Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 411 - 37 Little Deer_1

Chapter 411: Chapter 37 Little Deer_1

"I was born in a tribe on the prairie." Little Deer’s voice was sharp and clear, narrating her simple past: "Since I can remember, my daily life consisted of herding with my mom and dad on the prairies. It was such a joyful life."

"When was that?" Catherine softly asked, "About how many years ago in the Continental Calendar?"

"I don’t know." Little Deer’s voice sounded quite confused, the rattle of her jawbones echoing: "What does ’how many years in the Continental Calendar’ mean?"

"Oh, you don’t know?" Catherine was taken aback, laughed helplessly: "That’s okay. But do you remember which tribe you came from? There must be many tribes around here."

"A tribe is a tribe." Little Deer scratched her skull, her voice sounding even more puzzled: "I remember there were a lot of large tents in the tribe, and numerous uncles and aunts. Oh, and there were a few friends who would play with me—cutting grass, catching gophers, picking wild vegetables, trapping rabbits—it was super fun. Let me tell you, one day Big Dog caught a really big gopher. We planned to secretly roast it at night, but that dummy was discovered when he tried to steal salt from home. Hahaha, his mom and dad gave him a good spanking..."

Catherine didn’t interrupt Little Deer’s retelling of these trivialities. Everyone silently listened to a small skeleton joyfully recounting her childhood stories, yet a certain sadness slowly welled up in their hearts.

"You’re amazing." A woman’s heart is always extra tender. When Little Deer’s reminiscing finally came to an end, Catherine’s smile became gentler. She tenderly stroked Little Deer’s bare skull. Seemingly experiencing the petting, Little Deer somehow let out a comfy purring sound.

"I’m so jealous of you." Annie, sitting with her knees hugged to her chest next to the little skeleton, stared dreamily: "When I was young, I lived with my grandmother and spent most of the time studying with my tutors. I rarely got to go out and play. I had no idea there were so many fun things out there."

"Humph, now you realize how cool I am, don’t you?" Little Deer hummed proudly, raising her skull and announced, "Next time I’ll take you to play on the prairie. I can catch bugs for you to watch."

"Yes, yes!" Annie’s translucent little face was full of anticipation. She seemed to be imagining herself running on the prairie.

*Snap*. Vivian’s pen was snapped in her hand unconsciously, and the others’ faces also turned sour. Everyone realized the harsh truth: unless a miracle happened, it was unlikely that the little banshee or the little skeleton would ever again enjoy the carefree joys of childhood. Yet no one voiced this bitter truth, no one had the heart to shatter the only dream these two childlike undead had.

"Little Deer." Pannis saw that this couldn’t continue and reluctantly stepped in, playing the bad guy to interrupt the kids’ conversation, "So, what happened after that? How did you... how did you end up like this?"

"After that?" The burning soul fire within Little Deer suddenly dimmed, and her skull dropped, her voice turning grim, "Then I fell ill. My mom and dad took me to several wizards, but none of them could cure my ailment. They said it was the call of the ancestors, and I would join them. But I didn’t want to meet my ancestors at all. I didn’t want to leave my mom and dad behind, nor did I want to leave Big Dog, Little Bear and the others. I still wanted to play with them. I wanted to go herding with my parents, and—Three Teeth had frostbite last winter, I don’t know if he’s healed yet. Broken Horn suddenly stopped producing milk, my parents lost sleep over it for many nights, worrying that I wouldn’t grow up strong if I didn’t have enough milk to drink. Oh, that’s right, I’m dead now, so they don’t need to worry about me anymore."

"Phew." Catherine took a deep breath, blinked hard, and gripping the slender hard hand of the little skeleton, she said, "Good child, let’s not talk about these. Tell me about what happened after you woke up."

"Um." Little Deer nodded, tilted her head in thought and said, "I woke up forty-seven years ago. Hmm, it should be forty-seven years, I remember seeing the prairie turn from dry to green forty-seven times."

"Right, that would be forty-seven years," Pannis spoke up, seeing that the others were still not in the right state of mind.

"Well, actually, the moment I woke up, I knew I was dead, that I had turned into a skeleton." Little Deer was very clear about her situation and continued, "I remember waking up in the mountains outside. It was night and very dark, but I could see everything clearly. I also found out that there were many other skeletons like me wandering around nearby. I was a little scared and tried finding my mom and dad, but I got lost. I tried asking the people around me for directions, but none of them paid me any attention. They just kept walking around."

"Their reactions made me even more scared, so I sneaked out of the mountains. Once I was out, I realized I was in the Sacred Mountain. Fortunately, I used to play around the Sacred Mountain with my friends, so I was somewhat familiar with the surroundings. I was able to find my way back to the tribe. But when I got there, I found that the tribe was gone. There was nothing but an empty prairie where the tribe once lay. At first, I thought I got the directions wrong. I circled around the place a few times before confirming that I was at the right location. But I had no idea where the tribe had moved."

