Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 390 - 16 The Great Prairie_1

Chapter 390: Chapter 16 The Great Prairie_1

What is a prairie like? Those who have never seen a prairie can never answer this question, nor truly grasp its essence. Like Lina and Vivian, no matter how many times they have read descriptions about prairies in books, when they actually set foot on the prairie, their first reaction is still one of awe.

The Beastmen Prairie’s spring arrives earlier than the Neutral Land due to its northern location. Even though it is only the end of March, the prairie is already a green world. This is the edge of the prairie, the view is entirely vibrant green. Because the Beastmen Prairie is a vast plain, the view is broad and unimpeded, giving the illusion that only the green vista before one’s eyes exists. Luckily, there’s a hazy shadow at the horizon, reminding visitors that there are things other than the grass. Those are unnamed mountain ranges on the plain, and it’s also the destination of the four adventurers.

When viewed from the top of the carriage, nothing is seen but grass. Tall green grass fills the land, with only a narrow man-made stone road snaking into the distance, splitting the complete prairie into two.

The sky is a clear, pristine blue. Not a single cloud dares to come near. Eagles circling high in the sky are mere pinpoint dots from the ground, yet they can’t be missed. When one dives towards the ground with a sharp cry, it swoops down close to the grass, grabs a small creature in its claws then returns to the sky, leaving a single falling feather drifting gracefully in the wind.

Standing under the blue sky and upon the prairie, one senses a magnificent loneliness. This vast solitude stirs a desire to sing aloud, to spur a horse into a wild gallop across this land, to listen to the wind howling past the ears. It seems as though the soul’s yearning for speed has awakened, unable to resist the temptation of a frenzied ride.

"So this is the prairie, this is really the prairie." Wide-eyed Lina greedily takes in everything around her, imprinting every scene into her deepest memory. She remains motionless for a long time, as if her soul has left her body. Yet, it is faintly perceived that she is not the only one viewing the world through her eyes; perhaps every friend interested in the prairie in her heart is observing and marveling: "I didn’t think that everything here would be like this...like this...No, I don’t know how to describe it."

"Welcome to the Great Prairie, my dear far-travelled friends," says Cerasis, the carriage driver and contact from a branch of the Adventurer’s Guild on the prairie, who at this moment removes his felt hat to shield his eyes from the sun and grins. "This enchanting land won’t disappoint you. Stay here long enough, and you’ll fall deeply in love with it, never wanting to leave."

"While I’m not sure about that, I must admit it hasn’t disappointed me," Lina stands atop the carriage roof and suddenly throws her head back with a loud wolf howl, declaring boldly with a wild beast-like tone, "Diana didn’t lie to me. Her homeland really is unimaginable."

The sudden wolf howl startles Cerasis. When he realizes it’s Lina that’s howling, he can’t help but shake his head bitterly, "Miss, I must ask you not to do that. We’re on the outer edge of the prairie, things are fine here, but if we’re further in and you howl, we may well attract a pack of wolves."

"The last thing we fear is a pack of wolves," retorts Catherine, "But we appreciate your kindness anyway."

"Don’t underestimate wolf packs," warns Cerasis, looking uneasily at Catherine’s response. "I know you’re all capable, and individually, each can eliminate many prairie magical beasts, but the wolf packs you’ve encountered are different from those here. The smallest here numbers in the hundreds, larger ones often in the thousands, even packs that number over ten thousand have been witnessed. Should you encounter such a large number, even with your strength, escape could be difficult."

"Mr. Cerasis, you misunderstand, we have certain special means, so..." Catherine starts to explain, but stops short, unwilling to argue further against Cerasis’s well-intentioned advice. She simply nods with a smile, "Okay, we’ll try to restrain ourselves. We won’t make trouble for you. Thank you."

"No problem, no problem." Cerasis has heard many tales of the Nellie Adventure Team during his three-day stay in the City of Knowledge, and indirectly, an image has formed of Catherine, the team leader. Catherine is noble, upright, fearless, kind, disciplined, and fair. Even adventurers who have had disagreements with the Nellie Adventure Team honor Catherine with high praise. As for the single male member of the team, his reputation is, well, perhaps it’s better forgotten. That’s why Cerasis waves his hands nervously when Catherine thanks him with a sincere smile, "Noble Leader, you’re too courteous. This is part of my job as a temporary guide, there’s no need to thank me."

"Since we’ve already entered the prairie, how far are we from our destination?" Catherine doesn’t dwell on this, smoothly shifting the topic, "When will we arrive?"

