Chapter 64 - His majesty the pope who spreads the holy light (7)
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Translated by: Niladri
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This Chapter is sponsored by Anon. Thanks for all the coffees.
Ionas always seemed to be sleeping too much. Even though every dragon loved to sleep, it was also like hibernation, sleeping for hundreds of years and then staying awake for a longer period of time. There was obviously something wrong with Ionas.
When Lu Heng carefully thought about it, he connected a few key points. In fact, it was because the main body of the dragon had been destroyed, but the soul remained that of a god. Simply put, the body's energy was not enough to supply the soul, so it was often in a low energy-consuming sleeping state.
After thinking about it, Lu Heng was relieved. This was not a big problem. As long as Ionas stayed in his human form as much as possible, because the human form consumed much less energy than the Dragon form, there would be no energy shortage.
Seeing the person on his shoulders who seemed to have the tendency of sleeping till the end of the world, Lu Heng could not bear to push Ionas away.
No response.
Lu Heng thought for a moment and spoke in his ear, "Great Dragon Lord, your treasure has been stolen by thieves."
"What!" Ionas woke up in an instant, but upon seeing the mirth in Lu Heng's eyes, his fury dissipated in an instant. "You might as well use that fruit. Didn't I give you a pile of it?"
Lu Heng gently rubbed Ionas' hand and calmed the unhappy dragon. Then he pulled away and continued to look at the murals in the temple.
At first glance, Lu Heng found many things that had long been buried in the river of time. These things were accurately recorded in the murals of the temple gallery, among which there was indeed information on the goblins.
The goblins originally lived together with dwarfs, and the two races interacted frequently. Dwarves lived on the Stonehenge Mountains and goblins lived below it. After the invasion of the undead army, the dwarves joined the battle under the leadership of the god of forging they believed in. Goblins, on the other hand, were in an awkward situation. They did not believe in gods. As there was no faith, there was no god. In that chaotic battle, a race without a god's protection going to go to the battlefield was doomed to be wiped out.
For self-preservation, the goblins closed all access to the underground kingdom. After that, dwarven territory fell, and dwarf craftsmen left behind panicked and went to seek refuge from the goblins, but were turned away.
The tragic history of dwarves was still sung by bards. Apart from the dwarf fighters in the Alliance Army, the dwarves had been slaughtered by the undead army. To this day, the dwarves haven’t recovered.
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As one went along the long murals, one could see all the way to the end. The final mural was a prophecy about the fate of the mainland made by the gods after sealing the portal leading to the undead.
The prophecy above the murals began with the gods opening up the divine realm and leaving the mainland. The illustrations beyond that depicted the following scenes.
Because of their excellent learning ability and higher fertility, the human race quickly regained its vitality, and then rose up to control the whole continent and put an end to the division of races in the mainland. Dragon Island rose up and all the dragon people immigrated to it. The dragons almost became a legend on the mainland. Then was the splitting of the elves- some of them left their homes to build Moonlight City in the human territory, while others stayed in the elves' forest. The Papacy of Light declined, the priests who practiced divinity disappeared, and battle spirit and magic prevailed. The Bega Empire waged war, and eventually held control over the majority of the mainland.
Finally, it was the undead army that once again crossed the portal and invaded the mainland. The whole continent was plunged into a whirlpool of war and death, and the whole mainland was occupied by them. Amidst the grim changes, the fire of hope spurred the living beings to retreat to the Vatican.
However, the mural was broken in this key place. Lu Heng looked at the clouds floating slowly under his feet. The temple really was broken.
Ionas saw Lu Heng staring at his feet with an unfathomable look: "Are you bored in Dragon Island, or I can take you around Dragon Island for a while. Well, I can grant you the privilege of sitting on the back of the Dragon Lord."
"Io, I want to see the other half of the temple." Since he knew that Ionas was his man, Lu Heng did not have to worry too much about it. As long as it was his own request, the other party would not object.
"No, I must keep my treasure by my side." Ionas shook his head as soon as he heard it.
"You can come with me." Lu Heng did not quite understand the logic of the dragon.
"But those humans are so noisy that I can't sleep well. At the beginning, I raised the territory of the Dragon race into the air to become a floating island because I could not sleep due to the noisiness of the humans.” Ionas's tone of voice carried a certain degree of grievance.
"You Dragons are able to sleep well with your favorite treasures, huh?" Lu Heng pointed out.
"Yes," Ionas said with shining eyes, thinking that he had not been able to sleep well before because he did not have the precious thing that other Dragons had which they held close to their hearts. Now he had no need to worry about this problem at all.
"If you promise to sleep with my human form every day, then the Lord of the Dragon will grant your request." Ionas raised his chin slightly, but his heart was somewhat troubled because he had heard the Bard say that humans were very careful about sleeping together. Although he didn’t understand why, Ionas felt that he should respect Lu Heng's opinions.
Lu Heng smiled and said, "I shall follow your instructions, Your Excellency Ionas."
Bibe city was the largest city on the Lalan Heights. Legend has it that the Lalan Heights used to be the territory of the Dragons. In the center of the Lalan Heights, there was a huge depression where the Dragon Island once stood. Although Dragon Island floated above the sky, no one could compare whether the depression really coincided with the boundary of Dragon Island. But this legend has also attracted countless adventurers to explore here. The treasures of the dragons, indeed it was lucrative.
