The Paladin of the Sacred Kingdom Part I

by Kugane Maruyama

“Commander! We turn right on this avenue and head straight down it. Then it’s just one more right, and we’ll come out onto the square where Jaldabaoth should be waiting. Shall we go ahead ourselves just to confirm?”

  “No, we’ll wait for Holy Lady Calca and my sister, as well as the adventurers. Once everyone is here, we’ll do the final checks. Raise the flag!”

  Following her order, one of her knights attached a flag to a building a short distance away. That was the signal to the other units that Remedios’s elite squad of paladins had arrived.

  There were about five hundred paladins who belonged to the order. Most of them could hold their own in a fight against monsters of difficulty level 20, but some were so tough they could take on 60s. The best twenty-five of those most elite paladins formed the core of Remedios’s unit.

  Incidentally, the other three hundred or so paladins she had brought to this city were headed toward the wall to prepare to meet the advancing subhuman army.

  Normally, it might have been better to have all the groups work together and avoid the risk of being picked off one by one, but Jaldabaoth had that mysterious, wall-shattering, area-of-effect attack. To avoid giving him an easy target, they were operating separately. Along the same line of thought, the flag they had raised earlier was kept slightly away from the unit in case Jaldabaoth aimed for it.

  “…Do you think he can use that power he broke the wall with more than once, Isandro?”

  The Paladin Order had two deputy commanders.

  One was a mediocre swordsman who was valued for other reasons: Gustav Montagnés. He was leading the knights headed for the city wall.

  The other was next to Remedios: Pink of the Nine Colors, Isandro Sanchez.

  “If he could use it as many times as he wanted, I don’t understand why he wouldn’t be using it right now. I believe it’s safe to assume there is some sort of condition that has to be met or that it will be some time before he can use it again.”

  “Right. Maybe I was worrying too much, splitting us up like this.”

  “No, not at all. He could be conserving some vast power. We can’t let our guard down.”

  “Ah, true. Got it.”

  Remedios ended the conversation. She really wasn’t one for using her brain.

  Politics, especially, gave her a headache. In particular, she didn’t understand why the nobles frowned and complained about there being no precedent for a woman being holy king.

  Calca’s title was the greatest proof of that discontent.

  As a female holy king, people called her the Holy Lady. That’s what was decided on when they refused to give primacy to a female title by calling her holy queen or changing the title to something else.

  In that sense, Remedios found it simpler to just think about things in terms of strong and weak.

  “Commander Custodio. The flags from the priest and the adventurer groups have also been raised.”

  “And Her Holy Majesty Calca?”

  “Not yet.”

  “I see… But go ahead and start casting defensive spells that will last. Once Holy Lady Calca arrives, we’ll make first contact with Jaldabaoth. We’ll distract him as bait. Steel your resolve and be ready for his special attack.”

  Her troops responded with a brave cheer.

  “He hasn’t moved from the square?”

  The initial unit had already been wiped out. If their target had moved, the adventurers scouting ahead should have notified them. If there was no report, it meant that Jaldabaoth hadn’t gone anywhere.

  “This demon is going to be sorry if he’s underestimating us! He probably thinks if he kills us all here that he’ll have no trouble conquering the whole kingdom.”

  “B-but Commander. He could be buying time. If Jaldabaoth pins us here, the subhumans will have an easier fight.”

  “…Aha. That could be it… This Jaldabaoth guy is pretty smart.”

  “He’s a demon so I suppose he’s devilishly intelligent.”

  “…Hmph. I’m gonna thrash this cocky demon and make him cry.” Remedios vowed to the gods, and as if it had been waiting for that moment, the last flag rose.

  “Deputy!”

  “Yes, ma’am! We’re ready to go!”

  “All right! Follow me!”

  Remedios ran, determined to stick her sword through that ridiculous demon’s face.

  She turned the corner, sprinted, and turned another corner.

