bookbashuk Page 168
Page 168
……
After the food distribution at the relief center was completed, the crowds carrying food gradually flowed back to the temporary resettlement area.
Amid the crowd, the little girl looked around and suddenly her eyes lit up.
"mom!"
With short legs, he took a step and ran into the arms of a woman dressed in coarse cloth.
"Ruby? Where have you been? I've been looking for you for ages," the mother exclaimed in surprise.
"Mommy is missing, so I'm going to look for Mommy—" The little girl buried her face in her mother's arms, her little hands holding on tightly.
"Honestly... I was so worried. Did Ruby run into any strange people?"
"Yes! Ruby met two rather strange older brothers and sisters, and they hugged Ruby and kept crying."
"Oh, how pitiful... He must have encountered something sad."
"Sad?" Ruby's voice sounded a little confused.
"It means being made to cry by a bad person..."
The woman in coarse cloth's face darkened instantly. She then pressed down on Ruby's shoulder and earnestly instructed her:
"Ruby, you must remember to be a good girl!"
"I absolutely cannot become a villain like the Hero of Sin, making everyone cry!!!"
Chapter 239 The Pope's cooldown is still ongoing...
As a large number of first-edition limited-edition anime girl figures flooded the auction, life began to sprout in the commoner's area—
Today marks the day the Pope is laid to rest and bids farewell to the people.
A somber atmosphere enveloped the entire capital. At this moment, all the people needed was to fully express their emotions and mourn the greatest pope.
Inside the church.
The ice coffin containing Pope Brad's body was wrapped in countless flowers, and noble hymns echoed softly within the church. Archbishop Hope stood before a wall, his eyes filled with deep sorrow.
"Your Holiness... if only we had made him drink that bowl of herbs sooner..."
Although he felt a pang of sorrow, Hope knew that as the archbishop, he absolutely could not show any grief in front of the people today. Instead, he should remember his faith and bless Pope Brad's soul to be with the goddess.
Standing in front of the wall, Hope remained silent for a long time.
“Archbishop Hope.” A priest in white robes hurried in. As he passed Pope Brad’s ice crystal coffin, his gaze dimmed slightly. When he reached Hope’s side, he said in a low voice:
"The farewell ceremony is still a long way off, but many civilians have already gathered in the square in front of the church, and many have fainted due to the weather and grief."
"A large number of clergy are casting holy light spells around the square, but there are simply too many people to manage..."
On the tenth day after the Pope's death, it was not only the citizens of the capital who rushed to the capital, but also countless loyal believers who, despite their physical and mental exhaustion, still insisted on seeing off the beloved Pope at his funeral.
"We must take good care of these faithful believers and make all clergy put aside their other work to prioritize the safety and well-being of the people."
With a sorrowful look in his eyes, Hope turned to the priest and said, "Let Saint Lena, no, let me also step forward to bless those believers."
With Hope, who has been a part of the clergy for many years, casting the Holy Light spell can cover a much larger number of people and a wider area than the clergy and priests.
“But then…” The priest hesitated, glancing at the wall behind Hope:
"The entire cathedral is empty; anyone can come and go as they please. This..."
"No one will tarnish this sacred day."
Archbishop Hope shook his head: "Even those demons have their limits; this will only ignite the fury of the entire kingdom."
After straightening his robes, Hope turned his head one last time to look at the wall—
The sacred papal robes hanging beside the goddess statue, woven from black and gold sacred fabric and lined with scarlet silk, exuded a subtle spirituality.
Beneath the papal robes, a ruby scepter hung on the wall, gleaming softly.
"It's a pity that Pope Brad asked me to prepare a brand-new papal robe, but he will never have the chance to wear it again..." Hope sighed softly, her eyes full of regret.
"It can only be left to the next pope; this is Pope Brad's last gift."
The priest was slightly moved, and asked with a mixture of sadness and curiosity, "Archbishop Hope, how long will it take for a new pope to be born?"
