Iver Moriarty, As Expected!

March 3, noon.

In previous Papal Elections, this was when the new Pope would be announced.

All the Cardinal Bishops would vote among the three candidates—the Saintess herself could be selected as a candidate, but she had no voting rights.

After each round of voting, the three candidates would each choose one person from among those who had voted for them to serve as their "supporter" and give a brief speech canvassing votes on their behalf. The candidates could also choose to speak for themselves.

Once the speeches were over, another round of voting would begin. This would continue until someone received more than two-thirds of the votes—in other words, until they gained "an absolute majority."

When there were twenty-one Cardinals, fifteen votes were required. Now that one seat was vacant, fourteen votes were needed.

If no one obtained an absolute majority after thirty-three consecutive rounds of voting, the person who had obtained a "relative majority" the most times during those thirty-three rounds would be elected.

At that point, a pure-white beam of light reaching the heavens would shoot up from the Twenty-First Ring and pierce the sky—straight to the Twenty-Second Ring. Then, the crystal screens on every level of the Theocracy would display the new Pope's name, appearance, identity, and other basic information. Everyone would then know that the Eternal Theocracy had welcomed a new Eternal Pope.

But this year, things were different.

Because the entire Papal Election had been livestreamed... the elves of the Theocracy had already known who the next Pope would be two hours earlier.

In the third round of voting, Iver Moriarty of Avalon had already secured an absolute majority.

During the first two rounds of voting, there had still been some "Courtesy Votes." In other words, Cardinals who usually got along well with certain