Stray

Nemo got tragically tongue-tied.

The next step should be answering affectionately with a “yes”. He should be able to do it, but it seemed as if a cat caught his tongue. Nemo groaned awkwardly for a while but still couldn’t successfully say a word.

The blankness on Oliver’s face lasted for more than ten seconds, and then was gradually replaced by a smile that was growing bigger. Those emerald eyes bent slightly because of the smile, glistening with pure and joyful light. He raised his brows and held his warm hand and pressed on Nemo’s head.

The hand rubbed hard, and Nemo could feel his sandy hair being completely messed up.

“It seems that you’re not going to object,” Oliver’s tone was lighthearted. Since they embarked on their journey, Nemo had never heard the other party speak in such a relaxed tone. “Then the decision’s final.”

“……Okay.” Nemo finally manage to squeeze out a response. He suddenly felt guilty and didn’t dare look at Oliver’s smile.

This was faster and simpler than he thought. There were no strange signs in the air, and there were no extra colors in his worlds that hadn’t existed before. As the sun rose, the brilliance of the sunrise filled the room giving a qualm and warm feeling. Oliver was still Oliver and there wasn’t any dazzling light that encircled him.

This is it?

Although he took the steps first by himself, after his momentum was overwhelmed by Oliver, Nemo became a bit restrained. Normally he wouldn’t hesitate to give Oliver a hug to celebrate their success, but at this moment, the soles of his boots seemed to be stuck to the floor by an invisible glue preventing him from moving an inch.

Is this a good or a bad sign?

Nemo thought hard. The “ease” in his previous relationship had long disappeared. There weren’t books or knowledge that could explain his current state, which only made him more nervous.

Oliver saw that Nemo’s gaze became more erratic and his brows rose even higher. He shook his head amusingly and decisively hugged the stiff person in front of him. Nemo instantly froze up like a statue.

“Hey, it’s not like we’re getting married tomorrow,” Oliver whispered softly into Nemo’s ear causing the edge of that ear to instantly redden. “…We’ll take our time.”

“You don’t seem nervous at all,” Nemo murmured, as he almost ferociously surrounded Oliver’s back. “It’s not fair.”

“I’m just pretending,” Oliver responded quickly. “In fact, I’m so nervous right now that I’m about to throw up.”

Nemo tugged at the shirt on Oliver’s back. He had to admit that he really like this hug… Even though they were both dirty and exhausted and there wasn’t a single romantic element right now, this hug made him forget all those annoying things in an instant, just like the warm and lazy sunshine of autumn.

He narrowed his eyes, let out a tiny sigh, and finally found a little sense of reality about their relationship— but was quickly brought back to attention by the sound of the door being pounded on.

“…Why are you locking the kitchen?” Debby shouted discontentedly. “Even if I’m with Horizon… No way, Nemo?!”

Nemo let go of Oliver embarrassedly and coughed. He walked to the door with his head drooping and quickly opened it.

“Nadine is asleep. Lisa is with her,” Debby spurted out quickly as she stepped into the room and swept her widened eyes across the kitchen. “You two didn’t prepare anything?”

“Nadine got rid of all her things.” Facing Debby this time, Oliver didn’t seem as uncomfortable as he had been. He put on hand on Nemo’s shoulder and said, “let’s go get something for her in a bit.”

Debby stared at the hand suspiciously, then scanned Nemo’s still blushing ears. She gave a long “un”.

“Big brother.” There was a bit of seriousness in the girl’s voice. “Do you… have something to say to your dear sister?”

“Ah, right.” Nemo grimaced and rigidly put an arm on Oliver’s shoulder and patted it. “Let me re-introduce again. This is Oliver Ramon, my… uh… boyfriend.”

Debby’s expression froze and was mixed with a “sure enough” and “how’s this possible”.

She seemed to want to grab her rod for a moment as she held her hands and listlessly grabbed the empty air a few times. Finally, she decided on her course of action. She struggled to raise her head, as if trying make herself look taller, then stretched out her hands and grabbed the front of Nemo’s robe.

“Before you… you didn’t do anything but read in your spare time. I was afraid that you would go stupid from it,” she said bitterly. “From the age of eight until I left, I’ve been working hard with all of them to make an encounter for you with all the beautiful girls in town…”

“But it turns out… you like men!” She looked as if she was about to cry. “If you have said it earlier, you two might have—”

“I just found out…” Nemo replied with a lack of confidence.

