Paladin of the Dead God - Chapter 384



Only Noblemtl

Episode 384. Breakwater Against Chaos (3)

“I just wish I could be there when you ‘present’ the cup to His Majesty the Emperor.”

Al Theodore looked at Leonora closely.

Leonora has no miracles or protecting angels.

But that ‘harmlessness’ was also her weapon. A being that did no harm to anyone and only benefited them. Even now, when the conflict between the living and the dead reached its peak, it was the same.

[As you may know, the Immortal Emperor has no interest in such relics.]

“I know.”

He is a divine being who walks the earth and is a miraculous being. The place where he stays is the holy place, and everything he touches is no different from a holy relic. Although his history is short, he is a god who can rewrite history, and that is the immortal emperor Beshek.

“But he is both God and Emperor. Just as the throne in heaven is his, shouldn’t he also have the most precious things on earth?”

Of course, the relic that Leonora brought was not the most precious, but it was precious. More than anything, it was a prototype that the world’s furnace cult had revealed to the world after hundreds of years. In any case, Al Theodore had to meet the Immortal Emperor for the report.

[Come to think of it, Miss Leonora has already met His Majesty the Emperor.]

Leonora smiled silently.

She then signed a life insurance contract directly with the Immortal Emperor. The insurance was essentially a mortgage on her soul, but it also served as a constraint that prevented the Immortal Order from ever harming her.

And of course, Al Theodore was not worried that Leonora would harm the immortal emperor. Rather, he was worried that if she did anything rude, it would be a loss of face for him.

[Very well. I will find a seat for you soon, as Miss Leonora is not the type of person to do anything rude. However, meeting His Majesty the Immortal Emperor is not something that can be done just by wishing for it.]

“It would be possible if the timing and luck were right. I will wait.”

Unlike other nations, the Urdantu Empire has little need for ‘governance’. There is no need to feed the people, and no one dies when disaster strikes. Since all the people’s souls are pledged to the Immortal Emperor, there is no need to worry about rebellion.

The only things that could be done were diplomacy, importing and exporting luxury goods, war, and budget planning, but even these were completely theocratic states where angels mostly carried out orders. Therefore, Beshek, even though he was the emperor, would wander around aimlessly, and would only appear out of nowhere to give orders when important decisions were made.

The people were not particularly dissatisfied with this fact.

The Immortal Emperor’s mere existence on earth is a miracle, and he boasts overwhelming authority.

For ordinary people who had difficulty even seeing angels, meeting God in person was enough to shake their lifelong beliefs.

[But may I ask why you wish to see His Majesty the Emperor?]

Leonora said with a strange smile.

“I have something to tell you about the Knights of the Holy Grail.”

[Holy Grail Knight… … Isaac Isaac Crea, the rumored Angel candidate? I’ve heard the name. What are you talking about? After all, there is no realm of ignorance for His Majesty the Emperor, who can hear the knowledge of the dead.]

Even though Theodore tried to coax Leonora into confessing quickly, she didn’t give in. She just smiled vaguely and tried to brush it off.

[Huh, it doesn’t matter. I’ll be filing a complaint soon, so you can stay in this mansion for the time being.]

“thank you.”

***

After Leonora parted ways with Al Theodore, she was led to her room. Al Theodore had a mansion as large as his wealth, and the hallways were long and straight.

Sherlock followed Leonora’s brisk strides and asked cautiously.

“Are you sure you want to stay here?”

I wish she would just say it was a joke, but Leonora just answered calmly.

“I’m not too happy about being mixed up with these corpses either. I was originally thinking of camping out on the outskirts, but there’s no place better than Al Theodore’s mansion to get a grasp of the current state of the world.”

“What is the state of the world? It’s not even the capital city of Usak, so how can you find out information here? It doesn’t seem like there are any other sources of information coming and going… … .”

Leonora did not answer otherwise. The slave who had been guiding her stopped in front of the room where she was to stay. The slave, who seemed to have been dead for a short time, spoke with a vocal cord instead of a mental wave.

“Leonora, you can stay here. I will guide the others to other accommodations.”

“Can you tell me more about the room?”

