While I was sleeping at an inn in the royal capital, I sensed an unpleasant presence.
When I opened my eyes, something was being swung down at me, but I coated my palm in magic power and caught it—it was a pitch-black short sword.
"............"
The black-clad thief immediately tried to flee.
But I wouldn't let them escape.
Through the short sword gripped in my hand, I activated [Dark Bind] and restrained my opponent.
"Who are you? Where are you from?"
"............"
"'
[Memory Theft]
'"
"Guuaaa..."
They were an assassin belonging to the assassination guild "Hell Enter."
Apparently, the client was a remnant of the Holy Cruel Church.
Did they outsource the hit because the people who could use curses had died, making assassination impossible on their own?
I had gotten all the information I needed, so—[Permanent Frost].
I froze the mob assassin—who could no longer speak thanks to [Memory Theft]—with ice, then used [Transport] to add them to the frozen pope at the Grand Temple of Forthru.
Now then, a smart assassination guild would probably think twice about coming after me after this, but I shouldn't get my hopes up.
Well then, shall I go pay the person who hired them a visit?
"Perfect Research"... The one who placed the order is... Cardinal Matthew in Forthru.
I'm still sleepy, so I'll teleport over once I wake up.
◇◇◇
Cardinal Matthew held the second-highest position in the Holy Cruel Church, right below the Pope.
He sat smugly in a chair in the second-largest room in the Grand Temple, mulling things over.
Meanwhile, his subordinates were scrambling to rebuild the church.
"I've finally tracked him down. The one who broke the curse on the only son of House Arden! An adventurer named Alan — he was the last one to take on a commission from the duke's family. He's almost certainly the one. But the Four Heavenly Kings lost their nerve, so I had no choice but to use an assassination guild!"
Cardinal Matthew had been ordered by the Pope to investigate the simultaneous deaths of three of the Curse Killing Four Heavenly Kings.
He had finally zeroed in on Alan as the culprit, but the last surviving member of the Curse Killing Four Heavenly Kings had learned how the other three died, and
*'Absolutely, absolutely do not come looking for me! I'm not joking!'*
left behind a note before fleeing somewhere.
He planned to deal with that one later, and attempted to commission Alan's assassination through the guild, but the price couldn't be agreed upon.
Then, one day, every single holy knight in the Grand Temple was wiped out, and the Pope was frozen solid.
That day, Cardinal Matthew happened not to be at the Grand Temple, so he escaped the disaster.
But the spread of the church's dark history caused donations to plummet.
As a result, he no longer had the funds and could only afford to hire a cheap assassination guild.
On top of that, Duke Moore was taking advantage of their depleted forces to capture the curse-killing units one after another.
If this continued, eventually they would come for him.
In the worst-case scenario, he would simply claim that the Pope had orchestrated everything and that he had no involvement whatsoever!
As long as he himself was alive, things could be salvaged!
◇◇◇
The morning after the assassin's failure.
"Damn it, no contact! So the assassination failed after all. Cheap guilds are the worst. But that can be dealt with later. The Pope is frozen solid — is there really no way to thaw him out?"
The devout believers who hadn't yet lost their faith gathered en masse and used Fire Magic, but there was absolutely no sign of the ice melting.
If the Pope died, he was supposed to become the next Pope — but the problem was that nobody could tell whether the frozen Pope was alive or dead.
However, some of the believers were refusing to acknowledge him as Pope, arguing that the Pope's death was not yet confirmed.
Ridiculous. There was absolutely no way he was still alive.
But if he could melt the ice and the current Pope's death became undeniable to everyone, then he could become the next Pope and be hailed as the restorer of the Holy Cruel Church!
"Isn't that impossible? Shouldn't rebuilding come before worrying about the papacy? If you can even manage that."
◇◇◇◇◇◇
Skills: [Reverse] [Divine Eye] [Sword God] [Fist God] [Spear God] [Scorching Heat Magic] [Frozen Ice Magic] [Clear Gale Magic] [Rock Iron Magic] [Holy Magic] [Dark Magic] [Space-Time Magic] [Thunder God Sword] [Phantom Thief Gentleman] [Ninja Master] [Seeker of Truth] [Supernatural Strength] [Pain Dampening] [Complete Status Abnormality Resistance] [Dark Spirit's Protection] [Super Intuition] [Heaven's Gate] [Contractor of the Abyss] [Magic Hand] [Treasure Search] [Seduction] [Eloquence] [Great Fortune] [Tenfold Growth Speed] [Growth Limit Breakthrough]
Rank: Orichalcum
Thank you for reading!