Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 435 - 3 - Summer in the City of Knowledge_1

Chapter 435: Chapter 3 - Summer in the City of Knowledge_1

"The world is so peaceful." Pannis laid on the tallest of the several oak trees in the garden of the mansion, legs curled up, head resting on his arms, a straw stick in his mouth, humming contentedly, "On such a hot summer afternoon, lying in the shade of a tree with a cool breeze is so comfortable - if you add a chilled mug of beer, it would be the perfect day."

"Hahaha." A string of tender laughter erupted from the grassy ground beneath the tree.

July on the Continental Calendar in the year 3692 was as hot as ever, but since a few months ago, some significant changes were made to the mansion at No. 6 Fox Street.

The mansion is surrounded by stone walls on all three sides, with the front replaced with a row of metal railings. Over decades, the metal fences have developed patches of rust. But now, all the railings have been repainted, each pole looking brand new. The entrance gate has been given special attention, not only repainted but also oiled at the hinge, making it move silently when opening and closing, no more weird creaking noise.

The mansion’s courtyard is spacious, the ground covered with a layer of lush green grass. The soft grass reaches just above your feet - it feels like stepping on the finest carpet, not prickly at all but rather a ticklish comfort. White flowers bloom amidst the sea of green, the unknown flowers growing along with the grass, adding beautiful patterns to the lawn. A gentle breeze stirs the grass, carrying the fresh fragrance of damp earth and sweet scent of the white flowers, silently spreading to every corner of the yard. From afar, the entire lawn appears neat and well-maintained, showing no signs of neglect.

Looking up from the courtyard, you can see the white mansion. The exterior wall of the mansion has been painted in silver-white, its fresh color gleaming under the sun. A gravel path extends in curves from the metal gate, leading to the front of the mansion.

On one side of the courtyard, the tallest oak tree is already fully grown, while two shorter ones are growing quickly. Only one still looks like a sapling, but after more than ten months of nurturing, it’s grown about four to five feet tall and looks quite healthy. Another young oak sprouted from the ground, about seven meters away from the sapling – this was planted by Catherine and the others before they left for the grasslands several months ago. The meaning behind the five oak trees was never explained, but everyone understood it clearly. The three tall oak trees seem to have been meticulously pruned, making them look more lush, offering shaded areas beneath them.

Everything in the courtyard is cleaner and more ordered than before. When the adventure team members returned home two months ago, they almost didn’t recognize the place. They learned that the cleaning was all thanks to Freya and the twin maid sisters who often dropped by. While Freya made the decisions on taking care of the place, the maid sisters did the hands-on work. Despite their best efforts, the mansion compound’s size made it hard to keep everything perfectly tidy, especially with the team members regularly going on extended trips. They could only manage to keep the rooms they used most often as clean and tidy as possible. However, upon their return this time, the girls experienced for the first time the benefits of having dedicated maids.

Now, the heroes of all these improvements, the maid sisters Pansy and Mimosa, were sitting in the shade of the trees. A pair of twin sisters, two small Undead wrapped in puppet costumes, were chasing around them, playing gleefully. Under Vivian’s guidance, the banshee Annie had previously stabilized magic that allowed Little Deer’s Soul Fire to speak onto a few of Little Deer’s favourite doll costumes. Since then, the two brought home felt like they were in heaven, never feeling lonely again. Even if the others left with Annie in the future, the maid sisters and the often visiting sisters Michelle and Ansha would accompany them. So now, under the tree, six girls around the same age - or at least with a similar mental age - were frolicking. Even the Undead and the maid sisters could never have dreamed that their life could be this wonderful back when they lived in the City of Innocence.

On the other side of the courtyard, Lina and Vivian were watering the lawn. Their method of watering fully displayed the uniqueness of being a professional - they even managed to have fun with the mundane task of watering. A big ball of water, with the Floating Spell on it, was held above Lina’s head, not a product of magic but drawn from the well in the backyard. Lina held it while Vivian skillfully manipulated it, separating the well water drop by drop onto the grass. Their perfect coordination made this task enjoyable as they moved around the lawn. After a while, they began to argue about something and soon were tugging at each other’s faces, rolling on the grass laughing. However, they seemed to have forgotten they were still holding onto the ball of water. As the floating spell alone couldn’t support the weight of the water ball, it slowly descended onto the girls and dispersed, turning back into clean water.

