Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 267 - 33 Day 3_1

Chapter 267: Chapter 33 Day 3_1

The moment he reached the top of the hill, Pannis understood what Catherine had meant by the beautiful view.

Below him spread the infinite expanse of the Rhea Plains. The cold season had caused the vegetation on the plains to wither, leaving only endless stretches of faded yellow. At the horizon where sky met earth ran the Bylgas River, the largest river in the Yarran World, bisecting the Rhea Plains as if sliced by a knife. Although it was winter, the turbulent Bylgas River had not frozen over. The ceaseless flow of water carried massive blocks of ice, colliding to let out cracking sounds that rang clear amidst the thunderous current. Above the surging river hovered wisps of mist, forming a white veil that blanketed the two shores, rendering it a sight right out of a fairy tale.

"Why is this part of the river so misty?" Pannis asked in curiosity. "Bylgas River isn’t like this in most places."

"No one has managed to find out yet." Vivian replied, "Many scholars have conducted research and proposed numerous theories, but in the end, no one could prove their hypotheses correct. Perhaps, this is one of the miracles of creation by Lord Yarra."

"Do we have to cross the river?" Pannis asked. "I feel like it would be torture to enter the river in this kind of weather."

"Haha, no, we do not need to." Ayrland caught up with them, "See that road? That is the main road leading to the City of Freedom. We will turn southeast after a long distance, moving parallel to the Bylgas River."

"Southeast?" Pannis looked into the distance. "That should be towards Chaoss Mountain, some eighty kilometers away. I seldom spent time in the City of Knowledge before, so I’m not very familiar with the terrain around here."

"Yes, that’s right, Chaoss Mountain. The main road will pass directly through a gorge in it, crossing the entire Chaoss Mountain." Catherine explained, "Alright, we’ve rested enough. Let’s move. We still need to cross Chaoss Valley tonight, as per our plan. We need to make up for the ground we didn’t cover yesterday."

Pannis instinctively looked up at the sky. The weather was clear, and no animals could be seen flying by. "It looks like today will be smooth sailing. At least for now, there are no signs of enemies in sight."

"I’m skeptical. It’s hard to believe they’d be generous enough to give us more time to rest." Catherine waved her hand, "Let’s go, let’s proceed."

The drivers raised their voices in a lively rhythm, and with the plush carriage leading the way, the convoy slowly started its journey on the long main road.

Traveling through an open plain can be a rather displeasing activity as all the surrounding scenery tends to remain unvaried. Even after walking for hours and covering dozens of kilometers, it may still feel like you’re marching on the spot. Your points of reference still seem to be on the far horizon, and the surroundings continue to be vast and empty as always.

Because of this, when traveling across a plain, it’s often necessary to entertain oneself in order not to be discouraged by the feeling of stagnation, especially for beginners. Seasoned travelers, however, do not concern themselves with such matters. Any experienced voyager of the plains would have their own methods of relieving stress, thus remaining unaffected.

"It looks like we’re getting close to Chaoss Mountain." a city guard announced cheerfully, "We can see it very clearly now."

"Yes, we are very close." Ayrland glanced up and commented in a composed manner. "Approximately thirty kilometers, I’d say. Three more hours walking at this pace, and we should arrive at Chaoss Valley by dusk."

"Three... three hours? How is that possible?" A bunch of the guards exclaimed in surprise, "It looks so close already, how could it still take so long?"

"Sadly, yes." Catherine looked at this group of young men, reminiscing her first time on this route. "Sometimes, our eyes can deceive us, especially in the open expanses of the plains. So, let’s continue with your game."

Yes, a game. The traditional game for novices traveling across the plains — the game of storytelling. Apart from the scouts who had gone out to explore the route, the rest gathered together, taking turns to target a fixed point with their arrows. The first one who missed would have to retell an interesting life experience. After the story, the game would recommence. This game not only consumed time and diverted attention but also fostered understanding and camaraderie among the novices. Therefore, it was seen as a long-standing tradition of the city guards to apply this game, and its effect had always been positive.

Indeed, its effect this time was excellent as well. An entire day, close to ten hours, over a journey of more than eighty kilometers, felt considerably less tiring to the team, especially later in the day, when everyone’s focus was more on new storytelling content, paying hardly any attention to time.

The sound of horse hooves approached again, signaling the return of a scout group. However, this time, there was no conventional signal. They ran directly to Ayrland, lowered their voices and whispered something to him. Ayrland immediately frowned, nodded at the two scouts, halted the departure of the next round of scouts, and hastily approached the four key members of their adventure team.

