Volume 6, Chapter 20 – Julius’s Choice

“My true thoughts? What do you think my thoughts are?”

“The church needs this far more than one can imagine, am I right? Knowing full well that the Fallen are just a group of people chosen by fate, yet you brand them with the name of evil. If they were truly demons, they should be able to be dealt with by holy water—no, holy water might not be enough. Let’s switch to the holy arts that only successive Popes can use; that should be up to standard. However, even the holy arts cannot remove the marks on the Fallen. What does that imply?”

Imperceptibly, the Pope frowned.

“Were you born in the church?”

“No.”

Yisi took out the Crest of Holy Revelation from her inventory and placed it on the table. After a moment of silence, the Pope finally adopted a serious expression, put his book aside, sat up straight, and said in a deep voice with his fingers interlaced.

“Was it Owen?”

“The crest was indeed given to me by Owen, but the person who told me the reason behind it was not Owen, but Head Priest Daniel of Celtic City. He said he sent you a letter. I thought you would remember me.”

“At that time, I thought he was just desperate to save people and blindly trusted a spy sent by the kingdom.”

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“If I were you, I would have made the same choice.”

A problem that had remained unsolved for a thousand years was suddenly solved by a person of unknown origin. As the one in control of the church, it was only natural to question its authenticity when unable to investigate in person. Furthermore, after her conversation with Head Priest Daniel, she had left Celtic City quickly without leaving any evidence for Pope Julius to believe in. It was entirely reasonable for him to treat it as a lie.

“So you’re here to give me the medicine? If I remember correctly, the letter Daniel sent me said you possessed the magic to heal the Fallen, not a medicine.”

“The so-called holy art was just a front,” if she told the Pope she could directly use magic to eliminate the Fallen Mark, he would likely try to keep her. Yisi’s gaze pointed directly at the medicine bottle on the table. “In reality, it is this medicine that eliminates the Fallen Mark. I call it the Blessing of Mistilteinn.”

“Mistilteinn?”

For some reason, the Pope suddenly looked agitated, his hands pressed on the table as if he were about to rise from his seat.

Yisi couldn’t help but tilt her head.

“What’s wrong?”

But the Pope quickly regained his composure, a low breath escaping from his throat.

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“It’s nothing. I must first see the effects of the medicine. Without sufficient proof, even if you have the Crest of Holy Revelation, I will not believe you.”

“That’s only natural.”

If the Pope had believed her without testing the medicine, she would have started to question how he had managed to hold onto his position for two hundred years.

Julius rose from his seat, picked up the medicine, and walked straight out of the room. Although Julius’s gaze was not directly on Yisi, as if he had full trust in her, Yisi could feel his vigilance. He was watching her from the corner of his eye.

Hearing Julius’s voice giving instructions to a subordinate from the crack of the door behind him, Yisi, with nothing to do, began to observe the room, which was supposed to be a study. The entire study seemed ordinary, but it was filled with magical barriers. A hidden sliding stone slab was concealed beneath the desk, serving as an escape route in case of emergency. Large stone golem guards were hidden behind two of the walls; once the defensive barrier was activated, the large golems would immediately break through the walls. In addition, most of the books on the shelves were enchanted with confidentiality magic. Forcibly opening a book would only cause it to explode, destroying the information and taking the intruder to the grave along with it.

A rather well-equipped room.

Noticing a chess-piece-shaped pendant on the table, Yisi took a step forward, picked it up, and began to examine it closely.

“Evelyn’s holy relic…”

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This kind of holy relic had the effect of translating languages, which would be very suitable for Mary and Tiffany.

Soon, the Pope re-entered the room. Through the crack of the door, Yisi could see several emaciated Fallen standing in the hallway. The markings on their backs had completely disappeared. The Pope had conducted his experiment in the time he was gone.

Click.

The wooden door was quickly closed. Julius’s wrinkled face was filled with confusion and suspicion. Yisi could even hear him muttering things like “Mistilteinn” and “it’s actually real” under his breath, which made no sense to her.

“Can we talk now?”

Yisi’s words instantly made the Pope realize there was another person in the room. His contemplative eyes quickly refocused. Then, Julius walked up to Yisi with urgent steps.

“Name your price. Visiting in the dead of night, I don’t believe you’d give me the medicine for free.”

“Name my price, you say.”

To be honest, she hadn’t planned on asking the Pope for wealth or fame. But since he had brought it up, Yisi didn’t refuse. She showed him the chess-piece-shaped pendant she was holding.

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“I don’t need gold coins or power. I just want two of these magical items. If you can’t produce them—”

“Done.”

The Pope’s decisive answer stunned Yisi for a moment. She had originally planned to say that if he couldn’t produce two, just this one would be fine.

Her daze did not last long. Yisi adopted a casual posture, turned her back to the Pope, and walked to the bookshelf, pretending to inspect the books.

“I haven’t finished speaking. Besides material rewards, I also need your promise. You must promise me that you will not send the Fallen to the battlefield as soldiers. In the past, the Fallen couldn’t become soldiers because they could only be treated as consumables. Even if they were trained, they often didn’t have many uses left. But now, with the medicine that can eliminate the marks, they have become cheap and efficient tools of war. I don’t want my actions to bring about death and injury, and the only person in the church who can make this promise is you.”

Unlike his immediate agreement just now, the Pope fell silent. Yisi turned around but couldn’t read anything in his eyes, which were hidden beneath his wrinkles.

“You should know what would happen if the same medicine fell into the hands of the rulers of the Empire or the Kingdom. After I show them a sample of this medicine, they will respectfully treat me as an honored guest, then take the medicine from my hands and proclaim that only they can bring light to the Fallen.”

“The church will publicly declare them as people who have made a deal with the devil.”

“In that case, a real war would not be far off. With the church’s current strength, let’s not talk about what would happen after a defeat. Even if you were to win, it would only be a pyrrhic victory. After that, you, the victors, would be swallowed up by the remaining monarchy. Am I right? Moreover, it’s more likely that the Kingdom and the Empire would unite to vie for the church’s resources. You have only two choices before you: either refuse me, and I will give the medicine to the Kingdom and the Empire, or agree to my terms and welcome a win-win situation. You know, even if the church doesn’t use the Fallen as tools of war, just making the Goddess truly omniscient and omnipotent would be of great benefit. Although it will take some time to see the returns, compared to a war that could be lost, it will surely make the monarchy bow to the divine authority.”