## Chapter 683 – Paladin Kim Kat

I left in the early morning, but by the time I returned, it was around lunchtime. Entering the room, I found everyone already awake, lightly dressed, and finishing up their packing.

“Hey, Blackie’s back?”
“Sir Kat is here!”
“Yeah. I’m not too late, am I?”

First, let’s get all this equipment off.
Immediately, Winia and Hilde scurried over to help me undress.

“Give me the armor, Sir Kat.”
“Thanks.”

It’s so convenient when they do everything for me.

“Blackie, what’d they say? Did you do well?”
“I did freaking great. I even had the Paladin knighting ceremony. Look at this.”

I took out the knighting certificate with the blood palm print from my pants pocket and showed it to them.

“Oh my god. Is this all blood?”
“Sir Kat? This blood?”

Immediately, they looked worried, took my hands, and asked.

“Kat? Are you hurt? Are you okay?”

Cloudy also came over and tried to examine my body.
I made them worry for no reason.

“It’s nothing. The cardinal there healed me right away. I did it on my palm, but there’s not even a scar left.”
“That’s a relief… Anyway, this is the real certificate.”

Winia read the certificate.

“Hehehe, so you’ve officially become a Paladin?”
“Ah, Risha, sis.”

As she said that, Risha came over, hugged Winia from behind, and read the certificate together. I don’t know why, but I feel so good when Winia and Risha are together like that. Is it because they have the biggest boobs?

“Hehehe, ah, this is so great. I’m a real Paladin now.”

Laughter escaped me.

As of today, I’ve become a truly legitimate Paladin. I don’t have to go around calling myself a quasi-priest anymore. If I just say I’m a Paladin, everyone will bow down.

“Kat, congratulations. You did a great job.”
“Ah, Cloudy, hurry. Let me bury my face in your chest.”
“Hehehe, are you being a baby?”

I immediately buried my nose in Cloudy’s cleavage and took a deep breath. She must have just showered, because I could smell the fragrant soap. Adding to that the unique sweet scent of a half-elf, it made my head spin.

I really love this scent.

Anyway, I guess living life to the fullest eventually leads to this.

I never dreamed I’d be changing jobs from adventurer to Paladin.

“But what about other things? Did anything special happen? Is that all you did?”

Karin came over and asked.
I should tell them about this too.

“Rather than anything special, they told me to come to Holy Knight training next week on a commuting basis. They said they have to do that to believe me or something. The Pope is a bit of a stickler.”
“Oh, really? That’s good, isn’t it? That means you’ll be stuck in the capital for a while.”
“That’s true. Is there anything you want to do?”
“Look at her, look at her.”

Karin pointed at Liz.
She had a slightly hesitant attitude.

“Liz, sis? Is there anything you want to do?”
“Well… now that we’re in the capital, I was thinking of doing some sightseeing… and some shopping… Karin said there’s a huge building in the capital that’s used entirely as a shopping center. I want to see it…”

Liz said, sounding a bit shy.

An entire building used as a shopping center?
Isn’t that just a department store?

“Hehehe, this girl has become a complete lady since coming to the capital. Well, my sister likes that kind of thing too.”
“Ugh… I have nothing to say.”
“Yeah, Blackie. It’s really nice there. Let’s go take a look.”

She seemed to want to go shopping.

“I don’t know much about human culture, but I think it would be fun to go together!”
“They say there’s nothing you can’t find there… I’m quite curious too. If you’re getting training next week, doesn’t that mean you have time this week? Let’s go look at houses and check it out.”

Looking at their faces, they all seemed to be looking forward to it.
I guess it’s because they’re women.

“Is it a concentration of the kingdom’s culture? Kat. Mama wants to go see it too.”

If my women want to do it, we have to do it.

“Hehehe, okay. If you want to go, we have to go. Ari, are you okay with it?”
“Going out to crowded places is difficult, but… if I go with Father, I’ll be okay.”
“No, I’m a bit worried if it’s difficult.”
“I’m okay.”

Then we should go.
Since this week is practically a holiday anyway.

As Risha said, we should stop by the real estate guild to look at houses and check out that place called a department store.

“Oh, right, Blackie. Are you hungry? Let’s go out for food now.”
“Do you know a place?”
“No. I heard there’s a restaurant or something on the second floor here.”
“Oh, shit.”

Judging by the way she said it, it seemed to be a pretty famous place. Well, it looked more like a large hotel than an inn. I’m freaking hungry anyway.

“Let’s get dressed and go down right away.”

Let’s get some food.

* * *

From the next day, I was quite busy.

I restrained myself a bit at night, and everyone woke up early in the morning, washed up, and went down to the second floor for food. But it turned out that the restaurant on the second floor was a buffet.

A buffet? Is that even possible?

I’m not lying, it’s the first time I’ve seen it since coming to this world, but it’s quite common in the capital. I can really feel that it’s a wealthy area.

After that, we went out to look at houses and do some shopping.

When we went, there really was a building similar to a department store, just like Karin and Winia had said. The inside of a fairly large building was full of shops, and the surrounding buildings had a similar feel.

As soon as the eight of us entered in a line, we went around from the first floor, but it was a bit tiring. There were clothing stores, general merchandise stores, magic item stores, and even weapon stores, so it took forever just to go around the first floor.

I guess it’s because they’re all women, but they seemed to enjoy just looking around.

Winia and Karin were from the capital, but they had lived in other places for a long time, so they seemed to like it a lot.

“But Karin, aren’t you worried about running into someone you know while walking around? You were from the Royal Knights, after all.”
“Oh? Is that what you’re worried about?”
“I feel like I’d beat them up if I met them.”

