Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1071 - 186: The Same Old Chaos

Chapter 1071: Chapter 186: The Same Old Chaos

"I didn’t hear anything, I heard nothing, I want to eat, so I didn’t hear anything." Huddled by the fire, Freya held her head in her hands curled up into a ball and muttered, "What spider, what eight-legged furry things? They don’t exist here, no, such creatures don’t exist in this world at all, that’s right, you can’t fool me, how could there be such terrifying creatures, it’s all made up by people to trick others."

Even so, it was obvious that her body was shivering significantly, and her complexion was unnaturally pale; the others around her had no doubt that if she had known beforehand that hundreds of these large spiders inhabited the cliff walls, even if the spiders were all hiding in the caves, she would never dare climb up from below. In fact, recalling her recent climb over the cliff wall that the spiders moved over daily and remembering the vaguely sticky sensation when her hands and feet touched the cliff, she felt an impulse to chop off her limbs - if circumstances had allowed, the princess would have washed her hands countless times by now.

But the next moment, Freya stopped her mumbling, her pale face regained its color, and a smile returned to her face, for while Catherine’s gaze was drawn to the bird-catching spiders below, a freshly roasted strip of meat had been sneakily slipped into her mouth.

The roasted meat stuffed by Mr. Pannis into her mouth was very hot, freshly taken from the fire and still steaming. It was so hot when it was placed in her mouth that she couldn’t swallow it. However, the princess was loath to spit the roast out of her mouth, even if the hot meat made her puff out breaths, so she had to completely disregard her image, gently biting the meat strip with her teeth, trying not to let the scorching food touch her sensitive skin.

This result was mainly because, as soon as the food entered her mouth, Freya found the cunningly roasted back meat of an arrow mouse was too irresistible. The crispy texture when bitten into, the tender meat that seemed to melt in her mouth at any moment, the unique aromatic fat filling her mouth, and the perfect amount of salt stimulating each sensitive tastebud made the princess inclined to swallow this piece of food despite the burn.

"Shh!" Pannis quickly glanced at Catherine, saw she hadn’t turned around yet, and nodded reassuringly. He then gestured for the others sitting around to keep quiet, mysteriously smiled, and said, "Catherine, come back, don’t mind those spiders. They won’t come up here, not only because they struggle to move on flat ground, but also because there’s sunlight up here which they hate the most. Besides, we’re covered by Vivian’s defensive Array, so no need to worry about being spotted."

"No, I’m not worried about these bird-catching spiders." Catherine walked back, her face showing no emotion as she spoke flatly, "I just remembered a problem, and then thought of a possibility, that’s all."

"Hmm? What problem?" Pannis quickly piled meat strips on a plate next to the fire, letting the radiating heat from the Fire Pit do the final touch on the roast, and placed a dozen fresh meat strips on the grill, casually asking, "Did seeing the spider remind you? Is it that important, be careful, or Freya won’t be able to eat her dinner."

"Yes, it’s important." Catherine’s expression became serious, and she seriously said, "Just now, standing by the cliff, I was wondering if the world really has some extremely coincidental things."

"Wha, wha, what do you mean?" Pannis paused, cold sweat immediately broke out in droplets on his forehead, and his lips trembled as he said, "Ha, ha, ha, why, why don’t I understand what you’re talking about?"

"Yeah, it’s indeed hard to understand the way I said it, let me explain it a bit clearer," Catherine said as she sat down by the Fire Pit, resting her chin in her hand, looking nonchalantly at Pannis, whose eyes were wandering everywhere but at her, and leisurely continued, "Just now, standing on the edge of the cliff looking at the group of flying large spiders below, a question naturally occurred to me: what would happen if we were a few minutes late?"

"Ha ha, ha ha, indeed, what would happen?" Pannis mechanically turned the meat on the metal grill, forcing a laugh, "That’s indeed a curious question, but how can there be an answer to something that didn’t happen, right?"

"Yes, exactly, there can’t be a definite answer to something that didn’t happen, but people always have imagination, right? We can try to speculate, right?" Catherine finally smiled sweetly and warmly, her voice gentle as she said, "I was just thinking, if we were a few minutes late, we definitely wouldn’t have had time to climb this cliff, and with the bird-catching spiders’ flying range so wide, to avoid sitting down and suddenly having a large spider unexpectedly drop on our heads, we would also have to retreat some distance, a situation that would likely persist until tomorrow morning. However, it wouldn’t end there. The final scenario would be Freya seeing them and being unable to climb up like now, so we would have to take a longer route around, possibly adding another day to our journey. Do you think my speculation makes sense?"

