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◈ Paladin of a Ruined Order

Chapter 60

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Last Night

The next day, Elbridge woke to the low murmur of voices.

He sat up in bed and looked around.

The room was dim. It had to still be early dawn.

The paladins of the Order of Spring Rain and Moss had granted him Healing Authority yesterday, but Healing Authority alone couldn't wash away exhaustion completely. Normally he should have slept in.

'Why is it so noisy?'

He glanced outside and saw that, despite the early hour, quite a few people had already gathered.

Elbridge tried to step out of the bedroom, and Matilda, the freelance administrative priest, came toward him.

"Go back in and rest. I heard you had a rough time yesterday."

"Matilda. Why are you out so early today? The sun hasn't even fully risen."

"I figured people would come crowding in, so I got here early. Anyway, go back in and rest today."

"I'm fine."

Matilda crossed her arms with a stern expression.

"Just so you know ahead of time, if you step out now, you won't get a moment's rest all day. Come out and get worn down until night, or take a full day to rest. Which will it be?"

"...I'll rest. Thank you, Matilda."

Elbridge quietly closed the door and flopped onto the bed.

Then something surprising happened.

- Elbridge. Elbridge.

The Goddess of the Rusted Shield had sent an oracle at this early hour.

At any other time of day, maybe, but for the Goddess of the Rusted Shield to send an oracle this early was unprecedented.

And her voice carried none of its usual sluggishness or fog.

Elbridge sensed it at once.

"Goddess. You didn't sleep last night, did you."

The goddess preened.

- That's because so very many people prayed to your goddess since last evening. At this rate, two seats are well within reach.

She'd probably stayed up all night out of pure excited joy, and the urge to brag.

"Congratulations, Goddess."

- Of course, all of this is thanks to my High Paladin's efforts. I'd love to grant some sort of reward, if only I had a proper way to do it.

"The thought alone is thanks enough, Goddess."

- Yes. Elbridge. Sleep a little more for now.

Elbridge pulled the blanket back over himself and tried to sleep.

Some time passed.

Knock knock.

Someone rapped on the door.

He opened his eyes to find the room considerably brighter.

"Sir Elbridge. You have a visitor."

Matilda's voice. It had to be someone important enough that she couldn't simply turn them away.

"Send them in."

Elbridge sat up on the bed, rubbing his face dry, and a familiar face stepped into his bedroom, which doubled as his office and prayer room.

The eastern diocese head of the Order of the Golden Tray, Vice Bishop Heinz.

Heinz said, "I heard it was quite the performance, Sir Elbridge."

"Since you've stepped outside the temple, I take it the crowd has dispersed."

"Subduing the demon calmed people's excitement. Thanks to that, I could sleep peacefully too, and so could the residents with the brand carved into them."

"Good to hear."

Had Vice Bishop Heinz really come all the way to the Hillside Slums just to say thanks for a good night's sleep?

Unlikely.

"What became of the white hands?"

At Elbridge's question, Vice Bishop Heinz smiled faintly.

"Up until last evening, they were struggling to build the mood back up. Nearly twenty paladins died this time, along with dozens more caught up in the fighting..."

Most of those caught up in the fighting had been onlookers.

People who'd come to watch the battle, thinking nothing much would happen.

Even Elbridge couldn't have kept people like that safe.

"They were saying that if the fight had happened after the new year started, if the combat churches had more divine power, they could have reduced the casualties. That people needed to help the combat churches, so they should gather more strength for them... But then Sir Cowin showed up at the Order of the Golden Tray, and things changed."

"Who's Sir Cowin?"

"You don't even know your neighbor's name?"

"Neighbor?"

"The High Paladin of the Order of the Bloodstained Spear."

"Ah."

Elbridge felt a little embarrassed.

"...We just never had the chance to properly introduce ourselves. Anyway, why did Sir Cowin come by?"

"The Order of the Bloodstained Spear and the Order of the Laurel Wreath have decided to withdraw from this round of negotiations. And they named you the representative of the combat churches."

That was startling news.

Naming Elbridge as the representative of the combat churches meant they'd agreed to follow whatever result he negotiated.

In other words, even if Elbridge swallowed up every allocated seat, they wouldn't raise an objection.

Of course, the Hillside Slums held one or two more combat churches with a single seat each, along with countless smaller seatless churches.

But none of them had the standing to represent the combat churches. The Order of the Laurel Wreath with its three seats and the Order of the Bloodstained Spear with its two were the true heavyweights of the Hillside Slums.

"That leaves the white hands with only us non-combat churches left to negotiate with. Stirring people up to pressure our churches won't get them anywhere now."

