Chapter 76

 If Sykes was a product created by the church in collaboration with the imperial family using Dragon Bone, then according to the emperor’s words, their goal should have been to counter the prophesied world-destroying aberrant realm that was about to descend.

She remembered the prophecy also mentioned that an incarnation of the God of Hope would descend once more to save the empire. Yet those people still used such extreme methods to manufacture a “savior”, using the corpse bones of the demonic dragon that had once brought apocalyptic disaster to the empire, creating a bizarre life in the delusional hope that it would bring salvation.

Ye Zheng sometimes really could not understand what was going through those people’s heads. In her opinion, the chance of them creating another demonic dragon was far greater.

The one thing she was certain of was that they were probably not fully satisfied with Sykes, especially given his recent pathetic performance, which could hardly be called qualified. Even the emperor’s attitude toward him had become ambiguous.

If that was the case, they were very likely continuing the “savior” experiment.

Ye Zheng almost wanted to rush to the lower district immediately to confront Zhuo Ya and obtain clear answers. After thinking for a while, she decided to hold back for the time being and find a reasonable pretext to go to the lower district.

Right now, because of Sela, Dragon Bone, and the erupting public opinion incident, the church’s surveillance over the lower district was at its tightest.

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The Saintess had ventured alone into danger to save the Crown Prince. In gratitude for her bravery, the Crown Prince had gifted her a piece of his territory in the lower district for her knight order to operate in.

Sykes’s generosity surprised Ye Zheng. The Ye family, as nobles, also had their own lands, yet Ye Fanjing had not given her even a single house, nor had he given one to Ye Di yet. After all, compared to his son, what he loved most was still himself.

One of the reasons Ye Zheng had made the request to Yu Tianming was that she did not want her knight order to operate on church territory. Even if she did not yet pose any real threat in the Pope’s eyes, he would never miss a good opportunity to monitor her.

Now that it had been switched to Sykes’s territory, if it were the old Sykes, she might have believed he was simply giving her a piece of land out of goodwill. But the current Crown Prince was probably no easier to deal with than the Pope.

“Saintess, we have arrived. Please get off.”

Wende’s voice pulled her back from her thoughts. Ye Zheng nodded and lightly jumped down from the carriage.

Today she was appearing in her capacity as Saintess, yet she had not worn the signature white dress of the Saintess. Instead, she had changed into a shirt, vest, and long trousers. Her long hair was tied into a braid hanging down her back. Her entire figure appeared taller, slimmer, and more capable.

People who saw her in this attire were somewhat surprised. It differed quite a bit from the holy and gentle Saintess in their memories. But upon hearing that the Saintess was here to inspect her own knight order, and one composed entirely of women, everyone tacitly smiled knowingly.

It was like watching a noble young lady dressed in equestrian attire preparing to go to the stables to tame a pony. Young girls occasionally wanted to show a bit of dashing spirit. Even the Saintess was still an underage girl full of curiosity.

The moment Ye Zheng met those tolerant gazes, she understood exactly what they were thinking.

She felt no anger at being underestimated. Instead, she found it quite interesting to imagine what those tolerant and friendly faces would turn into once they learned what she intended to use this knight order for in the future.

A man in a white uniform stood to the Saintess’s left. Charlie frowned and asked, “Saintess, although this knight order was established in your name and its purpose is to protect you, entrusting you to such an immature organization truly makes us uneasy.”

“Beyond the fact that they are all female ability users, has the organizational structure even been properly set up? What about training standards? Daily regulations? I hear that only Knight Wende is in charge. This is simply laughable.”

The group walked along the corridor. Ye Zheng listened to Charlie’s agitated tone. He seemed completely unaware of his own overstepping. This interrogative manner should not be used toward a superior.

Wende glanced sideways. The tall woman showed a trace of impatience and was about to step toward Charlie when Ye Zheng silently held her back.

“Charlie, your questions are very reasonable. Today I came precisely to discuss these matters with everyone in the knight order.”

Charlie showed a disapproving expression. “My lady, how can such things be personally discussed by you with them? A superior must maintain an image of dignity and authority. Becoming too familiar with subordinates is the naive idea of an amateur.”