  Then, in the middle of the square dyed red with the blood of scattered corpses, she saw a strange figure. He wore a mask, and a tail curled out from his backside.

  He looked just as the soldiers who had escaped said he did.

  No bat wings or curved horns—the only thing that pointed him out as a grotesque was his tail. Seeing him like this gave the impression he was just a man with a mask on.

  But…

  “So you’re Jaldabaoth?!”

  “I rolled out the red ca— Oh?”

  As she stepped into the square, the pungent stench of innards and blood hit her nose, and a chunk of flesh squished beneath her foot. But she wasn’t aware of any of that. All she cared about was charging in and bringing down her sword.

  When he dodged her attack so easily, she became even more uncomfortable and raised her blade again.

  And he evaded once more.

  Remedios knew that even if she spent hours and hours studying, she couldn’t get good results. That’s why she had put all her time into raising her fighting power. It was clear that she had some aptitude in that area. And that’s how she became known as the strongest warrior in the country.

  Paladin Remedios Custodio’s instincts screamed at her.

  It’s no accident that Jaldabaoth is dodging. He only appears relaxed because he’s that skilled. There are only a handful of humans capable of keeping up with the battle that is about to unfold. I need more magic support.

  And at moments like these, Remedios’s instincts were never wrong.

  “Take cover! You guys need to find shelter! No—give us a wide berth! This demon is strong!”

  As she said that, she took some distance like her subordinates did. Her troops shifted back a lot, but she didn’t go quite that far—four yards at most, so she was within striking distance if she took a running start.

  Jaldabaoth’s shoulders slumped. “You’re like a bull, huh? What? Did someone wave a red cloth?”

  Ignoring the demon’s comments, Remedios noticed the soldiers led by Kelart and Calca out of the corner of her eye.

  They were rushing over, surprised that Remedios had already engaged.

  The demon turned his entire body to face Calca, leaving his unprotected back open to Remedios. But she knew that he was waiting for her to attack him from behind, so she didn’t move.

  “You guys, he’s strong! If you don’t have the soldiers fall back, they’ll die for no reason!”

  The two listened to her shout and acted accordingly. Only Kelart and Calca approached.

  Remedios maintained her distance from Jaldabaoth but circled around to stand in front of the other two.

  “Remedios, please don’t try too hard.”

  “Listen to her, honored sister. Isn’t this the sort of adversary we should all take on together?”

  Though registering their nagging behind her, Remedios never took her eyes off Jaldabaoth. He could use the power that broke the wall at any second. The instant he seemed like he was going to try it, she intended to attack.

  But she didn’t get any sense of that from him.

  His leisurely air made her nervous.

  I’m definitely—no matter what—going to make you crawl in the dirt!

  “So you’re Jaldabaoth, are you?”

  The way he shrugged his shoulders in response to Calca’s question offended Remedios even more. Every single thing he did annoyed her.

  “That is correct… Your slave attacked without even waiting for my reply. What was she planning to do if she had been mistaken? Though I am impressed to find nonver
bal barbarians in the Sacred Kingdom. Oh, just in case, let me confirm: You’re the current holy king?”

  “That’s right.”

  “You don’t need to introduce yourself to this villain, Holy Lady Calca!” Remedios thrust the point of her sword at Jaldabaoth. “If we know this is Jaldabaoth, all that’s left is to kick his ass back to the demon world. No need to sully our tongues with conversa—”

  “U-uh, Remedios, wasn’t the plan to see what he had to say…?”

  Remedios cocked her head in response to Calca’s confusion. Is that what we decided?

  It seemed that Kelart had cast a spell from the rear—a blaze of warmth spreading inside her brought forth a surprising amount of power. Her previous attacks had been dodged, but now she was confident she could hit him. That’s when she realized: Ohhh, listening to him was about buying time.

  “—But I’m generous, so we can talk a little bit. Is there anything you want to ask?”

  Jaldabaoth had his hand pressed over his mask on the spot between his eyes. It was the same gesture she often saw from Kelart, Calca, and her deputies.

