They are all characters I control.

Chapter 4 Mel doesn't like the Holy Knight

As if waking from a nightmare, Eleanor suddenly opened her eyes.

Her last memories were of herself and the church knights being surrounded and desperately held back by the townspeople, of Knight Commander Will being poisoned and injured, and of Karl's betrayal.

All of this instantly put Eleanor on edge, and she had no idea how she had fallen asleep.

The moment she opened her eyes, Eleanor gripped her knight's sword tightly.

But what came into view was a street in complete disarray.

Dead body.

Corpses were everywhere.

Men's, women's, the elderly's, and children's.

They were dressed in ordinary coarse cloth clothes, some of them holding kitchen knives or hoes, while others were just stretching out their hands in vain, as if pleading for help.

Blood spread across the snow, forming dark red streams that gleamed eerily in the torchlight.

Eleanor looked down at her feet.

There was a person under her feet.

A middle-aged man, wearing a cotton-padded coat covered in patches, his face smeared with blood.

He had a deep sword wound in his chest, still bleeding, but he was alive and looking at her with terrified eyes.

"Are you...are you alright?" Eleanor quickly moved her foot away and knelt down to help him up. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I was..."

"Don't kill me!" The man abruptly pulled his hand back, his whole body lurching backward, his voice hoarse and trembling as he looked at Eleanor.

"Please don't kill me! I just... I just wanted to save my family... I didn't mean to kill you..."

“I didn’t mean to kill you.” Eleanor extended her hand. “I am a knight of the Church, I’m here to save you—”

"A church knight?" The man laughed, a laugh more like a grimace. "Would a church knight kill civilians? Would a church knight do such a thing?"

He pointed to the bodies of the other people around him.

Eleanor followed his hand and looked over, her pupils suddenly contracting.

She didn't kill him.

"I didn't do this. Weren't you guys holding me back the whole time? I didn't do that!"

"You didn't?" The man struggled to his feet, staggering backward. "You were clearly standing there, one sword at a time, one person after another! How many people did you kill? Ten? Twenty? You didn't even spare the elderly and children!"

“I didn’t!” Eleanor cried, her voice filled with confusion. “I don’t remember… I don’t know…”

But the man had already run away, dragging his injured body and scrambling away from Eleanor.

The other residents who were still able to breathe were also running away. They crawled out of their hiding places, some through door cracks, some through windows, and some through cellars.

Everyone who saw Eleanor did so as if they had seen a demon, screaming, crying, and scrambling away.

No one looked back.

No one dared to turn back.

Eleanor stood there, watching their backs as the sword in her hand slowly slipped from her grasp.

"Who...did this?"

Her voice was very soft, as if she were asking herself, or perhaps asking the world.

"This must be...some misunderstanding..."

No one answered her.

Except for Mel.

“Sister Eleanor, don’t you remember?” she asked Eleanor tentatively.

"Mel!" Eleanor turned to look at Mel behind her, her face immediately filled with excitement: "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

Mel opened his eyes, a barely perceptible glint of cunning flashing in his grey-blue pupils.

"Sister Eleanor..." she said, deliberately keeping her voice low and sounding weak, "What...what happened to you just now?"

"What's wrong with me?" Eleanor asked, startled.

“You were terrifying just now.” Mel’s lips trembled. “You killed so many people at once…you…you killed them one by one with your sword…”

“Me?” Eleanor’s voice trembled. “Did I kill him?”

"Don't you remember?" Mel tilted her head, her eyes full of worry. "You seemed like a different person just now. Your eyes were cold, and your voice was cold. I called you, but you didn't answer me."

"I almost got killed by you too..."

Eleanor's body stiffened abruptly.

She looked down at her hands.

Those hands were covered in blood.

Some belonged to others, and some to her.

"It was me?" Her voice trembled. "I killed those people..."

Eleanor knelt on the ground, her hands covering her head, trembling all over.

Recall the events that just occurred, when I lost consciousness and my memory.

The more she thought about it, the more convinced she became that she was the one who had harmed these residents, which caused Eleanor's faith to gradually crumble.

"I am a knight of the church... my sword should be pointed at evil... to protect the innocent..."

"But I killed innocent people..."

"I killed them..."

Seeing Eleanor struggling so much, Mel naturally breathed a sigh of relief.

Having been following the cold-blooded 'Eleanor's' body, she felt she could be killed at any moment.

Now that Eleanor has become the kind and saintly church knight she usually is, it naturally puts Mel at ease. However, he can't be sure if the cold-hearted 'Eleanor' will reappear in the future.

“Sister Eleanor…it’s not your fault. These people were bewitched by heretics to attack you.” Considering that she might be held accountable by that cold-blooded 'Eleanor' in the future, Mel still tried to persuade her.

"You had no choice but to fight back, otherwise you would have died. Actually, you didn't do anything wrong."

"No!" Eleanor looked up, her eyes filled with tears.

"Even so, as a church knight who is supposed to protect everyone, I cannot kill you all like this. I cannot kill!"

She can incapacitate her opponent or trap them.

