Simon Levellair

Simon Levellair (シモン・リベラール) is a character from the "Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest" series.

He is the newly appointed pope of the Holy Church after the death of Ishtar Langbard.

Appearance
Simon is an elderly man with stark-white hair, jade-green eyes, and swarthy skin.

Personality
Simon is a kind and caring person who always tries to give advice to those in need. He does not share the Holy Church's views regarding beastmen as an inferior species.

He has a mischievous and immature streak in him. He constantly complains when faced with an issue that he does not like and tries to run away whenever he feels overwhelmed, or tries to sneak away from his overbearing granddaughter Sibyl. He is also a bit of a pervert, and has been shown to get slightly jealous of Hajime due to the constant attention he gets from his wives.

Biography
Simon worked as a bishop in the capital of the Heiligh Kingdom, but was banished after speaking out against the church's persecution against the beastmen race. He and his family were living in a remote village in the northern reaches of the Grand Gruen Desert for ten years until he was summoned back to the capital to replace Ishtar Langbard as Pope of the Holy Church after his death.

While he was travelling to the capital, Simon was extremely nervous about being appointed as the next pope and continued to make a fuss about it while in the presence of his granddaughter Sibyl, much to her annoyance. As they arrived at their destination, they saw that it had been severally damaged due to the demons invading it. Simon decided to explore the kingdom incognito in order to evaluate its state of affairs. He used illusion magic to slip past Sibyl and went off on his own. He soon witnessed two workers about to be hit but some construction material and used his magic to erect shields around them. His rescue efforts, however, blew his cover and everyone recognized him as a member of the church. As many of the kingdom's citizens crowded around him, Simon was approached by Yuka Sonobe due to the commotion that his presence caused and she helped Simon escape after seeing the desperation in his gaze. The two of them made their way to an alley. After Yuka properly introduced herself, Simon could see that something was on her mind and offered to listen to her problem. Yuke reluctantly told him about how she had been saved by someone and that she wanted to pay him back for that, but felt that nothing she could do would be good enough. Simon responded by praising her resolve and told her to keep moving forward for when she can support her savior whenever he may need it. Yuka thanked Simon for his advice and was then resolved to treat her savior to a meal her family's restaurant after she returned to Earth. It was then that Sibyl arrived after tracking Simon down, which caused him to abruptly leave Yuka.

After a long chase, Simon was finally caught by Sibyl. She smacked him for the trouble he caused her and then dragged him off to the palace. The two of them had an audience with Queen Luluaria, where asked Simon to consider taking over as the new pope, as well as explaining the truth about their god Ehit as an evil and manipulative being in order to imprint the severity of the situation to the two of them. Simon later waling along the palace courtyard in order to sort out his feeling upon learning of these revelations. It was then that he came across Aiko Hatayama, who was also trying to sort out her own feelings. The two of them sat together and talked briefly before Simon asked Aiko about what was troubling her. Aiko told him that she was attracted to someone (Hajime Nagumo), but was conflicted due to the fact that he was her student. At first, Simon suggested that Aiko either wait until her student graduated, or quit being his teacher altogether, to which Aiko refused both ideas. Simon the asked her what being a teacher meant to her due to her refusal to relinquish her current status. Aiko told him about how one of her old teachers stood up for her during her childhood, and that she resolved to become a teacher that would always stand up for her students. Simon responded by politely criticizing Aiko due to her rigid personality, much to her surprise. Simon then explained that she could either continue being the teacher that she wanted to be, or follow her desires. Both choices had their issues, but Simon told her that if she found someone that she truly desired, then it would be too cruel for her to simply discard her feelings for him and she should instead embrace them in order to see where they may lead her. Simon's advice gave Aiko much more to consider, and the two of them continued talking for a while.

Once Simon finished his conversation with Aiko, he was approached by Sybil. She could tell that he had decided to accept becoming the new pope, to which Simon explained that he would do it to help the people of Tortus and to aid the summoned heroes. Simon then decided to tell Sybil the truth about the legend that motivated him to travel to the kingdom in the first place. It had been an ancient prophecy from one of their ancestors that foretold the true nature of Ehit, as well as the Apostles that served their lord, and that a hero would one day rise up to free the people from their god's rule. For a long time, no one in their family understood its meaning, but Simon would learn the true nature of the legend after his meeting with the queen, much to Sybil's shock. Simon then revealed to Sybil their family had two more surnames with the initials "L" and "G", where the L stands for "Liv", while the G stands for "Gruen". After Simon became the new pope, Sybil was assigned as his personal deacon.

In Volume 11, when Ehit was preparing to wipe out all life on Tortus, Sybil accompanied her grandfather as part of the forces that were fighting back against the mad god. When Simon and the other world representatives were approached by Hajime Nagumo during their war meeting, who was accompanied by Shea Haulia and Shizuku Yaegashi around his arms, Simon made a lewd comment towards him, which immediately prompted Sybil to hit her grandfather upside his head out of embarrassment. The impact was hard enough that his head hit the conference table.

After the battle against Ehit, Simon travelled throughout Tortus as part of a goodwill tour. He eventually met up with Aiko, Hajime and their family at Ur while they were also travelling Tortus for a holiday vacation. Simon was happy to see Aiko again, but was surprised that Yuka was not with them due to his belief that she would someday become either Hajime's wife or mistress. He accompanies them while exploring Ur and reliving the adventures that Hajime had during his first visit. They even see a past projection of Hajime's legendary battle with an army of 60,000 monsters, to which the entire town saw as well. Afterwords, Hajime hosted a concert that was performed by Aiko, Liliana, and Myu in order to calm the townsfolk after witnessing such a bloody battle, to which Simon was cheering for them the whole time. Hajime and the others parted ways with Simon soon after, when they were about to travel to where Hajime had first met Tio.

Relationships

 * Sibyl Levellair - Simon's granddaughter. She gets frustrated with his childish antics and constantly scolds him for it.
 * Liliana S. B. Heiligh - Simon would often play with Liliana as a child before his banishment. Her impression of him is positive enough that she recommends him as the new pope.
 * Yuka Sonobe - Simon is willing to listen to Yuka's dilemma regarding her feelings for Hajime and offers her kind words of encouragement that motivate her to do everything in her power to make the most of her life that was saved by Hajime.
 * Aiko Hatayama - Simon aids Aiko with her conflicting feelings towards Hajime.

Weapons & Equipment

 * Bag of Holding - A family heirloom that can carry a lot more stuff than it would normally be able to (similar to Hajime's Treasure Trove).

Skills

 * Illusion Magic - Simon is able to use illusion magic whenever he wishes to escape his granddaughter and explore by himself.
 * Barrier Magic Affinity - Simon is able to cast multiple shields almost instantly.

Spells

 * Sacred Shields - An advanced version of the basic light spell, "Holy Shield", that allows the caster to deploy multiple Holy Shields at once.

Quotes

 * (Simon reciting his family's legend) "Children of those who rebelled, live strong while gazing up at the heavens. The will of god descends upon silver wings, and envelops all with its absolute authority. But cling not to this false freedom. Keep your silence, hide your desires, and have hope. For one day, there will appear a hero who once more raises the flag of rebellion. Watch, listen, and decide for yourselves, children of those who rebelled. I pray the time comes that you may live freely."