“I-I’m not! I really did hear it…” The blonde Elf stated in dismay as more tears gathered in her sky-blue eyes. She looked incredibly distressed. She was holding a Holy Staff. It was different from many of the ones Kazius had seen. It was a gold and white color with patterns he had seen in plenty of Holy Staffs, but the gold and ornaments along it seemed to show it was special. It was very flashy, even by the standard of The Church.

“I heard God! He spoke to me!” She would emphasize, again, looking very certain of what she was saying.

“The Oracle only speaks to the Pope and that is through visions! The Oracle does not talk! What you say is heresy! HERESY! You… You even stole a valuable and rare staff… One that has been around since the founding of Ratier! You are just trying to justify your theft since you were caught! You vile thing… Guards! Guards! Why are you not here yet!?” The Priest snapped angrily at her before calling for the Knights. Considering where the Priest was looking, they were likely within The Church.

This was bad. Kazius was tempted to help her, but the last thing they needed was to be spotted.

The Hooded Woman seemed to be thinking something similar, since she was already slowly moving to leave.

The Elf Woman looked at the staff, appearing to not be listening to The Priest, who was still yelling at her. Instead she was just nodding along. “Right!” She would suddenly exclaim, looking quite determined, clenching her fists together.

‘Is she talking to herself? Is she crazy? I guess we really should leave…’

Before Kazius could move, along with the Hooded Woman, The Elf Priestess would look in their precise direction. Horrified, Kazius would freeze. The Hooded Woman also did not move a muscle. There was no way she could see them!

Yet… She was looking straight at them… But how?!

"Please, you have to help me!" The Elf pleaded, making a run for it in their direction. She rushed over to the shocked duo before they could even process anything.

‘What!? No! Don’t come this way! At this rate…’

As she did this, the Knights inside The Church finally came out.

“She is making a run for it! Get her already!” The Priest exclaimed impatiently.

By the time Kazius and The Hooded Woman were running, The Elf had already caught up to them and was running along with them.

“Look! It’s someone in Lieutenant armor! That must be The Monster that was in the report! She really is a Demon worshipper!” One of The Knights exclaimed as they began to chase the trio.

‘No…. Why!? How!?’

Kazius was panicking, he wasn’t sure how they could outrun the Knights. Not with their luggage on his back and the two with him. Still, hiding had worked once before… And there were many trees around… So, using that to his advantage, he would pull the two women to hide behind a bush, breaking their pursuers’ line of sight.

“Shit… Where did they go!? Come on!” Could be heard, the Knights moving away.

Once they were out of ear range, Kazius sighed, relieved. He wasn’t sure that would keep working, but she supposed he would just be grateful it did…

I was then he heard The Hooded woman muttering to herself.

“You… You…” She began, clearly upset. They almost got caught after all. The last thing the two expected was for the Elf to run to them. Kazius thought she was about to get angry… But just as soon as her anger started, it vanished. She sighed, deflated.

“Come on… We can all talk and you can tell us who the Hell you are once we get out of here.” Kazius stated, figuring it would be best to wait before talking.

Saving the Elf was not in their plan, but The Hooded Woman had helped him in a similar fashion… So, it did not feel right leaving her either. Even if she did almost get them caught.

“Thank you.” The Elf Woman stated contently, her smile more than on the goofy side. She was surprisingly giddy for someone bawling her eyes out a second ago.

With that, the group would manage to sneak away farther from the village, using the foliage as cover. For the first time in his life, he was beginning to be thankful The Church was littered with incompetence. Except for Edicts, it felt like Knights were picked on zeal and obedience rather than skill. Even if The Oracle was behind the selection of Knights.

Of course, once Edicts were sent after them… Things may get quite frightening. A fear that Kazius and The Hooded Woman seemed to have.

Another frightening possibility was The Church using The Oracle to find out where they were… Then again… Kazius doubted The Oracle worked that way… Kazius also did not know if The Oracle was ever used outside The Coming-of-Age Ceremony… If there was such information, it had definitely been above his rank in terms of clearance…

If the Oracle worked that conveniently, The Church would have had a better idea of where they were… Maybe even found where they were sleeping. After all, The entire Church knew about him at this point…If they could have found his location in such a way, they would have likely already done so.