Vice Bishop Heinz's expression was as bright as a man who'd just had an aching tooth pulled.

Given that the white hands had been circling around, needling everyone endlessly, it made sense.

"...So, Sir Elbridge. What terms do you want? Some of the white hands' internal defections are happening, but I think we can shift roughly five seats or so."

"How many seats could you allocate to the combat churches?"

"I was thinking a maximum of three for the combat churches."

That meant the Order of the Rusted Shield could gain up to three more seats under the current situation. Which would put the Order of the Rusted Shield's total at up to five.

- Oh...

The Goddess of the Rusted Shield couldn't hide her delight, and let out a soft gasp.

For a god who'd lost her seat to reenter the Heavenly Council was rare enough.

But even on the miraculous occasion of returning to the Heavenly Council, the seat count was almost always exactly one.

That was why the Goddess of the Rusted Shield had been going around bragging that she might land two seats.

So what would happen if she suddenly seized five seats all at once and made a dazzling return to the Heavenly Council?

Five seats made for a genuinely significant power. Roughly around fifteenth place in the Heavenly Council.

"Vice Bishop. Give me a moment to think."

"Take your time."

Elbridge slipped quietly out of the bedroom and stood by the door, praying to the Goddess of the Rusted Shield.

"Goddess. What do you want me to do?"

- ...

The Goddess of the Rusted Shield thought it over for a long while.

They say people lie even in their own diaries.

Even in front of her sole paladin, the Goddess of the Rusted Shield couldn't bring herself to admit her greed honestly.

In the end, she delivered her oracle in a voice thick with regret.

- Your goddess doesn't get worked up over something as trivial as seats. Elbridge. Do as you think is right.

"Understood."

The oracle the God of Fox Rain had once given came to mind.

'They said it didn't matter if we turned every combat church into an enemy.'

But now Elbridge had a chance to go even further, to swallow three seats without turning the combat churches into enemies at all.

If he'd received this offer a little while ago, he would have swallowed his shame and asked that all three seats go straight to the Order of the Rusted Shield.

But now Elbridge chose a different path than the one the God of Fox Rain's oracle had suggested, one that might pay off more in the long run.

"I won't ask for seats."

Vice Bishop Heinz looked intrigued.

"That doesn't sound like you want nothing. It sounds like you're asking for something else."

"That's right."

"Sir Elbridge. What do you want?"

Elbridge looked Vice Bishop Heinz straight in the eye and made his request.

"I want the Order of the Golden Tray to stop negotiating with the white hands. And further, I want you to keep other churches from negotiating with them too. At least for this year. If possible, next year and beyond as well."

"That's a condition I've never considered before."

Heinz said that and fell into thought for quite a while.

But he still seemed unable to grasp Elbridge's intent.

"That's not a bad condition for the Order of the Golden Tray. Year-end spending had been getting heavier and heavier for us. If we stop negotiating, a good number of them will come back to our church... But how does that request help you?"

"It gets me votes with a different kind of value."

"Every vote has the same value, Sir Elbridge."

Elbridge shook his head.

"No. They're different. Clearly different."

"In what way?"

"Believers gathered through payment leave the moment you can't pay them next year. But believers gathered without conditions won't leave, even in the hardest moments."

This lined up with what Elbridge had told the other paladins yesterday.

Fight because you were promised something, and you're a mercenary. Get promised something because you fight, and you're a paladin.

Follow because you were promised something, and you're a client. Follow, then get promised something, and you're a believer.

Just as paladins have their own way of doing things, combat churches need believers suited to combat churches.

Believers who'll gather strength without wavering, for as long as the paladin keeps fighting in silence.

Elbridge thought it over.

Better to hold on to believers for the long haul, even with fewer seats now, than to gain three more seats this year only to lose them all next year.

"Foolish. You'll end up with no seats at all and regret it bitterly."

Elbridge smiled.

"The demon was only sealed yesterday. A good portion of the wandering votes will flow this way."

"Those are people who wanted a payoff. Do you really think they'll stay with the church next year?"

"People say thoughts determine actions. But quite often, it's actions that determine thoughts."

At that, Vice Bishop Heinz smiled too.

"Reasonably wise, and reasonably shrewd. Sir Elbridge."

Vice Bishop Heinz toyed with the white hands' representatives in a remarkably simple way.

He kept up a desperate-looking negotiation all day, then flipped his attitude suddenly come evening.

"Well. I don't care to do business with people who don't know respect."

"We'll drop the price!"

