WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 539: The Nun's Secret Preference

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Damn it. I can't believe I fell for the lie that we were almost there.

I finally understood why she kept telling me we were almost there. Even I had felt a faint glimmer of hope and pushed myself without realizing it. But the monastery was farther away than it looked through the regressor's Indigo Eye, and my energy and stamina gave out midway. I collapsed.

From the regressor's perspective, it wasn't exactly a lie. She traveled all over the world, so anything within sight registered as close to her.

Ah, I must never fall for that again.

"Woof! Woof woof!"

"Meeeh...! You lot, stop that wolf! Don't let the wolf bite me!"

Lemme shouted as she hid in her own fur. The children panicked at the sight of frightened Lemme. Then a beastkin boy with ears and a tail sprang to his feet and stood in front of her.

"We'll protect the Lamb's Envoy!"

Moved by that, the other children stood up one by one to protect Lemme.

"Don't bully the fluffy one!"

"The Lamb's Envoy is our friend!"

"Woof? Friend!"

But Azzy was a dog who liked humans even more than sheep. Seeing the children, she ran circles around them with her tail wagging.

"Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you!"

"Huh? Nice to meet you too!"

"Let's play! Let's play!"

"Play? What should we do?"

"Herd sheep!"

"Meeeh!"

Lemme fled from Azzy with a sorrowful cry. The sheep calmly watched their king run away as they chewed grass. The Sheep King had protected her subjects through a noble sacrifice.

"Be wary of guests who arrive bearing good news. Yet give the warmest welcome to a guest who arrives with a good person. These were the First Holy Maiden's words when she welcomed a visitor from the east."

While Azzy played with the children, the regressor and I faced a more difficult opponent.

A nun's habit was normally black. Hers, however, was so dark it resembled pitch itself, as though she served darkness rather than light. Her face was concealed beneath a black veil as well, so that not even a trace of light could reach it.

"You have come with the King of Dogs, so you must be good guests. Welcome, strangers. I am Sister Yegcheriya, a servant of the Celestial God who oversees this monastery."

She had blasphemed against God. She was a nun more devout and pure than anyone, yet she had forsaken her chance to go to the Celestial God's side and drank the Progenitor's blood. Becoming a vampire who neither died nor aged, she had cast herself down from beneath the brightest stained-glass window to the floor of the darkest catacomb.

"Elder, Sister Yegcheriya."

"Yes. I serve the Progenitor and have been granted a fragment of that power. Thanks to it, I may convey the Celestial God's will eternally, without fading."

She had blasphemed against the Progenitor. Though she had become an Elder and fallen under the Progenitor's control, she had not abandoned her faith in the Celestial God. No, she displayed it more openly than before, as if faith could never lose its brilliance even beneath the Progenitor's dominion.

"Are you looking for a nun, or an Elder? I am both, but I will receive you in whichever form you desire."

The Sanctum left her alone for one reason alone.

She was the only being who could continue the Celestial God's faith in a land full of sin.

Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka let her live for one reason alone.

Because letting her live would be blasphemy against the Celestial God.

Of course, the true reason she had survived after blaspheming against both God and demon was that she was powerful enough that neither could kill her easily.

The Fallen Nun, Sister Yegcheriya.

A blasphemer who had offended both God and demon.

A gray nun, more devout than anyone and more sacrilegious than anyone.

The regressor spoke to her.

"We came looking for a nun."

At once, Yegcheriya's presence softened. Folding her hands neatly like a strict nun, Yegcheriya spoke beneath her veil.

"Welcome, my brothers and sisters. The Celestial God has blessed you and led you here. What do you pray for?"

"I want to use the Rakion Great White Wall."

"That is not possible."

Yegcheriya's voice was strict and firm.

"The Rakion Great White Wall is a great public notice passed down through monasteries across the world. It is a mark upon the earth watched over directly by the Celestial God. No matter how urgent the news may be, it cannot be used for private affairs. If the wall were filled with a traveler's diary, it would become a Rakion Black-and-White Wall. It is pure white because nothing has been written upon it, and that is why something more precious that may come someday can be written there. I am sorry, but I cannot permit it."

"It isn't a private matter. It's about a new saint."

