Stray

Godwin Lopez waited at the Mercenary Guild headquarters.

The agreed time with Oliver was three in the afternoon, but he happened to have an important task to finish in the morning. After submitting the mission-related report, Godwin had lunch at the headquarters and decided to leave after everything was settled.

If the information was updated for an ordinary leader, the Mercenary Guild usually didn’t require a witness. However, although the Tin Soldiers Mercenary Regiment disappeared from people’s vision, their reputation and power was still there. The Mercenary Guild would inevitably choose to deal with it carefully and Godwin wasn’t surprised by this development.

Not to mention anything else, Flint Lopez, the leader of the group whose whereabouts were unknown, was still one of the topics of small talk that the mercenaries were passionate about after they were full of food and drink

In the widely circulated version of the rumor, Flint Lopez, who had lost his powerful teammates, lost his right arm in an ordinary monster hunt. His wife was pregnant and unfortunately died of illness, and the fallen man disappeared.

Even if he didn’t know the truth about the past, Godwin didn’t think Flint was really “weak and was fishing for fame” as the Alban royal family implied.

Rumors could never be believed.

The commander of Horizon sighed, recalling his cousin’s lover who died at the bottom of the Abyss for a few seconds.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t spoken much to Nemo Light before that.

He only knew that Horizon most lively first mage had been sulking for the path half month— When Debby Light first joined Horizon, she liked to chatter about her family far away in Roadside Town. When the other members were lavishly spending their pay on pleasure, the little girl held onto her pocketbook tightly.

“I have to find a chance to send some back to my family. Captain, I have to save a lot of money and surprise my eldest brother!” she said so at the time.

However, now, the young female mage who had always been with him directly asked for a long vacation and locked herself in the room. Debby took a small bag of gold coins and counted them silently; her eyes red all the time.

For some reason, the empty reception room of the headquarters suddenly made Godwin feel a little irritable. He went to the vicinity of the headquarters to buy a bottle of light fruit wine with a very low alcohol content, drank in a small sip in the inconspicuous shadow, and looked at the road wrapped in the afternoon sun.

Unlike the very depressed Debby, Oliver Ramon had simply disappeared after contacting him once. If it hadn’t been for the other party to tell him to send out proof of identity instead of an application for dissolution, Godwin would have suspected that his cousin would be upset because of this, and like Flint, disappeared without a trace.

Until a few days ago, the shivering silly parrot of Tumbleweed unscrewed Godwin’s window with its beak and threw a letter directly in. The letter asked him to come to the headquarters of the Mercenary Guild to meet today and complete the final certification formalities— Unlike the inexplicably arrogant parrot, the tone in the letter was very polite.

Oliver Ramon even asked him in advance about the price of Horizon’s missed wages, with seriousness between the lines.

Godwin took a sip of the fruit wine and sighed again.

Although it wasn’t clear what Ramon planned with this mess, at the agreed time, he still sent a thick envelope marked “Tumbleweed” to the headquarters of the Mercenary Guild.

Now the aftermath of this behavior had appeared.

Outside the alley where he was standing, the mercenaries were already crowded into a pile, waiting to see the true face of the son of Flint Lopez.

Godwin naturally didn’t spread the information, but half a month had passed since the certification letter was sent to the headquarters of the Mercenary Guild.

This wasn’t a state secret, and the interior of the Mercenary Guild wasn’t an airtight wall. After half a month, the news spread like wildfire, covering most of the continent.

Until now, Godwin couldn’t guess what Oliver wanted to do. He used magic to crush the empty bottle into dust and patted the ashes on his hand. The conversations of the mercenaries were piled up, buzzing non-stop, as if there were more than a dozen huge poisonous beehives around his head.

“I heard from Tom that Flint Lopez’s son is coming here today to complete the certification formalities— Praise Zenni, isn’t Lopez’s son long dead?”

“Who knows? Maybe Lopez used some sorcery. Didn’t there used to be a guy that looked like a superior demon in the Tin Soldiers? Maybe…”

“Don’t forget the reason why Oliver Lopez became a Black Chapter, conspiring with a demon worshipper to kill his father. Doesn’t that mean he killed Flint Lopez? Oh my goodness!”

“I’m almost starting to sympathize with Godwin— Being the leader of Horizon and not know he had such a terrible cousin. According to the regulation, as a member of the Lopez family, he really couldn’t push off this job of proving his identity. If I was him, I definitely wouldn’t want to have anything to do with a dangerous Black Chapter.”

