WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 25: Ghost Market (3)

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The imp in the cage melted away when the shopkeeper used the holy water as a demonstration.

It looked much like what happened when holy water was splashed on a mage, right down to its melted body turning into a limp lump of gelatin.

Wasn't that a little too grotesque...?

Anyway, imps were demons too, so I didn't exactly feel sorry for it just because it died.

If anything, the spiritual power that scattered when it died had been absorbed by my brass ring.

I could use this for Decarabia's magic practice too.

"W-what just happened?"

The problem was the shopkeeper's reaction.

"You! What the hell did you give me? Sulfuric acid?! Did you just hand me sulfuric acid?!"

"If it were, wouldn't your fingers have melted too?"

The cage was perfectly fine, too.

"What... what the hell was that...?"

"You don't have any holy water better than this?"

"Are you kidding me? Even if the Pope himself came down and blessed it, you couldn't make something with an instant effect like sulfuric acid!"

There wasn't any holy water better than what an amateur like me had made on the fly?

That was a little disappointing.

"...Then don't you have any other decent items?"

"I've got items. A 12-gauge shotgun blessed through a sacrament at a cathedral, along with a set of silver bullets."

The shopkeeper casually pulled out a shotgun.

What the hell? Why was someone selling this kind of thing in Korea?

"This works wonderfully anywhere. Even beginners can aim it easily, and it's easy to hit with. It's standard equipment for exorcists in this country."

"..."

Why was something like this standard equipment?

"Of course, the best gear comes from the Vatican. Word is there's a shotgun forged from the melted silver crosses of the Vatican's four major basilicas. Probably just a rumor, though."

The Vatican? The place where the Pope lived?

They made such vicious weapons there?

"If you don't like guns, how about swords? Bayonets are standard equipment in the business too. Normally, the blade stays hidden inside the handle, then the pages of the Bible inside turn into blades. They're easy to conceal, easy to carry in bulk, and good for throwing."

There was apparently another weapon called a Black Nail.

It looked incredibly difficult to use. You slipped it over every finger joint, then whoosh! Blades extended from it.

"It looks like WolverXne."

"They probably took the idea from there."

It didn't look practical.

Well, I guessed there were people who used weird weapons like that.

The shopkeeper showed me several more pieces of equipment.

"This is called a Binding Hand. It raises your anti-demonic power and lets you feel the waves of spiritual power through your fingertips."

"This is Grade 5 holy armor designed as a coat. It's Vatican-certified for Level 5 bulletproofing, stab resistance, and anti-demonic protection. Since it's Vatican-certified, getting after-sales service through Myeongdong Cathedral is convenient."

"This is a Blood-Drinking Ward Bead for protection against vampires. It prevents infection through bloodsucking, and neutralizes most poisons."

The gear he introduced was generally... different from what I'd imagined.

"Why do I need bulletproofing and stab resistance?"

"Because... the enemy uses them?"

"They use them?"

"What's the most effective weapon for killing people? Guns, right? Vampires carry guns too, so why would demons be any different?"

"..."

Was this really such a brutal world?

Shouldn't vampires turn into bats or use blood magic? Why were they carrying guns?

"The Blood-Drinking Ward Bead will be quite useful too. Quite a few demons feed on blood. Dream demons and the imp that just died both suck people's blood."

"Um... how much are they?"

"The Binding Hand is thirty million. The holy armor is eighty million. The Blood-Drinking Ward Bead is two hundred million won."

This was insane.

Why was everything so expensive?

I couldn't even buy a single glove with the Association's support money.

Still, it wasn't like I couldn't afford them.

I had over four hundred million won in my account.

Should I buy them?

Listening to him, they sounded necessary...

It was a huge amount of money, so I hesitated, but these were items that might save my life.

Saving money here would be stupid.

Just as I was about to make up my mind and pay, I noticed the cross necklace around the man's neck.

"Are you a priest?"

"That was a long time ago. I quit."

It seemed the shopkeeper had once been a Catholic priest. Was that why he dealt in things like this?

Come to think of it, I was supposedly a Christian too, but I didn't even wear a cross.

I remembered my first encounter with an evil spirit.

When I tried to make the sign of the cross without an actual cross, that bastard asked what my cross was made of.

It would've been reassuring to have one then.

As I was thinking that, the shopkeeper fiddled with his cross and grinned.

"Need a rosary? It makes your affiliation obvious, but there isn't a holy relic quite like a cross."

"Crosses have an effect too?"

"Of course. Religious symbols only work for believers, but that makes them all the more powerful. You're Christian too, right?"

"Yeah."

The man went into the back and brought out another item.

It was a cross made of wood.

"It's a rowan rosary. It helps you have pleasant dreams, but against dream demons, it can also provide mental protection."

"Wow, it can do that too?"

"It's backed by anti-demonic power, so don't expect too much."

"How much?"

"Three hundred million."

"..."

That was the craziest price I'd seen yet.

Was inflation the default around here?

Someone would think they printed money.

"It's a hundred-year-old rowan rosary. It has history behind it. Of course, old objects gain spiritual power over time."

I see.

Hearing that it was a hundred years old did make it seem kind of amazing.

"Um... I'm short on money."

"By how much?"

"About two hundred million if I want to buy everything."

Of course, I could buy less.

I could give up either the rosary or the Blood-Drinking Ward Bead.

But they both seemed like good items.

As I considered it, the shopkeeper asked me a question.

"Then... would you consider selling your holy water?"

"My holy water?"

"Yeah. It wasn't blessed by an ordinary spiritually gifted person, but holy water is still a consumable. Equipment like this can be stockpiled and used continuously... What do you say?"

