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Chapter 287 - Hatching (1)

This naturally fueled his greed for power, and he was aware that he had to get in Palo and Arthus’ good graces in order to fulfill his desires. With this ambition in mind, Pope Ross decided that the first step in his grand plan was to get rid of Saint Irenae.

‘But what kind of excuse do I come up with...?’

His position as the Pope was much higher than that of a saint. However, Pope Ross was well aware that a beautiful and young female saint was significantly more popular with the people than him, a man in his nineties. On top of that, everyone in St. Hall also adored Saint Irenae for her benevolent nature.

Irenae was the sun of the Church of Peace, the light that brought together the entire continent and kept it warm. In order to extinguish her light, Pope Ross had to come up with a way to cut her wings for good so that she could never soar again. He decided that the best way to get rid of the female saint was also the most common and reliable one: a witch hunt.

As Pope Ross contemplated his strategy, a high priest suddenly swung the door of his office open with a sense of urgency.

“Your Holiness! Something serious has happened! We have a hostage situation in the castle!”

“A hostage situation?”

“Yes! The hostage is none other than the Saint!”

“Th-the Saint?”

After bursting into the room, the priest briefly informed the Pope about the startling news that the Saint was being held hostage. This was so absurd that the Pope didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t believe that someone had managed to take a saint hostage in broad daylight in the Holy City, a place where such crimes were unheard of. He had never heard of anything like this in his life.

Once he came back to his senses, the Pope exclaimed, “What on earth were the Holy Knights doing?!”

“U-uh... Well... The thing is...!”

“I don’t have time for your stuttering! Who’s holding Saint Irenae hostage?!”

"Well, your Holiness... It\'s Henry Morris."

“...What?!”

The one who had managed to kidnap the female saint of the Holy City in broad daylight despite the presence of the Holy Knights was none other than the Grand Archmage, Henry Morris.

***

“Frozen Field,” uttered Henry as he waved his hand.

Crackle crackle!

Frost immediately enveloped the surroundings, making the ground look like a frozen ocean. Then, long, razor-sharp icicles burst from the ground, preventing the numerous Holy Knights from approaching.

“Sir Henry, what on earth are you doing?!”

A massive crowd had gathered before Henry. Most of them were the Holy Knights and monks who had been sent to rescue Saint Irenae. However, not a single person dared to approach Henry because he had Irenae with him.

“I’ll say it one more time. No one moves a single step until the Pope arrives. Otherwise, she might not live to see tomorrow.”

Henry had erected a tower-like stone structure in the center of the Frozen Field so that he could have a view of the crowd. He knew that having the high ground was one of the fundamental strategies for dealing with crowds.

Everything was going according to his plan. These people weren’t used to hostage situations, so they were obviously flustered and didn’t know what to do.

“Sir Henry...”

“Yes?”

“You’re... You’re sure about this, right?”

“Of course. Trust me, Your Majesty.”

It wasn\'t only the Holy Knights feeling the pressure. At the top of the stone tower, Herarion and Hoosler were also beside Henry and the Saint, shaking in their boots. Saint Irenae was no different.

\'Oh Lord, please show me a sign that the path I have chosen is the right one...!’

She prayed to Irene once again in an effort to assuage her fear. Even though she had consented to become Henry’s hostage for the sake of his plan, she couldn’t help feeling nervous. But in stark contrast to his three companions, Henry’s expression was remarkably calm.

Henry suddenly noticed something.

“Oh, he’s finally showing up.”

Henry spotted the enraged Pope striding toward them from a distance. He promptly told his group about his appearance. The three saw the Pope from afar just as Henry had said, his face flushed with anger.

As the Pope approached the Frozen Field, he shouted furiously, “Sir! What on earth do you think you’re doing right now?”

“Wow, that old man sure has a powerful voice.”

Henry realized once again that not everyone could become the Pope. Even though he was well into his nineties, he had a powerful and vigorous voice just like the Holy Knights. After fiercely rebuking Henry for a good minute, the Pope redirected his anger toward Logger and Ananda, who had been walking on thin ice ever since they had made their way to the Frozen Field.

“And you two! How could you allow Saint Irenae to be captured? You call yourselves Holy Knights?! Her spear and her shield?!”

“We have no excuse, Your Holiness.”

The two sagged their heads. Usually, they would never show such humility when apologizing to someone, but this was the only thing they could do as they were being scolded by the Pope himself.

Seeing this, Henry chuckled.

“Hah, I guess life throws stuff at you when you least expect it. Now that the real protagonist has appeared, shall we start the show?"

Hearing that, the other three people in the stone tower gulped nervously. Henry announced the start of his show with an eerily calm expression. There was nothing they could do anymore; everything now depended on what Henry would do.

Henry turned to Herarion and said, “Before the show begins, Your Majesty, may I ask you a question? Can you feel a divine power similar to Janus coming from the Pope?”

“Well... It’s difficult to tell because we’re so high up, and there’s also Saint Irenae next to us, emanating Irene’s divine power.”

