Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 276: Ten Years Later — Part 4

“Baked meatloaf? Leave me one.” Jesse’s voice arrived faster than everyone else’s.

Taking off his iconic long blue coat, the blond young man changed into a free monk’s uniform, but the neckline that should have been tied up was greatly opened, revealing the clavicle and a few muscle lines. The long blond hair was scattered in a black monk’s uniform, and there were delicate sapphire earrings on his earlobes. Coupled with the beautiful and exaggerated face, Mr. Dylan didn’t have the slightest taste of a simple monk.

Adrian Cross was next to him carrying a large bag of snacks, and he also replaced his uniform that had the holy emblem torn off. The style of his monk’s uniform was exactly the same as Jesse’s.

“My, Dylan, your uniform… Is this sarcasm?” Ann picked up a piece of baked meatloaf and stuffed it in her mouth. It was so hot that she puffed out smoke and her voice was muffled.

“It’s better to get into the city this way. After all, we’re people living in the shadows. “Jesse performed a ritual hypocritically, wiping away his non-existent tears.

“No, because we just came from Hatfield.” Adrian carefully put the snack bag on the table and spit out the truth mercilessly. “For the first six months, we have been active near the Holy Land. This kind of uniform is more convenient to take action.”

The former Knight of Judgement had long eyebrows and old eyes, and his short dark brown hair had grown a little bit. Unlike the stiffness and coldness of more than ten years ago, his brows were softened a little by a smile.

Adrian didn’t continue to use the metal longbow, but instead was equipped with a simple standard silver sword along with his standard monk uniform. Noticing Nemo’s gaze, he nodded politely.

“Hatfield. Is Old Man Quinn in good health?” Ann chewed the meatloaf in her mouth.

“So good that he can outlive the next Pope candidate.” Jesse walked to the table and snatched a piece of meatloaf from the table.

Regardless of the identity of the other party, the female warrior swallowed the meatloaf in her mouth, smoothed her sleeves, and shot up.

When Ann picked up the hunting spear and jokingly poked Jesse’s heel, Gallagher, who had already learned a lot of the truth, buried his face in his hands, looking uninterested.

Until the sound of a plate knocking on the wooden table sounded in front of him.

The red wine beef stew and side dishes he ordered were steadily put down, but the movements weren’t gentle and polite. Those hands clearly didn’t belong to a man. Gallagher looked up along the other party’s wrist and saw the face of a girl—a girl with braided hair with an impatient expression, wiping the water stains on her hands.

“That’s it for today, I have other things to do. Mr. Light, today’s reward.” Telaranea stretched out her hand to Nemo.

As soon as the new Chief Justice of the Knight of Judgment entered the door, the Sage of the Abyss sat down in the corner by the door, as quiet as if she didn’t exist. The former Chief Justice didn’t seem to have such a deterrent, as Telaranea’s gaze swept lightly over Adrian and merely wrinkled her nose.

Then the demon began to observe Jesse Dylan eagerly, wanting to pull a blond hair off him to study while the other party wasn’t paying attention.

“Thank you for your hard work. These last two days have been a bit too busy, and it’s not good for us to ask outsiders for help.” Nemo walked back to the wooden platform, took down a wooden box on the upper floor of the wine cabinet on tiptoe, and counted out a few record crystals. “This is about the analysis of the magic circuit structure of the klebato salamander.”

Telaranea carefully put the crystal in her pocket and looked quite satisfied. “I can help you take care of the shop for another week, as long as you are willing to help me analyze the results of my research.”

“Deal.”

Nemo patted the dust off his hand and stuffed the wooden box back on the upper shelf. Ann glanced at Telaranea’s waitress uniform with interest and then swept her gaze towards the wine cabinet. A little fire flashed across her vision.

“Huh?” The female warrior approached curiously and probed to see. “…What is this thing?”

