Paladin of a Fallen Order (Novel) - Chapter 104 - Mercenary Marcus
Chapter 104 – Mercenary Marcus
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Translated by Pratt
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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In the prayer room of the Order of the Rusty Shield, Rombel, Marcus, and Sonya were gathered together, looking at Elbridge.
“To explain the current situation…”
As he began speaking, Elbridge recalled the words that Sir Corwin, the Chief Paladin of the Order of the Bloody Spear, had spoken before he died.
– “It is a simple situation. Just as our combat order’s interests aligned with theirs, your interests align with ours. As long as our interests align, there is no reason to be at odds.”
What Elbridge had been most curious about was who the “they” Corwin mentioned were. Since they must have been the ones who approached Corwin and induced him to break the seals of the demon.
“Our combat order’s interests aligned with theirs,” he had said, so it was certain that they were not a combat order.
If they were not a combat order, the first thing that came to mind was, of course, a non-combat order.
However, the probability of a non-combat order joining hands with a combat order was low. After all, non-combat orders would suffer the greatest loss if a demon appeared.
“They” had to be someone who was neither a combat order nor a non-combat order.
After killing Corwin, Elbridge’s reasoning had stopped there. There were no further clues.
But now, he felt he knew who “they” were.
Those who were neither combat orders nor non-combat orders.
The non-believers. In other words, the Mage Tower.
The Mage Tower was driving the current situation. And the Central Mage Tower Lord was likely at the center of it.
“…That is what I think.”
Elbridge’s speech came to an end.
However, no one answered immediately. Since the situation was not simple, they needed time to organize their thoughts.
– …
The Goddess of the Rusty Shield was the same. Although no oracle came down, Elbridge knew that the Goddess was listening to his story.
At the same time, Elbridge was certain that the Goddess of the Rusty Shield would not offer any particular opinion on this matter. The Goddess of the Rusty Shield tended to save her words when things got complicated.
Rombel asked.
“Elbridge. I have something I’m curious about.”
“What is it?”
“According to what you said, that means the Central Mage Tower Lord broke the demon’s seal, right? Why would the Central Mage Tower Lord break the seal?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Then is the entire Central Mage Tower involved? Or is it the Tower Lord’s sole crime?”
“I don’t know for sure. But the entire Mage Tower wouldn’t be involved. Sonya didn’t know anything, after all. No matter how powerful the Central Mage Tower Lord is, he wouldn’t be able to win over every single mage, so if it isn’t a sole crime, there would only be a small number of co-conspirators.”
Elbridge glanced at Sonya.
Sonya’s expression was troubled.
Sonya had firmly believed that the Central Mage Tower Lord was not a suspicious person, and that his words were not lies.
Having personally verified the Book of Oracles, the clearest evidence of those lies, she must have been incredibly perplexed.
“Sir Elbridge.”
Marcus, who had been quiet all this time, spoke up.
“I understand that the Central Mage Tower Lord is hiding something and is suspicious. But assuming that the Central Mage Tower Lord orchestrated everything based on just that seems a bit… like a leap.”
“A leap, you say.”
As Elbridge muttered, Marcus spoke calmly.
“In my experience, that’s the mistake mercenaries make the most. Sir Elbridge. When a half-baked mercenary takes on a request to find a missing item or a killer, do you know what they do first?”
“I do not know.”
“First, they look for the most suspicious guy.”
Elbridge nodded. The expression “half-baked mercenary” was a bit bothersome, but he thought he would have done the same.
“But if you do that, the very first step is ruined. The moment you decide someone is a suspicious bastard, all your thoughts unconsciously lead in the direction of doubting that guy.”
“Hmm.”
“People have a habit of wanting the situation to match their own assumptions. Without even realizing it, they start looking for evidence that makes him the culprit, and gloss over circumstances that don’t suit their taste. If you spend a few days clinging to that, before you know it, the thought solidifies in your head. That guy is the culprit. He can’t not be the culprit. But he just won’t confess…”
Marcus spoke like that, and then asked Elbridge.
