Things about the female knight in black stockings

"This is..."

Lika hesitated for a moment, and her expression became more serious:

"I can tell you everything, but once you listen to this, it means that you are willing to inherit this responsibility that has been passed down from generation to generation by the direct line of the Badr family. Are you aware of it?"

"Does this...does this position have high authority? Can it see the secrets blocked by the church?"

Valencia asked after thinking for a while.

This kind of responsibility passed down from generation to generation sounds very troublesome at first sight, but if you want to investigate the truth of the year, you must rely on the power of the Church of the Sun or find clues within the church. Valencia is quite moved.

"High authority."

Lika did not hide this issue:

"Even higher than my authority... As long as you can successfully inherit that position, you can even order me to cooperate with your actions in the future."

"so smart?"

Valencia was even more surprised, and then nodded decisively:

"Tell me, Sister Lika, I have this realization."

"Well...actually speaking from a selfish point of view, I really hope that you can successfully inherit this position. After all, I have always had a good relationship with your Badr family."

Lika smiled and said:

"However, I only have the right to nominate and recommend. Whether you can become a regular employee depends on your subsequent performance and the judgment of the Divine Continent Headquarters."

"Do we still need judgment from the church headquarters in God's Continent? What kind of position is this?"

Valencia was even more curious.

"This position is called the Knight of the Inner Temple, and it is directly under the jurisdiction of the head of the Holy Knights. There is usually only one person in each national-level human government, and he has great power when necessary."

Rika explained seriously:

"The Knights of the Inner Temple will not interfere in the daily life of the church, but once a critical moment comes, paladin captains like me and the great priests must unconditionally cooperate with the Knights of the Inner Temple."

"This...isn't this too powerful?"

Valencia's surprise was not feigned.

The paladin captain and high priest of the Church of the Sun are all powerful men above the star level, and are definitely considered important figures in the church.

Valencia had previously speculated that her father might be a senior informant of the church, but it turned out that he was probably the most senior person of the Church of the Sun in the Kingdom of France?

"Then what is this Knight of the Inner Temple... responsible for?"

After being surprised, Valencia asked impatiently.

"Is it the responsibility of the Knights of the Inner Temple...hmm."

This time Lika did not answer directly, but asked Valencia:

"Then do you know that in addition to maintaining the majesty of the Sun Goddess, we Paladins also have any responsibilities...or do we have any work to do?"

"The job of a Paladin..."

Valencia thought for a moment, then clapped her fingers and answered:

"Help the believers under the goddess' crown to fight against natural disasters, defeat powerful monsters that threaten human settlements, capture or kill extremely vicious criminals, and exterminate various cult members?"

"Well, that's about it... In short, in addition to not interfering in the country's internal affairs, many tasks of the army, security forces and adventurers fall within the scope of responsibility of our paladins."

Lika nodded:

"Work such as fighting against natural disasters and conquering monsters are basically handled by us ordinary paladins. The responsibilities of the Knights of the Inner Temple are towards people... to be precise, those in the upper class."

"Aimed at the upper class? Nobles and wealthy businessmen?"

Valencia frowned:

"Why? Doesn't the Sun Church not interfere in politics?"

"It has nothing to do with politics, we are just doing our job."

Rika shrugged:

"Human ambition is often directly proportional to power and wealth... Did you know? In fact, many cults are supported by nobles. There are even nobles who want to sacrifice everyone in their territory to summon evil gods."

Chapter 64 The Work of the Knights of the Inner Temple

"Behind cults, there is often support from the upper classes such as nobles and wealthy businessmen... Indeed."

Valencia nodded thoughtfully:

“Even crazy cultists still need all kinds of daily necessities for food and clothing, and it is difficult for them to replenish these through formal channels, and it is easy to be discovered when stealing... So if they can lurk for a long time, someone must be supporting them.

But ordinary paladins can also deal with these cult protection umbrellas, right?For sinners like this who have violated both the kingdom's laws and the church's teachings, the police force should be willing to cooperate with you. "

"This is true in theory... but the most cunning thing about the upper class is that they often use laws and rules that should punish them to protect them."

Lika spread her hands helplessly:

"The premise of the church not interfering in the country's internal affairs is that as long as we don't have conclusive evidence, it will be difficult to really take action against those nobles... If our attitude is slightly tougher, they will clamor and question whether we want to interfere with secular power.

And those security forces are often bribed by the nobles' daily small favors, and are not willing to cooperate with our investigation at all, and will even defend those nobles... unless there is conclusive evidence.

But where is the decisive evidence so easy to obtain?The cultists are prone to self-destruction and self-sacrifice, so it's very difficult to catch them alive. "

"So there are Knights of the Inner Temple?" Valencia asked with a smile.

"Yeah, that's why there are Knights of the Inner Temple."

Rika nodded:

"You must have thought of it, right? Yes, the Knights of the Inner Temple are basically like your father. They are not members of the church, but are instead one of the great nobles of their country.

When nobles fight against each other, the church will not have an excuse to interfere in internal affairs, and it can also use various means to obtain information secretly.

Later, as long as it is revealed in the battle that one of the nobles has a relationship with the cult, we, the Holy Knights, can intervene openly and cooperate with the Knights of the Inner Temple to kill the target in one fell swoop.

This is the most important job of the Knights of the Inner Temple, to monitor the dignitaries of various countries for the church, and to promptly discover or clean up the protective umbrella of cults and anti-human elements among them. "

"Sure enough..."