The shopkeeper was deeply interested in the holy water I'd shown him.

Was that only natural after watching an imp melt right before his eyes?

I'd thought this was normal, but apparently not.

"How much can you offer?"

"Four million per bottle... no, five! That's ten times the usual price of holy water!"

"I'll sell!"

I immediately accepted the offer.

He was willing to pay five million won for something that cost less than five hundred won to make!

"G-good, I like someone decisive! Uh, how much can you sell me?"

"I've got about forty bottles. Oh, do you buy holy oil too?"

"Holy oil as well?"

I snapped my fingers and had Gari take out the icebox.

Thud!

The shopkeeper jumped when an icebox suddenly dropped from midair, but he soon understood.

"Do you command a shikigami or something?"

"Something like that."

He paid the same price for the holy oil as the holy water, buying it all for a total of four hundred million won.

"Whew...! T-they're the real thing."

"Thanks for the great deal."

I spent the enormous sum of six hundred and ten million won on the Binding Hand, holy armor, Blood-Drinking Ward Bead, and rosary, but I still had over two hundred million won left in my account.

This was seriously crazy.

And I could produce holy water and holy oil endlessly.

"Hey, can you keep getting holy water and holy oil in the future?"

I hesitated before answering.

It seemed my holy water and holy oil were much stronger items than I'd imagined.

If I said I could keep getting them, someone might get bad ideas.

Gari or Eight-Foot Sister could handle most threats, but there was no harm in being careful.

"I got them by luck too."

"I see. Well, it wouldn't be good for too many holy relics of this quality to flood the market. They'd draw too much attention. Just the thing to attract the wrong kind of bugs. Keep that attitude."

Damn.

It seemed the shopkeeper had already figured it out.

Still, judging by the advice he gave me, he seemed like a good person.

By the time I finished shopping at the shopkeeper's store, I took stock of what I'd bought.

Binding Hand.

It raised anti-demonic power and let me sense the waves of spiritual power.

Holy armor coat.

It was a long coat that protected my whole body evenly.

It didn't have anything like the ballistic plates I knew, so if it could stop bullets, it probably had some kind of ritual power in it.

Blood-Drinking Ward Bead for protection against vampires.

It granted resistance to infection from bloodsucking and neutralized poison.

It worked best when held in the mouth, but it still worked just by carrying it on me.

A hundred-year-old rowan rosary.

It gave me pleasant dreams, but it was said to work almost like a counter against dream demons.

"I really did some proper shopping."

For someone who usually fought with only a Spirit Blade and holy water, this was practically a full gear set.

More importantly, there was this too...

"You like it?"

【Po~】

Musashibo Benkei's Iron Staff, once wielded by a Japanese warrior monk.

It was supposedly a treasure worth billions, and I'd won it for only ten million won. That was the real jackpot.

"Come to think of it, I never checked what the Iron Staff actually does."

Well, even swinging it as a simple chunk of iron would be powerful enough.

When I got home, I looked down at today's shopping haul.

"..."

Clack-clack?

【Po~?】

I quietly connected my phone to a Bluetooth speaker...

(Recommended BGM: Up and Fight Against the Devil)

"Up and fight against the devil, you whose sins are wash'd awayyy!!"

Clack-clack-clack! Clack-clack-clack-clack! Clack-clack-clack-clack! Clack-clack!!

【Po~?】

"Bold against the host of evil, come and gather for the fray~! Eight-Foot Sister, sing along too!!"

【Po...! Popopopo! Popopo?!】

Clack-clack-clack! Clack-clack-clack-clack! Clack-clack! Clack-clack! Clack-claaack~!!

"The sparrow too! Glo~ry, glory, hallelujah!!"

Chirp? Chirp~chirp, chirp-chirp chirp-chirrrp~chirp!

Clack~clack, clack-clack clack-claaack~clack!

【Po~po popo popopooo~po!】

"Glory, glory, hallelujah~! For triumph drawing neeeear!"

Let's get this enchantment going~!

* * *

Holy Sword, holy water, holy oil, holy armor, and holy rosary. Full set.

Ahh, reassuring.

At this point, I could take down not just a demon, but the demon's grandpa too.

Fully armed, I arrived at a club in Itaewon.

This was the club where dream demons had reportedly appeared.

It seemed they showed up at other clubs too.

In other words, it was normally up to luck, but I didn't need luck.

"It reeks, it absolutely reeks. That filthy stench of demons!"

As soon as I started making the rounds of Itaewon's clubs where dream demons had been spotted, I found a stinking club on the third try.

That meant there was a high chance of dream demons inside any club that smelled like this.

"Whew... I've never been to a club before."

I had college classmates who said they went to clubs sometimes.

But growing up in a Christian family, how easy was it to go somewhere as decadent and promiscuous as a club?

I wasn't interested anyway, so I'd never even given places like clubs a second look.

And now I was going to one.

Standing in front of the club, I first told the two of them to wait.

They were too conspicuous.

"Dream demons can see spiritual bodies too, right? If you come with me, they might notice us. I think it's better if you wait outside."

【Po~】

Clack-clack!

The demon Decarabia had clearly recognized Gari.

If dream demons were in this club, there was no way they wouldn't notice Gari or Eight-Foot Sister.

"If anything happens, I'll let you know through Jjaekjjaeki."

I entered the club with only Jjaekjjaeki, who wouldn't stand out.

More precisely, I tried to enter.

"Nope."

"Huh?"

At the club entrance, just as I was about to get in after waiting in line for an entire hour, security guards in black suits stopped me.

"Turn around. Shoo, shoo~"

Why?!

Footnotes:

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