When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 199



Only Noblemtl

199. Side Story 1-(5) How to Recycle Thousand-Year-Old Items
2024.05.17.

At the request of the Primordial Spirit King, I told him everything.

Lucid Miller had been destroyed to save the world—

thankfully, the world was saved—

but this time, the sealed primordial evil was in danger of awakening—

and to destroy that evil, I had to take the missing sword.

After hearing my story, the Primordial Spirit King muttered in disbelief.

“While I was sleeping, something like that happened… …?”

“Now is not the time to be surprised. I told you who I am, just as you wanted, and why I came here, so please hurry and find that sword. The sword that fell into your lake. I have to take it as soon as possible.”

“Hmm, I want to find it for you quickly, but—”

The Spirit King, who had been trailing off, let out a deep sigh and let out an ominous voice.

“Unfortunately, there are more than one or two missing swords here.”

“… … What?’ ‘

Once upon a time, there was a false rumor that treasure was sunken in this lake. At that time, adventurers who were looking for treasure came here with their swords in a haughty manner, so I woke up for a moment and scolded them. All the weapons they had, such as swords, sank here.’

In other words, this lake was full of swords that adventurers had dropped.

As if it were true, the Spirit King made a gesture with his hand, and dozens of swords that had sunk to the bottom floated up at once.

The Spirit King brought all of those swords near him and held them out to me one by one.

‘Is this magic sword your sword?’

‘… ‘ ‘

Or is this holy sword made of silver yours?’

It was a line like a mountain spirit testing the conscience of an innocent lumberjack by offering him a gold axe and a silver axe.

Bewildered, I shook my head and replied to the Spirit King.

‘No, throw away all the holy swords and magic swords. The sword I have to find is a sword that has been forged over a thousand years.’

『Hmm, that’s difficult. I don’t know which one is a thousand-year-old sword either.』

‘… … .’

『You haven’t heard anything about the appearance of the sword from the current Spirit King

either?』 Unfortunately, I hadn’t heard anything about the appearance of the sword from Valeria.

Of course, I thought the Emotion Spirits would have swords.

I thought I could capture them, squeeze them, and steal the swords they had. There was also

a lack of time, so even though I knew the appearances of the Emotion Spirits in detail, I hadn’t heard anything about the appearance of the swords.

When I couldn’t answer, the Primordial Spirit King sighed deeply.

『I think I just need to pick out which one of these is a thousand-year-old sword.』

‘No, that’s not it. What we need is not just a thousand-year-old sword, but a sword that has been well-forged for a thousand years.’

『… … ? Why?』

The Spirit King’s eyes widened as if he didn’t understand why.

I also felt puzzled by his reaction and replied.

‘Why, according to the prophecy, a sword forged over a thousand years was needed―’

‘So it said ‘a sword forged over a thousand years’, not a prophecy that said ‘a sword forged over a thousand years’ was needed.’

‘… …!’ That was it. Since Valeria couldn’t have gotten such an important prophecy wrong, what she needed was definitely a ‘sword forged over a thousand years’. Since it was definitely a sword forged ‘over time’, maybe it wasn’t simply talking about a thousand-year-old sword? And

there happened to be one of those thousand-year-old swords in my inventory. ‘Wait a minute. If you really just need a thousand-year-old sword, I don’t think you need to search the bottom of this lake to find it.’ As I said that, I opened my inventory and took out a sword. It was an item that had been in my inventory since I had been reincarnated into this world. [The Old Sword of the Fallen Holy Knight Commander (???)] ―The thousand-year-old sword that the Fallen Holy Knight Commander swung to protect his master. ―It still has the protection of the goddess. ―If a skilled blacksmith repairs it, its true value may be revealed? The old sword of the Fallen Holy Knight Commander. This was an item that was in my inventory along with the Hidden Peace Ring when I was reincarnated into this world, and it had now shrunk to fit my size. It was thanks to the blessing that Valeria had bestowed upon me. Anyway, when I opened the sword’s information window, I saw that it said exactly ‘1,000-year-old sword.’ I showed the old sword to the Primordial Spirit King. ‘If the prophecy is true, I will be able to annihilate the primordial evil with this. But before that, I have one more favor to ask.’ 『What?』

The Spirit King asked with a serious expression as if he would grant any favor, so I also showed a serious expression.

And then I made a request.

‘Please cry a little. Just enough to wet the sword with your tears.’

* * *

When Nickelus was in the lake,

a deep sense of anxiety that could not be hidden was stirring among the spirits of the Spirit Island.

It was because the time for the seal to be lifted was approaching.

Valeria and the high-ranking spirits had already moved the jar containing the evil sealed to a vacant lot where few people visited and were watching it.

“Soon… the seal will be lifted. It really is not long now.”

The high-ranking spirits fell silent at Valeria’s heavily hushed voice.

In the midst of the silence, Valeria continued speaking in a calm voice.

“Until my contractor who left to find the sword returns, we must somehow block the primordial evil with our own strength.”

That was the role of the high-ranking spirits and Valeria gathered there.

If it failed, the primordial evil would head to the central city of the spirit island where the spirits gathered and lay waste to it.

Since they had such an important role, Valeria and the high-level spirits’ faces were clearly tense.

At that moment.

―Woooooooooo

The jar where the evil was sealed started to vibrate with a strange sound.

The spirits who heard the sound all swallowed dry saliva.

