When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 70



Only Noblemtl

◈70. Recognize the relationship as equal partners.

Letting out a deep sigh, I reminded them once and for all of the things they had been ignoring about me.

“If you kill me and make me unable to do anything, the future will just repeat the same as the previous round where I stood by and did nothing.”

“At that time, I thought he was just lying and saying whatever came out of his mouth.”

“under…….”

“Brother, did you really regress?”

The incubus who had been sitting on the armrest of the sofa just a moment ago was now right next to me.

Then he said, “I’ll keep it to myself,” and leaned in to whisper to me.

He had an expression on his face like he was going to spread whatever he said everywhere.

I pulled my upper body to the side to put some distance between me and the guy.

“Well.”

“Just tell me. There’s no reason to kill you anymore, and we plan to actively cooperate with you now. It’s okay to tell me that much of a secret—”

“I’m not broad-minded enough to confess my true feelings to the guy who tried to assassinate me in my room yesterday.”

As soon as the topic of assassination came up, the incubus slowly moved away from me.

Fortunately, it seemed like he had a conscience.

The one who stepped in to replace the crumpled Incu guy was his younger brother, Seok-kyu.

“I apologize. It was definitely our fault for trying to hurt you unconditionally.”

“… … .”

“I’ll tell you everything I know about the Erased Ones, and I’ll help you clean up the dungeon… I hope that will make you feel better.”

As expected, my younger brother is more communicative―

… The moment I thought that, the succubus’ mouth opened again.

“But there is one thing we also wish for.”

“… … What do you want? You want to receive information in return from me, the person you were trying to kill just yesterday? Oh… How shameless.”

“I’m not asking for anything in return. I’m just asking. It’s up to you whether you agree or not.”

“Hmm… … . Okay, let me hear it.”

“It’s not that hard. After we tell you about the ones who were erased, you’ll recognize us as equal partners. Release us from this restraint, and above all—”

The succubus’s next words were quite understandable.

“Just call us Pink Hairs and remember our names.”

* * *

Elodie and Dionique, the dream siblings.

And me and Luciana.

A fairly large-scale dungeon raiding party was formed, including eight members of the Holy Knights.

Since time was of the essence, we all rode our workhorses and moved to the Duke’s territory.

As we went along, did everyone have any complaints? That wasn’t the case.

-“Do those low-ranking knights have to go with us? They keep resting, so their movement speed slows down.”

… Elodie would sometimes come and grumble at me.

Then Dionik, who was always by her side, would say nonsense like this.

-“How about just the three of us going? Elodie and I will combine like last time and turn into beasts. Then we can carry my brother in the princess’s arms. We’ll get there much faster then.”

I think he muttered something after that, but I don’t know.

Because I didn’t hear the rest of the words after they came out of his mouth, ‘Hold the princess’.

After going through many twists and turns and reaching about 70% of our destination, we had no choice but to prepare to camp.

Today, of all days, was a pitch-black night, with none of the three moons out.

I couldn’t move any further because the darkness was so thick that I couldn’t even see in front of my nose.

And the really important story began in the darkness, when everyone was fast asleep.

“The erased ones are a type of demonic race that lives in the missionary world.”

As I was falling asleep, Elodie, who had invaded my dreams as a nightmare, said this.

I asked, my eyes scanning the swarm of white dream butterflies floating around us.

“Demons? Like you?”

“Yeah, but they’re different from us. Unlike us who were originally demons, they were once human.”

“human being…….”

“They are humans who have been transformed into demons for some reason. The reason is unknown. Nothing is known about them, but we also happened to find out about them through our eyes that are looking into the future.”

At some point, Elodie’s eyes had transformed into the unique eyes she had seen from the incubus… eyes that scanned the path ahead.

As a few butterflies flitted past her, she opened her mouth again.

“A long time ago, I happened to see their future with these eyes. They claimed that they were the true humans and the true owners of this land, and they were invading the human land… the ‘finite world’.”

Within the world of the Mysterious World, the human world was called the ‘finite world.’

It meant a material world with clearly defined boundaries, unlike the ‘infinite world’ where gods, spirits, and so on live.

It meant that the Erased Ones were after the finite world, the land of humans.

“I don’t understand. Even if you were once human, you are currently a demon. Shouldn’t you continue living in the missionary world like other demons? Why did you invade the finite world?”

“You’re not a ‘real’ demon like me. You probably didn’t like the new land, the Evangelical Realm. I heard that long ago, when they were humans, they also lived in the Finite Realm.”

“hmm…….”

“So when I saw them invade the Finite World in the future, they called it the ‘Return War’. It was a war to return to the world they originally lived in.”

It seemed like I had some understanding.

The world of demons, the Demon Realm… This world, called the ‘Upside-down World’, was completely different from the Finite Realm.

As the name suggests, it was a world where good and evil, yin and yang, heaven and earth were all turned upside down.

I continued to speculate, still resting my chin on my hand.

“Since they were originally born in the finite world, is it because they were unable to adapt to the missionary world, unlike the real demon race?”

