Paladin of a Fallen Order (Novel) - Chapter 37 - Commercial Morals

Chapter 37 – Commercial Morals

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Translated by Pratt

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Denouncing the God of the Steel Anvil in a public place was something Rombel had planned even before arriving at the mountain city Barkuntol.

However, Rombel also had not expected that the God of the Steel Anvil would send down an oracle in such a public manner.

But it was something that had already begun.

Rombel did not back down even an inch and shouted.

“Impudent? It is described as impudence because one does not show respect to an object that deserves respect. If one does not show respect to someone not worth respecting, how does that become impudence?”

The dwarves listening to the talk froze.

The dwarves had served only the God of the Steel Anvil all their lives.

Aside from whether the remarks were right or wrong, the remarks Rombel uttered now were too radical.

“Steel and Anvil! Speak! What did you do in the face of the disaster that befell the mountain city Barkuntol? Nothing! Spectating from that high heaven was all you did!”

The God of Steel and Anvil replied.

—Your vision is narrow. Bringing you to this place was already part of my arrangement.

It seemed the God of the Steel Anvil had given an oracle to Mayor Valdrek, and Mayor Valdrek had requested help from the outside. However, Rombel snorted.

“If Marcus had not luckily met a dwarf, if Marcus had not asked Elbridge for help, if Elbridge and Marcus had not come to find me. If things had gone wrong even once, the mountain city Barkuntol would have been ruined. Since that is merely a result achieved thanks to repeated strokes of luck rather than an arrangement, you should not mislead our goodwill as your arrangement!”

Subsequently, Rombel raised his axe toward the sky.

“Remember clearly! All of today’s achievements were accomplished directly by me, my companions, and the dwarves of Barkuntol. At the moment when the race’s fate hung in the balance, you are the only one who did nothing! It will surely be so in the future as well. Steel Anvil. You are not qualified to bear the fate of the race!”

Could anger and joy be contained in a person’s expression at the same time?

In Elbridge’s and Marcus’s eyes, Rombel’s expression right now was exactly so.

Anger toward the God of the Steel Anvil, and the joy of bursting the resentment accumulated for two hundred years.

The two emotions could neither mix nor offset each other, fully revealing their respective presences.

“Do you think it is only now? No! It was so even in the distant past! Over two hundred years ago, you did not give even a small help to the warriors who fought the devil risking their lives! Your existence was indeed the greatest shackle of the dwarf warriors!”

The dwarves wavered.

They were dwarves who had revered only the God of the Steel Anvil all their lives. It was hard for the dwarves’ hearts to accept such severe blasphemy.

But at the same time, their heads knew that there was persuasiveness in Rombel’s story.

The air of the mountain city Barkuntol vibrated, making a rumbling sound.

Everyone noticed that the God of Steel and Anvil was angry.

—I was of no help? It was so since the old days? Foolish. Those are words you can utter only because you have not truly experienced the distant past. You do not know that you are living in a truly good era.

Elbridge and Marcus did not know the distant past of the dwarves.

However, the dwarves, including Rombel, knew how their ancestors lived in the distant past that had flowed for over a thousand years.

—When I was young, all dwarves were slaves. It was because there was no race that did not covet the excellent manual dexterity of the dwarves. All dwarves were born as slaves, lived as slaves, and died as slaves. Their descendants also had to endlessly continue the exact same life. There was no way out.

—I ran away holding a single pickaxe and finally arrived at the Red Mountains. With the sole thought of preparing a site where my race could live freely, I drilled holes in this mountain range for over three hundred years.

—Thus, I built a giant city in this mountain range. I am the one who first built a hearth and lit a fire in this city, and the one who burned my entire life for my race. Having that achievement recognized in heaven, I am the only dwarf who finally became a heavenly god.

Because the dwarves’ culture and customs were closed off, their faith was also not well known.

Not to mention Marcus, Elbridge also only now came to know the circumstances of how the God of the Steel Anvil ascended to heaven.

Rombel shouted.

