Chapter 298
After expanding the number of explorers, I thought it wouldn’t be bad to meet the Pope . He was one of the most influential and richest man on Earth, and although I wasn’t the type to be swayed by authority, it wasn’t polite to refuse the earnest request of a man respected by 1 . 2 billion individuals .
When the story of Revival trying to defend Vatican City broke out, we received the absolute support and respect of all Catholic followers . Although we would have done the same no matter where the Death King appeared, considering all the things we had to do in the future, it wasn’t a bad thing to have the support of people we needed to protect .
If we could continue this good image by meeting with the Pope, we didn’t need to give it a second thought .
When I was getting changed to go to Vatican City, I heard a knock on the door .
“Hero-nim, do you have time?”
As there was only one person that called me Hero-nim, I frowned slightly but still nodded .
“Come in, Ciara . ”
As soon as the words left my mouth, the door opened . I closed the buttons on my shirt and asked her .
“Didn’t today’s lesson end?”
“It’s not related to the lesson, Hero-nim . There’s just something I wanted to ask . ”
I tilted my head . Ciara took a step closer .
“Hero-nim, is there a reason you didn’t make me into a dungeon explorer?”
“Ah, it’s about that? Because I made Mother into an explorer this time?”
“Yes . For some reason, it’s hard for me to read things related to the dungeon . Even this time…!”
Ciara bit her lips like she was anguished . The crosses in her eyes shone radiantly .
“My predictions were off . The reason I couldn’t find out everything about Hero-nim was also because of the dungeon . So I was thinking, if I become an explorer, wouldn’t I know more about the dungeon?”
“… That’s it?”
“No… To be honest, I’m a bit lonely . ”
I was surprised to hear her say she was lonely . Ciara stared at me fixedly and asked me again .
“I want to help Hero-nim even more . I’ll put in the effort to grow my ability . Hero-nim, please let me become a dungeon explorer . ”
“I can’t . ”
“Hero-nim . ”
She had changed and she would likely continue to change . Still, I couldn’t let her become a dungeon explorer, and this wasn’t a problem with her .
“After opening your eyes, you came to see things related to the dungeon, right? Your ability is still growing . You might have missed some things this time, but it won’t be the same next time . ”
“But—”
“Your ability is precious and unique . I don’t want other irregularities to mix with your ability . Like I said before, our enemy has come far enough to use the dungeon’s power as their own . You see what I mean, right?”
“… Yes, I understand . ”
It didn’t look like she understood at all . But, knowing that she was still too young to act completely logically, I lightly patted Ciara’s head .
“Good girl . You’ll always be with us from now, so you don’t have to worry too much about this . ”
“Yes, Hero-nim . ”
After patting her head one last time and noticing that her breathing has gotten slightly rough, I flicked her forehead and headed off to Vatican City . Really, there were too many people that I couldn’t let my guard down around .
The Pope greeted me in a surprisingly unceremonious appearance . After receiving his gratitude and eating lunch together, I politely rejected his offer to go together to a memorial ceremony for the deaths . With that, our meeting ended uneventfully .
But it seemed this was where the real business started . When I was about to leave after saying my goodbye, a Vatican official that seemed to be fairly high ranked stopped me . Seeing as how he was wearing a zucchetto, he seemed to be a priest, no, a bishop at the very least .
“My name is Simon . After Two Moon, the Vatican also created a new department to oversee monsters’ movements . I’m the one in charge . ”
“Yes . ”
“I shouldn’t hold back Vatican’s hero for too long . Though it may be impolite, I will go straight to the point . ”
He sat me down in his office and served me tea . It was extremely aromatic, but since I didn’t know much about tea, I simply told him it was delicious after taking a sip . The official named Simon smiled as if he was relieved and spoke .
“That day, you turned part of Vatican City’s road into gold . ”
“Ah . ”
I forgot again! Seeing my face, he seemed to have realized what happened as he made a bitter smile .
“Are you… human?”
“Yes, I think so . ”
“Of course, creating such miracles couldn’t be too easy… right?”
“It’s not easy at all . ”
I could imagine the panic if I said it was as easy as drink water, so I just nodded with a serious face . Simon made an even bigger sigh of relief .
[I am Dortu . With mana, I can turn anything into metal . ]
Dortu seemed to be offended by my statement as he objected, but thankfully, Simon couldn’t hear Dortu . He continued .
