476: Chapter 41 Doris’s gentleness_1 476: Chapter 41 Doris’s gentleness_1 Under the vast ocean, four kiloters deep, there are no waves, no sounds, only a hazy halo and endless silence, a silence as still as death.
Only by following the halo into the magnificent underwater temple can you experience the unique vitality of the mortal world.
In the world beneath the sea, there’s no day, night or changes in temperature, throughout the year, 22 hours a day, there’s always a priest or a clergy in the temple, welcoming the devout followers who have co from various parts of the Yarran World.
Outside the temple, colossal intelligent creatures often appear, whose full forms are hard to make out due to their size.
They shrink their bodies at the door and transform into human forms before slowly ascending the temple stairs.
Although there is no day or night under the sea, even the temple’s priests need to rest.
Thus, in the living quarters of the Divine Duty personnel located in the temple’s backyard, there are always so resting at any given ti.
This is why the living quarters are always quiet, and no one is allowed to make a ruckus to disturb others.
This good habit has made the living quarters places in the temple that are closest to the quiet of the underwater world.
Contrarily, the priests of the Sea Race prefer to rest in an environnt free of water.
From the Sea Race’s perspective, the undulation of the sea is translated into sounds by their unique auditory organs.
So, when resting in the sea, the omnipresent undercurrent makes them feel as if they are in noisy winds.
Although it’s not exactly noisy, it always causes so inconvenience.
In the rest area, coral-made rooms are not very soundproof, but after magical enhancent, the noise from normal activities in the rooms no longer disturb others, providing convenience for the adventure team.
Due to the fewer pilgrims in the temple recently, each of the five mbers of the adventure team got a comfortable guest room to stay in.
But, after the family dinner, the sleep schedules of the young girls were a bit disrupted.
Even though they were tired, they couldn’t fall asleep imdiately, and so, they whiled away ti in Vivian’s room.
“Why do we have to stay in my room,” lanted Vivian, lying flat on a large mattress made from the skin of a Sea Beast and the soft seaprune algae.
The algae fragrant mattress is said to soothe the mind and make sleep more restful, once it was quite popular among the land races, a major part of mariti trade.
Despite the calming effects of the seaprune algae, Vivian grumbled reluctantly, “Why don’t you go back to your rooms to play?
I want to sleep.”
“You were just complaining about not being able to sleep,” retorted Catherine with a roll of her eyes.
“What’s wrong with us staying for a bit?”
“I need to think,” Vivian replied, visibly unwilling.
“You guys would disrupt my thought process.”
“I don’t think your thought process would be disrupted at all,” Lina, sitting next to Vivian on the large bed in her soft sea-silk robe, her fair, delicate feet peeking out from under the robe, swinging rhythmically.
Because there were no outsiders, she had taken off her glasses.
After snapping her book shut with a thud, she suddenly leaned in, her nose touching Vivian’s, their eyes eting.
“Whenever you don’t want to be disturbed, you never care about your surroundings.”
“Move away,” Vivian pushed Lina away with a force, and the two girls imdiately entwined, tumbling about the large bed.
“Still the sa hustle and bustle, nothing’s changed,” Catherine, on the other side of the room, sat opposite to Freya, separated by a small tea table where lay a board of Adventurers’ Chess.
Being a popular leisure activity among the aristocrats of the humans, very few adventurers actually played it; Vivian and Lina were among them.
As Freya toyed with her chess pieces, she spoke softly, “You haven’t changed either, you’re still as considerate, even rembering such details, not wanting anyone to feel left out.”
“You’re all my family, of course I need to care a little,” Catherine laughed, “We’re all so familiar with each other, we’ve ford habits of looking out for each other.”
“I always worry that one day, you’ll burn yourself out.” Freya’s fingers subtly trembled, their girth did not affect their sensitivity in the slightest.
The chess pieces made of artificial crystal kept flipping in her sturdy fingers, “Haven’t you felt ntally drained all these years?”
“Quite the opposite,” Catherine gently nudged three chess pieces, smiling, “I just feel more and more pitiful in this family, I never feel tired.
Ha, I’ve completed the third task first, you’re about to lose.”
“Eh, no, you’re too cunning,” Freya widened her eyes, discontent, “That move doesn’t count, you attacked when I was distracted, I want to replay.”
“Well, you can’t do that, regretting a move isn’t sothing a lady should do,” Catherine pushed away Freya’s hand that was reaching for her chess pieces, laughing joyfully, “Rember our bet, if you lose, you’ll have to accompany on fifty laps around the temple.”
“Oh no, why?” Freya pulled a long face, mumbling, “Running under the sea is very tiring.”
“That’s what you get for eating so much at dinner,” Catherine didn’t give an inch, “I’ve said it before, you have to strictly control your food intake.
Since you couldn’t resist and ate too much at dinner, you have to burn off those extra calories.”
“Wu, you’ve changed,” Groaned Freya, clutching her head, imdiately contradicting her statent from just a minute ago, “You’re now like a demon, so terrifying.”
