Paladin of a Ruined Order - Chapter 109

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

Chapter 109: Watchman

──────

Hey guys, quick announcement before the chapter! We're hosting an original webnovel contest with a $1000 prize pool, a chance to publish your novel on WeTried, and lifetime free reading access for the top two winners!

There's also a participation prize of 500 coins for everyone participating.

If you've got a story sitting in a folder somewhere, or have been wanting to try writing one, we'd love to read it. You only need your first 10 chapters, and you have until 1st January 2027 to submit. New writers are welcome too!

Full details, rules, and how to enter here! https://wetriedtls.com/announcements/webnovel-contest

Feel free to send this to anyone you know who writes. Enjoy the chapter!

If you have any questions, please join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried

──────

Seeing through someone's intentions didn't always lead to a positive reaction.

Tap.

The female elf deftly flicked her sword up with the tip of her foot and caught the weapon she had set down.

The spot where she had left the sword and the smoothness of the motion made it seem as though she had anticipated needing to pick it up again from the start.

The problem was that Elbridge had no idea why the elf's attitude had suddenly changed.

'What's gotten into her?'

He didn't know. Still, he had no intention of causing needless friction, especially with people working toward the same goal.

Elbridge raised both hands.

"I'm not your enemy. How about we settle this by talking?"

The female elf looked at the elf with a dagger embedded in their leg, then at the elf who had been knocked unconscious after colliding with Rombel. It wasn't exactly a situation fit for a friendly conversation.

The female elf pointed her sword at Elbridge. Her tight lips made it clear that she had no intention of saying a word.

He couldn't tell whether she was too angry to think clearly or believed she had a reason to fight.

'There's only one of her.'

There were two of them, giving Elbridge and Rombel the advantage in numbers.

The problem was the weapon.

In most cases, one armed person could hold the advantage against two unarmed people.

Then the sword-wielding elf's gaze briefly shifted from her companions to Gareth before moving away. It seemed that even if something happened to them, she intended to take Gareth and escape somehow.

Rombel read the elf's intentions too.

Swish.

Rombel moved sideways, blocking the space between the elf and Gareth.

"Elbridge. You can do it, right?"

Like most dwarves, Rombel wasn't used to fighting barehanded. He would be confident in an arm-wrestling match, though.

"I'll have to try."

Elbridge slowly backed away. His target was the elf who had passed out after colliding with Rombel.

If he had left his weapon behind, he could use someone else's. Elbridge reached for the unconscious elf's waist.

The female elf had only one advantage: her weapon.

She reacted at once.

Tap!

The female elf rushed at Elbridge.

Her movements were nimble, and her upper body barely swayed. She knew how to fight reasonably well.

Instead of drawing the fallen elf's sword, Elbridge immediately kicked off the ground and charged at the female elf.

"...!"

Every weapon had an optimal range.

A spear could strike someone far away, but it couldn't attack an enemy at close range.

The same was true for a sword. A sword could attack from farther away than bare hands, but it lost its advantage once the opponent got close enough.

The distance was extremely close, so situations like that rarely occurred in real combat.

Yet Elbridge caught the female elf off guard with a bold decision and unexpected movement. He had slipped straight inside the range where her sword held the advantage.

They were close enough to embrace. Even Elbridge had never fought at such close range.

'The same goes for her.'

Elbridge's hand reached for the elf's wrist.

To avoid having her sword hand caught, the elf pulled her arm back and leaned away. Elbridge's hand sliced through empty air.

It would have been nice to seize her wrist immediately, but failure wasn't a major problem.

He had forced her into an awkward movement and drawn her attention. That was enough.

'If I draw her attention with my upper body...'

Elbridge's leg swept in from outside her field of view and kicked the elf's slender ankle.

Stagger.

One of the elf's legs lifted, throwing off her balance. As if shoving an enemy away with a shield, Elbridge thrust his forearm forward and pushed her.

Thud!

Pushed while standing on one leg, the elf fell over with absurd ease.

Elbridge immediately climbed on top of her, seized her sword, and threw it far away.

The whole process had taken three or four breaths at most.

Applause rang in Elbridge's ears.

- Ten points, Elbridge.

"Thank you, Goddess."

Elbridge whispered and looked down.

The elf pinned beneath him glared up at him.

"Kill me."

Kill her for what?

Elbridge got to his feet.

"I don't intend to kill you."

Even after Elbridge got off her, the elf remained sprawled on the ground, looking as though she had no idea what was happening.

The elf spoke.

"Aren't you with that guy?"

That guy referred to Gareth, the High Paladin of the Watcher Church.

Elbridge sorted through the situation from the elf's perspective.

The elves had hidden in Gareth's house to capture him.

Just as they were about to subdue Gareth and escape Norens City, two pursuers had followed them.

What was more, those two pursuers knew exactly why the elves intended to kidnap Gareth.

'...I can see why she'd misunderstand.'

Elbridge held out his hand to the elf lying on the ground.

"You've got it wrong. If anything, I'm the one who needs to work with you."

"Work with us?"

"Yes. I'm Elbridge of the Order of the Rusted Shield. Like you, I came north while following clues about the one who broke the seals."

Looking somewhat doubtful, the elf took Elbridge's hand.

* * *

Going to the inn with elves who had caused all kinds of trouble in Norens City wouldn't have been a good idea.

