Stray

Nemo was the first to wake up.

Ann drew some defensive arrays near the ruined home, but except for insects crawling everywhere, no other living thing approached. At this moment, the female warrior leaned her back against the corner of the ruins and slept soundly with her spear in her arm. Adrian hadn’t slept at all after last night. His right hand was place on his chest and his lips moved silently. He seemed to be doing a morning prayer.

Nemo and Oliver were still leaning against each other as their normal sleeping routine. Nemo’s head was resting on Oliver’s shoulders while Oliver’s cheek was rested on his head. Oliver was still fast asleep as his breathing was even and gentle.

Nemo Light didn’t dare to move, so he stiffly fell into serious contemplation.

How could he face Oliver? He couldn’t pretend that nothing happened. Neither of them were hot-blooded youngsters who couldn’t hold back a moment of impulse. Now that they had too many things to worry about, the team wasn’t strong enough to withstand too many intense feelings and the possible bad consequence from them.

However, these were all excuses, and he knew it.

He could of course directly reject Oliver. The other party didn’t seem to be the stalkerish-type and they might be able to return to a blissful relationship of being friends. A single “no” would cleanly solve all the problems.

But he couldn’t deny it completely.

‘How strange,’ Nemo thought. He had read too many love stories and had never forgotten those words he read. People always like to sing praises of love, and the burning emotions between the lines were always separated from the reality. Passionate people claimed it was as if the heart melted and the brain froze. It was like swallowing 10,000 bees and had countless wings buzzing softly in one’s ears. When they look at the scene in front of them, it was divided into their lover and the rest of the world.

Nemo really couldn’t understand. In the ordinary days of Vincent Town, he and Oliver only passed each other a handful of times. He was positive that there were no hallucinating bees in his stomach except for stomach acid and food. However, he found that he didn’t care about gender as much as he thought. He was more concern about another issue.

He didn’t want to disappoint Oliver Ramon.

Like the last biscuit in the cupboard of a hungry person, or the first flower blooming in summer, it was a very precious and fragile thing. He didn’t want to make mistakes at any step, but he didn’t have a clue on how to proceed. He lost his guidance for the first time, and there was no book or person to tell him how to deal with this feeling.

‘Maybe it’s “cherish”’, he thought.

Nemo leaned stiffly on Oliver’s shoulder while maintaining a serious expression. Just when the knight raised his eyebrow at him, he finally made up his mind. Dylan’s affair alone was enough to worry about, and he wasn’t a 15-year-old girl. There wasn’t anything to linger about.

He raised his head and awakened Oliver unexpectedly. Their leader rubbed his eyes in confusion and stared at the ruined home in front of him for a few seconds.

“Ollie,” Nemo said very solemnly, as if he was informing the other party about a funeral he was attending, “I can answer you.”

“What?” Oliver responded blankly. “What…” he got stuck halfway through speaking as his entire body straightened up. It was like an invisible executioner was wiping his blade behind him, ready to decapitate at some point.

“First,” Nemo said seriously, “don’t be so nervous. If you do this, I’ll start to become nervous… You’re moving too fast, Ollie. I don’t know if I like you.”

Oliver’s expression was solemnly. The phantom executioner’s knife seemed to have attached to his neck.

“So I can’t give you a positive answer.” Nemo stared intently at the button on Oliver’s chest before carefully moving his gaze up. “I don’t want to be casual with you.”

Oliver’s expression became even more intense. It seems like his neck was now half broken.

Nemo looked into Oliver’s clear emerald eyes when suddenly a thought appeared unconsciously in his heart. If he really “liked” someone, then for now, that person could only be Oliver Ramon. However, he wasn’t sure if this was another illusion that sprouted from self-suggestion, so he didn’t want to give the other party some ethereal hope.

“Which means I have to refuse you first.” Nemo gritted his teeth. “I need time to figure things out. Once this matter clears, let me be the one to confess to you.”

Seeing Nemo Light’s confession as if he was paying for dinner, Oliver wiped his forehead in tears and laughter. “…I thought you would mind the gender. Anyways, thank you for being straightforward with me.”

“Our races may be different.” Nemo picked up the gray parrot who was still asleep. “But if it’s what you say… if it’s just that, that’s not an issue that I mind*.”

*Clarity: He’s saying if Oliver’s worried about just being the same gender, Nemo’s saying that’s not a problem for him.

“Then it’s settled?” Oliver raised his eyebrows.

“Settled.” Nemo patted Oliver on the shoulder with inexplicable pride.

The awkward aura had mostly dissipated. Oliver didn’t seem to have the kind of expression like he had a stomachache any longer. The two stood up as if they had completed a major mission and turned their heads…

The expression of stomach pains had now shifted onto Adrian’s face at this moment. He looked at the two of them in silence with an indescribably expression.

Thankfully, Ann was still sleeping. Nemo’s courage that he had just mustered quickly leaked out. He didn’t know if such an answer was appropriate, but he believed that Ann would definitely tease him nonstop for three days and nights.

Now, there was only one thing left.

