Stray

Old Jude quickly ran to the back kitchen.

Unlike most taverns, the back kitchen of the Dawn Tavern was very clean, which had not changed due to the change of ownership. Many years ago, he had taken herbal medicines for the treatment of his demon from here with Vance, and he still retained a little impression.

A weird floor lamp stood near the entrance of the back kitchen. He didn’t know if he was seeing things, but Jude always felt that the light pole looked a bit like a staff. Not far away from the floor lamp was a frozen magic pattern that flickered slightly and the shelves with all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables continued to emit cold air.

There was a small wooden basin next to the fruit and vegetable rack, which was full of fresh fruits of attractive color. A chubby gray parrot was lying on its back on the top of the fruit pile, stretching out its wings and clicking its beak contentedly.

Seeing someone coming in, the golden bird’s eyes slanted over, and then squinted contemptuously.

“Stupid bird,” Jude muttered, glancing at the basin of fresh fruit of great value. “What a waste of good food.”

“Idiot,” the gray parrot responded clearly. It straightened its round belly, tilted its head, and pecked at a golden cherry.

With the Knights of Judgement approaching, Jude didn’t intend to scold a brainless bird. He grabbed his demon partner who was unusually obedient for some reason and looked around in the back kitchen, hoping to find a trigger similar to a secret door.

When his gaze swept to the middle of the room, old Jude’s hair exploded…

There was no yawning fat chef. There was indeed something in a chef’s uniform that was close to human form, but when he looked at it closely, the skin that should have been exposed on the outside was pitch black.

It wasn’t a human at all, but a chaotic humanoid shadow.

It stretched out a limb to hold its hat, and then stretched out more than a dozen long alien arms behind it, handling the ingredients in an orderly manner.

For a second, Jude wanted to escape back to the front hall and surrendered directly to the commander of the Knights of Judgement.

Fortunately, whether it was the damn bird or this thing that looked like a chef, they didn’t pay any attention to him. The gray parrot glanced at him and went back to chewing juicy grapes, while the monster chef continued to cut meat skillfully with both arms while another hand was stirring a pot that was bubbling with soup and its other arms were quickly make fried onion rings.

Jude swallowed laboriously and continued his plan in cold sweat. Time was limited, so instead of trying to find a secret door or the entrance to the cellar, he looked at a few large wooden barrels in the corner storage.

Leaning against the wall and approaching the barrel, Jude quickly opened the lid of the barrel.

Then he looked at the red-eyed man awkwardly again.

The man squatted in the barrel hugging his knees, not daring to come out. Seeing that the cover was taken away, he silently yanked the lid back from Jude’s hand and sealed himself in again.

“Why don’t you use a disguise spell? I thought…” Jude coughed dryly.

“If there is a magic fluctuation, Roderick will notice it faster,” there was a muffled response from the barrel.

It seemed that the commander from the Knight of Judgement came here to catch this guy.

Wyatt Roderick, the 370^th Chief Justice after Adrian Cross.

Unlike Cross, who was dignified before his apostasy, Roderick was more like a pagan in the Laddism Church— This young genius had a ruthless approach to his enemies, a righteous and evil style of behavior, and a reputation for ferocity.

Although Cross was cold when he was in office, at least his methods of doing things were decent. This one acted more like he was using poison to attack poison. Even the title granted by the old Pope was “Eclipse of the Moon”.

Although in terms of behavior, Mr. Roderick was indeed guarding the surface conscientiously, but when speaking of his temperament and style, it was said that the conclusion of those who had seen him was very similar… This Mr. Chief Justice was better suited to be a thug than a knight.

Completely affected by this bastard, Jude grinded his teeth.

The demon he carried was a dangerous kind of intermediate demon. Other Knights of Judgement may decide to turn a blind eye for the time being, taking into account the progress of their own missions and complexity of chasing criminals between state lines, but that monster Roderick would definitely drag him back by hand.

