Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 224



Only Krnovel

Episode 224. The Cremation Ground (2)

But he couldn’t say this in front of Dietrich. As Duke Brandt, he was at the top of society, so much so that he was considered to be above everyone else but the Emperor. From the beginning, Dietrich was the one who had to take responsibility for this situation, not just watch it unfold.

He criticizes the foolishness of the poor peasants and speaks down on them, but it is a complaint he can make because he is well-fed and has ample living conditions.

So Isaac had no choice but to keep his mouth shut.

Since he decided to accept Isolde, he too ended up becoming one of the gang.

Once Isaac has decided to accept one side of this world, he cannot help but become a part of it. The more he interferes, the more he becomes a part of this world.

***

From one of the cremations where the flames had died down, a charred skeleton was still shaking, and a new person was brought in. The new victim, dragged into the hands of the soldiers, was a girl who looked to be just over ten years old.

“for a moment.”

Isaac stepped forward. The soldiers flinched as the armored man approached, but not the mad priest. He opened his eyes wide and shouted at Isaac.

“What are you doing, you rascal! How dare you interfere with the sacred purification ritual!”

Instead of answering, Isaac sighed and climbed up onto the stake. The blackened logs crumbled under Isaac’s feet, but the foundation did not collapse as if it were made of stone. The priest flinched at the calm attitude, but instead became even more furious.

Soon, as if it were a familiar thing, soldiers and knights began to gather. It seemed that there had been several such disputes already.

Among those who approached was a paladin. He was a cold-looking paladin, standing two meters tall and wearing a silver visor. The priest smiled coldly as if he felt relieved when the paladin stood behind him, and glared at Isaac.

“This is the High Priest of the Knights of Ostara, Lord L’Ohem Ostara! He is to be the Crusher of Skulls, the Hammer of the Atheists, the Rider of the Dawn! How dare this rookie knight!”

Isaac was secretly pleased with the lengthy investigation.

“I am Isaac.”

If you have become part of the privileged class, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to wield that authority as you please. After all, you were trying to get promoted in the first place so that you could do whatever you wanted.

The priest thought he had heard that name somewhere, but before he could think of anything, Isaac swung his sword and cut down the stake in one fell swoop. The sword energy that rose from Cachulain instantly reduced the stake to sawdust.

Thanks to this, Isaac’s name disappeared from the priest’s mind.

“Black spirit, black spirit! This is the heresy of the tyrant!”

Isaac was satisfied. He had deliberately taken out Kachulin instead of the Ruaddin key because he wanted the other party to realize his identity as late as possible. However, the priest did not seem to even realize that the Ellil believers were part of the same Baekje alliance.

As the girl who was about to be hung at the stake stared blankly at Isaac, a knight named Leohem or something stomped his foot hard and swung his hammer at Isaac.

His body was surrounded by various miracles and he emitted flashes of light. Judging by his quick response, it seemed like he already knew what a Sword Master was and how strong they were.

‘Come to think of it, I’ve never really fought against the Knights of the Code of Light.’

He had sparred with the knights of the Brienne Knights led by Rottenhammer, but had never fought in a real battle. Now, his opponent was definitely rushing to kill Isaac. Leohem’s hammer struck with a fierce force like a meteor.

Bang. Instead of taking it head-on, Isaac simply deflected it away. Leohem tensed at the Swordmaster’s swordsmanship, but laughed at the same time.

It is a misconception that because the hammer is heavy, the movements must be slow. Paladins can swing their weapons twice as fast as other knights, and depending on their skill level, they can even use them even faster.

Especially if you use advanced swordsmanship.

Lohem quickly struck with a flurry of blows, intending to crush the head of the Sword Master he was seeing for the first time.

His body spun around like a whirlwind and he suddenly rushed towards Isaac.

Isaac’s attacks, on the other hand, were slow, if not lazy. His sword was barely moving.

It seemed clear that Isaac’s head, which had been caught off guard by the blunt attack of the mace, would be shattered by Leohem’s advanced swordsmanship.

No, it should have been.

If only Leohem’s wrist hadn’t suddenly been impaled on the tip of Isaac’s sword.

“Ugh!”

Even though it was covered by the armor, the blade dug straight into the artery. When Leohem hurriedly pulled his arm out, the wound on the sword became even wider as if it had been scratched by a saw blade. Blood flowed out through the gap in the armor and soaked the dry firewood.

Isaac shrugged his shoulders at the sight.

‘Even though I only tried to imitate it, it turned out pretty convincing.’

He was merely imitating some of the sword techniques that Elril used to tease him.

A technique to strike the weakest spot before the opponent’s attack begins.

Isaac gave his movements irregularities in speed, making them completely unpredictable to his opponents.

This technique has two effects.

The effect of ‘impressing the opponent with the fact that you are overwhelmingly faster than them’ and being able to claim ‘I was only trying to threaten them, but they put their hand on the knife’.

“Woooooooo!”

However, as expected of his size, Leohem did not lose heart after just one attack and swung his hammer again. Isaac just quietly accepted the attack. His movements were not large and he seemed to be focused solely on defense.

Thanks to this, the people around them who were watching the scene felt as if they were hallucinating.

It was clearly Leohem who was pushing the attack, and it was Leohem who was also getting wounded and bleeding. To their eyes, it seemed as if Leohem had jumped into Isaac’s sword of his own accord.

The priest stared at the sight with his eyes wide open in disbelief, and was about to scream.

“Magic… …!”

“It’s the Holy Grail Knight! It’s the Holy Grail Knight Isaac!”

A soldier shouted belatedly. The priest was about to explode in anger at those words, but then he looked at Isaac’s face again and came to his senses.

The resurrected saint who had the appearance of an angel and the mercy of a saint.

