“…….”
Hearing the clang of items dropping from my arms, the Popes paused and turned to look at me, their expressions frozen in place.
The surroundings were a total mess. There was a pit several times taller than a person where the building leading underground used to be, with heaps of excavated dirt surrounding it.
Floretta’s face was soaked with tears. Her nose was bright red, and clear drops of liquid were falling from her sparkling green eyes. Occasionally, the sound of her sniffling broke the silence.
After all the anticipation of meeting her sister, Floretta’s tears were not of joy, but of sorrow.
On the other hand, Luna looked like she might collapse at any moment, showing no signs of life. Her face was pale as she tightly gripped her younger sister’s hand, trembling uncontrollably.
“Distinguished Guest! You came at just the right time!”
“We need your help, Distinguished Guest.”
While the two Popes were anxious beside me, Stella and Selene, looking flustered, suddenly brightened upon seeing me and rushed over to my side.
Each of them grabbed one of my hands and started dragging me toward the Popes. I was dumbfounded. What on earth was happening?
Why was the Pope of the Sun crying loudly, and why did the Pope of the Moon have a blank expression as if she had lost the will to live?
Whether I was bewildered or not, Stella and Selene urgently brought me in front of the Popes. Sniff—Floretta held back her sobs.
Her tear-soaked green eyes met my gaze, her lifeless purple ones staring back at me. I held back an involuntary sigh and opened my mouth.
“What is going on, Your Holiness?”
“Sniff… Distinguished Guest… you’re alive…?”
“Do you think I’d show up dead? I’m perfectly fine. What on earth is going on? What is this situation?”
“I… sniff… I…”
As soon as Floretta heard my voice, tears streamed down her face again. She seemed like she wanted to say something, but every time she tried, she was interrupted by her sobs.
I turned my head toward Luna, silently asking if she could comfort her sister. However, the Pope of the Moon remained lost in her thoughts, still dazed.
It seemed like it was up to me to step in.
I reached out and gently wiped beneath Floretta’s eyes with my thumb. Tears smeared onto my finger, running down to my hand.
“Why are you crying? I’m right here. You can stop the tears now.”
But the tears continued to flow. I started to worry if her skin might get irritated from all the wiping, but no matter how many times I stroked it, there was no sign of that.
Floretta cried a little longer, her face fully wet with tears before her sobbing finally calmed down. She was still sniff, sniffing and had the occasional hiccup, though.
“Are you feeling a bit better now?”
Floretta nodded lightly. Her cheeks reddened in embarrassment for having made a scene right in front of me.
“Then let me ask again, Your Holiness. What happened?”
“Distinguished Guest… we thought you… the monster… you were dead…”
“Dead? Me?”
Nodding, Floretta affirmed my question with another nod.
“May I ask why you thought I was dead? Because I didn’t show up for too long?”
“That, too… but we heard an explosion from underground… so…”
Her normally calm and kind tone was gone, replaced by a break in her voice, making it hard to catch everything she said, but I could piece together the gist.
In short, it was due to the special death animation of the creature abandoned by God. Floretta had heard the explosion when its body burst.
‘Wow, that carried all the way here?’
I thought it would just echo a bit in the boss room.
Everything started to piece together in my mind. It seems Floretta must have been waiting for me here when she heard the explosion.
After hearing the explosion and not seeing me for several hours, her delusions likely spiraled into something negative.
In reality, it was just a special death animation, but Floretta didn’t know that. There was enough room for misunderstanding.
Thanks to some mysterious power surfacing midway, it only took me about an hour to take down the creature abandoned by God. Maybe even less.
However, after freeing the Popes from their curse, I hadn’t shown up for several times longer than that.
Moreover, since the explosion had reached this far, it wasn’t unreasonable to think something had gone wrong.
‘…Did I really think that being a bit late wouldn’t cause a problem?’
“It’s fine, Your Holiness. I didn’t die. I returned in one piece.”
“Yes… that’s right. Sniff. You’re back alive.”
Wiping Floretta’s eyes again as she started to cry, I turned my head to Luna. She was staring blankly at me, and when our eyes met, she flinched.
