Master of All Sins

Chapter 10 : Sorcerer and Priest - 1

The gatekeeper ritual performed by the Eight Families of White Blood and the subsequent task may seem like a rigged game—and in reality, they are—but there is one part that humans cannot interfere with.

That is the reward the gatekeeper receives upon completing the task.

This is in accordance with a promise made between the master of the Phantom World and the ruler of Aeshin when the gates of the Phantom World were closed and Aeshin Hanguk was founded long ago.

It was decided to formally grant the status of gatekeeper to the members of the royal family and the Eight Families of White Blood who manage the Phantom World, and to engrave the corresponding sorcery seal on their bodies.

This sorcery seal has the function of allowing its owner to easily open, close, and otherwise manage the gates of the Phantom World anytime, anywhere, and it has made an absolute contribution to the Eight Families of White Blood maintaining their current overwhelming authority.

As it was a power not limited to use within Aeshin, it also had a great influence in extending the authority of the Eight Families of White Blood to the rest of the world.

As it is such a massive power, a strict qualification test was naturally required and the form of that test was designated as a task, passed down through generations to the direct descendants of the royal family and the Eight Families of White Blood.

‘……I seem to have heard that no matter how great the authority, it is bound to decline after being passed down for hundreds, thousands of years and that the Gatekeeper's Seal can no longer exert the same power as before.’

The Gatekeeper's Seal is engraved on the back of the dominant hand and since those with the seal can sense each other, the thought crosses my mind of whether it's truly alright for me, who has been disowned by the Shin Clan, to receive the seal.

Nevertheless, I was a gatekeeper and I had successfully completed the task.

Having nothing to be ashamed of before heaven, I was rightfully qualified to receive the Gatekeeper's Seal.

Not as the crippled youngest son of the Shin Clan, but as a sorcerer named Hwe-in, I willingly decided to become a gatekeeper.

“Fire tail, you still have the abilities of a 7th-grade equivalent, right?”

– I don't give a damn about standards set by humans! ……What kinds of things are 7th-grade?

As I mentioned a few types of monsters from memory, Fire tail made a very vexed expression and pondered deeply, then soon nodded its head in relief.

– I can win against those! I surpass them in spiritual power too. Even with this hideous shackle on!

“Right, I'm thinking of oiling that shackle a bit from now on, so please watch me.”

– I'm telling you to take it off, not oil it, this thing!

The conditions of the task were perfectly fulfilled.

Although I didn't defeat the Fire Dog with my own strength alone, and the contract wasn't entirely of my own will, the Fire Dog at that time was not merely 7th-grade, so the master of the Phantom World would surely take this into account.

“Then I must perform the ritual. Let's see…… ah.”

If it were the descendants of the other Eight Families of White Blood who were playing a rigged game with the task, they would have completed the task upon entering the Phantom World and immediately performed the rites on a pre-prepared simple altar, but for me, whose completion of the task was not anticipated in the first place, I had no such preparations.

If I had even a wrapping cloth, I could lay it down and place something on it, but I don't even have that, so as I was thinking how troublesome this was, I discovered a bundle still tied to my waist.

A habit made of a very black, high-quality cloth, imbued with sorcery, clean and containing a powerful force…… a wrapping cloth.

“……No, I can't.”

It's possible I was less injured because I had this tied to me; I cannot repay kindness with evil.

I shook my head to clear the thought and was considering a solution when my staff suddenly came to mind.

Didn't I create tree trunks with the power of the tree ogre remaining in the staff when fighting Fire tail?

“Hoa.”

“Yes, Noble one. Please speak.”

Hoa, who had become less talkative since I officially made the Shikigami contract with Fire tail, answered with a gentle smile at my call.

Come to think of it, I still had things to talk about with her as well…….

Narrowing my brow in thought, I put that thought aside for now and said.

“Do you happen to know how to handle the power of an ogre?”

“This girl does not have a very good relationship with ogres……. How about borrowing the name of one who rules over ogres?”

“There was that method.”

There are two figures in ancient Aeshin famous for making ogres submit: one is Cheoyong and the other is Bihyeong.

However, if Cheoyong's name has its power concentrated solely on chasing away ogres, Bihyeong was famous for reigning as the king of ogres and commanding them.

His authority was so great that even in Aeshin, there are occasionally sorcerers who run wild claiming to be descendants of Bihyeong, but since Bihyeong, though a monster, was the son of a king, it strictly becomes an impersonation of royalty.

The royal family would strictly crack down and invariably conclude that they were ‘not a descendant of Bihyeong.’

