Bertram

Bertram is Jacob’s lifelong guardian and friend, a durable close-range fighter whose loyalty carries him from their office and Tutorial into the Holy Church’s wars without eliminating his capacity to question its methods.

Biography

Guardian of the Augur

Bertram has cared for Jacob since childhood and enters the Tutorial beside him as the group’s heavy warrior. When William kills their companions, Bertram remains with Jacob through the Augur’s unusual survival and subsequent training. A time chamber under the Holy Church’s Grand Master sharpens his swordsmanship before their return to Earth, but the greater continuity is personal: he keeps treating Jacob as the person he must protect rather than merely as a valuable officeholder of the Church. (Chapters 1–12, 69, 115, and 122)

That loyalty repeatedly places Bertram inside morally compromised plans. During the Treasure Hunt, he objects when believers are sacrificed to empower a Holy Sword, yet accepts the weapon because Jacob can restore him and because refusing would waste the deaths already chosen. He burns out his body delivering Judgement’s Fall against the Cursed Monarch and is later resurrected. In the war with Ell’Hakan, Bertram ultimately follows Jacob rather than the hostile Church faction: he withholds his strength while Jake destroys their forces and helps remove the priestly leadership that stood in the way of surrender. (Chapters 327–341 and 1034–1067)

Appearance and personality

Bertram is a large, brooding-looking man whom Jake describes as a softhearted person beneath the intimidating exterior. He is stoic in tense encounters and speaks sparingly, but his objections to needless sacrifice and his dry comments around Jacob show an independent moral judgment rather than mindless obedience. (Chapters 1, 12, and 337)

Path, class, and abilities

Bertram begins with a heavy-warrior class focused on toughness, armor, and close-range weapons. Later training develops him into a highly capable swordsman and guardian.

Durability and holy armaments

His toughness lets him survive and function as the preferred wielder of powers that would immediately destroy another combatant. The one-use Holy Sword grants golden armor, wings, and holy attacks stronger than Jake’s charged arrows, but its energy consumes the wielder’s life; Bertram can use it only because Jacob’s abilities make resurrection possible. Judgement’s Fall manifests a six-winged figure and deals catastrophic damage before Bertram’s body disappears, making the technique a temporary, fatal empowerment rather than his ordinary level of mastery. (Chapters 3, 122, and 337–341)

By the later Earth war, Jake regards Bertram as a major threat even without seeing him deploy a Holy Armament. The corpus confirms upgraded swordsmanship and exceptional defensive value but does not give a complete current skill list or show his full later power, because he deliberately disengages from the decisive battle. (Chapters 122 and 1034–1065)

Power progression

Relationships

• Jacob: Bertram’s ward, oldest friend, and leader; loyalty to Jacob ultimately outweighs obedience to hostile factions within the Holy Church.
• Jake Thayne: A former coworker and dangerous ally-by-circumstance; Bertram avoids opposing him when Jacob’s plan turns against the Church’s hardliners.

Items

No separately cataloged notable item is finalized for Bertram.