Chapter 106

“What the heck?!”

Roka exclaimed in surprise, and Cardinal Omen’s eyes widened.

“What the…”

Beside him, who seemed to barely hold back a curse, Sir Thomas and Sir Robert’s pupils shook.

Honestly, I was flustered too. As everyone’s gaze focused, the Chancellor moved his hand to his waistband.

And then, he pulled it down. Without hesitation.

With an unstoppable momentum, he even pulled down his underwear. It was a speed and decisiveness that was hard to believe even after seeing it. It felt like I was witnessing the charisma of a leader who ruled a nation.

I thought about covering Roka’s eyes, but it wasn’t necessary.

“What are you doing?!”

Roka covered her eyes with both hands, her face turning red. His… thing was standing upright, after all.

I don’t know why he suddenly stripped off his lower half, but the priests of the Aldehir Church next to us also screamed and turned their eyes away. Among them were several female priests.

“Hmm, did everyone see? I have nothing to hide from you all.”

“Your Excellency. Have you lost your mind? Was exposing yourself always your thing? The Republic is doomed. Are you finally unleashing the desires you couldn’t fulfill because you were too busy worrying about your social standing?”

“Hey, you perverted old man. Even if the Republic is falling, this is just disgraceful…”

Sir Robert and Cardinal Omen were so angry that they would’ve cursed if they didn’t have to maintain their dignity.

But their words were cut short.

“It seems you’ve all forgotten. I’m a eunuch.”

“A eunuch?! Oh… now that you mention it…”

“It’s no secret. There’s no one in the Republic who doesn’t know I’m a eunuch. The Citadel royal family castrated me long ago, cutting off my lineage. I lost my… thing, and a long time has passed since then.”

Cardinal Omen fell silent. He seemed to recall something.

“Later, when I became the Chancellor of the Republic, I asked the Three God Faith and your church, Cardinal. I asked if there was any way to restore what I had lost.”

“You all said the same thing, as if you had rehearsed it. If I had come right after it happened, maybe. But now, it’s too late. The wound has already healed, and divine power can’t make what was cut off grow back.”

“But when I went right after it happened, I couldn’t even enter the temple gates. Even a lowly priest cursed at me and kicked me out. At that time, I wasn’t the Chancellor of the Republic, just a labeled traitor and a scoundrel.”

The Chancellor, with one hand holding his thing and the other pointing at the spring, continued.

“I wondered what was so miraculous about that water that patients drank it, so I took a sip too. And then, a miracle happened to me. See? My thing came back. Suddenly, I wanted to live.”

“So…?”

Sir Robert muttered. The Chancellor nodded.

“The human heart is truly mysterious. Just moments ago, I thought I had no choice but to die, but now that this thing is back, I suddenly want to live. I want to live and see my child. But I won’t live alone.”

“The promise hasn’t changed. If the Republic dies, I will die. If the Republic lives, I will live. Robert. As a celebration of my thing coming back, let me live too. Let’s not give up.”

Sir Robert couldn’t hold his gaze and eventually nodded.

“Alright, alright. So, for now, pull up your pants. I get that you want to show off your newfound thing, but please…”

“Then it’s decided.”

The Chancellor pulled up his pants and then looked at me.

“If I’m going to die either way, I’ll choose the path that offers even a sliver of hope to live. I will mobilize all the remaining forces of the Republic to support you, Priest.”

“Really?”

“Previously, with Thomas’s help, I used geomancy to enter the volcano myself. I relied too much on the Master’s power. If I do that again, I’ll just repeat the same mistake. I have nothing left to lose now, so this time, I’ll use bait to lure the Phoenix.”

Somehow, his voice lacked strength. It was understandable.

When the only hope left is a miracle from God, and there’s no way to intervene with human power, it’s natural to feel uneasy about having to rely on divine intervention.

“What about you all?”

After shaking hands with me, the Chancellor asked Cardinal Omen.

The Cardinal sighed and replied.

“We’ve come this far. We’ll join in.”

“Really?”

“We’ll prepare the Artabus Ship. But let me be clear, if the operation fails, we’ll abandon you and flee immediately. We’ve helped you a lot, so we’ll honor our duty, but we haven’t sold our bodies to the Citadel Republic.”

“If it fails, at least you should live.”

