Calamity Sequence...
George and Old Jack didn't quite understand what the term meant, but something stirred in Isaac's mind.
There were many conflicts among the churches, and plenty denounced one another as false believers in alien gods. But through the "Convention of the Churches," the signatories-which included every mainstream orthodox church-had reached a number of agreements. The Calamity Sequence was one of them.
The Calamity Sequence, as its name suggested, was a list of entities classified as "calamities." Most were exotic species, though certain unusual phenomena were also included. A place on the list meant that the churches agreed on the danger an entity posed, making it a true enemy of all.
The total number of entries in the Calamity Sequence was not fixed, but it had never exceeded two digits. Their sequence numbers were therefore generally written with two digits, from 01 to 87, the highest so far. The sequence was revised at the ecumenical council each year: calamities that caused greater harm were moved up the rankings, while newly emerged or eliminated calamities were added or removed.
For some unknown reason, the full list had never been made public. On top of that, generally only people in relevant fields were entitled to inquire about it with the churches. Isaac's knowledge of the Calamity Sequence was limited to its existence, and he had only heard of it from his adoptive father.
Mary the "Shepherd," number 83 in the Calamity Sequence, ranked near the bottom of a sequence with fewer than a hundred entries. But her inclusion alone was enough to prove that she posed a far greater danger than the vast majority of exotic species.
"Sir, if we report this... Calamity Sequence, was it? Will the church take it seriously?" George pressed.
Carlo glanced at him. "Anything that makes it into the Calamity Sequence, even near the bottom, is enough to make the regional head of any church leap out of bed in the middle of the night.
"The Church of the Golden Bough isn't some perfect charitable organization, but it's one of the more responsible churches. At least it won't wipe its ass with information about a calamity as if it were scrap paper."
George and Old Jack both breathed a sigh of relief. Raising their right hands, they touched four points on their chests in turn: bottom, left, right, and top. It was a customary gesture among followers of the Church of the Golden Bough, symbolizing the growth of the Golden Bough and praising Vicania for her protection.
They believed the church was willing to protect people like them at the bottom of society, but they also knew its resources were limited, and some matters were more pressing than others. Their concerns often could not be treated as the most urgent.
Devout faith and their powerlessness in the face of reality together shaped their conflicted feelings.
Fortunately, if what this kind gentleman said was true, and this Calamity Sequence could get the church to take the matter seriously, they could rest easy.
"Mary... the Shepherd..." George tried hard to memorize the unfamiliar name. "We'll report it exactly as you've told us. Thank you both for your guidance."
Carlo waved a hand. "If you're going to go report it, do it quickly. If you delay any longer, there'll be more than one sheep coming next time."
Hearing that, George and Old Jack dared not waste any more time. They hurriedly thanked Isaac and Carlo, then turned to call the other workers over.
The workers had already been frightened out of their wits by what had just happened. When they heard they could leave, not one of them hesitated. They ran off together in groups toward town.
The overseer had long since vanished without a trace, so naturally no one paid him any mind.
Isaac watched the workers disappear into the night. "Boss, that Mary the 'Shepherd'..."
"What, do you want to meet her and have a friendly chat?"
"Ahem-" Isaac still couldn't understand how his boss's mind worked. "I mean, what kind of being is she?"
Carlo didn't answer immediately. He motioned for Isaac to head toward the dog cart, humming a tune as he walked. It sounded like a children's nursery rhyme.
Though there were no words, the cheerful melody sounded somewhat eerie out in the wilderness, beneath the flickering lamplight.
Isaac couldn't make anything of it and kept waiting. Carlo stopped at the dog cart, turned around, and leaned against the carriage.
"Mary the 'Shepherd'-according to eyewitness accounts, from a distance she looks like a young girl surrounded by a flock of sheep, though no one has seen her exact appearance up close.
"One church once tracked and investigated her and found that much of the time, Mary simply wandered aimlessly with her flock, showing no particular inclination to attack humans. Often, she even went out of her way to avoid them. But at other times, she and her flock would actively approach people.
"After a long period of observation and verification, that church confirmed that the people who could attract Mary the Shepherd had one thing in common...
"Docility."
Isaac was taken aback. "Docility..."
Carlo turned toward the place where the workers had disappeared. "What did you think of those people just now?"
Isaac followed his gaze. "They... were very obedient."
"That's right. A noble forced them to come out and work in the middle of the night, and they didn't even dare complain, much less resist. They took whatever was inflicted on them and worked without complaint. Those are exactly the traits that attract Mary. She likes docile people, just as a shepherd likes docile sheep."
Isaac fell silent for a moment, remembering Old Jack's expression when he reached out to touch the sheep, that involuntary sense of closeness in his daze. Rather than touching a sheep, it was more like... he identified with it.
"When that sheep put its leg over that man's shoulder, what do you think it wanted to do?" Carlo asked.
"Eat him," Isaac answered. The sheep's gaping mouth and ghastly white teeth had said it all.
"That was only what it looked like. A person eaten by one of those sheep won't die in the process. After all, Mary doesn't want to kill people. Anyone eaten by one of Mary's lambs becomes one with the sheep. That's what Mary tends to do-turn docile people into her lambs."
Isaac imagined Old Jack's face emerging from a sheep's body, his limbs on the ground as he wandered the wilderness with the flock. A wave of discomfort rose in him. "So those missing workers..."
"If they're still alive, they're probably grazing somewhere by now." Carlo shrugged.
Isaac asked no more questions. He lowered his head and looked at the revolver in his hand.
His shot had shattered the sheep's head, but if there had been a person inside that sheep...
He stopped the thought there. "Are we continuing on our way now?"
"Well..." Carlo looked into the distance, in the direction the sheep had come from. "There's one more thing."
Isaac had a bad feeling about this.
"That lamb you just killed was Mary's lamb," Carlo said unhurriedly. "And Mary cares deeply for her lambs. She not only keeps track of every one of them, but even if a naughty little lamb runs far away, she won't leave it to its own devices."
Isaac understood what Carlo meant.
The lamb was dead.
Mary would know.
She would come looking for her lamb.
The two of them were standing beside the lamb's corpse, and one of them had blown its head off with a gun.
"...We need to get out of here, quickly."
"Clever." Carlo pulled open the carriage door. "Get in. We're in for a chase."