Jude immediately decided to leave here and tried to escape through the back kitchen window. However, the unique sound of the armor collision had already sounded outside the door.

It was too late, and it would be more conspicuous if he were to escape now.

Jude’s scalp exploded, he chose the innermost barrel, and stuffed himself in desperately. He began to pray that the knight commander would focus on his goal and subconsciously ignore him.

Fortunately in misfortune, from the moment he entered the tavern, his demon was extremely quiet, shrinking into a ball on his shoulders.

“Mr. Roderick, what are you doing here?”

The vague voice of the young waiter came from outside the wooden door, and there was no panic in his tone.

“Not to be rude, but you will frighten my guests by staying in my Dawn Tavern like this.”

“I’m looking for my teacher,” the Knight of Judgment replied, with a smile in his voice. “Black hair, gray-black mage robe, dark red eyes. He’s good looking. He looks…well, he’s in his thirties. Have you ever seen such a person?”

“As you can see, our house is just a tavern, not a refuge.”

“You did not answer my question positively.” The smile in the voice of Chief Justice Roderick became a bit stronger. “My intuition tells me that he’s here.”

“If your teacher doesn’t want to advise you, I think he has his own reasons.”

“It won’t be my problem anyway.” Roderick replied in a lazy tone, deliberately raising his voice, with a bit of banditry in his tone that didn’t quite match his identity. “I did everything in the agreement, but he wouldn’t see me.”

“Perhaps he would be more willing to see you if you left your procession of Knights of Judgement behind.”

“No, he won’t. Get out of the way, boy, let me see your kitchen,” Roderick huffed and there was the sound of metal armor colliding.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Roderick. I remember that according to the regulations, if proper instructions are not given, the Knights of Judgement from the Laddism Church aren’t allowed to trespass on private houses,” the young waiter said slowly, still not flustered. “Unfortunately, I am one of the shopkeepers here, and I have the right to get a reason that can convince me. The Chief Justice of the Knight of Judgement can’t lie, right?”

“…What a pain in the ass. Okay, okay— I’m not going to break your kitchen, nor am I going to stuff that cunning guy into the dungeon. I just want to talk to him.”

“Well…”

“Isn’t that enough? …Okay, damn rules. Boy, when I first became an adult, that bastard kicked me out of the house and asked me to look at the beautiful girls outside and don’t think about certain ‘inappropriate’ things— Now that seven years have passed, I have saved 800 out of 1,000. I just wanted to go back and tell him and talk to him about it.”

“Then he ran away?”

“Then he ran away, and I chased him for a whole country and a half.”

“Mr. Roderick, I have one more little thing to ask. When you went to find your teacher, you also brought such a heavily armed…uh, entourage with you?”

“Because I have a hunch that he will run away.”

“…Uh, you really don’t know what the problem is?”

“Mind your own business, get out of the way.”

“Okay, Mr. Medes is in the third barrel on the left side of the kitchen against the wall— He hasn’t popped out yet to escape with all his strength. According to what I know about him, he shouldn’t refuse to talk to you about it.” The waiter guided very empathetically.

“Do you know him? He never said—”

“By the way, there is also a fugitive in the first barrel on the left side of the wall. You can take him away easily. It is a gift from our store.”

“……”

Fuck. Jude’s eyes darkened as he hid in the barrel.

Now, he had only one choice left.

Directly tearing off his most advanced acceleration rune paper, Jude pulled out a poisonous dagger hidden in his boots and rushed out of the door first. He directly locked the young waiter’s neck with his arm and squeezed the blade at the young man’s throat.

Wyatt Roderick was standing in the room of the Dawn Tavern, close to the entrance of the back kitchen, followed by a team of Knights of Judgment that couldn’t be counted at a glance.

The young knight has long dark golden hair that wasn’t too long, and his eyes were a bit dull gray blue. On the left half of his cheek near his eyes, a small scar like a thin withered vine was present, like it was left over from a disease.

