Paladin of a Ruined Order - Chapter 44

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

◈ Paladin of a Ruined Order

Chapter 44

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Liars

The next day was the worship day that came once every ten days.

There was one thing about that worship service that was different from usual. Elbridge and the others stood behind Tibo, the village chief and Archbishop.

Just the day before, after a long discussion, Elbridge’s group had reached two conclusions.

First, as nothing more than travelers who had suffered no harm from Tibo the village chief, it would be overstepping for them to punish him themselves.

Second, the villagers needed to know the truth.

So instead of exposing Tibo’s crimes in front of everyone, Elbridge’s group gave him a chance to confess them himself.

About twenty people were packed into Tibo’s house that day. They were surely the most devout believers of them all.

All eyes settled on Tibo.

Tibo drew a tense breath, then spoke with a sigh.

"I have something to say to all of you."

A brief pause.

Then Tibo seemed to steel himself and continued.

"There is no God of Eternal Voyaging in the lofty heavens."

A deep silence followed.

"I was only a mage who needed believers to become a god. I created a god through lies, and I proclaimed myself Archbishop. I deceived all of you while pretending to receive oracles. You have all been fooled by me."

The atmosphere grew suffocating, as if the people’s gazes were tightening around Tibo’s throat.

But Tibo kept pouring out his sins.

"···That is all. There is no impending doom, and there is no salvation. There is no Heavenly Village. All of it was a fiction born from my treacherous tongue, and I am not some noble cleric. I am a fraud. A liar who stayed here only because I couldn’t leave. My long lie ends here, now."

This short confession would surely seal Tibo's fate, but Tibo made no move to turn the situation around. He simply confessed his sin in plain terms.

Elbridge remembered the ends of people who had impersonated clergy.

They had been beaten by the believers until they were half dead, then pelted with stones until they stopped breathing for good.

Their bodies had never risen as smoke and gone to the sky, nor been buried in the earth to find peace.

Instead, they had been dumped in deep water in tatters, or thrown off high cliffs to become food for beasts.

A suppressed worry began to stir in Elbridge’s chest.

Was it right to watch that sort of scene happen here again?

'That had already been decided.'

Elbridge thought in silence.

Even if Tibo was killed by the villagers, he would make sure the body was not desecrated too.

"Village chief."

At last, one of the villagers spoke up.

She was a stout middle-aged woman. Deep wrinkles marked parts of her face, and her brown hair was heavily mixed with white, so she seemed about the same age as Tibo.

But what she said was different from what Elbridge had expected.

"We knew."

The sudden statement made Elbridge sweep his gaze across the crowd.

There were people who looked surprised, but not one who looked angry.

Tibo asked back, "You knew?"

"Yes. At first I wasn’t sure. But it didn’t take long to realize it. Truthfully, it was hard not to figure it out. There were too many parts of the village chief’s sermons that didn’t line up with the stories I already knew about the heavens. Either every church was wrong, or the village chief alone was saying something wrong. It had to be one of the two."

"···."

Tibo stood there blankly, and the woman gave a small laugh.

"Village chief. We’re not people who learned a great deal. But we weren’t born as slash-and-burn settlers, either. How many of us never went to a temple when we were young? We had a rough idea of what temples talked about."

The middle-aged woman kept going without hesitation.

Maybe she had always expected a moment like this to come.

"Besides, the decisive clue was that porcelain···. Huh? Where did that porcelain go? Anyway, that porcelain over there on display. Do you know what it was? That piece of porcelain used to be in my grandmother’s house."

A few people let out quiet laughs. As if they had known that for a long time.

"When my grandmother passed away and we sorted through her belongings, my mother sold it to a merchant. I had forgotten all about it, but one day I saw it displayed there, quietly, as if it were a holy relic. It even had the church’s emblem on it···. That was the day I was certain."

Someone in the crowd asked,

"I didn’t know it was something like that. That porcelain had been there for quite a while, hadn’t it?"

"Roughly twenty-five or twenty-six years, I think. Not long after I settled here."

Tibo had steeled himself for everything, but he had not expected this.

Now his expression held nothing but confusion and embarrassment.

"Why didn’t you say anything? If you had spoken up then, all my lies would have···"

"Because I knew you would leave if I told you."

The middle-aged woman smiled.

"Of course, at first I felt betrayed. I thought a lot about whether I should tell the others. But after worrying over it for a few days, another question came to mind. Had my life become miserable and painful because I served a fake god for a few years? Because I’d been fooled by your lies? No. Not at all."

The people listening to her slowly nodded.

Their reactions gave Elbridge certainty. He became sure that all of them had known Tibo’s lies for a long time.

"My life, our family’s life, had always been hard and exhausting. But after coming to this village, things became much better. After settling here, they kept getting better and better. Not long ago, my granddaughter was born too. You remember her, don’t you?"

