Things about the female knight in black stockings

If we're wrong, and the paladins have just wasted their time, that's fine; at worst, I'll just be executed within the church... But if this operation creates a vacuum in vigilance, giving other cults an opportunity to cause big trouble, then I'll be in real trouble.”

"I see...that makes sense."

Elsers sighed in disappointment and asked again:

"How should we investigate these 22 people? Are you going to do it yourselves?"

"We'll have to go ourselves."

Valensa shrugged:

"Fortunately, we don't need to arrest people, interrogate them, or search for evidence. We just need to have Cao Cao secretly check whether these people are high-level fog demons in disguise. It shouldn't be too troublesome."

Once we can obtain evidence that a high-level mist demon has disguised himself as a human and infiltrated a top-tier family, things will become much easier.

I will formally request support from the Sun Church in Arant, and the Merchant Alliance's law enforcement team, and even America's army, can be mobilized.

"How about I send a few guards or wave riders to help you?"

Elserse asked again.

"Need not."

Valensa gently shook her head and said seriously:

"Assuming our guess is correct, the enemy's purpose in framing Cao Cao is to get close to you, Princess, under the guise of a blind date... You are the enemy's real target."

Therefore, your guards and the Wave Knights must not move. These next two days, aside from attending the matchmaking dinner, avoid meeting strangers. It would be best to have Vice-Commander Lasha accompany you at all times.

"Yes, I understand... and don't worry."

Elsers chuckled softly:

"After all, I am my father's daughter and my brother's sister, so they still care about me. This time, the strong warriors who came to America to protect me are not just Vice Captain Lasha."

Therefore, you don't need to worry too much about my safety. Even a Moon-level expert wouldn't be able to easily attack me.

"Oh? Your Highness, you have other people protecting you? Are they still with you?"

Valensa raised an eyebrow curiously, but seeing that Elsers was just smiling and not answering, she quickly activated her mental power to enhance her perception to the maximum extent, but still found nothing.

...Is it that amazing?

Valensa was slightly surprised and had a guess, so she tentatively asked:

"Is he one of the legendary masters from the Knights of Valhalla?"

"Hmph... Well, that's a top secret that only members of the royal family can know."

Elseris puffed out her chest even more smugly and smiled, deliberately glancing at Tia and Gina before reaching out to scratch Valensa's chin:

"So, you want to be a member of the royal family, beautiful lady?"

Then she was immediately met with glares from both Tia and Valensa, and was even stomped on the instep by Gina without any politeness. Her waist was also pinched hard, making her wince in pain.

Compared to her reckless behavior a few years ago, Elsers has indeed become much more restrained now, giving the impression of a prodigal son returning home.

But after getting to know Valensa and the others, Elserse would occasionally still be unable to change her nature and tease Valensa and Tia in a joking manner... She would even deliberately do it in front of Gina and another person, as if it was in this way that Elserse would be more excited.

This Princess is very likely a minotaur enthusiast... Of course, she's not the victim; she's actually blond, just like the blonde hair on her head.

Chapters 76-78: Reencounter with the Mist Demon Girl

Knowing that Elseris was protected by skilled members of the Knights of Heroes and there was no need to worry, Valensa and her companions quickly began to investigate the 22 suspects one by one.

The investigation method is also very simple. Once you find the people, have Thousand Leaf Grass hide and take a look from a distance to see if they are high-level fog demons in disguise.

However, once the investigation actually began, Valensa found it wasn't as easy as she had imagined.

Finding out the exact location of a member of America's powerful family quickly, without alerting them, is not easy, even though most of these people live in Arant City.

After most of the day had passed, Valensa and her team had only checked four people... Basically, once they found someone, Chiba would just take a quick look from afar and that was it. But the time it took to find out their whereabouts was never less than an hour, and the most time-consuming time was almost three hours.

Fortunately, they were lucky; they won the grand prize while checking the fifth person.

This man's name was Bote Giese, the youngest of the five sons of Giese Mining owner.

The Giese family is naturally one of the top families in America. As can be seen from the name of their business association, they are a typical mining family, owning multiple high-quality mineral veins in the vast mountains of America.

Just as Fran had more food than it could possibly eat, America also had more metal minerals and magic crystals than it could possibly use, and had to sell them in large quantities to Fran and the Four Islands Alliance.

According to Valenza's previous life, Gies Mining was a large foreign trade company, and more than 5% of the Gies family's income came from selling various minerals to Fran.

Therefore, the Geese family took Elsers, who had the idea of ​​marrying America, very seriously. It was as if they were all going to fight alongside their brothers, with all five of the patriarch's sons on the marriage proposal list.

