Novel Bin Chapter 223: Daily training
While walking inside the Church towards the Executives Department room, I conversed with Kefin who was walking ahead.
“I’m surprised you don’t get lost in a complicated place like this. Is it the first time you’ve been here?”
“Haha. I can mostly remember the paths I take after walking there once. Within Luciel-sama’s retinue, my role is to be scout so I will not lose in this field to anybody.”
“So reliable. Do you have a trick to remembering it?”
I still remember the paths in the Labyrinth of Tribulations but I’ve mostly forgotten the ones for the other labyrinths.
“Tips huh. Let me see … a simple method would be to remember the landmarks. In addition, if you look back once you make a turn, you would be able to see a different view so I guess you mostly won’t get lost whichever direction you take. Once you are familiar with it, you would be able to grasp an overhead view of yourself like seeing a map from above.”
“I guess there are no shortcuts to mastering skills. Well, if that wasn’t the case, it wouldn’t be rewarding.”
“That’s right. When you become able to do something, you will soon meet another wall that will block your progress so it boils down to daily training.”
“Exactly. Daily training … I feel like I’ve being doing nothing but training since I’ve come of age.”
“I believe that’s precisely why Luciel-sama could become a Sage though.”
“Hah, that makes me feel slightly better. Thanks Kefin.”
“Nah, don’t mention it.”
While conversing with Kefin, I once again recalled my previous life.
Once, I had the opportunity to listen to a monk’s preach.
He said that humans borrow our soul from Buddha and until the day comes for us to return it, we must polish it until it is shiny.
It would be polished just by living but the soul would shine brighter the more it is polished through hard work, making your present life happier, making Buddha feel happy for lending it to you and he might even give you an extra something when you wish to lend a soul again.
I recalled something like that.
Precisely because I’ve been through reincarnation, I wonder if I am polishing my soul satisfactorily? Even if I do polish it, I feel that the luck I get from Great Luck-sensei quickly consumes the amount of work I’ve put in.
In line with that thought, even though I wish for a peaceful life, the fact that I am still caught up in all kinds of troublesome incidents is perhaps because the karma I built up in my previous life was quite deep?
The more I think about it, the more I feel that my peaceful life was getting further away if I don’t work hard within my limits to train myself so I decided to once again devote myself to doing so and chased after Kefin’s back.
After walking for around five minutes, I saw the side entrance to the annex building.
“The whole of this annex building is used by the Executives Department.”
Listening to Kefin, I checked out the annex building and although it was only three storeys high unlike the five storied main building, it was large enough that it could probably fit the entire Valkyrie Paladin Corp’s training ground inside it.
“They occupy this entire building?”
“Yes, that is apparently the case. Dongahaha’s personal room is this way.”
Walking for a little bit more, we arrived at Dongahaha’s room on the third floor.
“It feels like there’s quite a lot of space between rooms?”
“You will know when you enter. This way.”
When Kefin opened the door, I could tell that the room class was different compared to mine and Lumina-san’s room.
“It’s three, no, four times the size of my room. If a single person uses this room, I couldn’t tell before but I’m certain an ample amount of funds flow into here.”
“That’s right. The archive is next to this room and that item is placed in a desk at the end of the archive.”
This was probably too much space for a single person to utilize.
While I had that thought, when we entered the archive, it had a compact and slightly gloomy atmosphere which gave a somewhat subdued impression.
When I pulled open the drawer to see the necklace, I found a baseball-sized sphere that was emitting faint light.
However, rather than it being a necklace, it looked more like the chains was there to contain the sphere.
“Were there no documents that had information on this?”
“Yes. I also flipped through his diary but it was not recorded.”
Well, Garba-san and Kefin who excel in intelligence likely won’t neglect checking something like that.
“Does it register in Magical Power Perception?”
“Unfortunately, Magical Power Perception is a little tough for Garba-sama and I but I can at least tell that this necklace emits magical power.”
“I see. Yeah, I can’t help but feel that the chain is meant to seal the sphere. There are two different magical powers and the chain is holding the sphere’s power in.”
“If that’s the case then we can’t carelessly break it. Nevertheless, why can’t we touch it?”
“Perhaps there’s some kind of condition required. But I’m afraid that I would be entangled in something else if I unlock the seal now.”
“Then could we just keep it in a magic bag? Well, that’s if it was possible to touch it though …”
“That’s right … Well, no problem. I’ll leave it here for now. Kefin, please check once more if there’s anything around.”
