Paladin of a Fallen Order (Novel) - Chapter 93 - Combat Order

Chapter 93 – Combat Order

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Translated by Pratt

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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When Corwin’s head fell, the first person to react was Marcus. Since Marcus was the only one who had anticipated Elbridge’s actions.

Marcus wore an expression as if the sky were falling.

“I had my doubts, but… what are you going to do now that you’ve actually killed him!”

“Marcus. If you want to put out a fire, you must first eliminate the person setting it.”

“That’s true, but the situation… Ugh!”

Marcus, frustrated, thoroughly ruffled his hair.

“Fine. Let’s gloss over that for now. The current situation… is there any way to clean this up?”

“I’ll have to think about that now.”

Elbridge’s reaction appeared calm.

Yet, a distinct ripple had risen within Elbridge’s own chest.

Since awakening from the seal, Elbridge had never killed a human. Even before being sealed, his experience with killing people was not vast.

Elbridge was not accustomed to killing. Nor did he have any intention of becoming accustomed to it in the future.

Sonya approached Elbridge’s side while still dry-heaving slightly.

However, Sonya’s gaze was fixed not on Elbridge, but on Corwin’s head.

“This son of a bitch!”

Sonya kicked Corwin’s head. Corwin’s head rolled across the temple floor, leaving a streak of blood.

Subsequently, Sonya swung her staff and beat Corwin’s headless body relentlessly.

Thud, thud.

Yet, the expression on Sonya’s face as she swung her staff was complex.

A faint satisfaction. A hazy sense of gratification. A slight annoyance that Elbridge had taken her revenge for her.

But the most profound emotion was futility.

Sonya lowered her staff with a deep sigh.

“I really don’t get it.”

“What?”

“I have absolutely no idea how the world works. They pulled off such a stunt just because they wanted to be recognized? And my father was toyed with in the palms of such fools?”

To those words, Rombel replied.

“Taking a step back, they look like fools. But in their own minds, it must have been a grave matter.”

“Just over something like that?”

“They must have watched their parents live and die while being disregarded their entire lives, and these guys themselves lived being ignored all their lives. It’s obvious their children would grow up disregarded too…”

The ones Rombel was referring to were not Corwin, but the paladins of the combat orders.

Corwin might have simply been the first among them to take action.

“Unlike dwarves or elves, humans live for about eighty years at most. If they endured for two hundred years across generations… actually, it’s a wonder they held back for so long. Don’t you think?”

Rombel accepted Corwin’s story in a fairly sympathetic light.

Unlike the other three, Rombel was reasonably satisfied with the recent changes in the world.

Thud.

Sonya kicked Corwin’s torso.

“Didn’t these fellows lack the ability to block the demons in the first place? Even if they are recognized, what meaning is there if they die?”

“No. They would have managed to block them somehow. In my experience, people survive somehow even in situations that seem completely finished.”

“That’s just a guess. This time we could truly go to ruin.”

Rombel thought for a moment and then answered.

“Even if he was certain he couldn’t handle the demons, this guy would have behaved exactly the same way. A guy who causes a truly massive incident doesn’t weigh this and that. He probably thought it would be better to be recognized and brag even for a brief moment before dying, rather than continuing to live as they do now.”

“Somehow, the more I hear the explanation, the more he seems like an utterly hopeless bastard.”

As if Sonya’s anger had still not subsided, she kicked Corwin’s corpse repeatedly.

Though the power of magic would be much stronger than a kick… direct physical action was far better for venting one’s anger.

Watching that scene, Rombel spoke again.

“And… what the paladins of the combat orders truly desired might not have been recognition.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I’ve realized one thing during my three hundred years of life. An appetite even more intense than the desire to succeed oneself is the desire to drag down someone one dislikes. Sonya. You looked back as we climbed this hill, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

“What did you see?”

Sonya thought for a brief moment and said.

“A crowded street? A massive temple?”

“Yes. If you look down from this hill, you can see the temples of the non-combat orders. Corwin must have had his stomach twisted in jealousy as he watched those orders prosper day after day.”

“Are you saying he might have orchestrated this out of a desire to see the non-combat orders ruined?”

“Yes.”

“How foolish. Truly, incredibly foolish.”

“Of course. There are no emotions that cloud human reason as effectively as deprivation and anger.”

Elbridge, who had been quietly organizing his thoughts, spoke.

“Rombel. This is likely not just a simple matter like that.”

“Why?”

“Earlier, Corwin said, ‘interests aligned with theirs.'”

“Yes. It sounded like it had something to do with an external power.”