The wooden table was hollowed out, and a wicker basket filled with balls of thread was placed on the dark table near the wine cabinet. In the middle of the threads rolling around, squeezed a red dragon doll that had not yet been completely sewn. It wasn’t very playful and kept moving, whipping its long, half-sewn tail around and spraying sparks at the crammed thread.

“Olivia will have her birthday next week. This is a gift.” Nemo brought the wicker basket closer.

“…Very considerate, Nemo, but usually people don’t make toys for children so, uh, lifelike.” Ann poked at the almost real dragon doll in the basket, choosing the wording carefully.

The reduced version of the red dragon, which was completely inseparable from its cuteness, opened its mouth and spewed out a string of warm sparks that weren’t threatening. Then it coughed because it sprayed too hard and spit out a round of smoke rings.

“There shouldn’t be much of a problem? Debby especially liked it. I made a blue dragon at first, and she took it away directly. This is the second one.”

Nemo grabbed a thread on the dragon’s tail and carefully tied a knot to prevent the little thing that was on a rampage in the wicker basket from tearing itself apart.

“Don’t worry, they are safe.”

Pinching the red dragon doll’s mouth with his fingers, Nemo solemnly assured.

“This is the inspiration I got from Mr. Medes. Do you remember his pile of living skeletons? Like those skeletons, this thing is not alive, it is just acting in accordance with the spell I set in advance and will not do dangerous things.”

“Oh, about this.” Oliver leaned over and put his arms around Nemo’s waist naturally. “Debby put the blue dragon in the bedroom.”

“What’s the matter, Ollie?” Nemo turned his head sideways.

“It always secretly burns Godwin’s socks when there’s no one around during the day, and it especially burns only one pair. When we had dinner together last week, Godwin also asked me about it. Nemo, you wouldn’t…”

“Maybe there is a problem with the charm.” Nemo coughed dryly and looked at the ceiling. “Occasionally… Well, occasionally this kind of thing happens. “

“Oh—occasionally.” Ann stretched out her words.

“I see, Your Majesty. Tonight I will buy a dozen pairs of good wool socks to make amends and make up for the trauma of my big brother.” Oliver smiled and shook his head. “Speaking of this… Bagelmaurus, it’s time to walk the goat!”

The gray parrot fluttered its round body out of the back kitchen window, still holding a bunch of grapes in its mouth.

“Got it, got it! It’s so noisy. Aren’t you afraid that others will hear it?” The gray parrot swallowed the grape and muttered in a dissatisfied voice.

It staggered on the floor, deliberately stepping on Oliver’s feet without deterrence.

“As a result, I still didn’t have a chance to eat goat.” Ann glanced at the gray parrot and sighed with emotion. “At first I thought that that goat wouldn’t survive for half a year, but it even survived the expedition.”

“A few days ago, I saw it trying to ram Ollie’s horse and it went straight through the horse’s chest.” Nemo patted Oliver’s hand around his waist. “Actually, that fuller goat is quite clever, but it’s really—”

“Don’t worry, I thought you two might not survive three months at first.” Ann quietly sighed.

“……”

“What are your plans for the next few days? Why don’t we go to Doru for a day for fun. Delia brought a lot of spare teleportation charms. There’s been a trade rally in Doru recently, and Dylan and the others certainly won’t have a problem with it.”

“Speaking of this, we’ll likely… be there tomorrow night.”

As soon as Oliver was about to pick up the cavity, the black crystal by the wooden platform began to flicker. Nemo quickly kissed his lover on the cheek, got out of the hug, and activated the communication crystal.

“Brother, have you started dinner over there?”

“Well, Jesse and Ann are here.”

“The old lady who was poisoned isn’t in serious condition, but she had to drink herbal medicine for a few days to clean up the remaining demon toxin. I don’t have any poisonous bellwort here at home. Do you have any in stock? And the demon worshipper who escaped…”

“He was taken away by Roderick, don’t worry.” Nemo’s voice was smiling. “His luck is really not very good.”

