Stray

“Interesting, Mr. Ramon. You look like you haven’t slept all night.” Telaranea’s pointed his fingers to each other and leaned back against the sofa backrest in the reception room. He cocked his legs and move freely and calmly.

“It’s just ordinary insomnia, so I just went out for a walk.” Oliver sat down opposite him, his tone steady. “…It’s been a long time since I saw you, ‘Mr. Thorne’. It seems that you have completed your research in that cabin.”

“Not exactly. You see, neither you nor your companions like me very much and I’m not here specifically to be a guest.”

The Sage of the Abyss narrowed his dark green eyes and looked at Oliver on the opposite side.

Oliver Ramon’s aura had changed a lot.

When he first met Ramon in Garland, he only regarded him as a naïve and foolish young man. It was better to say that he and Nemo Light were like the same page. Their faces were full of “will die in the first three missions of the Black Chapter”.

Although speaking for himself, Oliver Ramon was indeed one of the most talented humans he had ever seen, but “talent” was rarely a decisive factor.

After walking in the world for thousands of years, Telaranea had seen countless geniuses who have done nothing in their lives and returned to dust, never even discovering their talents. Ramon had missed the best growth period— If luck was on his side and Mr. Ramon was willing to abandon the naiveté that was only holding him back. Even if he couldn’t join the ranks of the top powerhouses, he still had a chance to become a famous warrior that the Mercenary Guild could name.

If he was unlucky, he would quickly die from his own meaningless benevolence.

The Sage of the Abyss originally thought so.

Very interesting. Telaranea couldn’t help but smile on his face. Not only was Ramon still alive, he was even turning into some kind of creature that he couldn’t measure…

The leader of Tumbleweed had the fatigue unique to humans lacking sleep on his face, but his strength wasn’t weakened at all, and he looked extremely sober. The young man’s unique sense of youth completely disappeared. The original sense of gentleness was still there but under that soft temperament, there was no longer innocence, but an unfathomable undercurrent.

And a chilling sense of oppression.

For a moment, Telaranea almost thought that it was one of his own kind in front of him.

No, a little stronger. Although he had forgotten the memory obtained from the Withered Castle, the Sage of the Abyss could still infer a few things through the report from Horizon. Oliver Ramon destroyed the Withered Castle. By virtue, it may not be simply just from his power awakening…

Was the experiment of the flesh-and-blood furnace successful in the end?

Telaranea pushed the glasses on the bridge of his nose and smiled more meaningfully. “Old rules. I’m here to exchange information. We have also done business several times, and you’re a pretty good trading partner.”

“What a coincidence, I was planning to pay you a visit.” Oliver took a sip of tea, and glanced at the small door at the corner of the living room from the corner of his eyes. “Why don’t you go first.”

On the other side of the small door.

“Don’t squeeze!” Ann mouthed as she bared her teeth. “Jesse Dylan, I don’t care if you are Zenni or something else, do me a favor and will it not kill you to restore to your human form.”

“If you are willing to share a room with a naked me, my queen,” Jesse sputtered, looking away with difficult in the small space. “I told you, next door was enough. You had to eavesdrop here.”

“The mute array is limited.” Adrian stood calmly, even though his whole body was about to be overwhelmed by the long white fur. “After all, this is one of the few arrays allowed in the royal castle. Even if Jesse could ignore these taboos, he wouldn’t be able to completely cover up the fluctuations of spells.”

“That’s because I’m still in my recovery period.” Jesse didn’t sound very happy. “If it weren’t for… Forget it.”

The white beast squeezed Adrian into the corner with bad intentions, but the knight remained motionless for a long time.

“Shh, shh—” Ann, apparently not interested in admiring the half-naked god, extended her index finger and gestured over her lips.

“…I saw the true face of God, of course, in the memory of that Gatekeeper.”

Telaranea voice came from the crack of the door.

“Similarly, I also experienced a sense of oppression of God himself. Interestingly, when my other body moved near the entrance of the Abyss, I felt the same intimidation. That feeling of striking straight to the soul, I would never be mistaken— Considering the time and place, half of the reconnaissance team happened to be moving around there at that time.”

Oliver was silent.

“So, I investigated the matters related to this reconnaissance team. Jesse Dylan and Adrian Cross happened to be in that team, and they were also one of the few people who survived and was still sane.”

“What do you want to say?”

“I don’t think a team that had just escaped from the depths of the Abyss, scarred and bruised, would have had the presence of mind to choose that point in time to spy on God, so I’m leaning towards another explanation— What they did drew the wrath of the creature known as ‘God’.”

Adrian, who didn’t know the details, raised his eyebrows and looked at Jesse. The latter put his huge head on the corner of the wall and refused to look at him. Ann rolled her eyes and put the sullen gray parrot on her relatively loose left shoulder.

“I want to know the details.” Telaranea’s tone became more eager. “Ah, you don’t seem surprised… After all, if the flesh-and-blood furnace was successful, you too should be qualified to observe ‘that thing’. It seems that you have already seen it and know the specific situation of this matter.”

