When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 161



Only Noblemtl

161. Pirates’ Hidden Treasure
2024.04.09.

It wasn’t really that grand of a treasure hunt.

According to the map, the treasure was buried right next to the exit of the labyrinth.

We were able to reach the location of the buried treasure after walking for about 5 minutes.

“We’re here. This is where the treasure is buried.”

Rubin confidently stepped forward after hearing me.

“It’s buried underground, right? I’ll dig it up.” Rubin, who said that, soon

transformed into a large guardian mode and began to dig the ground.

Digging was one of Rubin’s specialties, and the soft jungle soil was quickly dug up by his nimble footwork.

After about 3 minutes of digging, something hard caught Rubin’s front paw. Rubin quickly began to dig around, and we were soon able to find the 3 boxes buried underground. As soon as I pulled the box out of the ground, Dionik shouted, “Let’s open it quickly!” The guy looked at the box with greedy eyes and soon reached out for it. I quickly grabbed his hand and stopped him. “What do you think it contains? Are you trying to open it?” “What does it contain? Isn’t it a treasure? It says so on the map. And that map was given to me after completing the oracle. So it must be a treasure without a doubt.” “That’s true, but we don’t know which one of them is the ‘real’ treasure chest. Only one of them could be real and the rest could be traps.” Dionik stepped back as if he thought my words were plausible. As the guy said, this map was trustworthy. It was a map given to me by the gods after completing the oracle. However, the map only said that there was a treasure buried here, and it didn’t say that there were three treasure chests. In other words, only one of them could be real and the rest could be fakes. I took out the Baekhwamyeongwoldo with a cautious expression. Then I said to my companions, “Stand back.” The companions immediately retreated. In that state, I swung the Baekhwamyeongwoldo and cut the ring of the box. “… … .” Even after cutting the ring, nothing happened. However, I still couldn’t rest easy. In that state, I carefully opened the box with the tip of the Baekhwamyeongwoldo. Then― Kieeeeeek!! The box suddenly opened its mouth wide like a living creature and rushed at me. I was already on edge, so I quickly used the Fourth Form and cut the box into three pieces. The box that rushed at me as if it was going to swallow me up was shattered into pieces and stopped moving. “Look at this. I knew this would happen.” I said and examined the shattered box closely. Then I told my companions. “It was a trap item. An item that attacks anyone who tries to open the box. It must have been a trap set by someone who buried the treasure underground to protect it.” Dionyk nodded after hearing me. “It was a trap, after all. I knew that too.” “… … .” I couldn’t say anything in response to the guy’s shamelessness. I stopped arguing and went to one of the two remaining boxes. I opened it in the same way as before. Kkuruk!! This time, it was a trap item. I smashed the box that was rushing at me fiercely and turned my gaze to the last remaining box. And the moment I was about to touch it— “This is real, right?” This time, Rubin said that and tried to touch the box. I quickly grabbed Rubin’s front paw again and stopped him. “Don’t touch it like that. Just in case.” Maybe that last remaining box was also a trap. The other two were traps, and now that was the only one left, there was a high chance that it was the real treasure chest, but… … . “It might be a trap. Let’s not let our guard down until the very end.” I said that and opened the box very carefully this time. As I slowly, very slowly opened the box lid, I could see something golden flickering. I opened the box completely and examined its contents. “Golden ornaments… …? Wait, are they items?” As I said, the box contained ornaments made of gold, and I could feel a strange energy coming from each ornament.

I immediately picked one up and checked the information window.

[Bracelet of the Cursed Snow Queen (L)]

– A bracelet worn by the last queen of the ‘Snow Country’ that existed in the distant past.

– Protects the wearer from S-rank or lower cold curses.

*Special Note*

– A powerful curse is placed on it.

– Starting from the moment it is worn, the wearer will experience extreme heart pain three times a day.

When I checked the information window, the item was an item.

The problem was that all the items in the box were cursed.

Not only the bracelet I just checked, but the other items were also cursed, causing the wearer to go mad or something like that.

While I was wondering what to do about this, Rubin said,

“There’s something written on the box lid.”

“What does it say?”

I asked, and Rubin slowly read the text on the box.

“These items are all belonging to the ‘Black Shark’ pirates. Anyone who touches them will be subject to a terrible curse… It says so.”

“Hmm.”

The items were indeed cursed.

I thought that perhaps the pirates had hidden the item and placed a curse on it with their skill.

To prevent others from stealing the item without permission.

However, there was one thing that even these thorough pirates did not expect.

The person who found this treasure was someone who was skilled at removing curses.

“Curse, I’ll try to remove it.”

