In the corner of the room, a young man with a sharp look, but a notably pale and haggard face, was kneeling. Despite wearing the standard snow-white Holy Knight armor, his thin frame and short black hair were still quite evident.

His sword and shield were not in hand, and his helmet lay beside him. He faced a small altar with a common depiction of the Goddess of Light, used for daily personal prayers in the Holy Empire. With closed eyes, he murmured something quietly.

By the way, compared to the Sky God statues of the Azure Sky Kingdom, the image of the Goddess of Light is somewhat ambiguous, as she rarely appears to the common folk. Her sculptures often depict her in a holy and elegant long gown with golden hair, but her face is typically blurred.

In other words, no one truly knows what the Goddess of Light looks like. Even in the Church of the Angel City, the supreme statue of the Goddess of Light, which is worshipped day and night and said to possess miraculous power, presents the same unclear image.

Of course, there is a belief that the Goddess has indeed descended, but whenever she appears, she is surrounded by blinding light, making it impossible for mortals to see her true form. Over time, this blurred image has become the accepted representation.

However, regardless of the truth, this was not the main issue at hand.

“Jeremy Murray, the Saintess has personally arrived. If you have anything to say, you may speak now.”

“You are the embodiment of dawn and hope, you… Ah, Saintess…?”

The young Holy Knight, who seemed to be in a disturbed state, only turned his head to face the three after Pedrick’s harsh and cold announcement of Yuna’s arrival had been echoing for a few seconds. With bloodshot eyes showing signs of sleeplessness, he looked at them.

“From the 17th squad of the 3rd Brigade of the Bright Light Order… Devout Holy Knight Jeremy Murray, reporting… Ah…!”

He stumbled to his feet as if in a daze, trying to kneel for the ceremony. However, his muscles, having stiffened from a long period of immobility, coupled with his mental disorientation and physical exhaustion, caused him to fall heavily to the ground. His heavy armor clanged loudly as it hit the floor.

“…?”

“Sigh…”

The fox lady and the Saintess exchanged glances. The latter said nothing more, only giving a silent, slight sigh. Meanwhile, beside them…

“What an embarrassment! Jeremy Murray, is this how you present yourself before the Saintess? Where is your dignity as a Holy Knight?”

It seemed that the sight of the man’s disgrace had triggered Pedrick. He suddenly stepped forward, and with a single hand, lifted Jeremy, who was still writhing on the ground. Grasping the gap in the latter’s chest armor, he clenched his other hand into a fist and suddenly smashed it into the dejected and defeated face!

“Bang!!!”

A thin figure tumbled violently in the air several times before crashing to the ground again, leaving a trail of blood and broken teeth. The loud noises inside the quiet room naturally attracted the attention of the Holy Knights stationed outside.

However, when they quietly opened the door and saw the arbiter with dual swords raising his fist in a furious manner, they quickly shut the door again as if nothing had happened, seemingly afraid of provoking someone’s anger.

Yuna frowned slightly.

“Pedrick, what are you doing? Everyone experiences setbacks in life. Even if you want to correct him, your actions are too violent.”

Although she immediately scolded her subordinate, facing the Holy Knight who was now obediently lowering his head and apologizing with “Sorry, Your Highness, I will be more careful next time,” but clearly would do it again, Yuna seemed powerless to change his behavior.

In the end, the young woman walked briskly to the Holy Knight who was face down and still struggling to get up. Her white, jade-like fingers radiated a soft, gleaming golden light, which continuously fell upon him as she attempted to help him up.

“Do you feel a bit better? Pedrick… Always too impulsive. I apologize on his behalf. If you need any compensation…”

“No, cough cough… It’s okay…”

Struggling to turn his head and spitting out a few blood-stained teeth. The Holy Knight named Jeremy didn’t dare touch Saintess’ outstretched hand. Instead, he quickly scrambled to his feet under the golden light.

“Captain Pedrick is right. As a Holy Knight, my previous actions were indeed very rude. I deserved that punch. Your Highness, you needn’t be concerned…”

After speaking, he shakily, but resolutely, knelt on one knee again and introduced himself.

“Jeremy Murray, a Devout Holy Knight of the 17th Detachment, 6th Squad of the 3rd Brigade of the Bright Light Order, pays his respects to Your Holiness, the Bright Light Saint.”

“Ah…”

With both of them being so obstinate, Yuna could only sigh in resignation and nod slowly.

“Please rise, Holy Knight Jeremy. Since you’ve composed yourself, time is precious, so let’s start the examination process immediately. Is that alright?”

“Yes, everything as you wish.”

Seeing Jeremy stand up and say no more, Yuna’s gaze turned to the Pedrick, who had already retrieved some items from his storage tool. Pedrick silently nodded and went to the leftmost stretcher in the center of the quiet room, lifting the white cloth.

Underneath was the corpse of a Holy Knight who had apparently been stained with blood, but had been simply cleaned. The neck bore stitch marks like threads, clearly having been decapitated in life and later artificially reattached to maintain the body’s integrity.

A stronger smell of blood spread as the covering was removed. Sensing that the scene might be too much for a young lady like Miss White Fox, Yuna turned her head and gave a questioning look to Violet. When Violet silently shook her head, Yuna chose not to say anything further.

Pedrick’s distinctive cold, harsh voice soon filled the quiet room.

“Josh Huell, male, human, 36 years old. He was employed as the vice squad leader in the 17th Detachment, 6th Squad of the 3rd Division of the Bright Light Order in Bright Light City. His rank was the 【Tenacious Knight】, which has been officially confirmed.”

“Cause of death—decapitation by a bladed weapon, instant death. From the wound’s marks, it can be inferred that the weapon was a sword or similar long and thin blade. There are clear signs of light element burns on the neck’s cross-section. Thus, it can be concluded that it was likely a holy sword blessed by the temple.”

As Pedrick opened the collar of the deceased’s armor, both Violet and Yuna could clearly see a ring of faint charring around the stitched wound, which was the light element burn described in the report.

After completing the basic autopsy report, the golden-haired arbiter quickly moved to the second stretcher, lifting its white cloth in the same manner. This time, the body was of another Holy Knight, but it appeared far more gruesome than Josh’s.

The once-white armor was now dirty and torn from battle, with at least a dozen deep sword wounds visible. The blood had nearly drained, and the face was visibly sunken.

The right forearm, which held the sword, had been severed. It seemed the recovery team had not even been able to find this part of the severed limb, and now the cross-section of the severed arm was fully exposed before them.

This was no longer simply a case of death in battle but was clearly the result of deliberate torture.