Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 303 - 15 Pre-War Conference_1

Chapter 303: Chapter 15 Pre-War Conference_1

"So who’s the last seat for?" After everyone had settled down, Pannis nudged Muir next to him. "Isn’t everyone already here?"

"The person in charge always shows up last," Muir chuckled, "It’s just a human’s bad habit."

"Okay, do we still need to wait for him?" Pannis asked. "After all, he won’t participate anyway."

"Unfortunately, he holds a lot of key information," Muir replied. "There’s no way around waiting for him, what a waste of time."

"Speaking of wasting time, I never got around to asking you," Pannis said questioningly. "What are you doing here? Even if you need to send a representative, wouldn’t any young elf do?"

"I just happened to be nearby." Muir closed his laughter and said seriously: "This is what I was saying earlier. The other party has made a big mess this time, and the King’s Court is restless."

"I don’t understand, what’s going on? Why are the Elven Royal Courts becoming alerted?" Pannis frowned: "These incidents only happen in human territories, and they have nothing to do with you elves."

"That’s what I’m going to explain in a bit. Just wait a moment." Muir and Pannis both turned their heads towards the door of the conference room: "He’s here."

The door to the conference room was pushed open again. People’s first impression was that a ball had rolled in. In reality, what came in was not a ball, but essentially a spherical human. The person was very fat, with a round head, round belly, short and thick limbs, short and thick fingers, and a comical appearance. He walked into the conference room panting as if he had just run a few miles, took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat off his head. It took him a long while to recover. His plump face squeezed out a friendly smile: "I apologize for my tardiness."

"Is he the person in charge of the security center?" Lina quietly asked, visibly taken aback.

"No, he is the Lord of the city." Muir, who didn’t seem to expect him to attend the meeting in person, said: "Or rather, he is the current Duke of Winston, the ruler of the entire Duchy of Winston."

William Winston, the current Duke of Winston, is one of the three most powerful dukes in the rotating council and ranks among the top ten richest people in the entire Neville Federation. Given that the Neville Federation is considered a commercial country, all thirteen dukes control huge commercial networks. The Duke of Winston is no exception. In fact, he is a business genius who never stops innovating. Despite his immense power and influence, public opinion of him is negative. Many call him a man-eater, a demon, a serpent, and such. This is because he never shows mercy towards his competitors, but only stops when he swallows their business whole. This severe approach and attitude have brought about lots of dissatisfaction and enemies, even a commercial operation to besiege Winston. However, he seems not to care at all, as if being besieged by more than twenty business groups is nothing to him.

"I never expected that something like this would happen on my turf." The Duke of Winston made an effort to sit down in the only free chair, making the spacious seat look like a nail, nailed into his fat body: "To avoid wasting everyone’s time, I’ll keep it brief."

"You must be wondering why I personally attended this meeting." The Duke of Winston’s round face was filled with smiles: "First, this incident has a significant impact. Due to it, the turnover of some of my businesses has decreased. If it is not resolved quickly, I fear that I will suffer heavy losses. Second, I am scheduled to take over the rotating chair next year. If I fail to resolve this issue, and similar problems occur during my term, there might be calls for my removal, just like the massacre that happened in Spindle Village. In the end, even if I manage to survive the impeachment, I would probably have to give up many benefits, which is more uncomfortable than killing me. So whatever it happens, I will fully support you in taking this matter to the end."

"Now let me share our findings." Winston took out a pair of glasses and placed them on his nose. He then took out several pieces of paper to read out: "First, of the five survivors, three have passed away in unconsciousness. We contacted professional organizations to conduct tests, and the cause of death is astonishing. It is entirely due to organ failure caused by over-aging of the body. In other words, they died of old age. As it’s winter now, the bodies are still in good condition. Those who want to double-check can conduct their autopsy or directly view the autopsy report. Of the other two survivors, one is still unconscious, but the other has woken up. Although his emotions are poor, he can still communicate normally, and everyone can raise questions directly to him."

"I summarized the statements of the three survivors who were conscious before and after, and it can be confirmed that the enemy mainly consists of several mages in black robes. The robes are embroidered with unique marks—a hexagram centered on an hourglass. Depending on the person’s status, the color of the hourglass varies. There is a discrepancy here, some say the color of the entire symbol varies, while others say only the color of the hourglass does. The mages spoke in the common human language, but two of them spoke it awkwardly, like they were... alien? Including aliens, they have repeatedly mentioned a certain ’Your Highness’ during their exchanges. It is preliminarily determined that they were collecting some things for this ’Your Highness’."

