When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 46



Only Noblemtl

◈46. Strange fortune telling

“dream.”

The spirit’s answer to the Black Moon was this.

Baek-mae, who was embarrassed because of that, asked the officer back.

“When you say dream… Are you saying that Heukwol had a terrible nightmare? Or that he will have one?”

“No. Neither. I have dreamed it, and I will not dream it―”

The fortuneteller slightly wrinkled his eyes. He was trying to explain the horoscope that he couldn’t understand at all even while speaking it.

“You are dreaming right now. Right now, at this moment, in the present.”

“… … Yes? Hao Na Heuk Wol is not sleeping right now. My subordinates reported that they saw you going to meet the outsiders earlier.”

“That’s why it’s strange. That’s why it’s bizarre.”

The seon-gwan looked again at the grains of rice scattered on the table.

“The spirit said that everything Black Moon sees and hears now is an illusion, a dream.”

Baek-mae was speechless for a moment, and Seon-gwan was lost in thought.

And so the silence continued.

The priest’s lips opened again when a believer came in and took away the bowl of medicine the priest had taken.

“Baekmaeya. Am I in a dream right now? Are you and I illusions in someone’s dream?”

“No, how can a dream be this vivid? I am not dreaming.”

“… … Yeah, I guess so, definitely.”

Baek-mae, who had been smiling faintly as if it was a ridiculous guess, suddenly blurted it out as if it were a coincidence.

“Or perhaps the spirits are angry because of the impure energy of those outsiders?”

Baek Mae, who had always been rejected when she brought up a topic she wanted to discuss naturally, tried to cautiously push it forward this time as well.

“For generations, this village was a place for the Geumnam. However, the taboo that had been passed down from our ancestors was broken and outsiders were allowed in, and since then, the believers have continued to suffer from illnesses of unknown causes—”

“Baekmaeya.”

The gentle call of the eunuch cut off Baekmae’s complaints.

What followed was an unexpected old story.

“Do you know? As you said, the village has been the territory of Geumnam since ancient times, but even before that, it was also the territory of Geumnyeo.”

“… …Are you a golden man and a golden woman?”

“Yes, that means that if someone had not been possessed by a god, they wouldn’t let them in, even if they were a woman. It was a village that was not for humans, but only for gods who had transcended the realm of humanity.”

It was a story from a time even longer ago than now… that is, from the era that would later be called ‘ancient’.

The seon-gwan spoke, recalling a story from that time that he had heard from his ancestors.

“Even so, when immersed in the flow of time, most things are bound to decline, and so were our old rules. They declined. So, from a certain point on, even if they had not received the divine power, they began to accept women who were in difficult circumstances as believers one by one.”

“ah…….”

“The hungry and the sick, those who have burned their lives for revenge like Heukwol, and Baekmae… those who have lost something precious and have become resentful like you… … Those who harbored poison inside of them gathered one by one and formed the village we have today.”

There was something that believers often said as a joke.

It is said that the reason this place is called ‘Poisonous Volcano’ is not only because of the poisonous flowers that bloom there.

People who harbor the poison of resentment and the fire of revenge inside them gather together to form a village, so this mountain may have become a mountain of poisonous fire.

The seon-gwan recalled that story and a bitter smile appeared on his lips.

“So, Baekmae, if our distant ancestors had ignored the needy in order to follow the rules as you said, then what would have become of this place…? …? The hungry and sick people gathered here, those who have burned their lives in revenge, and those who have lost their homes… … .”

The messenger stopped his long speech and approached the window.

“after…….”

The sky outside the window was, as always, white with poisonous petals and powder.

Thanks to the protection of the spirits, the white powder is now unable to stain the village.

But the emissary knew.

Every day, little by little, just a little, those powders are flowing into the village.

“As time goes by, many things tend to decay, so like my ancestors, we too must discard old and worn-out rules and embrace new ones. The foreign expeditions that have come to visit us may be the starting point of that change.”

“If we were to receive new culture from foreign countries, it would certainly be possible to bring about change… but what if they harbor evil intentions and are thinking of betraying us?”

“Don’t worry about that. I borrowed the power of the spirit and looked into Lord Klaus’s fortune, and he is not a villain who would betray. But if he were to betray us—”

The seon-gwan’s smile became a little brighter than before.

“Then I will curse him with all my blood and soul, including his descendants, without exception.”

In contrast to her smiling face, her voice was filled with heavy sincerity.

If by any chance the strangers should harm even one of her precious believers―

If it turns out that it was really foreigners who spread the disease―

If so, the sage would gladly wring out his soul and blood to punish the foreigners severely.

At that point, Baek-mae bowed her head politely and answered.

“Yes, sir. Whatever decision you make, I will trust and follow it.”

“Thank you. Oh, and go out and call Heukwol.”

As he spoke, the eunuch immediately turned his gaze to the grains of rice scattered on the table.

