coobybook Chapter 358: Dark Eyes (Part 4)
Chapter 358: Dark Eyes (Part 4)
Chapter 358: Dark Eyes (Part )
After some discussion, the prisoner, the blind girl, the archer and Conan came to the church which had only been opened in recent months. A flag with the special pattern was hung in front of the church gate.
Located in the center of the cross is the vertical pupil of a pitch-black cat. The center of the pupil moves left and right with the swing of the flag, as if it is watching the group of people in front of it.
"This is the church of that church. It looks very exquisite, but the stained window on the top, um... is that a cat on it?" The prisoner shielded his eyes from the sunlight with one hand and looked up.
The stained windows outside the church are almost all decorated with patterns of black cats and cat pupils. Although they are not painted with mythological characters like traditional church stained windows, the black cats on these stained windows are still quite sacred under the sunlight.
"Speaking of which, how do services usually take place in churches like this? It seems we can't use the traditional process to infer." Conan thought.
"After all, the true God recognized by this church is Cat. I think it's quite interesting. Cat saves the world!" The archer stood at the church door with his hands on his hips and smiled.
"Uh..." Everyone was speechless after being shocked by the archer's joke.
[Apostle: Come to think of it, Etta-chan's hood also has cat ears, so cute.]
[Night Watchman: Hmm. (Blushing)]
[Little girl: And Robbie too. Robbie is cute too!]
[Crybaby: Robbie can build a cat climbing frame for the cats using juniper trees. Isn’t Robbie awesome!]
[Native believers: Quacking. (Applause)]
"It seems like there aren't many people here today." The blind woman walked forward with her cane. "I remember there were quite a lot of people when I attended a lecture here last time."
"Maybe it's because Sister Helena is so famous." Conan stepped forward to help the blind girl open the door.
At this moment, the door was pulled open from the inside, and a priest dressed simply appeared in front of everyone. The priest in front of him was dressed in a black robe, with a silver cross with a cat's eye in the center around his neck, and holding a book. Conan felt that it was most likely not the Bible.
"Miss Helena, I didn't expect you to come to our church again. It's such an honor," the priest said with a gentle smile. "Today, the nuns are busy taking in a group of abandoned cats, so the church is pretty empty."
Conan looked at the book in the priest's hand thoughtfully, and then he said to the priest in a baby voice: "Father, is the book you are holding the doctrine of your church? I am very curious, can you tell me about it?"
"This child came with me. He's a very curious child, please forgive him." The blind girl introduced Conan to the priest, then turned to the prisoner. "And this gentleman, he is also curious about the teachings of the church."
"There's a church exactly like this next to the college I attend, but it's much larger." The prisoner scratched his head. "I didn't expect there would be one here too. I was curious and wanted to come and take a look."
"I see. Welcome, welcome." The priest's tone grew excited, but his smile remained unchanged. "Our Dark Eyes sect aims to ensure that everyone has equal access to these healing cats."
"Of course, in addition to this original doctrine, our Saint Lady also added many more."
"This includes not treating others coldly because of their unusual appearance, not attacking others with gossip, and not allowing lies to spread."
Conan was full of doubts, because the "Dark Eyes" sect seemed so positive. If the blind woman hadn't said that the people in the church behaved a little strangely, he wouldn't have noticed anything wrong at first. But the blind woman was right, because Conan did feel a sense of disharmony about this priest.
"Oh, it's time to feed the cat." The priest ran to the eaves of the church, shaking a small bell while adding cat food to the cat bowl. "Good children, it's time to eat!"
As soon as the priest finished speaking, a group of stray cats living near the church rushed around the food bowl, and for a while, the sound of meowing was endless.
Conan noticed that all the stray cats had their ears cropped, indicating they had all been sterilized. Furthermore, with so many cats living nearby, there had been no territorial disputes or fights between them. The cats were in good spirits, too. It was clear that the "Dark Eyes" had put a lot of effort into this aspect.
"Look, little brother, these are cats handled by our church. They have basically been sterilized and will not reproduce in large numbers and affect the residents." The priest still had a stiff smile on his face.
"I heard there are two-tailed monsters called Nekomata in Japan. I wonder if I'll ever meet one, hahaha."
Conan could only respond with an awkward smile, and then think about how to get some information about the "Dark Eyes".
The prisoner spoke up at this time: "Father, you just said that many of the church's doctrines were proposed by that saint. I wonder what kind of person this saint is?"
"Oh, Saint, the Saint's name is Joan Ann, and we usually call her Miss Ann." The priest replied.
"Ms. An?" Conan immediately remembered what the professor said. Sure enough, this "Dark Eye" sect was related to the Oritis organization.
"Father, what is the story about the 'Cat God'?" Conan asked again pretending to be a curious child.
"This is an ancient story," the priest said, holding the book to his chest and beginning to recount. "The Cat God's name is Bastet, or Bastet. He descended into ancient Ulthar and saw that some people there were catching cats for fun, so he brought down divine punishment."
"The next day, Ulthar issued a decree to protect cats: 'Cats are sacred and must not be bullied.' And thus, the first followers of the Dark Eye, the Visitors of Ulthar, were born."
"The Cat God blesses his followers, allowing them to talk to cats, possess leaping abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and even move freely in the dark, just like a nimble cat."
"Wow, so magical." Although Conan admired it, he felt in his heart that this was most likely the result of some human experiment. After all, there was a precedent of the professor who could turn humans into lizards. It didn't seem surprising if the Oletus Manor could turn humans into cats.
[Professor: Cat God Bastet, Great Race of Yith, Lord of Deep Space and the Sea of Stars...]
[Adventurer: There are so many Cthulhu gods in the manor.]
[Toymaker: If you include the Tales of the Abyss series, there's also Nyarlathotep, Starlight, the Hound of Tindalos, and some weird stuff.]
[Novelist: The Cthulhu pantheon has already settled in the manor.]
[Dream Witch: Haha, I wonder when your little place will get another full renovation.]
[Explorer: I still vividly remember Orpheus lying around in his room for five years.]
[Novelist: Stop it!]
The prisoner sighed, "So, this 'Cat God' is indeed a god who protects cats."
"That's right, especially black cats. Although in some countries, black cats are regarded as a symbol of misfortune or the incarnation of witches, black cats are the most sacred creatures in the teachings of the 'Dark Eye'!" said the priest in a high-pitched voice.