Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 361 - 72 The Small Bet of the Pansy_1

Chapter 361: Chapter 72 The Small Bet of the Pansy_1

"Pansy, do you have something on your mind?" Catherine, moving along the main road towards the gambling district, suddenly turned back and spoke to the Pansy who had been silent with her head bowed all the way, "Is there something wrong?"

"No, nothing." Pansy forced a smile, not realizing the forcefulness behind it.

"If you’re having trouble, just speak up. We can all discuss and find a solution together." Catherine stopped her footsteps and patted Pansy on the shoulder. Pansy shivered, instinctively wanted to dodge, but finally did not move away, "Don’t forget what I said before. Since that time, you and Vivian did not abandon us, you have stopped being mere servants, but our friends. Seeking help from friends during difficult times is the most normal thing outside of City of Innocence. We have left the sewers, you have accomplished your tasks, Indulgence and Passion will surely uphold their promise, so you can certainly lead a normal life outside of City of Innocence from now on. That’s why you should make an effort to adapt to the rules beyond City of Innocence and not be bound by the past, understand? Give it a try and share your worries with us, your friends."

"I... I..." Pansy opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but ended up shaking her head, "No, nothing."

"I understand." Even though Pansy said nothing, Catherine already understood. Seeing Pansy’s still somewhat childish face, she gave her head a rub, "It’s alright, signal them."

"I..." Pansy was startled. Her first reaction was to turn and run, but she managed to suppress her urge to escape. A smile forced out on her sweating face, she tried to hide the tremble in her voice, "What signal, I don’t understand."

"You’re such a child." Catherine said, caught between laughter and tears, "Everyone has probably guessed it already, yet you’re worrying over nothing."

"Guessed?" Pansy was puzzled, but admitted, "How did you guess?"

"It’s simple. They want to use our strength, so naturally they would want a rough idea of when we’ll be back." Catherine explained, "So, surely they would find ways to get you to report to them. This is completely normal. If it were me, I would do the same. But what we didn’t expect was that you would hesitate so long without following their arrangements, which makes me quite happy actually. But that’s ok, notify them, all is well."

"But from your conversation with them, it seems to interfere with the two leaders..." Pansy stammered, "Would that be ok?"

"Haha, you’re overthinking." Catherine couldn’t help but laugh, shaking her head, "We won’t become enemies just because of this, don’t worry. See, I was right. Troubles should be discussed with friends. If you’d told me earlier, you wouldn’t have had a hard time."

"Thank you." Pansy enthusiastically took out a crystal the size of a thumb and smashed it into pieces.

"Alright, now that the problem is solved, let’s move quickly." Catherine encouraged again, patting Pansy on the shoulder, "Don’t make them wait."

"Not a bad bet." Not long after Catherine turned away, a very soft voice suddenly came to Pansy’s ear, just enough for her to barely hear it, "Your judgement of the situation wasn’t bad either."

This time Pansy really turned pale, her legs buckling and she almost collapsed, but a timely hand reached out and helped her remain steady, not revealing any abnormalities. Frightened, she turned her head to see Pannis with a meaningful smile.

"Don’t be scared, my words were meant literally." Pannis continued to whisper softly into her ear, "This was indeed praise, there is no need to worry. For City of Innocence, this behavior is instinctive, so I understand where you’re coming from. You haven’t done anything wrong. Hm, rather you haven’t done anything wrong in certain senses. But try not to do this again in the future, it will benefit everyone, okay?"

Pansy’s trembling hand reached out subconsciously, finally grasping her sister’s hand. The warmth from her hand gave her enough strength to breathe again. She nodded vigorously, almost uncontainable. She realized that her clothes were completely soaked, the cold waking her up.

"Can we consider this a consensus?" Pannis smiled satisfactorily, "Good, then let’s keep our conversation just now a secret between us, what do you think?"

"Thank...you." Pansy felt like she had escaped death, she glanced at her sister who seemed as if she was on the verge of tears. Squeezing her sister’s hand, Pansy felt a surge of courage in her heart. Maybe, there will be a good future.

"So on the surface, it looks like Cruelty, Madness and Curiosity are all targeting Indulgence and Passion." Suspicion, in order to win the war, openly spoke his thoughts so that all of his secrets could have the most transparent understanding of the situation, "Cruelty and Curiosity lean towards forming a five-person team to take down Indulgence and Passion, so at least it appears that they are on the same side."

"You’re saying on the surface?" Catherine asked, "So how is it in reality?"

"Curiosity will undoubtedly waver." Suspicion spoke, "Although he is one of the initiators of the joint action, he is actually the most cowardly. Any slight change in power balance will cause him to switch sides. If Indulgence and Passion are at a disadvantage, Curiosity will definitely stick with it to the end. But the moment I show up to support them, Curiosity will immediately return to neutrality."

