Volume 3, Chapter 65 – Shift in Thinking

The undead attack came quickly, and left just as quickly.

After leaving behind a Dread Knight that had been abandoned, the Headless Knight Fischerna, who possessed Legendary-tier strength, very decisively chose a tactical retreat.

After the remnants of the undead army were wiped out…

The Kingdom’s army pulled back in again.

And at this moment, the knight princess who commanded this army, that girl, Fisiel… found herself lost.

Although quite a few Paladins from the Knights of the Round Table noticed that something was off about Fisiel’s mood, for Paladins like them, this kind of abnormality was something they believed Fisiel could overcome.

However… could Fisiel really overcome this problem on her own?

In truth, there was simply no one who knew the answer.

For Fisiel right now, the reason for her depression was nothing more than the fact that she had suddenly recognized reality, and had begun to question the way a “Paladin” ought to act that she had carried out all this time.

Without a doubt, the Kingdom plotting against Fisiel was the most fundamental reason.

No matter how you looked at it, such a thing should not have mattered that much… but for Fisiel, from the moment she became a Paladin, she had already resolved herself to protect her homeland.

At the same time, she wanted to protect the weak and uphold justice.

“Someone like me will also become a target those people want to erase?”

In fact, when the Kingdom sent her to the Northern Fortress and refused to provide her with any follow-up reinforcements or supplies, Fisiel had already vaguely sensed the Kingdom’s intentions.

But because she was a Paladin, even knowing that, she still would not refuse that order.

However… in order to frame her, they did not hesitate to abandon two hundred thousand soldiers…

“Doing something like this… what is it all for?”

Rеαd oո ΚatRеαⅾiոgCаfe

Fisiel could not understand.

She was clearly just a Paladin, she did not understand politics at all.

Someone like her would actually become a person others wanted to get rid of?

She could not accept it.

Alone in the tent, Fisiel pondered these questions, and her gaze gradually became unfocused.

“What exactly… should I do?”

She wanted to hold the Northern Fortress.

However, after recognizing the dark reality of the Kingdom, Fisiel’s resolve to defend the Northern Fortress began to waver again.

But the Northern Fortress could not be abandoned…

Fisiel knew very clearly that once the Northern Fortress was occupied by the Beastmen, and once the remaining undead were wiped out, with no more worries at their back, the Beastmen would be able to use the Northern Fortress as a gate, sending troops to plunder the Kingdom.

And to the south of the Northern Fortress lay the Kingdom’s territory.

Those lands were flat and rich in resources, and unlike the Northern Fortress, there were no natural barriers that could stop the Beastmen’s plunder. For the people of the Kingdom, losing the Northern Fortress meant losing a solid bulwark.

“Hey, Fisiel, how about we join Eden?”

Just as the knight girl was lost in confusion, the cute cat-eared girl suddenly appeared in front of her.

Then she said that suggestion.

“Join Eden…?”

Rеαⅾ oո ΚаtReαdіnɡСαfe

In a daze, Fisiel recalled Tianyin’s cute appearance.

“But… Yeluo, joining Eden, someone like me, a Paladin, simply cannot do that…”

Fisiel was very aware that joining Eden was the best solution right now.

However, for herself as a Paladin, she could not accept such a thing.

“Uh… is that so? But Fisiel, do you really not want to? You know, if you join Eden, getting reinforcements will be really easy, then you can hold the Northern Fortress~”

“I know… but…”

“But? What but…? Honestly, why do you have to be so stiff? Fisiel, if you keep going like this, the fall of the Northern Fortress is the only ending!”

Yeluo looked helplessly at the Fisiel before her, whose face was full of conflict.

“Fisiel, if you want to hold the Northern Fortress, you can only join Eden. If you do not join Eden, you will not be able to hold the Northern Fortress.”

“But…”

“No buts! Really, I clearly thought you were a very outstanding Paladin before, so why are you hesitating at this critical moment now?”

“Uhh…”

Yeluo’s persuasion did have some effect.

At the very least, after listening to Yeluo’s words, the current Fisiel had started to form some thoughts about joining Eden.

She wanted to join Eden.

But as a Paladin, she could not do that.

The girl told herself this.

Rеаԁ оn КαtRеαԁіոgСαfе

Yes, she could not do it. Even if the Kingdom had betrayed her, she could not betray the Kingdom.

If she betrayed the Kingdom, would she still be a Paladin?

For no clear reason, Fisiel thought again of the Paladins like Lancelot who had already fallen in battle…

Her heart hurt terribly, but surely they would not support her betraying the Kingdom and joining Eden either, right?

But if she did not join Eden, then the fall of the Northern Fortress was only a matter of time.

So what should she do?

Fisiel was lost once more.

“Hey, Fisiel, join Eden. This is the best option we have right now…”

At this moment, Yeluo started persuading her again.

“Join Eden?”

“Joining Eden is also for the sake of defending the Northern Fortress, isn’t it?”

“…”

Fisiel did not know how she should answer, and in her mind, those words that her ancestor, that Headless Knight, had said to her before suddenly surfaced.

Ah…

As a Paladin who had always wanted to protect the Kingdom, had she actually succeeded?

The answer was no.

Rеad οո КatRеaⅾіոgCαfe

Reality was just that harsh.

However, just as Fisiel was lost, a strange thought suddenly rose out of nowhere in her mind.

Since conservatively defeating powerful enemies and protecting the weak did not work, then why… not use another method, uniting all existences and establishing a system that restrained the strong from daring to harm others?

To be precise…

It meant changing the behavior Paladins had always adopted. Not only that, Paladins would also actively take the offensive, actively start wars, then annex other factions, and thereby establish a single power.

Without a doubt, if she had thoughts like this, then Fisiel would have to choose a faction and join it.

And that thought arose extremely suddenly. Fisiel, who had always been lost and unsure what to do next, suddenly, just like that, came up with the idea above.

Not only that.

As that thought emerged, Fisiel grew more and more in agreement with her own view.

Yes.

If passively protecting the weak and defending the Kingdom did not work, then why not let Paladins try a different way of acting?

Even if the process would be difficult like that, her goal was to establish the world Paladins dreamed of…

“Yeluo, I’ve decided!”

With that thought, under the cat-eared girl’s puzzled gaze, Fisiel suddenly spoke.

“We are going to join Eden…”