I Became The Pope, Now What?
chapter-567

Sylvester gazed at the gigantic creature and fell into a moral dilemma. But eventually, he was able to make sense of it and decided against killing the dragon. Because, at the end of the day, the realm may not know, but Avanss and the King knew that Sylvester was the intruder. They would know he was the one who killed the dragon, and in the long term, it would ruin his goodwill with his father, ruining any hope of peace between the two realms.

"Why are you inviting death, little dragon!" Sylvester shouted back, maintaining the pride of an elf. "Step aside or die!"

The dragon seemed to have heard the funniest joke as he stopped his raging roars and started to laugh. "Bwahaha… You? A little elf will slay a dragon? Your kind is only ever good at hiding in the trees. Yet you stand in my territory—the skies!"

"Say that again, but slowly," Sylvester responded.

The dragon took a few seconds to comprehend what was just said. But when he did, his face changed, and beads of sweat big enough to fill ponds started to slide down the enormous face. "Y-You're… How are you standing in the air?"

Sylvester was using light magic, the invisible kind, to stand in the middle of the void. So it seemed like he was floating to the dragon. At the same time, it was impossible for the weaker dragon to check his wizard rank.

Sylvester grinned and started walking closer to the dragon. "I think you know the answer. After all, besides you mighty dragons—who else can fly in the sky? Hmm… I wonder if there's a certain magical trick that enables such a feat?"

Yes, he was bluffing being a Supreme Wizard. It seemed to be working well as the dragon slowly flew back, creating more distance between them.

"Impossible! If that's the case, then… You're the Elven King?! How dare you sneak around my lands?" The dragon tried to maintain some semblance of pride.

Sylvester chuckled. "That King? He's too spineless to do something like this… That pathetic good-for-nothing. Soon enough, he'll be replaced by a new ruler—much stronger and wiser. Until then, I suggest you try and keep your head on your shoulders, dragon."

He purposefully shamed King Rathagun to create confusion within the Deca Imperia. So all that blame wouldn't fall on King, but rather spark concerns about the mysterious Supreme Wizard.

"I'll fly past you now—If you stop me, you die; if you speak, you die; if you move, you die—even if you breathe, you will die." Sylvester wasted no time and confidently strode past the gigantic red dragon.

Acting incredibly proud, he didn't even take a glance at the creature and continued. Eventually, he reached the other side and shamelessly raised his palm.

PA!

A satisfying, resounding slap landed on the meaty leg of the dragon, leaving a deep red mark filled with stinging pain. But the giant dragon didn't squirm as he remembered not to speak, or suffer death.

'Even dragons bow before a Supreme Wizard,' Sylvester couldn't help but look forward to being one in the future.

Without further delay, he once again kicked his feet on the Light Tiles, not too hard as they were easy to break. But still, his speed gradually increased, and he eventually headed toward the eastern shoreline.

Within an hour, he arrived at the coast. It was completely empty, with no village or town visible in any direction. He had moved in a straight line from the Old City, so he expected to find Felix, Sir Dolorem, and Dagorith somewhere nearby.

"Chonky, do you see a ship?" He asked while surveying the ocean.

"No," Miraj replied, returning to sleep on his shoulder.

'He's grumpy?'

He noticed it but sadly couldn't spare the time to sort it out. So he directly spoke with Felix through the Solarium Web. "Where are you? I'm at the beach."

"We already left."

"..."

As if he understood the silence, Felix quickly added. "We left just a few minutes ago, and I knew you could still reach us. Head east from your current position, following the path of the sun. We're on an elven warship."

'Avanss and Rathagun are going to have a headache for weeks.' Sylvester almost laughed imagining that. However, a small part of his mind regretted not seeing what King Rathagun looked like, at the very least.

"Alright, I'll be right there." Sylvester stopped talking and continued his walk.

Gazing at the horizon in all directions, all he saw was absolutely nothing, even from that height. The Darkpit Sea was the biggest ocean in the world, stretching without interruption from the northern to the southern poles of the world. But the real frightening thing about the sea was its perpetually changing weather, cycling every fifteen minutes. Its depth plunged to uncharted lows, not to mention the creatures that exist of sizes best left to one's imagination—the worst one.

Combining all those things and instantaneous storms that turned the sea violent, almost nobody could navigate it. Hence, relative peace reigned over the eastern coast of Beastaria and the western coast of Sol for much of history.

"Giant steel warships should be able to find passage through these waters in the future." Sylvester considered. But, then again, he had no clue about the monsters in the sea, so it could also be a deciding factor.

After spending eight minutes walking in the air, he finally saw something in the sea. It was a big three-mast ship sailing toward the east.

Bam!

At last, he descended and loudly landed on the ship's deck. Felix and Dagorith were busy jumping around the ship and managing the sails while Sir Dolorem was at the wheel.

"Welcome back, Lord Bard." Sir Dolorem smiled, his face showing a look of immense relief. Seeing Sylvester's safe return was enough for the man, apparently.

"HOLY!" Felix's voice abruptly bellowed as he landed from the mast, unsheathing his dark sword. "The Shadow Knight is here to kill you, Max!"

Sylvester looked behind and found the floating figure of the Shadow Knight. The familiar cold air lingered, but there was no hostility in the scent, merely amusement. Perhaps, the creature was enjoying the last few days it had left, as the eternal peace was near at last.

"Hah! Shadow Knight is just a tale to scare kids…" Dagorith also came down while joking, only to fall silent upon seeing the real thing. "I… like his style."