“It’s not just a mere connection. On the contrary, there is a high probability that they were the ones who orchestrated the situation. Saying that ‘interests aligned’ is a phrase often uttered by those who accept a proposal, not the one making it.”

Someone induced the situation and drew in Corwin and the other combat orders, and Corwin accepted the proposal and committed the deed. At present, it was correct to judge it so.

At that moment, Marcus, who had been quiet for a long time, opened his mouth.

“…Can we not clean up the aftermath first? Am I the only one who feels anxious right now?”

*

In truth, there was nothing that could particularly be called a cleanup.

Because concealing the situation was impossible to begin with.

Of course, Corwin had been entirely alone in the temple of the Order of the Bloody Spear.

However, the number of people who had witnessed Elbridge’s party heading for the temple was immense. Since individuals capable of killing someone of Corwin’s caliber so cleanly were extremely rare, people would have pointed fingers at Elbridge even if there were no eyewitnesses.

Elbridge retrieved Corwin’s head, which had rolled far away, and placed it beside his torso. Then, he spoke to his companions.

“You all must be tired. Go back and rest.”

“Sure. See you later.”

Rombel patted Elbridge’s back and departed.

However, Sonya’s situation was different from Rombel’s.

“I don’t know anyone in Solenion… Where am I supposed to go?”

“Can’t you return to the Central Mage Tower?”

Sonya’s brow furrowed.

“Absolutely not. You said there was someone who egged that bastard on. I must see that guy die too.”

Marcus suggested.

“The atmosphere will be grim for a while… Why don’t you stay at the Temple of the Rusty Shield? That place is probably the safest in Solenion, at least.”

“…Is that so?”

Sonya, as well as Marcus, quietly made their way toward the Temple of the Rusty Shield.

Having sent his entire party away, Elbridge stood alone at the entrance of the temple of the Order of the Bloody Spear and waited.

Before long, paladins gathered. Their gazes swept over Elbridge.

Elbridge’s grave expression, the blood splattered on his armor, and the heavy scent of blood wafting in the air.

The paladins of the Order of the Bloody Spear quickly realized that something unusual had occurred inside the temple.

A young paladin attempted to enter the temple. However, Elbridge blocked him.

“Do not enter right now.”

“Why are you, an outsider, blocking us from entering our own order’s temple?”

“I will step aside when the Archbishop arrives. Wait until then.”

“You. Tell us what you have just done.”

Led by him, numerous paladins scrambled to protest.

However, Elbridge did not answer and closed his eyes.

Before long, an elderly priest appeared. He was the Archbishop of the Order of the Bloody Spear.

The Archbishop listened to something from the other paladins, and his face froze solid.

The old Archbishop let out a faint sigh, barely visible. Then, he approached Elbridge.

Elbridge stared quietly at the Archbishop.

However, the Archbishop avoided Elbridge’s gaze. As if he were a person who had committed a crime.

This made it certain.

‘The Archbishop knows what Corwin did. But the other paladins know nothing.’

Elbridge slinked aside so that the Archbishop could enter the temple.

After confirming the interior pooled with blood, the Archbishop requested of the paladins waiting outside.

“Everyone, do not enter and wait outside.”

Only then did Elbridge leave the temple of the Order of the Bloody Spear and return to the Temple of the Rusty Shield.

*

Several days passed since then.

“These days, it is scary in many ways.”

Chief Administrative Priest Matilda shivered as soon as she arrived at work.

“Priest Matilda. Should I grant you a vacation?”

At Elbridge’s suggestion, Matilda shook her head.

“I’d rather be in the temple. I feel more anxious at home. The scariest part is the commute. It feels as if someone is constantly watching me.”

Human intuition is sharper than one might think.

In fact, there might indeed be someone surveilling Matilda.

“Why don’t you lodge and eat at the temple for the time being?”

“I think I should. By the way… if I even lodge and eat at the temple, does that count as overtime?”

“…Let us do so.”

To the extent that even Matilda, who had been through all kinds of trials, felt afraid, the atmosphere surrounding the Temple of the Rusty Shield was brutal.

It was not an incomprehensible reaction. Because the paladins of the Order of the Bloody Spear had never expected Corwin to die at the hands of a paladin from a neighboring order.

Had Corwin died fighting a demon instead, the atmosphere would not have grown so razor-sharp.

Elbridge went out to the front of the temple. Sure enough, he felt gazes upon him.

Turning his head, he saw several paladins staring intently at him.

“…”

Even when their eyes met, they did not avoid Elbridge’s gaze.

It was not only the paladins of the Order of the Bloody Spear who exhibited such a hostile attitude. There was only a difference in degree; the paladins of other combat orders, and furthermore their believers, did not look kindly upon Elbridge either.

