Paladin of a Ruined Order - Chapter 57

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

◈ Paladin of a Ruined Order

Chapter 57

──────

Senior's Teaching

Purple clouds were one of the warning signs that came before a demon's descent.

But the phenomena the clouds brought varied wildly. Just off the top of one's head, there were plagues, sleep, delusion, brainwashing, contamination...

Two of those were the most common.

Brands, and summonings.

Elbridge could guess which one this cloud would bring.

Hadn't Felix already given him the answer?

'Every night, the brand burned down a little more from the top, and each time, people suffered agony fit to kill them...'

But he had no way of knowing exactly how the brand would be marked.

While Elbridge was still turning this over, the purple cloud began to writhe.

The moment he saw it, Elbridge shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Fire! There's a fire at the Magic Tower!"

The cloud was rolling in from the east, and the Magic Tower stood in western Solenion.

It happened to be near sunset, the sky glowing red, so the lie almost looked true.

A few people turned west, following Elbridge's hope.

But most eyes stayed locked on the ominous purple cloud.

Vwooom—

A great tremor rang out, and a massive eye appeared within the cloud, looking down on the people below.

Unluckily, some met that gaze.

"What was that? I thought I saw an eye just now. Did you see it?"

"I think I caught it too... Wait. What's that on your forehead?"

"There's something strange on your neck too."

The demon had branded everyone whose eyes it had met.

If the demon wasn't sealed in time, those people would meet an agonizing death.

'...Damn it.'

Elbridge let out a breath.

This wasn't something he could prevent through his own strength alone.

Compared to the whole population of Solenion, the branded were only a fraction.

But more than enough to serve as hostages.

Only then did Elbridge release the hilt of his sword.

From experience, the demon never manifested right after the branding.

'At least it's a small mercy that no demonic beasts scattered inside Solenion's walls this time...'

Elbridge remembered the day the Archdemon first descended.

From a cloud vast enough to blanket the sky, demonic beasts had poured down like rain. If the same thing had happened this time, the death toll would have been staggering.

'For now, I have to wait until the demon manifests.'

Elbridge walked on with a hardened expression, toward the hill where the temple stood.

But someone was waiting for him at the foot of the hill. The High Paladin of the Order of the Bloodstained Spear.

The High Paladin spotted Elbridge, approached, and began walking beside Elbridge.

"Sir Elbridge."

"Go ahead."

"I hear that in Ashfen last time, it took about two days from the cloud's appearance to the demon showing itself."

"Is that so."

"And it took roughly ten days for the branded to die. There's a little more than three days left before the vote closes."

Elbridge turned his head and looked at the High Paladin.

"Everything else aside, why are you telling me the voting deadline?"

"Same as before. From now until the demon's descent, two days remain. If we can hold out one more day and a half after that, we'll be able to close the negotiations."

Elbridge let out a short, humorless laugh.

"So you want more seats and stronger divine power, and you're asking me not to step in until the vote ends?"

The High Paladin shook his head.

"Close, but no."

The High Paladin pulled out a dented silver ring and held it out to Elbridge.

Too cheap a thing to be a bribe.

"What's this."

"A ring that Dunhold wore."

"Dunhold?"

"I'll just say he was one of the five knights you faced at the Grand Festival. He was a subordinate I valued, one of the finest talents in our church."

The phrase "was" made it easy enough to guess what had happened to Dunhold.

"In the battle at Ashfen, Dunhold took the demon's fist meant for an injured comrade, and died with them."

"My condolences."

"To your eyes, Sir Elbridge, Dunhold probably looked like an unremarkable knight. But he was still young, and if he hadn't died, he could have become a far better one. If he'd only survived, even by the narrowest margin..."

"..."

"Sir Elbridge. I'm not asking for more seats. I'm asking for the chance for paladins to survive by that same narrow margin. If Dunhold had lived that day, how many more battles could he have fought in? How many more lives could he have saved? No one will ever know."

Maybe it was the slow pace of the conversation, but the top of the hill had already come into view.

"Sir Elbridge. I imagine you're worried about how many seats the Order of the Rusted Shield will end up with after the negotiations."

The remark hit home. Hadn't he thought exactly that just this morning?

"We wrapped up internal talks among the combat churches in a hurry. If you'll wait so we can close the negotiations on favorable terms, we'll allocate votes so the Order of the Rusted Shield secures at least one seat, no matter how the rest of the negotiation turns out."

The High Paladin didn't know exactly how many believers the Order of the Rusted Shield had.

If it received one more seat here, the church's total would move closer to three than two. It would, in effect, guarantee exceeding its original target.

"My church has exactly one paladin. Me. Why offer such generous terms?"

"Because you're the descendant of the hero who sealed the Archdemon, and the paladin who shone brightest at the Grand Festival. Because you're that symbolic a figure. And because you're the one person who could unravel this entire negotiation single-handed."