"Alright, that’s about it. Everyone can raise any questions now. After the meeting, you can form teams for exploration. I would not recommend acting on your own. When our patrol team interrupted the enemy’s ceremony in the survivor’s village, a high-ranking commander should have been present there. If not for the patrol team sending a distress signal immediately, the entire team would have been overwhelmed. To avoid being overwhelmed, we should act in groups of at least three."

"If anyone has any questions, you can ask them now."

"I have a question." Lina was the first to ask, "I was a witness to the Spindle Village incident. I want to know if the conditions of the deceased in the current case are exactly the same as those in Spindle Village?"

"So you are the members of the Nellie Adventure Team. First, let me thank you for reporting the Spindle Village incident in advance. As a result, all cities in our federation have strengthened their patrol force. The eventual outcome led to timely disruption of a major case, leaving us precious survivors and an initial understanding of the enemy’s modus operandi," the Duke of Winston thanked them, while searching his documents. After a while, he answered, "Yes, the conditions of the deceased are exactly the same as those of the Spindle Village incident. From this, we can deduce that the victims in the Spindle Village were not killed by magic, but by a large-scale Magic Array."

"That is my second question," Lina said. "Since the patrol team broke into the criminal scene, is there a Magic Array that has not been destroyed in time? If yes, can you provide a rubbing?"

"Yes, yes, almost forgot." The Duke of Winston gestured, and several uniform-clad guards began distributing the copies of the Array to everyone. "As you can see, we seriously lack high-end combat power in the guard team, so we mainly rely on all of you from the temple. I’m counting on you," he implored.

Pannis, representing Lina, took the rubbing and proceeded to study it. Sticking to the principle that professionals should handle professional matters, Lina did not try to look at it. Instead, she continued with her questioning, "I still don’t quite understand why you all concluded that instead of fleeing immediately after you disrupted their operation, they would stay and look for opportunities to commit crimes? If they flee, gathering here wouldn’t make much sense."

When Lina first started asking questions, everyone was curiously observing her — especially those who had briefly interacted with her, like Enbow, Marcia, and Teresa. At first, she gave the impression of being a standard clergy member: gentle, devout, and reserved, always considering others first. But as soon as she began asking questions, she seemed different. Even though she was still gentle, every question she asked was pointedly targeted and timely, akin to a seasoned police officer dealing with complex cases for years. Lina, of course, was aware of everyone’s curiosity and doubt about her, but she didn’t intend to explain anything. She simply looked straight at Lord Winston, waiting for his answer.

"It’s highly likely that the perpetrator did not flee." Duke Winston replied, wiping his continuous sweat. "The Spindle Village incident was a grand affair, but the criminal stayed in Neville territory and continued to commit crimes. This shows that the perpetrator is very stubborn and pressed for time, and wouldn’t easily give up. It is highly likely that he is still lurking nearby, hence the need to seek help from all of you."

"Last question," Lina nodded, approving of Winston’s answer. "Do you have any initial speculation about what the perpetrator is trying to collect?"

"I don’t know." Duke Winston shook his head decisively. "We can only guess that it’s something like life force. No one can decipher the Array left behind."

"Huh?" Pannis suddenly let out a surprised murmur. "Lina, come look at this Array."

Lina leaned over to look for a long time, then asked puzzledly, "What’s special about it? I don’t quite understand."

"It’s very special and familiar," Pannis said thoughtfully. "This is the first time I’ve seen this Array, but we’ve all recently seen an Array of this style."

Lina frowned and asked, "I have no memory of it. Where did we see it?"

"Remember Passion and Indulgence?" Pannis asked.

"You mean, the one from the first..." Lina covered her mouth in time, without blurting out her guess.

"Yes, the Array they showed us." Pannis nodded his head, "Although the drawing and function are different, as well as the runes and texts on the Array, everything can change except the core style of the Array. That’s why I can be certain that this Array and the one they showed us are from the same era, or even from the same person."

"Things are getting stranger." Lina said with a bitter smile, "I’m starting to feel a headache." (To be continued. If you like this work, I invite you to vote and recommend at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)