Paladin of a Fallen Order (Novel) - Chapter 3 - Vagabond or Paladin

Chapter 3 – Vagabond or Paladin

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Translated by Pratt

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Rattle, rattle.

Elbridge walked along the straight road, pulling the worn-out cart that made an odd noise.

Occasionally, the spring wind blowing from behind would overtake the group.

Since it was still early spring, the wind was cool. The people frowned while drawing their collars tight, but Elbridge liked even that wind. Did it not feel as if the wind had come to help push the cart?

The adults in the group rarely opened their mouths while walking. Since the road to the Holy City was not short, they wanted to save their strength as much as possible.

However, the young children were different.

The children had apparently grown close in the meantime, running around the cart and squealing among themselves without tiring. The physical stamina of children trained by playing all day was on a completely different level from that of adults.

Unlike the children, he was quiet, but there was exactly one adult who walked just as energetically as the children.

It was Elbridge. Even while pulling the heavy cart, Elbridge’s steps were as light as a child’s.

‘Was moving one’s body such a fun thing?’

Would it feel like this if a sick person, who had been blankly staring at the ceiling waiting for the day of their death, regained their strength and sprang to their feet?

No, even such a person would not be as joyful as Elbridge was right now. After all, there was no sick person who had battled illness for two hundred years.

The sensation of the cool wind brushing against his skin, the frequent sounds of birds and insects, and the dry smell of dust rising from the dirt road made Elbridge happy. Feeling the movement of his muscles was even more enjoyable.

As Elbridge strode along, Rick approached his side and matched his pace.

“I thought you wouldn’t be able to exert any strength because you’re so gaunt, but you have surprisingly good stamina.”

Elbridge made up a reasonable excuse.

“I hear that often.”

Rick’s expression was filled with goodwill toward Elbridge.

It was likely because, contrary to the outcome of the initial negotiations to share the pulling half-and-half, Elbridge had pulled the cart almost the entire time over the past few days.

It wasn’t that Elbridge pulled the cart for a long time for Rick’s sake. It was simply that moving while pulling the heavy cart was more fun than walking empty-handed, and at the same time, he thought it served as moderate exercise.

Of course, Elbridge’s physical condition was still close to the absolute worst.

However, Elbridge had learned how to use his body while active as a paladin, and he had plenty of experience moving in extreme situations.

Therefore, this level of movement was not burdensome. What could be difficult about pulling a worn-out but well-maintained cart and walking along a flat forest path?

While walking and conversing quietly with Rick, the children, tired from playing, sat on the back of the cart that Elbridge was pulling.

Seeing this, Rick got angry at the children.

“Get down!”

At that, Elbridge stopped Rick.

“Just leave them be. Even with a few children riding on the cart, it’s not that heavy.”

“We still have several days of traveling left; shouldn’t you save even a little bit of your strength?”

“It is worth it.”

“Worth it?”

“If they have to trudge along for over ten days while watching the adults’ expressions, it will become a painful memory. But if they can play to their hearts’ content and sit on the cart to look at the forest and sky when they are tired, it will become a memory that lasts a lifetime.”

Hearing that, Rick seemed a little surprised.

“El. You talk like a priest.”

“Because it is only natural for adults to look after and care for children.”

Rick nodded while looking at the children. However, Elbridge was looking at the back of Rick’s head, not the kids.

This was because the thought crossed his mind that while those little ones were children, to him, Rick was also a kid.

In the past, when Elbridge was slightly over ten years old, the person he feared most was the Chief Paladin of the Order of the Rusty Shield.

The Chief Paladin was a giant in his late forties with a bushy, wire-like beard. His voice was thunderous and his personality was boisterous, so there were few in the Order who did not fear him.

However, the Archbishop, who was well over seventy years old, did not find the Chief Paladin burdensome.

Beyond treating the Chief Paladin with ease, the Archbishop would sometimes treat him like a young child. The Chief Paladin also did not seem to find the Archbishop’s attitude strange.

When the young Elbridge asked the reason, the Archbishop replied with a smile.

‘I have looked after that fellow ever since he was running around with a runny nose. Whether he’s ten or forty, he looks like a child to me.’

At that time, it was a story he simply accepted and moved on from.

But now, the Archbishop’s words came to Elbridge with somewhat deep significance.

‘Since the seventy-year-old Archbishop looked after the forty-year-old Chief Paladin like a child, should I, who am well over two hundred, not look after the sixty-year-old Rick like a child…?’

Therefore, Elbridge looked after not only the little kids but everyone in the group.

An eight-year-old kid, a twenty-year-old young woman, and even an old woman well past seventy were no exceptions.

Whenever he wasn’t pulling the cart, Elbridge would approach the people who were unfamiliar with long journeys and offer minor assistance.

