WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

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◈ Paladin of a Ruined Order

Chapter 100

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Mage Sonia

"We should head to the Eastern Magic Tower."

Elbridge said this, and Sonia asked, "You're going to the Eastern Magic Tower with a mage from the Central Magic Tower standing right here? Did losing the cat once yesterday make you doubt my skills?"

Sonia's confidence had grounds.

To speak plainly, mages of the Eastern Magic Tower weren't particularly skilled. Even generously graded, they fell below average.

The Central Magic Tower's ability, by contrast, was unmatched. That was precisely why the Magic Tower's influence in the central region outweighed even the churches.

Elbridge shook his head.

"That's not what I mean."

"Then what?"

"I want to request a communication between towers. I plan to explain the situation to the Master of the Central Magic Tower and ask for advice."

Even though they hadn't caught the cat, Sonia's advice in the dream had clearly helped. If that was the case, wouldn't the Master of the Central Magic Tower offer even better advice?

"So you actually do know the Master of the Central Magic Tower personally? I guess that wasn't a joke."

"Of course not."

Sonia stepped closer.

"Take me with you."

"Sonia. Inter-tower communication can't be done by multiple people at once. I have to speak alone and listen alone."

"You think I don't know that? It'll definitely help, so let's go together."

Elbridge wasn't sure what kind of help she meant, but at least it didn't seem like it would hurt.

Elbridge took Sonia along and headed for the Eastern Magic Tower.

Given how expensive the inter-tower communication service was, there was no chance of a waiting line, and the connection went through almost instantly.

The Master of the Central Magic Tower's voice came through from the other side of the communication orb.

"A black cat demon living inside a dream? I know quite a lot about demons, but... I've never heard of a demon like that."

"A way to catch a cat that keeps running through the dream? A few methods come to mind, but... it's not something you can pull off just by hearing an explanation. You'll need the help of a skilled mage."

"Sonia Dickens is there with you? Her skill won't be enough for this, though. My standard for a skilled mage is fairly high."

Contrary to Elbridge's hopes, even the Master of the Central Magic Tower couldn't offer a clean solution.

When the short communication ended and Elbridge stepped out, the mage in charge of inter-tower communication pointed to a complicated rate chart on the wall. The chart recorded the fee calculation standards for each Magic Tower.

Since communication magic ran simultaneously between two towers, the fees from both towers were added together for the total.

"You've confirmed it, right?"

Elbridge nodded, and the mage clicked away at an abacus to calculate the cost.

Tak, tatatak, tatat.

The mage's fingers moved faster than most swordsmen swung a blade.

"Communication time, four minutes thirty-one seconds. The fee comes to forty-one gold coins and two silver coins. I'll knock off the two silver coins for you, special treatment, since Sir Elbridge is Solenion's hero."

The result of the calculation was more terrifying than a demon's wrath. Elbridge's voice trembled slightly.

"Since you're already giving a discount, could you cut it down just a bit more? Maybe around forty gold coins..."

The mage's eyes met Elbridge's.

Elbridge thought the mage's eyes seemed to be saying something.

'You're not quite hero enough for that yet.'

But what came out of the mage's mouth was different.

"I'd love to discount it more, but the Master of the Eastern Magic Tower is a miser, so there's nothing I can do. Honestly, even those two silver coins are coming out of my own pay."

"I see..."

Elbridge had thrown away a huge sum without gaining anything in return. His mood sank.

Things were much better than before, but the Order of the Rusted Shield's finances still weren't comfortable.

That was exactly why the church couldn't afford multiple resident priests and instead ran on just Elbridge and Matilda alone.

While Elbridge glumly counted out gold coins, Sonia stepped forward with confidence.

"Here."

Sonia set a thin gold plate on the counter and slid it toward the communication mage.

The plate bore an intricate engraved design.

The communication mage read what was written on it.

"Third-Class Mage of the Central Magic Tower, Miss Sonia Dickens... Hmm."

