WeTried Translations
Translator: [IncomeElastic]
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◈ I Became an Undetected Priest Impersonator ◈
Chapter 30
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I Became a Teacher (4)
I stared at the crowd that had packed into the weekend class.
Then I swallowed a sigh and issued a warning.
"..The Weekend Study Class is run for the children. Fully grown adults, please, for the children's sake, give up your seats."
At that, regretful groans rose up from here and there.
"Aw, there goes that."
"I really wanted that Steel Transforming Drake.."
Under my firm gaze, the adults obediently gave up their spots.
The children who hadn't managed to sit down filled the empty seats one by one.
Once the adults had left and the restless mood had settled down somewhat, I clapped my hands one last time to clear the air the rest of the way.
The attention that had already gathered on me got focused once more, as a bonus.
"Before the lesson, since this is our first class, let's start with introductions."
"Priest! We all know each other already!"
"Hmm, then I'll be the only one who does it."
All the better.
"I'm Flowie, a priest who serves Iris, the Flower Goddess. Please call me either Priest or Teacher, whichever you're more comfortable with."
"Priest of the Pecker!"
"..I understand that missing teeth make your words come out slurred, but I'd appreciate it if you'd please watch your pronunciation."
I could feel that the very first class wasn't going to be smooth.
"As a heads-up, nearly all of our studies will lead back to theology. Through theology, you'll learn your letters and your numbers too."
"Do we really have to study theology?"
One child shot a hand into the air and asked, apparently not thrilled about boring theology lessons.
"Good question."
The reason I'd prepared the lessons around theology was that religion held tremendous power in this land.
‘..For example, telling them the church would stand up for them even if they killed someone by accident would be a bit much, I suppose.’
So I chose my words with some restraint instead.
"That way, even if something unfair happens to you out in some faraway place, priests you've never met will come and actively take your side."
"Huh?"
"Quick understanding. Good."
Seeing that they'd come to accept it to a degree, I began the first lesson.
-I don't think they got it, though..
Since the children were the main audience, the theology was explained by blending in the contents of a Greco-Roman mythology comic book to make it easy to follow.
With a masterpiece's help, catching the children's interest wasn't hard at all.
Even the child who'd recoiled at the words "theology lesson" at first was listening with shining eyes before long.
"So what happens to Sola, the sun god who finally met Chaos?"
"Are you curious?"
"Yes!"
It was a question I'd been waiting for.
"The ending of that story is right here."
What I pointed to was a box.
Naturally, it wasn't the box with the sheep in it that the Little Prince received.
It was a safe holding a far more certain ending.
And it was probably sturdier too.
"From now, I'll give you a math problem. Once you get it right, you can open it and check."
"…"
"Since it's the first day, I'll make it an easy one, so let's all try solving it together."
The children, who didn't even know the math symbols, put their small heads together to see one ending.
Still, since they could manage simple counting, once several of them guessed at the symbols with their heads together, the safe was cracked quickly.
Clunk-
"We got it!"
"Hurry, take it out!"
Cheers burst out.
But the children soon had to shut their mouths.
It was because the safe wasn't the only thing holding them back.
"Priest, but we can't read this?"
"If you're curious, you can learn the letters and read it yourselves."
"…"
The children's glares were asking whether this was really okay.
"Can't you just tell us?"
"No."
The children wore the faces of people whose country had just fallen.
Even so, just like with the safe, it wouldn't take them very long.
‘I wrote it only in the basic syllabic characters, so at the earliest some of them will be reading it in a few hours.’
Of course, the goal was to reach the 800 most commonly used characters of the old tongue, including the 90 basic syllabic characters.
‘In my day, everyone passed Hanja Level 4 in elementary school, so this shouldn't be hard.’
It was a time when I was overestimating the children somewhat.
The goddess, who'd been listening with interest, opened her mouth.
-Whoa! I'ma hafta go ask Daddy about this
"..What are we supposed to do if even you don't know, Goddess?"
…
"Whoa, Sola's pissed himself."
"Big bro, did he pee his pants?"
"..It means it's amazing."
The children went home having managed to decode the story after all.
Watching them from behind, I adjusted my lesson plan once.
‘Next time, I can raise the difficulty of the problems even more.’
