When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 68



Only Noblemtl

◈68. Let’s bake with fried eggs.

“Yeah, good idea… Wait, what?”

Originally, I was going to answer, “That’s a good idea,” as I had said to the other high priests.

But after thinking about Bliss’s opinion again, I stopped talking right away.

It seemed like it was difficult to respond because it was just a good opinion.

Bliss repeated what I said with a feminine look on her face.

“I know that the podium has kept some of the contents of the eggs scattered on the banquet hall floor. Let’s fry them.”

“……why?”

I asked slowly, a little worried about the guy’s mental health.

“You… are you thinking of eating that disgusting thing?”

“That can’t be… … .”

“What on earth are you talking about?” Bliss said, his eyes furrowing.

“I want to see if applying heat will dissipate the magical power contained within it.”

“ah.”

The guy explained with a serious face to me, who was feeling a little relieved.

“Wouldn’t it take a long time to defeat the boss monster as planned and then destroy the core it was hiding to collapse the dungeon?”

“yes……?”

“If we could heat the core and destroy its magic power… we’d just set the entire dungeon on fire.”

“……oh?”

“Then, the core hidden somewhere in the dungeon will also be heated, and when it gets cooked, the magic power will disappear and the dungeon may collapse on its own.”

In other words, the idea was to just burn down the entire dungeon without having to go through the trouble of entering it and defeating monsters.

A somewhat simple and crude method. But―

“… … Sounds like a good idea?”

It was a pretty plausible solution.

If I could collapse the dungeon that way, there would be no need for me to go on a business trip to another region.

Setting fire to a dungeon is something that anyone can do with just oil and matches.

I looked at the Bliss guy with some surprise.

“It’s a pretty good idea… …? Why don’t you just say that from the beginning and suggest frying it so that it’s misunderstood?”

“I was hungry after a long meeting. That was the only word that came to mind.”

“Oh, really? Anyway, it sounds like a good idea.”

Let’s go to any dungeon right now and pour oil on it and set it on fire!

It was at that time that I was thinking some rather radical thoughts.

Rubin, who had been sitting quietly on my shoulder, suddenly intervened.

“Well, I’m sorry to throw cold water on you, but… that method won’t work.”

“You think it’ll be useless?”

Rubin nodded his head as if he was very sorry to hear my question.

“The Elcapist tree actually existed in ancient times. Naturally, the ancient people also studied methods to destroy the egg-shaped magic source.”

“Are you saying that the ancients already roasted eggs with fire?”

Rubin nodded at me again and spoke to everyone.

“Yeah. But it turns out that doesn’t work. That means that in order to collapse the dungeon, you have to go into the dungeon and destroy the core yourself.”

The high priests, of course, looked disappointed.

I thought I could easily destroy the dungeon, but it turns out that the method I used didn’t work.

I comforted them in a slightly brighter voice.

“Tch, that’s too bad… but it’s okay. Just go in and clear it yourself. Defeating monsters isn’t that hard. If you have any other good ideas, feel free to tell me.”

After that, the high priests each gave their opinions according to my words.

Luciana―

“How about going out right now and doing 100 laps around the training ground? That’s some serious training to build up your strength before entering the dungeon.”

… he suggested training, emphasizing the importance of a strong body.

Of course, Delsey wasn’t the only one who stayed still. Delsey―

[I also want to join the dungeon raiding party following His Majesty. I think my skills will be helpful, kkkkkkkkkk―]

… and requested to be included in the dungeon raid team.

Of course, I immediately shook my head.

It was ridiculous to take the young Delsey to a dungeon full of monsters.

[I wanted to help Your Majesty… … . It was quite a lot… … . ]

Delsey slumped her shoulders in disappointment, but thankfully she didn’t make any more of a fuss.

Then I looked at Bliss again.

I hope he’ll give me another good opinion this time.

That bliss guy—

“Let’s go eat. I think something with eggs would be good. Thinking about fried food makes me want to eat more and more… … .”

… he said.

At that point I admitted it.

The fact that sitting comfortably in front of a desk and brainstorming solutions is of no use.

In the end, you have no choice but to run and hit the monsters yourself without even thinking about evading them.

“Let’s go fill our bellies.”

The high priests rose from their seats as if they had been waiting for my words.

I ignored Bliss’ suggestion to eat some egg dishes and stared out the window.

It was because I had just remembered the disgusting Elcapist eggs and I really didn’t want to eat eggs, and also because I suddenly thought of the guy who couldn’t attend this event.

‘If Argelio had been there, would a more groundbreaking solution have been found…?’

Since he is a guy with a good head on his shoulders, he might have come up with a good idea.

But the guy is currently in his hometown, Gongjakryeong.

I missed him for a moment… just a moment, and then I started walking towards the cathedral restaurant.

* * *

The Duke of Freeburn has amassed enormous wealth over generations by monopolizing the empire’s trade routes.

In the master’s private office in the opulent and splendid ducal palace, Argelio let out a hollow laugh.

‘You didn’t even try to hide it.’

Embezzlement, tax evasion, and so on… Evidence of all Timor’s evil deeds was strewn about the office.

He probably didn’t have time to hide it, since he probably wouldn’t have thought that he would be assassinated while attending the banquet.

Thanks to this, I was able to find most of the evidence in just 10 minutes of searching the place under the pretense of organizing the remains.

