I Became an Undetected Priest Impersonator - Chapter 2

WeTried Translations

Translator: [IncomeElastic]

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became an Undetected Priest Impersonator ◈

Chapter 2

──────

I Became a Priest Impersonator

ㄴ[Which Earth is this bastard from this time..]

After reading the last comment, I looked down at the monster collapsed in front of me.

An orc.

It was a kind of monster that didn't exist in the Tower back home.

So I needed to be sure.

If it only looked different and was actually a person, killing it would be something I could never take back.

Thankfully, the Gallery's answer was clear.

A monster.

‘Then there's no need to let it go.’

Besides, if I just walked past it, it would get back up unharmed and attack someone.

In that case, there was no reason to agonize any longer.

Before the buff I'd cast wore off, I picked up the weapon the orc had dropped on the ground.

I didn't know if it was looted, but unlike the shoddy leather clothes, the mace at least looked fairly decent.

I gripped the mace in both hands and swung it at the temple.

Thud!

The heavy feeling of striking thick flesh and bone traveled up my wrist.

It had been quite a while since I'd felt that.

But once wasn't enough.

Thud!

At the second blow, the orc's body jerked violently.

I set the mace down and put a hand to its neck.

I couldn't find a pulse.

This time I held a finger to its nose.

It wasn't breathing either.

Lastly, I pulled back an eyelid and checked the eye.

No pupillary reflex, either.

"Definitely dead."

Realizing I had killed it, a slight unease washed over me.

It wasn't my first kill, but it was the first time I'd killed something that resembled a person, at least.

The beasts in the Tower looked like beasts, literally, so it had never been an issue.

‘More importantly.’

I turned my eyes to the Gallery window floating in front of me.

What I'd opened again wasn't the question I'd written, but the Gallery's notice board.

[Otherworld Gallery Integrated Notice]

1. There are currently no confirmed cases of return.

Anyone caught committing fraud, lying, etc. related to returning will be banned: 1 year for a first offense, permanent for a second.

I'd checked the notice again on the off chance, but I hadn't misread or missed anything.

At the very least, it seemed safe to say there was no way to go back right now.

"This is a problem."

Until last night, I'd been asleep at my private healing clinic.

I'd had a raid party booked for early in the morning, and there was paperwork left to take care of.

With the director, who was also the only healer, gone, it must have been chaos.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't frustrated.

But sitting in the middle of a forest worrying wasn't going to solve anything.

‘Set aside what I can't do and start with what I can solve right now.’

I couldn't solve returning right now.

On the other hand, whether I survived from here on depended on my choices.

"I have to settle down first."

The three things essential to human survival and basic living were commonly called clothing, food, and shelter.

Right now, I needed clothing, food, and shelter.

It wouldn't be too late to look for a way back after that.

And even if I didn't, the people of the Gallery would keep looking for one.

In the Gallery's notice tab, I opened the common sense section of the newbie must-read board.

[Avoid the Witch Hunt: Basic Doctrines by Religion]

[Continent Map Compilation (Continuously Updated)]

[How to Check Your Map Location]

[Common Medicinal Herbs You Can Find Around You.]

Skimming through, I found plenty of useful tips.

After quickly reading what I needed, I moved on to the map-related post that had been mentioned.

Title: How to Check Your Map Location

1. Click your nickname

2. Check the coordinates of your current location

3. Go to the map compilation post

4. Use the coordinates to check your location on the map

5. Done.

For how to read a map, see the link below.

※Note) As the map post also says, never copy the map by drawing it.

You'll be executed if you're caught.

Not kidding, for real;;

Thankfully, I knew how to read a map.

"The nearest city is a place called Millers."

I got a rough sense of the direction, but I didn't move right away.

Even if I went, I had no currency, so there'd be nothing to do there but beg.

So first, I had to find something here that could make me money.

‘I don't know what's worth money, but the Gallery should know.’

Title: Does anyone know what's worth money in the forest?

