Krafft's Notes on Anomalies

Yvonne ran as fast as she could across the uncovered stretch of road to the base of the tower. A section of stone steps of about 20 or 30 steps leads diagonally downward, where you can see the sparsely lit visitor's residence.

It was originally part of the defense around the inner castle in the early days, but it lost its original value during the successive expansions of the castle. It was used as a temporary residence for visitors, but the overall structure has not been significantly modified. Only the front and rear doors and some windows are narrow. s room.

If the people inside realize that something special is happening in time, they should be very safe as long as they close the two thick wooden doors with iron inlays.

All she had to do was hurry up and notify them before something arrived.

The open door casts light inside the building, winding its way up the stone steps. Yvonne ran towards the light. Although the unknown images that flashed were urging her to move forward, she still slowed down. These stone steps were half the height of her calf for her, and it was more laborious at best to go up. The next misstep could have serious consequences.

After spending a difficult half minute on the stairs, she stood in front of the door holding her racing heart, leaning against the door with her tiptoes and looking inward. Fortunately, the people standing in the long and wide hall were still house officers and servants, not some strange and inhuman things.

"Mr. Wilbert!" she shouted, eager to express what she saw. "Close the door quickly, something is coming!"

What responded to her was the same look of surprise and confusion on different faces. They heard every word clearly but made no further reaction. In response to Yvonne's eagerness, Wilbert only showed an understanding smile.

"No need to worry, Miss Yvonne, those flames are the torches used by the knights when patrolling. You can think that Westminster Castle is the safest place in the entire kingdom, and routine night patrols are part of protecting this security."

Even the servants puffed out their chests slightly, feeling proud to serve this huge fortress.

"But I saw that the patrol torches were extinguished. There were at least three of them. One of them was on the mountain road, not far from here." The dizziness that had just stopped running made Yvonne feel that there were double images in front of his eyes and his footsteps were light. The bizarre content was poured out, "I also saw it"

Although he still had childlike thoughts, Wilbert at least put away his smile and said, "What else did you see?"

"I also saw the cliff. I mean the torch fell off the cliff." As she spoke, "something climbed on the cliff" was swallowed. She saw her identity from the other party's light attitude. question.

What I saw at that time was too unreasonable, just like the original owner of the dagger under my skirt. His body was covered in carapace and looked like a ghost. Those who saw it with their own eyes would find it hard to believe their eyes after thinking about it, let alone listen to the reports. At best, they thought it was An illusion caused by excessive nervousness and fear. And if you say it as a scared little girl, there is no credibility.

However, this statement alone had no warning effect at all, so she decided to lie, "I seemed to have seen someone attacking them. I swear on Mr. Kraft's name!"

In order to make the verbal description more credible, she had to imitate those who swear and find something to swear to, Heavenly Father or something else with weight.

The religious belief has long been eliminated, and the remaining sense of mystery has been destroyed by Father Adrian. In desperation, there is only one person who can think of something that may be more weighty and relevant.

The words had little effect, and one of "raid" or "craft" made the house officer look a little more seriously, and stopped the laughter of the servants with a stern look. However, it’s hard to say how much of this action was out of belief, or whether it was due to the importance attached to the name.

"Tom, go and take a look."

The servant followed the order and ran away, disappearing into the darkness outside the door on the opposite side. The report soon came: "Your Majesty, Internal Affairs Officer, there are many torches below."

Yvonne felt she heard a non-existent chuckle, and the well-trained servants lowered their heads, hiding their expressions from the light.

Looking down from here, there is no difference between two or three fires. Since the peripheral defenses are still operating normally, this is still the most stable fortress in the kingdom. This is a dead end, and unless someone is willing to go out and verify it, it is unprovable nonsense.

Wilbert's attitude did not change due to the servant's reward, and he remained as gentle and polite as ever, "Miss Yvonne, please be assured. We can arrange for the next passing knight to escort you up."

