The identity of the unidentified noise was the sound of the engine part of the train being broken.
Noah hurriedly followed the train master to the engine room and stiffened when he found the engine part broken.
“No, why is this… … ?”
The train master was worried that the engine part was damaged in the middle of the snowy field, but Noah and Julius were worried.
– It’s an artificial trace.
-Right. There is a feeling that it was ripped off as randomly as possible, but there is no possibility that the beast avoided our senses and approached in the first place.
Besides, if it was a witch beast, it would have targeted people.
Blowing the train’s engine section was a strategic move.
“Could it be repaired?”
“It’s not possible. The key parts are completely fragmented. The whole engine would have to be replaced.”
The train manager’s desperate voice leaked through the door that had been left open.
In the first place, the sound of breaking the engine could be heard from the cabin.
Due to the passengers who were keenly aware of this side, the story quickly spread throughout the train.
“The engine department is broken?”
“What if it breaks down in the middle of the northern great plains? Aren’t you isolated on the mainland?”
“No, what do you mean? Am I isolated?”
‘this.’
Noah frowned at the commotion that quickly spread.
‘I should have controlled the information.’
It was something to be caught anyway.
But nothing good came of it.
Julius put his hand on Noah’s shoulder and said.
“Let me see the back. There are many people who rely on Sinclair’s name. Please do further investigation.”
“All right.”
-be careful.
Since the engine department was attacked, it was highly likely that the wire was cut off by the enemy’s work.
A situation where the number of enemies and the level are unknown.
It was a situation where we had to be as vigilant as possible.
After sending Julius away, Noah explored the inside of the engine room with the train commander.
‘The door lock is broken. Did they break in from outside?’
After destroying the track, they sneak in while waiting for the train to arrive.
I had heard of train robbers using that method.
‘But it could be the work of an insider. Maybe it’s both.’
There was a possibility that it was disguised as a raid by robbers, or it could be that the robbers even prepared internal collaborators.
From noble mtl dot com.
“I think the engine room was locked. Who was able to get in here?”
“For now, the only ones with the key are me and the three crew members… … .”
It seemed that the passengers of car number 1, which was directly attached to the engine room, did not see anyone else heading to the engine room.
‘Because I and Julius-senpai didn’t even get caught in the first place.’
There could have been some kind of stealth that was not caught even by the imperial sheriffs.
Or, it’s genius at all.
‘This is scolded.’
This mission, to which Noah and Julius were dispatched, was to pursue the Precursors and their organizations.
Then, it wouldn’t be strange if the organization was aiming the opposite way for the two people dispatched on that mission.
I’d rather be a robber.
“sh*t. I’ve been looking to see if I can fix it, but I can’t.”
“Where is the nearest town from here?”
“From here, there is nothing up to Lapland Port, the northernmost part of the empire… … for a moment. Maybe there is a village nearby.”
The train commander took out a map from one side of the engine room and held it up.
True to its name, the Great Plains, there were only flat areas on the map centered on the train route.
The train commander pointed out the middle of the line there.
“This is the expected current position based on the operation so far.”
“There are no signs around, let alone the village.”
“But there will be. An informal village.”
“An informal village?”
“It is a town of criminals. In order to avoid being wanted, they come to remote places like this and live in hiding. In the meantime, there have been reports of sightings several times among the train captains riding this line, so it definitely exists.”
“There are people like that, but no action has been taken?”
Noah wondered more about the fact that the facts about the village were public than the authenticity of the story.
‘There’s no reason to use this method if the train manager is one of the robbers.’
Saying something useless only raised suspicion. Nonetheless, seeing him say this, I thought I could put aside my doubts about him.
“As you may know, there is no room for knight troops. They don’t touch the train so they don’t find out they’re hiding. In addition, demonic beasts that have landed in remote areas are cleaned up before they appear in the residential area.”
If the criminals here were organized, then the state had to bear the defense.
Even though the empire knows that criminals live together, it neglects them as a shield.
‘Isn’t that an impossible sound?’
Didn’t even Cain, who was accused of treason, be left unattended due to a beast problem?
Although the story seems to be a bit complicated, it seemed that ordinary criminals could be neglected enough.
“It will take at least two days for help to come. Lapland wonders why we didn’t come on time, and then the rescue team will move.”
“Two days… … .”
Noah, Julius, and the combat crew of the train supported by rigid body techniques to some extent, but it was difficult for ordinary passengers.
As for food, I was able to survive by starving somehow for two days.
‘But it’s too cold here.’
The radiator was also getting cold thanks to the engine part being damaged.
‘I can already feel the chill inside the car. It must be difficult for young children to endure for a long time.’
It wasn’t clear if they could keep the temperature even if they packed people into some compartments and ripped open the empty cars to use as firewood.
“If it were a criminal town, it wouldn’t be very close to the tracks anyway. All right.”