A Holy Grail Knight who appeared like a comet, defeated the ancient gods, banished the pagan angels, overcame death, and returned after receiving an oracle from heaven.

He was the saint of resurrection who returned to rebuild the army of light in the Kingdom of Elril.

It was impossible not to know the renowned Knight of the Holy Grail.

Isaac had already revealed his name, so it was hard to say whether he could be recognized right away just because he looked good.

***

Within moments, Leohem also staggered and fell to his knees. Rather than quickly obeying the call of the Grail Knight, he seemed to have lost consciousness due to excessive bleeding. The bleeding was more than even blessings could handle.

Isaac calmly kicked him down to the stake with the authority of a victor. The gathered knights and soldiers looked up at Isaac with frozen expressions.

Isaac calmly ordered them.

“I’m going to die. Please cure me.”

Only then did the knights and priests come running in a hurry.

Honestly, I don’t mind dying, but if I kill the Paladin as soon as the Grail Knight returns, the sect might mistake him for an Emperor’s faction. If you want to wield authority, you have to know how to respect authority.

“Oh, I see the saint of resurrection… … .”

To see the slaves of authority crawling like this on their own.

The priest trembled as he waited for Isaac to speak. He had long since forgotten about the sword.

I was filled with fear that if I said, “I heard you’re using a surrogate’s certificate, let’s check it out,” he might find out the truth by stabbing me in the neck.

Isaac also wondered what to do with this priest who had burned dozens of people by now. Just like the paladin, he could not harm the priest. The priest may be weak in terms of strength, but his authority was several times greater than that of the paladin. The aftermath would inevitably be much greater.

But I could make sure he wouldn’t do something crazy like that again.

“Priest.”

“Yes, yes.”

“How are the original life insurance policyholders treated?”

The priest flinched and then spoke with difficulty.

“The punishment for apostasy is unconditional burning at the stake… … .”

Isaac had one more moment of patience.

“If you voluntarily confess to having life insurance and request cancellation.”

“… … The ceremony of termination will be held.”

“Yes. I bless you for returning to the embrace of light and eradicate the evil traces of the Undead Cult. In return, I will only charge you the cost of purchasing the sulfur and sandalwood to be used as sacrifices.”

“That, that… … .”

The priest desperately tried to make excuses. Of course, Isaac also knew that there was some meaning to this scene that seemed like simple madness.

The life insurance policyholder can be both an enemy in the long run and a spy whose identity is difficult to determine while alive. Even if that were not the case, those who suffer while alive cannot help but feel tempted to become undead.

It is to send an early warning message to those people before the dawn army begins. See what happens to the undead you want to become.

Even if you want to die, you can’t die, you’ll just suffer eternal burning pain.

Seeing that sight, even those who are afraid of death will reconsider purchasing life insurance. Isaac, who remembers the situation that those who purchased life insurance almost caused in the Kingdom of Elril, found it difficult to blame this ‘procedure’.

But if those who confessed because they wanted to terminate the contract end up like this, the only option for those who remain is the Immortal Church.

It was a short-sighted and foolish thing to do.

Above all, I could not agree with the idea that it was acceptable to burn even a child for the sake of ‘setting an example’.

“I see. But I think it’s a bit excessive.”

“Well, I will be a little more careful in selecting apostates.”

Only then did Dietrich come over, perhaps feeling that things had calmed down.

He seemed to be wondering how to handle this situation, but he also seemed somewhat happy.

Isaac fiddled with the knife and then pulled it out. The priest looked up, relieved that he had finally survived.

In an instant, Isaac’s sword shot up from below. Without even a moment’s resistance, the priest’s head flew off in one breath, spinning around before crashing into one side of the stake.

‘Come to think of it, the reason I worked so hard to obey authority and listened obediently was so that I wouldn’t have any trouble after beating up these guys.’

Meanwhile, Isaac has been obediently following the Light’s Code in order to survive.

However, there was no reason for him to be concerned about the religious order since even the Sword of May, a famous angel, considered him ‘useful’.

A heavenly authority far higher than that of the earth was acknowledging him.

‘If I am a useful tool, then you should also show your usefulness to me so that the give and take can be established, right?’

If you have become a part of the authority, you should be willing to use that authority.

Isaac thought so.

“The weight is so light, it feels like I’m cutting grass.”

Isaac muttered as if grumbling as the entire square fell silent at the sight of the priest’s head flying away. Dietrich was equally shocked as he saw the priest’s head flying away before his eyes.

Isaac looked around at the people around him without paying any attention.

“I am Isaac Isaacrea.”

Isaac said as he kicked the decapitated corpse over so that they would not forget.

“Tell them what you have seen. That faith does not rationalize everything. That vengeance may not come in the form of a lightning bolt, but in the form of a passing knight.”

***

Dietrich took Isaac and quickly boarded the ship, setting off in an instant. Not only was the priest’s head gone, but the local lords, local leaders, monasteries, and knights might come looking for him in an instant.

“What can we do with the resurrected saint who even carried out the angel’s command in a local monastery?”

“That kind of thing would only work in a saint or a capital city! Unless an angel comes down and warns them in person, country bumpkins would value their relationships with each other more!”

Dietrich snapped in disbelief.

“What if all the priests of the monastery come out and start questioning and attacking you? Are you going to cut off all their heads?”

After hearing Dietrich’s words, Isaac also reflected.

A single priest can be punished for violating the doctrine, and the church will turn a blind eye to that.

But if you cut off the heads of 100 priests in a monastery, you are a heretic.

That was why Dietrich quickly snatched him away and set sail.

“I thought he was a smart son-in-law, but I never thought he would do such a crazy thing.”

“I did it because he is a smart son-in-law.”

Isaac answered with a snicker.

He didn’t just cut off the priest’s head to feel better.