WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Chapter 66: Pastor Kim's Legacy

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I was speechless as I looked at the crates piled up before me.

Every single one, stacked so neatly, was filled with relics and treasures.

The Seven-Branched Sword.

Sainchamsageom.

Xuanyuan Sword.

Gungnir?

Even I, someone who knew next to nothing about relics, had heard of these treasures before.

All of this was Pastor Kim's collection?

It went beyond impressive...

"Pastor Kim... I knew he was a famous relic thief, but I had no idea it was this bad."

"Pastor Kim did have a strong desire for material things. Still, he didn't steal them purely for himself."

"You expect me to believe that after seeing all this? What is it, does living a life of crime change the way you think?"

"Ahem!"

I looked over the crates arranged in our yard.

Pastor Park seemed embarrassed too. He cleared his throat and tried to explain.

"I can't say there was no personal greed involved, but it's true that he kept them to use for good causes. Pastor Kim was sincere about saving people."

"..."

Well, that wasn't exactly wrong.

If he had been that obsessed with treasure, he wouldn't have given me the original Book of Enoch in the first place.

"It would have been impossible for Pastor Kim to gather a collection this large without people looking the other way."

"Looking the other way?"

"That's right. Pastor Kim was an exorcist who achieved overwhelming feats in his lifetime. He resolved five crises that could have destroyed nations, and two crises that could have ended the world."

What was with this sudden jump in scale?

"Because of those achievements, governments and organizations around the world overlooked Pastor Kim possessing their countries' treasures. He was busy traveling the world and saving it."

Pastor Park smiled bitterly as he thought of Pastor Kim.

He must have been reminiscing about someone who had already passed away...

"Well, I thought that bastard was the kind of guy who wouldn't stay dead even if you killed him, but I never imagined he'd reincarnate into another world."

Huh?

Did I just hear something weird?

"Anyway, all of Pastor Kim's legacy has been passed down to you. But you know that great power comes with great responsibility, right?"

"You mean I should work hard at exorcisms?"

"You're the protagonist of Second Kings, after all. God has plans for you, so you must prepare for the trials ahead."

He added that I needed to accomplish great things.

Great enough that even the government wouldn't dare touch me despite my possession of all these treasures.

"You're really giving me all of this?"

"We need to return a few things, so let's take those out first."

Pastor Park inspected the crates and wrote down what needed to be removed.

"Still, this isn't all of it. A few things are missing."

"There's more than this?"

"Looks like he didn't put all his eggs in one basket and hid them in different places... Sigh. Finding those can be a task for later."

Pastor Park took a sword from one of the crates.

"Sainchamsageom. This is a genuine piece made during King Taejong's reign."

"There are fakes too?"

"Sainchamsageom is named because it was made in a tiger year, tiger month, tiger day, and tiger hour during the Joseon Dynasty. The word tiger refers to the tiger zodiac sign, so it carries the power of the tiger. All four have meaning."

"Sainchamsageom?"

"More precisely, it's your familiar. Pastor Kim cut down the original Eight-Foot-Tall Ghost with this sword."

【Devour?】

Eight-Foot Sister tilted her head at the mention of herself.

Come to think of it, Pastor Kim was the one who defeated the Eight-Foot-Tall Ghost, the original urban legend behind Eight-Foot Sister.

"It's a warding sword made for major exorcisms, but Yohan will have a hard time using it. Ritual warding swords are best used by people skilled in spells and Taoist arts."

"Then how did Pastor Kim use it?"

"Didn't I tell you? Pastor Kim was born into a shaman household. A very famous one, at that."

A pastor was the son of a shaman?

What kind of family history was that?

"Setting shamanic knowledge aside, this is something you can use without much trouble..."

The item Pastor Park took out was a transparent sword with a blue gleam.

"Is it made of bronze?"

"Yes. It's an incredible sword. It's said to be the greatest exorcism sword, used by the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan himself."

Pastor Park strongly recommended it.

The Xuanyuan Sword wasn't sharp, but it was a divine blade suffused with a radiant glow.

