Paladin of a Fallen Order (Novel) - Chapter 57 - Senior's Teaching

Chapter 57 – Senior’s Teaching

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Translated by Pratt

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Purple clouds were one of the premonitory symptoms that occurred ahead of a demon’s descent.

However, the phenomena brought about by the clouds were varied. Just off the top of his head, there were plagues, sleep, delusion, brainwashing, pollution…

Among them, the two most commonly occurring phenomena were:

The brand, and summoning.

And Elbridge could guess what kind of phenomenon this cloud would bring about.

Had Felix not told him the answer?

‘Every night, the brand burned down bit by bit from the top, and every time that happened, the people suffered to death…’

However, it was impossible to know by what method the brand would be stamped.

While Elbridge was contemplating for a moment, the purple clouds began to squirm.

The moment Elbridge saw that sight, he shouted at the top of his lungs.

“The Mage Tower, the Mage Tower is on fire!”

The clouds were rolling in from the east, and the Mage Tower was in the west of Solenion.

Coincidentally, it was around sunset, so the evening glow burned redly, making it really look as if the Mage Tower had caught fire.

A few people looked toward the west, just as Elbridge wished.

However, the majority of people were still unable to take their eyes off the ominous purple clouds.

Uuuuung—

With a loud resonance, a giant pupil appeared from within the clouds and looked down at the people.

Unfortunately, there were people whose gazes met that pupil.

“What is that? There was something like an eye just now. Did you see it?”

“I think our eyes met for a split second too… Wait. You, what is that on your forehead?”

“A strange pattern also appeared on the back of your neck.”

The demon carved a brand on the people whose eyes it met.

If the demon was not sealed in time, those people would face a painful death.

‘…Damn it.’

Elbridge lamented.

This was not a method that could be prevented by Elbridge’s individual strength.

Compared to the entire population of Solenion, the branded people were only a fraction.

However, it was more than enough to be used as hostages.

Only then did Elbridge let go of the sword hilt he was gripping.

Because based on his experience so far, there had never been a case where a demon descended immediately after a brand was carved.

‘Is it at least a relief that magic beasts weren’t scattered inside Solenion’s walls…?’

Elbridge recalled the day the Great Demon first descended.

The magic beasts that poured down like raindrops from the giant clouds that seemed to cover the sky. If such a situation had occurred this time as well, there would have been an astronomical number of casualties.

‘First, I must wait until the demon descends.’

Elbridge walked with a firm expression. Toward the hill where the temples were located.

However, there was someone waiting for Elbridge at the entrance of the hill. The Chief Paladin of the Order of the Bloody Spear.

He discovered Elbridge, approached, and began to walk beside him.

“Sir Elbridge.”

“Speak.”

“I heard that in Ashpen last time, after the clouds appeared, it took about two days for the demon to emerge.”

“Is that so?”

“And it took roughly ten days for the branded people to die. There are slightly over three days left until the voting deadline.”

Elbridge turned his head to look at the Chief Paladin.

“Everything else is fine, but what is the reason you are telling me the voting deadline schedule?”

“It is the same as what I said before. The time remaining from now until the demon’s descent is two days. If we just hold out for another day and a half from then, we can wrap up the negotiations.”

Elbridge let out a hollow laugh.

“Because you must get your hands on more seats and stronger authority, you are telling me not to step forward until the voting is over?”

At that, the Chief Paladin shook his head.

“Similar, but no.”

The Chief Paladin pulled out a dented silver ring and handed it to Elbridge.

It was too cheap of an item to be a bribe.

“What is this?”

“It is the ring that Dunhold used to wear.”

“Dunhold?”

“I will only say that he was one of the five knights Sir Elbridge faced during the Grand Festival. He was a subordinate I cherished, and an outstanding talent in our order.”

Just hearing the expression ‘was an outstanding talent’ made it easy to guess what had become of Dunhold.

“In the battle of Ashpen, Dunhold died while trying to block the demon’s fist on behalf of his injured comrade.”

“That is unfortunate.”

