Duke Blacktomb also wore black clothes similar to military clothes with silver shoulder pads. He gave me a meaningful nod.
And in the sky, a cheeky young primordial Succubus was flying freely. Only the Pope and I seemed to notice her position, and Juriel didn't say anything about it because I had already told Sana and her about my plan.
Instead, she just smiled warmly with her hands in front of her as the Queen giggled and greeted us.
"It's an honor to meet you, Your Eminence Pope, Your Holiness Paladin." Eve curtsied and pulled up her skirt slightly.
Duke Blacktomb followed her movement and bowed deeply as this was a formal occasion. The King was late for a second and greeted us with a smile.
The Pope nodded and didn't bow or curtsied. She held the highest position in the church and only bowed to the Goddess.
"It's nice to meet you again, Eve. You've turned beautiful." Juriel said. Then she turned to the King. "And Cassius too. It's nice to meet you." Her tone had anger mixed in it.
But she didn't show it clearly and still smiled, though it seemed like the Queen had noticed it because she knew Pope Juriel before.
We didn't spend much time outside the arena hall. I greeted them back, and we entered through different entrances as the balcony was across from each other. I walked beside Pope Juriel while Sana and Ertha followed behind us.
At this moment, the tournament of the top 10 should almost be done. I hoped Oliver passed because I didn't want to hear Alesia's nagging. The headmistress somehow talked a lot lately compared to the past after we drank together that night.
She suddenly spoke as we walked to escort the Pope to the balcony.
"Cassius seems a bit strange. Is that girl controlling him?"
Her voice was low, and only I, who stood beside her, could hear it. This corridor was also neutralized with no one, so she didn't fear if there was someone hearing us.
"Sana mentioned you had dominated a primordial Succubus, which should be impossible. Is this part of your plan to make Eve ascend to the throne?"
"Yes." I nodded and answered honestly. "I am just worried about Duke Blacktomb's existence. He can soil our plan if he disagrees with me or supports King Cassius."
"Don't worry about that man. He's a believer of the Luxuria Church, probably having a position of an Archbishop. Fufufu, the other side, must've gained the Goddess' oracle too. That's why that man still stays in this country even though he should return after that peace meeting.
"Ah, the Goddess was also the one who ordered peace between two Kingdoms for 100 years. Similar to us, the Luxuria Church also holds a considerable amount of power in the Sin Kingdom political scene."
"I somehow can see that if someone like Duke Jordan Blacktomb is an Archbishop."
Somehow I wasn't that surprised upon learning about Duke Blacktomb's position in the Sin Kingdom and Luxuria Church. Maybe he heard something from a <Oracle> that made him let his daughter, Naya Blacktomb, get away from Academy City.
'Does that mean the Goddess also approved my plan? That should be the case because I heard from Juriel that the church doesn't really like King Cassius.'
Whether that was the case or not, I could put Duke Blacktomb off and just thought of him as a bystander.
When I thought about it again, I didn't find anything strange when they stepped out of the carriage. If Duke Blacktomb was on King Cassius' side, he would definitely mention that a Succubus followed them.
No matter whether Queen Eve knew that the Succubus was Beatrice or not, there should be a little reaction and worry on their face.
'The fact that there is nothing strange means Duke Blacktomb didn't try to tell them about it and just became a bystander in whatever will unfold in the future.'
From this, I could also understand the Goddess' train of thought. She didn't really mind if both Kingdoms were at peace and had a good relationship.
'Why?' It also left me confused.
Did she think it would be fun to watch it? Or did the Goddess have another plan?
What I could think of from the information I had right now was the Goddess let me do as I pleased in this world. It didn't matter how I wanted to change the world. She would support me wholeheartedly.
'That just makes me scared. In this world, the one who is possibly stronger than me has her mind in a way that I can't read.'
"You don't need to think much about it, Paladin Arthur."
Pope Juriel's voice pulled me out of my deep thoughts. I looked at her, and she smiled softly.
"The era has changed, and the balance has been broken. Surely you do know about it, right? A big event is approaching, and we need peace right now. That's why the Goddess sent a peace order to the other side."
I nodded. So she also knew about it.
'A big event.'
According to the Sins Paradise timeline, we have just finished the tournament event tomorrow. This would be the real start, where the protagonist got stronger, and the world began to change.
I thought I could stop that by dominating Beatrice, but that didn't seem to be the case. The main event of Sins Paradise that made the game be called that still approached, and I or even the Goddess had a way to stop it.
What we could do was to prepare for it.
"Castitas Church will support you wholeheartedly. Please don't try to deal with it by yourselves." Pope Juriel reminded me with a worried tone.
"Hahaha, I won't." I chuckled and replied to her. "I will count on you when the time arrives. It is still long in the future. For now, I just want to investigate the other edges of the world."
"I understand." Pope Juriel nodded.
At this moment, we had arrived in front of the door leading to the balcony where the Pope should be. There was only one chair, so Sana and Ertha excused themselves right after the Pope entered and seated.
As for me, I accompanied Juriel for a while, and we spoke about my plan for tomorrow in detail. I told her that I also prepared in secret for that big event and would like to get her little help in contacting the Pope of Luxuria Church if possible.
Both Churches seemed to be in a bad relationship with each other on the surface. But from what Juriel told me when I first met her, I knew that was just to make Goddess Teri and Goddess Tera's identity exist on the surface and hide the real Goddess Lilith's existence.
And from what I knew, only the three of us, two Popes and me, a Paladin, knew about the truth.
After getting a confirmation and promise of support, I cast <Holy Barrier> around the balcony and left the room.
I was left with tomorrow's plan and persuading the Queen to take the throne. If I made a mistake tomorrow, my plan would be in disarray.
'Thankfully, the preparation is all in place. And I can now rest easy with Duke Blacktomb after knowing his real position and intention of staying in the Virtue Kingdom. Also, I can now ask him about the matter of the Vampire in Sin Kingdom's Border City.'
That was suspicious, and I didn't doubt someone was planning something on the other side.
'Let's just hope that I don't need to step in myself and destroy something again.'
And let's hope that Alesia's plan succeeded before the big event arrived. I would also need to move faster after knowing this information.
"I need to tell Tristan about it. If anything happens to me, she will be the only one who can stop this big event."
Not that I planned to die, but I wanted to tell her just in case I wasn't in the Virtue Kingdom when that event happened. I would also need to tell her everything I knew about the events that would arrive shortly, no matter if it was a main canon event or just small ones.
'There is nothing wrong with preparing for the future.'
And I walked down the corridor toward the Royal Academy's balcony while changing back to the black training clothes with a quick change.
