Guesses and Clues

Hearing Ophelia's words, Gawain raised an eyebrow. "Female clergy are in an awkward position? What do you mean?"

"After the siege ended, the Holy Light Church's original Pontiff Knights and battle clergy suffered severe losses. They are now undergoing reorganization and restructuring. The High Priest intends to turn those who pass the assessments into White Knights, but there is a problem... female clergy and female knights do not seem very suited to the White Knights'... style and equipment."

"Furthermore, as far as I know, the southern church's main clergy consists of the White Knight Legion. They are certainly powerful Holy Light warriors and highly reliable on the battlefield, but as the face of the faith to the public, their style is somewhat..."

Ophelia hesitated at this point. Even with the experience and knowledge of a millennia-old Defier, she seemed somewhat conflicted, but she still voiced the rest of her thoughts. "Their style is not very suitable for connecting with the people. We tried reopening the confessionals in the church district, with White Knights taking turns standing watch, hoping to ease the people's stress after the war, but there has been almost no response..."

Gawain had more or less guessed what the problem was.

Ophelia sighed, her tone quite helpless. "To be frank, when people going to confession learn that there is a White Knight inside, they worry that the person inside will jump out and hammer them to death after they confess their sins—even though we all know that is impossible..."

Gawain could not help rubbing his forehead.

This problem did indeed exist—though he had no idea which link had gone wrong, perhaps it had something to do with the High Priest's personal style. Since its reform, the southern Holy Light Church had embarked upon a path of no return.