Berserk: The Prophet

"...Strangely, all the alchemists involved in this development perished, and those who survived are currently being hunted by the furious Grand Duke, especially a centurion named Donovan."

"...He is the main person in charge tonight."

As the woman recounted her story, Trunks's face darkened. Without time to inquire further, he ordered his troops to immediately seal off all the city gates and then, in a great hurry, rode his horse toward the Grand Duke's fortress.

Donovan...

Green felt the name was familiar because there was an NPC named Donovan when he was fighting the Prophecy of Pendor.

If Green remembers correctly, it should have been a Barkley nobleman, so how did it become a centurion?

Without a second thought, Green, Seranty, and the others followed closely behind the one-armed Trunks, rushing toward the Grand Duke's fortress.

Upon arriving at the fortress, Trunks hurriedly dismounted and headed straight for the Duke's study, where the Holy Dragon Knights' guards and Grimm waited anxiously outside.

I wonder how Fetnas and Casarian are doing. Could it be the work of the Serpent Cult?

In the study room.

Duke Casarian was like a deflated balloon, slumped in his wheelchair in silence. The old man, who had devoted almost his entire life to his research, had never been so dejected as he was now.

Hearing the knock at the door, they naturally let him in. Fertnas had already been frightened by the sudden explosion and had come to hide with Casarian, looking like he had just been crying.

"What happened in the city? I heard the lab was blown up?" Trunks asked as soon as he entered.

"...Um."

Casarian responded coldly, his mood also quite bad.

"...Didn't you take any remedial measures?"

Faced with this attitude, Trunks suddenly felt speechless and powerless.

"What do you think? This massive explosion destroyed the entire laboratory. Not a single alchemist survived... none." Casarian finally turned from the table to Trunks. He had originally planned to visit the laboratory himself later that night.

When he received the message, he was still working on improving the artillery and designing blueprints.

Everyone knew that Grand Duke Casarian disliked being disturbed while working, and when he heard that the laboratory had been blown to pieces and no one had survived, he finally couldn't hold his pen anymore.

"...Where's your left arm, son?"

Casarian noticed Trunks' empty left hand, which should have been intact and covered with arm armor. His aged and slightly cloudy eyes widened, and he pushed his wheelchair closer to Trunks, even putting on the microscope he used to examine small parts.

Trunks tried to avoid Casarion's touch, but it was too late, just like the child who had failed to meet Casarion's demands before.

Casarian could clearly feel that Trunks' left arm was now empty.

He hadn't addressed Trunks as father and son for a long time, and the two remained silent for a long while.

"I'm going to hunt down the culprits." Trunks left without looking back, and the door closed again.

Casarian watched Trunks' departing figure, a sharp pain piercing his heart. Trunks had always harbored resentment towards him, but he also understood that it was all his own fault.

After all, he used to be so cold-blooded, ruthless, sharp-tongued, and mean-spirited, because Trunks had been groomed as his successor since childhood, and his demands on Trunks were extremely harsh.

Now, seeing Trunks lose his left arm, he vaguely felt that the distance between them as relatives seemed to be an insurmountable chasm.

After all, Casarian had never given him a kind look since he was a child.

Casarian felt as if he had suddenly lost his tongue; the words he wanted to say to persuade his son to stay were stuck in his throat, and he didn't know how to speak.

This feeling is just like when Trunks lost his mother...

"Fertness, you should go back to your room first. Your father has things to do." He pushed his wheelchair with difficulty toward the door.

Fetnas watched Casarian's retreating figure, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

He knew his father had always been strict with his brother Trunks, but he never expected his father, who was always like this, to show such a forlorn expression.

"Where are you going? I'll push you there, Father." Perhaps he took after his mother, Fetnas was a very sensible child. At 1.3 meters tall, he could barely push Casarian forward.

“Go back to your room. Don’t run around. This isn’t for children.” Casarian’s tone was not as kind as usual; it was stern.

“...Okay.” Fertnas rarely saw his father speak to him in such a tone. He silently opened the study door for Casarian and watched him leave.

Fetnas silently turned and went back to his room, his heart heavy. He knew that the rift in his family would take time and effort to mend.

.........

When Trunks hurriedly came out of the study, everyone was anxiously thinking of ways to remedy the situation.

“The situation is worse than we imagined,” Trunks said. “The destruction of the laboratory not only resulted in the loss of a large number of valuable research results, but may also affect Pence’s future development.”

"So what should we do next?" Thran asked.

Trunks pondered for a moment and said, "First, we need to find out the truth of the matter, find the centurion named Donovan, and the personnel responsible for tonight's patrol."

Trunks then began to deploy his team, and Green volunteered to participate in the investigation.

The group left Casarian's residence in a hurry and arrived outside the fortress.

"Could it be the Snake Cult's doing?" Green asked, noting that the Snake Cult had been causing far too much trouble lately.

“Possibly,” Trunks said gravely, “but we can’t draw any conclusions yet. We need to gather more evidence.”

"Could this be a diversionary tactic by the Snake Worship Cult? Could they be using this as cover to assassinate Duke Casarian?" Green voiced his suspicions, since no one could guarantee that such a possibility wouldn't exist without evidence.

He looked at Green, a hint of worry flashing in his eyes. "What you said makes sense. Wilder, go and transfer half of the Holy Dragon Knights to reinforce the fortress patrols."

"Yes!" Wilder accepted the order and handed the task over to his lieutenant.

Trunks nodded, then assigned tasks, "We'll split into two groups: one to find Donovan and other relevant personnel, and the other to investigate whether there is any remaining evidence at the laboratory."

The group accepted the order and left, thus commencing the investigation.