Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 407 The Difficult Journey

As a paladin, Rean's "kindness" has always been quite flexible.

In his view, as long as the overall outcome is good, the means are not important. He might even briefly cooperate with evil when it is aimed at a greater evil or for the benefit of more people.

This is taken for granted by many, but it is quite insane in this era. At least 90% of paladins may fall because of this.

In fact, in the theoretical studies of paladins, "whether to cooperate with evil for the greater good" is regarded as a classic trap question, even by Jedi.

Your refusal to cooperate with evil leads to greater losses or even the birth of greater evil, which is a mistake. You may temporarily overcome the crisis of depravity, but in the long journey ahead, a moment of incomprehension may lead to further depravity.

As for cooperation, it might fall apart on the spot.

Even if they survive this crisis, they may still fall into depravity because they cannot forgive themselves in retrospect or face the accusations and doubts of the world and their colleagues.

Ultimately, what determines good and evil, right and wrong, and whether one has fallen into depravity is one's own conscience.

However, natives like Rean, who possess a rather flexible moral evaluation mechanism, are still a very small minority.

Most paladins embark on the arduous path of pure goodness because they are inherently simple and persistent individuals.

An unyielding steel sword that is overly fixated on "justice" may be trustworthy, but it may also break because of its "unyielding" nature.

However, for knights, the standard answer to this question is "to cooperate with evil temporarily." Even if they are destined to fall, they should avoid greater losses.

Of course, the best answer would be to seek help immediately, but that's clearly not possible.
"If the Paladin profession doesn't receive adequate protection, at least 60% will fall into corruption within three years, and within ten years, perhaps only 20-30% will remain."

The newly formed Paladin Order is recruiting a large number of members. Due to the intervention of true divine power, the entry requirements are actually not high this time. It is worth mentioning that among the first batch of classical paladins, quite a few have already fallen.

Many of them were born slaves and embarked on this path out of anger at oppression and slave owners. When they gained freedom and power, they became oppressors because they had the power to enforce the law.

"That makes perfect sense, doesn't it?"

When he heard the news, Rean didn't care and just shrugged it off.

But not others.

It is said that Dimon locked himself in his room for a day to think, and the next day he was fine, while Larry was extremely swayed.

She remembered those familiar names and couldn't accept that these former comrades-in-arms, who had been denouncing evil and injustice yesterday, had fallen into depravity today.

Privately, she sought out Rean again, hoping to get guidance.

Rean simply told her calmly that this was what mortals were like, beings destined to be unable to withstand trials.

She hadn't come into contact with them before simply because they belonged to the Holy Knights Order, a subordinate order of the Church of God. Most of the paladins there studied the scriptures and precepts from a young age, possessing a certain theoretical foundation and the protection of their faith. As for those classical paladins who couldn't resist temptation, those of slave or commoner origin, they perhaps simply had no opportunity to be tempted.

Without the shield of thought, without the armor of faith, and even if one is forced by circumstances to embark on a purely virtuous path, it is quite normal to be unable to resist temptation.

"Some people will always fall behind."

Her calm words, stating the facts, actually reassured Larry somewhat. She understood the reasoning behind it.

What truly puts him at ease is perhaps the paladin before him.

"You won't fall into depravity, will you?"

“Nothing is absolute, my friend, nothing is absolute. But if possible, the fewer trials the better.” Although Rean said “nothing is absolute,” Larry, who smiled and nodded, was certain that the other party would not fall.

This certainty reassured Larry a lot, but if Rean really became a fallen paladin, she would probably fall with him.

"It's never too late to mend the fence after the sheep are lost; let's hurry and make amends." Some things can still be avoided.

While Rean was urging the knights of the Weavers' Knights to catch up on their lessons, he was also strengthening internal supervision and training. Falling into depravity is not something that happens overnight; serious crimes often start with petty theft where the perpetrators don't feel guilty. Therefore, supervision and investigation must be carried out from the very beginning.

Even so, some people will still "fall behind," but there's nothing that can be done; from the very beginning, not everyone can walk this arduous path.

“Perhaps I should stay away from politics.” Rean was also awakened.

When answering Larry's question, Rean also asked himself how many rounds of tests he could withstand.