“Roderick… ‘Eclipse’ Roderick?! How could the Knight of Judgment come to your shop. Could it be—”

“Dawn Tavern is fine, Debby. And there is no need for poisonous bellwort. I can go and have a look tonight and treat it easily.”

“Speaking of this, I finally persuaded Godwin. That guy is stubborn to death.”

Debby’s tone became beaming, and she raised her voice.

“We don’t have to go to the tavern to celebrate Olivia’s birthday. It just so happens that everyone is here. Come to Ramon’s Tavern! We decided to have a birthday party in the backyard to make it lively. If it’s convenient, would you like to come and help arrange it tonight? …As a reward, I can provide you with free accommodation.”

At the end, there was a smile in Debby’s voice.

“Adri and I will take a double bed in your inn, the best one.” Jesse licked the crushed sesame seeds from his fingertips and immediately made a request. “It has to have a big bathtub.”

“I can give you the second best. I have to leave the best to my eldest brother,” Debby responded very resolutely.

“…Well, I can barely accept it.”

“And before everyone is ready, I will ask Ollie to freeze the bathtub first.” After a pause, she added another sentence.

“……”

“Come here as soon as you finish eating. I happen to be baking the banquet cookies for tomorrow. I think I baked quite a few extras.”

In the next few hours, Nemo saw Oliver close the store extremely skillfully for the first time.

For ten years, even if they travelled abroad, they would come on time to spend various festivals with their loved ones. He was very familiar with the spatial coordinates of the Roadside Town, and Nemo could quickly rush back from any corner of the world.

However, most of them celebrated in taverns outside, and even once held a bonfire party by the Border Forest. Godwin was still a little strangely wary of Nemo, but after the children were born, the situation eased a little. Although Godwin wouldn’t deliberately take his child away from Nemo’s arms, he stubbornly refused to allow Nemo to step into his and Debby’s home.

“Well, I have to admit, there is something awkward about him in this matter.”

At one of her eldest son’s birthday parties, Debby shook her head at Nemo.

“Don’t worry, brother. You see, after all, we rejected the ‘whole truth’. As far as we know now, the fact that ‘you are the Demon King’ is undoubtedly true… And considering the special circumstances of you two, Godwin must be afraid that the children will grow up and find something wrong and leak it to people who shouldn’t know.”

“I understand. He has helped us a lot before, and I won’t take it to heart.” Nemo rubbed Debby’s hair with a smile. “But one size fits all. If ‘he married you’, then he would be able to digest the matter in a few years.”

“…Brother!” Debby couldn’t laugh or cry.

It seemed that Mr. Lopez had finally given in this year.

Under Debby’s plan, Jesse failed to get a lazy opportunity to take a five-hour hot bath this time.

This time, Jesse was even the one who contributed the most—except that the various objects flew too fast, which was a bit dazzling, and the backyard was quickly organized in an orderly manner. The magic string of lights was hung up, and the ribbons and flowers used for decoration were placed just right. In order to get rid of the sultry summer heat, animal ice sculptures that would not melt were placed in the corner of the backyard, flashing like crystals under the light.

“Those two guys are aesthetically challenged,” Mr. Dylan declared so.

The next night, the tables and chairs were also neatly placed. The bonfire had been lit, and many children in the town had arrived before their parents and were running around screaming in the backyard.

The parents were clearly at ease with Godwin Lopez, the former Hero.

However, Mr. Lopez fully interpreted the meaning of the word “frazzled”. Right now, he was panting and dragging two little boys who were trying to steal a cake from the kitchen, each one with pockets stuffed with cookies. Not to mentioned that just a few steps away, the three young Lopez were running around the backyard screaming and trying to pull the string of lights that Jesse had cast a glow spell on.

The Hero tried his best to ignore Nemo, who was sitting under the giant fir and seemed to be desperately suppressing his desire to help.

Looking from under the tree to the hotel kitchen, he could see Debby preparing cakes in the kitchen. The other two shadows should belong to Adrian and Jesse. After arranging the tables, chairs, and dishes, they went back to the kitchen with Debby to help.

