I Became The Pope, Now What?
chapter-93

"You bastard!"

Sylvester scoffed and threw the crystals at the man as well. But he was clearly the most experienced and powerful as he used the air element to blow the crystals away.

"Fine, since the nuisance is gone, we can fight conventionally." He said in a challenging voice and jumped off of the light step, straight to the ground. Then just when he was about to land, he used the air element to soften his landing. This was why most wizards don't die just from falling.

'The bomb was too strong.' He thought, seeing the blackened land in a large radius while the burning ashes still fell from the sky—covered in dark smoke.

Thud!

When the man landed, Sylvester turned to focus on him. "I don't think even the body of your daughter is here. But still, maybe you can look around to find one of the bones… or if she had any lockets?'

His wish was to anger the man, and he succeeded pretty easily.

"Fuck you! Bloody sun fucker?"

Sylvester chuckled, "What kind of insult is that?"

He played with the mind of his enemy. He tried to show he was not serious about fighting when he really was.

Woosh!

The bald assassin used a barrage of runes to make Earth spikes below Sylvester, throw beams of fire at him or invisible blades of air. He also used runes that combined elements like earth, water, and fire, throwing a spray of hot, burning mud on Sylvester.

But, Sylvester was a man who had studied hard for each aspect of magic, especially runes and incantations. His aim from the start was to become the best at fighting. Hence, he used the same runes the man used to stop his attacks. The fire killed fire, air killed air, and Sylvester's Solarium reserves were much bigger.

The rule was simple: the higher one's talent, the bigger his reserves. His enemy was also a Master Wizard, a man of pretty high rank for an assassin, very deadly for Felix and the rest. "Sad for you, I suppose your Master Wizard rank level is lower than mine."

Even a difference of one level could prove to be deadly in a fight. Sylvester easily broke all deadlocks of attacks by overpowering them and outlasting his opponent. And now, with nobody annoying him from behind, Sylvester aimed to end this fight.

But, his wish was not to kill him. So he took his spear in his right hand and aimed, while using the fire element from his left hand to stop the maddening barrage of attacks. His opponent had lost his mind. It was clear from his hazy eyes and mindless magic casting.

Woosh!

Sylvester used Knight's runes on the spear and made the tip of his spear heat up. Then, when his opponent used a water attack, he used a fire attack to create a steam screen—the best time to throw the spear.

The Spear of Infinity flew like an eagle ready to hunt, faster than one's eyes could see. Then, cutting the air, it plunged into the assassin's stomach as the heated tip acted like a hot knife on butter. But the force was so great his whole body got pulled along by the spear.

Thud!

When the steam vanished, Sylvester clapped his hands clean and walked towards the assassin—Now nailed on a tree trunk, bleeding profusely from his mouth, eyes, and nose. His eyes were going dark as well, for he had lost the fight and the will to live.

He glanced back towards his friends. They had also won the fights, and the woman and two men were kneeling, their swords taken away from them.

"You think you can die so easily?" Sylvester spoke into the man's ears from the side, towering him in height and looking down with hostility.

Bam!

He pushed a pale blue crystal into the man's mouth and forced the jaw to move. "That crystal will keep you alive for some time now. So, are you going to tell me everything?"

There was silence.

Sylvester moved closer, brashly caught the mouth, and moved the face up, so the man looked him in his sharp, deadly eyes. It was time to break him mentally. "So she was your daughter? Hmm, I'm sure since I have your body, I can find out who your wife is from the Guild Peninsula. Your daughter was beautiful, to be honest, unlike you—so I guess I know where that beauty came from.

"Too bad, I will have to catch her now and—sell her as a slave. I know a few particularly sick lords who like to 'play' with their slaves. I'm sure they'll at least keep her well fed."

The assassin's eyes widened in fear, rage, and helplessness. Dying was acceptable to him. He knew that before starting this job. But this was too much—and the threats coming from the church were no joke. "I-I am James Marshall! I work for King Badgers' Assassin guild! Please spare my wife… She-she's lost everything now… all she has is a little son."

"Oh! So she has a son? Well, the church is always in need of new meat." Sylvester replied, still not satisfied. But he noticed Felix and the rest were bringing their three prisoners. So he stopped being so out of line.

Instead, he walked to the three prisoners, took out a dagger, and placed it at the necks of their kneeling bodies. "Tell me who hired you, or they die… and much more!"

James cried as he shouted back in tears. "I don't know who posts the request! It's an open contract… the bounty on your head is a hundred thousand Gold Graces. That's all I know!"

'What the hell! Am I this expensive?' Sylvester was not shocked by the bounty but more by the price.

