Terribly sorry for the late release. Still trying to catch up to the work I left behind. Please bear with me for a little longer. 🙂
Chapter 223: Daily training
Translator: Tseirp
While walking inside the Church towards the Executives Department room, I conversed with Kefin who was walking ahead.
“I’m surprised you don’t get lost in a complicated place like this. Is it the first time you’ve been here?”
“Haha. I can mostly remember the paths I take after walking there once. Within Luciel-sama’s retinue, my role is to be scout so I will not lose in this field to anybody.”
“So reliable. Do you have a trick to remembering it?”
I still remember the paths in the Labyrinth of Tribulations but I’ve mostly forgotten the ones for the other labyrinths.
“Tips huh. Let me see … a simple method would be to remember the landmarks. In addition, if you look back once you make a turn, you would be able to see a different view so I guess you mostly won’t get lost whichever direction you take. Once you are familiar with it, you would be able to grasp an overhead view of yourself like seeing a map from above.”
“I guess there are no shortcuts to mastering skills. Well, if that wasn’t the case, it wouldn’t be rewarding.”
“That’s right. When you become able to do something, you will soon meet another wall that will block your progress so it boils down to daily training.”
“Exactly. Daily training … I feel like I’ve being doing nothing but training since I’ve come of age.”
“I believe that’s precisely why Luciel-sama could become a Sage though.”
“Hah, that makes me feel slightly better. Thanks Kefin.”
“Nah, don’t mention it.”
While conversing with Kefin, I once again recalled my previous life.
Once, I had the opportunity to listen to a monk’s preach.
He said that humans borrow our soul from Buddha and until the day comes for us to return it, we must polish it until it is shiny.
It would be polished just by living but the soul would shine brighter the more it is polished through hard work, making your present life happier, making Buddha feel happy for lending it to you and he might even give you an extra something when you wish to lend a soul again.
I recalled something like that.
Precisely because I’ve been through reincarnation, I wonder if I am polishing my soul satisfactorily? Even if I do polish it, I feel that the luck I get from Great Luck-sensei quickly consumes the amount of work I’ve put in.
In line with that thought, even though I wish for a peaceful life, the fact that I am still caught up in all kinds of troublesome incidents is perhaps because the karma I built up in my previous life was quite deep?
The more I think about it, the more I feel that my peaceful life was getting further away if I don’t work hard within my limits to train myself so I decided to once again devote myself to doing so and chased after Kefin’s back.
After walking for around five minutes, I saw the side entrance to the annex building.
“The whole of this annex building is used by the Executives Department.”
Listening to Kefin, I checked out the annex building and although it was only three storeys high unlike the five storied main building, it was large enough that it could probably fit the entire Valkyrie Paladin Corp’s training ground inside it.
“They occupy this entire building?”
“Yes, that is apparently the case. Dongahaha’s personal room is this way.”
Walking for a little bit more, we arrived at Dongahaha’s room on the third floor.
“It feels like there’s quite a lot of space between rooms?”
“You will know when you enter. This way.”
When Kefin opened the door, I could tell that the room class was different compared to mine and Lumina-san’s room.
“It’s three, no, four times the size of my room. If a single person uses this room, I couldn’t tell before but I’m certain an ample amount of funds flow into here.”
“That’s right. The archive is next to this room and that item is placed in a desk at the end of the archive.”
This was probably too much space for a single person to utilize.
While I had that thought, when we entered the archive, it had a compact and slightly gloomy atmosphere which gave a somewhat subdued impression.
When I pulled open the drawer to see the necklace, I found a baseball-sized sphere that was emitting faint light.
However, rather than it being a necklace, it looked more like the chains was there to contain the sphere.
“Were there no documents that had information on this?”
“Yes. I also flipped through his diary but it was not recorded.”
Well, Garba-san and Kefin who excel in intelligence likely won’t neglect checking something like that.
“Does it register in Magical Power Perception?”
“Unfortunately, Magical Power Perception is a little tough for Garba-sama and I but I can at least tell that this necklace emits magical power.”
