Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 301



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Episode 301. The Eyes That Chase Gold (2)

“The Siero Dawn Army’s major was not very satisfactory.”

“… … .”

The Pope, Horma Khmuel, glared at Cardinal Rohen Otter with a displeased expression.

Next to him stood the newly appointed Cardinal Amilla Ende, who seemed to have no intention of hiding her involvement.

Juan had been absent from meetings for weeks, claiming he was sick, but no one seemed to care.

However, since the entire Church of the Light’s Code was moving under the thumb of the Watchers’ Council, the distinction between your side and mine was meaningless. Even the Pope was nothing more than an accessory.

If before, they had only respected it formally, now it seemed like they had no intention of hiding it.

“I thought there was a possibility of a ‘false prophet’ because of the momentum of the priest Siero, but I think it would be shameful to even give him a naming notice. I think it would be better to incorporate him into the main force of the Dawn Army before it collapses.”

“… … It was your suggestion to use Siero.”

The Pope couldn’t stand it any longer and finally spat it out. Rohen smiled at those words.

“I intend to use anything for the Code of Light.”

“So you even pushed your nephew into a corner?”

The story that Rohen Otter’s nephew had been taken prisoner by the Olkan Discipline was already widespread. And the rumor became an example that ‘even such a high-ranking official would gladly hand over his relatives to the Dawn Army.’

“You don’t have to worry about my nephew. He has to overcome this level of ordeal to enter the Watchers’ Conference. I believed that Siero had the ability to overcome this level of ordeal.”

Siero had a unique ability for demagoguery and fabrication. The priest, who had a mysterious charm that captivated the masses, was the perfect person to incite the madness that the cult needed.

But the ability to agitate and the ability to be tactical were separate things.

As soon as the Dawn Army began, that fact was revealed, and Siero’s popularity was quickly waning.

“Actually, I tried to ‘clean it up’ before it got to this point.”

Rohen covered his mouth with a bitter smile.

“But Siero, he was quite the writer. He was so good at avoiding things. Thanks to that, the person who was supposed to take Siero’s place made his move first.”

Rohen moved one of the pieces on the table of the constellations. The piece with a white cross on a purple background was moving south at a faster rate than usual.

The Pope’s expression shifted.

“A Holy Grail Knight? Were you planning on having the Dawn Army lead him?”

“Leading hundreds of thousands of rabble is impossible with ordinary charm. The Grail Knights have the talent to do so. And they seem to have a tendency to be… … obsessed with human life. I thought things would get better if tens of thousands of people died right next to them.”

Isaac’s moral standards are average at best by modern standards.

In other words, although it is a bit worn, it is by the standards of this era a saint among saints.

The Pope and the Cardinals all agreed that there was no need for such a level of morality in the Paladins. However, the Pope had difficulty agreeing that the Siero Dawn Army, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, could have been handed over to Isaac.

“He doesn’t have a good reputation. Didn’t there seem to be stories about him following the teachings of the owl?”

“Haven’t you ever learned it, Your Holiness?”

“It was when I was young and reckless. And back then, I had no power or authority. But if someone with the power, authority, and fame of a Grail Knight leads an army and follows their teachings, wouldn’t the sect be in danger?”

At those words, Rohen laughed.

“There’s no way an angel would allow that.”

The Pope was left speechless by the all-powerful phrase that defied all logic.

“And if you tie the Grail Knights to the Dawn Army, it will have an interesting effect. You can tie up the Brandt Dukes in the north as well.”

Rohen had already half-assed that Waldsemer had passed over to the Brandt Dukes. No one but the Brandt Dukes could have kept it so tightly hidden. The Brandt Dukes are now lying flat, but they may show their claws again at any moment.

But what if Isaac was in the middle of an army of hundreds of thousands of people?

Even if he was the commander leading the Dawn Army, if an angel appeared and said just one word, ‘Excommunicate you,’ there was no way that what happened to the Emperor would not happen to Isaac.

The Grail Knights, who value human life, will have no choice but to surrender. The Brandt family will have no choice but to continue prostrating themselves to avoid that happening to their son-in-law.

