WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

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◈ Paladin of a Ruined Order

Chapter 55

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Wandering

Flip the board. Whether it's three seats or five, grab everything within reach.

It was certainly a tempting story. If the Goddess of the Rusted Shield had heard it, wouldn't she have wept tears of emotion?

But the oracle given by the God of Fox Rain had one very important problem.

'...How, exactly?'

Had the other churches simply not wanted to increase their seats?

No. They just hadn't found a way to do it.

So how could the Order of the Rusted Shield possibly seize several seats all at once?

Today was even the second day of voting. Only four days remained until the vote closed, counting today.

Elbridge asked, "God of Fox Rain. Please tell me how."

Marcus answered on the god's behalf.

"Figure it out yourself."

Elbridge's expression turned complicated, and Marcus waved a hand.

"I'm just relaying the oracle the God of Fox Rain gave. The oracle is over."

"...Understood. Thank you. To the God of Fox Rain, and to you, Marcus."

Elbridge crossed his arms and sank into thought.

'The God of Fox Rain has never lied before. There has to be some method...'

The problem was that an ordinary person couldn't see as wide a view as the God of Fox Rain could.

While Elbridge wrestled with the question, Marcus stood up.

"I'll leave what I earned in the central region here. I'll leave the stuff that's awkward to sell off or split with Rombel, so talk it over later... See you around."

"Understood. Travel safely."

Elbridge saw Marcus off, then paced circles around the temple, still thinking.

It was still early, before even Matilda had come in to work, so no one was around to interrupt his thoughts.

'Let's start from the beginning.'

Right now, three parties were maneuvering over the remaining seats.

The combat churches.

The non-combat churches.

The white hands.

'Negotiating with the combat churches...'

That didn't seem like a great option. Hadn't the God of Fox Rain declared outright that the Hillside Slums combat churches would move to check the Order of the Rusted Shield?

'But it's worth hearing them out.'

Once his mind was made up, Elbridge headed straight for the Temple of the God of the Bloodstained Spear.

Felix wasn't at the Temple of the Bloodstained Spear. But a priest recognized Elbridge.

"Sir Elbridge, isn't it? What brings you here?"

"Might I meet with the High Paladin?"

"Please wait a moment."

The priest scurried off and reappeared just as quickly.

"Sir Elbridge. This way, please."

Elbridge followed the priest toward the back of the temple.

The High Paladin had apparently been training since morning, wiping sweat with a towel when he greeted Elbridge.

"Sir Elbridge, isn't it? What brings you here?"

At the last Grand Festival, Elbridge had single-handedly faced down five paladins of the Bloodstained Spear church, then forfeited. It hadn't been intentional, but it amounted to an insult against the Order of the Bloodstained Spear.

Fortunately, the High Paladin didn't seem to hold it against him, then or now.

"Felix told me yesterday. That the combat churches are planning to gather and negotiate with the non-combat churches."

"That's right. The combat churches need to secure as many seats as possible, by any means necessary. If the Order of the Rusted Shield joins in, it would be a great help."

The invitation was more courteous and forceful than Elbridge had expected.

'More serious than I thought.'

Elbridge tried to view the current situation through the High Paladin of the Bloodstained Spear church's eyes.

The High Paladin knew nothing about what had happened in the mountain city of Barquntol. To him, the Order of the Rusted Shield was a small church consisting of a single paladin and roughly three hundred believers.

Even adding up every seat held by the Hillside Slums churches, it barely came to seven or eight.

But there was a difference as vast as heaven and earth between a church with seats and a church without.

In their eyes, a three-hundred-believer Order of the Rusted Shield shouldn't have caught anyone's attention.

And yet the Bloodstained Spear church was actively trying to draw Elbridge into the negotiation.

Because they needed three hundred believers?

No. What they wanted was Elbridge alone.

"High Paladin. There's something I'm curious about."

"What is it?"

"If the negotiations with the non-combat churches succeed and you win the support of the white hands. How do you plan to divide the votes?"

"We plan to actively gather each church's opinions and present a fair standard. There isn't much time left, so the sooner we finish negotiating, the longer we'll have to gather everyone's input."

