When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 76



Only Noblemtl

◈76. The circumstances of Cheonggwang

I thought that since it was within my skill area, the blue light would soon be purified.

however-

[The evil and ancient power of the Old Curse refuses to be purified! Contact with the subject of purification is required to continue the purification!]

A message like this appeared.

It seemed that just having the guy enter my territory wasn’t enough to purify me.

From this, we could tell that the power controlling the blue light was a very powerful curse, at least L-class or higher.

‘doesn’t care.’

If you can’t purify it by entering the area, you can just contact it directly as instructed in the message.

I willingly moved closer to the light.

【Kill… kill… …!】

Suddenly, Cheonggwang swung a sword made of water towards me.

I blocked the attack by holding out the sword of conscience that I had been holding.

Chaeng! The attack that collided like before.

But the sword of the blue light felt much lighter than before.

It must have been because all my abilities, including my physical strength, had increased due to the power of deification.

Chaeng! Kkakang―! Kkigikkik―

Their swords clashed a few more times.

The blades clashed, making noise, throwing sparks, and occasionally spraying water droplets.

At one point, as we were flowing like that, our swords clashed several times.

‘Now is the time!’

I saw an opening and quickly reached out.

【… … !】

My palm touched Cheonggwang’s cold forehead.

I felt the divine power that had filled my body flow through my palm and toward him.

And finally, the long-awaited event happened.

[The power of the old and evil curse is purified before the power of Lucid Miller!]

The evil power that had been in Cheonggwang’s body dispersed into the air and disappeared.

Saaaaa—with that sound of something vaporizing.

The blue eyes that had been completely dyed red also returned to their original state.

His eyes, which had returned to normal, were blue.

【Thank you…….】

After saying those last words, Cheong-Gwang closed his eyes.

The blue eyes that resembled a lake slowly closed under her eyelids and disappeared.

* * *

In a small village there was a temple dedicated to a water dragon.

Whenever a severe drought continued, the villagers there would go to the temple and pray earnestly.

Oh, Water Dragon, our God who watches over the village, save us from this severe drought… … .

The dragon loved humans.

So after hearing their fervent prayers, he used his divine powers to send down a small shower.

Not enough rain to revive all the withered grains.

But people rejoiced and treasured even that short rain as if it were gold.

Then one day, it appeared in the village.

It moved too fast to be a tree, and too bizarrely shaped to be an animal.

On its branches grew large, egg-like things, from which came forth demons that harmed people day and night.

The villagers did not dare to approach it, so they prayed to their guardian deity.

Oh, Water Dragon, our God who watches over the village, save us from the wicked demons… … .

Cheong Gwang, who had heard the prayer, wanted to grant that wish this time too.

So he tried to cut down the tree that gave birth to devils.

But no matter how much I broke it, it didn’t disappear.

Even if you break it at night―

Even if you break it during the day―

The next day, it was up again, sprouting branches.

Cheong Gwang was worried.

What to do with this strange tree that makes those already suffering from drought even more miserable?

And I made a decision.

If breaking it won’t work, let’s just swallow it whole. Let’s seal it in our stomachs and fall into a deep sleep. Then, it won’t be able to spread its branches any further.

So he swallowed it and fell into a long sleep.

To be exact, I was trying to get into it.

But the tree inside the ship did not stop and continued to spread its roots and branches.

And little by little it dug into his body, into his soul.

By the time we realized the danger, it was too late.

He lost his mind after being eaten by a tree.

I heard nothing, I saw nothing.

The longing calls of the villagers that were so dear could no longer be heard.

* * *

“Oh, you’re finally awake.”

Cheong-Gwang, who had fainted and then woke up, looked around after hearing my words.

The guy looked at me once, the sleepers once, and the knights once, then looked at his own neck.

Around his neck was a necklace of interpretation items that we had put on beforehand.

At first glance, it seemed like he was from the Eastern Continent and spoke the Eastern Continent language, so he had set it up in advance to avoid any communication difficulties.

Cheong-Gwang also seemed to understand the meaning of the item and stared at me without asking any questions.

“you are…….”

“I am Nickelus. I am the Pope who leads the Lucidmiller Order. The bulls standing behind me are succubi and incubi, and the knights are the holy knights of our order.”

“I was very rude earlier. I apologize.”

“No, it’s okay. Rubin said it was okay too.”

The one who was hurt the most by Cheong-Gwang was Rubin, but Rubin also decided to forgive Cheong-Gwang after hearing Cheong-Gwang’s circumstances.

In my case, I only felt dizzy for a moment due to the effects of the Deification skill and wasn’t seriously injured.

If I had used the skill multiple times like when I first used the Deification skill, I might have fainted too… But this time, that wasn’t the case, and since my base stamina was good, I was fine.

So I asked Cheong-Gwang in a fairly cheerful voice.

“But do you remember everything from the beginning to the end? From when they attacked us to when we were purified?”

Perhaps because I had only just woken up, or perhaps I was simply procrastinating, my reply was delayed.

So I was waiting, and all of a sudden the guy nodded towards me.

“Yes, I remember everything. Thank you for saving me, my benefactor… … .”

What a benefactor.

It’s a bit embarrassing to call him that, but anyway, seeing him say it like that, it seemed like he remembered the whole situation.

I felt relieved that the conversation was becoming more comfortable, so I continued asking him.

“How did it happen like that?”

“… … .”

“If it’s difficult to say, you don’t have to.”

It wouldn’t be normal for someone to be mind controlled by something evil.

