Yarra's Adventure Notes-Chapter 127 - 48 Marquis Snape_1

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"How did you manage that?" Catherine had already released Pannis’ arm, the two of them standing by the dance floor. Their earlier confrontation with Prince Nicholas was only a minor incident and hadn’t caused any outrageous commotion. Therefore, it didn’t attract much attention. Once the prince left, the party quickly returned to its original atmosphere. The pair gathered by the dance floor like ordinary guests. The only difference was they were not engaging in any conversation with other guests.

"What are you referring to?" asked Pannis, puzzled.

"Prince Nicholas’s bodyguards." Catherine gestured towards the main entrance: "How did you manage to make them retreat simply by waving your finger?"

"Ha, well, that was simply a display of skill." Pannis chuckled: "It’s a skill known as Self-sacrificial Strike, an assassin’s tactic. No one in their right mind would choose to take the hit without using a shield. They would either block or dodge it. I merely kept the skill at the brink of activation, misguiding them into believing that I was about to unleash it on them. In reality, I did not release it at all. The higher the target’s rank, the stronger their perception, and the more likely they are to fall for this trick."

"But they’re bodyguards!" Catherine found it hard to comprehend: "Even if you scared them with your skill, they shouldn’t have all backed off and leave their employer in danger."

"Well, that’s because there were three of them." Pannis shrugged, casually responding: "I made each one of them believe that my skill was specifically targeted at them. With their employer still being guarded by the other two, they chose to retreat and dodge. By the time they realized all three had backed away, it was too late."

"Clever." Catherine said in approval. "But, even though I was standing next to you, I didn’t feel any energy fluctuations from you that would occur during a skill activation. Not to mention, Nicholas, who is at the Bronze Rank."

"Control," Pannis held up one finger. Unseen to others, but quite apparent to Catherine, who was familiar with Aggression, was the Aggression-point coalescing invisibly at the tip of his finger: "Some people can only condense Aggression to form a rough stick, while some can condense it into a minute point. But if your control is refined enough, you can do this."

In Catherine’s energy senses, Pannis’ Aggression-point on his fingertip began to elongate, twirling, twisting, darting, and finally woven into a fully-bloomed rose composed of condensed Aggression. Such control exceeded the imagination of conventional professionals.

"A beautiful flower for a beautiful lady." Pannis, grinning, stretched his finger towards Catherine.

With a flick of annoyance, Catherine swatted Pannis’ hand away, scattering the rose he had created, a rose that was only meant to be seen and not touched: "Not authentic. Next time offer me something I can actually take."

"Then how about this instead?" Pannis, smiling cordially, selected two glasses of red wine from the table and handed one to Catherine. Holding the glass with four fingers and shaking it lightly, he commented: "Ah, Mackinway wine from 3578. Your Grandpa Snape sure knows how to savor the fine things."

"Mackinway?" Catherine, surprised, pulled the wine glass closer and sniffed it again: "I thought it was Caliste’s wine. So, it’s Mackinway wine? That’s the best and the least-produced wine in all of Yarra!"

"Indeed, it’s Mackinway." said Pannis, nodding: "The aroma of Caliste’s wine is similar to it, but it has a hint of more fruitiness, and it’s slightly sweeter upon tasting. That’s the difference."

Catherine, in no hurry to drink, held up her glass against the light. Her eyes sparkling with fantasy, whispered: "3578... Almost 120 years old. It’s more than five times my age. I wonder what the person who made this wine was like."

"In 578, Mackinway had the best harvest in terms of both quantity and quality of grapes in three hundred years." While swirling the glass, Pannis stared into the swirling liquid, seemingly being transported back to those fragrant years. In those days, Nellie, who loved wine passionately, could not resist her cravings. She dragged Pannis into the Mackinway Village in the mountains. They spent seven months going through all stages of winemaking, from picking and destemming the grapes to fermentation and final settling in fresh barrels, and brewed ten barrels of wine. Nellie, with no previous experience in winemaking, made it by herself. The taste of that wine was to be imagined. But every time Pannis scents the aroma of Mackinway wine, he remembers the taste of those ten barrels of wine. He recalls the laughter on the face of the girl who stomped and jumped on grapes with her bare feet. It was a heartfelt, pure smile, like a child’s; much like the taste of those ten barrels of wine- raw yet full of sincerity and joy.

Catherine couldn’t fathom what Pannis was reminiscing about, but she gently patted Pannis’ arm to comfort him, seeing his distant gaze. Pannis, awakened from his reverie by Catherine’s pat, gave a self-deprecating laugh and shook his head, driving away the deceitful illusions before his eyes, and with them, the painful twinge of regret from his heart. He raised his glass to clink lightly with Catherine’s, and then took a small sip, savoring the wine’s aroma on his lips.

