Paladin of a Fallen Order (Novel) - Chapter 111 - Human Regulations
Chapter 111 – Human Regulations
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Translated by Pratt
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Elbridge’s party followed the three elves—namely Selene, Johannes, and Aurelius—toward the North.
Marcus had not shown much interest in the elves until now, but as soon as they decided to travel together, he changed his attitude and spoke to them genially.
“So you two were brothers?”
“Yeah.”
It wasn’t particularly because he wanted to get close to them.
It was simply Marcus’s philosophy that a thorough background check on one’s traveling companions was essential for an experienced mercenary.
The two male elves, Johannes and Aurelius, were brothers. Selene was a close cousin.
But though they were cousins in name, because the age gap was not large, they had lived like real siblings since childhood.
“How did you folks living in the Forest of Thorns end up near Norens?”
“Because the appearance of demons around the forest has been increasing. We came out of the forest after receiving a mission to grasp what the situation was.”
“The situation in the Forest of Thorns must be quite bad.”
“We’re still holding out for now… but the Sentinel has many worries. In fact, it is precarious.”
Hmph. Marcus nodded a few times, then asked Selene.
“Miss Selene. You said you saw Sir Elbridge when you were a child? How did you end up seeing him?”
“When I was really young… probably when I was around forty years old.”
“Really young,” and “forty years old.” These two mismatched phrases gave Marcus an inexplicable sense of confidence.
Judging by elf standards, wasn’t my life in my late thirties just beginning? Perhaps there was no need to blame myself for a humble life or feel anxious…
Selene’s story continued.
“Humans used to use the outskirts of the Forest of Thorns like a safe zone. We met Elbridge among the paladins who had retreated to the Forest of Thorns.”
“Did you have some kind of connection?”
Selene shook her head a few times.
“The human I spoke to out of curiosity just happened to be Elbridge. Back then, I thought Elbridge was much older than me. Since his skills were extraordinary and his appearance was more mature than mine. I thought it was because he was an adult… but he was twenty years old. He was a complete child.”
Elbridge’s expression became subtle.
If that expression were translated into words, wouldn’t it be something like, ‘Ah, so you guys were those kids?’
“Indeed, since you said forty is young for an elf, then twenty is…”
“Right. An elf is recognized as an adult only when they reach eighty or a hundred years old at the earliest. Back then, we saw Elbridge and were motivated… and now we’ve all become reserve Sentinels. Although the effort was ours, the catalyst was Elbridge.”
“Reserve Sentinels?”
Elbridge had said that the Sentinels—that is, the guardians—were among the strongest on the continent regardless of race. However, judging by Marcus’s eye, the skills of the three were not at that level.
Of course, it didn’t mean they were at the level of ordinary people. It simply meant they were not to be compared to the likes of Elbridge or Rombel.
The skills of the three elves were closer to Marcus than Elbridge. In the sense that they could be understood by common sense.
For such elves to be Sentinel candidates.
Just as Marcus’s evaluation of the Sentinels was about to be slightly adjusted downward in his mind, Elbridge spoke as if he had read Marcus’s inner thoughts.
“The difference between a reserve Sentinel and a Sentinel is very large. As large as the difference in their experience.”
“Well, I suppose so. Since you three are a little over two hundred years old and an elf’s lifespan is around eight hundred or a thousand years… is there a difference of about five hundred years?”
Elbridge shook his head.
“Marcus. Do you know what the representative authority bestowed by the Goddess of Thorns is?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Lifespan.”
“Ah, so elves living a long time was because of that authority.”
“No. Elves originally live for about eight hundred or a thousand years.”
Marcus was about to ask, ‘What do you mean by that?’ but understood Elbridge’s meaning half a beat late.
Elves originally lived eight hundred or a thousand years, and the Goddess of Thorns promised a lifespan even longer than that.
‘…Then how long does an elf who has been granted the authority live?’
Elbridge continued his explanation.
