When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 153



Only Noblemtl

153. Mermaid Breeding Rock
2024.04.01.

When I introduced myself as the Pope, the mermaid looked a little bewildered.

“Pope? What is that…? Anyway, aren’t you a prince?”

I nodded honestly at her question.

“Yeah, that’s right. You’re not royalty.”

“Then is there a prince here?”

For some reason, the mermaid was desperately searching for a prince

. I gave her a simple answer as she busily looked around my group, as if looking for a prince.

“There’s a dream horse, a water dragon, and even an ancient polydroid, but there’s no prince here.”

Bliss was the closest thing to a prince as a crown prince, but he wasn’t here right now.

Besides, he was not a crown prince anymore, but an emperor.

The mermaid lowered her head as if disappointed after hearing my words.

“We have to find a prince….”

“Why?”

“Because of the legend of our clan.”

“… …?”

I sat her down on a nearby box so she wouldn’t talk while lying on the floor.

The mermaid opened her mouth with a much more relaxed expression.

“A long time ago, when our clan was in danger, a human prince came to our aid. This time, I thought the prince would come and help us like the legend said… … .”

“So you came aboard our ship to find the prince?”

“Yes, I thought the prince would be there.”

It seemed that a prince from another country had passed by here a long time ago and helped the mermaid clan.

So this mermaid came aboard to find the prince, as the legend had said.

In fact, a prince is just a social status… but the mermaids didn’t seem to know that.

Perhaps because they didn’t know much about human society, they thought of ‘princes’ as some kind of legendary creature.

I made that judgment and asked the mermaid.

“To find a prince… what kind of help do you need? You came aboard because you thought the prince would ‘help’ you like the legend said.”

When I asked that, Dionik patted my side.

“Why are you asking that? It looks like it’ll be a huge hassle, so let’s just kick them out.”

“No, but if you’ve come all the way here and are desperately looking for a prince, isn’t there something urgent? Let’s hear about it.”

“It seems like something annoying might happen… … .”

I ignored Dionik and spoke to the mermaid.

“I’m not a prince, but I am a pope. If I can hear about it and help with anything, I’ll help.”

“Oh, thank you… … . I don’t know who the pope is… But I’ll tell you about the crisis our clan is in… … .”

The mermaid lowered her head with a sad expression and began to tell her story.

“Once a year, on ‘Breeding Day,’ our clan gathers at the breeding rock to breed.”

“Breeding… What?”

“Breeding Day. On that day, the female mermaids lay eggs on the breeding rock. Then the male mermaids spray their ‘breeding fluid’ there to fertilize the eggs.”

“Breeding fluid… … . Ah… … .”

I was surprised to suddenly hear about mermaids’ breeding, but I pretended to be calm and listened to the story.

Unlike me who was flustered, the mermaid continued her story with an indifferent expression.

“But a few weeks ago… a vicious monster began to take over the area near the breeding rock. So we—”

The mermaid began to sob.

To my surprise, the tears flowing from her eyes immediately turned into white, sparkling objects and fell to the ground, pitter-patter.

I picked up the white, hardened tears and examined them.

They were pearls.

The mermaid’s tears had immediately turned into pearls.

I had heard that mermaids’ tears could turn into pearls, but I never thought it would be true.

Even as I was surprised, the mermaid continued to complain.

“Because of that monster, we couldn’t breed at the breeding rock… … . Sob… … .”

“Ah, so that’s why you were looking for the prince.”

“Yes, the prince… uh, just like the old legends, I wanted you to help us by defeating the monsters…”

After listening to the mermaid’s story, I hesitated for a moment.

Of course, my worries only lasted for a moment.

The moment I heard her complaint, I had already decided on an answer.

“Okay, we’ll help you.”

Then, Dionik, who had been listening from the side, tapped me on the side again and said,

“Brother, what are you talking about? Shouldn’t we be hurrying and going to Chelos Island?”

Elodie added.

“Yes, we need to get to the island quickly within the time limit.”

It was as Elodie said.

The first sub-oracle of the ninth main oracle said to go to the island of Chelos ‘within a week’.

In other words, it was an oracle with a time limit.

Still, it was hard for me to ignore the mermaids’ situation.

Of course, if they couldn’t reproduce, mermaids might go extinct.

“Just kill the monsters and go straight. You won’t be late. And if you do good deeds, the gods reward you.”

Dionik asked blankly after hearing what I said.

“Huh?”

“Oh, it came up just in time. Oracle.”

As I had expected, the ‘surprise sub-oracle’ appeared before my eyes.

Since I had always had a surprise sub-oracle come up whenever I was in a special situation like this, I tried it once, and it really did.

I slowly read the contents of the new surprise sub-oracle.

