Paladin of a Fallen Order (Novel) - Chapter 47 - Request

Chapter 47 – Request

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Translated by Pratt

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The next morning, Elbridge and Marcus headed to the Mercenary Guild.

There, three mercenaries who had arrived earlier than them, and the three clients they had seen yesterday, were present.

“Is there only five of us today…”

As the mage grumbled, the knight beside her replied.

“Since we’ve rejected people several days in a row, it can’t be helped.”

“Who doesn’t know that? It’s just frustrating.”

With their matching black hair, similar eyes, and bickering tone, anyone could see that the knight and the mage were siblings.

The brown-haired knight beside them spoke up.

“Numbers aren’t what’s important. We just need one capable person. Everyone, please come this way.”

The trio of employers led the five mercenaries inside the Mercenary Guild.

The Mercenary Guild consisted of three rooms, and in the small room at the very corner, a table and a metal box were placed.

The metal box was almost identical in shape to the magic power battery they had seen the day before, except for its size—specifically, in that a needle indicating numbers was attached to the top of a square metal box.

The moment he saw the box, one of the mercenaries slunk backward.

“I haven’t accumulated any magic power, so…”

The first mercenary walked away.

Then the second mercenary placed his hand on the box.

At that, the needle on the box twitched and moved. The mage and the two knights carefully checked the number.

“Twenty-eight… Twenty-nine?”

The mercenary then said confidently.

“Look closely. It just touched thirty for a moment.”

“Whether it’s twenty-nine or thirty, it’s still a fail. Disqualified.”

The second mercenary left while muttering quiet curses.

The third mercenary placed his hand on the box.

This time, the needle jumped past sixty and rose above seventy.

“Is it seventy-two, or maybe seventy-three.”

The third mercenary had a rather confident expression, as if he was sure of his own skill.

But the employers’ reaction was cold this time as well.

“We admit you are quite outstanding among mercenaries, but you fall short of our standards. It is a pity.”

“Well, mercenaries stronger than me shouldn’t be common… Phew. Fine.”

Now, only Elbridge and Marcus were left.

But the two of them did not know exactly what the box was used for. They only had a vague guess.

“Is this that magic power battery thing?”

At Marcus’s question, the mage let out a deep sigh.

“We’re out of luck today too, of course. Did you come from another region, mister?”

“We arrived from the Holy City Solenion the day before yesterday. Both me and this fellow here.”

“Phew.”

The mage was about to leave the spot immediately, but she sighed and answered.

“This is a magic power measuring device. The principle is similar to the magic power battery you just mentioned, but it’s not meant to store magic. Should I say it measures the total amount of magic power using pressure?”

“How do you use it? Do you just put your hand on it? Without needing to apply force or anything?”

“Yes. Just do it comfortably. If you want to find requests in Middlemarch in the future, nine times out of ten, you will have to tell the client what your measurement number is. Take this chance to check it.”

Even as she grumbled, the mage seemed to be showing consideration for Marcus. Whether she was nosy or kind.

However, Marcus looked entirely lacking in confidence. Since he had never accumulated a single speck of magic power in his life, it was only natural.

“That number, couldn’t one just lie about it?”

“They could. If clients like us say we want to measure the numbers ourselves, it might be embarrassing, but…”

“Mmm…”

Marcus clenched and unclenched his hands a few times, and then placed his sweaty palm onto the black iron plate on top of the metal box.

Elbridge could tell what Marcus was thinking just by looking at his face.

He looked like he wanted to leave before making a fool of himself, just like the first mercenary who had walked out without even putting his hand on the measuring device.

But the moment Marcus touched the measuring device, an unexpected situation occurred. The needle leaped up. It rose much higher than when the third mercenary had placed his hand.

“…Huh?”

Marcus himself was surprised, but the clients were just as astonished.

“Huh? Wait. I didn’t see that clearly.”

“I think it went past one hundred and twenty.”

“Could you take your hand off and put it back on? We need to verify it a bit more accurately.”

As Marcus put his hand back on, the needle leaped up vigorously this time as well.

“…One hundred and sixty?”

The knight who appeared to be the mage’s older brother made a fuss.

“Around one hundred and sixty-three. Wow, a distinguished guest has come from the East. I heard that the mercenaries over there don’t accumulate magic power, so I didn’t expect anything. You are a benefactor, a benefactor…”

The response of the siblings, which had been a bit blunt, instantly turned warm. It seemed they were not arrogant by nature.

The brown-haired knight, who had been watching in silence, chipped in.

“That’s all good, but… the response is divine power, not magic power.”

“Divine power?”

The siblings’ eyes directed toward the side of the needle.

From a small hole that had emitted a faint blue light when other people touched it, a faint white light was leaking out now.

