* * *
"I really don’t understand what’s going on here."
Bael sighed deeply as he scanned the attendees. With Axel, Servian, and myself all present, everyone from the old expedition team was gathered—except for Kirke.
'Kirke must be too busy dealing with the former emperor’s and Duke Kreutz’s corruption right now.'
"As a priest, I’ve always lived in obedience to the words of the gods, but I never thought I’d witness the glorious age of their descent. And I certainly didn’t expect to be excluded from such a monumental moment."
Bael sighed once more. Having just returned from completing the last pilgrimage of the late pope, his already pale complexion seemed even more haggard.
"Truly unfortunate," Servian remarked with a sly grin, patting Bael on the shoulder, though the gesture didn’t seem all that sincere.
Bael narrowed his eyes at him, prompting Servian to quickly withdraw his hand and change the subject.
"Anyway, the Mad Dragon is completely gone now, right?"
"It’s not quite over yet. We still need to split its soul and seal it into the relic."
That ritual, of course, would be overseen by Bael. I glanced at him, thinking how convenient it would be to delegate this troublesome task to him—no, to entrust such an important job to him. Bael, reading my intentions perfectly, let out a quiet chuckle.
"Reshi, if you’re thinking of slipping out of this, you’ve got it all wrong. No matter what anyone says, you’re the star of this event."
"An event? Are you seriously calling such a sacred ritual an event?"
I stared at him, dumbfounded, but Bael just shrugged his shoulders.
"If it were just about conducting the ritual, we could do it quietly at the temple. But we need to show the people that 'the Mad Dragon has been properly sealed,' don’t we? So, in a sense, it’s closer to an event."
"Then the old myths of the expedition’s heroic deeds will resurface. We can also naturally discuss restoring the reputation of the ‘Archmage of Despair,’ who was falsely accused of murder but was actually the first to notice the Mad Dragon’s resurrection and sacrificed himself."
Servian smiled as he looked at Axel.
"Wait a minute... This is about clearing my name. So why are you looking at Axel instead of me?"
I couldn’t help but let out a laugh in disbelief, but Servian puffed out his chest and responded confidently.
"Obviously. Axel is more dedicated to restoring Greslin’s honor than anyone else."
"More than me?"
"More than you. If you’d seen how he reacted when 'Greslin' disappeared after being branded a murderer, you’d agree."
I had expected Axel to deny it, but instead, he remained silent, and Bael nodded in agreement, as if Servian had spoken the truth. Feeling frustrated, I poked Axel’s side, but he casually shrugged his shoulders.
"So, when’s this event supposed to take place?" Axel asked, completely ignoring me as he turned to Bael.
I stood there with my mouth agape, looking from Bael to Servian.
"…Is this really the guy who’s supposed to be more desperate than anyone to clear Greslin’s name?"
My question, laden with disbelief, only made Bael and Servian laugh. Despite the years that had passed, in this moment, it strangely felt like we’d all gone back in time.
But Bael quickly returned to a serious expression, and that fleeting sense of nostalgia disappeared just as quickly.
"After the new pope is inaugurated, we will perform the sealing ritual during the first official ceremony. At that time, Greslin’s name will be restored as well."
“You’re talking as if it’s someone else... You *are* the new pope, aren’t you?”
Servian tilted his head in confusion at Bael’s strangely detached tone. A curious smile crept onto Bael’s face.
“Unfortunately, I won’t be the one ascending to the position of the new pope.”
“What?”
Servian shot up from his seat in shock. Though neither Axel nor I reacted as dramatically, we were just as surprised.
“What’s going on in the temple? Who would dare take that position from you? Everyone knows that the late pope cherished you like his own son and was preparing to pass the position on to you!”
Servian’s eyes blazed as if he were ready to storm the temple and reclaim Bael’s rightful place.
“I appreciate your enthusiasm, truly...”
Bael shook his head calmly.
“The cardinals did nominate me as the next pope, but I declined the position.”