“I see. Yeah, I can’t help but feel that the chain is meant to seal the sphere. There are two different magical powers and the chain is holding the sphere’s power in.”
“If that’s the case then we can’t carelessly break it. Nevertheless, why can’t we touch it?”
“Perhaps there’s some kind of condition required. But I’m afraid that I would be entangled in something else if I unlock the seal now.”
“Then could we just keep it in a magic bag? Well, that’s if it was possible to touch it though …”
“That’s right … Well, no problem. I’ll leave it here for now. Kefin, please check once more if there’s anything around.”
“Understood.”
Kefin nodded and left the archive.
“Now then, maybe I’ll read the will first. It won’t be necessary if it turns out to not be a will after all.”
I began to read Dongahaha’s will.
〔I have some hesitation knowing that I have no idea who would read this but if possible, I hope that a person who cares for Pope-sama and the Church would read this.〕
The will was addressed to somebody who cares for Pope-sama and the Church.
Recorded in it were detailed information on what he saw within the Church from the time he was born until the labyrinth formed.
Continuing on, the sightings of the demon race in the Empire and Rubruk about two years back were also written inside.
Then, half a year ago, when the corpses of the demon race I defeated were brought here, they proved that they were made up of humans and beastmen that had undergone demonization.
He coughed up blood when he began investigating and knowing that he didn’t have long to live, he tasked his intelligence team with a letter to investigate the demonization within the Empire but the reply came from Blange instead.
The reply offered longevity by utilizing evil arts and the compensation was to produce demonized individuals.
Then, when I lost my Holy Magic Attribute magic, the Church’s existence was in danger.
However, he didn’t have the time left to rebuild the Church.
After worrying about it, he chose to use the evil arts on his own body.
Then, for that sake, beginning from the Human Supremacist in the Executives Department, Bulltooth, he asked the people who work unethically and those who sell confidential information if they would like to acquire strength that can easily defeat the Knight Corps.
After he asked that, they didn’t hesitate at all as they yearned for power and took the law of the Executives Department to be the law of the Church.
Thus, they spent three months to slowly undergo demonization.
When he showed the demonized knights to the person responsible at Blange, perhaps he obtained his trust as he was taught the demon summoning spell for when he gets caught by the Church and he was told to escape to the Empire when that time comes.
Originally, he wanted to kill those demonized knights with his own hands but then he obtained information on me and it plagued him that I had became a Sage.
〔Did I make light of him? Or is this Divine Punishment for deceiving the Church? If that’s the case, maybe it won’t be a bad choice to bet my life and everything on him.〕
That was written.
In addition, as the summoning scroll would combust once it is recited with a magic stone, he transcribed what he remembered.
However, it seemed like he wanted to write his final parting words there.
〔If I had passed away and somebody is reading this, please pass this will to Pope-sama or Sage-dono. The Church is a noble and sacred place and I hope that it would become a place that saves people.〕
In the postscript, he wrote down the stages of demonization as well as the transcript of the demon summoning spell.
” … Let’s read the description on demonization next.”
Sin is sin. Retribution is retribution. But I was once again reminded that there are various aspects to a person.
It seemed like he wrote an observation diary on the progress of demonization.
And then, at the last part, something caught my eye.
〔The Principality of Blange performed hero summoning and instead of a hero, they apparently acquired the power to control the world. The demon race research at the Empire was the perfect place to use that power and conceal the demons. That was what the person who came from Blange said. If that was the truth, the Church’s barrier must be fixed as soon as possible.〕
“Like concealing a tree in a forest, it’s best to conceal demons among the failed trials of demonized people? If the Empire falls, Saint Schull’s Allied Nations would be sandwiched by the Principality and the Empire that would belong to it … So that’s why he told me to go to the Empire. But …”
Even if I plunged into the Empire, it doesn’t change the fact that we are strongly lacking in combat power.
Intel says that they even have a flying dragon brigade.
“I’ll first have to consult everyone about this … If I don’t take action here, despair in the name of regret would definitely await me …”
I left the archive while seriously thinking that I would have loved to live a calm life until I was at least my age in my previous life.