It was dangerous to remain, but it was also dangerous to move outside on foot to an unknown village.
Walking just 100 meters in this environment would eat up a lot of stamina.
‘Considering the number of people, it’s not easy to carry them one by one.’
Although few people came and went, it was practically the only line on this side.
The number of passengers exceeds 200 including the crew.
“Unless it can be repaired, it will remain here and there will be nothing to see. Let’s go see the passengers.”
After completing the investigation, Noah joined Julius and shared his findings.
“In the end, do you either stay and wait for rescue or visit a criminal town?”
“If it were just the two of us, it would be virtually impossible to take all the passengers to Lapland.”
“As time goes on, the decision will become more difficult. If you’re going to do it, you have to pick one quickly.”
But that didn’t mean there was no need to make hasty decisions without information gathering.
“In the first place, it’s not even clear where the criminal’s village is. Before leading people out, we need to check the place first.”
The problem was that Noah and Julius couldn’t go scouting the village together.
“A fight might break out, so it’s better to go with two or more… … .”
“If that happens, the mentality of the remaining passengers will be shattered? It is actually dangerous.”
It was a situation that expected that the number of members of the organization would be mixed among the passengers.
It wasn’t a very good decision to divide the number of people in this situation, but I couldn’t lead people to wander outside.
“I’ll look for the town.”
“you?”
“One of them will have to go, but if the senior leaves here, it will get out of control.”
The passengers were not fools, they knew that the situation was dangerous now that the train had stopped.
The reason they remain calm is because they believe in Sinclair’s name.
‘Now that I’m in the Lichtenau family, it’s a little bit hard to say.’
If he went, Noah had no choice but to go.
“If I don’t come back by sunrise, take the people with you.”
“I get it.”
Julius nodded with a serious expression.
Criminals saw them and did not know how they would come out.
Julius, who remained here, also had to be wary of the organization’s personnel, so it was dangerous, but simply blocking the train to buy time could be all.
On the other hand, there were criminals who must have been equipped with fighting skills.
“be careful.”
“Senior too.”
Noah left the train.
The wind was cold despite the high level of rigid body technique.
* * *
It wasn’t too difficult to find the village with Noah’s sixth sense.
Of course, it took several hours to find it easily because the Great Plain was so wide.
‘It’s quite a distance from where the train stopped. The other side doesn’t know that yet.’
In addition, there was no movement even though they got quite close, as if they were unaware of Noah’s approach.
‘The scale is 30 households. If there are many, there are many, and if there are few, enemies. Can we consider the number of people to be around 40?’
In the first place, since they were criminals gathered here and there, it would be rare to live in a family of four.
Noah approached the village vigilantly.
‘Can’t you feel the popularity?’
Even though they approached close enough, they did not feel the presence of people in the village.
‘Did he get caught?’
Even in normal times, there must be only one human who uses stealth techniques inside the house.
Even if it is a town of criminals, that doesn’t make sense.
All I can think of is that the other side has already noticed Noah’s approach and started responding.
Noah thought about whether he should get out of it for a moment, but soon realized that he couldn’t.
If they run away, they will move to confirm the identity of the sudden visitor.
And sooner or later they would find the train stopped on the tracks.
‘I can’t help it. I need to go in.’
So, Noah’s thoughts soon changed from doubt to wonder when he entered the village.
“Isn’t anyone there?”
empty town.
There was no one there.
* * *
“Really. Since they were criminals who lived in hiding, it wouldn’t be strange if they abandoned the village at any time, but it’s strange that they left their belongings behind.”
Julius looked around the town and commented,
Confirming that there is no immediate danger in the empty village, Noah returns to the train and takes the people to the village.
It was impossible to stay up all night on the train.
Fortunately, there were no people in the village, and food and firewood remained intact.
“Even if you don’t carry your luggage around, it’s almost as if you’ve left naked.”
“I also wondered if these guys crossed paths on their way to robbery because of that, but it didn’t seem to be the case.”
“that’s right. This town wasn’t emptied a day or two ago. It hasn’t been left unattended for very long. Given the condition of the food, between fifteen and two months?”
It was inevitable that the range of predictions would be widened.
In this cold weather, even if you throw food at random, it freezes and doesn’t rot well.
“Where did you go?”
“I don’t know. But thanks to you, there won’t be any problems with survival until rescue comes.”
-If only the guy who broke the engine is caught.
Behind-the-scenes words that only Noah could hear.
Now that the survival problem has been solved, that is the most important problem.
-The train manager said that the estimated time until rescue came was about two days. Anything can happen in two days.
The events on the Crescent Islands also happened virtually overnight.
It means that in two days you can go through that twice.
-I didn’t expect to play a mafia game in real life.
find the culprit.
and whereabouts of criminals.
The lives of up to 200 citizens were in the hands of the two.