Stray

All his attention was on “he was not pulled down by the Abyss”, and only then did Nemo notice the cool air squirming on his skin and the cold touch of Ollie’s armor under him.

Even Nemo, except for the time he fought Witherspoon in an abnormal state, had never succeeded in directly connecting to the depths of the Abyss from the surface. In order to successfully dive into the Abyss to investigate, Nemo made countless calculations— Now he had succeeded. With the help of the superior demon stuck in the crevices of space, he barely got a chance to face the depths of the Abyss.

Everything went smoothly beyond imagination, except for this…

The hem of Telaranea’s old-style research robe was too long, and it was instantly ignited by the flames bursting from the tearing of space.

A few pieces of cloth did little hung down his arms and chest, most of his loose trousers had burned away most of their length, leaving the remaining scorched black crumbling fabric.

The black shadow instantly rose into the air and quickly wrapped Nemo’s body, making the scene less ambiguous.

Considering that he might have to concentrate on using the dark shadow to defend against the enemy for a while, Nemo coughed a little embarrassedly, and tapped the tip of Oliver’s nose, who was still being used as a meat cushion, with his fingers. “Lend me the cloak.”

Oliver removed his cloak in a muffled voice but the redness on his face had not dissipated.

With materials, things were much more convenient. The black shadow quickly entangled it, transforming the fabric with a slight black mist on the bottom edge into a simple robe. Unfortunately, the fabric couldn’t replace shoes, so Nemo had to stand barefoot on the floor temporarily. Fortunately, in misfortune, the staff that was placed on the horse in advance escaped the catastrophe.

“Still blushing?” After holding the staff firmly, Nemo raised his eyebrows magnanimously.

After successfully liberating Pandorater, he found that he could accompany Oliver to investigate the Abyss. At this moment, the great Demon King was in a good mood. He stared at his lover, with a bit of teasing in his tone. “Mr. Ramon, I sincerely suggest you that you should blush when its due, such as the other night…”

“I’m going to remove the shield.” Oliver scratched his nose and interrupted Nemo’s words, and the blush that had diminished substantially returned suspiciously.

“Go ahead.” Nemo smiled and shook his head, patting Oliver’s skeleton helmet.

“What do you think of their encirclement?”

“As long as they don’t see our faces, we won’t have a problem… They can’t find anything except the burnt research suit fragments. Ah, speaking of this, wait a moment.”

Nemo turned around, and countless dark shadows shot out of the void behind him. The destroyed hall was quickly restored, and even the black cube cage was closed again and restored to its original state— Except the spell lines on it no longer glowed; it had completely lost its original power.

The dark shadow even cleaned up the burnt clothing on the ground.

The entire underground hall was soaked in light, clean and tidy, as if nothing had happened.

“This is enough to disturb them. Ollie, have you negotiated with your Pope?”

“It wants fifty horse treats, the kind with apple puree and syrup.”

“Deal.”

What happened next became an unsolved mystery that had been circulating in the Mercenary Guild for a long time. An ancient phantom in the middle of the night passed through the wall, the superior demon evaporated out of thin air, and a huge monster that finally rushed out of the encirclement…

A dark sphere rushed towards the encirclement, with four horse legs stretched out under it, running as fast as it could. This comical thing appeared in front of the nervous defenders in a dignified manner, and the serious soldiers were stunned for a few seconds.

Spells, bows and arrows, and even flesh and blood; nothing could stop that weird… spherical horse. It passed through the layers of encirclement like a phantom, quickly blending into the night.

Oliver’s black-furred Pope galloped out of a certain distance, directly through the pre-calculated space crack, and jumped into the woods in the distance.

Seeing the rift behind him closed, he lifted the spherical shadow shield wrapped in black shadows. The two people on horseback finally stopped holding their breath and laughed happily.

The next day, the two culprits of Tumbleweed arrived at Hatfield, which was close by, and the subtle smiles on their faces had not yet dissipated.

Hatfield, the holy land of the Laddism Church, was as big as two large cities, and it was close to the small country of Praedo, where the headquarters of the Mercenary Guild was located. The magnificent Central Church was in the very center of this land, and it was here that the Pope of the Laddism Church lived all year round.

Oliver took the reins of the dark horse and carried the skeleton helmet behind him. The wilted gray parrot slumped on Nemo’s shoulders, looking as if it was about to lose its breath in the next second.

“Tell me who Jesse Dylan is.” It screamed in a low voice.

“I’m about to see Dylan soon. Ask yourself.” Nemo poked its feathers and continued to avoid this question.

The gray parrot groaned aggrievedly.

Out of some kind of wonderful psychology, although he bought a few spare robes, Nemo still preferred to wear the black robe that he changed from his lover’s cloak. Oliver didn’t get a new cloak either, which made the black armor even more inconspicuous.

Seeing the two approaching, passersby spontaneously avoided and whispered to each other.

