Chapter 180

Chapter 178 – Sun and Moon – 7

Two pairs of green eyes and two pairs of blue eyes were alternating between staring at the staff in my hand and me. They looked thoroughly shocked.

“W-What is this, Distinguished Guest…?”

Floretta stammered towards me like a broken robot. Her face seemed like it had a lot to say, but her tongue seemed stuck, unable to move properly.

“Distinguished Guest, that is…?”

In place of the stuttering Floretta, Luna stepped forward. However, Luna’s state wasn’t much better. She could barely open her mouth.

“It’s what I mentioned. So… for now, it’s a Sacred Relic.”

I felt guilty calling the utterly useless weapon, which was worse than a broken sword in terms of performance, a Sacred Relic. There was nothing left to praise about it except its appearance.

With Faith 99 and Divine Power 99, even casting a top-tier Sacred Spell on a Demon wouldn’t yield three-digit damage. What a piece of junk. It was just a stylish flashlight.

Looking strictly at the damage, it felt like it had reverse scaling rather than just scaling adjustments. I thought I saw things wrong the first time I tried it, truly doubting my eyesight.

But from the Holy Kingdom’s perspective, it was a Sacred Relic, so what could I do? I had to call it that.

“Sacred Relic…”

Luna, with her head bowed low, muttered something. The volume of her voice dropped so low towards the end that it was hard to tell if she was speaking or mumbling.

I casually brushed off the prying gazes from all directions and approached Floretta, extending the staff in my hand. Floretta’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight.

“Here, Floretta. It’s yours.”

“I-Is that really mine?”

“Otherwise, is there another Floretta here?”

I lightly shook the arm holding the staff, urging her to take it quickly.

Floretta clasped her hands together, cautiously reaching out. Her hands were shaking severely; it was questionable whether she could hold it properly at this rate.

I placed the staff on her palm and pressed her fingers down to make a fist. I feared that if I didn’t help her, she would drop it the moment I took my hand away.

Staring blankly at the small sun glowing in her hands, Floretta transferred the staff to her left hand. Her free right hand reached out towards the small sun.

The right hand, which had approached the sun, hesitated for a moment before slowly beginning to caress its surface, which was glowing with the colors of sunset.

Luna, Stella, and Selene were watching the scene as if entranced.

“It’s not hot… at all…”

Floretta, who had been stroking the sun for a while, finally spoke.

It was fascinating to her that something that looked indistinguishable from the sun in the sky felt completely cool to the touch. She looked up with moist eyes.

Her green eyes, tangled with various emotions, met mine.

“Distinguished Guest. How did you… find this Sacred Relic?”

“Well, maybe God told me?”

I answered lightly, grinning as if joking.

Among the four present, they would easily catch on to the fact that my statement was meant to deflect the situation. They’d surely realize I was avoiding the question.

“…Is that so.”

If they didn’t take it too seriously.

“If you can hear the voice of God…”

Placing a serious expression on Floretta’s face, she seemed to linger on my joking tone and playful expression, not quite processing the sentence that ended with a rise suggesting a question.

Of course, the Pope of the Moon, the Inquisitor, and the other Inquisitor were no exceptions. All four of them were taking my words quite seriously.

“If you heard the voice of God… then of course…”

‘I knew it.’

Having expected this, I wasn’t surprised at all. It would have been more surprising if Floretta or Luna had dismissed my words as a joke in this situation.

After all, thinking like that wouldn’t cause any real issues.

Given my relationship with the popes, having one more Sacred Relic was nothing more than a cup of salt in the ocean. Even if I pulled something like this, it wouldn’t dramatically change our relationship.

Hearing the voice of God? The popes do that all the time. If someone other than the popes was the first to hear it? I was the first to catch a Creature Abandoned by God; there was nothing shocking about that.

‘I’ve done this kind of thing more than once.’

Looking back, I had surprised people plenty of times.

Didn’t I interpret revelations from God, subjugate the Abyss Dungeon all alone, catch a Creature Abandoned by God, and receive Divine Blessings? I’d heard the voice of God all this time.

With the list of things I’d done, finding this Sacred Relic could be a huge achievement on its own, but when stacked against those, it felt just average.

Besides, I had firmly insisted that until I allowed it, they should not make our relationship public, so what more could there be to advance from here?

I didn’t foolishly engage in this kind of act without thinking about it.

“Luna.”

“……”

“Luna?”

“……Yes, Distinguished Guest?”

Luna, who had been staring at the small sun wrapped in angel wings that was glowing in Floretta’s hand, finally snapped back to reality and looked at me.

Her eyes were still half-dazed.

“Can you tell me when the full moon rises?”

“It’s today.”

Luna replied immediately without any hesitation. I wondered if it was because she was the Pope of the Moon.

“…Oh.”

I didn’t expect this either. I can’t believe the full moon would rise today.

Just like activating the Praise the Sun Easter Egg required ‘noon,’ the condition for activating the moon side’s Easter Egg required the ‘full moon.’ To put it bluntly, that meant the full moon.

In the game, both would appear as one-time events triggered by satisfying certain triggers, so their activation difficulty was about the same, but here it was different.

