Stray

After Mrs. Edwards left, the air at the scene was almost frozen.

Adrian stood motionless, not knowing what he was thinking. The task had been completed, and it stood to reason that they should find a way to leave this shithole immediately, or even the country, but no one moved.

‘We…” Nemo tried to speak, but before he finished speaking, he was almost pounced on by the gray parrot that ejected out like a cannonball.

“Why didn’t you go back?” Its feathers were stained with sewer mold that he didn’t know where it came from, and its mouth was spraying black and purple sparks. Nemo coughed dryly and pushed it away in silence. “I really don’t want to see the leader of the Gods! Are you going to hang me because of this? Especially you, Light, you treacherous bastard—”

Adrian finally moved. He flashed to Nemo like a phantom and slapped the parrot into the wall.

“Demon,” he said softly in an affirmative tone.

“Ow—” the gray parrot yelled in a sharp voice. “Look! That’s why I didn’t want to follow. These violent fanatics of the Holy Church have virtues deeply ingrained in their bones!”

“Mr. Cross, that’s…. uh, I raised it,” Nemo said with difficulty.

“Demons feed other demons?”

“What fucking demon! He’s a thief who stole my powers and he’s my servant! How can that loser be compared to the great Bagelmaurus—” Adrian didn’t kill it, so the gray parrot took the opportunity after escaping the jaws of death to try and attack with Abyssal magic. Adrian gave it a sidelong glance and quickly choked its throat with his thumb. The gray parrot blinked, as it was unable to mutter the rest of its spell, and the newly form magic dissipated in an instant.

“This thing doesn’t look like a superior demon,” Adrian said with a sullen face, turning his head to Nemo. “But you’re definitely more than a demon worshipper.”

“Believe me, you won’t be able to figure it out for a while.” Ann cleared her throat. “It’s harmless for the time being, so I suggest you let it go first.” Her hand touched the body of her spear.

Adrian narrowed his eyes so small that his dark brown eyes almost disappeared in the shadow of the sewers. He pondered for a moment, took a step back, and released the parrot, which slammed to the ground.

“Asshole!” It laid on the sticky stone brick and chided in a sad and angry tone. “Have you finished your mission? Are you done? When can I get away from this lunatic?”

“Unfortunately, we can’t go out of town now. The Laddism Church must be guarding every exit. If I’m not guessing wrong, the teleportation coordinates outside the city should also be unusable as well.”

“But we can’t just keep going on like this,” Nemo muttered and picked up the parrot lying on the ground.

“Their primary goal should be me.” Adrian said, his gaze still resting on the gray parrot. “Now that your mission has been completed, there’s no point in staying with me anymore. There will be a Blessing Festival in a few days. I’ll make some commotion at that time, and you can take the opportunity to leave the city.” He paused for a few seconds. “Count it as returning your favor.”

“It’s just a task,” Ann replied cold. “Not a favor.”

“Won’t you leave?” Oliver got to the point.

“I want to know Joanna’s plans.” Adrian didn’t plan to hide anything. “I want to see it to the end.”

The atmosphere of the air started freezing again.

“Actually…” Nemo was the first to break the silence. “Actually, I care too.”

“Me too.” Oliver quickly agreed.

“I don’t care!” Ann said loudly. “I… Well, I’m a little curious. Besides, we can’t get out now anyways.” Halfway through speaking, her voice quickly subsided.

“I don’t care at all! Can we get out of this shithole quickly? That fraud* said your mission is completed! Do you hear me, it’s done! Those frauds aren’t fools. They must have eyes on you—”

*The term he’s using is God Stick (神棍) which basically refers to a deceitful liar (AKA huckster).

Nemo sighed and clamped the parrot’s beak with his fingers. The parrot was so angry that its feathers stood up.

“The festival should be less than a week away from now,” Oliver said. “Since everyone cares about the same thing, rather than scatter… maybe we can act together?” After that he set his sights on Nemo.

