When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 176



Only Noblemtl

176. To avoid becoming a slave to the giants
2024.04.24.

After hearing Jan’s answer, I stroked my chin and thought deeply.

‘Honestly, I don’t like the giants or whatever… but it’s true that we’ll be in more danger if we don’t join hands with them.’

When I thought about it that far, I knew what I had to do right away.

Without further ado, I told Jan.

“Okay. I’ll go to the negotiation table with the giants myself. Help me make contact.”

“… …! The Apostle?”

Jan looked surprised, as if he hadn’t expected me to do this.

In any case, since I hadn’t said it as a joke, I nodded with a serious expression.

“These guys want us to prove our strength. Then I’ll just go and prove it.”

* * *

When I declared that I would go to the negotiation table with the giants myself, Jan opposed it. He

said it was dangerous.

I had made myself into an L-class in order to break through the palace barrier, but if I died while negotiating with the violent giants, it would all go down the drain. However,

it was worth the risk to join hands with them, and Jan eventually gave in to me.

-“Understood. If the Apostle wants to go to the negotiating table so badly, I can’t help it. But you have to keep that in mind.”

-“… …?”

-“The giants are more greedy and violent than any other race. If you go, there’s almost a 100% chance that something dangerous will happen.”

I nodded to Jan’s advice.

Of course, I had no intention of backing out late because it was dangerous.

After that, we formed a delegation to head to the area where the giants lived together. Since it was

thought that if too many people went together, they would feel threatened and become aggressive, the delegation was made up of only three people.

Dionik, me, and Elodie.

Luciana also wanted to go, but I opposed it.

It was because I was worried that Luciana had said before that she was ready to sacrifice herself for me. I

was a little scared. I was worried that Luciana would suddenly step forward and sacrifice herself in my stead when I was in danger.

That’s why, excluding Luciana, me, Elodie, and Dionique rode on something called a warp gate.

It’s an item that Prisileans use when they want to travel far away?

They said that if you use that warp gate, you can instantly travel to the area where the giants live.

Anyway, we rode on the warp gate and now

we were standing in front of the wall of Horden, the giant village.

“What are you, dwarves?”

The two giants guarding the entrance to the wall looked down at our group and said.

Their voices were loud and booming even at first glance.

It was like a voice echoing from a cave.

It was only natural since they were five times taller than us.

I looked up at the two giants who seemed to be the village’s vigilantes and answered.

“We are an envoy from the fourth moon.”

The two giants were silent for a moment after hearing my answer, and then began to laugh so loudly that it almost deafened their ears.

“Oh, those guys? I thought you clearly said you wouldn’t cooperate? Didn’t you get a severed arm?”

I shook my head after hearing them.

“You didn’t say you wouldn’t cooperate at all.

You said you would cooperate if we proved our strength.” “You’re just dwarves, but you want to show off your strength in front of our warriors?”

“Yes. Who is your leader? Guide us to him.”

The giant vigilantes frowned at my words to guide us.

It seemed like they were thinking exactly this. “Who are you dwarves, giving orders to?”

Fortunately, curiosity seemed to have overtaken their feelings of arrogance, and they eventually opened the door.

“Fine, I’ll give you a chance to meet the chieftain. But if you don’t catch his eye, you won’t just get your arm ripped off.”

The vigilantes who had said those threatening words eventually guided us into the village.

The village of the giants that we entered that way.

There were huge huts built there that you had to crane your neck to see the tops.

Of course, the huts weren’t the only ones that were huge.

The villagers wandering around the huts were also incredibly huge.

As expected of a warlike tribe that lived off of pillaging, they held crudely-made weapons like spears, axes, and swords in their hands.

‘Is this because they lack combat prowess? We should be careful.’

The gazes of the giants watching us were so sharp that it wouldn’t have been strange if we had brandished the weapons in their hands right away.

As I was following the vigilantes under their piercing gazes, Dionik, who was coming up behind me, whispered to me,

“This is my first time seeing the giants in person, but they all have nice physiques.”

“Yes. If we could get their help, it would definitely be a great help.”

Their sturdy physiques were perfect for destroying the walls of the imperial castle where Romun was.

If they just hit the walls with their huge bodies, they would collapse in an instant.

I continued to follow the vigilantes, determined to somehow successfully complete the negotiation.

And finally.

“This is it. This is where our greatest warrior and chieftain, Lord Kalrox, resides. I will first tell the chieftain about your visit, so please wait here for a moment.”