It was a thought that would have made the children tremble with fear, had they known.
The names of the two children who hadn't come drifted through my mind unprompted while I was tallying the names of those who'd attended.
‘Come to think of it, Sean and Ivy didn't come.’
I didn't feel hurt so much as figure they'd been busy with the inn.
The two of them always helped out at their mother's inn, after all.
‘..Stopping by the church later to teach them separately wouldn't be bad.’
I quietly added Sean's and Ivy's names to the end of the list of the children's names.
That was when it happened.
"Priest Flowie!"
The female priest, who'd appeared out of nowhere, called out to me with her breath nearly caught in her throat.
"It's urgent, an urgent situation!"
I shot to my feet at the frantic cry.
Ink smeared across the names I'd been tallying because of it, but I had no time to care.
"I'll hear the details on the way."
"Hahh, hah!"
"..Let's just go ahead. Take your time."
Leaving the female priest behind, her legs having given out so that she'd collapsed, I ran to the clinic.
‘Just when I thought I could finally rest, trouble breaks out.’
With Priest Margaret there, and Priest Malja, who'd gotten the basics down, to call for me in a rush meant one of two things.
Either so many patients had piled in that the two of them couldn't handle it.
Or a patient had come in so critical that nothing could be done for them.
Whichever it was, it was unwelcome news on a day off.
Quite a lot of people were lying collapsed in the clinic when I arrived.
The small mercy was that I didn't see a single dead person.
To get a grasp of the situation first, I looked for Priest Margaret.
"…"
But I closed my mouth at the sight that met my eyes.
Margaret was down on the floor as well.
I did manage to find Priest Malja, who hadn't lost consciousness, but she wasn't in normal shape either.
Spotting me, Priest Malja staggered over and clung to me.
"Priest, Priest..! The treatment isn't working..! What, what should I do, why on earth, why."
Her mental state had collapsed from facing such an urgent situation for the first time.
"..I shouldn't have taught you miracles first. It seems my own greed made me lose track of priorities."
I sighed as I gently pushed Priest Malja's body away.
It was a belated realization, but I had the thought that I might not have any talent for teaching.
But teaching came later.
Right now, sorting out the situation came first.
‘Like an allergy test, all I can do is check by comparing.’
Starting with Heal, I tested the skills I could use one after another.
Strangely, the only one that showed any reaction was Purification.
‘..A curse?’
Nothing but a curse or poison would react to Purification, so it was no wonder I felt doubtful.
But I put the thought aside and gathered my power first.
‘Purification.’
Amid the radiance filling the space, petals I'd never seen before fell, mixed in with it.
And the moment a petal touched a patient's forehead.
Crrrack!
A curse, with no telling why it was clinging there, resisted violently.
‘Purification.’
But the resisting curse couldn't withstand the repeated cast of Purification and died out.
For a curse that had made the clinic such a racket, it was an anticlimactic end.
I didn't forget to give one piece of advice to the girl who'd watched the whole process.
"..Priest Malja, make sure you remember this. A healer must never let their heart waver, no matter what situation comes. If you feel lost, just separate what you can do from what you can't."
If you just sit down, you lose even the things you could do.
It was advice from someone with experience.
Then Priest Malja's age suddenly came to mind and I glanced at her carefully.
‘Come to think of it, she's only a fifteen-year-old kid, so it's no wonder she cried.’
Feeling suddenly very sorry, I patted Priest Malja on the shoulder.
"Ugh, did you take care of it?"
Just then, Priest Margaret got up, clutching her head.
"It seemed to be a curse, but what on earth is going on?"
"Damn it, that was a curse? No wonder I can't remember anything after I tried Curse Removal."
It seemed Priest Margaret didn't know much either.
But she wasn't the only one I could ask.
For instance, there were the mercenaries, who I guessed were the ones who'd brought the curse in.
I was dousing one of them with cold water to wake him up when it happened.
The face revealed under the cold water was a familiar one, and I tilted my head.
‘Sean?’
What came to mind next was Barbecue, no, Sean's father, who I'd heard worked as a mercenary.
Seeing him come to, drenched and bedraggled from the cold water, I asked with a touch of apology.
"Just one question. You're the family of an acquaintance, so I won't treat you harshly, and I'd like you to tell me everything you know."
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