Paladin of a Ruined Order - Chapter 42

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

Chapter 42: Liar (3)

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The next day, Elbridge visited the site with Village Chief Tibo.

The chief had used magic to turn over the ground and inspect the roots of the plant-type demonic beast, but even then, he still couldn't tell from their condition alone whether the beast was dead or alive.

Still, it was clear that the beast seemed weaker than it had the day before. The chief seemed relieved just to have that much.

"I'm just grateful it hasn't regenerated yet."

"You said it regenerated in a single day last time?"

"Yes. It was obvious at a glance that it was perfectly fine. The situation now is much better than it was then. It looks like it'll die, nine times out of ten···. Still, I think we need to keep watching it for a few more days."

Things were going well.

But after hesitating, Elbridge brought up something that had been on his mind.

"All I did was help for one day, and I received an Elixir. Wasn't that a little too much compensation···?"

He could say that because Marcus wasn't there.

Of course, Elbridge had no intention of giving the Elixir back. But if there was anything else he could do, he thought he might feel a little better.

However, the chief shook his head.

"The important thing isn't how long it took to handle the job, it's how difficult the job was. Knowledge of water hemlock, and the skill to inject its sap. Without either one, this was something no one could have handled even if they spent ten years on it. Please don't feel burdened by it."

"Are you sure that's all right?"

"Yes. If you really feel bad about it, then while you're here for the next few days, you could help the villagers with their work···. No, wait. It would be better if you played with the little kids who are bored. The adults are busy, so we haven't been able to give the children enough attention."

"Would that really be enough?"

"More than enough."

"Understood."

Only then did Elbridge feel at ease.

* * *

Elbridge had returned to the village, determined to spend time playing with the children in earnest, but that job was already being handled by Rombel. The children were half bewitched by a dwarf they had never seen before.

'If that's the case, then I don't really have anything to do···.'

In the end, Elbridge used the extra time to teach Marcus how to use a sword.

Marcus learned faster than expected.

When he normally fought, he used completely wild swordplay without even basic form, but he followed the movements Elbridge taught him surprisingly well.

"You said you'd never learned swordsmanship before?"

"Yes. I only picked up what I know by fighting like a madman in real battles."

Marcus's athletic ability was decent enough. But his real strength was his mind.

Once Marcus learned something, he rarely forgot it, and he often grasped the meaning and purpose of a movement before it was even explained.

'He's smart. I thought he was just a common Mercenary, but he was an uncut gem no one had ever polished.'

At this level, he had better talent than most Paladins.

Of course, he wasn't exactly young, and he had plenty of bad habits from all that reckless fighting. But Marcus was too good an asset to end his life as an ordinary Mercenary.

"Let's stop at this movement for today."

"I understand the others, but···. I have no idea what this final movement is for. It doesn't seem like something I could use in a real fight."

"It's to correct bad habits. Mr. Marcus, your shoulders and upper body sway too much every time you take a step."

With the instructor's authority overwhelming him, Marcus continued the training without a single complaint.

And there was one person who watched Elbridge closely after the lesson ended.

It was the village boy for whom Village Chief Tibo had conjured frogs with magic on the first day Elbridge's group arrived.

'His name was Osric, I think.'

Osric approached Elbridge and said, "Big brother, can you teach me too?"

In truth, it was rare to find a boy that age who did not admire swords.

"I can teach you. But I don't go easy just because you're young."

"It's fine. I can handle it."

Most people who said that broke down quickly.

Osric was no different.

For a child just over ten to endure hard training, he needed more than perseverance. He needed a powerful reason to endure it. Something like serious trauma.

But Osric was just an ordinary boy who had never gone through anything special, so he quickly got tired and collapsed.

"Can we continue training later? Can you just tell me an interesting story for now?"

That was a very childlike reaction.

Elbridge felt more at ease doing that than training Osric anyway.

"An interesting story? Let's see. What would be good···."

Elbridge decided to tell him about the Holy City of Solenion.

As Elbridge's calm story went on and reached the Grand Festival, Osric marveled.