I didn’t want to bring up the trauma, so I was going to just let it go, but Cheong-gwang was the first to speak.

“No, I was just trying to figure out where to start. What could I possibly not tell you?”

“I feel embarrassed, what is my benefactor… … .”

“You are my benefactor. No matter what I did, I could not drive away the evil power, but how could you become so cool with just one gesture… … . Ahem, anyway, I will tell you everything I know.”

Although I felt like the praise was excessive, I didn’t point it out and just listened to Cheonggwang’s story.

When I heard about it, it seemed like a tree had appeared in the village where he lived.

It is also a tree that gives birth to devils.

Perhaps it wasn’t the Elcapist that was forming this dungeon now, but rather a smaller magic source tree.

For example, the small magic source trees that I destroyed 10 of near the Nerebloka Temple.

Those little trees were pretty easy to remove, as far as I remember, but for some reason it wasn’t the case when Cheonggwang tried to remove them.

He said that it was a headache because no matter how much he pulled it out, it kept growing.

so…….

“You swallowed it?”

Cheong-gwang nodded his head at my question filled with absurdity.

“Yes, I was thinking of swallowing it and sealing it. That was foolish. How reckless it was… … .”

I couldn’t bring myself to say no.

Because it was actually a reckless thing to do.

‘How could you possibly think of swallowing that strange looking thing… … .’

I couldn’t understand.

While they were surprised, Cheong-Gwang continued telling the story of the past in a sad voice.

“After that, I lost my senses. My soul became turbid, and I couldn’t even move my body as I wanted. In that state… I became someone’s puppet.”

“marionette?”

“Yes, after I swallowed the tree, I started hearing a strange voice in my head. That voice kept giving me orders. Kill someone… Destroy something… .”

Cheonggwang distorted his eyes.

Even though he was in so much pain, he didn’t stop spitting out his bitter past.

“I couldn’t refuse. My soul and body were no longer mine… … Then, a few days ago, the voice in my head gave me this order. ‘Go to the Western Continent. Then, enter the dungeon rising from the sea, make a nest, and wait for a guest. That guest’s name is—’”

Cheong-Gwang, who had been talking up to that point, suddenly raised his hand.

Then he pointed at me with his fingertips.

“’Nickelus Van Freeburn. The blond man in the white suit is the guest you must attack with all your might.’ … he said.”

“… … !”

The story was that the voice he heard in Cheong-Gwang’s head made him come here.

He even ordered me to be targeted and attacked… … .

‘Why me… Are there erased people behind this… …?’

I had a feeling that was coming.

It made sense, since they wanted to make me their puppet just like they did with Cheong Gwang.

Did he wait for me to be incapacitated by the blue light before doing something to my body?

Then they might be watching us from around here.

“Do you know anything more about that voice in your head that’s supposedly giving you orders?”

“Um… … . Ah!”

Cheong-Gwang, who had been thinking for a moment, let out an exclamation as if something had occurred to him.

“I remember that voice talking to itself in my head before. They were not individuals, but a group. They were talking about how great their goals were. They wanted to erase me—”

“The erased ones?”

“Yes! That’s right. That was the name. But how did you know… … ?”

As expected, it was as expected.

If that was true, then the story was that the erased ones might really be nearby.

I looked around absentmindedly and then answered Cheong-Gwang’s question.

“They’re causing trouble here on the Western Continent too. They keep nagging at me to see if they have something to do, and it’s so annoying I could die.”

“Oh my… … .” Cheong-gwang muttered as if he felt sorry.

“Benefactor, please help me with anything.”

“Huh? Helping… … .”

When I asked him a question, Cheong Gwang bowed his head politely.

“If it weren’t for you, I would have continued to be played into their hands. Since you saved me from that situation, it’s only natural that I should repay you with something.”

“No, there’s no need to do that—”

“Please don’t refuse. If you refuse my reward, I will have to live my whole life with a guilty conscience.”

My heart feels heavy just from receiving help.

I’ll be sorry for the rest of my life…

Since you said that, I felt it was a bit awkward to just send it away.

“Then… there’s a place called Lucid Miller Cathedral. Go there and protect the people. I was supposed to be there, but I was feeling uneasy after leaving.”

“Any other requests… … .”

“That’ll do. Go downstairs and ask Luciana for the location. She’ll tell you the details if you tell her the situation.”

“Okay. And finally, this-”

Cheong-Gwang paused for a moment and took something out from the space inside his sleeve… probably his inventory.

“Please accept it.”

I carefully accepted the item the guy handed me.

A cold sensation. It was a familiar yet unfamiliar sensation to me.

“This is… too?”

I asked that while examining the item I received from Cheonggwang… that ‘Tao’.

I’ve come here and used the black sword many times, so I’m used to it, but this was my first time using an oriental sword.

Of course, there is nothing that cannot be used if you want to use this.

I looked at the thin, graceful blade with a sense of wonder.

[A Hundred Flowers and a Bright Moon (L)]

―A famous sword that is said to blow once and cause a spring breeze to blow and numerous flowers to bloom at the same time, and to disperse the clouds and reveal the moon when it is blown twice.

―It was forged over a thousand years by the immortal, “Sanyoung,” who was renowned as the greatest craftsman of his time.

*special effects

-You can wrap wind around the blade and then fire it.

(Continuous firing is possible. The number of consecutive firings is determined by the user’s skill level.)

-You can levitate by using the power of the wind contained in the sword.

(However, sufficient practice is required.)

―The shape changes to suit the user’s convenience.

*significant

-It seems like someone’s soul is sleeping in the blade.