I Picked Up the Protagonist’s Heroine - Chapter 5

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Dionysus

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Picked Up the Protagonist’s Heroine ◈

Chapter 5: Intentions So Impure, It Might as Well Be Black Magic

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[Ending (1) Locked]

[It, it’s not like I like you or anything, okay?]

『Laward had suddenly received a confession from the Academy Goddess.

It happened before he had even spent a full term at the Academy.

Laward still had many people to meet and much to learn, but he decided not to worry about that.

After all, he had been confessed to by an unbelievably beautiful girl.

Hadn’t he fulfilled the purpose of his life as a man?

There was no need to regret connections that had not yet come.

Laward decided to spend the rest of his life with Ester.

However, the world was destroyed.』

Endings remaining until Stage 1 perks unlock: 4

I still had no idea why, but one ending had been locked.

The Ester route.

One of five.

After reading the ending script, it seemed to be the ending that appeared if Laward accepted Ester’s confession.

The fastest ending a player could see.

And, at the same time, an ending that had now been locked away.

“...I did it.”

I clenched my fist and let out a long breath.

As expected, I had been right to interfere with the romance routes.

For the first time, I had prevented an ending.

It might have been a small change, but it was my first step toward defying a massive fate.

If I kept this up, the protagonist and the heroines would not end up together.

If they stopped caring about romance and grew stronger, I could prevent the apocalypse where humans, animals, and monsters alike all became undead.

A zombie apocalypse in a fantasy world. What kind of bizarre end was that?

“Whew.”

I slowly reined in my urge to buy some alcohol and celebrate.

Just one out of thirty-one.

It was still too early.

Besides, the message displayed after the ending script bothered me.

Stage 1 perks would unlock after four more endings.

Four endings remaining.

I had never known the game had hidden perks.

Was it because I had only cleared one hidden ending?

What the perk reward was, and what Stage 1 meant.

For now, I had nothing but questions.

Well, I would naturally find out as I prevented more endings.

Rustle.

After changing clothes and coming into the lodging’s sitting room, I found a letter from home.

The seal bore the emblem of two crossed spears, so I recognized it at once.

To summarize its contents:

Our house would be taking part in a monster subjugation campaign this summer, so I was to return at once.

That was it.

Ever since I had returned to the past, I had spent a long time away from home while searching for the protagonist.

It was clearly different from my previous life, when I had stayed shut up at home.

The place where the protagonist and heroines were active was in the territory of some marquis, quite far from Hasgard County.

Naturally, I had never come anywhere near this place in my previous life.

I understood why Father was worried.

Even if he approved of his youngest son nurturing talented people, he was probably worried that I might travel so far and get into trouble.

I could not tell Father the specifics, but I should at least tell him not to worry.

I was preparing for both the apocalypse and the fall of our house.

Scratch.

I began writing my reply.

To summarize that letter as well, it said that I would return soon, so he should not worry.

In particular, I told him I would definitely return before the subjugation festival, the decisive event that began House Hasgard’s collapse.

After writing the final period, I lightly lifted my pen from the paper.

There was something I had to do before returning.

Despite being rejected ten times, Ester still seemed to like Laward. More importantly, she had not yet learned healing magic.

Before going home, I had to make Ester useful.

A healer would be needed for the subjugation festival Father had mentioned.

“Healing magic...”

I let out a sigh and leaned back in my chair.

Unfortunately, the Academy’s Magic Department did not handle holy magic.

No.

It could not handle it.

Holy magic.

Healing magic in particular was the Church’s symbol and authority.

Only clergy who passed the Church’s test earned the right to learn healing magic.

It would have been nice if I knew healing magic, but the magic I had learned was Enhancement, a buff spell.

I had gone all in on a single spell.

I had never learned healing magic.

To teach Ester, the only way was to somehow obtain a spellbook and give it to her.

There were three ways to obtain a Church spellbook.

Take the Church’s test properly, buy one on the black market, or approach a corrupt clergyman.

“Hmm.”

I would go with the first option.

I knew what the test was like, and it was not difficult for me now.

* * *

I visited a nearby monastery and said that I wanted to take the test.

“I am truly pleased that you wish to walk the glorious path, Brother.”

The priest who received me spoke plainly.

His square jaw gave him a stern appearance.

“However, there is one qualification that must come before all others if you wish to become clergy. A pure body. Forgive me, but may I verify whether you possess that qualification?”

He spoke politely while saying something offensive.

A “pure body” meant whether or not one had experience.

The words sounded decorous, but they could hardly have been more blatant.

Had he recognized me as a noble from my clothes?

And assumed that a noble could not possibly have a pure body?

As a modern man, it was a thoroughly distasteful question, but since I had come here of my own accord, I had no choice but to go along with it.

“Go ahead.”

At my words, the priest nodded and stepped forward.

“Then excuse me.”

Hummm.

The priest’s right hand shone with a pure white light.

Soon, his light-wrapped hand settled carefully on my shoulder.

“...”

The priest closed his eyes and concentrated.

A spell that verified purity.

I had gone through it several times in my previous life, but it sent chills down my spine every time I saw it.

There were two situations where this spell was used.

One was on someone who wished to become clergy, and the other was on a betrothed.

