Trumpet Hall, Holy City
In the lofty spire of the palace, where the faithful could be seen at a glance below, a conversation was taking place between a child and an adult, both dressed in ornate clothing. The commonality between the two was how poorly the gold-embroidered garments suited them.
The child wore the robes of the pope, oversized and awkward, with sleeves too long and accessories too cumbersome, more "draped" than worn. The adult, meanwhile, donned the formal attire of a hero, but the discomfort was written all over his face, making the outfit appear stiff and ill-fitting.
Though their situations differed, they shared similar concerns, and with a gust of cool wind, they released their sighs into the air.
"The more I learn, the more I feel the weight of the crown. I often think that I shouldn’t be the pope, but then I feel I must work hard to become someone deserving of the title..."
"You're doing just fine. You’ve even learned to read faster than I did, and now you speak much better than I do. Far better than a useless hero like me."
"But Finn, so many people praise your name. You are a great hero."
"That’s exactly the problem... they’re all wrong."
The two were none other than the young Pope and Finn, the hero.
Despite having one of the three pillars of power within the great goddess's church, Finn’s concerns were painfully ordinary. When could he finally retire? Would his experience as a hero even count when he applied to a mercenary guild?
No... if he wrote "Former Hero" on his application to the mercenary group he had his eye on, wouldn’t that just lead to trouble? Specifically, "Oh, you were a hero? You must be strong! Go handle that ogre for us!"—and then he'd be saddled with impossible tasks.
Should he change his name? Maybe to something like Ping...
While Finn internally grumbled, his reputation as a hero wasn’t bad. He was the last of the untainted candidates for the role of hero, making him a symbol of purity within the faith, which greatly bolstered his standing.
His humility had also endeared him to many.
Thus, the young Pope looked up at Finn, thinking that if he could learn from someone who managed the heavy burden of being a hero so well, maybe he, too, could grow into someone worthy of the papacy.
Eager to grow up, the young Pope asked, staring up at Finn with wide eyes.
"How did you become a hero, Finn? How can one fulfill their duties to the best of their abilities?"
"...I never wanted to become a hero."
"But you haven’t quit, have you? If it really weighed you down, you could have passed on the title to someone else and stepped down. I think it’s incredible that you keep going."
Well, that was because...
The pink-haired agent had threatened to kill him if he didn’t.
It wasn’t that he hadn't given up, but that he couldn’t .
But the pure-hearted boy lacked the experience to see through the complexity of Finn’s situation. He didn’t see the cardinals pinching Finn in the background, so he assumed it was all out of Finn's own will.
Admiration sparkled in the boy’s eyes.
"Even though you grumble about the weight and responsibility, Finn, you still stand tall. It gives me such, such... Hi—huh?"
Correction: Strength (noun)_Something that provides help or support.
"It gives me great strength. I’m always grateful, Sir Finn. I’ll be brave like you and become a great pope!"
"..."
The hero Finn started sweating under the boy’s admiring gaze.
He knew it would have been better not to get involved...
Finn had first met the young Pope during an introduction to the key figures of the church. Had he ignored the boy back then, he might have avoided this, but alas, the Saintess Tara had told him the boy’s story.
He was no more than a puppet for the old, corrupt cardinals. His frail body was bruised, and he hadn’t even learned to speak properly.
The Saintess Tara and her assistant, Niole, tried to care for the young Pope, but they were often too busy—tracking down rogue cardinals, fixing the broken system, and fighting off all manner of evil. That’s when Finn, whose time was often idle despite his title, decided he would step in and look after the boy.
He visited daily, shared meals with him, and even brought in priests to help him study.
Fearing that too much work would stunt the boy’s growth, Finn would occasionally engage him in games like hide-and-seek or tag.
Naturally, they became close.
The young Pope was a genius. Anyone who spoke with him for a little while could see how extraordinary he was, and he now seemed to communicate directly with the goddess. As for Finn? He was just an ordinary man who’d landed in the role of hero by sheer bad luck.
He felt it was beneath him to share a table with the Pope, just as a mercenary shouldn’t sit with nobles. And yet...
"Finn, what are we learning today? Ah, if you’re busy—like Tara, swamped with work—I can read in the library."
"I’m never busy. Today, we’re learning from Saint Virtuoso through a treasure hunt."
"Oh! A story about Saint Virtuoso! I’m excited!"
"Uh, yes... Virtu-what’s-it. That story, yes. I’ve hidden paper cranes all around this palace on the way here. You’d better find them before the priestesses clean them up!"
