Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 337 - 49 - Tracing Clues_1

Chapter 337: Chapter 49 - Tracing Clues_1

"There’s one question I’m most concerned about." Catherine’s gaze flickered as she spoke in a deep voice, "This question is very important."

"The honey water was shared among them." Pannis spread his hands, sounding melancholy, "I didn’t get to drink any."

"Alright then, I have no further questions." Catherine covered her face in sorrow, expressing her disappointment, "I had it once when I was a kid and I have to admit, it really was amazing. Also, did you collect any money for it?"

"I really wanted to, but they boycotted me." Pannis sighed helplessly, "I knew you’d be upset."

"Seems like you’ve recovered quite well, big sis." Seeing that Catherine instinctively grasped the point about a bottle of water costing 180 silver coins, Lina finally felt assured and said, "In that case, why don’t you tell us about what’s been going on with you guys? Like why you’re here, for example."

"What state is she in?" Catherine frowned and whispered to Pannis, "Why is she acting like a princess? I’ve never seen her like this before."

"Picked it up from a new book during the journey." Pannis shrugged, "She’s been like this since. It’s the second day now, should probably change by tomorrow. For a while, she was changing her image every day. We all got used to her phase, won’t really get upset over these small attitude problems."

"Well, that’s a relief." Catherine breathed a sigh of relief and said to Lina, "Finish telling us about your experiences first, and then I’ll tell you about ours. Nothing much interesting happened on our side."

"Alright, the rest is pretty straightforward." Lina said, "The key issue was that we couldn’t find a breakthrough before. Now, having Rissela and her son’s honey water shop as one, it’s become a lot easier."

"No, it’s not that simple." The high priest interrupted, "Let me tell it. When you or Pannis recount it, you always make some issues seem plain. But those issues you’ve downplayed are exactly what make us admire you and Mr. Pannis."

"Once we found the breakthrough, we finished up the loose ends and rushed back to Deirsarun. The first thing we did upon returning was to approach the lord for an administrative order, demanding that Rissela and her son cooperate with our investigation. What we asked them to do was quite simple because their honey water only has a shelf life of 30 days. So, we asked for information on all customers from the past 30 days."

"Perhaps this sort of request would be difficult for other shops - impossible, even. But it wasn’t for Rissela and her son. They could easily provide it because they typically only cater to one order a day, which were always from big and old customers – mostly from families that we all knew had bought their batch of drinks."

"In 30 days, they gave us the names of 31 big customers. This is because on one particular day, servants from two different families queued up together and bought the entire batch of beverages. Once we got the list, I wanted to request the lord to temporarily detain these 31 wealthy individuals and carry out a search at their mansions. But the lord believed that detaining three or four people would be fine, though detaining thirty-one, especially considering they were all from prominent families, would have too great an impact. Therefore, he hoped we could narrow down our scope."

"We next planned to enlist the help of thieves from Shadow Hand to infiltrate these families and look for clues. However, Shadow Hand does not have branches in every city, and there was none in Deirsarun. Also, we couldn’t fully trust that there were no connections between Shadow Hand and those responsible. As we were at a loss for what to do next, we discovered Mr. Pannis was missing."

"You didn’t by any chance sneak off to peep on other people’s maids again, did you?" Catherine suddenly turned to glare at Pannis, "I think it’s highly likely."

"You’re really breaking my heart, Catherine." Pannis lamented, "While I was working hard to discern the truth, here you are, suspecting me of sneaking peeks. Am I that type of person? Think about it, when have I ever really peeped?"

Catherine was taken aback and bowed her head silently, counting incidents on her fingers. One, two, three...By the time she reached ten, Pannis angrily asked, "Wait, were there so many times that you have to count for so long?"

"Haha, when we found Mr. Pannis, he was indeed being chased by a family’s guards, accusing him of being a peeping tom," Teresa laughed lightly as she covered her mouth. "We were all quite surprised."

"Hey, you’re badmouthing me right after eating the dinner I cooked, you’re really quick to change sides," Pannis widened his eyes, rolling them back as if he wouldn’t die in peace. "You accepted my lovingly made dinner, and this is how you treat me after?"

"Wasn’t that lovingly made dinner meant for Marcia?" the holy priest tilted her head, feigning a puzzled expression and blinking, "Whose was it really meant for?"

