Paladin of a Ruined Order - Chapter 15

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

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Chapter 15: Crow (2)

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Rob's scream only grew louder after he suddenly lost both eyes.

"Ughhh...!"

The sight of blood streaming from the empty sockets stirred primal fear.

A fear far clearer and more visceral than a broken arm or leg.

"What, what is it! What's going on!"

Because of that, none of the paladins of the Order of the Golden Tray rushed in to save Rob. Each of them only flinched back, trying to figure out what was happening. Or maybe they were just stalling while pretending to assess the situation.

Only the itinerant knight Richard reacted a little differently.

He was just as rattled as the paladins, but unlike the others, he had started to run toward Rob.

Elbridge stopped him.

"Sir Richard. Come back."

Richard stopped.

If it had been a little earlier, he might have ignored Elbridge's words.

But the situation was different now. Didn't he see clearly what happened to Rob after ignoring Elbridge's restraint?

Elbridge said to the paladins of the Order of the Golden Tray, "You need to pull yourselves together too."

"But Sir Rob..."

"Did you think we came here to hunt rabbits? If you're here to fight a demonic beast, injuries are part of it."

Maybe because Elbridge's tone sounded a little forceful, one paladin raised his voice.

"Injuries? Only injuries? It's not like he just hurt a limb. His eyes are like that..."

He was the red-haired paladin, Magnus.

Elbridge cut him off.

"If he's dead, that's death. If he's alive, it's an injury. Do we need another category?"

"..."

"I know you're shocked. But if you go to the Order of Spring Rain and Moss, they can treat him. He'll probably have some scars left, but he should regain his sight well enough. It's a wealthy order, so you should be able to gather enough donations and offerings as payment."

The red-haired paladin, Magnus, shot back at Elbridge.

"You. Do you really think it's okay to talk so casually because it isn't your problem?"

"Not my problem, huh."

Elbridge realized it all over again.

They might understand in their heads that sacrifice was inevitable in a fight, but they hadn't taken it to heart.

Elbridge jerked his chin toward Rob.

"Then go save Sir Rob right now. I won't stop you."

"..."

Up until just then, Elbridge had been rather polite in front of the paladins of the Order of the Golden Tray.

Elbridge was the hired help, and nothing had happened that forced him to push his own opinion hard.

But now it was different. Even if it meant being rude, he had to seize the lead in the conversation.

He knew they would not make better judgments than he would, so getting pushed around by their words was foolish.

Elbridge quietly looked at Magnus, the red-haired paladin.

In battle, there were only two situations where you respected the other side's opinion.

When you wanted to avoid responsibility, or when the other side had abilities worth respecting.

And right now, it was neither.

By the same token, the paladins had to respect Elbridge's opinion. They did not want responsibility, and they thought he might have abilities worth respecting.

As expected, Magnus could not answer Elbridge and looked away.

"Good. You're not planning to go alone. I'll explain what needs to happen now."

Then Magnus asked cautiously, "So... you're saying we need to do something too? Against that demonic beast?"

Elbridge almost let out a sigh from deep in his chest.

There was a huge difference between saying, "What are we supposed to do?" and saying, "Do we have to do anything too?"

"...If you're just going to spout nonsense because you're scared, get lost now. Sir Rob would want that too."

Maybe because the others were watching, Magnus and the other paladins did not back down.

Marcus did take one step back, but... right now Marcus didn't matter.

Charlie asked Elbridge, "Sir Elbridge. Shouldn't we rescue Sir Rob first?"

"No. That crow won't kill Sir Rob right away."

"Why not?"

"Crows are clever birds, and Sir Rob is already caught prey. It knows it can use Sir Rob as bait to reel in more prey."

That was only the likeliest possibility, not a certainty. It wouldn't have been strange if that crow killed Rob right away. Demonic beasts were fickle by nature.

But even if that happened, it was still better not to rush in now.

"As you can see, that crow is a distortion-type demonic beast, not an enhancement type. It looks like it has moved past the early stage of demonic-beast transformation and is somewhere between the middle and late stages. It's still at a level we can handle. About forty or fifty steps... no, let's generously say sixty steps is its effective range. Does anyone here have armor with a mage's enchantment on it?"

