Yarra's Adventure Notes-Chapter 97 - 21 Hunting_1

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"Um, okay, let me explain." Pannis said, pointing at the map: "You see, Bob’s wife and the two travelers left their house and got to this point here, which is about half the distance they normally walked. Given a usual woman’s pace, it would take them about four to five minutes, that is, around fifty-odd minutes before the Harvest Festival began. Yes, right here, I will draw a circle to mark it. Then, Mrs. Schneider’s husband, oh, I mean Mr. Schneider, left his house and arrived around where I have drawn this circle. For a grown man to cover this distance, it would take about twenty minutes, also around fifty minutes before the Harvest Festival. Then, Harry’s son, Little Harry, ran from his home to this point. Normally, it should take about fifteen to twenty minutes, but as Little Harry was chasing his father, and he is quite active because he’s a kid, it’s conceivable that he’d run. Therefore, his time could also be compressed to around fifty minutes or so before the Harvest Festival."

"In the same time frame, here, here, and here," Pannis pointed at three areas on the map in succession, "people have disappeared from these three locations. If Mr. Brown’s father did walk in the direction I guessed, you have to add this region as well. Alright, is everyone clear now?"

"This is... a circular area." Priest Milak observed, tracing an imaginary circle on the map.

"That’s right, a circular area." Pannis drew a circle, covering the whole region. "In the early morning, when the sky hasn’t brightened yet and there are very few people on the street, these people vanished from the boundaries of this area. It’s similar to how a magical beast or beast hunts, a clever one that knows to avoid large crowds."

Milak’s forehead showed signs of perspiration: "Is this beast still hiding in the village?"

"I don’t know", Pannis shrugged, "But for now, we need to examine the center of this circular area, do you know whose house this is?"

Priest Milak leaned in to identify: "Let me see, um, it should be the Ryan house, a very typical family."

"Let’s go check." Pannis stood up, "I hope my speculation is wrong."

The Ryan’s home was indeed an average household with a low stone wall about the height of a man constructed all around it. Wooden rails were loosely arranged on the top, and the wooden front gate was securely locked from the inside, and no matter how long they knocked, there was no response. At Pannis’s signal, Priest Milak tentatively knocked on the neighbor’s door, fortunately, there was an elderly person at home. After talking briefly with the elderly man, Milak returned with a grave expression on his face.

"Mr. Pannis, it seems that your speculation is correct." Milak stared at the Ryan’s wooden house gate, "The neighbor says he hasn’t seen any of the Ryans since yesterday, and, apparently, the men from their house didn’t attend the customary pre-festival field chanting this morning."

"Let’s go in and check." Pannis skillfully climbed over the wall, unlocked the gate from the inside and the four of them ventured into the Ryan’s courtyard. Everything seemed normal inside the courtyard; farming tools were arranged neatly at the entrance, clothes were hung out to dry on a rope, corners of hand trolleys held goods that were prepared to sell at the Harvest Festival, even the backyard seemed unremarkable. The only abnormality was that the front door was left wide open and not closed.

The house was not very large, having only three rooms in total. Upon entering, there was a small dining room, to the left of which was the bedroom and to the right was the kitchen. Everything inside the house was as usual, with no signs of disorder. There were even bread and soup placed on the table.

Pannis walked up to the table, leaning over to sniff the food: "Potato soup, it’s been made around noon, two days ago."

"Priest Milak," Lina asked, "How many people live in this house?"

"Just the couple, they are still quite young and haven’t had children," replied the priest.

Lina circled around the house a few times and went into the kitchen, "If I were Mrs. Ryan, and I was preparing lunch when I heard a strange noise, then, no wait, there’s nothing else in here, the dishes on the table are all of the lunch she made, so at the time I just finished cooking and hadn’t begun eating yet. Then what would I do? I would go to call my husband to eat. But the front gate was locked so it appears I didn’t leave the yard, so something must have happened in the yard. Ashley, that’s correct, isn’t it?"

Lina paused a moment, speaking to someone unknown, before continuing her thought process: "Now that I have my answer, I opened the door and walked out. Hm? Oh, yes, you’re right, it is plausible to leave the doors open during the day in one’s own home, so open doors can’t tell us much. However, If my husband was in the same room then the next step would be to sit down and eat, we wouldn’t go elsewhere. Even if something happened outside, it would be my husband who would go check, while I would stay hidden in the house. Yes, yes, thank you for reminding me, I should have come out of the house to call my husband to meals. It would be easy to scream out in the front yard, so the issue must have occurred in the backyard. Let’s go see the backyard."

"Wait." As they were about to walk through the narrow path between the house and the courtyard towards the backyard, Pannis suddenly stopped Lina: "look."

"Footprints." Lina crouched down to examine the mud-floor, "They are indeed a woman’s footprints. But these footprints are too deep, did she carry something heavy? It’s not right, Priest Milak, when did it last rain?"

"Three days ago." Milak answered with certainty: "Under the glory of the goddess, it won’t rain for two days before the Harvest Festival, so I am very certain about this."

