Iron Powder and Spellcasters: Chapter 127 hunt

   Chapter 127 The Hunt

   I don’t know what the alms-begging monks said to the Protestants in those two villages. Anyway, Nanxin Village and Beixin Village suddenly became warm to Winters.

  The people of the two villages, who were originally opposed to the priest of the Wolf Town Church, actually began to respect the old monk after listening to the sermon of Brother Reid.

   All the young people from the two villages signed up to join the bear catching team, and the manpower to search the mountains suddenly became abundant.

   "What did you tell them?" Winters was quite curious: "You wouldn't lie to them that I'm a Protestant too?"

   Winters saw that the old **** stick still had no respect, and the old monk knew this too. Because of this, the two can talk freely.

The monk    did not answer directly: "Are you going to clear up the land they stole?"

   "Of course not, am I full? Maybe I won't be here in two months." Winters just felt inexplicable.

   "Then it doesn't matter what I say." The old monk said casually: "As long as they know that you are not malicious to them, as long as they think you are theirs, it is enough for you."

   The second lieutenant probably understood something, and he asked curiously: "Then why did they regard you as 'their man'?"

"For some people, 'worship' is a rigid need. Therefore, the more devout people are, the easier they are to be manipulated, because they will convince themselves." Brother Reid casually said rebellious words: "The two villages Reformed. Find out what they want to believe, and the rest is easy—choose what they want to hear.”

  These words, which were even more evil than heretical theology, left Winters speechless, and he couldn't help asking the haunting doubt: "I really can't figure it out, how could someone like you join the Catholic Church?"

"Having the status of a clergyman makes it easy to walk. Merchants will be extorted and farmers will be questioned, but no one will embarrass an old and poor god." Smile: "In the East, I am sometimes a monk of the Bodhi Sect, and sometimes a dharma scholar of the Xingyue Sect. On this continent, I am a priest of the Catholic Church. In fact, they are all the same."

   Hearing Redd's light-hearted confession of being a hypocrite, Winters couldn't believe it.

   If you think about it carefully, there seems to be nothing wrong, but the old man's tone is so flat, so flat that he seems to be saying what the weather is like today.

   was silent for a while, and Winters said half sarcastically, half praise: "You are quite pragmatic."

   "I take this as a compliment." The old monk laughed.

  …

After    got more manpower, Winters re-divided the search sector and devoted all his energy to hunting down the man-bear again.

   As the militiamen searched inch by inch in the forest, two clergymen in the church in Wolf Town opened a bottle of wine and sat chatting at a small table.

   "That kid, I'm afraid he is suffering in the deep mountains and forests?" Brother Reid said with a smile.

   "It should be." Father Kaman respectfully echoed: "Teacher."

   Brother Reid took a sip of wine and asked casually, "Do you have any friendship with him? Why do you want me to help him?"

   "No friendship, I don't know Lieutenant Montagne." Father Carman replied seriously: "But I think he really wants to do something good for this parish."

   "Many times." The old priest said lightly: "A good purpose may not necessarily lead to a good result."

   "Don't you think we should help him?" Father Kaman asked in confusion.

   "What can I know? I'm just a foreigner living in a foreign land. If I really have wisdom, why can't I return home?" A wry smile appeared on the old priest's face: "Let's take a look."

  …

Although    received the full assistance of the other four villages, the bear catching team found nothing for three days in a row.

  The militiamen beat the tree trunks and marched in the dense forest, more than ten meters apart from each other, sweeping the woodland like a net. They found feces, hair, and broken trees. There were various signs that the fierce beast must be in this forest, but everyone just couldn't find the evil bear, not even the shadow of the bear.

   It has been a full week since the last attack, and the militiamen are starting to grow tired and demoralized by the day.

  The village chiefs of Hedong and Hexi found Winters together, and they came up with an idea: "Maybe the bear escaped?"

   It has to be said that this is indeed a very convincing and seductive hypothesis.

The    Mountain Search Team's massive campaign scared the bear back into the mountains—sounds plausible.

   But the hunter Ralph firmly opposed this idea, in his words "the beasts will become beasts once they eat people, and they will never forget the taste of human flesh". And judging from various traces, the bear obviously didn't go far, just wandering near Wolf Town.

