Chapter 546: Chapter 545: I Must Have Met a Fake Pope!

Hearing Miss Kani’s words, Fang Zheng was utterly flabbergasted as he blankly stared at the young girl in front of him, completely clueless about what was happening.

I just received the invitation myself. I came to this banquet because I was recently idle. Suddenly you talk about marriage… I haven’t even brushed my teeth yet.

“Sorry, I don’t quite understand what you mean…”

“My den is just next to the Holy City on Peak of Heaven Source. It’s full of treasures, ranging from Goddess-era artifacts to modern magic equipment and everything in between. I particularly like jewelry because it’s delightful to see ordinary lives turn seemingly insignificant rocks into priceless artworks… How about it? If you’re free, why don’t I take you to my den? It’s not far from here. If we were to transform back to our true forms, it would be about a half-hour journey…”

“Excuse me for interrupting!”

Fang Zheng couldn’t stand listening to the young girl’s non-stop chatter, so he had to raise his hand and place it over her mouth, causing her to immediately stop and stare at him curiously.

“What’s the matter?”

“Well… I think this is way too fast. We’ve met less than two minutes ago… Oh, it has been two minutes, but Miss Kani, you must admit we don’t know each other at all, right? How can you just make me your partner?”

“Then how about we just get engaged for now? You don’t have a mate of your own kind right now anyway, and I don’t need to worry. Time Dragons are a rare breed, and I would be more than delighted to have a Time Dragon as my mate…”

Did you just treat me like an SSR card to be drawn?

Hearing this, Fang Zheng helplessly rolled his eyes. Of course, he knew why Kani was so excited. Time Dragons, Power Dragons, and Prismatic Dragons were all rare in the Dragon Race, usually unseen on ordinary days. In gaming terms, they were like top-level rare world elites that spawned randomly and occasionally. Especially Time Dragons, according to the information Fang Zheng found in the White Tower, Time Dragons generally did not partake in worldly matters. Due to their time-traveling abilities, most Time Dragons preferred to lie low around the end or beginning of worlds, never worrying about being sought after.

For this reason, Time Dragons were the rarest among all Giant Dragons. This was also another reason why Fang Zheng didn’t dare to transform in the Main World–dammit, if news spread that he turned into a Time Dragon, he’d be pestered to death. The Tower of Heaven would probably take the opportunity to bleed him dry and dissect him for experiments.

And looking at this girl now… Fang Zheng felt that holding back from transforming had been the right decision indeed.

But speaking of which…

“Are you… the Pope of the Sanctuary?”

“Hey, I’m just an acting one…

At the mention of this, Kani’s face fell.

“I don’t want to be this damned Pope. Who wants to bother with trivial matters with mortals all day long? But I have no choice; it’s my duty… although my duty doesn’t include this! What can I do if I lose a bet…”

Amidst the Golden Dragon Girl’s grumbling complaints, Fang Zheng finally learned the full story.

It all began when the Kingdom of the Holy Church was established. The first Pope had significant connections with the Golden Dragon Clan. Somehow, possibly because the Clan Leader of the Golden Dragons was out of his mind at the time (Kani’s words), the then Golden Dragon Clan Leader and the first Pope faced threats from evil and Chaos. The Pope personally fought on the front lines against Chaos Monsters, and during an ambush aimed at protecting the Golden Dragon Clan Leader, the Pope, nearly dying, wished that the Golden Dragons would protect the Kingdom of the Holy Church through the ages. The Clan Leader, clearly not in his right mind at the time (Kani’s words), agreed. As long as the Kingdom of the Holy Church continued to uphold the path of order, the Golden Dragons would protect them.

Perhaps infected by the intensity of battle, the Clan Leader agreed without thinking. After the battle ended, whether the Pope was tough or just lucky, he survived. Once he woke up, he shamelessly asked the Golden Dragon Clan Leader to fulfill the promise.

At that point, the Golden Dragon Clan Leader realized the folly of his unthought-out agreement. But as the Golden Dragons were a race that honored their promises and couldn’t act like the treacherous Five-Colored Dragons who would deny their commitments, they reluctantly agreed. The clan leader and the pope concurred that the Golden Dragons would station an underage Golden Dragon in the Kingdom of the Holy Church to protect them. However, once this Golden Dragon came of age or found a mate, they would replace the individual.

That’s why the moment Carl Dani saw Fang Zheng, she dashed over to propose a relationship or marriage. Being a dragon, how could she tolerate this! Perhaps, to humans, the Pope is supremely exalted, but to a Golden Dragon, the human Pope means nothing!

But speaking of which…

“What your clan initially promised the Pope was to protect the Kingdom of the Holy Church, not to become the Pope directly, right…”

“I didn’t want this either!!”

Upon hearing this, the Golden Dragon Girl immediately bristled with anger (although dragons technically have no hair to bristle).

“But I… I lost a bet with the Pope…”

“…And then?”

“She said she was going out to get a sense of the people’s conditions or something, and she tasked me with being a substitute… At first, I thought it was kind of fun, but now I realize it’s not fun at all…”

But as they say, you have to lick the wounds you give yourself, no matter the tears–such is the nature of a Golden Dragon.

“So the Pope just left like that? She threw the entire Kingdom of the Holy Church at you?”

After hearing the whole story, Fang Zheng found it utterly unbelievable.

“Isn’t the Pope afraid you’d run the Kingdom of the Holy Church into the ground?”

“A mere mortal’s nation, what’s there to worry about? It’s not like I can’t handle it! I’ve been doing pretty well these years. At least no one’s noticed anything wrong.”

At this point, the Golden Dragon Girl lifted her chest proudly.

“This goes to show that these foolish mortals aren’t worth worrying about!”

…So for years, the Kingdom of the Holy Church has been under the rule of a dragon, and no one has noticed?

The fact that nothing major has gone wrong for such a long time really must be the Goddess’s blessing! But speaking of which, Your Excellency the Pope, you as the top leader, should just sit comfortably in the Sanctuary, why learn to travel incognito? This world is nothing like the Qing Dynasty; if Kangxi were here, he would probably barely step out of the city gates before being knocked out by a goblin or a Minotaur with a club, stripped, dismembered, and eaten.

“What if you find a partner–what happens to the country then?”

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

In response to Fang Zheng’s curious inquiry, the Golden Dragon Girl waved her hand smugly.

“My little sister is still five hundred years away from being an adult, and she’s always rambling about wanting to visit the mortal realm, so I’ll just let her fill the vacancy when I leave!”

“……….”

Looking at the smugly proud Golden Dragon Girl in front of him, Fang Zheng was left speechless.

Didn’t the books say that the Golden Dragons are a lawful good species?

How are they even scheming against their own kids?

However, after verifying the Golden Dragon Girl’s identity, Fang Zheng felt relieved. The Golden Dragon race was a lawful good faction, so they surely wouldn’t trouble him. This particular Golden Dragon Girl’s strength was slightly more than his, but only just. If he considered the special abilities of the Time Dragon, then this Golden Dragon Girl might be no match for him.

This way, the threat to his life probably wasn’t coming from the Sanctuary.

So… who could it be?