Elbridge nodded.

"I see. Understood."

"Anything else you'd like to ask?"

"No. Not for now."

"Come find me anytime something occurs to you. The sooner a decision is made, the better."

Elbridge left the Temple of the Bloodstained Spear, still thinking.

'Actively gather opinions, and present a fair standard, huh...'

At first listen, it sounded like a standard, unremarkable answer.

The old Elbridge wouldn't have questioned it at all.

But this was right after he'd spoken with the God of Fox Rain.

'How would the God of Fox Rain have taken that answer?'

A "fair standard" usually meant a uniform standard, and "actively gathering opinions" implied that minority voices wouldn't be given much weight.

In other words, the standard eventually presented after the negotiations would probably leave little room for the interests of a small church like the Rusted Shield.

'That's the natural way it would go. Rather than twisting the standard artificially to satisfy our church, it'd be better to eliminate every other church's complaints.'

Once he'd thought that far, one more suspicious detail came into view.

'...Come to think of it, the distribution standard still hasn't been decided?'

Only four days remained until the vote ended, and Elbridge had only returned yesterday.

It seemed more likely that the "fair standard" had already been decided, and Elbridge simply hadn't been told, than that no standard existed yet.

'Is there a reason not to tell me the standard?'

There was.

If the "fair standard" they'd set up worked against the Order of the Rusted Shield, then it was to their advantage not to reveal it to Elbridge right now.

Looking at the current situation from the angle the God of Fox Rain had offered, Elbridge could suddenly see possibilities that hadn't been visible before.

Maybe it was because he hadn't thought this hard in a long time. His head throbbed.

'Did the God of Fox Rain already know all this?'

Ten times out of ten, yes.

Elbridge felt a quiet admiration.

'So the eight seats weren't given for free, after all.'

Just then, an oracle sounded in his ear.

- Elbridge. You look troubled. Is it because your goddess put too much pressure on you yesterday?

Elbridge hesitated over what to say, then offered a prayer.

"If I have the Goddess's support, I'm sure every problem will be solved."

- That's right. Hang in there, Elbridge!

"..."

Elbridge had received his goddess's encouragement, but for some reason, his mood only felt stranger.

Leaving the negotiation to the combat churches and picking up whatever scraps fell to him wasn't the best option.

Now only one path remained to Elbridge. Moving alone, without mixing into the combat churches' group.

'Should I go find the white hands' representative?'

No. That wasn't a viable choice. He'd heard the white hands followed nothing but money.

Money was all they cared about.

But Elbridge and the Order of the Rusted Shield couldn't offer a sum large enough to move six or seven seats.

Which meant negotiation itself was impossible.

'No, wait. If I squeeze every last coin out of the church's treasury, I might just barely scrape together two seats...'

But the God of Fox Rain surely hadn't given that oracle expecting an ending like that.

Elbridge set that method aside as a last resort.

'I should go to the non-combat churches and ask them to support me instead of the other combat churches.'

Among the non-combat churches with branches in Solenion, two stood out for their sheer size.

The Order of the Golden Tray, with sixty-one seats. And the Order of the Olive Tree, with thirty-seven.

'I should visit the Order of the Golden Tray first, since I have at least some connection there.'

Elbridge came down from the hill and arrived at the Temple of the Golden Tray.

Unlike the temples in the Hillside Slums, the Temple of the Golden Tray was crowded with believers. The temple itself was easily twenty times the size of the Order of the Rusted Shield's.

Elbridge spoke to the first priest he came across.

"Excuse me."

"Yes? Who are you?"

"I'm Elbridge, High Paladin and Archbishop of the Order of the Rusted Shield. Might I meet with your Archbishop?"

"The Archbishop is in the south."

The Order of the Golden Tray held influence across the entire continent, so there was no reason for an Archbishop to be stationed in the east.

"Then who's the highest-ranking person in the eastern diocese?"

"Vice Bishop Heinz oversees the east."

"Could I meet with the Vice Bishop?"

"That would be difficult. He's an extremely busy man."