Telling them how to walk so their feet would hurt less, or how to adjust the position of items in their backpacks to carry them comfortably, was not a difficult task.

*

And so, today the sun went down as well.

Around the time the sun hid below the mountain ridge, Rick, who had gone slightly ahead alone, returned.

“Alright, let’s rest here for today.”

It seemed the leading caravan had stopped.

Rick carefully maintained his distance from the caravan that had set out first. Enough to benefit from them, but not to the extent of getting on their nerves.

As the movement ceased, a lively glow finally returned to the adults’ faces.

People gathered in small groups of threes and fives to prepare dinner. Those who lacked food or needed items approached Rick’s cart, handing him coins to trade.

Although the prices of the goods Rick sold were quite high compared to the prices in town, no one felt cheated.

“Will we be able to eat as much today as we did yesterday?”

“Of course.”

Perhaps thanks to Elbridge pulling the cart longer than promised, Rick did not spare ingredients when making the soup they would eat together.

It wasn’t any grand soup. It was merely boiling a generous amount of grain flour and jerky in a pot. Yet, Elbridge marveled every time he ate the soup.

‘Was soup such a delicious food?’

For the two days from leaving the stone chamber of the seal until joining Rick, Elbridge had moved while eating unripe berries and such. Even that was a grand delicacy for Elbridge.

But a dish touched by human hands was on a completely different level. Especially when chewing salty pieces of jerky amidst the thick soup, he was almost moved to tears.

How could jerky, which entered the soup all shriveled and dried up, produce such a violently delicious taste?

As Elbridge devoured his food, the old woman sitting opposite him spoke.

“How hungry you must have been… Eat up. You must eat a lot to gain some flesh.”

“Ah, yes.”

She was an old woman who sat beside Elbridge and Rick to eat during every mealtime.

Since the old woman was elderly and found it difficult to carry heavy luggage like the others, she chose to pay Rick a little money at each meal to solve her food problem.

The old woman was the only person in this group who spent money at every meal, and she was also the only one who had ever heard the name of the Order of the Rusty Shield.

“Elder. You said you knew the Goddess of the Rusty Shield, correct?”

“Indeed. When I was a little kid, a lady in my neighborhood said she served the Goddess of the Rusty Shield. She said her son had gone off to the battlefield…”

If it was when the old woman was that young, it was quite a long time ago.

“Have you never seen any other believers?”

“Never. She was the first and last.”

“By any chance, have you heard any rumors regarding the Order of the Rusty Shield? For instance, that a major incident occurred.”

“Well, I haven’t heard anything… Why do you ask?”

“I heard that about two hundred years ago, there were very many believers who followed the Goddess of the Rusty Shield. For such a large Order to suddenly… well, not suddenly. Anyway, it felt strange to me that such an Order would vanish without a trace.”

At that, the old woman replied.

“Would such a change really require a major incident?”

“Pardon? What do you mean by that…?”

While talking to the old woman, Elbridge saw the area up ahead dimly brightening. It seemed someone had lit a torch.

At the same time, the surroundings grew slightly noisy.

Rick clicked his tongue.

“It seems wolves have appeared around the caravan ahead. Everyone, gather here. If the caravan’s mercenaries drive the wolves away, there is a high probability they will show up on our side…”

The people stopped eating, hastily got up from their seats, and gathered around Rick’s cart.

After a moment, the commotion felt in the distance died down.

Rick took ten torches from the cart, lit them, and handed them to the people. There were few methods as effective as torches for driving away wild beasts.

A little while later, yellow eyes appeared in pairs within the forest. Seven pairs of eyes in total.

Soon, along with the faint, gamy odor peculiar to carnivores, a low growling sound was heard.

“Ugh…”

Recalling Rick’s words that wolves would not dare approach if their numbers were large, the people huddled even closer together.

Rick lowered his voice.

“They will hover around like that for a bit and then disappear. It might be nerve-wracking, but it’s best not to show it. Beasts quickly notice if their opponent is afraid…”

The people nodded and held their torches a bit higher.

However, that was not a very good choice. As they held the torches high, the wolves—each three or four times larger than an ordinary hunting dog—became even more clearly visible.

If such wolves charged, they would certainly not escape in one piece. The people shrank back a bit more.

The merchant Rick slowly waved his torch, observing the wolves in the darkness.

And after a moment, Rick discovered something slightly strange.

‘A wound?’

There was a wound on the shoulder of one of the wolves.

Seeing that fresh blood was slowly dripping, it looked like a wound that had just been inflicted.

Rick’s brow furrowed.

‘If it’s a freshly inflicted wound…’

Under the circumstances, it was highly probable that it happened when the caravan ahead became noisy.

However, no matter how much he thought about it, it was strange.

Wolves were intelligent animals. They knew that rather than risking danger to touch a human crowd, finding other prey was easier and safer.

