Volume 6, Chapter 76 – A Difficult Choice

As if her soul had been sucked out of her body, Evelyn couldn’t even remember when she had returned to her room. According to her habit, she should have gone to the inner sanctum to bathe when the sun had just set. But now, she was in no mood for that at all. Everything Julius had said to her made it difficult for her to make a choice, to the point where she couldn’t even eat.

Falling backward onto the soft, velvet-covered bed, Evelyn, her silver hair spread out, stared blankly at the ceiling—the wavy, golden fine lines on it were exceptionally clear, but she had no interest in appreciating them, merely repeating the process of focusing and defocusing.

Should she agree to Julius’s cooperation, or refuse his invitation?

What Julius wanted was to unify humanity and accumulate strength to attack the Blood Clan. And with the church’s current strength, whether it was the Hels Kingdom in the north or the Norta Empire in the south, the church would have to mobilize all its forces. Although the quality of the church’s paladins far exceeded that of the ordinary soldiers of other countries, the disadvantage was that their numbers were too small. Or rather, the land where the church was located could not support too large a population. A single Ymir Territory was about the same size as the Pescia Territory, and both the Hels Kingdom and the Norta Empire had more than four territories equivalent to the Ymir Territory.

If the church could not overthrow the regime of the other country and make it bow its head in a short period of time, once it entered a war of attrition, defeat would be inevitable.

Not to mention that attacking the kingdom might lead to a sneak attack from the empire, which was watching like a tiger. And if it were to confront the empire from the beginning, the kingdom would not stand by and watch. The three-way standoff doomed any one party from staying out of it. That was why Julius was in urgent need of a weapon that could change the situation, to unify humanity before the young Blood Clan Queen, Andrea, had established a firm foothold, and before the Blood Clan could react. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

That was why Julius was so eager for success, so impatiently making her the bridge to connect with Yisi, to get the magic medicine from her, and then to research its production method. By continuously eliminating the Fallen Marks on the Fallen’s bodies, he could achieve the effect of turning them into cheap magic casters. Only in this way could Julius break the situation of insufficient strength.

As long as she agreed to cooperate with Julius, this plan could begin to be implemented. How to prevent Yisi from discovering their secret plan… that was a matter for later. It would require wisdom to keep Yisi from noticing.

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Sorting through her thoughts, Evelyn let out a long breath, her gaze still on the ceiling.

“But it’s also possible that Julius is lying.”

Julius had certainly shown his determination to abdicate if it meant unifying humanity. But she couldn’t guarantee that after he had obtained the production method of the magic medicine, he wouldn’t just kick her aside.

The fact was that the initiative was in his hands. Although she had inherited the position of Pope on the surface, she had not yet established a firm foothold. Just like a lion that has just become the king of the pride will kill the cubs of the old lion king, only by strangling the forces left behind by Julius one by one could she truly become the Pope and break free from his invisible control. Before that, she was still in the palm of his hand.

Of course, what was certain was that as long as she agreed to Julius, for a short period of time, she could absolutely enjoy all the powers that a Pope should have—if Julius really did as he promised, that would be good. Even if Julius wanted to kick her aside, at least before the formula for the magic medicine was researched, he would tolerate anything she did.

Then what would she get if she didn’t agree to Julius?

Julius would not let a useless collaborator sit in the position of Pope. He would very likely use the name of God to get rid of her.

“But Yisi won’t stand by and watch…”

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In order to restore the status of the Fallen, Yisi would definitely let her stay in the position of Pope. Therefore, in the end, it would become a contest between Yisi and Julius. Of course, Julius already knew that he could not defeat Yisi in a one-on-one battle, so he would take a roundabout way. In other words, as long as he sent someone to get rid of her, the Pope, while Yisi wasn’t paying attention—whether by poison or assassination—he would have secured a draw. He couldn’t use the Fallen as a weapon, and Yisi couldn’t restore the status of the Fallen.

No.

