Stray

No one said a word.

Melody, who gained a new body, tried to move a few steps. Probably due to being unable to adapt to the weight of the wings that suddenly grew out of her waist, she couldn’t maintain her balance and fell to the ground after shaking. The huge wings fluttered disorderly. She was embarrassed like a newborn cub. The tether on the bag containing the music score was broken by the distortion of her body and the book in the bag slid out of the mouth and fell into the soil. She looked up at the with pleading in her eyes.

Nemo was stunned. Jesse Dylan’s statement about Vincent Town was indeed true. He didn’t know what the rest of the team thought. At least at that time he subconsciously didn’t take it completely seriously. If that was true, then the conflict between Vincent Town and the Grace Bluebirds was just too cruel.

Everyone in the team seemed to be aware of this problem. All four of them were silent while the gray parrot was pacing beside Melody, looking around curiously.

She was still struggling on the ground. A few shimmering blue feathers fell off and they were as beautiful as man-made products. They didn’t match the dirty ground at all. Oliver was first to move. He cautiously approached the Bluebird who was trying to stand up and stretched out his hand.

“Do you mind?” he asked in a low voice.

Melody let out a meaningless low cry, while the hand remained motionless. A few seconds later, she realize that the other party couldn’t hear her voice, so she blinked and shook her head unskillfully.

“Nemo, give me a hand,” Oliver beckoned, cautiously holding up one of her arms. “We have to help her find a safer place.”

If left alone, the Bluebird with abundant mana but unable to move would definitely become food for beasts. Adrian was taller than them and Ann was a little shorter. Their similar height wouldn’t make Melody too uncomfortable. Nemo waked forward quickly and held Melody’s other arm. They held the beautiful newborn creature steadily, and she finally stood up again dangling between them.

Ann picked up the dirty fairytale book from the ground, flipped through it casually, then sighed.

“…We can’t talk to her again, can we?” she asked in a low voice. Her expression showed hints of sadness.

“She should be able to understand what we say. When she gets used to her body, you may be able to communicate using text,” Adrian replied matter-of-factly.

The female warrior closed the book with a snap and turned her face to the side facing no one.

“I didn’t think it was a curse,” the gray parrot said smugly trying to stretch its neck. “You see, my judgement is very accurate!”

“But you didn’t know what it was,” Nemo added mercilessly, then crossed his gaze from the dropping head of the Bluebird and casted his eyes on Oliver on the other side. “Ollie, shall we send her to Pasototu? They shouldn’t reject her now and we can’t just leave her in the forest like this.”

“I have a plan,” Oliver whispered. “But I’m a little worried… I hope they at least let Pasototu out. I don’t think they will simply accept Melody.”

“But if she uses the Forest Ballad to them…”

“It’s useless.” As the sun had set, the forest became darker. At this moment, Adrian was casting an illumination spell on Oliver’s behalf. He spoke without looking back. “She’s just the trigger, not the root cause. They want war and Miss Delaney’s statement cannot change this.”

The Bluebird hung her head lower.

“…If they want to fight us, we should be able to handle it,” Nemo confirmed bitterly. “I mean, in case the worst scenario… Let’s not kill her.”

“I can handle it. At any rate, Dylan has lived to the present as a God envoy, so they won’t pick a fight with us casually.” Ann flipped through the fairytale book in the dim moonlight. “This girl has abandoned everything. She deserves a little reward. If the one up in heaven has no such plan, I’m willing to do it for her.”

They walked back and forth along the way. The illusion array seemed to be constantly changing. Grotesque trees covered the area, so they could only move forward based on intuition. Along the way, they didn’t know how many illusory trees and boulders they had hit head-on, and their pace was slow as they had to assist Melody. It wasn’t until midnight that their group finally touched the familiar illusion boundary. The warm touch made people feel comfortable, and after a short period of warmth the giant tree appeared in their vision.

The giant tree at night was more beautiful than during the day. Orange light came from the nest of where the Bluebirds hung, and the thick branches were like a full moon. This time, no Bluebird entered the dreamland with them. Within half a minute, Adrian, who was walking in front, was stopped by several guards.

The guards were wearing nondescript strange helmets. Their armor seemed to be scattered at first glance, but they were cleverly covering their key points. The Bluebird rose almost immediately in front of them. The sharp metal blades tied to their forelimbs were straightforwardly facing them showing a dangerous luster of poison.

All three people in the team looked at Nemo at the same time. Only Melody looked at the giant tree in awe, no one knowing what was currently going on inside her head.

Nemo adjusted his breath. “We found a single Bluebird and this is the nearest tribe. Your chief shouldn’t have banned us from entering and leaving.”

“She’s not one of us.” One of the guards replied in a bad tone. His helmet had an extra ring of dark shards than the one next to him. He should be the leader or a higher rank. At this moment, he was staring straight at Nemo’s mouth, as if looking for some hateful and dirty trick. “There are no other tribes in this country. Where did she come from? What tricks are you playing?”

“Can’t you tell your own kind?” Nemo sighed modestly. “Her condition is not very good. She’s too weak to stand. If you leave her alone, do you know what will happen?”

The guard leader stared at him with anger, and Nemo pretended not to notice.

“This is really the first time I have seen such a ‘kind-hearted’ human being.” The Bleubird didn’t take a step back and there was mockery in his tone. Nemo scratch the tip of his nose with his fingers. It was amazing. Even though it was full of hatred, the melody was still beautiful, although it was a bit depressing.