When they found Isaac Delaney, the tall and thin old man was moving the wrapped furniture into the carriage with his wife. The old cloth was wrapped in scattered objects and sharp metal corners pierce through its thin layers revealing a little reflection. Compared to yesterday’s evening, Mr. Delaney looked like he aged a ton to the naked eye. His waist, which had always been straight, was slightly arched.

“You passed our mission.” Oliver cleared his throat. “Thank you very much.”

“Only the initial remuneration.” Melody’s father didn’t look at them. “You didn’t kill that Bluebird, so I won’t pay for that portion.”

There was some suppressed trembling in his voice.

“I know,” Oliver replied. “Are you leaving Vincent Town?”

The old man’s back stiffened. “No, but we have to change places. Thanks to you, it’s no longer safe here. Now that the mission is complete, what else do you want? Get out of here.”

“Where’s Melody?” Nemo still couldn’t help asking. “You—”

“She’s not my daughter! She’s no longer—!” Mr. Delaney roared while still refraining from looking at them. “Even… I can’t accept it!”

Oliver stretched out his hand and made a gesture to stop and shook his head.

How pitiful. Nemo thought that Melody Delaney’s expectations may not be realized until the end. He shrugged and turned away, signaling that he didn’t mind leaving now.

At this moment, Mr. Delaney threw the last of his luggage into the carriage and piece of paper fell from the loosely wrapped cloth bag and was swept by the wind that blew it to Nemo’s feet. Nemo picked it up; it was beautiful and neat handwriting, which was a bit close to the sacrificial text of the Bluebirds. The set of circles were the same as the handwriting in the fairytale book.

He raised his eyebrows, turned around, and handed the sheet of music to the old man who wanted to stop talking; the latter quickly accepted it and then nervously clenched his cuffs.

In that brief glimpse, he saw beautiful color of a Bluebird’s feather.

“Let’s go, Ollie.” This suddenly made him feel much better. “Ollie…?”

Unlike his heart full of warmth, Oliver looked a little dejected, which made Nemo a little nervous. “What’s wrong?”

“Jesse Dylan hasn’t shown up yet,” Oliver said unhappily. “Maybe shamelessness is also a valuable trait. I really want to slip away while he’s not here.” Unfortunately, his skin wasn’t thick enough.

“You can’t escape a diviner,” a pleasant voice sounded. Jesse Dylan was chewing on the edge of a piece of bread. He had flashed out from God knows what magical corner. He no longer had the bag full of Bluebird bones anymore. He didn’t even bring any kind of small luggage with him when he came, as if he was determined to act with them. “When will we go register the team? Today? Tomorrow?”

“Information.” Oliver had probably used all the cold attitude that he had accumulated for more than 20 years on this blond young man. “Then we’ll go to the nearest place from here to register.”

“Oh, oh, oh, that.” Jesse patted off the breadcrumbs on his hands then took out another stale piece of bread from a paper bag and began to stare at it intently.

“…Is this divination?” Nemo whispered. “What does he use to infer my identity. The distribution of the sesame seeds, or is it the location of the bran?”

As soon as his voice fell, Jesse Dylan sigh and stuffed it into his mouth.

“On the border between Alban and Willard, in a village called Caleb on Alban’s side, there’s a witch,” he said vaguely. “She’s good at exploring memories… Mr. Light, didn’t you say that you can’t remember your childhood? I think it will be good for you to restore your memory. This is currently the most efficient—”

“You got this from the side of a piece of stale bread?” Ann asked dryly.

“No, I have only seen her picture,” Jesse spread out his hands. “You see, I’m not that good. You can’t believe the Bluebirds. After all, they’re very easy to deceive, don’t you think? ……I just remember that the witch is as old as this bread.”

“But you will find some of the answers you want!” he quickly added when he saw that Oliver’s face was turning blue and was about to open his mouth.

“…Well, at least we don’t need to do another task this month.” Oliver had to squeeze these words out with great difficultly. “If the result isn’t ideal, please leave by yourself. And from today onwards, please don’t play those kind of games, Mr. Dylan.”

“Of course.” Jesse smiled and pointed to the carriage next to him. “Then one last thing, let me tell you which carriage you should take—”

Fritz was also carrying luggage to the carriage looking somewhat depressed. A girl who looked a little familiar was talking to him with shining eyes. The young hunter was showing her a faint but sincere smile.

They had all seen her. Nemo remembered it very clearly. In the tavern next to the transit station, they had seen Jesse Dylan holding her hand and divining for her.

“You will meet good things soon!” That was what he said at that time.

As if perceiving Nemo’s line of sight, Jesse Dylan smiled at him. “As I said, my divination is accurate, but on your side… you should think about it clearly. I have a hunch you may not necessarily like the answer.”

The author has something to say：

Knight commander: I seem to have eaten some amazing melons*. No, I don’t want to eat them.

*Eating melons is slang for watching gossip. This is referring to how Adrian basically heard Oliver’s and Nemo’s entire conversation regarding Oliver’s confession.

Kinky Thoughts:

Well, it’s not a flat our rejection, but we can look forward to seeing how Nemo confesses!