Wouldn't this cut through most evil spirits?

"Since it's made of bronze, it isn't especially durable, so use it sparingly."

I also received King Jinpyeong's Celestial Map and the Cross of Saint Peter.

They were all extraordinary items, but each came with various restrictions.

Some required specialized knowledge, while others required training.

"Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi needs to be returned, but Yata no Kagami... Yes, you should keep that, Yohan. Just carrying it reflects spells and curses, and it has the power to reveal true forms."

I looked it up because I had no idea what it was...

"Pastor, isn't this one of Japan's Three Sacred Treasures?!"

Holy shit, wasn't this from Japanese creation mythology?

"Why are you acting surprised? The Xuanyuan Sword isn't any less impressive by rank."

"Can I really use something like this for exorcisms?!"

"Are old objects more precious than human lives? If you can use them, you should."

"Holy fucking shit..."

Click, click!

Gari clicked in warning, telling me to watch my language.

"Now, we'll study how to use the equipment later. There's something more important left."

"Something important?"

"Training. Yohan, you'll need plenty of training if you're going to catch wicked things from now on."

Hearing that from Pastor Park, who had made me fight werewolves as training...

I was getting nervous.

* * *

"A healthy soul resides in a healthy mind and a healthy body."

Apparently, this was a saying every exorcist who faced all kinds of evil spirits had to know.

Fighting evil spirits wasn't simply a clash of strength against strength.

They used spiritual power to deceive people, so exorcists always had to endure with steadfast souls.

"How do you train a healthy mind? You serve the Lord with firm faith and constantly remind yourself that the Lord is always within us."

Even if we walked through the valley of the shadow of death, we feared no evil because we knew the Father was with us.

"That is why so many exorcists are religious people."

Then what about a healthy body?

"Honestly, that's the easiest part to build. Faith, belief, and the mind don't improve easily, but training the body is so simple."

"R-Really...?"

"Yes. When a person's muscles tear, they heal back stronger, don't they? You just repeat that. What's so difficult about it?"

"The theory... sounds reasonable!"

"Ghh...!"

Groaning from deep in my core, I barely managed to stand.

Sweat poured down like rain.

Every muscle in my body felt stretched tight enough to burst, though none of them had actually burst yet.

"Good. One minute rest."

"Huff! Huff!"

Only then could I remove the huge rock resting on my back.

Thud!

I still couldn't believe something that huge had been sitting on top of me.

"Nice mountains, nice air, nice breeze. Perfect scenery for wrecking your upper body."

"..."

Like Pastor Park said, the scenery was incredible.

Ink-dark mountain ranges and valleys full of blooming peach blossoms.

Clear streams and peaks draped in white clouds.

It was such a breathtaking view that I couldn't believe a place like this existed.

Except this wasn't a real landscape.

It was a landscape inside a painting.

We were currently inside Pastor Kim's <Korean History Series No. 21, Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land>.

"People can enter a painting..."

"It's a method Taoist masters like to use. Time inside and outside flows differently, so they can even make sealed monsters die of old age."

It was a separate world where time inside and outside diverged.

While one day passed outside, a year passed inside this painted world, where I was undergoing Pastor Park's training.

"Did the others train like this too?"

"All my disciples did. The training paintings weren't relics on the level of Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land, but I have several capable of something similar."

No wonder they all looked older than they should.

Then a concern occurred to me.

"If time passes here, doesn't that mean we'll age a year in a single day? I'm fine, but..."

"That's why we took supplements before coming in."

Supplements?

Come to think of it, Pastor Go had given us something before we entered Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land.

"Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land lets whatever you eat outside sustain you for a full year inside. There isn't any food here, but that's why we can go a year without eating."

That explained why I hadn't gotten hungry despite training all day.

"Uh, then those supplements were..."

"Vampire elixir. You managed to get some excellent vampire blood after a long time."

"Ah..."

During the vampire hunt, we had collected blood from a Clan Lord-class vampire and high-ranking vampires.

Pastor Go said he would refine it, and apparently that was what the supplements had been.

