WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

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Chapter 123: Elbridge, Two Hundred Twenty-Seven Years Old

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Living in Hebron Fortress, there were occasional chances to witness a god's form.

For example, when the battle was going badly and morale had collapsed.

When a god appeared, all they usually did was grant divine power as usual. Even that was an unimaginable help to people whose spirits had been broken. That was what it meant when the one you relied on showed themself.

A god's appearance was a magnificent display. It showed that the god was watching over the battlefield and the Paladins.

But what the Goddess of the Rusted Shield showed now went far beyond that.

She hadn't merely granted divine power as usual. She had personally subdued the demons.

Neither Elbridge, Reto, nor the knights on the hill had ever seen anything like it.

Boom.

With a strange tremor, a second beam of light tore through the clouds.

This one struck the demon holding the bow.

"...!"

The demon let out another horrible scream.

The two demons, who had been relentlessly driving back the knights moments before, writhed as beams of light pierced their bodies.

After a brief moment, the two demons scattered like dust blown away by the wind.

"Ah..."

Reto let out a quiet sigh.

The demons scattering like that meant they hadn't been sealed.

Who would've thought he would regret the mage's helpless death so much?

The two demons would appear again before long.

Still, this was a stroke of incredible luck. They had escaped with their lives.

The countless hunting dogs controlled by the bow-wielding demon quietly fled as well.

"We survived..."

The knights, their numbers now less than half what they had been, had been pushed to the brink. They breathed sighs of relief.

Then they knelt before the Goddess of the Rusted Shield. Reto, who had been fleeing, knelt as well.

It didn't matter that Reto and the knights did not serve the Goddess of the Rusted Shield.

'The God of the Third Hand will understand something like this.'

If I'm this moved, how touched must Elbridge be?

Thinking that, Reto looked at Elbridge.

Yet Elbridge's expression was nothing like Reto had expected.

Elbridge didn't kneel. He didn't even look grateful.

Reto saw deep confusion in Elbridge's face, along with rising anger.

'Why?'

He soon learned the answer.

Elbridge shouted toward the Goddess of the Rusted Shield.

"Goddess! If you could subdue demons so easily, why didn't you appear sooner?!"

Elbridge wasn't looking at the knights who had survived.

He looked at the dead.

He saw the knights who had volunteered to be bait, held back the demonic beasts, and fallen to their deaths from the cliff.

He saw the mage, who had not even left behind a body and had become nothing more than a bloodstain on the cliff.

He remembered the knights who had become corpses just as he had begun to grow attached to them.

"Why did the knights of the north have to leave their families behind, fight desperately in a distant land, and die?"

Elbridge knew proper conduct. He knew he should thank the Goddess of the Rusted Shield in this situation.

But Elbridge was still too young to control the emotions raging in his heart.

The countless losses he had suffered since leaving his hometown drove him onward.

"Goddess. You must have seen Sir Decker die as well."

Reto remembered where he had heard the name Decker.

On the day he met Elbridge in the infirmary, High Paladin Brenic had said something to Leonhardt.

Decker had died last month. If Elbridge left too, only four Paladins would remain in the Order...

"Why did you remain quietly in heaven when Sir Decker died? Did you enjoy watching humans on earth struggle and die?"

"Elbridge!"

Reto shouted sharply.

But Elbridge didn't stop.

"There's only one difference between Sir Decker and me. I decided to leave the Order. I know why you've appeared only now. Even if you show yourself like this now... I won't return. Not to the north, and not to the Order!"

Elbridge poured out all the resentment he had kept inside.

Then, clenching both fists, he glared at the Goddess of the Rusted Shield as though daring her to offer any excuse at all.

But the Goddess of the Rusted Shield's answer was a little different from what Elbridge expected.

- I, too, hope you do not return.

The goddess gave a bitter smile.

- From now on, go seek happiness, young knight.

With that oracle, the Goddess of the Rusted Shield disappeared.

Elbridge stood there blankly, staring for a long time at the place where she had appeared.

Soon, the clouds cleared.

* * *

The expedition had been reasonably successful. They hadn't sealed the demons, but they had driven them away.

Demonic beasts would likely wander around the area for a while... Still, the people nearby would be able to manage that much.

Elbridge arrived in Middlemarch with Reto and spent three days at the Order of the Third Hand's temple.

On the morning of the fourth day, someone knocked on his door while Elbridge lay blankly in bed.

Knock, knock.

"I'm coming in."

The door opened, and Reto appeared.

Elbridge stayed where he was. Reto didn't mind and sat at Elbridge's bedside.

"Elbridge. Are you really going to join the Order of the Third Hand?"

"...Yeah."

He answered that way, but Elbridge knew all too well that his own voice held no certainty.

Now Elbridge understood why the Goddess of the Rusted Shield had acted that way.

She hadn't disliked Elbridge. She had simply felt uncomfortable watching the young Elbridge risk his life in battle.

When Elbridge decided to leave Hebron Fortress and seek a new life, hadn't the Goddess of the Rusted Shield been the happiest of all?

Her appearance in the last battle was likely for the same reason.

Elbridge had finally set out to find a new life, and she couldn't bear the thought of him dying before he reached even his first destination.

What moved the Goddess of the Rusted Shield was compassion for Elbridge.