“That’s right. So, because of that return war they started, not only the Empire, but also other continents across that sea―”

As Elodie waved her hand in the air while speaking, a swarm of illusory butterflies swaying in the darkness suddenly burst into flames.

What was once a butterfly soon turned to ash, disintegrating into nothing but dust.

“Everything was destroyed by their hands.”

“… … .”

“It would have been better if it had ended with simply taking the land from humans, but that wasn’t the case. Their actions led to an even more terrible ending.”

“destruction…….”

“Yes. When too much power intervenes, the laws of the world become distorted. That is called ‘the collapse of causality.’ That is why their invasion distorted and destroyed not only human society, but the laws of the entire world. They completely collapsed causality.”

In the sky of my dream, which had been dark, a red color suddenly appeared.

Blue and yellow flowers bloomed one after another.

The colors that bloomed like that were mixed and distorted like paints released into water.

That was the ‘distortion’ that Elodie expressed using her dreams as a canvas.

The finite world, the infinite world, the transcendent world. All of these worlds have collapsed and become distorted, a chaos.

A world where causality has collapsed.

“What happens when causality breaks down… You don’t need me to tell you. If you really did return from 1000 years into the future, you would have seen what the world became.”

“Well, now that I’ve heard that, I think I know what I have to deal with.”

Demons who were once human.

A movement to regain what we once had as humans.

And the destruction it brought… … .

The outline of the enemy, which had been vaguely perceived, seemed to be gradually becoming clearer.

“Are you saying they’re after me… …?”

“Yes. So be careful. Don’t let it fall into their hands.”

As Elodie spoke, she looked up at the sky.

“I would like to give you more advice, but… I think it is time to wake up from this dream.”

“… … What?” The moment I was about to ask that, my eyes opened.

Someone shook me awake from my dream.

As I blinked my sleepy eyes, I saw the face of Luciana, the person who woke me up.

“Are you awake? I was trying to move you to a flat surface because you were sleeping uncomfortably.”

When I heard that and looked again, I saw that she was trying to support the back of my knees and lower back.

If I hadn’t woken up, I would have been moved to the princess hug position.

Unlike me, who was overcome with embarrassment, Luciana seemed indifferent.

He sat down in front of the campfire with his usual reserved expression.

“I searched the area thoroughly, but there were no particular dangers. Please rest assured and get some rest.”

“Thank you. You get some rest now. If anything comes up, I’ll take care of it.”

“thank you.”

I told her to get some rest, but of course Luciana didn’t get any rest.

As always, he was right next to me, on edge and wary of his surroundings.

It’s always the same. I felt that way once again and looked at Luciana.

Then, impulsively, my mouth moved.

“But, you know. If… If you get involved in some dangerous incident caused by me, and your life is in danger―”

“… … ?”

“If that happens, what are you going to do?”

He said that the ones that were erased were after me.

The reason he targeted Luciana was to use her as bait to catch me.

So, Luciana was almost targeted by those who were erased without any sin because of me.

“Do you want to test my chivalry and loyalty?”

“… … No. What do you mean, confirming? I just suddenly had that thought and that’s why I asked.”

Elodie, who had just woken up, tossed and turned slightly.

It seemed like she woke up with me because I was in my dream.

Luciana, unaware that Elodie had woken up, looked around and observed the people.

As if to gauge who is awake and who is listening to what they are saying.

Everyone except Elodie is either asleep or watching from afar.

Only then did Luciana finally respond to my question, as if she thought no one was listening to her.

“There will never be a situation where I am unfairly ‘involved’ in a dangerous incident caused by His Holiness. If there is any sign of something like that happening, I will jump in and resolve it myself.”

Yeah, you always have.

I didn’t know how to dodge or run away, so I just kept sharpening my blade like a sword.

And because of this aspect of Luciana, those who were erased might have thought of using her as an easy target.

“… … .”

As the bonfire I had lit died down and the pitch-black night enveloped me, a dark red anger quietly rose inside me.

I decided again.

Whether or not the erased ones were once human, I will definitely end them with my own hands.

* * *

As soon as the sun rose, we headed straight to the area where the dungeon was said to have occurred.

The Duke of Freeburn’s letter requesting assistance came from the duke’s residence, but there was no need to visit the mansion there.

She said that ever since she sent us the letter, she has been living near the dungeon, wandering around looking for Argelioman.

So we arrived at the port city of ‘Glafren’ around noon.

We landed our boarding steed at the location where the Duke’s search party’s barracks were set up.

Immediately the duke who was in the makeshift barracks came out to meet us, and she soon―

“… … .”

He shed quiet tears as if he was swallowing the sadness inside.

I heard he hadn’t eaten anything since Argelio disappeared.

She was so dry that I was worried she might become dehydrated from all those tears.

I sent people away for a moment so she could talk more comfortably.

Only then did a single word escape her moist lips.

“Please help me. I will give you whatever you want in return… … .”

After saying that, she turned her head.

I too followed her gaze and looked towards the horizon of the harbor.

A straight horizon that should have originally been a wide, blue sea.

There was something strange sticking out there.