Capítulo 1544: -1525- Respecting the elderly?
For the human race, the Pope had long vanished from the public eye.
Her Holiness had secluded herself from the world, entrusting matters of importance to Hartmann to handle. Even if the Pope had any decisions to make, they would be conveyed through Hartmann to the Floating City Alliance without him personally appearing. To the general public, the Pope was a figure shrouded in mystery.
Thus, aside from the small handful of people like Hartmann who could directly meet the Pope, no one knew what the supreme leader of humanity looked like.
This included Rozen.
Even though Rozen had already dispatched numerous shikigami to scout the area and could share their senses, thanks to the visual interference techniques present here, it was impossible to break through and see everything unless Rozen came in person.
For this reason, it was the first time Rozen saw what the Pope looked like.
But what Rozen never expected was that the Pope turned out to be a young girl.
"I am Annerose Sutherland Vebel, the supreme ruler of the Floating City and the human race."
The young girl who introduced herself as Annerose sat on the throne, giving Rozen a childlike smile as she introduced herself.
However, upon closer inspection, Annerose's smile was quite unnatural. Her face was flushed, and her gaze was intensely focused on River, as if she wanted to bore holes into him.
Standing next to Annerose, Cris looked at Rozen with a complicated expression.
As for River, under the killing glare from Annerose, he felt as if he were about to cry.
After all, when River had tried to stop Rozen from leaving earlier, Annerose had been terrified upon seeing Rozen's arrival.
"Wh-why did you get here so fast!?"
At that time, Annerose could only let out a wail.
Apparently, Annerose had calculated that River would take quite some time to bring Rozen here, believing it impossible for them to arrive so quickly.
After all, they were on one of the artificial floating islands around Vebel.
It would indeed take River a considerable amount of time to reach here and escort Rozen back.
Annerose had assumed the two would not arrive so soon, which is why she had let her dignified facade slip.
What she hadn't anticipated was that Rozen had already discovered the location and used Space Manipulation Magic to teleport himself and River straight here.
And thus, the current situation unfolded.
Rozen could only stand there, half-squinting his eyes, looking speechless at Annerose.
"Are you really the Pope?"
Rozen voiced his doubt with a face full of suspicion.
"Hey! Rorelei...!" River panicked and whispered hastily to Rozen, "Don't be so rude! The person before you is indeed the esteemed Pope!"
As a descendant of a family that had served the Pope for generations, River's assurance almost guaranteed the truth.
However, Rozen was still unwilling to believe it.
That's right—it wasn't that he didn't believe it but that he didn't want to believe it.
There was a good reason for that.
"Mr. Rorelei is likely shocked by how young I look. I understand."
Annerose said this with a smile.
Unfortunately…
"No, it has nothing to do with your apparent age," Rozen bluntly responded. "I've already seen through you. You've lived for at least several hundred years. You're a real old lady."
Annerose's smile froze instantly.
"R-Rorelei...!?"
River was utterly astonished.
But what Rozen said was true.
From the moment he saw Annerose, Rozen had perceived her spiritual energy—a profound and ancient aura—which immediately made him realize she was someone whose appearance greatly contrasted with her true age.
Thus, Rozen's disbelief in her being the Pope had nothing to do with her petite appearance but rather her act of pretending to be young. Coupled with her earlier undignified behavior, Rozen had considered turning around and leaving.
Perhaps sensing Rozen's thoughts, Annerose's face twitched.
"Sorry for being an old lady, then..."
A vein bulged on Annerose's forehead.
Still, Rozen sighed as if resigning to this reality.
"Should I kneel, then? I'm not one to be easily intimidated, but I do at least understand the importance of respecting the elderly."
His comment almost caused Annerose to explode with rage.
"Please, stop talking!"
River nearly fainted from anxiety.
It was likely that the Pope's confidant had never imagined that Rozen would be so rude to Annerose.
Although River often thought to himself that the Pope liked to act young, she would never dare to say it out loud.
Yet Rozen had no such reservations. He brazenly insulted Annerose to her face, making him seem far from considerate.
Just as River began to worry about how the conversation would proceed, Cris, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke.
"You don't seem surprised to see me here, Rorelei."
Cris said in a low voice.
To this, Rozen responded...
"I would have been surprised if I hadn't noticed the situation in this city."
Rozen spoke truthfully.
"The situation in this city?"
Cris looked confused.
Rozen smirked and explained.
"Upon arriving here, I sensed the spiritual energy of everyone in this city. I found not only human spiritual energy but also the miasma of Armored Beetles."
At first, Rozen thought the presence of Armored Beetles in this place indicated some kind of research being conducted on them, so it was natural to sense their miasma here.
But soon after, Rozen dismissed that notion.
"Because the visual interference technique here isn't powered by mana but by jutsuryoku, it proves that the Armored Beetles are willingly supplying jutsuryoku to maintain the technique. And on top of that, the Pope's residence, the Aries Palace, also contains miasma—a familiar one at that. So, I concluded..."
Rozen turned to Cris, speaking each word clearly.
"Living in this city are not just humans but also humanoid Armored Beetles."
"And you are one of them."
If Rozen wasn't mistaken...
"In fact, you've always been the Pope's spy, planted within Zeth's faction as an undercover agent. Am I wrong?"
Rozen exposed the truth.
This was why Rozen hadn't been surprised to see Cris here.
Cris was momentarily speechless.
And it wasn't just Cris—River was equally stunned into silence.
Annerose, on the other hand, observed Rozen intently.
"As expected of you, Rorelei Arneet, you're truly extraordinary."
Annerose said this, her gaze deepening with ancient wisdom and experience.
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder