When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 197



Only Noblemtl

197. Side story 1-(3) Let’s decide who to kiss by drawing lots
2024.05.15.

The spirit of anger shouted and the spirits of other emotions also showed anger and agreed.

Then the spirit of greed asked,

“Isn’t that similar to Sloth’s voice? Sloth, is that what you just said?”

“It wasn’t me! Why am I saying such nonsense!”

Sloth immediately refuted, and then Lust showed a bewildered expression.

“Then who is it?”

Everyone was in such confusion.

Even in the midst of all this, the unfamiliar voice that had interrupted them continued to speak without wavering.

“I don’t know the years you were ignored. But if you try to take revenge and do something that will harm the entire spirit island… I have no choice but to stop you.”

The spirit of jealousy immediately shouted,

“There’s no way one of us would say such nonsense! You’re an intruder! Everyone, turn on your lights!”

The other spirits who heard the spirit of jealousy’s cry quickly activated the light item.

The dark cave immediately lit up, and they could finally see the intruder’s face.

It was a man with bright blond hair and silver eyes.

The spirit of anger asked with a voice trembling with anger at the sight of Nickelus.

“Are you a spirit sent by the spirit king?”

“The spirit king sent me. But that doesn’t mean I’m a real spirit.”

Nickelus raised his sword after answering.

The other spirits of emotion who had been standing guard against Nickelus also raised their weapons.

* * *

Luciana, who had left to find out how to retrieve Nickelus’ soul, returned to the cathedral after a day.

Elodie, Dionique, and Delsi, who had remained in the cathedral, went out to the garden to greet Luciana upon hearing the news of her return.

And soon, they turned to Luciana and asked her,

“Who is that old man next to you who is almost dying?”

Luciana answered Dionique’s question right away.

“An Awakened One with the skill to summon souls. They say she can summon the souls of the dead and the living. That’s why I brought her here.”

Surprised by Luciana’s words, the group looked at the old woman she brought.

She was an old man wearing a black robe, and her identity was difficult to identify.

However, since even the help of a suspicious person was urgent, they took the old woman into the treatment room.

The old woman glanced at Nickelus’ condition and opened her mouth.

“The soul has left.”

Luciana, who was next to her, asked, unable to hide her anticipation.

“Can you summon the lost soul again?”

“If I use my skill, I can.”

“Oh… …!”

“However, there is one activation condition for this skill.”

Luciana swallowed dryly at the old woman’s heavily hushed words.

“What is that activation condition?”

“I need an elixir.”

“Will that be enough? I have a lot of elixirs.”

Luciana let out a sigh of relief at the mention of the need for an elixir.

However, the old woman’s words were not over yet.

“In addition, you must have His Holiness swallow the elixir. Through someone else’s lips.”

Just after hearing those words.

Elodie and Dionique opened their eyes wide in surprise, and Luciana shouted out.

“Is this the time to joke!! In this serious situation, such a ridiculous thing to say… … !!”

“I’m not joking.”

“… … .”

“This is absolutely necessary. First, someone else must hold the elixir in their mouths, and then kiss it to His Holiness.

Only when you swallow the elixir like that will my skill properly activate.” The old woman’s face showed no sign of joking. Her

expression was as serious as if she was reading the Bible.

Luciana, who had treated the old woman’s words as a joke, could not help but waver at that point.

“Really… do we have to kiss?”

Why did she have to do something like that?

When Luciana was panicking,

Dionik, who had been listening from the side, suddenly intervened.

“Well, it’s not that hard. It’s not like we don’t have the elixir, so all we have to do is feed it to her mouth.”

After saying that, Dionik continued.

“Let’s decide who gets to kiss by drawing lots. I’ll draw lots.”

Dionik’s voice was strangely excited.

He soon brought paper and pen and began to draw lots with the names of the party members written on them.

After putting the lottery he had made in the container, he handed it to Luciana.

“You choose. Let’s have the chosen one kiss my brother.”

“Whose names did you write down?”

“I wrote down the names of all the people I would want my brother to wake up.”

Feeling a strange sense of foreboding, Luciana drew the lottery.

Then she read the name written on the lottery.

“Your Majesty Bliss… .”

The one chosen by lottery was Bliss.

Luciana stared blankly at the name written on the lottery, then put the lottery back in the bin.

“I wrote down all of them, regardless of gender.”

“I thought that would be fair.”

Luciana was momentarily speechless at Dionix’s answer.

Regardless of Luciana’s reaction, Dionix said with a slightly excited look.

“Anyway, since Your Majesty Bliss was just chosen, let’s contact His Majesty quickly. If we tell him that we can wake up Nickelus with a kiss, His Majesty will be happy to kiss him.”

“No, wait. Don’t contact me.”

Lucianix quickly stopped Dionix.

Then he said to Dionik, who was looking bewildered.

“The draw just now was invalid.”

“Why? What’s wrong with His Majesty Bliss?”

“That’s not the issue… I think it would be better to do a formal draw again when everyone is gathered. Instead of just hastily deciding between us.”

“Oh, right. We’ll all be convinced if we draw in front of everyone.”

Dionik nodded in agreement and continued in an excited voice.

