episode_0047

May there be wounds and be filled.

The bishop immediately fell to his knees and folded his hands in front of me with tears in his eyes.

“Oh, Lord… ”

It looked like he was praying to God, so I was just taken aback.

“Hey, wake up.”

So, after quickly getting him up, I was about to go back to the guest room, but he told me to get up. Tyler also let out a half-sobbing voice and began to lower his head as if wailing.

“There is no one else who has this kind of power… ! But how dare I doubt? Please forgive me for my sins… ”

“For me, it’s okay. Wake up quickly.”

I managed to persuade the bishop to get up, and the bishop, who was wearing a white and light green cloth as if he didn’t know what to do, looked around, picked up a rosary on the spot, placed it in my hand, and handed it to me.

“This is a rosary made from precious rose wood and offered earnestly to God. Please accept it as it contains strength.”

I took it in a daze, stared blankly at the rosary, and let out a groan.

Rather, since it was full of power, I cautiously opened my mouth, wondering if it was only the saint who used power.

“Excuse me, can I ask you something?”

“Yes, I will answer anything.”

Despite his age, the bishop treated me in a condescending manner, as if I was his superior and he was his subordinate, which was not very pleasant.

I don’t know if I came from a country steeped in Confucianism, but I knew that I was just a superior, so the fact that I could occupy a superior position just because I suddenly became a saint was not something that really struck me.

Still, since I didn’t open my mouth like this to talk about such things, I decided to put aside the discomfort and burden and ask what I could hear.

“… What do you think gives rise to strength through prayer?”

First of all, vaguely, I can’t get any strength through prayer. Rather than saying that, I continued speaking in the form of a question.

This was to avoid suspicion that I had no faith when I said that I was not getting any effect from my prayers or that my prayers had no power.

Anyway, when I asked him that question, he seemed to hesitate for some reason and then opened his mouth.

“I, Bishop Rocentio, believe that giving strength through prayer is due to faith. Please correct me if I think something is wrong.”

“… no. There is nothing different at all.”

It’s burdensome to overdo it, but I thought that I couldn’t help it if I answered like that because I felt like I was testing myself, so I just played around with it.

With Bishop Rocentio at ease, I was able to think clearly for now.

First of all, I was able to understand why general prayer had not had any effect on me.

After realizing that my prayers were due to lack of faith, all I could do was sigh.

What on earth is a prayer full of faith? If it can only happen if you look up to God from the bottom of your heart and believe in God, isn’t it impossible for me?

Or, since I know for sure that God exists, will I, who used to be an atheist, also come to believe in God enough to pray?

Not knowing for sure, I let out a groan and lowered my head.

I felt fortunate that I, who had been incompetent, felt like I had made some progress.

As I was trying to think of the next question, I could see Kailon waiting outside at any moment.

What was he looking for? When the thought occurred to me, the next question was immediately in my mouth.

“Where is the Pope?”

Hearing that question, the bishop paused, groaned, and then shook his head.

“I don’t know either. Other bishops also followed suit, but their whereabouts are unknown after that, so I… However, if the Pope does not return like this, we plan to move forward with the saint becoming the next Pope.”

uh?

What do you mean, the next Pope?

I narrowed my eyebrows several times to wake my dazed mind, but the words sounded unfamiliar to me, so I could only stare at the bishop who continued speaking.

“Originally, a saint is like a comet that does not know when or where it will appear. That’s what it means to be loved by God. He is a leader who will lead us to God.”

“Now, wait a minute… Then what about the current Pope?”

“Yes, that’s right. But one day, after receiving a call from God, he went on a pilgrimage and never returned… News of his whereabouts suddenly stopped and became unknown.”

Then, either the Pope was secretly in contact with someone, or he disappeared due to some kind of incident during the pilgrimage.

Whether it was kidnapping or death, the fact remains completely unknown.

“Uh, how long has it been?”

“About half a year… ”

Since the saint was originally favored by God, she seemed to either become pope right away or wait for the right moment to become the next pope if that position already existed.

So now that the Pope is absent and news has been cut off, it seems like they are considering making me the next Pope.

Of course, if he becomes the next Pope, he will be able to gain power.

But I didn’t want to do that.

I had a goal to see the ending and return home, and that was accomplished by helping Kylon.

First of all, it has been six months since the Pope disappeared. Here, it was clear that Kylon would not be able to get anything he wanted.

If I couldn’t use the power of the Pope to express my injustice, I could become the Pope and use methods to criticize the king, but it was clear that the moment the victim became the judge, I would not be able to make an objective judgment, and the moment I did that, I would be left behind. I thought there might be a lot of negative attention.

So I’m going to end up holding onto Kylon’s ankles.

No matter what you do, you must be aware of the gaze of those around you.

Kylon was a hero, and he had to let the world know that what he was doing was not injustice, but justice, and at the same time, he had to win the hearts of the heroines with that.

“I see. I will go then.”

Anyway, after realizing that there was no more information to be gained here, I tried my best to turn around.

But what stopped it was the bishop’s voice.

“Now, wait a minute. I also want to ask you something… !”

“What is it?”

“Why didn’t the saint inform us of her existence first? Is this the goddess’s wish that we can no longer be trusted after losing the Pope?”

The voice was so earnest that my heart ached for no reason because I could feel the fear that they had now been abandoned.

The sight of a man who devoted his entire life to a goddess, not a woman, could be said to be very beautiful, no matter what his appearance was.

Isn’t that the appearance of someone who serves God? After thinking about it, I opened my mouth carefully so as not to hurt his feelings.

“No. I have never heard of such a wind.”

I’ve never even heard the goddess’s voice in the first place.

But even so, if they thought my voice and my words sounded like the words of an agent of the goddess, they could at least pretend.

“He just gave me an ordeal. So, please find it together. Where is the Pope?”

“Yes, yes… ! I will! And please accept this too.”

What he held out was paper.

He must have been a high-ranking person who only had neat books and papers, but this one looked crumpled.

I wanted to know something, so I carefully unfolded the paper.

And I quickly realized that it was a map.

“This is a map showing the pilgrimage route. The last red mark drawn is where contact is lost. We will try our best, but we hope that this will dispel the saint’s curiosity.”

“… Thank you.”

After saying that, I left him behind and went forward while listening to the sound of shoes clicking.

When I opened the door and came out, Kailon, who had been fidgeting, saw me and jumped up.

But he didn’t talk to me right away because he knew where this was.

I knew that his expression had a lot to say, so I just smiled.

“… Let’s go.”

*

After leaving the mansion where the bishops were staying, I noticed that there were not many people around and glanced at Kailon, who was starting to ask various things next to me.

“What did you do there? Wife, you didn’t say you weren’t a virgin, right? What on earth did you talk about in the first place? I haven’t even asked what I want to ask yet.”

As I looked at Kailon, who seemed worried about something, my head started pounding.

Of course, I know it will be hard for him to understand since it’s like going in and suddenly leaving the bishop’s mansion without saying anything, but it’s still too noisy.

In the end, I had no choice but to open my mouth due to his booming voice.

Of course, rather than how to identify a saint, which is difficult to explain, it is about what he would be curious about.

“… The Pope is not here.”

“Well, you can roughly understand that.”

He groaned and muttered at my simple words.

I glanced at him and continued speaking again.

“I went on a pilgrimage, but it’s already been 6 months since I heard from you.”

“… … .”

Kailon immediately shut his mouth at my words and listened intently to hear what I had just said with the bishop.