Krafft's Notes on Anomalies

Coop tried to turn around and look at Yvonne for the fourth time today. This movement almost shook him off the unshocked carriage. The unshelled grains in the sack under his buttocks had a sharp tingling sensation, which prevented him from moving.

It was not that he was interested in this inexplicable little girl who appeared, but he could always feel a line of sight coming from under the hood of the small cloak at the rear of the car, observing him from time to time.

When he returned the gaze, he quickly disappeared, turning towards the dusty bushes and leaves around the road, observing the unchanging scenery along the way.

After the initial freshness of arriving in a foreign land has dissipated, people begin to feel bored by the gray leaves and similar hillsides. The twists and turns of the road confuse the sense of direction, giving rise to the illusion of going in circles.

Since there were no animal-drawn vehicles specifically designed to carry people, they spent a little money at the river port, boarded two under-loaded grain carriages, and drove to the so-called "Gravel Town" along a dirt road that looked like it had been paved naturally. go.

This small cart pulled by a single mule horse is only for transportation needs. It is slow and heavy, and it is not known how long it will take to reach the destination.

The trip, which was both psychologically and physically painful, was boring. Coop wanted to shout loudly to vent, to hear whether this annoying valley would not even give an echo, but Kraft was sitting in the same car, leaning next to the driver. Shaking the bag, as a follower you must restrain yourself.

Fortunately, this journey finally came to an end at nearly noon. Turning another familiar bend, he heard Kraft's voice.

"That's over there?"

"Yes." The coachman replied with a thick local accent, his voice was slurred and longer, as if the words were going around in his chest before finding the exit.

Coop tried to apply the words he heard from Kraft. It was probably that such an accent was related to living in a dusty place for a long time, which damaged the delicate lungs and affected their breathing unsmoothly.

Jumping out of the carriage, yellow dust was rising. Kupu pulled the collar of his burqa to cover his mouth and nose, squinting and looking forward. The mountain valleys were no different from before, and the narrow flat land where shrubs had been cleared. Human buildings appeared on it. in front of them.

Kraft patted the black burqa, walked over to him, pulled it up in front, and put the hammer on the fabric, "Pay attention to your appearance, no one will like an outsider who looks unfriendly, especially this kind of... village?"

It may not be appropriate to call it a town, but it is just a group of small buildings composed of adobe houses along the valley. You can see the top at a glance, and they look like thirty or forty households at most.

A few people, covered in dust like everything else here, were waiting at the intersection, curious to talk to strangers when they saw them.

William and the three crew members followed from the last car, but they didn't seem so pleasant. The locals glanced at them and then walked around to the other side of the carriage, unloaded the grain bags and left without saying a word. .

"They don't seem very friendly?" William spoke in a low voice, leaning against Kraft's ear, avoiding the coachman.

"I don't know, be careful with your people. I'm afraid I may have accidentally violated some taboos." Kraft looked at their attire thoughtfully. They were all wearing cloaks and couldn't see much difference. "Speaking of this, Yvonne, you Remember to follow us closely and don’t get lost.”

The girl followed quickly, and when passing by Coop, the latter noticed that she was holding a small booklet made of rough paper for practicing writing in her hand, which was stuffed into the inner pocket of her cloak and hidden.

Yvonne, whose presence had been reduced for two days, became more active again. Coop roughly guessed what she was thinking, but he didn't care. Anyway, he never thought about competing with a child. After he became literate, he concentrated on developing into martial arts, preparing for the possibility of becoming a knight, and striving to fulfill his guard duties as soon as possible.

After blowing the dust off his shoulders and adjusting the hem of his burqa, he followed Kraft and walked towards the town.

Among the short earth-and-stone houses, a spire popped up at the foot of the mountain near the town. There was actually a small church in this small place.

The team, which was confused by the attitude of the locals, immediately decided to stay in the most familiar place here. At least the priest would believe in the things they knew, which was a knowable way of thinking.

But it is indeed a bit shabby. A mosaic-style holy emblem made of different-colored stones is embedded above a single door, marking the identity of the building. The only thing worthy of praise is the faith bonus gained by building it by hand.

There were few footprints in front of the dusty door. William opened the door first and entered the main hall of the church.

Three poorly made chairs are lined up in a row. The wooden holy emblem hangs in the center of the wall, and the paint leather is peeling off. The wooden surface is relatively smooth, and it can be seen that it is wiped frequently. It is the cleanest thing here, but it cannot resist the erosion of weather and time.

A man in a yellow and white robe sat on one of the chairs with his back to them, his hair disheveled.

When Kraft came around to him, he discovered that the robe was embroidered with double-wing circles. It was a robe that had become discolored due to lack of cleaning.

There are only three chairs, do you still have one for yourself? The churches here don't seem to be doing well either. It's obviously easier for churches to take root in remote areas.

"Father, are you awake?" William shook his shoulder lightly.

"Peter, let me sleep a little longer." He wiped away his sleepy eyes, stretched out, and suddenly realized that the person coming was a new face, "Ah! Welcome, believers of the Lord."

The priest gave up the chair and invited the visitors to sit down. His eyes lingered on their chests. The double-winged ring amulet that sailors were accustomed to hung allowed him to recognize the identity of "one of his own". "There are not often outsiders here."

"Indeed, it's great to find a fellow church member. There is almost no news about this place outside." William pulled up a chair and sat down, immediately regretting it. When he entered the church, he habitually took off his outer robe. The delicate touch told him that the chair was not much cleaner than the outer layer of the robe after a long journey.

“We want to spend a night under the protection of our Heavenly Father.”

"I have no reason to refuse, as long as you don't mind the simple environment here." The priest seemed to have been used to this simplest church that everyone present had ever seen, and he didn't look embarrassed at all.

It seems logical that people who can come to Gravel Town to build their own churches do not value worldly material things as much as faith.

"Thank you so much. We need a guide. Do you have any local recommendations?"

"I can ask Peter, it's not easy to find." The priest's influence here is as poor as the church, and Craft doubts that he has any other reliable candidate except this name.

This was a wake-up call. Thinking back to the locals he met at the entrance to the villages, Kraft realized that they might not be looking at the people themselves, but that their eyes were pointing at the sailors' chests and the double-winged ring amulets.

Local people don’t like churches very much. According to usual experience, they are rarely seen in remote settlements where spiritual life is lacking. A systematic religion will easily attract them as a solution to their problems and a person to seek help from.

If the church doesn't succeed, what other similar product will occupy this ecological niche?

I am increasingly busy with work and study, and I only have a few hours to allocate every day. I feel that it has a negative impact on the quality of updates, so I may change it to two days. (ω`)

By the way, recommend the book club: 755393512 Wendengang Medical College