When it came to preparing food, not to mention Debby, who was the chief mage of Horizon, a Zenni was surely enough. Compared to fighting, Mr. Cross’s true purpose was probably to keep an eye on Jesse so that he wouldn’t steal food in advance.

But soon after they entered, Bagelmaurus and Ann also sneaked in. At that moment, Marshal Gallagher happened to go outside the hotel to replenish cleaning tools, and he didn’t have time to keep an eye on his lover. Counting Jesse, the former knight commander may have to bear three times the pressure.

Nemo thought seriously while sealing the fluttering red dragon doll into the gift box.

Not far from him, Oliver carefully put the gift he had prepared into the gift chest made of colored paper, and finally checked the sharp corners of the edges of the tables and chairs to make sure they were all wrapped.

After finishing the final preparations, he took the gift box wrapped by Nemo and put it together with the gift he had prepared. Then he made a grimace and drove away the little kids who rushed over trying to steal the gifts.

Nemo stared at the figure of his lover.

Considering that there were too many children coming to the banquet, Oliver left the Rest in Peace in the inn, only bringing the white ukulele. As if perceiving Nemo’s sight, his knight turned his face and squeezed his eyes at him.

When Oliver noticed the three little Lopez gnawing cookies and candy with the other children, he returned to Nemo and pointed to the top of the tree.

“Are you going to have a look, Your Majesty?”

Oliver curled his eyes with a smile. “There will be too many people in a while, so we can’t go up quickly.”

Nemo raised his hand casually, and a string of soft green-blue spots of light floated in the middle of the backyard, flying like fireflies. The children all gathered around and used their hands to tease the beautiful light. No one cared about the two boring adults who suddenly disappeared up the giant fir.

After stepping onto the top of the tree, Oliver took a long breath.

There was no Ulysses’ skull on the top of the giant tree, no dry flowers and bouncing tits. Lacking his former “Mr. White”, in the hazy night, this old tree was no longer different from the rest of the other giant firs.

No matter. Oliver raised his gaze slightly—

Nemo stood where the skull was originally located, staring at the scene under the tree.

Under the giant fir, the townspeople finally began to enter. Someone played music, laughter and singing sounded noisily, steaming upward like hot air. The music of the lyre, clarinet, and accordion was mixed unruly, but it wasn’t harsh at all, but subtle and beautiful. Looking down from above, the flickering firelight leaped around people, and the ice sculptures in the corners shone brightly.

“Good evening, Your Majesty.”

In the distant singing and laughter under the tree, Oliver spoke softly. He leaned on the nearest branch and held the ukulele in front of him.

“I have played all the songs you taught me for you. Now I’m attempting to write a new one on my own… Do you want me to play a song for you?”

“Please.” Instead of assuming a listening posture, Nemo stepped forward. “But before that—”

“Dad, dad!” Half a minute later, Eddie Lopez screamed at Godwin. “Uncle Ollie and Uncle Nemo are sneaking kisses in the tree!”

“Those two assholes. How could they do that in front of so many children—Wait, you said in the tree? Which tree?”

Godwin looked around, grabbed an indoor shoe, waved it skillfully in the air twice, and raised his voice.

“Don’t climb the tree in the backyard. I’ve said it 10,000 times, Eddie Lopez! …Brat, don’t run, stop for me!”

“Mom, help—”

At the same time, the beautiful sound of a ukulele came from the top of the tree, and it was quickly swallowed up by the lively music at the birthday party.

The stars flickered in the night sky, and everything was as usual.

