When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 154



Only Noblemtl

154. For the Right to Reproduce
2024.04.02.

Leah took us to that village under the sea.

I stood in the middle of a mermaid village that I had never seen before and looked around.

Since it was a mermaid village, I thought they would have houses made of something like large conch shells… It was true.

The village was filled with houses that looked like large conch shells lying face down.

Leah pointed to a large house in the center of the village with her hand.

“That’s the chief’s house. Everyone will be gathered there and having a meeting.”

We followed Leah’s instructions and entered the large house.

Just as she had said there would be a meeting, there were several mermaids gathered there, talking passionately about something.

They were so busy with the meeting that they didn’t even realize we were there, so we decided to wait for a while.

While we were waiting, we could naturally hear the contents of the meeting.

“No one can stop us from having a right to reproduce!”

“That’s right! That’s right!”

“We have to defeat that vicious monster tomorrow night!!”

“That’s right! That’s right!”

“We want to breed too!!”

“That’s right! That’s right!”

When I listened from the side, it seemed like the mermaids gathered there were talking about the right to breed (…). They

were talking excitedly about how important breeding was.

After talking about its importance for a while, they finally came to their senses when one mermaid said this.

“Let’s recruit volunteers to go hunt monsters. Now, if you’re brave enough to go on a monster hunt for your clan, raise your hand.”

When one of them said that, the mermaids who had been excited until just a moment ago became quiet in an instant. Even

if they knew the importance of breeding, monster hunts seemed a little scary.

When no one volunteered, only then did Leah step forward.

“Chief. And everyone. I’ve brought people to help.”

After hearing Leah’s words, the mermaids finally looked in our direction.

Among them, the old grandfather mermaid who seemed to be the chieftain looked at our group, then saw me and shook his shoulders in surprise.

“Are you… Are you the legendary prince?!”

Do all human men look like princes?

I felt sorry for disappointing the mermaid and shook my head.

“Not a prince, but a pope.”

“A pope… ? Hmm… I don’t know what that means.”

“In terms of being a person of power, you could say he’s similar to a prince.”

Even after I explained it to them, the mermaids didn’t seem to know what a pope was. They

were whispering among themselves, talking about things like “A pope? What’s that?”

“If I were to explain it further, should I say he’s an apostle chosen by God?”

“Chosen by God… !”

The chief mermaid shouted in surprise and examined me again.

However, it seemed like he couldn’t find anything special about me even after examining me that way.

I spoke with a somewhat disappointed voice.

“Hmm, I don’t know if he’s a legendary prince, but a pope… . And he doesn’t seem to have anything special about him being chosen by God.”

After hearing that, Luciana stepped forward as if she was furious.

I didn’t want things to get worse, so I stopped her.

Meanwhile, the chief mermaid continued.

“I don’t know what Leah said to lure you in… but this isn’t a problem that can be solved so easily.”

“A monster is taking over the breeding rock.”

“It’s a problem because it’s not a normal monster.”

Not a normal monster?

I listened to the chief’s words, puzzled.

“The monster that appeared there… isn’t a finite monster. It’s a monster from another world that’s much more powerful.”

“Is it a monster from the missionary world?”

“Yes.”

The chief mermaid nodded and continued to explain.

“There’s a passage leading to the missionary world on an island nearby, and it’s a monster that flowed out from there. It wouldn’t be easy to defeat unless you’re the prince of legend.”

From what they said, it seemed like missionary monsters sometimes popped out from the passage on Chelos Island.

‘If you defeat it for practice, it’ll be helpful when you travel to the missionary world.’

As that thought suddenly occurred to me, I said to the chief mermaid,

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t matter…? Are you saying that you can defeat monsters from other worlds?”

“Just show me where. Where the breeding rocks are.”

“Hmm….”

The chief mermaid paused, as if she was thinking about something.

She seemed uneasy.

Then, after a long time, he opened his mouth again.

“The breeding rock is a sacred place that is like a cradle for all of us… … We cannot carelessly take an unverified outsider to such a place. If you want to go, you must prove your strength in front of us now.”

At that point, Dionic finally whispered to me and said something.

“You fish, why are you being so picky when you are receiving help?”

“So what? You just have to prove your strength. Besides, if you help them, you will complete the oracle and acquire the skill.”

“That is true, but… … .”

Dionic did not object further when I brought up the oracle.

I looked at the mermaids and said,

“Watch carefully. I will only use a few skills.”

As I said that, I activated two skills at the same time.

Deification. And the Sacred Pact skill.

Of course, I could have summoned the Sword of Judgement and shown it to them, but if I swung my sword in this narrow space, someone would get injured.

So I only activated two skills that weren’t attack skills.

Fortunately, that alone seemed to be enough to prove my strength.

“Chief! The divine aura is all around us!”

“Such strong divine power… …!”

“Amazing! This power is ecstatic!”

The mermaids kept chattering like that.