"That makes sense, three days ago it rained. Two days ago, which would be the day before yesterday, the ground had not dried up, so the footprints are deeper but there’s not the faint blurring you see with footprints in wet mud. Additionally, there are only footprints leading to the backyard, none coming back." Lina nodded, "Which means, the last thing Mrs. Ryan did, was walk towards the backyard, and then never came back." ƒreewebɳovel.com

As they entered the backyard, they noticed it wasn’t big. Most of the ground had been cultivated into a small vegetable garden, with neat rows of common vegetables. Next to the vegetable garden was a low and narrow utility room, the door of which was open. Beside the utility room, they dug a cellar, and the lid of the cellar was also open.

Lina and Pannis simultaneously halts Priests Milak and Lydia who were with them. They cautiously looked at the cellar. Pannis nodded: "There’s a high likelihood."

"I don’t believe it’s likely but a certainty." Lina stared at the cellar, "I see you brought a small bag, do you have anything to light up the place?"

"Yes, but there’s no need to use it now." After indicating for several people to fall back to the front yard, Pannis said, "Lydia, there’s probably something wrong with the cellar. We’ll watch from here, you go buy some things."

"Yes, sir." Lydia’s response was concise.

Pannis said, "Get a few ropes, at least twenty meters each, and they must be strong. Then buy three torches, and four bottles of antidote. Borrow a bow and a quiver of arrows from one of the city guards who came with you. You were assigned to maintain order, so you should also have been given Crystal Energy Lamps, try to bring two if you can. That’ll be all."

"I’m sorry, sir." Lydia said regretfully," We, five team members in total, were only given one Crystal Energy Lamp."

"No problem, one is enough," Pannis considered for a moment and said, "It can be borrowed, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then off you go. I’ll give you the money for the items later." Pannis waved his hand and watched her leave before saying, "She’s quite nervous. Letting her run an errand will help distract her."

Lina rolled her eyes at Pannis, "Priest Mirak, what’s going on might be dangerous. You’ve never been in battle. It might be best for you to return. We will inform you if anything happens."

The priest didn’t insist. He nodded and left after giving a few instructions.

"What do you think it is?" Left with just her own people, Lina asked after sighing.

"Not sure yet," Pannis shook his head, "but anything that tunnels through the ground can’t be good. They’re all quite troublesome."

"Shall we go and have a look around?" Lina sought Pannis’s opinion, "There’s only the two of us here now, so we shouldn’t have too many concerns."

"Let’s go," Pannis swiftly crossed the narrow path, returned to the backyard, and after looking around for a while, signalled to Lina. She picked up her hammer and followed him over. Pannis pointed at himself, then at the cellar entrance, then at Lina, then at the ground beneath them, finally making a circular gesture. After Lina indicated that she understood, he slightly adjusted his breath but did not head towards the cellar. Instead, he jumped and landed on the roof from his standing position.

The house was single-storied, and anyone lying low on the roof would be entirely out of sight from beyond the courtyard walls. Hence Pannis confidently knelt down on the roof, took a moment to observe the cellar entrance from the height, then slowly walked towards the cellar along the roof. The Ryan family’s house was rather old, so any animal that stepped on the wooden, sloping roof would make a creaking noise, however, Pannis made no sound as he moved, silently arriving above the cellar entrance. He peered into the dark entrance, found nothing unusual, and finally jumped back down to the ground to examine the cellar.

"Come on, it’s safe for now." Pannis called to Lina in a low voice. He crouched down and pointed at the wooden cover of the cellar, "Look here."

"Are these... scratch marks?" Lina removed her gloves and felt the cover, "They are faint scratches, but they are new."

"Exactly," Pannis flipped the cover open, "There’s no lock or bolt, it’s just lying there loosely. Something nudged the cover open from inside, slowly and gently."

"No, it didn’t come out." Lina pointed to the hard dirt by the edge of the cellar, "You see, here are a few scratch marks, likely marks left by claws, but not ahead."

"Yes, it didn’t come out. It waited here and attacked Ryan," Pannis agreed, nodding.

"Then it probably heard Ryan’s wife’s footsteps and withdrew. Ryan’s wife couldn’t find Ryan in the backyard, and the cellar door was open, so naturally, she thought Ryan had gone down there. She leaned in, and then was attacked." Lina hypothesized, studying the supposed movement of Ryan’s wife.

"Ah, I found something." Pannis shifted his position, reached into the cellar entrance, and knocked on the vertical wall, "This is... a fingernail, a woman’s fingernail. The tip is bloody, it seems to have been forcefully ripped from a finger."

"Pannis, did you notice something odd?" Lina frowned and asked, "If we believe it was a hunt, then why are there no bloodstains, and no signs of a struggle? The only evidence of resistance is this fingernail stuck here?"

Pannis was about to answer when he heard Lydia calling from the front yard in a hushed tone, "Mr. Pannis, Miss Lina, are you there?"

"We’re in the back, come straight here, it’s safe." Lina responded.