I Became an Undetected Priest Impersonator - Chapter 11

WeTried Translations

Translator: [IncomeElastic]

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became an Undetected Priest Impersonator ◈

Chapter 11

──────

I Became the Gallery's Head Admin (5)

The sun set quickly.

Before long, the soldiers returned to the tent one by one as well.

"Good work today. Please have some while it's warm."

I poured the pre-heated tea into cups and handed them to the soldiers.

It was tea brewed from rosemary leaves I'd slipped out of the clinic before we left.

Strictly speaking, I hadn't asked permission, so I hadn't brought them so much as stolen them, but Priest Margaret would surely look the other way for this much.

"We'll enjoy it, Priest."

"Thank you."

The soldiers wrapped both hands around the warm cups.

Among them was the soldier who'd said earlier that they'd treat me to wheat beer.

"Ha ha, I said I'd treat you, and here I am being treated first."

Calling a single cup of tea a treat was an overly generous reaction.

But the warm tea seemed to have helped quite a bit, because the soldiers' faces had loosened considerably.

Still, there were a few who looked uneasy all the same.

"Nervous?"

"N, no, sir."

The young-looking soldier hurriedly straightened their back.

By age and by seniority, anyone could tell they were the newest recruit.

"Don't worry. The things you're worried about won't happen."

"Wilson, I nearly died too, and the Priest healed me without a scratch. Don't go worrying for nothing."

"..."

The soldier who'd said they farmed wheat chipped in, but the youngest soldier's face only stiffened further.

It looked like it had backfired.

"..If you're still anxious, I'll pray to the Goddess that you come back safe."

A fake priest's prayer was hardly something a goddess would listen to.

But the placebo effect didn't exist for nothing.

I pressed my hands together as if in prayer and used a buff.

‘Power of Bless.’

A radiant light rose from my hands, and with that convincing bit of staging added, the soldier's rigid expression slowly relaxed.

"So this is the blessing I'd only heard about.. I really do feel stronger."

It wasn't a feeling. They really were getting stronger.

But I didn't bother correcting the misunderstanding. I'd set it up that way in the first place.

Of course, there were side effects.

"Um, Priest, could I get a blessing too?"

The other soldiers, having watched the youngest receive a blessing(?), had started looking at me with pleading eyes.

"..Yes, well, I'll do it in turn."

I only got to sleep after praying over each and every soldier.

"Have a restful night!"

It was not a restful night.

"Kwaaaaaagh!"

‘An ambush!?’

In the early hours, a strange noise drifting into my sleep made me bolt upright.

I looked around and tried to grasp the situation, but inside the tent it was somehow nothing but peace.

The source of the screech was easy to find.

"Kweeeeeegh-"

My gaze naturally turned to the next bedroll.

One of the soldiers was snoring.

‘..I should have taken them up on it right away when they offered me a tent to myself.’

Regret, too late.

I must have spent the night tossing and turning, because I greeted the morning with somewhat hollow eyes.

Ding, ding, ding-!

A metallic clanging like a gong, announcing wake-up, rang out around the tents.

At the sound, the soldiers all got up without exception and lined up in front of the tents.

Breakfast came only after the lineup was over.

The food was nothing more than tasteless porridge boiled from grain and bread as hard as stone, but at the very least it filled the stomach just fine.

‘Better than pig-slop stew.’

This was why a person had to hit rock bottom at least once.

The knight I'd only heard about showed up while I was chewing on the last of my bread.

"Quiet, everyone!"

When one of the soldiers raised their voice, the surroundings fell silent.

Soon a blonde woman came walking out from deeper in the forest.

Her hair, catching the sunlight, was shining especially bright.

‘So that's the Lord's daughter.’

Her blonde hair looked very much like the Lord's.

But everything else, honestly, was quite different.

Her build was slender, and she looked a little taller than others her age, but not enough to be intimidating.

Above all, unlike the Lord, the knight was pretty.

‘Looks like she took after her mother.’

I couldn't help thinking it.

She glanced around quickly, looking for something.

When she spotted me, her face lit up and she strode over. It seemed I was who she'd been looking for.

"A flamboyant flower-pattern shirt! Just as I heard! A pleasure to meet you, Priest Flower."

"..It's Flowie, not Flower."

"My apologies, Priest Flower. Anyway, Father has told me so much about you."

"..."

"Oh! I haven't even introduced myself!"

She belatedly collected herself and straightened her posture.

"Full Knight Charlotte, at your service. I've been entrusted with command of this dungeon expedition. I look forward to working with you, Priest Flower."

I wondered how on earth anyone could hear it so wrong and keep getting my name wrong.

Still, I could glimpse a fair bit of the Lord's personality in her.

‘She's not authoritarian.’

She greeted an approaching soldier naturally, too.

She didn't use honorifics, but it was obvious from her tone and manner that she respected the other person.

‘So she got her personality from the Lord, then.’

It seemed she'd inherited only the good parts from both her parents.

After making a round of the camp to check the state of preparations, Charlotte came back to me.

"We'll be entering the dungeon shortly. Priest, please wait here, and treat the wounded if any come out."

Pulling the healer back to a safe place. A perfectly sensible decision.

