Volume 3 Chapter 57 Holy Church - The Collapsing Tower
The Marquis family was showing off their new camera, and there was a photo contest happening that got everyone excited. But at the same time, something else was causing a stir.
"Bring out the Pope!"
"Someone from the top needs to explain this!"
People gathered in front of the Cathedral, protesting against the Church leaders.
It all started with a small photo.
After the showcase, there was a contest called "My Favorite Things." One of the photos showed the Cathedral, but it had something in it that shouldn't have been there.
──Hey? What's that person doing?
A little kid noticed something strange.
The photo titled "Sky and Cathedral" looked like a normal picture of the Cathedral against a blue sky. But at the edge of the Cathedral, a small shadow of a person was visible by the window, and a girl spotted it.
It was the back of a woman who was clearly dressed inappropriately, reflected in the Pope's private room window.
──Why is this person n*ked?
Even from a distance, it was obvious that the woman was half-n*ked. You couldn't see her face, but it was clear she didn't belong in a Church. The rumor about this weird photo spread quickly among the people in the capital.
"The Pope brought a courtesan into his private room."
"It's a disgrace to the goddess."
Of course, this was a trap set by Cedric. Or maybe it should be called a honey trap. The truth was that it was a their shadow people disguised as a courtesan from the Marquis family.
Knowing the Pope liked brōtḥels, they sent a courtesan to his private room under the pretense of promoting a new business model. They even bought a mid-sized brōtḥel to actually set up this scheme.
While nothing inappropriate happened, the courtesan performed a seductive dance in a revealing outfit to tempt the Pope, and that's what ended up in the photo.
The Pope, enjoying the dance of the beautiful woman, probably never expected that it would be captured in a photo like this.
Maybe he thought there were no taller buildings than the Cathedral.
For the Pope, it was a fun time to forget about his worries with Chris, but the cost of this fun turned out to be very high.
The rumor about the half-n*ked shadow spotted by the little kid spread quickly through the town, and someone even provided magnifying glasses so people could see the shadow clearly.
But that wasn't all.
In a photo titled "Brothel Street," a fat man who looked like a Cardinal appeared in the corner.
In another photo called "Friends from the Orphanage," another Cardinal was seen hitting an orphan.
Both were barely in the frame, but because of the first photo, people had no doubt that these were corrupt Church leaders.
One after another, the Pope and the Church leaders were hit with scandal after scandal. To make things worse, anonymous messages started coming in.
──I was forced to let the Pope touch me.
──The Cardinal said if I didn't donate enough, I could pay with my body.
These were the cries of people who had been silenced.
Of course, the first anonymous message was set up by Cedric, but it encouraged real cries from sisters and believers who were finally speaking out.
It was completely corrupt.
In this situation, angry believers and citizens were crowding around the Cathedral every day.
"Damn... what is going on?"
The Pope, looking out from the window, was shocked to see the crowd outside and instinctively hid his face.
"Hey! What's with the photo? Why is something like that going around?"
The Pope shouted, facing the worried-looking Cardinals. Finally, the rumors about the photo had reached them, and they were in this mess.
No one had the full story, but one knight who was there explained to the Pope and the others about the camera and the photos.
"Capturing a moment..."
"What a thing."
Because of this, their shame was exposed for everyone to see, leading to the current riot. The Popes, who understood this much, turned pale.
"B-Ban them! This is heretical technology!"
The Cardinals raised their voices in agreement with the Pope. But the knights listening could only smile wryly.
The reason the townspeople even started a protest was because of another rumor spreading throughout the town.
──The Pope's ghost is appearing.
It was a strange rumor, saying a ghost could appear even though the Pope wasn't dead. But after Randy told Cedric the truth about the ghost, it slowly spread, and after the Pope's disgrace, it exploded in popularity.
The reason was simple: the Church had lied to hide the existence of ghosts, saying, "Ghosts are the souls of wicked people abandoned by the goddess."
This lie had taken root in people's minds.
The Pope had shown a disgraceful act unbefitting a holy man.
These 2 points led to the conclusion that
──The Pope was turned into a ghost for betraying the goddess.
It was a wild rumor that even Randy and Cedric hadn't expected. Instead of making people wonder, "So what is a ghost...?" it seemed people were more devout than they thought.
On top of that, because of the rumor, a ghost that looked just like the Pope was born. And it happened faster than anyone imagined. Once the ghost appeared and many people saw it, even the most ridiculous rumors spread like they were true.
In front of everyone, the Pope's ghost was finally defeated by adventurers, and people's anger reached its peak.
Some said, "He was just a soul taken by a devil."
Others claimed, "The devil has already taken his place."
The cause was the scandalous act shown in the photos.
The Church didn't know that the lies they spread were coming back to haunt the higher-ups.
The believers and Church Knights couldn't talk about such rumors to the higher-ups. Because of this, the ghost was born and even defeated, but they couldn't dare to say anything about it.
Anyway, the Pope, who was unaware of the rumors, decided he had reached his limit and would take strong action. He started spreading the word that cameras and photos were forbidden technology──true, they were forbidden, but still.
Gathering the Church Knights who were inside the Cathedral, the Pope took a deep breath in front of the tightly closed gates.
In front of the big door that kept getting knocked on, the Pope pushed the gathered Church Knights to the front.
"Listen up. They are heretics. If anyone tries to harm me, cut them down immediately."
It was a shocking statement, but the Church Knights had to obey since their job was to protect the higher-ups, including the Pope. Still, it was clear that many of them were not enthusiastic about it.
The Pope, not noticing this, said, "Alright, let's go──" and instructed to open the huge bolt that was keeping the big door closed.
With a loud noise, the bolt was removed.