Godwin took a step back into the alley and frowned.

“The team of calamity that circulated before is also Tumbleweed, right? Those people can really create chaos. But I must say, the leader of Tumbleweed is a kid from the Lopez family, which really makes sense. Weren’t they escorts for the reconnaissance team not long ago? As a result, the reconnaissance team came back literally half dead, and the Pope of the Laddism Church did a superficial effort, but he didn’t dare put up even a stink—”

“Hey! Even if you don’t believe in Zenni, can you show respect for my faith?”

In the bustling crowd, the short mercenary who was chatting gave the tall man beside him a kick.

“I apologize, I apologize— Hey, anyway, when the formalities are completed, Tumbleweed will definitely rise to the level of the eight-purpose spider.” The tone of the tall mercenary was very determined.

“Not necessarily. Didn’t they a member of theirs die not long ago? They also stuffed a parrot into the team, which is crazy,” the short man muttered his objection, sounding a little angry.

“You don’t know that.”

The tall man squeezed forward again, lowering his voice. Unfortunately, he was less than ten steps away from Godwin at the moment. Godwin leaned against the old wooden box in the alley and could still hear him clearly.

“It was Oliver Lopez’s little lover who died. Some people said it was a demon warlock. Bah, how can there be a normal demon warlock like that! I have relatives in Roadside Town— That Light turned out to be a librarian. While he had a beautiful face, he didn’t have the slightest magical talent, so he could only be a demon worshiper at most.”

“Tsst…but Tumbleweed and the others…”

“Yeah, not to mention Ann Savage, Cross is the apostate Chief Justice was with the half of the team that died along with the ‘Poisonous Viper’ Jesse, who is no better than Light.”

“Tumbleweed also got Light a powerful staff.” A new voice joined the conversation. “If Light and Flint Lopez’s son are in that kind of relationship…”

“The leader of the team was worried that his lover can’t protect himself and as a result he died in a dangerous mission, right?”

“The mission was quite dangerous. The Abyss isn’t a random place to take a stroll. The situation was probably too deadly that they had to abandon the one dragging their feet.”

“Oh…”

“Speaking of which, Savage is also a ruthless character. Before, she had a mysterious appearance, and kept rejecting the invitation of big mercenary groups. I never thought that it was her Royal Highness at the time. Fuck, if I had known—”

“Know what? It’s just a woman who murdered a blood relative and usurped the throne.”

Another new voice joined in, with a thick voice and a bit of sharp anger.

“Either that or she’s being controlled by Oliver Lopez. It’s fine if it’s a fight between men, but she’s a woman who’s been living in exile for years and doesn’t know shit about anything but fighting and killing. Does she deserve to sit on that golden stool?”

“That’s too much. According to the rules, she’s also a legal…”

“You are not Albanian, are you? Let me tell you, kid, Alban’s new regulations in the past few days have become more lenient towards demons. Is this what a normal-minded person would do? I admit that I was a little harsh before, but you know, it’s better to kill by mistake than to appease possible dangers—They must have something to do with the Abyss. How can there be a Black Chapter team with goats! Cult worship, it’s definitely cult worship.”

“…In that case, they were quite low-key before. How come they suddenly release the news with such fanfare?”

“Who knows? Well, everyone is crowded here to watch the fun. If you’re asking around, you must have come to see what Oliver Lopez’s plans are.”

The familiar aura appeared in the distance, and Godwin Lopez pulled on his cloak and walked out of the dark alley. The few mercenaries who were still talking eloquently in the crowd suddenly closed their mouths and instantly moved their eyes away.

Godwin snorted softly, raised his gaze, and looked at the end of the road.

There were only four figures, and at a glance, this team looked a bit lonely.

Oliver Ramon walked in front, and the black armor reflected a little dim light. The scratched skeleton helmet covered most of his face, and there was no expression on the exposed face. The “vicious” leader of Tumbleweed led a sturdy dark horse, without looking away, and walked straight to the headquarters of the Mercenary Guild.

On his left, Ann Savage covered the lower half of her face with a scarf. The Queen of Alban was still wearing the dark ordinary leather armor, with the hunting spear behind her. A gray parrot perched on her shoulder, brining no substance to the entourage it was with.