"What exactly do you mean by ’strength’?" Catherine finally asked the question that had been on her mind for days, "Is it the forces that one can muster?"

"No, not that." Suspicion explained, "Forget that you don’t understand. Among the leaders, what we usually refer to as ’strength’ is the ability to kill the opponent within a few rounds. The battle amongst thieves or assassins is like that, a handful of confrontations, giving no chance for the enemy to counter, a thorough strike. The comparison of the possibilities of this happening is what we call ’strength’."

"Alright, then what?" Catherine asked: "Who’s after Curiosity?"

"The second one is Elegance." Suspicion hesitated for a moment, but still said out this name: "We’ve never seen Elegance’s real face. He has too many faces, maybe he used the real one before but I doubt anyone would know if it’s true, even the chairman might not know. After Pannis reminded me, I think he is likely the only one who absolutely wouldn’t allow anyone to interfere with the normal operation of the City of Innocence."

"Why?" Pannis followed up, asking: "Does he have something specifically dependent on this place?"

"Yes." Suspicion nodded: "He can enjoy his favorite food here without worrying about exposing his identity. Although he has many identities, he is very cautious. Once there is the risk of exposure, he will not use that identity again. So to protect his identities, he has to suppress his appetite in other places. It’s quite a torment for him."

"Uh, I want to interrupt," Pannis suddenly squinted, interrupting Suspicion’s words: "I hope I’m mistaken."

"No, I think you are not mistaken." For the first time, Suspicion revealed a smile in public, revealing a mouthful of bright white teeth.

"Pannis, what did you figure out?" Catherine asked in confusion: "Is there anything strange happening?"

"No, it’s nothing." Pannis rubbed his temples: "I, I will tell you when I have a chance."

"Alright." Catherine didn’t seem too concerned, and continued to question Suspicion: "What about Madness? You seem to have saved him for last."

"No, Madness is the third." Suspicion said: "Madness is a madman, but also a madman who is sane most of the time. Of course, these are not important, what’s important is, her hobbies are complementary to Cruelty in some ways, so she’s ranked third in the possibility of defecting from the alliance. Generally, she won’t defect unless it’s absolutely necessary. If she does betray Cruelty, it might be a plot."

"Her?" Pannis’s eyes brightened: "A woman?"

"Yes, a woman." Suspicion chuckled: "But she’s not exactly beautiful."

"Let’s not talk about irrelevant matters." Catherine withdrew the fingers that were pinching Pannis’s waist, letting the other two hands continue the same action, and continued to ask: "You just mentioned Madness was third. Is there a fourth? According to your logic, even Cruelty himself would betray the alliance?"

"Of course." Suspicion answered without hesitation: "Once he realizes that he cannot succeed, Cruelty will definitely find a way to exonerate himself and then stand on the side of Passion and Indulgence."

"Really?" Catherine asked in surprise: "Doesn’t that mean everyone would be on the same side? So, what’s next? Having a peaceful dinner and going home to sleep?"

"How could that be?" Suspicion scoffed: "That’s just the best-case scenario, and even if it does happen, it certainly wouldn’t end peacefully. Don’t forget who escalated the whole situation. If it gets to this point, it means that the initiative has returned to Passion and Indulgence, they can freely choose their own targets. This is the best opportunity."

"So that’s why you came down to make your stance clear." Pannis nodded thoughtfully: "The two of them have delegated Catherine and Vivian to investigate. It’s obvious that they’ve set their first target on you, because your affiliated powers are liaising with the heretics, it’s too easy to get you involved. But now that you’ve made your stance clear, I’m afraid their targets will shift. Who will it be?"

"Don’t think it’s going to be that easy." Suspicion sneered: "Don’t forget, there are still two Legendary Rank mages standing by in the dark, and it’s unclear where they stand."

"Zii Zii." A strange noisy sound came from Mimosa’s backpack.

"What’s that sound?" Mimosa was startled and quickly rummaged through her backpack. Following the sound, she quickly found a silver rectangular metal box the size of a palm from a compartment of her backpack: "This...how did it get into my backpack?"

"It must be those two again." Pannis shrugged without a second thought: "The supplies for both of you were provided by them. You two didn’t know how to check your gear thoroughly, so it’s normal that you wouldn’t find it."

"So it’s this thing." Vivian suddenly exclaimed excitedly: "I didn’t expect that the City of Innocence still had a set that could work properly."

"So Lord Elegance is here too huh." Suddenly, behind the noisy static of the communicator, a somewhat apathetic voice came through: "That’s quite surprising."(To be continued. If you like this novel, please vote and recommend it on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users can read on m.qidian.com.)