Of course, a ninja would appreciate a creature draped in black.

Sylvester raised his hand. "Calm down. He's on our side now. He helped me escape Deca Imperia without bloodshed. And one more thing… This man is actua—"

Suddenly, Sylvester stopped as he sensed the rising annoyance from the Shadow Knight. It seemed like the man didn't want his identity exposed. And Sylvester chose to respect it.

"Enough with that. I'm starving. Did you cook anything?" Sylvester changed the topic.

BOOM!

Just then, thunder fell from the sky, and almost instantly, a storm appeared. Rain fell with full force, transforming the sea into a churning maelstrom.

Felix grunted and got ready to jump back to manage the sails. "We've dealt with two storms by now. That's why we haven't cooked anything."

Sylvester knew their whole journey home was going to be like that. "Sir Dolorem, I'll take the helm. Can you quickly cook up some simple stew instead?"

Sir Dolorem was always ready to cook for Sylvester. "Of course, Lord Bard. The elven ship's provisions are mainly meat."

Woosh!

Without asking, Miraj drowsily opened his mouth and let out some spices and vegetables to be used in the stew. Then, the boy fell asleep again.

Sylvester knew Miraj was acting, so he directly asked him. "What's wrong, Chonky?"

"Nothing," Miraj replied, using his paws to hide his face. "Let's go home."

Finally, Sylvester took a long, deep breath and accepted his fault. "I'm sorry I failed to take you to look for more of your kind. But I promise, I'll soon have the entire Beastaria under my control. When that happens, I'll take you to look in every nook and cranny."

Miraj kept his face behind his paws. "B-But you always promise and then break it."

"This time, I promise it on my own life," Sylvester replied because the next few days were indeed a matter of life or death.

"Pawmiss?" Miraj sat up and raised one paw toward Sylvester on the shoulder.

Sylvester used one hand and tapped Miraj's paw with his palm. "Unbreakable pawmiss."

"Hehe… I'm hungry." Miraj's mood instantly turned around.

They didn't have to wait too long as Sir Dolorem came out with the stew soon enough. Since they just passed a storm, they expected to get calm and some other non-lethal weather cycles for a few minutes. That was their window to eat.

The bowls were large, and the meat was in abundance. So without waiting, the four men sat down and gobbled it down like cavemen.

"Max," Felix called out in the middle of chewing. "Do you think we should give him a bowl?"

Sylvester looked at the Shadow Knight sitting alone at the ship's bow, unbothered by any weather. "I don't know what he is… he's not a human that I can vouch for. But a ghost shouldn't be this strong either… Just let him be."

"You won't know unless you offer." Dagorith Ling, Sylvester's favorite Ninja, decided to pour a bowl and approach the Shadow Knight.

Dagorith still had his entire body covered with black straps of clothes and then tight robes above, but his mouth area was now open for eating. He sat down beside the Shadow Knight and extended the bowl.

"Just two men in black robes sitting in silence and eating—we're oddly alike." Dagorith tried to make small talk and nudge the Shadow Knight to take the bowl.

The Shadow Knight turned its hooded face toward him. There was nothing inside the hood besides incomprehensible darkness and two white slits for eyes. "My robes, if you touched—You'll crumble to dust, death's grasp is such."

"..."

Speechless, Dagorith quickly distanced himself by three feet. "W-Well… Perhaps not so alike but… but we…"

"Food… It's been over a thousand years." Shadow Knight abruptly said. "I don't know what it feels like, same with pain, fear, or tears."

Dagorith sighed, his gaze fixed on the sky. "I didn't know the fear of death before—then Lord Bard dragged me to Beastaria. But I'm glad, as I gained a lot of experience. I think I can be Warsong's top expert now."

"You're from Warsong? How is Old Shin Wu's bloodline?" The Shadow Knight asked as if he was reminiscing old memories, living an ordinary moment after centuries of hunting the corrupt and looking for someone adept.

Dagorith scratched his covered head. "Shin Wu? That bloodline ended when Masan attacked for the first time. Old Wu's sister's son became the new King, and now his Liu bloodline is ruling. You never went to Warsong?"

"You clean the dust when the house is empty, not when the house is the pig's pen."

Dagorith felt speechless. The Shadow Knight just called Warsong corrupt, beyond saving. "Any advice?"

The Shadow Knight looked ahead as another storm was brewing. "Just know… every man in history who claimed to be the strongest died eventually. So, when death is bound to win, why not be good? Why be evil intentionally?"

BOOM!

"Argh… I'd love to talk more…" Dagorith grunted and got up to work.

With that, everyone got back to work managing the sails. It was just the fourth of the countless dark storms they were bound to face. But that was only if life was going to be fair to them because, on that day—it certainly wasn't.

Bam!

"MAX!" Felix roared from the top of the sail. "We're stuck on land!"

Sylvester frowned and left the wheel to look down from the side. With one glance, he noticed a lot of rocks, even in the faint light of the sky.

Boom!—While he looked down, lightning cracked, illuminating the sea enough for him to see the shadow of something moving. Its size was big enough for him to wipe his eyes a few times and take another look.

But when the second flash of lightning illuminated the sea surface, he noticed more than one shadow.

"It's a monster! Likely more than one—bigger than ten dragons!" Sylvester shouted back, his tone almost helpless. Could he kill it? He had no clue.

"Nya… Fish!" Miraj suddenly poked his head on Sylvester's shoulder to look down. "I eat?"

"..."

"Can you?"

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