"Indeed, it’s a fantastic red wine," Pannis exclaimed with a breath laced with the scent of the wine, raising his head lightly: "I must say it again, your Grandpa Snape truly knows how to enjoy life."

"Indeed, I do know how to enjoy life."

Pannis and Catherine exchanged an understanding grin before turning back, unsurprisingly, to find an old man with a bald head and white beard, holding a wine glass, standing behind the pair.

"Mr. Snape, it is a pleasure to meet you," Pannis raised his glass in a respectful toast.

Snape nodded back at Pannis and said to Catherine, "Can I borrow your partner for a moment, little Catherine?"

Laughing, Catherine rolled her eyes: "Go ahead."

"That’s cruel," Pannis heaved a sad sigh, and gestured Snape to lead the way: "After you, sir."

"Catherine is a lovely girl." As Snape led Pannis back into the mansion, into a study room on the second floor, he quietly closed the door behind him and said: "Wouldn’t you agree, Master Kyle?"

Pannis sat on the armchair by the wall, placing his wine glass on the coffee table in front of him, and rubbing his chin he chuckled, "I think, I should go and have a nice chat with Odin tomorrow."

"Hahahaha." Snape laughed, "That’s not what Odin told me."

Pannis tilted his head in thought, then nodded, "Alright, I understand, I will dismantle the little scammer’s nest tomorrow."

"The little scammer has become an old scammer already." Snape said with a grin, "I arrived three days ago. I met Master Christo the day before yesterday. He mentioned you and looked forward to meeting you. I didn’t expect you to take the initiative and come over today."

"I didn’t come voluntarily." Pannis grinned, "I was dragged here by your little Catherine."

"Haha, I see, I see." Snape looked at Pannis with a weird expression, "But Catherine has had a hard past. I hope you can take more care of her in the future."

"I know." Pannis nodded, "She told me."

"She told you?" Snape repeated surprisingly then seemed to suddenly realize and said, "Of course, she had to tell you since you’re one of us."

"But I have one bizarre question." Pannis asked, "From her words, I can tell that not only do you not require them to repay the debt, but you also take good care of three generations of her family, and you’re very sincere. If that’s the case, why don’t you just forgive their debts and free them from the stress of these debts?"

"What do you think?" Snape laughed slyly, "Why do you think I’m doing so?"

"I thought of a reason. The greater the pressure, the stronger a person can become. To help Catherine grow rapidly, she must bear enough pressure." Pannis pondered, "In fact, this is true. Under such pressure, Catherine, so young, has already become a high-ranking professional at the Gold Rank."

"That’s one aspect." Snape nodded, "But the key issue is, I can’t defeat the three generations of her family." frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

"Huh?" Pannis was taken aback, "What kind of reason is that?"

Snape gave a bitter smile with a hint of frustration, "I never intended to have them repay the money, especially after this money cost the life of my best friend. I did not want his descendants to inherit this debt. However, I’ve told the three generations of them many times that the debt is absolved, but no matter how many times I say it, not one of them agrees. Each of them insists on repaying the debt. If possible, I’d rather go bankrupt. I hope that my best friend could be alive, that his son and granddaughter can live happily. But no matter what I say, they insist on repaying the money. Catherine’s father once stormed into my place, threw down a thousand Magistones, equivalent to ten million gold coins, just tossed it on the ground like it was nothing, and ran away. I couldn’t defeat them or catch up with them. What else can I do? Therefore, the debt they owe is not imposed by me but borne by themselves."

Pannis also gave a bitter smile, "This really fits her character."

"Exactly, so there’s really nothing I can do to stop them." Snape suddenly smirked mysteriously, "However, I’ve got a way to deal with it."

Pannis asked curiously, "How?"

Snape boasted triumphantly like a child, "In fact, I’ve never touched the money they’ve repaid me for the three generations. I plan to give it to little Catherine as an inheritance after she clears the debt or before I die. Heh heh, by then she will have no chance to refuse."

"Wow." Pannis exclaimed, "Having a granddaughter who’s so determined, you really had a tough time."

"Yeah, I don’t have much time left. The one I’m most worried about is her." Snape’s gaze became strange when looking at Pannis, "But now I can rest assured."

Pannis felt something was off, frowning he said, "What do you mean?"

Snape didn’t answer but continued, "Every time I saw her in the past, I always urged her and she always seemed impatient. I didn’t expect she’d give me such a surprise this time, hahahaha."

"Urged her? Surprise?" Pannis seemed to finally understand what he meant. Thinking about Catherine’s previous behavior, his forehead started to sweat, "You don’t mean to say ....."

"Of course." Snape laughed extraordinarily happily, "As elders, who wouldn’t be anxious? Now I can finally rest easy. From now on, Catherine is entrusted to you."

"Haha, haha, haha." Pannis laughed dryly, "I always feel like, you’ve misunderstood something."