They are all characters I control.

Because Knight Commander Will always treats his subordinates with kindness and compassion, some apostates emerge among them. Even if these apostates are discovered to have done something underhanded, Knight Commander Will will not immediately execute them.

As for Knight Commander Fernando, his approach was even simpler, more direct, and far more stringent.

Not only would anyone in the town have a pagan family member or have been in contact with pagans, but all of them, regardless of age, gender, or family members, would be hanged.

If any of the church knights under Commander Fernando had even the slightest contact with heretics, they would be put to death.

Therefore, let alone whether these church knights would dare to remain by Knight Commander Fernando's side as traitors after doing such a thing, some church knights' first reaction if they actually came into contact with heretics would be to run away.

For this reason, Knight Commander Fernando even specially opened up an escape route, and he would absolutely not give chase.

Because it's better for these traitors to escape than to continue fighting back and biting back. Giving them hope of escape will wear down their will to resist.

If you can leave the territory under the jurisdiction of Knight Commander Fernando, then Knight Commander Fernando will not pursue you.

Of course, we won't actually let them escape completely.

Knight Commander Fernando has his own 'Judgment Knights', which consists entirely of his most loyal subordinates.

Anyone who tries to escape will be captured and executed by Knight Commander Fernando's 'Trial Knights' once they think they are safe.

Under such circumstances, Knight Commander Fernando had no need to worry about any apostates among his men.

Even if there are any, they would be die-hard heretics, and there wouldn't be many of them.

It's absolutely impossible to set a trap for Knight Commander Fernando, frame him, and then capture him like a prisoner as Knight Commander Will did.

Therefore, at this time, Knight Commander Fernando did not think he would suffer the same fate as Knight Commander Luther and Knight Commander Will.

“But now Karl is here, isn’t he?” Claire shrugged and glanced out the window.

Now all the elements that led to Knight Commander Will's ambush have been gathered together, and the traitorous knight Karl has also appeared before Knight Commander Fernando, along with the Scarlet Witch Dorothy, who is using Grace's body.

Sister Martha and Mel, the masterminds behind everything and the ones directing Karl, are also secretly watching.

They are currently in a small town, where all the culprits who caused Knight Commander Will to fall into a coma are gathered, all huddled around Knight Commander Fernando.

Of course, Claire 'Eleanor' herself was also there.

Of course, not all of these things needed to be said aloud. Claire didn't want Knight Commander Fernando to delve too deeply into Dorothy's existence and the identity of Sister Megan, the judge.

If that's the case, William probably won't have a good ending either.

Just mentioning Karl was enough to give Knight Commander Fernando something to think about.

Chapter 134 The Situation in the Northern Kingdom

"...Really? Karl? This guy is definitely a problem."

Knight Commander Fernando was reminded by Claire's words.

Karl was previously a man by Knight Commander Will's side, and the fact that Karl has now come to him speaks volumes.

That means Karl's status in the 'Holy Lance Knights' is clearly not low, so his presence here must mean he has a lot of supporters behind him.

Karl's appearance was not simply due to his problems with several apostate knights, but also to the problems at the headquarters of the 'Holy Lance Knights'.

Since Carl took the initiative to contact him, it meant that he was indeed being targeted by these heretics, just like Will.

This is a very obvious signal.

What's worse is that Knight Commander Fernando really can't do anything to Karl right now, because Karl's status as a candidate for the next Knight Commander is not just a simple elevation of Karl's status.

This also means that if Knight Commander Fernando kills Karl, a candidate for the next Knight Commander, he will be immediately targeted for eliminating his rival and for venting his long-standing jealousy of Knight Commander Will.

Consequently, Knight Commander Fernando would become a fallen man, a heretic.

Therefore, Carl is a fishhook, a bait, and a poison that will kill anyone who actually opens their mouth to eat him.

Looking at it this way, it's understandable that the 'Eleanor' in front of me said that the Church Knights wanted me to go back to headquarters to report, just to deal with me.

"The Knights' headquarters is indeed in a state of chaos right now, as evidenced by the increasing number of heretics in the area I manage."

“These guys are very active. I’ve even met quite a few so-called church knights who have returned from exile, most of whom are heretics and apostates.”

"So, does that mean the Knights are calling me back to capture me at their headquarters? Are they trying to set a trap for me?"

“They dare to mess with Will, what else wouldn’t they dare to do?” Claire’s voice was devoid of any emotion, as if she were simply stating a fact.

“You are now one of the few remaining influential people in the Knights. Will is in a coma, Karl is recruiting people, and order is collapsing.”

"Whoever has the power can take over the situation? Is it the archbishop? Or the king of the Northern Kingdom? Right now, these important figures seem to know nothing about the chaotic state of the knights below."

