Paladin of a Fallen Order (Novel) - Chapter 103 - Cleaning
Chapter 103 – Cleaning
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Translated by Pratt
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Around noon the following day, Elbridge left the Temple of the Rusty Shield with simple cleaning tools.
He was on his way to clean unmaintained temples, upholding the oracle of the goddess that good things would surely follow if he cleaned the abandoned ones.
However, unlike yesterday, Elbridge was not going alone.
“…Won’t the gods feel uncomfortable with a non-believer like me cleaning? I think it might be better if I just stay behind…”
“Stop making excuses and follow me.”
Elbridge commanded forced labor from Sonya.
Since Sonya was lodging at the Temple of the Rusty Shield, she could not refuse the landlord’s order.
The number of unmaintained temples was at least in the hundreds, to say the least.
Elbridge stared at the abandoned temples and murmured.
“Which temple should we clean first…”
As if waiting for this moment, the goddess’s oracle descended.
– Elbridge. What about the Temple of the Wheel over there? The Goddess of the Wheel is a wonderful deity.
It is known that a divine name is not given, but chosen by the god themselves.
Hence, gods often constructed their divine names using objects that best represented their lives.
The Golden Platter representing wealth, the Laurel Wreath representing victory, the Soot and Wine representing ink, and so on.
In a similar vein, when they ascended after inventing a specific tool and having their contributions recognized, gods would adopt their invention as their divine name.
A prime example was the God of the Brass Cup. It was said that the God of the Brass Cup was the first to make brass when he was a human.
Surely, the Goddess of the Wheel was the same. Perhaps she was an even older deity than the God of the Brass Cup.
Elbridge offered a prayer.
“Is there a reason we should clean the Temple of the Wheel first?”
– As far as your goddess knows, she is the most beautiful and generous-hearted god.
Elbridge understood the oracle in his own way.
‘They were close friends.’
The Goddess of the Rusty Shield issued another oracle.
– Elbridge. If you ever find it difficult to decide which temple to clean, you can ask your goddess at any time.
“I understand.”
Elbridge imagined the situation the Goddess of the Rusty Shield might be in.
With gods subtly asking her to clean their temples first, wasn’t the Goddess of the Rusty Shield swaggering in front of them?
The two went inside the temple.
Covered in stubborn grime, a sullen-faced statue of the goddess stared down at Elbridge and Sonya.
Sonya tilted her staff downward and muttered.
“Flow.”
At that, water poured from the tip of Sonya’s staff, wetting the temple. Elbridge smiled with satisfaction.
‘I did well in bringing her along.’
Dust in a temple left neglected for a long time does not remain fluffy like dandelion seeds; it turns into sticky, caked-on grime.
Water was absolutely necessary to strip away such grime.
And as Elbridge had realized yesterday, the time spent traveling back and forth to the well to fetch water was longer than the time spent cleaning. But with Sonya around, there was no need to labor to obtain water.
Sonya began to speak as she scrubbed the old grime with a long-handled brush.
The topic was the conversation from the previous evening.
“Just as Mr. Rombel said, there might be things the Tower Lord is hiding. But isn’t that true for everyone in the world? Isn’t a person who lives with their absolute bottom completely exposed actually the strange one?”
The Central Mage Tower Lord was not simply the most skilled mage in the Central Mage Tower.
He was the foundation of the Mage Tower and the spiritual pillar of the mages.
Since Sonya was no exception, she actively defended the Central Mage Tower Lord.
“It might be because Rombel is on the franker side compared to ordinary people. Dwarves don’t have many secrets.”
Elbridge replied, but Sonya paid no heed and continued saying what she wanted.
“The Tower Lord wouldn’t have revealed his weakness to people without any reason either. He must have had no choice but to say it while explaining the reason he descended from heaven. To accurately let people know of his situation, and to avoid useless misunderstandings that might arise later.”
“That could be true.”
Elbridge nodded. Just as Rombel’s story had some plausibility, Sonya’s story was also persuasive.
“The Tower Lord must have made a difficult decision after much agonizing and showed his weakness to everyone… yet to doubt even that weakness. No matter how much I think about it, it’s too much.”
“Rombel is not the affectionate type, indeed. Nor is he the type to speak while walking on eggshells.”
Elbridge straightened his back and thumped his waist a couple of times with his fist.
“Sonya. What kind of person was the Central Mage Tower Lord in your eyes?”
“He is someone who dedicated his entire life not just to magic, but to the mages. He said his dream is not simply to become a heavenly god. His dream is to ascend to heaven first and then lead other mages so they too can ascend to heaven. And…”
The Central Mage Tower Lord’s plan was quite concrete.
With himself at the forefront, if mages ascended to heaven one after another, they could band together and overcome even if other gods were exclusive.
Elbridge asked as he scraped off the old grime.
“Sonya. Do you know what the Central Mage Tower Lord’s divine name was back when he resided in heaven?”
“The God of Circulation and Flow.”
It was a naming befitting a mage who utilized the flow of mana.
“Should we search for the Central Mage Tower Lord’s temple after we finish cleaning here?”
When Elbridge made the suggestion, Sonya pouted her lips.
“I told you that the Tower Lord had no believers, didn’t I? You want to look for a temple when there are no believers? In the East, of all places, not even the Central region?”
“Sonya, it seems you don’t know why Solenion is called the Holy City, the sacred city.”
“Who do you take for a fool? It’s because there are many temples.”
“Have you ever thought about why there are so many temples in Solenion in particular?”
“That…”
Sonya could not answer.
It was not an unusual thing. The vast majority of people were similar to Sonya.
