Paladin of a Fallen Order (Novel) - Chapter 65 - If You Cannot Win
Chapter 65 – If You Cannot Win
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Translated by Pratt
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Elbridge headed to the Mage Tower workshop to find Rombel.
After hearing the full story from Elbridge, Rombel suddenly threw a sword to him.
“Forget that, check this out first.”
“Why a sword all of a sudden?”
“Lately, whenever you swing a sword, you’ve been putting too much strength into your wrist, right?”
Elbridge grinned.
“You’ve got a sharp eye.”
The reason why someone holding a sword put too much strength into their wrist was mostly due to inexperience.
However, for someone of Elbridge’s caliber, there was a separate reason for this problem. It was when the sword was too light.
If a sword was excessively light, the tip was bound to waver.
One had to apply excessive strength to their wrist and forearm just to hold the tip steady.
And this had happened because Elbridge had rapidly recovered his physical capabilities over the past year.
The sword, which had been of a suitable weight when he lacked strength, had now become excessively light and no longer fit Elbridge’s body.
And the sword Rombel handed over now was at least two to three times heavier compared to his previous one.
“This sword, what’s the material?”
“I mixed this and that.”
“The weight feels quite good.”
“You knew what the problem was, so why didn’t you change your sword sooner? What were you doing?”
“Just because. It was only slightly uncomfortable.”
Rombel’s face crumpled.
“Slightly uncomfortable? You can say that and brush it off only because you haven’t had to fight for long. If there was a situation where you had to fight for days without rest, you could have died because of your sword.”
Since every single word was correct, Elbridge felt a bit embarrassed.
‘Indeed, I might have been a bit complacent lately.’
Rombel gestured with his chin toward Elbridge.
“Swing it a bit more. If there’s anything you don’t like, I need to adjust it now.”
Elbridge swung the sword in various ways.
Vertically, horizontally, and diagonally.
Slashing down, slashing up.
Slashing slowly, slashing quickly.
And the conclusion he reached was one: not only the weight, but the balance was also perfectly tailored to Elbridge.
“Hmm.”
“How is it?”
Instead of offering his thanks, Elbridge intentionally nitpicked.
“The scabbard looks a bit too plain.”
Nitpicking over such a trivial matter meant there was nothing to find fault with in the important areas.
It was, in a way, an indirect, high praise that could only be shared between close individuals.
Sure enough, Rombel’s expression visibly brightened.
“The important thing is practicality, not appearance. The scabbard will be much sturdier than the blade, so there won’t be any chance of it breaking or bending.”
Having said that, Rombel slung the axe that had been sitting in a corner of the workshop onto his back.
Despite Elbridge and Marcus arriving so suddenly, he showed no hesitation in preparing to set off with Elbridge.
Watching Rombel, Marcus felt anxious on his behalf.
“Mr. Rombel, I imagine the reservations for Mage-Tower-crafted armaments must be backlogged tremendously these days.”
“That’s right. Even if you reserve right now, you’d probably have to wait three years.”
“…But is it alright for you to leave your post so freely?”
Rombel grinned.
“Marcus, that’s why you have to become an irreplaceable talent.”
*
The party left Solenion and headed south.
It was a modest party of only three people who were going to help Isalvius.
Isalvius did not even know how skilled Rombel and Marcus actually were.
However, Isalvius did not complain. Was it not a miracle that anyone had appeared to help him at all? This was not a situation where he could afford to be picky.
On the second day after they left Solenion, Elbridge quietly offered a prayer.
“Goddess.”
– I am listening, Elbridge.
“By any chance, is the Goddess of Spring Rain and Moss angry about this situation?”
Last summer, the Order of the Flowing Water had clashed with the Order of Spring Rain and Moss.
Could the Goddess of Spring Rain and Moss be displeased with this situation?
– No, she is not. After all, wasn’t what happened during the Grand Festival just a cute display?
“I suppose that’s true.”
– Besides, the Order of the Flowing Water is merely a mom-and-pop shop with only a single seat. From ‘our’ perspective, it is a cute level.
“…”
Lately, the Goddess of the Rusty Shield had been boasting enthusiastically whenever she mentioned religious orders with few seats.
