I Became The Pope, Now What?

"Chonky, give me bags—two number nine, a number six, a number seven, and two number forty-five."

"Aye aye Maxy! Uwaaa… Uwaaa…"

And there, the cute furry white cat started to vomit wholeheartedly. He was getting better at using his ability, but he still made weird noises due to the feeling of vomiting. Sylvester honestly didn't feel good seeing his good friend suffering like this, but he had no choice but to gently pat the back of the cat.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Soon, one after another, six jute bags fell out of Chonky's mouth in front of Sylvester. These bags contained the necessary things Sylvester needed to defeat the bloodling. They would be his backup plan if he failed to master his move.

But, using this many resources to kill one bloodling also brought tears of blood to his eyes. The six bags contained items worth more than fifty times his yearly salary, which was twenty Gold Graces a month.

The bags contained things such as Light Crystals, Fire Crystals, Exploding Crystals, and some Solarium Crystals, the last being the most expensive. But, everything was necessary.

"Alright, let's see if my theory can work." Sylvester started working on a mechanism, a simple yet wonderful thing. If he succeeds, he could amplify the effects of light and fire crystals to manifolds.

The plan was simple. What is the basic unit of magic? Solarium. What powers magic? Solarium. So, if one needs to make any kind of magic stronger, they just need to add more solarium. Hence, he was typing to make a contraption of three crystals in which the first one to break apart would be the Solarium Crystal, and then the fire crystals would erupt and with that the light crystal.

When the final explosion happens, it will be much bigger and include a much brighter holy light that would hurt the dark creatures. But he needed to work on how to time everything perfectly.

Two days had passed, and the rate at which madness was increasing spread, already reaching 200 per day. He had to act sooner rather than later.

…

Year 5116 of the lord was not kind to all.

Especially not in the southern region of East Sol. With death and destruction raging through the Sorrow Kingdom because of the war waged by the Grand Duke of the Patch, tens of thousands of commoners started fleeing in any way possible. Since the Great Barrier mountains blocked the East, all they could do was go north through land or river.

So, the Highland Kingdom became a hotspot for this incursion. But, sadly, the people who wished to go further north were now stuck as Riveria Kingdom's border was closed with the long and tall boundary called The Rich Wall.

The Highland Kingdom became the center of the refugee crisis, with new tent cities erected everywhere, disease spreading rampantly, and crime and exploitation increasing at an unprecedented rate.

But, the worst fate awaited those who took the Desert Road north, for the mountains that lie in the way were not the same anymore—awaited for them there was a fate worse than war!

…

"May the holy light enlighten your morning, dear."

"You too."

Such greetings were rare in the town, but this was much better than there being no such greetings. The effect of Sylvester's bard work was immense, even if he didn't wish to acknowledge it.

The people who had lost all their faith in the Church and Solis were now returning to the embrace of the light. They once again hung the Church symbol in their homes or shops to show that they worshiped the lord.

Even when their close ones were still falling sick, they felt confident in Sylvester that he would cure them because up until now, he had done a great job. Over the two weeks that Sylvester had spent there, his actions had truly gained the people's trust as he never asked for anything in return—no money or favors. So Sylvester was a breath of fresh air for commoners, who were used to seeing the world as a place filled with sick nobles and corrupt men with power.

In the town, currently, a man was walking around in his overly large robes and an aura that made people walk away from him. But the thing was, kids don't really run away from him since they have the danger sense of a deer.

So, on his way, he got a lot of greetings from children, who respectfully spoke to him.

"Good morning, Bishop."

"Have a good day, Bishop."

"Thanks for helping us, Lord Bishop!"

Then eventually, the man heard a few kids talking about how cool the Bishop was because he could bring back the dead and make them dance to his whims.

At that moment, that man felt something he had never felt before. It was a sense of pride for his work and a sense of fulfillment that what he does actually makes a change.

"Harpy, my little friend, it seems Necromancers are no longer seen as that bad. What a great time to be alive… Ah, I must go and talk to Priest Sylvester."

Bishop Lazark Kul Mizar, the Sanctum Inspector, was a simple man who wanted nothing from life but just some praise for his work—for existing. It made him so happy that he felt he was no longer a dark wizard but a light wizard. For the first time in months, he enjoyed the light of the rising sun.

He was last seen walking fast toward the Monastery. And a few faces had smirks over them when they saw that.

Once the man had disappeared from the streets and entered the Monastery, a young red-haired little boy came out of the shadows of a small alley and went to the kids who were talking about how great the necromancy was.