"So, Sir Fernando, do you think Karl wants an obedient ally, or a troublesome obstacle?"

The Northern Kingdom was far worse than the Empire, because its king was far less powerful than His Majesty Daryan.

Even though His Majesty Darian is currently switching back and forth between Bishop Simon and Bishop Augustine, he still holds considerable power over the nobility.

Those nobles are His Majesty Darian's true base, a force capable of somewhat challenging the bishops.

Moreover, His Majesty Darian is still desperately pushing for his marriage to Lia, attempting to use Lia as a stepping stone to break free from the puppet control of the bishops and archbishops, and instead make the acting saintess, who doesn't care about power, his master.

This is how a country's emperor should behave when facing a church that is far more powerful than himself.

Regardless of whether His Majesty Darion can achieve this, or how absurd his actions may seem, at least His Majesty Darion is still trying to take control of his country.

The king of the Northern Kingdom, on the other hand, completely gave up. His Majesty Darion pretended to be a vassal of the bishop, while the king of the Northern Kingdom genuinely enjoyed being the archbishop's servant.

This shows that the various security problems of the Northern Kingdom and the suppression of heretics are never solved by nobles or the kingdom's knightly orders, but by the 'Holy Lance Knights' of the Goddess Church.

The nobles and king of the Northern Kingdom do not have their own knightly orders. Isn't this just utterly abandoning their kingdom? They have handed over their kingdom to the archbishop.

Everything here is decided by the Archbishop of the Northern Kingdom, but this Archbishop doesn't really care about his diocese or the people of the Northern Kingdom.

This can be seen from the fact that he has not made any statement regarding the current chaotic state of the 'Holy Lance Knights'.

It is impossible to expect the archbishop and the king to deal with the chaos and apostates of the Knights Order, so the 'Holy Lance Knights' will only become more chaotic without the suppression of Knight Commander Will.

So, it was certainly not a good thing that Knight Commander Fernando was suddenly summoned back to the Knights at this time.

Fernando was silent for a moment, his fingers tapping lightly on the table as if he were calculating something. "You're right. I was careless, but I feel that their purpose wasn't simply because of me."

He stood up and walked to the faded map on the wall.

This little cabin was originally the resting place of Knight Commander Fernando, and it also contained maps that he often looked at.

Upon opening the map, the entire territory of the Northern Kingdom appeared before Claire's eyes. Knight Commander Fernando pointed to a spot slightly north of the center of the map.

"This is the headquarters of the Knights."

Knight Commander Fernando pointed to a location further south on the map. "This is the town I'm stationed in. The two places are seven days apart. If Karl is planning something at headquarters, his journey all this way to find me is certainly not just for reminiscing, nor is it simply to capture me and draw my blood."

Looking at the map in front of me, I can see the situation much more clearly than simply thinking about it in my mind.

Especially when they saw the town that Knight Commander Fernando was pointing to, and the town where Knight Commander Will was ambushed earlier, they looked at each other from both sides.

This means that Knight Commander Will and Knight Commander Fernando are each guarding half of the territory of the Northern Kingdom.

Now that Knight Commander Will is in a coma and his condition is unknown, it means that the half of the Northern Kingdom's territory that Knight Commander Will originally guarded must now be infested with as many heretics as cockroaches.

Therefore, if we let Knight Commander Fernando leave his territory now, and let the Knights' headquarters keep him occupied, the time it takes to go to the Knights' headquarters and then return to this territory will be enough for the heretics to swallow up the land he was originally guarding.

In this way, they can completely take over territories that were previously inaccessible, just like when they were Knight Commander Will.

"A diversionary tactic," Claire said.

He gave a very direct answer, which silenced Eleanor, who was also witnessing the scene.

Chapter 135 The Knight Commander is a National Treasure

Although Eleanor calls Claire an 'evil god'.

She couldn't say that she had completely adapted to or accepted the fact that this evil god emperor controlled her body.

After all, it wasn't what she wanted at all, nor was it something she wanted to be manipulated.

However, even though Claire wasn't teaching Eleanor step-by-step like her father William, she was still constantly giving Eleanor new knowledge and experience.

It wasn't about personally teaching her; just watching and listening to Claire speak was very helpful.

Such an experience is not something that ordinary people can feel.

In particular, Claire is also the Evil God Emperor.

As the only person in nearly a century to be declared war upon and attacked by the Church of Goddess, Claire's prestige is self-evident.

Moreover, this machine seems to have gained immortality; even though it was sealed by the saintess, it still doesn't diminish its uniqueness.

