WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

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◈ Paladin of a Ruined Order

Chapter 21

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Stern Protest

“Bibeka. The archbishop wants to see you.”

Right after Bibeka returned to the church with Elbridge, she was summoned by the archbishop.

Bibeka went to the archbishop’s office without any sense of pressure. She had grown up seeing the archbishop as a father figure since childhood. The two of them were close enough that they didn’t really feel like an archbishop and an apprentice paladin.

However, today the archbishop asked Bibeka with an unusually serious expression,

“Bibeka.”

“Yes, Archbishop.”

“You didn’t bring the wrong person, did you? Like, you didn’t bring some random paladin instead of the strongest one or something like that...”

“No, that’s not it. Sir Elbridge said there was no paladin in the Order of the Rusted Shield besides him.”

“That’s not a lie, is it?”

“I don’t think so. If he had been lying, he would have hesitated a little. But he agreed right away as soon as I brought it up.”

“If it wasn’t a lie, then he really is the paladin named in the oracle...”

The archbishop frowned and scratched the back of their head.

“Is he just too young?”

“Yes. I think it will take another ten or fifteen years before his abilities fully bloom.”

A person’s physical peak generally came in their twenties or thirties.

But many people believed that a paladin’s or knight’s peak came in their mid-thirties or after forty. That was because experience mattered even more than physical strength for paladins.

Some churches started training children at a young age, but no church was crazy enough to let them gain real combat experience while they were still children.

By that standard, the paladin Bibeka had brought was far too young.

'If he had been an old knight, I think I would feel less uneasy... Was the goddess really pointing to that young man? If she was going to send an oracle, couldn’t she have made it a little clearer...?'

Like most oracles, the one the archbishop had received the night before was extremely concise.

- Ask the paladin of the Order of the Rusted Shield for help.

That was all.

No description, no name. The archbishop had nothing to go on except the church they belonged to.

The archbishop could not quite shake their unease.

“He didn’t come just because he wanted the promised reward, did he? No, that can’t be it. Even if I’m uneasy, it’s the goddess’s oracle, so I have no choice but to trust it for now...”

Bibeka cut in and said to the archbishop,

“He definitely didn’t come for the reward. Sir Elbridge said he wouldn’t take any payment at all.”

“You didn’t mention the reward to him?”

“What do you take me for...? Sir Elbridge said he’d once received the goddess’s grace. It seems he was treated by our church for free before.”

But the archbishop’s expression still looked unconvinced.

“That can’t be, Bibeka. You know that whenever we treat someone from another church, it gets reported to me. Since I became archbishop more than twenty years ago, I’ve never heard of anyone from the Order of the Rusted Shield being treated.”

“Then saying he’d received the goddess’s grace would be a lie... Why would he refuse payment even while lying?”

After thinking for a moment, the archbishop clapped his hands.

“That paladin seems to like you, Bibeka.”

Bibeka was startled.

“Me?”

“He probably made up a connection to our church to impress you. Refusing the payment would fit the same pattern...”

“But that’s a little sudden, isn’t it?”

“No, it makes sense. You’ve been pretty popular since you were a child.”

Bibeka was not a striking beauty, but she was pretty enough, and her lively personality made her popular with people of all ages and both sexes.

It wasn’t the kind of popularity that usually led to serious romance, but it would not have been strange if one man or another had shown interest in her.

Bibeka pictured Elbridge’s face.

Dark brown hair and blue eyes. A neat, kind-looking face.

For some reason, Bibeka felt pleased.

“...You think so?”

“There isn’t any other explanation. It’s not a bad situation, either. Sir Elbridge will fight harder just to make a good impression on you, and if things go badly, he might even end up transferring to our church... In any case, you worked hard. Go back and rest, Bibeka.”

“Yes.”

Bibeka left the archbishop’s office.

But the archbishop still could not shake off the faint unease.

Even gods could not see the future, and oracles were not all-powerful.

There were plenty of churches that had staggered and collapsed because they blindly followed their oracles without understanding that.

In other words, even if the paladin from the oracle had been summoned correctly, there was no guarantee the result they wanted would actually be waiting for them.

'...Even if the Grand Festival doesn’t turn out well, if Bibeka finds a good match, that would still be a good thing.'

The archbishop let out a heavy sigh and sank deep into his soft chair.

Because the Grand Festival began the very next day, Elbridge had no chance to spar or coordinate with the other paladins.

Of course, Elbridge was eager to see the other paladins’ abilities immediately, but they refused his suggestion.

Their reason was that if they got injured, even healing with divine power could leave aftereffects. Though in practice, those aftereffects were nothing more than a bit of lingering pain.

'...The paladins of the Order of Spring Rain and Moss really haven’t changed in two hundred years.'