It seemed the years she had spent without a seat had been that sorrowful.
‘She’ll return to her usual self before long…’
– By the way, Elbridge, for what reason are you asking such a thing?
“Since you haven’t handed down an oracle for the past few days, I was worried that something might have happened.”
– That… had a different reason.
“May I ask what happened?”
– Do you remember Hakon and Scarlet, the paladins of the Order of Spring Rain and Moss who participated in the Grand Festival together?
“Of course.”
Scarlet was the name of the red-haired female knight who served as the team leader at the time, and Hakon was the name of the short, dwarf-like man.
– Lately, a pink romantic breeze has been blowing between those two. The atmosphere is quite exciting, so… please understand if your Goddess’s gaze isn’t instantly directed to you. Still, I will hear your prayers immediately, so offer a prayer if an urgent matter arises.
It seemed she was having plenty of fun without any need for him to worry. Elbridge was greatly relieved.
*
Elbridge’s party traveled at a moderate pace, taking Isalvius’s physical endurance into consideration. When they were lucky, they would hand over a few copper or silver coins to hitch a ride on a carriage or cart.
Even now, the four of them had met a merchant caravan at a suitable location and were traveling in an empty luggage cart.
“By the way, Mr. Rombel, for what reason do you work at the Mage Tower?”
At Marcus’s question, Rombel replied.
“Because I turned my back on the God of the Steel Anvil.”
“I don’t see how those are related. In fact, since you turned your back on the God of the Steel Anvil, shouldn’t you stop working as a blacksmith?”
“Since I no longer serve the god, I became unable to accumulate divine power. Even the divine power I had accumulated was bound to scatter over time… So in the end, I made a decision. I decided to use mana as the source of my strength, just like knights do.”
“Which means…”
“I made money by working as a blacksmith, and used that money to accumulate mana.”
Elbridge clicked his tongue.
‘No wonder his financial calculations were so precise.’
Rombel had even put the cost of the sword he gifted to Elbridge on the ledger.
Viewed negatively, it was a forced sale without asking the customer’s intent, but it was undoubtedly an act of goodwill. After all, Rombel had brushed aside all other reservations during a busy period when orders were piling up just to forge Elbridge’s sword.
There was no reason to feel burdened by the cost of the sword either. If worst came to worst, he could simply ask Marquis Solenion to cover the bill.
The rattling luggage cart came to a stop in a village near a massive forest.
Unlike most forests that had no particular names, the name of this forest was known to everyone on the continent.
It was the continent’s largest forest, the Great Forest.
“We have to walk from here.”
The trees of the Great Forest remained green even in the dead of winter.
No, to begin with, the weather was not wintery at all. If one had to describe it, it could be called a somewhat humid spring weather.
“I’ve heard stories that there is no winter in the south, but I didn’t know it would actually be true.”
As Marcus, who easily felt the heat, spoke while fluttering his clothes, Isalvius laughed.
“Conversely, we southern people do not understand winter. I myself saw snow for the first time in the east.”
“I see.”
“The cold was unfamiliar as well. The greatest cold I have ever experienced in my life was just the cool night air. However, the cold of the east was no joke. The north must be even worse. How vast and mysterious the world is.”
Elbridge subtly shifted the topic.
“A mysterious place… Mr. Isalvius, do you know about the Lake of Eternity?”
“Of course I know of it. The believers of the Order of the Flowing Water live near the Lake of Eternity, after all.”
“Is it a special place?”
“Yes. It is a mysterious place. Time does not flow in the Lake of Eternity.”
“…Time does not flow?”
The entire party leaned in to listen to Isalvius’s words.
Isalvius seemed somewhat burdened by the intense interest.
“To be precise, it’s slightly different… but it’s hard to explain exactly. You will understand it more clearly once you see it in person. Though I don’t know if we can make it to the Lake of Eternity safely.”
*
After walking steadily for five days even after entering the Great Forest, Elbridge’s party discovered a city.
It was literally a ‘discovery.’ Unlike the cities of the east that could be seen from far away, that city suddenly materialized right before their eyes.
This happened because the giant trees of the Great Forest concealed the city walls.
“One would have to know the path precisely to find it.”