[Surprise Sub-Oracle – Please Reclaim the Mermaid Breeding Rock!]

*If you complete this sub-Oracle 100%, one of the user’s locked skills will be unlocked.

*Skill to be unlocked: “Hand of Salvation (A)”

I couldn’t hide my smile after reading the contents of the oracle.

The last of my locked skills was finally unlocked. I

don’t know the details, but if it was an A-rank skill, it would be quite useful.

“As expected, people who live well are blessed.”

When I muttered, Rubin asked.

“Did the oracle come?”

“Yeah, if I solve this problem, it seems like one of my skills will be unlocked again.”

“Oh!!”

The expressions of the party brightened significantly.

They thought it would be a pointless waste of effort, but surprisingly, they seemed relieved when they heard that they would be given a reward.

Of course, I would be the one receiving the reward, but in any case, if one of my skills was unlocked, the battle with Yulian would be much easier.

After confirming that the party’s faces had brightened, I asked the mermaid.

“What’s your name?”

“Lia… yes.”

“Okay, Lia. Take us to the place where the breeding rock is.”

“No, before that… I think we should meet our chieftain first.”

We have to meet the chieftain first.

I was a little taken aback since I thought I could just kill the monsters right away.

“Chieftain?”

“The chieftain who leads our tribe.”

Lia answered and continued to explain.

“The breeding rock is the most sacred rock to us. That’s why it’s difficult to just bring strangers there.”

“Ah… … .”

“I think we should introduce you to the chieftain first and get permission.”

It made sense.

I nodded and said to Lia.

“Okay, then take us to the chieftain.”

“Follow me.”

Lia left those words behind and crawled to the edge of the boat.

Then—

splash—

she jumped straight into the sea.

I just blankly stared at Leah, who had gone into the sea.

“… … .”

“Everyone, come into the sea quickly! If you want to see the chief, you have to head to our village on the bottom of the sea!”

“Wait, wait there for a moment.”

I signaled to Leah, who was beckoning me to come, to wait a moment, and then looked back at the group.

“I didn’t know we had to dive, what should we do?”

The group also looked at Leah in a perplexed manner, and soon became lost in thought after hearing my question.

Then, Luciana suddenly said.

“Oh, what if we ask the Spirit King?”

“To Valeria?”

“The Spirit King is the being who rules over all elements… … . With his help, we might be able to move freely underwater.”

When I heard it, it was true.

As the Spirit King, Valeria was a being who controlled water, wind, earth, and fire.

If she was Valeria, she would know how to breathe underwater.

Without further hesitation, I summoned Valeria.

The summoning method was very simple.

“Valeria! Come out!”

As I shouted, a greenish halo of light began to gather in the air.

The gathered light soon formed the shape of a small person, and finally transformed into Valeria.

The summoned Valeria looked around hurriedly and asked me,

“Why did you call me?! Is it dangerous!?”

“No, it’s not dangerous.”

Valeria seemed very excited, as if she thought I had called her to lend her my strength in a time of crisis.

Feeling a little sorry for her, I told her what I wanted to do.

“Can you help us breathe underwater?”

“… … .”

Valeria shut her mouth as if she was dumbfounded by my question.

After a long time, her small lips finally opened.

“You called a great being like me just for that? To help us breathe underwater?”

“You are a great being, yes. But breathing underwater is also a very important thing.”

She seemed to be offended that I called her for such a trivial matter, so I made the best excuse I could.

“A species is currently in a situation where they can’t reproduce and could go extinct.”

“… … .”

“We need your help to prevent that crisis.”

“… … .”

“Help us breathe underwater.”

Valeria stubbornly kept her mouth shut for a while even after hearing what I said.

Then she let out a small sigh.

“If you weren’t my contractor, I would have beaten you to a pulp. I’ll help you just this once, so be grateful.”

“Thank you, Valeria.”

The corners of Valeria’s mouth twitched as if she liked hearing the words “thank you. ”

It seemed like she was holding back a laugh.

After holding back her laughter, Valeria soon flew around us and recited a blessing like before.

“Don’t drown in the water, but survive. Swim freely like a fish.”

It was still an informal blessing.

Anyway, the group all received Valeria’s blessing, and for a while they were able to breathe freely like fish in the water.

After I de-summoned Valeria, I dove into the sea with the group.

Splash!

Lia, who had been waiting in the sea, immediately gestured to us.

“Follow me.”

Lia’s voice could be heard clearly even underwater, as if she had used some kind of magic.

So we followed Lia and swam into the sea.

When I swam deeper than I thought, I

began to see a glittering halo of light in the deep sea.

I squinted my eyes to see what it was.

Soon, I could see what the lights were.

‘That’s… a village?’

A village with brightly lit houses crowded together.

That was the halo of light we had seen.