"A new saint?"

"Yes."

"My knowledge is lacking, and my eyes are dim, so I cannot recognize a saint. Would you show this foolish woman a revelation?"

Wouldn't she see better if she lifted that veil? I idly mused to myself. The regressor nodded and called Azzy.

"Azzy. Show her your halo of holy light."

"Woof?"

"The white ring that floats above your head."

A halo of holy light was the surest proof that someone was a saint. Any nun would be able to judge its authenticity at a glance.

Azzy, who had been playing with the children, only tilted her head before running over and pouncing on Lemme again. The Sheep King fled from her with tears in her eyes.

As befitted a beast, there was very little Azzy did as asked, but the regressor had grown used to that by now.

"Hughes. Show the ring above Azzy's head. Then Yegcheriya will open the Great White Wall for us."

"You always make me do the troublesome things."

"You're good at handling Azzy. Give it a try."

'I'll leave persuading people to Hughes. Yegcheriya is crazy in a good way, but she's still crazy. Hughes will be better at it than I am. They're pretty similar, too.'

Similar? Was that supposed to mean I was crazy? Should I be grateful that she said I was crazy in a good way, or should I be angry?

Still, thanks. I was interested in that woman too.

"I can show it to you, but there's no need to insist on that, is there? We only need to borrow the Great White Wall."

"That's true, but what are you going to do? Nuns are stubborn."

Right. Nuns were those who followed God's will. Priestesses armed with strict rules and able to wield divine power.

Ordinary nuns, at least.

The Fallen Nun, Sister Yegcheriya. She was a gray blasphemer. Though she stood there so neatly now, she was someone who stood on the side of chaos, neither good nor evil, and laughed at both.

She was my kind.

"Hello. I'm the King of Humanity, and this person is a hero trying to save the world. We're trying to save the world from the King of Sin."

"What? Can you reveal that?"

It wasn't some incredible secret. Besides, she would find out anyway once we contacted the Sanctum.

"Last week, I defeated the King of Wolves with the King of Dogs and learned the secret of the world. I need the Sanctum's answer to confirm it. The only way to communicate south of the Enger Plain is the Rakion Great White Wall in the Blood Monastery, so we came to use it. Connect us to the Sanctum."

I briefly explained everything that had happened recently. Sister Yegcheriya was an Elder who had lived for centuries. Few things would make her so much as blink, but even she struggled to keep up with the information I had given her.

"That is a very sudden story. There are many parts you have not explained sufficiently."

Yegcheriya answered mechanically.

"And it is far too vague. It is difficult to believe, and even if it is true, I cannot understand your intentions. How am I supposed to trust you?"

"Don't. What kind of person are you to trust things?"

If she were someone who needed faith, she would not have accepted a vampire's blood despite being a nun.

She was treating us strictly like an ordinary nun now, but her nature was close to mine. Gray, with no lean toward either side. That was why neither pure white nor pitch black could be found in her monastery.

"I believe my proposal has caught your interest. And I don't think you would give up that interest over something as trivial as rules."

"Those are not words one should say to a mere nun."

Of course not. What nun would respond to words that ignored rules? But...

"You aren't just any nun, are you?"

Yegcheriya smiled beneath her veil.

At the same time, the monastery moved. The monastery, writhing like a living creature, lunged at us like lightning and swallowed us whole.

It happened in an instant. We had been standing in the middle of a sunlit field, but suddenly found ourselves in the center of a dim chapel.

Sunlight filtered through red stained glass. It was surely part of the sunlight sent down from the heavens far above, yet for some reason it felt eerie and ominous. At the same time, the power of blood filling the space could be felt throughout the monastery.

The Blood Monastery was the domain of the vampire Yegcheriya. Within it, she was a nun, an abbess, and a god. That was why the monastery bore the descriptor "Blood."

"You truly mean it when you say you intend to save the world, correct?"

Yegcheriya's bloodcraft was not ordinary. Her regular bloodcraft did not measure up to that of other Elders, but in certain ways, it touched upon the mysterious.

A ring of blood linked together. Red threads stretched out in a double helix and wrapped around my right arm. Without pulling or tightening, the blood-bound thread extended red feelers and read the faint tremors in my blood.

