Paladin of a Fallen Order (Novel) - Chapter 6 - The Gaze

Chapter 6 – The Gaze

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Translated by Pratt

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Around the time when dawn drew near past the night, Elbridge caught a faint gamey odor in his sleep.

‘Is it wolves?’

Elbridge raised his upper body and sat up. He saw mercenaries moving here and there, waking people.

“Wake up.”

The awakened people gathered in a huddle, using the carts and carriages as shields.

Just like the last time, these wolves did not easily back down and hovered around the party.

However, unlike the last time, no one was highly agitated. This was due to the presence of the knight Walter.

Walter puffed out his chest triumphantly.

“To think they came on their own before we went looking. This is actually for the better.”

The horse Walter rode in on was not outfitted with barding. Because, just like paladins, knights did not ride horses when they fought.

Unless it was a special horse, it could not withstand the strength of a knight utilizing mana.

Staring at the wolves, Walter dug up the soil by tapping the ground with his blunt-toed sabatons.

Watching that, Elbridge thought.

‘The way knights use their supporting foot hasn’t changed from the old days.’

As a result of kicking the dirt a few times like that, a pit about half a span deep was formed. Walter placed his right foot into the small pit, then bent his knee.

“Everyone, step aside.”

At the very next moment, a pile of dirt scattered as if exploding behind Walter’s right foot.

The Knight’s Dash.

Clad in thick armor, Walter ran faster than a warhorse sprinting at full speed. The physical ability of a knight utilizing mana was so powerful that it was hard to compare with an ordinary human.

Up to this point, it was a familiar sight even to Elbridge.

However, there was exactly one detail that differed from his expectation. Even after reaching point-blank range with the wolves, Walter did not draw his sword.

Instead, Walter lowered his posture a bit more, thrusting his shoulder pauldron forward.

“O God of the Golden Platter!”

Boom!

Walter’s pauldron collided with the lead wolf.

A wolf larger than an average calf was blown away without even being able to let out a shriek. The wolf rolling on the ground was practically a lump of bloody meat.

“Oooh…!”

It was a common occurrence for knights to shove an opponent using their pauldrons. However, the power of such a shove was not normally enough to crush a large animal like a wolf.

‘…He fights in a peculiar way.’

The concepts and objects symbolizing the God of the Golden Platter were diverse. But among them, the most intuitive was undoubtedly gold.

Therefore, the powers possessed by the God of the Golden Platter also had much in common with the properties of gold. For instance, the weight of gold, which is much heavier than other metals.

Increasing the weight of an object was one of the secondary powers bestowed by the God of the Golden Platter.

He remembered this clearly because priests serving the God of the Golden Platter were occasionally hanged after using the power to cheat scales.

Instead of cheating scales like the priests, the knight Walter increased his own weight.

With his weight multiplied several times, Walter rammed the wolf at a speed exceeding that of a warhorse, so no matter how large the wolf was, it had no way to withstand it.

‘Even if it’s not a deity specialized in combat, there is still room to utilize the divine power in battle.’

Although it was a somewhat crude method, the result was better than slashing the wolves with a sword. Since the wolves, awed by Walter’s overwhelming strength, slunk away.

After confirming the wolves were running away, Walter asked the merchant somewhat triumphantly.

“How many wolves did you say there were yesterday?”

“There were seven. Since one died, it became six.”

“But the wolves that appeared now are nine.”

“Yes. The size of the pack increased by three.”

“No. That is not a pack of nine. The leader magic beast commanding hundreds of wolves merely sent nine of them here. It is certain that a magic beast is involved, just as you suspected.”

The merchant spoke with a bit of tension.

“If so, shouldn’t we have needed more knights after all? Sir Oswald or Sir Eberhart…”

Walter waved his hand with a laugh.

“Do not worry. Right now, Oswald and Eberhart have gone to hunt that very wolf magic beast.”

“Pardon?”

“Viscount Dickens requested aid from Baron Riverford. He said they identified the location of the wolf magic beast and are tracking it, so please dispatch knights. That is the reason Oswald and Eberhart did not come here. At any rate, the wolf magic beast is in the vicinity of the Dickens Viscountcy, so there is no need to worry.”

“Ah, so that was it.”

Unlike the merchant, Elbridge was unable to feel at ease. This was because of the God of the Sunshower, whom Marcus served.

‘No. The God of the Sunshower is not an evil god, so he won’t deliberately bring bad luck. Sir Walter and I were likely insurance in case a pack of wolves appeared. Indeed, both Sir Walter and I performed our roles decently well.’

However, Elbridge could not let his guard down completely.

*

Walter decided to accompany the party for three days.

