Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 835 - 100 The Careful Plan

Chapter 835: Chapter 100 The Careful Plan

"The problem has become quite interesting now," Pannis leaned back in his chair, his hands crossed in front of his chest, his eyes narrowed. "Two people masquerading as two others, just to convey information to us. What could their purpose be?"

"According to what you just said, do they want you to leave immediately?" Nicholas asked. "But if that’s their only goal, there would be many other methods available, wouldn’t there? There’s no need to use such a complicated one, with such a high possibility of being exposed."

"No, no, no, Your Highness," Catherine said with an eerie expression. "No wonder this journey has felt so discordant. That’s probably the answer. Heh, they are indeed very cautious."

"We could try to reconstruct the process based on the timeline," Pannis suggested, tapping his arm absentmindedly. "To start with, someone wanted us to get to the site of the tragedy as quickly as possible. Let’s not consider the reason or whether the destination is the border area of the Neutral Land. Anyway, they wanted us to go as far away as possible."

"That’s right, so they designed a scene the evening before yesterday," Catherine continued. "They deliberately had two Mages speak loudly enough for us to become interested in their conversation. Then we would approach and inquire about it on our own initiative, and because it was voluntary, we would primarily doubt the truth of the information, not the act of receiving the information itself. Heh, these people have really delved into the study of human nature, knowing how to gain others’ trust most easily and avoid suspicion."

"And most crucially, the information they provided was indeed true," Pannis nodded. "Nothing hides a lie better than truth. After confirming the veracity of the message, we instinctively linked the authenticity of their identity with the truth of the message, naturally believing their lies about their own identity and overlooking a verification of their identity. Of course, it would be difficult for us to verify it anyway because their disguises were convincing, with similar abilities, physical characteristics, and even the disposition of one of them was quite similar. I’m certain that the personalities displayed by the two imposters were their own; otherwise, they would’ve been easily unmasked if they had tried to pretend."

"So it seems they also knew their plan had flaws and there was a possibility we might uncover it," Catherine added. "That’s why they took other measures to ensure the secrecy of their plan. No, no, wrong sequence. They considered this from the very beginning, having made preparations before those two people met us. Nicholas, it seems you were a security measure they set up for their plan."

"Me?" Nicholas said with a wry smile. "It seems the misunderstanding in border trade was deliberately arranged by them? The purpose was to have me visit Mount Watch City?"

"It seems they know you and your family quite well, Prince Nicholas," Freya said, her lips covered by her hand, smiling gently. "They knew very well that once you appeared at the Mountain Watching Fortress, the local officials, keen to please you, would shut down the transport routes. And to prevent the caravans from being stuck outside the city, they must have informed the lord of Butte and the caravan in advance to delay their departure, hehe."

"Due to the particularities of transportation within the Kingdom of Mages, there are very few caravans in their territory," Catherine glared at Freya disapprovingly, eliciting a tongue-sticking from Freya as she shrank back, the knight-girl shaking her head helplessly. "The caravans of the Kingdom of Mages are often concentrated in the border areas. Once they collectively delay departure, it leads to the situation we encountered, where along the way, aside from the local farmers and herdsmen, we met not a single traveler. The Mages as lords are like gods to the people working their lands; these commoners likely will never understand their sky-flying lords’ preferences, whether they are introverted or extroverted. Thus, they could let these farmers and herdsmen meet us without care, while those caravans, who might have had dealings with the lords, were kept from us even though the chance of exposing them was negligibly small."

"If everything had gone according to plan, we should’ve reached the border area without notice, then wasted a lot of time investigating the tragedy," Pannis said with a sardonic smile. "But as the saying goes, the more complex and meticulous the plan, the easier it is for problems to arise. They planned everything, but didn’t foresee that you, Your Highness, would not leave the Mountain Watching Fortress according to schedule, ending up meeting us and talking about those two Mage lords."

"No, Pannis," Catherine disagreed. "Considering the meticulousness of their plan, it’s impossible they didn’t anticipate Prince Nicholas changing his itinerary, but they were actually not worried."

"Hmm, you’re right," Pannis conceded. "They did know a great deal, including some of our... past interactions. Logically, even if Prince Nicholas stayed at the Mountain Watching Fortress, both sides would prefer to avoid meeting each other to spare the embarrassment. But, they did not anticipate that the prince, so young, would already possess a mature noble’s decisiveness, thus revealing a gap in their plan."

"Heh, I think you’re mistaken," Nicholas said, although Pannis’s words sounded complimentary, he felt oddly unsettled. However, sensing the pressure from Pannis before, he guessed a bit of Pannis’s true strength and for the first time used a respectful tone when addressing Pannis. "I think they simply did not expect that Catherine would understand me so well, and she did not choose to avoid me from the start. As for myself... hehe."

"Whatever the reason, their plan was ultimately exposed by us," Muir interrupted with a cough, easing the delicately strained conversation. "Of course, this is still conjecture. To verify it is easy; we just need to meet those two lords. However, that’s not the key issue. The critical question is, what is their ultimate goal? Why go through so much trouble to pass the message to us?" (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit qidian.com to vote and support the author. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to continue reading.)