Chapter 49 unable of manhood

"Well..." 

I glanced at Cyra, briefly recounted my experience with Nicola from last night.

"But I don't seem to have taken a bath!" 

Cyra immediately rolled up her sleeves, showing me a barely visible bloodstain on her arm.

"This is a blood stain from Carl a few days ago. I scrubbed it for a long time but still couldn't get it all off. I was planning to take a bath today! Did you mistake me for someone else?"

"How could that be possible! You clearly recognized me too back then! There's no way I'm mistaken!"

I hurriedly defended myself. Come to think of it, it just means that the second persona "Cyra" from last night was tricking me? Although I was skeptical at the time, I didn't take it seriously. But why would she do such a thing?

"Do you still remember this signature?"

An application form for joining the True Church appeared in front of Cyra. It was taken from her room. Nicola pointed at the word "Jasper" and asked.

"Are you kidding? You mean I secretly joined the church while sleeping?"

Cyra clearly didn't quite believe what Nicola said. She took the application form, glanced at it, and immediately laughed.

"Nonsense! That's not even my name! Although the handwriting does seem a bit similar...but I've already made it clear that I won't join any church in this world. Did you forget?"

"Don't you have any impression of this name at all?"

Nicola still didn't seem to believe it. Regardless of whether it was a case of multiple personalities, surely one should have some recollection of what they had written themselves.

"It does seem vaguely familiar..."

With this question, Cyra suddenly became uncertain. But no matter how hard she racked her brain, she still couldn't figure it out.

"Then what was the dream you had last night?"

Even though Cyra had essentially denied all the evidence, I persisted in asking.

"The dream..."

Upon mentioning this topic, Cyra's expression immediately fell, as if it brought back very unpleasant memories. She quickly changed the subject.

"Why talk about that? It's so boring! Let's go do something important instead. How about getting breakfast for old times' sake?"

"Eat your head! You've become an angel, why would you still eat breakfast! Isn't figuring out the sleepwalking situation important?"

Having seen through her tricks long ago, Nicola gently tapped Cyra's head, not falling for it at all.

"Just confess, what dream did you have last night? Didn't you say you turned back into the appearance of a man, an emperor even? Didn't you have a great time every night?"

"What emperor? I was actually the pope! And the plot in this dream was so boring. I had to review some documents that I couldn't make any sense of at all. Not fun!"

Cyra answered with a resigned expression. However, her saying that she dreamed of becoming the pope was quite unexpected to me, as our goal for this trip was precisely to meet the pope. Could it be a case of dreaming at night what one thinks about during the day? Or perhaps...

A thought suddenly crossed my mind, but I immediately shook my head to deny it, for it was too far-fetched and unlikely.

"Isn't that great? You believe in God, so being the pope should be right up your alley!"

Nicola clearly didn't think as much as I did and insisted on interrogating Cyra about the details of her dream, seemingly determined to get to the bottom of it.

"Of course I changed back! But the pope is different. The pope needs to devote their entire body and soul selflessly to the Lord. I'm not ready for that yet..."

Cyra said hesitantly, her face flushed.

"And, to my dismay, I found that in the dream, although I changed back, down there...down there simply didn't work at all. So what's even the point!"

"Haha, that's nonsense! Don't you look at yourself, can you even perform in your current state?"

Upon hearing this, Nicola immediately burst into laughter, patting Cyra's shoulders incessantly as she mocked her.

"Come to think of it, this state might actually suit you perfectly. After all, you've become the pope! You have to devote your body and soul to your Lord, so it's understandable that down there doesn't work. What do you think, Cy-ra!"

Deliberately enunciating the syllables of "Cyra" heavily, Nicola was clearly referring to the fact that the angel Cyra is the wife of the Lord.

"I've told you, I have nothing to do with that Cyra!"

Cyra glared at Nicola, her eyes full of grievance. She swatted away the hand patting her shoulder, unwilling to say anything more, and rushed out of the room.

"That joke was a bit too much! She only had a dream. Why go that far?"

Gazing at the open door, I reproached Nicola. Earlier, Cyra clearly didn't want to talk about it, but we insisted on forcing her to recount the details of her dream. Then, after she told us, we ended up mocking her like that. If I were her, I would feel uncomfortable too.