Corwin had been born in Solenion and had lived his entire life in the shantytown.

It was only natural that the people regarded Corwin with greater familiarity than Elbridge.

‘…Would they still show such a reaction if they found out what Corwin did?’

Just as Elbridge was about to let out a deep sigh and enter the temple, several young paladins strode over and spoke.

“Sir Elbridge. If you possessed even a shred of guilt as a human being, we believed you would naturally visit our temple and bow your head. To let personal feelings during such a critical period—”

However, before they could even continue a few more words, the Archbishop of the Order of the Bloody Spear rushed over and scolded the young paladins.

“You foolish rascals, you know it is a critical time, and yet you think of creating conflict! How many times have I told you not to act rashly…?”

“But, Archbishop. To let bad blood pile up like this without a proper protest…”

Elbridge let out a smirk as he watched the farce.

Elbridge and Corwin’s matter was known as an accident arising from personal feelings, and there was no protest on the level of the order.

The excuse was plausible. That they must not divide in the face of the demon army.

However, the young paladins and believers believed that the order had swallowed its pride before Elbridge.

It was a reasonably plausible guess, but one far removed from the actual facts.

As the Archbishop of the Order of the Bloody Spear was leading the young paladins back to their temple, Elbridge spoke quietly.

“Archbishop.”

The old Archbishop looked at Elbridge with a slightly tense expression.

“Could we have a talk around this evening? I would be grateful if members of other orders could come along too.”

The Archbishop did not have the authority to refuse that proposal.

“…We shall do so.”

Yet the young paladins, perhaps believing they had extracted an apology from Elbridge, stared at each other’s faces and clenched their fists tightly.

*

That evening, around fifteen people gathered at the Temple of the Rusty Shield.

They were the Chief Paladins and Archbishops of each order.

Elbridge identified their affiliated orders by their attire.

‘Order of the Bloody Spear. Order of the Herald of Thunder. Is that the Order of the Hardstone Sword? I thought for sure they had perished, but they are still around. Of course, the Order of the Laurel Wreath is here too…’

There was one thing in common among those approaching the temple.

It was that they puffed out their chests and held their heads high. It was likely a behavior conscious of the gazes of the young paladins and believers gathered around.

However, after entering the temple, everyone subtly bowed their heads.

Since they knew full well why Elbridge had summoned them, they could not hold their heads high.

A chuckle escaped Elbridge at the sheer absurdity.

Their conduct was ridiculous, and it was surprising that literally all kinds of combat orders were entangled.

“…”

The Chief Paladins and Archbishops of each order stood in an orderly line, waiting for Elbridge to speak.

Conversely, Elbridge sat in a chair with his legs crossed, resting his chin on his hand as he stared quietly at them.

A heavy silence enveloped the surroundings.

How much time had passed in that manner?

A middle-aged paladin opened his mouth.

“Sir Elbridge. Might I ask what business you have summoned us here for…?”

Embroidered on that paladin’s armor was the image of a sword splitting a boulder. It was the Order of the Hardstone Sword.

Elbridge shook his head.

“No. That is not how you should start the conversation.”

“Pardon? What…?”

“Your first words ought to begin with ‘thank you.'”

Let alone ‘I am sorry,’ to say ‘thank you.’

While they exchanged glances, unable to comprehend the intent, Elbridge unfolded two fingers.

Then, he folded the first finger.

“First. You should say thank you for not letting the people know of the sins you committed.”

Subsequently, he folded the second finger.

“Second. You should say thank you for letting your heads remain attached to your necks until now.”

However, anger welled up in the paladin’s eyes.

“No matter the circumstances, your words are too harsh.”

“Is that so?”

Elbridge uncrossed his legs, rose from his seat, and stepped in front of the paladin.

As Elbridge drew near, the middle-aged paladin’s hand moved toward the hilt of his sword.

Yet, faster than the speed of the middle-aged paladin touching the hilt, Elbridge’s hand pressed down on the pommel of the sword.

He gripped the hilt belatedly, but the sword would not be drawn.

At the same time, Elbridge raised his leg. And he immediately kicked down hard, stomping on the paladin’s knee.

Crack.

The leg of the paladin, even while clad in armor, snapped surprisingly easily. At an angle that could never be bent under normal circumstances.

“Aargh!”

The middle-aged paladin tumbled, clutching his knee.

But Elbridge crouched in front of the paladin and growled.

“From two hundred years ago until now. Of all those who have unleashed a demon’s seal, you bastards are the first to not die the moment you faced me.”