That kind of inaudible laughter sounded in her head. She felt that it did not come from the few people in front of her who seemed to be polite but did not take it seriously, but from the mocking sounds of the approaching things in the night wind. Who would have thought In the middle of the night, something could silently appear inside the high wall, climb up the rock wall, and drag the heavily armed guards and their light sources down the cliff.

With her status, she was unable to persuade these people. It was too late to change places now. Perhaps their limbs had climbed onto the platform and were about to enter this obvious goal, which was isolated in the darkness. She was also isolated and would not be able to provide help. of people.

Powerless and panicked, Yvonne tried her best to suppress these useless emotions. She had sufficient experience of being alone and acting independently. She was not one of those peers who would just cry without help. What is needed at this time is not to vent your emotions, but to be calm and think independently without interference. There will always be a way.

"I want to be alone for a while, please give me a key."

"Of course, as long as you need it, miss." Compared with blocking a road, a willful little request seems not so excessive. At most, I have to sort it out later. Under Yvonne's anxious gaze, Wilbert picked one of the keys from a bunch of keys and said, "If you are not in a hurry to use the first room on the second floor, we can arrange for someone to tidy it up first."

"No."

Almost grabbing the key, Yvonne ran up the stairs holding it. This action was probably regarded as the little girl's shame and anger. The house officer didn't care. He bowed gracefully as always and put away the key chain.

For the last time, Yvonne looked at the person still behind her. Those faces were blurred in the dim light, as if they were shrinking and fading away. They were no different from the torches that Yu Yu walked forward in the night. They were separated by a long distance, and even if they tried hard to shout, they couldn't hear each other. They were just a few embers without any intersection. .

She climbed the stairs without looking back, successfully opened the door with the key, closed the window and drew the curtains, locked the door and lowered the bolt, and sat down on the ground with her back against the door panel.

My heart was pounding in my chest, my head was swollen. After a moment of hesitation, she covered the lampshade, leaving only a speck of light projected through the keyhole in the room, which projected onto the spread skirt.

Tucking up her skirt to avoid the light, she imagined herself blending into the darkness, trying to calm down her heartbeat and breathing that were too obvious in the silence.

There was a voice calling someone's name from downstairs. It was House Officer Wilbert, and "Tom", the name of the servant, could be vaguely heard.

When there was no response, Wilbert yelled again. At the same time, she heard many sounds like walking in the mud of low tide passing under the window, accompanied by a vague smell that she thought was already in her memory.

That smell is bound to the darkest and numbest memories, pulling the consciousness back to the room deep in the Long Lane of Solace. I still don’t know whether it was a few days of pain or relief. She covered her mouth to prevent herself from speaking out of fear or some other emotion.

The smell of departed souls and decaying bodies is walking and climbing.

The voice from downstairs came again, first doubtful, as if seeing an unknown stranger coming outside the door asking questions. After a short, but felt extremely long silence, there was no sound of wind in the room. For the first time tonight, she clearly and completely heard the sounds that ordinary people would make when seeing those things.

A scream of terror as if his eyes were gouged out.

Running around in confusion, calling for help, knocking over furnishings, and falling to the ground in bunches of small metal pieces, she reluctantly but undeniably recognized one or two that still matched the impression.

After a while, these sounds ceased to exist. There was a painful, violent cough, and you couldn't tell which one was which. The putrid smell rushed in from the keyhole, and there was dust that made your throat itchy. You had to hold your throat to resist the physical urge to sneeze and cough.

The smell is getting stronger and closer. Yvonne opened her eyes, not knowing what to look at. She could only stare at the keyhole spot on the ground the size of a knuckle.

Soft, wet, and rancid, this was all she knew about those things, things that had been dismembered by mildew but not cleaned. It was quiet outside. She covered her mouth and nose tightly and only let out a breath, hoping that those things would leave soon.

Silence and stillness will destroy the sense of time, making it difficult for people to believe what they think. It seems that a long time has passed, but the light shining in has no tendency to dim. There was unchanging silence, fatigue spread and pulling at the hands, and tension and fear quickly consumed physical strength and energy. Yvonne groped for the keyhole, tilted her head and tried to peek out.

The light spot disappeared, and it was bright again in an instant. The gentle light passed through the small hole, pretending that nothing happened.