So, the two girls had to go change their clothes. Before leaving, Lina hurled a flying hammer attack, knocking Pannis, who was staring dumbly at Lina’s soaking wet body and didn’t even notice his straw stick had fallen, off the tree branch.

"Peaceful days aren’t so bad," Pannis, having fallen onto the ground and too lazy to get up, continued to lay on the lawn in the same position, his foot swaying gently, remarked casually, "Have you two gotten used to this life yet?"

"It’s great here, we don’t have to worry about food or about some strong passerby killing us just for fun," The smile on Mimosa’s face spoke volumes of her happiness, "We don’t even have to worry about protecting ourselves while trying to please guests like when we worked at Evergreen Inn, we wish we could live here forever if possible."

"The hardest part is when we make a trip to the nearby market for supplies every seven or eight days." Pansy also laughs, her chin held in her hand, "Our Mistress Catherine gave us strict orders that on our journey there and back, no matter who we encounter or what they do to us, we can avoid them, but unless they actually harm us, we’re not allowed to attack them. We know our mistress means well, but each shopping trip is truly terrifying. Those people make dangerous moves, closing in too close for comfort. On multiple occasions, we were preparing ourselves for the worst, only to find that they didn’t actually attack us. Maybe they’re just joking? But they’re also ordinary people; they could easily get killed for passing such jokes."

"Heh, heh, heh," Pannis laughs dryly, unsure whether to be moved by their decision to rather die than disobey Catherine’s orders or mourn for their perception skills. He can only awkwardly laugh and say, "Good thing you two are obedient, or there might be a lot of blood and gore in the surrounding area."

"Later on, we came up with a good solution," Mimosa proudly said, "Every time we go shopping, we make a shopping plan ahead and sketch a route map. Then, we wait in the dark alley near the market at midnight. As soon as the stalls start their business, we rush into the market, following our map, swiftly buy all necessary items and then run back home. This is my idea. Since then, we’ve not been hassled by those people anymore."

"I think it’s because everyone is avoiding sick people," Pannis sighed, "But didn’t the city guards give you trouble when you hide in the dark alleyways at night?"

"We’re from the City of Innocence. Hiding there is far trickier than in this city," Mimosa said, "Now that the difficulty has decreased, how could we possibly be found that easily? But there was one time, when a pretty competent professional, perhaps the leader of the night patrol you just mentioned, seemed to have discovered us. However, Mistress Catherine had introduced us to him before she left, so he should have recognized us. He simply ignored us and moved on."

"You guys are really lucky," Pannis chuckled grimly, "Catherine must have anticipated that you might run into some trouble."

"But there is one thing we’re worried about," Pansy suddenly became serious, "Sometimes some people peep in from outside. We don’t know what they’re up to. Those people are all neighbours, and we suspect that they might be pretending to run businesses while having ulterior motives towards our home."

"Yes, and sometimes they leave things inside our doorstep," Mimosa added, "Sometimes it’s freshly picked fruit, other times it’s just-cooked food. Are they mocking us? We would never fall for such a simple trap."

"Trap?" Pannis asked, suppressing his laughter, "What kind of trap do you think it is?"

"Poisoning fresh food is the most stupid method. Even people who have been starved for three or four days would not fall for it," Mimosa answered decisively, "To harm someone with poisoned food, the targets must be people tortured by hunger. We two have had plenty of food these past few months, so we couldn’t possibly fall for it. Plus the food those people use is all wrong. Nobody would be foolish enough to trust fresh items delivered to your doorstep. If they want to poison us, they should select food that has been left out for a few days getting a bit spoilt. And they shouldn’t leave it at our doorstep, but discard it casually as if it was nothing on the roadside. Only then can it elicit trust."

"Err, how did you deal with that supposedly poisoned food?" asked Pannis, "You didn’t throw it away, did you?"

"If we threw it away, they would know that we’re alert," Pansy shook her head, "So we buried it deep in the backyard."

"Good job," Pannis stood up, lightly patting the two maids on the shoulders, "When you have chance, report this to Catherine. She’ll be very, very pleased. You two carry on playing. I’ll go check on Catherine. She’s probably not in the best of moods recently." (To be continued. If you like this work, please recommend and vote for it at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)