Oliver’s face didn’t change. In terms of qualifications and vision, he thought he was no match for the Sage of the Abyss. At the moment, he didn’t want to spend time doing useless dealings with Telaranea.

“Yes,” he admitted simply.

“It seems that you have a great bargaining chip.” The eyes behind Telaranea lenses were slightly moistened with excitement. “Excellent, excellent— What do you want to know? Anything I can give, anything that can be done.”

Oliver tugged the corner of his mouth. He stood up, walked to the wall by the window, and opened the black wooden box that looked like one of the decorations in the room.

Telaranea almost moved. The fear engraved in his bones made his feet soft and reason forced him to maintain a relative decent sitting posture.

A black wooden box that could fit two adults, was carved with countless ornate charms. At first glance, it could be considered a work of art. When the wooden box was opened, a huge demonic skull was exposed.

The multiple eye sockets were empty, and the teeth were long and sharp. Even if there was only a faint fluctuation of magic left, the cold air of murderous intent still made people unable to help but back away.

Oliver stretched out his right hand and gently stroked the white skull. Then he retracted his hand and made a few simple gestures in the air.

“I temporarily suppressed the remaining magic fluctuations.” Oliver turned around and looked at the pale Sage of the Abyss. “You can take a closer look.”

“Ulysses’ skull.” Telaranea stood up a little unsteadily as blood welled in his pale cheeks. “If Auror… Sorry, a gaffe. Let me see.”

The Sage of the Abyss walked to the black wooden box and looked at the mutilated skull inside with awe. Sunlight passed through the window and dripped into the shadows along the pale bones.

“You are much more interesting than I thought.”

Telaranea looked like he wanted to touch it. He stretched out his hand hesitantly, and then retracted it.

“…But as the only child of Flint Lopez, it’s not surprising that you know some secrets.”

“This thing used to be able to connect the surface and the Abyss. I’m pretty sure. Now it doesn’t have much power left, and I want to repair its circuit— You should be more familiar with how abyssal magic works than anyone else.” Oliver didn’t intend to discuss his life with the demon, so he directly asked.

No, his lover was actually more familiar. He added bitterly in his heart.

“Well, it was handled by the humans of the Holy Church, which mutilated it quite a bit. This is indeed a difficult task.” Telaranea’s gaze stuck to the skull. He raised his hand impatiently and drew a series of strange black spells in the air.

Then the smile on the face of the Sage of the Abyss disappeared.

“I might be able to restore its abilities, but like I said, it’s in too bad a condition. Even if I fix the spell circuit, the circuit won’t last long— A few days or a month, and it will fail again. Since I’m going to do business, I must tell you in advance about the possible risks.”

“……”

The demon inserted his fingers into his slightly long red hair and tucked them behind his ears. “In addition, after the circuit is restored, it will be directly connected to the Demon King’s consciousness. If you want to use this to test the status of the current generation of the Demon King’s abilities, connecting to its consciousness will not be very useful.”

“It’s ‘him’,” Oliver whispered, sighed, and raised his voice again. “I understand, please fix the circuit.”

“I refuse.” Telaranea shook his head.

Oliver frowned.

“…You’re hiding something from me. I don’t do business that has too much crispness or the information is extremely vague. I need to know what you really want, and more comprehensive information will help me fix it better.”

Telaranea suddenly stretched his face closer, his dark green eyes were like muddy river water.

“Yes, I am indeed willing to give everything for knowledge about God. However, the risk of repairing the Demon King’s circuit is extremely high. Perhaps I can secure a better price. I’m the only person in the world who can fix it, Mr. Ramon. I am very sure.”

“…By the way, I know very well that you’re now equivalent to a ’God’ in its baby stage. Even if I don’t have a memory, I have my own source of intelligence. If you want to use this as a bargaining chip, I have to say, you’ll be very disappointed.”

Oliver pondered for a moment.

“I need to think about it for a while.”

“This is what business looks like.” Telaranea smiled more brightly.

Oliver lowered his head and rubbed the Demon King’s skull, which became a little warm by the autumn sun. With his fingers, he was stroking it as if it was the skin of a lover.

He looked at it sadly and tenderly and was silent for a long time.

“It’s okay to tell you the truth, but we must first make a contract. I must make sure that you will not hinder our plan after learning the truth.” Ten minutes later, Oliver finally raised his head again.

“Let me refuse again.”

Telaranea rubbed his lower lip with his knuckles, smiling like a slick hunter.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to be your enemy, Mr. Ramon. The reason is simple— The contract between us will likely not work.”

Oliver showed a polite expression of doubt.

“You are a ‘God’ who has not yet grown up and have infinite possibilities, and I am just an ordinary superior demon. Even if our strength is barely close now, as long as you willed, you can leave me far behind. Fundamentally, we are not the same level of beings, and such a contract is not solid— You can completely unilaterally break it whenever you want.”

“I don’t trust you,” The Sage of the Abyss admitted magnanimously.

They were playing a game again.

Oliver was startled, then closed his eyes, trying to think about his next move.