Because that amount of time was more than enough to escape the territory of a normal wolf pack, and the Riverford Barony.

Throughout his time accompanying the party, Walter showed interest in Elbridge.

“Elbridge. I can gauge your skill just by looking at your hands. It is the hand of someone who has handled a sword a lot.”

“My hands are a bit rough, indeed.”

“These are not hands born rough. They became deformed because there are too many scars. My hands are similar to yours, so I know well.”

Walter showed his hands to Elbridge.

“Though in my childhood, I used to hear that my hands were pretty quite often.”

Most of the fingernails were crushed or missing, and every single joint was rugged. Beneath the wrinkles carved by time, large and small scars were abundant.

“Thirty years ago, they were even more unsightly than now. Since rough calluses covered the hands…”

Yet, Walter seemed to yearn for the hands of those days.

“Aren’t rough hands a knight’s pride?”

“That’s right. Back in the days when I served the God of Vines and Knots, such hands looked so cool. I really trained day and night to obtain hands like these.”

The God of Vines and Knots symbolized effort that is never betrayed and reasonable achievement.

However, the God of Vines and Knots in Elbridge’s memory was a deity preferred by scholars rather than knights or paladins.

“You followed a different god when you were young.”

“My parents served the God of Vines and Knots, you see.”

“How did you come to follow the God of the Golden Platter?”

“Because after becoming a knight, I came to know a knight’s life accurately.”

Walter spoke while stroking his horse’s mane.

“In my childhood, I thought a knight was someone who always fought enemies. However, the time a knight spends fighting enemies is not that long, even looking at an entire lifetime. A knight also must spend most of their life fighting against life. And when fighting against life, there is no god as reliable as the God of the Golden Platter.”

“I see.”

“Of course, a knight’s salary is not small. However, educating children decently costs an extraordinary amount of money. Even more so for me since I have six children… On top of that, I also wished for my wife to live a bit abundantly. That is why I decided to follow the God of the Golden Platter.”

While speaking as such, Walter lowered his voice completely and whispered.

“In my case, my wealth luck was considerable for five years. I earned more than half the money I’ve made in my entire life during that time.”

It seemed that the Order Transfer Benefit or whatever it was called, which they spoke of earlier, existed even back in those days.

Of course, it was unlikely that all of that wealth luck had been arranged by the God of the Golden Platter.

“Thanks to that, I live fairly comfortably now. I did not become the greatest knight, but I managed to claim the role of a decent father and husband.”

On Walter’s face, filled with white hair, lay the distinct composure of a man who had lived fiercely.

Elbridge adjusted his internal evaluation of Walter slightly upward. Walter’s expression was just that wonderful.

“So on this occasion, why not serve the God of the Golden Platter yourself?”

Elbridge’s evaluation of Walter lowered slightly again. Leaving aside the solicitation to change his faith, it was because Walter repeated the request for Elbridge to tell the priest his name as the referrer at least three times.

*

As they walked while conversing in low voices, the sun set.

The sky behind them, and the clouds in the sky, burned red. A long shadow stretching to the opposite side of the setting sun guided the party’s path.

How long had they walked like that?

Where the party’s shadow reached, a wolf was sitting.

A wolf even blacker than the evening shadow.

‘I figured as much.’

When Elbridge stopped his steps, Walter also pulled his horse’s reins and stopped. Naturally, the entire party walking behind Walter and Elbridge ground to a halt.

“Why do you ask?”

“There is something strange ahead.”

Standing still and furrowing his brow, Walter stared into the far distance, then soon muttered feebly.

“My God…”

As the party’s steps halted, the wolf now rose from its spot and began to approach.

That wolf was more than twice as large as a normal wolf, and possessed pitch-black fur that flowed with a metallic luster.

Elbridge obtained several clues from the wolf’s appearance alone.

‘Luster… Is it an enhanced type? Fortunately, it’s not a distorted or special type. The luster on its back seems thicker than on other parts. It seems to be a fellow that hasn’t undergone magic-beastification for very long. Though I would need it to come closer to know precisely…’

While Elbridge slowly evaluated the magic beast, Walter took out metal rods split into several segments and assembled them.

In an instant, a metal spear was completed.

Having finished assembly, Walter tapped the ground with the spear shaft—thud, thud—to fix the shaft even more firmly.

At the heavy sound of the spear hitting the ground, the people’s attention focused on Walter.

Walter pointed to the direction they had come from, namely the west, and spoke.

“A magic beast has appeared. Everyone, go back.”

The representative of the caravan mumbled.

“Didn’t you say the magic beast was in the Dickens Viscountcy?”

“That is what I knew.”

“…Is there no possibility of exterminating the magic beast? Sir Walter, you have experience defeating a magic beast.”

