She is not an investigator.

"The most urgent thing is to wake up the train conductor! Whoever wants to keep us here and prevent the train from starting, we have no solution at all!"

The train conductor continued to pound on the door, and the heavy iron door even developed many dents.

This is a stupid approach; prying open the lock is clearly a better idea than smashing open a heavy iron door.

“Constantine…get these people into the second car, don’t let them in.”

"clear."

Constantine did as Igris said almost without hesitation, pointing his shotgun at one passenger after another.

Anfer also started helping out, even though he had never really trusted these guys.

After everyone had been moved to the second carriage, Igris began looking around for something.

"...Here."

As expected, Igris pulled out a crowbar from under a chair that was perfect in both material and shape.

"Get out of the way!"

The train conductor turned around and saw Igris fiercely wielding a crowbar she had found somewhere, cleanly and efficiently smashing the lock on the iron gate in front of her to pieces.

Before he could even recover from the shock that had left his hands numb, the train conductor next to him saw this and kicked the iron door open as well.

With a loud bang, the two men rushed into the driver's seat at the same time.

In the driver's seat, Cecilia lay with her eyes closed, fast asleep.

"Damn it...she really fell asleep..."

The train conductor turned to Igris and asked a completely illogical question with a serious expression.

"Can you drive a train?"

"This joke isn't funny."

This was a question that Igris should have asked the train conductor.

boom--!

Just then, a gunshot rang out in the first carriage, causing both of them to turn their heads and look at the carriage.

The one who fired the shot was Anfer, an elderly sergeant who held his short rifle level and looked seriously at the carriage behind him.

In the middle of the corridor, a woman lay in a pool of blood, with a noticeable hole in her forehead.

"I told you! No one is allowed to come near here! Otherwise, I'll kill as many as they come!"

Faced with such intense emotions, these people who have never offered any resistance should logically give up and stop trying to get close.

But quite the opposite.

All the passengers in the carriage stood up from their seats, gathered together, and slowly moved towards the first carriage.

They seemed to have lost their minds, or perhaps they had finally revealed their true colors, scrambling to squeeze into the narrow passage.

Many people were pushed down by the surging crowd and fell to the ground, but those behind did not care and stepped on those in front.

boom--!

Another shot rang out, this time fired by Constantine.

Shotgun pellets instantly tore apart the crowd that was trying to surge forward, accompanied by various strange tearing sounds, clearing out almost half of the passengers.

The crowd finally stopped advancing, stood still, and looked at the gun barrels pointed at them.

At that very moment, a sickening metallic scraping sound rang out.

The Gods' Fool - The Northern Train: Chapter Thirty-One, Entering the Dream

The crowd stopped in their tracks and looked up.

They became quiet, silent, but the grating metallic scraping sound never stopped.

It was as if something was scraping the metal outside the carriage with its incredibly sharp claws.

Fortunately, none of them got off the train, so it seemed that the thing could only linger outside the train indefinitely.

Faced with this situation, Igris also looked at the train conductor next to her.

Do you have any good ideas?

He scratched his head in frustration and turned to look at the sleeping Cecilia.

“The train conductor is asleep. We have to wake her up, no matter what’s happening right now… Only she can really drive this train.”

But the biggest challenge now is how to wake her up.

Her deep sleep was clearly not normal, and it would be almost impossible to wake her up with external force alone.

But at that moment, Igris suddenly thought of something.

"...Do me a favor."

Igris decisively went to Cecilia's seat, forcefully pushed her aside, and, with her overly slender body, sat down in the driver's seat with her.

"You can drive this? I have to warn you, this isn't something you can just start by pressing a button. If we can't control it, we might as well just rush out and fight those things outside."

"Of course not."

Igris shook her head, and under the train conductor's questioning gaze, slowly leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes.

"So I'm going to call her back now."

"...?"

"Never mind all that. You have no choice but to trust me, go outside and keep watch, and don't let anything get close to here."

The train conductor was silent for a moment, then nodded, picked up his shotgun, turned and walked out of the driver's cab, closing the door behind him.

Seeing him get out of the driver's seat, Felina anxiously approached and asked with some concern.

"Well! Do you have a solution? Where did Igris go?"

"...Don't panic, there will be a way. The most important thing right now is to guard this carriage and prevent anything from getting through..."

The train conductor didn't finish his sentence because he suddenly thought of someone.

A person who is not in the first carriage.

"...Elwin!"

Their cook, Alvin, stayed in the last carriage with his pets.

As a result, almost no one noticed that, apart from these abnormal normal people, there was a truly normal person who did not come here.

They couldn't open the doors, and if Alvin wanted to get here from the last carriage, he would have to walk through the crowd in front of him.

Even though they have now stopped all activities, no one dares to gamble that they won't have other reactions.

Not to mention, the only weapon Alvin possesses is probably the kitchen knife in his hand.

"Listen, we now have two choices."

The train conductor gripped his gun tightly and looked at the other three people who were also looking at him.

"...Or, we can stay here and keep an eye on those things and other things, and make sure they don't get near the first carriage until the conductor wakes up."

That's exactly what they're doing now: protecting this place.

"Or... someone come with me to the other carriages, wipe out all those guys, and bring Elwin back."

"I object."

It was Constantine who spoke up, and the priest simply shook his head coldly at the train conductor's gaze.

"Putting aside what those guys actually are, how much risk are you taking? What makes you think Irwin, who's been in the fourth car the whole time, is still alive? He's all alone there, and he doesn't have any weapons."

“I’m not asking for your opinions, so you’d better not say such offensive things.”

The train conductor took a deep breath, slowly suppressing the displeasure on his face.

"If you disagree, then you can stay here. No one will force you to do anything. What about the others?"

His gaze fell once again on Anfer, an elderly man who was much older than anyone else present.

Anfer noticed his gaze and chuckled softly.

"Hehe... What can an old man like me possibly do to help? But to be honest, I don't think that guy will die so easily. I'll go with you."

"Thank you."

The train conductor nodded, not even glancing at Felina beside him, and instead, holding his gun, approached the corridor of the second carriage with Anfer.

"Wait! Aren't you going to ask me anything?!"

Felina suddenly realized something and shouted it out loud, her voice tinged with confusion and doubt.

The train conductor was silent for a moment, then reluctantly turned around and asked in return, looking extremely unwilling.

Would you be willing to come with us?

"I don't want to."

Even though Felina's answer never changes, she is still fighting for her most basic right.

“I knew it… You two guard this place, we’ll be back in a bit, though… there’s also a chance we might not make it back.”

The train conductor and Anfer did not linger, but slowly walked towards the second carriage, their guns raised warily.

Constantine only turned to look at Felina after the two figures had completely disappeared down the corridor.

"You can hide in the driver's seat; it should be safer there than here. If anything happens, I won't have time to help you."

"Thank you for your concern, but you alone won't be able to make a big difference here, so I'm happy to help out for now."

Constantine did not answer her, but silently looked up at the top of the train.

The metallic scraping sound started again, still coming from the roof of the car, but this time, the sound seemed to be moving in another direction.

If the previous sound had been lingering near the corridor between the first and second carriages, now it was clearly heading towards the second carriage.

No one knew what it was, but Constantine had a bad feeling about it.

Especially after facing so many unimaginable and incomprehensible things.

"...Whatever you want."