“The Order of Thorns is not classified as a combat order. Because the authority bestowed by the Goddess of Thorns is not directly related to combat. However, the deity capable of raising the strongest believer on earth is by far the Godd—”
– …
Feeling the presence of the Goddess, Elbridge naturally twisted his words.
“No. By far the Goddess of the Rusty Shield, and the next to be counted is precisely the Goddess of Thorns. Because she allows her believers to constantly accumulate power over a vast period of time.”
“Isn’t that an excessively powerful authority? I know that the seats held by the Goddess of Thorns in the council are not particularly numerous.”
“That is why there are not many believers who can be granted the authority. As far as I know, the only elves who have been granted the authority of longevity are the three Sentinels.”
The elves nodded.
“You know it well.”
Marcus marvelled inwardly.
Though not to the extent of the Order of the Rusty Shield, didn’t it mean that the Order of Thorns also concentrated its authority to a considerable degree?
“Furthermore, from what I know, two of the three Sentinels are the first-generation Sentinels. Since the Goddess of Thorns ascended to heaven, the Sentinel has been replaced exactly once.”
“Amazing. Eternal youth.”
Elbridge laughed.
“It is not eternal youth. Though slowly, they are aging too. If there are elves in the Forest of Thorns who look older than the other elves, they are the Sentinels.”
Marcus resolved that if he met an old elf, he should get on their good side.
*
The situation in the North was far more serious than in the East. To the point where it could be easily seen that it was becoming a land where humans could hardly survive.
Small cities and villages where people must have lived until not long ago lay destroyed and abandoned. Since the situation was like this, it was probably why there were so many refugees in Norens.
An abandoned village was rather better.
A village that couldn’t be abandoned—that is, a village where people couldn’t flee in time—was littered with half-rotted corpses.
Elbridge’s party gathered the abandoned bodies even during their exhausting journey.
“I’m dying, I’m dying…”
It wasn’t a matter of simply moving while gathering bodies.
Elbridge’s party had to undergo large and small battles multiple times. Though they hadn’t encountered a demon yet, they faced magic beasts several times a day.
Marcus slew thirteen or fourteen magic beasts in the meantime. The man himself whined ceaselessly about dying, yet he fought quite well.
‘To think he was just an ordinary mercenary only last spring…’
Comparing Marcus when they first met to the Marcus of today, even the phrase ‘rapid progress’ felt insufficient.
Experience was experience, and being chosen by the God of the Sunshower to accumulate divine power was helping in many ways.
When they had traveled for about a fortnight like that, Elbridge’s party arrived at an intermediate stopover.
*
Snow-covered mountain ranges had been visible since a few days ago, and before they knew it, the range stood right before the party.
Elbridge pointed at a slender gap between the mountain range and spoke.
“That is Fort Hebron.”
A snow-white structure blocking the massive valley.
The northern barrier, Fort Hebron.
Rombel murmured, lost in reminiscence.
“Even in the old days, to hear that one had rolled around in the North, they had to stay at Fort Hebron or further north. The vicinity of the Norens River wasn’t even considered the North.”
Fort Hebron was famous as a fortress that had never fallen from the distant past until now.
Though the people guarding the fortress had been wiped out… in any case, the fortress did not fall.
Elbridge massaged the slumped shoulders of the exhausted Sonya and spoke.
“Before going to the Forest of Thorns, let’s rest a bit at Fort Hebron.”
“Is there a place to rest in the fortress?”
“It probably has most facilities. Fort Hebron is much larger than it looks. Since the nearby people must have all fled to this place, there will be many people too.”
However, there was one problem. Because it was around sunset, the gates of Fort Hebron were closed.
To be a bit more precise, Elbridge’s party arrived just as the pulley connected to the gate was almost fully wound.
Elbridge shouted at the top of his lungs toward the top of the wall.
“Can we not enter today—?”
A knight atop the wall looked down at the party and shouted.
“We do not open the wall once the sun sets! Come back tomorrow!”
“There are no magic beasts nearby, so can’t you just open it for us—!”
“It is the regulation! No!”
Marcus muttered. “Ah, son of a bitch.”
Just as Elbridge’s party was about to turn back bitterly, the elf Johannes shouted.
