TYBMB 65

Chapter 65

Unexpected Help

Before I could even shiver from the sharp pain, it swung its forelegs at me again.

I evaded the attack using only sound and instinct to compensate for my blinded eyes.

When I managed to dodge its attack, a brief opening appeared.

Thud-thud-thud—

I grabbed its head with both hands and tore it from its body using sheer strength.

Perhaps its nerves were still alive, for even after losing its head, its body flailed its forelegs wildly in all directions.

I stepped back quickly to avoid those blind attacks and assessed the location of the third one.

That’s when I realized things had gone wrong.

“…It got away.”

The third monster I had intended to take out after the second one was nowhere in sight.

It must have fled after seeing its two companions eliminated.

If it ran, what would happen next was easy to predict.

Soon, they’d swarm.

Expecting just that, I clenched my fists tightly.

The third one had likely gone to where the others were gathered.

It would inform them of what had happened in the food storage.

Judging by their colony behavior, a massive swarm of black ants would soon converge here to hunt me.

Huff… huff…

I had no time to calm my slightly ragged breathing from the fight, and I hurried forward.

My mind was desperate, but my injured leg refused to keep up.

Limping, step by painful step, my frustration grew.

Then something strange happened.

-Sir Shunestern…

In this tunnel, it was only me and the monsters.

Yet, a voice came from somewhere.

A voice I had heard before.

I called out in bewilderment to the owner of that voice, who had no reason to be here.

“Your Holiness… the Pope…?”

It sounded absurd, but the voice I just heard was unmistakably the Pope’s.

The same man who had once stopped the parade to give me a meaningful word during the festival.

Could it be my imagination?

Had my mind faltered from hunger?

I had been worrying about my mental state just then.

But the clear voice came again, as if insisting I wasn’t hallucinating.

-Sir Shunestern, continue moving forward as you are.

“Your Holiness… Is that really you? Why is your voice here…?”

-I used my ability.

“Your ability?”

The Pope paused slightly before explaining.

-My first ability is granted by the Divine to foresee the future—prophetic foresight. The ability I am using now is my second one.

“Is it… a voice-transmitting ability? To send your voice over a distance…?”

-No, it’s much more useful than that.

Before I could even ask, he continued.

-My second ability opens doors. I can open a door to wherever I want a person to be, and bring them through it to my location.

“Oh.”

-Simply put, it’s a spatial relocation ability that moves someone to where I am.

Like the spatial abilities Elma and Karl possess.

However, the Pope’s spatial relocation did not move himself—it moved the target to him.

And yet, he had also mastered prophetic foresight. Spatial relocation on top of that.

Truly an extraordinary talent.

While I marveled, the Pope’s voice grew urgent.

-Using my first ability, I saw your future. You were destined to die today.

“…What?”

-If I hadn’t opened the door with my ability, you would have died. I don’t know the exact situation you are currently in, but this is certain: to avoid death, you must hurry. Move forward at once.

I had no intention of delaying anyway.

Behind me, the scuttling and shrieking of ants continued to grow louder.

Judging by the noise, dozens of ants seemed to be on their way.

If I didn’t hurry, they would shred me to pieces.

Limping, I followed the Pope’s voice.

-Just a little more. Keep going.

“Huff… huff…”

I was too breathless to respond.

I simply kept moving, guided only by his voice.

Finally, I saw it—a brilliantly white door glowing alone in the darkness of the tunnel.

The door was wide open, waiting for me, and the Pope’s voice came from beyond it.

-Do you see the door?

“Yes, I see it. Should I go through?”

-Hurry. You can feel death drawing near.

No more hesitation was needed.

I stepped through the wide-open door.

The bright light streaming from beyond enveloped my exhausted body warmly.

Biiiii—

A sound I thought I might never hear again filled my ears.

It could only mean one thing.

“…I’m back?”

The sound is heard only when crossing from one world to another, so I must have returned to the previous world.

Sure enough, the dark tunnels were gone.

I was in a place of dazzling white marble, a space that felt purifying just to enter.

I recognized it immediately—it was a place I had been to before.

“The Grand Temple Sanctuary…”

“Yes.”

The Pope replied to my muttering.

He was slowly rising in front of the statue of the Divine, as if he had been praying until just now.

Seeing him stagger as if he might collapse, I hurried to support him.

“You don’t look well.”

“I overexerted myself using my ability. Opening a simple door is easy, but opening one that connects worlds takes considerable effort.”

“Ah… You strained yourself to bring me from that world? I don’t even know how to thank you…”

It seemed he had struggled greatly to open the door to the monsters’ world.

His complexion looked like a patient about to collapse from anemia.

Feeling guilty, I fidgeted, but he shook his head.

“I should be the one thanking you. Thank you for surviving.”

Before I could respond, the Pope spoke again.

“The moment I foresaw your death, I couldn’t even breathe properly. All I could think about was opening the door in time to save you. I’m truly relieved it wasn’t too late.”

“…”

I couldn’t just say “thank you” blindly.

I was indeed grateful he had risked himself to save me, but I couldn’t quite understand why.

Both during the previous parade and now, why did this man keep treating me so specially?

There shouldn’t be any connection between us.

I suddenly remembered something he said in the past.

-You may not realize it, but you are very important to both me and the Divine.

Important to the Divine… what did that mean?

Did he truly believe I was important?

Was his special treatment of me born from that belief?

As my thoughts tangled, the Pope asked, as if reading my mind.

“Are you curious why I keep caring for you, even overexerting myself to help?”

Why he treated me specially.

He seemed ready to finally explain.

Without hesitation, I nodded, and I was about to hear it.

An answer I had never imagined.

“I hold you specially… because I admire you.”

“…Excuse me?”

I couldn’t help but ask in disbelief.

What on earth was this man saying?

Pope Fritz von Emersheide, with the warmth in his pale blue eyes, repeated firmly:

“I admire you, Sir.”

I had heard correctly.

But why?

I tried to untangle the jumble of thoughts, then gave up.

No matter how much I pondered, I wouldn’t understand his mind. I would have to ask him directly.

“But… Your Holiness, I understand we have never spoken privately before. Our conversation during the parade was the first, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“And yet, you admire me? Before, you said my existence was very important to you and the Divine… do you truly believe that, and that’s why you admire me?”