Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 383



Only Krnovel

Episode 383. Breakwater Against Chaos (2)

As Kaldbuch’s pale green light pierced the fallen Death Knight’s chest, the soul trapped in his body was seen trembling.

Aethelred commanded the Death Knight with the authority of a king.

“Apostasy is not forgiven. By the king’s command, return to where you belong!”

The soul stirred and convulsed, then soon became quiet.

[Your will be done, my king.]

The soul quickly soared into the sky and disappeared somewhere. Ethelred wiped off the cold sweat and approached the next Death Knight. The battle was over, but just activating the sword was tiring both physically and mentally.

What Ethelred was doing was a kind of exorcism that only the Elil faith could do. It is hard to believe, seeing as they fight civil wars as if they were eating rice, but the Elil believers are obsessively obedient to the authority and orders of the king.

That is, if the opponent has the authority of Ellie.

The authority of the Kaldbuh, the sword, and the Lion Knight were sufficient proof of a king.

Of course, it would be nice if these two things could completely restore the souls of the Ellil believers, but this is only a temporary ritual. Eventually, they will return to the Immortal Church. All Ethelred had to do was properly embalm the bodies before that happens.

“Your Majesty, if you are tired, you may rest for a while.”

Rihanna came up to him and asked.

The exorcism that Aethelred performed could also be performed by Lyanna. Although she was merely conveying orders as Aethelred’s agent, she too was equipped with a holy sword, a sword spirit, and the aura of a great angel.

“No, it is a sacred ritual, so we cannot do it carelessly.”

Ethelred answered stiffly, then cautiously opened her mouth as she saw the people around her far away.

“Sister Rihanna, aren’t you tired? You can just gather them up and burn them, but it seems like you’re burdening them unnecessarily.”

“No. As you said, I would rather avoid fighting the Knights of Elril. The Code of Light method is convenient, but it lacks courtesy and respect.”

The reason they chose the tiring method instead of the easy one was because they wanted to avoid fighting the Elril Deathknights who had been given new bodies again. The Code of Light said that receiving new bodies was rare, but Aethelred and Lyanna did not believe it.

The Knights of Elril are a great and powerful group of warriors. From the perspective of the Immortal Emperor, it may not be worth giving new bodies to the Light Code guys who do not know how to respect human life and treat it as nothing, but wouldn’t he want to give new bodies to the Knights of Elril, a group of righteous and strong warriors, and use them again?

… … This was the firm belief of the leadership of the Ellil Army.

I can’t say that they are not overly self-conscious, but it is true that their polite exorcisms have delayed the resurrection. At least, I won’t see them again until the Holy Land of Lua is reclaimed.

“I especially don’t want to meet that knight named Tolbad again.”

Ethelred clicked her tongue as she recalled the mighty Death Knight that had pierced through her guard of knights and was aiming for her neck. If it weren’t for the arrow that had come flying from somewhere at the last moment and the power of Kaldbooh, she didn’t know if she would have been able to hold out.

“Now that I think about it, that knight seemed to use the same swordsmanship as Lua Belin. Sister.”

“… … Luayo?”

Rihanna frowned. She nodded, her brows furrowed as she thought about something.

“I see. Actually, I felt that way too. The swordsmanship of the Belin family has a distinct characteristic. It seemed that other Death Knights also used the Belin swordsmanship, although to different degrees. More importantly, that flag… … .”

The banner with the red sword on the green background was now in Ethelred’s hands. Lua Velin was not present, but seeing her carrying the banner, it was no coincidence that the Death Knights used the same swordplay as her.

“Sister, I actually don’t know the name Tolbad. If he was a knight who became a Swordmaster, there must have been a record of him somewhere. Have you heard of him?”

“No. This is my first time too.”

That means that Tolbad had been taught by Lua somewhere other than the Ellil Kingdom and had reached the level of Swordmaster. And the only place where that could have happened was the Dawn Army.

Ethelred shuddered as she imagined Lua Velin, the swordsmanship instructor of the Urdantu Empire.

“They must have been great knights, but what on earth did they go through to make them choose the path of death and eternal fighting?”

The more Ethelred looked at this battlefield, the more he could not understand those undead Elril knights.

If you die after fighting bravely, shouldn’t you be content with that honor and go to heaven? Is there such a thing as honor that you can achieve by becoming an undead in the first place?

‘What are glory and honor in the first place? Does courage have any meaning when you have an immortal body? Are the courage and honor that the Knights of Elril pursue real virtues?’

Aethelred suddenly asked Lyanna.

“Is this expedition an honorable war for you, Sister?”

Rihanna didn’t answer.

“I thought that if I kept winning, I would learn about the glory of Elil. I thought I would come to respect the knights and understand their bravery. But… … .”

Aethelred muttered as she looked around the chaotic battlefield again.

The battlefield was filled with the smell of burning flesh from fallen soldiers and the Death Knights who were once followers of the same Elril but became apostates.

“I still have a hard time liking the article.”

It was an apostate statement that had never been made to a fellow believer of Eliel. It would have been shocking for other knights to hear it.

But Lyanna showed no sign of being shaken. Instead, she muttered wearily, her eyes similar to Aethelred’s.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“yes?”

“Elil is a god, and Your Majesty is a human. They say that the most exemplary knight is Elil, but how tiring it must be for a human to imitate a god. In fact, I think that courage and honor are just excuses to imitate Elil.”

“… … So does that mean it’s all useless?”

“No, it’s not.”

Lyanna said, patting Aethelred on the shoulder.

“In the first place, courage and honor are not goals, but processes. They cannot be goals. You must find your goals not in God, but in yourself. It is natural that you will not understand and find them throughout your life.”

She said calmly.