“Though I am a knight, hunting a magic beast alone is impossible. And when we exterminated a magic beast ten years ago, even though five knights attacked, one died.”

“…”

“Everyone, abandon your luggage. Run with all your might without looking after others. Even if they are blood relatives, there is no exception. Move with all your strength until daybreak. Even if a village appears along the way, do not stop. A tiny fence will not be able to block a magic beast.”

“And what about you, Sir Walter…”

“I am a knight.”

Where do a knight’s rights originate from?

The family’s halo? High competition rates? The years of endurance one must undergo to become a knight?

No. A knight’s rights always originate from duty, not qualifications.

Only those who are confident that they will not shrink before duty can enjoy their rights without shame.

And Walter was a man who had never once felt ashamed of his rights.

“Go!”

The people began to flee.

The leader of the caravan took only his pouch of money, then rode a packhorse and fled faster than anyone.

The people who had walked with Elbridge since the last city, as well as the mercenaries escorting the caravan, also fled.

Unless the opponent was bandits or a normal wolf pack, even mercenaries had no duty to fight against a magic beast.

However, there were some people who acted a little differently.

The mercenary Marcus fled for a bit, then stopped at a halfway distance.

Rick was taking dried provisions from his cart and handing them out by the handful to the fleeing people.

No, rather than handing them out, it was more accurate to say he was haphazardly shoving a handful into their grasp. Even so, quite a lot of cargo remained on the cart.

Rick pondered for a moment while looking at the cart, then finally began to walk, grunting as he pulled it.

And Elbridge was still standing by Walter’s side.

Walter glanced at Elbridge.

‘My discernment must not have been wrong.’

He knew it was a young man’s bravado. Still, he was deeply grateful that Elbridge remained by his side.

Walter muttered.

“O God of the Golden Platter. Watch over me.”

However, in Walter’s opinion, the God of the Golden Platter was not a very reliable deity in this situation.

Therefore, Walter added a small word.

“…O God of Vines and Knots. May your gaze also reach me.”

Before they knew it, the magic beast had drawn quite close.

Walter measured how long he could hold out.

He tried to imagine it as hopefully as possible, but only very poor outcomes were pictured. For Walter, and for the people who had fled leaving their backs to Walter.

Walter asked Elbridge.

“Why did you not flee?”

“Do you know what the Goddess of the Rusty Shield symbolizes?”

Deities associated with combat naturally tended to include victory or glory in their symbolism.

The God of the Laurel Wreath symbolized glory and joy, and the God of the Bloody Spear meant hard-won victory and the reward for sacrifice.

However, the Goddess of the Rusty Shield symbolized neither victory nor glory.

“Indomitable will.”

To Walter’s answer, Elbridge added words of his own.

“Devotion and sacrifice. Hidden honor. And never-retreat.”

Hidden honor, indeed.

It was a symbol so fitting for the name and actions of the young man before his eyes that Walter wore a faint smile even in a situation where his life hung by a thread.

This time, Elbridge asked.

“Do you have experience fighting magic beasts?”

“Three times. One of them was a lupine type. But unlike that fellow, it was one whose fur surged like flames.”

“That is good.”

Elbridge held out his hand to Walter.

“Sir Walter. If you are going to use the spear, give me the sword. If you are going to use the sword, give me the spear.”

Walter pondered for a moment. Was it correct to give one’s weapon to someone else right before combat?

Nevertheless, Walter handed his sword to Elbridge. Because he had no confidence that he could trade even two blows with that magic beast.

Elbridge lightly loosened his wrists, then swung the sword through the air.

Walter thought the sword’s trajectory was exceptionally clean. However, from Elbridge’s standards, it was a movement that was not very satisfactory.

“Sir Walter. If the God of the Golden Platter bestows his power, will we be able to win?”

“…I lack confidence.”

“If so, will the God of Vines and Knots watch over you?”

“It would be nice if that were the case… But a god does not watch over a believer who has turned their back on them.”

“As expected, that must be the case.”

Elbridge’s gaze was fixed upon the magic beast.

‘Can I win?’

Even though Elbridge had been an exceptionally outstanding paladin, he could not hunt a magic beast alone without holy power or divine authority.

However, right now, there was a major variable named Walter. A variable who possessed decent experience and courage.

Elbridge spoke.

“Sir Walter. Stick close to my side.”

“Do you have a good plan?”

“No, it’s not that.”

“Then why?”

“Because the Goddess of the Rusty Shield will surely watch over me.”

Elbridge smiled broadly.

“You must stick close to my side so that the Goddess of the Rusty Shield can catch you in her eyes as well, wouldn’t you say?”