I don’t know what the begging monk said to the Protestants in those two villages, but Nanxin Village and Beixin Village suddenly became enthusiastic about Winters.

The two villagers, who were originally quite resistant to the priests of the Wolf Town Church, began to respect the old beggar monk after listening to the sermons of Monk Reed.

All the young and strong people from the two villages signed up to participate in the bear hunting team, and the manpower of searching the mountains suddenly became abundant.

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

Winters saw that the old charlatan still couldn't show respect, and the old monk knew it clearly. Because of this, the two could talk without any scruples.

The beggar monk did not answer positively: "Are you going to clear the land they had stolen?"

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

"Then it doesn't matter what I say." The old monk said casually: "As long as they know that you have no malice towards them, as long as they think you are theirs, it's enough for you."

The second lieutenant probably understood a little, and he said curiously: "Then why do they regard you as 'their people'?"

"For some people, 'worship' is a necessity. So the more pious people are, the easier it is to be manipulated, because they will convince themselves." Monk Reed casually said a rebellious sentence: "The two villages belong to the right people. Understanding what they want to believe is very simple - just choose what they want to hear."

This even more evil than heretic theology made Winters speechless. He couldn't help but ask the lingering doubt: "I really can't figure out, how could a person like you join the public church?"

"With a clergy, it will be very convenient to walk. Merchants will be blackmailed and farmers will be questioned, but no one will make things difficult for an old and poor charlatan." The beggar monk who has converted to many sects smiled: "In the East, I am sometimes a monk of the Bodhi religion, sometimes a scholar of the Xingyue religion, and on this continent I am a priest of the public church, and they are actually the same."

Hearing Reed's tone relaxed admitting that he was a false believer, Winters couldn't believe it.

It seems nothing wrong when I think about it carefully, but the old man's tone was so dull, as if he was talking about the weather today.

After a while of silence, Winters said half-sarcastically and half-commend, "You are quite pragmatic."

"I just use this as a praise." The old monk laughed.

...

After gaining more manpower, Winters re-divided the search sector and devoted all his energy to the hunt for man-eating bears again.

While the militia searched inch by inch inch through the mountains and forests, two clergymen in the church in Wolf Town opened a bottle of wine and sat at a small table to chat.

"That boy, I'm afraid he's suffering in the deep mountains and forests?" monk Reed said with a smile.

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

Monk Reed took a sip of wine and asked casually: "Do you have any friendship with him? Why do you want me to help him?"

"I don't know Lieutenant Montane without friendship." Father Kaman 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 does not necessarily lead to good results."

"Do you think we shouldn't help him?" Father Kaman asked in confusion.

"What can I know? I'm just a foreigner who is wandering in a foreign land. If I really have wisdom, why can't I go back to my home?" A wry smile appeared on the old priest's face: "Look at it again."

...

Although he received full assistance from the other four villages, the Bear Catchers won nothing for three consecutive days.

The militia beat the trunks and marched through the dense forest, more than ten meters apart from each other, sweeping through the woodland like a net. They found feces, hairs, and broken trees. All signs indicate that the ferocious beast must be in this mountain forest, but everyone just couldn't find the evil bear, and didn't even see the shadow of the bear.

It was a whole week since the last attack, and the militia began to become tired and their morale was getting lower and lower day by day.

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

I have to say that this is indeed a very convincing and tempting assumption.

The huge activity of the mountain team scared the bear and ran back to the deep mountains - it sounded reasonable.

But the hunter Ralph firmly opposed this idea. In his words, "Once a beast has eaten a human, it will become a ferocious beast, and they will never forget the taste of human flesh." And judging from various traces, the bear obviously did not go far and was wandering around Wolf Town.

The old hunter changed his previous attitude of "cautious killing" and opposed stopping large-scale searches of mountains and firmly demanded that "kill the ferocious beasts completely to eliminate future troubles." He believed that the man-eating bear was nearby, and that there was no result in the past few days, it was just a bad luck. As long as you continue to search, it was only a matter of time to find that thing.

Just like the commanders in history who faced a dilemma, Winters agreed with the hunter's view that the giant bear had never gone far. But he also clearly understood that his militia had reached the limit of physical strength and spirit.

Searching mountains is a chore, and every meter of walking consumes a lot of energy. Not to mention that when militiamen leave their own farm work to search mountains, when they get nothing in the forest, they are their wives and children, and the elderly work hard in the fields. Therefore, the longer the delay is, the more the will of these farmers will be shaken.

Stop searching the mountains? Or force the militia to continue?

The former warrant officer Montagne only had to obey orders, but the current Montagne garrison needed to make a judgment on his own.

Winters called the heads of all five villages in front of him: "As long as you continue to search, you will definitely find a man-eating bear. But the people in each village are exhausted and cannot continue to search. The only way now is to wait for the next attack of the giant bear."