“If you really can’t trust us, please find the chief or the envoy.” He suddenly came up with an idea and immediately put it into action. “We can’t stand here all night.”

It turns out that they and these Bluebirds at least shared the same attitude towards Jesse Dylan. He wasn’t sure if it was out of rejection, disgust, or some other emotions, but instead of Jesse, the Bluebirds went to find their chief instead.

“Pasotalo. We’ve met.” The chief glanced at Nemo and reported his name without any intention of taking the human in front of him seriously. His gaze stayed on Melody the whole time.

“Nemo Light.” Nemo was still holding up Melody’s arm, so he had to bend slightly. “I have something I want to talk to you alone. It’s very important.”

“You ask too much—”

Pasototu’s father raised the wings on his forearm and motioned the guards to retreat.

“At least they are not hostile.” He nodded simply. “Speak up if you have something to say.”

“Why did you lock up Pasototu?” Nemo spoke quickly, although he didn’t know whether this this was effective for the so-called “telepathy”. “Was it because he fell in love with a human?”

“It’s because he forgot his responsibilities.” Pasotalo’s voice sank. “His mother was killed by humans so I’ll no longer have offspring… Yet he dared to fall in love with—”

“This is Melody Delaney,” Nemo whispered. “Your son is not in love with a human.”

Pasotalo’s reaction was very straight forward. He didn’t seem shocked by the statement at all and instead move and drew several arrays in one breath in front of him. The array blew long feathers on Melody’s head and neck like a hot wind, causing her to shiver and shrunk back, but no special change could be seen.

“It is indeed our compatriots.” There was finally a bit more hesitation in his voice.

“We haven’t determined whether Jesse Dylan’s statement is true, but at least Melody Delaney is indeed not a human.”

“Although I don’t know how you got this lady, if you want to use her to pretend to be the witch that cover up the plans of the humans in Vincent Town… I’ll tell you very clearly, it’s impossible. Preposterous.”

“Just let them meet. You should know your son.” God, he wasn’t really good at this. Nemo didn’t like such confrontation. At the moment, he could only imagine the chief of the Bluebirds in front of him as a big blue potato.

“No need.”

“Aren’t you curious as to how she became like this? It’s only a meeting. We also know where the location of the dungeon is… All we ask is for a little time from you.” Nemo tried his best to ignore the fluster in his heartbeat and tried to control his breathing.

Pasotalo narrowed his eyes. Melody could at least understand Nemo’s lingua franca. She raised her head and looked at the strange Bluebird in front of her with hopeful eyes.

“……Fine.” As if moved by Melody’s eyes, Pasotalo agreed stiffly. “I’ll only give you ten minutes.”

They all underestimated the determination of this weak girl.

Unlike during the day, the dungeon at night was lit with pine oil torches. Pasototu stayed motionless behind the cell. There wasn’t even the sound of friction from the chain on his body. Melody broke free from Oliver’s and Nemo’s help the moment she saw him. She rushed forward resolutely, like a moth to a flame. Although her body was weak after her transformation, her two forelimbs were still wrapped with the brilliance of magic. Melody Delaney fiercely tore open the cold metal bars and squeeze in through the deformed gap.

Pasotalo stood up. His body trembled slightly, and he stared at the strange Bluebird in front of him. The light in his eyes lit up a little bit.

They stood face to face, carefully confirming each other’s breathing and heartbeat. Melody reluctantly, but stubbornly remained standing, trying to draw the Forest Ballad in front of her lover, but unlike not long ago, her forelimbs shook badly this time. The unformed array collapsed in the air again and again.

She gave up and after a moment of contemplation, she gently raised her forelimbs again and began a strange gesture. Again and again, simply on repeat.

“War language.” Pasotalo’s tone became stiffer. “This is impossible.”

“War language?”

“Only this tribe and the humans in Vincent Town understand…” the chief’s feathers shook vigorously. “Those idiots can’t hear anything, so this is the sign language we use to negotiate during war. What the hell is she…”

“What did she say?” Nemo found that he didn’t know anything about what Melody was talking about, which made him a little uneasy.

And Pasotalo answered his question.

Oliver found that Nemo’s body was obviously stiff. He put a hand on his shoulder soothingly and asked, “What is she doing?”

“She was repeating a sentence using the war language of Vincent Town… That’s the only language they have in common.” Nemo’s voice was a bit muffled.

In a long war, a kind of sign language gradually emerged. The two parties could not speak or even judge whether the expression of the other’s face was joy or anger. Only tears and blood were the common denomination, but war inevitably produced prisoners of war, and they had to negotiate with each other, so they would communicate by waving their arms and exchange hatred and contempt with extremely simple and limited signs.

“What is she saying?”

“‘You killed me’.” Nemo replied softly.

The two Bluebirds in the cage got together. Melody subconsciously raised her forelimbs, as if she was afraid that she would not be able to control her strength. She hesitated for a while, and then retracted timdily. In the end, she pressed her cheek against her lover’s right eye, which had lost its vision and closed her eyes. Pasototu sighed slightly. His sigh was almost drowned out by the clatter of the chains rubbing against each other. He let out a soft chirp that was warm, perhaps the warmest melody Nemo had ever heard.

“…and he also answered her.” Nemo continued, turning his face in Oliver’s direction. His face was pale in the light of the fire and held traces of loss.

“Pasototu?”

“Yes.”

“Did he recognize her?”

“…He said, ‘I love you too’.”

The author has something to say：

Please study hard you two male protagonists!

Kinky Thoughts:

This can be counted as a semi-confession, right?