“To Sir Elbridge, Dunhold might have been an insignificant knight. But Dunhold was still young, and if he hadn’t died, he could have become an even more outstanding knight. If only he could have saved his life by a hair’s breadth…”

“…”

“Sir Elbridge. I am not asking for more seats. I am asking for an opportunity for the paladins to survive by a hair’s breadth. If Dunhold had survived that day, how many battles could he have participated in, and how many people could he have saved? No one would know that, would they?”

Perhaps because the talk was slow, the end of the hill was visible in no time.

“Sir Elbridge. I think you must be worried about how many votes will be allocated to the Order of the Rusty Shield as a result of the negotiations.”

He was hit right where it hurt. Had he not thought exactly that just this morning?

“We have hastily finalized the internal discussions among the combat orders. If Sir Elbridge waits so that we can conclude the negotiations in our favor, we will allocate votes so that the Order of the Rusty Shield will unconditionally obtain at least one seat, regardless of the outcome.”

The Chief Paladin did not know exactly how many believers the Order of the Rusty Shield had.

If they were allocated one more seat here, the seats of the Order of the Rusty Shield would be closer to three rather than two. In effect, they were guaranteed to exceed their target.

“The only paladin in our order is me. What is the reason you are proposing such generous terms?”

“Because Sir Elbridge is the descendant of the hero who sealed the Great Demon, and the paladin who shone the brightest during the Grand Festival. And because you are that symbolic of a figure. And because the one who can ruin these negotiations all by himself is also you.”

Before they knew it, the two had arrived in front of the Temple of the Order of the Rusty Shield.

“Sir Elbridge. Please lend your strength so that our paladins can protect the world.”

The Chief Paladin politely paid his respects to Elbridge and returned.

Elbridge stared at his retreating back for a long while before returning to the temple.

*

Two days later, around evening.

Unlike usual, the area around the Temple of the Rusty Shield was teeming with people.

They were not even ordinary people. Countless paladins were surrounding the temple.

As Elbridge felt it, it was a situation close to confinement.

A confinement to prevent the sudden behavior of Elbridge, who still had not clearly expressed his stance.

Felix approached and said to Elbridge.

“Just wait a little longer. It seems the negotiations are almost at the very end…”

Elbridge did not reply, only staring at the eastern sky and the purple clouds outside the temple.

Still sorting out his complicated thoughts and estimating the time the demon would descend.

Elbridge muttered.

“Goddess. You told me to do the right thing. I do not really know what is right.”

– Yesterday, it seemed as if you had made up your mind?

“Looking back, I have never pondered what is right. Was I not always a piece on a chessboard? A piece that moves when instructions are handed down. Just a piece that fights a bit better than others…”

– Elbridge. I wish you would hold yourself precious.

“I am not trying to self-deprecate. It is just… the concern of right and wrong was always someone else’s share, and I merely waited quietly for instructions before following them.”

At that moment, Marcus and Rombel, heavily armed, broke through the paladins and appeared.

“Oh, this place is a mess, and that place is a mess too.”

On behalf of Elbridge, who was half-confined in the temple, Marcus and Rombel had just returned from checking how things were progressing.

“How is it?”

At Elbridge’s question, Rombel let out a hollow laugh.

“It is literally a mess. Especially around the Order of the Golden Platter, it is really… not even funny.”

“Explain in detail.”

Perhaps because the sight was so absurd, Rombel still could not stop chuckling.

“First, the paladins of the combat orders are acting as rabble-rousers. What did they say… Marcus. We saw it together. Try imitating them.”

At that, Marcus said with a solemn expression.

“There must be many who suffered from pain last night as well! And there must have been even more who had to watch the pain of their families! We, the paladins, are prepared to sacrifice our lives when the demon appears! However, at present, our combat orders have no guarantee that we can fight the demon and win! We had to suffer a regrettable defeat in Ashpen as well!”

Marcus stretched his arms wide and pointed into the empty air.

“Soon the demon will descend! We need the strength to grasp a certain victory! However, that Order of the Golden Platter is refusing our request under all sorts of excuses to protect their vested interests!”