Author’s note:
Thank you for reading.
TL: No thank you for making it so hard to translate >.<
The thought process of Dongahaha is so bad that I’m starting to doubt if my translation is even correct. He wanted to obtain the demonization art so that he could cheat death and continue to serve the Church to reform it. That’s fine … but then why didn’t he choose to kill those knights he demonized because they were the scourge of the Church and then work with the Pope and Luciel to fix the Church? Because he felt guilty that he was using an evil art to live longer? Because he wanted to gather the hatred of the personnel in the Church Headquarters so that they could unite under the Pope and Luciel? I really feel the author could have explained it a lot better. 🙁 He could have been a well thought-out character who took the dark path to save the Church but as of now, he’s just a lazy character who tried to do so but then decided to dump it all on Luciel after he saw that Luciel was capable.
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GM_Rusaku
。 〃〃∩ ∧__∧
⊂⌒(´・ω・`)
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|| Thanks Nepu!!! |
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Amith
btw who is nepu? 0.0
Aloe
It’s been 5 years…
OhMarioWV
Thanks for the chapter.
Well… I can’t tell if things are more confusing or make more sense now.
~Traveling Chef~
thanks for the chapter~
more and more donglaugh makes no sense to me~~
GonZ
Meatbun Delivery~
Thank you for the chapter ( ●w●)
*looks around the place after every turn*
…i’m still lost..
SFcipher
Thanks for the chapter
J
Maybe it was the demonization process itself that caused him to have such twisted thoughts like the demon whispering in his mind that he should protect the church by making it strong as strong as he is now or something similar. It is honestly the only thing that makes much sense to me with donglaugh dizzying logic.
His will seems to hint at a subtle change of mind after the process at least that was how I read it. Though unless there is supposed to be a bigger reveal later about this kind of danger inherit in the demonization process it still comes across as very muddled reasoning by a weakly thought out character and if it really is the case I think the reveal should have been stronger like hints at the demon taking control in the writing or something similar.
DigimasterHiro
It is never stated that demonizing would extend his life, only give him power, he might have been desperate to achieve his goal before he died, or make his death itself cause a situation that would force his goal to be realized. As such, demonizing may have been what he viewed as a excellent tool to accelerate his plans.
RedKaiser
You not alone bro.. I quit understanding midway
S4TY4
Thanks for the new chapter
busnuss
…. I’m just as mentally lost as the meat bun is physically lost
*jumps to @GonZ ‘s comment and eats him*
Ryuu-kun
My thanks!
Shield Loyalist
Dongahaha is indeed a lazy character.
He succumbed to the temptation of demon summoning instead of working together with the Healers to improve the Holy magic efficiency like Luciel does in order to improve the Church.
Despite that, I DON’T THINK SOLELY BLAMING HIM WORKS as the problem at hand is an issue of the whole organization.
In my opinion Luciel wasn’t able to stop the Church’s declining rate, only slow it down as the rest of the Church didn’t bother to effort like Luciel does. (which could be why there’s the conversation with Kefin)
kaika
You’re just being harsh on Doug. Before Lucio arrived, the state was terrible and filled with corruptions. If Doug were to try to fix it, theres no telling if he would have been gotten rid off by others.
Kenar
Thanks
ICZephyr
This is what I can understand..
1. He loves the pope/church. I still don’t get what happened between his father, the pope n her necklace but in the end he still doesn’t blame the pope reg his father. He did pretend to do so to make enemies out of Luciel, but it wasn’t what he really felt as it was revealed later
2. He wanted to change the now corrupted church. Luciel was doing various things for the better but didn’t do anything regarding the internal corruption, human supremists and exec dept. So he considered Luciel unreliable since the beginning but can produce good results occasionally.
3. Found out that Luciel had lost his powers. Also, that he’s dying coz of sumthing I don’t remember.
Now,he feels he’s the only person left who can do sumthing. Therefore he still needs to live so that he can reform the church before he dies.