“I can,” before he could think of countermeasures, a familiar voice came.

The gray parrot pecked at the broken glass and squeezed himself out of the decorative window above the small door.

“…You and I are both demons.” Bagelmaurus raised its chest a little tremblingly. “Our contract is equal!”

“Mm-hmm.” Telaranea patted the parrot’s head like an elder. “How can you guarantee that Mr. Ramon will not treat you as an outcast? You know, once Mr. Ramon violates the contract, it is you who will pay the price.”

“I don’t know!” the gray parrot shouted. “Ramon is a complete idiot. I… I might be an idiot too. Anyway, I wanted to kill him at first, so we can just count this as payback.”

Saying that, Bagelmaurus snapped and ran to Oliver. Oliver bent down and held it in his hands. The parrot’s pointy claws scratched his palm a little.

“…I’m just saying that,” the gray parrot muttered, trembling even more severely. “You— You won’t really betray me.”

“I swear, Bagelmaurus.” Oliver spoke with no hints of sarcasm. “Swear on my future.”

“That’s more like it.” Bagelmaurus puffed out its chest. It seemed that it had already begun to regret its impulsive behavior. “Let’s do it, Telaranea.”

The dim brilliance of a demon’s contract filled the reception room in the early morning.

Two hours later.

Telaranea, who learned the truth, behaved calmer than everyone else.

“I have to say, my impression of you has changed a lot, Mr. Ramon,” the Sage of the Abyss said with emotion. “You are a real lunatic, and I like lunatics.”

With the matter being spoken of, the people hiding behind the small door had already come out. Telaranea’s gaze stayed on the white behemoth for a long time.

“The investigation of Tumbleweed is definitely Horizon’s most failed mission.”

After that, he stood up and supported the wooden box containing the Demon King’s skull with both hands.

“…Actually, you don’t have to worry like that, Mr. Ramon. Even if it is me, I don’t want the surface to immediately fall into chaos or head towards destruction. After all, there are still so many puzzles in this world. It would be a pity if they’re all destroyed.”

“So I’ll give you an idea.”

The Sage of the Abyss stared at the bones in the box.

“It can ensure the stability of the surface and reunite you with Mr. Light. Even if Mr. Light is gone, it can at least ensure that the world will not be destroyed.”

As if he had guessed what the other party wanted to say, Jesse uncharacteristically lowered his body and showed his fangs threateningly. “Shut it, Telaranea.”

“You didn’t tell them, did you? I thought you were on their side, Lord God.”

Oliver straightened his back, and a layer of hot sweat suddenly appeared on his back. “…Please speak.”

“It’s very simple, I’ll fix the magic circuit on this skull, and Mr. Ramon will use this time to become stronger. Considering the vigilance of the Pillar of the World, you have to control the degree of power extraction. It doesn’t need to be to the extent of defeating it, just enough.”

The Sage of the Abyss spoke faster and faster.

“Then it’s up to you to summon— No matter what the method, whether it’s calling Mr. Light or inducing a sensible Demon King. As long as the Demon King’s will can be summoned to the skull, the connection between it and the body can be cut off. Through the cooperation of your companions, you can take the opportunity to kill the body of the Pillar of the World… Ah you should have an impression. Do you remember the mission of the Abyssal Church? The white demon of the Church of Silence?”

Oliver nodded lightly while remaining expressionless.

“Yes, as is the case with Mr. Colestoro, since the consciousness is not in the body, the Pillar of the World cannot feel the pain caused by death, and naturally it won’t have death throes. After killing the body, you only need to prepare a corresponding container and hold its will— Spend the rest of your life with Mr. Light or destroy the container and completely erase the Demon King’s consciousness. You can choose according to the situation.”

Having said that, he glanced at the young man in front of him.

“Go on.” Oliver still had no expression on his face.

“In this way, it is a win-win situation. Next, you only need to ensure that the corpse of the Pillar of the World will not decay too quickly. Even if you don’t care, I think it can last for tens of thousands of years. You see, if Mr. Light’s consciousness is still alive, you can continue to live happily, and he no longer has to worry about his possible destruction of the world.”

Jesse turned his face and stared at Oliver tightly, his pupils almost shrinking into two invisible crevices.

The leader of Tumbleweed didn’t respond to this gaze. Oliver looked at the Demon King’s skull a few steps away, and fell into a long silence, as if thinking about something.

“…Thank you for your suggestion.” Oliver sighed after a long time. “You can start repairing here.”

“Oh, you are such a smart person.” The Sage of the Abyss clapped his hands.

“Ramon!” Jesse bared his fangs. “You—”

Adrian and Ann were silent. Their faces didn’t look very good either, while the gray parrot sat dumbfounded in place, as if it hadn’t had time to take in what was said.

“However, Telaranea, you may have misunderstood what I meant.”

Oliver added with a smile. He finally retracted his gaze from the Demon King’s skull which flickered, revealing a glimmer of hope.

“Let me refuse that suggestion.”

The author has something to say:

Ehhehe (???

How could Ollie agree—?