While he didn’t don lustrous garments in the middle of the night, the old man still wore fine quality robes, praying in his austere bedroom.

The moon sat high in the sky. Praying for an hour before bed and after waking up was the Pope’s daily routine.

Even Popes had names and his was Evangelos Theodorakis. He started walking the path of God at a very young age. To him, setting aside time for prayer was a must.

「Who’s there?」

And so when he heard footsteps behind him, he didn’t even bother hiding the displeasure in his voice. Still, he remained in his position, knees on the floor and hands clasped together.

「To be honest, I expected a gaudier room. This one looks simple, though.」

An unfamiliar voice that didn’t belong to an adult. Rising to his feet, the Pope turned around to find someone—most likely a young boy—wearing a black hooded cloak. There was no one else around. The silver mask he had on prevented the Pope from seeing his facial expression. The only colored thing he had on his body was the white fur wrapped around his neck.

「I asked who you are. Answer me.」

「Who knows?」

「Do you work for Princess Kudyastoria?」

The masked boy shifted just a little bit.「Nope. Unfortunately, we don’t have any connection whatsoever.」

The Pope actually guessed that perhaps the princess, or someone close to her, had a skilled spy. He thought the adventurer who delivered the letter was the guy, but he never joined the Foreign Minister in the talks. It was rare for the Pope to guess wrong.

「I’m Silver Face.」the boy introduced himself.「And I’m here to teach you a lesson.」

Evangelos didn’t expect the boy’s next words.

「Teach me a lesson?」

「Yes. You seem to like keeping things clean, even going as far as demolishing the slums, so I’m thinking of dirtying the Tower a bit.」

「Ha, how foolish. One call for help and temple knights will come rushing here. Do you know why I’m not doing that? I want to know who you’re working for.」

「You can call all the temple knights you want. It doesn’t matter. Because I have this.」

The boy pulled a huge pair of blades from his cloak. How he managed to fit it in there, the old man didn’t know. For the first time, Evangelos’s expression changed.

「Wh-Where did you get that?!」

A huge pair of scissors that worked by fixing it on one’s arm and grasping the handle—the Blade of Severance, one of the holy mana items kept inside the underground research facility.

「I’m sure you of all people know the answer to that. Oh wait, I guess I put it on like this.」

「Get your filthy hands off of it! It’s not to be used by the likes of you!」

Silver Face had already fixed the blade on his arm. As he gripped the handle, it started moving, producing a snipping sound, but that was all. Save for its huge size, it looked like an ordinary pair of metal scissors.

But for Evangelos, holy mana items were extremely important tools for raising the Church’s prestige and spreading the Pope’s creed throughout the whole continent. Letting a strange boy hold one was nothing short of blasphemy.

The old man rang the bell on the shelf, a magic item that notified not only his personal bodyguards of any danger, but all the knights in the Tower as well. The knights in the nearest station would be here in under a minute.

「Your Holiness!」

「Intruder spotted! Don’t let him escape!」

「Spread out!」

Five temple knights barged into the room, each of them as skilled as the other. A high-pitched alarm echoed outside the window, signaling the other knights to come. Lights illuminated the whole place. It was almost hard to believe everyone was asleep just a while ago.

Silver Face, however, didn’t seem to care at all, as he fastened the metal fixtures of the blade tight.

「Men, you may kill the intruder, but make sure the weapon he stole is not damaged.」the Pope said.

「Understood!」

The knights were determined to kill him, but Silver Face didn’t even bat an eye.

「My opinion on you has changed a bit, Mr. Pope. You’re a pious believer who spends his time praying in his simple room. I understand that wearing extravagant robes is important for the Pope as a symbol of the Church.」

「Let me through.」

In the meantime, the Pope’s secretary, Katina, arrived, pushing the knights aside. She was surprised that an intruder got in, but what really shocked her was the Blade of Severance he had on his hands. She glanced at Evangelos who only nodded a little.

「But the way you do things is just wrong. You shouldn’t impose your beliefs on others. I just can’t stand it.」

「Any more last words?」

More temple knights appeared on the hallway. Now I have an overwhelming advantage, Evangelos thought. All I have to do is run away and let the knights deal with him. I won’t even get hurt. One of the knights inside the room motioned him to escape. Now’s my chance.

「You don’t know how to use this weapon, do you?」

Evangelos had started running.

「I’ll show you.」

Once again, Evangelos would realize how wrong he was. He stopped In his tracks and turned around, but it was already too late.

「No, don’t—」

Before the knights could make a move, the boy raised his arm overhead. Blue light streaked across the surface of the blade, tracing a pattern. As the boy turned his body, a slicing sound came from the weapon as though it cut something.

One knight glanced at the ceiling, five meters high with nothing but a roof above it. Evangelos followed his gaze as well, but what he saw made hiM speechless. Countless blue lines were running in different directions, and a second later, the ceiling exploded with a blinding light.

「Your Holiness!」

「Protect His Holiness!」

The blast caused debris to rain down. Knights quickly rushed towards Evangelos, using their bodies to shield him.

「Where’s the intruder?!」

「He’s gone! Tsk, I can’t see!」

Dust filled the room. With the ceiling gone, the light of the moon poured down on the whole room, but visibility was poor. When the dust settled a few minutes later, the intruder was already gone. Knights filled the hallway, but not one of them saw the boy.

That day, Evangelos learned that the Blade of Severance and the Dark Night Cloak had disappeared from the underground research facility. Some suggested Conia Mercury’s escape was related to it, but there was no proof. Gilbert Gabranth’s punishment would be postponed until a later date.

It didn’t take long for the Pope to know where the Blade of Severance ended up in. Ten days later, a messenger from Einbeast arrived at the holy city.

「We were able to recover our national treasure, the Blade of Severance. Our intel says it was kept here in the Tower. Is this true? If it is, we demand an explanation. If we don’t like the answer, Einbeast might become Bios’s enemy. As for your close aide, the rank A adventurer Sir Ryver, the King himself has him under custody, so please rest assured. Can you give us an answer, Your Holiness?」The old man from the turtle clan looked the Pope straight in the eye.

Ryver was Evangelos’ trusted retainer whom he sent to join the party Rising Falls in order to watch the Drakon Ball Staff. None should have suspected him of sending reports to the Pope using a rare magic item.

Did someone find out? the Pope wondered. If that’s the case, then there was high possibility that they discovered it was him who stole the Blade of Severance. Although, Ryver himself didn’t know of the studies done on other holy mana items.

Evangelos ground his teeth. Einbeast was saying they might attack Bios. Everyone knew that they would not hesitate to start a war. He would’ve been fine just watching Ponsonia and Einbeast destroy each other. Now the thought of those battle-hungry demi-humans entering Bios’s domains filled him with intense rage.

Right after the start of the new year, a national crisis befell the suzerain state of Bios, the likes the country had never seen before.

「Curse you, Silver Face…」

Not one soul heard his muttering.