“Duchess Priya Brandt. Because of this heroine from the Kingdom of Elril, the Northern Alliance that we were trying to tear apart has been tied up again. In that case, we need to force her to continue to act as the chieftain there.”

“… … I see. But the Grail Knights have already formed their own Dawn Army, so is it difficult now?”

The news of the Isaacrea Army’s unprecedented march had already spread throughout the empire.

The sight of the Kingdom of Elril and the Braziers of the World marching together under the banner of the Code of Light brought to mind the legends and glory of the First Dawn.

It may also be because of the comparison with the poor fighting and bullying displayed by the Siero Dawn Army.

The knights of Elril tore apart the Orcs of the Orkhan Discipline with great speed, and the isolated villages and cities in the mountains that could not even ask for help were liberated by the dwarves. After that, the army that declared itself the new ‘Knights of Isacrea’ grew in number, rescuing people from danger and providing support.

“That’s right. After all… … the Holy Grail Knights have their own independent forces.”

Currently, the forces of the Yeomyeong Army are divided into three.

First of all, the first to depart is the Dawn Army, which has many capitals. However, the proportion of paladins and priests here is small, so their power is weak.

The second is the main force of the Dawn Army led by the Pope. It will be filled with the power that the Light Code can unleash. The Pope is confident that this power alone will be enough to shatter the main force of the Olkan Discipline.

And finally, the third force that was newly added, the Isacrea Dawn Force. It was the force with the smallest number and the instability of a multinational, multi-religious alliance. However, its momentum was not normal. And the nobles who felt uneasy about religious madness were considering it as an alternative.

‘In fact, after the Emperor’s excommunication, a considerable number of the Emperor’s forces fell under the shadow of the Isacrea Dawn Army.’

But I couldn’t attack Isaac with this.

Because on the surface, he was obeying the orders of the church anyway.

The empire was already deeply wounded by the internal strife between the Emperor and the Pope. There was no need to create further unnecessary conflict within the church.

“So what are we going to do now?”

“As I said, I think it would be a good idea to incorporate the Siero Dawn Corps into the main force… … .”

Rohen was lost in thought as he watched the three-pronged advance of the Isacrea Dawn Army.

“I need to think about how to separate the Grail Knights.”

A north wind blew in through the open window, shaking the horses. Protected by their blessings, they felt no cold in the winter wind.

But the Pope alone felt an inexplicable sense of desolation.

***

Who is the most uncomfortable person to meet at work?

A bad-tempered boss? A subordinate who can’t do his job but yells at him?

No. At least she could be nominated, but Isolde had a different answer.

The answer is, ‘The former emperor who once ruled the empire, but was excommunicated by an angel and drove his father to death, and then came back as a guest.’

“It’s all taken care of, miss.”

The man who was the former emperor, now called Baltsemer, or rather, Zemer, and now a member of the Brandt family, bowed his head before Isolde and spoke.

Isolde nodded with a trembling expression.

“Thank you for your hard work, Sir Zemer.”

Zemer had shaved his beard and cut his hair short, giving him a completely different look. Furthermore, the horns that had been luminous had disappeared, so the shading on his face had changed completely, to the point that even Isolde didn’t recognize him when she first saw him.

Of course, I still had to be careful, so I followed the excellent example of Dera Heman and always wore a helmet when going out for activities.

Loyalty hit rock bottom the moment I heard how Baltzemer lost power.

He gave all his power to an angel and gambled it away, but he lost it all.

A few important facts were missing, but that was the gist of it. All that was left was a fugitive who was like a bomb that could explode at any moment.

“It seems like there is more soot than before.”

In the front yard of Luzberg, the corpses of the black monsters that Zemer and the knights had hunted were piled up. These monsters, with a form that was a cross between human and beast, were beasts that had been transformed by a phenomenon called ‘Soot’. It was originally rare, but it had been increasing rapidly recently, posing a threat to the houses.

Isolde was increasingly concerned about this phenomenon.