At Leonora’s request, the slave entered the room without much thought. However, as soon as he entered the room, Leonora grabbed the slave’s shoulder and pushed him against the wall. The surprised slave tried to struggle, but Sherlock quickly realized the situation and pulled out the slave’s shoulder joint, making it impossible for him to resist.

Leonora covered the slave’s mouth so he wouldn’t scream, took out a stick of incense from her bosom, and roughly rubbed it under his nose. As the spicy scent spread gently, the slave’s dull eyes began to come to life.

Only then did Leonora take her hand away from his mouth.

“Here… … .”

“name.”

“Who, who.”

“Name. Where are you from?”

The slave struggled and finally opened his mouth.

“B… … I am Todd Lennum from the Binaburg Abbey. Where, where am I?”

Leonora and Sherlock exchanged nervous glances.

This man was a priest of the Code of Light.

There are two ways for the Immortal Church to increase its population and followers. They can either receive life insurance automatically after death, or they can turn a living person into a corpse and bind the body to it before the soul leaves, and ‘persuade’ them. If they are not persuaded, they will live as slaves forever with their minds suppressed.

The only way out is to completely destroy the body before conversion.

Even if you voluntarily convert to the Immortal Church, you cannot escape your second-class citizen status until all your flesh is removed. Of course, there are numerous smaller classes after that, but if you were to categorize them by appearance alone, you could categorize them as slaves—a lump of flesh—a skeleton. The further back you go, the more noble your status becomes.

What Leonora had rubbed on the nose of Todd, a priest from the Code of Light, was an incense that temporarily broke the state of mental suppression. It was originally something Leonora had carried around in case she herself became addicted, but it was powerful enough to temporarily break the mental suppression of even the undead.

“Todd Lennum. What were you doing here?”

Todd was a priest, but he was instinctively intimidated by Leonora’s overbearing attitude. Whoever she was, he felt that she was a noble person who was accustomed to stepping on others and rising above them.

“I, I, I definitely fought in the Dawn Army, in Belslav… … I mean… … It felt like my whole body was on fire, but I don’t remember very well.”

Todd was in a state of awakening due to the effects of the drug, but due to the mental suppression, he was only talking nonsense. However, by examining the fragments of the word Leono, Todd’s condition, and various circumstances, we were able to learn a lot.

Leonora opened Todd’s eyelids and was convinced.

“What is it?”

“Sooted.”

Although other parts of his face were slightly decayed and discolored, Todd’s inner eyelids were shiny.

“Human soot whose souls have been exposed to the light of heaven. They are the ones who the Order of the Law of Light believes are the warriors who will lead the Millennium Kingdom. I heard that they do not burn, their eyes shine, and they do not die, but I guess the last part was distorted. I can see that they are rotting away.”

“Yes, yes? Am I, am I dead?”

Leonora ignored Todd’s words and talked to Sherlock.

“There were many others in this mansion who could be called ‘signs’, besides this one. I am certain of it. Al Theodore is collecting signs of the coming heaven. From the looks of it, he seems to be conducting various experiments. I thought it was strange that a tyrant like Al Theodore would have such low-level slaves.”

“No, slave? What, what are you talking about, my lady? Where am I? Please take me to a monastery or a church. I will… … .”

As Leonora winked, Sherlock quickly shook Todd’s head from side to side.

Crunch. His head dropped limply as his cervical vertebrae dislocated. Todd’s soul temporarily escaped, but when it returned, the drug’s awakening effects would have completely worn off.

“That’s why I said it would be easier to grasp the situation if you stayed at Al Theodore’s mansion.”

“Hmm. I thought you were hiding something since you burned the White Dawnflower like that. Let’s stay and see how things go before we meet the Immortal Emperor. Just being able to catch a glimpse of how the gods’ plans are unfolding will be a huge advantage.”

At Leonora’s words, Sherlock was silent for a moment, then opened his mouth carefully.

“Miss, why do you insist on meeting the Immortal Emperor? … Do you really think the Immortal Cult will win this war?”

“of course.”

Leonora looked at me as if to say, “Why are you asking such an obvious question?”

“But didn’t Lady Leonora bet on Isaac’s victory?”

