Starting with the defeated female knight

That day, it rained in the capital.

Blue rain.

But this time, no one gained immortality.

No one came back to life.

only......

Rustling.

After the coffin was buried in the cemetery and it was confirmed that the blue butterfly's senses had left.

The tentacles slowly emerged and, using the underground transport pipes, stole the corpse from the coffin.

Next, it was transported to the operating table that had been prepared beforehand.

Open chest, surgery, electrical stimulation.

All in one go.

It made the old man jump off the operating table.

After opening his eyes, he looked around in confusion.

Then, there were tentacles nodding in satisfaction.

[Mofia's medicine is really effective; it worked so well that neither of you noticed...]

Oh, you're not clear on the situation, are you? Simply put, I used medication to suppress your activity, creating the illusion that you were dead...

[Even if it takes a little longer, he'll really die, right?]

Although you probably didn't have much life left, I made a small adjustment for you, and you should be able to live for another ten years or so.

As for when that time will come, we'll talk about that then.

silence.

After an unknown amount of time, the old pope sighed deeply.

"You... you just don't want me to die too peacefully, do you...?"

"I've been found out, oh well, I'm not pretending anymore."

The tentacles readily admitted it.

Although the Pope has stepped down, the Empire is in such a sorry state that simply giving up wouldn't be appropriate, would it?

Don't even think about sneaking off. I'll move you a little further away. Get back to work.

I'll bring her back when she's almost done with it.

[Give her a big one]

Before that, be careful to avoid the blue butterflies, don't get spotted!

"Please don't drag me into your feud..."

The old pope couldn't help but smile wryly.

But then, he gradually became serious.

"Mother Goddess, I entrust this to you."

【certainly】

------

P.S.: Finally finished! Here's the third update. Goodnight!

Volume 1: Chapter 118: What does it mean to add explosion resistance to the mage aptitude test?

With the old pope's departure, the church has become increasingly busy.

Internal adjustments, external handling, and all sorts of other miscellaneous things...

While the entire church was extremely busy.

Inside the church in the capital, there was a room that stood out as unusually quiet, completely out of place with its surroundings.

Vanessa sat there quietly, though there was still some sadness in her eyes, she had largely returned to normal.

On the table next to it, the tentacles were quietly rooted in the flowerpot, just like a real plant, without making any movement.

He actually lied.

Although through certain means, the old pope was forcibly brought back to life and his life was extended by two years.

But in reality, he never really intended to use this opportunity to give Vanessa a big one.

Vanessa's expression would probably be quite amusing if the old Pope were actually brought back.

But doing so would indeed be a bit unfair to that old man's decision.

Joking aside, he's not so clueless as to not understand the seriousness of the matter.

As for why, knowing the situation was like this, they still insisted on pulling the old man up...

Consider this payment for watering my plants.

Yes, he knew why the old man was going to die, and he knew that the old man's death was necessary, but he just felt uncomfortable.

Why is it that while everyone else is busy and working hard, he can lie down and rest so comfortably?

Why should a monster, who resisted even death to maintain the empire's existence, fall on the eve of the empire's restoration?

Why should someone who has carried a burden of guilt for over two hundred years, who has lived almost no time for himself except during his childhood, have to close his eyes in guilt and worry for his mother goddess in the end?

So Green woke him up.

He wanted him to keep busy.

And in the midst of his busy work, he witnessed how this once dilapidated and increasingly worse empire gradually improved under his leadership, thus highlighting his incompetence.

At the same time, he also wanted to witness firsthand how the Mother Goddess he worshipped gradually fell into the clutches of the tentacles, and in the end, she didn't even care about his death.

After all, he was a powerful and evil figure, and he would never allow anyone to die so easily.

Even if the deceased is unwilling, he will still pull him up, let him witness the entire ultimate humiliation, and then let him die in endless shame and regret.

At the very least, he should live for himself for two years.

But in the end, Tentacles softened a little.

After all, it's hard to bear to let such an exceptionally normal person die in this enormous cesspool.

Unfortunately, the other party saw through his hint and gave a firm reply.

"Mother Goddess, I entrust this to you."

The other party's desire to skip work was extremely strong.

Even accepting this short life is only because of him.

Since that's the case, Tentacles will no longer insist.

After sighing, she saw him off.

With that, the old pope stepped down.

Instead, on the edge of the empire, there appeared a sprightly and talkative old man who, after finally getting off work, was full of energy.

He may die in the near future.

Or perhaps in the near future, when the empire faces imminent collapse, a mysterious old man will appear.

But in any case, the old pope is dead.

And in the near future, this newly emerged old man will most likely die.

But this time, he will not die for someone else.

Instead, it's about being able to see everything, accept it calmly, and then find a place you like.

After lying down, he did not do so as the Pope, but as an ordinary old man who had completed his atonement and witnessed all the good things and miracles.

With a happy and content smile, she slowly closed her eyes.

Then, enter into that truly beautiful eternity.

But that's a story that has nothing to do with tentacles or blue butterflies.

Then, let's turn our attention back to the capital.

While the church was busy with the death of the old pope, the magicians' association was also busy.

Recruiting, training, reallocating resources and equipment, and the daily arguments and struggles between different schools of thought...

The scene was very chaotic at one time.

But it is also unprecedentedly active.

It's a pity that not all the academic cliques were killed in the previous conflict.

But because of previous conflicts, even those who did not die had long been riddled with cracks due to the petty squabbles between those schools of thought over the distribution of benefits.

In addition, a certain chairperson, who wished to remain anonymous, casually made a call.

As a result, even the most well-preserved "warm families" are now falling apart internally and no longer have the same level of dominance as before.

And it's not just internal.

After everything was over, the atmosphere within the association became unprecedentedly tense with the arrival of the Dawn City mages.

For various reasons, the association and Dawn City have little contact.

In addition, even disregarding the fact that the Mage District is the research center of Dawn City, there are some things that are not convenient to disclose to the public.

Just considering the frequency of the explosions, comparable to setting off firecrackers during the Lunar New Year, even if Green were to unleash his full power, no one in the large caravan would be foolish enough to approach him.

Therefore, despite having never seen or heard of other things in Dawn City, the people in the capital city did not know them.

But even those who had been to Dawn City and were members of the original investigation team didn't really know much about that group of mysterious mages.

—No matter how high your bloodline is, who the hell wants to get bombed for no reason?

Especially the mages in the association.

Because the mages sent out were all from non-schools, although they were indeed considered elites, their performance within the association was not particularly outstanding.

Furthermore, due to being marginalized, they had to source their own equipment and materials, and their experimental experience was relatively scarce.

What kind of things can this group of people possibly produce?

That's what the association's monks thought at the time.

They attributed the strange and ingenious skills of Dawn City more to the works of the ancient gods than to the research of the mages.

Especially later, when industrialization was just beginning.

After accepting the commissions from the nobles, their confidence soared to unprecedented heights.

If those mages who couldn't even conduct experiments properly could do it, there was no reason why they couldn't.

In fact, relying on the association's accumulated resources, it should far exceed that.

But the final result...

It's fair to say that it's somewhat unsatisfactory.

But if that were all, they wouldn't be in so much pain now.

What truly distressed them was the news that accompanied the roar of the black, ferocious steel behemoth.

"Hey, did you hear? That magic-powered steam train was built by the mages of Dawn City..."

"And then there's all that equipment, those tools, and all sorts of strange things..."

"I heard they're setting up some research base and planning to recruit some people..."

Yes, the mages of Dawn City have started competing with the guild for players.