"Please. Just pass along my request."

The priest looked troubled.

"Well then... Could you wait a moment?"

"Of course."

The priest slipped away.

But Elbridge could already guess the outcome.

This would clearly be refused. In fact, the message might not even reach the Vice Bishop.

'Is there anyone here who could help?'

As Elbridge glanced around, a plump middle-aged man suddenly raised his hand.

"Well, well, isn't that Sir Elbridge?"

"Um..."

The face looked familiar, but Elbridge couldn't quite place where he'd seen it.

As Elbridge hesitated, the man grinned and pointed to his own eyes. Only then did Elbridge recognize him.

Rob, the paladin instructor whose eyes had been eaten out by the Crow demonic beast.

"...Sir Rob. It's you."

"Ha! I thought I'd come thank you properly once my eyes healed, but by the time they did, you weren't at the temple anymore."

Whatever awkwardness had lingered between them back then seemed completely forgotten. Rob's tone was warm and familiar, which suited Elbridge just fine.

"I left on some business and just got back yesterday."

"Good. I'll have to stop by the Order of the Rusted Shield soon to make a donation. Anyway, what brings you here?"

"I was hoping to meet with the Vice Bishop."

"Wait right here. I'll go ask directly..."

There was confidence in Rob's voice. He seemed to hold a fair amount of rank within the church.

Sure enough, Rob vanished and reappeared almost instantly, waving Elbridge over.

"Come with me."

Rob guided Elbridge to the door of the Vice Bishop's office, then cracked the door open just a little.

Elbridge bowed to Rob and stepped inside.

Inside the Vice Bishop's office stood a table piled high with paper, and beyond it sat a gaunt old man.

'That must be the head of the Order of the Golden Tray's eastern diocese...'

High-ranking clergy usually had wrinkles at the corners of their eyes from years of smiling.

But Vice Bishop Heinz had more wrinkles between his brows than at the corners of his eyes.

Elbridge entered, but Vice Bishop Heinz didn't so much as look at him.

He kept staring at the stack of papers on his desk as he spoke.

"You're from the Order of the Rusted Shield, I hear?"

"Yes."

"So you're the knight who saved Rob and made quite a name at the Grand Festival... I'd like to hear more, but it's the end of the year, unfortunately, and I don't have the time. Could we skip to the point?"

Elbridge wasn't even sure the man was listening properly.

But it seemed unwise to dance around the subject in front of someone this busy, so Elbridge spoke plainly.

"Vice Bishop. I've heard you're preparing to negotiate with the combat churches over the remaining seats."

Vice Bishop Heinz's brow furrowed slightly.

"Negotiate? No. Those people practically just announced it to us. Since you've come to see me separately... you don't intend to fall in line with them, do you?"

"That's right."

Vice Bishop Heinz moved through conversations remarkably fast.

Maybe, in his younger days, he'd been a merchant rather than a priest.

Vice Bishop Heinz dipped his quill deep into the ink and kept writing as he spoke.

"All right. Do you think the Order of the Golden Tray has any reason to negotiate with you instead of them?"

"I only have one thing to offer. My skill."

"I heard that at the last Grand Festival, you single-handedly beat five paladins of the Bloodstained Spear church. But what about twenty, or a hundred? There's a limit to how much one man can substitute for many. Which means we have no reason to choose you over the other combat churches."

At first hearing, it sounded like a cold refusal.

But Elbridge sensed that Vice Bishop Heinz was actually listening closely to his answer.

"No. There is a reason."

"Let's hear it."

"I can become their leader."

"That's wishful thinking on your part."

"I'm probably the only paladin in Solenion who's ever sealed a demon."

The hand dancing across the paper stopped.

And for the first time, Heinz lifted his head and looked Elbridge straight in the eye.

"Sealed? Not combat, but sealing?"

"Yes. Sealing."

"...I swear on the Goddess of the Golden Tray, if you'd given me any other answer, I would have told you not to waste my time and sent you out the door."

Vice Bishop Heinz slotted his quill back into the inkwell and gestured to the chair across the table.

"Sit. Let's talk for a moment."

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