They said it was hardly used on betrotheds anymore, but shouldn’t a spell this horrible be banned?

I did not know who invented it, but its intentions were so impure that it might as well have been black magic.

It deserved a global ban.

Hummm.

Even as my thoughts spiraled, the priest’s spell continued.

A moment later.

“Oh! Brother, you qualify! You possess a pure body!”

Well, of course I did.

I knew my own experience better than anyone.

Still, what was this?

Why did it feel so unpleasant?

“You are ready to become clergy.”

And so, I became a Church-certified virgin.

It was still an unpleasant certification....

“...Hmm?”

Suddenly, the priest’s brows arched and his expression turned startled.

“How can this be...?”

His eyes openly trembled.

“Forgive me, but... may I ask your age?”

My age, out of nowhere?

I was twenty-one this year, I think.

“That is... astonishing. Brother, there is a purity within you deeper than the years you have lived. As if it had lain dormant for around thirty years...”

Thirty years.

That was a number that struck home.

Daywin Hasgard was twenty-one, but if I included the time I had lived in Korea and the five years of my previous life, I was thirty.

My real age was thirty.

That insane spell had even determined my actual age.

In other words.

The priest was saying that I had remained pure for thirty years.

“You are truly devout, Brother...! I have never seen anyone like you!”

The priest excitedly clasped both my hands.

He did not stop there, either. He even called over the other clergy.

“Everyone, look upon this brother! We must all follow his example!”

Before I knew it, I was surrounded by the monastery’s priests.

They placed hands on my shoulders and tried the spell themselves, and every one of them marveled.

“Ah... Such purity...!”

“To preserve such spotless purity even at an age when every desire rages... The Goddess must have sent this brother for our sake....”

“Everyone! Let us pray for this brother!”

Having my thirty years of purity exposed was unpleasant enough, but they praised it as though it were some grand achievement.

These devilish bastards....

If I gave up my purity, I would lose a paladin’s power too. It was not like I had a choice....

“This should be enough preparation, right?”

I irritably brushed the hands off my shoulders.

“I will take the test now.”

“Ah, yes! Very well! In fact, I would very much like you to take it here.”

The priest who had first received me clapped his hands in delight.

“Here, please take this.”

A little later, he brought out a carefully preserved copy of the Scripture.

“After memorizing the Scripture for the next two years, you will qualify for the test. I shall be rooting for you, Brother.”

“I do not have time for that.”

“You cannot defy tradition. Or do you mean to say that you will not memorize the Scripture? That will not do. The Goddess said this: ‘In the hands of one who does not sweat, grace...’”

“‘Grace shall not remain. Wishes without deeds scatter seeds, and only those who act shall reap.’”

When I continued the verse, the priest’s eyes widened.

“Is that not verse seventeen of the Chapter of Abstinence?”

“How...?”

How did I know?

I might not have known other passages, but I had memorized the Chapter of Abstinence perfectly.

One morning after joining the Paladin Order, I experienced that natural bodily reaction where a healthy man woke with part of his body raised along with him.

Unfortunately, the bishop caught me at the worst possible moment and locked me in the punishment room until I had memorized the entire Chapter of Abstinence.

Even now, remembering its verses brought back the shame of that day.

“Ahem. It seems that you have memorized the Scripture. V-very well. Even so, it cannot be done now. You do not spend those two years memorizing Scripture alone. You must learn to wield holy power during that time.”

The priest set his face firmly and put force into his voice.

“Even if you have memorized the Scripture, wielding holy power is an entirely different matter.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the other priests nodded eagerly.

“I will tell you the subject of the test. Once you hear it, you will understand that it is still impossible.”

He rolled up his sleeve and pointed to the bracelet on his right wrist.

A silver bracelet.

An equal-armed cross pendant hung from it, and when the priest held out his arm, it swayed back and forth.

An equal-armed cross.

The Goddess Church’s cross decoration had four even arms, like a plus sign.

It shone extravagantly for a clergyman’s accessory.

On the pendant’s front was an embossed scene inspired by a passage from the Scripture.

The Goddess, stacking bricks upon ruins.

The pendant was no more than five centimeters long, yet even its tiniest details had been carved. It was clearly an object born from a craftsman’s hands.

“The test is to recreate this with holy power. Naturally, every detail must be reproduced without omission.”

The priest removed the bracelet and set it on his palm.

“For a beginner, it is the same as carving a sculpture from flowing water. Now, Brother, if you begin learning even now, you will be able to do it in two years. Ah, someone as devout as you may be able to do it sooner.”

The priest smiled faintly as though humoring me.

“Ha.”

And I smiled back at him.

“...Hmm?”

The priest made a flustered sound, as though he had not expected me to smile.

Converting mana into holy power and reproducing an intricate pendant.

It would be no easy test for a beginner.

One had to wield holy power freely enough that two years would feel like an unreasonable amount of time.

For Ester, who could not even control mana yet, it was a distant prospect.

But I had been a knight commander.

I might have risen through the ranks quickly because my superiors died one after another, but I had still been a knight commander.

“Please, have a seat. First, we will begin the admission process. Once it is complete, you will live in the monastery and train...”