Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1043 - 158: Small Scarf

Chapter 1043: Chapter 158: Small Scarf

Doris sighed softly, stopped her singing, and a mist of water arose from her body. When the mist dissipated, she had transformed into her land form and leaped to the ground, slowly approaching the magical beast nearest to her. In just a few minutes, the beast’s body was covered in wounds of varying sizes, its fur soaked in blood, making it look as if it had just been pulled out of the water. The beast lay on the ground, breathing rapidly, already on the brink of death due to its severe injuries. Yet, even so, it gazed at the slowly approaching mermaid priestess with an infatuated stare.

Doris stood in front of the dying beast for a moment, her gaze complex as she looked at the victim before her. She slowly bent down and reached out to gently caress the beast’s fur. Under the gentle touch of the mermaid priestess, the beast seemed to find the greatest satisfaction and relaxed completely, slowly closing its eyes to return to eternal rest.

The Storm Priestess stood quietly in front of the victim’s corpse. With her finger, she slowly drew a circle on the beast’s head. The circle represented the all-encompassing ocean, a final blessing from the agent of the storm. After doing all this, Doris shook her gray, fish-skin ceremonial robe and turned back with a smile as though nothing had happened, saying, "Now it’s finally quiet."

The stark contrast in Doris’s demeanor before and after caused a strange feeling to rise in the hearts of the girls—it was hard to believe that the one who had coerced dozens of Legendary magical beasts into a deadly battle with just an open mouth was the same gentle and attentive mermaid priestess. Moreover, it was she who had created the slaughter, yet she was the one filled with pity, giving the final blessing to the slain. And after a moment of sorrow, she turned around and immediately regained her usual bright smile.

These rapid changes made it difficult for the young girls to accept the mercurial Doris. However, upon reflection, a long-lived demi-god race like hers would create many unavoidable slaughters throughout their extended lives. If one could not quickly adjust their mentality to face the necessary slaughter and guilt towards the victims, they would likely collapse mentally from it. Doris’s ability to adjust her mood according to the situation was an expected reaction.

"It seems that no other fools will come to die in a short time." Pannis’s ears twitched, and she nodded in satisfaction, "For at least half an hour’s journey, there are no herds of beasts around. It seems that our luck isn’t very good, or rather, the luck of these groups of beasts isn’t great. This forest is probably a common hunting ground for these groups, and we happen to have invaded their territory, so it’s no wonder they so stubbornly fought us to the death."

"I remember when we were in the Shining Forest, you and that guide Elrad, who set the trap for us, could both recognize which territory belonged to which magical beast beforehand," Catherine asked, puzzled. "Why do you only realize it now? Is it because you’ve explored the Forest of Death too few times?"

"It’s not like that," Pannis shook her head. "The Forest of Death is different from the Shining Forest. On the very edge of the Forest of Death, because there are too many beasts and their strength is relatively close, there’s rarely one kind of beast that can occupy a fixed territory. The territories of various beasts are constantly changing. In such circumstances, one can only know by seeing with their own eyes, otherwise, it’s impossible to know beforehand who the area belongs to."

"So it’s a battleground." Catherine nodded thoughtfully but soon frowned and asked, "What’s wrong with you? You’ve been staring over there. Is there something strange there?"

"That’s exactly what I want to know." Since the end of the battle, Pannis’s eyes kept glancing in the same direction, as if something interesting was there. However, Catherine looked carefully for a while and found nothing out of the ordinary—just a dense, normal forest, overgrown with weeds and covered in fallen leaves, with no anomalies. But the knight girl knew well that Pannis wouldn’t behave this way for no reason; there must be something there to capture his attention. As Catherine predicted, Pannis nodded, "There’s an illusion formed by Illusion Magic hiding something over there. Whoever set it up is very skillful, making full use of the surroundings, creating the simplest illusions only in certain key locations, yet achieving the effect of a more advanced illusion. For that reason, the magical fluctuation there is easily overlooked and not easy to detect without close observation."

"I felt it too." Once Pannis hinted at it, Vivian noticed the magical fluctuation he mentioned. Indeed, just like Pannis said, the magical fluctuation was subtle; anyone could easily overlook it without careful attention. Thus, Vivian, just as curious, examined the area of the illusion, eager to dispel it with her own sight and see what was hidden behind.

"Could it be some kind of treasure?" Catherine’s eyes lit up with anticipation, "Just like in the legends, many years ago, someone left treasures in this unassuming place, then covered the entrance with clever Illusion Magic, waiting for future generations to unearth it. Only those with enough patience and sharp observational skills could overcome the various obstacles, find this treasure, and discover countless gold coins and crystals, and—hey, hey, why are you looking at me like that?"