“It’s hard to say. Even goddesses rarely offer definitive revelation.” Hope shook her head and looked at the priest: “You remember the process of choosing a pope, right?”
“Of course,” the priest said, his tone reverent.
"First, with the guidance of the Goddess, when a new 'Vessel of the Holy Body' is born in the entire kingdom, the Holy Church will ring its top bell... Then, a large number of priests from the Holy Church will travel throughout the country to find that Vessel of the Holy Body. This is like finding a needle in a haystack, and it often takes several years or even more than ten years."
Hope nodded slightly in agreement.
The priest's tone became somewhat uncertain: "Then the Holy Body of the Artifact needs to gain the approval of all the holy artifacts underground in the Holy Church, and then obtain the affinity of the papal robes and the ruby scepter. Each time a step is successful, the Holy Church will emit a strange phenomenon under the influence of the aura... I remember that it took Pope Brad more than forty years."
“You’re right, but every step is far from as easy as it seems.” Seeing that the priest wasn’t quite sure about some of the details, Hope explained:
"For example, as you said, the next step after finding the Sacred Body of the Artifact is to gain the recognition of all the Sacred Artifacts... Gaining the recognition of the Sacred Artifacts is not difficult, as long as the Sacred Body of the Artifact itself is sufficient; the real difficulty lies in the fact that it needs to be done when the Sacred Artifacts are conscious, and the time when each Sacred Artifact normally awakens and becomes active is different."
"Unless it's like today, when all the sacred artifacts awaken simultaneously amidst a strong emotional atmosphere... but such moments are rare, occurring only once every few years."
"Secondly, there are the papal robes and the ruby scepter. They are different from the sacred artifacts, but they have the power to activate the core magic array of the Holy Church, thus generating abundant spirituality: only by gaining their affinity can one truly be considered the Pope of the Holy Church."
"Few people can gain the favor of the papal robes: only those who possess a strong aura of 'goodness' can please it and truly make it submit. This aura can only be accumulated by sincerely helping countless people. Pope Brad was stuck on this step for a long time. But it is usually easy to achieve in years of disaster or when natural disasters like the one we are in need of relief."
"The ruby scepter is much more difficult: only by undergoing a 'soul baptism' that 'persuades people to do good' can one gain its approval. It can gradually make an incorrigible villain repent and change all his shortcomings, turning to the goddess's embrace and wholeheartedly doing good... But how easy is it to get rid of human nature's inherent flaws?"
Hope shook his head and said, "This often requires a gradual accumulation of effort. Unless one's mental state is frequently subjected to severe blows, it cannot be completely accomplished in less than a decade."
The priest's eyes widened in astonishment: "So, if things go wrong, the pope's succession might take forty or fifty years to happen?!"
Thinking about it this way, Pope Brad was really unlucky—or rather, a late bloomer!
He hadn't expected him to be so composed. Thinking of this, the priest felt even more admiration and sadness. The Pope, who had worked so diligently for forty or fifty years, had a sublime soul that shone through! What a great man he was!
"I now suspect that the Pope's mental illness was sown at that time."
Hope said with some emotion, then shook her head: "However, you still misunderstood one thing."
"The wait of forty or fifty years is not the longest. The most difficult part of the entire papal succession process is... the birth of the Holy Body of the Vessel."
“That’s a constitution that can’t be artificially altered; it’s born from the soul and life experiences.” Hope looked at the priest:
"That is a constitution that can only be awakened by completely abandoning one's own selfish desires and treating every citizen equally. In the words of the Mino Warrior, it is the ideology of 'all men are created equal'; the Sacred Body of the Vessel holds an equal view of every human being: every human being is the same to him."
"I ask you, even after being baptized and influenced by the Holy Church, would you still regard Prince Ota as equal to a commoner?"
“How is that possible…” the priest blurted out, then his eyes widened in surprise.
Royal nobles and commoners are born equal. How could the people living under the kingdom possibly develop such ideals and beliefs?
For many people, this is even a fantasy, a concept that is almost laughable!
