The Silent Paladin
Until the day he left the village and returned to the Holy City of Soleneon, Elbridge could not be certain whether Rombel’s story had been a joke or the truth.
First, because Rombel often spouted nonsense. Second, because the method itself had been far too extreme. To solve the problem by framing the Golden Platter Order?
Yet Rombel was a man who displayed remarkable decisiveness and action at the strangest of moments.
Just as he had when he blocked the entrance to the mountain city of Varkuntol and spun his web of lies.
Roughly ten days after returning to the Holy City of Soleneon.
Freelance administrative priestess Matilda said,
“Sir Elbridge. Have you heard the rumor?”
Introductions like this were almost always followed by something interesting.
“What rumor do you mean?”
“There’s talk that someone deliberately released demons into the world. You know, the one about how the Silent Paladin was sealed alongside the great demon…”
Matilda eagerly poured out every detail she had heard.
…Rombel. You really went and did it.
If even Matilda had caught wind of the rumor, there was a one-hundred-percent chance it had already reached the Golden Platter Order.
Looks like we’ll be getting a visitor.
Elbridge’s prediction proved perfectly accurate.
That very afternoon, Heinz, the vice-bishop of the Golden Platter Order, came looking for him.
Vice-bishop Heinz spoke with a grave expression.
“Archbishop Elbridge. I trust you already know why I’ve come.”
The title itself had changed. Not Sir Elbridge, but Archbishop Elbridge.
It meant they were speaking as heads of their respective orders, and that the conversation would be somewhat uncomfortable.
“I have a rough idea… but it would be best if we spoke plainly from the beginning so there are no misunderstandings.”
“A dreadful rumor has been circulating among the people. For the past few days I’ve been tracing its source, and the name of the dwarf Rombel kept coming up.”
“My, my. That fellow Rombel.”
Elbridge feigned ignorance.
Of course, it meant nothing.
“The problem is that your name has also come up alongside his in that rumor.”
“What an unfortunate coincidence.”
Vice-bishop Heinz’s eyes narrowed.
“Archbishop Elbridge. Let me ask you one thing. Did you deliberately stir up this matter right before the by-election?”
The Rusty Shield Order had shown little interest in the southern by-election. Their believers were concentrated in eastern Soleneon and the mountain city of Varkuntol.
There was zero chance the Rusty Shield Order would claim the single seat being vacated.
But the Golden Platter Order was different.
It was a colossal order with influence across the entire continent, and it stood the highest chance of claiming the seat left behind by the God of the Flowing Water.
The Golden Platter Order had poured its heart into this by-election. They could not afford to ignore an unsettling rumor spreading right before the vote.
Even without the election, they would have taken the rumor seriously. Its contents were simply too grave.
Elbridge answered firmly.
“I swear on the name of the Goddess of the Rusty Shield that it is not true. Moreover, you speak as if I have done something to antagonize the Golden Platter Order.”
“If that is how it sounded, I apologize. But given the suspicious timing and the absurd nature of the rumor, your name appearing alongside it required confirmation.”
“It is true that I investigated the incident together with Rombel. As you know, the Silent Paladin was my ancestor and a saint of the Rusty Shield Order. However, I have never spread any rumors.”
“Then may I take that to mean you had no idea such a rumor would spread at all?”
A sharp question.
“Yes. I had no idea.”
Elbridge lied without hesitation. Truth was not a value the Rusty Shield Order placed above all else.
Vice-bishop Heinz knew this, so he pressed again.
“Could you say the same before the Goddess of the Rusty Shield?”
The Goddess of the Rusty Shield immediately sent down an oracle.
The devout paladin Elbridge faithfully followed his goddess’s oracle.
“Yes. Upon the honor of my goddess, I truly did not expect this.”
Even ordinary believers hesitated to lie before the name of a god. For an archbishop to invoke the honor of his deity was no small matter.
Thus, Vice-bishop Heinz accepted Elbridge’s words as truth and apologized for his rudeness.
“I am sorry. I apologize for suspecting you so hastily. To you, and to the Goddess of the Rusty Shield.”
“It is quite all right. The Goddess of the Rusty Shield will surely forgive you as well, Vice-bishop Heinz.”
Heinz let out a deep sigh and asked,
“Archbishop Elbridge. Could you explain to me exactly what is going on?”
Elbridge shrugged and answered vaguely.
“I found the sudden appearance of the demon suspicious, so I have been traveling across the continent since last year, investigating. I met the Central Magic Tower Master in Middlemarch, encountered a sage in the southern continent… and eventually obtained a clue.”
“A clue?”
“Yes. I learned the location where my ancestor, Sir Elbridge, was sealed together with the great demon, and that someone had broken that seal.”
“Who told you this?”
“I cannot reveal the source. I ask for your understanding.”
Vice-bishop Heinz was a man who understood propriety.
Since Elbridge had already invoked the honor of his goddess once, Heinz could not press further.
“In any case, I went to the place where my ancestor was sealed alongside the great demon. Sure enough, there were clear signs the seal had been broken. I traced those traces, searching for the culprit, and discovered that a priest wearing the robes of the Golden Platter Order had orchestrated the deed.”
Vice-bishop Heinz looked stunned.
