episode_0177

In the original work, Pope Gregorio rarely appears.

He only appears in some scenarios related to the Sacred Nation, and meeting him directly requires fulfilling various conditions.

In reality, the Pope is not someone easily met.

He is the head of the Catholic Church, a father who embraces all people in the world with love according to God’s will.

Because of his immense influence, doesn’t he hold a higher status than the heads of other countries?

Even the president is protected by strict security; if the Pope is before you, it’s best to first consider the possibility that you’ve done something wrong.

Acastus fully accepted that possibility and set the Pope’s appearance rate in the scenario higher than that of any legendary Pokémon.

How incredibly low was that probability…? Even the “son of a b**** who writes walkthroughs” gave up writing a walkthrough, writing that if you meet him, you should just consider yourself to have stepped in shit and pray to heaven.

According to that son of a b****’s calculations, the probability of meeting the Pope is lower than getting hit by bird droppings while walking.

Of course, the fact that I know about Pope Gregorio means he’s not a non-existent person.

In my case, I met him about five times during my 20-year career?

Naturally, I recorded all those situations on video, and I was able to obtain at least minimal information about his fighting ability and tendencies.

However, my walkthroughs pursue “perfection” above all else, so I couldn’t deal with Pope Gregorio without sufficient information.

Still, I know this for sure.

“Who are you?”

This gilded hypocrite, while not necessarily a villain, is a psychopath, a far cry from the gentle nature that was the image of the Pope I knew.

He does not see, hear, speak, or act unless it is ` `.

A fanatic twisted by warped beliefs and hypocrisy.

If such a bastard asks me my name, answering him is only natural.

I straightened my back and raised my head among the stiffly frozen people around me.

“Are you– crazy-?”

“Brother– lower your eyes, please-!”

If everyone says not to do something, isn’t it natural to want to do it?

Now, wearing the Muyeonggab, I can withstand the Pope’s radiance, and the trembling of my body has subsided considerably.

I blinked a couple of times and looked intently at him.

“It is an honor to meet you, His Holiness Pope Gregorio. I am Narias Philbrogue, a first-year student in the Department of Magic at the Naifrantz Academy.”

A confident voice echoed around.

Jay bit his lip, Tier touched his forehead, and Alex, who had been running from afar, collapsed to the ground.

The knights standing around the Pope gripped their scabbards, trembling as if they were about to cut off my head.

In that place, frozen by the cold air, only Pope Gregorio laughed heartily.

“Heh heh… Yes, pleased to meet you. It seems you already know about me.”

“Not knowing would be impossible, I believe. Surely even the ignorant demons across the sea would tremble like aspen leaves when they discuss His Holiness’s dawn.”

Heh- huh- huh-

The Pope’s relaxed, hearty laughter was jarring to me, but the others around me gradually relaxed.

Regardless of his inner feelings, he is the head of the Lumious Central Orthodox Church, and publicly, he is known as an icon of benevolence.

To lighten the mood, I quickly looked around.

“Excuse me, but these people seem to have stiff backs because they are so nervous about standing before your Holiness. Please, kind words…”

“Heh heh, I see. Everyone, raise your heads.”

And at that moment, the creepy light mana that the guy was scattering gradually dissipated.

It happened so instantaneously, it was like turning off a light with a switch.

“Uh… now…”

“It’s alright now.”

Everyone, while still unsure, looked at the person next to them and slowly raised their heads, but they couldn’t hide their shocked expressions, their eyes darting around.

Tier, in particular, looked back and forth between me and the Pope, then gave me a “What the hell is this guy?” look.

“Just as the Goddess’s light cannot be cut by a sword, neither can people be divided into high and low. How can children of light live separately and bow their heads?”

As Pope Gregorio opened his mouth with a gentle expression, his every word seeped into the hearts of everyone around him like light.

Of course, my heart is white, reflecting all light.

Until now, everyone had been reticent, but the Pope said it was alright.

One by one, they relaxed their necks and began to look up at him.

“Oh, I admire…”

“His word is the path and the destination, life and truth. The dazzling light that exists before all things and precedes all things…”

“I believe…”

They are priests who originally served the Goddess of Light in the temple.

