I Became The Pope, Now What?

The news of there being a bloodling nearby unsettled Sylvester as memories of the old days reappeared. Although he was much stronger now, he still didn't know if he could beat one of the Bloodlings because, as far as he knew, in that cave years ago, even Arch Wizard died, and he was just a Master Wizard. But he had the help of overpowered light magic, which was like the worst poison for Bloodlings.

In the end, Sylvester kept aside his woes as the task at hand was more important.

Some of the still sane people were out of their minds and tried to fight. So, it took them the entire morning to bring all the people Sylvester considered treatable to the monastery, where he gave them rooms and also tied them, so they didn't end up killing each other.

After that, he poured some chemicals into their rooms that would induce sleep and left. It was time to sleep for him as well since it was noon, and the town slept during the peak sunlight hours.

Sylvester had called his whole team into his room as others were given to the patients. They put some mattresses on the floor and laid down.

"There is something wrong with this town," Sylvester muttered as the thick curtains kept the room dark as the night.

Gabriel agreed with him. "I feel like they hate us for some reason,"

Felix added something crucial then. "They likely do. Did you not notice? Except in the monastery, there are no Insignias of the church in the whole Town. We saw so many homes and found none. Even the Fallshoot village had more of them."

Sylvester glanced at Sir Dolorem and noticed the dark man's seriously contemplating face. "What are you thinking?"

"Shane's mother called us cowards back then. I feel that has something to do with it. We should try to dig deeper into the history of this Town… learn more about the sacking and what the monastery did at that time."

Sylvester sighed as he felt that the assignment was slowly turning too big for him. From a simple investigation to a Bloodling in the mountains now, it was a lot. "I noticed something else too. All the victims of this disease are adults who would have been either adults or young adults during the sacking.

"So, even if Bloodling is behind the push, the sacking is the reason why so many minds in the Town remain broken. They need some therapy, I believe."

"What is therapy, Max?" Felix asked.

Sylvester explained in simple words. "Well, it is the treatment of someone with mental or physical illness without the use of drugs or surgery. Instead, you talk to the other person and delve deeper into their minds to find the source of their problems and then try to heal them."

"Just talking can heal someone's mind?" Felix was amazed. "You're too late. My uncle who went senile could have used some help."

"Max, how do you know all this?" Gabriel suddenly asked.

Sylvester clapped his hands together and closed his eyes. "The bard preaches what the lord teaches."

"Solis taught you all this?" Perhaps it was too unbelievable for them.

Sylvester shrugged. "I don't know. I just have some knowledge in my mind that I can sometimes easily recall and use to help. Whether Solis is behind it or not, nobody knows. Anyway, let's sleep."

"Let's do that." Sir Dolorem agreed. "We need to find out the mystery behind the village tomorrow."

"What about the bloodling? Are we supposed to fight that too?" Gabriel questioned.

For that, no one had any answer. Sylvester turned to his side and hugged invisible Chonky. "Who knows—but considering my luck, we are fabulously wrecked. Ah, this annoying itch over my body! I think I'm about to level up."

Bam!

Felix and Gabriel stood up instantly in envy, for they felt something they had long forgotten. A lesson they had learned long ago. When Sylvester failed his class in the first year, as friends, they did feel bad. Later, when he topped the class, they felt worse.

"You're going to become a f-fu… frickin' Arch Wizard?" Felix boomed and shook Sylvester hard.

Smack!

Sylvester slapped Felix's hand away in annoyance and closed his eyes to sleep. "You deaf donkeys, I said level up, no rank up. Now go to sleep."

"..."

The two embarrassingly laid back at that. But Felix couldn't sleep before knowing something. "Still, can you tell us at what level you're at? How close are you to becoming an Arch Wizard?"

Sylvester didn't answer and started snoring instead, dueting with the chubby-fluffy cat in his arms.

…

It was extremely strange to experience waking up when the sun started setting instead of rising. But work was work, and they had to drag their feet out of bed and freshen up. Today's work schedule was packed tight, and everyone had something to do.

First of all, Sir Dolorem was supposed to go around and find out what happened during the sacking and why there were no religious people in the Town. Gabriel was tasked to meet and talk with the second Archpriest, Aiden Sylvester, to reveal all the information.

As for Felix, he was supposed to be Sylvester's bodyguard during his attempt at healing the people he had brought.

"You're going to use your violin to heal people?" Felix was shocked to see Sylvester preparing to sing from the looks.

"Music is often the best way to soothe one's nerves. It calms the mind and releases happiness in the mind. It will help me make them concentrate on my instructions. Your job instead will be to stand beside me and stop them if they get agitated." He ordered as they arrived at the large attic of the monastery building.