What seemed like a simple case of being captured and taken prisoner was not of great concern to Knight Commander Fernando and his group, or Karl and his group's purpose.

However, once Claire spoke, she brought together all the scattered clues.

The conclusion is that the 'Church of Life' is launching a war to overthrow the Church of Goddess and overthrow the Northern Kingdom? Yes, it is war, a massive upheaval that could engulf everyone in the Northern Kingdom.

This sent a chill down Eleanor's spine, even though she was a church knight.

No one could have imagined that a heretic who constantly hid from the Church of Goddess would have such thoughts.

Of course, such a thing is not so simple and easy to do. At least the resources and combat power required for the war are beyond doubt. Relying on the scattered villages or supplies of the heretics is simply not enough to support a huge war that could overthrow the entire northern kingdom.

However, the Holy Lance Knights of the Goddess Church are readily available.

The 'Holy Lance Knights' have been maintaining the stability of the Northern Kingdom ever since the King of the Northern Kingdom safely relinquished his desire for power and completely abandoned everything to the Archbishop of the Northern Kingdom's diocese.

The kingdom's defenses are limited to a small number of guards and the royal knights, but even the guards are completely subservient to the knights, as can be seen from the town where Knight Commander Fernando is located.

Those guards were not people with any talent for light magic, but the church knights did not really want them to draw their military pay unless they had exceptional physical strength.

Therefore, if an ordinary person wanted to join the Knights, they would directly join the guards and obey the Knights' orders, essentially becoming an unofficial member.

After all, the kingdom itself no longer commands these guards. Without the Church Knights, towns and villages are so vulnerable that they can be easily overrun by heretics.

This can be seen from the town where the Knight Commander Will was ambushed, the village where Mel used it as a base, and the hometown that Sister Martha and the heretics built to monitor Eleanor herself and William.

The Knights Order is the strongest fighting force in the Northern Kingdom. Therefore, if the heretics only need to control the Holy Lance Knights, the church knight order of the Northern Kingdom, they will undoubtedly gain control of the strongest fighting force in the Northern Kingdom.

Without needing to form any knightly order, one can easily overthrow the entire Northern Kingdom.

This may sound difficult to achieve, but in reality, the Church of Life has already accomplished half of its goals.

Because of Knight Commander Will's coma, half of the northern kingdom was plunged into chaos and unease.

Knight Commander Will's coma will also directly render all the church knights in that area less of a threat.

At the very least, without Knight Commander Will as their leader, those infidels who were initially intimidated will become active again.

This is the most realistic situation.

Now that the apostate Karl is trying to get Knight Commander Fernando to leave his post, this would leave the other half of the Northern Kingdom's territory without a knight commander to keep it in check.

What is the Knight Commander, who was moved away from the left and right flanks to intimidate the heretics, trying to do? The answer doesn't seem hard to guess.

This is entirely consistent with the behavior and conduct of the apostate Karl today.

It could be said that Eleanor witnessed the so-called truth at this moment. Naturally, since Eleanor could understand this, there was no need for Knight Commander Fernando to say anything more.

“If what you say is true, then the heretics of this ‘Church of Life’ are rebelling, and that would make things complicated.”

Knight Commander Fernando is now fully focused on the task at hand.

He didn't care whether Claire was a church knight, a wanted criminal, or a prisoner being escorted; none of that mattered.

Since she was the one to whom Knight Commander Will had bestowed the 'Light of Faith', Knight Commander Fernando completely trusted the 'Eleanor' before him.

In particular, Eleanor easily unraveled the heretics' conspiracy with just a few words.

Therefore, at this moment, Knight Commander Fernando was also analyzing Eleanor's words seriously from the perspective of being instructed.

He nodded, completely agreeing. "The area I'm stationed in is the most prosperous part of the Northern Kingdom, surrounded by more than a dozen villages and towns, densely populated, with smooth trade routes. If the heretics want to expand their power, this is the place they most want to take."

He drew a line on the map. "Will's original garrison was in the east, where the terrain is rugged and easy to defend. It won't be easy for the heretics to take it over, so they targeted Will first."

He paused. "With Will down, the East is in chaos."

Claire looked at the map. "If you leave too, the west will be empty."

“Yes.” Fernando tapped his finger on the map. “Once I leave, this region will be without a knight commander. The remaining knights will either be transferred, infiltrated by Karl’s men, or fall into disarray. The heretics have plenty of ways to take advantage of the situation.”

Dorothy leaned against the wall and whistled. "Then don't go."

This guy is a heretic from the 'Church of Life'. Although Claire didn't expose him at this time, it wasn't because her conversation with Knight Commander Fernando wasn't important.

Moreover, if they wanted to do that later, it would be impossible to hide it.