Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 453 - 20 - Familiar Silhouette _1

Chapter 453: Chapter 20 - Familiar Silhouette _1

"If we stay here tonight, will we still have time in the morning?" Catherine, dressed in a floral dress with her hair pulled back into a ponytail, sat cross-legged on the ground mimicking Maggie. She held a large clay pot in her lap and was vigorously stirring something inside.

At the foot of Hot Spring Mountain, over a hundred years ago, two young entrepreneurs built a hot spring inn. They ingeniously drew a hot spring from beneath and constructed several buildings around the spring to serve as a resort, luring travelers who came to soak in the springs to spend the night. Given the massive temperature difference in the Western Wasteland, it can become remarkably cold after sunset, even in midsummer. Hence, soaking in the hot springs while stargazing in the chilly night became a significant attraction. Over time, the number of transient guests increased, but the inn did not expand proportionately. Even till now, it only houses about twenty mud houses. The inn operators, seeming content with the status quo, have kept the charm of over a hundred years unchanged. At the moment, everyone was relaxing outside the room they’d rented, gazing at the distant setting sun.

"Not a problem, not a problem." Maggie peeped into the clay pot and pouted in dissatisfaction. She reached into the pot again with a wooden stick to stir it. "I often set off this early by myself. If we leave here around six in the morning, there’s a regular carriage service back to Senaya and we should reach there at around nine, in plenty of time for the floating ship at noon. Don’t worry."

"I don’t really care about that." Pannis pulled his hand out of his pot, tasting the green paste on his fingers and grimacing. "I care about when this will be ready to eat, and whether it’s as delicious as you claimed."

"Of course it’s delicious. I wouldn’t lie." Maggie stuck her tongue out and made a face, insisting, "This is the best food from the Western Wasteland. But no restaurant would like to prepare it. So even locals sometimes can’t get it if they are in the mood."

"So that explains why you had us climb such a steep mountain and fight that creature. It was all for this dish?" Pannis complained, "I’ve been here twice before, but I’ve never heard about this dish."

"Because the ingredients are too troublesome, restaurants tend not to serve this dish. So not many people know about it anymore." Maggie explained, "What you guys harvested from the mountain is cliff moss, a rare delicacy."

"Hmm, so that’s the cliff moss." Vivian, who was busily jotting down notes about the phenomenon they’d observed at the Wall of Memories earlier that afternoon, suddenly lifted her head, "It’s a type of moss that grows only on cliffs about two kilometers high. It’s edible. Often found growing alongside wild steel flowers. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any wild steel flowers earlier - those are uncommon alchemy ingredients."

"Yes, you can only find it on two-kilometer-high cliffs. I wouldn’t be able to get it myself, it’s only possible for you professionals to harvest so much within an hour."

"I was the one who did all the climbing and harvesting." Pannis pointed to his nose, "Given how hard I worked, don’t I deserve some kind of reward?"

"Thank you, Mr. Pannis." Maggie looked up and asked, "What sort of reward would you like?"

"Hmm, let me think." Pannis, pointing at himself, pondered for a few seconds, "Let’s hear you call me ’big brother’."

"Idiot." Lina, stirring her pot, uttered emotionlessly with a characteristic cold huff, "Standard idiot."

Maggie flashed a sweet smile and crisply said, "Big Brother Pannis."

"So sweet." Pannis looked overwhelmed, his eyes sparkled as he savored the moment. He then jumped up, saying enthusiastically, "I feel like I’ve regained all my energy. What other ingredients do we need, I’ll go get them right now."

"Clang." Catherine’s face was identical to Lina’s, but the sound of her sword leaving its sheath abruptly made Panniss go stiff. He quickly sat back down, sat up straight and lowered his lids, adopting a deeply meditative pose as if nothing had happened earlier.

Equally expressionless, Vivian dismissively dispelled the fire element at her fingertips and asked, "What about that magical beast we killed afterwards?"

"That’s a rock shrimp. A unique type of magical beast." Lina nonchalantly opened up the Magical Beast Handbook by her side and continuing to stir, said, "they’re categorized as gold rank by the Adventurers Guild but noted as harmless. Rock shrimps live off minerals and rocks. They’re larger than humans and their bodies are covered in a thick, hard rock shell. When they’re full, they shrink into a ball resembling a rock to sleep. If attacked, they retaliate with their crab-like pincers, which can even crush steel. Nevertheless, despite being classed as gold rank, they have no specific weaknesses and can only be killed by sheer force breaking their hard shells. They’re tough to defeat and hold no value, so it’s generally not recommended to attack them."