"...!!"
The young Pope started scurrying around the tower entrance in a hurry, eager to find them. However, climbing the ladder to descend would be dangerous for someone so small, not yet in the midst of proper growth.
So, like a character whose commands had gotten stuck, Finn hoisted the young Pope onto his back and carried him down the spire.
After all, how could he leave this child, so eager to play, alone?
Just a few more months like this. Once Bennet, Tara, and Niole firmly established their power, once the chaos in the Holy City died down, and once this boy grew a little more...
Then there would be plenty of people to look after the Pope, and Finn could finally step down from being a hero and return to being a mercenary.
But reality is often harsh.
Before long, Finn would receive the following proposal from the goddess:
[Proposal: Accept the role of Godfather and claim 35 free benefits.]
"Sir Finn... The goddess is asking if you’d be my godfather. What is a godfather? A big axe?"
"..."
Being the Pope’s godfather. On the surface, it sounded like an incredibly burdensome role.
But if it was just being the companion of a young child, surely it wasn’t that bad, right? And so Finn accepted the offer, and in that moment, his fate to be immortalized in history was sealed.
"Sir Finn! Right on time, I see. Perfect timing as always!"
The man with light blue hair greeted Finn, scratching his head awkwardly. Despite his friendly demeanor, he was no ordinary man.
His name was Dakiten Julius. Former cardinal, former military chaplain, and now...
"Hello, Cardinal Dakiten... Why did you summon me today?"
"The Saintess will explain."
He was a man who had regained his position as cardinal thanks to the rise of the reformists .
Finn cautiously sat down, waiting for the main event to begin. Unlike himself, holding onto a hollow hero’s title, the three people he was about to meet were the true powers within the church.
Footsteps echoed in the hallway as the door opened.
They entered arm-in-arm, one woman, one man, one woman. Anyone else might find the display irritating, but Finn knew they were monsters. He dared not even lift his head for fear of meeting their gaze.
Saintess Tara.
Though stripped of her divine power by the goddess, she continued to act as a saintess by siphoning power from others (Finn had learned this from the young Pope). She used to wear quite revealing clothes, but she had since toned it down.
Saintess’s Assistant Niole Restman.
At first glance, she seemed like a kind-hearted woman, albeit with a certain... exaggerated physique. However, she was the mastermind behind the great purge in the Holy City, where she identified and eliminated the remnants of the ousted cardinals.
The Saintess’s Sword Bennet Hilton.
A paladin who had infiltrated the ranks of the dark sorcerers and destroyed their plans. His combat prowess was unmatched, and somehow, he had even opened trade routes with the elves.
More importantly, he was the chosen hero of the modern era, blessed by the Holy Sword.
[Note: He is a temporary administrator. (Message delivered as a free benefit.)]
"...I don’t get the difference, goddess."
Finn was confused by the goddess’s interjection.
The sequence of events had been like this:
There was no quick way to undo the tangled mess the corrupt cardinals had left behind. But they couldn’t just sit by and do nothing, so to prevent further exploitation and elevate the reformist faction, they needed to secure the authority of the Holy Sword.
And so, with the young Pope’s help, they drafted a long list of restrictions and conditions.
The process to select a hero included requirements like bending one’s left pinky toe, having a certain level of divine power, and being a master swordsman. However, the most malicious condition was:
The hero must come from a specific bloodline.
"The cardinals were thorough in destroying the records, making it difficult to find, but in the end, we did. The previous hero belonged to the Restman family."
"So, Niole is of the hero’s bloodline? Then can’t she become the hero—"
"But would you call her a master swordsman?"
Her bloodline might qualify, but she didn’t meet the other conditions.
And so.
"Goddess, I’ll marry Niole and raise our child together. That way, our child will be of the hero’s bloodline and environment, making them highly likely to become a hero. And if that’s the case, I’m technically a potential hero by association, right?"
[Warning: A sandcastle built on fallacies is bound to collapse. Only proper procedures can be followed. However, since the system has an error... an exception will be made.]
It was essentially the goddess saying, "I’ll let it slide, just this once."
However, there was a complication in the plan—Tara, who was not too happy about the marriage.
"...Bennet, do you want to get stabbed in the side?"
"As if I’d leave you behind, Tara. Why don’t we all marry together?"
—So, will there be two brides at Bennet’s wedding? You’re quite the greedy one.
And so, Bennet held a joint wedding with both Tara and Niole, leaving Bennet’s sister Berda—who had recently awakened from a long slumber—in a state of utter shock.
