Chapter 691
The Eternal Pope Descends
After Honey Badger finished speaking, Cardinal Dominic did not answer immediately.
She remained silent for a moment before asking, “Your Majesty the Pope, what do you think?”
—The Eternal Pope has arrived?!
Honey Badger was instantly startled.
Was it the new one… or the former one?
When she saw that Saintess had already been assassinated and encased in amber, she had immediately fled. Although her escape failed, she had no idea who the new Pope was.
…It couldn’t possibly be Saintess Grey, who was already encased in amber, could it?
If that were the case, perhaps she would still have a chance…
A glimmer of hope arose in Honey Badger’s heart.
Although the Saintess had not been encased in amber because of her assassination attempt, she was still somewhat involved in the incident.
Did this mean that the other party’s ascension was also related to her?
But then, Eivass’s voice rang out.
“A million gold coins… that price is quite reasonable, and it is indeed an astronomical sum. However, I truly did not expect the Eagle Eye organization to take such a great risk and send a master assassin of the Fifth Tier to their death for a mere million gold coins.
“By the way, I have six million gold coins on hand. If I were to take a portion of that, could I commission the Eagle Eye organization to kill someone for me?”
…Wait?
Was that Eivass Moriarty’s voice?
Honey Badger’s eyes snapped open in astonishment, but the unquenchable holy light filled with Devotion Power left her unable to see anything clearly.
If it were just ordinary bright light, after being exposed for such a long time, she should have adapted. But she did not have the Adaptability of the Path of Devotion… This was equivalent to draining her own adaptation power and continuously injecting Devotion Power that would not harm her body but could not be utilized by her.
Therefore, her own power was gently sealed away.
At this moment, Honey Badger felt her brain in chaos and her blood run cold—
Based on her previous analysis, Eivass was clearly the Child of the Moon!
The Eagle Eye, as an assassin organization that had pursued the Child of the Moon for hundreds of years, was quite familiar with many of the Child of the Moon’s secret professional heritages.
The Child of the Moon did possess a rare branch of the Path of Devotion—a profession called “Moonlight Scholar,” which required the Child of the Moon to exclusively serve Hengwo.
Under such a close relationship, it was indeed possible for Eivass to become a Cardinal of Hengwo.
Moreover, the Cardinal’s robe Eivass was wearing was the black color that symbolized Hengwo!
…But, didn’t the Pope have to be an Elf?
According to Eagle Eye’s data, only Elves had the chance to complete High-Tier Divine Arts of the Nine Paths…
As her mind was in chaos, she only heard Eivass chuckle, “I was just kidding. Hiring is impossible… According to the Church’s rules, you’ll have to work for us to repay your debt.”
…What did that mean?
Was this… not killing her?
“Withdraw the Shadowless Lamp sequence, Cardinal Dominic. And then give this lady some more clothes.”
“Just to let you know, Your Majesty the Pope—she can control any shadow she touches and teleport when in contact with shadows. If she escapes, recapturing her will be quite troublesome. She might also hold you hostage…”
Cardinal Dominic said earnestly.
“Then let her hold me hostage, I don’t care,”
Eivass merely smiled.
Soon, Honey Badger felt a layer of clothing added to her body. Her cold body instantly warmed up… and then, the light sources from all directions dispersed.
As an adapter of the Fifth Tier, she almost instantly re-adapted to the new ambient light and saw everything before her.
It was indeed Cardinal Dominic herself, not some recording device.
There was also Eivass, Lily, and… that fake Isabel.
Honey Badger’s expression was incredibly complex.
She opened her mouth, but in the end, she said nothing.
“As for Alice… I will let her go. After all, she is an innocent child. It seems she hasn’t taken any lives yet.”
Eivass said gently, “Besides, she still has a photo of me and Isabel. I’m quite looking forward to the day she releases that photo to the public.
“—Of course, a reprimand is unavoidable. Even the Church gets a bit troubled by such mischievous children.”
“…You’re not going to kill me anymore?”
Honey Badger asked somewhat unyieldingly.
“Why, do you really want to die?”
Eivass retorted.
“But I am ultimately…”
Honey Badger paused abruptly at this point.