“…It really is. Mercenary mister. Were you a paladin?”

“I am a mercenary. Though I somehow ended up accumulating a bit of divine power.”

“One hundred and sixty is a bit? Nonsense! I heard that divine power is much harder to accumulate than magic power.”

Marcus’s current situation was a bit unusual.

Up until the moment he met Elbridge, Marcus had almost no divine power.

Of course, he had not accumulated magic power at a mage tower either. At the time, Marcus’s physical ability was merely decent for an ordinary person.

However, he had to hunt magic beasts semi-forcibly while following Elbridge and Rombel.

In the process, Marcus absorbed a significant amount of the fragment of the evil god—that is, divine power—possessed by the magic beasts, surpassing the level of an ordinary person.

The moment Marcus leaped forward once more was when he received an oracle from the God of the Sunshower in the Mountain City Barkuntol.

On that day, Marcus felt the limit he had vaguely perceived being pushed far upward.

The mage asked, looking completely excited.

“Anyway, that’s great. We were looking for someone with at least one hundred and twenty, whether it be magic power or divine power. You’ll take the request, right?”

Feeling good, Marcus nodded.

“Of course. If they pay a lot, there’s nothing a mercenary can’t do.”

“Great! What is your name?”

“Marcus.”

The siblings seemed to have half-forgotten Elbridge.

Fortunately, however, the brown-haired knight was different.

“Millia. There is still one person left.”

“Ah, right. Since he’s with Mr. Marcus, we can look forward to this one too.”

Elbridge took a step toward the measuring device.

Just then, a sudden oracle from the Goddess descended.

– Elbridge. Shall your Goddess lend a hand?

“…I am fine, Goddess.”

Elbridge whispered quietly, firmly declining the Goddess’s offer.

At that moment, the flustered voice of the mage was heard.

“What’s this? No one touched it just now, but the needle of the measuring device shot all the way to the end on its own.”

“Didn’t you see it wrong? Since you only stay indoors all day, you’ve got presbyopia at a young age…”

“What are you talking about? That’s not it, so don’t say weird things.”

“But the number looks perfectly fine now.”

“It’s probably an issue with the old machine, not my eyes. If it acts up again, let’s remeasure then.”

While the knights and the mage whispered among themselves, Elbridge placed his hand on the machine.

The needle leaped up again. Much more intensely than during Marcus’s turn.

The mage gasped in surprise.

“…Three hundred and fifty? Isn’t it broken? This is almost at the level of brother Mitchell?”

“‘Almost’ is… there is a significant difference.”

As if Elbridge’s number was completely hard to believe, even if he could somehow believe Marcus’s number, the brown-haired knight politely requested Elbridge.

“The machine seems a bit strange… Could you remove your hand for a moment?”

As Elbridge took his hand off, the brown-haired knight placed his own hand on it.

The needle slowly came down without reaching three hundred and sixty. However, the brown-haired knight shouted proudly.

“Look! Three hundred and sixty! I am higher.”

“I think it was slightly lower than that… Anyway, it means it’s not broken, right? Mercenary over there, what is your name?”

“I am El.”

“Mr. El. Please measure it once more.”

Elbridge placed his hand back onto the machine. The number indicated by the needle was three hundred and fifty this time as well.

“Wow.”

The mage marveled without hiding it.

But it did not end there. Since the quiet knight added another word.

“Millia. The number isn’t what’s important. This person also possesses divine power, not magic power.”

“What?”

The eyes of the mage and the two knights directed toward the side of the measuring device. Just like during Marcus’s turn, a white light was leaking from the device.

“It’s a phenomenon I’ve never seen before… No, I heard that divine power barely accumulates once it passes a certain level. For the amount of divine power to be greater than the magic power of an average knight. Does this make sense?”

“How should I know…”

Knights strengthened their physical abilities with magic power, and paladins strengthened their physical abilities with divine power.

Though both magic power and divine power strengthened physical abilities in the same way, there was a major difference in how they were accumulated.

Knights received magic power to boost their physical abilities. In other words, as long as they had plenty of money, they could fill themselves with magic power up to their limits at a mage tower.

Of course, separate training was required to overcome limits and accept more magic power. However, it was possible for a knight to gain physical abilities surpassing those of an average paladin without fighting a single battle.

On the other hand, there were only two ways for a paladin to accumulate divine power.

A life of faith, and battles fought against magic beasts and demons.

There was no royal road. Furthermore, accumulating divine power became progressively harder.

In short, a wealthy knight could grow stronger at a much faster rate than a paladin.

However, a knight was not superior to a paladin simply because their amount of magic power was greater.

Since a paladin could be bestowed with authority far more powerful than a knight.

