Chapter 142 - Bard Wendell’s Information (1/2)

The heretic cult believer’s identity seemed to be unquestionable already.

Bard Wendell, the previous Wolf General; the son of a duke who originally had a glorious status and an immeasurable future.

But he appeared here, defeated by Gawain with the identity of a Grade 5 fallen Druid. In the end, his arm was even blown up by a grenade.

What exactly had happened in between all these?

Being able to discover a huge blemish in the high-ranks of the neighboring country (it could even be called the enemy country now) was naturally considered a gain, but what Gawain was more curious about at present was what kind of inconceivable life journey Bard Wendell went through to come to this day. Such a staggering change wasn’t something that could be explained by the ups and downs of life; it was literally the ups and downs downs downs of life. He could not help but inquire from Miss Agent who was before him, “I don’t know much about the present aristocrats of the various countries. About that Bard Wendell and his clan, how much do you know? How much can you tell me?”

“The Mithril Vault isn’t a specialized intelligence organization. What we know is limited to the matters that can be circulated and do not involve confidentiality.” Melita nodded lightly. “Bard Wendell, Duke Ferdinand Wendell’s only son. Brilliantly gifted and diligent. At the same time, also a pious believer of the God of War, Kehr. He received the elite education of aristocrats and the guidance of the God of War sect from a young age. At the age of ten, he exhibited spiritual gifts of Kehr. —— After converting, he swiftly grew to become a powerful Revered Knight, his capabilities drawing near to the high ranks. The most outstanding supernatural figure of Typhon’s previous generation’s youths.”

“Stop,” Gawain cut off Melita. “That is to say, his Beyonder rank is at Revered Knight?”

“That’s right. —— At least, that’s what the outside world is saying, and I believe there won’t be a problem with this information.”

“When he fought me, he not only had great swordsmanship, there also wasn’t the slightest hint of Kehr’s divine power on him,” Gawain informed solemnly. “All his Beyonder powers belonged to Druid theurgies. Of this, I can be sure.”

“Perhaps some unknown reason caused him to lose the blessing of the God of War, Kehr,” Melita guessed. “This might be the reason for him devoting himself to a heretic cult.”

“Never mind, go on. —— You mentioned that Bard went missing ten-odd years ago. What happened?”

Melita nodded. “After passing God of War Kehr’s appraisal and test, Bard Wendell officially relieved his father of the title of ‘Wolf General’ that was passed down their family clan and was promoted to be Knight Lord by the Typhon Emperor, becoming one of the high-ranking commanders of the Typhon Empire’s Order of Knights. However, he only remained in this position for a year. —— During one of the routine Anzu-Typhon border confrontations, he and a team of elite knights were sent to conduct reconnaissance outside of town and walked into a cloud of thick fog in the open view of everyone, then disappearing with the thick fog. Until three days later… several knights who had gone mad were found wandering in the wilderness, and Bard Wendell, as well as the remaining elite knights, was never found.”

At this point, Melita casually added, “In recent years, the relationship between Typhon and Anzu has been increasingly deteriorating. The disappearance of Bard Wendell also aggravated this trend in a large part. —— The Typhon people believed that Anzu had used sorcery to plot against their commander, while the Anzu people believed that this was a self-directed farce by Typhon, the objective being to find an excuse to reinforce troop numbers. In fact, this almost caused the two parties to directly declare war then, but when the situation was at its worst, Bard Wendell’s father, Duke Ferdinand, initiated an announcement that the disappearance of his only son had nothing to do with Anzu, stopping the outbreak of war.”

Gawain pinched his chin lightly. “Ferdinand Wendell? Is he a pacifist?”

“No, just the contrary, he was always a high military official of Typhon before that incident, and he was a firm advocate of war. The many military reforms that Typhon underwent had been done by him on behalf of his emperor. Hence, when the old Duke suddenly came forward to stop the war, it really made a bunch of jaws drop. And after that, the old Duke also turned from a war advocate to a neutral stance. — He continued driving Typhon’s military reforms but delayed the empire’s border military operations multiple times with reasons such as the timing not being right. Although many facts subsequently proved that his judgment had been right, this change in him still gave rise to much discussion in the outside world…”

Gawain slowly exhaled and pinched the space between his brows as he sank into thought.

Originally a brilliantly shining rising star, the devout and powerful ‘Wolf General’ went missing in a simple military operation. After ten-odd years with his whereabouts unknown, he suddenly appeared in such a deserted area in the south of Anzu. Not only were his powers as Revered Knight completely lost, he even became a Grade 5 fallen Druid. Not only did the old Duke who was originally an advocate for war not seek trouble with the ‘suspected culprit’, he instead stopped the break out of war multiple times — what was the link between these two matters? Did the subsequent change in the old Duke come because he knew something?

It was able to make a devout Revered Knight betray his faith, to the extent of joining a heretic cult formed by another religion; the reason for this certainly wouldn’t be simple. A thought suddenly burst into Gawain’s mind — could it be that Bard Wendell had learned of the truth that ‘the gods were dead’?!

Among all the intelligence that he had at present, only this could explain the shocking change that happened to Bard!

Gawain’s thoughts could not help stretching on: if finding out the truth caused Bard Wendell to abandon his faith, did that mean the original powers of his theurgies had been lost at the same time due to the same reason?

If one was unable to maintain faith in the gods, one would lose the corresponding theurgies?

Then what was theurgy? By firmly believing that a god was bluffing… protecting oneself, one would receive a ‘cheap’ Beyonder power?

But for such a formidable force, it had to have a source…