Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 626 - 92 The Truly Smart Person_1

Chapter 626: Chapter 92 The Truly Smart Person_1

The dull sound of bells echoed along the city’s main thoroughfare, accompanied by the rumble of a magic-powered motorbike. It was early November in Neutral Land, marking the beginning of the winter season. The trees lining both sides of the road were bare, with just a few wilted yellow leaves remaining, clinging to their branches and shivering in the cold wind. The evening sunset scattered its last rays of light, but the icy sunlight could not bring the slightest warmth to the dying leaves, as if offering them a final farewell.

Looking down the road, a small passenger carriage approached from a distance, the bells jingling from the necks of the two aged horses. The bells seemed worn out, so dilapidated that their ringing was noticeably discordant, but like the old horses, they were still contributing their last sounds of life.

The driver, a black-haired female knight, sat atop the carriage. Dressed in silver scale armor with her helmet and shield beside her, she let her hair flutter in the early winter wind. Inside the carriage compartment, a silver-haired female priest leaned against the wall, engrossed in a thick book, her unrelenting passion for reading undeterred by the rocking of the carriage. Sitting opposite the priest, a golden-haired girl combed her white locks slowly, inheriting the maternal habit. She looked no different from normal humans, except for her expressionless yet remarkably beautiful face. Indeed, the golden-haired girl was emotionless. After returning to the Yarran World and transferring her consciousness back to her primary body, the girls in the adventure team discovered that Ava was incapable of showing any emotion. Perhaps spending too long in the Research Center’s control hub had rendered her almost mechanical in her actions and speech, guided solely by logic, absolutely rational. But the other four girls were not worried, believing that with time, Ava would gradually adapt to human life and learn to think in a way influenced by both emotion and reason.

The blue-haired mage girl, using Lina’s thigh as a pillow, lay next to her, asleep amidst the jolts of the carriage. Her green hat had fallen onto the clean carriage floor. Even in her sleep, she clutched a notebook filled with lots of formulas and data. If an expert were to see it, they would realize that as the intricate formulas were gradually solved, and a myriad of data filled into the three data models, those models were becoming progressively clearer. Once the data models were completed, the research would enter its final stage. But right now, the blue-haired girl was dreaming peacefully, smiling in her sleep - a stark contrast to the heavy-hearted girl she was several months ago.

Next to the carriage, on a magic-powered motorbike, the rotund Freya traveled alongside, apparently much slender after perhaps obeying the Oracle or due to the fatigue from the journey of over a month. Using Catherine’s words, Freya had lost enough weight that she could see her toes when she bent over. Although Freya displayed great dissatisfaction at this description, the other girls considered it very apt.

Upon leaving the Goblin Research Center, the five girls traveled back to Grand Highland City, where they retrieved one of the magic-powered motorbikes they had left there and rented a carriage. However, instead of going straight home, they took a detour to Felryas Mountain once again, relying on their memory. Catherine and Freya, using the goblin disc, returned to the Research Center and brought back the life-support capsule, stored it inside the carriage, and prepared to transport it back to the mansion. While no one spoke about why they did this, they all knew the reason very well - it was the last safeguard. In the worst-case scenario, relying on this life-support capsule would buy some more time for Vivian.

The journey home was not as urgent as when they first set out. After all, as per Denia’s advice, it would be safer to wait for Pannis to return before venturing into the Magical Beast Forest in search of the Dragon’s guide. The same journey that took them over twenty days on their way to the Neutral Land, had taken almost forty days on their return journey before they finally saw the walls of the City of Knowledge.

"Finally, we are going home. "Different from the calm atmosphere inside the carriage, the two unfortunate girls driving the vehicles had to chatter to kill time. Freya, with her full weight leaning on the magic-powered motorbike, reluctantly said, "I think I’ve changed so much this time. Even Uncle Ayrland won’t recognize me."

Freya was right, she had changed considerably. The continuous forty-day journey had darkened her skin considerably and coated her in a layer of thick dirt. Even those familiar with her would need great courage to connect the grimy-faced girl before them with the charming princess who was once regarded as a goddess in the Holy City.