“At least while in agony, Your Majesty Aethelred will be better than your enemies.”

***

Kururur… The steel door opened with a heavy sound.

Leonora tried to enter, but was startled by the smoke and strong smell coming from inside.

The scent itself was nice.

Leonora realized that this scent was the scent of white dawn grass, which was hard to find even in the Gertonian Empire. This grass, which could only be obtained through natural foraging, was literally expensive because even if you dried and ground a cart, you would only get a handful.

The owner of the house was burning the expensive incense like a pile of firewood, making it burn so loudly that it was unbearable.

[Come in, Leonora.]

At that moment, Richie’s voice, who had invited her, was heard.

Leonora glared at the door with a frown. The guards beside her seemed anxious about standing in a city teeming with the undead and wanted to get in quickly, but Leonora raised her voice.

“If I go in, I’ll either get smoked or suffocate to death. Or both. If you want some ventilation, I’ll go in.”

Leonora shouted, and a moment later, the windows of the mansion began to open here and there. Most of them were skeletal slaves, but there were also zombies that had not completely decayed.

Leonora looked at it and found it surprising.

The wealthy of the Urdantu Empire measure their wealth by the number of slaves they own, whose skeletons are in perfect condition. Zombies that still have flesh on them are often unable to enter the city, so they end up working on farms or in mines on the outskirts.

The lich she visited was one of the wealthiest people in the capital city of Ushaq. This meant that he was the quickest to apostatize. So she could not understand why he had brought such a ‘low-quality’ slave into his home.

[Come in if you think it’s enough.]

I was just thinking about going in, so I started walking when I heard a voice. I had tried to ventilate the room, but the smell was so strong that my nose was numb.

It was so hot that it was hard to believe that it was winter all year round in the Urdantu Empire, but fortunately it wasn’t so hot that I got smoked.

Not long after, a lich slowly glided down the stairs.

A reject of the Undead Cult, once the Lich who was also the High Priest of the Golden Idol, was Al Theodore.

[It’s been a while, Miss Leonora. The war has brought in a lot of new slaves, so I’ve been burning a little too much incense to keep them from smelling. As you know, I can’t smell, so I should be able to tell how much is just right.]

“… … Thank you for your consideration. I think this is enough.”

[By the way, it seems like you came by a rather unusual route this time?]

Instead of going straight into business as usual, Al Theodore brought up another topic first. A strange tension spread through his words.

Leonora was not surprised that her movements were all being tracked. She had passed through Fort Gertrude and the Valley of the Labyrinth under the guidance of the undead. It was strange not to know.

“How can we pass through the North carrying such valuables on our backs when there is so much chaos? I just heard that the sea route has opened.”

They probably already knew that the Nightmare Strait had been destroyed. No, they might even know that Leonora had supplied the Isacrea Dawn Army. However, Leonora knew that Theodore would not be able to do anything to her because of that.

Because war is war and business is business.

If the Golden Idol Top was biased towards one side, then no one within the Undead Order would hold her accountable if she sold goods to both sides.

As expected, Al Theodore said with a faint laugh.

[Did you bring the items I asked for?]

“Of course. We prepared all genuine products made in Lichtheim.”

Al Theodore approached the cart she had prepared with joy. He looked at the sacred relics and books Leonora had prepared and admired them.

[Wonderful! Even in the midst of such a fierce war, you managed to bring back a relic of this quality. No, it seems like the quality has improved even more than before.]

“The Light’s Law Church is preparing for the Dawn Army, so they are selling off all the relics that are not useful in the war. Thanks to that, I was able to get them for cheap, but the quality is by no means poor.”

[Indeed. My dealings with Miss Leonora are always satisfactory.]

“thank you.”

Of course, some of these are not sacred relics, but rather just fancy and cool weapons, but that’s just cuteness. There’s a demand for such items too.

The items she supplied to Al Theodore would be sold as decorations for Death Knights and Liches preparing for battle. Oddly enough, the undead tend to adorn themselves with relics related to their faith.

“Actually, this time I have prepared a rather special gift.”

Leonora took out a white cup from the innermost part of the cart, secretly flirting with her luck. Al Theodore was immediately struck by its beauty when he saw it, but soon tilted his head in a strange feeling.

Although it was adorned with rubies and all sorts of gold, it was impossible to tell what the main material that made up the cup was.

[What is this?]

Leonora answered with a smile of conversion.

“This is an empty relic carved from the bones of an archangel. It was made by the furnace craftsman himself.”

[Angel?! A furnace craftsman?! How did you get these things from those hermits?]

Al Theodore shouted excitedly. Leonora shrugged her shoulders, her nose raised.

“Are my connections just ordinary connections? You wouldn’t be able to get them if it weren’t for me. Coincidentally, there has been a bit of a shortage of Archangel bones in the market recently. And I’ve bribed a few furnace craftsmen to make holy relics. As for that cup, it’s a copy of the ‘Red Grail’… … .”

Of course, the real Red Grail wasn’t in the form of a cup, and this replica didn’t have any special abilities, but that didn’t matter. After all, it was just a story to sell. Theodore was already taken aback by the fact that it was made from the bones of an archangel and the work of a furnace craftsman.

[Wonderful. Great. This is the kind of relic that you can’t get even with real money. Doesn’t an ’empty relic’ mean that we can put some kind of miracle in it as we please?]

“Yes, that’s right. So I think it would be appropriate to give it to you as a ‘gift’.”

At Leonora’s words, Theodore showed a strange expression.

There are not many more ‘noble’ people in the Saint Ushak. Especially when it is Leonora who calls for something valuable and gives it as a ‘gift’, it means a lot.

[Are you requesting an audience with His Majesty the Immortal Emperor?]