Of the five Geese brothers, the first three had already attended matchmaking dinners, while the remaining two were ranked much lower and wouldn't have been identified so quickly.

However, when Valensa and her team were inquiring about the whereabouts of the previous target, they inadvertently learned about Bot Giss's whereabouts as well.

Having already experienced the trouble and pain of indirectly inquiring about someone's whereabouts, Valensa and the other two decided not to waste the opportunity and to first check on Bot Giss's situation.

And then he won the grand prize.

While investigating the previous suspect, Valensa, using her psychic powers to enhance her hearing and eavesdrop, overheard the suspect's sister saying that her best friend would be having dinner with Bot Giese that evening.

So Valensa and the others found a good spot outside the restaurant to observe and wait quietly for Bot Giss to appear.

Twelve minutes before the appointed time, a luxurious carriage pulled up in front of the restaurant, and a very elegant young man stepped out.

He wore a loose but gorgeous brocade robe, black boots with gold trim, a mustache, and a middle parting. He also carried a cane made of high-quality wood.

The moment the man stepped off the carriage, Valensa clearly sensed that Chiba, who was standing right next to her and had been invisible, suddenly tensed up and her breathing became rapid.

"...It's him, my dear sister."

Even though Valensa was all alone, she suddenly felt a warm, moist sensation in her ear. Chiba Grass must have been whispering with her mouth very close to hers.

"He's the high-ranking mist demon who's already infiltrated America, and he's much stronger than the high-ranking mist demon we encountered on the beach in the capital of Fran!"

"Oh?"

Valensa raised an eyebrow, and amidst the furtive glances of many passersby, stretched lazily, then covered her mouth while yawning to hide her yawning as she asked in a low voice:

"How strong? Cao Cao, you can even see through the Mist Demon's strength?"

"The strength of the mist demons is actually quite easy to distinguish. They are basically divided into two categories: high-level humanoid mist demons and ordinary beast-shaped mist demons."

Thousand-Leaf Grass continued to whisper in Valensa's ear:

"The strength of ordinary beast-shaped mist demons varies depending on their form, ranging from candlelight to lighthouse, but the strength of high-level humanoid mist demons is basically fixed."

The humanoid high-level mist demons are extremely powerful in the water, no less than the Star Glory level... In fact, most human Star Glory level cultivators have little chance of winning against humanoid high-level mist demons at sea. The only ones who can reliably suppress mist demons at the same level are our Demon Ninjas.

However, most high-level humanoid mist demons lose a lot of strength after coming ashore, becoming only slightly stronger than lighthouse-level demons. They are basically easy prey for human Radiant-level demons... But their disguises are very good. Apart from us demon-exorcising ninjas who have been trained since childhood, other human cultivators, even if they are stronger than high-level humanoid mist demons, will find it difficult to see through them.

A very small number of high-ranking humanoid fog demons are not limited by terrain... Their combat strength in water is not much different from other high-ranking humanoid fog demons, but once they are on land, it is a completely different story.

This special humanoid high-level mist demon would definitely possess the strength of a Radiant Rank even on land, but it's extremely rare. Even my sisters have never encountered one. I never expected to run into one today.

As she spoke, Chibacao smiled bitterly:

"If this enemy is the same one we encountered on the beach in the capital of Fran, I'm confident I can sneak up and take it down with one strike. But this kind of extremely rare humanoid high-level mist demon that can maintain its Radiant Rank combat power on land... I'm afraid I'll be discovered before I can even get close to it."

High-ranking humanoid fog demons, when in disguise, rarely reveal their true form unless they suffer serious injuries... In fact, many high-ranking humanoid fog demons maintain their disguised form until their death.

This fog demon is now disguised as someone of considerable status. Given your status as a paladin, it would be difficult for you, sister, to directly attack him on the street, wouldn't it?

"That's it..."

Valensa frowned. As Thousand Leaf Grass had said, things were indeed quite difficult.

She thought for a moment, and seeing that the high-ranking mist demon disguised as Bot Gis was talking to a waiter and about to enter the restaurant, she asked Thousand Leaf Grass in a low and quick voice:

"If I use my Radiant-rank combat power to hold it back head-on, Cao Cao, are you confident you can find an opportunity to give it a good beating and make it reveal its true form?"

"...Big sister, you really do have a trump card that allows you to fight against a Radiant Rank directly."

Chiba first muttered something in a very complicated tone, then immediately said confidently:

"Of course I can! No one knows better than the Demon Ninja how to severely injure a high-level Mist Demon! As long as you can find a way to distract most of its attention, I can give it a good beating!"

But... this is a bustling area of ​​Arant, you know? Sister, you're a paladin, isn't it a bit inappropriate to attack someone like this?"

"It's certainly not good for a paladin to openly attack a member of a large family in a busy street, but..."