He used to be a skilled administrator, but he increasingly realized that "decision-making" is rarely good or bad; often, a decision only harms the interests of one group while benefiting another. He could convince himself for a time that it was a rational decision based on the greatest common denominator, but if he continued to witness the misfortunes caused by his decisions, he couldn't guarantee he wouldn't succumb to temptation, or question whether he had chosen the wrong path. "Dimmon is still more formidable; perhaps this is the mark of a born classical paladin, never wavering."

Dimon chose the most difficult path, struggling through the mud from the very beginning, and now his rapid progress in the Paladin class is enough to prove his "determination".

Perhaps, this is the innate sacred body.

Rean sighed. Recognizing that he was just a mortal, he believed that the way to avoid falling into depravity was to avoid temptations and trials.

Perhaps a necessary choice is to avoid trolley problems that leave people feeling helpless and to distance ourselves from government affairs that inevitably involve making decisions.

"No wonder those churches 'keep' the Holy Knights under their control. This is the best way to prevent them from having to make 'choices' and from being tempted."

Some rules or unspoken rules may seem outdated or corrupt, but they are often based on hard-won experience.

Rean is quite open-minded and hopes that Larry and the others can be more open-minded as well. Selfishness is the nature of intelligent beings. Those who can overcome their nature and be altruistic in the short term are good people. Those who persist in this throughout their lives are destined to be a very small number of contrarians.

"Recruit new people, fill vacancies, strengthen supervision, and prevent corruption from taking root from within."

It seems that this is all that can be done.

As a wild knightly order without any "foundation," the Weavers' Knights, after breaking away from their initial rationalism and golden age of establishment, were destined to suffer a higher rate of attrition than other church-affiliated knightly orders. They should accept this and continue on their path.

"Knights, there is a ceremony of repentance. Let them seize it."

Rean didn't interfere excessively; only they themselves could figure out how to continue down such a difficult path.

He was not optimistic that those who had fallen from grace could turn back with their only chance to repent. Once something is overcome, it becomes several times more difficult to turn back.

He couldn't help but think of Sull, who had smiled as he spoke to Larry and the knights.

"There will always be people who keep going. Don't expect those ordinary people who go against the tide to be remembered as heroes, perhaps because they are destined to be a very small minority."

However, leaving it unattended was not an option, so Rean, Dimon, and others discussed and formulated rather strict knightly discipline, modeled after the rules of the Holy Knights' Shield.

This may not eradicate depravity and indulgence, but it can at least reduce and avoid them. Rean still dislikes "domesticated" paladins; that kind of "justice" that has not been tempered and tested is just a "new blade."

In reality, those captive paladins may not fall into depravity, but only a very small number will ever reach high ranks or even the top.

On the contrary, those famous paladins all grew up through travel and major events.
"Most government affairs, unless they involve matters of life and death, don't require me to handle them."

These events also served as a reminder to Rean that he must try his best to avoid these "dirts".

In fact, he has shown signs of self-doubt in some situations, which is not a good sign.

He wasn't worried about being corrupted by pleasure, women, or power. The so-called hedonistic lifestyle of this world would be quite difficult to corrupt Rean.

What he was always worried about was his own conscience. When you take on too much responsibility, you will naturally question whether your judgment is wrong. Some choices may seem right at the time, but when the victims appear in front of you, how many people can say that they have a clear conscience?

Once is okay, twice or ten times? After a hundred or a thousand times, can you still keep going?

"Uh, the Paladin class has taken another step forward."

Even more bizarrely, after he made his decision, the Paladin class took another step forward.

He awakened an aura spell, a trait of an ordinary paladin. Although the improvement was small, it did prove that he had taken another step forward on the path of "pure good".

Rean sighed, somewhat helplessly.

"This thing is most likely to have some problems."

From the moment that killing and judging evil could be seen as doing good, Rean was no longer sure if this judgment mechanism was working properly. Since pure goodness is the basis of judgment for most intelligent beings, and since everyone agrees that eliminating evil is promoting good, then...

"Get them moving. Once they're busy, they won't have time to think about anything else. We can start sending them down for trials in groups. Let them begin exploring the underground ruins."

Let these "raw materials" be forged into swords through hammering; whether they break or become useful, it's a reality we have to face.

"Continue to recruit more paladin professionals. Let the best of us be tested and refined. We have nothing but a lot of people right now."

(End of this chapter)