"Afterwards, I cried for a while where our tent used to be. I decided to search the area and see whether any of the uncles or aunts knew where the tribe had gone. It was getting light at the time, so I started walking around the Sacred Mountain and ran into a few aunts out herding. I was eager to ask them for help, but they ran away when they saw me. I tried to call out to them but realized that I couldn’t speak. I could only run after them. But the more I chased them, the faster they ran, and I couldn’t catch them because they were on horses."

"After failing to catch up, I had to give up and continue to wander around the Sacred Mountain. Later, I ran into a few uncles. They didn’t run away this time but came up and beat me up. Even though it didn’t hurt, I was scared out of my wits since I couldn’t talk. So, I started running away. But while I was trying to run away, I noticed that there were more and more people around me and more and more people beating me. Among them, there were a couple of uncles whose blows I could feel. I realized I had nowhere to run and had no choice but to head for the Sacred Mountain. Oddly enough, once I reached the boundaries of the Sacred Mountain, they stopped chasing."

"After hiding in the Sacred Mountain, I sneaked out a few times, but every time was the same. People either got scared and ran away when they saw me or charged and attacked me. Over and over again, I received the same reactions. That’s when I realized I was the least welcome outside as I was now."

"The last time I left, I ran into someone who hit me so hard, almost broke my arm. I was afraid I would run into him again, so I hid in this valley every day. I remember that every year, the wizard grandfather would bring everyone here for a ritual. Then, after returning, there would be lots of delicious food. I figured that if I waited here, maybe the uncles and aunts from the tribe would return someday and perform the ritual here. Then I would get to see everyone."

"However, after another ten or so years, I began to understand." The little skeleton sighed in a somewhat melancholic way, supporting his jaw with his bony hand, "It must have been many, many years since I had awoken. The tribe no longer existed, and my parents must have long passed away. I wonder if they turned out to be like me."

"I also realized that the skeletons around me were completely different from me." Little Deer touched one of the Bone Knights he was controlling and said, "They know nothing and have no response, just wandering around aimlessly every day. I finally understood that only I was special in this valley, and I could control there skeletons."

"Afterward, I hid here for forty-seven years. I didn’t need to eat every day. I would just wake up and wander around, then sit down and space out. When I got tired, I’d sleep. But I felt so bored, with no one to accompany me or talk to me. I could only control a few skeletons, pretending they were like me, and controlling them to talk to me."

"Starting last year, more and more skeletons could move around. New skeletons were cropping up every day, and I couldn’t recognize all of them. However, I was pretty happy, thinking that if there are enough of them, I might encounter another skeleton like me. Sadly, there was none."

"No one dared to come in here all this while, but starting this winter, some people have come in from the outside. I was afraid they would hit me again, so I hid here, controlling the other skeletons to observe them from afar. I saw them being beaten to death by the outside skeletons one after another. After a while, another group of people came, but they were also killed by the outer skeletons in no time. I was terrified. Those skeletons had gone crazy. They used to just roam around, they had never been so wild before. I had no idea what was going on. I was afraid that if the skeletons saw me, they would go crazy and hit me, so I dared not go out. I controlled them to move far away from this valley and hid myself inside the belly of a very fierce-looking skeleton. I thought it would be safer that way."

"Finally, I saw this big sister." Little Deer pointed to Marcia and said, "The day before, this big sister scared me. It was the first time I saw someone who could charge in here. But the big sister couldn’t get in halfway and retreated. Luckily."

"Hey, you little fellow." Marcia didn’t get angry, she just tapped the little skeleton’s skull in a very calm manner, "Are you that happy to see me fleeing in such a pathetic way?"

"Hee hee." The little skeleton rubbed his skull and chuckled a few times.

"Are you the only special skeleton here?" Pannis frowned and asked, "There’s no other?"

"Yes, there’s definitely no other." The little skeleton said, "If there were, I would have noticed it a long time ago."

"That’s strange." Pannis mused, "Do you guys remember the Bone Knight that suddenly burrowed out of the ground and ambushed us? That tactic doesn’t seem like something this little fellow could come up with."

"It was me who did it." Little Deer said proudly, "I saw a big sister fighting using this method against another strange person from afar in the mountains yesterday. I thought it was so cool that I tried it."

"Big sister?" Catherine was taken aback, "Is there another person? Did they pass through here too?"

"No." Little Deer shook his head, "They climbed over the mountains from the other side to reach the sacred land inside. They didn’t pass through here."

"Uhm, when they were climbing the mountain, you didn’t ..." Pannis made a stone-throwing gesture, "throw rocks at them like you did to me?"

"No." Little Deer said downheartedly, "They climbed the mountains from another side and wouldn’t pass through here, so I left them alone and just looked from afar."

"So did they go in?" Catherine pressed.

"No." Little Deer stated confidently, "The big sister disappeared after the fight. She definitely didn’t go in." (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile phone users can read at m.qidian.com.)