To be fair, Wyatt Roderick’s appearance wasn’t bad. It was a pity that the terrifying scars and cynicism of his smile really couldn’t leave a good impression, let alone, the long eyebrows of the Knight of Judgement even had a little evil aura.

“How old-fashioned.” Roderick waved his sword casually, without concealing the mockery in his voice.

Having said that, the young Knight of Judgment glanced at him vigilantly, and then turned to the surrounding environment, obviously considering the safest countermeasure.

Jude vigilantly leaned his back against the door frame, holding the dagger firmly in his hand. Not to mention the strong enemy in front of him, the so-called “Mr. Medes” didn’t sound like a real fugitive. If that guy sneaked up from behind, his situation would really be bad.

At present, there was no movement in the back kitchen, which was the only good thing that had happened so far.

Jude shrugged his shoulders and motioned to his demon partner to wrap around the young shopkeeper’s neck to add a little more leverage. Unfortunately, that damn intermediate demon completely shrank itself into a small ball and began to pretend to be dead.

“Your goal is not me, honored Lord Knight.”

Jude squeezed out an ugly smile and pressed the poisonous dagger against the throat of the shopkeeper dressed as a waiter.

“Blame this kid for talking too much. Otherwise, just treat me as if you haven’t seen me, okay? If you don’t agree, I have to cut this kid’s throat. No matter how fast your sword and spells are, they can’t be faster than mine—”

A series of crisp bells came from the door of the Dawn Tavern, and another young man dressed as a waiter entered the door. The young man was holding a large box of fresh potatoes in his arms and there were a few bunches of dried fish hanging on the side of the wooden box.

“Nemo, the potatoes you bought have arrived. Guess what? Colestoro sent some specialty dried fish from the glaciers… Hey?”

The young man with light brown hair blinked and stopped in place in shock by the scene in front of him.

“…What are you doing?” After a few seconds, the choked young man spoke again, and his tone sounded a bit awkward.

“Hostage.” The young man known as “Nemo” sounded a little emotional. “I haven’t been taken hostage by such an old-fashioned way, Ollie.”

Jude frowned and increased his strength locking around his opponent’s throat. Something was wrong with this kid’s reaction. To put it bluntly, from the beginning, he didn’t shake at all.

The “Ollie” glanced at the shivering demon worshippers in the shop, squatting under the table with their heads, and the tense Knights of Judgment, and finally exhaled a long breath.

“Then I’ll send the potatoes to the kitchen first,” he continued solemnly. “The photo crystal is upstairs. Do you need me to take a picture for you?”

“Good idea, but I would rather witness this moment with you,” Nemo responded equally seriously.

“It seems that this gentleman doesn’t need much help, so I’ll come back later.” Roderick obviously didn’t have much sense of justice. He retracted his long sword and snapped his fingers. “I have to go and get my dear teacher out first.”

‘It’s not that I’m dreaming but the world had just finally gone crazy.’ Jude thought blankly.

He was pretty sure that he was holding a dagger with snake venom in his hand, not a carrot or something, but no one seemed to care about it.

They would regret it.

Although it wasn’t clear what the situation was, it was always a good thing for Roderick to leave temporarily. As long as he did his old tricks again, seriously injured this kid, and throw a few stinky smoke bombs…

Jude gritted his teeth and slashed the young man’s throat with a dagger.

There was no screaming, no blood.

Nothing happened.

In the blink of an eye, Jude had just reacted and found himself lying on the floor. The black-haired waiter with a delicate face smiled and looked down at him from above. Jude’s scalp tightened, and he suddenly wanted to get up, but found that his limbs were already tightly wrapped in fine shadow vines.

The shrunken Hitz poisonous squid rolled to the ground like a ball and no matter how hard he tried to call it, it didn’t seem to have the slightest intention of moving.