"Vampire elixir temporarily gives you a vampire's strength and body. The reason you could carry that huge boulder up and down was because your strength was enhanced."

It also activates your cells, so you don't age.

In other words, the vampire elixir I took outside would last one day out there, but I could enjoy its effects for an entire year in here.

At least I didn't have to worry about shortening my lifespan by staying too long.

"No wonder I felt so strong."

My strength was originally average for a man in his twenties.

I'd built up some muscle after all the hardship lately, so maybe I was a little above average now, but I was still at an ordinary person's level.

Yet I had carried a boulder from halfway up the mountain to the summit.

"All right, shall we start training again?"

"P-Pastor. It feels like every muscle in my body has been torn apart."

"It's fine. The vampire elixir will regenerate you quickly too. Do you know what that means?"

"..."

I was afraid to hear Pastor Park's answer.

But Pastor Park didn't hesitate.

"It means your muscles will build several times faster than normal. Come on, let's tear every muscle you've got."

"...So Pastor Kim and Pastor Go learned under someone like you."

"One."

Urgh.

I lifted the boulder.

"Two."

Thud!

The tendons in my arms twitched, and my back muscles felt like they were splitting apart.

They probably really were tearing.

"Three."

The absurd thing was that I could handle it pretty well.

Was it the vampire elixir, or had Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land given me some kind of buff?

Time passed with my mind suffering more than my body.

Thousands of squats.

Thousands of deadlifts.

Kendo and mountain climbing on top of that.

The most ridiculous part was the "newcomers" that entered Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land.

"Pastor Park? What's that? Something came into the painting."

"A few doggies? Looks like Pastor Go rounded up some good ones."

Now we would use them for combat training too.

Excuse me?

Being chased by werewolves through these mountains in the middle of the night was a nightmare.

"If you don't think you can beat them physically, run! If you think you're going to die, blame yourself for not being strong enough!"

"Grrr!"

"Awooooooooo!"

Wait, if he released werewolves into Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land, wouldn't they target Pastor Park too?

He had released at least a dozen of them. Was there really not even one werewolf that would attack him?

"What? You little bastards aren't lowering your eyes? If you want to leave alive, keep them lowered."

"Whine..."

Don't submit!

Keep your proud beastly dignity!

You can do it! Bite Pastor Park!

But instead of challenging Pastor Park, who would beat them to death, the werewolves targeted me, the easier prey.

"Pastor! Pastooor! I'm going to die! I'm really going to die like this!"

"You won't die! Do you think I'd let you die? If it really looks like you're dying, then I'll save you! You took a vampire elixir, so don't worry even if you lose an arm or leg!"

"Aaaaaaah! Pastor Park, you son of a bitch!"

It was a truly hellish year.

"Oof... Yohan, you've suffered a lot."

A day after entering Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land, we came out to find Pastor Go, Gari, and Eight-Foot Sister waiting for us.

"Ah... I've grown stronger. I'm not who I used to be."

"Well, you've done some basic physical training. Pastor Go, did Tsuchimikado Clan contact you?"

"Ah, yes! They contacted us less than a minute after you went in."

"Okay. Strike while the iron's hot... Yohan, do you have a passport?"

"A passport? Uh... I don't have one."

Why did he suddenly ask about a passport?

My parents had been dead set against overseas travel, so I had never gotten one.

"Ah, right. Given your family circumstances, that makes sense. It's fine. There are plenty of ways to go without a passport."

How were we supposed to go abroad without a passport?

As I tilted my head, Pastor Park grinned and put a hand on my shoulder.

"That's right, Yohan. You worked hard, cramming a year's worth of training into one day. Do you like sushi? I know a truly amazing sushi restaurant."

"Sushi? I'd eat it every day if I could!"

"Right, right. To celebrate coming down the mountain, I'll treat you to the best sushi."

Wow! Sushi!

Except that sushi restaurant was in Kyoto.

Sushi from its homeland. Just how amazing was this sushi he planned to buy me?

Footnotes:

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