In the end, all Elbridge had done with the other paladins the day before was introduce himself.

'No. This might actually be better.'

Elbridge had two goals for this Grand Festival.

First, to repay the debt he owed the Goddess of Spring Rain and Moss.

Second, to imprint the name of the Order of the Rusted Shield on the many spectators and recruit believers.

Simply taking part in the Grand Festival would be enough to repay the debt, so now he needed to focus on the second goal.

And as Elbridge saw it, for the second goal, it was actually better if the paladins of the Order of Spring Rain and Moss fought somewhat poorly.

Wouldn’t one clearly outstanding person stand out even more among people with lesser skills?

Elbridge headed to the venue where the Grand Festival was being held together with the other paladins.

“It’s quiet.”

“...Your opinion will change soon.”

At first, the streets were so empty it felt as if everyone had vanished somewhere, but from one point onward the crowds began to swell explosively.

And a little farther on, the crowd became so dense there was barely room to put a foot down.

“Please let us through. Make way.”

Elbridge and the paladins pushed through the crowd and slowly made their way to the huge arena where the inter-church friendly matches were held.

The arena was built with countless tiered seats overlooking a central stage, and its scale was truly immense.

'This used to be an empty lot, I think.'

Elbridge was guided to a hidden space beneath the lower seats.

It was the waiting area for the paladins participating in the matches.

As Elbridge looked around, Bibeka spoke in a slightly gentler tone than yesterday.

“Sir Elbridge. You can wait here.”

“Don’t I need to register if I’m going to participate in the match?”

“It’s already been taken care of. We only had to add your information to the registration that was already submitted, so it was quick.”

“I see. Thank you.”

Elbridge wandered around and looked over the waiting room.

There were far more paladins here for the Grand Festival than he had expected.

'Well, paladins are chosen and don’t die, so... Even if their quality has gone down, there was no way their numbers would have decreased.'

While Elbridge was busy people-watching, the goddess’s oracle reached him.

- Elbridge. My most precious child. I never dreamed you would take part in the Grand Festival.

Elbridge reflexively bowed his head and whispered softly.

“I never expected it either. By the way... did you know about the Grand Festival?”

- Of course. For the past hundred years or so, I have been forced to cheer for the paladins of the Order of Spring Rain and Moss. Cheering for a match I cannot even watch directly is quite tormenting.

“Goddess. If you knew there was an opportunity like this, couldn’t you have told me ahead of time? Isn’t this a perfect chance to gather believers?”

Elbridge’s tone might have sounded a little disrespectful, but the Goddess of the Rusted Shield did not seem the least bit angry.

- Elbridge. Your goddess could not tell you about the Grand Festival because she did not want you to be hurt.

“Hurt?”

- You don’t have any friends, do you? Marcus and Walter are mercenaries and knights, not paladins, and the one paladin you know, Felix, will be representing the Order of the Bloodstained Spear. I thought it was a long shot for you to gather four more paladins.

“...”

It wasn’t exactly wrong, and he could also feel the goddess’s warm consideration.

But for some reason, it still stung.

At that moment, Bibeka called out to Elbridge.

“Sir Elbridge! Come this way. They say the group draw is starting!”

The friendly matches at the Grand Festival were held by teams of five paladins from each church.

Basically, it was a five-on-five competition, but if every match started as a tournament from the beginning, the schedule would obviously become too long. So, as Bibeka explained, the preliminaries were held as chaotic free-for-alls with several teams at once.

“Each group has about seven to nine teams, and only two teams advance to the main round. Of course, all the others are eliminated.”

“What counts as elimination?”

“If at least two paladins can still continue fighting, they avoid elimination. Ah, being pushed out of bounds counts as combat incapacity.”

Elbridge looked over the faces of the paladins in his group.

One female paladin with red hair. One short, plump middle-aged male paladin. One tall, lanky male paladin.

He had heard their names yesterday, but he couldn’t quite remember them. Still, they were easy to tell apart because each had such a distinctive appearance.

'Red hair. One pseudo-dwarf. One pseudo-elf. And Bibeka.'

The Order of Spring Rain and Moss was a combat church in its own way.

But from what Elbridge had seen since yesterday, none of the three showed any sign of serious training. It looked as if they had either never trained diligently or had given it up long ago.

The only one whose hands and movements clearly showed steady training was the apprentice paladin, Bibeka.

'The other three can drop out for all I care. As long as Bibeka doesn’t get eliminated, we can get through the preliminaries.'

Elbridge quickly made his judgment and said to Bibeka,

“Lady Bibeka. Stay by my side when the match starts.”

Then the red-haired paladin gave a meaningful smile and nudged Bibeka’s side with her elbow. Bibeka’s attitude somehow turned smug.

'...What is she doing?'

Bibeka straightened her chest and looked at Elbridge with her large brown eyes.