The Saintess walking at the front had already reached the main entrance of the training grounds. She turned sideways and glanced at Charlie following behind her. “Wende, come in with me. Charlie, you stay outside.”

The man looked at the Saintess in disbelief. Ye Zheng had already turned away, pushed open the door, and lightly left behind one sentence.

“Charlie, you are right. For the sake of my authority, you can stay in the garden.”

Under the blazing sun, sweat beading on his forehead, the male knight had no choice but to obey the Saintess’s order. Standing bewildered in the garden with no shade, he stared at the tightly closed door. Suddenly a shiver ran through him as he understood the Saintess’s words.

Charlie finally remembered: although the Saintess was only a symbolic representative in the church, according to the rules, her status was second only to the Pope, equivalent to that of a cardinal bishop.

The Saintess was usually kind and benevolent, almost making everyone forget this fact and treat her merely as a precious orchid planted in the church. In reality, according to the regulations, they were the weeds she could remove at any time if she found them displeasing.

If he had spoken to a cardinal bishop in that manner just now, he would probably have been expelled from the knight order long ago.

As a superior, the Saintess’s handling of the matter was already incomparably lenient!

Charlie stood there in a daze. At some point, the familiar Saintess of the church had gradually become incomprehensible to him, like a pleasing white cloud drifting in the sky that suddenly turned into pouring rain.

Ye Zheng entered the training grounds with Wende. The area was very spacious, scattered with various weapons. A group of people stood at the very center. Noticing the movement at the entrance, they all turned to look.

The tall knight tilted her head. While striding forward, she whispered to the Saintess.

“My lady, you should have let me teach him a direct lesson.”

“It is fine. He meant well. A small lesson is enough.”

Wende sighed. “You are always so kind.”

Ye Zheng smiled faintly. “I do not like violence, unless he touches my bottom line.”

Wende raised an eyebrow without surprise and handed over a list. Ye Zheng took it but did not flip through it. Instead, she returned a calm and focused gaze to the knights present, earnestly looking at each one.

They did not have the rigid and solemn posture of church knights, but every single one of them had a very capable build. Their eyes carried curiosity mixed with restrained appraisal.

These were people recruited by Wende, almost all female ability users active in aberrant realms.

Those who dealt with aberrant realms usually fell into three groups: first, the knights regularly dispatched from the upper district; second, the security teams in the lower district; third, individual ability users operating in the gray zone, taking on various commissions.

From Ye Zheng’s observations in the lower district, knight orders did not recruit women. However, the lower district’s security teams did accept some female ability users. After all, high-level ability users all flocked to the middle and upper districts. The lower district, which needed manpower the most, often lacked talent. Female ability users thus obtained opportunities because of this.

But the treatment for these female ability users was far worse than for males. They had almost no room for advancement, and their salaries were only half of what male ability users received.

The security teams treated them merely as short-term workers. Once they reached a certain age, they were expected to marry and have children. After giving birth, their ability levels would drop by at least one grade, and almost all would withdraw from frontline work. Therefore, there was no need to allocate precious resources to female ability users.

This was not limited to security teams, it was the consensus across the entire empire. Knight orders not recruiting women stemmed from the same reason.

In reality, female ability users had made no small contributions to protecting the empire, yet almost no one recorded their deeds.

During her free clinics in the lower district, Ye Zheng had interacted with quite a few female ability users active in aberrant realms and saving lives. She scanned the group and spotted several familiar faces among the fifty.

“Saintess! Long time no see. Do you still remember me?”

Someone could not hold back and stepped forward. She wore an irrepressible excited smile. She looked around thirty, not young anymore, yet she still retained vitality no less than that of a teenager.

“Alya, it looks like your arm has fully recovered. But for you to resign from your team leader position in the security team to come here is quite surprising.”

Alya shrugged. “I heard it was you who personally healed me. Those boys were all dying of envy. They annoyed me too much, so I quit.”

Some in the group could not help glancing sideways. Working in the security team was a rare good job, let alone reaching team leader level. This woman had just casually left?