"As decided, here are five muds and candy."

"Hehe, pleasure helping you, Shane. If you ever need us again, tell us." Then, the kids left, walking to the market district to get some snacks with their new easy money.

Shane just had a satisfied smile on his face. 'I hope I didn't disappoint Priest Sylvester.'

…

He did not, as Bishop Lazar soon came to meet Sylvester and took a seat in front of him, discussing with him ways they could kill that Bloodling thing and save the town.

"This is really amazing, Priest… but where did you find all these crystals? These must have cost a fortune."

Sylvester shrugged. "I have my ways. What matters is that now we have some viable weapons that can harm that creature. Even those who don't have light magic can now harm that thing—even you—Bishop. I'm glad you changed your mind and decided to come along. What made that happen, if you don't mind telling me."

Bishop Lazark sighed and looked out of the window at the sky. "Sometimes, we just have a calling from the bottom of the heart telling us that this is the right thing to do."

'Don't mention it.'

Sylvester nodded with all seriousness. "Then, let's talk about the plan. I was hoping you could tell me everything you can about that thing, all the details, even minor ones. You talked about the Bloodling having minions. Can you describe them?"

Bishop Lazark started quickly. "They are annoying and too many. Their strength is in their numbers. Individually, they are weak and can be easily taken out with fire. They seemed like meter-long snakes but were as thin as a hairsbreadth. Their mouths, however, are hideous as they have no eyes but just a mouth covering their whole front. It stays open and shows lines of sharp teeth. Once it sticks to your skin, it starts sucking your blood, and the only way to get it off is by ripping away your flesh."

Sylvester noted everything down. "I believe the light crystals should help us deal with them. How many undead can you raise, Bishop? And what are the strongest ones?"

"There is technically no limit. As long as the solarium in my body lasts, I can keep going. As for their strength, it depends on the state of the corpse. If it's a skeleton, then I can reinforce my magic on them and turn them into Elder Skeletons and even King Skeletons. If the corpse is with flesh, I can turn them into superhuman beings with speed. King Zombies can even cast their own simple spells." Bishop Lazark explained the basics.

'So the necromancy is only restricted by the magic one can hold and their control? Interesting and very powerful. Has there ever been a Supreme Wizard Necromancer?' Sylvester wondered in silence.

"What if I provide you with Solarium crystals? I won't need the undead to fight but to be our shields when the Bloodling attacks. From what I know, they become crazy when hurt, so let's expect the same here."

Bishop Lazark thought about it seriously and nodded. "I should be able to."

"Great! Prepare for departure in two days, and if you need something, just ask me, and I will try to get it for you. I shall leave you to it then." Sylvester didn't tell him much so as not to spook the man.

He silently went to Sir Dolorem and showed a thumbs up. After that, all they had to do was prepare and make a move as quickly as possible.

'I should check up on the patients. Shane's mother has been healed nearly completely already, as long as she keeps practising… but it won't go away unless that bloodling is killed.'

Still, he was happy because he could finally see an end coming near this saga of a mission.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

However, how could his day be normal without something happening? Just when he thought about going to sleep as the sun was reaching its peak, loud sounds of the war drums resounded from the town's border wall.

'How in the hell is a desolate town being attacked so often?' Sylvester grunted and made his way to the walls quickly.

On his way, he saw the rest as well and joined along. They soon climbed the stairs and looked down at the other side.

"It's a big one this time."

"Yeah—I think they all joined hands together."

Sylvester heard the guards talking with each other without much fear in their voices, albeit there was a huge crowd on the other side.

"What's going on here?" Sylvester questioned them.

"Lord Bard! It's nothing. No need to worry. This happens every month. They are just a bunch of bandit groups. They used to attack us every other month, but they all joined hands this time and came as one. However, they can't climb the walls, so don't worry." One of the guards assured him.

The other one also added. "Yes, they are refugees from the Sorrow Kingdom. Since they have nowhere to go and nothing to eat here, they are turning into brigands. Moreover, they have no knights or wizards since all of them had the money to migrate further north and join the service of some lord."

Bam!

Just then, an arrow came flying out of nowhere and planted itself into the wall beside one of the guards. It appeared to have a paper tied to it.

"A message?" Sylvester took it and read it aloud. "Give us food, or we all stay here, die slowly, spread disease, and then turn into creatures of the night to haunt you."

"..."

Sylvester's brows creased. "What kind of messed up threat is this?"

___________________

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