They are all characters I control.

Fernando loosened his collar, but still maintained a distance that prevented him from running away.

“We’re not here to arrest anyone, we’re just passing by.” After saying this, he looked at the other person quietly.

The child was silent for a moment, then slowly raised his head. His gaze lingered on Fernando's armor for a moment, then fell on Eleanor, as if trying to identify something.

After a moment, he asked, "Are you from the church?"

Fernando neither answered nor denied the allegations.

The child glanced at him again and said, "I won't say anything."

After the child finished speaking, he shut his mouth tightly. His jaw was taut, and although his gaze no longer showed the intense struggle it had before, there was no sign of him giving in.

Knight Commander Fernando looked at him but didn't speak immediately. He first straightened up and sheathed his sword.

He spoke up: "Do you know why we didn't just pin you to the tree and interrogate you?"

The knight commander, whose appearance was frightening, did not speak loudly, but his voice was still imposing, after all, that was exactly what Knight Commander Fernando looked like.

The child didn't speak, but he slightly raised his eyelids.

“Because the traps we passed through were meant to scare people, not to hurt them.” Fernando did not look away.

"The tripwire is set at that height, so even if someone steps on it, they'll at most fall and won't be seriously injured. Besides, the edges of the stone slabs you used are blunt, so even if someone gets cut, it won't leave a deep wound. You're driving people away, not killing them."

The child's lips moved slightly, but he still didn't speak.

Fernando didn't press him, turning his head to look at Eleanor: "You tell me."

Eleanor paused for a moment when her name was called, but she quickly stepped forward.

She didn't squat down, but stood two steps in front of the child, so as not to create a sense of oppression, nor to make people feel that they could easily walk around her.

After a moment of silence, Eleanor spoke more gently than Knight Commander Fernando: "We're not here to cause trouble for this village. We're on our way to the Knights' headquarters, but we've run into some trouble. There are some people watching us from the shadows. If you don't tell us what's here, we'll have no choice but to keep going. And what we step on might not just be a stumbling block."

The child's gaze lingered on her face for a moment, as if assessing the weight of her words.

Then he asked softly, "You're from the church, right?"

Eleanor did not deny it. She nodded.

The child was silent for a moment, then said, “The church people came here. Not like you, but another group. They wore the same armor, but their methods were different. They arrested two people, saying I was hiding someone I shouldn’t have.”

His voice lowered, as if that memory had been suppressed for a long time.

Knight Commander Fernando remained standing in the same spot, but he loosened his grip on his sword.

It seems this child has had some past experiences and is not as hopelessly brainwashed as the heretics of the 'Church of Life'.

Seeing this, Eleanor didn't know what to say.

At this point, we can probably release the child, since there's no need to cause any extra trouble if the other party isn't a heretic.

Ultimately, they are members of the Church of the Goddess.

Regardless of what those members of the Goddess Church had done before, the two of them, as the vice-captain and captain of the knights, would not do anything to the child in front of them.

Just as Eleanor was about to speak to Knight Commander Fernando and suggest whether or not to release the child.

The boy stood up, brushed the dirt off his knees, and said with his head down, "I can lead you on a path that avoids those traps."

He turned his head and looked into the depths of the woods, where there was a barely noticeable path. "If you go around that path, you'll see the main road leading to the Knights."

Fernando glanced at him, as if to confirm whether he really intended to lead the way.

However, the little boy turned and walked deeper into the woods, his steps lighter than before.

Fernando and Eleanor exchanged a glance, asked no further questions, and followed.

Chapter 168 The Hermit

The path was narrower than expected, with the tree canopies on both sides almost overlapping overhead.

The boy walked in front, his steps lighter than before, as if he had walked this route many times and was very familiar with every section.

Knight Commander Fernando followed about five paces behind, Eleanor walked slightly behind him, and the coachman led the carriage at a distance.

Although this road doesn't look like one that's frequently used, it's clearly not a small path either.