"Wow. There are all kinds of gods in the world."

"That's right. There are still plenty of gods and churches in this world that I don't know about."

"I want to visit Solenion someday. Even just to see how people from other churches live···."

"Other churches?"

Osric's last remark implied one thing.

Everyone in this village worshiped the God of Eternal Voyaging.

Of course, it was not unusual for people who believed in a specific god to gather and form a village.

But Elbridge grew cautious. He had recently seen what happened in the Mountain City of Barquntol.

"Osric. If you believe in another god, do the adults get mad at you?"

"No, that's not it."

"And even so, there isn't anyone in this village who follows another god?"

"Well···. that's right."

"So the divine power granted by the God of Eternal Voyaging is something this village really needs?"

"Yes. They said that if you follow the God of Eternal Voyaging, the village becomes harmonious."

It was a power similar to that of the God of the Brass Cup, who symbolized peace in the community.

Whether it was because of that divine power or not, the village really did seem harmonious and peaceful.

But Osric was not done yet.

"And there's something more important···."

"Hm?"

"You're a good person, so I'm telling you this specially. But you can't tell the adults I said it, okay?"

Children had a hard time keeping secrets. Osric was no different.

Elbridge instinctively sensed that something unsettling was coming.

"Okay. What is it?"

"I heard that one day, when this world is ruined, only the God of Eternal Voyaging can save us."

"···?"

It was hard for Elbridge to understand what he had just heard.

"What do you mean? Can you explain a little more?"

"They said that one day, the time will come when people can no longer live on the surface. At that time, only the God of Eternal Voyaging can save us."

"...Really? How is that god supposed to save you?"

"They said the God of Eternal Voyaging prepared a village just like ours up in the sky. So that even if the surface is ruined, the people from our village can live peacefully in heaven."

Elbridge doubted his own ears.

No church ever talked like that.

What in the world was this coming ruin supposed to be? He had never heard anything like that from any church.

If something like that really existed, and if a mere believer could know about it, then Elbridge should have been the first one to hear.

The story about a village prepared in heaven was even stranger.

As far as Elbridge knew, there was no god who could ascend believers whenever they wished. A god without even a single seat certainly could not.

And the story of a heavenly village implied something else as well.

It meant that not only did everyone in this village worship the God of Eternal Voyaging, but everyone who worshiped the God of Eternal Voyaging lived in this village.

Among all the gods Elbridge had seen so far, the most closed off had been the God of the Iron Anvil. Even that god did not think all believers had to stay in the mountain city. It only blocked the entry of heretics.

Elbridge did not show it and played along.

"What an incredible god. That makes me want to learn more."

Satisfied by that reaction, Osric said with a relieved look, "Anyway, if the world looks like it's going to end, big brother, you should come to our village with the other uncles and believe in the God of Eternal Voyaging. Our village chief is a good person, so Chief Tibo will probably take in three more people."

"I'll do that. Thanks, Osric."

Elbridge patted Osric's head, then got up from his seat with a hardened expression.

* * *

"Goddess."

The Goddess of the Rusted Shield did not react at once to Elbridge's words, as if she had been looking somewhere else.

"Goddess. Goddess."

After Elbridge called for her several times with pauses in between, the Goddess of the Rusted Shield finally answered.

- My dearest child. Your goddess is here.

"Goddess. I've been waiting anxiously."

The Goddess of the Rusted Shield came up with an excuse.

- Elbridge. It was only because the Goddess of Spring Rain and Moss brought the refreshments she had been offered, and I was delayed in checking them. It was not because your goddess neglected her one and only Paladin and answered late. It was a gathering where we prayed that the number of seats we held by year-end would be two, not one, so I could not refuse.

Separate from the excuse, though, the Goddess of the Rusted Shield seemed a little pleased. Perhaps she liked the fact that Elbridge was so desperately looking for her.

"I will also pray that your goddess's seats become two, and I will do my best so that we can even hope for three."

- Your goddess will gladly accept that sentiment, Elbridge. In any case, what urgent matter made you search so desperately for your goddess? This is unlike you···.

