The Nearl Family, one of Kazimierz's old and established Knight Families, and a name that frequently appears in legendary tales.
As an ancient Family that has existed for hundreds of years, the first Nearl Knight had already become the Knight King's right-hand when the Knight King led the Knights to overthrow the Gods People.
The Dynasty formed by the Knights was not stable, and the corruption of the Knight class was exceptionally swift. However, even so, the Nearl Family always remained untainted amidst the tides of the era.
The Knights of the Nearl Family have always maintained a low-key and reserved approach to affairs, never forming factions for personal gain or ganging up. In the Knight Council of the Surveillance Court, only the Family's head Knight has ever held a seat.
Although not all Knights of the Nearl Family were skilled in battle, wise, and capable, all of them were loyal and maintained their integrity. No matter how many Knight Families rose and fell, they remained discreetly at the core of this nation.
It is precisely for this reason that even the Commercial Federation and the National Assembly, who were already in cahoots, were willing to allow members of the Nearl Family to penetrate the core of the military, taking command of the Crusader Knights, which led to the birth of many war heroes within the Nearl Family.
Fearless in the face of darkness—this is the unwavering Family motto of the Nearl Family. They love this country and the people on this land. That passion makes their light incredibly dazzling.
But—even the most dazzling light eventually dims.
July 5th, night.
A light pink sedan was speeding along the wide inter-city highway of the Four Cities Alliance, heading towards one side of the city.
"Uh, Aunt, Grandpa called Goki back home. He wouldn't really be trying to harm him, would he? Why did you tell him about this...?"
Sitting in the passenger seat, Margaret, dressed in a light soft armor, asked the blonde Kuranta woman holding the steering wheel, her face full of worry.
As she spoke, she looked back at Goki, who was still wearing a neat black trench coat in the back seat, with a slightly nervous expression.
Margaret knew her grandfather best; he was someone who fought wars abroad for years, but whenever he returned home, he would spend all his time with her.
Outside, he was the "Second Rising Sun" revered by countless Kazimierz Knights. At home during training, he was a coach even stricter than Mr. Goki, Miss Skadi, and Aunt Zofia, especially when training herself.
But in other aspects, this grandfather... was a bit too protective of her.
During this time, Margaret had not contacted her Family, fearing that her grandfather would find out that she had privately invited five residents, and a male, to live at home.
"Hah, you're already calling him 'Goki.' How many days has this guy been at your house, and you're already siding with him? Do you think I'm the kind of person who can't keep a secret—and also, call me'Sister'!"
However, before Margaret could finish speaking, Zofia, beside her, reached out her small hand, pulled her ear, and began to scold her, huffing.
"It was the old man himself who invited Goki home, saying that this guy had sent him a request to visit, so he naturally had to invite him over. He also said it was a letter from an old comrade—I don't know how you got in touch, Goki; a Maytree Knight is not someone just anyone can meet."
"I'm sorry, Sister Zofia, good sister, my ear is going to fall off!"
Looking at Goki's perpetually mysterious smiling face beneath his tricorn hat through the rearview mirror, Zofia admitted that in the past half month, besides never missing a free meal, she still didn't understand this man.
There was nothing she could do; his cooking was simply too delicious—Miss Gravel's cooking, who appeared inexplicably the next day, was quite a bit worse.
Although only in her early twenties, Zofia, who had been in the Tournament Knight circle for many years, had long developed the ability to discern people with her Wisdom Eye.
In her opinion, although Goki and Skadi went out happily every day and returned home joyfully, appearing no different from ordinary tourists, Zofia's intuition as a woman told her that they were definitely not just going out for shopping and sightseeing.
Goki and Skadi were completely different from ordinary tourists. For them, entertainment was merely a diversion. When staying at home, Zofia could sense a subtle urgency in both of them.
The two would laugh at comedy shows, but after returning home from outside, their faces would show a strange sense of satisfaction... it was just odd.
In the rearview mirror, Goki noticed Zofia's gaze, looked up, and gave her a brilliant smile.
For this young Aunt, Goki's feelings were expressed within the bounds of propriety—wife is wife, but Goki's main task this time was still hunting.
And this "invitation" was actually already within Goki's expectations.
Ever since encountering the Maytree Knight's cleanup squad after previously eradicating a cultist blood sacrifice site, Goki had become much more careful before each action.
And during several eradication operations, besides discovering the residual Spells left by two Sarkaz individuals, Goki had also secretly observed different Knight squads multiple times—he wasn't good at infiltration, but not everyone could detect him.
Several Knight squads were simultaneously carrying out eradication operations. Although nominally Security Knights, neither their temperament nor their combat effectiveness could be compared to those Security Knights responsible for directing tourists.
Clearly, several Crusader Knights were currently active in this massive city of millions, efficiently clearing out the elusive cultists—they were military personnel.
Facts proved that, just as with natural disasters, humanity was not helpless against the incursions of the Great Ones.
Although the world of Terra was a mess, it wasn't rotten to the core, relying solely on Kal'tsit to clean up after fools everywhere.
Just as Aegir has Abyssal Hunters, and ancient Sargon had its Golden Legion, for these cults daring to engage in blood sacrifice, the guardians of Kazimierz could not ignore them.
The military had clearly intervened in this incident, but the question was, how much did they know about it?
Did they truly consider these cultists to be madmen, or did they understand them more thoroughly?
"I actually think my grandpa invited me a bit late."
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