Does His Holiness the Pope Have a Side Job Today?

[My own mishmash of Western fantasy, plot-focused, with all sorts of elements]

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In the year 287 of the Orlando Calendar, a new hero appeared out of nowhere.

He arrived in a remote little town and met his first companion there.

In the town's tavern, where songs rang through the night, a mysterious bard plucked the strings of his instrument.

A new history began here.

The fun version

Veris, male, surname unknown, identity unknown, race unknown. Possibly human.

There is a mysterious group of people on this continent.

They are destitute and silver-tongued, scattered in every corner of the continent, swaying like weeds in the wind.

They can make it all the way to royal palaces, or starve to death in the wilderness. They have no ability to fight, and their income depends entirely on handouts from the powerful. In return, they say a few flattering words and carry those people's stories to every corner of the continent.

They are bards.

"Sigh, we're all just a bunch of men of letters. Can't you put down your sword?" Veris sighs at the wary hero standing across from him.

Hero: "But I just saw you kill that monster with one punch."

Veris sucks in a breath and denies it outright. "You must have been under an illusion. You clearly killed that monster with one thrust of your sword."

The hero looks at the monster lying on the ground. There's a fist-sized hole in its chest... Could a sword really make a hole like that?

With all the recent murders causing such a stir, the hero decides to keep an eye on this man.

Veris, whose solo adventure has forcibly become a duo: ?

Fine, then.

What is a bard's job?

At noon, Veris wakes up at his leisure, goes to the tavern for half an hour, then wanders from the market to the Mercenary Association, stopping for lunch along the way.

In the evening, he goes out into the wilderness, supposedly to find inspiration and experience nature's bounty.

At night, he returns to the tavern and officially begins his real work.

After hearing an earful about the king and chancellor's little secrets, the pope's bizarre recipes, the church's saint who likes to sleep while bathing, and the previous hero who secretly loved the Demon King, got rejected, turned bitter, and swore to die alongside the Demon King, the hero: "...?"

Isn't this guy going to get reported and executed??

A month later, the dazed hero bids Veris farewell, determined never to associate with that bunch of lunatics known as bards again.

Veris only smiles without a word.

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The hero's goal is to kill the Demon King and protect the continent's peace.

He gathers a powerful party, struggles through countless hardships, fights monsters and levels up, and finally reaches the Demon King's lair.

It is teeming with monsters. The Demon King's seven protectors drink and carouse without pause, and a raised platform stands out in the noisy square.

Someone is standing on it, playing a battered accordion from some long-forgotten era. The moment he opens his mouth, he starts spreading rumors.

Hero: ...

How did this guy end up wandering all the way here?!

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The hero is, after all, the chosen one, a supreme champion. He finally defeats the Demon King and seals him in the underground abyss, then returns to his kingdom.

The king is overjoyed and announces that he will award the hero the title of First Knight of the Kingdom. The pope will preside over the ceremony, and the saint himself will crown him.

The hero is thrilled. The pope is the pope! He grew up listening to stories about him and admired him greatly, but had heard the pope hadn't appeared in public for many years.

He eagerly awaits the coronation.

That day, while waiting in a side hall, he hears a commotion in the room inside. Curiosity gets the better of him, and he goes to investigate.

There he sees a familiar wandering bard and the saint, who usually looks down on all living things from on high, grappling with each other.

The hero is horrified. "Don't be afraid, Saint! I'll save you!"

The saint has Veris pinned against a table. He turns toward the uninvited intruder, his gaze so murderous it could kill.

Veris waves at the hero. "I'm fine... Wait, why are you trying to save him?"

"Clearly I'm the one who needs saving more!"

The saint pins Veris down. His voice is cold enough to freeze water. "Father, which of your old acquaintances is this?"

Hero: ?

The person the saint calls Father

Isn't that the mysterious pope?

- [Content warnings in the author's note for Chapter One]

1. My own take on Western fantasy, with lots of original worldbuilding, a medium-to-long plot-focused story.

2. The love interest is the saint. They are not blood-related. Other characters may have one-sided crushes, but there are no other couples. It's all made-up gossip (nods).

3. Veris is a long-lived race. He's currently a bard as a side job, but his main job is pope. Veris is the undisputed number one in combat ability (highlighted), a seemingly unremarkable bard who is secretly a master.

4. The Supreme Pope x the saint who takes care of everything (not really)

"Beneath their quills, chapters endure for a thousand years without fading. Their melodious music tells legends that never grow old."

Synopsis dated May 20

- Check out my upcoming cultivation novel, After Guest-Starring as the Master in Four Novels

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After transmigrating seven hundred years ago, Qiao Shu has managed to patch things together and achieve success, becoming one of the renowned Sword Lords of the cultivation world.

On the day of his 771st birthday, his golden finger finally arrives.

Qiao Shu is moved. Is his next story going to be about cultivating to ascend, breaking through the void, and ruling the entire universe

He takes a closer look, frowns, and asks: What is this supposed to be?

This is a mishmash world of novels.

Qiao Shu is handed all sorts of master roles. The disciples under him include not only the chosen ones, but also a scumbag male lead consumed by tragic romance, and a pitiful love interest trapped in an angsty relationship...

And he, Qiao Shu, the renowned leader of the Seven Sword Lords, is supposed to play out storylines involving expelling disciples, breaking up couples, denying their heritage, and stand-in romance abuse.

The seven-hundred-year-old slowly forms a question mark.

He could put up with the first three, but what on earth is that last one?!

The novel says that his youngest disciple appears ordinary but is actually the number one incubus in the cultivation world. As his master, he has long been madly in love with the disciple but doesn't dare confess because of social conventions.

But his second personality doesn't care about that and sneaks off to meet the disciple every day.

After learning what his second personality has been doing, Sword Lord Qiao is devastated. Yet he's also deeply drawn to his incubus disciple. The disciple seems to be passionately in love with the second personality, but in truth treats him as a substitute for Sword Lord Qiao.

After an intense, tangled love affair full of angst, both of Sword Lord Qiao's personalities and the disciple live happily ever after.

Qiao Shu: ...

He understands the words individually, but there's one problem...

The youngest disciple is his second personality!

So this is still a doppelganger romance, right?

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Yan He has existed for Qiao Shu alone since the day he was born.

They are like flesh and blood, inseparable.

After spending centuries together, he thought things would always stay that way.

But one day, after Qiao Shu emerged from seclusion, he put an arm around Yan He and asked, "Yan He, do you like me?"

Yan He's fingers trembled, but his voice remained as gentle as ever. "Master, no one can help loving themselves."

Later, Qiao Shu lies sprawled on the bed, covered in marks. His friend sends him a message, the glee unmistakable in his voice. "Qiao Shu, did you know there's a ghost in your house?"

Qiao Shu: ...

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1. A cultivation-world mashup. Qiao Qiao is maxed out in combat ability and loves showing off.

2. Doppelganger romance. Qiao Shu is the bottom, Yan He is the top.

3. A fun cultivation novel with a secondary couple. Extreme fans, please don't read.

Theme: Keep the legacy alive