spr | The House in Which Nightmares Dwell 11.2

Hirota, who had returned to the base, blinked when the blond, blue-eyed person who accompanied Naru said 'good mornin'.

"My name's John Brown. Please treat me well," he said.

When he bowed his blond head politely, he couldn't keep from laughter starting to well up. He was successfully able to return a nod while barely managing not to laugh.

Naru explained the circumstances in detail to him. John listened attentively.

"-- If that's the case, it should be fine if I exorcise the mother. Understood."

Hirota, who discerned that John's tidy reverend outfit might be an indicator of a proper clergyman, knit his eyebrows at how he easily used the word 'exorcise'. Perhaps this guy too is a medium as well, he wondered, and exhaled with a fed up feeling.

"Brown-san, or whoever you might be. Are you truly a reverend?"

When Hirota said that, Mai's dumfounded voice leapt at him.

"Hirota-san! You're so persistant."

"I am checking the facts."

After Hirota said that, Mai looked at John.

"This person is a mere stubborn blockhead, so there's no need to reply to him."

Hirota muttered at her words. "What. So he's a false reverend after all?"

There were several critical stares and sighs when he said this.

John made a troubled smile.

"Uhh. ... ... I am a reverend though."

"Can a reverend just simply do an exorcism?"

John smiled with an even more troubled smile.

"Usually that's not the case. For an exorcism, or rather purifying an evil spirit, one normally needs permission from the superiors."

"By permission you mean?"

"These type of things are often urgent matters, then it becomes something what is called an ex-post-facto approval."

"Do you not mind doing such a thing?"

"Well," at this he made a wry smile. It probably wasn't something that is admired.

"I think you're young for a reverend."

"I may seem young, but, I am a priest."

It also got a surprised reaction from the members at hearing the word 'priest'. His companions didn't seem to know about this either.

"I'm not familiar with Christianity, but isn't being called a priest a rather big deal?"

"When one is called a 'reverend' they usually are a priest. Even though I am called a reverend, I am not a reverend of a church, but I'm called a reverend of the Catholic order. When I do missionary work, I perform my pastoral duties."

"Huh," Hirota muttered and looked at the John's virtuous face. "Then is it okay for a clergyman to take advantage of a troubled person's weakness and do a questionable imitation of a so-called exorcism?"

While Hirota said this too, he got fed up with saying such a thing. That's because he had come to think of repeatedly asking these questions as something that is eternally in vain.

John smiled gently.

"If there are people are troubled by that, just doing the things that you're capable of probably differs from what you would call a a person's duty. Even I don't know whether I'll be able to do an exorcism, but I think I'll give my best to do the things I think I'm capable of."

When he said that with a virtuous smile, Hirota completely lost his waning fighting spirit.

"Isn't the act of driving away troubling spirits against your conscience?"

He said it as cynically as possible.

John looked troubled.

"Rather than because they do bad things, I think it's different for the spirits that reside in this house. I don't think that it's the will of God that their their suffering after death continues. Besides, aren't Midori-san and her mother also troubled as well? If I think about their mental and physical health, it is decidedly better if someone does something about the situation. ... ... That's how I think about it."

It was difficult to stay hostile against John in any way.

"Ah, I see." said Hirota, who gave a response with nuanced criticism as best as he could.

"Well then, Shibuya-san."

John looked at Naru.

"At any rate, I shall exorcise the mother."

Back to Chapter 11.1 | Forward to Chapter 11.3

Notes

I translated shinpu (神父) as 'reverend' and shisai 司祭 as 'priest'. The first should be considered a title and the other as a function.

The House in Which Nightmares Dwell 11.2

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Waah

Yo!

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