Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 566 - 33 Dwarf Cella_1

Chapter 566: Chapter 33 Dwarf Cella_1

Once the dust settled and the chest regained its visibility to the crowd, the stone statue that had been inside was now gone. In its place was an aged female dwarf. The dwarf’s hair and beard were both white as snow, and her wrinkled skin was covered in fine stone chips and dust - including even her loose clothing. The old dwarf lay motionless in the chest with her eyes tightly shut, just like a person in deep sleep.

"No wonder you, Bart, did not know how to awake someone from petrification," Pannis said, lost in thought. "It seems that after self-petrification, once the body returns to a certain state, the petrification lifts automatically. That’s truly a powerful self-protection gift."

"She’s waking up." Catherine, who had been watching the old dwarf closely, noticed her finger twitched, her chest slowly started to rise and fall, and her tightly shut eyelids began to flutter. Catherine thought for a moment, then turned to Bart. "We’ll wait in your tent. You stay here and explain the situation to the crowd."

"I can’t thank you enough." Bart bowed deeply to the five of them and said sincerely, "I apologize again for the insolence shown yesterday and this morning. I will offer whatever help you require in the future, no matter what it might be."

"Don’t be so formal about it. For us, it wasn’t a difficult task, so you really shouldn’t be overly grateful," replied Catherine, waving her hand dismissively. "We helped you as part of the job. Just remember to go to the Adventurer’s Guild and pay the commission fee. And don’t forget the conditions promised by the representative of the Hill Dwarves. We could certainly use some aid from the dwarves during our time in the Mountain Country. It’s up to you to explain everything to Councilor Cella. No more time to waste, we’re heading to your tent. Lina, this isn’t a time for you to be curious, and Vivian, don’t study it any longer. Let’s go."

After silencing the two troublesome girls, Catherine had to drag them away by their collars. Pannis and Freya exchanged a glance, paid no attention to the protests and pleas of the two girls, and followed them out.

"Their tent is quite large, isn’t it?" Freya commented quietly before entering. Unlike the adventurer team’s tent, the dwarves’ tents were large travelling tents, which were visually different from those of a nomadic tribe. A tent could comfortably fit ten people with enough space left for storing a considerable amount of items. "I remember we used to have a tent just like this at home, but we never used it. It must have been left behind by father’s adventures. When I was little, I loved to stay inside, dreaming about the adventurous life. I imagined a world full of danger and excitement. This tent gives me a sense of security, like a calm harbor in a storm."

Uninterrupted by Vivian, who was being dragged away by Catherine, Freya got to fully express her feelings. Listening to her, Pannis chuckled, "Technically speaking, should the safe space in such imagination be as small as possible? So, the two people could feel closer to each other spiritually."

After a short silence, Freya rolled her eyes and replied, "As a child, this was the smallest living space I could imagine. I hadn’t lived in a house smaller than this, so I couldn’t comprehend that people could live in even smaller spaces."

Immediately, Catherine’s glare met Freya’s face. "Enough chat. Are we going to enter the tent now, or not?"

"Oh, someone’s jealous." Freya covered her mouth and giggled, pushing Pannis forward. "This is all your fault for dawdling and insisting on chatting. Look, you’ve angered her. We should just move."

"Hey." Pannis protested but was still pushed into the dwarven tent. The tent was spacious but was cluttered with many chests, making it appear packed. All of the chests were already opened, with most of their contents scattered around. Most of the peculiar ores that had been packed in over twenty chests were now mixed together on the ground. The dwarf named Bren was careful to sort them out and return each piece to its proper place. Hearing the footsteps, he looked up, meeting Catherine’s eyes. She waved and said, "Bart will be back in a bit. We initially planned to wait here, but seeing your current situation, we decided to wait in our own tent. When Bart comes back, let him know that we’ll wait for him there if he needs anything, we can talk then."

Back in their own tent, Lina seemed to let out a sigh of relief. The rough, noble aura that she had been radiating instantly disappeared. Like a child, she freed herself from Catherine’s grasp and dashed to her bed, hugging her pillow and rubbing it against her face. "I am exhausted from casting. I’m going to take a nap; no interruptions allowed."

