The Bearing of a Pope

More than ten minutes later.

Chen Fan stopped his endless stream of words and reached for the glass beside him again, taking a sip.

Never in his wildest dreams had he expected to complete two "sermons" in such a short time, with a priest and a God Chosen as his audience!

Who the hell would believe that if he told them?

Your preaching skills have improved considerably.

One seized every opportunity to mock him: This unit believes you have the makings of a pope.

Chen Fan's mouth twitched slightly. Shut up.

He turned to look at Isa, who was still standing by the door.

For Isa, who had spent her entire life within the Church, those people-centered, enlightened ideas were clearly far too advanced—although he had heavily altered and cut down those concepts, the black-robed Mechanical Little Potato had completely frozen in place after he finished his lengthy speech.

As if she had crashed.

Chen Fan thought cheerfully.

He did not urge her on. Instead, he waited quietly, giving Isa plenty of time to process and think.

Beneath the priest's black robe.

Isa's delicate little face had scrunched up into a frown.

Chen Fan's words had dealt a tremendous blow to her worldview.

Something felt wrong, yet she could not pinpoint exactly what it was.

The Church... the Church was clearly the Goddess's most devout follower. How could it become an obstacle that hindered people's hearts?

She could not help recalling what she had witnessed while announcing the Divine Descent Ceremony.

Every believer had treated her with great respect.

Thinking back on it now, perhaps it had not been respect, but fear.

And that fear had not been directed at her, but at the black priest's robe she wore!

More precisely, the believers feared the Church behind her!

When a Church brought its believers nothing but fear, could what that Church did still be right?

Isa pressed her lips tightly together. Her clear right eye narrowed slightly, filled with deep confusion.

Amid a faint, almost imperceptible mechanical hum, her red-glowing Mechanical Eye adjusted its angle and, concealed by her black robe, carefully studied Chen Fan and Gao Yuan sitting on the chairs.

They were God Chosen!

According to the Archbishop, they were the gods' spokesmen in the mortal world!

How could they say such blasphemous words—

No, that was not right. Gao Yuan and Chen Fan had not denied the gods. They had merely rejected the Church's usual practices.

The instant that thought crossed her mind, Isa's right eye flew open beneath her black hood.

If the God Chosen truly were the gods' spokesmen in the mortal world...

Then could what they spoke of be the Goddess's will?

So the Goddess wanted to change the Church, rather than the God Chosen harboring disloyal intentions?

Time ticked by.

The glass in Chen Fan's hand had long since been emptied.

One, do you think I can talk Isa into joining us?

Bored, Chen Fan started chatting with One in his mind.

This unit remains pessimistic.

You may have underestimated the influence religion and faith have on intelligent lifeforms.

As a priest who had grown up immersed in the Church, her beliefs should theoretically be difficult to shake with your rhetoric.

What about Gao Yuan? Chen Fan curled his lip. He's a God Chosen, too!

...Gao Yuan is an exception. This unit's premise in this discussion is that we are speaking of normal people.

Hearing that, Chen Fan gave Gao Yuan a strange look—Gao Yuan noticed Chen Fan's gaze and flashed him a carefree, toothy grin.

Chen Fan silently withdrew his gaze. Fine. I'll tentatively agree with you.

But I still believe in my preaching skills.

Heh. This unit likes that refusal to admit defeat.

Just as the man and machine were arguing, the black priest's robe frozen beside the door trembled lightly.

"I'll join you."

The soft, sweet voice was incomparably firm.

After a brief moment of surprise, a gentle smile appeared on Chen Fan's face. "Welcome aboard."

???

How was this possible?!

Inside Chen Fan's mind, One had begun doubting its own chassis: No, ask her for this unit. What exactly is she thinking?

Th-this is not scientific!

Isa spoke again. "This... is the Third Divine Decree, isn't it?"

Chen Fan froze.

"What?"

Why had this suddenly been dragged back to the Third Divine Decree?

Isa raised her Mechanical Prosthetic and removed her oversized hood.

Her picturesque brows and eyes were lowered, revealing an indescribable sorrow and helplessness.

"The Church has done wrong. Naturally, the Goddess would be angry."

"So during the Third Divine Decree, the Goddess conveyed her will to you, didn't she?"

At that point, Isa's expression turned resolute. "As one of the Goddess's believers, I am willing to help you."

Holy... holy shit?

Chen Fan seemed to understand.

In Isa's eyes, the Goddess had been dissatisfied with the Church's actions and had therefore used the divine decree to convey her will to the God Chosen, intending to rely on their strength to improve the Church's situation.

As for why the Goddess did not act personally... this Mechanical Little Potato apparently had not yet considered that angle.

It sounded a little absurd, but after putting himself in Isa's shoes, Chen Fan found the explanation fairly reasonable—throughout Varrela City's history, no God Chosen had ever possessed such audacity. But if the Goddess was "backing" them from behind, everything suddenly made far more sense.

As he had said before.

The brains of intelligent lifeforms were remarkably capable of filling in missing details.

Clearly, the priest before him was a little too good at imagining things.

Chen Fan opened his mouth. After hesitating for a moment, he met Isa's gaze and nodded firmly.

"You're right. That's exactly what happened!"

Good lord, if this kept up, he would start believing he was a legitimate righteous figure!

"The Goddess... did indeed use the divine decree ritual to tell me some information."

Chen Fan lied without blushing or missing a beat, even hastily patching up Isa's explanation. "After returning to the God Kingdom, the Goddess could not conveniently interfere with mortal affairs. As a God Chosen, it was only natural for me to share the Goddess's burdens."

Gao Yuan, standing to the side: "???"

Why was this version a little different from the one he had heard earlier?

Had he misheard something?

Gao Yuan tried to recall it, but his mind felt muddled, as though it were veiled in a thick fog.

Mm... he must have misheard.

Gao Yuan scratched his head and updated the version in his memories himself.

Meanwhile, Chen Fan smugly started gloating in his mind:

One, say something!

Didn't you say it was impossible earlier?

After a moment of silence, One replied quietly: ...Excluding Gao Yuan and Isa, this unit's simulation calculations apply only to intelligent lifeforms with normal thought processes.

Heh. I still like the way you refuse to admit it.

One: ...