No one answered. It was impossible to tell whether they lacked an enchantment or simply did not want to speak up.

"...Even if your armor isn't enchanted, it's fine. Pull your helmet down tight and make sure your aventail covers your neck. You should also make sure the major blood vessels at the front and inner side of your thighs, along with your eyes, aren't exposed."

Charlie asked, "Sir Elbridge. Can our armor block that thing's attacks?"

"Look at Sir Rob's eyes. It didn't just go after the eyeballs; it tore the eyelids away too. That means its distortion ability is still pretty rough."

"...You call that rough?"

"If it were in the late stage of demonic-beast transformation, it would have left the eyelids and taken only the eyeballs."

Once a distortion-type demonic beast reached the late stage of demonic-beast transformation, armor became useless. It would attack the body inside the armor directly.

And it wasn't just that armor stopped mattering. Interfering inside the body itself was not impossible either.

Elbridge had once seen a monkey that had reached the late stage of demonic-beast transformation wave its hands through the air and rip a person's heart out.

That said, even a distortion-type demonic beast at the late stage was not without a countermeasure. A body protected by divinity or mana was not easily invaded by a distortion-type demonic beast.

"You don't need to be so scared. The fact that it went after Sir Rob's eyes means, on the other hand, that it has a hard time attacking anything softer than that. Avian-type demonic beasts aren't especially strong either. The Order of the Golden Tray's divine power, which strengthens the body, matches that beast well."

The paladins' faces visibly brightened. They must have been terrified.

Charlie asked, "What should we do?"

"Any gold coins left?"

"Yes."

"Can you dedicate those gold coins to the god and grant me the Order of the Golden Tray's divine power?"

Charlie thought for a moment, then answered in an unconfident voice.

"I think so, but... I heard it's terribly inefficient to grant power to a believer of another order. Wouldn't it be better if each of us offered up our own gold coins and gained power that way?"

"Anyway, the one who has to kill that thing is me. Even if it's inefficient, it's better to grant me the power. It only needs to be enough to keep that beak from bursting out inside my body."

"Only that much... No, understood. Is that all?"

"Cover your vital spots with both arms, then just run with me toward that demonic beast. You don't need to attack it. I'll handle that, so go rescue Sir Rob. Oh, and you. Lend me a spear."

Elbridge took the assembled spear from Magnus. But he did not assemble the shaft and left it in its short form.

A spear in his left hand, a sword in his right.

Elbridge stared at the crow and steadied his breathing.

Only then did Charlie realize one important fact.

Unlike the others, Elbridge had no armor.

If they poured divine power into him, there would be no accident of that crow's beak bursting out from inside Elbridge's body, but just as Rob had lost his eyes, it was entirely possible for the crow to target Elbridge's vital spots.

No, Elbridge getting hit was a foregone conclusion.

Eyes, throat, heart... if the crow's beak burst out a finger or two away from a vital point, there was no way to survive.

"Sir Elbridge. I think it would be better if we just rescued Sir Rob and got out."

"Why?"

"You don't have armor, Sir Elbridge."

"You don't need to worry about that. I can use the sword like armor."

"...?"

Not only Charlie, but the other paladins too, could not understand Elbridge's last words.

"And unlike other demonic beasts, a distortion-type demonic beast has to be killed the moment it's found, no matter what. This isn't a situation where we can just leave it alone. Grant me divine power."

The paladins did not ask Elbridge for any more explanation. They were afraid that if they slipped up, the dangerous job would land on them instead.

Instead, they took one or two handfuls of gold coins from their pockets and scattered them over Elbridge's head.

Shwaaak-

"O Goddess of the Golden Tray, grant divine power!"

A huge amount of gold coins scattered through the air like mist. Then strength settled into Elbridge's body.

Elbridge clenched his fist to gauge the amount of power.

'...The efficiency really is bad.'

Still, this was manageable. Elbridge tapped the ground twice with the spear shaft.

