Stray

If he was being honest, after knowing all the facts, Nemo’s view of Adrian became a bit complicated. Even if he wasn’t as good as communicating with people like Oliver, he knew that the answer must be related to the questioner’s concept. Adrian Cross was unpredictable, so he wasn’t sure what kind of answer the other party wanted to hear.

“Eliminating the strong and helping the weak” sounded too general and insincere. “Protecting your companion” could be a good answer, but Adrian blocked the avenue first. If they don’t take the initiative to cause trouble, there really won’t have problems with self-protection. And after just going through all this, talking about “justice” was a bit…

Nemo could only look at Oliver nervously.

Oliver held a sword in his hand, which made him looked more like a warrior.

“I must first learn to control my power before I can consciously choose whether to use it or not.” Oliver lowered his head solemnly. “That’s it.”

“…Then I want to remind you that sometimes ‘can do it’ is more painful than ‘can’t do it’.”

“I know. I just saw it.”

Nemo heard it but didn’t quite understand. Still, this didn’t prevent him from being surrounded by inexplicable irritability. He always felt that he had heard similar conversations and Oliver had answered very similar questions before, but this time, his answer was not the same.

His head hurt a little.

Nemo was pretty sure he had never said more than three words to Oliver in his previous peaceful life, but he did have this wonderful impression close to memory.

[“In order to become a ‘hero’?]

[“For justice!”]

He began to feel creepy and couldn’t help but take a step back. The two people who were talking didn’t notice his abnormality.

“I understand.” Adrian nodded. He didn’t seem to dislike the answer. “I can’t teach you much, but I will try my best.”

Oliver pressed the sword to his chest and performed a serious salute.

“But I’m afraid I can’t teach Mr. Light anything.” Adrian glanced at Nemo, “…Mr. Light?”

Oliver also turned his head— Nemo’s face was as pale as a dead man.

“Nemo, you…”

“I’m fine.” Nemo interrupted Oliver’s question bluntly. “Maybe it’s just… a little too much blood— Um, too much blood was lost just now.”

“We’ll go to a city first.” Ann quickly made a judgement. “Register as soon as possible and get a good night’s rest.”

“It’s okay. I’m not so—” before Nemo finished speaking, a coolness passed across his cheek and hot pain followed. A dagger rubbed against his face and was nailed straight into the tree trunk behind him.

The wound healed visibly to the naked eye. Nemo immediately turned around. He wanted to command the shadows to erect a defense but a light voice sounded first.

“Oh, I’m sorry. You two are already Black Chapters.” With a sound, a figure flashed from the depths of the forest. “I also wanted to earn three thousand gold coins!”

Oliver pulled the sword out of its scabbard, and his movements did not stop because of the other party’s explanation.

The owner of the voice stepped out of the shadow and walked into the bright moonlight. The moment they all saw each other’s faces, except for Nemo, who remained tense, the movements of the other three showed slight hesitation. It wasn’t because they were shaking in fear, but because the scene before them was too unreal.

The face was quite suitable for appearing in many places as it fitted a bard’s description of “a lady’s lover”. It was also very suitable for appearing on sacrificial occasions of various religions. In short, this kind of face should not appear in this kind of setting. The visitor had long brilliant golden hair, which was casually tied up with a silk ribbon and placed on the side of one of his shoulders. His face was incredibly beautiful, with a hint of innocence, but the word “handsome” wasn’t very appropriate.

Unfortunately, the people present have long passed the age where they would be bewitched by appearance. After a moment of hesitation, the defensive posture of the four of them did not waver in the slightest.

“It’s my fault for attacking without seeing clearly, but that bird is really conspicuous. As soon as I recognized it, I realize it’s an occupational disease. I didn’t expect you to be part of the Black Chapter.” The blond young man casually pointed to the gray parrot on one side, giving them a sad little look. “I’m really sorry, okay?”

The gray parrot was rarely silent. It didn’t open its mouth and yell like before, but instead stared at the visitor with suspicion glimmering in its eyes.

“Sea scorpion.” Ann glanced at the black badge on the other party’s chest and said in a low voice, “that’s not good.”

“Oh— How can you say that! This is prejudice!” The blond young man covered his chest. “That spear… Oh, it’s Miss Savage. The rumors are correct. You’re as beautiful as a nightingale.”

Ann’s face turned pale in an instant, and a lightning bolt blasted directly over.

“I’m just complimenting you!” The young man yelled, jumping aside quickly. “You should have heard of me— Jesse Dylan, your colleague! If conditions permit, I would kiss your hand politely… How about you stop first?”

“Are you that Jesse Dylan?” Ann’s face became even uglier. “Jesse the ‘poisonous snake’?”

“You see, I just came to the forest at night to see if I could find some prey.” The blond young man, Jesse, shook a small demon’s body with his hand. “How about I buy you a drink to make amends?”

No one listened to him. Ann moved in Adrian’s direction, looking more vigilant.

“I have already apologized.” The beautiful face was full of sadness. “Well, in order to show my sincerity, I just wanted to ask, that one there is who you just brought out is the freshly baked apostate from the Laddism Church, right?”

