When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 60



Only Noblemtl

◈60. The imperial curse has been lifted!

Ernen felt the back of his neck, startled.

There was definitely a burning sound, but strangely enough, I didn’t feel any heat.

That doesn’t mean it was exactly the same as usual, either.

The area around the back of my neck that always felt heavy as if a lump of iron was resting on it, for some reason, felt light now.

The skin I touched was also smooth, ‘as if there was nothing on it.’

‘Wait a minute… As if there’s nothing… … ?’

After feeling the back of my neck for a while, Ernen finally realized what had happened to me.

“……does not exist.”

“yes?”

“… … It… It’s gone. It can’t be touched!”

The Duke, Timor, made a dumbfounded expression.

“Do you sleep with your eyes open?” … as if to ask.

Ernen shouted at his attendants in a loud voice without hesitation.

“Hey! Bring me a hand mirror! Now!”

The quick-footed imperial attendants didn’t even bother asking why and just brought a hand mirror.

Ernen held it and stood in front of a large full-length mirror.

Then I used the two mirrors to directly look at the back of my neck.

“… … The cursed mark has disappeared.”

The cursed mark disappeared from the nape of his neck.

Therefore, the curse is gone.

That was the conclusion Ernen reached after seeing the smooth nape of her neck, as if it had never had a mark on it.

“The cursed mark… is gone?”

Timor approached, muttering like that.

He squinted his eyes as if he couldn’t believe it, even though he actually saw Ernen’s smooth nape with nothing left on it.

Ernen also responded with a voice that still seemed incredulous.

“It’s not just the brand that’s gone. I can no longer feel the curse that was always weighing on my body. The curse… the curse has been lifted.”

“… … !! Why all of a sudden… … .”

Ernen answered firmly to Timor, who asked in confusion.

“The Pope must have done something. I told him about the curse, and now it’s been less than a month since I told him about it, so I’m sure it’s been lifted. He must have done something mysterious that I don’t know about—”

“No, how could that be?”

Timor, who had been bewildered, was quick to respond the moment the word ‘Pope’ came out.

He shook his head as if to say that it could never happen.

“To be honest… he is a man with many flaws that make him unfit to be called the Pope. Especially in terms of ability.”

“… … .”

“The ‘mysterious skills’ that the apostles chosen by God possessed… Wasn’t it widely rumored that they couldn’t use those skills at all?”

“… … .”

“It was the same during the founding ceremony last year. If we had followed the original founding ceremony procedure, he should have used his unique skills directly in front of the people to prove that he had received the grace of God.”

“… … .”

“But it didn’t do anything. It probably didn’t have any other abilities besides destroying things.”

It was true that Nickelus had not been able to demonstrate his skills in front of people, and thus prove that he was a being blessed by God.

In fact, at the time, most of Nickelus’ skills were locked due to his low karma points.

That’s why I couldn’t stand in front of people and show off my skills during the founding of the country.

Because I couldn’t use the skill.

And this led to various rumors about Nickelus’ qualifications to become the Pope.

If he had shown at least the Sacred Pact skill that was the only one that wasn’t locked, he might have been able to prevent such gossip, but Nickelus didn’t even do that.

This was because, compared to the splendid skills possessed by the apostles of the past, these skills were extremely shabby.

Of course, the reason for not attending the founding ceremony was announced externally as ‘I am not feeling well’.

Timor recalled the empty seat of Nickelus when the country was founded last year.

“How could such a person have the power to lift a curse?”

“Then why was the curse suddenly lifted?”

“I think… … . Ahh!”

Timor, who had been pondering, let out an exclamation as if remembering something, and strode towards the tea table.

Then the emperor lifted the teacup he had just been drinking from.

“This is why the curse was lifted!”

“car……?”

“Yes, the tea leaves I brought to offer to Your Majesty! Those tea leaves must have had special powers to ward off curses!”

Timor is excited as if he has made a great discovery.

Ernen refuted that without hiding his absurdity.

“Wait a minute… The royal curse isn’t something that can be lifted like that. If it was a curse that could be lifted by tea leaves or something, it would have been lifted a long time ago—”

“There is an old saying that good tea is as good as medicine. The tea leaves I brought were of the highest quality, to the point that it would be a shame to call them just ‘good.’”

“… … .”

“Tea leaves grown in the highlands, infused with the energy of the forest, by the energy of the sun and moon… … It would not be strange if they had special powers that could drive away curses.”

“hmm…….”

A situation where you have no idea what Nickelus did.

That’s why Ernen couldn’t help but think back and wonder if the cause of the curse being lifted was the food he ate.

‘I don’t remember eating anything special yesterday or today. So is what the Duke said true…? Is it really true that the tea I just drank lifted the curse…?’

If there was anything I didn’t normally consume, it was really only tea.

Since there was no other food that could be the cause, Timor’s words were gradually becoming more credible.

Timor took advantage of the gap and stepped in.

“Your Majesty, in fact, this tea leaf is a crop that our family has been thinking of giving up growing. It requires a lot of labor and doesn’t bring in much profit. However, if it’s for Your Majesty, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do. I’ll gladly grow it even if it doesn’t bring in any profit.”

“… … Hmm? I appreciate your consideration, but that’s enough. The curse has already disappeared.”

“no!”

Buruk, Timor continued to speak in a foul voice.

“The tea you drink will soon be excreted. Once the medicinal properties of the tea have disappeared from your body, the curse will once again eat away at your Majesty’s jade spirit.”

“… … What?”

“I’m telling you that you have to drink it consistently. Don’t worry. I will take responsibility for these tea leaves and send them to you consistently.”

Although he tried to keep a serious expression on his face, Timor’s mouth kept twitching into a smile.