“Sir Elbridge. I’m not weak enough to need protecting like that. Even though I’m an apprentice paladin, I’m confident in my abilities.”

“...Then do as you like. The other three, keep an eye on your surroundings. If you find yourself alone, run to my side right away. Understood?”

“Understood.”

Bibeka shot Elbridge a slight glare.

But Elbridge didn’t feel the need to react.

Then,

“It’s starting.”

The draw began. One person from each team stepped forward to draw a number, and the Order of Spring Rain and Moss was assigned to Group 4.

Elbridge looked over the teams assigned to Group 4.

The only churches that could really be called large were the Order of the God of the Brass Cup, the Order of the God of Vines and Knots, and the Order of Spring Rain and Moss.

'The Order of the God of the Brass Cup isn’t a combat church. The Order of the God of Vines and Knots is also a bit questionable as a combat church.'

The real problem was the teams formed by paladins from small churches rather than large ones.

A red-haired paladin said to Elbridge,

“In my experience, those small-church coalitions are more dangerous than the big churches.”

“So it seems.”

Unlike the paladins from the large churches, who looked as if they had bought their posts with money, many of the paladins on the small-church coalition teams clearly showed traces of serious training.

What stood out even more were the church emblems engraved on their armor.

'That one is from the Chain and Axe Church. Over there is the Echoes of War Church, I guess.'

There were plenty of emblems from combat churches that had once been fairly prominent.

Seeing people like that gather one by one to form five-man teams gave Elbridge a strange sense of kinship.

'So our church wasn’t the only one that fell apart...'

As Elbridge was admiring the emblems engraved on people’s armor and getting lost in nostalgia, the announcer shouted,

“Order of the God of Flowing Water. Group Three!”

The paladin who had drawn the number walked back to their place with an air of smugness.

But Elbridge noticed something strange. The emblem engraved on that paladin’s armor was not the emblem of the Order of the God of Flowing Water.

There wasn’t even a single emblem of the Order of the God of Flowing Water on the other four paladins’ armor.

The only person wearing the Order of the God of Flowing Water’s emblem was a middle-aged priest standing with them.

“...What kind of situation is that?”

At Elbridge’s question, Bibeka stammered in obvious agitation.

“T-those cowards! They called themselves the Order of the God of Flowing Water, but not a single one of them was actually from the Order of the God of Flowing Water! They just scraped together five paladins from other combat churches to make a team!”

So after this side had used a loophole, the other side had used an even more blatant one.

“They’re bold. That’s not a rules violation, right?”

“What’s the point of following the rules if they do that? That’s crossing the line! If they’re going to do that, they shouldn’t call themselves the Order of the God of Flowing Water in the first place!”

So it wasn’t a rules violation.

Bibeka’s face turned red as she strode toward the priest of the Order of the God of Flowing Water. There was no time for anyone to stop her.

Bibeka protested fiercely.

“Order of the God of Flowing Water! You were bragging about facing off properly at the Grand Festival, about settling once and for all who was above whom, but you don’t even have any pride?”

The five paladins snorted and turned away.

In their place, the middle-aged priest of the Order of the God of Flowing Water replied with a smarmy smile.

“Well now. Does it matter whose sword it is? What matters is the ability to protect believers in the end!”

“How do you expect people to accept that kind of sophistry?”

“They’ll think the Order of the God of Flowing Water is willing to ask other churches for help if it means protecting its believers. That’s what they’ll think. And... isn’t having connections a skill too?”

“You don’t even plan to keep the bare minimum of decency? I’m filing a formal protest with the Order of the God of Flowing Water!”

“A protest? Go ahead, if you want. Suit yourself.”

The paladins burst out laughing, and Bibeka’s face turned so red it looked as if she might collapse at any moment.

Just as Bibeka was about to ignore the nearly forty-year age gap and spit out something vicious,

the middle-aged priest stiffened as if struck by lightning.

And the smile vanished from the priest's face.

The middle-aged priest asked Bibeka,

“...Wait. Order of Spring Rain and Moss. Did you violate any rules?”

The priest did not sound angry or mocking. If anything, the priest sounded flustered.

But Bibeka could not hold back and shouted,

“What the hell are you talking about...”

“The oracle has come down. The God of Flowing Water says a stern protest will be lodged with the Goddess of Spring Rain and Moss.”

Even while delivering the oracle, the middle-aged priest looked as if they had no idea what they were saying.

Had the subject and object been reversed or something...?

The priest’s words continued haltingly.

- The protest says this is going too far. It says to Take It Easy...

Still confused, the priest waited for the oracle to continue, but nothing else came.

At last, the middle-aged priest looked at Bibeka and asked in an extremely serious voice,

“...You people, what scheme are you plotting?”

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