[They didn’t leave]

As if to confirm this idea, the keyhole was once again covered and illuminated. Frightened and inexplicable thoughts emerged one after another. Yvonne couldn't figure out why they were staying here, and even climbed to the second floor.

Pointless wandering? Or are you searching for something? Searching for the only living person here?

It seemed that there would be a knock on the door in the next second, and the survival instinct wanted to get up and run away. But unless she could squeeze through the window, which was absolutely no wider than a skull, she would be stuck in this room.

Wait, wait, she thought, grabbing the wooden handle of the dagger. This weapon is basically brand new except for the metal material. The handle is made of very good-smelling pine wood, which is treated very smooth, without wood thorns, and is wrapped with a cloth strip that can hold firmly but does not scratch the hand.

Yvonne soon realized there was no point. They had already taken down the night guard and several adults downstairs; what could this dagger do? The experience of helping Kupu turn the tide of the war did not give her unrealistic illusions. On the contrary, she understood her limitations very well.

A doubt, an inevitable doubt appeared in front of me. No matter how hard she tries, can anything really change? Even if she can be as strong as a knight or as commanding as Officer Wilbert, there is essentially no difference.

She once felt that Solace Harbor was cold and scary enough, and she had already mastered some of the necessary abilities in life.

But there is a fact that is far scarier than that, colder than imagined, that is, any efforts by anyone are meaningless when something comes, just like Dr. Kraft also admitted that there is no solution to his father's illness, the ocean will not It does not matter whether the captain or the sailor drowns.

This thought made the body tremble slightly, more so than the despair of the corrupt things lingering outside the door.

【if.】

What if? She sat for a while leaning against the door panel, thinking that it would be nice if Kraft, or at least Coop, was here, but that didn't change the fact that she was the last person here. This deepens the feeling of hopelessness and powerlessness.

Fortunately, Yvonne has always felt that she has another advantage that is not an advantage, and that is her ability to adapt.

He moved further away from the door and leaned against the foot of the bed to stay away from the increasingly strong smell of putrid smell and dust, and to prevent him from coughing uncontrollably.

From the initial fear, to a bit of numbness. Then she counted the number of times the keyhole was blocked. After she reached the eighth finger, she waited a long time for the ninth one.

They did not leave, but stayed in this building. You know, they can climb up from the bottom of the cliff, attack the patrollers on the mountain road, and then continue to come here, but now they are lingering.

Without even realizing it, Yvonne was observing them, understanding the actions of those things through the light spots in the keyhole, just like observing people with malicious intentions, thinking about what they wanted. By studying the behavior of those people, she learned to deal with relationships and used similar methods. But the same logic has no use in this situation?

An extremely absurd thought that frightened her came up - why not?

【This is that kind of thing】

They are more dangerous than the whims of human minds, but not necessarily more difficult to understand, but they possess power that neither armor nor numbers can cope with.

The bone-armored monster encountered in the southern hills couldn't stand Kupu's casual throw, but he had the absolute upper hand. This is the kind of thing she wants to understand, a power more direct than the page hammer, and beyond her understanding of "ability" in the previous ten years of life.

Part of her fear turned into an unimagined feeling, and she felt the power of it.

【envious】

The power to blow out embers easily.

She crawled towards the keyhole and clung to it to observe the outside world. If a soul from another world was present and looked at the keyhole from outside, he would see familiar eyes. Those were the eyes that she had looked at Black Liquid, with fear and curiosity. and even more ardent expectations.

Perhaps when she was older and more mature, her mind softened by a gentle life and an academic career, she would not be able to have such thoughts, but here was Yvonne now. Pure and non-childish thinking was running, sorting out what he saw in this building.

After being shocked by the lush and colorful mushroom bushes and the half-decayed corpses of the walking corpses, she could not find the pattern of their actions for the time being, but she later thought of another thing.

[I may not be the last person here]

I worked the night shift the day before yesterday and got off work at noon yesterday. I failed to cope with the jet lag, so I changed it to a two-in-one update. +_+