The gray parrot fluttered vigorously, dissatisfied beyond words. Ann snorted noncommittedly, and Nemo simply nodded: “As long as Mr. Cross has no opinion, I’ll have no problems. To be honest, Mrs. Edwards doesn’t look very good…”

“How much did she pay you?” Adrian nodded slightly before asking.

“The deposit was one thousand, and five times that amount after the task is completed.” Ann didn’t deliberately pit him this time.

“The Edwards family shouldn’t have that much money.” Adrian frowned. “At first there was the nobles support and rewards from His Majesty, but in Cahill’s case, that little money is not enough.”

“But Mrs. Edwards doesn’t seem to be someone on the verge of bankruptcy.” Oliver scratched his head.

“She definitely not. Something’s wrong here. You… Mr. Light, did you just say that Joanna doesn’t look well?”

“Uh, it’s just a vague feeling. She seems to be declining, and it’s not because of aging. It’s declining too fast.”

“I have to go to the Edward’s house.” Adrian’s brow tightened. “It’s best to go right away. I’m sorry. I can’t join you—”

“Oh, it’s a bit to early to be sorry.” Ann interrupted him indifferently. “That’s a good choice. We’ll go with you— Don’t look like that. The people of the Holy Church already know that the task is finished, and they wouldn’t think we would be stupid enough to turn back. But not now. We need rest. No matter what she plans on doing, she needs time to prepare. We can leave at night.”

It may be due to the high number of churches in Heilem because even in the dark sewers, pure-blooded subordinate demon was extremely rare. However, there were still many monsters active at night. In order to clean up the area, all four of them had stayed up all night. At this moment, above ground, the sun had already risen, and those strange roars and screams had subsided.

Although the body transformed by demon’s flesh would not really become tired because of this trivial matter, sleepiness still hit Nemo’s consciousness like a flood. From the decision to go to the Church of Penitence, to the series of accidents in the dungeon, his spirit had remained highly strained. Now he could finally relax a little, and almost let his entire body go as he rested in a ditch.

Adrian nodded in silence, and he sat down, leaning against the wall unequivocally sitting upright. Ann seemed to be in good spirits and didn’t intend to rest at all. The female warrior curled her legs and sat down not far from Adrian. Her hunting spear laid firmly on her lap and her eyes were shining brightly.

“You two… don’t you rest?” Nemo yawned and finally let go of the gray parrot; the latter immediately spat out a string of curses.

“Used to it,” the two said almost at the same time.

Oliver was not a “used to it” member. He looked more energetic than Nemo, but he couldn’t hide the fatigue in his eyes.

“You two sleep first.” Ann glanced at Oliver who shook his head violently. “Don’t be sleepy when you need to be awake.”

Nemo fell down before she even finished speaking and his whole body became like a soft pile along the wall. The wall was covered with damp and greasy mold, and it wasn’t comfortable to lean on. He adjusted his posture painfully, while at the same time holding deep thoughts of the clean and soft bed at the inn. Sleepy to the extreme but unable to sleep soundly, he even considered for a moment to use the parrot as support against the wall.

Oliver rubbed his eyes, watching Nemo flounder like a half-dead fish in a frying pan. He sighed, sat down beside Nemo, and pressed the other’s head on his shoulder.

The sewer was muggy, so it wasn’t comfortable to be close to each other. Oliver, who had been fighting in the sewage all night, knew he didn’t smell good, but Nemo remained quiet. He was obviously satisfied by the dryness on Oliver’s body. He moved his head a few times and adjusted to a more comfortable posture before his breathing eventually slowed down.

Oliver couldn’t sleep very much. The annoying heartbeat appeared again, beating faster. Nemo’s black hair rubbed against his face and Oliver couldn’t help but turned his head slightly. Maybe he was wrapped in the smell for too long, but he actually felt the smell from Nemo’s hair was very good. It smelt like ash after the burning of scented wood, with a lingering cold smell.

His sniffed carefully. His gaze crossed the top of Nemo’s hair. Although the sewer was still dim, it was slightly brighter than at night. Oliver could distinguish the soft darkness not far away with his eyes. The owner had fallen asleep, but it still followed him and guarded him quietly.

He knew very well that in the chaotic battle that night, the shadow shield had been silently following him.

