PMEVBO 138

████ came to a halt right in front of the child. Its cold eyes glowed.

The child, who had been closing his eyes and covering his ears with both hands, cautiously opened one eye. The moment he saw what was there, the tension drained from his tiny, rigid shoulders.

“What? It’s a fish…”

The child glanced at ████ for a moment before cautiously reaching out. His small, pale hand gently stroked the outer skin on its back where the pebble had fallen.

“It doesn’t look like you’re hurt… Does it hurt?”

████ didn’t react. It simply gazed at the child, its body half-submerged in the blue water. Whatever the child took that to mean, his touch became even more cautious.

“……I’m sorry I hurt you.”

Even as he shivered in the glacial water, the child continued to stroke its skin. That sight overlapped with the memory of Lucariel, who would drop everything and rush over to comfort Iser whenever he made a fuss.

‘It’s Lucariel.’

And that thing over there…

Iser stared at ████ with an indifferent gaze.

“Achoo!”

Lucariel sneezed. Isser frowned and let out a sigh.

‘Leave it alone and take care of yourself…’

████ quietly accepted the child’s touch. But Iser could tell that it wasn’t staying still because it was in pain. If anything, it seemed more like it was observing the new sensations provided by the small human before it.

Just then, ████, which had remained completely motionless until then, pushed Lucariel away with its long snout.

“Whoa.”

Lucariel’s small body was pushed onto the shore in an instant. Even though ████ was telling him it was time to go, Lucariel didn’t leave. He stroked ████’s head, and spoke with lips turned blue from the cold.

“What’s your name? Why are you here all alone?”

There wasn’t a shred of wariness in his voice. ████ gave no reply. As if [Read on]he hadn’t expected an answer, Lucariel continued speaking as if nothing were amiss.

“My name is….”

Something happened at that moment. Space began to warp, then scattered like bubbles. The next moment, Iser found himself standing in the wine cellar.

It felt as though he’d just woken from a long-forgotten dream.

***

I never thought I’d end up here again.

Even sneaking onto the terrace like a thief was exactly the same as last time.

“Please be in the lounge…”

It would be a problem if the Pope were in the banquet hall. Just because I was wearing a hood didn’t mean my voice or build had changed. If only I could use the ‘Alignment’ skill, I would have switched to Kang Je-in’s body, but the cooldown made that impossible.

The empty bedroom was completely devoid of life. He probably hadn’t even set foot in here during the entire banquet. And no wonder, the Pope was the kind of man who slept in his desk chair. I had never once seen him lying in bed.

When I was little, the Pope’s bed was always mine.

The only place that incorrigible workaholic would be was his office. I left the bedroom immediately and tiptoed across the living room. I pressed my ear against the office door, but just like last time, I heard nothing.

I took a deep breath and stepped inside.

“Typical… he’s never around when you really need him…”

The air in the office felt cold, as if he had been away for quite some time.

Surprisingly, the Pope rarely relied on his staff for routine matters. He even carried important documents with him. As soon as the banquet ended, he would likely stop by this room to gather his papers.

D-0 (9h 57m 39s)

There were less than five hours left until midnight, when the banquet would end. So if I waited here, I should be able to meet the Pope within the time limit. But I wanted to clear the quest as quickly as possible. Iser was waiting for me.

“I guess I should go to the banquet hall after all…”

I absentmindedly scanned the desk and frowned. The towering stacks of documents were all leaning like the Tower of Pisa.

One wrong move and they would collapse.

He’d probably sorted them according to his own criteria, but if they all came crashing down and got jumbled up, it would be a real headache.

I sighed and straightened the pile of papers. Then, without disturbing their original positions, I adjusted the angles of the items on the desk.

Just then, a sound reached my ears.

I froze and looked toward the door. The sound, resembling footsteps, grew clearer.

Has the Pope returned?

Just in case, I squeezed myself under the desk. Fortunately, the Pope’s desk was enclosed on all sides except where the chair slid in. So, unless he sat down, he wouldn’t notice me.

Not long after, I heard the sound of the door opening.

“……But if goods are eventually released outside the Holy City, it will become difficult for the Tirovis Guild alone to procure raw materials.”