Valensa chuckled, a mischievous excitement gleaming in her eyes:

"What if the attackers were cult members? Wouldn't that make perfect sense?"

"Hey?"

Chiba was surprised for a moment, and then stared in disbelief as Valensa quickly took off her paladin outfit at the hiding place and put on a loose black robe with a cult-like style, completely covering her face with a black hood and a black mask.

What surprised Chiba Grass even more was that after Valensa changed into the cultist's attire, the holy aura that most clergymen would have disappeared completely. Instead, she exhibited extremely evil energy fluctuations, more evil than most real cultists, almost like she was possessed by an evil god.

This made Thousand Leaf Grass shrink back, and she asked somewhat stammeringly:

"Big sister, you...you wouldn't actually be a spy planted in the Church of the Sun by some cult, would you? Oh crap, I saw this, will I ever be able to see the sunrise again?"

"Fool."

Valensa tapped Thousand Leaf Grass's head with her finger, clearly annoyed.

"Your sister is a paladin who specializes in dealing with cults. It's not normal for me to have a few tricks up my sleeve to disguise myself as a cultist. Stop overthinking and get ready. I'm about to launch an attack... You'd better be able to severely injure that high-level humanoid fog demon and force it to reveal its true form. Otherwise, if the other paladins hear about it and come to attack me as a cultist, I'll be in a lot of trouble."

"Yes, don't worry, big sister."

Thousand-leaf Grass quickly assured:

"I just need an opportunity to distract it."

"it is good."

Valensa said no more to Thousand Leaf Grass, then took out a purple magic card and held it to her lips like a walkie-talkie, asking:

"You must have heard what Cao Cao and I said, right, Tia? How are your preparations going?"

"You can take action at any time."

Tia's calm and confident voice quickly came from the card:

"I have already set up magic crystals at multiple angles to record images, ensuring that I won't miss any details of it revealing its true form as a mist demon."

"Okay, I'll go then."

Valensa didn't delay any longer.

At this moment, Bote Geese had finished speaking with the restaurant waiter and was walking towards the restaurant's entrance, just a few steps away from entering the restaurant.

"Become a sacrifice for our Lord!"

A figure in a black robe and hood suddenly appeared from afar like lightning, shouting crazy words in a hoarse voice, and punched Bot Giss in the head.

A look of obvious surprise crossed Bot Giese's face, and his skin even trembled slightly, as if something beneath his skin wanted to burst forth.

But he forced himself to remain calm, feigning panic as he waved his expensive wooden cane and shouted:

"Quickly! Report to the paladin! A cult attack has occurred here!"

The restaurant waiter who had just been talking to Bot Giss immediately woke up and tried to run away to call for help, but he met the eyes of the attacking cultist.

Instantly, the waiter was as if he had been petrified, becoming numb from head to toe. A wave of fear, as if he had become food for a giant evil creature, overwhelmed him, leaving his mind blank and only able to babble.

The expensive wooden staff in Bot Giss's hand was not just an upper-class decoration, but also a protective magic item. He activated five layers of magic shields in one go, each layer of which was enough to withstand a full-force attack from a Lighthouse-level being.

Unfortunately, the cultist who attacked him was Valensa, who had entered a state of demonic godhood.

The fist, already at the Shining level, instantly shattered three layers of magical shields. Then, Valensa's Spiked Fist technique, which she had independently mastered from the Spiked Sword technique, took effect. The second burst of fist power shattered the remaining two layers of magical shields in one go, and the remaining force continued to bombard Bot Gis himself.

Bote Giss's expression changed again. He glared at Valensa with a very venomous look, and the skin under his eyes even bulged outwards, as if there were worms crawling under his skin.

"...You idiot, you're dead!"

Seeing that most of the other passersby had already begun to scatter in terror, Bot Gis decided after a moment's thought to unleash his true power and fight.

He instantly exhaled a thick mist from his mouth, which then immediately transformed into a shield, easily blocking Valensa's second-stage punch.

The dense fog then changed again, transforming into two water-splitting daggers, which Bot Giese wielded in pairs as he fought Valenza.

Neither of them held back; it was a head-on collision of Radiant-rank power. Although neither of them used any wide-range attack skills and it was purely close combat, every collision between their fists and feet and the Water-Splitting Spikes was like detonating a missile. The enormous impact overturned the surrounding ground, pushed down the walls, and destroyed the houses.

The restaurant where Bote Geese was supposed to go on a date was the first to suffer, turning into ruins in seconds, and the people who were dining there were all wailing in despair.

Fortunately, this world has healing magic, and external injuries are the easiest to treat. The paladins and priests will arrive soon, and the injured will be healed quickly.