This is what Eleanor is thinking at this moment.

Mel curled her lip in disdain; this was one of the reasons she disliked the church knights.

On this point, she still agreed with the cold-blooded "Eleanor's" approach.

In the heat of battle, deliberately holding back, worried about whether the opponent will die? Thinking of knocking out the person trying to kill you? That's incredibly foolish.

Looking at the kind-hearted Eleanor in front of him, Mel felt very insecure.

"Sister Eleanor, don't be so hard on yourself. Since you've already killed so many civilians, why don't we not go back to the church and instead find a village?"

When the time comes, find a village and get off the bus yourself.

Dorothy the Scarlet Witch is no longer here, so I'm safe.

Mel didn't really want to accompany the church knights back to the knighthood's headquarters.

“No…” Eleanor shook her head: “I want to go back, I want to go to the church to atone for my sins. I must bear the consequences of my mistakes.”

"Atonement?" Mel tilted her head, looking at the stubborn female knight from the church. "Do you think the church will give you a chance to atone?"

Eleanor did not answer.

She just knelt there, trembling all over.

"Where is Commander Will?" she suddenly asked. "Where is Commander Will?"

Just as Mel was about to tell her that Knight Commander Will was definitely dead.

"boom--!!!"

A huge explosion was heard in the distance.

Chapter 5 Returning to the Main Story

[Countdown to next login time begins...]

[Currently, the 'Eleanor' synergy value is 31%]

Increasing your bond level will extend the duration of each login session.

[How to acquire Bond Points: Experience events together with the Agent, improve the Agent's overall abilities (strength, status, reputation, etc.), fulfill the Agent's wishes, or achieve special hidden conditions.]

[...First deposit of six yuan is acceptable...]

Standing beneath the dark dungeon walls, Claire, her limbs still chained, stared at the system notification before her.

Although at the beginning, when I rescued Eleanor from the pile of corpses, my bond value increased a lot, and in the old village chief's village, it increased by about half of the first time, more than ten points.

The bond forged through life-or-death crises and acts of kindness in saving lives is significantly greater and faster than the bond gained from everyday interactions with Lia.

However, it was already evident in Eleanor's hesitation when they were in the village.

Only half of what she saw the first time suggests that Eleanor was already questioning Claire's actions, feeling lost and filled with confusion and doubt.

Besides, with Mel by her side now, Claire doesn't think Mel would frame the steadfast Eleanor right now, but that guy would definitely shake Eleanor's faith.

Since meeting Mel, Mel has been trying to win over and brainwash Eleanor.

There is certainly a problem here, and the problem is probably Eleanor's body.

Eleanor's body was able to adapt to the power of the Philosopher's Stone very quickly and clearly. She did not reject the Philosopher's Stone at all, while others regarded the Philosopher's Stone as a gamble to become a god or demon in one step.

Is Eleanor the only one who can completely treat the Philosopher's Stone as a panacea without any side effects? Eleanor herself seems unaware of this.

Similar to when Lia learned about her mother and relatives, Eleanor's strange constitution should also be an event that can greatly increase bond points and unlock [Mental Bond].

Since the bond value is not increasing, activating the [Mind Bond] event is the way to increase the bond value significantly at once.

Although Claire isn't in a rush to get Eleanor's bond reward, the [Origin - Light of Faith Cross Sword], she could consider getting the [Origin Weapon] to forcefully break through the dungeon's stone door.

They could even cause a huge disturbance at the Goddess Church.

Leah and [The Keeper's Peep] can break Claire's seal for ten minutes.

But this time is limited, after all, the 'Holy City' is not only occupied by the acting saintess Isabelle and Ophelia, but also by the saintess.

The Saintess is what Claire fears most. If she is only unsealed for ten minutes, facing the Saintess, whom she couldn't even defeat in her prime, would be a real challenge.

Moreover, Claire currently lacks her previous magical power; her achievements as the Demon King have rendered her elemental perception even weaker than Leah's.

Claire didn't know how powerful the [Original Weapon - Light of Faith] rewarded by Eleanor's bond points would be, so she needed to be cautious.

The best way to open the dungeon door is not to use the Primal Weapon rewarded by Eleanor's Bond Points, but to leave quietly.

However, it's not that you don't need to give up Eleanor's bond points; having a handy weapon to enhance your combat power is also very important.

Therefore, it's still necessary to pay a little attention to Eleanor's bond level, since Eleanor's current situation makes it impossible for her to return to her previous daily life.

Of course, Claire also deserves credit for this.

Eleanor herself must have noticed it, judging from how slowly her bond level has increased.

"In the end, I have to get out. I can't stay locked up in this wretched place any longer." Claire looked at the dungeon in front of her and shook the chains on her limbs.

What bound her was not these chains, but the saints of the Church of Goddess.

Leaving this dungeon won't be easy; it all depends on whether things go smoothly with Lia.

Just then, a comment popped up in the corner of his field of vision.

[Lia: Guiding God! Are you there?]

Claire sighed.

Troublemaker is here.