"You need to change even more," Catherine said with a twinkle in her eyes. She glanced at Freya and leisurely added, "The Oracle, don’t forget the Oracle."

"Big sister, if you bring that up again, I’ll fight you," Freya exclaimed in despair. "I never want to hear the word Oracle again. Oh my goodness, why is Lady Denia like this?"

In myths and legends, Denia, the mother of all creatures, was a gentle and kind goddess more akin to a mother. However, once they met Lady Denia in person, they realized that these tales were not entirely accurate. On some occasions, Lady Denia was the epitome of kindness, but most of the time, she acted more like an ordinary human girl - she got angry, sad, happy, and even pulled pranks. Even her well-intentioned pranks could bring great pressure to mortals due to her power, just like the current pitiful state of Freya.

"What are you planning to do after we get home?" Catherine changed the topic. "Do you have any plans?"

"First, I will report the gains of this journey to my teacher," Freya said, "I am in a dilemma right now, whether to tell my teacher about Ava or not. If I tell him, would it bring trouble for Ava?"

"No way." Ava’s voice suddenly interrupted the conversation. The two girls turned around to find that Ava had somehow crawled out from the carriage compartment and was sitting cross-legged on top of it, enjoying the breeze. "I remember you mentioning your teacher, Freya. As I recall, your teacher is a goblin, right?"

"Yes, but a goblin from the Fourth Epoch," Freya replied. "The Divine Punishment at the end of the Second Epoch didn’t completely obliterate the goblins. A tiny number survived. However, their number was too small to rebuild a civilization, so the deities spared the remaining survivors."

"Then that shouldn’t be a problem," Ava nodded. "Even if they find out my true identity, the goblins would cover for me, as they too have their own pride. They wouldn’t want their successful research flaunted before the world."

"Alright, then I’ll relay this info to my teacher when I return," Freya agreed, and then asked, "How did you get out of the carriage?"

"I wanted to see what the world looks like," Ava responded. "I also wanted to see how this city differs from the ones we passed earlier. Don’t mind me, just pretend I’m not here."

"Then enjoy the view, the Holy City is quite different from the previous human cities that we’ve visited," Freya shrugged, then turned to Catherine. "How about you, big sis? What do you plan to do first when you get home?"

"Me? Probably go around and apologize to the neighbors," Catherine gave a wry smile. "There are two little undead and two maid sisters not used to life among crowds at home. Though Rachel is there to look after them, they have their businesses to tend to and can’t always keep an eye on them. Who knows what chaos they’ll cause."

"Ha!" Freya couldn’t help but laugh, shaking her head sympathetically. "You really have your hands full, having to look after so many troublesome kids."

"Actually, they’re not that bad," Catherine said wearily. "Thankfully, Pannis didn’t come back with us. Otherwise, my apology list would be several times longer in a matter of days. Just thinking about it is giving me a headache. Still, despite their protests, the neighbors aren’t truly displeased with Pannis. They even get along quite well, which I guess is a testament to his abilities. Indeed, he is... uh..."

"Hmm?" Freya’s expression shifted, and she turned to look at Catherine curiously. "Big sis, did you figure something out?"

"Figure something out? As far as I know, I figured nothing," Catherine winked at Freya. "Think about the people he’s comfortable with, think about people’s attitudes towards him, and the only mysterious point is his seeming immortality. If we can’t draw any conclusions from that, then we might as well call ourselves three stooges."

"Sounds like you did figure something out," Freya said with a bitter smile. "No, make that the two of you."

"No way, I didn’t figure out anything," Catherine said, giving a mysterious smile. "Our rule at home is ’don’t ask about the past.’ If he wants to share, we listen. If he doesn’t, we respect his privacy. All we know is that he’s Pannis — he’s helped us and saved us countless times, he’s always stood by our side. Who he was, what he’s done, does that really matter?" (To be continued. If you like this work, please cast your recommendations or monthly votes on qidian.com. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)