“You there, human knight. What is your name?”
A knight does not hide his name. For hiding one’s name meant they had committed an dishonorable deed.
The young knight atop the wall spoke proudly.
“I am Mason! Mason of Fort Hebron!”
“Mason. Do not attempt to force human regulations upon an elf.”
To put it simply, they had no interest in regulations or whatever, so just open the gate.
“No. It is the regulation!”
Just as Mason flatly refused and was about to turn back, Johannes shouted once more.
“Sir Mason. Do you know that elves have good eyesight and memory?”
“…I know that. Why do you ask all of a sudden?”
“I wanted to say that Johannes, a reserve Sentinel of the Forest of Thorns, has clearly looked at your face. Sir Mason.”
As if they had been waiting, Aurelius and Selene also shouted.
“The reserve Sentinels, Aurelius and Selene, will also remember your name!”
“Do not forget that an elf’s grudge lasts for a thousand years!”
An uncomfortable expression clearly surfaced on the young knight Mason’s face.
“….”
It was a famous story that elves did not forget grudges.
A race that remembered a grudge from a hundred years ago as if it were yesterday was precisely the elves, and a race that defended guilt by association more actively than anyone was precisely the elves.
“Damn elves. Seriously…”
As Mason muttered and gestured down the wall, the pulley began to unwind again.
Screeeech—clatter, clatter, clatter.
Thud.
The gate opened again.
The eyes of the soldiers who suffered to unwind the pulley they had barely finished winding were filled with subtle resentment.
Elbridge, Sonya, and Marcus avoided the soldiers’ gazes. Even Rombel was the same.
But the three elves were different. Beyond being proud from beginning to end, their expressions were downright shameless.
Johannes proudly spoke to the soldiers.
“Never again force human regulations upon an elf.”
“….”
The party stepped inside Fort Hebron.
The interior of Fort Hebron was not luxurious, but it was quite large and magnificent. The cliffs wrapping the left and right sides of the fortress were especially splendid.
Not only was it large and magnificent, but it also had a reasonably practical and charming flavor.
All kinds of shops were wedged here and there between the military facilities, and there were also taverns and inns built by carving out the cliffs.
Sonya spoke.
“It is an unexpectedly lively city.”
However, it was a liveliness slightly different from a normal, prosperous village. Should it be called a gray liveliness?
It was a liveliness unique to barracks, a liveliness to fully enjoy the brief leisure between battles.
Sonya and Marcus seemed to find this atmosphere a bit burdensome, but Elbridge and Rombel were accustomed to such an atmosphere.
“It feels like coming home…”
While briefly scanning the street and reviving old memories, Rombel sniffed around.
“I smell soup. It seems the evening distribution has begun.”
“Distribution? They’re giving out food?”
When Marcus asked in surprise, Selene answered.
“Because Fort Hebron is a military facility. Those who want delicious food buy and eat with money, but those who want to save money eat the distributed food. The taste isn’t as bad as you’d think. It’s over that way.”
The three elves naturally stood in the distribution line and gestured to the party.
“What are you doing? Come quickly.”
The party held wooden bowls and waited for their turn.
After a short while, familiar people approached and lined up behind Elbridge’s party.
They were the knight Mason who had been atop the wall just earlier, and the soldiers who had wound the pulley connected to the gate.
Mason muttered while looking at the three elves.
“I see you eat human food just fine, while rejecting human regulations…”
Aurelius then replied proudly.
“Do not discriminate against elves just because the race is different, human.”
“…Wow.”
At that moment, the soldier in charge of distribution raised a large ladle and poured soup into Aurelius’s bowl.
Aurelius did not move along, and proudly looked at the soldier.
“Give me more.”
“That is the standard portion.”
Johannes and Selene then warned the soldier.
“Human soldier. Do not force human regulations upon an elf.”
“Do not forget that an elf’s grudge lasts for a thousand years.”
From the soldier in charge of distribution, to the knight Mason, and even Elbridge’s party.
Everyone marvelled at the same time.
“Wow.”