  The old hunter changed his attitude of "killing carefully" before, opposed to stopping the large-scale mountain search, and insisted on "killing the beasts completely and eliminating future troubles". He thinks that the piranha is nearby, and it's just bad luck that he hasn't had any results these days. Just keep searching and it's only a matter of time before you find that thing.

  Like those commanders in history who have faced a dilemma, Winters agreed with the hunter that the giant bear never went far. But he also clearly understood that his militia had reached its physical and mental limits.

  Searching the mountain is a chore, and every mile you walk takes a lot of physical strength. Not to mention that when the militiamen left their farm work to search the mountains, when they found nothing in the forest, it was their wives, children, and old people who worked hard in the fields. So the longer the delay, the more shaken the will of these farmers.

   Stop searching for mountains? Or force the militias to continue?

   The former Warrant Officer Montagne just had to obey orders, but now the Montagne Resident Commander needs to make his own judgment.

Winters called the mayors of all five villages in front of him: "As long as you continue to search, you will definitely find the man-eating bear. But the manpower in each village is exhausted and cannot continue to search any more. That is the only way now. Just waiting for that giant bear to attack next time."

   He didn't say a word clearly: There has been no attack for a week, and the bear is probably starving.

After hearing the news of the suspension of the mountain search operation, the militiamen in Hedong Village and Hexi Village were full of complaints, and the villagers also had a lot of dissatisfaction with Winters; on the contrary, the young men of the two Protestant villages obeyed the order without complaint, as if Really think of Winters as "their people".

  The old hunter Ralph left the main force without a word after learning of Winters' decision, and searched deeper into the mountains and forests by himself.

For the first time, Lieutenant    Montagne felt the pressure to make a decision.

  …

On the third day after   Shanshan stopped, Langtun Town ushered in another Sunday. Although the dark clouds of the wolf disaster loomed over their heads, the villagers of the three villages rushed to the church in the center of the town early in the morning to participate in the Sunday service as usual.

The church in   Wolf Town is not big, but it is not particularly small, and its layout is similar to other single-bay churches. Two stone walls with windows form the nave of the church, and the structure of the vault makes it unnecessary to support the nave. At one end of the nave is the foyer, and at the other end is the altar and ritual objects.

  Because exposing the caster's identity may cause unnecessary trouble in the closed and conservative Wolf Town, Winters will also sit with Gillard in the church for a while during the Sunday service.

   This time, the young Father Kaman was in charge of the sermon. He first led the crowd to pray for the victims of the wolf disaster, and then quoted the remarks of the saints and said something to encourage the believers.

   Watching the believers who hoped for the gods to expel the evil bears prayed sincerely, Winters understood them somewhat. This is essentially a sense of powerlessness. For something that you are powerless to do, relying on the help of a higher existence becomes a natural option.

  The weekly bow and arrow training was cancelled by Winters, so people hurried back to the villages after the ceremony.

   Winters found Father Kaman: "Although I don't know why, I have to say thank you to you. The two villages of Hedong and Hexi have been very angry with me recently."

   "There's no way around that." Father Kaman said warmly, "The beasts are in the forest, but you are right in front of them."

   Winters gave a wry smile: "My previous wish was to find an idle job and retire. Now... Now I'd rather go back to the army and be a little centurion."

   "Fate always put you in this position for a reason."

   "I thought you would use the word 'Lord'," Winters joked.

Father    Kaman also showed a smile: "Who made you an unbeliever? Change the way you can accept it."

   "But I also don't believe in such a thing as fate. If everything is decided, what's the point of people's struggles? We just lie on the ground and wait for fate to come."

   "Perhaps people's struggles are also part of destiny."

   "Sophistry." Winters sneered at this: "Don't the seminary teach logic? You are saying that the future is both knowable and unknowable. You are describing a paradox."

  Kaman wanted to say something, but an anxious knock on the door interrupted their conversation about metaphysics.

  Kaman glanced at Winters and said loudly: "Please come in!"

   The handyman of the church pushed open the door and entered: "Father! It's not good... Ah! The resident officer is also here!"

   "What happened?" Winters asked.

   "Sir!" The handyman swallowed: "Fenghuo!"

  …

   "Where did you run to?" Winters, who was running all the way, yanked on the reins, and Red Mane stood up in front of the head of Hexi Village.

