Krafft's Anomaly Notes

Chapter 395 Fear of the Sky

Although Kup repeatedly stated that the best course of action would be to minimize suffering and await the fate ordained by God, Knight Benny insisted on taking the priest, whose only remaining body was intact—his face—to the monastery.

Compared to believing in medicine, this knight's behavior may be closer to believing in theology.

The crisscrossing scratches caused by the scales seemed as vague and uncertain as the culprit that created them. The damage observed during the initial cleaning and bandaging was mostly limited to the skin layer; apart from the horrifying bleeding, it had not yet penetrated deeper.

However, when the bandage was changed for the second time, perhaps due to a memory error, some of the wounds were more serious than I remembered, reaching the subcutaneous fat and superficial veins, and the areas that should have clotted and scabbed over were stained red again.

It was as if an invisible snake was still coiled around him, tightening and deepening the damage step by step, or perhaps the damage had already been done, but was only gradually becoming apparent.

This forced him to frequently change the bandages himself. After using up all the supplies he had brought with him before the trip, he felt that his arm, which had only been temporarily immobilized, was even more painful. Heaven knows if it was a fracture or a bone crack.

As expected, after several days of bumpy travel, when they arrived at the monastery's clinic at the foot of the mountain, the priest was barely alive, and whether he could hold on until they reached the top of the mountain was a serious question.

For the priest, continuing to live was a matter of divine intervention, or simply a futile prolongation of suffering. At this point, all he could do was get some basic treatment at the clinic and then try his luck with Kraft in the mountains.

Surprisingly, the usually quiet clinic was packed with family members and patients seeking medical advice and treatment. Apart from the essential labor force tending the fields, almost everyone in the town was here.

The resident monks were unable to maintain order effectively, with little success.

While local residents may not openly disrupt order, this does not prevent them from pushing and shoving, shifting left and right in the crooked and disorganized queue, taking advantage of others' inattention to occupy a more forward position, and thus causing various conflicts.

People would occasionally peek out and question why those in front were lingering and wasting time, while those in front would accuse those behind of being unreasonable and disrupting the order by cutting in line.

Some of the conflict quickly escalated from verbal arguments to physical altercations, only to be stopped by the distraught monk. He tried to figure out how either side wanted him to judge right and wrong, but his words were soon drowned out by more complaints and pleas for mercy.

At the end of the line, in the eye of the storm, the dean himself sat behind the counter, listening to a peasant woman holding an infant describe something with a mix of words and gestures, from the bald patch on the back of her head, the nodules on her chest, to the red spots on her buttocks. She nodded from time to time to show that she was thinking, but made no attempt to maintain order at the scene.

A layer of formulaic seriousness was veiled on his face, but his eyes had already drifted off to who-knows-where, perhaps wandering in the heavy shadows of the room, or perhaps not focused at all.

Even though it was daytime, none of the windows, including the skylight, were fully open. At most, a crack was left for lighting, and from a distance, you could only see a bright band of light, not the sky outside.

A few candles stood on the counter, providing the basic light needed for writing. The trembling light diffused the honey and herbal scent unique to beeswax, carving out an undisturbed space amidst the chaos. Those who approached would unconsciously quiet down, as if an invisible hand were resting on their shoulders.

The noise pushed the tranquility to its core. The scene had almost no church elements, yet it had the feeling of biblical illustrations coming to life, an atmosphere that stained glass and vaulted ceilings could not create.

Kup froze for a moment, his first reaction not of surprise, but of doubt that he was hallucinating. After all, everything from the scene to the characters seemed a bit abnormal.

He rubbed his eyes and struggled to push through the crowd. Even though he could only move one arm, it wasn't too difficult.

Perhaps it was because Ye Chui's eloquence and voice far surpassed those of the cultivators that the townspeople showed their rationality and understanding, and took the initiative to make way for the injured.

Surprisingly, the usually perceptive Kraft remained oblivious to anyone approaching, still lost in his strange reverie.

"Mr. Kraft, what are you doing here?"

“Ah, Cooper, you’re back.” His eyes refocused, lingering for a moment on his roughly bandaged arm, then looked over his shoulder to see Yvonne and Benny behind him, wiping away non-existent cold sweat. “It’s good that you’re back.”

“You…” Cooper asked quietly, avoiding the others, “Why did you come down?” Even with his keen eyesight, he could tell that Kraft was not in a good state. Treating minor ailments on house calls seemed more like a way to adjust himself, trying to get his mental state back on track, but so far, it was clearly not working.

What's hard to understand is why they didn't just rest on the mountain, but instead made a special trip down to the foot of the mountain to find something to do.

"I just feel...it's too high up in the mountains, I need a change of scenery." The doctor noticed his concern but didn't share it, instead inquiring about his business trip, "It looks like you two got into a fight?"

“There was only one fight, and it almost cost him his life. We’ll talk about that later,” Kup said with a wry smile. He was a little unsure whether he should bring the priest over; a brand-new, seriously ill patient would undoubtedly add to Kraft’s burden in every way.

But he understood Kraft as a doctor better than Kraft understood himself; the latter might hesitate, but would never want to miss a patient.

As an assistant and attendant, he would not go against the doctor's wishes.

"We have a patient who is in a very urgent and serious condition."

"Let's talk about this next time."

Kraft stood up from behind the counter, waved to disperse the crowd, and the residents left like a repelled tide. "Come back next week, everyone. I have urgent business to attend to today. The monastery is right here, as is I."

A sense of competence returned to him with every step he took, but when he reached the door, he stopped and ordered, "Bring the person in."

"This is it."

A previously unnoticed object came into view. It was placed on a door panel with two lifting bars for easy transport, and was wrapped in strips of cloth from top to bottom with almost no gaps. Its breathing was pitifully shallow.

When he was carried in, he looked more like the tomb owner that Kup had moved from some pyramid using his expertise in this field, than a living person.

"You brought so many bandages?"

"Just in case, it's always better to be safe than sorry, and we've already used them, haven't we?" Cooper was extremely glad that he had taken several extra medical supply kits with him before leaving the house.

"An elderly male with multiple linear superficial sharp force wounds all over his body. The wound edges are regular. I applied pressure to stop the bleeding on the spot, cleaned and bandaged the wound within two hours, and it has been almost four days now."

"Fortunately, his blood loss was controlled, otherwise he wouldn't have made it this far. You did a great job."

What caused the wound?

"Scales".

Kup noticed that Kraft subconsciously raised his head, his gaze passing through the closed skylight and pointing towards infinity.

The author has officially started working (*︶*)
Updates will gradually resume once everything stabilizes.

Here's a book recommendation from a fellow member of the group: *The Old Sequence*.

(^3^) You can check it out.