Oliver sighed in a low voice. He wasn’t a fool. He knew what the current palpitations meant. He carefully moved his shoulder and gently kissed Nemo’s forehead.

“You should treat me worse.” He muttered in a tired trance. “What should I do now?”

He closed his eyes, relaxed his tight body, and leaned over again. His heartbeat was regular and rapid, and Oliver could feel his ears getting hot, but an inexplicable sense of security swept through him, and soon lulled him to sleep.

“…Wow.” Ann retracted her gaze and commented dryly. “I knew it.”

Adrian’s expression was a little shocked. Ann raised her eyebrows at him with a little provocation. “Why? Do you want to get rid of his ‘evil feeling’?”

“No.” The former Knight Commander shook his head. “Love itself is not a sin. I’m just… A little sorry.”

“What do you mean?”

“The demon warlock will lose himself sooner or later so it’s impossible for humans and demons to love each other,” he said. “No matter what the situation is, there will be no results.”

“You’re not a demon. How do you know—”

“Will you fall in love with a monster countless time more powerful than you and love it from the bottom of your heart?” Adrian shook his head. “And for superior demons, the truly complete superior demons, I believe they will not really be interested in ants like us.”

“…Well, you got me there. I can’t do it.”

“He’s just blinded by its human form.”

“But I think he knows,” Ann was silent for a moment. “What you said, he should know better than anyone else.”

“That’s right.” Adrian closed his eyes. “But it not too late for him to give up now.”

“He won’t give up,” Ann whispered. “I really don’t like you.”

“……”

“Mrs. Edwards said she always knew,” Ann closed her eyes. “She always knew that that ‘thing’ wasn’t her son… but I can see that she still loves her ‘child’ deeply. Even if it’s a desperate, futile, and destined to be fruitless love, it can’t be stopped even if you want it to.”

“But she made the right choice.”

“Oliver is not that kind of naïve boy who’s hot blooded. He should know the importance of many things in the world that are more important than his sentimentality. You can say whatever you want, but I won’t say a word to him.”

“Even if he’s destined to suffer for it?”

“You can’t ignore the process.” Ann shrugged, casually weighing the hunting spear on her lap and made a vulgar gesture. “At least they still have the possibility of ‘sleeping together’, right?”

Adrian turned his head, completely ignoring her.

Nemo was awakened by a strange touch on his leg. He opened his eyes in a daze and saw the gray parrot, who was probably bored, rolling around, using his legs as a mattress, sleeping without a single care in the world. Nemo subconsciously grabbed it and threw it away and then was awakened instantly by the sound of stone and brick cracking.

The gray parrot was embedded in the stone brick, leaving a shallow hole in the hard brick wall. It laboriously squeezed itself out of the stone, and then a string of Abyssal magic poured in the direction of Nemo like money. Nemo skillfully erected the shadow shield, but he moved too much and knocked away Oliver who was sleeping soundly.

Now the both of them woke up completely.

“Just in time.” Ann commented quietly, stretching her waist. “Let’s go get something to eat and then sneak into Edward’s house. How about it everybody?”

Adrian stared deeply at the pothole left by the gray parrot on the stone wall, and then said “huh”.

Nemo smiled shyly, caught the black balls of light thrown by the gray parrot and steadily threw them one by one into the sewer. Adrian’s eyes became more complicated. Oliver got up from the ground and took a deep breath and move his lower joint.

“Sorry Ollie.” Nemo threw away the last ball of light and ignored the panting gray parrot. “I didn’t notice you just now.”

“It’s okay,” Oliver replied reflexively, then he paused for a moment. “You’ll notice,” he whispered.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

The author has something to say：

Ann: The problem for refugees like us who come to look realistically at the problem. (Not very healthy gestures.gif)

Adri: Please stop.

—The dividing line between the twenties and thirties—

Oliver: …(Accepted his fate and decided to take action)

Nemo: (Misses the inn)

The last chapter was a little heavy. Sprinkling a little sugar at halftime. XD

Kinky Thoughts:

I’m dying of sugar overload from Ollie right now.