Evelyn frowned and sat up from the bed at once.

There was a problem with this.

She stood up, her fist against her chin, and paced in the room that smelled of a young girl’s fragrance.

“Not a draw, but a failure…”

If Julius killed her, it would actually be a failure for him. Come to think of it, even if Julius, through her, agreed to Yisi’s proposal, it would be a benefit to him, or rather, to the church. The appearance of the magic medicine explained the image of the Goddess’s omniscience and omnipotence, which was only good for the church. And if Julius killed her, then he would even miss the opportunity to make the gods great.

This was like placing a silver coin in front of a person. Now Yisi was telling Julius, if you agree to my proposal, I’ll let you take this silver coin. Otherwise, you’ll get nothing. As a result, Julius, because he coveted the gold coin hidden on Yisi, chose to fight with her. Of course, the result was that he got nothing.

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And now, Julius was using her and had a second chance to choose. Knowing that he could absolutely not defeat Yisi, in order to maximize his interests, he chose to agree to let Yisi take the silver coin on the one hand, and to wait for an opportunity to steal the gold coin from her on the other.

“For both me and him, it’s a huge gamble.”

If she agreed to Julius, then he would enter the next gamble, that is, before Yisi noticed, to get enough magic medicine, hide it in various secret areas within the church’s territory for research, to avoid being discovered by Yisi. He would win the gamble. And if she didn’t agree, although Julius wouldn’t have won, he wouldn’t have lost either. The church would still be developing in a good direction. He would only have lost the position of Pope, and the church would only be able to unify humanity after a very long time in the future…?

Was Julius the kind of person who would allow such a thing to happen?

Evelyn stopped pacing back and forth and stood in place.

“Julius can’t just watch the opportunity slip away…”

Even if there was an eighty percent chance of winning, Julius would not gamble. This was the inherent impression Julius had given Evelyn. His cautious personality would not allow for the possibility of a disadvantageous situation for him.

According to her thoughts just now, the church would certainly develop in a good direction, but what Julius was interested in was the opportunity when the Blood Clan Queen, Andrea, had not yet established a firm foothold. Once he missed it, if the church wanted to make a big move again, it would surely be checked by the Blood Clan. A huge country would not watch another neighboring country grow strong. It would do everything in its power, rack its brains, to suppress the other party. It could be said that once Andrea had established a firm foothold, humanity would need two hundred years, or even until the next millennium, to have a chance to unify. This undoubtedly went against Julius’s vision.

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“Even if Julius is long-lived, he can’t wait another two hundred years… if that’s the case, he has failed.”

Then, on the premise that Julius would not allow for a delay, what on earth was he thinking?

To sort it out again simply, if she didn’t agree to Julius, he would lose the big gamble. But he couldn’t possibly have entered the gamble without any preparation. In other words, he either had a surefire way of winning, or he had a way to turn the tables even if she stood on Yisi’s side.

“The only surefire way to win is to force me to agree, to tempt me with the complete position of Pope—although the coercion hasn’t been shown, I can guess what it is… nothing more than a death threat. But there are too many uncertain factors in this. Julius can’t possibly place his bet here.”

Biting her lip lightly, Evelyn shook her head slightly.

“So he has a backup plan… I can’t figure it out. What kind of thing would it take for him to continue to maintain the vision of unifying humanity even if he loses the position of Pope. No, in the end, these are things for the future. For the current me, the key is whether to agree to the cooperation or not.”

On one side was deceiving Yisi, and on the other was the complete position of Pope. If it were her former self, she would have surely chosen the latter without hesitation. But now, she was not so clear. If she agreed to Julius, could she still joke with Yisi as openly as before? She would surely become cautious and unnatural, unable to even lift her head. At that time, she would probably very much hope that Yisi would leave quickly, so that she would feel a little more comfortable.

And if she didn’t agree to Julius, he would surely find a way to get rid of her. Then he would return to the position of Pope and continue to use his backup plan.