Nemo was a little surprised by this. Although he knew very well— He was a black robed mage, with a black-armored knight, and they had two shiny black badges; they both didn’t look like they were something good. However, at any rate, this was the holy land of the Laddism Church where the Knights of Judgement were abundant, so the pedestrian didn’t avoid them like they were snakes and scorpions.

This weird atmosphere continued until they officially arrived at the Central Church.

“A change of clothes?” Jesse Dylan mumbled as he was busy chewing on dried cake that didn’t look very fresh.

The blond young man was still wearing his exaggerated outfit while Adrian Cross was standing next to him, looking down at his hand. The gray parrot hummed a few times, stretched out its neck and glanced at Jesse, then spread its wrings and stopped on Adrian’s shoulder. The Chief Justice raised his eyebrows quite unexpectedly but didn’t intend to drive it away.

Bagelmaurus stood on Adrian’s monk uniform like that, with a bird face full of humiliation.

He didn’t know if it was his own hallucination, but Nemo’s gaze stayed on the knight commander for a few seconds longer— Mr. Cross’ breath seemed… a little less heavy than before.

“Well, it’s a long story,” Nemo replied succinctly. “Dylan, are you free for a while? Ollie and I want to talk to you alone.”

“I knew there would be such a day.” Jesse sighed exaggeratedly. He ate all the dried cake in his hand and licked his fingers.

Oliver was a little nervous. He clenched the reins of the black horse in his hand, held his breath, and stared at Jesse Dylan’s mouth tightly…

“Mr. Ramon is very inexperienced at first glance. He absolutely needs a reliable technical guide like me.”

The leader of Tumbleweed took a deep breath, and finally resisted the urge to kick out a member right at this moment.

“The incident of the superior demon going missing, it has to do with the two of you, right?” The focus of the former knight commander of the Knight of Judgement was extremely clear. Adrian snapped the book in his hand and lowered his voice.

“I sent her home.” Nemo glanced around vigilantly and muttered in a low voice.

“Okay.” Adrian nodded, and he calmly stared at Nemo, who lowered his head for a while. “I will remember to remind Lord Quinn to be careful of demon warlocks after that, but looking at past cases, it will be fine for the next three hundred years.”

“I will keep an eye on her.” Nemo quickly promised. “When I sent her back, I marked her magic fluctuation.”

“Just promise to yourself. What I actually want to tell you is another thing.” Adrian turned his gaze to Oliver.

“I’ll tell them. I’ll do it, I’ll do it! Adri, go to the church and inform those group of people that our leader has arrived.” Jesse seemed to have caught something incredible. He hooked Nemo’s neck amicably and dragged Nemo into the alley next to the Central Church.

It’s giving off the vibe of “we have something to say, please go away”.

Adrian shook his head without delving into it. He originally wanted to take the reins in Oliver’s hand, but the black horse glanced at him sternly, and then tried to hide himself behind Oliver.

Oliver scratched his head embarrassedly. “No need, Mr. Cross. It just follows me.”

The knight commander pinched his eyebrows helplessly, turned and walked to the entrance of the church behind him.

The gray parrot on his shoulder twisted its neck like an owl and looked at Jesse and his party. In the end, it still didn’t have the courage to ask, so it had to shrink itself into a gray feather ball.

“Come on.” Jesse in the alley tugged at his collar. “Ramon, where the hell is he—”

“Dylan!”

“Sorry, okay, let’s talk about business.”

Nemo breathed and withdrew his fist. He leaned back against the wall behind him, and Oliver also squeezed into the alley. The black horse behind him walked at the end, blocking the entrance of the narrow alley tightly.

“A few days ago, Ollie and I went to investigate ruins in the Border Forest. Ten years ago, a three-story wooden house, Gatekeeper, multi-eye transplant observation. Does that ring any bells to you?”

“Oh—” Jesse nodded his forehead, lengthening his tone. “That kid, I remember. I gave him the benefit of the doubt.”

This was the first time Oliver clearly felt the other side of Jesse Dylan. The corpse undoubtedly belonged to an elderly man, but Mr. Dylan naturally addressed him as a junior, and his tone was full justification.

Nemo’s expression was equally serious.

“…I’m just joking! Strictly speaking, he didn’t peek at me.” Jesse touched his chin. “At most, you can see a little bit, like the size no bigger than a fingernail. I’m not an exhibitionist who takes the initiative to go out naked. Adri must understand—”

“No one asked you about that.” Nemo’s voice is a bit weak.

“Then what do you want to ask? Yes, I did glare at him and did nothing else. If it weren’t for me at that time… Forget it, he was lucky anyways.”

“Your ontology, and our transactions.” Nemo rubbed his temples.

“Why, are you suddenly interested in what I really look like? I admire you very much, dear Mr. Light. But this is a bit… Oh, I’m embarrassed.”

“The creatures of the Abyss and the creatures of the surface are homologous, and the Gatekeeper put forward such a conjecture.” Nemo was not led away by Jesse. “The strange story you told me in the center of the Great Isamel Labyrinth hinted at this.”

“Well, that’s true.” Jesse admitted neatly.