By then, the two of them had reached the front of the Order of the Rusted Shield's temple.

"Sir Elbridge. Lend us your strength, so our paladins can go on protecting the world."

The High Paladin bowed respectfully to Elbridge and turned to leave.

Elbridge watched the retreating figure for a long moment before heading into the temple.

Two days later, in the evening.

Unlike usual, the area around the Rusted Shield temple was crowded.

And not with ordinary people, either. Countless paladins surrounded the temple.

To Elbridge, it felt close to confinement.

A confinement meant to stop any sudden move from him, since he still hadn't stated his position clearly.

Felix approached and spoke to him.

"Just wait a little longer. The negotiations sound like they're almost done..."

Elbridge said nothing, only watched the eastern sky and the purple cloud beyond the temple walls.

He was still trying to untangle his thoughts, still trying to guess when the demon would arrive.

Elbridge murmured, "Goddess. You told me to do what's right. I don't really know what that is anymore."

- You seemed to have made up your mind yesterday.

"Looking back, I've never once thought about what's right. I was always a piece on a chessboard. A piece that moved when ordered. A piece that just happened to fight a little better than the rest..."

- Elbridge. I hope you'll come to value yourself.

"I'm not trying to put myself down. It's just... deciding right from wrong was always someone else's job. I just waited quietly for orders, and followed them."

Just then, Marcus and Rombel appeared through the ranks of paladins, both heavily armed.

"Ugh, it's chaos over here, and chaos over there too."

In Elbridge's place, half-confined to the temple, Marcus and Rombel had gone out to see how things were progressing.

"Well?"

At Elbridge's question, Rombel let out a short laugh.

"It's chaos, plain and simple. Especially around the Order of the Golden Tray. It's... honestly not even funny."

"Explain."

Rombel still couldn't stop chuckling, like the whole scene was beyond absurd.

"For starters, the combat church paladins are playing hype men. What was it... Marcus, you saw it too. Do the impression."

Marcus put on a solemn face and spoke.

"Many of you must have suffered through agony again last night! Even more of you had to watch your families suffer! Our paladins are ready to give their lives the moment a demon appears! But right now, our combat churches have no guarantee we can win against it! We already tasted a bitter defeat at Ashfen!"

Marcus flung his arm out and pointed at the empty air.

"A demon is about to descend! We need the strength to guarantee a real victory! But that Order of the Golden Tray is hiding behind excuse after excuse, refusing our request, just to protect its own privilege!"

When Marcus finished the impression, Rombel picked the story back up.

"The crowd's worked up enough to burn the Order of the Golden Tray down. Especially the branded ones. Most of them look like their eyes have rolled right back."

"Ugh..."

"On the other side, the Order of the Golden Tray tries to explain why they can't back down either... and it doesn't land well. If their own believers hadn't physically blocked the way, the crowd would've broken through already. And that's not even the end of it. The white hands can smell how urgent things are getting, so they're kicking up a fuss trying to raise their price..."

"And people just let the white hands get away with that, even after seeing all that?"

"Nobody can say a word. The combat churches least of all. If the white hands hold a grudge, the whole thing turns into a nightmare... in the end it all comes down to how much support the white hands throw behind you."

Rombel shook his head.

"Anyway, it's worse than the old days. Even back then it wasn't this much of a mess."

Marcus spoke to Elbridge.

"Oh, right. Sir Elbridge. The vice bishop of the Order of the Golden Tray said something. That if you get the chance, come find them at the temple..."

Just then, the area around the Rusted Shield temple grew loud.

People who couldn't hold back their anger, fear, and frustration any longer began pushing up the hill.

A woman at the front of the crowd shouted.

"Do something! I really can't go through that pain again tonight... I feel like I'm going to die!"

But the paladins only shook their heads.

"The demon hasn't descended yet. Just two more days. No, just one more day and a half. Two days is enough time to finish the negotiations and get the new seats assigned."

Then some young man shouted.

"You want me to endure that twice more? Fine! I can hold out somehow! But my kid might not make it! Yesterday, the day before, they almost stopped breathing!"

The man rocked the child in his arms as he spoke.

The child looked to be five or six at most, but its face was frozen in an expression too stiff for a child that age. A face on the verge of a seizure.

As the crowd kept shouting over each other, the purple cloud began to churn violently.

Rumble—

Then, as if flung out from within, a black giant burst free of the cloud.

Tall as a spire, skin licked with what looked like flame, the giant slammed down onto the ground with a deafening crash.

Thud—

The demon straightened from its crouch and began smashing everything around it, one thing after another, as if it were simply doing what needed to be done.

The one small mercy was that most of the people living nearby had already evacuated.

But watching a lifetime's worth of hard-earned property vanish before your eyes was never easy to bear calmly.

Especially not while also enduring pain from the brand that was almost beyond measure.

