Yarra's Adventure Notes-Chapter 1369 - 155: Showdown

Both ladies had been cautiously testing each other’s attitudes toward the living and the Undead. Not only had Catherine repeatedly confirmed the actions the Undead might take in the future and verified whether the Undead truly posed no harm to the Yarran Continent, but Shiela was doing the same. As a newly emerged race, the Undead, following the opening of The Door Home, harbored a vigilance toward the living on the other side and urgently needed to clarify the attitude of the living. These conscious Undead did not wish to be exterminated as uncontrollable dangers by the living without any preparation. Therefore, building fortresses outside The Door Home, although ostensibly under the command of the Grimreaper, may well have been their way of preemptively controlling the passageway to ensure the safety of their own race. This was well understood by everyone, yet there was no need to vocalize it.

The two sides kept probing each other, and each knew that the other was aware of this probing. However, the probing had to continue. This was not a game; for the forces each represented, this was a crucial process of engagement.

Yet, Pannis had said it was a probing game, and neither lady contradicted him because throughout the process, Catherine and Shiela had been avoiding the most critical issue. Not that they hadn’t thought of it, but they deliberately chose to temporarily sidestep it because both were well aware of how things might develop in the future. This issue was crucial—once brought to the negotiating table, it would, like involving Pannis and Saen in the discussion, leave no room for maneuver, essentially signaling that a war had entered its final decisive stage, leaving no way out for either side. The issue was quite simple; it was exactly what Pannis had asked about and should have been confirmed initially—if the Grimreaper forcibly issued an Oracle, would these seemingly rational Undead, due to their reverence for the Undead, crazily start attacking the world of the living?

"This isn’t an idle worry. Since you have the qualifications to be leaders, these issues can’t possibly escape your notice. If your master commanded it, what would you choose?" Pannis’s lazy demeanor vanished, he sat straight on the stone chair, his face unusually solemn, he raised his glass to Saen and said in a deep voice, "I can’t be certain if among the Undead you’ve encountered, there are any who personally experienced that incident while alive, but if there is, he would undoubtedly remember it vividly. In the history of the Yarran World, such phenomena are not without precedent. Over four thousand years ago, during the endless wars of the Bronze Age when deities fought for worship, there were two neighboring human kingdoms. These kingdoms, from kings to commoners, were quite close-knit, even so much that the kings of the two kingdoms were distant, if not close, relatives, and their ministers often shared the same surnames. There was even an occasion when the reigning king and queen of the time married. Of course, for uncertain reasons, the two kingdoms did not merge through this wedding but ended with the queen ceding her throne to her nephew. This illustrates the close relationship between the two countries. Not only were the kingdoms close, but the deities they worshiped were also close allies, reportedly for tens of thousands of years, joining forces against other more powerful deities."

"However, betrayal occurred?" Seeing Saen rattle his jaw, Shiela took the initiative to translate, "That must be the direction the story took, right?"

"Yes," Pannis slightly lowered his eyelids and said softly, "The story is cliché, ending with one kingdom being raided, the deity’s followers in the territory massacred, leading to a complete rift between the two deities."

"This isn’t a story that brings happiness," Shiela translated Saen’s words, "It seems that in those times, to offer their faith to deities, mortals had entered a state of frenzy."

"The times are changing. Due to Lord Yarra’s Divine Barrier protecting us, deities cannot directly influence the Yarran World. Although the living still worship deities, they are much calmer compared to that era, especially when it comes to obeying orders from deities to raise swords against their own kin and friends, no longer seeing it as something natural," Pannis said with a sarcastic laugh, shaking his head. "Well, just joking. Deities now restrain each other and no longer issue such orders, and even if they did, truly zealous followers wouldn’t be numerous. But that’s the Yarran World, not here. I don’t know how devout your faith in your master is, nor do I know if you would obey a deity’s command to suddenly confront us with swords, and we even less know if, after your deity commanded you to send out large troops, there would be any other incomprehensible actions. Therefore, everything is filled with uncertainty, every choice possible, and if it were a different matter, it might be an interesting gamble, but now, concerning the future of multiple races, gambling isn’t permissible."

"Our master wouldn’t do such a thing. We’ve believed in our master for decades; we know our master’s disposition very well—a deity far gentler, especially concerning the issues of the living, much more so than most Undead," Shiela wanted to continue, but Saen raised a bony arm, silently interrupting Shiela’s explanation. The female ghost paused, then shook her head with a bitter smile and said softly, "Indeed, speaking of this is pointless. I was too anxious, sorry."

"Yes, we can’t know others’ thoughts, nor can we presume to guess the will of the deities, so the disposition of the deities, how they would treat the living—it’s unimportant for now," Pannis said with a courteous smile, speaking slowly: "Only our thoughts, we ourselves understand best, are truly controllable. So, I just want to know one thing, in case a deity issued such an Oracle, what would you do?"

"We..." Shiela and Saen looked at each other, both Undead fell silent. In a discussion of this level, lying was pointless; besides worsening their image in the eyes of the other and fostering further distrust, it gained nothing. Thus, both Undead chose not to respond to Pannis’s question, opting instead for silence. Silence, after all, represented the unknown; indeed, even the leaders themselves didn’t know the answer to this question. Perhaps Saen and Shiela had often debated this issue in their usual discussions, but never once had they arrived at a definitive answer. Indeed, faced with such choices, making a decision was indeed very difficult.