"Trouble brewing?" Catherine sighed and asked in a resolute tone.

"Yes, there’s trouble," Ayrland replied with a bitter smile, "And we are not even sure if it’s those same people from before."

"What does that mean?" Catherine inquired, "What’s different this time?"

"This time, it seems to be bandits," Ayrland said, "They saw quite a few people from a distance, right at the end of the Chaoss Valley ahead, and there should be a lot of them, at least over a hundred."

"How about their strength?" Catherine asked instinctively, then shook her head with a bitter smile, "Never mind, they probably couldn’t tell. Pannis, we need your help."

"Pannis, he..." Ayrland was about to say that it would be safer if he went himself, but when he turned around, he realized that Pannis was no longer on his horse.

"Captain, you can relax. Pannis will be fine." Catherine, seeing Ayrland looking surprised and searching for Pannis, said while trying to hold back laughter, "And you don’t need to look for him anymore. If Pannis wants to hide, even if all the people here combined their efforts they won’t be able to find him, so you just need to wait patiently."

"Eh, strange." After waiting for less than two minutes, Catherine suddenly had a strange feeling. She stared at the peak in the direction ahead and said, "I have a peculiar feeling."

"What’s up, big sis?" Vivian asked, "Did you find something?"

"No." said Catherine hesitantly as she shook her head, "I just feel something strange coming from that direction, a truly peculiar and distinct feeling. But it vanished quickly, it must have been an illusion."

"Over there? I don’t feel anything, how about you Lina?" Vivian didn’t dismiss Catherine’s feeling as an illusion and asked all the Gold Rank professionals one by one, but no one had the same feeling. So, they eventually concluded it was an illusion.

"Whoa, I’m back." Less than ten minutes later, Pannis had already returned, a dry stalk of grass in his mouth, leisurely strolling back, "We seem to be getting a lot of attention."

"Did you find anything?" Catherine immediately asked, "Are they bandits?"

"Yes, bandits, and not just any bandits, but a collective of five local bandit groups, more than two hundred people, tsk tsk, shall we commend them for their great size?" Pannis said, "Someone secretly hired these five bandit groups to attack this wedding procession, but they were strictly ordered not to hurt anyone. And I overheard their conversation, it seems the bandits are quite afraid of their employer, and plan to obediently follow the orders. What are your thoughts?"

"As expected, seems like it’s our old friends again," Catherine sighed, "How about their abilities?"

"They are about as skilled as the city guard, just without any Gold Rank leader." Pannis said, "The strongest among them are the eight Silver Rank leaders, and the rest are all professionals. Their overall strength is quite average. I have to say, the bandits in the Neutral Land really lack standards, on average, a group only has over forty people, yet they dare call themselves bandit groups? They’re really unprofessional."

"Enough with the jokes," Catherine rolled her eyes, "Did you find out anything else in detail? Tell us."

"The terrain up ahead is two peaks with a valley between them. The valley is about 1500 meters long, the base is over fifty meters wide, and the slopes on both sides are very steep. There are 174 people hiding at the end of the valley, or rather they think they are hiding. And over fifty people are hiding in caves on the slopes of the valley, I wonder if they’ll fall to their own deaths when they charge down to attack."

"Is there anything else?" Catherine asked.

"Basically that’s it, other than, for example, them complaining that they’re on the brink of starving to death from robbing this route, or them wishing to drink bone soup at night but the person responsible for hunting didn’t bring in anything. I don’t suppose you’d want to know that kind of stuff." Pannis said lazily while scratching his head, "So, this is all the useful information. Alright, my task is done, back to slacking off, I mean, back to saving energy for possibly more severe situations."

"Did you go over there?" Vivian pointed to the direction Catherine felt was strange earlier, "It should be in the mountains."

"I did, why?" Pannis was taken aback, "Did you see me sticking my tongue out at you from there?"

"Be serious, we’re discussing important matters," Vivian pouted, "A few minutes ago Big sis said she had a strange feeling coming from over there, did you notice anything?"

"Feeling?" Pannis repeated Vivian’s question, a hidden surprise in him, but he still shook his head, "I don’t know, I didn’t notice anything."

"It’s fine, probably just an illusion," Catherine dismissively waved her hand, "However, since the new challenge from them has indeed arrived, let’s proceed according to the plan we discussed earlier."

"Alright, everything according to the original plan." They all displayed sinister smiles simultaneously. Their chuckles scared the city guards who had gathered around. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to qidian.com to vote for recommendation and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)