“I don't know if a variation of an exorcism chant will work, but I have no choice but to try. Ahem, in the name of Lord Bihyeong, son born of the soul of King Seongje, I command you, spirit in the wood, to create an altar of wood before my eyes.”

However, the incantation I came up with on the spot was not very effective.

Seeing the tree trunk trying to rise slightly before stopping, I felt disgusted and a desire to break the staff surged within me, but I suppressed it and tried various other incantations.

After several minutes of changing and testing incantations under Hoa's lukewarm gaze and Fire tail's pathetic gaze, the incantation I finally completed was this.

“Your master, Shin Hwe-in, commands you. Create an altar of wood.”

I myself couldn't figure out how Bihyeong's name was completely omitted and my own name was put in its place, but surprisingly, the effect was certain.

Just like when it extended its tree trunks to restrain Fire tail, I felt my spiritual power being sucked into the staff and as I tapped the ground with the tip of the staff, a neatly trimmed wooden altar shot up in the spot where I wished for it to appear.

Seeing the sight, I was half-pleased and half-mortified.

“Even though the times have changed, has Lord Bihyeong's name been forgotten among the ogres……”

“Still, it's a relief that the staff seems to recognize its own master properly! And it's rare to see such a pretty altar.”

Hoa consoled me as I lamented.

Right, it's much better to rule in my own name than to borrow someone else's, so this should be fine…….

I placed all the rest of the grain I had brought on the altar, and after a moment's thought, I called the Fire Dog closer and plucked a single hair.

– Ouch! I'm getting really angry!

“Don't the gods of heaven and earth need to know of your existence as well? It's not a bad thing, so don't be so angry.”

– Jeez, no matter how I look at it, it seems like you're using me because you're short on offerings……!

Hearing those words, I almost chuckled, but after checking that the bandage was still properly wrapped around my face, I relaxed and offered the rites of gratitude.

“Hwe-in, the third son of Yu-hyeon of the Shin Clan, has performed the first task as a gatekeeper. I offer these rites in gratitude for the care of the gods of heaven and earth. May the gods of heaven and earth take pity on this unworthy gatekeeper and grant their blessing.”

The moment I brought my hands together in offering.

The entire wooden altar evaporated and a bolt of lightning struck down upon me.

Hoa screamed and even Fire tail shot to its feet, but they soon relaxed their bodies upon realizing it was not a divine punishment.

The lightning that struck down did not harm my body, but split into my two hands, engraving a gate-shaped seal onto the back of each.

“Both hands……?”

Having closed my eyes to savor the mystical situation of communing with heaven and earth as much as possible, I was momentarily bewildered after opening my eyes to confirm that the Gatekeeper's Seal had been engraved on the back of both my hands.

I had heard that the appearance of the seal differs for each individual, but no one ever said that anyone had two Gatekeeper's Seals…… perhaps because everyone thought I would never receive a Gatekeeper's Seal anyway, no one explained it to me in detail.

What is that?

After the ritual ended and the flow of heaven and earth returned to its original state, Fire tail, who had quietly approached to check my condition, raised its voice in disbelief.

– How do you have that? That's not a power that should be given to a mere human!

“It means that the Noble one is not a mere human for you to judge, you mutt.”

– You called me a mutt again!

Ignoring the two fighting, I examined the seals on both hands, and upon grasping the details, I let out a low groan.

“If I wished for it, it seems I could leave the Phantom World from this very spot……. Fire tail's words are not entirely wrong. This is too great a power to be given to a fledgling who has just earned the qualification of a gatekeeper.”

“Then let's leave right away! This girl will assist you to the very end, Noble one!”

“Why?”

“Pardon?”

Hoa, who had reflexively asked back at my natural question, immediately shut her mouth with a look of 'oops'.

Smiling faintly as if I had no intention of interrogating her for now, I tapped the bundle tied to my waist.

“First, let's find the owner of these clothes. If he hasn't died, he should still be around here.”

“If he's an idiot who goes around dropping his clothes and enchanted tools in front of goblins, wouldn't he have dropped dead long ago?”

“In that case, I'll feel at ease only if I find at least his corpse and bury it in the Human World. You know what happens if you leave a person who died in the Phantom World unattended, don't you?”

“Ugh……”

Those who die in the Phantom World are, without exception, reborn as monsters.

Those who die, bewitched by a monster without any sin of their own, become vengeful spirits, and most forget their past lives and are reduced to ordinary miscellaneous monsters.

However, if someone who possessed special power were to die, there were many cases where they retained that power even as a spirit, or were twisted as they transformed into a monster and were reborn even stronger.