He didn’t know that tea leaves really had such properties.

There was no interest either.

All that mattered was making the Emperor believe that.

‘You have to make them believe in the efficacy of tea leaves. You have to make them believe that they would die without it.’

If they succeed in making him believe, the Duke of Freeburn will have enormous influence over the royal family.

Because they would be treated as a family that grew tea leaves that were as important as the emperor’s life.

Then, you will be able to use tea leaves as bait to put the emperor to sleep at will.

The Emperor could have forced Timor to take his own sister as the new Empress.

You can easily become related to the royal family!

Timor, who had reached that conclusion, lightly licked his dry lips with the tip of his tongue.

“You will never again be cursed. If Your Majesty continues to show me the proper amount of sincerity and sincerity… … .”

Sincerity and sincerity.

Ernen’s eyes gradually distorted as he realized its true meaning.

That was when.

“Your Majesty, this is a message from the Lucid Miller Church.”

The grey-haired royal retainer bowed his head and reported this.

At the same time, Timor’s eyes also crinkled.

“Tch, how rude. I can’t see we’re having an important conversation right now—”

“At the podium? Tell me right now. What message is it?”

Before Timor could expel his vassal, Ernen came forward and asked his vassal:

Gasin nodded again and answered.

“His Holiness the Pope has expressed his wish to visit the palace and personally see the cursed mark.”

“… … !!”

Ernendo and Timor were so shocked that they forgot to breathe at that moment.

There was silence for a long time as no one opened their mouths.

“Haha.” The hollow laughter that Ernen suddenly let out echoed through the silence.

“I see… … . I was not wrong. I should have told the Pope a long time ago.”

Timor gritted his teeth.

It was true that almost all of them were deceived.

The Emperor seemed certain that it was Nickelus who had lifted his curse, because of the news that had just been delivered.

Meanwhile, a firm order came from Ernen’s mouth.

“Tell him to come right away. And hurry up and prepare a grand banquet for him.”

“your majesty!”

Timor immediately raised his voice at Ernen’s order to prepare a banquet.

He belatedly forced a smile onto his face to pretend to be calm.

“I’m not even sure if it was because of him that the curse was lifted, so why are you suddenly having a banquet?”

“And even after all this, you still doubt him? The mark disappeared shortly after I told him about the curse. And as soon as the mark disappeared, he told me that he wanted to confirm it.”

“… … .”

“He must have done something to break the curse. That’s why he sent word that he would come to the palace to check if it worked.”

After finishing speaking, Ernen glared at Timor with a sharper gaze than usual.

If he had raised any more objections, it would have been Timor himself, not Nickelus, who would have been kicked out of the palace.

That’s why Timor gritted his teeth and swallowed his anger.

‘Let’s calm down. It’s a good thing you came to visit while I was there. Now is the time to blatantly dismantle and expose the identity of that conman.’

It seemed unlikely that a conman who had no skills to show at the founding ceremony and thus had not attended would have actually lifted the curse.

If you keep pressuring them to prove their abilities right away, they will eventually run away like a fool.

Timor gripped the armrests of his chair tightly and waited for Nickelus to arrive.

* * *

A message was sent to ask if it was possible to visit the palace.

I then checked the system messages that were coming to me.

‘There are three messages.’

All of these things happened while I was in the celestial officer’s dream.

I checked the very first message among them.

It was a message that the sub-trust was completed.

Sub-Trust (3) – Please solve the problem of the King of Worries, “Ernen Van Frisk”, “The Old Imperial Curse”! (Complete)

Ernen’s worries were finally resolved as the curse was successfully lifted.

‘You’ve worked hard.’

Feeling a renewed sense of pride, I touched the word “complete.”

Soon after, a message came to mind.

[You have earned 300 Karma points as a reward for completing the Sub-Trust! Your current Karma is -1132 points!]

You have earned karma points.

It felt like a slightly small number, but there was still no need to be disappointed.

What we have just completed is, after all, a sub-trust.

By completing the sub-trust just now, the seventh main trust, ‘Helping the Underprivileged’, has also been completely completed.

Soon, the main trust would also receive compensation.

[You have completed the seventh main trust! Would you like to receive your reward?]

―Yes

―No

As expected, I immediately answered Yes to the message that came to mind.

I waited for the reward with anticipation.

When I first received the seventh main trust, I still didn’t know what the reward was because the reward column only said ‘???’.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long for the reward list to appear.

[Trust Completion Reward]

-Karma +500 points

―1 ticket to use “God’s Judgement”

– Advanced Weapon Enchant Scroll

– Lost fragments of memory

The first thing I saw was that I had earned 500 karma points.

Earlier it said that my final karma was -1132 points, so if I calculate what I’ve received so far, my current points are probably -632 points.

As expected, the karma restoration message that came to mind soon confirmed that fact.

[You have earned 500 Karma points as a reward for completing the Main Trust! Your current Karma is -632 points!]

The first digit of my karma points has finally changed.

I was on the verge of tears.

I then checked out other rewards as well.

‘Let’s see, I know what the lost memory fragment is because I received it before… but what are the other two?’

The Lost Memory Fragment was an item that restored some of Nickelus’ erased memories.

Thanks to that, I was able to recall that the original Nickelus had gone to the County of Pilmar to rescue the old prophets.

If I was lucky, I would be able to retrieve some useful memories from the fragments this time too.

Are the other two reward items equally useful?

I guess you’ll have to take it out and check it yourself to know―

‘First, let’s check the remaining messages that are piling up… … .’

There were still two more messages left that had arrived while I was sleeping.

Since I had already checked the quest completion message, which was the first message, I opened the next message.

‘… … A hundred plums.’

Upon checking, I found out that the second message was about Baekmae’s death.