A set of bizarre statements left the young knights frozen on the spot, their brains nearly overheating.
Samimi had encountered this classic flirting-and-showing-off routine countless times before.
So lately, besides studying the Demon Knives, she had also been thinking about how to deal with these “flies.”
“Come back, don’t embarrass us.” The Knight Captain called out, bringing the young knight in their team back.
Now that the Church had a new Holy See, the leadership had been completely overhauled, and their overall strength had significantly increased.
The Church was no longer the tripartite system of the past. Instead, it was unified under the Holy See’s leadership, and almost no one could check her power except for the Holy Knight Grand Captain.
The Holy See’s influence was expanding rapidly with high-profile actions in the West Sea. Therefore, in this area, no clergy member could be easily offended.
The young knights shuffled back to the bar, took off their helmets, and continued drinking with red faces.
Samimi couldn’t be bothered with them anymore. She had seen this kind of thing far too many times, and having to retort every time was truly annoying.
This lowest-grade plot routine—passersby picking a fight, the protagonist face-slapping—could be repeated endlessly to pad out a long novel.
But she was a “transmigrator” with aspirations; she wouldn’t engage in meaningless showing off.
After experiencing a failure in “pretending to be weak,” she no longer wanted to play sophisticated games and simply solved problems in the most direct way.
For instance, just now, she chased them away and placed the Advanced Clergy Certificate on the table. The other party naturally wouldn’t dare to cause any more trouble.
Nowadays, the Advanced Clergy Certificate was no longer a single sheet of paper but an exquisite booklet, convenient for displaying one’s identity.
“Hello, Priestess Miss, we are the [Target Range Knights].”
The old knight Raine eventually walked over, his tone very serious.
“May I ask if there’s anything we can help you with?”
“Hello, I am Shalum, a Battle Priest from the Valkyrie Knight Order.” Samimi replied calmly.
These knights were not ordinary travelers but private soldiers of the local lord, though not Gendarme Knights.
So-called Gendarme Knights were responsible for collecting taxes from the lord’s territory residents on the lord’s behalf. If it were just normal tax collection, it would be fine, but many would also extort “protection fees.”
“I want to ask, what mission is the Priestess Miss carrying out here?” Raine asked.
“No mission. I’m just here traveling and training.” Samimi answered.
The old knight looked slightly puzzled.
Samimi continued to explain, “We are under the tutelage of Archbishop Samimi. She said that priests should not be just flowers in a greenhouse… not even flowers, just the vase itself. So we left the Royal City to see the world.”
This explanation had no flaws.
“I see.” The old knight could only choose to believe her.
“It’s getting late. May the Goddess bless you all, knights. Farewell.”
Samimi rose gracefully, put away her certificate, and walked away leaning on her Divine Staff.
The young knights in the tavern were all dumbfounded, watching her leave.
“Stop staring. She’s from the Royal City, clearly someone of high status, not someone you boys can approach. Get some rest early. We have a long journey tomorrow.” The old knight said.
“Sir Knight, what mission are you on?” The tavern owner asked.
“There’s been a bandit problem nearby. We’re going to deal with them.” The old knight replied.
“How did bandits show up?” The owner asked in surprise, buying him a drink.
Nobles rarely dispatched knights to deal with bandits. Usually, such matters were handled by merchant guilds paying for a solution.
“There are special reasons.” The old knight lowered his voice. “Recently, some noble lords have been killed, and those bandits are very likely the knights of these very lords.”
“If the knights killed the lords, wouldn’t all the property belong to them? Why would they still become bandits?” The owner was confused.
“That’s precisely why we need to find out the truth.” The old knight sighed. “This isn’t an easy job. We’re just going to scout the situation, not planning to fight to the death.”
The owner poured him another glass.
Little did they know, Samimi hadn’t actually gone far.
She was standing outside the door, eavesdropping from a distance using magic.
“It seems I can find an excuse to leave Fertile Town now.”
Although the secret of the Demon Knives had yet to be cracked, she hadn’t fought in dozens of days, and her hands were starting to itch.
Back when she was fighting every day, she found it annoying. Now, she was actually starting to miss it.
Returning to the inn, she found Niubao already fast asleep, still wearing the Christmas hat.
Samimi sat down beside her and entered a state of meditation.
Her meditation method had changed now. She no longer needed to sit cross-legged on the bed. She could simply sit in a chair and enter a deep meditative state similar to sleep.
If an ordinary person tried to imitate this, they would surely wake up with back pain the next day.
She vaguely felt that her cultivation had improved again.
Originally, coming south was meant to help Niubao increase her strength, but after going in circles, they hadn’t found suitable equipment or skills, only accumulating a large amount of practical combat experience.
The next morning, the Target Range Knights prepared to continue their journey.
At the town gate, they once again encountered the White Robed Priestess and the Beastman Nun beside her.
“Sir Knight Captain Raine.” Samimi smiled in greeting.
“Priestess Shalum, is there something you need?”
“Where are you heading?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Actually, I overheard your conversation last night. I want to ask, do you need a priest?” Samimi smiled. “We can help for free.”
This greatly delighted the knights.
“We would welcome you, but…”
“I know what you’re going to say. We’re here to train. Experience is more important than money. We’re not short on cash.” Samimi cut him off directly.
No team would refuse a priest joining them.
“Very well then. Please stick close to us.” The old knight nodded in agreement.
Samimi and Niubao mounted the two horses they had just bought and followed the Target Range Knights as they set out.
“Priestess Miss, why don’t you have any luggage?” A young knight asked.
“We have a special storage ability.” Samimi smiled, offering no further explanation.
She gently kicked her horse and moved up beside Raine to continue gathering information:
“Captain, you mentioned a noble being killed. What’s that about?”
“I’ve only heard that a local lord was killed. I don’t know exactly who. The news has been suppressed. It’s probably just a minor noble.”
“We received orders from Baron Ast to assemble at a specific time and place. As for the specific mission, we’re actually not clear either.”
“And what about dealing with the bandits?”
“That’s also part of the mission.”
Samimi frowned slightly.
This mission felt eerie all over.
But then again, that was exactly what made it interesting.
Compared to the simple slaughter in the Sea of Ten Thousand Forests, this felt more like an RPG-style mystery adventure.
Right now, she felt like a party member, following the knights’ perspective to uncover the truth.
“You find it strange too?” Raine asked.
“Yeah.” Samimi nodded. “Baron Ast seems very flustered, like a higher-ranking noble is pressuring him, and he’s just relaying orders.”
“That’s exactly what I think.” Raine agreed.
“After all, he’s just a baron.”
Thinking about this, Samimi couldn’t help but recall someone who single-handedly raised the entire standard of what a baron meant.
Then, she remembered another setting—
Fabiana, the Pure White Knight, would later advance to become the [Kingdom War Marshal].
In one glossed-over segment of the story, she unified all the noble forces on the entire West Coast.
In the original work, this process was barely expanded upon.
Suddenly, she just united all the knight orders, formed a massive army, and went to rescue the Royal City, which was besieged by the Abyss.
After the great battle, the Royal Family was saved, and the Human Race formed an alliance to fight the enemy together. She also earned another major achievement as a result.
But here was the problem.
These nobles were already vassals of the Royal Family. They were supposed to send troops to help in the first place.
Why did they need an “alliance”?
That sounded more like a disguised form of power centralization, or even rebellion.
It seemed that this seemingly calm West Sea was not as simple as it appeared…