  “…Please take all the time you need. You can prepare in desperation, but a power greater than you will trample and rob you of your lives. And those who look on will despair even more. What a delightful scene.”

  “I would never allow that to happen!”

  “Sorry, Remedios. Could you be quiet for a second?” Calca spoke somewhat firmly, and Remedios closed her mouth. Her tone of voice changed only slightly, but Remedios knew from experience that it meant she was annoyed.

  “Remedios, let’s back up a bit.”

  “B-but if I back up any farther, I won’t be able to strike if he does something…”

  “Oh, that’s all right. How about we say that I won’t attack until either our conversation is over or someone from your side attacks first?”

  “Why would I take what a demon says at face val—?!”

  “Remedios!”

  “Fine.”

  When she followed the order and fell back, Kelart whispered an explanation in her ear through her helmet. “Holy Lady Calca wants to get some information out of him. No matter what he says, control yourself.”

  Remedios grunted her disapproval.

  They were up against a demon, so they should consider anything he said a lie. Slaying him at once would be easier since it required less brain power. But upsetting her master’s plans wasn’t a very loyal thing to do. She had to sit tight and tolerate this.

  “Now then, Evil Emperor Jaldabaoth. There’s something I’d like to ask you. What is your purpose in coming here? If you want to overrun this country, why aren’t you operating alongside the subhumans you had with you when you broke our wall? Could it be that—?”

  “Yes, you can stop right there. I know what you’re going to say. It seems you’re operating under a misunderstanding. It’s not as if I came alone because I want to negotiate.”

  From behind her, Remedios heard Calca murmur a disappointed “Oh, I see.”

  “There are two reason I came alone. One is that you being crushed by me alone is more despair inducing than if you fell in battle against an army of subhumans. The second is to avoid making the mistake I made in the kingdom. I never imagined a warrior with strength on par with me existed in those lands. So I came to investigate whether there was someone like that here or not.”

  “There might be!”

  “I can say with certainty there is not. I gave you this much time. If such a person existed, they would surely be next to you, the most important person in this country. But I don’t see anyone who matches the description. Not even among those sneaking around like rats.”

  “Hey! Are you saying I—we’re not as strong as that warrior?!” Remedios shouted, unable to hold herself back; that was a comment she couldn’t ignore. She had forgotten half of what Calca and her sister had told her, but she at least managed to keep herself from attacking.

  “That’s exactly what I was saying, but did you not understand for some reason? Is that all you want to know, Your Holy Majesty?”

  “There was one other thing, but no matter—angel unit, forward!”

  Calca’s determined shout filled the square, and the angels hidden among the guards and priests forming the perimeter behind her all spread their wings and flew into the air.

  Five flame archangels—armed with swords of flames and summoned with a tier-three spell. Twenty angel guardians summoned with a tier-two spell. And a single principality peace that Calca had been summoning with a tier-four spell the whole time on their way over.

  Remedios didn’t remember what sort of powers the angels had, but she knew that the principality peace that Calca summoned could cast low-level faith magic and had skills that allowed the angel to smite evil, grant some protection from enemy attacks, purify ailments, and more. She had seen her summon it any number of times.

  Soaking in the crackling energy around her, Remedios realized she didn’t need to hold back any longer and charged. Normally the priests would launch attack spells to support her, but there weren’t any this time; perhaps they were saving their mana to summon angels.

  Remedios used a skill from one of her classes, evil slayer, that boosted the holy energy in her Holy Sword.

  Suddenly, five adventurers appeared behind Jaldabaoth. They must have been using a spell to go invisible and close the distance. Remedios had no idea why they abruptly showed themselves—because while she was aware that Invisibility existed, she had no idea what kind of spell it was or why the effects might cut off.

  Jaldabaoth showed no signs of intercepting the suddenly visible adventurers. No, he didn’t even appear to notice them.

  Was the threat she had sensed from him an error? Or was this a phantom or a double instead of the real thing?

