Part 5 THE RED PRIEST CHAPTER XXI “The Oracle”

　　The cold wind whistled through the station at night and rattled the hanging gas lamps.

　　The dim glow of such a scene, now lengthening and now shortening, gave the steam train, resting silently on the track, intermittently free from darkness, intermittently plunged into shadow, and a more and more ineffable sense of eerie deadness.

　　At that moment a party of policemen in black-and-white checkered uniforms entered the platform and, led by the duty manager of the railroad company, approached the huge, slightly aged train.

　　”I don’t know why, but after the passengers had all left, all the conductors, including the conductor, returned to their compartments and never came out again, and I had sent, sent for them, to get them to come out quickly and get an early night’s rest, and as a result, as a result, the one who had been sent for ran out of the compartment very quickly, and, as if afflicted with a disease, would only cry out hysterically ‘ All dead’ ‘All dead’!” The duty manager of the railroad company in a blue jacket carried a horse lamp and described the situation as he walked.

　　From his slightly stuttering words and slightly trembling body, the policemen could easily see that a great fear lurked inside him, as if he would jump up violently, drop everything, and run for the platform exit as soon as someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder.

　　Such emotions infected the policemen as well, and all of them put their hands on their hips and pressed their gun pouches.

　　Ta, ta, ta, the sound of leather boots on hard ground echoed for a moment as the policemen followed the duty manager, alertly, into the front of a carriage.

　　Inside this carriage, two men were seated in each row, and they were separated to the right and left, all away from the windows, and were now leaning back against the backs of their chairs in a motionless manner.

　　By the light of the gas lamps outside the window and the glow of the horse-lamps in his hands, the inspector at the head of the group soon got a clear view of the scene before him.

　　Here were all the staff of the steam train, wearing blue uniforms in the style of men and women, quietly leaning back in different positions, faces green and white, eyes open, although there was no longer breathing sound, but the corners of the mouth obviously upturned, revealing eight teeth.

　　Being reflected into the eyes by this near-unanimous smile, all the people present shrugged their hairs at the same time and subconsciously held their breath.

　　As far as they were concerned, such a scene was too bizarre and terrifying, and they just wanted to immediately turn around, leave this place, and come back to check on the situation when it was light!

　　The inspector in the lead secretly took two deep breaths and instructed the police officer on his side:

　　”Go and confirm if they are, if they are all dead ……”

　　As he said this, he glanced again at the railroad company duty manager:

　　”You follow over there and see if there are fewer, or more.”

　　”Yes, yes, officer.” The duty manager said with a shudder.

　　While he and a few of the officers went deeper into the car, the rest of the officers drew their pistols and raised their guard.

　　Time passed slowly in the unbearable silence, and finally, several officers stopped at the end of the compartment and turned to shout:

　　”Confirmed all dead!”

　　The duty manager of the railroad company followed, trembling:

　　”Two men are missing, a conductor and a driver ……”

　　Seeing that no accidents had occurred in such a long time, the inspector at the head calmed down quite a bit, and after some thought, said to all the police officers:

　　”Protect the bodies as they are and wait for the coroner’s inquest.

　　”In the meantime, split into two groups, one to go to the other carriages to look for the conductor and driver, one to explore the traces of the scene and collect the appropriate information, and when the sun rises, do a lineup from both the train personnel and the previous passengers, looking for commonalities and peculiarities.”

　　–While many of the passengers did not present identification documents when they purchased their tickets, the head inspector believed that he could always find some who had truthfully registered their situation, and then asked them if they had noticed any unusual circumstances or noteworthy travelers on the train.

　　As soon as he spoke, a cold, biting wind whistled through the compartment from nowhere.

　　When this had subsided, the head inspector was about to emphasize what he had just said when he suddenly noticed something was wrong:

　　Leaning on the seat of the steam train staff still open eyes, face green and white, but the mouth at some point has been closed, did not reveal eight teeth.

　　……

　　Inside a plush room in a hotel, wall sconces reflected off each other, illuminating the carpeted area with tables and chairs unusually brightly.

　　Klein, who had taken on the appearance of Germaine Sparrow, sat on a single sofa and teetered his left foot onto his right leg.

　　Beside him stood Enzo, the local indigenous “Winner”, and in front of him stood a row of cult secret puppets.

　　These were some of the same people who had tried to sacrifice all the passengers on the steam train, led by the man with the red lump on the side of his face and the conductor and driver.

　　They had come around from different neighborhoods in different likenesses to meet here.

　　”Who told you to make sacrifices?” Klein spoke in a low voice.

　　After being promoted to Sequence 4 and becoming a “Trickster”, he could no longer just read out thoughts from the shallow consciousness of the secret puppets, but he could also utilize his enhanced control of the “Spirit Body Thread” to directly do something similar to psychic powers.

　　Of course, the higher the level of the puppet itself, the less effective the psychic effect would be.

　　After a short period of silence, the conductor, who was obviously a Ruon with thicker body hair, spoke woodenly:

　　”It’s an oracle of the gods.”

　　”Which god?” Klein took a sip from the bone china teacup handed to him by Enzo the Winner.

　　The conductor responded dully:

　　”God is God, nothing else.”

　　Klein put down his cup and turned to ask:

　　”How did k send down the oracle? What exactly did it say?”

　　That conductor became respectful all of a sudden:

　　”k gave the oracle through a divine object, telling us to please k with a sacrifice consisting of a large amount of life, and k will let us have eternal life in k’s kingdom.”

　　Massive sacrifice of life …… The School of the Rose prefers something similar to the Order of the Spirit, who have always been known for their bloody sacrifices …… But the idea of eternal life in the kingdom of God is again close to some of the ideas of the Order of the Spirit, but, of course, it can’t be ruled out that it’s been intentionally made up to fool These people …… Klein pondered for a while and said:

　　”What divine object?”

　　The conductor didn’t answer and glanced at the man with the small red lump on the side of his face.

　　The man then pulled something out of the inside pocket of his clothing:

　　It was a cloth doll of average workmanship with curved eyes and a mouth.

　　”God will give us orders through it at certain times. I bought this at the grocery market.” The man with the small red lump on the side of his face said flatly, his tone not rising or falling.

　　This …… Klein thought of a number of possibilities for a split second, and then asked Enzo, the “winner”, to take the doll and do a careful examination, but found nothing out of the ordinary.

　　In his experience, this means that the problem does not lie in the doll itself, then the situation can be divided into two categories: one is who is not far away, using the doll as a cover, pretending to be a god, and the second is there is really a hidden existence, special marking this thing, through which to send down the oracle.

　　”If the former, then the deaths of the conductors must have been discovered, and some precaution taken …… If the latter, perhaps nothing has yet been perceived ……” Klein considered for a while, and let the Enzo “The Winner” set the rag doll on the desk in front of the window.

　　He himself then rose and instantly became another train crew member, standing with the row of cultists.

　　Enzo “The Winner” returned with a similar transformation.

　　An unknown amount of time passed, and the night grew darker and darker.

　　Suddenly, on the desk bathed in scarlet moonlight, the rag doll with curved eyes and mouth moved its limbs and slowly stood up.