Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 562 - 30 Assassination_1

Chapter 562: Chapter 30 Assassination_1

"Big sister, you actually asked them for thirty kilograms of food." After leaving a very grateful Chief Kairom, the group of five followed Bart, who led the way. On the way, Vivian expressed her surprise to Catherine, "That really shocked me."

"Yes, we were also taken aback." Lina and Freya both nodded, looking at Catherine in astonishment.

"I indeed wanted to give those dog skins and meat to them directly." Catherine said seriously, "But that wouldn’t be right. Although these beastmen live in hardship, they still have their pride and persistence; even if I were to give them, they wouldn’t accept. Otherwise, they wouldn’t need to be nomads, they could just join a fixed tribe, someone would surely take them in. Sometimes, giving things directly can be considered charity, which could hurt the recipient’s pride. In the long run, it’s not very beneficial for them. However, exchanging goods is different, even if the values are not equivalent, it’s still a voluntary trade, there are contributions from both sides, the recipient’s dignity will not be hurt. That’s why I proposed to exchange food."

"No, sister, you’ve misunderstood what I meant." Vivian turned her face and said with a strange smile, "I was just surprised that you were willing to engage in an unfair trade. There would be losses, I’m worried you might lament and cry at night."

"Watch out, I might punch you." Catherine threatened, swinging a fist but explained, "I’m not willing either, but I had no choice. The flesh of the tailless dogs is tough, not tasty at all, and there’s too much of it. Without being smoked and no time to smoke it, it would spoil in the hot weather during the day, we couldn’t have carried it with us. As for their skins, over a hundred of them would take up a substantial amount of space. We would have to discard some items from our bags to fit them in, and the value of the skins altogether wouldn’t amount to more than a few silver coins, which item doesn’t cost more than that? So, we also couldn’t carry them. Given the circumstances, it’s better to trade for some genuinely useful items with these worthless things, essentially we’re still profiting. Haha, I wouldn’t want to engage in a transaction with a loss, else I might really regret it."

"We’re here, right here." The girls, who were engrossed in their conversation, heard Bart’s guidance and looked up to find that he had already brought them near their tent, telling his remaining subordinates, "You go back to the tent first, guard our goods, keep an eye on those thieves. I’ll lead them away for a while, we’ll talk when I return."

After Bren went back to the tent, Bart mysteriously motioned for the girls to follow him, taking a detour around his tent to the rear, where two empty horse carriages were parked. One was previously used to defend the camp, covered in claw marks from tailless dogs, the other looked untouched, in its original condition, the four horses leisurely grazing nearby.

Not long after approaching the two carriages, Pannis’s ears suddenly twitched, she frowned at Bart but didn’t say anything, focusing as if trying to listen to something. The girls knew of Pannis’s keen senses and cooperated by keeping quiet. After a full minute, Pannis said doubtfully, "I never knew that your dwarven businesses were involved in human trafficking."

"You found out?" Bart looked stunned. He quickly understood Pannis’s point, exclaiming in surprise, "How did you find out?"

"Heartbeat." Pannis continued to voice her confusion, "But the heartbeat is so slow, it’s hard to believe that is indeed a heartbeat, only one per minute, it just doesn’t sound like... Oh, I understand now, it must be Lord Cella who’s been using your dwarves’ life-saving Stone Secret Method. I heard that this race-based talent puts a lot of strain on the body, it takes many years of rest to recover after using it once, and the strain grows larger with time. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard of anyone using it."

"The Stone Secret Method?" Lina looked up in surprise and whispered "You mean that talent that transforms oneself to look almost like a stone statue? Such a talent really exists huh, I’ve only read about it in novels, I always thought it was just a story."

"Yes, it does exist." Pannis nodded, "After all, dwarves are children of the earth, at least half of them are children of the earth. It’s not odd for Denia, the only one involved in the creation, to bestow this talent to the dwarves. My question is, why would she use such a talent on herself? Could the situation be so bad?"

"Lord Cella was injured, and severely poisoned." Bart spoke somberly, "If she hadn’t been injured, the poison wouldn’t have had a major effect. If she hadn’t been poisoned, she could have waited for the injuries to heal, but the combination of both can be life-threatening. So she had no choice but to use the Stone talent to protect herself, leaving me responsible for bringing her back to our tribe for treatment."

"Why didn’t you find a priest nearby for treatment?" Lina asked, "I recall that when we spoke with Chief Kairom, you were also returning from the human nations. Surely there would be priests there?"