It seemed like they had sensed my divine power properly.

If they hadn’t sensed my divine power, they would have had to show me a different show, so that was fortunate.

Anyway, the excited mermaids surrounded us and shouted one after another.

“We can get the breeding rock back!!”

“Wow!!”

“Take the Pope to the most comfortable and relaxing room!”

After that, we were led to our room, almost swept away by the mermaids’ tail fins(?).

* * *

Since it was a small village, I didn’t expect much, but surprisingly, the chief’s house had a rather luxurious guest room.

After guiding us there, Leah said,

“I think you can rest here today and go out to subdue monsters tomorrow morning.”

“We can go right now.”

“That monster is only active during the day. It’s night now, so it must have hidden in a tunnel.”

“Aha.”

In that case, we had no choice but to wait until the sun rose tomorrow.

At that time, several mermaids who had guided us with Leah told us to wait and headed off somewhere.

They disappeared somewhere and reappeared about 10 minutes later. They

were holding a lot of food and drinks in their hands.

“This is food offered to the warriors who will subdue the monsters. Eat as much as you want.”

Since we were hungry, the group sat down at the table right away.

After looking at the food the mermaids had served us, we couldn’t hide our disappointment.

All the food was raw fish.

It was all raw fish, raw crustacean, raw oysters, and other dishes.

I whispered in a voice that only the group could hear.

“Everyone, relax. You must have treated us well as guests, so it’s rude to keep your faces wrinkled like that.”

“But it’s all raw meat… … .” I stepped on Dionik’s instep as he muttered.

Only then did he stop grumbling and take a bite of the food.

What would it taste like? We watched Dionik’s expression with pounding hearts.

“… … !”

Dionik, who was the first to taste the oyster dish, suddenly opened his eyes wide in surprise.

I knew that reaction.

“You’re just pretending it’s delicious. You’re trying to make us taste it too.”

“No, it’s really delicious? You should try it too, hyung.”

“… … .”

I didn’t believe it because Dionik had fooled Elodie like that when we were trapped in the forest before.

However, the mermaids who brought us the food were watching us intently from behind (…), so we had no choice but to taste the food.

“… … It’s delicious?”

The food was really delicious.

Of course, it was all raw, but the sauce soaked in well, so it was savory.

After seeing my reaction, everyone in the group began to eat the food with relieved expressions.

Cheonggwang also tasted the ripened fruit that the mermaids had brought him, and the mermaids said that it was their ‘alcohol’.

They didn’t know where they got the fruit, but they said that they drank the well-ripened fruit instead of alcohol.

Anyway, while we were enjoying the food, the mermaids approached us and this time handed us a scroll.

I took it with a bewildered feeling.

“This is?”

“It’s a scroll with a body transformation skill.”

“Body transformation… …?”

“If you use this scroll, you can have a lower body with scales and fins like ours.”

“… … ?!”

So, if you tear this scroll, you can become a mermaid like them.

I shook my head.

“That’s a bit… … .”

“If you want to defeat monsters, you’ll need to be able to move freely in the water… That’s impossible with a split lower body.”

Another mermaid standing next to me chimed in.

“That’s right. You won’t be able to swim freely in the water with that lower body. And even if you do transform, you can go back whenever you want, so don’t worry.”

“You can go back?”

In response to my question, they picked up another scroll and showed it to me.

“This is a scroll with a body transformation cancel skill. If you tear this, you can return to your original form.”

In other words, they wanted me to temporarily give them mermaid legs when I was defeating monsters.

I looked back at my companions, lost in thought.

Rubin said in a cheerful voice, as if he was having fun with the current situation.

“I want to see Nike become a mermaid!!”

“Yes, hyung. We have to become mermaids to subdue the sea monsters. We can also go back to how we were.”

The two of them seemed to be having fun, so I looked at Elodie and Luciana.

Then Elodie coughed loudly and said,

“I’m curious too? You become a mermaid.” I

didn’t think Elodie would say something like that.

I looked at Luciana with hope.

“I’m embarrassed, but I’m curious too… … .”

“… … .”

I looked at Cheonggwang

one last time. I hoped Cheonggwang would stop them, but it was in vain.

“Your benefactor will grow scales like mine. I really want to see that manly and cool appearance.”

For some reason, no one stopped them.

I looked at them with resentment and said,

“It’s not just me who becomes a mermaid, you too. Does that matter?”

“I said it doesn’t matter, hyung. “If I can go back to how I was, there’s no danger. I’ll start with me first.”

As Dionysius spoke, he took one of the scrolls the mermaid was holding. He

then fearlessly tore it apart.

Soon, the skill contained in the scroll was activated and Dionysius’s body began to glow.

“Dionysius!”

Sensing something unusual, I called out Dionysius’s name.

The guy’s legs…were transforming into a strange shape, not the typical fish legs.

And when the transformation was finally complete, I could only mutter in shock.

“You…your legs…there are suction cups on your legs…!”