As soon as I said that, I activated my Deification skill and Inviolability skill at the same time.

Then I touched the cursed item in that state.

[The curse on the item disappears before Lucid Miller’s dazzling power!]

That message appeared and the cursed queen’s bracelet was purified.

After purifying the bracelet, I opened the item’s information window again.

[Snow Queen’s Bracelet (L)]

– A bracelet worn by the last queen of ‘Snow Country’ in the distant past.

– Protects the wearer from S-rank or lower cold curses.

Looking at the information window, it seemed that the curse had completely disappeared.

I put the bracelet down and spoke to my companions.

“There are seven items in total, so let’s divide them evenly among ourselves. I’ll explain the functions of the items slowly.”

I then purified the second item, and then the third item.

As promised, I distributed the purified items to each of the group.

Elodie chose a ring with a fire attack defense effect, and Dionik chose earrings with a mental curse defense effect.

Rubin chose a necklace with an effect that increased movement speed, and Cheongwang chose earrings with ice attack skills.

Luciana got the Snow Queen’s bracelet that she had purified earlier.

Now, I was the only one left.

I pondered over which of the two remaining items would be most helpful to me.

The first item I looked at was a necklace with a purple gem.

‘Let’s see, is this a communication item? It’s an item that allows you to talk to someone far away for 5 minutes. And the other one—’

I then moved my gaze to the ring item with a blue gem.

‘This item has a simple brainwashing skill. They’re both good, right?’

But I couldn’t have both.

Everyone in the group only took one, so it would be a bit much for me to choose two alone.

So I was going to wear one of these and keep the other and decide how to use it later.

“Hmm… … .”

After much thought, I was finally able to choose one of the two items.

[Necklace that Communicates with Souls (L)]

– You can talk to someone far away for 5 minutes.

The item I chose after much thought was the communication item.

After choosing the item, I put the other remaining ring item in my inventory. When

I chose the item, Elodie asked,

“What item did you choose?”

“An item that allows you to communicate with someone far away. The ring I just put in my inventory had a brainwashing skill.”

“Why did you choose that? The ring item seems more useful.”

“With this, you can contact Delsey. Ask her how Arom is doing. You can also contact Bliss to hear about the Empire’s latest news.”

Elodie suddenly asked after hearing my answer.

“Were you worried, Arom?”

“Of course. I’m the father.”

“You’re so kind. I’ll be a good father when I’m a real father.”

Elodie said and burst into laughter.

I shook my head at him.

“… … ? I’m already a real dad. Arom’s real dad.”

“That’s not what I meant… … . Let’s just say that’s true.”

After saying those meaningful words, Elodie started walking toward the exit of the labyrinth.

I also stopped arguing further and started walking toward the exit of the labyrinth with her and the others.

* * *

Finally, we were able to exit the second labyrinth through the exit.

However, it seemed that the labyrinth wasn’t the end.

What was waiting for us after exiting the first labyrinth was another labyrinth.

[You have entered the third labyrinth, “Cruel Mountains.”]

*Total number of labyrinths: 5

I cursed inwardly after reading the message that came to my mind.

‘After the ant hole and the jungle, now the mountain… … . And there are still two labyrinths left that I haven’t even entered yet?’

Of course, since the labyrinth was created to trap us, there couldn’t have been only peaceful plains.

Even so, I couldn’t help but curse when I saw the tall mountain spread out before my eyes.

Soon, the map began to glow, and just like before, the picture began to change.

I sighed as I examined the map that had changed to match the new labyrinth.

“The exit is at the top of the mountain. We’ll have to climb a mountain to get out.”

The group all sighed deeply in unison after hearing my words.

Then, Rubin said,

“Will it be hard to fly to the top this time too?”

“Yeah, it looks like there are a lot of flying monsters in this labyrinth too.”

I raised my head and looked up at the sky.

In the wide open sky, there were several giant flying monsters flying around.

If we were to use an item to fly up and move, we would immediately be exposed to their attacks.

The group that followed me and looked up at the sky were dying. In

order to give them some strength, I told them about the positive aspects of mountain climbing.

“Hiking improves blood circulation and makes you healthy.”

It seemed that wasn’t enough.

The group was still dying.

I thought about it for a moment, and told them a story that they would like a little more.

“And if we do it right, we might not have to go through the trouble of climbing the mountain with our own legs.”

After saying that, I pointed to the sky.

The group’s eyes followed me to the sky.

They didn’t seem to notice yet.

Among the monsters flying in the sky, there were huge eagle monsters… What did they mean by flying here?

Instead of explaining in detail, I told the group,

“You might be able to get a pretty useful mount.”