"It's about the God of Eternal Voyaging."

- Ah, that little nobody without even a single seat···. Yes. What was the problem? Don't tell me that fool had no sense of their own place and dared to pick a fight with your goddess's only Paladin?

"No, it's not that. Actually, just now···."

Elbridge told the Goddess of the Rusted Shield what he had heard from Osric.

The Goddess of the Rusted Shield turned serious as well.

- A ruin of the surface? Your goddess has never heard of such a thing. And a village in heaven for believers is even more absurd.

"I've never looked into heaven myself, but I thought the same, so I prayed about it."

- I will look into it a little more closely. What kind of being the God of Eternal Voyaging is···.

Thanks to the goddess's reaction, the suspicion that had been fading little by little raised its head again.

A god he'd never heard of before. An alien doctrine. A highly capable mage claiming to be an Archbishop.

Everything about it was strange from beginning to end.

Elbridge quietly moved through the village, keeping an eye on Chief Tibo's behavior.

'Nothing seems strange at first glance···.'

Tibo had been busy all day.

Unlike the usual snooty mages, he actively used magic to help the villagers with their work. When he could not use magic, he rolled up his sleeves and helped with his own hands. When he was too tired to keep moving, he even played with the children.

Maybe because of that, the villagers also seemed to genuinely cherish Tibo, their chief and Archbishop, instead of treating him as someone intimidating.

But Elbridge could read a tiny trace of guilt on Tibo's face.

* * *

Elbridge called Marcus and Rombel over and shared his thoughts.

The two of them nodded after hearing him out.

"Now that I think about it, that's strange. There's an Archbishop, but no temple? Does that even make sense?"

Marcus objected to Rombel's opinion.

"Maybe the chief's house is being used as a temple too? That's strange as well, but···. it could still mean there is a temple after all."

"Then they'd let outsiders sleep in a temple like that? No way."

The two disagreed on the details, but their conclusion was the same.

"Let's check the chief's house first."

Luckily, the three of them were staying and eating at Chief Tibo's house, so there was nothing for the villagers to suspect.

As they looked around the house, Marcus picked up a thin book and said, "Look at this, Sir Elbridge. There's a doctrine book here. Looks like this house really does double as a temple."

A doctrine book was one of the standard items kept in a temple.

But Elbridge disagreed.

"There's something more important missing."

"What is it?"

"The Book of Oracles. The book where each church records the oracles that have been received so far. That has to be kept in the Archbishop's residence or in the temple."

Of course, the Order of the Rusted Shield's Book of Oracles was kept in the temple in Solenion, not in Elbridge's pack. If every oracle Elbridge received were recorded there, that would become extremely blasphemous in its own way.

But this was a highly unusual case. Almost every other church kept the Book of Oracles in its temple.

"Aren't they hiding it?"

"It's not the kind of thing you'd have a reason to hide. If anything, most churches display it proudly."

Rombel focused on a different detail, the many religious symbols placed around the house.

Bowls and pottery. Odds and ends that looked like relics.

With a dwarf's sharp eye, Rombel spotted something strange.

"This scrap of cloth is displayed like it's a relic, but it's only twenty or thirty years old. And this pottery···. it's just an antique with the church emblem carved into it. See here? You can tell they scraped it with a knife and filled it back in with pigment."

Suspicious. The more they looked, the more suspicious it became.

While the three of them leaned together and stared at the pottery, they heard a familiar voice.

"What are you all looking at so carefully?"

"···!"

Elbridge and Marcus jumped.

It was Chief Tibo. Before anyone noticed, Tibo had come into the house and was now looking at the three of them.

But Rombel still seemed not to have noticed that Tibo had appeared.

Rombel kept his head down, studied the pottery closely, and said, "What do you mean, what? Come here and look. There's a crack right here."

"A crack?"

"Yeah. Here···."

Tibo bent down to look where Rombel was pointing.

And at that moment, Rombel swung the pottery he was holding in his right hand like lightning and smashed it against Tibo's temple.