“Hmm, then I suppose this is where we’ll start.”

Herarion\'s role in this hostage situation was clear, but Henry felt he needed a bit of assistance to fulfill his task. Thus, Henry reached into his pocket and took out the Shalka to begin the show. He used magic to lift the Shalka in the air and send it toward the raging Pope, who in turn picked it up.

Henry then cast a spell.

‘Vision enhancement.’

Zing–!

The moment the Pope picked up the Shalka, Henry enhanced Herarion’s and Irenae’s vision. Now, even from the stone tower, the two could clearly see what the needle of the Shalka was pointing to.

“The moon?”

“Again! I knew it...”

Henry couldn\'t help but smirk. He and the Saint had not been mistaken by what they had seen in the meeting with the Pope.

Herarion belatedly saw that the Shalka was pointing to the moon and asked incredulously, “How is the Pope...?”

“Didn\'t I mention before that the Pope seemed a bit suspicious? He’s probably in cahoots with the Warlocks and has their power. Of course, the leader of the Church of Nepram might not be aware of this... But that’ll be easy to figure out once we start looking into it.”

Hoosler had argued that Pope Ross wouldn\'t resort to using the power of the Warlocks, but Henry didn’t believe that. The only explanation for the Shalka pointing to the moon was that Pope Ross had in fact acquired the power of the Warlocks.

But of course, Henry didn’t plan to resort to any complicated tricks in order to uncover the truth. Regardless of whether the Pope had the powers of the Warlocks, Henry already deemed him a criminal, and so he would expose him with a direct approach.

“What the hell are you doing now?!”

The Pope angrily hurled the Shalka at the ground. Having shown Herarion and Irenae what kind of divine power the Pope had, Henry climbed on top of the stone tower and leaped from it.

“Feather Fall.”

Swoosh.

As Henry slowly descended to the ground, he snapped his fingers, summoning a giant boulder, bigger than the stone tower behind him. He did it as a precaution, letting everyone know that if they attacked him, he would drop the boulder on the tower and kill the hostages.

Of course, Henry had no intention of using the boulder, but he believed this trick would intimidate the Holy Knights, giving him the advantage in this tense exchange.

Henry finally stood before the Pope, flashing him an arrogant smile.

“Good to see you again, Your Holiness. Oh? But you don’t seem happy to see me.”

“Wh-what are you saying?! N-no, just what on earth do you think you’re doing?!”

“Shh...”

Henry had initially planned to listen to everything the Pope had to say, but seeing his sly mug from up close, he couldn’t stand hearing him talk.

After cutting him off, Henry continued, “Your Holiness, I’ve been well aware that you are an unscrupulous man for a long time, but I never thought it was to this extent. With this kind of acting, I think your true calling is actually the theater, not the church.”

“What on earth are you talking about?!”

Pope Ross sure was a sly old man. Even though Henry was blatantly mocking him, he acted his way through the conversation, trying not to let Henry get the upper hand in this power struggle.

Henry let out a sigh and said, “The Messiah...”

"...!"

“I killed him.”

Henry looked the Pope dead in the eye when he mentioned the Messiah, eager not to miss his reaction. It was only for a split second, but Henry noticed the Pope’s panic in his wrinkles, the old man trembling for a split second.

This made Henry feel even more confident in his accusation. With a wry smile, he said, “How about you drop the act and be honest? I already know everything. You\'re not the Pope. You\'re a Warlock in cahoots with the Church of Nephram.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?!”

“Stop. There\'s no point in denying it. I intentionally took Saint Irenae hostage to unveil the dirty truth you were trying to hide, and I even brought a treasure of the royal family of Shahatra to confirm the nature of your divine power.”

“Treasure? What treasure?”

“Over there. The treasure you just tossed on the ground,” replied Henry as he was pointing to the Shalka on the ground.

In response, the Pope’s eyes grew wide in astonishment.

“You...! You sent that toward me earlier...!”

“Of course. It was part of the plan. In fact, it\'s a kind of compass that shows the affinity of one’s divine power. The Shalka pointed to the sun for everyone except you. Do you know what that means? It means your divine power is different from that of everyone else who attended that meeting,” explained Henry.

As Henry kept on speaking, all the Holy Knights exchanged puzzled looks except for two of them—Logger and Ananda.

“Why don’t you just confess right here, right now? I purposely brought a witness with me because I thought you might continue to lie. I hope you haven’t forgotten that the Messiah was not the only one left in the Church of Nephram.”

“You’re... You’re not telling me...!”

“Yep, the Warlock whom you’re working with is up there in the tower. Should I tell him to come down here and explain what kind of relationship you two have? Or better...” Henry grinned and cocked his head slightly before continuing, “...try performing Irene\'s Holy Code right here, in front of everyone.”

Checkmate.

Now that the Pope was receiving Arthus’ blessing and serving him as his god, he could no longer wield Irene’s divine powers. Realizing that he couldn’t get out of this, his expression contorted in anger, seemingly about to explode.