Paladin of the Dead God

Chapter 177:

As the witch hunt led by Hectali came to an end, stability returned to the frontier, and when Saltain declared support for Aldeon, support for the monarchy was stronger than ever.

People could smell blood and iron in the air.

It was clear what it meant that three of the four factions dividing the Kingdom of Elil had succumbed to one force.

What remained was just one: the rebel forces led by the guardian of the holy land, Elion, under Georg.

Everyone knew that war was approaching.

At the heart of it was the Holy Grail Knight.

Some nobles praised and adored the Holy Grail Knight, while others still doubted him. There were many reasons, but notably, a foreigner and a heretic could not be trusted.

Especially the knights who felt their honor and achievements had been usurped by this sudden outsider were unable to hide their jealousy.

And the Holy Grail Knight, attracting both jealousy and admiration from the knights of the Kingdom of Elil, was troubled by unfamiliar diplomatic matters.

“I’m really bad at this.”

Isaac himself could only advance relationships with the help of an angel, a duke, and even the emperor. Without such pressure, Isaac might have fled long ago.

His own strategies for romance? That was laughable.

“If it were just about seducing Lianne, I could rely on my looks and make a move.”

But that would not only lose him the face to see Isolde but also further complicate the situation.

“If Edelred had been a Nephilim, things would have been easier,” Isaac concluded, having exhausted all possible considerations while sitting there.

“Let’s make the preparations we can. It’s not like I can do much in this situation.”

Isaac had Edelred send a messenger to propose ‘peace negotiations’ to Lianne.

After all, they needed to meet – whether it would lead to eye contact or history.

Meanwhile, other knights rejoiced that ‘the king has finally prepared to subdue Georg.’ In the Kingdom of Elil, ‘peace negotiations’ usually meant ‘surrender negotiations’ diplomatically put, and often a pretext for declaring war.

Only Isaac and Edelred knew there was a hint of matchmaking in it.

“Sir Isacreya!”

As Isaac was organizing his thoughts, walking around a garden that doubled as a training ground, General Mors approached him loudly, followed by mud-soaked Aldeon knights and soldiers staggering behind him.

“Were you in training?”

“Ah, it was rugged terrain training. Commander Delfric Hilde said the area around Elion is damp, and with winter ending, it would be wise to prepare for spring rains and melting mud.”

“Delfric Hilde?”

“Yes, the Aldeon Knight Commander. He was preemptively dispatched when the schism ceremony was exposed, taking charge of the boundaries of Georg’s territory. He’s returned now to prepare for war.”

Isaac turned as a mud-covered knight resembling the others raised his hand and thumped his chest.

“Delfric Hilde! Holy Grail Knight! I’ve heard my sister has been in your debt!”

“Your sister? Ah, you’re Reyna Hilde’s brother.”

“Correct!”

Reyna Hilde, who had confronted Isaac upon his arrival in the Kingdom of Elil, had left a deep impression on him in many ways. Her brother was also a knight, and apparently, the commander of the Aldeon Knight Order.

“The fact that both siblings are such excellent knights must make your father proud.”

“Thank you just for saying so!”

Seeing knights from low ranks to the commander training in mud, the future of the Aldeon Knight Order seemed bright. However, this sight also made Isaac uneasy.

“Seeing you prepare for spring battles, it seems you expect war soon?”

“Eh? Since Edelred his Highness sent the messenger, wouldn’t that be the case?”

Assuming the peace negotiations would naturally fail showed he was truly a believer in the Elil faith.

Isaac didn’t have a positive forecast either, but he believed that if a peaceful solution was possible, even if it took some time, that was the best approach. This sudden military movement and combat preparation wouldn’t likely send a positive signal to Georg’s forces.

Drip, drip, drip…

Just then, a few raindrops began to fall. It seemed the spring rains Mors mentioned were approaching.

“The messenger has arrived!”

Just at that moment, an ominous shout was heard.

***

Upon hearing that the messenger had arrived, Edelred rushed over.

Normally, a king would sit regally on his throne and listen to the messenger’s report, but this time that wasn’t possible.

Because what returned wasn’t the messenger, but only the messenger’s horse.

The horse, appearing extremely agitated, had stormed into the Aldeon parade ground before being subdued.

Seeing its bloodshot eyes and foaming mouth, it seemed it had been drugged.

While checking on the horse’s condition, the knights guarding the city gate hurriedly reported.

“According to reports, a few cavalry appeared near Aldeon, released the horse, and it charged straight for the city gate. Since it carried the flag signifying it as a messenger’s horse, we couldn’t kill it to stop it.”

Breaching the city gate was a grievous crime, but if it was a horse sent as a messenger, the knights faced a dilemma. Especially with war looming, if the royal crest on the horse were to be torn, the omen could be dire.

Even Mors hesitated to reprimand them, but Edelred said,

“Well done. But next time, focus all efforts on stopping it immediately. Unauthorized entry into the city must be stopped, regardless of the reason.”

“Yes, we’ll be careful!”

“There’s something in the bag!”

The knight who had been searching the horse shouted, and Edelred and Isaac approached with grim expressions. The return of the horse without its messenger was clearly not a positive sign. As they got closer to the horse, another negative signal rang out: a pungent smell of blood wafted through the air.

As the knight cut open the bag’s lock with his knife, he recoiled with a grimace.