But I had no choice but to shake my head at Charlotte's request.

Just staying here would make it hard to analyze the dungeon.

"No. I'll be going in too."

"You, Priest?"

Charlotte's eyes went round with surprise.

"That's a problem. What's more, if anything happened to you, Father would scold me terribly."

"Isn't the safest place here right beside Knight Charlotte? And treating the wounded on the spot should improve their survival rate as well."

"..That's true, but."

When I laid out the justification I'd prepared, Charlotte looked like she was thinking it over.

To reassure the hesitating Charlotte, I added a little more.

"Besides, I've lived as a wandering priest. I can take care of myself."

"Very well. But please, be very careful."

Luckily, I'd managed to talk her around.

"Then we'll enter."

Two soldiers with shields passed through the portal first.

When the signal came from inside that all was clear, Charlotte and the rest of the soldiers followed in order.

I went through the portal only after every soldier had entered.

Whoosh!

‘Blinding.’

The moment I set foot in the dungeon, an intense light poured down and the world in front of me turned white.

When I instinctively shut my eyes, a familiar smell reached me this time.

It didn't take long to realize what it was.

‘The sea?’

The scent of salt and a damp breeze brushed past my nose.

When I slowly opened my eyes, I saw a blue shore glittering in the sunlight.

"You're here, Priest. This seems to be what they call the sea."

Charlotte, who had come up beside me before I knew it, murmured in wonder.

"Is this your first time seeing the sea?"

"As you probably know, our domain lies quite deep inland, even by inland standards."

Was that so?

I opened the Gallery for a moment and checked the map.

As Charlotte said, in every direction from the domain, the sea was very far away.

‘Truly deep inland, then.’

I wondered whether I could learn the dungeon's position, too, and checked the coordinates, but nothing was displayed.

‘So it really is a separate space.’

I remembered the inside of the Tower, where I couldn't check GPS.

It wasn't enough to count as proof, but my gut said the dungeons and the Tower were related.

‘Investigating the boss creature would probably settle it.’

"Sir Charlotte, do you have a plan, by any chance?"

"'Sir' is far too stiff a way to address me. Please, call me something friendlier. Hmm, Charlie is a nickname only my family uses, so.."

Charlotte paused, then clapped her hands as if a fitting nickname had come to her.

"Lotte should be fine."

For a moment I was so dazed I forgot all about the dungeon and the Tower.

"..Not Lotte."

"Hm, why not?"

"No, my apologies. Please pretend you didn't hear that."

It was something I could never say out loud.

"Anyway, may I ask about the plan?"

Charlotte didn't press further. She surveyed the shore and the forest running toward the island's interior in turn, then looked at the soldiers.

"It's embarrassing to admit, but today is my first time seeing the sea in person."

Her expression turned a little awkward.

"When I heard the soldiers' report, I was planning to set up camp on the shore, capture the orcs that appeared alive, and strike their lair. But I never imagined a beach would be this hot."

The iron parts of the armor, under the shore's strong sunlight, were gradually heating up.

The soldiers in chain mail were visibly worn out already, apparently sweating on the inside.

‘Are the seasons different too? Unlike the city, which was in spring, the inside of the dungeon feels like late summer.’

The sun on a midsummer beach was bound to be fierce.

On top of that, the sand soaked up the heat and pushed the surrounding temperature even higher.

Even with the wind blowing, it was bound to be an ordeal for Charlotte and the soldiers, who had to stay in armor for hours.

"In that case, may I say something?"

"If it's the Priest's wisdom, I'll listen gladly."

It was rather violent for a priest's wisdom, but trusting that she'd listen, I spoke without hesitation.

"Let's set it on fire."

"..Pardon?"

"We burn the island."

The portal, the entrance, was on the shore anyway.

Even if the fire spread wide, we could just step out through the portal.

And even if the orcs fled out of the dungeon to survive, dealing with wounded enemies wouldn't be difficult.

‘No need to fight on the enemy's turf for no reason.’

"Um, Priest, you serve the Goddess of Flowers. Is it really all right to set fire to a forest so casually..?"

Charlotte, wondering whether that was truly acceptable, asked again, but the answer of an impersonator who wasn't even a real priest was never going to change.

"The ashen ground will soak up rich nutrients and bloom with beautiful flowers. I'm sure the Goddess would prefer an island in full bloom to an island with orcs on it."

I spouted the sophistry I'd grown used to by now.

The knight listening looked like she wasn't sure this was right, but she couldn't seem to think of anything better, and in the end she nodded.

"For the soldiers' safety, it may well be the best method."

Once the decision was made, the soldiers moved quickly.

Told they wouldn't have to fight the orcs at the risk of their lives, the soldiers moved with a vigor they hadn't shown before.

Soon dry twigs and fallen leaves were piled together, and preparations to set fires all around, including spreading oil, proceeded rapidly.

The fire caught only after most of the oil had been used up.

A small ember rose, then slowly but surely spread to the nearby trees.

Once the trees caught, it didn't take long for the flames to race through the forest.

Black smoke soon blanketed the sky, and fierce heat rolled all the way to the sand.

"Everyone out!"

On Charlotte's order, the soldiers passed through the portal one after another.