“Huff,” Pannis, who was sitting quietly to the side, playing with a shell carving in a daze, suddenly stood up and went towards the door, “I’m going for a walk.”
“Okay,” Catherine replied, without lifting her head, “Going to see Doris?”
The hand that Pannis had stretched out to push the door stiffened, he laughed dryly, “Ha, ha, just, just going out for a stroll, no purpose, haha, no purpose.”
“As I’ve told you when you first ca here, we don’t ask about one’s past.
So we won’t pry into anything that happened in your past.
Everyone has secrets and we are no exceptions.
When you’re ready to share, you will tell us yourself, we’re not in a hurry,” Catherine finally looked up to et Pannis’s gaze and spoke earnestly, “Just rember to co back.”
Pannis, holding the doorknob, was silent for a mont before he pushed the door open and said softly, “Of course, how could I not co back?”
——————————————
With his hands behind his back, Pannis seed to aimlessly wander about the temple.
The clergy he happened to encounter had all been notified beforehand.
Seeing him, they simply bowed their heads in acknowledgent from a distance, but no one approached him to ask anything.
Walking halfway around the temple, Pannis turned into a small door he was quite familiar with, leading to a courtyard that was also open-air, or rather, exposed to the seawater do.
The courtyard was quite spacious, with only a multicolored coral tree in the middle that filled the air with a forest scent.
Doris, leaning against the coral tree, her long fishtail flat on the ground, greeted Pannis with a gentle smile as he walked in, “The sll of a forest, specially chosen for you because I rember it’s your favorite scent.
Or would you prefer the scent of a vineyard instead?”
“No need,” Pannis paused, shaking his head.
“I dare not sll the scent of a vineyard now.”
Doris chuckled indulgently, patting the spot next to her.
Her fishtail flapped against the ground out of habit.
“Co sit with your sister for a while.
We haven’t chatted for so many years.”
“It would be my honour.” Pannis sat down next to Doris, leaning back as he always did and lying down on Doris’s fish tail.
“Poor Kyle.” Doris tenderly stroked Pannis’s golden hair, comforting him like a loving mother soothes her scarred child.
“What exactly happened back then that has left you so desolate even now?
Why didn’t you co to your sister when you were in pain?
Are you blaming your sister for not being there to help you?”
“No, I’m just despising myself.” Pannis’s self-mocking smile held an indescribable bitterness.
“Because of my incompetence, cowardice, and disgrace, I caused Nellie’s death.
Heh, I didn’t dare to face anyone I knew, nor did I want any consolation, I just wished to disappear in a place where no one knew .”
“After having hurt Nellie with your actions and regretting it, do you still wish to continue hurting others who care about you?” Doris lightly tapped Pannis’s forehead in a punishing way.
“Do you know that those two noisy little birds and that little elf have been upset for you and Nellie for a hundred years?
They said that others also felt the sa way.
Do you know that every day for the last hundred years, I’ve been waiting for you to co to ?
But you were just too cruel to co, even as I sotis worried that you were no longer in this world, only to find out that you didn’t co for such a foolish reason.”
“Yes, I know I was wrong.” Pannis sighed.
“From now on, I will live well until the final judgent cos.”
“Final judgent?” Doris’s fishtail coiled, as if embracing Pannis.
“Silly little Kyle, who do you think will judge you?
Nellie?
You think she’d hate you when she was dying?”
“My actions are unforgivable.” Pannis spoke through gritted teeth.
“She won’t forgive .”
“You have never truly understood won, nor have you ever understood what love is.” Doris reproached Pannis while pinching his cheek.
“A woman in love will never truly hate the one she loves, no matter what he does to her.”
“How would you know?” Pannis grimaced.
“You’re not even aware of what happened.”
“Because I also love you, trust you, and still do so even now, so I am very clear what Nellie was thinking.” Doris leaned over and looked into Pannis’s eyes, her hair falling onto his face.
“And don’t forget, I am the Deity’s representative, so I know far more than others.
Although I can’t tell you, hehe.”
Pannis chose to ignore the latter part of Doris’s words, speaking softly, “So even if you know I’ve wronged Nellie, even if you know that I am no longer the reliable Kyle, you would still entrust this important task to ?
Just because you…”
“Yes, because you’re my most beloved brother.” Doris leaned over and gently kissed Pannis’s forehead.
“Even if we end up failing, even if we beco sinners of the Sea Race, I would want it to be my brother who tells .”
“You’re really cunning, aren’t you, sister?” Pannis sighed.
“Putting the responsibility and burden on my shoulders once again?”
“Your sister has always been that cunning.” Doris gently patted Pannis’s shoulder as though putting him to sleep.
“So are you willing to take up the responsibility?
Along with your new friends, for your sister’s sake?”
“We’ve already taken it up, haven’t we?” Pannis closed his eyes, muttering as if in a dream.
Doris didn’t say anything else.
She held Pannis and sang softly.
There were no lyrics, just a simple lody, but even a few notes sung by Doris bore a remarkable power.
In the midst of the song, Pannis peacefully fell asleep without dreams for the first ti.
(To be continued.
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