Although it was shocking that he was routed by goblins, judging by the habit and the cross necklace, if someone who was clearly an exorcist of the Catholic Church were to die in the Phantom World, the damage would be considerable.

I untied the bundle at my waist, held the habit and necklace in one hand, and turned to Hoa to ask.

“I'm short on offerings for sorcery. Do you have any grain? Ahem, something sweet would be good too.”

“Actually, this girl isn't too fond of sweets…… Ugh, if you're alright with Candied fruit.”

“That would be excellent.”

A Candied fruit, still containing the lingering qi from her sleeve, popped out from Hoa's sleeve.

It was a trick that a miscellaneous monster could never perform, but no one in the party was in the mood to question it anymore.

“Hwe-in, descendant of the Shin Clan, calls upon you. Oriole tongue, Old Oriole tongue, tell me where the owner of these clothes is.”

As I said that and plucked the three sugar-coated fruits from the skewer and scattered them into the air, the fruits aligned themselves in the air with surprising speed and pointed me in one direction.

At the same time, a voice once again reached my ears.

– Walk twenty steps this way and hide your spiritual power, then walk another ten steps west, and you will soon meet him. A moron with nothing but good luck is wandering there, so find him and guide him to the right path.

“Yes, thank you.”

I nodded at the specific instructions.

I had roughly expected it, but it seemed the person had entered the Phantom World for the first time, and was having quite a hard time, trapped in the pitfalls of the Phantom World where the geography changes at will.

– The offering is better than last time. But the macaron in that fox's sleeve would be better.

As I snapped my head around at those words, the now-staring Hoa gave a bright smile, her face saying she knew nothing.

As the Candied fruit evaporated into the air just like the grain from before and Old oriole's tongue presence disappeared, I gave up on interrogating her and letting out a sigh, began to move according to Old oriole’s tongue instructions.

“Follow me closely so you don't get left behind.”

“Don't you worry.”

– You didn't use the powerful enchanted tool in your possession even when you fought me, which I thought was strange, but don't tell me you're now moving to find its owner? If he lost it once, he's already lost the right to be its owner. Are you an idiot?

“The Noble one is not an idiot, but a good person.”

– But you're thinking the same thing as me on the inside.

“……This mutt, really.”

Twenty steps with my spiritual power released, then turning west and taking ten steps with my spiritual power completely concealed.

Without minding whether the bickering creatures behind me were following, I finished walking, lifted my head, and opened my eyes, finding myself in a thick fog.

“The Lord will cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts. Those who say, ‘By our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?’……”

He was there.

The figure of a handsome man, in his underclothes, holding an ash-gray silk belt imbued with sacred power and offering a prayer.

For a moment, I was surprised that his hair was a brilliant silver and his features were those of a Westerner, but thanks to my spiritual power, I could understand his incantation, so I assumed his speech would be the same and bravely approached him.

“O Lord, you will keep us; you will guard us from this generation forever. On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the sons of men……”

“I believe now is the time to look ahead, not to God.”

As I approached and spoke to him, the man, with his eyes still closed, twitched only his eyebrows and quietly murmured.

“I will not be deceived again. The Lord is with me, so I will not be fooled by the whispers of evil spirits. As the Lord was hungry in the wilderness yet overcame the temptations of Satan for 40 days, I too will follow His example and for four days…… at least for about four hours……”

“Even when your clothes and your cross are right here?”

“My sacred relics!”

The man, whose eyes shone like sapphires, shot them open and quickly extended his hand to receive the bundle of clothes from me.

Then, upon confirming that the cross necklace was also safely stored inside, he shed tears of emotion.

“It's real! Thank you, Lord. You have taken pity on me and given this foolish lamb another chance!”

“I believe there's something you should say to me before that.”

“Of course, thank you to you as well, brother! Seeing that you've brought my sacred relics, you must not be Satan!”

Facing the priest who expressed his gratitude with sparkling eyes, I was briefly impressed.

To express gratitude without any hesitation even towards me, a cripple wrapped in bandages, was truly priest-like.

However, there was a fatally incompatible point between a sorcerer of the Shin Clan and a priest of the Catholic Church, and that was.

“But brother, why are you with those wicked demons? Do you perhaps need the exorcism prayer of I, Lucas, a member of the elite group that Catholicism boasts to the world, the Order of Exorcists?”

“I appreciate the thought, but I have no need for the prayers of an exorcist who was routed by Green-Faced Goblins.”

That they tend to try to exorcise all monsters, regarding them as demons of hell that reject the teachings of the one and only God…….