Despite his early preparations, Oliver couldn’t help but hold on to the wall. His heart was beating frantically.

Nemo was silent for a while. “Is this related to our deal?”

“Of course! I’m not the freeloading type. You see, you gave me a part of the species, and now I manage them well and give you what you want. Although I really never thought that you would come in person and pick a lover from them.”

“Never thought about it? You call yourself a diviner.”

“When there were Miss Savage and Mr. Ramon in the team, I did. However, now that Miss Savage is not here, Mr. Ramon is… Oh, to be honest, I really don’t like to be smeared.”

“You have been emphasizing ‘What I want’. Now you might as well make it clear. What did I ask for in the first place?” Seeing that the topic was about to be deflected by Jesse Dylan again, Nemo pulled it back neatly.

Jesse was silent, his eyes burned into Nemo. “Before I tell you, I think you should ask me other questions.”

“That’s it.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because my answer will not change. As I told you before, people often say, ‘It’s a good thing to keep hope.’ Look at you now, with a smile on your face and a lover who trusts you with all your heart. From the bottom of my heart, I hope you will maintain your current state.”

“Ollie is destined to be the Hero, and I probably wanted to destroy the surface before. There is no worse possibility than this.”

“Yes,” Jesse said softly, the smile on his face faded a little.

“Let’s put it this way, Mr. Light. If it was the ‘you before’ here, I am very sure… The first thing you would do is turn around and kill Oliver Ramon standing there.”

“…I will never hurt Ollie.”

“To put it bluntly, your life or death will not really affect my fate. If you really know the speculation of that human, then you should be aware that all beings in this word have the same power limit, and that was set by your own hands. No, I can’t say that— Rather I should say it was set by your ‘instinct’.”

“Do you need me recuse myself?” Oliver closed his eyes.

“No, you stay here and listen too, Ollie.” Nemo’s voice trembled a little. “Go on, Dylan.”

“This is not such a big deal. To make an inappropriate analogy- When people raise fuller goats, they must first domesticate them to remove the possibility of them hurting others. All possible injuries must be within manageable limits. This isn’t difficult to understand, right?”

“But this has nothing to do with…”

“Now there’s a sheep, which is powerful, intelligent, and possessed a natural wildness. It can gain power more efficiently from its kind, and much more efficiently than people. There are countless sheep raised by humans, all of which can become the source of its power… If left unchecked, it may become too powerful one day and kill its owner. Let me tell you what ordinary people will do. They will kill that lamb in an abnormal state the moment they discover this.”

“People are not sheep after all, Mr. Light. Everything in this world is the same kind as Mr. Ramon, and it should have nothing to do with you and me.”

“Ollie is the most upright person I have ever met. The world we envision is very close… at last for now. If he thinks it’s necessary to kill me, then I am willing—”

Jesse Dylan suddenly laughed out loud.

“You’re so cute.” He shook his head, his blond hair rippling in the shadows with an obscure glow. “As I said, the metaphor of man and sheep isn’t appropriate. If it really comes to that moment, maybe your choice will not be simply ‘Mr. Ramon’ or ‘yourself’.”

“Be direct, Dylan, I don’t want to go in circles with you.” Nemo’s throat was a little itchy, and the foreboding made the soles of his feet cold.

“I stand by my thoughts. Whether it’s my essence or your truth, you will know the answer soon anyway. Until then, it will do you good to leave more hopeful memories.” Jesse shrugged. “I’m on your side, don’t doubt that.”

Nemo took a few deep breaths, trying to stabilize his heartbeat.

“Then I’ll change the question. Dylan, it stands to reason that my strength should be stronger than yours, but I feel that we are similar.”

“I can tell you this, because this is the limit of the power held by ‘this size of the flesh and blood’. Two nearly similar wine glasses have similar capacity, but one follows a wine barrel, and one follows the ocean. Believe me Mr. Light, you’re much stronger than me. Don’t be misled by the wine glass in front of you.”

“Very well,” Nemo said. He raised his head and looked at the narrow blue sky above the alley.

“It seems that for all intents and purposes, I can’t pry your mouth open. Then I have only one last question left, and I hope you’re willing to answer it, Mr. Dylan.”

“Give it a try?”

“You said that what I am facing will not be a choice between ‘Ollie’s life’ and ‘mine’, so what will it be?”

“Well, let me think about it…”

The smile on Jesse Dylan’s face became thinner.

“‘Mr. Ramon’ or ‘the rest of the life in the world, including your own’, this may be closer.”

The author has something to say:

Jesse is really not a bad person; I know he looks a lot like one (…)

——

Jesse: Mr. Ramon or the rest of the world, choose one.

Nemo: ? Children only do multiple-choice questions.

Ollie: …No, did you just compare me to a sheep right to my face…

——

Knight commander: (Continue to look through the book for clues)…

Grey Parrot: (Sobbing)—

Ann: (Got the eyewitness information of the spherical horse)… This is so stupid. I better retire from the team.