“Then let’s call everyone. This is not about anything else, but about choosing someone to kiss Hyung, so let’s do a formal draw in front of everyone.”

* * *

Defeating the spirits of emotion wasn’t as hard as I thought.

Unlike the regular spirits that control natural forces like wind, fire, and water, these spirits control emotions without substance. They

didn’t have any attack skills that could harm me, so I was able to easily bind them with seal items.

Finally, it was time to bind the spirit of rage. The one who had been going crazy trying not to be bound by me suddenly started laughing like crazy.

“It’s no use holding us back! You won’t be able to get the sword back anyway!!”

“Huh? Stop talking nonsense and tell me where you hid it. Otherwise, I know you’re going to have a really bad time.”

I threatened the guy with the back of the Baekhwamyeongwoldo sword, which had been reduced to my body size with Valeria’s blessing.

The guy immediately looked intimidated.

Then, perhaps his pride was hurt, he responded in a sarcastic tone.

“Find, find it if you can. I threw that sword under the lake.”

“What?”

“I’m saying that I threw it into the lake of sorrow. It must have already rotted away in the sorrow that filled the lake.”

The guy continued to sneer.

“There’s no way we would keep the sword quietly, right? It’s a weapon that will annihilate the evil of the beginning. You stole it, ran away, and immediately threw it into the lake, ruining it so it couldn’t be used—”

“You punk… …!”

I refused to listen any longer and grabbed the guy by the collar.

“Do you have any idea how many people are going to die because of you right now?!”

“Well, I don’t care if the spirits of Spirit Island disappear or not. Our goal was to completely destroy them all.”

The guy started laughing like he had lost

his mind again. Since he couldn’t communicate, I let go of his collar.

“What you want won’t happen. Spirit Island will be safe, and you will soon be handed over to the Spirit King. After that, you will pay the price you deserve.”

The guys taunted, but I didn’t have time to respond.

‘Let’s go find the sword first. They will be tied up and can’t escape anyway.’

If the sword really fell into the lake, I had to quickly retrieve it.

According to Valeria, that lake was one that corroded everything, whether living or not, with sadness.

My mind was in a hurry, so I hurriedly walked toward the lake.

* * *

The other group, who had heard that a kiss was needed to wake Nickelus, hurriedly returned to the cathedral.

Cheonggwang, who had left to find a way to save Nickelus, and Bliss, who had been in the palace, had also come to the cathedral.

And when everyone had gathered in the cathedral conference room, Dionik said,

“As I said before, someone has to feed the elixir to wake up your brother.”

The conference room stirred again at those words.

It was because they had already heard it, but it was quite shocking to hear it again.

While everyone was expressing their bewilderment, Rubin asked quietly,

“Are you saying we should draw lots to choose the person who will do it?”

“That’s right. I already made the draw before you came.”

Dionik said that and turned to everyone and continued.

“And according to Luciana’s opinion, we’ll draw this ‘three times’ in total. We’ll vote to see who’s the most suitable among the three.”

Cheong-gwang, who had heard up to that point, expressed his concerns.

“The process is really complicated. Since our benefactor has lost consciousness, wouldn’t it be better to just hurry up and draw anyone…?”

Dionik shook his head.

“You might end up stealing your first kiss. I thought you shouldn’t just pick someone randomly when you’re choosing your first kiss partner.”

Cheong-gwang, who had been a little concerned, nodded as if he understood after hearing Dionik’s words up to that point.

The first kiss was quite important, so it would be better to carefully decide through the draw and vote.

At that point, Luciana stood up.

“Then, we’ll start the draw now. By the way, the draws here have already been thoroughly inspected in advance, and I swear on my honor as a knight that no one’s name will be duplicated or omitted.”

After proving the fairness of the draw, Luciana asked Bliss.

“First, would you like to draw, Your Majesty?”

“Are you giving me the first chance to draw? It is an honor.”

Bliss smiled brightly and got up from her seat.

Then she reached out to the draw box and pulled out a draw that had someone’s name written on it.

The owner of the name written on the draw was still unknown.

The people gathered there gulped and waited for the first candidate’s name to be revealed.

Finally, Bliss read the name written on the bottom of the wooden draw.

“The first candidate is… ‘Elodie.’”

Elodie flinched when her name was called. She

fidgeted with a slightly red face before eventually lowering her head.

Dionik stood up and protested.

“Wait! Elodie is not allowed! Why, why was Elodie’s name even in the draw in the first place? I chose it?!”

Luciana shook her head after hearing Dionique’s words.

“I can’t trust the draw you made, you know. After you made it, I thoroughly checked it again and filled in the missing names.”

“What?! In any case, as your older brother, I can’t allow it! This draw is invalid!”

Dionique didn’t stop there and was about to protest even more harshly when

Elodie, who was sitting next to him, grabbed Dionique’s sleeve and stopped him.

“I don’t care.”

“What?!”

“I don’t care if I become a candidate to kiss Nickellus.”

Elodie’s answer gave everyone there a slight shock.

Dionique, who was especially shocked—

“… … .”

For a while, he was unable to respond and just stood there, transfixed.