[END]

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The author has something to say:

Here, the main story of this novel is officially over. There will be five more extras after this~

Thank you everyone for reading this! After going around for so many years, two simple townspeople (?) finally managed to escape from Roadside Town to the neighboring city of Noer, set up a small business, and settle down XD

What was cold at the beginning of this novel was really a polar kind of cold. Without everyone’s support, I might not be able to persevere. I sincerely thank every little angel who enthusiastically supports me!!! (; ω;)

——————

The new novel is still a strong pairing similar to this one, with the flavor of a drama. ·*·:≡( ε:)

The text:

Genius scientist, Ruan Xian was in a coma for several years. Once he opened his eyes, his waist no longer felt pain, his legs had healed, and he could jump around. Unfortunately, the artificial intelligence outside ran out of control and ushered in the end of mankind.

Fortunately, his luck was still strong, and he successfully captured a partner with great survival skills.

Tang Yibu: Our models are old and especially easy to scrap.

Tang Yibu: Remember, the first principle of safety, never get too close to humans.

Ruan Xian: ……What?

This is a story about a dumb AI x a blindly optimistic scientist.

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Kinky Thoughts:

I’m so sad that this is the end of the main story. I hope everyone enjoyed Stray. It’s one of the best novels I’ve read in quite some time. I love all the characters and the side characters. The story was gripping, sad, funny, exciting, and gave me a wealth of emotions. I truly can say that it’s one of the best novels I’ve had the pleasure to read and translate. Please do recommend this story so it gets more visibility as I really think it’s a great novel that deserves to be read.

If you did enjoy it, please consider supporting the author by buying the raws. This is a seriously underrated book on jjwxc and could use your support for more visibility. I used Google Chrome with their auto translate and this guide on how to buy novels on jjwxc. Remember, only with your (financial) support can artists continue to produce more great works.

The author’s notes also include the summary of her next work, Happy Doomsday, which I’m currently translating as well. After Stray, I became a huge fan, and so I decided to pick it up. You can read it now and follow along with the releases to get your Nian Zhong fix if you really like this author.

I like to thank everyone for your comments, encouragement, help with my translations, and ko-fi donations. It in part fuels my motivation to release so frequently and try to finish this novel as soon as possible, which was certainly quite a feat as this novel has 281 chapters and over 1.2+ million Chinese characters.

Finally, in consideration for my next project, I’m looking for someone who can read Chinese and is well versed in the xianxia setting (understand terminology, technique, ect.) to help me with my translation. I’ll be mainly needing your help on things that I get stuck on and need a second translation opinion on, mainly because of the xianxia setting, and also guidance on xianxia things in general that I might not understand. If you’re willing, please contact me. I promise I’ll try my best not to bother you too much with my inquiries.

The last two volumes of Stray has also been released. Their covers are beautiful. Please order if you can to support the author.

There are still a few extras left before Stray is over. Below is the final arc summary.

—

With Oliver back on the surface and Nemo trapped at the bottom of the Abyss, Oliver hatched a plan to deal with the current crisis that could literally end the world. First though, he must confess everything to his teammates. After the shocking revelation in which all members of Tumbleweed were now filled in on everything, the plan commenced.

First, before anything could happen, they must confirm the identity of who was actually at the bottom of the Abyss, whether it was still Nemo or the Pillar of the World. Using Ulysses’ skull as the tether and Telaranea’s help, they perform a ritual to summon Nemo’s/The Pillar of the World’s consciousness into Ulysses’ skull and Oliver and Nemo have a final showdown. Oliver managed to confirm that Nemo was truly Nemo and proposed to him.

With Nemo’s identity confirmed, they sent out their plan to rescue him and take him out of the Abyss. 2 years have passed since then, where Tumbleweed built up their notoriety so they could enact Nemo’s rescue plan. Using the next expedition as an excuse and with the help of Godwin, who was leading the current expedition, Tumbleweed headed down towards the Abyss to rescue Nemo.

Oliver had devised a plan that would break the “law” and allow Nemo to pass through to the surface again, despite him regaining his full memories and was currently bound. Similar to what they did during the witch arc, Oliver would induce a near-death state in Nemo so that the “law” recognizes that Nemo is dead and allows him to pass through and leave the bottom of the Abyss.