Unlike noon, where you could just wait for it to hit 12 PM anytime, the full moon required waiting for the lunar cycle to reach the full moon. So, I thought I might need to consoled her, saying I might not be able to give it right now.

But if today is the full moon, then I didn’t need to comfort Luna. I could just give it to her. There was no need to come back to find the popes in time with the full moon.

For reference, Praise the Moon was no different than Praise the Sun; the only distinction was whether the back of the hand faced outwards or inwards.

‘I just need to wait until midnight to give Luna the staff and return immediately.’

Even I thought it was a perfect plan.

Luna blankly stared at the staff in her hand. A small sun floating above angel wings that reflected the moonlight from the full moon.

Her throat felt completely choked up, unable to articulate a word. The moment she opened her mouth, it felt like something other than words would burst out.

Floretta was similar. Holding the Sacred Relic in her hand, she blankly looked down at the small sun rising between the angel wings.

Luna’s delicate fingers began to stroke the full moon resting at the edge of the Sacred Relic. The tip of her fingers trembled slightly.

It was not cold.

Just like the sun was not hot.

“…Sister Seraphica.”

A familiar voice rang out. Slowly lifting my head, I saw her sister standing there, her violet eyes shimmering in the moonlight.

“Can we… really accept something like this?”

It was a legitimate question.

The popes hadn’t even fully paid off their own lives yet.

All they had done was promise to provide maximum convenience while holding a farewell banquet, and that maximum convenience had hardly been utilized except for the times they needed to fetch the glistening holy water.

Having not properly repaid the life debt, they were unexpectedly handed a Sacred Relic that wasn’t even recorded in the history of the Holy Kingdom. Now, they had no idea how to repay it.

What favor had the Holy Kingdom done, and what had Floretta and Luna done to deserve this kindness? What on earth was the Raphael Holy Kingdom to the Distinguished Guest?

Moreover, they hadn’t handed over the Sacred Relic in hopes of something in return.

They had merely brushed off their temptations and exited, returning a few minutes later with the request to join them in finding something.

“…I don’t know either.”

Luna struggled to provide a proper answer. There was no way to know the Distinguished Guest’s thoughts.

The popes peeked at each other for a moment, and then, as if choreographed, they unleashed their Divine Power. The pure and transparent Divine Power flowed into the staff, intensifying the sunlight and moonlight.

White and silver light illuminated the darkness.

“You told us to cherish this.”

When returning to the Empire with Selene’s assistance, the Distinguished Guest had said not to use it for anything else, just to hold onto it. There was no need to catch heretics or slay demons with it.

However, Floretta and Luna understood. The implied meaning was simply to treasure the gift he gave them. He seemed shy to say it directly, hence spoke in vague terms.

They knew that the popes would cherish it regardless of his remarks.

“You didn’t have to say that… of course, we would.”

They both tightly embraced their glowing Sacred Relics.

Even without those words, they would have held onto it dearly. To the extent that if they had to choose between their lives and the Sacred Relic, they would unhesitatingly choose the Sacred Relic.

As soon as Floretta and Luna clasped it, they acknowledged the popes as their true masters—this staff, which God personally instructed its use, and were told not to use against demons and heretics was outrageous.

No one else, not even the Distinguished Guest, who was showered in the love of the Sun and Moon, could use this staff properly.

It was only natural. This had been crafted from the beginning for the Pope of the Sun and the Pope of the Moon.

Excluding the popes, not even 1% of its power could be drawn out by anyone else. This realization stemmed from the knowledge that flowed into my mind from the Sacred Relic.

“Distinguished Guest, you surely knew this, right, Evangelina?”

“She must have known for sure, Sister. Yes, she definitely would have.”

The omnipotent Distinguished Guest must surely have been aware of this fact, so what reason could there be for telling them to just hold onto it, if not simply to treasure the gift?

After staring blankly at the sunlight and moonlight for a while, they simultaneously opened their mouths.

“Evangelina.”

“Sister Seraphica.”

And then, as if realizing what the other was about to say, they smiled brightly.

They couldn’t just accept this gift. They had to repay this kindness, no matter what, even if it meant dedicating their lives.

But how could they do that?

As women, they had already given everything. They had brought the bodies of the most noble and pure women in the Holy Kingdom to that Being.

Not just presented them. In fact, Floretta and Luna had reveled in that pleasure, to the point of luring him endlessly when he had occasionally visited the Holy Kingdom.

In that case, it wasn’t serving; it was merely enjoyment together.

Yet, offering power and status seemed to be unnecessary since the Distinguished Guest didn’t appear to desire that either.

If he had desired it, he could’ve seized the Pope of the Sun and the Pope of the Moon, the Inquisitor, and the other Inquisitor in one fell swoop, taking control of the entire Holy Kingdom.

If the laypeople refused, it wouldn’t matter; if the fact that he heard the voices of the Sun and Moon was revealed, they would scramble to bow their heads before him.

Not that he couldn’t do it, but the fact that he didn’t means he had no interest in it.

Thus, the only remaining option was one. The sisters exchanged glances again and smiled brightly.

“Sister, you’re thinking the same thing as me, right?”

“That must be it.”

The sisters were still in sync.