“What?”
Our eyes grew wide at Bael’s unexpected words, but he remained the only one unfazed by his revelation.
“I’ve watched the late pope’s life more closely than anyone else. It may seem like a position where you hold supreme power over the entire church, but in reality, it’s far from that. It just makes you a bigger target in political conflicts.”
Bael crossed himself, clasping his hands together in a gesture of prayer.
“The most important thing is to understand the will of the gods. As long as I can hear their words, I have no need for the title. Even without being at the forefront, people will still listen to me. Why would I put a target on my back?”
His tone was gentle and warm, almost convincing enough to deceive, but in the end, it all boiled down to one simple truth.
“You mean you’ll let someone else be the figurehead while you pull the strings from behind, don’t you?”
Bael smiled and waved his hand dismissively at my blunt summary.
“Pulling strings? No, I’m just quietly following the gods’ will. With the saintess at my back, of course.”
People who are eager to be in the spotlight are easy to bring down. But Bael, who always stayed in the background and observed the whole picture, was the truly dangerous one.
‘Come to think of it, Bael was always the last one standing, even in the past.’
While Axel and I argued, Kirke and Servian would jump in to mediate, and Bael would silently watch from the sidelines, eventually tidying up the situation.
‘And when we’d finally realized what was going on, things always ended up going Bael’s way, didn’t they?’
The three of us exchanged glances, each silently conveying the same thought: *Bael really is the scariest one of all!*
“The first ceremony for the new pope is scheduled for next week. That will mark the end of our long and bitter history with the Mad Dragon.”
“It feels like the real final mission of our expedition is finally coming to a close, doesn’t it?” Servian remarked, and an odd feeling came over us.
We found ourselves looking at one another with a renewed sense of realization. Since the goal of our expedition was to defeat the Mad Dragon, it seemed that the day of the ceremony would mark the true dissolution of our group.
"Thinking about it, didn’t I do something really important? I’m the one who sent Reshi the reincarnation subscription contract."
Servian boasted, openly congratulating himself on his contributions. Axel, however, shrugged as if disagreeing and pointed at me.
"The one who deserves the most credit is this one. She’s the one who recklessly signed the papers, which is why we’re all here now."
"Hmm. So, in the end, it was Reshi's carelessness that saved the world."
Bael smiled softly, summarizing the situation with a sharp remark. I couldn’t really argue with him.
I closed my eyes and imagined the first page of a fictional "Greslin Chronicle." It would probably say something like:
Greslin, the Archmage of Despair!
Saved the world through carelessness!
“Wow... that’s really lame.”
At my weary comment, the three men burst into laughter at the same time.
Ding, ding, ding.
Three clear bell chimes rang out.
"At this holy first ceremony of His Holiness the Pope, officiated in accordance with the will of the gods, we shall eradicate the evil that dared to defy the heavens."
Bael, standing in for the pope at the center of the altar, declared the sealing ritual while looking at me.
Many people, who had gathered from all across the land to witness the historic first ceremony of the new pope, turned their gazes toward me as well.
Under the weight of the expectant gazes from hundreds—no, thousands—of onlookers, I could feel a prickling sensation at the back of my head.
I stood up as calmly as I could and walked toward the altar.
There, I saw the three holy relics used to summon the gods and the corpse of a bird, which contained the soul of the Mad Dragon.
The sealing process was simple.
You create holy water capable of fragmenting the soul, pour it over the bird’s corpse, which has been divided into three parts, and then burn each piece in front of the holy relics. The ritual would be complete once the soul is sealed.
The real key to the sealing ritual lay in the process of making that holy water.
They sold such a simple sealing method for an outrageous price. Swindlers...
My teeth ground together, but now wasn’t the time for those thoughts. I needed to focus on the ritual.
I reached into my robes and pulled out the bottle of holy water I had prepared in advance.
As the softly shimmering blue liquid swirled inside the transparent bottle, gasps of awe rose from the crowd.