  No—she rejected the latter thought. That couldn’t be. Her instinct, her nose for evil, told her that Jaldabaoth was here.

  The adventurers panicked and attacked. Just as their weapons should have connected, strange wings sprouted from Jaldabaoth’s back, skewering the adventurers behind him like knives.

  Their chests penetrated, blood must have flooded their lungs.

  Coughing up bloody foam, a single adventurer mustered the last of his vitality to bring his weapon down again.

  But even though the hit landed cleanly on Jaldabaoth, it didn’t seem to hurt him in the slightest.

  The fact that they were here meant they had to be capable adventurers. Surely, they had armed themselves with consecrated weapons as part of their preparations. If they still couldn’t harm him, Jaldabaoth had to be one high-level demon.

  As the situation continued to evolve rapidly in the space of a few blinks, Remedios had closed their distance and swung her Holy Sword down diagonally.

  Jaldabaoth jumped aside and used his tentacle-like wings—Or maybe they really are tentacles?—to hurl the bodies of the impaled adventurers at her.

  She had no interest in catching them.

  Removing her left hand from the hilt of the sword and punching them aside, she simultaneously used a martial art—“Flow Acceleration!”—to swoop in. Then she lunged.

  The Holy Sword she’d thrust toward his throat was parried with nails that had lengthened instantaneously—

  “Holy Attack!”

  The moment her sword connected with the claws, her power flooded into him through the blade.

  This skill paladins gained early on was really supposed to be used when their sword cut deep into their opponent’s flesh, but it was still possible to use even with a glancing blow. The holy energy would bubble away on the surface of their target’s body, so the damage wasn’t terribly high, but the reason she used it anyway was that her instincts as a paladin—“animal instincts,” her sister called them—screamed at her to prevent a fall in morale by demonstrating they still had a way to fight Jaldabaoth even after all those adventurers were killed.

  “I see…”

  The angels positioned t
hemselves between Jaldabaoth, who had jumped back farther, and Remedios.

  Floating at nearly her height, they attacked Jaldabaoth.

  Tch, Remedios clicked her tongue.

  The high-pitched metallic noise that had rung out when her Holy Sword clashed with Jaldabaoth’s claws told her how hard they were. And though her form hadn’t been perfect, the fact that he could easily parry her boosted attack spoke to his physical strength.

  Only a handful of the strongest could fight an opponent so powerful. Angels summoned with tier-two and -three spells were fine for exterminating regular old monsters, but in this fight, they were only in the way. The angel shoes dangling right in her field of vision were especially maddening.

  “Penetrating Magic: Holy Ray!”

  Her sister loosed a spell. But it disappeared before Jaldabaoth as if it had been repelled.

  “Twin Penetrating Magic: Holy Ray!”

  Calca shot two rays. She must have hoped that at least one of them would get through Jaldabaoth’s magic immunity ability, but unfortunately, both of them ended up just like Kelart’s.

  He must have quite high defense against magic. Which means…I have to do everything I can!

  She roared with even more spirit. “Please use your brains and make the angels fight smarter! This is pointless!”

  And in fact, despite the angels occupying an advantageous overhead position, and the soldiers surrounding him, Jaldabaoth was still composed. But that made sense. Despite the number of opponents encircling him, no one had managed to land an effective attack yet.

  Adventurers raced over to recover the bodies of their fallen comrades lying on the ground near Remedios. The fact that they didn’t so much as twitch must have meant they were dead, but maybe the living were choosing to have faith in slim possibilities.

  “…What a pain. Even puny worms are irritating when so many gather up in one spot.” Jaldabaoth was completely at ease.

  And if he was immune to the spells being cast and could evade every physical attack, then he probably thought he had an overwhelming advantage. But…

  You think I’ve never fought someone like that before?

  Unless the caster specialized in summoning, the summoned monsters would be weaker than the caster themselves. So it wasn’t unheard of for the attacks of angels to be ineffective.