There, all 37 patients were tied to the floor with one metal chain to their legs. This would ensure they don't attack each other for some reason.

"Lord Priest… can I also help you?" Shane was already waiting for Sylvester outside the attic entrance as he also lived in the monastery.

"Sure—I'm certain you only wish to see your mum." Sylvester ruffled the boy's hair and took him along. "Do you love your mum so much?"

"Yes! She's the best! She's all I have." Shane replied proudly. But then his face fell as he asked. "Can she really be healed back to health?"

Sylvester didn't know the answer, and he wished not to give false promises. "There is no medicine for this problem, Shane. I can only try and hope for the best. Now, you are to stand behind me and only watch. No matter what, do not come close to the sick or me."

"I will not!"

Dutifully, Shane soon stood silently behind Sylvester and watched the scenes unfold in front of him. There were many unsettled minds in the room, and they screamed and tried to scratch the floor or bite the chains. At the same time, some others looked normal and interested in Sylvester.

He directly started to sing the hymn and played the violin in the background. He ensured that his notes didn't go too high, as irritating them might create some problems. Instead, he kept the notes low and soothing to the mind.

The soothing light from his halo was a fine addition to the performance as it calmed the unsettled ones much better than just music.

♫When the sun shines, wakes up O' mother of mine.

She is the world to me, who makes my life define.♫

He sang about a mother's love for her child, as he considered that everyone in the group must have had a mother who was likely caring in most cases.

♫I make mistakes, things at home that breaks.

I get some scolding, yet your love never shakes.♫

♫O' mother of mine, I think you are divine.

How can the lord of light design

Someone so kind and loving combined?♫

Sylvester took the old-school tone of voice this time, the ones he heard on the radio in the sixties and seventies. He sang and sang without stopping for a moment, and the magic of music was that slowly all the sick stopped showing aggressiveness and silently listened to him.

♫"I don't drink, but I think you are what they call fine wine.

You age and become yet more kind—you truly are divine…♫

Pa! Pa!

As he stopped singing, he heard that everyone had started to clap for him. Even the worst of the cases were somewhat back to sanity. But Sylvester didn't let that moment go to waste. "I am Priest Sylvester Maximilian. They call me Bard of the Lord too because… as you can see, I have some little talent in singing and playing music."

Some low voices of chuckles came from the people as they heard his humble bragging. "Today, we shall learn to meditate and calm ourselves. But before that, let's eat something."

The food was ready beforehand, a nice spicy porridge with some meat in it and also some chicken soup. This was to help them after their prolonged exposure to the sun and lack of food.

None of them complained and ate their fill like it was the nectar of the gods. They didn't even leave one food stain on their bowls by the time they finished.

"Great, now that our bellies are full, we can relax and proceed. I need you to do nothing but remain seated and close your eyes. You shall rhythmically hear this sound." He created a short sound from the G-string of the violin. "All you have to do is keep your mind empty and only focus on this periodic sound. When you feel you can't focus on it and are getting strange thoughts, I need you to tell me immediately."

Ting!

Ting!

Ting!

Sylvester trained them to keep their mind under their own control, as that was the only way to heal them. As for medicine, he was still testing what to do. But thankfully, over the next 5 minutes, he saw nobody struggling and raising hands.

He didn't let the meditation go on for too long, as that was hard to do. So he ended the class for the day and started sending them away. "Remember, whenever you feel your mind is going out of control, all you must do is close your eyes and count to ten."

Soon, the attic became empty, and only Felix and Shane were left with him.

"Can I play it?" Shane asked.

Sylvester chuckled, knowing very well it was going to be a mess. "Sure, but not right now. I have work to do. I will teach you later tomorrow morning early."

"Thank you… Priest… thank you for my mum." Shane reeked of nothing but positive energy all the time, and Sylvester liked him for it.

Thud!

Shane suddenly hugged Sylvester's leg as his height allowed that much only. "I will one day pay back… thank y-!"

Before Sylvester could speak, however, Archpriest Oliver came running, panting. "Priests! Quick! The Chief's son's Demon Possession is really bad! We need your help."

Sylvester grunted and followed behind with Felix and Shane. "Not demon possessions. They are not real, Archpriest."

They made quick strides in the middle of the night and arrived at the large stone mansion. The servants quickly led Sylvester and Felix towards the basement and opened the door for them to enter, the Town's chiefs being inside.

However, as soon as they entered, Felix nearly cursed. "Fffuuu… How is he crawling on the ceiling?"

Sylvester, seeing such for the first time, bit his tongue. "Alright, this one's a real possession."

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