Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 563 - 31 Bart’s Memories_1

Chapter 563: Chapter 31 Bart’s Memories_1

"In just a blink of an eye, most of our guards died." Bart collapsed on the ground, clutching his head, his voice hollow," It was like a nightmare. By the time we realised what happened, we regrouped under the wounded captain and started to break out. However, the thieves didn’t intend to let us go, they tailed us and occasionally attacked us from the rear, resulting in significant casualties. In the end, there were less than ten of us left."

"The Shadow Hand is making quite a move this time." Pannis leaned against a carriage, speaking softly, "I’m curious to know, how many team leaders from the Shadow Hand participated in this operation to command such a large scale attack?"

"Team leaders?" Bart evidently didn’t understand the internal hierarchy of the Shadow Hand, "How can you tell?"

"Just tell us how many Legendary Ranked thieves were involved." Pannis said, "Their Legendary Ranked members are basically team leaders."

"Lord Cella once told us that there were two Legendary Ranked assassins on the enemy’s side." Bart replied, "Reflecting on the past few days, there were indeed two. One severely injured Lord Cella and the captain, the other killed that Legendary Ranked human mage."

"What about their gender?" Catherine asked, "Were they men or women?"

"Two men." Bart answered, "I saw them clearly, they were definitely male."

"If it was two men then..." Catherine thought for a while and then spoke up, "It must have been Elegance and Suspicion leading the team."

"Not necessarily." Pannis shook his head, "I heard that there’s a new leader in the Shadow Hand. They haven’t grabbed any power from their predecessors yet, so this operation might have been led by the new leader in collaboration with Elegance, with the aim of expanding his influence."

"Never mind, let’s not talk about irrelevant things." Catherine shook her head, "Mr. Bart, please continue."

"In front of a valley, the captain ordered me to take six brothers to protect Lord Cella and swiftly retreat back to Kulan. He stayed back with the remaining brothers to block the enemies." Bart continued to reminisce, "The last look I took before leaving the valley, the captain delivered a heavy blow to one of the Legendary Ranked assassins. The struck foe, along with about half of his team, instantly withdrew from the battlefield. The captain was close to death, and before dying, he used a crystal bomb to collapse the valley, obstructing the enemies from pursuing us. I do not know what happened afterwards, but the captain probably died in the explosion."

"We were tasked with protecting Lord Cella, we fled through the edge of the Shining Forest into the Beastmen Prairie. Not long after, we were attacked by the enemy. There was only one enemy, one of the Legendary Ranked assassins we faced before. The others were probably trailing behind, unable to catch up yet. However, even this one enemy was powerful enough. He fought us face to face. In the battle, the remaining four brothers died, and Lord Cella was injured again. Not only was her injury more serious, but she was also poisoned. However, the enemy was also injured by Lord Cella’s counterattack, forcing him to retreat."

"By then, Lord Cella was already unable to hang on. The severe injury and poison could have killed her at any time. With no other option, she left me in charge of everything, and she used the Petrification Technique to seal herself, waiting for treatment. I hid Lord Cella whereas Bren and Langdon joined me in fleeing for two consecutive days. Yesterday evening, the horses pulling the carriage could no longer carry on, and we decided to rest in a tribe we stumbled upon. You all know what happened next. We were soon attacked by a pack of tailless dogs."

"You were fleeing with a horse carriage?" Catherine asked with confusion, "Is that a proper way to escape? Oh, you were trying to use the goods to distract the enemy’s line of sight in order to confuse Elegance, keeping them from figuring out where Councilor Cella had been hidden, right? That would be a good move, their main target should be Councilor Cella and you three were the only ones who knew where Councilor Cella was. Even if the enemies caught up with you, they wouldn’t dare to kill you easily for the fear of losing the information they needed to find Councilor Cella, which would increase your chances of survival. However, I didn’t mean any offence, but this approach doesn’t seem like something you could come up with."

"You’re right." Bart was silent for a while, then he nodded, "This plan was decided by Lord Cella before she used the petrification technique on herself. I was following her orders completely. Moreover, only I knew where Lord Cella was, both Bren and Langdon were oblivious. I’m glad they didn’t know, the enemy, not long after their second retreat and after Lord Cella hid herself, had already killed Langdon and disguised as him to infiltrate our team. If I had told them where Lord Cella was hiding, we would probably all be dead by now. Following Lord Cella’s orders, I lied to them that her injury was not as severe as it appeared, that she had taken another route back to Grand Highland City ahead of us, and that we were just bait to distract the enemy. It seems the enemy didn’t buy my story, but he still couldn’t find Lord Cella’s petrified body."