Their shoulders also tense up.

―Woooooooooooo

The vibrations were even longer than before.

Valeria bit her lip and glared at the jar.

‘The primordial evil is struggling to break through the weakened seal. There’s only 1 minute left… no, not even 30 seconds left!’

Valeria judged this and gave an order to the other high-level spirits.

“Now! Unleash the wind barrier!”

“Yes!”

The high-level wind spirits who received Valeria’s order quickly set up a wind barrier near the jar.

It was right after that. Cracks began to form in the jar that had sealed the primordial evil. The cracks that had formed once spread throughout the jar, soon shattering the jar into pieces. Boom! As the jar burst, the dark energy contained within quickly expanded in size.

Valeria shouted urgently, thinking that it was really fortunate that the wind barrier had been established in time. “Do everything you can to keep the barrier from collapsing!” “Yes!” The high-level wind spirits reinforced and maintained the wind barrier, sweating profusely. Meanwhile, the smoke-shaped evil that had been completely released clashed with its own body within the barrier as if trying to break it. Boom! Boom! The established wind barrier began to shake precariously. All the spirits gathered there watched the scene anxiously. They had expected that the barrier established by the high-level spirits would buy them time, but the barrier was already flickering dangerously. One of the high-level wind spirits maintaining the barrier told Valeria. “It’s struggling more than I thought! I don’t think I can hold out much longer!” “This… … .” Valeria muttered with a sense of despair, then continued to order. “There’s no choice. Unfold the water barrier!” The original plan was to stall for as long as possible with the first barrier, the wind barrier, and then unfold the second barrier when the strength ran out. She hadn’t calculated that the evil power that had been trapped for so long was just as strong as before. Since she couldn’t hold out with just one layer of barrier, she quickly unfolded the second barrier and it finally became a little more stable than before. Thump! Thump! Thump! The primordial evil kept slamming its body against the barrier, but the two-layered barrier didn’t flicker unstably like before. Valeria let out a sigh of relief as she watched. ‘Okay. I can hold out for another day like this.’ Now all she could do was hope that the spirits would hold out well. Since they were superior spirits that were much more powerful than ordinary spirits, they should be able to maintain the barrier for a day without any problems. If Nickelus could retrieve the sword in the meantime, everything would be resolved. And then, an unfortunate incident occurred right after she felt relieved. “Something is strange… …!” One of the superior spirits maintaining the barrier shouted. Valeria, who had been relieved for a moment, quickly looked for the evil again after hearing that shout. The evil that had been spreading through the air without a form like smoke was gradually gathering. ‘That… Could it be… …!’

Valeria felt an ominous premonition and ground her teeth.

She desperately hoped that this would not be the situation she had expected, but her wish did not come true.

“It is materializing.”

Unfortunately, Valeria’s prediction was right.

The primordial evil that had been in the form of smoke gathered in one place, and gradually began to writhe and take shape.

It was the form that had been passed down through the mouths of the spirits for generations.

“Snake… It’s a snake!”

“It has materialized in the form of a snake!”

The higher-level spirits were terrified at the sight of the primordial evil that had materialized into a black snake.

It was because they were overwhelmed by the size of the evil that had materialized to the point where they could not even save face.

The black snake that had revealed itself was so huge that it would cover the sky if it raised its head. As

that huge thing crashed into the barrier—

boom!

With a loud noise, the two layers of the barrier began to shake precariously.

If this continued, it was only a matter of time before the barrier would break.

Valeria shouted without further hesitation.

“Open the fire barrier and the earth barrier at the same time!”

At her command, the upper-level spirits of fire and earth who had been waiting also formed barriers.

This created a total of four layers of barriers.

No matter how great the evil was, it would not be easy to break through.

―Kiaaaaaaaah!!

The primordial evil that had been struggling inside the barrier let out a long howl.

The spirits clenched their teeth at the creepy howl that sounded like scraping iron.

The evil’s howl alone contained an evil aura, and if they continued to listen, their souls would become tainted.

And for the spirits with pure souls, such soul contamination was fatal.

‘Please come back quickly, contractor… … .’

Feeling the evil’s howl piercing into her mind, Valeria prayed earnestly for Nickelus’s return.

* * *

“What do you want me to do?”

The primordial spirit king looked bewildered, wondering if he had heard wrong.

I feel sorry for him, but I didn’t misunderstand, and he didn’t mishear.

‘Cry quickly. According to the prophecy, you should wet the sword with your tears.’

『… … That’s the strangest request I’ve ever heard in my life. Do you really need my tears?』

‘I heard that you had some stored away. But when I thought about it, I felt uneasy.’

『Uneasy?』 I opened my mouth with a serious expression when the Primordial Spirit King asked.

‘Because he said those tears were the tears you shed before you were sealed yourself.’

『So?』

‘In other words, they’re really old tears. But the prophecy didn’t say to wet the sword with tears that were thousands of years old. It just said to use the tears of the Primordial Spirit King.’ 『

So you want to follow the prophecy exactly?』

I nodded in agreement.

‘Yeah, your tears could have aged so much that their nature has changed.’

『Hmm, that makes sense. “I thought about it well.”

The Primordial Spirit King also nodded at me as he spoke.

“As you said, tears are most effective when they are shed immediately. As time passes, the power contained in the tears evaporates and disappears. If it was tears shed before I was sealed… they are probably no different than simple water now.”