When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 69



Only Noblemtl

◈69. Who went missing?

‘Am I dreaming right now?’ I thought seriously.

The story I heard from Luciana was that unrealistic.

“Well, let’s wrap things up again. Argelio’s missing? That too—”

“I was kidnapped by a monster that came out of the dungeon.”

Luciana announced this with perfect clarity.

Argelio has been kidnapped by a monster.

I really didn’t mishear.

‘Why…? He’s not the type of guy to approach a dungeon for no reason.’

Was there any reason to go there?

I had a feeling there might be something going on.

I don’t know what it is though.

“Are you sure about this?”

“It is certain. The Duke of Freeburn’s daughter… No, now that she is the head of the household, it would be more correct to call her ‘The Duke of Freeburn’. In any case, there is no room for doubt, since it was written in a letter that the Duke of Freeburn personally sent through his servant horse.”

“The Duke of Freeburn… … .”

If the letter was sent directly by her, Argelio’s sister, there was really no room for doubt.

Afterwards, Luciana continued to emphasize the urgency of the situation.

Describing how urgent the letter’s handwriting was, how the Duke had sent it via a fast messenger, etc.

I nodded after listening to everything Luciana said.

“Then we can’t afford to hesitate any longer. Let’s go rescue them right now.”

A dungeon created in the port city of Glafren.

That became the first dungeon I was going to conquer.

Originally, I was planning to go to the severely damaged areas first―

‘Since we don’t know what will happen to the kidnapped Argelio right away, it would be right to go to Glafren first.’

Since the dungeon had only just been created, there was no area that needed my help right away.

It would have been right to go first and rescue Argelio, whose life was in danger after being kidnapped right away.

After making that decision, he then spoke to Luciana.

“Now that I think about it, I also need to decide who to bring with me. Since I don’t know the dungeon level yet, I hope that A-rank or higher Awakened players will come with us.”

“First of all, of course I will follow. I have to protect His Majesty. Three B-class knights and five D-class knights from the Holy Knights… I think that number of people will be able to go together.”

“hmm…….”

I couldn’t answer that question easily.

As someone who has often cleared dungeons in games, I thought that this number of people might be a bit insufficient.

What if the level of the Glafren dungeon is L-rank?

A-class and S-class Awakeners were needed more than B-class and lower Awakeners.

‘It’s difficult. Delsey is young, so of course I can’t take her, and I can’t take Bliss with me either… … .’

If we take them all the way to Bliss, there won’t be a single S-class Awakened player left in the cathedral who can fight.

Then, what if a dungeon appears near the cathedral?

At that time, the absurd situation could have occurred where the main base was raided while I was out on a business trip.

What should I do?

It was while I was still pondering that a strangely disturbing sound entered my ears.

“Ahem.”

At first I thought Luciana was clearing her throat by coughing.

But it seems that wasn’t the case.

Luciana was in front of me, despite the coughing I heard from behind.

“Your Majesty? Those people behind you… … .”

She also seemed to have spotted someone, and pointed out the window behind me.

I looked back immediately.

Then, the pink-haired girls outside the window smiled and waved their hands.

“Brother. It seems like you’re short-handed. Should we help you out?”

These Mongma siblings had already recovered their health by the time I returned from my dream and was busy running around.

Thanks to that, he came to his senses again, and since he couldn’t escape from me due to the effect of the restraint item around his neck, I just let him wander around.

Thanks to that, these days, things like this have been popping up everywhere out of the blue, and honestly, it’s been a bit annoying.

“No. I don’t need it. Go. And stop using windows as doors.”

They ignored what I said and came inside through the window.

And then he whispered in my ear.

“Brother, why are you so cold? You know we’re useful because you’ve seen it all. I told you I can help you.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust your strength―”

I took a deep breath.

After that, I told them a slightly bitter truth.

“I don’t trust you guys.”

“Ahh… such hurtful words… … .”

“If you want to be of any use, we need to first release the item that is sealing your abilities.”

What I was referring to as I spoke was the restraint item around their necks.

The item in question was enchanted with both a magic that limited its range of action and a magic that limited its strength.

That’s why I can let them go free like this.

Anyway, in order for the dream machines to properly exert their power, the restraints that are limiting their power must be released… … .

“If I let it go, it’ll just run away. I have a lot to hear from you guys, so I can’t let it go yet.”

What exactly are the identities of those who were erased?

Why do they want to destroy the world―

And as I guess the first returnee is one of them, etc.

There were more than one or two things I was curious about.

And the only ones who could answer even a small part of those many questions were the dreamers right before their eyes.

The reason why I haven’t asked yet is simple.

‘I’ll bite you right away once the wound heals. Once the wound heals… … .’

Because they’re still injured. So I couldn’t ask yet.

If someone refuses to answer a question, then you must interrogate them, and interrogating them in a way that causes pain to those who are injured is something that should not be done.

“… … .”

Maybe it’s all excuses.

Maybe I just want to postpone and avoid situations where I have to resort to the worst means of torture.