They were safe, for now…

The group had made it far away enough.

“So, care to explain who you are?” The Hooded Woman demanded before Kazius could even speak.

Kazius looked over at the confused Elf Woman. The Elf was a little shorter than the Hooded Woman, standing at 5ft 2in (1.57m). Though her height was far from the most notable thing about her. The Holy Maiden wore the typical Priestess clothes of a follower of The Oracle, but the clothes almost looked indecent on her. She was gifted when it came to her rear and to some extent to her breasts.

"Thank you so much for saving me! You are so kind!" Elf Woman exclaimed giddily in quite the carefree manner. It seemed she had not registered the fact she did not give them much of a choice when it came to saving her.

"I think The Church is confused... They called me a Demon worshipper... But I have the staff of God himself!" She chirped contently, holding up the holy staff in her hands happily. She even looked a little proud.

The Hooded Woman seemed to stare at her, as did Kazius.

‘Oh, so she’s crazy, great. There is no way something that important would be out here in the middle of nowhere… The staff does look impressive, but there is just no way.’

It seemed the Hooded Woman was thinking something among the same line if her gestures said anything. She crossed her arms, looking unimpressed.

“You don’t believe me either…” This only made the Elf Woman frown and whine, pouting a little. She looked almost like a kicked puppy. So much so that even her long pointed ears almost looked like they were drooping.

“Whether we believe you or not is not an issue. Look, at this moment, you are also an enemy of The Church. You need to be ready for that or you will get killed… Do you understand that? We are going to The Wastelands; you can join us if you want. More people will be better when it comes to surviving…” The Hooded Woman offered.

“Having a healer around would not be a bad idea… Who knows what is out there.” Kazius decided to add, feeling very unsure and uneasy. Kazius had also only gotten supplies for two people… But they should have enough to eat for at least four days, which was more than what they needed… If they could find food in The Wastelands.

"Oh! That sounds like so much fun! Everything is always better with friends; my name is Eve! What about you two?" Eve stated innocently despite having just met the two. The Elf really was too trusting. She seemed giddy at the thought of friends. She was beaming, flowers practically blooming in her head, not acting like someone who was so close to capture or death but a minute ago. Would she survive out there?

Kazius wasn’t sure how to respond to such energy, it was very different from the awkward silence when it was just The Hooded Woman and him. Kazius was also not sure how he felt about someone calling him a friend again… But he supposed he could not seclude himself due to fear… Not to mention, he did not have the heart to tell Eve that she was not his friend.

“I’m Kazius.” He stated. His response to his introduction was quite the giddy smile in return from Eve.

The Hooded Woman was hesitant. She looked like she was already regretting saving the Holy Maiden, she clearly was a ditz… Though if the two did not save her, she would likely be dead.

“I… My name… My name is Alice.” The Hooded Woman stated hesitantly.

It surprised Kazius, he had not expected Alice to actually respond. Then again, with how innocent Eve acted, it was hard to not cave to her demand. Then there was her name. It was actually a common one that was made very popular after the birth of The Princess…

In fact, Kazius was almost tempted to suspect that was who Alice was… But then that made the report of the execution even more confusing… It was a common name… But it would also explain a lot.

Kazius was tempted to ask Alice about her identity, but he decided not to. Whether she was The Princess or not, it was definitely a touchy subject for her.

Eve only seemed to smile further, bouncing on her feet a little, “It is great to meet you! I’m so happy I made new friends! Nice ones too!”

“Yeah…” Kazius stated awkwardly, it would take time for Alice and him to get used to Eve’s energy for sure.

“Anyway, let’s keep walking. Then we can set up camp once we’ve made enough progress… I think Alice and you will have to share a tent. I only got two.” Kazius added.

“Oh! It is like a slumber party in the woods, how fun!” Eve added, at least one of them was optimistic.

Kazius wasn’t sure what to make of his new… Friends… But it was certain that his time with the two would be interesting.