Chapter 517: Framed
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Bernard brought a team of horse-riding troops to go after Jiang Fei and Hua Mulan’s refugees. Although Jiang Fei and the rest had already moved quite far ahead, they were all walking on their feet with loads of baggages. How could they possibly be faster than horse-riding troops?
After approximately an hour, Bernard’s horse-riding troops managed to catch up and get a view of the refugees before them.
“Talk to her first. If it doesn’t work, I will do it myself!” Sylphy said to Bernard.
Although Sylphy was stronger than Hua Mulan and was also the Moon G.o.d’s disciple, the two belonged to different organizations. Sylphy was from the Religious Judicatory which belonged to the Pope, while Hua Mulan was the Saint’s subordinate.
It might appear that the Luminous Vatican’s Pope had all the power whereas the Saint did not. However, the two were rightfully equals. The Pope was in charge of managing the Luminous Vatican’s affairs while the Saint was responsible for spreading evangelism.
In other words, the Pope had a complete say in military affairs, whereas the Saint held the responsibility of garnering support from the people. Although her powers were not as great as the Pope, she fronted the common disaster relief and life-saving initiatives. Therefore, in the eyes of the Luminous Vatican’s followers, she held a very prominent place.
Due to such relations, Sylphy did not wish to cause trouble with the Saint’s subordinate. Moreover, they were in the midst of engaging the Dark Faction in the battle. If there were to be internal strife within the Light Faction, it would be all over for them.
“Alright! I highly suspect that Hua Mulan will not agree with us…” Bernard sighed. However, he did not dare to disobey Sylphy’s order.
With that, Sylphy flew into the sky and hid behind layers of clouds. Bernard, on the other hand, led his horse-riding troops to block the refugees’ path.
“What’s going on?” Jiang Fei realized that the group had stopped moving forward and turned to Hua Mulan with his question.
As there were no more small towns to rob, and Jiang Fei was also too lazy to scout the so-called Nephilim’s a.s.sault Unit, he decided to stay with Hua Mulan and the rest in the group.
“Reporting to the commander! Bernard has blocked our pathway!” Right then, a lowly soldier came forward with news for Hua Mulan.
“Eh?!” Hua Mulan frowned. Naturally, she knew that Bernard was a front-line commander and also understood why he had come.
The Saint was in charge of spreading the religion and therefore, prioritized peasants’ livelihood. The Pope, on the other hand, focused on protecting the structure of governance and therefore was willing to sacrifice any number of peasants to fight against the Dark Faction. As such, it was impossible to reconcile the differences between the two.
“I’ll have a look!” Hua Mulan smiled and nodded at Jiang Fei as she followed the lowly soldier to the front of the group.
“A loghead from the Divine Light Fortress? I want to have a look too!” Jiang Fei’s interest was piqued. Hence, he quietly sneaked in front of the group.
“Bernard, why have you come?” Hua Mulan showed no signs of friendliness to the front-line commander.
“Hehe… That… Lieutenant General Hua Mulan, this… that…” Bernard could not form a proper sentence after a long while.
Bernard could not help it. Hua Mulan was well-known for her bad temper. She might look dainty and elegant with her pretty white teeth and luscious red lips, but she was infamous for her explosive temper. If she did not agree with someone, she might just start attacking the person directly. On top of that, n.o.body could defeat her but an overlord. Bernard himself had been defeated by her twice before. Therefore, when he saw Hua Mulan, he felt very intimidated.
“Be straightforward. If there is nothing you want to say, get lost!” Hua Mulan had been very polite to Jiang Fei due to his high Reputation. Although she and Bernard belonged to the Light Faction, they held different beliefs and naturally did not have good relations with one another.
“Sigh! I’ll just say it. These are all rural peasants and they have a duty to a.s.sist us in defending the borders. They cannot retreat!” Bernard finally bit his tongue and blurted out what he had to say. Since he had Sylphy’s support today, he did not believe Hua Mulan would kick his a.s.s.
“Battles are military affairs. Why would it have anything to do with peasants? I have been ordered by the Saint to bring these people to safety. Are you going against the Saint’s order?” Hua Mulan stared at Bernard.
“Lieutenant General Hua Mulan, I am from the High Command. Surely the Saint has no right to govern us!” Bernard braced himself for the worst. After all, he had Sylphy’s backing and did not have to fear Hua Mulan.
“Are you saying you want to stop me?” Hua Mulan said as she pulled out her long spear.
“Holy sh*t!” Bernard’s heart beat wildly as he saw Hua Mulan’s weapon. The lady before him was so fierce that she would not even think twice before attacking.
“I am counting to three. If you don’t get out of my way, I will embarra.s.s you in front of your troops today!” Hua Mulan’s long spear was pointed directly at the tip of Bernard’s nose.
“My goodness. This lady cannot be angered at all…” Bernard subconsciously raised his head to the sky. He had no choice but to ask for Sylphy’s help. There was no way he could defeat Hua Mulan. If he was truly beaten up in front of his subordinates, how could he still hold up as a front-line commander?
However, Sylphy clearly did not plan to intervene right away. That was because she did not have any reason to. If she intervened now, she would carry the blame of bullying a lower-ranked subordinate from the Saint’s group. However, if Hua Mulan attacked Bernard first, Sylphy would be able to intervene under the pretext of being a special agent in the Front-line Inspection Defense. After all, it was only natural for her to intervene when a front-line commander was being attacked.
“Eh?” The act of looking toward the sky was done subconsciously by Bernard. He understood that Sylphy would not show herself before Hua Mulan attacked him. However, when his gaze returned to Hua Mulan, he noticed a Nephilim amidst the peasants.
“Oh, great! Hua Mulan, you are actually colluding with the Nephilims!” Bernard finally caught onto something.
“Ah?” Hua Mulan was stunned. She then followed Bernard’s gaze and looked in the direction where Jiang Fei stood alone on an empty piece of land.
Jiang Fei’s red name was very much apparent on the empty field. It would be difficult not to notice it. Therefore, it was unsurprising that Bernard saw him from afar.
The main reason Jiang Fei was exposed was that he wanted to catch a glimpse of how the front-line commander of the Divine Light Fortress looked like. Jiang Fei had thought it through initially. He would conceal himself amongst the crowd of several thousand so that the horse-riding troops on the other side would not be able to notice him.
However, Jiang Fei made a grave mistake. As he was embarra.s.sed from being surrounded by ladies, he chose to stand among the men. However, he forgot that his attraction only worked on women. Therefore, even after Hua Mulan had explained his status, the men in the Light Faction, regardless of whether they were soldiers or peasants, all held an Indifferent state toward Jiang Fei’s Reputation. Everyone kept their distance from Jiang Fei. Therefore, Jiang Fei’s big red name was immediately exposed to Bernard.
“Although he is a Nephilim, he is the Saint’s envoy. I have proof in my hands!” Hua Mulan immediately started explaining. After all, the consequences of colluding with the Nephilim were so huge that even she could not bear them.
“Haha! Hua Mulan! Stop trying to explain! You have clearly colluded with the Nephilims and tried to pa.s.s it as the Saint’s order so that you could get rid of the peasants. You want to weaken our border defenses! Hua Mulan, you traitor!” Bernard was completely unwilling to listen to her explanation. He immediately tried to ascertain the fact that Hua Mulan was at fault. If that were the case, Sylphy, the executioner on behalf of the Religious Judicatory, would be able to intervene before Bernard was even attacked.