“If that happens, in the end, the half-baked mercenary will use a slightly more daring method to get a confession. What do you think they would do?”
“…Do they beat him up or something?”
Marcus slapped his knee.
“Exactly! Because they have conviction in their own mind, they beat him up, telling him to hurry up and confess. They don’t even hesitate because they are sure. But while they are beating him like that, it’s common for the missing item to pop out from a corner of a drawer, or for the killer to be caught somewhere completely unrelated.”
Sonya was disgusted.
“Ugh. Then what happens?”
“The person who got beaten unjustly would be half-crippled… and a mediocre mercenary doesn’t have the ability to take responsibility for such a person for the rest of their life, right? They wouldn’t want to take responsibility either. In the end, it just ends with the mercenary running away.”
“Then where does the person who got beaten get compensated?”
“Compensation? There’s no such thing. The one who hired the mercenary will also draw the line, saying it wasn’t their fault. In the end, the person who became half-crippled has nowhere left to complain. There’s a reason why people have a bad perception of mercenaries.”
Rombel, who had been listening to the story, smirked.
“That description is far too detailed. Marcus, it looks like you’ve committed such an act before?”
At that, Marcus smiled bitterly.
“It wasn’t me, but my father was someone who got beaten like that and became crippled. When I was young, he was a pretty good man, but once he couldn’t use his legs properly, a perfectly fine man fell into the liquor bottle.”
“…”
“Eventually, he ended up beating my mother and me with a leather belt. And now I’ve become a mercenary, so I suppose you could say the world is quite strange.”
Sonya looked at Rombel with a serious expression.
“Mr. Rombel. I didn’t see you that way, but you’re quite a piece of trash…”
Rombel hesitated.
“N-No. Do you think I said that knowing about it…”
At that moment, the oracle sent down by the Goddess of the Rusty Shield resounded lowly through the temple.
– Boo. Trash.
“…”
How many people in the world had ever received a deity’s jeers? Rombel was enveloped in shock and lost his words.
Marcus cleared his throat a couple of times to clean up the atmosphere.
“Ahem. Anyway, what I want to say is that even if someone is suspicious, there needs to be slightly more concrete evidence. Of course, don’t misunderstand—I’m not saying the Central Mage Tower Lord isn’t suspicious.”
Rombel, wanting to prove that he was not trash, actively agreed with Marcus’s opinion.
“Fine, Marcus. Let’s go to Middlemarch and dig into the Central Mage Tower Lord’s background. Once we grab some more solid evidence, we can just take the Central Mage Tower Lord’s head off, right?”
The response returned as an oracle.
It wasn’t even the Goddess of the Rusty Shield. It was an oracle sent down by the God of the Sunshower for the first time in a very long while.
– Good idea. But if you’re going to Middlemarch, it would be better if you went alone, Rombel.
A husky, gruff voice resounded throughout the prayer room.
For public oracles to descend twice in a single day. Rombel was slightly flustered as he asked back.
“Why do I have to go alone?”
– You stupid bastard. Think about it if the Central Mage Tower Lord is the real culprit. If you guys show up and hover around the Central Mage Tower Lord, do you think he’ll just stay clueless and say, ‘Hehe, please investigate my background’? Or do you think he’ll think, ‘It looks like these guys have noticed, so I should take some mages and bury them first’?
Sonya seemed slightly taken aback by the God of the Sunshower’s characteristically cheap way of speaking.
However, Rombel was not surprised, as he knew that the God of the Sunshower was originally like that. Instead, he answered in a somewhat unconfident voice.
“No, who said we’d dig into him openly? We can just do it carefully so we don’t get caught…”
– If that thing sitting on your shoulders is a head, then think about it. In a thief’s eyes, everyone in the world looks like a guard. For a bastard who is bound to suspect even completely unrelated people, is there even a single reason why he wouldn’t suspect you guys?
