“I do appreciate your coming all this way. Though given the circumstances, I’m afraid I cannot provide as much hospitality as I would like, for which I sincerely apologize.”
When we reach the pontiff, he greets us much more humbly than his position would imply.
He looks around at each of our faces with a gentle smile.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who sensed something far more mysterious lurking beneath that soft expression.
Then, when his eyes come to rest on Natsume, it turns to a show of surprise.
“Oh? Why, Prince Hugo. You are alive and well?”
“Hah! Bet it woulda been better for you if I was dead, huh?”
“Not at all. I am more than pleased that you survived.”
The pontiff’s tone sounds nothing but sincere as he gazes warmly at Natsume.
In response, Natsume looks taken aback.
…This man has a mysterious power all right.
I could easily get swallowed up by that gentle atmosphere of his.
So this is the Word of God Pontiff.
The leader who seeks to save humanity instead of the world.
“Please, have a seat anywhere you like. I am about to take the liberty to explain what direction our faction intends to take from this point on, and what we are going to do next.”
The pontiff gestures to a long table suited to a meeting.
There are already several people seated there.
“You’re quite well-prepared, eh?”
“Well, we were already about to have a strategy meeting, you see. Since your timing was so impeccable, I thought I would invite you to join us.”
Elder Ronandt raises his eyebrows at the table, where the number of empty seats just so happens to perfectly coincide with our numbers.
“Hrmmm. I suppose we can leave it at that. But we didn’t come here to join your little team, just so you know ahead of time. We’ll hear what you have to say, but don’t go counting on us to help, eh?”
“E-Elder Ronandt?! Why?!”
“That’s quite all right. I’d be more than pleased if you would hear us out first, then make your own decision.”
I start spluttering when Elder Ronandt makes a proclamation that could easily be taken as a borderline threat, but the pontiff just nods magnanimously.
Looking a little peeved at this reaction, Elder Ronandt takes his seat a bit more forcefully than necessary.
The rest of us follow suit, sitting around the table as well.
Just then, I glance at Yuri from the corner of my eye.
Gazing at the pontiff intently, with eyes as deep and dark as the abyss…
Erm, should I not have seen that?
I’m creeped out, to be honest…
As a devout follower of the Word of God religion and the candidate for sainthood, it’s all too easy to imagine that Yuri must have a lot of feelings about recent events.
Now I’m even more worried about Yuri flying off the handle than I am about Elder Ronandt making a scene.
My concerns about this meeting continue to deepen as I look around at the faces of the other people at the table.
There are seven of them, too, including the pontiff.
And while I’ve never met any of them, they’re all so distinctive that I doubt I’ll ever forget them after this.
To sum them up by appearance alone, there’s a half-naked muscular man, a lovely young woman with a relaxed air, a person of indeterminate gender wearing a shady smile, a skinny man with a mohawk, a listless-looking lady, and a somewhat dense-looking punk.
The two women and the androgynous person look proper enough that they’re not out of place at a meeting like this.
But the other three…
A half-naked guy, a mohawk man, and a punk…
They stick out like two very sore thumbs in a holy and important place like the headquarters of the Word of God religion.
Especially the mohawk man and the punk.
The half-naked guy manages to fit in well enough by having a craggy, solemn air about him, but the other two look so ridiculous that I want to demand what post-apocalyptic setting they wandered in here from.
Then again, the half-naked guy would fit in that kind of setting, too, as some kind of buff autocrat…no, enough already! This is no time for such a ridiculous train of thought.
Their lineup was so distractingly strange that I lost sight of things for a second.
But while the three men are odd enough to draw most of the attention, the two women and the one androgynous person are clearly no ordinary individuals, either.
I can sense without needing to Appraise them that they’re very powerful indeed.
“Perhaps we ought to begin by introducing ourselves. As I believe you may already know, I am the sixty-first pontiff of the Word of God, Dustin the 61st. And my esteemed guests here are the ancient dragons who have protected this world since time immemorial.”
Ancient dragons?!
The pontiff’s words startle me so much that I can’t help taking a second look at the lineup.
I already knew from Fei’s example that wyrms can take human form.
So I suppose it’s no surprise that their evolved form, dragons, can do so, too—no, if anything, it would be stranger if they couldn’t.
But while that part makes sense, I’m more surprised that dragons, especially ancient ones, would be here now.
Dragons are powerful monsters, with a danger rank of at least S, if not higher.
Ancient dragons must be even more so; I imagine they rate as legendary-class monsters, said to be untouchable by even the strongest of humans.
After all, as their name implies, they’re dragons that have lived a very long time.
They say that dragons do not die of old age, nor do they become weaker as they get older.
In other words, the longer a dragon lives, the more powerful it becomes.
I can’t even imagine how immensely strong an ancient dragon must be.
But since we only barely defeated a freshly evolved earth dragon in the Great Elroe Labyrinth with a full party, I’m sure they’re far beyond anything we could handle.
“I’m Nguyen, chief of the fire dragons.”
While I’m still recovering from the fact that these are ancient dragons, the half-naked man introduces himself in a way that shocks me even further.
If he’s the chief of the fire dragons, that must mean he’s not just an ancient dragon—he’s in charge of all the fire dragons, including other ancient ones.
I was surprised enough to find out that he was an ancient dragon, let alone a leader among them…
But there were even more surprises in store.
“I am Iena, chief of the water dragons.”
The gentle-looking woman introduces herself as a chief, too.
“I’m the chief of the dark dragons, Reise.”
“Name’s Hyuvan, chief of the wind dragons, see.”
“Call me Nia, chief of the ice dragons.”
“Is it my turn?! I’m the great Gohka, chief of the lightning dragons!”
The ancient dragons each introduce themselves.
And they’re all chiefs…
This is insane.
I’m amazed that so many powerful beings are assembled in this place, but I guess it’s not entirely unbelievable, since the world quest is such a unique and dire situation.