even though I can’t hand over the throne to you, as Arom’s mother, I will do my best to offer Arom the gold coins he will eat.”

“That’s a good determination.”

I nodded in satisfaction.

To offer up gold with all one’s might, wasn’t that a very desirable resolution?

It was the moment when Arom’s future became bright.

* * *

Around the time when Arom’s prospective parents were decided,

Ernen, who had fainted in the palace, came to his senses.

“Ugh… … ”

Since Nickelus had used the Non-Aggression Pact skill to free Ernen from the brainwashing skill early on, Ernen’s mind was fine.

However, his body was not so fine.

Julian had also hit him in the face, and Luciana had also hit Ernen

in the back of his neck. Ernen sat up, not knowing where to put his throbbing head or his throbbing neck.

Immediately, the court physician who had been checking on Ernen asked,

“Your Majesty! Are you awake?”

“What happened…?”

“There was a monster invasion! The Pope saved Your Majesty from that danger!” As he heard that, the memories of that day

began to come back to Ernen’s mind. “I… I saved my brother….” It would have been better if he had lost his memories, but Ernen’s memories were intact. He could recall everything from the monsters appearing in the palace to the time he was helplessly captured and brainwashed by Julian. Of course, he even stabbed Bliss with his own hands at the last moment before losing consciousness. “What did I do to you…?” Ernen grabbed his hair, hoping it was a dream. But it wasn’t a dream. The feeling of the sharpened blade thrusting deeply into Bliss. Bliss’s surprised expression as she watched. And Ernen’s own emotions, not feeling guilty but rather enjoying it. Everything was too vivid to be a dream. ‘… … Yes, I definitely enjoyed it. Even though I was out of my mind because of the skill… … .’ Ernen bit his lip hard because he felt creepy and disgusted. Hard, until he could smell the pungent scent of blood. “Your Majesty?” The court physician, sensing something was wrong with Ernen, called out to him from the side. Ernen raised his head again and looked at the court physician. The court physician’s shoulders flinched as his unfocused, cloudy eyes turned to me. He spoke in a dark, hushed voice, just like his own. “I want to see you, brother. “Tell him to come visit whenever he’s nice.” * * * Now that Arom’s prospective parents had been decided, I took Arom back to the room. And I laid him down nicely in a basket covered with a soft cushion. I wanted to take him to bed and sleep with him, but that would have caused me to crush him in my sleep. After putting Arom to sleep in the basket, I opened the oracle window. [The eighth main oracle has been completed! Would you like to receive your reward?] ―Yes ―No As expected, the eighth main oracle had been completed. The first sub-oracle of the eighth main oracle was to clear the ten Elcapist dungeons. The two remaining dungeons had exploded, and I had defeated all the monsters that appeared there, so all ten dungeons had been cleared. And the second sub-oracle was to defeat the cultivator, Nethelon, but I had already defeated Nethelon a long time ago. With both sub-trusts completed, I could finally say that I had completed the arduous eighth main trust. ‘What was the reward…? …? This trust was so damn hard to complete, so I hope the reward is a bit great.’ I pressed the Yes button with such anticipation. [Trust Completion Reward] – Karma +1000 points – Lost Memory Fragment – Bones of the One Who Stole Eternal Life I nodded in satisfaction as I looked through the list of rewards. The first reward was 1000 karma points. It was indeed worth completing the trust with such difficulty. [You have acquired 1000 karma points as the main trust completion reward! Your current karma is +668 points!] I screamed inwardly when I saw the message that popped up soon after. ‘It has finally changed to plus!!’ Last time, I had received 100 points by solving the surprise sub-trust in the reflection room created by Julian. Here, I completed the main trust today and earned an additional 1000 points. Now, not only was my karma not negative, but it was also significantly higher than others. ‘Well, I did save people by destroying 10 dungeons, so I should have this many points.’ If I had left the dungeons as they were, the empire would probably have been in shambles by now. If I thought of it as a reward for preventing that from happening, 1000 points was quite appropriate. I opened my information window after a long time. ―Current alignment 「Good」 You, who cleared the dungeons created all over the empire and saved many people! You are a good person who deserves everyone’s respect!

Don’t worry, you won’t have to become a demon!

In the past, your alignment was marked as ‘evil’, and the time left until you become a demon was marked under that phrase.

However, now that I’ve converted my karma points to positive, there’s no longer any risk of your race turning into a demon.

I quietly cheered internally and looked at the rest of the rewards.

‘Let’s see, I got the karma points… What are the other two rewards?’

The second reward was a lost memory fragment, and I knew exactly what it was for since I’d received it many times.

It was a fragment that would restore Nickelus’ lost memories.

However, when I took the item out, it was a little different from the fragments I’d received so far.

‘It’s much bigger.’

The memory fragments I’d received as rewards so far were in the shape of crystal shards, and were the size of something I could hold in one hand.

However, this fragment I received now was about three times bigger, and could even be used as a weapon to stab someone.

I put it aside, intending to use it soon, and this time I looked at the third reward, ‘The Bones of the One Who Stole Eternal Life.’

It was a small bone fragment-shaped item like a chicken bone, and when I opened the information window, this is what appeared.

[The bones of the one who stole eternal life]

– If you collect all the bones, breath, and flesh of the one who stole eternal life and keep them on your body, you will gain eternal life.

If you collect the bones, breath, and flesh, you will gain eternal life… If this was true, it was an incredible item.

It was eternal life.

However, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was some kind of trap hidden inside it.

That was because the ‘one who stole eternal life’ was also a figure from mythology, just like the one who stole the golden lily.

He was also a bad character who challenged the authority of the gods and was punished… … .

‘I think it would be better to keep this item without thinking about using it for now.’

After putting it in my inventory, I picked up the lost memory fragment that I had taken out earlier.

And I immediately grabbed it tightly.

Soon, the memory I had lost… the memory of Nickelus began to come back to me clearly.

*

The first thing I saw was bottles of alcohol scattered around in a mess.

Nickelus, who seemed to have emptied all of them, was lying face down on the table.

Looking at that sight, I was momentarily disappointed.

It was a memory fragment item that I had obtained with difficulty, but did I only get to see the past of the guy drinking? I

was feeling so disappointed at that time.

-‘The power of the curse has become stronger than before.’

I looked around in surprise.

Suddenly, a voice was heard in my head.

I soon realized that it was the original guy’s monologue.

The guy’s thoughts while drinking were transmitted to my head as they were.