Krafft's Notes on Anomalies

"What's wrong?" Kraft asked from behind. His hand was already pressing on his shoulder, and the force was increasing.

"I'm fine!"

His body trembled, but he failed to get rid of the hand. Instead, it tended to tighten further. Coop was so frightened that he quickly declared that he was not distracted. The place where it was pinched just now still hurts, but this time I thoughtfully changed the side. It will be symmetrical after a while.

After getting rid of the threat on his shoulders, Coop looked up at the boulder wall. This image is as tall as two people. The lower link-shaped object that is neither a snake nor an insect is in the bright center of the lamp. The long body is coiled and covers half of the flat surface.

It should be the protagonist of the picture, but it does not receive enough brushstrokes. The overlapping links resemble scales, which can also be regarded as a carapace, and the tortuous body can be said to be the soft body of an earthworm.

The long body between several forms contains a large number of human figures with only a few brush strokes. They are completely different from the wide-faced human figures above the boundary. The former is a batch of simple drawings that are close to symbolic symbols, while the latter is emphasized. An individual with an emphasis on personality.

The facial features that have been deformed due to the widening of the face all show clear distinctions, and the outline details in a realistic style are deliberately highlighted. The details are so detailed that one feels that they are no less than a portrait painted in person.

However, he has never seen anyone who looks like this, or rather, it looks more like a person who has been flattened and stretched, not like that.

The image of something with unclear formal form is compatible with the realistic facial makeup, which strengthens the difference between the two parts, and is connected to each other through the segmented long body opening at the boundary.

His eyes also twisted upward along the strips, from the tadpole-like little people to the roughly human shapes, and then to the figures in the upper half of the picture, with their different wide faces getting farther and farther away from the lamp flame.

"William, I have a suggestion." Kraft stopped William who was walking towards the village. Although he didn't understand anything about this painting, one thing was quite obvious:

It is a great waste to light a lamp in the middle of the night without using it, especially here, but it is associated with a non-utilitarian purpose.

It is analogous to the candles that are kept lit day and night in a church, except for the few necessary for lighting, which is closer to the meaning of worship. The oil lamp may have served some approximate purpose, and the multiple hybrid, out-of-norm images also served the need for worship.

It is different from the order of priority in the church where the sacred is at the top and the figures are arranged below; it goes in the opposite direction, placing the human form in the upper half and the thing at the bottom.

"Put your pendants away, maybe someone won't like them."

The double-winged holy emblem amulets on their chests shone brightly in the firelight. This was something that almost everyone in the sailor community had, and they were very willing to spend money on it. The materials are generally mixed with silver, and people like William will even use pure silver, which is extremely conspicuous.

Kraft didn't think it was a good idea for them to knock on the door wearing the pendant. "For the sake of the gold, don't make a mistake at the last step."

"Okay." William lifted his collar, took the lead, took off the Holy Emblem pendant and stuffed it into his inner pocket. With him as an example, the sailors were willing to compromise temporarily for the sake of the captain and the reward.

On the other hand, Peter, who had the purest faith, did not wear any church-related symbols, which saved him the trouble of convincing him specifically.

After dealing with the problem here, Kraft turned to his followers. Coop was still standing there, his eyes seemed to be glued to the mural, and he had not moved away since he saw it.

To be precise, the upper part of the stone wall.

"What did you find?"

"I..." Kupp opened his mouth and realized that Kraft was not the only one looking at him. He stopped talking, shook his head and followed the team, "I have never seen anything like this before. It's a bit novel."

"Ha, then you will have many new opportunities in the future." William and the sailors laughed kindly. They have seen a lot. A small area that is suspected of being pagan is not a strange thing. The strange customs and beliefs that can be created by isolation are everywhere. No matter how weird it is, it can't be blamed on the ice field.

After all, we are all people who want to eat and drink water. Putting aside some local differences, heresy is not the same as belief in the devil as the church said. You will understand it after seeing it more.

"Don't worry, I believe they recognize this one." A golden round metal appeared in William's hand, which was immediately replaced by a silver one. "Okay, I admit that they may not recognize the previous one."

The sailors laughed together and followed William towards the village. The unhappiness on the mountain road was diluted a lot. It's just a horse, it doesn't even have a life problem, it's not worth worrying about.

Kraft called Yvonne into sight, slowed down a few steps, and waited for Kupp to come closer to him and increase the distance between him and the team. "It's okay now, let's talk."

He turned his head sideways and saw Coop holding his hands in front of him and deliberately moving to the right, away from the hammer handle. It seems that Kraft's words were listened to, but it was not easy to implement.

"I'm not sure." Coop fell into a mild trance. His dissociated eyes did not seem to be avoiding questions, but were caused by unsolvable confusion that disrupted logic and caused self-doubt.

While on the mountain road, Kraft did vaguely feel something strange, but unfortunately he couldn't detect anything when he used his spiritual senses several times. He didn't expect that Kupp had fallen into some trap without knowing it.

Thinking about it now, I'm afraid that the reason why this unlucky guy was found so quickly in the salt tide area incident was not entirely due to the little well water, but also his own "susceptibility", which made him more susceptible to the influence and became a weak link.

"Go ahead, are you still afraid that I will laugh at you?"

William was slapping the door panel of the nearest house, and the sound of slapping caused the rough female voice in the room to curse, completely covering up the conversation here.

Yvonne was startled by the sudden noise and her attention was drawn to it. If they want to talk about something difficult to express, now is just the right time for the two of them. When they get indoors later, there won't be that much space for private conversations.

"I'm really not sure, it's just an idea." Kupp crossed his fingers and denied himself repeatedly, not willing to admit it even to Kraft, "It's those things painted above... those things that look like faces."

He was hesitant to pronounce words, and his lips and teeth were very disapproving of the words he spat out, as if he was in a conflict with himself. What made him hesitant was not telling others about the idea, but the idea itself. Mentioning it was tantamount to admitting its existence.

A nihilistic, shapeless and ridiculous guess that once exported cannot be left behind and is firmly listed among the possibilities.

The strong arms pushed the door into William's face. The woman wearing a turban held a mining pick and looked over. Her attitude softened slightly when she saw that he was holding coins.

Since the best communication language is still valid here, and there are local guides to mediate, it may not be difficult to negotiate accommodation. The sailors waved to their teammates who were lagging behind, beckoning Kraft to follow.

"There's one in there that I may have seen."