  The village chief did not dare to neglect, he pointed to the west of the village and replied, "West!"

   Winters spoke quickly: "When did it come? Are there casualties?"

   "It should have been during Mass, that thing came in and ate a lot of food and killed a paralyzed old woman!"

   Winters turned his horse: "Call all the militiamen and follow me!"

   "Okay, my lord, okay." The village chief remembered something and added, "The hunter has already chased after him."

   The militiamen of Dusa Village also saw the beacon fire, and the old Sergey immediately brought the Dusa people to join the soldiers of the Hexi villagers.

  Different from the three previous attempts, this time the evil beast had just escaped, and the traces it left were clearly discernible. Following the traces all the way, Winters led the crowd towards the woodlands to the southwest.

   In the shade of the tree canopy, Winters could see broken bushes and weeds. The bear was huge, and the trail it trod on the bushes and saplings in the forest was like a path.

  Under the guidance of the trail on the ground, Winters followed closely all the way. At this moment, there was only one thought in his mind: to kill this man-eating bear. Inadvertently, he even left behind the militia for a good distance.

   He slammed into the horse's rib, stepped across a hazel bush, crossed the cold stream, dashed up a dirt bag and dashed down, galloping through the woodland.

   On the back of the galloping horse, the pine needles scratched on the skin like the sharpest arrow, and every time it touched, there would be an extra bloodstain.

  The complex terrain between the woodlands is even more dangerous. Fortunately, there is divine help under the red mane's hoof, otherwise a small rat hole can make him break his neck.

   After turning over a few buns, the broken branches and bushes led Winters to a depression first, then took a sharp bend and then suddenly began to climb again. Winters didn't know how far he had chased, but he could make out that the terrain was rising rapidly.

   The **** became steeper and steeper as he went forward. Red mane neighed and stepped forward with all his strength, his hooves digging deep holes one after another in the soft black soil.

   The war horse was out of control, and Winters turned over and dismounted. He took the two heavy arquebuses and the powder jug ​​out of the saddlebag and began to reload.

   There was an eerie silence in the dark forest.

  Suddenly, a rustling sound came from nearby.

   Winters picked up the musket and pressed the **** hard against his shoulder.

   "My lord, it's me." Ralph the hunter emerged from the branches.

   Too late to talk nonsense, Winters asked directly: "In the front?"

   "Should be in front."

"take me."

"You can't take the horse, the movement is too big." The old hunter explained: "That thing is very fast in the woods, and the horse can't catch up with it, but it will startle it. If it is scared away, we can only Wait until it's exhausted."

   Winters took two javelins out of Redmane's saddlebag, gave one to Ralph, and kept one for himself.

   Then he turned the red mane head in the direction from which he came, and whipped the horse's **** hard: "Go! Go home!"

  Red Mane was in pain and ran away along the way.

   "Go," Winters said to the hunter, carrying two muskets on his back and carrying the javelin.

"My lord, I'm afraid we won't be able to kill that thing alone. We'd better leave marks along the way and wait for the reinforcements to follow." Ralph's weapons were only a hunting knife and a single bow. A javelin from Winters.

   Only then did Winters realize that he was out of touch with the rest of the militia.

   "Anyway, let's find that thing first." Winters pulled out the Dousa saber.

   "Yes." Ralph nodded and walked ahead, but he couldn't help reminding: "Sir, there is no matchlock on your gun."

  An icy voice answered the hunter: "I don't need a match."

   The ability of horses to climb slopes is actually super strong. I have seen horses climb up to 60-degree slopes and carry people (maybe there is no 60°, only 45°, but the body feels very steep). It's just that the red mane is set to be a warm-blooded pony, and its load-bearing capacity is actually worse. Climbing a hill with two guns and a sturdy adult male was tough.

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Thanks to the book friends Xiao Hongchen, Sky Lens, the same week as the world, the yellow rabbit of the flower gardener, Jiang Xue Diao Weng, Xiaocheng Juvenile Lang, Kaka Kaka Jia, 鲲鲍, Wu is Xiao Gao, I don’t know what it is called, black computer accessories , Book Friends 160420210016802, WhisperwindW, Calm Ashes, Ami, Recommended tickets for value rise.

thank you all.

  

  

   (end of this chapter)