Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Chapter 312: Chapter 13: The Chase

Winters had no idea what the mendicant monk actually said to the Protestants of the two villages, but Nanxin village and Beixin village suddenly became enthusiastic towards him.

Previously resistant to the priest of Wolf Town church, the villagers of both communities began to show reverence towards the old mendicant monk after listening to Brother Reed’s sermons.

All the able-bodied men from the two villages signed up to join the bear hunting team, and the manpower for the search operation in the mountains suddenly became ample.

“What did you tell them?” Winters asked, quite curious, “You didn’t trick them into thinking that I’m also a Protestant, did you?”

Seeing that the old charlatan still couldn’t garner respect from Winters, the old monk was well aware of this. Because of this, the two could converse without any reservations.

The mendicant monk did not directly answer, “Are you planning to reclaim the land they’ve cultivated without permission?”

“Of course not, do I look like I have nothing better to do? In another two months, I might not even be here,” Winters said, feeling bewildered.

“Then whatever I told them doesn’t really matter,” the old monk said offhandedly, “As long as they know you mean them no harm and think you are one of their own, that’s enough for you.”

The lieutenant probably understood a bit, but he was curious again, “So how did they come to see you as ‘one of their own’?”

“For some people, ‘worship’ is a fundamental need. Thus, the more devout a person is, the easier they are to manipulate because they will convince themselves,” Brother Reed said casually, speaking words of profound heresy, “Those two villages belong to the Puritan faction. Once you know what they want to believe in, the rest is simple—just preach what they want to hear.”

Winters was left speechless by these words, which seemed even more sinister than heretical theology; he couldn’t help but voice the doubt that had been plaguing his mind, “I just can’t understand how a person like you could join the Catholic Church.”

“Having the identity of a clergyman makes traveling easier. A merchant can be extorted, a farmer interrogated, but no one troubles an old, poor charlatan,” said the mendicant monk with a smile, who had converted to many religions, “In the East sometimes I am a monk of the Bodhi Religion, sometimes a scholar of the Star Moon Sect, and on this continent, I am a clergyman of the Catholic Church; it’s all the same to me.”@@novelbin@@

Hearing Brother Reed casually admit that he was a false believer, Winters found it hard to believe.

After some thought, it didn’t seem all that implausible, but the old man’s tone was just too nonchalant, as if he were commenting on the weather of the day.

After a long silence, Winters said with a mix of sarcasm and admiration, “You certainly embody a pragmatic spirit.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” the old monk laughed heartily.

…

Now with more manpower, Winters redivided the search zones and once again devoted all his energy into the operation to hunt down the man-eating bear.

While the militia scoured the forest inch by inch, knocking on tree trunks and maintaining a distance of about ten meters apart like dragging a net over the forest floor, the two clergymen at the church in Wolf Town opened a bottle of wine and sat by a small table, chatting leisurely.

“That young fellow must be suffering in the deep mountains and dense forests right about now?” Brother Reed said with a smile.

“Most likely,” Father Caman replied respectfully, “Teacher.”

Brother Reed sipped his wine lightly and asked casually, “Do you have any relationship with him? Why did you ask me to help him?”

“No relationship, I don’t know Lieutenant Montaigne,” Father Caman replied earnestly, “But I feel he is sincerely trying to do something good for this parish.”

“Many times,” the old clergyman said indifferently, “good intentions don’t necessarily lead to good outcomes.”

“Do you think we shouldn’t have helped him?” Father Caman asked, puzzled.

“What do I know? I am just a foreigner who is adrift in a distant land. If I truly possessed wisdom, would I not be able to return home?” There was a hint of a bitter smile on the old clergyman’s face, “Let’s wait and see.”

…

Although they had gained the full cooperation of four other villages, the bear hunting team still came up empty-handed after three consecutive days.

The militiamen moved through the dense forest, tapping on tree trunks and spreading out over ten meters apart, scouring the land like casting a net. They found feces, fur, broken trees—evidence that the beast was indeed in the mountains—but despite all these signs, they could not find the evil bear, not even a glimpse of its shadow.

A full week had passed since the last attack, and the militiamen were becoming tired, their morale dropping day by day.

The village heads from both villages, Hedong and Hexi, came together to Winters with a suggestion, “Perhaps the bear has escaped?”

It was indeed a compelling and tempting hypothesis.

The idea that the search team’s extensive operations had frightened the evil bear back into the deep mountains—sounded logical.

However, Hunter Ralph firmly objected to this idea, claiming, “Once a wild animal has tasted human flesh, it becomes a man-eater and will never forget the taste of human flesh.” And from the evidence, it was clear the bear had not gone far and was lurking near Wolf Town.

The old hunter abandoned his previous “cautious kill” stance, opposed ending the large-scale search, and insisted on “killing the man-eater completely to avoid future troubles.” He believed the man-eating bear was nearby and that these fruitless days were simply bad luck. With continued searching, it was only a matter of time before they found the creature.

Like those commanders faced with a difficult choice throughout history, Winters agreed with the hunter’s view—the giant bear had definitely not gone far. But he was also acutely aware that his militia had reached the limits of both their physical and mental strength.

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