When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 169



Only Noblemtl

169. Arom’s Second Ability
2024.04.17.

There is a secret weapon to eliminate Romun, Yan said, and then stood up.

Then he walked toward the door and looked back at me.

“Follow me for now. After seeing it, you will have no choice but to trust us.”

A secret weapon to eliminate Romun. It

was a story that could not help but be tempting.

I stopped hesitating and followed him.

The guy who came out of his living room soon began to take me deep into the hideout.

He kept going down the stairs and down again until he reached the deep basement.

When he finally reached the lowest level warehouse with nowhere else to go, he said,

“The secret weapon is in this warehouse.”

“… … Show me.”

For a moment, I thought that Yan might have lured me into a trap to kill me.

If I opened that warehouse door, wouldn’t a powerful monster suddenly jump out and attack me?

I tensed up my whole body so that I could react to whatever jumped out from inside.

Meanwhile, Yan opened the lock on the warehouse with a click.

“Now, let’s go in.”

I followed the guy’s instructions and stepped into the warehouse.

There were no monsters inside.

Instead, what filled the empty interior was ‘light.’

A cube-shaped object was shining brightly, scattering light in all directions.

“What is that? Is it an item?”

When I asked, Yan said something strange for some reason.

“Do you know that, Apostle? Actually, this world was once turned back to the past.”

“… …!!”

Up until now, only I and the Mongma siblings knew that time in this world had been turned back 1000 years.

I asked Yan without even trying to hide my surprise.

“Wait, how did you… …?”

“Hmm? Apostle knew that too?”

Yan also showed his surprise as I did.

It seemed like he didn’t know that I knew that time had been turned back.

I couldn’t say that I was the one who came from that world 1000 years later, so I tried to cover it up a bit.

“… … It was God who told me. How did you know?”

“There’s an Awakened person among our revolutionary army who has the ‘Dimensional Movement Skill’. That Awakened person said that this world is a duplicate world.”

“… … A duplicate world?”

“Yes, this world is a ‘duplicate’ world that was created to turn back time of the ‘original’ world that originally existed.”

When I looked at him as if asking for an explanation, he explained in more detail.

“Turning back time is a very complicated process. It’s not something you can simply turn back like a clock. In order to turn back time, you first need two worlds.”

“Two worlds… … .”

“Yes, when God turned back time 1000 years, he extracted data from the original world and created a duplicate world. However, unlike the original world, time in this duplicate world flows 1000 years slower.”

I nodded, understanding roughly, and asked him.

“So you’re saying that you’re going to create a duplicate world where time flows 1,000 years slower and then delete the original? Is that what it means to turn back time?”

“That’s right. For example, let’s say this broken piece of chalk is the original world that was destroyed.”

Jan said, taking out a piece of chalk from his pocket and breaking it.

He showed me the pieces of the broken chalk and continued his explanation.

“Even if you try hard to glue these pieces together, the already broken chalk will never turn back into a healthy piece of chalk. That’s why God created a piece of chalk that was exactly the same as before it was broken and then completely discarded the broken piece of chalk. That’s how he restored the world to its ‘before-it-was-broken’ state.”

“In fact, he didn’t turn back time in the world, but instead switched it to another world. A world where time flows 1,000 years slower.”

“That’s right. So the world ended up being divided into two: the original world that was already destroyed, and this duplicate world we’re currently breathing in.”

I nodded in understanding and continued to ask.

“So, did the Awakened one among you who had dimension travel skills learn of the existence of the original world?”

“That’s right. That Awakened one said that there was a world that was exactly like this world, except that time passed 1000 years faster. That’s why we were able to know that time had been turned back by the power of an omnipotent being. That omnipotent being… is probably a god. Isn’t that right, Your Majesty?”

“… … .”

I couldn’t deny it.

I was the one who wore the Hidden Piece Ring and turned back time, but even I was only a trigger.

It must have been God who designed me to find the ring and turn back time.

When I quietly nodded in agreement with what he said, Yan smiled faintly.

Then he started walking.

His steps stopped in front of a cube-shaped item carefully placed in the middle of the warehouse.

“Let me get back to the main topic and talk about this item. This cube-shaped item is called the “Dimensional Prison.”

“If it’s a Dimensional Prison… is it a sealing item?”

“Yes. This is a sealing item that traps monsters or people in an abandoned dimension. We plan to use this item to forever seal Romun in that already destroyed and abandoned 1st world.”

I nodded as if I believed what he said, and glanced at the item’s information window.

[Dimensional Prison (??)]

– Forcefully transports a specific target to another dimension, sealing them in another world.