“Then, welcome here.”

The Saintess smiled. Her posture was straight and tall. Her skin was extremely translucent under the sunlight, like a statue carved from white jade.

Almost everyone found it hard to look away from the Saintess. Some had seen her before; some had not. They only felt that she seemed somewhat different from the rumors, but this difference did not disappoint them, instead, it delighted them.

Wende took out a notebook and announced the regulations for this Saintess Knight Order from now on, covering everything from daily training to benefits and welfare in meticulous detail.

They listened earnestly. Apart from free-spirited people like Alya, most had joined the Saintess Knight Order for very practical reasons: nothing more than a better life.

The Saintess had a good reputation. This knight order had received approval from the church and commendation from the Crown Prince. Even if it was merely a decorative gift to the Saintess, it was still a well-treated decoration.

“…In short, your treatment will be equivalent to that of the church’s Temple Knights. You receive this treatment not because the Saintess is lenient, but because you will bear the same noble duties as Temple Knights.”

“Please prepare yourselves.”

Wende methodically finished reading the script that Ye Xin had prepared for her. Waves of irrepressible surprise and excitement rippled through the group, they were actually receiving the same treatment as Temple Knights!

It must be known that church knights were divided into several ranks. Temple Knights were the highest rank, only the Pope and cardinal bishops had the authority to command them!

Alya covered her mouth in shock within the group. Although she had climbed to a small team leader position in the security team, even the highest-ranking person in the security team had to be extremely respectful in front of Temple Knights.

“Everyone, do you have any questions?”

The Saintess asked gently.

Some shook their heads vigorously, wishing they could rush up and hug the Saintess to plant a kiss on her. Such treatment was something they had never even dared to dream of during prayers at the church.

Amid the joyful atmosphere, someone suddenly raised their hand high and stepped out from the group.

It was an extremely young girl. Her skin tone was unevenly dark, clearly from long-term exposure to wind and sun. Her eyes were exceptionally bright, almost sharp.

Behind her followed a girl with a similar face who wore an embarrassed expression and seemed to want to pull her back.

“Saintess, I have a question.”

Ye Zheng met the girl’s aggressive gaze, put away her smile, and nodded. “Please speak.”

“You said we have treatment equivalent to Temple Knights. May I ask, will we also have the chance to be rewarded with land for outstanding achievements?”

“Can we participate in courts and parliaments?”

“Can we be recommended for higher positions?”

The girl’s speech was rapid and sounded aggressive. Rather than asking questions, it felt more like she was smashing the place, because almost everyone present knew these things were impossible!

“Hey, Cheng Cheng, stop talking.”

The girl with a similar face but a more mature temperament tugged at her younger sister’s clothes, desperately trying to salvage the embarrassing situation.

Someone had already stepped forward to retort. “What are you trying to do? If you still cannot be satisfied with this, then go back to the black market and continue being an unemployed ability user!”

Almost everyone looked at this girl who had stepped out in incomprehension. The noisy voices grew louder.

Wende cleared her throat, about to stop this undisciplined group, when the Saintess, who had been silent beside her, spoke up.

“What is your name?”

“In response, my lady, I am called Cheng Cheng.”

The young girl lowered her head, her tone neither humble nor overbearing.

“Very good, Cheng Cheng. I have been waiting for someone to raise this question.”

Cheng Cheng looked up in surprise. When she met the Saintess’s clear black eyes, she fell into that gaze like a lake or sea. She knew immediately that the Saintess was not saying polite words just to smooth things over.

The once chaotic scene fell silent.

“I cannot definitively tell you that you will definitely receive treatment completely equivalent to Temple Knights.”

“The only thing I can affirm is this: wherever I can reach in the future, I will bring you there with me. I will be the firmament you can touch, and even surpass.”

“I must make this clear to you: as my knights, you will undertake work that is more dangerous, and also more noble, than that of Temple Knights.”

Ye Zheng’s gaze swept over every single one of them, finally landing on Cheng Cheng.

“This knight order has only one purpose, to offer your courage and loyalty to the Saintess.”

“Now I ask you in return: are you prepared?"