Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 976 - 93 The Cost of Expedition

Chapter 976: Chapter 93 The Cost of Expedition

"Indeed, if it wasn’t for now knowing the conspiracy of the Divine Servants, I doubt anyone would have thought to look in that direction." Catherine asked, "However, Chairman, in nearly forty years, haven’t you ever considered investigating the former chairman’s death? For example, organizing personnel to enter the Forest of Death. It’s not necessary to go directly into the Core Area, but just to search around those Forbidden Lands of Living Souls, perhaps there could be some discoveries?"

"I know what you want to know, you suspect that the unrest in the Forbidden Land of Living Souls actually began forty years ago, right?" Odin said with a bitter smile, "However, unfortunately, sending personnel deep into the core of the Forest of Death is basically the same as sending them to their deaths. No one would do that unless it was absolutely necessary. And the death of the former chairman, though it had some questionable points, could not explain any problems without knowing about the existence of the Divine Servants. It wasn’t enough to make the Guild pay such a high price for an expedition. Moreover, the most crucial point is that the former chairman had already organized an adventure team before. All those involved were very talented individuals from within the Guild. In the past years, have you noticed within the Guild’s adventurers, there’s a gap among those of Legendary Rank? Well, it’s not a complete gap, but within the Legendary Rank adventurers, there are very few around sixty years old in the Guild. They are neither retired, and even if they retired, the Guild would have their records on file, just like there are still records of Legendary Rank adventurers in their eighties and nineties. But in the Guild’s records, there are hardly any adventurers in their sixties, doesn’t this peculiar phenomenon strike you as odd?"

"I just thought that there were fewer who had advanced to Legendary during that period." Catherine’s eyes widened in surprise, "So, it was because of that expedition of the former chairman? Was the expedition’s impact on the Guild really that great?"

"Let’s put it this way, before the expedition, there were a total of fourteen Legendary Rank adventurers registered in the Guild who were humans, accounting for one-quarter of the number of Legendary Rank professionals in the human world at the time. All other races combined had only thirty-two Legendary Rank professionals. But after I took over as chairman, only six out of these fourteen were still alive, meaning eight of the Guild’s elites were lost during the expedition. This led to five top Gold Rank adventure teams falling to Silver Rank, with four of them declining rapidly," Odin recalled with some trepidation, "After that, not only the human side’s strength was seriously damaged in the Guild, but it also had a great impact on the overall strength of the Guild. To launch another expedition was not entirely impossible, but if it ran into problems again, the price to be paid was more than I could bear. It was only after ten years that a new generation of Legendary Rank adventurers grew up and the balance of power among the various races in the Guild was restored. Moreover, at that time, I had to deal with even more serious issues and had no energy to organize another expedition."

"Balancing the power of the various races in the Guild, cultivating promising newcomers to fill the void left by the deceased," Catherine pondered aloud, "Is there anything more important than that? Ah, I understand now, concealing the truth."

"Yes, that is the most important thing, at least for the Guild," Odin sighed, "Pacifying all the relatives and team members of the deceased while making them accept the reality of the death without letting them know the truth was a task that was like a nightmare for me. Heh, and then with the Elves, I also spent a considerable effort and gave up quite a few benefits. Thankfully, Her Majesty the Queen intervened, and in the end, we managed to completely cover up the truth."

"Why conceal it?" Catherine asked, puzzled, "If it’s so troublesome, why not just make the news public?"

"We adventurers are different from mercenaries, who exist for large-scale conflicts. For mercenaries, the death of high-ranking individuals during a mission can be seen as an honor, just like soldiers dying on the battlefield. If Kara were to die in battle, the City of Freedom would never conceal it; on the contrary, they would publicize it extensively. But adventurers are different. Our missions aren’t about warfare. We’re meant to do special tasks like protection, exploration, infiltration, and precision strikes. Only by surviving to complete these missions do we hold value," Odin explained. "If you were the client, would you still trust the Guild’s strength as you did before, knowing that even the chairman could die so easily during a mission?"

"Um, I’m afraid I would hold a fair amount of skepticism," Catherine replied with a bitter smile, "No wonder you kept the news so tightly under wraps. Only now do I learn the truth."

"By the time I had resolved all the issues, too much time had already passed," Odin sighed, "I thought that the length of time was enough to bury all the clues, and that organizing another expedition would be meaningless. So, I didn’t pursue the investigation further. I must say, I do have some regrets now. If I had decided to continue with the investigation at the time, perhaps none of us would be in as passive a situation as we are now."

"Regret is pointless, and I’m afraid your continued investigation would have been futile anyway, unless you could also ignore the Soul Assault of the Forbidden Land of Living Souls," Pannis’s voice came from behind the three of them, deep and serious, completely unlike his usual jesting tone. When Catherine turned around, she saw a solemn Pannis and couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh.

No matter his expression or his words, Pannis seemed very serious, but as soon as anyone saw his state, they could hardly maintain their own seriousness. Clamped in his right hand was a smooth skull, from whose eye sockets blue Soul Fire glowed, expressing strong dissatisfaction. The rest of the skeleton hung on his left leg, rattling with every step he took, showing a firm resolve not to let go. Behind him, Annie’s slightly translucent body was using his hair as a swing, swinging back and forth in the air, occasionally doing happy flips. As for the others who had gathered around, no matter how hard they tried to suppress their laughter, it was impossible to conceal completely.

"Ah," Catherine sighed deeply, covering half her face helplessly, "I have nothing against you being serious once in a while, but when you do, could you be a bit more professional and not hang so many decorations on yourself? Your current appearance, combined with the tone of your voice, only produces the opposite effect."

"You two idiots, I told you to come down quickly, but you just wouldn’t listen," Pannis’s seriousness immediately collapsed as he jumped on the spot and swung his bitten right hand forcefully, howling, "It hurts so much, you’re Little Deer, not a little dog, get down now."(To be continued. If you like this work, please visit QUidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation vote and monthly vote. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)