I was excommunicated from the Holy Knights

11 – Merchant of Bennett 1

The road to Benessa wasn’t originally that difficult.

Most of it is made up of plains and the roads are well paved, so if you pull a wagon, you can reach it in a few days.

But… right now, Cazeros and I were in the midst of suffering with Benessa in front of our noses.

-Quaguaguagwang!-

thunderstorm flashing in the sky

And along with it, the wind that blows loudly and the rain that pours like a downpour

In the midst of a sudden typhoon, the two of us were struggling to move by pulling a wagon.

“no. What kind of bastard’s weather is like this…”

“that… That’s it. To be honest, it didn’t bother me when it came out. It seems to be more serious than expected.”

Of course, there is no such thing as a weather forecast in this world.

As there is no way to predict how the weather will change, the weather change is literally a situation that the sky decides according to the mood at that time.

Of course, since it is basically a fantasy world, there were so-called ‘magical power’ and various ‘magic’, which are techniques that use it as a basis.

And there was a story that there was magic that could predict the weather among such magic, but it was an ability that only one or two archmages could use in a big city.

On the other hand

The aura we use as paladins purifies such magic… In other words, it’s pretty good at dispelling, but other than that, to be honest, it wasn’t very helpful.

At least, it showed a fairly good ability to heal wounds, and it can be used in battle to some extent, but that’s it.

In other areas, there was virtually no possibility of development, so special abilities such as weather forecasting could not be dreamed of.

In other words, it meant that we had no choice but to fight with our bodies helplessly against such unexpected bad weather.

‘damn. That’s why paladins aren’t popular… If they’ve been gone for 1600 years, there won’t be any progress!’

It was then that I was convinced that the uselessness of this aura had a reason for the church’s power to grow rapidly across the continent in the near future.

“!.. Lord Zeros over there.”

“huh?”

A small light that began to be seen in the dark.

So we hurriedly started heading there.

In the rainstorm that gets worse and worse, it is impossible to move any further, so we have to find a place to stay even for a while.

Fortunately, the place we reached by dragging a wagon was a small inn.

“Fortunately, the. I can get some rest now.”

“I agree. Let’s stay here until the rain and wind stop.”

The distance we’ve come so far doesn’t seem like Bennett’s going to be that far, but we’re both quite exhausted from making it through the storm.

Cazeros and I tied up the carriage, took the money bag, and went inside the inn.

*

-Quarrr!

-Ssoaaa!

Loud thunder and rain echoed outside the window.

However, the harsh weather outside made the atmosphere inside the inn even more remote.

A warm wood fire is roaring, and a considerable number of customers occupy their seats in groups of three, three, five, and five.

Among them, a variety of people were present, from travelers from far away to those living in the vicinity but rushed here due to a sudden typhoon.

And among them, the person who tells the story that gets the most attention.

From here to the northern region,

In other words, it was a traveler who came from the center of the continent.

“Is that enough?”

“Yeah…don’t talk. Right now, the Holy Empire side is nothing but a powder keg where you don’t know when it will explode.”

There was a look of disbelief on the faces of those listening to the traveler’s determined words.

divine kingdom.

A country located in the center of the continent

It was a traditional powerhouse with the largest territory on the continent, a large population, and strong national power based on this.

Although it has many enemies everywhere due to its vast territory, and its status has been slightly reduced compared to the past, it is still one of the strongest countries that dominate the upper continent both in name and reality.

The story that there was a disturbing atmosphere inside such a holy empire was hard to believe from the point of view of farmers and small businessmen living in such a rural area.

“You guys have heard of it too, right? The fact that heretics have been making a fuss in the north lately.”

“Yes, I have heard that story often. They say they rebel against the will of the Church and the Holy Father.”

“But isn’t that only a small fuss at all? No matter how many heretics rise up, it’s just a fuss like bandits in front of the power and authority of His Majesty the Emperor of the Theocratic Empire.”

“Well… the situation is not that simple. It seems that the forces of heretics are stronger than we think. I haven’t been there myself, but several countries in the northern part of the continent have already declared that they will turn their backs on the church.”

“I hope it’s that far…”

“Hmm… Then it’s definitely not a normal problem.”

The anti-church forces that began to rise about 100 years ago.

The forces of the so-called heretics were still a hot potato to the monarchs of each country.

Due to the church’s various perversions, including the sale of indulgences, the church’s power greatly lost public opinion, and at the same time, heretics who rose up criticizing these evil practices were able to quickly expand their power.

The forces of heretics based on the ideas of so-called religious reformers, including Root and Calvin, have gained the spiritual support of many countries beyond one region.

This quickly began to dominate the northern countries of the continent, where the power of the church had not stretched so strongly.

The Kalmar Union, a country located in the cold northern region.

The kingdom of Britain, an island nation across the sea.

And, even though it is not an official country, the Lorend region has maintained its independence against the Holy Empire since the past.

In the meantime, countries that had formally bowed their heads to the pope took advantage of this opportunity to completely cut corners with the church, and now the power of heretics was affecting the northern part of the Holy Empire.

“However, the current emperor, Emperor Huz Matisse, is managing to be moderate, but if he dies, then a storm will rage. Rumor has it that the person nominated as the next emperor is not an ordinary person.”

“What kind of person are you?”

“I don’t know exactly, but at the same time, he’s full of enthusiasm and at the same time faithful enough to be overly religious. Just by hearing this, you can predict the fact that there will be a lot of upheaval in the future.”

“I’m worried.. I don’t know if something bad will happen to our Republic of Benessa.”

“Haa.. this is won. There is not a single day of peace in the world.. At least the pagans in the east have calmed down, so this time the heretics in the north are starting to rampage…”

Like that, people who are worried about the damage they may suffer from the huge flow of the world.

And… she sat down next to her and quietly listened to their conversation…

Cazeros’ face began to show a deep concern.

“Looks like things aren’t going too well. I’ve heard rumors too, but I’m really worried that something will happen. No matter how terrible things like war don’t happen…”

“That’s right. Really.. I don’t think the situation is good.”

Cazeros, as a cleric, is expressing his wish for the world to return peacefully.

Unfortunately for her, however, I knew very well that the future would never go the way she wished.

I can’t say it openly here, but the merchant’s story here was quite accurate, and moreover, most of the concerns he was not yet sure about would come true.

‘According to the original work, Matisse, the emperor of the Holy Empire, will die sooner or later. And because of the person who becomes the new emperor after that, the Holy Empire will be in a frenzy.’

The next emperor of the Holy Empire, the central power.

Sisyphus Ferdinand.

The worst hell in continental history unfolded by him over a period of 30 years was the main event of the original dark fantasy novel, The Fallen Paladin, and in the process, I knew very well that terrible damage occurred that I could not bear to open my eyes to see.

Now that even my attempts to prevent the spread of such a disaster on the human side have been in vain, this is a future that will happen with almost 100% certainty.

Like that, without being able to tell the truth to Cazeros, I began to feel bitter inside.

‘Still, if I rolled the snowball well, I could have ended up with moderate damage, but in the end, things went like this…’

Of course, as a result, the church guys have brought disaster on themselves, so these concerns are meaningless now.

Putting aside my regret for the disaster to come, I slowly got up from my seat with Cazeros and headed to the counter.

But… at this time I didn’t know.

Unexpectedly, disaster is the fact that it has come closer than expected.

“You should take a break. Please rent a room.”

“Yes, sir, there is only one room left with a single bed.”

“… yes?”

“ah..”

The disaster that popped up from a really unexpected place started to show me and Cazeros’ faces for a moment of embarrassment.