“…You go buy some food, Nemo,” Debby suddenly spoke resolutely. She let go of her hand and move her gaze to Oliver. “Lisa doesn’t seem willing to leave Nadine, but Nadine has to replenish her energy.”

“Debby?”

“Go ahead, Nemo,” Oliver’s voice had hints of laughter. “I won’t suddenly disappear. It seems this lady wants to talk to me alone.”

“Go quickly!” Debby abruptly pushed Nemo on the back and out of the kitchen, then shut the door fiercely and locked it.

Oliver almost chuckled at the thought that these two siblings were exactly the same. However, when Debby turned around, the smile on her face had almost disappeared. The girl didn’t seem to have the relaxed expression she had just now. She stared at the ground and sigh softly.

“It’s hard for Nemo to really ‘like’ someone.” She slowed down her voice. “If you’re in such a relationship… He must really care about you. He never hides anything from the people he cares about.”

Oliver stared at the little girl in front of him solemnly. “Do you have something to tell me?”

“Yes,” Debby said dryly as if she had put on her professional mercenary posture. “I know he has an unclear relationship with a demon. Don’t be nervous. I won’t tell our commander… Nemo can’t lie as his small movements give him away almost instantly. When he told me about ‘recovering his memories’ before, there’s no doubt that he lied. There wasn’t a need for him to hide anything from me, so if he did it deliberately, there’s only one possibility.”

She nodded at the white tin badge on her chest. “He’s in a precarious position, and he’s afraid that it’ll bring difficulties for me. There are only a few hostile races that the surface won’t accommodate, so it’s not difficult to guess.”

“Thank you,” Oliver said solemnly as he put away his smile. “Thank you for not reporting it.”

“After all, I don’t have conclusive evidence, and of course, I won’t deliberately look for it. Nemo is still the same, I don’t think he’ll do anything that’ll make people angry or resentful.” Debby played with the curly hair that fell on her cheek. “…And I have… considered this possibility from much earlier on.”

She raised her eyes. “Mr. Ramon, if you really like him. I hope you know… My brother, he’s a bit special. He’s always a bit slow to feelings, and his cognition is also subtly deviated from ordinary people.”

“I get it,” Oliver nodded slightly. “I don’t care.”

“No, I don’t think you understand.” Debby shook her head.

At the same time, Nemo walked to the front yard with fluttering steps while carrying his coin pouch.

He was still lost in thought about the incredible scenario that he had “started a new relationship with a man”, when he almost ran into Ann. The female warrior was putting the knight commander’s long arm around her shoulder with one hand while steadily trying to help him up.

“Watch where your going kid.” There were hints of teasing in her tone. “You guys look alright. Is everything finish? Sorry, I saw Cross fall down, so I went to help him.”

“Godwin is gone, and Nadine is still resting. I’m going to buy her something to eat.”

“Well done. Seeing as how Lopez didn’t take out his sword, I knew you guys did it.”

“Where’s Dylan?” Nemo looked around and didn’t find a golden head.

“In a stupor outside. He should have been hit by a stun spell,” Ann snorted and made a brief “heh”. “It’s good for him to bask in the sun for a while.”

“You can let me go Ms. Savage.” Adrian’s voice didn’t sound good. His complexion was pale and there were many abrasions on his face. There was also obvious bloodstains on the corners of his mouth. “I just need a bit of rest.”

“Rightttt, after I had to burn three pages of healing spells.” The female warrior frowned. “What the hell are you and Dylan messing around with?”

“I’ll find a chance to explain.”

“Anyways, I’ll find a place to drop off our knight commander first.” Ann waved her hand. “You go and come back quickly.”

Although it was obvious Debby wouldn’t really do anything to Oliver, Nemo quickly bought food that were soft to eat, which was suitable for a patient, and rushed back to the witch’s residence. When he was about to open the door to the front yard, a strange aura came from the backyard. It was extremely weak, as if it would disappear at any moment and felt special like a strand of gold thread mixed in with coarse linen clothing. At the moment when his movements paused, it suddenly weakened, as if it had noticed something.

