Paladin Order

Paladin Order is a military order in the Roble Holy Kingdom.

Background
Paladin Order is an order of warriors that specialize in fighting evil aligned entities such as demons and the undead. Appearance-wise, the members wore the traditional vestments of the Paladin Order’s grandmaster, suits of ancient magical artificer armor. The grandmaster of the Paladin Order wears a silvery full plate armor and a surcoat.

Most if not all of the paladins are able to infuse the holy power within their sword the instant it made contact with the target. This was also a type of elementary technique called "Holy Strike" and is known for being used by paladins like Remedios.

Moreover, that "Holy Strike" technique was originally intended to be used at the moment one’s blade bit into a foe’s flesh, but that did not mean it could not be used as a touch attack. Since most of the divine power simply exploded on the surface, it would not do much harm.

The Paladin of the Holy Kingdom Arc
The Paladin Order, under the leadership of Grandmaster Remedios, attempted to repulse a two-front attack by Jaldabaoth at Kalinsha. Led by Remedios, they struggled to defeat the demon, managing to knock him into a pile of debris. However, when the demon arose from the ruins in a more monstrous form, they attempted to do harm to him until realizing it is immune to all of their attacks.

Faced with this unstoppable foe, the Paladin Order were rendered helpless against Jaldabaoth's overwhelming might. While they're unable to do anything but watch, the demon has already got his hands of their Holy Queen, capturing her and then proceeding to use her as a weapon to attack them with. It proved to be effective in demoralizing the members of the Paladin Order one by one, leaving them terrified of what he is about to do next. In this case, Jaldabaoth signaling forth a meteor right before their very eyes and the demi-human army would later commence their invasion over the broken city gates.

After the collapse of the Northern Holy Kingdom, the few paladins that survived the initial invasion managed to form a resistance group called the Holy Kingdom Liberation Army and went on to serve as highly ranked officers within their ranks. Surviving members of the Paladin Order pay a visit to the Re-Estize Kingdom, seeking the support of Blue Roses in helping to combat Jaldabaoth and his army of death but the latter refuses. Instead, the adventurer group suggests that the Paladin Order is better off recruiting Momon of Darkness for their cause as he is the person who was responsible for chasing Jaldabaoth and his demon army out of Re-Estize. Taking such suggestion into consideration, they ended taking a visit to the Sorcerer Kingdom and requesting the Sorcerer King there for permission to get Momon into taking part in their nation's war with enemy demi-humans. They are hoping to use the adamantite adventurer's strength for the sake of defeating the Demi-Human Alliance and Jaldabaoth.

Instead, the Paladin Order received aid from the Sorcerer King who heavily taken part in the war effort rather than Momon that they sought after. Thanks to the Sorcerer King's role throughout the war, the Liberation Army consisting of Paladin Order soldiers eventually managed to successfully regain control over most of the lost territories in the North. During the aftermath of the war, Prince Caspond, soon to be crowned as the next Holy King, planned on transferring Remedios to a search-and-destroy squad meant to root out the remaining Demi-Humans, with Gustav Montagnés taking her place as Grandmaster of the order.

Principles
Paladins were beings who embodied justice and sworn enemies of the unnatural such as the undead and demon. Ascension to the rank of a paladin is a long one. Only after the contender completed one's training and being officially ordained as a paladin would they be worthy enough to don the mantel of a paladin and have their trusty blade be imbued with magic. However, there are exceptions, should a recruit be exceptionally talented.

However, the said "Justice" are largely debatable as one realizes it is just what one firmly believes in. And therefore it isn't universal and only applies to an individual, making it one-sided and immoral at best. Moreover, that belief can be considered as over-zealous as exemplified by Remedios, in contrast of being an adored paladin grandmaster, had been considered as mentally flawed by her own peers. Not to mention having developed a tendency of placing principle concerns over professional decisions in an unhealthy direction caused great tactical mistakes without her more rational madam.

When a squire became a paladin, they would meet with the Holy King or Queen and ritually offer the sword they held to him/her. Similarly, when there was a change of the Holy King or Queen, the paladins would meet with him/her and offer their swords to the reigning Holy King while swearing their loyalty thereafter.

Strength
There were roughly five hundred paladins in the order, and most of them were comparable to difficulty twenty monsters, and among them were great warriors capable of slaying a difficulty sixty monster one on one. All in all, there were twenty-five of these ultra-elite warriors. After Jaldabaoth's invasion, the order had been reduced to 187. When they defeated Jaldabaoth's force and regained the Northern Holy Kingdom, only a few paladins are left.

Although average paladins are superior to the Holy Kingdom's normal soldiers and strong enough to handle normal demi-humans, they are completely outmatched by elite demi-human fighters. During the siege of Loyts, Two leaders of the demi-human army, Nasrene and Halisha, defeated four paladins with little efforts. While Remedios, the strongest paladin of the order, herself was unable to inflict even a scratch on another leader, Vijar.

Current Members

 * Gustav Montagnés (Grandmaster)
 * Isandro Sanchez (Adjutant)
 * Neia Baraja (Paladin)

Former Members

 * Remedios Custodio (Grandmaster)
 * Sabicus (Paladin)
 * Esteban (Paladin)
 * Franco (Paladin)
 * Galvan (Paladin)

Trivia

 * According to Pavel, only a knight who physically expressed the justice they believed in could be called a paladin within the Holy Kingdom.
 * Neia Baraja's mother happens to be a paladin who inspired her child to walk the same path like her.

Gallery
Zakon Paladynów