Everyone knew that Solenion had many temples, but few paid attention to the reason why.
“It is simple. It is because the first lord of Solenion set a goal to construct temples for all gods. That goal became a tradition and has continued to this day.”
Just as there are gods who perform heroic feats and immediately command numerous followers upon ascension, there are also gods who ascend in secret and are naturally forgotten, like the Central Mage Tower Lord. People took that for granted.
But the first lord of Solenion was different.
He believed that a god was not grander just because they commanded many believers upon ascension, nor was a god who ascended without believers any less grand.
“He considered that since all of them were gods who had received the Chief God’s calling by achieving splendid feats, the number of believers they currently commanded was merely a matter of timing and luck.”
Therefore, the first lord of Solenion set a goal to build temples for all gods.
It was said that he unfailingly built temples for famous gods, obscure gods, half-forgotten gods, and even newly ascended gods.
So that people might at least recognize the existence of that god. So that they would be given at least a minimal opportunity to gather believers…
“The problem was that the number of gods was far too many.”
Even though he built small and cozy temples instead of massive and splendid ones, the expenditures were difficult to bear.
If he could not have taken stone freely from the hills at the edge of the territory, and if the residents of the territory had not silently followed the Solenion lord’s decision, it would not have been strange if the territory had collapsed.
The surrounding lords ridiculed the first lord of Solenion.
The descendants of the lords who inherited the title afterward also scoffed.
Yet when the world became chaotic and cities fell one after another, Solenion alone stood firm and survived. For Solenion was the city that all gods watched over. The gods of heaven did their absolute best to prevent Solenion’s collapse.
In that manner, the largest city in the East was forged.
A city protected by all gods. The Holy City Solenion.
“…Therefore, the lord of Solenion is still building new temples even now.”
As Elbridge finished his story, Sonya murmured.
“It was an amazing city. Or should I say an amazing lord?”
Elbridge and Sonya’s cleaning had also finished.
Although they could not completely erase the years of stains… it was at a level they could overlook, considering it the trace of time.
‘Come to think of it, perhaps there was no need to remain in Solenion while worrying about the demons of the Dickens Viscountcy. Even if this world is ruined, Solenion will surely survive until the very end.’
Elbridge thought so as he gazed at the statue of the Goddess of the Wheel.
Sonya, who was likewise looking at the statue, spoke.
“By the way, doesn’t it look like the statue’s expression has brightened?”
The corners of the statue’s mouth, which had been sullen when they first entered the temple, were faintly upturned.
That was the only way the Goddess of the Wheel, who did not have a single believer, could express her gratitude to Elbridge and Sonya.
The Goddess of the Wheel dragged up her barely remaining authority to the very bottom and expressed her gratitude to Elbridge and Sonya.
“It is likely not an illusion.”
Elbridge gathered his cleaning tools and walked out of the temple.
*
– Elbridge. Splendid. At this rate, your goddess might become the most popular god in heaven…!
The oracle descended in a voice far more excited than usual. Elbridge offered a prayer.
“That you are pleased, Goddess, is indeed my greatest joy.”
Sonya, who had been watching Elbridge, asked.
“I’ve been curious about this since before, but you’re not talking to yourself, are you?”
“I am offering a prayer whenever an oracle descends.”
“…I feel like I’ve seen that sudden praying quite often. Just how frequently does the oracle descend?”
“About ten times a day?”
Sonya started to say something but shut her mouth. It seemed she felt it would be a sacrilegious remark.
“Sonya. I think you are smarter than Rombel.”
“Why all of a sudden?”
“If you were a fellow who blurted out whatever came to mind like Rombel, a bolt from the blue surely would have struck by now.”
Elbridge looked up at the sky. The sun was still high.
“Shall we move a bit more?”
Elbridge carried his cleaning tools and scoured the shaded north side of the hill.
After some time had passed in that manner, Elbridge stopped before a certain temple.
“Here it is.”
Carved upon a pillar of the temple were the words: God of Circulation and Flow.
The temple built in the past when the Central Mage Tower Lord ascended.
Elbridge went inside the temple with Sonya.
The statue of the Central Mage Tower Lord stared blankly into the empty air, and it was not very different from the appearance of the Central Mage Tower Lord Elbridge remembered. It merely looked a tiny bit younger.
“How long has it been since the Central Mage Tower Lord descended to the earth?”
“I don’t know exactly. At least fifty or sixty years, maybe a hundred years if it’s long?”
Those who have ascended to heaven transcend the limits of lifespan. Even as an ordinary human, they can easily live two or three hundred years.
The problem was that the statue—and the temple—were maintained well enough for Elbridge to roughly discern the subtle age difference between the real person and the statue.
It was not perfectly clean… but at least it did not have the look of a temple neglected for hundreds of years.
“Sonya. You didn’t know there is a temple for the Central Mage Tower Lord in Solenion, did you?”
Sonya nodded.
“What is the possibility that the mages of the East Mage Tower maintained the temple?”
“It’s highly possible. Mages respect mages with outstanding skill.”
However, a tickle teased his chest.
His intuition spoke. There seemed to be something more.
Elbridge walked slowly around the temple and discovered a small book deep inside.
Book of Oracles.
If it was a religious order that had believers.
A book that existed without exception in any order where an archbishop had existed.
Elbridge opened the half-decayed Book of Oracles.
Poor quality paper, and ink so old it had bled. Discerning the contents did not seem easy.
But what was important was not the content of the oracle.
What was important was that the record existed.
Elbridge spoke.
“If nothing else, it seems there were indeed believers.”