A voice that sounded somewhat youthful for his age. It was the cardinal’s voice. I froze in place like a statue.

It was then that I heard the Pope’s voice.

“How do you propose to resolve that issue?”

“Please grant us permission to purchase farmland outside the Holy City.”

As the footsteps of the two men grew closer, my heart pounded so fast it felt like it would leap out of my throat. My breathing grew ragged, and I quickly covered my mouth with my hand.

I could see the Pope’s legs from behind the chair. He was about to sit down.

I don’t want to be discovered right now…

The back of my neck was damp with cold sweat.

But even after some time had passed, the Pope did not sit down. He stood silently behind the chair.

“…Your Holiness?”

Unable to bear the silence any longer, Bechard cautiously called out to the Pope. Only then did the Pope reply in a gentle tone.

“Yes, Bechard. So you wish to cultivate Purapul yourself. Outside the Holy City.”

“Yes, that is correct.”

Soon, the Pope’s legs disappeared from view.

“This is going to be a long conversation. Would you like a cup of tea?”

“It would be an honor.”

I suppose he planned to have it on the sofa, just like he did with me last time. A sigh of relief escaped me as I heard his footsteps receding.

The clinking of cups was followed by the sound of water boiling. Soon, I heard the sound of tea being poured. Judging by Bechard’s words of thanks, the Pope had brewed the tea himself. …I could guess what it tasted like.

“Does the tea suit your taste?”

“…Yes.”

“I’m glad to hear it. Have plenty.”

“……Yes, thank you, cough.”

Bechard pretended to cough and gagged. Whenever I was with that bastard, it was always me who had to put disgusting things in my mouth and gag. Maybe that’s why I felt a little bit of schadenfreude.

But at the same time, I was slightly annoyed.

…What’s so great about that bastard that he’s even brewing tea for him himself?

With my face buried in my knees, I irritably wiped the cold sweat from the back of my neck. My hands felt unnaturally cold.

“Purchasing farmland outside the city isn’t difficult. But you said you wanted to make the tobacco business the livelihood of the city’s residents.”

……Tobacco business? So all that talk about “goods” up until now was about tobacco?

Ah, come to think of it, tobacco in this world…

Before my memories were unlocked, I’d just thought of it as tobacco with colored smoke. Thanks to my memories of living as Kang Je-in, tobacco was a pretty familiar luxury item to me. But for others, it was different. In this world, tobacco was a cutting-edge luxury item.

That bastard Bechard said he was the first to make it. About ten years ago.

Even back when I was staying at the Duchy of Hayut, tobacco was the exclusive domain of high-ranking [Read on]clergy. It was only available within the Holy City, and it was traded at exorbitant prices.

…So the raw material for tobacco is a plant called Purapul. I didn’t know that.

With a clinking sound as he set down his teacup, the Pope continued.

“If the cultivation fields are established outside the Holy City, I don’t see any justification for me to invest in this venture. Don’t you agree?”

He said it in a sweet tone, the meaning of which was “Drop this nonsense.”

“If we could breed a variety suitable for cultivation in the Holy City, that would be ideal… but our current technology falls short. As Your Holiness knows, the Holy City isn’t exactly an environment conducive to plant growth.”

He was right. Most plants couldn’t survive the city’s bitter cold.

“True. But Purapul isn’t exactly an ordinary plant.”

“……”

“It’s a plant that grows from the corpse of Pura, a butterfly that feeds on light.”

What the hell…

If that was true, it meant I’d been eating butterflies just as that bastard ordered, even while in prison.

Those damn butterflies…

The nausea was so intense that, for the first time in a long while, I felt like biting my fingers. But if I did, Iser would definitely catch me.

“Anyway, there’s no need to focus on mass-producing such luxury items from the start. The rarer they are, the more people will crave them.”

“……”

“So, in the meantime, do your best to research a way to feed the Pura to their heart’s content, even in the polar night of the Holy City. Can you do it?”

“……Yes, I’ll try.”

And so their conversation came to an end. …That is, if only Bechard had kept his mouth shut.

“I don’t think I can manage both research and my current duties. Therefore, I’d like to bring in someone to assist me with my work in case of an emergency.”

“Is that so? Do you have someone in mind?”

“I was thinking of Lucariel.”

What……?