“It goes without saying, but the Vatican has no plans to claim ownership over this gold . During the process of retrieving the bodies of victims, we made sure to prevent anyone from touching it . The Pope himself chimed in . ”
“I see . ”
No matter how logical this sounded, it wasn’t easy to maintain nonchalance in front of a mass of gold . An entire road turned into gold . It wouldn’t be strange if a war broke out over it . But no one had touched it so far? That took some serious discipline . This event made me realize the power of a religion .
“If you’d like, we can help you collect it . ”
“Mm… It’s fine . ”
After thinking about it for a bit, I replied .
“I’ll gift it to the Vatican . You must have suffered huge losses from this incident . Hopefully, the money from it can be used to restore even a small part of what was lost . ”
Simon dropped his mouth in astonishment and remained frozen for a moment .
“Do you know how much it is?”
“Is it a lot?”
“The width is one thing… but the depth is incredible . We expect it to be several tons at the very least . ”
“…”
It was indeed more than I imagined . I immediately thought of price of gold falling, but of course, I was no economist . Simon fiddled with his hands, showing his nervousness, and soon sighed .
“It’s too much . This isn’t something I can handle alone . Though it might be a bit annoying, can you wait here for a moment?”
“Yes, sure . ”
As I often say, I’ve never felt low on money since becoming an explorer . Now that I had gotten to the point of making gold as I pleased, I would probably never experience such a feeling ever again . Of course, I knew better than to wantonly spread gold everywhere and mess up the world’s economy .
In any case, it seemed even the Vatican felt receiving such a huge sum of gold was a burden, as a rather incredulous event occurred after the Pope joined in on their discussion .
They gave the road the title ‘Hero’s Road’ and decided to commemorate it . That is, they planned to leave the several tons of gold untouched .
After hearing their decision, I immediately spoke up .
“I’ll just take it . The gold . ”
“We came up with this idea after much discussion! We can’t have it any other way!’
Sion clung onto my legs as he cried . I glared at him and asked .
“Can you even protect it if you leave it alone?”
“Of course . This is the Vatican!”
“What about the restoration effort?”
“The Vatican’s wealth is enough to take care of it . Otherwise, we wouldn’t have made such a decision . ”
“Which means you’ll be fine even if I take the gold back . ”
“Please . ”
He didn’t say much . He just pleaded . Almost like he was praying to God, he cupped his hands and stared at me . I needed to report this guy to the Pope for heresy .
“But come on, Hero’s Road? Hero’s Road!?”
“There was also a talk about canonizing you as a saint, but—”
“If you did that, I might have to declare war on the Vatican and the Church . ”
“Which is why we shut it down immediately . ”
Thinking about it, it wasn’t such a terrible idea . It would renew the Church’s image, and I would receive the appropriate honor . Of course, the Vatican would have to be able to protect Hero’s Road, but as long as they could, Hero’s Road would serve as a imperishable memorial to commemorate both the Vatican and me .
At Cardinal Simon’s earnest plea (right, he was a cardinal), I agreed to their Hero’s Road plan . As a result, any Catholic believer would, to my dismay, come to hear my name at least once . Saving the Vatican, creating several tons of gold, and leaving it all behind in the holy land of Catholicism . Even I thought it sounded like something from a legend .
When Hwaya found out about it through the news, she burst out into laughter .
“Aah, my stomach! S-Shin is a saint!”
“I rejected that offer!”
“Ku, kukukuk, at least my mom would love it . She’s a Catholic . ”
“Agh!”
“What? Isn’t it nice, being loved by your mother-in-law!?”
“I swear, there will be a day when you’re called a saint too . I’ll laugh my heart out, be prepared . ”
In response, Hwaya burst out into laughter again .
“Pu, puhahaha! Yeah, we can be a saint couple together!”
“Eeeek…!”
The next day, however, when the news of Revival members’ achievement broke out, her words became reality . In a video in the middle of a land filled with death, Hwaya was endlessly shooting out flames and burning up countless undeads . Several internet forums began to describe her as a saint purifying souls of the dead with sacred flames . This description then spread to the mass media, and people began to refer to her as a saint . Hwaya’s face was frozen stiff .
“…”
“A saint clad in sacred flames! Ow!”
“Uuuuk . ”
The Death King . He solidified the standing of Revival to an unprecedented level, but at the same time, he affected Revival’s guild master and vice-guild master with unavoidable titles . As expected of the Death King, he was amazing even after death .
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