"Do you see the mountains ahead?" Cerasis points to the faint shadows in the distance, "That’s the mountain range where the tribes are located. With our current speed, we’ll arrive in two days following this small path northeast. At the end of the path there’s a trade outpost that serves as an interface between the inner and outer prairie. Parqi, a Tiger-man, will be there with some of his tribe to welcome you. From there, there will be no roads, it’s difficult for the carriage to travel long distances through the grass, so we have to switch to horseback. From the outpost, we head northwest for another two days on fast horses and voila! we’re there."

"That’s far." Lina, coming back to earth, could only utter this comment: "Doesn’t that mean their tribes have to go deep into the grassland several hundred kilometers?"

"About two hundred kilometers." Cerasis calculated: "After all, for long-distance galloping, you cannot push the horses too much. After running for a while, you must let the horses rest for a while. Plus, you need to avoid some dangerous areas and magical beasts in the prairie and take detours, so it should take about two days to get there."

"Dangerous areas and magical beasts?" Catherine was slightly shocked and asked: "Like what? I had been to the prairie once, but I had never heard of it."

"When you visited the prairie before, I’m afraid you only stayed on the outskirts." Cerasis asked: "You probably haven’t even made it to the nearby trading posts."

"Yes, that’s true." Catherine honestly confessed: "I only ventured around the prairie where it is near the territory of Neville, about twenty to thirty kilometres deep."

"Then you really wouldn’t know about these." Cerasis nodded: "In areas outside of the trading posts, not even the periphery of the prairie can be counted, can only be considered a buffer zone. It is only after passing the posts, that one truly enters the interior of the Beastmen Prairie. There are quite a few dangerous spots in the prairie, but we all live here year-round and are very familiar with the terrain. As long as you avoid those areas when travelling or grazing, you won’t have any problems. The thing to worry about are the wolf packs wandering on the prairie, they don’t have fixed territories, and often encounter with them results in losing most of the livestock, which might even cost lives. They’re considered the most terrifying creatures on the prairie, that’s why I was so anxious earlier. But luckily, wolf packs usually stay deep inside the prairie, and the tribes we are headed to are on the outskirts, so we shouldn’t encounter any. Even if we did run into any, don’t worry too much. By that time, you should all have horses to ride on and escape. During this season, the wolf packs are not famished, so they usually won’t relentlessly chase after fleeing prey. A few hours of running should be good enough to escape."

"Thank you for your wisdom." Catherine thanked, nodding her head, and continued asking, "What about other hazardous places and magical beasts? Can you give some examples?"

"Ah... The most dangerous places are those barren areas occurred by burrowing rodents." Cerasis deliberated: "There are many ground squirrels on the prairie, an excessive number of them in some areas, and they have dug and hollowed out the ground, leaving only an outer shell that looks normal but can collapse at any time. It may not cause any problems for the people running past it, but nobody knows when a horse might step on it causing the ground to collapse. These sinkholes are often dozens of meters deep. Ordinary people and even lower rank professions falling into them probably won’t make it. Even upper rank professionals would be injured from the fall, and regardless of the person’s well-being, the horse would definitely be killed. Someone injured and unable to move on the prairie with no horse is basically on the brink of death. Many places don’t see any human activity for tens or even hundreds of kilometers, so it’s impossible to find help. You can only wait for death."

"Is there any preventative measures?" Asked Catherine.

"Go around it." Cerasis said with a bitter smile: "The only way, or you can gamble and hope that you are not so unlucky."

"Let’s just forget that then." Catherine shook her head:"What about other dangers?"

"In terms of terrain, there are not many that pose a fatal danger to you upper rank professionals. The key is the horses." Cerasis said: "like marshes and such can be very dangerous for horses. There are also magical beasts. Tens of thousands of Gold Rank magical beasts, or groups of them, and quite a number of Legendary Rank beasts, roam the prairie, most of which are excellent at high-speed movement and long-distance attacks. Although the Adventurer’s Guild and the Mercenary Guild conduct regular encirclements, and large businesses will send people to hunt regularly, the prairie is too large, and these tens of thousands of high-speed magical beasts or beast packs are really not noticeable among the millions of square kilometers of grassland. Hunting them is difficult to see results. Even if some are successfully hunted, new high-rank beasts will soon fill their spots due to the beasts’ breeding speed. Those dangerous places usually require groups of people to dare to enter. If there are dozens of people traveling through together, dangerous beasts usually take the initiative to avoid them. This is the only safe way."

"You’ve had a hard time." Catherine looked up at the sky: "Thanks for the explanation, let’s get going, we try to travel as much as we can today, so that we can reach the trading post early tomorrow."

"Alright." With a flick of his whip, Cerasis urged the horses to quicken their speed with their neigh. (To be continued. If you like this work, please feel free to vote and support at qidian.com, your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)