In the end, Rombel returned to the inn and brought Sonia and Marcus.

"I'm Elbridge of the Order of the Rusted Shield. That one's Rombel. These two are Marcus of the Order of the God of Fox Rain and Mage Sonia."

The calmed elves introduced themselves.

"I'm Selene. These two are Johannes and Aurelius. We're from Thornbush Forest."

Those names sounded oddly familiar.

Johannes and Aurelius. They were the names of the meat the elves had used when extorting money from people at the inn.

"Since around last year, someone has been tampering with demon seals. We followed the clues one by one until we arrived in Norens City."

Coincidentally, their situation was similar to Elbridge's group.

Still, not every question about the elves had been answered.

Marcus asked, "Why were you taking people's money?"

"We didn't start it. Elves from around here were already extorting money, so we just blended in with them."

"...Did you run out of travel funds?"

Selene waved her hands.

"It was a kind of deception. No matter how carefully you watch your surroundings, someone eventually catches your trail, right? But if people see you as strange from the beginning, they don't become particularly suspicious no matter what you do. It lets you go wherever you want."

Their method was a little strange, but they hadn't acted without thinking.

Elves were eccentric, not foolish.

They had roughly understood each other's situations. Now it was time to interrogate Gareth.

Sonia poked Gareth with her staff, but he still didn't wake.

"Ahem."

Sonia wasn't the sort of person to leave someone alone just because they didn't wake up.

She brought the end of her staff to Gareth's groin.

Then...

Flash.

A small bolt of lightning shot from the tip of the staff.

"...!"

Gareth woke at once, clutching his groin and groaning.

"Ugh..."

Gareth spent a long time breathing heavily through the pain.

After a while, he regained his senses and looked around.

Only one emotion appeared on Gareth's face.

Not fear or resignation, but relief.

Selene spoke to Gareth.

"You know why you're here, don't you?"

"I do. I didn't expect it to happen this quickly."

"I'll tell you now. You're definitely going to die here."

Gareth took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. Though he had just been told he would die, his expression grew a little more peaceful.

There were two kinds of people in the world: those who were glad when they committed a crime and got away with it, and those who suffered their whole lives over a crime that had gone undiscovered. Gareth was clearly the latter.

"...A fitting end for me."

"I'm glad you know. But one thing hasn't been decided yet."

"What is it?"

"Whether people learn what you did or remain unaware will depend on your answer."

Gareth's honor. The honor of his family and comrades.

And the future of the church depended on how Gareth handled himself.

"I know it's shameless of me, but I ask for mercy."

"That depends on you. Tell us who is behind you."

"There's no one behind me."

The three elves and Elbridge's group frowned.

"I don't intend to play word games."

"It is true that someone demanded the locations of the seals preserved by the Watcher Church. They promised our struggling church immense wealth, as well as the admiration of people across the world. But I did not reveal the locations of the seals passed down by the church."

Gareth spoke while gasping, then paused to steady his breathing.

It wasn't easy to calmly overcome the fear of death.

"The church's seals still sleep in darkness, and they will remain asleep. Watching over the coming danger is the role of a watchman."

"Are you trying to say you aren't guilty?"

"No. My crime was recognizing the danger and not informing people of it. I did not tell anyone that such an offer had been made."

Selene couldn't understand what Gareth meant.

"Why?"

"Even if it was a precarious and false reward, I wanted the knights under my command to receive compensation for their long wait. I also wanted the church guarded for generations to survive into the future."

Elbridge thought of the churches in the east. Gareth's circumstances were no different from theirs.

What did a High Paladin feel after watching a church stride toward extinction for an entire lifetime?

What did a High Paladin feel while serving a god afraid of being forgotten?

Perhaps it was similar to how a parent felt while watching their child die.

"I know it was foolish. But... I couldn't cast aside the recognition and respect that silence might have earned us."

"Fine. Who contacted you?"

The crucial question had been asked.

"Elphin of the Order of the Bloodstained Spear."

The name was unfamiliar, but the church's name was not.

The Order of the Bloodstained Spear had once been a combat church that wielded influence across the continent, so it wasn't strange that it had maintained a foothold in the north.

If anything, the mention of the Order of the Bloodstained Spear, just as in the east, made the story more credible.

Selene asked, "Elphin? Didn't that bastard die fighting a demon last winter?"

"That's right."

"Ah, damn it."

Selene ran a hand through her hair in frustration. Had the trail come to an end here?

Elbridge felt the same way. Coming all the way north would have been for nothing. Where could they go now? The west? Or should they risk heading to the central region?

Fortunately, Gareth wasn't finished speaking.

"But I know who hired Elphin. Elphin had a habit of spilling every kind of story when he got drunk."

The trail that had nearly been cut off continued.

Elbridge's heart began to pound again.

Selene asked, "Who contacted Elphin?"

"I heard it was the Master of the Central Magic Tower in Middlemarch."

Selene's eyes shook wildly.

It was understandable. An unexpected person had suddenly been named.

Elbridge's group reacted differently. Wasn't the Master of the Central Magic Tower the person they had suspected most?

Their suspicion of the Master of the Central Magic Tower had now become certainty.

Sonia's expression darkened. If the Master of the Central Magic Tower she had respected and followed was the source of everything...

Selene asked, "...The Master of the Central Magic Tower? Why would he do that?"