"Ha ha ha ha ha, maybe, ha ha ha," Pannis laughed exaggeratedly, hiding his unease, "Such a high level of speculation, how could I possibly understand? Right, I completely didn’t understand."

"Hehe, it’s okay if you don’t understand, because you don’t need to." Catherine still smiled gently, softly saying, "Thinking about this, I realized it’s really quite coincidental. Theoretically, we shouldn’t have been able to arrive here before they became active, but, coincidentally, we encountered the forest rhinoceros because its cubs were approached and it chased us all the way here. And most crucially, those forest rhinoceros seemed to be forcing us to run faster, and would make charging gestures if we slowed down even a bit. What was the outcome? They chased us until here and then, without looking back, they walked away. Does this really seem like a group of creatures enraged because their cubs were threatened?"

"Hahaha, maybe it’s just their nature," Pannis said with a shifty gaze, "You haven’t seen a forest rhinoceros, of course, I could make anything up, no no, I mean, of course, you wouldn’t know about the habits of the forest rhinoceros."

"Hmm, now that you mention it, big sister, I feel it too. We were constantly chased by the forest rhinoceros and had no time to think, but now that we’ve calmed down and think about it, it is indeed very strange. Apart from chasing us, those forest rhinoceros were too calm," Lina’s gaze slowly became dangerous, her eyes piercing Pannis’s face like knives as she said with a cold laugh, "Someone’s perception is usually so sharp, he can hear creatures approaching within ten meters, and can smell odors others can’t even from dozens of meters away. But why is it that at the most unlikely moment, he didn’t notice the young forest rhinoceros approaching?"

"So that’s how it is." Even the powerless Vivian who had collapsed on the ground sat up, glaring at Pannis with an unfriendly look. A fireball emerged from the mage girl’s palm, the long-missed large fireball burning brightly in the girl’s hand, and Vivian sinisterly smiled and said, "Dear Mr. Pannis, is there anything else you would like to explain?"

"No, no, no, you can’t do this." Pannis had just finished grilling a dozen strips of meat, this time switching to hard, crusty loaves of bread, which are very hard in their normal state but become soft once toasted, a staple food popular with adventurers in the wilderness. After raising the metal grill to prevent the flames from directly scorching the bread, Pannis then protested with a feeling of being wronged, "I really didn’t do anything, you can’t just say I intentionally had the forest rhinos chase you because of some coincidences. Even if I didn’t notice the young forest rhinoceros, that was just a minor oversight, and I shouldn’t be treated unfairly."

"I saw them." The always expressionless Ava suddenly spoke in a flat tone, "Those fruits."

"What about those fruits?" Catherine glanced sharply at Pannis, then kindly said to Ava, "It’s okay, take your time, what did you see?"

"While we were being chased by those rhinos, I looked back." Although her tone was still even and her expression still blank, there was a strange light in Ava’s eyes as she rigidly said, "He was running just ahead of those rhinos, often turning back to stuff those red fruits into the mouths of the rhinos. The rhinos didn’t attack him and seemed very familiar with him."

"Oh~~~ so that’s how it is. It seems it wasn’t just an unintentional letting of the young forest rhinoceros approach us without warning, but a premeditated plan from the start, using fruits to bribe a magical beast he knew to help," Catherine realized with a nod, wearing a mischievous smile, she said to Pannis, "Dear Mr. Pannis, do you have any more excuses?"

"Wait, I can explain, there’s a reason for all of this, a complex reason that goes back to the last era, hey, I’m telling the truth, don’t draw swords or hammers, help, help!"

"Hiss hiss, they are always so lively. It was like this when we came to the swamp before," a few demigods, seemingly already guessing Pannis’s behavior, casually sat around the fire pit. Alcmene, flicking her tongue, said, "Hiss hiss hiss, do you really think you have a chance of victory? Hiss, I’m betting on you, don’t let me lose to that fish over there, hiss hiss hiss."

"Too bad, Lizard, you’ve already lost," Doris had long become accustomed to how Alcmene referred to her, brushed it off without care, "I bet on them to win, and it’s a sure thing."

"Let time prove everything," Flare chuckled lightly and shook her head, not dwelling too much on this issue, "However, don’t you realize that we’ve forgotten something very important?"

"Antuin, Antuin is still waiting behind for our message," Pannis wailed in his pursuit, "Instead of chasing me, you might as well go call him over."