Valencia's expression suddenly became complicated.

Tia had guessed from her father's conversations with others before that the Bader family might be moles planted by the church among the nobles, but she didn't expect this to be the case.

Even Tia could guess that from a few words, so the royal family and the Britannia family and other key figures in the kingdom who have more information should have known about it for a long time, right?

that……

"Could it be that the French royal family was behind the trouble that happened to our family? Because my father's identity has been exposed?" Valensa asked speculatively.

"No, probably not."

Lika shook her head:

"The identity of the Knights of the Inner Temple is basically known to the leaders and core leaders of each country... Although it is not stated clearly, everyone has always understood it tacitly.

The main duty of the Knights of the Inner Temple is indeed to monitor the nobles, but they pose no threat to the top royal families and nobles. They have a win-win relationship with them.

Because those at the top are the ones who control the most resources and interests. What they need is not to go further, but to maintain the existing order.

Most of the nobles who support the cult or simply the cult itself are small and medium-sized nobles. Their ambitions make them not satisfied with the existing distribution of interests. They want to continue to climb up and kill the nobles at the top and replace them.

These people are also a big trouble for vested interests and order maintainers, and they are happy to have existences like the Knights of the Inner Temple to help them eliminate hidden dangers.

Even the reason why I came to France again was because the Royal Family of France hinted to the church that they hope the church can elect a new knight of the inner temple as soon as possible. "

"So Sister Rika, you are here to choose a new knight of the inner temple?"

Valencia blinked:

"Then you chose me because of your friendship with our family?"

"more or less."

Lika smiled and rubbed Valencia's face again:

"The church still takes good care of its own people... As long as you have not made it clear that you have given up, you are the number one choice for the new Inner Temple knight... The higher ups will send me here because of my relationship with your family.

Therefore, one of my most important tasks is to train you into a qualified new knight of the inner temple. "

"So how do I become the new Knight of the Inner Temple?"

Valencia frowned slightly:

"Since the Knights of the Inner Temple must also be nobles...is it possible that I have to return to the Badr family and find a way to seize the position of head of the family?"

"It's definitely a path, but if you don't like it, you don't have to do it."

Rika smiled:

"Aren't you already the chief of the elite department of the Zhan Zhan Academy? This is already a very good start. Next, as long as you make some achievements in fighting the wild beasts, you can obtain a new title on your own.

This is also a good way for you to prove your abilities to the church's higher-ups... just like the glorious swordsman who founded your Badr family. "

"Uh... Could it be that Sister Lika, you still know the ancestors of our family?"

So how old are you?You actually asked me to call you sister... Tsk.

Valencia had a hard time resisting the urge to complain.

"I do know the ancestors of your Badr family."

Lika, however, was caught up in long-lasting memories, her eyes becoming complicated:

"Now that you have awakened the blood power of the Badr family, it should be clear, right? The power of light passed down from your ancestors is very similar to the holy light of the church.

This is for sure... because your ancestor was a Paladin secretly trained by the church, but after he reached the Moonlight level, he forcibly modified some of the attributes of the Holy Light to conceal his origin.

Later, your ancestors made great achievements in a certain operation and were rewarded as nobles by the royal family, which is how the current Badr family came into being.

And my bad relationship with your family also started at that time. "

"Huh? Sister Lika, were you a paladin of the church at that time? Did you also participate in some large-scale operation with our ancestors?" Valensa asked curiously.

"……Do not."

As a result, Lika shook her head, her expression even more complicated:

"On the contrary... I was not a believer in the Crown of the Sun Goddess at that time... I was even the target of your ancestors' crusade."

"Huh?" Valencia became even more curious.

"Speaking of which, you've already been to my hometown once... You know that the predecessor of the Trial Labyrinth of the War College was actually a monster dungeon, right?"

Rika sighed:

"I was originally the monster lord of the dungeon, a moon-level dark mage... In the end, your ancestors defeated me and presented me as a trophy to the Sun Goddess."

Chapter 65 Let’s start with the Honorary Knight

"Ah this..."

Valencia was a little dumbfounded, and it was unfolding that she didn't expect at all.

"What happens after that? Are you inspired by the Sun Goddess and become a Paladin?"

"more or less."

Rika shrugged:

"When I was bathing in the holy light, I was in terrible pain at first. Many times I thought I was going to completely disappear... I didn't expect that I survived.

It’s just that all the moon-level dark magic power in my body has been purified, so I can only receive ideological education in the church while starting the practice of a paladin from scratch...

In fact, my talent is not high, but the advantage is that I have a long lifespan... It took almost 100 years for me to finally advance to the rank of Star Glory again, and passed all the church's assessments of faith, piety and character... and became a A true paladin. "

"So Sister Lika, you were just scaring me last night, right? You're so bad~~"

Valencia slapped Lika's breastplate and coquettishly asked:

"Then how did you, Sister Lika, become friends with our family? Since you were defeated and captured by my ancestors, you should resent us, right?"

"Well...it's impossible to say that I don't have any grudge against your family at first. I was the first to apply to come to France after becoming a paladin, so I planned to take the opportunity to retaliate."

Lika spread her hands:

"But how can I put it... Maybe it was the hundred years of practice that purified all my evil thoughts as a monster. It was hard for me to have real bad thoughts at that time.