The mage clicked at the abacus again.

"A ten percent mage discount off the Eastern Tower's fee. Another ten percent off the Central Tower's fee... No, wait, you're a Third-Class Mage, so the staff discount applies. Half off."

The communication mage asked Sonia, "If you transfer your affiliation to the Eastern Magic Tower, we'll cut your communication fees in half for a year. What do you say?"

"No thanks."

Sonia refused flatly.

Gods couldn't harm a believer who left their church. But the Magic Tower was different. Transferring affiliation after completing training left lingering consequences.

"That comes to twenty-seven gold coins."

Elbridge felt a thrill of pure joy.

Sonia's claim that she'd definitely be useful hadn't been empty talk. Her mere presence had saved fourteen gold coins.

Feeling as though he'd somehow earned money, Elbridge paid with a noticeably lighter hand and left the tower.

Elbridge turned to Sonia and offered his thanks with genuine respect.

"Thank you, Sonia. That was a huge help. Forgive me for doubting you."

"It's fine. But... doesn't the Order of the Rusted Shield hold four heavenly seats? Judging by your reaction, things seem even tighter than I expected."

"You're right. Our church still isn't well off."

"Why on earth not?"

"Well, for one, we only recovered those four seats this year. That's the biggest problem."

Unlike other churches that had spent long years filling their coffers, the Order of the Rusted Shield had had precious little time to accumulate wealth.

Meanwhile, there was still no shortage of places that money needed to go. Rebuilding the temple was out of the question entirely, and even the interior repairs weren't finished.

"It also matters that nearly half our believers aren't in Solenion, and we're in no position to ask them for donations."

Over forty percent of the Order's believers in Solenion were dwarves from the mountain city of Barquntol.

Traveling to collect donations from the dwarves wasn't easy. And asking them for donations carried a real risk of driving them away from the church in droves. Those who left might return to the God of the Iron Anvil, or they might go to the Order of the God of Fox Rain instead.

"And finally... it's also a problem that our church is a combat church."

"Why would that matter?"

"Combat churches don't have many wealthy believers, so the average donation per believer is low."

Massive non-combat churches like the Order of the Olive Tree or the Order of the Golden Tray ran on enormous donation income.

And most of that money came from wealthy believers. Wealthy believers expected stronger divine power in return.

The church took the money it earned that way and used it to help the poor, growing its number of believers, and a larger following guaranteed more seats and stronger divine power.

As a result, wealthy believers, expecting even stronger power, gave even more, and the positive cycle kept feeding itself.

But combat churches worked differently.

Knights, despite their glamorous appearance, weren't especially wealthy, and mercenaries' pockets were downright pitiful. Ordinary people who weren't even mercenaries went without saying.

"So does that mean the Order of the Rusted Shield is stuck being poor forever?"

"If we keep saving the way we do now, we can build up money little by little. And combat churches have one thing going for them: a big break."

"A big break?"

Elbridge thought back to the end of last year, when they'd taken down the black giant.

Countless people, even ones who weren't believers, had come flooding in to drop silver and copper coins, sometimes even gold, into the donation box.

So many people had wanted to donate that Elbridge had needed to empty the box six times a day back then.

Meanwhile, the only priest who needed a bonus was Matilda.

An explosion of donations, minimal expenses.

Thanks to the black giant, the Order of the Rusted Shield had spent last winter warm.

Whether this year would be just as warm, there was no telling.

Elbridge spoke with firm resolve.

"We have to catch that black cat, no matter what. This one's going to be an even bigger deal than last time."

In the past, Elbridge had accepted fighting demons as a pure paladin's duty.

But things were different now. Elbridge had to weigh the practical benefits that fighting a demon would bring. He was the High Paladin, yes, but he was also the Archbishop.

Elbridge slipped a hand into his pocket and fingered a silver coin.

It wasn't an ordinary silver coin. A coin engraved with the profile of the elf Niserath.

Niserath had given it to him, saying to call if he ever needed help.

