When the Pope Becomes Competent - Chapter 89



Only Noblemtl

◈89. Petros!

Ernen continued speaking after saying something meaningful.

“At the orphanage before, when Luciana was about to come out, you came out first and blocked her… … ? Usually, you just let the knights sort out the situation on their own.”

“… … .”

“It’s not often that someone like you steps forward to protect a knight.”

Ernen’s gaze became a little sharper, as if he was observing me.

“You seem to care a lot about her, is there a reason why—”

“Haha, Your Majesty, the performance seems wonderful, just as you said. Shall we continue watching?”

Is there any particular reason why you care?

Doesn’t this question have a rather strange nuance?

I was momentarily flustered and quickly cut off the words, but my heart was still beating fast.

‘Who cares… … .’

I never cared.

Luciana probably never cared about me either.

We’re just a pope and a knight. That’s about it.

I repeated that to myself as if I was brainwashing myself, but my heart rate was still fast.

Should I say it’s thanks to that?

My anxiety, which had been caused by Luciana’s dangerous stunts, had calmed down a lot.

‘Okay, let’s stop worrying like Ernen said. Luciana will take care of it without me worrying.’

In fact, she has been performing her tricks wonderfully without making a single mistake so far.

The sharp sword that was thrown draws a graceful line in the air.

A surprisingly restrained movement.

And the beauty felt from that movement.

The knights who followed her and swung their swords in a group were without a single spectacle.

‘I was worrying too much for nothing. You’re doing fine even if I leave you alone. But-‘

Suddenly I saw something strange, so I pulled my upper body forward while leaning against the chair.

‘What is that?’

There was a bright light flashing from the audience area.

It wasn’t the light of a skill or an item.

‘mirror……?’

Perhaps it was a mirror reflecting sunlight.

It was when I wondered, “Why are you holding the mirror like that?”

The light reflected from the mirror moved slowly towards Luciana’s eyes.

‘… … !’

A ray of light shot into her eyes, and Luciana squinted as expected.

It was at that moment that she threw her sword into the air.

‘It’s dangerous!’

Normally, she would have stretched out her arm and grabbed the sword like she did earlier, but Luciana was currently squinting.

That’s why I couldn’t hold the sword.

And the sword that she couldn’t catch fell towards her shoulder.

It all happened in an instant.

Without even a chance for me to step forward.

Fortunately, however, her arm did not become bloodied.

‘Skill… … ?’

As soon as she realized that she had dropped her sword, Luciana activated her skill.

The skill used is Persistent Thorns.

A thorny vine quickly grew from the ground and caught the sword she had let go of.

“Wow―!”

“It’s a skill!!”

“Awesome!”

In fact, I used the skill because I missed the sword, but fortunately, most people didn’t seem to notice.

It also seemed like the use of skills was part of a planned production.

That’s why I remained silent even though the applause was loud.

‘Someone must have just deliberately disturbed Luciana.’

It was fortunate that she used the skill quickly, otherwise her arm would have been severely cut.

I turned my head toward the audience and looked in the direction where the light had been reflected earlier.

Because there were too many people, they couldn’t find the culprit.

But it would be absurd to just let it go like this.

“Rubin, come out for a moment. Go down quietly so people can’t see you.”

As I whispered quietly into the bracelet, Rubin also quietly revealed himself at my request.

“Nike? What’s going on?”

I whispered a request urgently to Rubin, who had quietly appeared under the stage.

“Look in the stands over there. Can you spot someone holding a mirror?”

Unlike humans, polydroids saw things through cameras.

This means that it is possible to see objects that are so far away and so small that they cannot be observed with the human eye.

As expected, Rubin soon nodded.

“Yeah, it looks good. There’s only one person holding a mirror.”

“Please print out that person’s face.”

Suddenly, the words [Printing] appeared above Rubin’s head.

As soon as the printing was finished, the print fell into the air, fluttering in the air, and Rubin snatched it up and handed it to me.

On it, the criminal’s face was printed in clear picture quality.

“… … This kid is the same kid from before.”

His face was hidden by a wide-brimmed hat, but I could still recognize him.

It was definitely the red-haired guy whose eyes met mine a moment ago.

It was clear from the red hair peeking out from under the hat and the unlucky split-open mouth.

“What’s wrong? Why are you suddenly making such a serious expression… … .”

Ernen asked me that as he saw me frowning while holding the printout.

After much thought, I told the truth.

“Someone in the audience reflected the light on Luciana’s face, causing her to lose her sword.”

“What?! It’s a real sword used in ceremonies… Then wouldn’t this have led to a major accident!”

“Yes, I almost got bloody during the event. So I asked my spirit to find out-”

I continued speaking and handed the printout to Ernen.

“This guy seems to be the culprit.”

“Oh, you can’t see his whole face because of the hat. But if you know how to dress, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Ernen, who had received the printout, said so and called the imperial guard standing behind him.

“Listen. Go down to the stands right now and find the person dressed like this picture.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

The imperial guard moved forward, holding the printed matter in his hands.

