Chapter 27 - Papal War Preparations

Chapter 27 – Papal War Preparations

Author's Note: Although the pope war won't be happening this chapter, it'll be happening the next.

"Queen Mirellia." I respectfully suggested. "It will be much faster for us to teleport to Castle Town."

"Wait," she stared at me confusedly. "What are you suggesting?"

"Upon my level up to 50," I continued. "I gained the skill to set three teleport points anywhere in the world, and I have set two so far. One in Castle Town, and one in Messeblick."

"That's amazing!" Mirellia exclaimed. "How do we begin?"

"I do not know the specifics, as I have not tried it yet, but I believe if you join my party, and I activate the teleport skill, we should be transported to Castle Town instantaneously."

"Well, I'll trust you on this one."

As soon as I added her to the party, I activated the teleport skill, and we were whisked to the center of town, next to a fountain. Exactly the same spot that I had set the teleport point.

"There is no time to lose," she said. "From the information that I have gathered from my shadows, Naofumi is currently headed towards Shieldfreeden. He is in grave danger, as the pope is preparing to cast Judgement upon him.

"Judgement?" Indigo asked.

"Judgement is an incredibly powerful ceremonial magic that deals incredible amounts of magic." Mirellia explained. "The church plans to use it to eliminate Naofumi, as he had been undoing the common belief that the shield hero is a devil, which is hurting their power."

"Then, let us make haste." I asserted. "In which direction is Naofumi currently headed?"

"He is heading towards the southwest. He should almost be at the border by now."

We all hopped onto Indigo's cart and headed southwesterly as fast as we could. The queen said she had matters to attend to in the capital but saving Naofumi took precedent. We discussed our plans for the oncoming fights on the way there, while Rishia spent most of her time filing more paperwork for Arcium.

The plan was for the queen to trap the pope with ice, leaving only a small crack for me to shoot through. I would then repeatedly fire my more powerful abilities at the pope while he was stuck, eliminating him and causing his followers to surrender as well.

We traveled for one day and one night, Indigo utterly exhausted from the sheer distance covered. Travelers tried their best to dodge as the speeding cart barreled its way down the Melromarc roads.

When we finally arrived at our destination, the sight baffled us.

A gargantuan crater had wiped out much of the border fortifications, with a small patch of grass left unscathed. There, Naofumi, Motoyasu and his party were engaged in ferocious battle with what appeared to be the church's forces.

But what really surprised me was the fact that a man, presumably the pope, used what appeared to be Motoyasu's spear against him. Even more, he looked like he was using a unique skill.

As we continued onwards, a large number of priests appeared, and began to shapeshift. They all pulled out replicas of my bow and began firing at Naofumi.

"Wait!" I screamed. "How are they using Mirage Arrow!"

What the hell? How did they get a hang of my bow? I checked my left arm, but the bow was still there. Something was seriously wrong. Even more, how did they learn to use Mirage Arrow?

I knew that the cardinal weapons were one of a kind, so there was no way they had an exact replica of my bow. Maybe it was a knockoff?

But that was impossible.

No time to ponder that now. All that mattered was saving Naofumi and defeating the church's forces.

"Naofumi!" I shouted as I approached the crater. "Hold on! We're here to help!"

"Satoshi! Thank god you're here!"

Naofumi was gasping for air as he desperately tried to fend off the church's attacks.

"Mother?" Melty cried.

"I am the queen and the source of all power." Mirellia chanted fervently. "Restrain them in a cage of ice! All Drifa Icicle Prison!"

"Alright, it's my turn!" I shouted enthusiastically. "Eagle Piercing Shot!"

A blisteringly fast arrow, similar to a sniper, caused me to recoil as it zoomed towards the trapped pope. Breaking the sound barrier, causing a boom to nearly rupture everyone's ears, it stuck the pope dead center.

Shockingly enough, he was not dead. How could that be?

"Alright!" I bellowed. "Wind Arrow!"

