"W-wait! You said you wanted to know about the Hazard Skill! If you keep this up, I won't be able to talk anymore. Only the Popes throughout history have known the truth!"
Since he was spouting such incomprehensible babble, I decided I'd just look it up another way later.
And so, the ice crept up to the Pope's neck.
When he realized I had no intention of listening to what he had to say, the Pope hurled his final defiant words.
"Damn you, Awakener! You're thwarting our ambitions once again! This isn't over—!!"
Before long, the thousand-year ice statue that would never melt was complete.
Its shape was roughly a square pyramid.
His face, filled with bitter regret, was perfect for public display.
So I decided to place it in the prayer hall of the great cathedral, where it was said that a great number of believers gathered.
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Now then, after flash-freezing Pope McCane and teleporting him to the prayer hall, I used "Perfect Research" to pinpoint the location where the truth the Pope had been hiding was kept.
It pointed to a hidden chamber within the Sanctum of the Heavens.
The hidden chamber was lined floor to ceiling with books on every wall.
In that room, I had Alisa restore my gender, then picked up the books one after another and began to read.
Let's see here—
— In the past, skills that couldn't be read were called "Unknown Skills."
— Unknown Skills rarely awakened, but when they did, they often became tremendously powerful skills, and their holders had even been known to rule entire nations.
— Several hundred years ago, the Church had tried to exploit a lucky individual who had awakened an Unknown Skill to expand its influence.
— But that particular holder of an Unknown Skill had a strong sense of justice, and instead exposed the Church's conspiracy.
Thanks to that, the Cruel Church's followers plummeted and it was on the verge of extinction.
The holder of the Unknown Skill eventually passed away of old age, ascending to heaven.
After barely managing to avoid annihilation while scraping by on muddy water, they made it so the Unknown Skill would be called the "Useless Skill" — to prevent the same tragedy from ever happening again (and partly as a form of harassment, too).
Since they could never figure out the conditions for awakening no matter how hard they investigated, they established a system to swiftly locate holders of the Unknown Skill, all under the pretense of an "Awakening Ceremony."
Because the Unknown Skill almost never awakens, until it does, they exile the holders and force them to live miserable lives as a public example.
And if one does awaken, they prioritize killing them off immediately.
After scrambling and doing everything they could, they've finally managed to secure the position of Elector Count, and are now preparing to rule the Maygrant Kingdom from the shadows.
Someday, they want to build the Holy Cruel Empire that will last a thousand years.
This is way too long.
I tried to condense it into three lines but couldn't pull it off.
If I really had to sum it up:
Once upon a time, there was a person who awakened the Useless Skill.
But they refused to listen to what the Church told them.
So from then on, exile them on sight — and if they've awakened, just kill 'em!
…is roughly what it comes down to.
The parts that were glossed over were almost entirely resentful rambling about the Unknown Skill holders who hadn't obeyed in the past, and it was frankly unreadable.
I read it anyway.
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I've posted the second bonus illustration from the book on my updates blog.
It's a cool group illustration of all the characters by Kōya-sama!
Skill: [Reverse] [Divine Eye] [Sword God] [Fist God] [Spear God] [Blazing Magic] [Frost Magic] [Clear Storm Magic] [Rock Iron Magic] [Sacred Magic] [Dark Magic] [Space-Time Magic] [Thunder God Blade] [Phantom Thief Gentleman] [Ninja Master] [Seeker of Truth] [Monstrous Strength] [Pain Dampening] [Complete Status Ailment Resistance] [Dark Spirit's Protection] [Super Intuition] [Heaven's Gate] [Abyss Contractor] [Magic Hand] [Treasure Search] [Temptation] [Eloquence] [Fortune] [10x Growth Speed]
Rank: Orichalcon
Thank you for reading!