The expedition fought against the “Demon King” who was then dealt the last blow by Oliver causing the bottom of the Abyss to collapse. Everyone escaped except for Tumbleweed, which marked the conclusion of Oliver’s plan. To the outside world, Tumbleweed was buried underneath the Abyss and was no longer alive.

Oliver plan was a success as Nemo was pulled to the surface and finally physically reunited with Oliver. Oliver was finally able to put the ring on Nemo’s finger and they consummate their relationship in broad daylight in the woods. While Ann had mixed feelings about Nemo’s history, given what happened to her older brother, she exiled Oliver and Nemo from Alban but granted them citizenship in Noer (the city where they first escaped to). They then settled down and got married, living happily ever after.

Ten years then passed as we caught up with everyone:

Ollie and Nemo had taken over the Dawn Tavern and turned it into their home. They live an immortal life of comfort and relaxation.

Adrian and Jesse continue their journey doing IDK what, but they are still together.

Ann has now gotten together with Marshal Gallagher.

Bagelmaurus is living its life to the fullest as it gets to eat all the food it wants as well as do goat watching duty.

Godwin married Debby and had three children.

Delia got together with Wilhelm.

#1 Tumbleweed fanboy Leonard was set to become the next Marshal of Alban and continued his campaign by white-washing Tumbleweed.

Medes’ adopted student grew up to become the next Chief Justice of the Knight of Judgement and is now pursuing Medes.

And finally, Tumbleweed continued to take on unwanted tasks to help out the world as a “ghost”.

All in all, it’s a happily ever after. That’s the summary. See everyone in the extras!

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 275: Ten Years Later — Part 3

Nemo recorded today’s account within five seconds and pressed the folds of the paper roll with the book in his hand. Then he took out the half-sewn stuff in the wooden table lattice and continued sewing—the ball of thread as material seemed to come to life, gently bumping around in the wicker basket.

Seeing that the shopkeeper didn’t mind, the demon worshippers not far away continued the dangerous topic.

“Someone made a wish.”

The old man who raised the two-headed demon crow lowered his voice even lower.

“You all know that statement, right? If you have a dangerous task that no one wants to take, or you can’t afford to pay, you can go to the Mercenary Guild to hang up a task and choose Tumbleweed when you designate a team.”

“I remember that designating a disbanded or non-existent team doesn’t count.”

“The horror is here. Some mission paper rolls were burned on the spot! The tasks were completed well, and the rewards were taken away—even those employers didn’t know how the prepared rewards disappeared.”

“…I’ve heard of it too. The most recent time was nearby, right? The whole village put together two gold coins and found someone to deal with a large area of out-of-control carnivorous magic vines. Two gold coins! A fool took this job. It’s said that the person entrusted at that time was illiterate, so he copied ten designated teams to be selected, and spelled ‘Poisonous Bell Grass’ into ‘Tumbleweed’*. The next day, the group of carnivorous magic vines disappeared from the village, and the two gold coins they had in their pockets disappeared… My cousin was in that village and told me the story.”

*Chinese for Poisonous Bell Grass (毒铃草) vs Tumbleweed (风滚草) for those wondering how someone could possibly mistake that for Tumbleweed.

“Nonsense.” Someone spoke up in a thick voice as he tore a piece of meat from a roasted chicken leg. “It’s all a mess of gossip! I tried it myself.”

“Have you tried?!”

“Yeah. Pretend to be miserable and exaggerate the tasks, but not all of them get picked up. It’s like the same style of a superior demon looking for prey. Compared with ghosts, it’s better to say that they were buried at the bottom of the Abyss and they all turned into superior demons.”

“George, get to the point! Did you really go to post the task?”

“Yeah. I pretended to be a thirteen-year-old girl and asked them to drive away a swarm of intermediate demons on my farm, claiming that they crossed the border to steal cattle and sheep and swallowed my parents alive—Don’t look at me like that. The farm and intermediate demons exist, so I was somewhat honest.”