When Marcus’s imitation finished, Rombel took over the story.

“The excited people look ready to set fire to the Order of the Golden Platter. Especially the branded people, their eyes have almost rolled back.”

“Sigh…”

“Conversely, the Order of the Golden Platter is also explaining the reasons why they cannot back down… but it is not working well. If their believers hadn’t blocked the surroundings of the order with their bodies, it would have been breached already. That is not all. The White Hands, seeing how urgently the situation is progressing, are making a fuss to raise their price…”

“Even after seeing that sight, the people just leave the White Hands alone?”

“They cannot say a word. The combat orders even more so. If by any chance the White Hands harbor a grudge, the situation will get seriously tangled… Ultimately, it is a matter of how much support you receive from the White Hands.”

Rombel shook his head side to side.

“Anyway, it is worse than the old days. Even that era was not this much of a mess.”

Marcus said to Elbridge.

“Oh, by the way, Sir Elbridge. The Deputy Bishop of the Order of the Golden Platter said to tell you: if you have the chance, slip out and come to their temple…”

At that moment, the surroundings of the Temple of the Rusty Shield began to grow noisy.

The people who could not overcome their excitement, anger, and fear began to surge up the hill.

The woman standing at the head of the crowd screamed.

“Do something! I really, really do not want to go through that pain tonight too… I feel like I am really going to die!”

However, the paladins only shook their heads.

“The demon has not descended yet. Just two days. No, please wait just another day and a half. Two days are enough to finalize the negotiations and allocate the new seats.”

At that, some young man yelled.

“To endure that pain twice more? Yes! I can somehow hold out! But my child might not be able to hold out! Yesterday, and the day before yesterday, he almost stopped breathing!”

The man spoke like that and patted the child held in his arms.

It was a child of at most five or six years old, but his expression was so stiffly frozen that it was hard to believe he was a young child. An expression as if he would throw a fit at any moment.

While the people were competing to shout, the purple clouds began to fluctuate.

Rumble—

Subsequently, a black giant bounced out as if thrown from within the clouds.

The giant, whose height was as tall as a steeple and whose skin looked as if flames were burning on it, landed on the ground with a loud noise.

Boom—

The demon raised its bent body, then, as if it were a natural thing to do, began to smash everything existing in the vicinity one by one.

The only saving grace was that most of the people living nearby had evacuated.

However, calmly accepting the sight of the property one had worked for all their life flying away was a hard thing to do.

Even more so if it was a situation where one also had to endure unfathomable pain because of the brand.

The spiteful people shouted.

“Aren’t you paladins! Take care of that thing right now!”

A middle-aged paladin tried to calm the people.

“If we rashly charge in right now and get defeated, Solenion is finished. Even if the negotiations end, we must wait at least until the new year dawns.”

However, the clamor of the people showed no signs of stopping.

People who would normally have avoided the paladins’ gazes now began to spit out curses at the paladins.

Raw, vulgar insults to the point where even Elbridge, who was not facing the crowd, frowned.

In the end, unable to endure the humiliation, a young paladin muttered.

“Shameless bastards. Normally they have absolutely no interest in the combat orders, but now they can’t even hold out for two days and are throwing a fit for us to throw our lives away? Anyone looking would think they left something in our custody…”

Those words became the fuse. A few people rushed at the paladins bare-handed.

“You, what did you just say!”

However, there was no way ordinary people could match a paladin.

The paladins, as if nothing had happened, easily subdued the people and brushed them aside.

Although the clash ended quickly, the atmosphere became even more vicious.

‘This is frustrating. Do we really have to wait until the new year dawns? Or…’

Elbridge stopped thinking and hung his head low.

At that, Rombel asked Elbridge.

“Why is your expression like that?”

“Because I do not really know what I should do right now.”

“It is my first time seeing you think like that.”

Elbridge pressed his temples.

“Indeed. Because I have lived doing only the things I was told to do, only the things I had to do… trying to ponder what is the right choice now is gradually complicating my head.”

At that, Rombel answered with a sullen expression.

“Who asked that? I am asking why you are pondering that now of all times.”

