The person at the door knocked again. Gabriella was taken aback by Gren's refusal but she had to open the door. Outside the door was the only knight that even talked to Gren: Georgia. "The women from the bakery have arrived." The door behind her was closed, leaving the three of them to speak in privacy.
Gabriella looked back towards Gren, continuing their conversation from earlier. "Are you sure? We can't protect her if she's away from the cathedral since the knights would draw too much attention to you. There's no guarantee that the people that want to use her won't find out that she's with you." The expression that Gabriella had on her face made him believe that she was being honest and was worried but it didn't change his mind.
"I want to try helping my mother personally before I rely on others. I appreciate the offer but for now I'll have to say no to leaving her here." Gabriella might be able to be trusted but too many people in the Church would find out about his mother. It was impossible for all of them to be trustworthy people.
"Fine. Just make sure to inform me if anything happens." Gabriella didn't like his decision but if Hildr was abducted again it's not like they--her worshippers--could just sit around twiddling their thumbs and do nothing about it.
Georgia was still in the room and overheard the end of the conversation; enough to figure out what they were talking about. "I can always send a few of my men to help defend her. My face might be recognizable but without their unique armor there's no way that people would know they're with the Church."
Gabriella was on board with the idea and Gren did think it would work but there was one major problem that made him apprehensive about having them around. "You might be right that nobody would notice them but I don't know if it's a good idea. The other knights seem to hate me. You're the only one who even spoke to me." Thinking back on how he was treated like air made him feel a bit depressed.
Georgia and Gabriella were surprised to hear what he said. There was no way that knights of the Church would hate the child of their Goddess. "Georgia, go check with the knights that went with the two of you. I think we need to get to the bottom of this. If it's not a misunderstanding then we can't let the knights be around Gren and we'll need to come up with a different plan." Gabriella was holding her head, likely because she had a headache. "I really hope this is a misunderstanding. I can't deal with more major problems around here."
"Understood. I'll go talk to them for you. Don't worry, I'm sure that it's just a misunderstanding. My men have no reason to hate him." Georgia ran off to go find the knights while Gren and Gabriella were left alone again. Gren was hoping that Georgia was right. Feeling hated by people that you did no wrong to was uncomfortable at best. If they did hate him then he'd at least like to know why.
"Right, I almost forgot. Georgia said that your friends are here so we should probably send someone to inform them where they can go to pick you up. If they brought their carriage then that will make it easier to transport your mother without it looking suspicious." Gabriella was about to reopen the door but thought about something important. "You can't tell your friends about you or your mother. I know you trust them but it's harder to keep a secret with each additional person that knows about it. Even if they don't intend to tell anybody they still might let it slip out by accident."
Gren thought about it and agreed with Gabriella. Jessica already knew but nobody else had to find out. There was also the problem with his abilities. The knights saw him pull things out of thin air so he would have to change his mind and not tell Jasmine about his pocket dimension.
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The women brought the carriage so it was brought down by the elevator at Gabriella's direction. The doll, puzzle box, and several crates were loaded onto the back of the carriage, hiding Hildr's wrapped up body. Inside the crates were the personal effects of three of the knights, including their weapons and armor. Gren thought about giving them new equipment but the materials used were much better than the iron supplied by the Advanced Arsenal so he didn't think they'd use it.
Gren would need to unlock better materials before he could give them better equipment and to do that he would need to earn more points; points earned solely by him. The AI stated that every 10,000 points earned by him would get a single research point. He was already close; 7500 points for that bandit and three giant rats worth 500 points each leaving him with only 1000 points to earn before he could earn his first research point. Steel was only five research points so Gren wanted to earn it first. There was glass that he could unlock with a single research point but Gren had no use for it yet.
The knights explained to Georgia why they didn't talk to Gren which is why Gren agreed to allow them into his home. It turned out that, because they were convinced that he was a girl, they decided that it was best not to interact with him. It's already frowned upon for the male knights to speak to acolytes but there was the added problem of Gren possibly being the child of the Goddess. They didn't discuss it with Georgia because there's no taboo for a female knight to speak with the acolytes.
Gren was glad to hear that he wasn't hated and it was decided that they would officially join Gren's mercenary guild. The three knights were named Sven, Herman, and Rodge. Georgia recommended them based on how loyal they were to the Goddess but none of them were well-known by the public so that was a plus.
The women were waiting for him outside so Gren hurried up with loading the carriage and hopped on to the elevator platform, holding on to the carriage so he wouldn't fall as it raised up..