"Our Archbishop said the Goddess of the Rusted Shield must have paid some sort of price for that descent."

"What price?"

"Who knows? The important thing is that the Goddess of the Rusted Shield made a bold choice for your sake. She's the deity of a major Order, so she might be able to get through it if she's lucky... But if she had been the god of a small Order, there definitely would've been trouble."

Elbridge lay still without answering.

A brief silence passed.

Reto spoke again.

"Elbridge. Are you sure you won't regret this?"

"Regret or not, the Goddess of the Rusted Shield said it herself. She hoped I wouldn't return."

"She did. But I think what you want matters more than the goddess's oracle this time."

Elbridge sat up and asked Reto, "The way this conversation's going, it sounds like you don't want to accept me into your Order."

"You're perceptive."

Reto gave an awkward smile.

"To be honest, I think our Archbishop feels a little burdened by it."

"Why?"

"Our Order is small, and the Order of the Rusted Shield is a major Order. I think the Archbishop is worried we might be stirring up trouble for ourselves."

It hadn't been long since Elbridge and Reto arrived in Middlemarch.

In that time, rumors that the Goddess of the Rusted Shield had descended had spread everywhere. Elbridge had even become known as a young Paladin favored by a god.

If Elbridge moved to the Order of the Third Hand under these circumstances, people would look at the Order of the Third Hand with suspicion. They would suspect that the Order of the Third Hand had lured away a Paladin favored by the goddess.

Those suspicious looks would surely have a serious negative effect on the Order's future. Not many people wanted to belong to an Order without honor or loyalty.

"And bad rumors will spread about you too."

"What kind of rumors?"

"Something like, an ungrateful bastard who turned his back on the goddess after receiving her grace."

Explaining that it wasn't true, that the goddess had wanted to let Elbridge go, would not mean much. People liked exciting stories more than truthful ones.

"I don't care."

"If you really didn't care, you would've renounced your membership in the Order of the Rusted Shield as soon as you came here. But you didn't. You're still part of the Order of the Rusted Shield."

Elbridge quietly turned his head away.

He still couldn't forget the goddess's final words.

From that day until now, his heart had not been at ease for a single moment. He was deeply ashamed that he had misunderstood the goddess's intentions and raged alone. The sense of debt he felt was unbearable.

"But I've come this far. If I just return... you'll be put in an awkward position."

"It'll be a little awkward. But what can we do? Sometimes things get tangled up and put you in an awkward position. Don't worry about what I think while you're living your life."

Reto rose from his seat.

As he was about to leave the room, he looked back and grinned.

"Go back, Elbridge. Once some more time has passed and you can hold your head high, come back then."

Creak, thud.

The door closed.

Elbridge sat there, lost in thought for a long time.

The Order of the Third Hand's temple, and Middlemarch in the central region, were peaceful and tranquil.

The life Elbridge had dreamed of was in Middlemarch.

But if he stayed in Middlemarch, Elbridge's heart would never be at peace. That wasn't a guess. He was certain of it.

Peace for the body, peace for the heart. Which was more important? Were rest and tranquility truly what I should pursue?

After thinking for a long time, Elbridge stood and put on his armor. Then he took up the sword and shield bearing the emblem of the Order of the Rusted Shield.

Step, step.

Elbridge left the room and walked toward the temple's exit.

Countless Paladins and priests were inside the temple. All eyes turned to Elbridge.

Yet the priests and Paladins of the Order of the Third Hand didn't say anything to him. They each took a step back and cleared a path for Elbridge.

It was the respect due to a Paladin who had devoted himself in the north, and respect for Elbridge, who would have to endure a difficult life ahead.

Everyone knew Elbridge didn't belong here.

Even Elbridge himself.

Step, step.

Elbridge left the temple.

Reto, who had been waiting outside, looked at him.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For pushing you back onto the battlefield."

"No. This is my choice. If it becomes too hard to endure, I'll run away again, so don't be sorry."

Reto grinned.

"All right. See you again someday."

Elbridge left Middlemarch.

And he never saw Reto again.

* * *

Elbridge opened his eyes.

It felt as though he had sunk into a deep memory, or perhaps briefly fallen asleep.

'How much time has passed?'

He opened the window. Dusk was settling over Hebron Fortress.

Elbridge stretched and offered a quiet prayer.

"Goddess. What would you do if I said I wanted to leave the Order?"

The startled Goddess of the Rusted Shield immediately sent an oracle.

- Elbridge. If something has upset you, this is a good chance to speak openly about it. Your goddess is ready to listen seriously to every concern you have. If I have any shortcomings, I can correct them to some extent. I even fixed my habit of sleeping in all at once, did I not?

"The day you gave me your first oracle, didn't you tell me to go seek happiness from then on?"

- Elbridge. I said that because you were too young then. But you are not so young anymore. You are well over two hundred years old...

"Even after I woke from the seal, didn't you tell me not to seek out hardship and to live comfortably?"

- I only told you to live comfortably. I did not tell you to leave the Order. Elbridge, how about living comfortably in the Order of the Rusted Shield?

From the goddess's stubborn response, Elbridge felt the passage of time.

Time had changed many things. The goddess, this world, and Elbridge as well.

Elbridge quietly smiled as he looked out at the darkening view.

Footnotes:

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