"Don't worry, that's just her personality. She'll be fine after a while."

Nicola shrugged indifferently, apparently not thinking she said anything wrong. 

"But...well, never mind..." I sighed and, seeing her attitude, swallowed the words I was about to say. Then I followed her out of the room.

Although we didn't completely figure out Cyra's situation, the day had just begun, and there were still important matters to attend to.

What had happened earlier were just minor conflicts. True to Nicola's words, Cyra's anger didn't last long. We toured around until nearly noon when we walked to the great St. Cenin Cathedral.

"No wonder this is the premier cathedral of the holy city, even its sheer size far surpasses Preston Cathedral!"

Looking up at the massive structure before us, Cyra couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

"Just hand the introduction letter to someone in charge. Who knows how long we'll have to wait to meet the pope!"

Nicola urged. We entered the cathedral and arrived at the familiar main hall. We stopped one of the passing believers to convey our intention to meet the head of the church here. Shortly after, however, a familiar face showed up.

"Ladies, why didn't you mention my name? You could have found me directly that way. Luckily, I happened to be passing by this area, or we might have missed each other..."

The speaker was none other than the bespectacled priest we had met before—Eminem. This time, however, he was wearing a red priestly robe with a scarf, giving off a rather different vibe.

"A cardinal?" 

Cyra scrutinized him from head to toe before whispering in my ear.

"The guy you've acquainted with doesn't seem like a good person..."

"Why? Isn't the status of a cardinal very high?"

I didn't quite understand. I thought Cyra would be extremely excited and reverent towards him.

"I haven't joined this world's True Church, so what does his status matter to me?"

Cyra snorted, though her words suggested otherwise, as one could tell she was somewhat envious.

"Besides, narrow-eyed people are monsters. Not to mention he wears glasses too—a double buff. Definitely unforgivable!"

"You've been watching too many anime, haven't you?"

I couldn't help but shake my head and chuckle at her reasoning.

That said, I was quite surprised that the young Eminem was already a cardinal. From what I recalled, such positions were usually held by old geezers. He must be quite famous in the city of Jethrobaines. No wonder the restaurant owner cowered when he saw Eminem yesterday.

"We've only come to deliver the letter of introduction this time. Our goal is to meet the pope!"

Seeming not too fond of this young cardinal, Nicola frowned slightly and directly stated our purpose.

"So you've come to the holy city for this reason. I thought there were only two angels, but now I see there are three..."

Eminem paused momentarily upon hearing this, his expression immediately turning solemn as he accepted the envelope with both hands. Since this was a letter addressed to the pope, he couldn't open and read it directly. He could only verbally confirm the situation with us.

"It's quite rare for angels from Edenmere to actively seek contact with our True Church—a once-in-a-millennium opportunity!"

"How long will it take for us to meet the pope?"

Unfazed by his musing, Cyra cut straight to the point and asked about the outcome.

"For ordinary people, the usual process takes at least a week. But since you're angels with special status, His Holiness the Pope should actually receive you immediately. However, it seems he has gone out for an inspection tour again today. This letter likely won't be seen until tomorrow..."

At this point, Eminem pondered for a moment before making a suggestion.

"How about I arrange temporary accommodations for you within the cathedral? That way, as soon as His Holiness returns, you can meet him right away! And during that time, I can also give you a tour of this cathedral..."

"We can wait until tomorrow."

Although Cyra seemed tempted, Nicola flatly rejected his offer. Actually, this timeframe was already quite fast, much smoother than we had anticipated. Fortunately, Eminem didn't insist. After some small talk, the matter was settled.

It was still early, so after leaving St. Cenin Cathedral, we decided to tour other parts of the city. Who knows, we might even run into our target on the streets!

"It seems this pope really enjoys going out and about. According to what Eminem said, the pope resides outside for a few days every month to personally experience the people's situation, under the pretext of an 'inspection tour,' and then reports his governance to the Lord."

Along the way, Cyra remarked somewhat wistfully. Clearly, she envied the pope's lifestyle of having a grand residence while being able to "travel" everywhere. After all, the holy city was vast. Even without leaving this city, the pope could spend a month in a different place each time, essentially "wandering" indefinitely with such a variety.

However, considering the pope's age, things might not be as leisurely as we imagined...