At that moment, the knocking from outside mysteriously stopped... and slowly, a beam of light shone into the Church as the door opened.
It felt like a blessing from the goddess, and guided by the light, the Church Knights and the Popes stepped boldly outside the Cathedral.
What they found there was...
"Pope, Leonar Spiteo, and the 4 righteous Cardinals. You are under arrest for treason."
It was the kingdom's knights and the town guard. The kingdom's knights had confirmed the Church was opening and moved to the front among the townspeople, but the gathered citizens had no idea the knights were coming for such a reason.
So, the captain's words were a complete shock to everyone present... and the crowd fell silent, with the news spreading like a wave.
"Treason?"
"The Pope?"
With questions rising from all around, the Pope finally snapped back to reality and jumped forward, shouting, "W-What are you talking about?!"
The knight holding the warrant sighed in response to the shouting Pope.
"Do you know what I'm talking about?"
Pope frowned deeply at the knight's mocking attitude.
"Hey, you know I'm a follower of the great goddess, right?"
The Cardinals around him started to agree, saying, "Yeah, that's right!"
"A follower of the goddess, huh... A person who brings a courtesan into their private room?"
Pope's face turned red with anger at the knight's disrespectful attitude.
"Could it be that a knight like you believes in something as heretical as photographs?"
Even while angry, Pope laughed with a wicked grin and shouted,
"Listen! Photographs are just tricks. They are whispers from the devil. It's a cursed technology created by a forbidden magic."
Considering that a forbidden witch was involved in making them, he wasn't wrong about that.
"If you believe in such things, you'll be enchanted by the devil!"
With a triumphant look, Pope declared, "I have no interest in women at all!" At that moment, Pope stumbled as if pushed, and several photographs fell from his chest.
"Huh?"
"What?"
Everyone's eyes turned to Pope, who had just said, "Photographs are the devil's technology," but now dropped them.
"W-What is this? I don't know──."
Pope panicked, and it was understandable. The shadow people of the Marquis family, hidden by an invisible cloak, had pushed him and timed it perfectly to scatter the photos.
Of course, only the Marquis family knew this. A clueless knight picked up one of the fallen photos and nodded, saying, "I see."
"It seems Pope has no interest in 'women'."
The knight laughed as he showed a photo of a muscular, half-n*ked man. The photo was of Randy, Luke, and Harrison, taken with their faces hidden, but only the Marquis family knew that.
Even though the face was hidden, the well-built muscles were impressive enough for any man to admire. But for Pope, who had no real interest in such things...
"That's ridiculous! What I like are young, voluptuous women──."
He accidentally blurted that out. Pope quickly covered his mouth, but it was too late. He had basically admitted to having those photos in front of everyone.
Plus, the fact that he had the photos remained. The question of why he had a photo of a half-n*ked man was pushed aside, leaving only the fact that he had the photos and liked women.
In front of the completely self-destructed Pope, the knight sighed and told his subordinates, "Arrest him." At the same time, he showed a warrant to the Church Knights.
"Can we search inside?"
With the king's seal and Pope now on the verge of collapse, the Cardinals captured, a regular Church Knight couldn't refuse and just nodded silently.
"Everyone, search inside. Gather evidence not just for the attempted assassination of the Crown Prince, but also for all the past corruption."
The knight, who deliberately mentioned the attempted assassination of the Crown Prince, led his subordinates and the captured Popes into the Cathedral.
After a brief silence, the area in front of the Cathedral erupted into chaos, the loudest it had been all day.
Randy and the others watched this commotion from a nearby rooftop.
"I can't believe it went this smoothly."
Even Randy, who knew about the previous scandals, had never seen such a perfectly timed incident. Plus, they had even managed to self-destruct.
"I was worried when they asked me to take half-n*ked photos."
He never expected it would be used like this, and Randy couldn't hide his surprise.
"[Prince of the Silver Peaks]. Truly lives up to the name of a genius."
Luke smiled wryly, and Randy returned the smile, saying, "That guy is a monster." Right now, Cedric was probably enjoying tea with Cecilia and Liz at the Marquis family's residence in the capital.
He left the site supervision to his subordinates, yet the execution of this plan was flawless.
Creating a scandal, spreading it around, and then pushing someone to self-destruct. It's not exactly a nice way to trap someone, but even Randy, who knows modern Japan, has to admit it's a clever trick.
If people say it's Pope's own fault, that's just how it is, but Cedric's flexibility made it all possible.
Originally, they planned to reveal the truth that the Church was hiding before the final blow, but the rumors took an unexpected turn and spread faster than they thought, pushing the country into chaos.
They probably had a lot of simulations ready for today's events. One of them included shirtless photos of Randy and Luke. What a scary guy.
"What do you think will happen with the truth about the ghost?"
"Well, the country will have to announce it, right? During Pope's trial."
Randy looked ahead, where citizens were still causing a scene in front of the Cathedral.
"Well, if the truth comes out and people go, 'Wait, so that ghost is...' it won't be a problem."
"Exactly."
What they meant was that as the trial goes on and the truth about the ghost comes out, the earlier ghost incident will end up confirming that truth.
Rumors shape reality... so, the ghost appeared because of the bad things Pope did. If that's the case, then what the kingdom says is true, and Pope and the others have been deceiving themselves all along, which just turns into anger.
"But who started the rumors in the first place? Doesn't that matter?"
Luke sighed as he watched the chaos in front of the Cathedral, and Randy laughed through his nose, saying, "It doesn't."
"Most people found out because of the photos. The rumors that were quietly spreading before got swallowed up, and no one even knows when they started."
Randy rested his chin on his hand, looking down at the commotion, and muttered, "That's how a scandal works." In his eyes, he could see the burning anger of the citizens.
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