Author: ㅇㅇ(123.123)

I checked my approximate location and the nearest city using the map post in the notice tab, but since I have no money, I'd like to find something sellable first.

I'd appreciate any help.

[Who is this bastard, he's adapting already]

ㄴ[Seriously, usually people's minds break and they sleep rough for a few days]

[Didn't you say you killed an orc? Pull its tusks, and if it had a weapon, take that and sell it. Skinning it also makes money, but skip that if you can't. Tusks are small change, but iron weapons are pretty expensive, so selling one would help.]

ㄴ[Thank you.]

Money wasn't far away.

It was a monster, but I had experience harvesting byproducts, so dressing the orc wasn't difficult.

I twisted out the protruding tusks, and wiped the orc-blood off the mace on its hide before tying it at my waist.

I'd have liked to take the hide too, but I had no blade worth using, so I couldn't.

Still, this much was enough for now.

The problem was the road to the city.

‘It's far.’

The distance to the city was very long.

On top of that, being in the middle of a forest, even reaching somewhere with a road would be a chore.

‘Even if it's a bit of a detour, it'd be better to head to where there's a road first.’

Walking a forest path used up more than twice the stamina and time of walking on level ground.

Even with a small detour, following a road was better than walking through the forest for a long time.

After walking southeast for about twenty minutes or so,

I finally got out of the forest and could see a road traveled by people and horses.

[Continent Common Sense]

[Doctrines of the 12 Religions]

[A Viscount Is Not Above a Baron. Noble Ranks Explained.]

After that, I just walked along the road, reading the Gallery's common-sense posts.

Around the time the sun began to sink in the west, a gray city wall appeared in the distance.

Below it, a soldier on guard duty was yawning wide, clearly bored.

"Halt."

When I got close to the gate, the one who stopped me was the soldier who'd just been yawning.

The mace at my waist and my modern clothes looked awfully suspicious to the soldier, who was eyeing me with doubt.

"You look fucking suspicious at a glance! Show me your ID tag or a permit. If you have neither, I can't let you in."

Luckily, I'd read the Gallery carefully along the way, so I'd already come up with a convenient excuse.

"I'm a priest. I ran into an orc in the forest and lost my belongings, so I don't have my ID tag on me at the moment, but.."

Conveniently, I spotted an unhealed wound on the soldier's hand, so I used my skill naturally.

Whoosh!

A 'Heal' that felt somehow brighter than usual settled over the soldier's hand.

"..Will this do as proof instead?"

The wound recovered in an instant as if it had never been there, and the soldier flinched in surprise and bowed low.

"Th, thank you."

"I'm sorry for my rudeness, I didn't realize you were a priest. Please, go right in."

With that, I passed through the gate without trouble.

The soldier I'd healed watched my retreating back and muttered quietly.

"I thought those flowery clothes were strange, but I never imagined he was a priest.."

…

Title: I Made It Into the City Safely

Author: ㅇㅇ(123.123)

Also, I need to sell the orc tusks and the mace to pay for lodging, and I'd like to ask where to sell them and what a fair price is.

[Orc tusks are used as an aphrodisiac so it's five copper coins each. Iron weapons depend on condition, but a blunt weapon like a mace will usually fetch full price, at least 3 silver coins]

[Just go to a general store and dump everything. To get full price, tusks go to an apothecary or alchemist's shop and the mace to a smithy or weapon shop, but who has time to sell it all separately]

The answers came quickly.

Other comments besides the answers appeared too.

[Not a village but a city? You wouldn't have an ID tag, so how'd you get in?]

ㄴ[I impersonated a priest. They let me through when I showed them Heal.]

ㄴ[?? That actually works]

ㄴ[Impersonating a noble or a priest is a death sentence, dude..]

ㄴ[I looked into it, and the priests here don't have a priest registry like the Catholic Church. And since I can actually use Heal, I doubt I'll get caught.]

ㄴ[He's insane..]

More comments seemed to keep coming after that, but I'd heard all the answers I needed, so I closed it without reading.