"We couldn’t trust them." Bart replied, "The situation was dire at the time, we couldn’t afford any mistakes."

"What exactly happened?" Catherine asked with a furrowed brow, "That incited such hostility towards the surrounding humans?"

"I think it’s best if I start from the beginning." Bart sighed, recalling quietly, "I am a squad leader in the Council Guard of the Hill Dwarves, responsible for ensuring Councilor Cella’s safety. A while ago, due to the need for trade agreements regarding rare mineral resources between our clan and a duke in the Neville Federation - I’m sorry, but the name of the duke’s region has to be kept confidential - Lord Cella went to negotiate with the duke’s region personally. With the councilor personally travelling and with thorough safety measures in place, we had the Council Guard’s captain, a Legendary Rank weapon master, leading the team. The Guard chose 20 Gold Rank and 100 Silver Rank guards, and there was also a Legendary Rank human mage with us. Plus, Lord Cella herself is of the Legendary Rank. So, our team consisted of three at the Legendary Rank, 20 at the Gold Rank, and 100 of Silver Rank."

"There must have been some issues amongst the dwarves recently," Catherine inquired straightforwardly, "Such a powerful team could influence the outcome of a large-scale war. From any perspective, it’s excessively strong. Anyone would be reluctant to use such power unless necessary."

"There wasn’t really any issue amongst the clan," Bart shook his head, "But this level of security was required by Lord Cella herself. Perhaps she knew something that we didn’t, but of that, I wasn’t quite sure."

"I see, please continue," Catherine nodded after some contemplation, "What came next?"

"The negotiation should’ve gone smoothly from what Lord Cella’s mood suggested. After ten days, we had two carts of precious samples and were ready to head back to Kulan. There weren’t any incidents for the first two days of our journey back, but on the third day, a minor inconvenience occurred when one cart broke its axle. The repair took up a lot of time, causing us to fall behind our captain’s planned itinerary. We ended up spending the night in a small village with five or six hundred people."

"The villagers, men, women, elderly, children, were all extremely welcoming. Hosting such a large team would certainly bring a lot of trouble for them, but they quickly cleared enough houses for us. The village chief even held a banquet for us. Initially, Lord Cella was hesitant to let us participate, but after seeing the passion of the villagers, she gave her consent."

"Huh." Pannis chuckled mysteriously, shaking his head slightly, "Even councilors can have their moments of carelessness. The smooth journey might have dropped her guard, knowing that there could be danger. But we can’t blame her completely. Who could’ve guessed about those guys unless they knew them?"

"Indeed," Catherine agreed, "Now that we know there was a problem, we could assume something might have gone wrong at the banquet. But at that time, it was hard for them to foresee anything unusual. Mr. Bart, were there assassins disguised amongst the villagers, intending to assassinate Councilor Cella at the banquet?"

"It’s not that simple," Pannis answered for Bart, "The Shadow Hand’s tactics are not straightforward as you imagined. Instead of an assassin lurking amongst the villagers, it’s more likely that all the villagers were disguised assassins."

"So, are you saying..." Catherine, incredulous and filled with anger, asked, "They killed hundreds of villagers and then pretended to be villagers themselves? That’s mass murder."

"It might not necessarily have been mass murder. To massacre a village, a village needs to exist in the first place. If even the village was fake, then there’s no need for a massacre," replied Pannis nonchalantly, "The trace left behind after a massacre is far-too noticeable, especially the smell of blood. Not dealing with it would certainly alert those of the Legendary Rank. However, dealing with it will be highly troublesome, far worse than simply establishing a mock village. With the forged expertise of the Shadow Hand’s members, they can effortlessly build wooden houses that appear to have been used for several decades."

"Is it really as Pannis described?" Catherine asked, still finding it hard to believe.

"Indeed," Bart said bitterly, "All villagers were high-ranked assassins in disguise, and they hadn’t given themselves away. Every member of the guards, including both the captain and Lord Cella, even the mage, thought they were just ordinary people until they suddenly attacked during the banquet. In ten seconds, over eighty of our brothers were killed almost simultaneously, tolerating severe injuries to Lord Cella and the captain."

"Damn," Catherine shivered, finding it difficult to imagine that the assassins within the shadows could carry out such large-scale operations.(To be continued. If you like this work, please support by voting for it on qidian.com. Your support means a lot to me. For mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)