"Overall, the plan was quite effective." Catherine nodded, "I estimate Elegance’s side is also unsure, they have been waiting for updates from their subordinates in other directions, so they haven’t actually killed you yet, you have managed to escape once."

"Probably not even Elegance would have thought of that." Pannis stared directly at the carriage and said, "No one would have thought that after hiding Councilor Cella, instead of hiding her among the pile of goods in your tent where you could guard her at all times, you chose to hide her in this rickety carriage exposed to the elements and unnoticed by all."

"But I’m curious," Catherine asked with a puzzled look. "You explaining all these to us is one thing, but there’s no need to bring us here and reveal Councilor Cella’s hiding place, is there? Even if we’re not enemies, carelessly exposing this could potentially lead to a lot of trouble. Aren’t you worried at all?"

"I have a request." Bart, with head low, hesitated for a moment before he finally said, "I hope this priestess could treat Lord Cella. With the divine spell power of a priestess under the Earth Mother God, it’s possible to promptly heal her."

"Thud." Lina quickly stretched out her hand and grabbed at the armor around Bart’s neck, pulling him to face her. Their faces are almost touching and, in a voice like a rough man, she said menacingly, "Look here, I am a sinner of the Goddess. You dare to seek my help in healing your esteemed councilor, is your head damaged or what?"

Startled by Lina, however, Bart did not argue and struggled to escape from Lina’s grasp on his armor. He knelt on one knee with a serious face, head low, and said, "Earlier at the doorway of your tent, priestess, I saw when you attacked that you were reinforced with the Earth Goddess magic. The Goddess’ sinners would not be able to use divine spells, hence you must not be one. I apologize for my previous impulsiveness and rudeness, and I hope that you would extend a helping hand to those in need, following the doctrine of the loving god. If you cannot forgive my previous offense, I am willing to accept any punishment. I only implore for you to promptly save Lord Cella."

"Tsk." Lina turned her head away, not looking at him. She clicked her tongue disapprovingly and, in a menacing tone, said, "While I’m still feeling soft-hearted, quickly scramble and bring your councilor out. Don’t wait until I change my mind, go quickly."

Disregarding Bart, who ran happily to the carriage, Lina turned her gaze towards Pannis, discontentedly saying, "Why do you keep staring at me? It’s not like you haven’t seen me before."

"I just find it quite strange." Pannis responded casually with a smile. "Just who is this friend of yours called Katerina? Sometimes she’s rough, and other times she becomes elegant and gentle. What kind of situation could create such a person?"

"She...grew up in an environment similar to that of the City of Innocence." Lina spoke in a low voice. "Initially, she was always among the lowest rung of people, slowly clawing her way up, until she reached the position of the city lord, becoming one of the prominent nobles in the kingdom."

"I see." Pannis finally understood. "Only such a life could shape such an eccentric personality."

Lina was silent for a while, and then cryptically said, "Katerina told me to tell you to stop studying her so much. She mentioned that she’s figured out a secret you’re hiding. If you don’t want it revealed yet, you better heed her advice."

"Oh..." Pannis awkwardly wiped the sweat from his forehead, feigning laughter, "Haha, let’s just pretend I never asked anything, or better yet, pretend I don’t exist. Yes, let’s go with that."

Bart ran swiftly to the carriage and, instead of climbing aboard, he went directly under it. After doing something beneath the carriage, a loud ’thud’ was heard a minute later. A large box fell from beneath it and was caught by Bart. He carefully placed it on the ground.

"These two carriages are actually different. One is common, while this one is our newest model jointly created by our Dwarf race and the Goblins, designed specially for transporting precious goods," Bart said as he crawled out from under the carriage. "It looks identical to a regular carriage, but the construction cost is very high. It appears to be made of plain wood on the outside but the core is replaced with metal plates. It has a detachable cabin that is fireproof and theft-proof. There is a hidden compartment beneath for storing valuable goods. As it was a prototype, the maker asked Lord Cella to use it for any long journeys to test it out. Little did we know that it would come in handy."

"Is it a coincidence?" Pannis and Catherine looked at each other and chuckled. Nobody exposed the truth that Councilor Cella had fully expected the danger of their journey.

The fallen box was very heavy. Bart had a hard time pushing it out from under the carriage. The box was big enough for an adult human to lie at ease inside, let alone a dwarf. Bart carefully opened the box and whispered, "This is Lord Cella." (To be continued. If you like this story, feel free to vote or subscribe at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. For mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)