Chapter 669 — Speculation and Clues
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
At Ophelia's words, Gao Yang raised an eyebrow. "The priestesses are in an awkward position? How so?"
"After the siege ended, the church's original Order of Paladins and its combat priests suffered severe losses; they are now undergoing reorganization and restructuring. The High Patriarch intends to convert those who pass the assessment into White Knights, but there is a problem... the priestesses and female knights do not seem to adapt well to the White Knights'... style and equipment."
"Furthermore, from what I know, the southern church's principal clergy is composed of White Knight battle orders. They are of course mighty warriors of the Holy Light, utterly reliable on the battlefield, but as a window for spreading the faith, their style is somewhat..."
Here Ophelia hesitated. Even with the experience of a thousand-year Defiant, she seemed at this moment to feel a trace of conflict, yet she still spoke the rest: "Their style is not well suited to drawing close to the common folk. We tried reopening the confessionals in the cathedral district, with White Knights taking turns on duty, hoping to ease the people's postwar strain, but there was almost no response..."
Gao Yang had roughly guessed what was going on.
Ophelia sighed, her tone rather helpless. "Frankly, once people going to the confessional learned that a White Knight was inside, they all feared that if they confessed their sins, the one inside would leap out and hammer them to death—even though we all know that is impossible..."
Gao Yang could not help but press a hand to his forehead.
The situation was indeed real—and no one could say exactly where things had gone wrong (perhaps it had to do with the High Patriarch's personal style). From the moment of its restructuring, the Southern Church of the Luminous Stars had set off down a road of no return. It had been organized along the lines of a "religious battle order"; though ordinary priests and nuns still existed, its main structure remained the White Knight battle orders and the "mechanical monks" that supported their operation. This militarized form of organization, combined with the control methods of the administrative hall, ensured the southern church's high degree of controllability and loyalty—but on the other hand...
Its whole look had already gone off the rails.
Back in the Southern Realm, in wartime, such a church had posed no problem, but the overly rigid and cold White Knights had an inherent deficiency when it came to "approachability," and under present circumstances that had become a shortcoming.
And the other point Ophelia raised was also a fact: the current White Knight suit was not suited to female clergy, and would have to be redesigned.
Even setting aside all the above problems, properly settling the priestesses during the church's restructuring was something that had to be done; in this regard, Wright likely had no mature experience, and if Ophelia wished to take any measures, she would naturally have to seek Gao Yang's opinion.
"The northern church is to be restructured, which naturally includes all priests and monks. Go and tally the number of combat-type and clerical-type priestesses, work out a new establishment and management scheme with Wright, and submit the plan to me for review. In addition, I will have the research department set up a project as soon as possible to produce equipment suited to priestesses."
"Thank you for your understanding," Ophelia said, bowing her head in thanks. "Apart from that, I have no other questions."
Gao Yang nodded. "That will be all for today."
Ophelia rose. Before withdrawing from the study, she turned her head slightly toward the bookshelf beside her, smiled faintly, and gave a small nod.
After she left, the air beside the bookshelf immediately quivered and twisted, and Amber's figure leapt out of thin air, jabbering loudly: "She really did see me, didn't she!!"