"Big sister, it’s still morning, it’s a bit early to be dreaming," Lina said blankly to Catherine, who was lost in her fantasies, "So you should wake up a bit. Who would be so dumb as to leave a treasure in such an obvious spot? Moreover, this area is just the outermost edge of the Forest of Death; many adventurers have been here. If there really was a treasure, it would have been discovered long ago. The key point is, as Pannis just said, it’s only simple illusion magic, not like those profound spells that can last a long time. Just a little analysis, and one can tell it was set up recently."

"Can’t I indulge in my fantasy for a moment?" Catherine tapped Lina’s bald head to vent her frustration with the shattered illusion but couldn’t help but ask again, "Pannis, what’s really there, can you make it out?"

"There is a scarf, a very fluffy and very warm scarf." Pannis stroked his chin with a cryptic smile and said, "I think this scarf would be very comfortable to wear."

"Actually, it’s just an Illusion Fox hiding there," Antuin, after the battle had ended, seriously straightened out his robes and smoothed out every wrinkle, then slowly came over and explained, "It must be the same one that the guards shot yesterday, because Her Majesty said she smelled blood, not now, but before the fight started."

"Hmm, no wonder," Pannis had a moment of realization and added, "So it’s not that our luck was bad, just happening to encounter several groups controlling the area, but these magical beasts were originally attracted by the scent of blood and gathered nearby to search for bleeding prey but were blocked by the illusion magic and just couldn’t find it. However, this fox is really unlucky, first getting hurt by us, then being cornered by a pack of magical beasts while fleeing, and just when those beasts are all dead, it’s discovered by us, ultimately unable to escape its fate of becoming a scarf."

"Let me break the illusion first, and we can discuss other things later," Antuin casually pointed toward the location of the illusion, and after a slight magical fluctuation, everything hidden by the illusion was revealed.

What an Illusion Fox actually looks like is something few people know. Even the Magical Beast Handbook published by the Adventurers’ Guild had only described it with words. The scrupulous Handbook only included illustrations for confirmed magical beasts; creatures like the Illusion Fox, most of whose appearances were based on rumor and some of which were contradictory, were only accompanied by a descriptive text and a disclaimer reminding readers that the information was based on hearsay. Therefore, the girls were seeing an Illusion Fox for the first time.

The Illusion Fox is a very beautiful medium-sized fox with bright golden color, its fur soft and sleek, its body streamlined and well-proportioned. Its two large, black, sparkling eyes were intelligent, and its moist black nose shone with a wet gloss. Although its size seemed a bit smaller than a wolf, its real body was only slightly larger than a small dog. The reason it looked bigger was due to its very fluffy tail, which made up almost half of its body size. The golden tail, unlike the common fox’s odor, emitted a faint fragrance, immediately endearing it to onlookers.

However, the Illusion Fox in front of them now did not look beautiful at all but rather very pitiful. It had two arrows stuck in its waist; the arrow shafts had been bitten off, but pieces still protruded from the wounds. The once-soft fur was soaked with blood, which dried into dark scars, and the deep wounds, having remained untreated all day, had started to rot in the moist environment of the Forest of Death, giving off a faint stench. The injury caused the little fox to lie limply on the ground, its nimble tail now lifelessly covering itself. Seeing that its illusion had been broken, it tried to make a threatening gesture but couldn’t even stand up.

"It really is a very beautiful scarf," Pannis crouched in front of the Illusion Fox, grabbing its big tail and reveling in the warm and soft touch, not wanting to let go, "If you skinned it and wrapped it around your neck, it would definitely be very warm, wouldn’t it, little scarf?"

"Grr~~" The clever Illusion Fox sensed the mocking malice in Pannis’s words, glared fiercely at him with its bright eyes, bared its snow-white teeth, and growled deep in its throat. However, in reality, the injuries it sustained left it powerless to resist; it could only use its posture as a threat.

"You really are cruel; it’s already so miserable," Catherine couldn’t help but sigh, touched by the beautiful yet pathetic sight, "It looks so pitiful."

"Whimper." The Illusion Fox seemed to understand the girl’s words, whimpering like a puppy, its black eyes welling up with moisture, looking pitifully at the knight girl. Its fluffy tail wagged behind it, full of pleading.

"Ugh, I can’t take this," Catherine hung her head in silence for a moment, then suddenly raised her head and earnestly said, "Let’s not hurt it, shall we?"