Simply put, both had their strengths and weaknesses.

Since knights and paladins each possessed competitive advantages—ample magic power and powerful authority respectively—even two hundred years ago, a knight could play their part perfectly beside a paladin.

However, exceptional cases also existed.

If a paladin survived after winning countless battles, there were cases where the paladin’s divine power caught up with or occasionally surpassed a knight’s amount of magic power.

For instance, people like Leonhardt or Elbridge from two hundred years ago were such cases.

“Millia. It’s not that I am lacking, but that this person is unusual. Don’t misunderstand.”

“Who said anything? Anyway, this is even better. The fact that these people accumulated divine power means they have nothing to do with the Mage Tower, right? In a way, they are the best mercenaries.”

“That is true… Ah, right. I should introduce us now. I am Mitchell, a knight of the Mage Tower. This is my younger sister, the mage Millia. Over there is my sister’s friend, Patrick, also a knight of the Mage Tower.”

Unlike the arrogant attitude he had shown in the tavern yesterday, Mitchell readily offered his right hand to Elbridge, proposing a handshake.

Elbridge shook his hand and replied.

“As I said, I am called El. By the way, didn’t you say yesterday at the tavern that this was a Mage Tower request? Why does our lack of connection to the Mage Tower become an advantage?”

Millia replied.

“Actually, it’s not a Mage Tower request. We just framed it that way because it makes it easier to find people to help us.”

“…”

“If it were a real Mage Tower request, we wouldn’t have even gone to the Mercenary Guild. We would have asked the Mage Tower’s own knights for help.”

Listening to the conversation, Marcus became a bit anxious.

Hiding the nature of the request. No matter who looked at it, wasn’t it suspicious?

However, Elbridge became even more intrigued.

For a mage to commission a request where they could not ask Mage Tower affiliates for help meant that, with high probability, it was a request related to the Mage Tower’s dark secrets or internal affairs.

‘It doesn’t seem to be at the level of a small chore… It might be connected to the Central Mage Tower Lord. I’m glad I didn’t ignore my intuition.’

It did not matter if things went awry. Since both Elbridge and Marcus had the skill to protect themselves.

Yet Marcus still could not shake off his anxiety.

“You said it was a search mission. If it’s a weird request, I will reject it.”

“Don’t worry about that. It is indeed a search mission. The search location is also the underground sewers, just as we mentioned yesterday.”

“If so, then…”

“Does that mean you’ll accept the request?”

Marcus glanced at Elbridge, then nodded.

“Very well. What is it that we need to find?”

The mage Millia lowered her voice and whispered.

“A colleague of mine from the Mage Tower went missing while conducting an important research.”

“In the sewers?”

“We don’t know that.”

“Then why are we going to the sewers?”

“The mages who were conducting research alongside my colleague keep dying. What’s more, without even announcing their deaths to the outside, only their bodies are being quietly smuggled out through the Mage Tower sewers in the middle of the night. The number of deceased I have personally confirmed exceeds ten.”

Marcus made a face as if he had chewed on a bug.

“…Wait. I don’t think I want to take this request.”

“Mr. Marcus. I’m telling you in advance, but our family has a lot of money. Enough to make someone like my brother a knight. Knights who have accumulated as much magic power as my brother are rare even in the Mage Tower, you know?”

This time, Mitchell made a face as if he had chewed on a bug.

However, wanting to keep a wealthy person close was a mercenary’s instinct. That snobbish story moved Marcus’s heart.

“…Let’s hear a bit more.”

“While it’s not uncommon for mages to die or get injured during research, it is rare for this many people to die in a row. Something incredible is definitely happening in the basement of the Mage Tower.”

“What kind of research is it for things to be like this?”

“My colleague gave me a slight hint before going to do research, saying it was a research on a tremendous magic beast. Not the early or mid-tier levels you see occasionally, but a truly powerful magic beast. We will go and verify what that research is, and whether my colleague is safely alive. What do you think?”

“Hmm.”

Marcus seemed somewhat tempted.

However, Elbridge’s thoughts differed from the mage Millia’s.

‘Though there are many dangerous ones among late-stage magic beasts, the capability of the Central Mage Tower is no joke.’

If such a mage tower had lost numerous mages during research, and if they were continuing the research while hiding the casualties despite the ongoing loss of lives…

‘This feels like a research related to demons, not a magic beast. No, is it even a research in the first place?’

But Marcus, of course, as well as the clients, did not seem to have thoughts that reached that far.

Having finished his thoughts, Elbridge spoke up.

“Brother Marcus.”

“Yeah?”

“Go to the tavern right now and collect our winnings.”

Elbridge hated demons more than anyone else.

Yet now, Elbridge’s chest was filled with a strange sense of anticipation.