In addition, I also gave one more printed matter that I received from Rubin to the Holy Knights.

So the two knights moved to capture the red-haired man.

‘I don’t know who that bastard is, but if he gets caught, I’m going to beat him up so he’s dead.’

In fact, there were so many people that it seemed like it would be difficult to catch them… but even so, if they were caught, I was going to make sure they paid a heavy price.

I gritted my teeth, looking forward to that moment.

* * *

As expected, the knights couldn’t return right away as the stands were crowded.

When they returned and reported, the sky was starting to darken.

“We found the man in the picture, but he escaped just before being arrested.”

“getaway……?”

When I asked that question about the report submitted by the Commander of the Imperial Knights, this time the Vice Commander of the Holy Knights opened his mouth.

“It was an Awakened One. A fairly high-ranking one at that… I think it was at least an A-ranked Awakened One.”

The captain of the imperial guard continued his explanation.

“I found it and cornered it into a dead end, and then it suddenly used a skill. It was a binding skill based on divine power.”

“Hmm, so it was a skill based on divine power?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. It must have been an L-rank skill, because none of the knights could break the bonds.”

He said he was a person with a high rank of Class A or higher.

It was even said that he used skills based on divine power.

If there was anyone there who might harbor even the slightest ill feelings toward Luciana… … .

‘Could it be that kid…?’

There was only one person that came to mind.

The saint who may hate me, Petros Van Lucidmiller.

That kid was messing with Luciana.

Luciana has been close to Nickelus since childhood, and is still my closest knight.

As a saint whose position had become unstable due to my fault, I could see him as an opponent worthy of ill feelings.

‘This son of a bitch… … If he’s going to take his anger out on me, he’ll do it on me.’

It didn’t matter if he had ill feelings toward me.

As a guy, it was understandable why he did that.

But no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t forgive him for messing with the people around me.

Ernen, who was listening to the report from the side, spoke in a subdued voice.

“It looks like we’ve figured out who the culprit is.”

“Yes, because there is only one suspect.”

“He will show up soon, so we can catch him and question him then. But it would be better to prepare for now.”

Ernen said and pointed to the area in front of us.

To be exact, the people who are in front of us.

We were now back at the banquet hall, wrapping up the long event and preparing for the closing ceremony.

That meant that he had to show off his skills in front of this large crowd of people soon, following the closing ceremony procedures.

‘… … You’ve come a long way? For nothing.’

It was still awkward to present something in front of a large number of people.

However, the place was full as rumors spread that the Pope was attending the founding ceremony for the first time in a long while.

If it had been outdoors, it would probably have been crowded with people all the way to the horizon.

‘It’s my turn soon.’

The boys’ choir’s performance, which was the last of the event, just ended.

I stood on the stage as I had practiced.

After that, he recited the lines he had memorized in advance.

“Everyone, please stand up.”

At my words, people stood up from their seats and put their hands together as if in prayer.

I am ready to appreciate my skills… the skills that God has given me.

Now all I had to do was surprise them with my skills―

“for a moment.”

Someone came into the banquet hall.

What’s going on? The people gathered looked bewildered.

Originally, no one was allowed to enter during the closing ceremony.

But the one who came inside was not just anyone.

“Petros… … .”

The guy’s name flowed out of my lips without me knowing.

One of only two people who can use the surname ‘Lucid Miller’.

The child who hates me.

You son of a bitch who hates me so much that you even pranked Luciana.

That son of a bitch was just opening the banquet hall door and coming in.

People, of course, began to murmur in confusion.

“By any chance… Your Majesty?”

“I thought you had left your ascetic life… … .”

“It seems the rumors of your return were true.”

He crossed the banquet hall with so many people chattering away.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The sound of his footsteps stopped exactly in front of me.

As I stared into his green eyes, he slowly opened his mouth.

“Let me make a suggestion.”

“proposal……?”

I asked back, and at the same time, Luciana, who was next to me, came over.

“Saint. What the hell is this? You suddenly barged into the middle of the closing ceremony.”

“I apologize for being a little late. The injuries I sustained in the dungeon were too severe to be treated with potions, which is why I was late.”

As the bastard finished speaking, the murmuring among the people grew a little louder.

There were many voices, but to summarize it all, people were praising him.

Expressing awe at how he cleared the dungeon despite being badly injured.

Of course, I was also injured while clearing the dungeon, but now my body was almost completely healed.

Attention could not help but be drawn to Petros, who was covered in wounds here and there.

‘What kind of nonsense are you trying to pull by coming here on your own two feet…?’

Anyway, I was planning to go and ask for his forgiveness as soon as the event was over.

When I squinted my eyes at him, he smiled back.

Then he continued speaking in a calm voice.

“I got hurt a lot in the dungeon, but it wasn’t in vain. Because of that, the surrounding area became stable, and—”

As he continued talking, the guy opened his inventory.

Then he took out an item from inside, about the size of two palms put together.

“I was able to find this.”

What he took out was a garden-shaped mirror with a silver frame.