They are all characters I control.

No one could stand up and refuse after the Church of the Goddess was attacked.

Therefore, the archbishops will definitely take this opportunity to expand their power and thoroughly cultivate Bishop Augustine to become the archbishop of the imperial diocese.

Claire could already foresee that the plot would unfold exactly as the archbishops had hoped.

However, Ronan's abduction came too quickly.

Even if a bookkeeper had access to forbidden books and had indirect connections with the infidels in the north, would it be worth the Pope herself coming to take him away?

Unless what Ronan knows is not just about the book, but also about a certain path.

Thinking about these things, Claire paced around the room a couple of times.

Since the Pope of the Church of Life personally came to the Empire to take Ronan away, her existence was exposed, as was the Church of Life's infiltration of the Empire.

Is this really not for some magic book he left behind back then? That doesn't make much sense.

Walking to the window, Claire's gaze passed over the white dome of the holy city and fell towards the far north.

The Empire is in chaos, and the situation in the north is also coming to a head. Claire had previously treated these two places as two parallel lines, but now their intersection is becoming clear.

In that case, let's see how Eleanor is doing.

Regardless of whether there are other traitors within the Church of Goddess in the Empire, the main base of the 'Church of Life' is definitely still in the Northern Kingdom.

Claire decided not to focus solely on the Empire.

At this point, the attack by the heretics was something he was completely bewildered by.

He couldn't understand why the heretics were doing this, but a higher-ranking person had appeared in the 'Church of Life,' so he figured he should look to the Northern Kingdom next.

Claire closed her eyes and brought up the system, looking at Eleanor's resin.

As the scene unfolded, he saw a gray-white sky, with light filtering through gaps in the clouds and casting long, thin shadows on the ground.

The carriage traveled along a narrow dirt road, flanked by low hills and sparse shrubs, with the distant ridgeline standing out sharply in the early winter air.

Two people were sitting in the carriage. Eleanor leaned against the side of the carriage, the broken sword lying across her knees, her gaze fixed on the ground outside the window that was moving backward.

Knight Commander Fernando sat opposite her; his armor had been replaced with new ones, but there were still a few old marks on the edges that hadn't been completely polished away.

It seems that Eleanor and Knight Commander Fernando are on their way to the Knights' headquarters.

Of course, this was something that had already been confirmed beforehand.

Claire did not speak immediately.

He first observed the road conditions and the direction the carriage was traveling before sending a message to Eleanor.

Claire: Where are you? Where's the others? Is it just the two of you?

Eleanor's fingers paused on the scabbard for a moment, but she quickly recovered.

[Eleanor: Knight Commander Fernando said that after another half a day's walk, we will reach the first town on the outskirts of the Knights Order.]

She paused here, and then Eleanor added a sentence.

[Eleanor: The town is called Greystone. It's not big, but it has an outpost that can serve as a temporary base.]

[Eleanor: As for the others, Cal, Dorothy, and William have all been separated.]

[Eleanor: Knight Commander Fernando said that traveling together would be too slow, and he wanted to take me ahead on my own. Although Karl and the others disagreed, it was no use.]

[Claire: It seems that Knight Commander Fernando has learned his lesson from Knight Commander Will, but only someone with his domineering personality could do such a thing.]

[Eleanor: Yes, before leaving, she told the church knights stationed there that anyone suspected of being a heretic could be killed without trial.]

[Claire: What are your opinions on his orders? Don't you trust the other church knights in your own order?]

[Eleanor: ...I trust the other church knights.]

Claire: That's fine then. Innocents might get hurt, but most will definitely be heretics.

Seeing the comments Claire sent, Eleanor sighed.

He has an evil god in his mind and a butcher knight commander by his side.

Chapter 166 The Stalker

The carriage traveled along the dirt road towards White Stone Town for about two more hours before it began to get dark.

The hills on both sides of the road were gradually replaced by a sparse woodland with slender tree trunks and loose spacing, leaving an unnatural sense of order.

Knight Commander Fernando lifted the carriage curtain and glanced outside, but said nothing.

But after lowering the curtain, he changed the direction of the sword that was originally lying across his lap, so that the tip of the sword was facing outwards and the hilt was within reach.