And among them was evidence proving that Timor had framed Argelio in several ways in an attempt to tarnish his reputation.

“… … .”

Argelio stared silently at the pile of evidence.

By making this public, he could wash away all the dirty shame he had been suffering because of Timor.

All the shameful things that prevented him from becoming the head of the Duke’s family…

If they were washed away, there could also be voices within the family supporting him as the head of the household.

Nickelus said he had no desire to be the head of the Duke’s household, but if he really had no desire, that would be a lie.

It’s always a shame to miss something.

Therefore, if there were voices within the family calling for him to be promoted to the head of the household, he would feel joy for a moment.

but…….

‘This will do.’

Argelio picked up a document from among the numerous pieces of evidence.

It was a document proving the ownership of the upper part that had been taken away by Timor.

For now, it was the only thing he wanted.

Because the position of head of a family that had amassed enormous wealth was assigned to a separate owner.

Just then, the owner knocked on the door of the office and came in.

“I brought the materials you asked me to research.”

The youngest daughter of the Duke of Freeburn. She was Argelio’s worry and regret.

It was Elina van Freeburn, once called the Duchess of Freeburn, but now clearly the head of the family and the Duke of Freeburn.

She approached Argelio, tucking her family’s signature ash-colored hair behind her ears.

In his hands, wrapped in black silk gloves, he held a bundle of documents.

Argelio looked at it with a complicated look and asked.

“Is that it?”

“Yes. About the seeds of that problem. These are materials I found by researching old documents from Timor that were being prepared to be burned.”

The day he arrived here, Argelio asked Elina a favor.

To investigate the source of the seeds that Timor brought to the banquet hall.

Argel soon received the materials Elina had researched at his request and began reading through them.

‘It wasn’t a family thing after all.’

According to Elina’s research, the seeds were a gift that Timor received from someone about a month ago.

It was written that the workers had secretly brought it in the middle of the night and put it in Timor’s private warehouse, saying, “This is a gift from Timor.”

And the sender who sent that gift is… … .

‘… … The first returnee?’

The name and age of the person who sent it as a gift were unknown.

The first returnee.

That was the only information about the sender of the gift.

“Thank you, Elina. You must be busy, but you helped me with the research.”

“Thanks to you, brother, I can now take care of the household with ease. Timor never taught me anything about family matters. If you hadn’t come and helped me, I would have been lost for a long time.”

After talking up to that point, she suddenly let out a long sigh.

“So, I dug up the source of the seed as you asked, but… honestly, I worried a lot about whether giving it to you was really the right thing to do.”

“What does that mean?”

Elina was silent for a moment.

Then he looked at the data with his gray eyes that had become heavy like the sky on a rainy day.

To be exact, above the words ‘First Returnee’.

“If you have a premonition of danger.”

With that, raindrops began to knock on the window.

Toodo, toodootuk, ssaaaa—Elina’s voice slowly mixed in through the cracks in the sound of the rain that had grown heavier.

“I have lived in this house that was owned by Timor for a long time, being careful not to let my appearance bother Timor, and not letting the sound of my footsteps grate on Timor’s nerves.”

“… … .”

“I lived like that, and my intuition naturally improved. I learned how to survive by quietly avoiding predators like small animals. And according to my intuition that was refined like that… I don’t think I should dig up that seed any further.”

Elina then pointed to a place in the documents.

“Especially about the one written here called ‘the first returnee’.”

Elina was warning me, but at that moment, it didn’t go into my ears.

Because there was a story that was more concerning than that.

“What was it like in Timor that he was so observant… … .”

“You know, I was a human who saw everyone else as a tool or an enemy.”

Argelio was left speechless by the tone of voice that seemed to ask why he was asking so suddenly.

As she said, he already knew that Timor viewed Elina as nothing more than a political marriage tool.

Even though he knew it, he ran away from here, leaving her behind to live.

Elina tried to keep a bitter smile on her lips as she looked at the silent Argelio.

“So, I guess that’s all I can do to help. I don’t plan on getting involved any further. For my sake and for our family’s sake, I’ll just pretend not to know. Like I always have.”

“… … Okay. You don’t have to help me. You… do what you want to do now.”

How hard it must have been to be in a cage, holding back on what you wanted to eat and do.

I didn’t want to force anything anymore.

So, it is solely your responsibility to resolve the remaining issues.

Argelio flipped through the last page of the document, vowing not to burden his younger brother with anything.

‘Port city Glafren… … .’

There was no other information about the first returnee, but there was one clue that could lead Argelio to his whereabouts.

It was the word ‘Glafren’ engraved on the outside of the box received from the first returnee.

The fact that the words were engraved on the outside of the box meant that the item came from the port of Glafren.

‘Of course, I might come up empty-handed… … .’

Still, I was thinking of going.

Because Glafren was a city owned by the Duke of Freeburn.

Because if the first returnee continued to operate in Glafren, the sparks could later fly to Elina, the head of the Duke’s household.

Argelio did not want his brother, who had already suffered enough, to be troubled by such a problem again.

‘I have to solve this on my own. For Elina’s sake.’

After making that pledge, Argelio left for the port city of Glafren the next day.

And that was the last known whereabouts of him before he disappeared due to the dungeon he encountered in Glafren.