The Chancellor nodded, and we immediately began planning the operation.

“The dwarves, an ancient race of craftsmen, had the ability to cultivate metals imbued with the power of nature. They’re extinct now, so we don’t know how they did it, but one such ore was passed down to the Citadel royal family.”

“You plan to use that as bait to lure the Phoenix.”

“Exactly. The Sun Ore, imbued with the power of the sun, was something even the dwarves couldn’t easily create. It’ll be an irresistible lure for the Undead Creature that craves fire and the sun.”

The Chancellor, as if he had nothing left to lose, even offered such a treasure. But thinking about it, if it can save the Republic, this treasure is truly nothing.

After all, only if people survive can treasures or anything else have meaning.

“We’ll use the Artabus Ship to lure it into the air and fight it in an aerial battle. This airship wasn’t built for combat, but tools are what you make of them.”

“But isn’t that something the Pope of your church should decide?”

“I don’t know. Who cares about the Pope?”

The Cardinal grumbled, but the rough plan was set. With no time to waste, we prepared to depart immediately.

The Chancellor even decided to board the Artabus Ship himself.

“If the operation fails, I’ll just fall to my death there.”

It felt like we had to succeed no matter what.

“Ah, but there’s one thing I’m curious about. It’s a sensitive question, but may I ask?”

“What’s so sensitive now? I’ve already stripped down to my pants.”

“I heard you gave Grimudo the Fruit of the World Tree. Do you know why he wanted it?”

“I don’t know why you’re curious, but you’re not the first to ask me this. Many have asked, and my answer has always been the same. I didn’t know then, and I don’t know now.”

He frowned and spoke.

“I really don’t know. If it were truly a powerful elixir, the elves wouldn’t have sold it to humans. They knew we wouldn’t have any use for the Fruit of the World Tree even if we got it.”

“So there’s no worry about the Demon King eating it and becoming stronger.”

“The World Tree itself is something different from ordinary trees, closer to a law. The fruit may look like a fruit, but it’s not something you can eat or even split open.”

The former King of Citadel, Parnell’s father, once swallowed the fruit whole, thinking it had some effect, he said.

“He was a great mage, so he managed to swallow that huge fruit in one gulp. Guess what happened? It came out the other end completely undigested. There’s even a rumor that his anus tore from pushing it out.”

“So, even a great mage couldn’t digest it. Who would try to swallow it again? In the end, it became a useless item, rolling around in storage until it reached my hands.”

So, it’s a fruit that’s already passed through someone else’s body and come out the other end. No matter how cleanly it’s washed, I wouldn’t want to put it in my mouth.

I kind of understood why no one swallowed it after that. Did Grimudo take it to eat it? But would eating it really make him stronger?

“Oh, you’re here. Welcome, Your Holiness the Pope.”

Just as I was about to ask more about the Fruit of the World Tree, he suddenly looked somewhere and waved in greeting.

The Pope? I reflexively turned my head. An elderly man with glasses, exuding an intellectual aura, opened his mouth with a solemn expression in front of Roka.

“Child. Are you interested in the sky?”

Roka looked puzzled. Her tail seemed to curl into a question mark.

I’d heard that the Aldehir Church folks were a bit eccentric, and it seemed there was some truth to it.

“Not really…”

“Then why not trust the heavens? Our church has excellent welfare, you know.”

Roka, surprisingly, couldn’t get angry and fidgeted. That kid is kind at heart. She’s cold to malice but weak to goodwill.

Like cold ice melting under warm sunlight, she can’t respond coldly to someone who shows her kindness.

“Old man! Stop trying to recruit the kid and help with the departure preparations! We’re running out of time, and you’re doing a great job.”

“Do you like candy? It’s a specialty of our church. Here, have a piece.”

Roka, who doesn’t like sweets, still took the candy and put it in her pocket. When the Cardinal shouted at the old man, the old man clicked his tongue and continued.

“Inseok. For someone who’s supposed to be a Cardinal, you can’t even grasp the psychology of the person you serve. No wonder I had to come here myself. Now, child. Don’t mind that hot-tempered guy. I want to ask you something.”

Even in the midst of the busyness, everyone’s attention turned to him. People looked at the Pope, wondering what he was going to say. He slowly opened his mouth.

“Would you like to become the Saint of the Aldehir Church?”