The furious crowd screamed.

"You're paladins! Deal with that thing right now!"

A middle-aged paladin tried to calm the crowd.

"If we rush in carelessly and lose, it's over for Solenion. Even after the negotiations wrap up, we need to wait at least until the new year begins."

But the crowd's roar didn't die down.

People who would normally have avoided a paladin's gaze now hurled curses straight at them.

Even Elbridge, who wasn't facing the crowd directly, found himself frowning at the raw obscenities.

In the end, one young paladin, unable to bear the humiliation any longer, muttered under their breath.

"Shameless bastards. Never gave a damn about the combat churches on a normal day, and now they can't even wait two days before demanding we throw our lives away? You'd think they'd paid us in advance or something..."

That remark lit the fuse. A few people charged the paladins bare-handed.

"What did you just say!"

But ordinary people stood no chance against paladins.

The paladins subdued and cleared them away without effort, as if nothing had happened at all.

The clash ended quickly, but the mood only grew uglier.

'This is maddening. Do we really have to wait until the new year? Or...'

Elbridge trailed off and bowed his head.

Rombel asked him, "Why the face?"

"I don't know what to do right now."

"First time I've seen you look like that."

Elbridge pressed his fingers hard against his temples.

"Right. I've always lived by doing what I was told, only what needed doing... Now that I'm trying to figure out what the right choice even is, my head's getting more tangled by the minute."

Rombel answered with a blank look.

"Who asked you that? I'm asking why you're bothering to figure it out right now, of all times."

"...?"

Elbridge looked at Rombel.

Rombel stood leaning on his axe like a walking stick.

"You never used to think back then either. You did what you were told, did what needed doing, no questions asked. So why are you suddenly trying to pick the perfect, hundred-point answer now?"

Do what needs doing.

Nothing described Elbridge's life better than that.

He hated the demon because he had to, so he hated it. He fought the demon because he had to, so he fought.

That was how he had lived his whole life.

"...But this time, so much depends on how many seats end up allocated."

"What the hell kind of nonsense is that. Did paladins back then ever weigh that crap? Fight well, get more seats. Fight badly, get none. Did they stop fighting just because there weren't any seats on the line?"

Elbridge's eyes flew open.

The oracle the Goddess of the Rusted Shield had given him yesterday came back to him.

To other gods, seats were the goal. But to the Goddess of the Rusted Shield, seats were only a means, and only a result.

He'd understood the moment he heard it, what it meant for seats to be a means.

But only now did he understand what it meant for seats to be a result.

A seat wasn't something handed out before the fight. It had to come as the result of the fight, and of devotion.

Elbridge, who had been sitting the whole time, rose to his feet.

A few paladins, sensing something was off, approached him.

"Sir Elbridge. Please wait a little longer."

Elbridge shook his head.

"I have to move."

"No. You need to wait. A way to reduce the damage is right in front of us."

"All of you. Do you really think the believers followed you because you fight well?"

"I suppose... they did."

Elbridge shook his head.

"The believers never trusted your strength or your skill. They trusted that the combat churches would fight for them the moment danger came, that a paladin would die before they did. Whether you fight well or badly is a secondary matter."

"Please, just wait a little longer. The unrest will die down soon."

A paladin of the Order of the Laurel Wreath tried to talk him down, but Elbridge paid them no mind.

"Waiting might feel like the smart move right now. But in the end, it'll come back as a disastrous mistake. No one in this world will ever trust a paladin who makes excuses to put off a fight."

Elbridge steadied his breath for a moment, then addressed the paladins around him.

"Don't wait for the perfect moment. Do what you can do right now. Act like paladins of the combat churches."

But the paladins didn't move the way Elbridge hoped.

Instead, a few of them rested their hands on their sword hilts, trying to block his way.

Something almost like laughter rose in him. The oracle the God of Fox Rain had given him came back to mind.

'Flip the board.'

'Right now, you can afford to turn every combat church into an enemy. Before long, all of them will be on their knees in front of you, begging for help.'

Elbridge thought to himself.

It was an oracle from the God of Fox Rain. Surely it would come true.

Elbridge's shoulder blurred for an instant, and his sword buried itself in the shoulder of the paladin standing at the front.

"Aaargh!"

The sharp scream cut through the air, and the murmuring and shouting that had blanketed the temple grounds went dead silent in an instant.

Everyone held their breath, waiting to hear what Elbridge would say next.

Elbridge looked at the paladins and spoke.

"That was a warning stab. From here on, if you get in my way, I'll take an arm."

He had to act harsh. From the old days, no senior paladin had ever gone easy on an apprentice who hesitated in front of a demon.

Marcus froze solid at Elbridge's sudden move.

'Even with an oracle from the God of Fox Rain behind it, this is...'

But Rombel burst out laughing, loud and unrestrained.