‘For a city in another world, the cleanliness is decent enough.’

The scenery of the city I'd entered was decent enough.

I'd assumed the worst, a medieval city with streets full of shit, but it didn't seem to be that bad.

‘At least I won't catch the Black Death.’

Any other impressions could wait.

What I needed right now was money and a place to stay.

I studied the currency people were using as I looked for the shops the Gallery had mentioned.

‘Better somewhere tucked away than near the entrance or the center.’

Near the entrance or the center, the markups were heavy.

At the entrance, it was easy to fleece tourists and other marks, and in the center, prices were often high because of land values and rent.

Of course, that was how it worked back in my world, so I couldn't know if it was the same here.

But I could judge that bit by bit as I went along.

‘Is this the general store?’

The sign had no writing on it, only a picture, but seeing all kinds of goods packed on the shelves, I stepped inside.

Inside, an old man who looked like the owner was playing chess alone.

"Selling?"

"Yes."

I set two tusks and the mace on the table.

"I don't like maces, they're heavy.."

"Then I'll sell just the tusks."

"I didn't say I wouldn't buy it."

He seemed to be a sly sort, and I thought haggling might be hard.

"Five silver coins for everything together."

"I see."

But the old man named a price slightly higher than the going rate I'd looked up.

So high it was almost deflating to have worried about haggling.

"The mace is in pretty good shape. My joints will ache getting rid of it, though."

‘They said at least 3 silver coins, so it really was the 'at least,' huh.’

I bowed my head to the sly but honest old man and left.

"If you're looking for a place to stay, try the inn with the sign of the moon and bread over there."

"..Thank you."

He was as kind as he was honest.

I got a little lost, but it didn't take long to find the inn the old man had mentioned.

Through the open door, I saw a young boy, about an upper-grade elementary schooler, mopping the floor.

"Oh, are you here to eat?"

The boy set down his mop and asked.

Even so, his eyes darted over me, careful not to be noticed.

The way he looked me over was as if he were sizing up what sort of person this customer was.

It didn't bother me.

All I thought was, it makes sense for a kid who works at a place like this..

"The old man at the general store recommended this place."

But I was tired, and I hated being sized up, so I dropped the name of the shopkeeper who'd recommended it.

"You came because Grandpa Gilmore recommended us!"

Only then did the suspicion in his eyes ease somewhat.

A recommendation, when I'd known the man for barely a few minutes, but I set that fact aside for the moment.

"I'd like to stay a week to start with. Is that possible?"

"Just three silver coins, please. Breakfast is included, and if you want lunch and dinner too, it's only five more copper coins!"

"Here you go."

"Heh heh, I'll show you to an empty room!"

The room was on the second floor.

"It's our best room. Please don't lose the key, and make sure you lock the window whenever you go out. The window's small, but a little kid could still get through."

"Sure."

Luckily, the room I was given was indeed nice, as promised, and fairly clean.

‘This is good enough that I won't need a refund.’

At the very least, it was enough to stay without worrying.

I had barely sat on the bed when

the tension drained out of me and drowsiness washed over me.

Well, it was no wonder I was exhausted: I'd woken up in a forest, subdued an orc that attacked me, and then walked a long way to find a city.

‘..At least I've managed to survive for now.’

I could say I'd avoided the worst of it.

But I was still far from having enough to keep surviving over the long term.

Fighting off sleep, I wrote a new post on the Gallery.

Title: I Found a Place to Stay

Author: ㅇㅇ(123.123)

Thank you to everyone who helped.

But to keep staying here, it seems I'll need to find work in the city. Are there any jobs or lines of work you'd recommend?

[You adapt so fucking fast ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[If all else fails, study the herb info in the Gallery and become an herb gatherer, the alchemists pay well]

[If you can subdue an orc you've got some fighting strength, so go mercenary]

Normally, when someone new to a group keeps firing off questions, people get annoyed.

But the people of the Gallery answered without a hint of it.

