Isaac stared at the headless sheep, his brow furrowing slightly. He addressed George, who was closest to him. "Sir, sorry for the trouble, but could you pull that man farther away?"
George came to his senses and hurried over. Half supporting and half dragging the still-trembling Old Jack away from the carcass, he asked, "Old Jack! Are you all right?"
Old Jack's eyes were unfocused, and he was mumbling something unintelligible. George slapped his face a few times before he came around a little.
"Wh-what was that thing...?" Old Jack's voice shook badly.
I don't know either, Isaac thought. That thing looked pretty sinister.
A little earlier, Carlo had stopped the carriage a short distance away. The two had watched the railway construction for a while and witnessed the sheep's appearance from start to finish.
When the worker approached the sheep, Carlo suddenly said, "Interested in saving someone?"
"Boss?" Isaac was a little surprised.
Although Isaac had sensed something was wrong as soon as he saw the sheep, he had thought Carlo was the type who didn't care whether other people lived or died.
Although Carlo had suggested saving the man, he showed no urgency at all. He said leisurely, "We're investigators. Since we're investigators, shouldn't we get involved when we come across a suspicious incident? If we don't stir things up a little, how are we supposed to trigger an event and start an investigation?"
"But there's no need for me to deal with a little thing like that personally. So... I choose you, Asa. Go on, save him and ask around while you're at it."
Isaac hesitated, then got out of the carriage, drew his revolver, and cocked the hammer.
He had practiced shooting, but there was clearly something wrong with that thing... He hoped the holy silver bullet would work.
Isaac took a deep breath and steadied his breathing. He watched the worker turn around and say something to the other workers, and the sheep behind him suddenly rose upright and placed its front hooves on his shoulders.
There was no time to think.
Isaac immediately raised his gun and aimed at the sheep's head. A memory of Edward teaching him to shoot flashed through his mind.
The old man sat in his wheelchair and smiled at Isaac. "Ready?"
Isaac nodded. The old man poured out the last of the liquor, shook the empty bottle, and set it on the table. Isaac raised his gun and took aim.
The trigger was pulled, the liquor bottle burst apart, and the sheep's headless body swayed before crashing to the ground.
Isaac lowered his revolver, his heart beating a little fast.
In the heat of the moment, he hadn't had time to think and had simply aimed and fired. Now that he had recovered, shooting a liquor bottle felt very different from watching a living creature's head burst open. What was more, if he had missed and blown up the wrong head, as Carlo had said, that would have been even worse.
Watching George drag Old Jack aside, Isaac stepped closer and examined the sheep's carcass.
Carlo also emerged from the darkness and walked over to the carcass. He glanced down at it. "Interesting, finding this thing out here."
Isaac was about to ask more when George came over, supporting Old Jack. Old Jack still had blood on his face, but he could finally stand steadily. His lips trembling, he bowed to Isaac. "Th-thank you, sir... If it weren't for you..."
"It was nothing." Isaac put away his revolver. "What are you doing here...?"
"Do you even need to ask, looking at them?" Carlo glanced at them. "As far as I know, even during the day, construction in the wilderness requires guards and at least one member of the clergy. Looking at this lot, they came out here naked."
An awkward look appeared on George's face. His gaze shifted, and he lowered his voice. "We don't know the details either. We only know his lordship ordered us to work through the night. As for anything else... we don't know a thing."
Carlo nodded. "The lord of this place is pretty bold. He's rushing the work in secret, so naturally he doesn't dare report it to the church. The nobles' armed forces over in Vista are also strictly controlled, and mobilizing them without authorization is a serious taboo."
George and Old Jack both changed color at those words and lowered their eyes.
Of course they didn't dare respond. They could only obey Lord Banbury's orders. Whether those orders followed the rules or violated the Grand Duke's decrees was not for them to discuss. If such talk reached the lord's ears, they couldn't afford the consequences.
Seeing their reaction, Isaac didn't press the matter. Instead, he asked, "Has anything happened before?"
George hesitated, then nodded. "A few days ago, there was a night shift... twelve workers, and not one of them came back. His lordship sent people to investigate, but they didn't find anything. In the end, they said it was an other-species attack and told everyone to keep working."
As he spoke, his gaze drifted toward the headless sheep, and he swallowed. "But we've never encountered this kind of... this kind of thing before."
Old Jack's voice was hoarse. "I-I just... When I saw that sheep, I thought it looked so gentle, and I wanted to pet it... I knew something was wrong, but I just couldn't control myself..."
Isaac recalled what he had seen from a distance. When Old Jack had turned to speak to the other workers, he did seem to have had a dazed smile on his face, as though something had hypnotized him.
"That thing wasn't anything high-level, but it carried some mental contamination," Carlo said. "If you hadn't been lucky, your head would already be in its stomach."
Old Jack went even paler at that.
George hurriedly asked, "Sir, that monster... there was only one, right?"
"Wrong guess. There are a whole lot of them."
George's face went as pale as Old Jack's. "Gentlemen, since you know about these things... could you help us think of something? We can't just stay here waiting to die."
Carlo tilted his head. "Can you afford the commission fee?"
"Uh..." George and Old Jack were both taken aback. They hadn't expected the kind gentleman to suddenly bring up something so practical.
"If you can't, then I can only give you the simplest, most direct advice, with no beating around the bush." Carlo shrugged. "Just run back to the city and file a report."
Old Jack gave a wry smile. "We'd like to run, but if we do, and his lordship holds us accountable, not only will we lose our livelihoods, we might even be charged with desertion..."
The helplessness in his words was plain to hear. The workers weren't unaware that they were in danger, but they knew even better what would happen if they defied the lord.
In this era, ordinary people had little room for choice to begin with. Even when they knew the road ahead led to death, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and keep going.
"Are you stupid? Now that you've run into this, just go straight to the church," Carlo said.
Old Jack hurriedly shook his head. "Why would the church care whether people like us live or die? Not a day goes by without someone dying in the wilderness. Reports of other-species attacks pile up on their desks, and they probably can't even be bothered to read them. If we tell them we encountered a monster that can only bleat like a sheep, they'll make a note of it at most..."
Carlo cut him off. "That's why you're complete amateurs at filing reports. If you just run over and say you encountered a terrifying monster, of course the church will lump it together with the other other-species attacks. They get similar reports every day, so how can they tell which ones really matter?
"But if you tell them... Calamity Sequence No. 83, Mary the 'Shepherd,' is wandering around here, that's a different story."