"How can someone put a bounty on a God's Favoured's head? Do you know how important I am to the church?" He asked further.

James shook his head frantically. "Anyone can! The assassin organizations don't work under laws! Even the Pope has a bounty on the head that stands at three hundred million Gold Graces. Please, don't kill them… we will return quickly… you should do the same! Riveria is home to some of the strongest bounty hunters."

Slash!

Sylvester nodded and slit his prisoner's throat. The woman fell forward—dead. Then he stepped to the side and did the same, and then one more time. He killed the three assassins with no mercy in his eyes.

"Please! Don't do this… I beg you!" James cried, sensing that he was done for now and his wife would be sold as a slave.

"Argh!"

As Sylvester thrust the dagger into the man's heart, he whispered into James' ear. "Don't worry. I won't touch your wife and son. I'm not that heartless."

At the last moment, Jame's face showed an elated calmness—and it froze with death.

Sylvester cleaned his dagger and pulled back the spear. Then he looked at his teammates, who didn't act surprised at all. "I am not—we are not safe in Riveria. Let's hurry and enter the Highland Kingdom."

"I should tell the healer camp to go their own way." Sir Dolorem suggested.

"Yes, do that, please. It'd hurt me if they were to be harmed."

While he burned the bodies of the six assassins, he thought of the fight. It was not as hard as he was expecting, but the bounty on his head was surely going to be obstructing.

That prompted him to look at his friends and Sir Dolorem. Of course, he wished for them not to be hurt because of him. But on second thought, he knew they wouldn't leave his side no matter what.

…

They tried to be as low-key as possible in the remaining part of their journey. They ditched their clergy robes and donned regular commoner clothes. Sylvester, in particular, had to dye his hair brown using some chemicals from his arsenal.

Slowly, they traveled West on the dirt roads and moved beyond the capital of the River City, where the king lived. They passed by the towering walls of the Harvest School of Magic and Knighthood. One of the five greatest wizarding and knightly schools in the world.

Then, they took a left turn from the intersection and headed towards the Snake River bridge. Thankfully, with the changed looks, nobody stopped them.

Then, they finally reached the Sunflower Fields, the part of Riveria always covered with sunflowers as far as one could see. It was beautiful and mesmerizing to the mind. For the first time, Sylvester saw something like this and couldn't help but appreciate the beauty of this dangerous world.

However, all their mood was destroyed when the large castle in the distance appeared on the horizon of the flowers.

"We're going to have to be careful here." Sir Dolorem spoke. "That's the Fort of the Duke of the Northern Duchy, our only way through the Rich Wall into the Highland Kingdom. It's heavily guarded, and every man going inside is checked."

Sylvester rubbed his chin, trying to come up with a scheme to go. "Alright, I will deal with all the items in the back of the cart. You all rip your clothes and pour dirt on yourselves. We shall tell them we're healers but got robbed in our way. We will prove ourselves by showing them healing magic."

The idea was not something genius, but it might work. Healers were always in high demand, after all, not to mention they carry expensive goods most of the time.

So they quickly went to the side of the road and dirtied themselves by swimming in the sunflower fields. Meanwhile, Sylvester ordered Miraj. "Chonky, eat all the items in the carriage."

Miraj knew this was not the time to be greedy and ask for a banana. So he vanished all the items in his bottomless belly like the good boy he was. Then, by the time they were on their way again, they looked the ugliest ever.

"We need something more! Okay, Felix, you're going to act like your leg is injured; Gabriel, you bite your lips and make blood come out; Sir Dolorem, you're a sorry old man, so get to the back of the carriage and lie down; I will just bloody my clothes and eyes, so I appear blind." Sylvester ordered.

Sir Dolorem didn't like being called a sorry old man, but he was out of options. So, their little drama company soon reached the gates of the Fort Sunflower.

The guards there donned standard Riveria-styled, metallic green, full armor, from leg guards to helmets. But the man questioning the arrivals was a scribe in neat noble clothes. "Identification?"

Sylvester spoke from the seat while Felix held the reins. "M-My lord… look at us. We were robbed on the road! We are mere healers… and they did this-"

The scribe looked at Sylvester intently, then Felix, and at last, Gabriel on horseback, holding another horse's reins. He then walked to the back of the carriage and saw 'sleeping' Sir Dolorem.

Soon, the scribe returned to Sylvester's side and appeared to write something on parchment.

'Did it work?'

Then the scribe smiled gleefully and handed the parchment to Sylvester. "Lord Bard, welcome to Fort Sunflower!"

"..."

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800 Stones = Bonus Chapter.

APE TOGETHER STRONG!