“That is exactly why merchants are reluctant to enter the south, even though they know they can make large profits. There are quite a few merchants who lose their way and die. For now, it would be best to stop around here.”
Where the party stopped was behind the trees. It was a position difficult to spot from atop the city walls.
And the tension on Isalvius’s face was palpable.
‘Are the paladins of the Order of the Flowing Water held captive in this city as well?’
A few figures could be seen keeping watch from atop the city walls. There were even two individuals mixed in who looked like paladins. It became increasingly certain that this city was entangled in the war between the religious orders.
“Mr. Isalvius, how many people reside inside the city?”
“I don’t know for sure… but it is probably around fifty thousand.”
“That many?”
Based on the circumference of the walls and the scale of the city, the population Elbridge had estimated was at most around twenty thousand.
No, in fact, he had thought it was highly likely to be under fifteen thousand. After all, the giant trees existing inside the walls would take away the people’s living space.
“Unlike the east, where people can build walls or fences anywhere and live, there isn’t much land in the south where people can gather and live. People gather and live densely packed in limited land. Because the population is small, the south also has few seats…”
“Even so, there are far too many people. Does the south stack people up on top of each other or something?”
“It is similar.”
“?”
“You see the trees inside the city, right? Southern people build houses on top of the trees as well. Some even live inside the trees.”
He couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of city it was.
“By any chance, do you know how many paladins there are?”
“I’m not sure about that. However, if it’s the base of a single faction, it wouldn’t be strange for there to be over a hundred paladins. From what I know, the number of paladins involved in this war is at least six to seven hundred.”
To think there were at least six to seven hundred paladins.
That alone was a daunting prospect, but there was an even more fearsome aspect.
It was the fact that Isalvius’s words implied a possibility that Elbridge’s party had not considered.
“…Hold on. A single faction? Mr. Isalvius, weren’t there only two factions fighting over the Order of the Flowing Water?”
“Pardon?”
“I thought it was split into two: the orders that originally had frequent exchanges with the Order of the Flowing Water, and the orders that had almost none.”
“At first, it was like that. However, as the situation escalated, they were bound to turn against each other, weren’t they? Each faction repeatedly fractured and merged amongst themselves… and now, I do not know exactly how many factions there are.”
“…”
Rombel, who had already given up on analyzing the situation, asked.
“Elbridge, do you have any ideas?”
No satisfying answer came to mind.
Because once the number of active entities increased, the situation was bound to become exponentially complex.
Even so, it was not a scale where they could defeat them one by one.
To think that the number of paladins inside that fortress could exceed a hundred?
If it were a situation where he had to repeat one-on-one duels a hundred times, he might be able to win.
However, if a hundred people targeted two, the situation would be different.
One could easily understand this by imagining a situation where a hundred paladins of the Order of the Bloody Spear threw spears at Elbridge. If a hundred spears reinforced by divine authority flew at him, even someone like Elbridge would find it difficult to survive.
In fact, the current situation was even worse than that.
Since multiple religious orders must have gathered to form factions, it was clear that all kinds of divine authorities would mingle together and target the weak points of Elbridge’s party.
‘Breaking through the front is impossible. The information is so lacking that I can’t even look for a weakness.’
It was a situation where even Elbridge could not easily offer an answer.
The Goddess of the Rusty Shield, who must have been watching this situation, did not hand down an oracle either.
Since there was a high probability that the Goddess of the Rusty Shield would pretend not to hear because she was sleeping even if he offered a prayer, Elbridge decided not to pray in vain.
Meanwhile, an unexpected figure proposed a solution. It was Marcus.
“Sir Elbridge. I’m just asking to be sure, but it’s not like the four of us can attack and capture that city, right?”
“Of course not.”
“And it’s not like a solution will pop up just because we sit out here agonizing outside the walls.”
“That’s correct.”
As Elbridge and Rombel nodded simultaneously, Marcus continued speaking.
“It’s not really a method that suits a paladin like you, Sir Elbridge… but we mercenaries have a proverb that fits this situation perfectly.”
“What is it?”
“If you cannot win, join them.”
Marcus naturally began to tie Isalvius’s hands.
“Let’s enter the city walls first and look at the situation inside.”