The God of the Sunshower snapped without rest.
– Rombel. I won’t interfere with you crawling into the central region and dying, but don’t drag Marcus in with you. Got it?
The moment he finished speaking, the God of the Sunshower’s presence vanished.
Unlike a certain goddess who had been quietly watching the situation until now, the God of the Sunshower was a busy deity with a lot of work to do.
“…”
Rombel became visibly dejected.
If one could maintain their composure even after being scolded by two deities in a row, that would be amazing in its own right.
Elbridge smoothed over the atmosphere instead.
“Let’s think about what we should do next. Does anyone have an opinion?”
Marcus glanced at Rombel, then stroked his chin awkwardly.
“A few months ago, the God of the Sunshower told me to go to the North if I had time. It might not be particularly related to this matter… just saying.”
As it happened, Elbridge had also been secretly considering a trip to the North. In order to find whoever had contacted Corwin.
That thought remained unchanged now. If they had to find a link with the Central Mage Tower Lord outside of his gaze, there was no better choice than the North.
But apart from that, Elbridge could not hold back a creeping smile.
“The North. I think I know why the God of the Sunshower told you to go to the North.”
“What is it?”
“Mr. Marcus. You know the Mercenary King, right?”
“Of course I know. I’m a mercenary too.”
The Mercenary King was a man of the past.
However, several of the unwritten rules that mercenaries observed to this day were made by the Mercenary King’s decisions.
For instance, things like not connecting a novice mercenary with an untrustworthy client.
“The sole reason why proud mercenaries willingly acknowledged and accepted the arrogant name of Mercenary King is because he was the only mercenary commander who led his band and survived on the northern front. Conveniently, demons have been unleashed upon the world, so if you go to the North now, you will be able to follow the Mercenary King’s path exactly.”
It was a story that would make a child’s or a novice mercenary’s heart leap.
However, the weathered Marcus’s complexion darkened. Even while following Elbridge around, Marcus still had not let go of his lingering attachment to a long, quiet life.
And such a reaction from Marcus secretly excited the dejected Rombel.
“People nowadays just think of the North as a cold land, but… two hundred years ago, the North was the most intense battlefield. The place where the most demons and magic beasts ran wild. The land where the paladins and warriors were buried. The region where the most mysteries lived and breathed. And—the land where the most demons were sealed.”
With every word that ended, Marcus’s complexion grew progressively darker.
“By any chance, are you and Sir Elbridge from the North too, Mr. Rombel?”
“Of course. Although our hometowns were different, the place we active in the most was the North. Most of the people who made a name for themselves in those days were like that.”
“…”
“If someone said they rolled around the northern front for a few years, paladins from other regions would treat them with respect. It was the same for mercenaries. Even as a mercenary, you could receive treatment better than a decent paladin, you know? Marcus, you punk. Your life has opened up.”
Rombel subtly slung his arm over Marcus’s shoulder and added a word.
“That is, if you return alive.”
Marcus closed his eyes tightly.
“For some reason, I miss Ada. If I could be embraced in Ada’s arms, I feel like I could die without regrets…”
“If that’s possible, that’s not bad either. But in my experience, the bastards who talk about the wife and kids, husband, or lover they left behind at home die the fastest.”
“Ah.”
Now, the only one he could trust was the God of the Sunshower.
Marcus clasped his hands together and offered an earnest prayer.
“O God of the Sunshower. Just as you have done until now, you will look after me this time as well, right?”
No answer returned. Marcus continued his prayer with even greater desperation.
“Common-sensically. I’m being dragged all the way to the North because of an oracle… Shouldn’t you look after me? That is the reward for faith. No, even before faith, it is basic commercial morality…”
Just as Marcus was about to despair at the answer that would not return, an oracle delayed by half a beat reached his ears.
– Depending on how you behave.