"Hey, no fair." Catherine chased after her. "You’ve been looking for an excuse to nap all morning. Now that you finally found one, you’re not going to get away with it! We are having guests soon. Get up!"

"No!" Lina rolled onto her back, pulled a pillow over her face, and grumbled. "I didn’t sleep well last night because I heard someone sneak out of the tent and dazedly loiter outside the door. After suspiciously watching for half the night, I am genuinely tired and need a short nap."

Catherine came to the side of the bed, attempting to drag her up, but her outreached hand hovered in mid-air, hesitating. Eventually, it landed on Lina’s now dishevelled silver hair, lightly massaging it. She sat down by the bed and said, "Then sleep well. But then again, given the current situation, who knows when we’ll be able to leave. Feel free to sleep in, then."

"Hehe, my sister is so kind." Lina suddenly sat up, wrapped her arms around Catherine’s neck, leaned into her face, and gave her a big kiss, laughing as she said, "I knew my elder sister cared for us the most. I’ll go back to sleep now."

"Hmph." Catherine randomly swatted Lina’s butt a few times as she lay down, pretending to sleep again. She stood up and said, "Vivian, would you like to rest and recuperate for a while too?"

"Sister, I’m not ready to drop dead soon." Vivian now didn’t avoid discussing her health condition, she said rather helplessly, "The difficulty in breathing comes and goes without any warning or reason, so it won’t change whether I am active or resting. So, there is really no need for you to be so anxious. Wouldn’t it be more comfortable if I just slept in the basement at home?"

"Umm..." Catherine realized she had been a bit too anxious, awkwardly scratching her head, "Do as you wish then. Also, Pannis and Freya, do you... no, you two just forget it, don’t think about resting."

"Hey." Pannis raised her eyebrows and said, "I am the one who most needs rest — I was up all night yesterday."

"You two, join me to greet our guests. I expect they will be arriving soon, but I’m not familiar with the dwarves and may need your cooperation at times." Catherine styled herself in a dominant posture, "No objections allowed."

"Yes, my knight." Pannis replied lackadaisically, collapsed ungracefully onto a nearby chair, randomly grabbed a bowl of wild fruit from the small table, and angrily crunched into it. Indeed, as Catherine had predicted, it wasn’t long before the footsteps of three dwarves could be heard outside their tent. Under Catherine’s gaze, Pannis lazily stood up, and all four of them went to greet their guests.

As soon as they pulled back the tent curtain, they saw three dwarves waiting outside. Besides Bart, another dwarf had white hair and beard and leaned on a wooden walking stick, which radiated magical waves. It was more accurate to call it a magic staff than a walking stick. Bart and Bren respectfully trailed behind the old dwarf silently, with watchful eyes scanning all around, protecting the old dwarf’s safety at all times.

"Councilor Cella?" Catherine wore a polite smile and said, "Congratulations on your recovery. Your two bodyguards have been nearly worried sick about you. Oh, please come in, we can talk in detail inside the tent."

"I won’t stand on ceremony then." When Cella spoke, there was the characteristic heavy nasal tone of the dwarves, sounding old and deep. Even though he relied on a walking stick, his steps were steady. As Cella entered the tent and spotted Lina on the bed, he was taken aback. Catherine explained, smiling, "That’s Lina, a priest of the Earth Goddess. She is tired from exerting too much magic, so she is resting. We can ignore her for now. Please, have a seat."

"What a pity." Cella nodded and said, "So it was this young lady who healed me. I was hoping to express my gratitude to her in person."

"Don’t be too formal." Catherine asked Cella to sit down. Bart and Bren wisely didn’t follow in, standing guard at the entrance of the tent instead. Catherine smiled and said, "Lina is merely fulfilling her duties as a priestess of the benevolent goddess. And we’re adventurers, having accepted the commission, we’d do our best to complete the task. Treating you, Councilor Cella, is just part of the mission. It’s what we should be doing, so no need to thank us."

Cella laughed modestly, not taking Catherine’s words too seriously. Her gaze swept over each of their faces, but when it passed over Pannis, she paused for a moment as if recalling something from deep within her memory. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to support it by voting or subscribing on qidian.com, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile phone users can read on m.qidian.com.)