Volume 3, Chapter 18 – The Grotto Temple’s Financial Crisis

“Eh?! Master Chen!?”

Yuen-san let out a shocked cry upon seeing the person who emerged from beneath the white cloth.

“Ah, no, well… you see…”

“Um? Is he… an acquaintance?”

“Yes. This person is the highest-ranking person in charge of this temple.”

Huh? Why would someone in that position do something so stupid?

“Master Chen! Why on earth are you pretending to be a ghost?! Thanks to this, we can’t get any new followers, and we can’t even welcome regular worshippers!”

“B-but…”

“Tell me the reason!”

Yuen-san pressed him, her anger plain for all to see.

Well, anyone would be angry. This makes no sense.

“Well…”

“Well?”

“The truth is, we’re in the red because no customers are coming, so I thought I could just reduce the staff and live off the subsidies!”

“””””Huh?”””””

All of our voices matched perfectly. It was a truly magnificent, perfectly synchronized “Huh?”

“I mean, since no worshippers come at all, the more we stay open, the more money we lose! We’re going to go bankrupt at this rate! But if we just take the subsidies and do nothing, we’ll be in the black!”

Wh-what a pathetic thing to say.

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“Um, we’re going home now, okay?”

Thinking I couldn’t possibly deal with this anymore, I tried to leave, but the monk who had guided us here clung to me, practically in tears.

“Wait! Please don’t go! Please do something about Master Chen!”

“You say ‘do something,’ but what am I supposed to do?! Don’t ask for the impossible. Since the man himself has zero motivation, he’s beyond saving.”

“Then, if he had motivation, you would save him?”

“Eh? Uh… yeah?”

“Master Chen, get motivated. Come on, hurry! Right now! Come on, come on, come on!”

Yuen-san cornered Master Chen with a terrifying look on her face.

The Master tried to shuffle backward, but he was quickly pinned against the wall.

“Master Chen, have you found your motivation?”

“O-of course. I’m overflowing with motivation. I’m just dying to get new followers as soon as possible.”

“And there you have it. He says he’s motivated, so please help us.”

Gosh, what a pain…

I could tell he was only saying that because he was forced to.

“Please! I beg of you!”

Well, what should I do?

“So, what exactly does Master Chen want to happen?”

“Well, obviously, I want crowds of worshippers to show up even if I do nothing, I want the number of followers to keep rising, and I want donations to come pouring in! If that happens, it’ll be a life of wine and women!”

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He’s a corrupt monk to a surprisingly refreshing degree. Maybe we really shouldn’t help him?

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. This Grotto Temple is a special temple built 3,000 years ago, so I really want to preserve it. Master Chen’s personality is… well, that, but he’s actually a good person deep down.”

I wonder what “a good person deep down” even means when their personality is “that.” I feel like Yuen-san is a bit off herself.

“Ha… But wouldn’t this place recover if you just swapped out this worldly Master?”

“Well, that’s true, but—no, wait, even though he’s like this, he’s the only one of the bloodline who can serve as the Master of this temple.”

What! Despite being a monk, he inherited his position through blood? How tedious.

“Well, then you have no choice but to serve the Gods seriously. Good luck.”

“How could you?!”

“Now, if you’ll excuse us.”

No matter how you look at it, I can’t help with this. Thinking that, I stepped out of the temple to find the sun had already set.

“Aah, that stupid commotion took up more time than I expected.”

“Onee-sama, aren’t you going to help them?”

“No matter how you look at it, this is his own fault. Besides, even if we did something here, he’d just repeat the same thing again. Sometimes, not helping is also a form of kindness.”

“I see!”

Lu-chan seemed convinced.

Yeah, I think I just said something really profound.

In reality, it’s just because it’s a hassle and I don’t expect a reward, but what I said isn’t entirely wrong either.

As we were having that conversation, a white mist flickered at the edge of my vision.

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“Hm? What’s that?”

When I turned around, the white mist was heading straight for the room we had just been in.

“That’s a ghost, isn’t it?”

“Eep!”

“Hmm, I guess we should go help, just in case. I didn’t feel a malicious presence, but it would be trouble if it turned into an evil spirit because we left it alone.”

Reluctantly, we headed back into the Grotto Temple.

And the sight I saw when I returned to the room was every bit as pathetic as I had imagined.

“Hiiieeeeee!”

“D-don’t come any closer!”

The corrupt Master was curled up in a corner of the room, trembling, while Yuen-san swung a broom at the white mist in front of him.

“Haa… I figured. Ghost-san, your way home is that way. Funeral Rite.”

Wrapped in white light, the ghost returned to the heavens.

“Th-thank you so much.”

“Well, getting rid of the ghost was the condition for letting us see inside, after all.”

“Fiene-sama! You’re amazing!”

Chris-san got her energy back the moment the ghost was gone. She’s as fickle as ever.

I wonder if I could modify Chris-san’s Holy Sword so it can actually cut ghosts?

“Fiene-sama? Eh? Wait, could it be that you’re the Saint Fiene Argentata-sama?!”

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Suddenly, the corrupt Master was revitalized and back on his feet.

“Eh? Ah, well… I suppose some people in the world call me that.”

“No kidding! Alright, luck’s finally turning my way. Here, this is your reward for the ghost hunting.”

With that, he handed me a bag. When I looked inside, it was full of gold coins. Am I the only one who thinks that if he has this much money, he should use it for charity work?

“I’ve gotten motivated now, so I’ll handle things. Oh, as a thank you, I’ll have Yuen see you back to your inn. Yuen, take them in the carriage. Now, I have important work to do, so excuse me!”

With that, the corrupt Master ran off into the back of the temple. I wonder where that sleazy attitude from before went?

“Um, well then, I’ll see you back.”

And so, we were taken back to our inn by Yuen-san.

◇ ◇ ◇

“Eh? You went ghost hunting at the Grotto Temple?”

“That’s right. And the person in charge was such a worldly monk, I was shocked. Plus, the bag he gave me as a reward for the ghost hunting had thirty gold coins in it. Honestly, I don’t know what to make of it.”

We sat around the dinner table with Marco-san and the others, talking about the day’s events.

“Ah, that Master there. Well, if you’ve met him, then there’s nothing to be done. I’m sure things are going to get interesting.”

Hm? I wonder what that means?

I pondered Marco-san’s words while watching Lu-chan eat her food with a happy expression.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough.”

Feeling a vaguely ominous premonition, my first day in Yianshui came to an end.