On Oliver’s right side, Jesse, the “Poisonous Viper” who had just been mentioned, was leading a fuller goat, with a frivolous smile on his face, and talking to Adrian Cross beside him.

The apostate Chief Justice stubbornly wore his monk’s uniform, with a calm expression and a slight smile. It was just that the sharp-eyed mercenaries could find that on the edge of the high collar of the monk’s uniform, there was a little hickey mark on the skin of Adrian Cross’ neck.

For a team with a dark tone and a dangerous aura, none of the members showed that kind of reputation.

“Oliver.” Godwin walked forward and stretched out a hand.

Oliver looked eager to respond for a second, and he even raised his hand slightly and the next second, he quickly took it back.

Ignoring Godwin’s outstretched hand, the leader of Tumbleweed just nodded coldly, and then walked neatly into the door of the Mercenary Guild headquarters.

Godwin raised his eyebrows and watched the lively mercenaries take in a cold breath in unison.

Five minutes later.

“Sorry, brother!” Making sure the door of the reception room was closed, Oliver quickly lowered his head.

In the reception room, the atmosphere suddenly became lively. Ann pulled off the scarf, gasped for breath, and then played the game of I-throw-you-catch with cookies with the gray parrot. Jesse Dylan hooked an arm around Adrian Cross’ neck and kissed his cheek very nonchalantly— What made Godwin feel creeped out was the former Knight of Judgement acquiesced to Dylan’s absurd behavior, without even showing a half-disgusted expression.

“Explain.” Godwin raised his arms and glanced at the ring on his cousin’s ring finger on his left hand.

“Like I said before, when everything is over, I will tell you the truth… If you still want to hear it then.”

“This can’t get rid of me, Mr. Ramon.” Godwin glanced at the ring inlaid with a black gem. “Including the performance, you just deliberately alienated me outside, I need an explanation.”

The gloom in Oliver Ramon’s eyes swept away as he took off the cold skeleton helmet. His emerald eyes gleamed happily. No matter how one looked at it, it didn’t look like a man who had just lost his lover.

“Oh, I think this is a good entry point.”

Oliver scratched his head embarrassedly, and the fierce look in front of the mercenaries was swept away. He skillfully took off the black badge on his chest, brought out the mission light screen, and threw it to Godwin on the opposite side.

Godwin twitched the corner of his mouth at the spider emblem on the Black Chapter, then squinted his eyes and looked at the task content on the light screen.

[Dealing with the plague dragon corpse deep in the Border Forest]

[Clean up the decaying swamp that keeps proliferating in the northern part of the Bale Rift Valley]

[This is urgent. Get rid of the heart-eating rats that invaded the Krabal Desert Kingdom]

……

The top ten tasks flickered with a low light, all marked as in progress.

“Are you crazy?!”

After quickly scanning the tasks whose titles made people’s hair stand upside down, the leader of Horizon raised his voice.

“These are things that no one will easily touch. At least five or more mercenary groups must join forces. There are only four of you! I’m sorry that Light has passed away, but that’s no reason for you to gamble with your own life and the lives of your companions—”

“…About this, let’s discuss it together— We decided to make Tumbleweed the most outclassed team of assholes in today’s era.” The smile on Oliver’s face became a bit stronger. “If the two of us get too close outside, it will have a negative impact on the reputation Horizon.”

Having said that, Oliver hesitated for a few seconds. He flipped through the package he carried with him and took out a small book. The emblem of Clementine Academy was printed on the book, and the cover flashed quickly between black and white. Godwin squinted his eyes, trying to confirm the true color of the book.

Then his gaze was firmly fixed by the handwriting embroidered with gold thread on the spine of the book…

[Emanuel Lopez, the 368^th Knight of Judgment.]

“Brother, for some reason, I can’t tell you the whole truth. But about my own current situation, Tumbleweed’s plan, and the reason why my dad left your father without telling you— I’m willing to tell you properly, okay?”

Godwin Lopez closed his eyes and exhaled fiercely.

“…Then let’s hear it.”

The author has something to say:

It’s time to become a real team of calamity. XD

Ollie: Anyway, any task I pick will eventually become SSS-level in difficulty. It’s better to pick SSS-level directly.

What does this mean, friends? Ollie is going to be rich! (X

Kinky Thoughts:

Well one needs money to have a wedding, yes?