“Your Holiness of the Moon.”
“…Yes. I’m listening.”
“I kept my promise.”
There was no need to brag about my achievements or explain in detail. Just saying I kept my promise conveyed a lot.
I had promised the Pope of the Moon that she wouldn’t have to sacrifice herself anymore and that there would be no more sacrifices from her side. And I had faithfully fulfilled that promise.
Now, no one had to die. That was all I wanted to convey.
After a moment, the Pope of the Moon, with her head bowed, trembled slightly before speaking in a muffled voice.
“Thank you… really, for…”
I could hear the stifled sobs in between, indicating she was desperately holding back her tears. I wiped the last of Floretta’s tears away and got to my feet.
Seeing me stand, Floretta looked up in surprise. I smiled slightly and said,
“You’ve confirmed I’m fine, so isn’t it time to do what you need to do?”
I shot a glance at Luna. She hesitantly lifted her head. Her purple eyes shifted back and forth between me and her sobbing sister.
Since they had been busy holding each other and crying, they probably hadn’t been able to greet each other properly.
I stepped back to give them some space after confirming the Pope of the Moon and the Pope of the Sun were gazing at one another with tear-filled eyes. Stella and Selene took their places beside me.
“Couldn’t you have come a little sooner, Distinguished Guest?”
It was a tone bordering on a pout. From their perspective, it must have been quite difficult. Especially since the Popes were mourning my supposed death without anything to comfort them.
“As you can see, I had a lot to carry. There were quite a few items to gather.”
I pointed to the pile of items carelessly thrown behind my back. Selene asked with a slightly shocked tone.
“…What are those?”
“Things I found down below. I don’t know if that monster had a treasure-collecting hobby, but there were plenty to gather. It would be a shame to leave them.”
“I see. Understanding, Distinguished Guest. I’ll prepare another carriage.”
“No need to go that far.”
“Huh? Then how will you carry them?”
“They aren’t things I need.”
“Wait a moment, Distinguished Guest. What do you mean—”
Stella and Selene’s eyes widened in surprise. Just as Selene was about to ask what I meant, I raised my right index finger to my lips in a gesture to be quiet.
As if they understood what I was implying, they both fell silent and turned their eyes forward. Floretta and Luna were holding hands, gazing at each other.
“…I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Evangelina. For saying bad things to you, for hitting you, I… I’m really sorry, all of it…”
Tears burst from Luna’s eyes too. Floretta held her sister’s hand tightly, shaking her head.
“No, I know why you did that. We were told to hate you so we wouldn’t be sad if you sacrificed yourself, right? So why should you be sorry…”
The Popes couldn’t find the words and only wept, eventually embracing each other.
Their breasts nearly touching as they leaned in, both of them slightly compressed and reshaping. The soft flesh mingled together, and the sheer fabric hiding the symbols of their motherhood was pushed aside, proudly revealing their curves.
With each tear flowing down their cheeks, the mixture of green and purple liquid slid down, mingling and trickling down their faces. Some droplets fell to their chests.
The transparent liquid that fell onto their chests settled between their large, soft mounds, making them move gently.
Their arms wrapped around each other naturally, and slender fingers caressed the bare skin poking through the delicate sheer fabric.
The other hand was clasped tightly together. Their fingers intertwined as if they would never let go, digging into each other’s skin, enhancing the grip even more.
From beside me, I heard Stella’s sniff and noticed Selene looking somewhat dazed.
Having watched the suffering the Popes endured, they must have been overwhelmed with the relief that they would no longer have to experience such pain.
As for me, watching their reunion…
‘I mustn’t react. Thinking good thoughts. Good thoughts. Good thoughts. Good thoughts. Good thoughts.’
I desperately tried to find somewhere else to look.
Sure, it should have been an emotional scene for the sisters’ reunion, but with their attire and actions, all I could think was how suggestive it was. I knew that was just a biological reaction for a man, but I felt a tinge of self-loathing.
The Popes continued to rub their tear-streaked faces and pressed their chests together, sharing their joy of reunion.
Likewise, my own inner turmoil dragged on a little longer.
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