The Wandering Priest in Dark Fantasy Chapter 23

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Max]

Chapter 23: Fairy Tales and Milestones (1)

"So... you pretended to be dead?"

"Is your head just for decoration? I just told you, it's a technique called 'Dormancy.'"

Ono was alive.

It seed his unique ability, 'Dormancy,' allowed him to slow down his body's tabolism and slowly recover from fatal injuries.

"So, playing dead."

Daniel chid in, and Ono opened his mouth to retort, then abruptly turned away.

"...You bunch of idiots. I was foolish to try and explain it to you."

His ears were red with indignation.

Daniel chuckled at his reaction and exchanged glances with Hal.

Hal just shrugged with a helpless expression.

The three of them, having left the study, were searching the mansion.

The workshop had been deactivated, and no one was in good shape, but they were doing this because of potential hidden dangers.

In the study, only the deceased head priest and Antonio remained.

Antonio was offering prayers for the deceased priest.

"...He was a great man."

"Indeed. Even in our short ti together, it was clear."

Daniel slowly nodded at Hal's murmur.

The head priest had continued to pray for Antonio and Hal until his very last breath, even as he coughed up blood.

Although it hadn't worked against the dragon blood, Hal had felt his prayer reach him.

He didn't have outstanding divine power, knowledge, or strength.

But he was a man who had risen to his position through his character.

He was the epito of a clergyman, always sacrificing himself and setting an example for others.

Even if it was a matter concerning the territory, what head priest would personally venture into such a dangerous place?

Hal thought that the title of Saint was more fitting for the priest than for soone like himself.

The group observed a brief mont of silence in his honor and continued their search.

After a thorough investigation, the mansion turned out to be quite ordinary.

There were no more flying kitchen knives,

No collapsing ceilings,

No monsters turning people into wax.

"Let's go outside."

"Alright."

The last place they arrived at was the mansion's garden.

The place where David, the root cause of all this, had escaped.

The group searched the area thoroughly.

But all they could find out was that he had fled imdiately after jumping out the window.

There was no hesitation in his movents.

"It seems you scared him quite a bit."

"...Perhaps."

Daniel joked, but Hal replied with a grimace.

The mories were vivid, and he didn't want to recall them.

To be honest, he was afraid of the elation he had felt resurfacing.

The intense feeling of liberation and pleasure was not sothing he could easily forget. He had to be even more careful.

After the search of the mansion was complete,

"The mission is accomplished. I'll return to the Order and make my report."

Ono, with a haggard face, wanted to leave the mansion imdiately.

Hal, on the other hand, decided to stay longer after entrusting Ono with the report.

There was still much to investigate.

Hal stopped Ono from leaving and explained what had happened.

"The appearance and defeat of Riteil... Sainthood is confird then."

After hearing Hal's entire story, Ono looked at him with a strange expression.

Then, as if rembering sothing, he muttered to himself,

"The eldest son, the heir, has fled, and the lord is dead... Then perhaps..."

Suddenly, as if sothing had occurred to him, Ono hurriedly mounted his horse.

He pulled the reins urgently and said,

"Wait for for a week. I'll be back by then."

"Huh? What do you..."

"Giddy up!"

As if in a great hurry, Ono ignored Hal's question and rode off.

Hal and Daniel watched in bewildernt as he quickly disappeared from sight.

Hal, regaining his composure first, asked Daniel,

"Sir Daniel..."

"I'll look for so food and gather firewood. The mansion is completely empty."

Even though the exorcism was over and he had repaid his debt, Daniel chose to stay.

He had decided to help Hal.

Hal bowed deeply to him.

"...Thank you."

Honestly, he was very relieved that Daniel was staying, as he could barely even stand on his own.

Daniel patted his shoulder dismissively and went to do his chores.

Hal paused and fell into thought.

The stairs leading down to the basent, hidden behind the bookshelf.

As expected, there was a door tightly shut with a lock.

He needed a key, but David had stolen it.

A powerful magic was cast on it, making it impossible to open by force. If he tried to unlock it forcefully, not only the mansion but the entire surrounding area would be blown away.

So Hal changed his approach.

He would gather more information he didn't know by searching the mansion.

'Then where should I start looking...?'

Not the first floor.

He had already searched it thoroughly, and it was mostly filled with places unrelated to the secrets of the mansion.

'If I were to search...'

The study on the second floor, where the unopened safe was.

It was the room he used to use.

Once he reached a conclusion, there was no reason to hesitate.

Hal headed straight for the study.

***

The study, where many demons had been sealed, remained as it was.

Hal approached the safe behind the fallen researcher.

It was a safe that could only be opened with the lord's signet ring.

David had said there was nothing in the safe without even opening it.

What was he trying to hide?

Hal took out the lord's signet ring that David had left behind in the lord's office.

