The God of Weeping, also known as the Lady of the Whip.
Her divine name was Ameita, a lawful good deity whose doctrine taught followers to attain salvation of the soul through enduring suffering.
Just as a great forest harbors all manner of birds, so too did the world of the gods contain all sorts of bizarre deities. The Weeping Lady was one such example.
The God of Suffering, Ilmater, at least only demanded that his followers endure and submit to hardship. Ameita was different — she required her priests and followers to actively torture themselves, finding redemption through pain!
Gods above! Even Ilmater only asked his followers to endure, not to bring suffering upon themselves!
In simple terms, Ameita's followers were a bunch of masochists, and her priests even more so.
During grand festivals, Ameita's priests and followers would always gather together to perform "prayers" using whips, wooden stocks, and even red-hot branding irons, all to receive Ameita's divine grace. Among the Lady of Weeping's priestly divine powers, there were several quite remarkable spells specifically designed to enhance one's ability to endure pain.
Such a deity naturally had little market among ordinary commoners and was quite rare to encounter. Leilin had nearly failed to recognize her at first, though she did enjoy a certain following among those with particular tastes.
And having this goddess's priestesses walk the streets, begging passersby to inflict pain upon them as a form of donation collection, was a time-honored tradition of the temple.
"I'm sorry, my faith is in the Knowledge God, Ogma... this is really..."
Leilin felt he was no pervert, so he immediately brought up his shield of excuses.
"Our goddess teaches us not to care about the identity of those who bring us pain, for they grant us redemption through suffering, and we should be grateful to them... Please, help me with my 'prayer'!"
The priestess's face was resolute.
"I..." Leilin was truly at a loss for words. Moreover, seeing the crowd growing around them, he wanted to extricate himself as quickly as possible.
Just as Leilin dropped a gold coin into the young girl's donation box and raised the whip, planning to go through the motions and be done with it, his hair suddenly stood on end — as though some terrifying predator had locked onto him.
Sensing danger, he immediately dodged to the side, evading a devastating slash of battle qi.
Crash!
The powerful blade of battle qi swept through the spot where Leilin had been standing, smashing the flagstone floor behind him to pieces and revealing the formidable skill of the attacker.
Along with the attack came a young woman's furious shout: "Ahhhh... this despicable, shameless act of bullying women and children is nothing short of an insult to my way of the Knight! Rafinia will absolutely not let you get away with this!"
"What idiot?"
Leilin turned around in anger. Being publicly begged for sadistic indulgence was already embarrassing enough, but being treated as a villain bullying the weak — even his thick skin couldn't help but feel a sting of shame.
"You dare do it but won't admit it? Everyone on this street saw your atrocity! You despicable, shameless scoundrel!!!"
The attacker was a young and beautiful female Knight. Her wine-red hair was pulled back into a simple ponytail, and her lovely face was flushed crimson with fury. Her eyes were fixed squarely on Leilin, shooting beams of hatred — she looked as though she wanted to tear a few chunks of flesh from his body.
"A high-ranking Knight? Have you any idea what's actually going on?"
Leilin looked at her Knight's armor and the tall warhorse behind her with some surprise.
Though both were physical combat classes, Knights were the elite among warriors — the cream of the crop compared to the common foot soldier.
Not only was a full suit of Knight's armor prohibitively expensive, but a warhorse capable of fighting in combat was not easily obtained either.
A warhorse at this time was worth more than ten ordinary nags! And that was before factoring in the need for dedicated grooms and other attendants.
With the boost from a warhorse, a Knight's mobility and destructive power far surpassed that of a foot warrior.
Furthermore, high-ranking warriors who had solidified their faith could convert into Temple Knights, gaining the ability to cast spells — practically the template for every noble maiden's prince charming!
'To have reached such a high class at such a young age — this girl must come from a well-off family, likely nobility...'
Leilin sized her up, judging from her earlier attack that her Knight rank should be at least level ten.
'Chip! Scan!' Leilin silently commanded.
【Ding! Task established, scanning now!】The Chip faithfully executed Leilin's command, and a large block of information quickly came back.
【Name: Rafinia. Gender: Female. Strength: 10. Agility: 6. Constitution: 7. Spirit: 5. Estimated Strength: Knight Level 10! Possessed Specializations: 1. Mounted Combat: When fighting alongside a mount, the combatant's abilities are enhanced by 11%-19%! 2. Armor: Full-body Knight armor increases physical defense, but resistance to magic is correspondingly reduced.】
'Impressive for a high-level class — a mount-based power boost as well.'
Leilin nodded to himself, but this brazen appraisal only made the other party even more furious.
"What is wrong with this city? Allowing a villain like this to commit atrocities in broad daylight — has this place become a city that worships devils and demons?"