Eleanor noticed the movement; her gaze lingered for a moment on Fernando's sword hilt. She didn't ask, but her fingers tightened around the broken sword's scabbard.

Claire had already told him that Knight Commander Fernando was currently in the same situation as Knight Commander Will had been.

Similarly, he was being watched by heretics from the 'Church of Life', and his group also included Karl, a traitorous knight. Even Mel, one of the three high priests of the 'Church of Life', was lurking in the shadows.

The recall of Knight Commander Fernando to the Knights' headquarters by the 'Holy Lance Knights' mentioned by Karl was not simply a matter of the 'Church of Life' secretly encroaching on and annexing the controlled areas of the Northern Kingdom.

The heretics of the 'Church of Life' will surely understand one thing: if the Knight Commanders are not dealt with...

So no matter how much territory they occupy now, it will be easy for them to take it back.

The Church of Life's goal is crystal clear: to acquire more Philosopher's Stones and apostates by gradually eroding the Holy Lance Knights, while simultaneously forcing the Knight Commanders to relinquish their original territories.

This would give the Church of Life more room to prepare, and at the same time allow them to ambush the knight commanders who are difficult to control and persuade.

Therefore, this journey back to the Knights is destined to cause turmoil.

What Eleanor could think of, Knight Commander Fernando would certainly have thought of as well.

The smell in the air had subtly changed in the short time that had just passed, and a faint, burnt smell had begun to waft through the air.

After walking a short distance, a severed tree trunk lay across the road ahead. The thicker end was still attached to the stump, and the break was fresh, showing no signs of sun or rain.

Knight Commander Fernando signaled the coachman to slow down, and he got out of the carriage first, followed closely by Eleanor.

The two stood in front of the car, looking at the severed tree trunk. Fernando didn't touch the wood; instead, he squatted down to examine the ground.

There were several messy footprints on the surface of the dirt road, not from the same direction, nor left by the same person.

“Someone has been here.” Fernando’s voice was not loud, but his tone was clear. “In more than one direction. They stayed here for a while and left some traces.”

Eleanor did not respond immediately. She looked around and then turned her head, her gaze falling on a somewhat unkempt bush at the edge of the woodland.

At the base of the shrub were several broken twigs, the cuts still fresh, and the leaves were facing somewhat unnaturally.

Just as she was about to speak, a very short metallic clanging sound came from the depths of the woods ahead, like the sound of a blade hitting stone.

The two exchanged a glance. Fernando said nothing, sheathed his sword, took a few steps back, and allowed the carriage to slowly resume its forward movement. After the tree trunk was moved, the road became clear again, as if the previous pause was just a brief undulation that was quickly smoothed over.

They slowed down and entered the depths of the woods. About fifty paces ahead of the road, several figures were moving quickly across the road and into the woods on the other side. One of them glanced back at the carriage before speeding up and disappearing into the bushes.

Fernando did not order a pursuit, nor did he instruct the driver to speed up.

The carriage maintained its original pace on the road.

Eleanor whispered, "They're leading us there."

Fernando didn't respond immediately. After a moment of silence, he spoke: "So, what do you think? Should we go?"

“We have to go, whether we like it or not.” Eleanor’s voice was steady. “The fact that they set up this arrangement here means they knew we would pass through.”

Fernando's lips twitched slightly, as if in recognition or affirmation.

The female knight in front of him gave him a somewhat disjointed feeling.

When he spoke to me in the cabin earlier, he was clearly quite confident, wise, and calm. However, lately he seems less friendly towards me?

Furthermore, they are slow to react and not particularly quick-witted.

But at least he's not an idiot.

Even so, despite Eleanor's doubts about the free shipping, Knight Commander Fernando knew that now was not the time to investigate this matter.

He gripped the hilt of his sword and said in a deep voice, "Then let's see what they've prepared."

Then he signaled to the driver to stop.

The two got off the carriage and walked along the road to the edge of the woods, one on the left and one on the right.

Knight Commander Fernando's steps were more steady than usual, each step carrying a rhythm of confirming the ground, as if he had become accustomed to quickly judging the location of his footing on uncertain surfaces.

Eleanor followed about half a step behind him, her broken sword tucked into her bosom.