Karin was repeatedly passed over for promotion in the prestigious Royal Knights because she was a half-savage, so she quit and became a mercenary.

She probably doesn’t have good feelings about it.

I feel like we might run into someone while living in the capital.

“No, you idiot. Do you think your sister can’t even stand that?”
“It’s not that.”
“It’s okay. That was several years ago. There aren’t many people who would recognize me, and what are the chances of meeting them in this wide place? And when you get experience, you’re all busy. You go out to the border for operations a lot.”

Then there’s nothing to worry about?
But I’m worried about Winia too.

“But sis, is racism that prevalent? I see a few guys with black hair.”

I noticed while shopping that there were some guys with black hair like Isvant or Krasheim, though they were rare.

I thought it was severe if Karin was being oppressed, but is that not the case?

“They don’t do it openly, but it probably exists. My husband is capable and works with people who know that, so he might not have felt it, but these nobles have a lot of prejudice. We’ve had several wars, after all. The duel last time was half because of that, wasn’t it?”

Hylen and Lormalza acted that way because they looked down on me as a savage.

“But a Paladin doesn’t need to worry about racism. If you’re treated that way, you can just reveal that you’re a Paladin, and they’ll kneel and apologize, right? Who would mess with a Paladin?”

Religious people don’t discriminate against people unless they’re evil. They don’t have prejudices. They’re just good people.

And it’s only natural, but they won’t stand by if their followers are treated that way.

“Hehehe, that’s true.”

Anyway, even while spending time like that, I went to see Saintess Kadia in the morning every other day to check in.

From now on, on days when I’m waiting in the capital, that is, when I’ve finished a job and returned to play, I have to check in like this. It’s not particularly burdensome because I just see her face, say a few words, and leave.

I guess it’ll be like seeing her face like this and getting another job and leaving.

That’s how a week passed.

“You know what day it is today, right?”

I came to the Great Temple just before sunrise.

“I know very well.”

As I talked with the Pope last week, today was the day I entered the new Holy Knight training center. The period is about 4 weeks, but I’ll be able to complete the training by commuting and only receiving training and education, and resting for two days on the weekend.

They even give me 5 silver a day as training support, so I couldn’t ask for more.

“You don’t have to come here while you’re receiving training. There’s no need to come.”
“I’ll still come by sometimes. But where is it? Is there a training ground inside the temple?”
“No, there’s a training facility owned by the Great Temple on the outskirts. Here, this is a map to get there.”

I received the map and listened to her explanation.

“The training center is an affiliated facility next to the seminary. And that new Holy Knight training can be said to be the seminary’s graduation ceremony.”
“Graduation ceremony?”

According to Saintess Kadia’s explanation, the new Holy Knight training seemed to correspond to the seminary’s graduation ceremony. In fact, humans cannot be reborn as fanatical killing machines with just 4 weeks of training.

The children cared for by the temple are forcibly enrolled in the seminary and spend their childhood, boyhood, and adolescence in education, training, and labor.

In that process, the pure children are transformed into fanatical good people.

The new Holy Knight training is that graduation ceremony.

It’s the last arrangement and education before being put into actual combat and real work. What I’m receiving is exactly that.

I just have to hang out with the kids who are graduating.

“Wow, the temple is running a school. Doesn’t that cost a lot of money?”
“The Bronze Sky Angels are that wealthy. There are plenty of businesses owned by the Great Temple, as well as high-ranking noble sponsors and ordinary parishioners who donate.”

This is the power of the established church.

“And there are no nobles who don’t donate when entrusting their children to the seminary. All kinds of vested interests flow in during that process.”

The nobles entrust their children to the seminary too. That’s pretty good. If you give a lot of money, you get honor.

“Adding the Saintess’s summer outfit to that, the donations must be enormous.”
“Hehe, this?”

She crossed her legs and, after hearing my words, pulled on the front of her chest with her finger. As a result, the cleavage that was already exposed was revealed by more than half.

…It’s very big.

Because her skin is so white, you can subtly see the blood vessels.

“No, what are you doing?”
“If they see this, the men will have no choice but to donate. Sometimes wealthy nobles bring boxes of cash and request a meeting.”

Certainly, Saintess Kadia was beautiful enough to be said to be in the top three when mentioning the most beautiful women in the kingdom. I think they said the kingdom’s princess was another candidate?

“What, they’re just having a conversation with the Saintess in exchange for money.”

But this beauty ranking doesn’t include all women as candidates, but rather just puts in women who are known to the public.

No matter how pretty you are, you can’t enter if you don’t have power or recognition.

“It would be a benefit no matter how much you pay.”

But even without that, she was a great beauty.
As much as my wives.

“It’s not a good method, but it’s that effective. This Saintess is just using her natural beauty for the sake of this world.”
“In my opinion, that’s noble.”
“You said it very well. This Saintess is a noble and pure woman.”
“Hehehe, yes. But how long are you going to keep doing that?”

She was smiling as if it was nothing, but she was still pulling on the front of her chest with her finger.

“I’m doing it all for the Paladin, so please enjoy it.”

What kind of crazy Saintess shows off her cleavage like this?

“Damn it. Anyway, I’ll be leaving.”
“Don’t you need a guide?”

It’s not like I’m going to the reserve forces for the first time, so there’s no problem.

“I have a map, so I won’t get lost. And it’s next to the seminary, so there’s no way I’ll get lost.”
“That’s true. Do your best, Paladin. Since it’s like the seminary’s graduation ceremony, they’ll teach you all the necessary knowledge.”
“Just trust me. But will my first mission be in 4 weeks?”
“That’s right.”

I immediately left the Great Temple.

Then where should I go? To the training center.
I have to run to get there on time.