Therefore, even if wolves discovered a crowd of people, they would not blindly pick a fight. They would observe from a distance and eventually leave.

Since a normal pack of wolves would not fight a merchant caravan, a wolf would have no reason to be wounded.

‘If it were a normal pack of wolves…’

It was ominous.

Those wolves had probably not been wounded by touching the caravan, but rather hurt while fighting among themselves for hierarchy. It had to be so.

If it were a pack of wolves violent enough to touch a caravan teeming with armed men, there would be no reason for them to just pass by this group, which was mostly comprised of the elderly, weak, and women.

Just then, Elbridge, who had been quiet, tapped Rick.

“Rick.”

“What?”

“Do you know how to fight?”

Rick replied in a deliberately calm voice.

“…No. Don’t worry. They will back off soon after doing that.”

“We shall see…”

Elbridge spoke while keeping his gaze fixed on the wolves.

“Rick. Give me a weapon.”

“Where would I have a weapon?”

“Earlier, that pocket knife you used to peel potatoes.”

Elbridge’s speech had grown oddly short.

However, this was not a situation to point out his tone of speech.

Rick hurriedly rummaged through his pockets to find the weapon. Though he wasn’t sure if a pocket knife only used for peeling potatoes could be called a weapon…

“Kyaak!”

The moment Rick pulled the small knife from his pocket, a shrill scream rang out.

Rick gasped in surprise and looked in the direction of the wolves. A wolf so large that its shoulder reached an adult man’s chest was leaping off the ground and charging.

At the exact same time, a person darted out, piercing through the dense crowd.

Rick screamed.

“El!”

The potato-peeling knife that had been in Rick’s hand was already gone.

‘Skinny El’ was seen running forward, lowering his posture as if brushing against the ground. The potato-peeling knife was held in his right hand.

Being brave was well and good, but relying on a measly pocket knife compared to a wolf’s fangs was a reckless act.

Even Skinny El’s movements were not particularly fast. They were incomparably slow compared to knights or paladins who displayed superhuman speed. At best, he was at the level of an ordinary person.

Although the distance between Skinny El and the wolf was still quite substantial, the people had no difficulty guessing what the outcome would be.

The wolf apparently shared the same thought as the people, for it leaped confidently toward the oncoming Elbridge.

At that moment, Skinny El extended his right foot far forward.

Shhhk—

Skinny El—that is, Elbridge’s right foot—scraped the dirt ground harshly.

A sudden brake was applied to his body, which had been running while lowered as if about to fall forward. It was such a violent and unnatural movement that maintaining balance should have been impossible. The body that was about to fall forward now seemed about to fall backward.

Next, Elbridge’s left hand touched the ground. Though it was an ungraceful posture that seemed glued to the floor, Elbridge regained his balance in an instant.

Elbridge was looking at the wolf in a bizarre posture, as if half-lying on the ground.

‘No, he was not looking at the wolf.’

Rick’s highly observant eyes detected a small gap between Elbridge’s gaze and the wolf’s movements.

Elbridge’s gaze moved ahead of the wolf. Rather than looking at the wolf, his eyes were tracing the trajectory that the recently airborne wolf would travel.

Elbridge’s leg, which had been lowered far back, kicked off the ground.

Elbridge’s slender body sprang up toward the night sky. In the next moment, he was slightly higher than the position the wolf would pass, and slightly shifted to the side.

The wolf’s wide-open jaws targeted Elbridge’s left arm, which was stretched straight forward.

However, because Elbridge’s left arm was quickly pulled back just before being bitten by the wolf, the wolf’s jaws did nothing more than snap at empty air.

Conversely, Elbridge’s right arm, which had been drawn back, extended, tracing a precise trajectory.

The potato-peeling knife accurately penetrated the wolf’s eye socket. While this in itself was an astonishing feat, that was not all.

The tip of the potato-peeling knife pointed upward, not downward. This allowed the blade that entered through the eye socket to scramble the wolf’s brain.

However, even those with good eyesight could not discern that much.

Thud—

The wolf, which had leaped vigorously, rolled across the dirt ground covered with short grass.

Elbridge was also knocked down onto the ground, half-pushed by the wolf.

“El!”

The majority of the people did not see clearly what had just occurred, and even the few with sharp eyes could not believe the scene they had just witnessed.

After all, it was more realistic to assume that Elbridge had simply collided with the wolf in midair and rolled on the ground.

However, Elbridge, who had fallen to the ground, stood up as if nothing had happened.

On the other hand, the wolf with the potato-peeling knife lodged in its eye socket could not rise. It merely twitched briefly, frozen stiff.

Elbridge pulled the potato-peeling knife from the wolf’s eye socket and wiped it against its fur, his gaze still fixed on the other wolves.

The other wolves stared at Elbridge while growling lowly, and soon quietly backed away.