With a click, the safe opened easily.

"This is... a potion?"

A puzzled look appeared on Hal's face as he examined the contents of the safe.

He wondered why such potions, though expensive due to their high effectiveness, were kept in a safe.

'It's not even the rumored Elixir.'

Hal picked up one of the five small bottles containing the potion.

As he carefully examined the bottle, he almost missed it.

'This is...!'

The red liquid shimring inside the bottle.

With a faint trace of demonic energy, it was...

None other than dragon's blood.

'It's heavily diluted, but there's no mistaking it.'

Hal's eyes throbbed.

His pupils constricted, and his breathing beca ragged.

At the sa ti, the world began to look different.

"Not this again..."

Hal groaned and quickly put the potion back in its place, stepping back.

The world was bathed in blue.

No, to be precise, this space felt particularly that way.

Mana.

The foundation of magic and aura, a blessing bestowed upon humans.

It wasn't strange for a mage's mansion, especially a study, to be filled with traces of it.

However, what Hal saw was clearly abnormal.

Because he couldn't feel mana.

'I've longed for this my entire life...'

Hal frowned briefly.

He could see mana.

The reason was quite clear.

Hal turned his head and looked at the broken full-body mirror in the study.

His reflection was visible on the shattered fragnts.

Even in the dark room, his eyes flickered with an intense blue light.

His vertically slit pupils were reminiscent of a legendary creature.

Dragon's blood.

After drinking it, he could see mana as if it were tangible for a short ti.

As ti passed, his pupils returned to normal, and he could no longer see mana.

But now, in contact with dragon's blood again, he could see mana once more.

'Why...?

Why did his father have this?

And why was his body reacting this way to dragon's blood?

To solve these questions, he had to continue his investigation.

***

After much deliberation, Hal took the dragon's blood with him.

David had consud dragon's blood without any adverse effects.

His father had kept dragon's blood in his study.

And Hal's own body reacted to dragon's blood.

He couldn't just discard the clue most closely related to this incident.

Fortunately, unlike when he had directly consud the dragon's blood, his eyes quickly returned to normal.

Relieved by this, Hal moved on to the next room.

'It's been a while since I've been here.'

Until six years ago, this was Hal's room.

'Of course, its form and purpose must have changed now.'

Hal felt a pang of bitterness as he opened the door.

And then he froze.

'It's the sa...?'

The room was exactly as he had left it.

Although dust had accumulated, it seed to have been regularly maintained, with no mold or cobwebs in sight.

Soone had definitely been taking care of it.

Hal stood silently at the entrance for a mont, then slowly walked inside.

A bed slightly too big for one person.

A leather-padded chair and a cypress desk.

Even the mage's wand he had pestered his mother to buy for him was still there.

'Even though I didn't know how to use magic.'

Hal smiled wryly and picked up the wand.

There was an inscription on it, presumably carved by his mother.

[Happy 12th Birthday]

Hal looked at it for a mont, then quietly put it away in his pocket.

He hadn't taken the wand with him when he left.

Back then, he thought the warm mories would weaken him.

The mories of his mother were also painful.

No, perhaps they still were.

But,

Hal no longer believed that mories would weaken him.

It was still painful, but he knew this pain stemd from his love for his mother.

He knew that his mories of her had shaped who he was now.

He no longer wanted to deny his past.

'Have I grown a little?'

Hal smiled faintly.

He had learned a lot from this incident.

Patience and courage from Daniel.

Tolerance and dedication from the head priest.

Faithfulness and sacrifice from Antonio.

In them, Hal saw the path he had walked and the path he had yet to walk.

Although it was a short journey together, the impact his companions had on him was significant.

"I know you have guided , Ehurshica."

Hal silently prayed to the god who had arranged this path for him.

Rustle!

Hal opened his eyes after the short prayer.

An old notebook caught his eye.

'I've never seen this before.'

It wasn't his.

The old notebook on the desk seed to have been placed there as if hoping soone would see it.

As Hal picked up the old notebook, another book was revealed underneath.

'A fairy tale book?'

It was a thin picture book, the kind a child would read.

Normally, he would have just passed by, but the cover and title of the fairy tale book caught his eye.

'Dragon...'

The cover of the book depicted a boy and a dragon.

The title was 'The Boy Who Embraced the Dragon's Power'.

For so reason, the illustration looked familiar.

After staring at it for a mont, Hal finally realized the source of the familiarity.

It was that fairy tale book.

The night his mother died.

The fairy tale book he had brought to his mother, asking her to read it to him.

His favorite book, the one his mother had read to him countless tis.

"The contents were definitely..."

Hal hurriedly opened the book.

His hands turned the pages faster and faster, and his breathing grew ragged.

This...

This wasn't just a fairy tale book.

'Who? Who wrote this book...!'

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Max]