The vigilante who had guided us said this and entered the chieftain’s hut.

After waiting for a while, the thing poked its head out of the hut again and said to us,

“Permission has been granted. Come in.”

Permission had been granted, so we entered the chief’s hut without hesitation.

The inside of the hut was as spacious as I had expected.

In the middle of that wide space, a man who seemed to be the chief of this village was sitting and waiting for us.

The chief, who had a huge tiger skin that he had acquired from somewhere, draped over his shoulders, spoke to us.

“Will you prove your strength?”

Chief, Kalox’s voice had the intimidating power of a leader. He

could feel a huge and powerful aura from him, just like his body.

I thought I understood why the vigilantes called him the ‘greatest warrior’.

I looked straight into his eyes and answered.

“Yes. If that’s the condition for cooperation, I can prove it.”

Kalox, who had been staring at me intently after hearing my answer, finally burst into laughter.

“Small people are really good at talking. Do

you think they can still talk so arrogantly even after losing one limb at a time?” “… … Now that I think about it, where did you put the delegation that visited at first? “ I sent them with only the arms cut off, so the main body should be here.”

“We are using them as our slaves. It is natural to use non-warriors as slaves.”

“… … .”

I was speechless at Calox’s claim.

Using them as slaves.

I let out a quiet sigh and spoke to him.

“If I prove my strength to you, we will become formal partners, right? According to what you said.”

“I guess so.”

“Then we should also get back our envoys who are being held as slaves. First, show us that they are safe.”

Calox hesitated for a moment after hearing my request.

Then he burst into laughter and gave an order to the other vigilantes standing behind me.

“Bring the slaves.”

After hearing the order, the vigilantes headed somewhere and brought three people.

They were the Fourth Moon members who had initially come to negotiate with the giants but had become slaves.

As soon as they saw us, they ran towards us and hid behind us.

I approached the one whose arm had been cut off.

“Don’t worry. We’ll get you out of here. But before that—”

After saying that, I activated the skill “Hand of Salvation.”

As I caressed the fourth moon member’s severed shoulder, the light flowing from my hand seeped into the cut section of the forearm.

After that, the arm that had disappeared began to regenerate as it was due to the power of the skill.

After waiting for about a minute, the severed arm returned as if it had never happened.

Kalox, who was watching from the side, expressed his curiosity.

“You’re using an interesting skill. Is it a regeneration skill?”

“Yes. More precisely, it’s a skill that turns back the time of the affected area.”

It was common to keep the functions of one’s skill a secret from others, but I didn’t hide my skill.

Even if others knew what skill I had, there was no way they could harm me anyway.

So I was honestly explaining the skill to him, but Kalox gave me a rather creepy smile.

“You look so useful, don’t you? We must make you our slave.”

“It won’t be easy, will it?”

“We’ll just have to wait and see.”

The chieftain continued, sounding quite confident that he could capture me at any time.

“To prove your strength, according to our tradition, you must compete against one of our warriors.”

“A match?”

“Yes. If you win the fight, our warriors will gladly cooperate with you. However, if you lose—”

he continued, pointing at me with his fingertips.

“You will become our slaves like those who came before you. Do you understand?”

I nodded willingly.

It wasn’t that hard to understand.

In the end, it meant that I had to win the fight against them.

“I’ll accept any fight. But I promise you something. If I win, you will release the people I captured as slaves, and you will cooperate with us properly in our work.”

“Of course.”

Kallox answered firmly, and then said even more firmly.

“If you win, I will support you as promised. I swear on my warrior’s soul.”

* * *

After swearing my soul in front of me, Kallox prepared a place for us to rest.

The fight would be tomorrow, so he told us to rest as guests until then.

So Dionik, Elodie, and I sat around in a small guest hut and had a strategy meeting.

“I’m anxious.”

Dionik was the first to speak.

He stirred the bonfire lit in the middle of the hut a few times and continued.

“Things are going too smoothly, so I’m anxious.”

“… … There’s a lot to be anxious about.”

Hearing my criticism, it was Elodie who spoke up this time.

“It’s understandable for Dionik to be anxious. You, Nickelus, don’t know since you’re from the Finite World, but the Giants are quite notorious in this world.”

“Notorious… … .”

“They’re notorious for being greedy, cunning, and a people who’ll stop at nothing to get what they want.”

Elodie turned to me with a worried look after saying that.

“Will they really be able to compete with you fair and square tomorrow?”