—Wait, I wasn’t the one who tried to assassinate the Saintess in the first place? But why was I the only one caught? I clearly didn’t make a move…
Unless…
Her eyes widened slightly, as if she suddenly understood—
—Unless, Pure White Saintess was never poisoned at all.
“…The Saintess was encased in amber long ago?”
Honey Badger blurted out.
And everyone present acted as if they hadn’t heard this remark at all.
Not only Eivass and Cardinal Dominic. Even Lily and Isabel showed no reaction… as if she had never said that sentence at all. It even made Honey Badger wonder if she had actually said it.
“Although you attempted to assassinate the Saintess, you did not cause irreversible consequences after all.”
Eivass said leisurely, “Besides, you have also been of some service to me. In terms of results, you also have some special contributions.”
…So that was it.
Was it because I “assassinated the Saintess” that Eivass had the chance to become Pope?
Honey Badger thought to herself, believing she understood Eivass’s meaning.
And besides her, Cardinal Dominic’s mind arose with another answer:
It was precisely because of her assassination that the scandal of Pure White Saintess being encased in amber was covered up.
But no one knew that Eivass was actually talking about something else.
—It was also because of her failed assassination this time that the Saintess still had a chance to succeed the Pope, and thus the Church would not be divided due to other Cardinals vying for the position of Pope. Since the Church would not be divided, there would be no prolonged civil war.
In other words, “The Disaster of Tree and Amber” had been silently resolved before it even occurred.
It was simply because there was a scapegoat like Honey Badger, and that was all.
“However, even without ‘decomposing’ her, the value of Madam Honey Badger still needs to be exploited.”
Eivass said, “After all, her motives were wicked, but the final outcome was good… I’ll leave this to you, Cardinal Dominic.
“—Oh, right. Although Cardinal Loki is dead, we still have to pay the remaining payment for him hiring assassins in his name—the Church cannot be indebted, can it?”
Hearing him say this, both Honey Badger’s and Dominic’s expressions turned strange.
…Your Majesty the Pope, are you sure you want to hear what you’re saying?
But Cardinal Dominic thought about it and felt that Eivass was right.
Although essentially, Honey Badger was the scapegoat. But the fact that she came to the Church to take this risk indicated that the Eagle Eye organization was at its absolute limit of poverty… This money was not much to the Church, but it could serve as hush money for Honey Badger.
—Just bear this burden properly and don’t think about retracting your confession.
And this could serve as irrefutable evidence of Cardinal Loki’s crimes—after all, there was still a group of Cardinal Loki’s ardent fans among the public.
Moreover, if the poverty of the Eagle Eye organization was not resolved, they would eventually carry out other dangerous missions. At that time, as an incredibly sharp blade, they could potentially cause uncontrollable disasters. For example, this time… if their assassination had truly succeeded, it would be equivalent to this mere million gold coins causing a major crisis of division in the Church.
It would be better to take this opportunity… to recruit some of them. Even if they were not expected to kill people, at least if a similar situation occurred again, they could give the Church a warning.
—Don’t they just want money? We’ll return double whatever they give, right?
“As expected of Your Majesty the Pope!”
Cardinal Dominic exclaimed, “I will make good use of her.
“And we will definitely not lose money—the Eagle Eye organization will come to ransom her. Even if they don’t have money, they will have something else to offset the debt…”
But at this moment.
A strange and warm fluctuation suddenly surged through the air.
It was as if Candlemaster himself had descended—an incomparably warm radiance filled everyone’s hearts.
The next moment, a girl with an incredibly young appearance appeared out of thin air.
She was a girl who looked no older than thirteen years old.
Her hair was pure white, and her pupils were silver-white. She wore a heavy red and black robe, which revealed intricate patterns—like a deer’s head, or thorns.
Black thorns spread out from the robe, embedding themselves in her collarbone, neck, ears, and forehead. At the top of her head, crossed thorns condensed into a sacred crown.
“…Your Majesty the Pope?”
Cardinal Dominic was stunned and instinctively uttered the girl’s identity—she was the former Eternal Pope.
But the former Pope merely looked sternly behind Eivass.
The girl was imbued with powerful and surging energy.
“—Fox, get behind me!”
She spoke.
(End of this chapter)