"No. This isn't about the amount. It's about the attitude you've shown this whole time."

With that simple reply, Vice Bishop Heinz drove out every last one of the white hands' representatives.

The white hands' representatives were left rattled.

Countless believers were waiting for them to bring back money, waiting for them to name a church.

With no other choice, the white hands' representatives went to the next wealthiest church after the Golden Tray. The Order of the Olive Tree.

"We've concluded that the Order of the Olive Tree would make a more reasonable partner than the Order of the Golden Tray."

But the Order of the Olive Tree answered just as plainly.

"We don't think so."

Turned away by the two wealthiest churches in Solenion, the white hands' representatives began to lose their grip.

"What do we do now?"

"We negotiate directly with the combat churches!"

But neither the Order of the Bloodstained Spear nor the Order of the Laurel Wreath would even meet with the white hands' representatives.

"..."

Now there wasn't a single negotiating partner left.

And the sun had already set.

Members of the "white hands" quietly appeared and pressed their representatives.

"Hey. Weren't you going to tell us which church to pray to before sundown?"

"Well, that's..."

"How far did the negotiations go?"

"..."

"What about the payment you promised? At least five silver coins, you said?"

No church had been decided on, and no promised payment could be delivered.

It was the evening of the last day of the year, so there wasn't a single priest offering benefits to draw in believers. They'd have to commit to a church with no guarantee of any benefit at all.

In the end, the furious crowd seized their representatives and dragged them off to some dark corner.

Under a night sky about to spill over with stars, Elbridge lay stretched out on the temple roof, watching it all unfold.

- Elbridge. Are you sure it's fine to leave them be?

"Leave what be?"

- Right now, they're dragging someone off into a back alley.

"When I was a kid, I used to stay out late playing with my friends. Maybe they're just off to have some fun together too?"

But despite his words, Elbridge kept his ears trained on the direction the people had vanished, ready to step in at any moment.

Everyone is a little selfish, at least in some small way.

Elbridge didn't think the white hands were wicked people. Just people a bit more honest about their own self-interest.

The Goddess of the Rusted Shield sensed what was in his heart and let out a small laugh.

- Elbridge. There's something your goddess desperately wants.

It was rare enough for the goddess to ask for anything at all, so Elbridge asked carefully.

"What do you want?"

- Offer me two pints of beer made from clean water and good barley. Nothing with oats mixed in, nothing sour...

Elbridge could hear deep tension in the goddess's voice.

"Goddess. Are you worried about tonight's outcome?"

Today was the last day of the year.

The seats to be claimed in the Heavenly Council would be decided tonight, which made it the day the gods grew most desperate.

The Goddess of the Rusted Shield hedged, then answered.

- Elbridge. Your goddess is proud that you weren't swayed by some small gain right in front of you. But your goddess still can't stop that small gain from dangling right there in front of her eyes...

"Goddess. How many seats would satisfy you?"

- Two seats. No... actually, three would be even better.

"...Weren't you saying just this morning that two seats would be more than you could ask for?"

- I was. But right now, I don't think two seats alone would be enough to satisfy me... Oh, someone's here? Elbridge. My most devoted paladin. I think I'll need four pints of beer, not two.

It seemed a guest had arrived.

Elbridge hurried off to the tavern, bought a whole gallon of the finest beer he could find, and offered it up.

Offering beer instead of oil or silk. Other believers might have been a little taken aback if they'd seen it.

But there can be small secrets kept between a tight-lipped archbishop and a god.

Elbridge sat back down on the roof and waited for the new year to arrive, sipping his beer.

Some time passed.

Dong- dong- dong-

Bells rang out, and with them came the sound of hymns.

A little more time passed, and children began running toward each temple, clutching fluttering sheets of paper. The children shouted at the top of their lungs.

"It's out! It's out!"

Priests came out of each temple, pressing a silver coin into each child's hand and taking the paper in exchange.

Elbridge received his own sheet of paper and read it with a trembling heart.

[1. Order of the Golden Tray, 58 seats] (-3)

[2. Order of the Olive Tree, 36 seats] (-1)

...

[9. Order of the God of Fox Rain, 9 seats] (+1)

[10. Order of Spring Rain and Moss, 7 seats] (-)

...

[19. Order of the Bloodstained Spear, 4 seats] (+2)

[19. Order of the Rusted Shield, 4 seats] (+4)

Elbridge rolled up the paper and offered a prayer.

"Goddess. Congratulations on your return to the council."

All through the night, the goddess's tipsy singing came down as oracle after oracle, so Elbridge lost sleep on the very first night of the new year too.

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