"Confess. Speak your truth."

Bloodcraft, Confessional Bloodcraft.

It was the power to perform the miracle of confession through blood. As a fallen nun, Yegcheriya performed sacraments through blood. As long as those red feelers touched me, I could not speak a lie. Yegcheriya would immediately read the slightest tremor in my blood.

Perhaps I could have devised a massive lie that deceived even myself, but there was no need for that now. I stretched out my arm and declared confidently.

"That's right. I sincerely intend to save the world. It's the path that saves not only the world, but myself as well."

It was sincere. Therefore, it was true. Having confirmed the truth, the Confessional Bloodcraft melted away into the air.

After confirming that my words were true, Yegcheriya walked toward one wall of the chapel.

"Let me ask one thing. Do you truly intend to do good? Even if the most wicked and violent villain in the world performs a good deed, do you believe that deed is noble in itself?"

Yegcheriya tore off her veil. At the same time, one side of the wall ripped away like a sheet of paper.

Behind the dark layer of wall was a huge white wall that gave off a faint glow even in the darkness. Its shape was irregular, as though it had been torn from a section shattered by siege weapons, but the wall itself was smooth and white as paper.

Standing before it, Yegcheriya tossed aside her veil as though it were a nuisance, revealing her bare face. Resting one hand on the Rakion Great White Wall, she asked me.

"Even if it is a filthy beastkin, a lowly vampire, or a cruel murderer, do you think their good deeds deserve respect as good deeds in themselves? If a murderer who has killed tens of thousands saves one child, do you believe there is nothing wrong with that child revering the murderer as their savior?"

The Fallen Nun, Sister Yegcheriya. A twisted nun who practiced sacrifice and service in the name of a vampire. She was a demon who drank human blood, yet also a saint who cared for and healed orphans from all nations who had nowhere to go.

Her very existence was heresy, and she was a blasphemer bold enough to test the Celestial God by her own standards of good and evil. Hypocritical virtue was still virtue, and feigned evil was still evil, but she tested and shook faith itself. She stood on the opposite side of order.

The enemy of order was not evil, but chaos. If order was judgment, chaos was what walked a tightrope along its boundary.

In that sense, Yegcheriya was the Celestial God's faithful servant and, at the same time, the most dangerous ideological criminal.

"What do you think of treating sin as sin, and people as people?"

Well, it wasn't wrong. There was even a saying that one should hate the sin but not the sinner. Humans could do anything, and even villains could do good deeds now and then.

But I couldn't say that. It wasn't what I sincerely believed. The Confessional Bloodcraft was not over yet. If I tried to escape this situation with some vague lie, I would fall out of favor with that ideological terrorist.

"Good? Evil? Sin? Virtue? What even are those? Beasts like me have no interest in things we can't eat."

So I answered honestly, in a way that would satisfy Yegcheriya.

As I expected, Yegcheriya was thrilled. Thrilled enough to seem a little vulgar for a nun.

"Kh, khk. Hehehe. Good. Good! Good, evil, sin, virtue. They are only names given to what beasts do! Ahaha! A savage beast choosing to do good, what a delightful sound that is! What contradictions and questions will this bring to those Holy Maidens? I can't wait. I truly can't wait!"

'...Ugh. Even if she's crazy in a good way, she's still crazy. I have a feeling this is about to grow in a direction I didn't intend.'

It was too late for regrets, regressor.

Yegcheriya spread both hands in delight. The grand piano in the chapel began to play by itself, and magnificent music filled the room.

An instrument conducted by blood, and the hymn it played. What dreadful blasphemy. It felt as though she meant to rip out every scale that could provoke the Sanctum's fury.

"Good! I, Yegcheriya, will accept your prayer! Even if cowardly nuns hold their breath, cover their ears, and turn away from taboos, I will proudly proclaim the question you have put before me! Listen, look, feel! Truth will come like the sunlight in the sky, so that no one can ever turn their eyes away!"

With that cry, Yegcheriya dyed the Rakion Great White Wall red in an instant.

At that very moment, the same change appeared on every Rakion Great White Wall throughout the world.

Footnotes:

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