It wasn’t so much additional missionary work as simply adding the Goddess’s words; they became puppets moving at the Pope’s gesture.

This is his unique magic, [Bibbia].

It’s incitement, using faith in the Goddess to sway their minds.

If there’s no faith, the effect is minimal, but that’s not a problem.

The power and influence of the Lumious Orthodox Church, and its size, have grown enormously.

For believers, it’s immediate incitement; for non-believers, they use other believers to evangelize and then incite them.

I don’t know if the Goddess of Light really exists, but seeing this infectious method work, God is dead.

Is Nietzsche getting another win today?

Thwack-

I flicked a finger in front of Tier’s dazed face to snap her out of it.

“Snap out of it.”

“—Huh, why am I…”

Since birth, her body has been imbued with the mana of light, making her especially susceptible to “Bibbia”.

However, she also has high resistance to mental magic, so I could reverse it with just a slight stimulus.

As an outsider, I have no right to say anything about someone else’s child acting according to their parents’ words.

In Rome, there’s Roman law.

But considering the future, it’s not quite that simple.

They are people I have a relationship with, my companions for the foreseeable future.

If I consider the long-term future, including marrying Tier, they’ll eventually be my family.

I couldn’t bear to watch those people being manipulated like puppets anymore.

‘Preemptive strike, return what I received.’

I gathered ether in my dantian.

The effect of the spell I would imbue it with was the skill [Dispel].

Swish swish swish-

Creating a safe space under my skin with the Muyeonggab, I had been suppressing my power since a while ago.

I let the ether that had been swirling without escape flow down to my toes.

To the ground, I released it all.

Whoosh—!!

An invisible wave of ether spread powerfully around, like an explosion.

“……!”

The Pope frowned first.

He probably knows what kind of magic this is.

But the farce is over.

The priests have all come to their senses, and even the knights following him, weakened by the effects of the incitement, are looking around in confusion.

“Just now… what was that?”

“Something, very comfortable…”

The tide of the psychological warfare has turned.

Amid the confusion of everyone not knowing exactly what happened…

Only Pope Gregorio gritted his teeth and glared at me.

“Oh… it seems that you are all distinguished guests who have come to help us out with the affairs of our Sacred Nation.”

“Yeah~ We even got seasick on the way, which put us through a lot.”

“My… to keep you distinguished guests for so long… my apologies.”

He was still smiling.

But I could see his lips and eyes twitching.

“We are the ones who apologize for interrupting your busy schedule. Now, let’s head inside~”

His golden eyes started shaking like a vibrating vibe.

He really seemed troubled trying to contain his laughter.

“I… look forward to your future endeavors, child…”

At that moment, I realized that no matter how benevolent you speak, if your expression is sour, it only seems like you’re trembling with anger.

.

.

.

After a commotion, we moved to the lodging in the third diocese of the Sacred Nation.

“Kuaa… I’m really exhausted…”

“It seems your mouth has a separate power source.”

“Hey, why do you always pick on me?!”

Since we came from the distant kingdom of Naifrantz, they provided everything they should have formally taken care off.

The lodging where we unpacked our belongings was not just a place to sleep, but more like a decent mid-range hotel where we could rest properly.

The meals were far more meat-heavy than what we ate at the Aither temple.

Although the main dish was still vegetables.

“Woo, the meat is huge- gulp—”

“Don’t talk while you’re eating…”

“Gulp- sorry- gulp- gulp—”

What are the scientists doing?

If they were to attach a generator to Jay’s mouth, he might live his life as the greatest inventor and enjoy endless fame.

So, everyone rested, washed up, and slept in a comfortable atmosphere.

But no one spoke about what happened during the day.

They are probably thinking about it inside.

With everything in chaos, raising the topic right now would only cause a disturbance, so they need time to compose themselves and to organize their questions.

“Ughh- meat—”

Thanks to Jay’s nonsense even in his sleep, the atmosphere was somewhat relaxed.

So, everyone ended the day with that confusion, and…

The next day, we decided to immediately go hunting for Grey Wolves.