Nemo didn’t hesitate. He decisively dropped the bag of small potatoes in his arms and then buried his head down, pretending he was picking them up. While trying to “pick up” the potatoes, he scoured all over the ground to find its source.

He had succeeded.

Jesse Dylan, who should’ve been unconscious, was standing in the empty backyard looking perfectly normal. His brilliant blond hair was in perfect condition. Jesse was still tossing the seed in his hand as he muttered something to himself, as if he was chatting with it.

“They really succeeded,” he whispered to the seeds. “Things are getting more and more interesting.”

The beautiful blond young man raised his head, as if he was glancing at the distant desert in front of him. Nemo knew very well, under the machinations of the orange cat, the seeds of the earthsea orchid should have already withered. It was the king of the anthropod lizards, so it shouldn’t have an issue with dealing with a dying seed.

“I don’t hate tragedies.” Jesse curled his lips. “It makes a good story to work hard 10,000 times only to fail, but how can I put it…”

“Occasionally,” he threw the seeds into the sand at random, “paying tributes to fools who worked in vain is fine.”

He then stretched and calmly walked to the back door of the house.

Just as the door closed, something arched out of the sand. A trace of green covered the golden color dirt, then more green started appearing. The seeds that should have been dead drilled out of the sand, and the brocade-like greenery quickly spread. The long-disappeared plants grew frantically as its vines became thicker visibly to the naked eye. Then golden buds popped out.

Nemo picked up the last little potato and straightened his waist.

The backyard had become a sea of flowers.

The appearance of the flowers was puzzling. They didn’t seem to have an exact shape and they looked more like a ball of molten gold. Liquid flowers fully bloomed in the air causing petals to be scattered like droplets of rain, revealing a sharp and aggressive beauty in the soft morning light. Even with the flowers blooming, their growth did not stagnate. The green vines covered the entire sand and climbed up the house, spreading in all directions.

There were faint cries that came from the villagers in the distance.

Nemo wasn’t the only one who discovered someone’s “little action”. Adrian Cross was leaning against the wall of a corridor. There was still an unnatural spell fluctuation that remained on the knight commander. In front of him, a bloody tracking array was gradually dissipating.

Nemo took a deep breath and decided to keep this to himself. Since Jesse Dylan was determined to join the team, they still had time.

Except for Nadine and Lisa, the other two people in the home was unaware of what was happening outside.

“I remember very clearly, even if I was young at that time,” Debby’s voice sank a bit. “Nemo wasn’t that old at that time… Our brother Joshua Light had died. He wasn’t careful enough when climbing a tree and he fell and hit his head on a stone.”

“We were all very sad. Don’t look at me like this. Even at that age I knew what sadness was at the time. We took out almost all the money we had and managed to give Joshua a decent funeral, but big brother, he…”

“Couldn’t accept it?”

“No, on the contrary. He never cried at that time, and he didn’t look sad at all.”

Oliver looked at Debby in silence, who pursed her mouth.

“He then dug up Joshua’s body the next day and put it on the dining table. It was quite hot at that time, you know…” she shivered, “Old Patrick almost beat him. We buried it again that afternoon, but that night, he went and dug up the body again and carried it to Joshua’s bed.”

“He seems to be born with a lack of… uh, common sense. He has been working hard since then. I can see it.” Debby took a deep breath and lower her head towards Oliver. “Nemo should be much better now, but perhaps on some occasions in the future, he will still act similarly to this. If you really like him, please… be patient with him.”

“Please, Mr. Ramon.”

She thought it was okay to tell him this. She had omitted some irrelevant details, as they would be too absurd to put into words and she didn’t need to say them either.

“Joshua is ‘dead’.” The Old Patrick in her memory spat at Nemo. “He’s dead! No more! Stop digging him up. He won’t—”

Surrounded by the strong smell of a corpse, the young Debby clung to her ragged stuffed rabbit in her arms.

“But his appearance is just changing.” Nemo, who was young at that time, stubbornly argued back. “He’s just resting. When he… adapts a little bit, he’ll move again!”

Old Patrick almost fainted from extreme anger. “Who told this this?”

“Because that’s what I am,” the black-haired child whispered. “Aren’t I?”

Kinky Thoughts:

This marks the end of the 4^th arc. Some questions answered more questions arise.