His Holiness the Pope has always upheld such lofty ideals to protect the entire kingdom?! A deep sense of shock appeared on the priest's face.
"Therefore, the description of the Sacred Body of the Artifact being seen only once in a thousand years is not an exaggeration." Hope smiled and sighed: "The appearance of Pope Brad is simply a miracle in the last thousand years."
"At least within the entire kingdom, I think it's impossible to find a single noble human with the aptitude for a Sacred Body of an Artifact..."
Chapter 240 The Sacred Body of the Artifact! Awakening!!!
After lingering in front of the crystal coffin for a while, Hope led the priest to the church square to appease the crowd.
The entire cathedral was utterly empty, lonely, and cold. Just as Hope had said, no one would defile this sacred day, so it was fine even if the cathedral was unattended. But if the visitor's intention was not to defile it... then it was hard to say.
Not long after the two left, two figures sneaked into the gate without being noticed by anyone.
"Tunk... are we really going to come in? This is a bit impolite..."
Following behind Tang Ke, Jenny hunched her shoulders and looked around nervously.
"Don't worry, Jenny, I respect and admire Pope Brad more than anyone else." Standing at the door, Tonk raised his resolute face, his voice tinged with sadness as he said:
"Especially after seeing his face in person, I saw a radiance in him that seemed to belong to no human being!"
"Only Pope Brad can answer the questions in my heart. I really want to... see him one more time."
When Tang Ke recalled the suffering and pain he had witnessed in the slums these past few days, he felt that the profound ideas that the Mino Warrior had instilled in him were like a seed buried deep in the ground, but suppressed by layers of confusing soil above, and could never take root and sprout.
He felt that he was still missing something from understanding the Mino Warriors' philosophy, as if there was a thin layer of sacred prohibition between him and the Mino Warriors, which he could not penetrate no matter what.
After ten days of confusion and silence, Tonk gradually remembered the strange light he had seen on Pope Brad that day.
If the Mino Warrior isn't around, the only one who can help him is this great Sage of Weapons.
“Well… let’s hurry up and leave after we finish watching.” Jenny glanced at Tom with a hint of worry. She knew that he had indeed been somewhat out of it lately, no longer caring about even the fact that Duke Moss had successfully become the Greatest Noble of the Year.
"Pope Brad's ice crystal coffin is just ahead."
The coffin, surrounded by flowers, sat quietly in the center of the church. Tang Ke walked step by step toward the ice coffin, but a strange sense of fear and hesitation welled up inside him.
Gritting his teeth and mustering his courage, he finally stood before the ice crystal coffin and peered inside—
The withered, aged corpse lay in a coffin lined with red cloth, the burning wound on its chest twisting and congealing the flesh. Pope Brad's eyes were wide open, staring straight at the sky, as if he was angry to death by something, or as if he had some inexplicable regret for not being able to fulfill some long-cherished wish.
This time, Tang Ke didn't see that inhuman radiance on the corpse... He stared blankly at Brad in the coffin, standing still like a statue for a long time, when a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind:
"So the high and mighty Pope Brad... is actually just a human being with flesh and blood."
With a snap, Tang Ke felt a certain part of his soul suddenly open up.
……
A scene of mourning unfolded in front of the church square.
"His Holiness the Pope has passed away just like that... He was only a little over 150 years old..."
"There was nothing we could do about it... It's said that Pope Brad's body had already shown signs of abnormality before he activated the God of All Weapons... He was actually prepared to sacrifice himself..."
"Although it was the hero of sin who ended his life, we all know that what truly drove him to his death and exhausted him was... that despicable great demon!"
"Pope Brad...in the last days of his life... rid us of three scourges..."
The crowd's voices gradually choked with emotion, and the bards in front of Papal Square began to play mournful songs, with sobs echoing continuously.
Archbishop Hope moved among the crowd, occasionally casting holy light spells to envelop them in warm light.
"Pope Brad holds a very high position in the hearts of the people." He shook his head with a sigh.