Chapter 47

Just like in any other game, Black Salvatore also had many elements influenced by luck.

Hadn’t I recently faced the dog-headed Judge thanks to sheer luck?

‘Well… bad luck, to be exact.’

Luck was at play in many places, and in this world, it was an undeniably critical factor.

I was more focused than ever before.

“What we’re offering is the priest’s special ability, ‘Divination.’”

Around the third to fifth month of a pope candidate’s training, the Order would grant a special ability—exactly what we were hearing about now: Divination.

A professor explained.

“While we foresee the candidate’s future, we also temporarily bestow one ability to help with that future.”

“…”

“For instance, if there’s an incident where the candidate is likely to fall in the next week, they’ll receive temporary ‘Buoyancy’ for that week. It’ll ensure they slowly descend instead of crashing, avoiding injury.”

Other examples included fire resistance for predicted fire accidents or general luck to avoid misfortunes.

In the game, it was basically known as the luck charger.

If you rolled high luck here, the next chapter would be much easier.

‘Buoyancy, fire resistance, water resistance—they sound cool but are basically trash in practice…’

In a world this dangerous, pure luck was king…!

Soon, a priest walked in, face covered to the nose with a white cloth.

As the priest and the holy knights assembled their equipment, a small tent was erected in the room.

“If you’ve understood the explanation, we’ll begin calling you in one by one. Oh, you’ll be alone with the priest for the divination, but guardians may wait right outside the tent.”

Only outside the tent.

Everyone agreed and moved to the waiting room.

I could feel people hovering around me, but I pretended not to notice.

‘Sorry, if I allow any of you to talk to me, that jerk Usher will start talking too…’

“Mom… why do we have to go in one at a time?”

“Well, that’s because no one else should casually know about the candidate’s future.”

I was resting in Daddy’s arms when a familiar voice chimed in nearby.

Turning, I saw Laura and her pope candidate teammate.

She gave me a polite nod, and I blinked in surprise before nodding back.

‘She’s explaining it well.’

“The future reading usually includes dangers or things to be careful about… and if someone overhears it and harbors evil thoughts, it could become dangerous.”

Laura trailed off, but I understood the message beneath her words.

‘Because we can’t let the fanatics learn the candidates’ weaknesses.’

The infiltrated fanatics would try to take down the candidates one by one. That fear was shared across the Order.

‘The aberration that showed up during the last trial was probably the fanatics’ doing too.’

Not an unreasonable assumption.

I tried my best not to look at Usher.

Laura continued explaining other details, impressively knowledgeable despite being a holy knight.

“Oh… she’s good.”

I muttered softly, then looked up—and froze.

“…”

Daddy looked sulky for some reason.

Why?

Why??

“I… I can explain things too.”

“Uh?”

“I can do it.”

“Uh…”

I blinked, and Daddy averted his gaze, unable to meet my eyes.

‘Wait, you heard that? More importantly… I already knew all of this!’

If I’d been curious, I would’ve just asked you. Acting clueless now is silly. What if I mess up and get caught pretending?

As I shifted my eyes around, unsure what to say—

A sign appeared, scolding me.

[Oh no! “Daddy” is sulking. Let’s cheer him up!]

Are you nuts? You want me to use Purification for this?

I gave a fake cough and gripped Daddy’s hand tightly.

“You don’t need to explain anything… You’re already the best, Daddy!”

Flinch.

“And you saved me earlier too! That was so cool!”

Your power is amazing, Father.

I’ll raise you into a proper hero from now on.

“And then, because you were worried I might get hurt, you sat down and held me on your lap! You’re so thoughtful!”

Eyes sparkling.

Oh, Daddy’s gaze returned to me.

But something felt… off.

“Then I’ll keep hugging you from now on…!”

Excuse me?

Uh, that’s a bit…

‘You’re gonna do that every time? That chair’s really not gonna hold up…’

Maybe my expression gave me away.

Oh no…!

Just when I’d finally lifted his spirits—Daddy looked sulky again!

What was I supposed to do?!

I’d known it wouldn’t be easy, but walking the path of a dutiful daughter—or O̶h̶, never mind—was still so far off.

[“Daddy” is now twice as sulky!]

This isn’t my fault!

How long had it been?

One by one, kids came out of the divination tent.

Sometimes, they got so excited they forgot the rules and blurted out hints about their abilities.

“Wow, that means I won’t feel cold even if I fall in water now… mmph!”

“Haha, Candidate, let’s get you to the dining hall!”

And so their guardian would hurriedly cover their mouth and whisk them away.

‘Ahhh… You’re working hard, truly.’

One of the other roles of a guardian was caretaker, after all.

Then, a little while later.

Emmet and his guardian, Antonio, stepped out of the tent.

‘Huh? What’s wrong with him?’

But Emmet’s face had gone pale, as if he’d seen something terrible.

Our eyes met.

He gave a small nod.

I hesitated briefly, then shyly waved at him.

“…!”

Startled, Emmet’s face reddened slightly before he turned and left.

And a few more minutes passed.

“Candidate Nemesia, please enter.”

My turn.

I stepped inside. The tent I’d seen earlier was still there, and the room was otherwise empty.

“I’ll stay right here. I’m going to focus my senses—if anything happens, just make a noise. Even the tiniest sound is fine.”

“‘Kay!”

Leaving Daddy right outside, I marched confidently into the tent.

After being dragged into that hidden dungeon, Daddy had been extra anxious even when I took just a few steps away. The only reason he was calmer now—

Was because of the tent.

There was a secret to this tent: no one, not even fanatics, could use movement-based abilities inside.

Fighting was also impossible.

“Welcome, Candidate Nemesia. It’s good to see you.”

A soft carpet lay on the floor, and a priest sat cross-legged on a very low sofa.

It seemed to be designed so even someone small like me could sit comfortably.

‘Hmm. Very considerate.’

“Hello…”

“Would you like to sit down?”

The priest, his face covered up to his nose with cloth, gestured toward the seat.

I sat down.

Just like outside, it was just the priest and me inside the tent.

“I’m Priest Siris. I will now use a power granted by the divine to foresee your future.”

With a wave of his hand, the cards beside him fluttered into the air and landed neatly on a velvet-covered table.

‘Whoa, that’s pretty cool to see in person.’

They looked like tarot cards—practically were tarot cards.

Siris split the deck in two.

Then, with another wave of his hand, two cards flew up and landed softly on the table.

“Please choose one to turn over.”

I nodded and flipped the card on the left.

‘It’s… pitch black?’

The card was completely black. Like darkness itself.

At that moment—

Swoooosh!

Dark smoke erupted from the card. I flinched, eyes wide.

Oh crap, is this what those flashy game effects look like in real life?

Even as a seasoned player, the sheer number of possible cards made it hard to remember what this one was.

“Hmm…?”

Siris tilted his head as he looked at the card. Only his lower face was visible, but he looked serious.

“…Candidate Nemesia, you’re the first person to draw this card.”

Excuse me?

‘What is it? That sounds creepy. Ominous, even!’

I already have terrible luck as it is…!

I shook my head internally, recalling the rampaging dog-headed Judge.

“Actually, this card…”

Siris glanced around, even though we were alone, and lowered his voice.

“…represents the Evil God.”

…Excuse me??

I’m the pope candidate—and I drew a card symbolizing the Evil God??
 

Brought to you by Gourmet Scans

Translator: Japchae