3. Find out demonization can strengthen a person and prolong life.
4. Offer demonization to all the wicked people in the church. Human supremists and corrupted with the plan to kill them all himself later.
Up to here I can still understand him a bit but after that is I dunno.. could be the demonization affected him or sumthing. Or maybe to keep his correspondence to Blange.
5. Don’t know why he demonized the 2 girls of the Valkyrie corps without their consent. Didn’t he only wanted to demonize the scum of the church?
Y involve the Valkyrie corps? What’s the point in this?? To spite Luciel? But at the time he’s already lost his powers… ???
6. Found out Luciel’s back as a sage. Provokes him, tries to kill him, summons demon.
7. Learns what Luciel is truly capable of
8. Died
So up to here, same questions as translator.
why didn’t he choose to kill those demonized knights himself and then work with the Pope and Luciel to fix the Church?
Was it because he felt guilty that he was using an evil art to live longer? So, as retribution? Or Because he wanted to gather the hatred of the personnel in the Church Headquarters to only himself like Zero in Geass, so that they could unite under the Pope and Luciel? Or what?
Sora
Dongahaha’s thought process is so simple.
A. He cherishes the church.
B. He sees the church rotting away day by day.
C. He himself now has health problem and won’t live long.
D. Luciel became S-Rank Healer and he had a little hope that the church will regain its glory.
E. His hope did not happen and his health is getting worse.
F. Luciel lost his power and he couldn’t rely on Luciel anymore, prompting him to take the offer of demonization so that he can chop away the rotten Church.
G. Luciel returned, stronger than ever, so he decided to revise his plan at the last minute to make himself as the villain, dragging the main rotten bunch along with him, who are the other demonized people. So that Luciel would clean up the mess and he could leave the future of the Church in Luciel’s hands.
Tseirp
Great Summary! 😀
Hiraite Neko
Lemme add some of my understanding:
C.2. Someone talked to him about new powers with longevity side effect. He wants to protect the church so he thought that said power would be needed.
F.2. His plots were being obstructed by Luciel’s actions one after another, thus wants to at least do something to Luciel when he learned Luciel became useless/ powerless and is off to Nelldal.
(It’s not really saving when author doesnt explain too well, cant be helped since its just WN not a published LN)
Miltski
It’s a bit late, but here’s what I think of the last part. Dongahaha have two choices:
1. If Luciel is not competent enough just to be killed there then he will continue with his initial plan, in which he whill destroy the church and take all the corrupt and not loyal which he turned into demons with him in his final moments and let the pope rebuild it from scratch.
2. If Luciel is competent enough and stop them, he will then leave the future of the church to Luciel and the pope.
All of his plans I think will make the pope realize that she needs to take action herself and not just be a figurehead.
ShiraKumo69
This and the subsequent follow-ups sum it up nicely. I think the author very likely had this exact character structure in mind but unfortunately did a poor job in conveying it in narrative form…
MrTrixer
A story that only goes well all the time can get boring in the long run and now everyone just keeps on telling the truth all over the place and everyone believes in them and things ends well.
The water spirit told Luciel to come back one day when he faces despair and behind that pond was a city of elves, my bet is that he will fail somewhere soon and everything will go down in a spiral of chaos and he will go visit the spring when he gives up the hope.
(Im more surprised he managed to keep going for this long with all that responsibility and pressure, im one of those kinds that wouldnt be able to handle that kind of stress and just run away somewhere (Im looking at you Mr.Skywalker, do you have an extra shed i could borrow? ^^”))
Thank you for the chapter and the treat. (^_^)/
Bushwhacker2k
“Tips huh. Let me see… a simple method would be to remember the landmarks. In addition, if you look back once you make a turn, you would be able to see a different view so I guess you mostly won’t get lost whichever direction you take. Once you are familiar with it, you would be able to grasp an overhead view of yourself like seeing a map from above.”
“I guess there are no shortcuts to mastering skills. Well, if that wasn’t the case, it wouldn’t be rewarding.”
Right, no shortcuts. It’s not like he just gave you one or anything.
DarkoNeko
a flying dragon barricade, wow.