“…”

Elbridge looked at Rombel.

Rombel spoke while leaning on his axe like a cane.

“You lived without thinking in the old days too. You did it if you were told to, and just did it if you felt it had to be done. Why are you trying to make a perfect, hundred-point choice now?”

If you must do it, you do it.

Nothing expressed Elbridge’s life better than that.

Because he had to hate the demon, he hated it; because he had to fight the demon, he fought it.

He lived like that his whole life.

“And yet… because depending on how many seats are allocated now, a lot will change.”

“What kind of bullshit is that? Did the paladins of those days calculate such things? If you fight well, you get more seats; if you fight poorly, you don’t get seats. Did they not fight because there were no seats?”

Elbridge’s eyes flashed wide open.

The oracle the Goddess of the Rusty Shield had handed down yesterday came to mind.

That while to other gods, a seat is a goal, to the Goddess of the Rusty Shield, a seat is merely a means and a result.

The moment he heard it, he could tell what it meant for a seat to be a means.

However, only now did he understand the story of a seat being a result.

A seat should not be something granted before fighting, but something that follows as a result of battle and devotion.

Elbridge, who had been sitting all along, rose from his seat.

A few paladins who deemed his appearance unusual approached Elbridge and said.

“Sir Elbridge. Please wait a little longer.”

Elbridge shook his head.

“I must move.”

“No. You must wait. The way to reduce casualties is right in front of us.”

“Everyone. Do you think the believers followed you because you fight well?”

“Probably… yes.”

Elbridge shook his head.

“The believers did not believe in your strength and skills. They believed that the combat orders would fight for them in the moment of danger, and they believed that the paladin would die before them. Fighting well or poorly is a secondary matter.”

“Please just wait a little bit. The clamor will subside shortly.”

A paladin of the Order of the Laurel Wreath tried to persuade Elbridge, but Elbridge did not care.

“Waiting might be beneficial for now. But in the end, it will return as a massive blunder. There is no one in the world who will believe in a paladin who postpones battle by making excuses.”

Elbridge caught his breath for a moment and requested of the paladins.

“Do not wait for the optimal time. Do what you can do right now. Like the paladins of the combat orders.”

However, the paladins did not move as Elbridge wished.

Instead, a few paladins placed their hands on their sword hilts, seeking to block Elbridge.

For some reason, he felt like laughing. Because the oracle that the God of the Sunshower had handed down came to mind.

‘Flip the board.’

‘Right now, it does not matter if you turn all the combat orders into enemies. Before long, they will all kneel before you and request help.’

Elbridge thought.

Since it was an oracle from the God of the Sunshower, it would surely be so.

It seemed as though Elbridge’s shoulder blurred for a split second, and then his sword plunged into the shoulder of the paladin standing at the very front.

“Argh!”

As a loud scream rang out, the murmurs and shouting that had covered the temple surroundings subsided in an instant.

Everyone held their breath, waiting for Elbridge’s next words.

Elbridge looked at the paladins and said.

“I stabbed you because it is a warning. From now on, if you get in my way, I will cut off your arms one by one.”

He had to behave severely. Because from ancient times, a senior paladin who generously accepted an apprentice paladin hesitating in front of a demon did not exist.

Marcus froze like a stone at Elbridge’s sudden behavior.

‘No matter if the God of the Sunshower handed down an oracle, this is…’

However, Rombel burst into loud laughter.

“Haha! Yes! That is how it should be!”

The paladins hesitated and opened the path.

They remembered the appearance Elbridge had shown during the last Grand Festival. They also knew that Elbridge possessed the ability to do so.

Elbridge and Rombel walked through the knights who were avoiding their gazes.

The Chief Paladin of the Order of the Bloody Spear stared at Elbridge for a moment.

Elbridge also looked at him.

At that, ultimately, the Chief Paladin also avoided Elbridge’s gaze.

It was because he only now realized that Elbridge was not a subject of negotiation.

Now the paladins were behind Elbridge.

Elbridge turned back and said to the paladins.

“Follow me. I will teach you how to deal with a demon.”