Chapter 32

maybe it was too arrogant of me to reach the reverse harem ending in my second run. wouldn’t it have been better to listen to the pope’s secret when ardal was trying to tell me and enter the pope’s route?

facing the pope’s expression of disbelief on his elegant face, i regretted destroying the single entry to the pope’s route without hesitation.

he seemed easy in the last run, but this time, he seemed intimidating.

“sister haniel.”

the pope approached me, speechless. he held my hand with his usual smile.

the pope suddenly asked, holding my hands affectionately,

“are you hiding something from me?”

“…”

[the pope’s search ii]

the window was still floating in front of him, blocking my answer.

i absolutely hated spoilers, so i was careful not to watch target guides as much as possible, so i knew very little about the pope apart from some basic information.

first of all, the information i knew about the pope were:

ardal’s warning to me: never use magic in front of the pope.

his name was different from the first run.

the third was the pope’s most common known ability.

the pope had the ability to manipulate people’s memories, but this ability didn’t work on the player, haniel. the reason why is unknown, but i thought it was because i was the main character.

based on these few pieces of information, i should respond appropriately to the pope’s quest.

however… what could help me?

even as i continued to think, the pope looked down at me with an overbearing gaze, as if he was waiting for my answer.

“orias.”

“yes, haniel.”

i met the pope’s eyes as i said his name to delay. he replied with a slightly softened look.

‘check orias’s favorability.’

[character favorability]

orias –

[quests in progress: the pope’s search]

firstly, his favorability was more than half. if it reached over 50%, it was rare for the favorability to fall unless a serious mistake was made.

‘close the favorability window.’

in this case, i should avoid it.

now that there are no helpful clues, i decided to dodge the situation for now. i made a serious face and began to speak in a heavy tone.

“there’s something i’m not telling you, but i’m not sure how to tell you.”

“…”

“but orias, i want to assure you that i will never let you down. can you trust me?”

well, would this be an appropriate answer? the system window was quiet, so i stared at the pope’s lips, tense. depending on his answer, the system window will pop up.

the pope, who had been silent for a while now and stared at me, finally spoke.

“haniel.”

[the pope’s search ii]

a small bar appeared in the system window as his mouth opened.

10%…

20%…

the gauge on the bar filled up little by little and stopped at the one-third mark.

30%…

stopping at 30%, orias spoke through the window.

“never let me down.”

“do you trust me?”

“…at least for now. now that you told me you’re hiding something, i don’t think you’re trying to fool me completely, and from what you’ve shown me so far, i think haniel is a trustworthy person. you’ll give me an answer someday, right?”

“yes, of course!”

as soon as the pope finished speaking, i responded quickly. i held his hands tightly and nodded eagerly as he sighed.

[the pope’s search ii]

[evasion: 30%]

[imperfectly evaded the pope’s search.]

[time limit of 10 days (1/10): 100% avoidance must be reached before day 10.]

[incomplete avoidance]

[the pope’s favorability slightly increased.]

[the pope will keep an eye on you during the event.]

my actions were slightly restricted, but i bought time and evaded the pope’s search.

as the event ended, someone’s voice was heard outside. while i created such a serious atmosphere with the pope, i heard the voice, let go of his hand and took a step back.

“your holiness, envoys from the empire have arrived to attend the coronation.”

it wasn’t long until i would need to leave to go to the empire so there has been an influx of events.

“come inside and report.”

“yes, your holiness.”

when the pope stated his order, the door opened slowly. one of the knights who came inside nodded his head at me and knelt in front of the pope.

“shall i leave?”

“that’s alright. it’s something sister haniel should also hear.”

i asked because the knight stopped talking and looked at me, but the pope answered, leading me by the hand. he sat me down, poured me tea and gestured towards the knight.

seeing the pope’s gesture, the knight lowered his eyes and began to report.

“grand duke dietrich has visited.”

“only the grand duke?”

“he was accompanied by a noble knight, but…”

“looks like no one else is coming.”

“…that’s right.”

the knight bowed his head deeply as if he were ashamed.

it was said that there would be a coronation ceremony for the saintess in the holy land, but not many candidates came. even though it was said that the saintess would be sent directly to the empire after the coronation, the empire was not interested.

at least they sent the grand duke so they had some courtesy.