"Yes. I remember. She was a child who looked just like your daughter."

The woman’s faint smile slowly bloomed until it filled her whole face.

"Today’s me is happier than yesterday’s me. It has always been that way for the past twenty years. And tomorrow’s me will be happier than today’s me too. So what if you told a few lies? I don’t resent you."

Tibo’s usually calm face twisted strangely.

Even Tibo himself probably did not know whether he wanted to cry or laugh.

"And··· I wasn’t the first person to notice your lies. There were at least three people who noticed before I did. Old Hans, who has already passed away. Bill the hunter. And Mila over there."

Everyone’s eyes turned to the woman seated at the very back, Mila.

Mila must have been shy, because she pressed her headscarf low and bowed her head. But even the glimpse of her face showed no anger.

"Can you forgive me for that reason?"

"Tibo, I may not have learned much, but I can do simple arithmetic. I know very well that a mage who always watched over me is more precious than a god who might glance at me once if I’m lucky."

"···."

"And there’s no need to feel sorry for me. I attended every worship service faithfully, but after I found out you were a liar, I also prayed to the god I had originally believed in. I believed in both the god in heaven and you on earth."

The woman hugged Tibo tightly, then, with a playful, girlish expression, headed for the door.

"Tibo. Our Archbishop. See you at the next worship service!"

Right after that, an old man with a stubborn face stood up. He laid a hand on Tibo’s shoulder.

"I’m the same. I always attended worship, but I always prayed to the Goddess of the Golden Tray, hoping our village would become even a little more prosperous···. Hmph. I’m not good with words, so I can’t say it as nicely as she did. Anyway, there’s only one thing I want to say. See you in ten days."

The old man also left the house as if nothing had happened.

Next, an old woman came over and hugged Tibo tightly too.

Then she spoke with a toothless, slurred voice.

"I prayed to the God of the Brass Cup every day. I wanted our village to stay harmonious from now on. And our village was peaceful. Did my prayers reach the God of the Brass Cup? That probably wasn’t it. The god wouldn’t listen to the prayers of someone as insignificant as me. Then did the God of Eternal Voyaging hear them? That wouldn’t make sense either. But today, after hearing your story, I realized something."

"···What is that?"

"Tibo. You said you wanted to become a god. While I listened to your confession, I imagined you rising high into the heavens and becoming a god. I hope the prayers I offered until now reached the future you, the you who will look down on the world from the lofty skies."

Tibo nodded, his eyes red.

"Yes, yes···."

It was the strangest sight Elbridge had ever seen.

Not a worship service where a priest preached, but one where a priest listened.

Liars. And even more liars surrounding those liars.

They deceived one another and maintained a bizarre balance.

What was even more surprising was that even if the lies disappeared, that strange balance did not seem as though it would collapse.

For nearly thirty years, something stronger than faith had bound them together.

Stoning was for evil people.

The villagers seemed to think that a slightly foolish but kind person, someone who had unknowingly covered over the malice in their heart, was not someone to stone.

So no one stoned Tibo.

Everyone kissed his forehead, shook his hand, or hugged him once before leaving the house.

Everyone told Tibo a different story.

But every one of them ended with the same farewell: see you in ten days, at the next worship service.

Now only four people remained in Tibo’s house.

Elbridge, Rombel, Marcus, and Tibo.

At last, Tibo burst into tears like a child.

There was no God of Eternal Voyaging.

And yet the liars of a nameless village would gather at the liar’s house again ten days later.

And they would hold a worship service full of lies.

Just as they always had.

Today too, a new sun rose. As always, the village was peaceful.

The only things that had changed were that Tibo’s eyes were swollen from crying, and that people had gathered at the village edge to see Elbridge and his group off.

Tibo approached Elbridge and the others with a much more relaxed expression.

"Thank you. I’ll wait for the day when I can repay this kindness."

"There’s no need to thank us. The forgiveness you received belongs to you and the villagers."

"But if no one had pushed me from behind, that moment would never have come. I truly am grateful."

After saying that, Tibo stepped back.

Then the middle-aged woman who had spoken the most at last night’s worship came over and placed a lunchbox in Elbridge’s hands. The lunchbox, wrapped in broadleaf leaves, gave off a warm, pleasant smell.

"Eat the warm food first. It might spoil by tomorrow."

Elbridge bowed his head.

"Thank you, ma’am."

"May God's gaze fall upon the brave and the thoughtful."

The moment Elbridge heard that, a small question rose in his chest.

It was truly a trivial question.

So Elbridge asked it in a quiet voice.

"Ma’am. I have a question."

"Yes?"

"Yesterday, the moment you noticed Tibo’s lie, you said you prayed again to the god you originally believed in."

"I did."

"The others talked about which god they served, but you didn’t say. Which god do you serve?"