Krafft's Anomaly Notes

Chapter 386 Fieldwork
A philosopher once said that a person is the sum total of his experiences.

Like grapevines and trellises, unless they intend to crawl on the ground forever, as long as they grow upwards, they will always be shaped into a new form by the trajectory they have experienced, and this is especially true the farther and higher they climb.

Kup wholeheartedly agreed.

His long-term life as a servant and assistant had turned him into a typical indoor creature. He liked to be busy at his desk, maintained his cleanliness almost obsessively, and especially disliked going out and long-distance travel, which would prevent him from concentrating on reading for a long time.

Moreover, my experiences traveling with Kraft have been truly indescribable. I always had to choose between seeing blood or ghosts, and there were very few that ended normally. In my memory, it was almost synonymous with a period of high trouble.

But just like the grapevine climbing trellis theory, when it reaches a certain height, the trellis will suddenly bend at a 90-degree angle, causing the mindset to take a sharp turn in another direction.

It all started with the position known as the "chief watchman at the monastery".

From a more positive perspective, this has been a very beneficial week; he may not have made as much progress in the past few months as he has in just one week.

Presumably, the work of scheduling coordination, anesthesiologist, surgical assistant, ward round record keeping, medical record writing, pharmacy cashier, logistics management, material transportation, hospital rule supervision, and account filling has trained people.

He quickly gained a basic understanding of how the entire monastery-hospital operated, becoming a busy, useful, and outgoing person.

When he heard that there was something to be done, he accepted the task without hesitation. Based on his familiarity with the monastery over the past few days, he quickly took stock of the people he felt needed and notified them.

A monk he had met while searching for bones in the stream, Benny, a local nobleman who offered to help, Yvonne, who would definitely come along, plus Kup himself.

Four people are enough. Some things aren't better with more people, especially considering the possibility of teammates suddenly going insane. Bringing the monks was purely to show they came from a monastery; it would save them a lot of trouble.

Actually, replacing him with Field Hospital would be a better option, but if it's not Kraft, it's not advisable to rashly challenge Raymond's bottom line. Let's leave this poor guy with an ally.

By the time Raymond and Field found the work handover form left on the desk, the business trip team had already come down the mountain and arrived at the stonemason's house in town.

"So, what does the Dean want us to find this time?" asked the cultivator who had been casually pulled along.

He may never know that he was there simply because the list of names was sorted alphabetically and the name "Kansser" happened to be next to "Kup".

“Not sure, but I don’t think it’s anything like broken bones.” Kup knocked on the door and quickly got a response. “Come and ask him later what he wants to send to Dominic and Field.”

"no problem."

The monk stepped forward and greeted the stonemason who opened the door with a smile. "Good afternoon, brother. Brothers Dayfield and Dominic send their greetings."

"Oh, hello. I heard that Brother Dominic was seriously ill. How is he now?"

"Thanks to everyone's prayers, he is recovering well. God bless him."

"Oh, right, please wait a moment." The stonemason slapped his forehead, went back into the house, and came back carrying something tightly wrapped in thick wheat straw.

"This is the gift of thanks I mentioned before. If possible, please help me pass it on to Brother Dominic and Brother Field, or you can give it directly to the monastery."

"It is like this: I originally mistakenly thought that old John had disturbed my father's resting place, but after being persuaded by two respected monks, we decided to let bygones be bygones."

"The feeling of forgiveness is truly liberating. Just a few days ago, we went together to repair our ancestors' graves, cleaning the tombstones, leveling the soil, and pulling weeds, and that's when I discovered this."

The stonemason handed over what he was carrying, and Kup stepped forward to take it from the monk. Its considerable weight made his hands feel heavy.

It appeared to be a square stone, and he didn't sense anything strange about it, but that was no reason to be careless.

Kraft explained to him how Dominik had walked into the pit step by step, and that nothing that appeared in the patient's path should be taken lightly.

"This is?"

“A plaque, his proudest work, with inscriptions from a priest who once resided at the monastery, a gift inscribed by hand, thanking him for his contributions to the restoration,” the stonemason explained. It seems the old stonemason truly valued it, which is why his son remembered it so vividly. “He didn’t receive the priest’s blessing when he passed away, and instructed me to place this plaque on his coffin, hoping for the Lord’s protection. I initially thought it had been stolen, but unexpectedly, I found it again while leveling the grave, right next to it, shallowly buried.”

“I think this might also be a kind of revelation. He also wanted his works to be reborn along with the monastery, rather than being buried deep underground.”

“But…didn’t he want this plaque to protect the coffin?” Brother Kanther didn’t see Kup’s sudden wink and was about to decline.

“It’s alright. The two monks have already offered prayers and blessings. He no longer needs an inanimate object to protect himself.”

Having said all that, refusing again would seem like looking down on someone.

The group accepted the decorative plaque, left the stonemason's house, and peeled back the tightly wrapped straw to examine the gift.

A rather ornate-looking panel, made of light gold limestone, and rectangular in shape.

Clearly, the old stonemason used this stone in the most exquisite way he knew. Continuous, intertwined grapevines form the border, interspersed with delicately carved rose petals and ivy leaves.

Every so often, miniature birds and animals hide among the leaves, holding branches laden with fruit in their beaks, or raising their heads and calling out.

The lettering is slightly polished, revealing a metallic reflective texture, and the inscription on it should be the scripture given by the priest.

The content is short, just a few paragraphs, but it's not a prayer or a request for protection; instead, it's a short story.

It tells the story of an invincible knight. One day, someone told him that a dragon lived somewhere, so he set off to slay it.

The knight searched villages, traversed forests, and climbed mountains, but he could not find the dragon. Whenever he asked someone he met, they all said: "We have seen him; he was here before, and he is still here today."

A prophet gave him a book that had no title or chapter number, but was simply turned page by page.

He read the first page and heard the voice of a dragon, rolling like thunder, deafening.

He read the second page and saw the outline of a dragon, as huge as a mountain, invincible.

He read the third page and touched the dragon's scales, which were as smooth as a mirror and reflected his face.

But with each page he read, he forgot the previous one. The knight studied tirelessly day and night, page after page, until he had seen the whole picture of the dragon, but he could not remember where the dragon came from, nor did he know where it had gone.

After a long time, another knight arrived at the place and asked where the dragon was.

Everyone looked at the newcomer and said: We have all seen Him before. The dragon was here yesterday, but this morning it has transformed into the appearance of a knight.

"..."

The text is simple and unadorned, definitely in the style of the Bible, and Kup had no difficulty reading it.

Intuition tells me this is a normal stone, with particularly exquisite carvings. There's nothing about it that shouldn't exist in the world; only the inscriptions bring a slight sense of strangeness.

He's not a theologian, after all; he should consult a professional.

"What do you mean?"

"No, this isn't a sacred story, nor have I seen it in any other texts, but it seems quite interesting..."

Brother Kanther, somewhat embarrassed by his lack of knowledge, reached out to take it and examine it more closely.

Kup dodged his hand, flipped the panel over, and, out of everyone's sight, wrapped it back in straw.

“Take the items back to the monastery, pack them carefully, and don’t open them en route. As for us, keep searching; Mr. Kraft wants much more than just this.”