"Huh? Well, this...this..." Pannis laughed awkwardly and then turned serious. "It’s getting late, we should get right to the story. It’ll be bedtime soon."

"Ah." Catherine rubbed her temples and sighed. "Shut up. I found the story goes much quicker when you don’t interject."

"That’s prejudiced." Pannis was about to continue when he saw Catherine’s threatening gaze and lowered his head, "Alright, alright, I’ll shut up. I’m really pitiful."

The head-down Pannis didn’t see the slight smile on Catherine’s lips. Ever since Pannis joined, Catherine felt a headache every day as massaging her temples had become a daily routine. However, after spending ten days apart, Catherine and Vivian both realized that even though they had only been together for a few months, the sudden absence of daily headaches and fooling around felt like something was missing and left a void in their hearts. Now that they were reunited, even just for over an hour, life felt whole again.

"Everyone was surprised when Mr. Pannis wasn’t found initially," Teresa continued. "Sage Helena understood Mr. Pannis better, she insisted that he was already investigating the thirty-one wealthy homes in his own way. She was sure we could find him near one of these estates. Though we didn’t quite believe it at the time, we decided to follow Helena’s theory. Surprisingly, we found Mr. Pannis near the third house we checked."

"When we found him, he was fleeing from a large group of guards from one of the estates. All the while, he kept shouting things like ’I’m no peeper, I’m just passing through to enjoy the scenery.’ At Helena’s request, we all pretended we didn’t know him and watched as he was chased quite a distance. About five minutes later, the winded guards returned to the yard. A few minutes after that, Mr. Pannis returned."

"When he returned, Mr. Pannis immediately told us that this family was definitely tied to the culprit. His reasoning? The family had just returned from a winter hunt four days before. Although he didn’t go inside the residence due to the large number of guards, he carefully examined the horses and carriages they used for the hunt. He found soil similar to that near the town in the crevices of seven horseshoes, and a small stone on the carriage wheel that resembled the ones found near a patch of gravel close to the town."

"Armed with this evidence, we reported back to the lord. Under the guise of a snow-viewing excursion, the lord distracted the aristocrat and his direct relatives, meanwhile significantly reducing the number of guards. We seized this opportunity to infiltrate the mansion. Though we found several secret letters indicating a connection to the culprit within the mansion, there was no trace of the culprit’s hideout. Evidently, the culprit wasn’t hiding there, they were merely in contact."

"However, these letters were enough to charge the aristocrat. We left the city again with the secret letters and clandestinely caught up with the lord to hand them over. Now armed with sufficient evidence, the lord immediately arrested the aristocrat and secretly escorted him back to his mansion in Dearsun. The lord led his troops into the mansion and restrained all the guards. Finding no sign of the culprits upon searching, he began questioning the aristocrat’s accomplices and even offered impunity in exchange for the culprit’s identity and whereabouts. However, the aristocrat staunchly refused to cooperate."

"Time was of the essence. Once news leaked, the culprits would relocate immediately. The aristocrat was potentially buying the culprits time to escape. Despite knowing this, we were left with no good options. Even if the lord had wanted to use torture to force a confession, there might not have been enough time. Just as we were all distressed, Sage Helena stepped forward to carry the responsibility."

"I hadn’t realized that a person, no matter how cautious and careful, will still reveal many details if they are still alive. I never thought someone could easily grasp these details and use them to deduce the truth. Helena gave us all a lesson in this."

"She didn’t do anything special, just had the soldiers take the aristocrat for a walk around his own house. After that, she had him spend two minutes in each of the three rooms she singled out. In one of these rooms, she found a secret chamber. In another, she discovered a theft-proof storage box. Finally, in the last room, she found a cipher book. When she told the aristocrat that he was the one who led her to these, he was on the verge of complete collapse."

"With the cipher book, we easily decoded the letters from the secret chamber and storage box. We discovered the culprits were hiding in a deserted mansion, mortgaged by a bankrupt businessman not far from the city. Their team was not small, once comprising four Legendary Rank and ten Gold Rank professionals. But now, only two Legendary Rank and four Gold Rank professionals were left."

"We were outnumbered, so we wanted to first observe and confirm the situation before seeking reinforcements. However, when we arrived, all the Legendary Rank figures had already left, leaving only four Gold Rank professionals on guard." (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Starting Point (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com for viewing.)