“You tried to murder a poor old lady at the Ramon Inn.” Nemo patted the dust off his shoulder, “Unfortunately, I am very familiar with the hostess of the Ramon Inn. She told me everything, Jude Major.”

Nemo held the ball-shaped Hitz poisonous squid in his hand, and from that cold gaze, Jude even read a bit of emotion and nostalgia. But this was impossible. This kid was too young and looked completely green. There was no such person in his social circle.

This must be a ridiculous dream, and everything that was happening right now was simply unreasonable.

“Thank you for your cooperation… This gentleman, since ‘you’ know my teacher, I won’t ask for the details of the matter.”

Roderick directly carried Medes out with the barrel, nodded at Nemo, and then glanced at Jude, who was twisting on the ground.

“And you guys, pack this thing on the ground and take it back with us.”

“Yes, Lord Roderick.”

“When you’re done talking, remember to come over for a drink.” Nemo patted the barrel on Roderick’s shoulder.

“I will, Mr. Light,” Medes replied sullenly in the bucket. “By the way, it’s ‘me’, not ‘us’. There must be something wrong with my education… Asshole, don’t knock on the barrel! Answer me first, how is that village?”

“Oh, the village that expelled me.” Roderick smiled in a low voice. “On the whole, it’s still well there– I endured it very hard and I didn’t use the power you gave me to do excessive things like slaughter the village. You promised me a reward if I would drop the matter. Well, that promise still stands, right?”

“……”

“Farewell.” Roderick stopped tapping his hand on the wall of the barrel, looking in a much better mood.

“Sorry to shock everyone. All orders that haven’t been settled yet are free of charge.”

Oliver, the shopkeeper, immediately took over. He walked to the other shopkeeper and gave him a quick kiss.

“…Everyone who has already checked out can also continue to order. You’re welcome.”

Seeing the Knights of Judgement leaving the Dawn Tavern, the demon worshippers who had huddled on the bottom of the table crawled out one after another, panting in horror. Although policies had been loosened in recent years, it was still difficult to quickly changed the habits engraved in their bones.

“We have to make some baked meatloaf.” Nemo grabbed Oliver’s collar and kissed him back. “Ann and the others should be here in a while. She will order this every time.”

A few bold people in the shop blew a few whistles.

“Good.” After his lips parted, Oliver rubbed the other person’s hair, with a smile between his brows. “Let me go. I’ll just check on the soup. Just wait for them here. You have to calculate today’s account carefully— You’re better at this than me.”

“Uh-huh.”

When Nemo sat down behind the wooden platform, the guests finally calmed down.

“If you ask me, Roderick definitely didn’t come here just to find someone. That must be a cover,” the nervous old man kept stroking the two-headed crow on his shoulders and said nervously.

“What do you mean?”

“Haven’t you heard? The ghost of Tumbleweed appeared nearby. The Chief Justice is here, so it must be to investigate this matter.”

“Tumbleweed, the Black Chapter team with the Knight of Ash? Aren’t they long gone?”

“The ghost is still there, don’t mention it, it’s weird. Alas… Mr. Light, do you mind if we talk about this here? After all, this topic is a bit unlucky—”

“Don’t worry, everyone.”

Nemo raised the corner of his mouth, put down the book, and tugged at the ball of thread in his hands.

“We don’t mind at all.”

The author has something to say:

Jude: I have a hostage! I have a hostage!

Nemo: A novel experience, kudos (0ω0)b

————

Tumbleweed will definitely not simply disappear XDDD

As well as casually raising a student but the result was he’s going to lose himself to it, Mr. Medes (?

Kinky Thoughts:

Ahhh so many appearances from all the side characters. For those who forgot, Roderick is the child Medes adopted before he was contemplating to end himself… and now it turns out Roderick has a thing for his teacher. At the rate this is going, the requirement of all the Chief Justice of the Knights of Judgement is they gotta be gay (started by Adrian Cross).

Shout out to Colestoro and Duran. They got to see the glaciers after all! (I’m so happy for them)