This was also the biggest reason why the Adventurer's Union in Bibe City was the biggest one in the Northern provinces. The Adventurer's Guild of Bibe occupied the best part of the city centre, surrounded by a large number of shops and pubs. A small group of city guards patrolled the neighborhood all day to prevent the bloodthirsty adventurers from making trouble.
The Blood Wolf Team had just handed in a task and was idling around drinking in a tavern next to the guild. They had almost lost all of their earnings in the previous mission, and the wine in their cups changed from black beer of the Stonehenge Mountains to poor ale. The team of adventurers was thinking about finding a big customer.
"This barley wine is really not for human consumption. In other words, it's only fit for horses!" A strong warrior pounded his glass on the bar.
"If it hadn't been for your stupidity and letting the frostbladed leopard go, would we have been reduced to our underpants?" The cloaked magician mocked.
"You!"
The two men were about to quarrel again. A teenager dressed as a ranger with a short bow pushed through the door and said, "There's a fat sheep. A big fat sheep from the trade union is issuing a mission!"
By the time the blood wolf team arrived, a long line had been formed at the fat sheep's task publishing table. The warrior swore in frustration and queued up behind.
The teams were being filtered so fast that it seemed to be a picky customer. Soon, there were only two men left in front of the warrior. At last, when his line of sight was not blocked, the warrior discreetly examined the task publisher sitting behind the table. It was a fat sheep indeed. This looked like the young master of a noble family who had run out on an adventure. Look at the tender skin of the face, look at the broadsword covered with gems, and look at the gaudy and impractical light armour- obviously a rookie with no combat experience.
He could hear his reasons for eliminating the teams of adventurers wanting to take over the mission.
"Who in your team is responsible for exploring the way?"
"An experienced thief."
"I hate thieves the most, next one."
"It's the Rangers who are in charge of our team's exploration."
Before the young master asked the question, the person behind said cleverly.
"Do you have any dedicated priest?"
"N- no."
"This mission is not simple, can’t be done without a priest, next."
"Wait, didn't you bring a priest?"
"How dare you covet my priest, scram, next!"
Just listen, saying things like this, only the young masters from aristocratic families could be so capricious. But the warrior was secretly grateful that his team seemed to fully meet the requirements of the young master. It didn't matter that the young man was capricious. The key was that he looked foolish and gullible and had a lot of money. If he even randomly cut down the jewel on the other person’s sword, it will probably be enough for his team to eat and drink for a month.
At the end of this mission, maybe I can go to Julie to keep her warm. The warrior thought happily.
This gorgeous and haughty-looking young man with a slightly stinky temper was of course Ionas. The elegant-looking man beside him clad in probationary priest costume was Lu Heng, who had changed his appearance with divine magic. After all, the appearance of His Majesty the Pope was well known.
With a bag of gold coins as deposit, they hired the Blood Wolf team and returned to the hotel where they were staying.
As soon as he entered the room, Ionas sat in a cane chair on the balcony. Lu Heng knew at first glance that the dragon was sulking, otherwise if he had been happy, he would have taken a bath and gone to bed. As for the cause of anger, it was not difficult to guess from the straightforward thinking of the dragons.
"Hmph!" Perhaps because there was no movement from Lu Heng for a while, the annoyed voice from the balcony was intentionally loud.
Looking at Ionas whose back almost seemed to have the words ‘comfort me’ written on it, Lu Heng shook his head in an amused mood.
"Io, what's wrong?"
"You're looking for a team of adventurers to help you. You are looking down on me." The moment Lu Heng asked, Ionas poured out all the words he had prepared for so long. "The treasure of a dragon can only be guarded by himself."
Lu Heng gently smiled at the angry Ionas. "We hired them simply to look for the remains of the temple. As for the job of guarding, of course you will be responsible. It's also appropriate considering your body’s state.”
When they had arrived at Lalan Heights, Ionas had landed confidently to find the remains of the temple. As soon as he reached the depression, he was dumbfounded. Since such a long time had passed, all traces of Dragon Island had been lost in the tall trees and deep grass. With the weathering and collapse of the rocks at the boundary’s edges, Ionas could not tell where the boundary of the erstwhile Dragon Island was, let alone find the half of the temple.
Ionas suggested that he could always find clues by searching carefully in his dragon form. But considering Ionas' physical condition, Lu Heng rejected his proposal and decided to go to the nearby city of Bibe and hire a powerful team of adventurers to help him find the half of the lost temple. This team of adventurers could not be too large, because this matter was of great importance. After the event, Lu Heng would use his magic to erase the memory of all participants. If there were too many people, the wastage of the power of Holy Light would be that much higher.
Ionas naturally agreed unconditionally to Lu Heng's proposal, but his mood was somewhat glum: "Regarding the energy consumed by becoming a dragon, I just need to sleep to replenish it."
Lu Heng touched his back and was accustomed to the method of pacifying the dragon: "If you sleep for a long time, I will feel very lonely."
"Now that you have said that, the great Dragon Lord forgives you."
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If you have any opinions regarding this chapter or found a mistake, do leave a comment. Kinda upset that my job joining is postponed by a month but hopefully the quality of my translation shouldn't be too badly affected.