"Let's go."

Elbridge kicked off the ground. His eyes were locked on the crow demonic beast's red irises.

* * *

"Go!"

The paladins of the Order of the Golden Tray still could not shake off their fear. But with Elbridge, who wasn't even wearing armor, taking the lead, they could not afford to hesitate.

They ran at Elbridge's side, crossing both arms over their faces and peering around through the narrow gap between their forearms.

The distance to the crow demonic beast closed quickly. One hundred steps, eighty steps, sixty steps.

And when it was around fifty steps.

Caw!

The red-haired paladin, Magnus, felt as if someone had struck his left forearm with something sharp.

Thunk.

And then he realized at once that the crow demonic beast had been aiming for his eyes.

Goosebumps ran over him.

They had said crows were clever birds.

It was now surely going to target Elbridge, who was not wearing armor. Magnus's gaze naturally snapped to Elbridge.

The crow let out an unpleasant cry.

Caw!

At the same time, Elbridge twisted his head slightly and used the sword in his right hand to cover his throat.

The flat of Elbridge's blade stayed pressed tight against his neck, not even a hair's breadth away. It was almost worrying that he might cut his throat or jaw like that.

A moment later, Magnus saw something black burst out in front of Elbridge's throat.

It was only a finger or two from Elbridge's neck.

Thunk.

Elbridge's head rocked back slightly.

'...Crazy.'

This time too, Magnus understood immediately what he had just seen.

Elbridge had predicted that the crow's beak would distort space and burst out in front of his throat, and had blocked the crow demonic beast's beak with the flat of his sword.

That was what he had meant by using the sword like armor.

A sword was a hunk of metal, and armor was a hunk of metal too. If you could defend the exact point at the exact moment, a sword could stand in for armor.

'...But how?'

* * *

Elbridge's gaze stayed fixed on the crow's red eyes.

'Throat.'

Elbridge's sword covered his throat.

Thunk.

As expected, the crow's beak burst out and struck Elbridge's sword.

'Left eye.'

Elbridge raised his sword to cover his left eye.

Thunk.

Again, just as expected. The crow's beak burst out and struck the flat of the blade.

One trait of a distortion-type demonic beast that had not yet passed into the final stage was this:

The distortion almost always happened where the beast's gaze landed.

That was why Elbridge carefully judged exactly where the demonic beast's gaze was falling.

If your prediction was accurate and you had the nerve to commit to it, blocking a distortion-type demonic beast's attack was not difficult.

'Heart.'

Thunk.

The problem was that prediction was not easy.

Unlike human eyes, animal eyes often did not show the whites properly.

That was true of that crow demonic beast as well.

With only a red iris to go by, it felt almost impossible to judge exactly where the crow was looking.

Everyone watching Elbridge had the same question.

How was something like that even possible?

In truth, even Elbridge, back when he was an apprentice paladin, had asked the exact same question.

So the young Elbridge had asked the Order's High Paladin.

"High Paladin, how can paladins judge where a distortion-type demonic beast is looking?"

The High Paladin's answer had been plain.

"The ones who couldn't do it all died."

And Elbridge had survived without dying. That was all.

Caw!

Thunk.

Elbridge blocked the crow demonic beast's attacks four times in a row.

'That thing has eight eyes, so maybe it's a little easier to predict...'

Before he knew it, the sound of the paladins' armor clattering as they ran with him had stopped. They were surely at Rob's side now, watching over Elbridge's back.

This time, the crow's beak burst out without any cry. It was aimed at Elbridge's forehead.

Thunk.

Of course, Elbridge blocked that attack too.

'Clever bastard. So you've been saving your last move.'

Before long, Elbridge had closed to within fifteen steps of the crow demonic beast.

Only then did the crow demonic beast feel the threat and spread its wings, taking flight.

'There it is.'

Elbridge's hands crossed, and the positions of the spear and sword swapped.

Now Elbridge held the sword in his left hand and the short spear in his right.

His upper body bent back as far as it could go.

Then he snapped his whole body forward, using the spring of every muscle.

Caw!