The Paladin of the Holy Kingdom: Part 1

After proposing a few vague compromise plans that were ultimately a waste of time, several people exchanged looks, and soon Gustavo raised his voice to shout, “Captain!” as he poured strength into his eyes.

“We’ve gone over this countless times already! Even if we had the time, even if we discussed this more, there wouldn’t be a way to do it! We can’t save that child!”

After hearing what Gustavo said, Neia knew that the Captain had continued the strategy meeting even after the Sorcerer King had left the command tent. At the same time, she knew that the paladins would not be able to solve this problem without spilling blood.

Remedios bit her lip and remained silent. However—

“Captain! We can’t win this battle without sacrifice! Right now, we ought to sacrifice the few to save the many!”

Neia saw Remedios’s eyes flare crimson at those words.

“—That is not the kind of war Her Majesty would wage! We are Her Majesty’s swords! We serve the Holy Queen, she who wants the people of this nation to live in peace!”

“But the Holy Queen-sama is…”

Is dead, but before Gustavo could say that, Remedios shouted to interrupt him.

“The next Holy King hasn’t been appointed yet! Shouldn’t we protect the ideals of the Holy Queen-sama to whom we pledged our swords until then? What does a vow of loyalty we made mean when we break it ourselves!?”

Ah, I see. Neia understood.

Remedios was bound, bound by the wishes of the person to whom she had pledged her loyalty.

Since they were knights of the Holy Queen who loved the people, they could not do anything which would harm the people.

The only one who could break her bonds was the next person to whom she offered her loyalty.

“Is that wrong? Who did you pledge your swords to? You all went through the ceremony to be ordained as paladins! Who do you think the paladin order serves!?”

When a squire became a paladin, they would meet with the Holy King and ritually offer the sword they held to him. Similarly, when there was a change of Holy King, the paladins would meet with him and offer their swords to the reigning Holy King while swearing their loyalty. Therefore, everyone in this band of paladins had pledged their swords to the Holy Queen.

“Or did you not?” Her tone changed in an instant. After heating up, she cooled down right away, and her voice was filled with a freezing chill. “Was the Holy Queen-sama wrong to wish for the smallfolk’s happiness and a nation where nobody would need to cry?”

“She wasn’t wrong! But.. depending on the situation… we might need to change.”

“Who? Who needs to change? Tell me, then. Is there a higher form of justice than ‘Not having to sacrifice anyone!?’”

Gustavo shut his mouth.

Neia realised that she had made a mistake just now.

She was not ruled by her loyalty to the will of the Holy Queen whom she had pledged to serve.

Remedios said that one ought to carry out justice. However thorny the path, however difficult it was to walk, one ought to trudge through all the difficulties in one’s way and continue forward without heed for what was around oneself.

Sacrificing the few to save the many, and saving everyone no matter how great or small; which of these was truly just?

That much was obvious.

Clearly, it was the latter. However, it was far too idealistic, and a normal person would immediately give up on it. However, even after knowing this, Remedios still insisted on saving everyone.

She held firmly to an ideal that a normal person would abandon immediately.

That was why she was the Captain of the paladins, the highest ranked paladin of them all.

Remedios was the only one seeking her lofty definition of justice, and those who could not understand this were the pitiful ones.

Several paladins lowered their heads in shame. Perhaps they felt the same way.

If one considered the Sorcerer King’s justice of “killing one to save a thousand” to be a king’s justice, then Remedios’s justice of “one or a thousand, they are all the same” was an ideal — a shining form of justice.

Both sides were just. Neither was wrong. Even so—

Is there no justice without strength?

For instance, if Remedios were stronger — if she possessed a godlike power which Neia could not imagine, she could save the child, and save the inhabitants of the city. In that case, there would not have been any problems.

However, that was not the case.

She was stalled here because there was no way to carry on without sacrifice.

Carrying out justice requires strength. Ahhh, I want to become strong… that way, I can wipe away Jaldabaoth’s taint from this country...

“...Forgive me for interjecting while you are at a deadlock, but you will not reach a conclusion this way.”

That exceptionally cold voice blew away the building heat in the air.

“Your Majesty…”