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 b.u.t.tons 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 grat.i.tude 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 ma.s.s 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 t.i.tle "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 G.o.d, 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 ma.s.s 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 t.i.tles. As expected of the Death King, he was amazing even after death.