Simultaneously, a severed head fell out from the wide-open bag—it was the head of the knight Edelred had sent as the messenger. Pinned to the ear with a nail was Edelred’s letter, the seal unbroken.

Silence filled the parade ground.

Everyone understood the message: the king’s messenger had been killed and the letter sent back unopened, tied around his severed head. Even in the blood-stained history of the Kingdom of Elil, this was a rare and atrocious act.

“To murder a messenger!”

Mors could not contain his rage any longer, and his outcry ignited a chain reaction of curses and angry shouts from soldiers and knights alike.

Killing a messenger was a clear message that there was no interest in dialogue.

Typically, the Kingdom of Elil rarely resolved problems through discussion, but this act declared there would be no surrender or compromise. It meant that one side must be annihilated.

Certainly, Georg’s forces would not have sent this message thinking they would be the ones annihilated.

“Those bastards from Georg! How dare they!”

“The blood of Georg’s dogs must be spilled in Elion!”

The atmosphere boiled over with enraged voices erupting from all around.

It was too late for Isaac or Edelred to calm the situation.

The murder of the messenger carried significant meaning. Even Edelred’s eyes showed a mix of anger and disappointment. The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

“Your Majesty! Declare a holy war! A crusade to purify the holy site of Elion from the traitors!”

In a fervent outburst, Reyna Hilde drew her sword and slammed it into the ground, a reckless act before the king, but it was their way of making a plea. If not heeded, it might as well be a call to take their own lives.

Following her lead, several other knights did the same. Only Delfric and Mors, aware of their rank, remained still, showing no intention of intervening.

Edelred looked back at Isaac. But even Isaac saw no way to handle the situation further here. If he, a foreigner, talked of peace in front of these enraged knights, it might lead to immediate violence.

With a mix of sadness, disappointment, anger, and fear, Edelred drew Reyna’s sword from the ground.

He raised the sword high and declared.

“I proclaim a crusade to reclaim the holy site of Elion.”

A thunderous roar erupted. Isaac had to step in front of Edelred to shield him from the rampaging crowd.

At that moment, Isaac felt Edelred clutch his cloak tightly. His hands were trembling.

“War! It is war!”

“Kill all these traitors and take back the holy site!”

Everyone cheered for the upcoming war.

Laughing and shouting, they rushed towards war.

Sacrificing precious blood for a handful of dirt-soiled honor.

***

“Something’s not right.”

The excitement of war that started in Aldeon Castle soon engulfed the entire city. Even those who were indifferent to the war were stirred up by the news of the messenger’s murder, and even the rational ones remarked, “Dramatic though it is, it’s just what was expected.”

Isaac was uneasy about this atmosphere.

“I heard Lianne Georg was conservative but honorable. I never heard she would go to such extremes as to kill a messenger.”

Edelred walked down the corridor in silence, listening to Isaac’s thoughts.

“Perhaps someone intercepted the messenger en route. Not Georg’s forces, but another faction…”

“The knights who escorted the messenger to the holy site of Elion said they made it inside the castle.”

“Then there’s only one conclusion. Lianne is not fully in control of Georg’s forces.”

Just as there are doves and hawks in Aldeon, there would naturally be such factions within Georg’s forces. It was highly likely that particularly hard-line knights had carried out this act.

Isaac recalled the Georg knights he had scouted during Hectali’s witch hunt.

‘If it meant preventing the Dawn Army’s intervention, they said they would even risk killing me…’

Murdering the emperor’s messenger, the son-in-law of the Duke of Brant, the Resurrected Saint, the Holy Grail Knight, would certainly prevent the Dawn Army’s intervention. It would immediately sour relations between the two nations. Though their attempt to kill Isaac had failed, and killing Edelred seemed unlikely.

But killing a messenger was relatively easy. Just initiating it and pushing towards a war atmosphere would achieve their immediate objectives.

‘Avoiding an expedition by stirring a civil war? It seems mad no matter how I think about it.’

There was definitely more to this incident. Isaac suddenly thought of a future event in the Kingdom of Elil, a bad ending route where the kingdom falls if the player makes the wrong choices.

‘But it’s too early for that to happen… No, predictions are useless now. Everything I know has changed.’

With no Kalsen and several angels gone, Isaac made a tough decision.

“I’ll interrogate the knights we captured more thoroughly. Maybe we can learn something more.”

He was ready to use the Eye of Chaos on one or two of them if necessary, even killing all three hostages if needed.

Edelred suddenly stopped and turned to Isaac.

“Do it if necessary. Holy Grail Knight.”

Edelred’s eyes looked hollow as he spoke.

“But can we stop the war now?”

“War is always inevitable, Your Majesty.”

Isaac replied as if stating the obvious.

To Isaac, this world was a game. The genre of this game was high-freedom ‘action’. Naturally, the world was full of wars.

The rules of this world are written by gods, and humans are just toys for angels.

Human will or beliefs mean nothing before fate.

Until they rebel against fate.

“But we need to know who initiates the war. We need to know why these people must die, why we must kill.”

A glimmer of light returned to Edelred’s eyes at Isaac’s words.

Edelred clenched his fist and whispered.

“Thank you, teacher. You teach me once again.”

With renewed determination, Edelred stared into the distance toward the direction of the holy land of Elion.

“War may be inevitable, but the outcome won’t be as they wish.”