He knocked on the black badge and the task list that they were all familiar with appeared in the air. There was a blood-red text flashing on it, which looked particularly dazzling.

“With the news just now, all the Black Chapters and mercenaries should have been notified. Oh sorry, except for you.”

“Your goal is Mr. Cross?” Oliver took a breath and adjusted his breathing. “I’m sorry. He’s our companion now.”

Nemo made a gesture in silence, and the dark shadow flowed under his feet. His headache was better, but the nausea caused by the pain was still there. Oddly, as the only person who had been successfully attacked, he should be the most unsatisfactory at the moment; he wasn’t sure why, but he intuitively believed that there was no malice.

“How could it be! …Even if I’m really short on money, I would rather see those old liars shrivel up.” Jesse opened his arms empty-handed, trying to flaunt his innocence.  “A former Knight of Judgement rebelled against the Holy Church. This is a masterpiece. Why should I destroy it?”

“Then you can leave. I accept your apology.” Nemo suppressed the discomfort rolling in his throat, “At least we won’t deliver Mr. Cross to the Holy Church. You can rest assured… Mr. Dylan?”

“My god, you’re so polite. I like polite people.” Jesse rubbed his hands and took a few steps closer. “But I really want to express my apologies, and respect. You did what I wanted to do for a long time. So how can you believe my sincerity? How about tying me up?” he proposed with interest.

“…Why don’t we just go.” Oliver raised his sword in one hand and rubbed his temple with the other. “Leave him alone.”

“Let’s go. It should be okay if we stay alert.” Ann’s face twitched twice while looking quite sympathetic. Adrian turned around without a word.

Nemo put away the dark shadow, grabbed the daze parrot, raised his feet, when suddenly an arm came over.

“The weather is obviously good tonight. Look, the stars are so beautiful,” the blond young man said in a warm tone. He put his hand on Nemo’s shoulder and was close enough that his beautiful face was close at hand. “Those guys are really angry. Being too angry is bad for your health. Isn’t that right, Light? …May I call you Nemo, Nemo?”

Nemo grabbed the arm in silence and took it off his shoulder. “No,” he said with a sullen face, holding back the urge to summon the dark shadow. “…You’re too close, Mr. Dylan. I don’t like to be too close to strangers.”

“Stranger,” the blond young man said pitifully, as if he had been greatly wronged. “But we all exchanged names, so don’t say that. Is this your parrot? It’s so cute.”

The cute Bagelmaurus didn’t say a word. There seemed to be something unnatural. Unfortunately, Nemo’s head had been a mess and couldn’t think clearly. He frowned slightly and instinctively sped up his steps, leaving the young blond man behind. The latter followed eagerly, as if this was some kind of fun game.

“Cross, you said you’ll bring trouble.” Ann said bitterly. “You’re right, but I didn’t expect ‘trouble’ to come so quickly.”

Adrian pinched his brows and remained silent.

“If I say that once you enter the town, I’ll immediately issue an alarm and tell everyone that Adrian Cross is there— although I really don’t want to do that— what do you think will happen?” His arm was about to stick to Nemo’s shoulder again, only this time it was Oliver who had slowed down.

“Are you suggesting that we kill you?” Ann cried impatiently. “I have to say that I really like this suggestion—”

“Mr. Dylan, what do you want?” Oliver grabbed Jesse’s arm as he said in an unhappy tone. “We don’t want any conflict with you. I hope you understand.”

“I said, I just want to have a drink with you. Isn’t this a fate? I was the first person to find you after the incident!”

“Okay, but we’re very tired. Can we talk about it tomorrow?” Oliver replied simply. “How about noon tomorrow? I know a nice tavern right by the river in the market.”

Nemo looked at Oliver in surprise. Oliver winked at him. Even if his mind was groggy, Nemo still understood Oliver’s intention.

“Oh, alright. You see, it’s sometimes difficult to make friends.” Jesse clapped his hands happily. “Then it’s settled! I believe in your credibility. You can’t break the appointment. If you stand me up, I’ll be very sad.”

The blond young man stopped, hummed a song, and walked towards the demon’s corpse that had just fallen to the ground.

Jesse’s humming was vague. Nemo subconsciously tried to distinguish a few words, but soon lost interest and accelerated his pace. He kept up with the team and quickly marched towards Noer. This time, Jesse Dylan didn’t follow him.

“…The dew on the tombstone is shining. Will you cry for me?” The blond young man sang happily, picking up the bloody demon’s corpse on the ground and confirmed with satisfaction that its valuable place hadn’t been soiled. “Beautiful Sandra, my beloved— Are you waiting at the end of the road… What’s behind?”

“…Well, that’s a good song, isn’t it?” he said with emotion to the muddy eyes of the corpse.

The author has something to say：

The knight joined the team and as a result got a surprise discount. Buy one get one free.

…It’s just that everyone didn’t want it and threw away the gift in an instant.

Grey parrot: (See through it but not speaking out)