“I will not deny even that achievement! I do not think you were unqualified to become a god. However, a thousand years have passed since the mountain city Barkuntol was created and the dwarves were liberated. You are binding your race while pushing forward a faded achievement, and looking on at the crisis with folded arms! The problems the dwarves experienced today all originated from your lack of virtue!”

—My lack of virtue? Foolish fellow. How do you relate the appearance of magic beasts to my lack of virtue?

The air of Barkuntol once again vibrated roughly. Several elderly dwarves knelt in fear.

However, Rombel did not yield and shouted even louder.

“No! Your lack of virtue created all the problems. Who wouldn’t know that you killed all the heroes from two hundred years ago? If even a single warrior of those days had remained, such a thing would not have happened.”

It was a story the young dwarves heard for the first time.

However, there was no elderly dwarf who did not know that fact. They merely could not utter it out of their mouths because they feared the God of Steel and Anvil.

“Because you were afraid that the castle built a thousand years ago would collapse, you trampled and pulled out by the roots every sprout growing inside the castle walls. If the castle wall shakes because there are no trees to block the wind when a strong wind blows, that is not the responsibility of the wind, but yours for pulling out every single hero material.”

Listening to the talk, Marcus anxiously scanned his surroundings.

Right now, by Marcus’s side, there were numerous dwarves whose excitement of battle had not subsided, and who even had weapons. Depending on what they decided, Marcus’s life might vanish in vain.

However, even the quick-witted Marcus found it hard to guess what the dwarves were thinking right now.

Rombel, who had been shouting continuously, caught his breath.

Rombel’s voice that followed became just a tiny bit calmer.

“God of Steel and Anvil. As a dwarf, I respect the achievement you accomplished a thousand years ago. However, the achievement of a thousand years ago belongs to a thousand years ago. The dwarves gave you opportunities for a thousand years while following you. But, God of Steel and Anvil. Speak. Have you succeeded in sketching a better future for the dwarves in the past thousand years since you established your first achievement?”

No new voice was heard from heaven.

Every dwarf listening to the talk knew. The God of Steel and Anvil could not answer Rombel’s question.

“Steel and Anvil, the standard-bearer of our race. If you wish to lead your race, you must hold the banner and stand at the front. A thousand years ago, you held the shining banner high and led all the dwarves. But since your banner wore out, became old, and disappeared in the flow of a thousand years, your era is over. Now, you are not qualified to lead your race.”

The God of Steel and Anvil did not answer this time either. Therefore, Rombel shouted toward all the dwarves looking at him.

“Dwarves! It is time to newly move forward. It is time to turn your backs on the god who oppressed you so that you could not advance. Warriors! You are not weak. Throw yourselves into the world, and reclaim your lives!”

A young dwarf asked Rombel.

“Then, which god should we follow now?”

Elbridge could easily guess what the Goddess of the Rusty Shield would be thinking in heaven. She would be wishing for Elbridge to raise his hand right now and proselytize.

However, Elbridge was not brazen enough to butt into this atmosphere and proselytize.

‘…It is a relief that the Goddess’s authority has bottomed out.’

Rombel replied to the young dwarf.

“Anyone is fine. Follow the god you want. Choose a god who will walk together by your side, not a god who decides the path you must go. Only then will you be able to reclaim your life.”

At that moment, the voice of the god was heard again.

—I am the only dwarf who ascended to heaven. Do you think foreign race gods will pity you more than I do? I declare that it will certainly not be so.

Just as Rombel’s voice had softened a little, the anger contained in the oracle sent down by the God of Steel and Anvil also faded. Instead, worry filled that empty space.

An elderly dwarf also said to Rombel.

“I have never thought that the God of Steel and Anvil was a perfect god in my entire life. However, I do not want to serve a foreign race as a god either.”

The God of the Steel Anvil is the one who led his race to the Red Mountains, escaping the persecution of foreign races.

At the base of the achievement he established lay love and compassion toward his race, but there were also fear and hatred toward foreign races.