'Should I use this now?'

But Elbridge couldn't bring himself to decide.

Every magical tool had a limit on how many times it could be used. Smaller magical tools generally had fewer uses, so this coin was likely a one-time item.

'Let's save it for now. I still have a few days of leeway.'

As Elbridge trudged along, Sonia, walking beside him, patted him on the back.

"Just trust me. It'll work out somehow."

Elbridge sensed that wasn't a simple word of encouragement.

"You have a plan?"

Even as he asked, Elbridge didn't expect much from Sonia.

The Master of the Central Magic Tower had said she wouldn't be much help, after all.

But Sonia squared her shoulders and spoke with confidence.

"You said the Tower Master rated my skill low, right? That's just because the Tower Master doesn't know what I've been through."

Just as a paladin's skill wasn't determined by a single factor, a mage's skill depended on many things as well.

The amount of mana, the agility and precision of using that mana, how sophisticated the theoretical grounding was, sensitivity to mana, and so on.

And Sonia had made major progress in one particular area.

"Flexibility of thought is one of the important factors in judging a mage's skill. The reason mages who repeatedly go through strange, illogical experiences inside dreams develop that way is because of the flexibility it builds in thought and perception."

"Hmm."

"I've built up a whole lot of unfamiliar experience over the past year. In terms of flexible thinking, I'm a completely different person than I was a year ago."

Sonia walked a few steps ahead, then turned back to face Elbridge, looking proud of herself.

"And I've raised a cat before, you know."

Night fell. And, without fail, the dream began again.

Rombel and Sonia appeared beside Elbridge without any warning.

"Look at this."

The dream version of Sonia pulled out a wooden box and showed it to Elbridge.

An ordinary-looking object, about a hand and a half long.

"What are you planning to do with that?"

"There's nothing better for catching a cat than this. If a cat finds a narrow space that fits its body just right, it can't help but climb in."

People came out into the dark streets and wandered around.

Unlike yesterday, their faces carried a hint of anticipation alongside the fear. Several people wore fine, cherished clothes they'd been saving for an occasion.

Before long, music began to play.

- ♬♪

As though the music had given them courage, people drew close to one another and began to dance.

Elbridge, Rombel, and Sonia moved a few steps toward the sound of the music.

The world shifted. And, just like yesterday, they spotted the black cat perched on top of a small shrine.

"Watch this."

Sonia set the box down and stepped back a little.

Her expression carried quiet confidence.

The black cat, licking its own forepaw, spoke with obvious scorn.

- ... You lot actually think I'm some ordinary cat?

The cat leapt down to the opposite side from the group. Sonia's box clearly hadn't worked at all.

'...Wasn't expecting much anyway.'

But the very next moment, the black cat was inside the wooden box.

Elbridge and Rombel were startled, and so, clearly, was the black cat.

- ...!

The black cat immediately tried to slip out of the box and flee. But after a few steps, it found itself trapped back inside the box again.

Sonia said, "This space is a dream that several people are dreaming together. Just like you can ignore the laws of physics and manipulate this space, we, the ones sharing this dream with you, can control it too."

Sonia's eyes gleamed with something sly.

"I thought about why we lost you yesterday. Turned out to be a simpler problem than I expected. The issue was that a cat slipping away was a more familiar flow than a cat getting caught. But if we add a box to the mental image, one the cat can't easily escape from... things change. A cat settled inside a box is a lot more familiar than a cat fleeing one."

Sonia wasn't explaining this just to show off her skill.

People could give shape to their thoughts more effectively through words and communication than through imagination alone.

Sonia's explanation was meant to help Elbridge and Rombel, both clueless about magic, give concrete shape to their own thoughts. A single person's thinking wasn't as powerful as three people's mental images aligning to control the dream more firmly.

And beyond that, even the black cat would be unconsciously drawn along by Sonia's narration.

Sonia slowly lifted the box. The black cat still couldn't slip free.

Sonia said, "Got you."

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