And using the power of the skill, he read the divine message it was conveying.

Dreams. Devils. Karma. Switched souls. The white moon. And the black moon protected by the white moon… ‘Black Moon’.

“Tell him that I have something to say about his ‘dream’. If you tell him that, he will probably understand.”

* * *

The two guild members who stood before me after receiving Bliss’ call each had distinct personalities.

One of them is a bespectacled man with a scholarly air.

And the other one was a red-haired woman with tattoos all over her arms.

‘Are these two really the only ones with skills related to poison and disease?’

The number of suspects was smaller than expected.

Meanwhile, Bliss gestured towards the male of the two suspects and spoke in a small voice that only I could hear.

“The one wearing glasses is called ‘Petun’. He has the skill to collect pathogens and transfer them to others. And next to him is―”

Bliss then introduced another female suspect.

“I’m ‘Marsha.’ I have the skill to make poison. Of course, I can make colorless and odorless poisons.”

I first looked closely at the men in the order in which they were introduced.

Of course, this did not mean that I was simply looking at appearances.

I took a look at his nature… that is, by opening the ‘character information window’.

‘It certainly has the skill to absorb and transfer diseases, but… … .’

After closing the information window, I nodded toward Bliss and informed her.

“That man is not the culprit. He can be sent back.”

“The basis is… … .”

“I know just by looking at it. I have a good intuition.”

… was, of course, a lie.

The reason I was certain that Petun wasn’t the culprit was because I checked his skill information through the information window.

[Moving Plague (B)]

– Absorb someone’s illness and spread it to someone else.

B-class… The skill rank was too low.

If the deceased had died from an S-class or higher skill, it may have been impossible to determine the cause of death using the items I used when investigating the cause of death of the deceased before.

The items I wrote at that time, ‘Last Appeal’ and ‘Soldier’s Lament’, were B- and A-class respectively.

It is common for lower grade items to become useless due to the power of higher grade items.

That’s why I’m investigating users of that type of skill even though the results have already been shown as items that they are not soldiers or addicts.

‘If he died from a B-rank skill, it would have definitely said ‘died’ when checked with the soldier’s grumbling item. But since that wasn’t the case, the culprit must have been someone with a higher skill level.’

It was at that time that I was so absorbed in my reasoning.

Bliss’s gaze suddenly became sharp.

“I have a good feeling… … . Just be honest with me. What skill did you use?”

“I’m saying that you literally have a good sense for reading people.”

“Is it a skill for reading minds? Or a skill for glancing at fragments of other people’s pasts?”

“… … You still don’t seem to believe it even if I die. Well, try to figure it out hard.”

It seems like they’re trying to guess here and there, but it’ll probably be hard to figure out.

In the first place, the ability to check the character information window was not a ‘skill’.

When I showed no sign of answering, Bliss gave up and let out a sigh.

Then he introduced one remaining suspect in more detail.

“Marsha is the daughter of a countess of the kingdom. She was imprisoned after being caught secretly assassinating maids and servants using poison she had made with her skill, and she followed the guild to the condition of being pardoned.”

“If you kill someone and just go into the guild and leave, you’ll be pardoned… …? Was it a long-standing tradition to give a slap on the wrist to only nobles… … ”

If you think about it, it seems like Bliss has committed many sins, but isn’t he not being punished?

Karma points aren’t that low for some reason though.

“Isn’t it the same for other countries? Is the Empire particularly bad…?”

“Is it okay if other countries are the same?”

“Not only nobles, but also many commoners commit crimes and join the guild.”

“It’s okay if commoners do the same thing, not just nobles?”

Having said that, I added:

“And isn’t the situation different for commoners and nobles? As far as I know, that’s true.”

“… … Of course, commoners enter the guild with the intention of hiding from the pursuit of the state, so it is slightly different from the nobles who enter with the intention of receiving a pardon… but it is relatively equal.”

I ignored the nonsense Bliss was spouting while shielding the Empire and looked at the information window of the noble lady.

‘Among the guild members, there was one person with the lowest karma points. Has he ever killed anyone? His skill level is L… … Is this Young-ae the culprit?’

Her karma points are -413.

It was a score that could be achieved by someone who had harmed others with malicious intent.

‘No, this person is not the culprit either.’

Looking closely at the information window, I saw the phrase (Currently unusable skill) written next to her poison brewing skill name.

I knew what this meant.

Because it was a phrase written in my information window.

‘Because your karma points are low, you are restricted from using poison skills.’

Like my comrade, she also had some of her skills blocked.

… Of course, even though he was my comrade, I had no intention of feeling any empathy with the murderer.

‘Are there any other suspects?’

I looked over the guild members at the camp and checked their karma points again.

Then suddenly, my eyes met with a man nearby.

It wasn’t Bliss who chose him.

That means, he was not someone with any poison or disease-related skills.

But upon examining his information window again, I was able to find something suspicious.

‘That guy, his skills are…?’