“That is one thing, and this is this. Even if the Immortal Order loses the Holy Land of Lua, all the Angels are destroyed, the Urdantu Empire is shattered, and the Millennium Kingdom appears, the Immortal Order will not perish. Because the Lighthouse Keeper has no intention of doing so. It is rare to find a businessperson as trustworthy as this one.”

The Code of Light is deliberately fostering the growth of the Immortal Cult.

As Avalanche Knight Commander Linde had guessed, Leonora was also confident. In fact, it wasn’t a difficult guess to make from a third-party perspective.

The top of the Golden Idol was also more recognizable because it was interacting with both the Code of Light and the Undead Order at the same time.

“I just don’t know how much the Grail Knight will agree with the plan. Given his character, I don’t think anything will change, but that’s the only variable.”

Leonora turned her head and looked southwest, probably in the direction Isaac was approaching.

“Maybe we’ve passed Fort Gertrude by now?”

***

“We haven’t even reached Fort Gertrude yet. This will delay our schedule more than expected.”

After defeating Pale, the Isacrea Knights were moving quickly to join Tukhalin. However, no matter how quickly they moved, this ‘division’ inevitably delayed their schedule by nearly a week.

It was a great advantage to be able to resolve the conflicts and problems of each force, and above all, to have defeated the angel Pale. However, large-scale expeditions like the Dawn Army often fail because the schedule is disrupted.

“I can only hope that Tukhalin is doing well.”

Fort Gertrude was hardly a strategic stronghold, with many gaps and few permanent personnel. If Tukhalin had already taken the fort, it would have been perfect, but it seemed that its strength was lacking.

Isaac decided that he would be satisfied if he had only finished preparing the siege.

Rottenhammer looked at the map carefully and said.

“I didn’t even know there was a place called Fort Gertrude here. A fortress that’s over a thousand years old?”

“Yes. It has a small permanent staff, but it is a fortress that has been standing for quite some time.”

“Until recently, no one had been able to enter this desert. Why did you build a fortress? Back when there was a salt desert, didn’t the Dawn Army dare not set foot there?”

Instead of saying the obvious, like a thousand years ago there were no salt flats or cults of the Undead… Isaac answered what Rottenhammer was really curious about.

“Well, it’s not a fortress built for dealing with humans.”

“If not human, then what… … Ah.”

“Yes. It is a fortress built out of concern for the flooding of the outer city. It was abandoned for a while, but when the outer city approached, it was rebuilt and used during the Unified Empire. After that, the Immortal Sect took over and is using it.”

The territory of the Undead Cult borders almost entirely on the Outer Realm. Invasion by Outer Realm monsters is a common occurrence.

Fort Gertrude was a massive wall to defend against such monsters and, when necessary, to intercept them.

“That’s why it has a special nickname: ‘The breakwater against chaos.’”

“What a nice nickname. Huh. It’s perfect for leaving to the Immortal Cult guys.”

Isaac tried to laugh, but then suddenly realized that Rottenhammer’s words were strange.

If you look at the map of this world, the territory of the Code of Light is in the center, with other faiths surrounding it in a circle around the periphery.

The largest area among them is occupied by the Immortal Order.

In that context, the expression ‘breakwater against chaos’ is ironically a fitting title for the Immortal Order.

“Knight of the Holy Grail!”

At that moment, he raised his head at the sound of someone calling him. It was the shout of a person who had gone out on a scouting mission as he returned. Isaac narrowed his eyes when he saw that he was holding something in his hand.

Isaac’s expression hardened coldly.

The knight who went out on a scout mission brought back nothing less than a new skull in skeletal form. He probably didn’t bring it just because he thought it would be a nice decoration.

“A large number of corpses of White Bone Birds have been found in the eastern direction! I am reporting this as I suspect they are the Pale Mark!”

Rottenhammer’s expression was also distorted. It would be nice to think of it as a sign of death, but it was more likely not. Rather, it was a sign of running away after being injured and bleeding spiritually.

Pale is likely to have already arrived at Fort Gertrude.

“I guess I have to hurry.”

There, a wounded and angry angel will be waiting, hunched over.