The attack fired itself at the pope, presumably dealing a great deal of damage, but the pope was still alive, though panting in sheer exhaustion.

Alright, I had had enough. Time to try something new.

"Transform into a muzzle-loading cannon!"

Quite quickly, my bow assumed the shape of a late medieval era cannon. I had copied it from the Melromarc arsenal, when I was cruising around the castle. The guards did not mind letting me take a look, as I was greatly trusted within the kingdom.

"Fire!"

A basic cast-iron cannon ball shot out of the cannon, causing another boom to occur. Spinning rapidly, it shattered the ice, and most likely fractured some of the pope's bones as well.

I wouldn't let the pope regain his strength, though.

Gathering every last inch of my strength, I let out what would possibly be my last attack for a few hours.

"Eagle! Piercing! Shot!"

Another thundering shot ripped through the air, seemingly rupturing the fibers of reality itself. As the pope was still recovering from the cannon ball, clearly disoriented, my arrow hit him straight between the eyes. His head quite literally exploded as brains splattered all over the ground, horrifying everyone at the scene.

It was gruesome indeed.

After firing that last shot, I collapsed onto the ground and lay there, observing what would happen next.

Mirellia walked up to Naofumi, while my party members dragged me back into the carriage. Indigo followed the queen to see what she was up to.

Seriously, why is it that every time I fight, I end up using all my energy?

After regaining my strength, I headed out of the cart and towards the scene that was unfolding.

The queen had frozen all of the church zealots, apparently so that the Melromarc army could arrest them later. Shadows were dragging Malty away, towards the direction of the capital.

Mirellia returned to our carriage, looking tired and distraught. Indigo, however, was relatively unaffected, as he skipped to the front while transforming back into a filolial king.

"We should return to the capital. Aultcray has some explaining to do."

Having no better proposal, I agreed. This time, however, the queen wanted us to ride back to the capital at the same pace as Naofumi, which I guessed was to atone him for his trouble during his time here so far. Being quite a good diplomat myself due to my political science studies, I could understand her point of view.

On the way there, I began sketching blueprints for a fertilizer manufacturing plant which would be using the Haber process to create massive amounts of ammonia and other nitrogenous compounds, eventually being able to manufacture gunpowder multiple times cheaper than other countries around the world, most likely even Faubrey. This plant itself would probably be one of the most important assets of Arcium, almost rivaling the steel plants that have already been built, and the clothing factories that are currently under construction.

After a bit of traveling, and me completing the blueprints and even getting started on a new blueprint for a train, we had reached Castle Town. Mirellia had already alerted Naofumi that we were headed towards the castle.

As Indigo's and Filo's carriages pulled up to the castle gates, the guards all bowed in respect as Mirellia elegantly strolled towards the throne room. I followed directly behind her, not feeling intrusive or disrespectful since I was also technically the ruler of my country, and the rest of my party and Naofumi's party followed closely after. Right after we entered, though, Mirellia insisted that Malty and Melty lead the line. I had no reason to object, so they shifted in front of us, and we all continued on.

"They'll pay for what they did." The queen growled. "I want to see their faces twisted in fear."

According to a few disciples of the Three Heroes Church, many members of the Church that had been involved with the attempted coup had been arrested. Many high-ranking and low-ranking members had fled to neighboring countries, but most of them headed to Arcium because of the religious freedom clause of the constitution, and the relative prosperity that was there. Due to the laws in place, I could not halt them from going there unless they meant harm to the country, so we would have to wait and see. Melromarc had also seized all church property, and most of its monetary possessions. A substantial amount of money had been taken by the high-ranking members as they fled the country.

"Well, if it isn't my two beautiful daughters! I'm so glad that you defeated the Shield and have returned safely. But why is Malty gagged and tied?"

"Hear the truth and heed it." Mirellia chanted menacingly. "Restrain him with a cage of ice! Drifa Icicle Prison!"

Chapter 28 out soon! Chapters will start getting longer from here on out, though only by a few hundred words or so. The total word count will not exceed 2000 until chapter 51.