Anyway, I can never release those restraints until I hear about the erased ones―

“Don’t you want to hear about the erased ones? I can tell you.”

“… … !?”

As my thoughts continued, I suddenly came to my senses at the sound of the succubus’ voice.

The succubus smiled faintly as if she had known this would happen, looking at me in surprise.

“You must have wanted to hear it, but you had no way to hear it, so it must have been difficult. You are not the kind of person who can squeeze the truth out of someone by torturing them.”

“… … .”

“You don’t have to do that. I’ll just tell you. Instead of using torture devices, just bring me a cup of tea and listen to me comfortably.”

“Wait a minute, before that―”

I paused for a moment as the succubus spoke, then spoke to Luciana, who was still there.

“Luciana. Please step aside. This conversation is a bit personal.”

“What are the erased ones?”

“Please, hurry.”

It was obvious that he wanted to ask more questions, but he eventually gave up.

Right after Luciana left.

I glared at the succubus with the most ferocious gaze I could muster.

“… … I told you not to talk about the erased ones in front of Luciana.”

“Why didn’t you just not tell them that you were being targeted?”

“No. Don’t even mention it. I won’t warn you twice, so take note.”

I’m really angry.

The erased ones are after Luciana.

And to solve this, the original Nickelus went to the count’s house and ended up being falsely accused.

If Luciana found out about these two facts, she would most likely be deeply hurt.

Because she was the type of person who would sacrifice herself for others, but couldn’t stand others sacrificing themselves for her.

Moreover, if we find out that those erased ones are after Luciana in order to do something ‘harmful to the world’… … .

‘… … I might take my own life.’

It was entirely possible.

Consider how straight and unbending she is.

That is why you cannot even mention the ‘earth’ of those who have been erased in front of her.

Fortunately, the succubus apologized readily.

“Okay, I’ll be careful. Anyway, we can tell you about the erased ones.”

“……why.”

“Because we changed our minds.”

What I just said was on the incubus side.

The guy continued, sitting diagonally on the arm of the sofa.

“Elodie and I had a lot of time to talk while we were recuperating in prison. About you, about everything you said… .”

“And after discussing it, we decided to trust you, so we decided not to spare our cooperation.”

Even after hearing the succubus’s last words, it was still difficult to accept.

These are the people who urged me to kill Bliss until I was in the seon-gwan’s dream.

But then suddenly he said he would cooperate with me and do things my way, so I started to get suspicious.

“… … .”

I didn’t answer, I just stared at them quietly.

Just quietly. As if it could pierce through your soul.

At first, the sleepwalkers seemed to be enduring the gaze without paying attention, but they gradually began to show signs of discomfort.

And then at some point―

“Ah, you still don’t believe me… …? Maybe it would be better to just be honest.”

The incubus scratched his cheek as he spoke.

Then the bastard confessed.

The ‘real’ reason why they agreed to cooperate with me.

“To be honest… Until yesterday, I was just thinking about killing my brother. I was planning to open the window and go in and assassinate him.”

“what……?!”

“No personal feelings. As you know, we want to prevent the world from ending, and to do that, we felt we had no choice but to eliminate you.”

“… … .”

“Anyway, I made up my mind to kill him and left the room, but at that moment, like this-”

The incubus paused for a moment and covered his eyes with one hand.

Then he took his hand away again and continued his interrupted speech.

“The ‘eyes that see the future’ have opened.”

“… … !”

The guy’s eyes were briefly covered by his hand and then revealed.

Instead of the original lavender colored eyeballs, there was something sinister in their place.

“Wow, that’s surprising. What is that?”

As soon as I woke up from the shock, I asked that.

The scales growing out of the corner of his eyes, the whites and blacks of his eyes being inverted… … .

Looking at the pupils that were flashing as if there was an LED stuck in there, it was honestly harder not to ask what it was.

The incubus guy who was asked the question smiled awkwardly and answered.

“I said it was an eye that looked ahead.”

“… … Are you serious? That’s what it was… … ?”

The L-class item that I heard about when I was playing the game ‘The Eyes that See the Future.’

It was a precognition item that allowed dreamers to foresee the future.

Nothing is known, but since it just says ‘eye’, I thought it would be some kind of eyeball-shaped item, but it turned out to be an actual eyeball.

And what a tough visual… … .

‘It looks like a dragon’s eye?’

In some ways it’s cool, and in other ways it’s disgusting.

It could be seen that it was on a very subtle line.

Meanwhile, the incubus explained about the eyes that were watching the path ahead.

“These eyes aren’t something we can use whenever we want. They just work randomly, show us the future, and then stop working again. It happened to work yesterday, so I saw the future after I killed my brother—”

“Nothing has changed?”

“Yeah. As we expected, the world should have avoided destruction after my brother died. But it ended up being destroyed just the same. In conclusion, it means there was no need to kill him.”

After listening to the incubus’s words, I touched my forehead.

“… … Tsk, that’s why I told you. The world had already been destroyed once before I returned. And the reason for that destruction was my ‘neglect.’”