Chapter 131: Japan trip (7)

The kimono girl, who had been cautiously observing her surroundings, finally spoke with a somber expression.

As if trying to prove she wasn’t a ghost, she began speaking, though Yoshino was still trembling, clearly unaccustomed to such things.

It seemed Yoshino would be useless from now on.

“The truth is, there are special circumstances here.”

Ugh, I felt like pressing ESC to skip through.

When someone hangs their head and starts talking like that, it usually means it’s going to take a while.

And this kimono girl was even kindly dubbing it in Korean.

At least her service was better than Yoshino’s, though it looked like she was about to give us a quest.

“Actually, I’m not a zashiki-warashi. I just lived in a house where a zashiki-warashi was.”

“So, you’re saying you’re not the one playing these pranks?”

A zashiki-warashi, but it wasn’t the one pulling the pranks?

“I may have been the cause, but I didn’t do it. I’ve been very weak since childhood and was in poor health, unable to leave the house.”

That’s a bit sad.

“Since there was a zashiki-warashi, your house must have been wealthy. I can’t believe that legend turned out to be true!”

“Wait, are you seriously saying there was an actual zashiki-warashi?”

“Well, it was an assumption at first.”

“What do you mean, an assumption?”

She didn’t know it was a zashiki-warashi?

Or is it some ambiguous existence?

“I never thought a real god or spirit would exist… One day, I heard a loud noise coming from an unused room. When I went to check, there was a zashiki-warashi. It looked like a doll, but I couldn’t be sure it was a zashiki-warashi because, you know, it was my first time seeing one.”

Hmm, that’s kind of interesting.

I feel like I’ve heard something like this before.

“Judging by the way you’re speaking, you’re in that form now, right?”

“At first, I was scared, thinking it might be a ghost. But after looking it up, I found out it was more like a spirit or god, so I stayed near it. After all, being stuck at home, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to be close to it.”

Makes sense.

If you’re stuck at home, you’d at least want to get along with a housemate, especially if that housemate is a god or spirit.

You wouldn’t be able to live normally without paying respects to it, especially when it’s known for pranks.

“The zashiki-warashi never spoke, just listened to me one-sidedly when I talked.”

“So it played on its own when left alone in the room?”

That sounds pretty eerie.

“Yes. We had that strange relationship for quite a while until a great upheaval occurred, and a natural disaster hit. I’m not sure why, but the zashiki-warashi finally spoke to me. After all those years of silence, it finally opened its mouth.”

“What did it say?”

Recalling the event, the kimono girl’s pale face turned even paler.

Well, it would be strange if something that had remained silent for so long suddenly started speaking.

It’s as if it waited for a moment when it could rise to power before deciding to speak.

Maybe the upheaval gave it strength.

I bet that’s what happened.

Quiet beings always start acting up when they gain power.

“It suggested we play a prank, and then it transformed me into this body and created this vast space.”

So this huge place is the zashiki-warashi’s domain, and the girl in front of us used to be a normal person.

“What’s the point of creating such a place?”

“It said it would return my original body if I could escape.”

It promised to return her body?

That sounds like something out of a game or novel.

But didn’t her original body suffer from illness?

Wouldn’t that be a bad thing?

“So all the ghosts and yokai are the work of that zashiki-warashi?”

“Yes.”

“So we’re supposed to help you escape from here?”

The kimono girl nodded.

Would it be easy to escape with her?

I wasn’t sure.

“You’re asking us for help to escape, aren’t you?”

“Yes. The zashiki-warashi has been summoning ghosts and yokai to fend off intruders.”

So Yoshino hadn’t noticed this girl until now because weaker people entering this dungeon weren’t able to survive.

It seems you’d need enough strength to deal with oni and other monsters.

To this kimono girl, we must be her only hope for salvation.

“I can’t believe there’s such a story.”

“Hmm. I see. So that’s the deal, then.”

“Saint, do you have any guesses?”

I had a clear idea of what was going on.

“In short, this is similar to the time we faced the Demon King, right? Though this one seems weaker than the Demon King.”

The Demon King summoned people of his own will as well.

But since we’ve come this far, it shouldn’t be too hard.

Ghosts are just enemies whose heads we need to smash one by one, so they’re not really much of a challenge.

Crash! Crunch!

We advanced while smashing the heads of the occasional oni that appeared.

I felt like this was all part of the real zashiki-warashi’s plan.

“So, who’s next?”

“We’ll have to wait and see, won’t we? I wonder who will appear.”