“That is nonsense. What possible benefit could our order gain from releasing a demon?”
“I know. That is precisely why neither Rombel nor I suspected the Golden Platter Order. In the end, there were no further clues to track the culprit, so we had no choice but to end the investigation there and return. That is all I know.”
Heinz still could not hide his sense of injustice.
“Then what grudge does Rombel hold that he would spread a rumor claiming our order broke the seal of the great demon?”
Elbridge thought,
No. Rombel would never have said it that way.
Rombel was no fool. At times he could even be cunning, especially when he might have to take responsibility.
If it had been Rombel, how would he have phrased it?
“Vice-bishop Heinz. Did Rombel explicitly say that the Golden Platter Order was the culprit?”
Heinz faltered.
As I thought.
Elbridge shook his head.
“That friend of mine was probably drunk and not thinking clearly. He likely never considered that the Golden Platter Order might be suspected and simply blurted out everything he had learned to anyone who would listen.”
Heinz might think of Rombel as trash. Elbridge did not particularly mind.
The direction might be different, but wasn’t that also somewhat true…?
“Ugh…”
“By the way, where is Rombel right now?”
“He has stepped away for a while.”
In other words, he had set the stage and quietly fled.
Heinz’s expression was one of utter helplessness.
“The by-election is almost upon us. We must somehow quell these baseless rumors…”
“If people ask me, I will tell them the Golden Platter Order has done nothing wrong.”
Of course, that level of response would never be enough to silence the rumors.
Heinz thought the same.
“Thank you. But that alone will not be enough to put the rumors to rest. Baseless gossip spreads easily but is difficult to correct.”
Elbridge knew exactly what he needed to say here.
“Vice-bishop Heinz. Why don’t you take a more proactive approach?”
“Proactive?”
“Yes. Have the Golden Platter Order step forward to find the true culprit. People will only react if you show that level of movement. Naturally, I will join the Golden Platter Order in this effort.”
The descendant of the hero who had sealed the great demon, joining hands with the Golden Platter Order to hunt the real culprit.
It was not a perfect solution, but no more appropriate one existed.
“You would truly do that?”
“Yes. After all, this matter is not entirely unrelated to me. Moreover, if the Golden Platter Order is acting for the greater good, I cannot simply stand by. Consider it atonement for my friend’s mistake…”
“Thank you. Truly, thank you.”
Watching Vice-bishop Heinz grasp his hand tightly, nearly in tears, Elbridge felt a faint pang of conscience.
To pin the blame on the innocent, shove the work onto them, and then receive their grateful thanks while pretending to be benevolent.
Still, he could not deny that the picture Rombel had painted was truly excellent.
It’s not as if I’m doing this for personal gain. Besides, both Vice-bishop Heinz and I are expressing gratitude to each other. In the end, isn’t this mutually beneficial…?
Vice-bishop Heinz left after offering his thanks once more.
Elbridge entered the prayer room and offered a prayer of gratitude to the Goddess of the Rusty Shield.
“Goddess. Thank you. Thanks to your permission to invoke your honor, I was able to overcome this difficulty.”
An oracle descended at once.
The Goddess of the Rusty Shield maintained a very practical stance on such matters.
Elbridge decided to pretend he had not heard the last oracle.
In the end, it seems Rombel’s judgment was wise, Elbridge.
“I am not sure if it was right, but it was certainly effective.”
The Golden Platter Order launched an enormous investigation.
They did so on the grandest, most public scale possible in order to prove their innocence.
Notices requesting information related to the incident were posted everywhere. Investigators from the Golden Platter Order fanned out in every direction. It was not limited to Soleneon alone. Investigations continued throughout the eastern continent and even in other regions.
In the process, people grew anxious and all sorts of wild rumors began to spread.
There were both large and small side effects, but progress was astonishingly swift.
That much was clear from the fact that Dieter—who had introduced the innkeeper’s son to the request—was captured within just a few days.
When Dieter met Elbridge, he pleaded with a face full of injustice.
“What in the world is going on? What exactly did Ned and his friends do?”
“They were hired to unseal a demon.”
Dieter’s face turned deathly pale.
This was no longer a matter of simply connecting a rookie mercenary with a shady client.
“I swear I knew nothing about that! Really! If I had known it was that kind of request, I would never have introduced them, even if it cost me my head!”
“Do not worry. It seems the Golden Platter Order does not suspect you in that regard. All you can do now is cooperate fully with the investigation.”
Some time later.
When Rombel, who had vanished without a trace, quietly reappeared and the by-election was right around the corner,
Elbridge noticed that the number of people visiting the Rusty Shield Order’s temple had increased noticeably, and that they kept stealing glances at him.
Ever since the Grand Tournament, he had drawn people’s attention, but… lately it was on a completely different level.
What is going on?
In the end, Elbridge asked Matilda for the reason.
Matilda’s eyes widened in surprise.
“You don’t know why people are acting like that?”
“Of course I don’t. I don’t go out much. Has some strange rumor started circulating?”
“It’s not exactly a rumor, but… there has been talk lately.”
Matilda stared straight at Elbridge and said,
“If the seal was broken and the great demon was released… then where is the Silent Paladin who was sealed together with it?”