Since the emotions harbored by the God of the Steel Anvil became the teachings of the Order of the Steel Anvil and were passed down for a thousand years, the dwarves also could not help but harbor fear and rejection toward a god from a foreign race, whether large or small.

Therefore, Rombel said to the elderly dwarf.

“Then wait just a little.”

“What are you telling us to wait for?”

“Me.”

Rombel scanned all the dwarves of the mountain city Barkuntol and then spoke clearly.

“I will establish a great achievement and become the second dwarf to ascend to heaven. Wait for the day I become a god and return to the Red Mountains.”

The mountain city was swept in silence once again.

A declaration that he would become a god himself.

It was a remark no one had expected.

However, unlike other people, Elbridge could understand everything, even if belatedly.

‘…Is that how it is.’

Elbridge recalled the place he met Rombel for the first time in two hundred years.

The Mage Tower.

Even if he was expelled from the order, was there another reason for Rombel not to serve a new god?

Was there another reason for an outstanding warrior to become a blacksmith of the Mage Tower?

There was no such reason.

Just like the other mages of the Mage Tower, Rombel had merely wished to become a god and ascend to heaven.

Not stopping at simply shaking or collapsing the Order of the Steel Anvil, but ascending to heaven and standing above the God of the Steel Anvil. Furthermore, ascending to heaven and slapping the god’s cheek while commemorating his wife’s death.

Because that was indeed the revenge that could fully satisfy Rombel.

Only then did the presence of the god that was filling the mountain city Barkuntol disappear.

The dwarves realized that the old god had taken a step back.

“…”

Only the rough breathing of the dwarves was heard from all directions.

They merely could not speak of it publicly, but many dwarves felt weary of the God of the Steel Anvil.

Taking this event as an opportunity, even more dwarves were disappointed in the God of the Steel Anvil and saw the possibility of a new god.

Numerous dwarves realized the fact that they, whether late or early, would turn their backs on the God of the Steel Anvil.

However, since the Rombel of now was not a god, they could not serve Rombel.

To the dwarves, a vacuum of faith was a more troublesome matter than apostasy. Then, until Rombel became a god, whom should they serve…

At that time, there was a man who raised his hand high among the dwarves, and it was Marcus.

“If you need a god to believe in right now, how about believing in the God of the Sunshower? The God of the Sunshower will bestow unexpected joy upon you.”

Elbridge thought as he listened to that talk.

‘Should I butt in too? I should probably butt in, right?’

If Rombel truly ascended to heaven, the vast majority of the dwarves would become Rombel’s followers in the future.

However, there was no way Rombel could become a heavenly god in a day or two.

‘Even if it is just for a few years, if this many people became followers of our order, it would be a huge help…’

However, beginning to proselytize in this kind of atmosphere as if nothing had happened was, to Elbridge, even more difficult than talking about money.

While Elbridge was hesitating, unable to do this or that, Marcus added a word.

“Or it will also be fine to go to Sir Elbridge over there. Because the Goddess of the Rusty Shield is a person just as excellent as the God of the Sunshower. Anyway, those who are interested in the God of the Sunshower, please find me as soon as the situation is organized.”

After shouting like that, Marcus clutched the wound inflicted by the magic beast and moved his steps while groaning.

Now, three choices were given to the dwarves.

Will they continue to serve the disappointing God of the Steel Anvil?

Or will they serve the Goddess of the Rusty Shield, or the God of the Sunshower, while waiting for the day Rombel ascends?

Among the majority of the dwarves disappointed in the God of the Steel Anvil, a minority of dwarves showed interest in the God of the Sunshower. However, the vast majority chose the Goddess of the Rusty Shield.

It was a foreseen result. Because in this battle, Elbridge played a much greater role than Marcus, and the Goddess of the Rusty Shield showed a larger presence than the God of the Sunshower.

Marcus also knew it would turn out this way.

Therefore, Marcus asked the God of the Sunshower.

“God of the Sunshower. Why did you tell me to mention the Goddess of the Rusty Shield along with your name?”

Then a concise oracle returned.

—Because that is commercial morals.