Though I answered the hero’s question, a slight worry crept into my mind.

If only ghosts keep appearing, I won’t be able to absorb any souls.

“Isn’t it funny, though? Overcoming fear feels like part of the test. A prank, perhaps?”

Still, this is easier than the Tower of Destruction.

“I’m scared of ghosts and yokai.”

“Hmm. I see. Then I suppose a Korean ghost should appear next.”

“What’s that over there?”

They say if you speak of the tiger, it will appear.

A strange female ghost appeared.

“It’s a woman in a white shroud. Isn’t that a virgin ghost?”

“What’s a virgin ghost?”

As expected from a man, the hero was the first to react.

So, he wants to add the ghost to his harem, or maybe he reacted to the word “maiden,” feeling something new compared to the two assertive women always chasing him?

Still, as the kind angelic saint that I am, I decided to explain about the maiden ghost.

“Literally, it’s a maiden who became a ghost. Probably. They often appear in white burial shrouds, and look, she’s floating in the air in her shroud.”

The woman in the white shroud is floating towards us.

Not surprisingly, the only one likely to be fooled is our hero.

“Hmm. That looks like something straight out of a Korean horror show.”

“Every time I see something like that, I always wonder about one thing.”

“What is it?”

I boldly approached the maiden ghost and lifted her skirt to take a look inside.

“What you do is look under the skirt.”

There’s nothing inside—no underwear or anything, just pudding-like.

They really can’t properly replicate a female body, or maybe they just don’t have the capability.

The foolish maiden ghost, whose skirt I had lifted, charged at me, perhaps feeling some sort of shame.

“Arghhhh!”

“Smash!”

Daring to charge at the angelic saint, I smashed her head with all my strength.

A saint is allowed to look under skirts.

How dare she rush at me so rudely?

“You checked under her skirt and smashed her head when she charged at you… I’m starting to wonder if she’s really a saint.”

Unlike others who know me well, Ttaengchili was seriously analyzing me.

Battle mage and the enslaved elf beside him shook their heads.

“She’s a saint you can’t categorize with common sense.”

“Really? Wow, that’s amazing.”

“Um, excuse me, but… is it really okay for a saint to act like that?”

Yoshino was spouting unnecessary questions.

Is it okay for a saint to behave like that?

Oh, right.

Yoshino is Japanese.

With everyone around him being returnees and heroes, no wonder he’s confused.

Should I do some image correction?

If I don’t say something right, the Kanora Church might get a weird reputation, so I think I should brainwash Yoshino right here.

“Hehe. You don’t understand, Yoshino. In the Kanora Church, anything is possible. Even ghosts have no rights. To know whether a ghost is evil or not, you have to check its insides.”

“I-Is that so?”

“Of course. Just like how people can be different on the inside and outside, you have to see inside a ghost to know whether it’s evil or good.”

“I see.”

Even though that’s not quite the truth, gullible Yoshino was easily convinced.

Yeah, that’s how a useless guide should act.

Foolish guide, nodding and following me, now fully accepting my explanation.

“Look at that, fooling the naive Japanese guy. Isn’t this all because of that Jabulja-whatever thing? So it’s meaningless.”

“Oh, be quiet.”

After that, more maiden ghosts appeared and were killed.

We walked for a while longer, and then we began descending, heading down a slope.

Just in case, I took the kimono girl hostage, holding her as we descended quickly.

At the bottom, what we saw was… something that resembled an Oni.

It had a distinctively Korean feeling to it.

Yeah, it was a large figure dressed in what looked like a hanbok.

“Oh, is this a Duoksini?”

“Oh, Battle mage, you know about that? It’s my first time seeing one.”

“Isn’t it a named monster? How could you not know?”

Even if it’s a Korean monster, do we really need to know that?

There are probably plenty of people who don’t know it, just like me.

And I have a reason for not knowing.

“Sorry, but as a Yukran, I don’t know much about Korean monsters.”

Korea was my past life’s country, and now I’m an Yukran.

That’s the deal.

Battle mage gave me a slightly exasperated look, then glanced at the others around me.

As if to say, “Do you guys not know either?”

And the returnees awkwardly made their excuses, like silent dummies.

“Sorry, I’m a Cheonma, so I don’t know.”

“I’m an android, so I don’t know.”

“I’m an elf, so…”

“Well, I’m a hero from another world, so…”

It seemed like wrinkles were forming on Battle mage’s forehead.

It can’t be helped.

After all, it’s not like we’ve had much chance to learn about ghosts.