Looking at the information window, I could see that Yan wasn’t lying.

This item, the “Dimensional Prison”, was indeed an item that forcibly sealed a specific target into another world.

If this was used on Romun, Romun would be sealed in that ruined world forever.

A world where everything was destroyed and only monsters were left.

“This is our desperate measure. The reason I showed this desperate measure to you, the Apostle—”

“You want to buy my trust?”

“Yes. Will you trust us a little now?”

I hesitated for a moment before opening my mouth.

“Well. But there’s something I still don’t understand. You’ve already prepared this desperate measure, so why do you want our cooperation? Don’t you think you don’t need our help at this point?”

“Romun is too strong for us to handle on our own. He’s too strong for this desperate measure.”

Yan continued speaking in a carefree tone, as if there was no room for argument about Romun’s strength.

“He is an ‘out-of-standard’ Awakened. All of his skills are mental curse skills, and most of them are L-class or higher.”

“… … Really?”

“Yes, that’s why our forces are still insignificant to deal with him.”

“So you wanted to borrow our strength? Hmm… I see.”

It was understandable that he would join hands with others to defeat a powerful opponent.

However, that didn’t mean all the questions were answered.

“Then, the second question. Have you ever thought about killing me to stop Romun’s plan like Dian said yesterday?”

“… … .”

Yan, unable to answer readily as before, stalled for time.

After a long time, the guy’s lips finally moved.

“To be honest, I did.”

“You planned to kill me… … ?”

“At first, we simply thought that if we did that, we could stop Romun’s plan. However, we needed your strength, and more than anything, we weren’t sure that killing you would have any effect on this world… … .”

Yan confessed his true feelings to me with an extremely serious expression.

“There’s no way God would have made the Apostles just for decoration. You must have an important role in this world, and if I kill you, it could get out of control.”

“You thought about that? But why did Dian act that way yesterday?”

“Dian… tends to get quite emotional when it comes to things related to Romun. Dian’s hometown was destroyed by Romun.” Her hometown

was destroyed. When

I showed my surprise, Yan lowered his voice as if he was sharing a secret.

“When they first made the migration plan, Romun tried to create a huge passage connecting the transmission world and the finite world.”

“… … !”

“However, in order to create such a passage through space and time, they needed a lot of magical power. When they ran out of ways to obtain such magical power, Romun came up with a terrible method.”

“Could it be… by sacrificing civilians… … ?”

Yan nodded at my cautious question.

“You really are quick-witted. That’s right. They captured civilians and drained their life energy to create the passage.”

“… … .”

“In conclusion, the experiment failed, but the civilians who were sacrificed… that is, the people of Dian’s hometown never returned.”

After hearing the tragic story, I remained silent for a while.

In that silence, only Jan’s voice continued quietly.

“Dian is the last survivor of the village that was completely wiped out by Romun. He’s willing to do anything to get rid of Romun. That’s why I told him repeatedly not to kill you, but he wouldn’t listen.”

“… … Tsk, is that how it ended up?”

“I hope you don’t judge him too harshly. At least understand how he must feel after losing his family and friends in an instant… … .” I

let out a deep sigh and answered Jan.

“I never intended to harm him in the first place. I’m not that kind of person who holds grudges. But—”

I nodded to the dimensional prison item and continued.

“When are you going to use that? When are you going to put Romun in prison?”

“Oh, the operation start date is in two weeks. But before that—”

Jan continued with a smile that seemed somewhat apologetic.

“There are still things that need to be prepared.”

* * *

At the same time, in Delsey’s room.

It was usually the time when she should be working, but Delsey couldn’t concentrate on her work. She

was concerned about the condition of the small beast that Nickelus had left for her.

“Delsey, when will Dad be back?”

Delsey hesitated awkwardly at Arom’s question before answering.

“His Majesty will be back soon after dealing with the bad guys.”

“Soon when?”

“That is… .”

No one could guarantee when Nickelus would return.

Delsey didn’t know when Nickelus would return, or if he would be able to return safely.

Arom flopped his ears as he watched Delsey not answer properly.

“I. Want to go to Dad.”

“Yes… ? But it’s very far away.”

“Give me a gold coin.”

Delsey hesitated for a moment and handed Arom a gold coin.

Arom swallowed the gold coin and tugged on Delsey’s sleeve as if urging her.

“Give me two more. I just need two more.”

“… ?”

It was hard to understand what it meant, but Delsi handed Arom two more gold coins anyway.

Arom quickly swallowed the remaining two coins.

It was right after that that a strange light began to flow out from Arom’s body.