As she followed the little boy, Eleanor noticed occasional soft noises coming from the bushes on either side. They didn't sound like the wind rustling through the leaves, but rather like someone moving in sync with them.

She glanced at Knight Commander Fernando, who said nothing, but his hand was already on the hilt of his sword.

Although she already knew that the little boy was not a heretic of the 'Church of Life', Eleanor was not completely at ease.

Even members of the 'Holy Lance Knights' are not necessarily all your teammates.

Therefore, at this moment, Knight Commander Fernando would not completely trust the little boy in front of him. The reason for changing the route was simply to avoid the heretics.

Although Karl and his men, along with Knight Commander Fernando's troops, were left behind, this prevented Karl and his men from deliberately revealing their whereabouts to other infidels or engaging in inside-outside attacks.

But those heretics who were following them, Sister Martha and Mel will surely continue to pursue them.

Eleanor also felt that Dorothy, Megan, and William, who had been separated, were also in danger, and she didn't know if Commander Fernando's men could protect them.

If we exclude all the disadvantages, what are the advantages?

That was Fernando's confidence, and indeed, his strength was formidable.

Following closely beside Knight Commander Fernando, Eleanor continued to carefully observe the surrounding movements.

The commotion didn't last long; it seemed that once the direction was confirmed, they didn't continue to approach.

"Young man, what's the name of your village?" Knight Commander Fernando asked, slightly more relaxed.

"Don't tell you."

The little boy showed absolutely no respect.

"Oh? How many people are in your village?" Knight Commander Fernando continued his interrogation-like questioning.

"Why are you asking this? What do you want to do to my village? Or are you trying to find out something?"

The little boy acted like a mature adult, and you couldn't tell that he had a clever mind despite his small stature.

"As a member of the Knights, I naturally want to confirm whether there are any heretics in your village. If there are, I will not show any mercy."

Knight Commander Fernando wasn't just all talk; he drew his knight's sword and held it in his hand.

Judging from his appearance, he certainly seems like the kind of person who could carry out a massive purge of the village.

However, the little boy was not easily frightened.

"What heretic? I think you're the heretic! The people of our village hate heretics the most! And your knightly order the second most!"

The little boy retorted defiantly, not afraid at all as he glanced at the knight's sword in Fernando's hand.

"Oh? Why? You're not heretics of the 'Church of Life'? Then you must be heretics of other faiths." Knight Commander Fernando pressed on.

"You're talking nonsense!" the little boy shouted angrily.

“We’ve all been terribly harmed by these heretics! They attack us the moment they show up.”

"They would kill some people each time and then let others go, saying that it would make them stronger and give them the power of immortality, and then they would get everyone to join them in killing!"

"We barely escaped and avoided disaster, only to encounter your knightly order. As a result, your knightly order subjected us to the same torture as the heretics, treating us innocent people as criminals as well."

“Some unlucky ones will even be suspected by the Knights of being heretics and hanged! You Knights are the ones who are in cahoots with those heretics! There’s no difference between you!”

Hearing the boy's words, Knight Commander Fernando nodded in satisfaction.

It wasn't that the little boy blamed her, but rather that everything the child said was genuine and heartfelt.

If even a child like this would come out to set traps for his group, it means that there are indeed few people in the village where the child lives, to the point that the child has to risk his life to come out and help.

The roadblocks were designed to prevent people from reaching their villages, and they spared neither pagans nor church members, nor even passersby.

Because these people trusted no one, they were deceived by the heretics and suspected by the Knights.

Hiding away might be a pretty good way to survive in the current world, but it doesn't solve all the problems.

Even if you hide, you might still run into other people like you are now.

At that time, I'm afraid the heretics will still find out, and the Knights won't easily trust these villagers.

But for the little boy and his friends, they also distrusted everyone.

“The Knights aren’t like that. Even within the Knights, there are good people,” Eleanor said.

She thought of her comrades who had died fighting against the heretics.