This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! He has nothing to say: There has been no attack in a week, and the evil bear is probably already hungry.

After hearing the news that the mountain search operation was suspended, the militia in Hedong Village and Hexi Village complained, and the villagers also had a lot of dissatisfaction with Winters; on the contrary, the young and strong men in the Protestant village obeyed the order without complaint, as if they really regarded Winters as "their people."

After learning about Winters' decision, the old hunter Ralph left the army without saying a word and searched deeper into the forest alone.

Lieutenant Montagne felt the pressure of making decisions for the first time.

...

On the third day after the search for the mountain stopped, Langtun Town ushered in another Sunday. Although the clouds of wolf disaster were shrouded above our heads, the villagers of the three villages still rushed to the church in the center of the town to attend the Sunday service as usual.

The church in Wolf Town is not big, but it is not particularly small, and the layout is similar to other single-room churches. Two stone walls with windows form the central hall of the church. The structure of the vault makes the central hall not need column support. One end of the central hall is the foyer, and the other end is the altar and ritual utensils.

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

This time, the young Father Kaman was responsible for preaching. He first led everyone to pray for several victims of the wolf disaster, and then quoted the saints' remarks to express some content that encourages the believers.

Seeing the believers who were hoping that God would expel the bears of evil spirits, Winters understood them a little. This was essentially a sense of powerlessness, and it became a natural option to hope for something that he could do nothing about.

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 still have to say thank you. Hedong and Hexi villages have been very resentful towards me recently."

"There is no other way." Father Kaman explained with a gentle voice: "The beast is in the forest, but you are right in front of them."

Winters smiled bitterly: "My previous wish was to find a free job and live until retirement. Now... I would rather go back to the army and be a small centurion."

“There is always a reason for fate to put you in this position.”

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

Father Kaman also smiled: "Who made you a disbeliever? Let's say it in another way that you can accept."

"But I don't believe in things like fate. If everything is decided, what's the point of that person's struggle? We just need to lie on the ground and wait for fate to come."

"Maybe human struggle is also part of fate."

"Sociologists." Winters scoffed at this: "Don't the seminary take logic classes? You are saying that the future is both known and agnostic, and you are describing a paradox."

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

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

The church handyman pushed the door open and entered: "Father! It's not good...ah! The resident of the town is here too!"

"What happened?" Winters asked.

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

...

"Where did you run?" Winters, who was running wildly, pulled the reins and the red mane stood up in front of the village chief of Hexi Village.

The village chief dared not neglect, pointed his finger at the west side of the village and replied: "West!"

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

"It should be during the mass that the thing came in and ate a lot of food and bit a paralyzed old woman to death!"

Winters turned his horse and said, "Call all the militias and follow me!"

"Okay, sir, okay." The village chief added, remembering something: "The hunter has already chased after him."

The militia in Dusa Village also saw the beacon fire, and the old Sergei immediately brought the Dusa people to meet with the militia in Hexi Village.

Unlike the previous three times of violence, the evil beast had just escaped, and the traces it left were clearly visible. Following the traces along the way, Winters led everyone to the woodland in the southwest direction.

In the shadow of the canopy, Winters could see broken shrubs and weeds. The bear was extremely large in size, and the traces of the shrubs and young trees in the forest were like a small path.

Guided by the traces on the ground, Winters chased after him. At this moment, he had only one thought in his mind: kill the man-eating bear. Inadvertently, he even threw away the militia behind him for a long distance.

He grabbed his horse's ribs, stepped through a hazel bush, crossed the cold stream, rushed up a bunch of earth and rushed down, and ran wildly among the woods.

On the back of a speeding horse, the pine needles struck the skin like the sharpest arrows. Every time they touched, they would have a blood mark.

The complex terrain between the woodlands is even more dangerous. Fortunately, there is a help from the red mane, otherwise a small mouse hole would cause him to break his neck.

After climbing over several mud buns, the broken branches and shrubs first led Winters to a depression, turned a sharp bend and suddenly started climbing the hill again. Winters didn't know how far he had chased, but he could tell that the terrain was rising rapidly.

The further you went, the steeper the slope, the red mane was roaring, and he tried his best to pedal and step, and his four hooves dug out deep nests after deep on the soft black soil.

The war horse was already ineffective, and Winters turned over and dismounted when he saw this. He took out two heavy convex guns and gunpowder pots from the saddle bag and began to load the bullets.

A strange silence was revealed in the dark forest.

Suddenly, a rustling sound came from nearby.

Winters picked up the musket and pressed the stock against his shoulder.

"Sir, it's me." The figure of hunter Ralph appeared from the branches and leaves.

Before he could talk nonsense, Winters asked directly: "Are you in front?"

“It should be ahead.”
To be continued...