She woke up to find she had two sisters-in-law...?
Thanks to the young Pope’s assistance in gradually tweaking the system, the temporary administrator process was successfully completed.
[Declaration: Bennet Hilton has been appointed as Temporary Hero .]
And.
With her anxieties put to rest after the marriage, Tara confined her wild and revealing attire to the bedroom, marking her shift to a more modest image.
Finally, the virtuous saintess (who wasn’t actually a saintess) had returned to the goddess’s church!
The reformist faction had gathered for one reason.
"We need to decide how to use the goddess’s power."
"...How did the previous administrators use it, Dakiten?"
"To further their own selfish desires, as you know."
"Not very helpful, then."
They needed to determine the future course of the church.
What should they do with the power of the goddess?
The corrupt cardinals had used it solely to extend their power and prolong their lives, causing the welfare policies and benevolent programs the church once provided to wither into vestigial remnants.
Now, they had to start from zero, completely from scratch.
Tara gritted her teeth.
"...I want to kill all those cardinals."
"With all due respect, I’m the current cardinal, Saintess."
"I meant the deposed cardinals who were excommunicated! Is that better?"
"Enough chit-chat. Let’s get to the point."
The goddess’s power was great but rigid. Their task was to reshape it, to transform the system so that it could make the world a better place.
The young Pope was the first to speak.
"Why don’t we ask the goddess to make everyone happy?"
It was a pure wish. The adults smiled warmly at his innocence.
"Oh my, how sweet!"
—We should definitely have a child like this, Bennet.
"That’s an ideal we should strive for, indeed. A fine suggestion, Your Holiness. Would you like a candy?"
Bennet offered a piece of candy, but the young Pope shook his head.
"Hehe... Candy makes your teeth rot. But thank you for the thought, Shadow Hero Bennet."
"...Who gave me that nickname?"
"Sir Finn."
When Bennet turned his head toward Finn, Finn subtly turned his in the opposite direction, muttering to himself. Shadow Hero —why not? After all, Bennet had all the power but kept the title hidden.
One by one, the members of Bennet’s party gave their thoughts.
"Desperation drives people to evil. We need to provide relief to those in dire situations. The church should be a beacon of hope."
"We need to purge heretics, those who mislead others with false promises, and those with power who refuse to share it. Otherwise, corruption will fester. The church must regularly cleanse itself."
—Hmm... I learned this from my roommate, Selvia. People grow and learn best when they face trials. Perhaps we could establish something like the Tower of Trials at the academy...
The young Pope listened to their declarations with shining eyes, then turned his gaze to Finn.
"And you, Finn?"
"Eh? Oh, uh..."
"What do you think? It’s hard for me to choose. They all sound important. What should the church focus on first?"
All eyes turned to Finn. He broke into a cold sweat, wracking his brain before blurting out the first thing that came to mind, based on his own experiences.
"Well... food, I guess? Most people have unstable incomes, like mercenaries. And when people are hungry, they often turn to banditry or crime, so..."
After speaking, Finn anxiously waited for the backlash.
But to his surprise, the reaction was positive. In fact, it was overwhelmingly so.
"Food distribution. Not a bad idea."
"Indeed. We could fund it by confiscating the assets of corrupt clergy."
—That’s right. Instead of grand plans, we should start with what we can do right now...
Gleaming eyes!
The young Pope’s gaze of admiration pierced Finn. No, no, I was just saying something obvious. Who likes being hungry? This wasn’t some profound insight...
The initiative moved forward swiftly.
The newly reformed church chose to implement free food distribution as their first welfare policy, and Tara set out to extract resources from the corrupt clergy.
And with Finn’s name plastered all over the initiative as the one who proposed it, he seriously began to consider retiring and possibly getting plastic surgery.
Time passed.
The layers of corruption wouldn’t be erased overnight, and good intentions could easily be tainted by bad actors, but the colossal institution of the goddess’s church was finally lumbering toward a brighter path.
The church stabilized quickly, and though a few rogue ex-cardinals still caused trouble, they would overcome it.
[Expression: ^_^]
High above, the mechanical goddess let out a rare laugh.
Later...
"Sir Finn?"
"Ah, yes, Saintess."
"The organization is stable now, and... things are going well with the Second Prince. So, we’re going to take a short break and get our academy diplomas as a sort of honeymoon. I’m counting on you to handle things, okay?"
"Wait, what? No, but—! You can’t just dump all this work on me and leave...!!"
And thus, Hero Finn was left holding the bag.