At least she herself, and those who died, fought for the infidels and to protect the civilians.

"Hmph, which one? Who's the good guy? You? Or that scary old man next to you?"

The little boy chuckled.

Eleanor tried to explain, but then shut up after realizing that Knight Commander Fernando was no good person after all.

After all, Knight Commander Fernando himself belonged to the kind of knightly order the little boy had just described, the kind that would subject anyone who came into contact with heretics to rigorous interrogation, or even be hanged.

Even excluding Knight Commander Fernando, Eleanor herself wasn't sure who she was.

Raised by Mother Martha, the high priestess of the Church of Life, and fed the Philosopher's Stone, her body had long since developed the constitution of pagans.

Ordinary church knights couldn't consume the Philosopher's Stone like she did.

"I told you, no one can be trusted. If you want to pass, then go ahead, just don't mess with us or the village. Whether it's the church or heretics, it's best if we fight to the death and wipe them all out."

The little boy continued talking to himself, oblivious to the fact that the two people behind him could hear him.

After that, Knight Commander Fernando did not speak, since he had already obtained the information he wanted.

Eleanor, still struggling with her own identity issues, had no interest in arguing with the little boy anymore.

After walking for about ten minutes, the boy stopped.

He turned around and glanced at Fernando and Eleanor. "That road has been bypassed. Walk forward for about fifteen minutes, and you'll see the main road leading to the Knights."

Just as Knight Commander Fernando was about to ask something else, a hurried sound came from the direction of the distant woods.

It wasn't the chirping of birds, nor the rustling of branches in the wind, but a brief shout, as if it had been abruptly cut off.

The boy's expression changed instantly. He turned around abruptly and ran back in the direction the sound came from.

Chapter 169 The Gray-Robed Man Attack

The commotion coming from the bushes clearly indicated that something had happened.

The little boy rushed over immediately, and Eleanor and Fernando followed almost simultaneously.

After passing through a patch of unkempt bushes, several figures appeared in the clearing ahead.

All that could be seen were two children kneeling on the ground. One of the older boys was clutching his arm, blood seeping from between his fingers; the other held a sharpened wooden stick in his hand, shielding his companion.

Around them, five or six figures dressed in gray robes had formed a loose arc, partially encircling the two children.

"Get away!" the child holding the stick shouted, his voice trembling, but his grip on the stick did not loosen.

The other party neither spoke nor retreated.

One of them took a step forward, revealing the tip of a short knife beneath his cloak.

Knight Commander Fernando crossed the open space and, as he approached the first figure in a dark cloak, raised his hand to deflect the outstretched arm of the other man, thus knocking him back from where the two men were.

As a knight commander, Fernando was very strong, and the man was knocked back several steps.

The man in the gray cloak didn't utter another word, but the other figures in dark cloaks moved almost simultaneously. They launched a direct, multi-directional attack on Knight Commander Fernando.

The one at the front acted with lightning speed, his short knife aimed straight for Fernando's throat without the slightest hesitation.

Knight Commander Fernando dodged to the side, the blade grazing the edge of the man's shoulder armor, making a harsh scraping sound on the metal surface. He used his left hand to press down on the man's wrist, while his right hand swept across with the scabbard, striking the man's ribs and shoving him away.

But a second person had already moved up, stabbing him in the abdomen with a short knife at a tricky angle and with heavy force.

Knight Commander Fernando pulled back, his blade leaving a shallow dent in his armor.

Before he could adjust his balance, a third person had already cut in from the side and rear, targeting not Knight Commander Fernando, but Eleanor.

Eleanor had just arrived at the battlefield, but she didn't panic upon seeing the scene. The blade aimed straight for Eleanor's lower back, with enough force to pierce through any unarmored areas.

Eleanor twisted to the side, the tip of the knife slicing through the side seam of her coat, leaving a gash but not damaging her skin.

She swung the broken hilt of her sword at the man's arm, who groaned and released the dagger, but was immediately caught by his companion behind him.