They had only taken a dozen or so steps when hurried footsteps and a low, dragging metallic sound echoed from within the woods. They were rapidly approaching. Fernando stopped, his hand on his sword hilt, his gaze fixed on the direction from which the sounds were coming.

A moment later, several figures dressed in dark cloaks rushed out of the woods, their movements noticeably faster than those of ordinary people.

Fernando didn't wait for them to get close; he went to meet them first, his sword blade gleaming coldly in the approaching light.

The first sword strike forced back the person charging at the front, and the second sword strike, with a horizontal slash, pushed back the figure that was trying to flank from the side.

Eleanor didn't stay where she was either; she stepped forward to cover for another black-robed man who rushed out from the flank.

“There are quite a few of them,” Eleanor said between sword swings. “Not just this one group.”

After forcing back the second man, Fernando glanced sideways at the depths of the woods. New footsteps were rapidly approaching from the darker area, coming from more than one or two directions. He adjusted his stance, turning the tip of his sword towards the more distant area.

Eleanor was about to follow when a short sound came from deep within the woods.

A similar shriek came from another direction, as if responding to the first one.

About two or three breaths later, the same sound came from a third direction.

Fernando didn't act immediately. He stood still, listening intently to pinpoint the direction of the sounds, then slowly sheathed his sword. "They're not here to kill us?"

“This doesn’t seem like the behavior of a heretic from the ‘Church of Life’?” Eleanor asked.

Knight Commander Fernando was also clearly confused. He glanced at the woodland in the distance that was gradually being swallowed by shadows, and then looked down at the soil at his feet that was not yet completely dry.

There were several fresh drag marks on the surface of the soil, extending into the depths of the woodland.

Chapter 167 Trap

Fernando and Eleanor walked through the woodland surrounded by drag marks and shrieks, and the road began to widen at the end of the forest.

The driver followed behind, the reins were pulled short, and the three of them moved a little slower than before, and no one spoke.

The commotion earlier had left them somewhat confused, unsure of the current situation.

In short, we should be cautious when facing such an unpredictable opponent.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, a tripwire appeared ahead, almost spanning the entire road. It was mostly covered by fine soil and fallen leaves, with only a small section showing signs of tension.

Knight Commander Fernando stopped first. He didn't say anything, but simply raised his hand.

Eleanor followed his gaze and saw the tripwire. It was secured to the base of the tree trunks on both sides, about mid-calf height, and its surface showed signs of wear, as if it had been used more than once.

The coachman stopped the carriage and did not move any closer.

This was clearly a trap. It turned out that the strange figures from before had not left; they were still tracking him and had set a trap.

The reason why he didn't get on the carriage and walked all the way was precisely because of this that Knight Commander Fernando was able to discover the trap before him.

"I'll go check it out," Eleanor said, stepping forward.

At this point, it would be a better choice to have the stronger Knight Commander Fernando stay behind to cover the rear and avoid being ambushed.

She looked to the side along the path of the tripwire and saw an unnatural depression in the ground about twenty paces away from the tripwire. It was not a naturally formed feature, and there were traces of tools trimming the edges, along with a few pieces of half-dried moss.

Looking up, Eleanor, a church knight, did not immediately approach. Although she was not as experienced as Knight Commander Fernando, she knew that she should first check if there were any other clues in the surrounding tree canopy and on the ground.

Just then, a soft rustling sound came from behind the bushes, as if someone had stepped on a dry branch and was trying to quickly pull their foot back.

Without hesitation, Knight Commander Fernando got up and walked in that direction, his pace faster than before. As he rolled over a embankment, he leaned out and tackled the figure behind the bushes to the ground.

The person he caught was about ten years old, wearing a dark gray, patched-up old coat and worn-out boots.

"Let me go!" The child's voice was filled with obvious resentment as he struggled and tried to kick Fernando's shin guards with his other foot.

Fernando did not let go or adjust his posture. He turned his head to look at the direction of the tripwire, then looked down at the thin rope and a polished stone slab scattered beside the child.

"Did you put these here?" The knight commander's voice wasn't stern.

The other party didn't seem to be from the 'Church of Life', nor did they seem to be seriously trying to assassinate him.

The child did not answer, and the struggle gradually stopped. He just lowered his head and stubbornly stopped speaking.