“Understood.”
Kefin nodded and left the archive.
“Now then, maybe I’ll read the will first. It won’t be necessary if it turns out to not be a will after all.”
I began to read Dongahaha’s will.
〔I have some hesitation knowing that I have no idea who would read this but if possible, I hope that a person who cares for Pope-sama and the Church would read this.〕
The will was addressed to somebody who cares for Pope-sama and the Church.
Recorded in it were detailed information on what he saw within the Church from the time he was born until the labyrinth formed.
Continuing on, the sightings of the demon race in the Empire and Rubruk about two years back were also written inside.
Then, half a year ago, when the corpses of the demon race I defeated were brought here, they proved that they were made up of humans and beastmen that had undergone demonization.
He coughed up blood when he began investigating and knowing that he didn’t have long to live, he tasked his intelligence team with a letter to investigate the demonization within the Empire but the reply came from Blange instead.
The reply offered longevity by utilizing evil arts and the compensation was to produce demonized individuals.
Then, when I lost my Holy Magic Attribute magic, the Church’s existence was in danger.
However, he didn’t have the time left to rebuild the Church.
After worrying about it, he chose to use the evil arts on his own body.
Then, for that sake, beginning from the Human Supremacist in the Executives Department, Bulltooth, he asked the people who work unethically and those who sell confidential information if they would like to acquire strength that can easily defeat the Knight Corps.
After he asked that, they didn’t hesitate at all as they yearned for power and took the law of the Executives Department to be the law of the Church.
Thus, they spent three months to slowly undergo demonization.
When he showed the demonized knights to the person responsible at Blange, perhaps he obtained his trust as he was taught the demon summoning spell for when he gets caught by the Church and he was told to escape to the Empire when that time comes.
Originally, he wanted to kill those demonized knights with his own hands but then he obtained information on me and it plagued him that I had became a Sage.
〔Did I make light of him? Or is this Divine Punishment for deceiving the Church? If that’s the case, maybe it won’t be a bad choice to bet my life and everything on him.〕
That was written.
In addition, as the summoning scroll would combust once it is recited with a magic stone, he transcribed what he remembered.
However, it seemed like he wanted to write his final parting words there.
〔If I had passed away and somebody is reading this, please pass this will to Pope-sama or Sage-dono. The Church is a noble and sacred place and I hope that it would become a place that saves people.〕
In the postscript, he wrote down the stages of demonization as well as the transcript of the demon summoning spell.
” … Let’s read the description on demonization next.”
Sin is sin. Retribution is retribution. But I was once again reminded that there are various aspects to a person.
It seemed like he wrote an observation diary on the progress of demonization.
And then, at the last part, something caught my eye.
〔The Principality of Blange performed hero summoning and instead of a hero, they apparently acquired the power to control the world. The demon race research at the Empire was the perfect place to use that power and conceal the demons. That was what the person who came from Blange said. If that was the truth, the Church’s barrier must be fixed as soon as possible.〕
“Like concealing a tree in a forest, it’s best to conceal demons among the failed trials of demonized people? If the Empire falls, Saint Schull’s Allied Nations would be sandwiched by the Principality and the Empire that would belong to it … So that’s why he told me to go to the Empire. But …”
Even if I plunged into the Empire, it doesn’t change the fact that we are strongly lacking in combat power.
Intel says that they even have a flying dragon brigade.
“I’ll first have to consult everyone about this … If I don’t take action here, despair in the name of regret would definitely await me …”
I left the archive while seriously thinking that I would have loved to live a calm life until I was at least my age in my previous life.
Author’s note:
Thank you for reading.
TL: No thank you for making it so hard to translate >.<
The thought process of Dongahaha is so bad that I’m starting to doubt if my translation is even correct. He wanted to obtain the demonization art so that he could cheat death and continue to serve the Church to reform it. That’s fine … but then why didn’t he choose to kill those knights he demonized because they were the scourge of the Church and then work with the Pope and Luciel to fix the Church? Because he felt guilty that he was using an evil art to live longer? Because he wanted to gather the hatred of the personnel in the Church Headquarters so that they could unite under the Pope and Luciel? I really feel the author could have explained it a lot better. He could have been a well thought-out character who took the dark path to save the Church but as of now, he’s just a lazy character who tried to do so but then decided to dump it all on Luciel after he saw that Luciel was capable.