As expected of a heretic, she knew very well what Soot was. Soot was one of the lower-level divine beings that appeared in the Code of Light, Urbansus. In other words, it was a divine being, but it was an evil spirit that could not endure the intense light of the Code of Light and gave up its other personality to live off of the soul and parasitize.

Although it has a vicious nature as an evil spirit, it is helpless in front of the miracle of the Light Code. Therefore, it is good to use it as a consumable. However, to ordinary people, it is just a nuisance.

They usually live in Urbanus, and rarely appear on the ground except in places like Lichtheim. However, there were clear signs that the number of soot was increasing throughout the empire, even in Luzberg, which was far from Lichtheim.

“Not only in the soot, but also in various places, there are eyewitness accounts of seeing divine beings. I don’t know if it is due to religious madness caused by the Yeomyeong Army, or if it is the nonsense of people suffering from a fever.”

“It sounds like things are going to get worse.”

“I hope this is just a temporary phenomenon caused by the appearance of the lighthouse keeper.”

Zemer said nonchalantly. Strictly speaking, the lighthouse keeper’s appearance was his fault.

But Isolde couldn’t blame him. It was impossible to blame him since the entire family had already joined in the plan.

“… … I hope that these things are just temporary.”

Not only the appearance of soot, but also this current situation, this structure. I hoped that everything would be temporary. Now that the emperor and father, who had dreamed of complete separation from religion, had fallen, the Brandt family was just lying flat and waiting for the storm of madness to pass. If the spear of the sect had not been pointed solely at the Holy Land, Lua, the Brandt family would not have been okay either.

If it weren’t for her guilt and desire for revenge, Priya wouldn’t have accepted Baltzemer either.

“Unfortunately, the appearance of the soot is like a shadow cast by the growing light of Urbanus, so it may become more serious as the Dawn Army progresses. If the Dawn Army succeeds, it may even be suppressed.”

Isolde felt annoyed by Zemer’s nonchalant muttering.

‘Do you think I don’t know that? Have you forgotten that I am a former Inquisitor?’

But when Isolde saw Zemer’s eyes beyond the helmet, she realized that he was not speaking in a cheerful tone.

He was talking about how someone had to cut off or stop the flow of the Dawn Army.

Isolde thought of the recent terrifying advances in the eastern part of the Empire and the man most often mentioned as ‘the one who might conquer the Holy Land’.

I thought of that face I hadn’t seen in a long time.

When we parted ways in front of the Isacre estate, I didn’t know that we would not see each other for this long. And in real time, he was gradually moving further and further away.

On the other hand, he himself is just hiding, crouching deep inside this solid fortress.

Isolde even felt a sense of guilt over that fact.

“Miss Isolde.”

At that moment, one of the guards guarding the main gate approached Isolde.

“A priest has come to see me.”

“Priest? Again? What kind of mischief are these guys planning to commit this time… … .”

Isolde tried to show her irritation again, but the guard’s continued words quickly calmed her down.

“I visited from the Isacre territory. A priest named Claire.”

“In the Isacre territory? What business did you have?”

The guard looked embarrassed at Isolde’s question.

In fact, if there was someone who said something similar, I would have kicked them out long ago. However, the person in question was a priest who had visited the territory ruled by the Holy Grail Knight and Isolde’s husband. I couldn’t treat him carelessly.

“I just came to tell you some good news… … .”

Isolde’s gaze unconsciously turned to the southeast where the wind was blowing.

The wind blew her hair roughly.

***

Isaac opened his eyes.

A sudden gust of wind knocked away the snow that had piled up on his head while he was dozing off. As Isaac shook his head and stood up, Hesabel, who had been standing guard, came down from the tree.

The surroundings were still littered with orc corpses. It seemed a little darker than before I fell asleep.

Hesabel approached with a puzzled look on his face.

“Why are you awake already? It’s been a while since you slept.”

Isaac hadn’t slept properly for the past few days. It was a rare opportunity to sleep, even while hiding in the woods. But somehow, Isaac stretched with a relieved expression and looked northwest.

“I knew that Isolde had come.”

[Serial] The Knight of the Dead God