You could call it an ideal group for a newcomer.

Still, kindness aside, none of the answers appealed to me.

‘I'm not in a position to be picky, but I don't like moving around.’

I hadn't built a clinic with the lump sum I saved after climbing the Tower for nothing.

Then an answer I rather liked came up.

[Go to a clinic. Priests who can heal are so rare that they're welcomed]

ㄴ[You idiot, impersonating a priest is a death sentence]

ㄴ[If you impersonate a priest and don't get caught, isn't that a priest?]

ㄴ[Executed if caught, a priest if not, right?!]

‘Not bad.’

It seemed I could get by for the time being by playing priest.

But to do that, I'd have to memorize the doctrines and scriptures posted on the Gallery.

I was lying on the bed, sorting out my plans in my head, when

a comment from the Gallery suddenly came back to me.

‘Come to think of it, they said if I couldn't believe it, I should look at the night sky.’

I was sleepy, but I still had the presence of mind to look at the sky.

I got up for a moment and looked outside through the tiny window.

"...Huh."

Only then did I understand why they'd told me to look at the sky.

‘Here, the moon has letters on it.’

Strange letters I couldn't read were carved into the blue moon.

I learned that they meant May only because I couldn't contain my curiosity and opened the Gallery.

…

There was no clock, but I woke up early in the morning.

It was thanks to the habit ingrained in me from waking at the same time every day.

‘So it wasn't a dream after all.’

As I woke, I wondered whether yesterday had been a dream or a hallucination.

Hallucinations were common enough when climbing the upper floors of the Tower.

But I was still in the inn room, still in an unfamiliar city.

Everything that had happened yesterday was no dream or hallucination.

Putting strength into legs sore with muscle aches, I went down to the first floor.

"..Is that the guest Sean mentioned, young man? Wait a bit, I'll bring you breakfast."

On the first floor, a woman with a warm, motherly face was tidying the hall.

She seemed to be the owner of the inn.

I left the strangely listless proprietress behind and sat at a table.

Breakfast came out quickly.

The breakfast served was nothing more than coarse bread and a thin soup with potatoes in it, but maybe because I hadn't eaten anything the day before, it suited me well enough.

Hunger really was the best sauce.

‘Should I look for a clinic after I eat?’

To survive properly, I had to earn money.

And the work best suited to me right now was clinic work.

‘There's no health insurance in this world, so the money should be good.’

I was thinking that shameless thought when

a small child sitting at a table near the kitchen caught my eye.

‘Hurt.’

There were stitches on the forehead, so the wound must have been sewn up.

It seemed to be the reason the boy had been tending the inn alone yesterday.

"Was the child hurt?"

"They got badly hurt yesterday at lunch. Mom rushed them to a priest, but there were so many urgent patients that they couldn't get a Healing Miracle."

The one who answered was Sean, the child's older brother.

His voice was drooping as he spoke, as if it really upset him.

Of course it would. It was a wound on the face, of all places.

A scar might be left on a little girl's face, so the family couldn't help but be upset.

Only then did I understand why the proprietress's voice had been so listless.

‘I'll be working at a clinic anyway, so it'll come out sooner or later and there's nothing to hide. It'd be good for winning the innkeeper's goodwill, too.’

In my old world, I'd have hidden it tightly just to avoid the hassle, but right now wasn't the time to hide my cards.

"Can I see your face for a moment?"

When I approached the girl, the innkeeper in the kitchen watched me with suspicious eyes.

I'd been introduced by an acquaintance, but I was a first-time guest, so trust was lacking.

The suspicion faded quickly, though.

Bright light flared from my hand and settled over the girl's forehead, and the wound vanished without a trace.

"It won't hurt anymore."

When the treatment finished, the innkeeper's eyes went wide.

The restless boy froze where he stood.

"Oh my.."

Then the girl, rubbing her cleanly healed forehead, tugged at my sleeve.

When I looked back down, she was gazing up at me with sparkling eyes.