"Yes, rock shrimps," Maggie excitedly explained, "Rock shrimp meat isn’t as plentiful as you’d think, and it has a major flaw - it has an overpowering bitter taste that makes it inedible. However, only the locals know that if you mix the grilled rock shrimp meat with cliff moss, it undergoes a subtle transformation, making the meat tender and tastier than real crab or lobster meat. So people here invented this dish, rock shrimp meat with moss pancakes. The moss is first crushed into a sauce, a small portion of which is used to season the rock shrimp meat, while the rest is mixed with flour and water into a batter. This batter is then fried into thin pancakes. The rock shrimp, after being marinated in the moss sauce and roasted lightly, is wrapped in the pancakes for eating. The pancake combines the flavors of vegetables and grains and is accompanied by the tender rock shrimp meat... Oh my, I’m drooling just thinking about it. Oh, and the most important part - both ingredients must be eaten within six hours of procurement. Otherwise, they lose their unique flavors and become no different from common ingredients."

"Is it really that delicious?" The girls exchanged glances, with Catherine asking uncertainly, "It sounds quite good, you’ve made me look forward to it. Is this batter stirred enough?"

"Let me see. Yes, Sister Catherine’s batter is ready, Let me check Mr. Pannis’s, Mr. Pannis? Mr. Pannis?" Maggie called out softly to Pannis,"Mr. Pannis, what’s the matter?"

"Oh, it’s nothing." With a puzzled look on his face, Pannis retracted his gaze from the crowd of tourists not far away. He hesitated before continuing, "I thought I saw a silhouette that seemed familiar, like I’d seen it somewhere before."

"Someone you know?" Having built unquestioning trust in Pannis’s intuition, Catherine asked, "An old friend?"

"No, not that familiar, but definitely someone I’ve met before." Pannis shook his head decisively and dismissed the thought, "Not a big deal, probably just someone I’ve randomly seen from behind once. I don’t think it’s anything important, I don’t sense any danger."

"I see." Catherine still seemed unsure, but seeing Pannis’s certainty, she nodded, "As long as you’re okay. Let us know if anything comes up. Don’t underestimate us based on our current attire, we’re always ready for a fight, even when we’re soaking in a hot spring."

"I’m fully aware of that." A memory of the afternoon’s fiasco came to his mind. The sight of the two girls wrapped in towels engaged in a heated...umm, smackdown, unavoidably revealing their seductiveness and allure. For a moment, Pannis was back to those hours ago, savoring the intertwined moments of bliss and pain. He was utterly lost in his reminiscences.

"Shing." The sound of unsheathing a sword quickly brought Pannis out of his lecherous reverie. Wiping the drool from the side of his mouth, he attentively began to stir the pot in his arms and seriously said to Maggie, "I think I’ve stirred enough here."

"Not enough." Maggie shook her head and giggled at him. Her eyes crinkled into crescents as she laughed, "Both you and sister Freya need to stir more. Keep trying, Uncle Pannis ~uncle~."

"Hey, why did I suddenly become uncle? You can’t be so cruel." Pannis cried out in despair, glaring at the beaming Maggie.

"Tsk, idiot." Lina adjusted her glasses and stood up, pot in hand, "Sister, Vivian, let’s go bake the pancakes. Staying here we’ll catch his stupidity."

"Let’s go." Catherine grabbed both her and Vivian’s pots, "You two hurry up too. If you don’t come over once we’re done baking, we’ll eat all the rock shrimp."

"For goodness sake, don’t steal my food." Pannis’s stirring visibly sped up, "It’s more important than my life."

"Mr. Pannis, have you noticed?" Only Pannis and Freya remained, and the atmosphere became weirdly silent. After a moment, Freya broke the silence, her voice calm and melodious, "Compared with when I first met them two years ago, they’ve become considerably more dependent on you."

"I wouldn’t know what they were like before, I couldn’t have noticed." Pannis paused his stirring and replied grimly, "On the contrary, you’re the one surprising me with your sudden change."

"No matter what I’ve become, my heart is still that of a delicate maiden." Freya gazed up at the rising moon in the distance, her hand outstretched as if trying to scoop up its luminescence. For a moment, Pannis felt as if he was seeing things. On the round figure of Freya, he seemed to see a graceful beauty that he had never seen before, basking in moonlight of shimmering silence. Freya softly smiled towards him, her bright eyes fixed on his face, "Under this moonlight, are you still going to play dumb and say you haven’t noticed anything?"

"I’ve changed too. I’ve become quite dependent on them." Pannis looked far off into the distance, "Does this mean I’ve become weak? I really can’t tell if this is a good thing or a bad thing."

"The exchange of souls among humans always involves mutual dependence." Freya’s voice was gentle like a lullaby in the night, "Having someone to rely on is always a wonderful thing, no matter what."

"Perhaps." Pannis’s gaze seemed somewhat distant.

"Mr. Pannis, Mr. Pannis." Freya reminded him softly, "What’s wrong? Did you see that familiar figure again?"

"Um." Pannis snapped back to reality, apologizing with a sheepish smile, "Lost in the crowd again, vanished in an instant. Strange though, even though I don’t sense any immediate danger or threat, I can’t shake the feeling that this isn’t a good thing."

"Should we... go look for them?" Freya asked.

"No need." Pannis shook his head, "They’ve already left, it’s useless. I’m just wondering, who could this person be that gives me such a feeling?" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for Chapter and monthly tickets on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)