CHAPTER 1033: CHAPTER 1033: MORE GOOD THAN HARM

"I’ll ask him," Alwin volunteered.

Alwin contacted Alvis telepathically, and the latter was indeed pleased with it, so there were no problems.

Arabella had already heard Ferdinand’s point of view from his thoughts, so he simply nodded when she looked at him.

But she recalled something important...

"Wait, didn’t a lot of the people see Alvis?" Arabella pointed out.

"It’s alright. People will eventually forget what he exactly looked like. The generation that saw him would remember, but the next won’t. We can simply say he was a messenger of the gods," the Pope said with a smile, and his companions were wide-eyed.

"Should we be lying about something so important?!" Sandra and Xavier exclaimed.

"It’s alright. The gods are forgiving. They don’t mind lies that make more good than bad. After all, they’re gods and we are their creations," Pope Elsevier calmly said.

Sandra and Xavier blinked in disbelief. This was probably the first time in their lives they doubted the Pope’s words.

However, Pope Elsevier looked like he meant it. Perhaps, he had tested the gods’ patience in the past.

Arabella was astounded as well. But she also understood this must be one of the reasons why people like Esmeralda, who was not a goddess, yet was worshipped as such, did not get punished. It was because her existence in Safiro and their trust and belief in her did more good than harm.

The issue of Alvis’ appearance was then resolved.

Arabella then continued pondering about Pope Elsevier’s request and its possible effects on them.

Healing a great number of the injured and sick was one of the greatest benefits for the people here. After all, unlike Safiro, which had a very small population, Crux truly had the population of a kingdom. Thus, unlike Safiro, they could not simply gather all the injured people here and heal them all. It would take a lot of mana and a lot of days, weeks, or even more.

But Alwin and the other magicians cannot simply go out there and heal everyone like they did Safiro. Especially since they were already drained from healing the Prudencians and teleporting a lot.

There was still work in Morbal and the disease-afflicted territories as well.

Alwin and the other magicians are also the greatest defense of Valeria. If all their magicians are out of mana, they would be at a higher risk of attacks from outside.

If their enemy intentionally plots to tire their magicians and get them out of the picture before a major surprise attack, then there will be major casualties and injuries on Valeria’s side.

Thus, with all this, they could not let their magicians do all the healing needed here.

The Pope or his companions from the temple going around to heal would greatly help ease the situation and stop the suffering of the people here, while likewise easing the burden on Valeria.

In exchange, the Pope and his people would indeed have a great influence in Crux moving forward, but it should be alright since they are a positive influence.

Lobelius also respects the Pope and the Pope had never meddled in their politics.

After thinking about it, Arabella said, "Since it greatly benefits both of us, and since no one is against it, I believe it’s fine since this will directly help the people here recover and help in the reformation of Crux."

Everyone on Valeria’s side nodded in agreement.

"I’m glad and grateful for your decision!" Pope Elsevier beamed at her. Then added, "May the Divine Creator bless you."

They then proceeded to discuss how it would be implemented.

Since there were still a lot of injured here in Crux, they agreed the Pope would bless the Sacred Tree today and begin healing here in Crux’s capital.

Susan, Xavier, and all the others will be accompanied by more priests then go to the other areas of Crux in the following days to heal injured and sick people. They would also preach and share the teachings of the Great Temple and worship the Creator. They would be escorted by Valerian knights.

The people of Crux were of course, free to believe in it or not. But with the healing through divine power, a lot of people would likely begin praying to the Creator.

Arabella herself had begun praying more after she learned the gods truly did exist.

When the meeting finally concluded, Pope Elsevier unexpectedly said, "May I speak with the Empress alone?"

’Me?’ Arabella was surprised.

Ferdinand instantly frowned and said, "Why? What else do you want?"

"Nothing more. It’s something I must speak with her in private," Pope Elsevier said, undeterred by Ferdinand’s glare.

Even Raymond was bothered by it as well as he thought, [All the previous mates who refused to go to Estrella met with him repeatedly before they made the decision. No one knows what transpired between them; it seems they also talked in private. He may be against the Great War, so we can trust him with other matters. But in this, he’s suspicious. He may be intentionally sabotaging the mates from going to Estrella to prevent us dragons from increasing in number.]

’Even Raymond is worried about this? Could the Pope indeed try something behind their backs?’ Arabella wondered. She had heard Ferdinand worrying about this, too, when they met the Pope last time.

Ferdinand clearly wanted to say no, but he glanced at Arabella since this was something for her to decide.

"It’s alright. I wish to speak with the Pope as well," Arabella said, and the two dragons in the room were wide-eyed.

Ferdinand was already panicking deep inside and wanted to stop it. But he knew by now not to do so. Especially since he knew that if Arabella wanted to do something, she would do it even if she had to go behind his back to accomplish it.

[Why would she want to speak with him alone?!! Is she wavering? Does she want to back out?!... No, she promised to go with me to Estrella no matter what. But what if he convinces her to do otherwise?]

Ferdinand was conflicted since he also knew past empresses who did not go to Estrella after speaking with the Pope.

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a/n:

Thank you for your support, everyone!

BTW, if you are not reading this in wn, then you are on a pirate site. Please remember that I don’t earn a single cent from them. I pour my heart and soul into this. It may not be the best, but it is a result of my hard work. This is my first longest book, and I’m trying my best to finish this despite life’s challenges. If I earned enough from writing alone, I would have quit my other jobs and focused on it alone. But I don’t, and pirate sites make it worse.