“Tsk, tsk. That’s pretty damning.”

“It’s because people talk about the ghost of Tumbleweed every day and say that they burn the task paper scrolls immediately. My task is still posted on the Mercenary Guild, and nothing has happened at all.”

“But my cousin—”

“Don’t listen to what others are saying now. Do you really believe it? Why don’t you go to the Mercenary Guild to check? The remuneration I provided is low, so the task is definitely still there.”

“Then you have to be careful. If you don’t cancel it after a long time, you’ll pay a penalty, right?”

“Damn, I completely forgot about this. I will cancel it tomorrow when I have time.”

There was a pleasant sound of jingling bells, and the door of the tavern was pushed open again. With the chaotic experience just now, everyone stopped talking and swept towards the door subconsciously.

There were three guests this time.

The woman was dressed as a warrior and looked like she was in her forties, and she was full of dirt and dust. The female warrior was wearing light old leather armor and had a hunting spear on her back. She was slim and strong, seemingly in tip-top shape.

It looked like a woman who was still active. She was most likely a mercenary, but she didn’t wear any badges on her leather armor.

The man beside her looked slightly older than she was, wearing a sword that didn’t look like an ornament, but unfortunately, the chill of the murder weapon couldn’t hide his noble aura, as well as the faint smell of perfume that wasn’t low grade. The man’s long platinum-colored hair was braided into a neat and loose thick braid, hanging behind his head, and his lips were pursed in a line.

If you ignored the anger on his face, this swordsman’s temperament could be called mature and elegant.

Compared to the outfits and temperament of the two people, this woman was most likely to be the bodyguard of the male swordsman or was temporarily hired. In short, the two of them didn’t seem to come from any royal institution or religious army, so all the demon worshippers breathed a sigh of relief.

“Cow dung,” the male swordsman whispered angrily.

“I can’t guess the mood of that cow, let alone its gastrointestinal condition!” the female warrior shouted. “To be honest, I have burned cow dung to stay warm before. Mr. Mad Dog, I’m saddened by what happened to you, but unless you’re willing to fly all the way, in a small border town like this, you can’t help but get something you shouldn’t in the field.”

“Sad? If you hadn’t laughed wildly for two minutes before casting the cleansing spell, I would believe it…”

“All right, all right.” The female warrior held the swordsman’s face and kissed his lips, interrupting his unspoken words. “I apologize, my love. I shouldn’t have laughed so loudly—I will try to hold back next time.”

The swordsman’s face turned red like a tomato, and he didn’t say a word.

Standing next to the two of them, the young woman who had remained silent simply tsked.

The young girl had short, falling shoulder-length hair, a lady’s hat with wide edges on her head, and the upper half of her face was hidden in the shadow of the brim. Her breath was clean and quiet, her dress style was simple, and her color was low-key. Since entering the door, she had hung her head slightly, far less conspicuous than the two beside her.

A palm-sized spider lay on her shoulder, with its abdomen eyeballs whirring excitedly.

Everyone was relieved—spiders had obvious abyssal biological characteristics, so the young girl was probably a demon worshipper.

“The meatloaf is almost ready.” Nemo put down the knitting needle in his hand. “Ann, it’s your favorite flavor—the skin is crispy, and I added more coarsely ground pepper and crushed chili.”

“Long time no see, Nemo. Very considerate.” The female warrior’s tone was cheerful as she narrowed her eyes. “Give me a blank piece of parchment. Gallagher is too picky that it’s troublesome when ordering for him. What’s up? Cross and the others haven’t arrived yet?”

“The aura of those two is nearby. They are staying at a snack shop and should be here in a bit.”

Nemo handed over the pen and paper in both hands, and Gallagher stared at the hand vigilantly, huffing between clenched teeth.

Regarding whether he would mind if she told Gallagher the truth, Ann had asked Nemo after confirming her relationship with Gallagher. Gallaher’s performance at this moment didn’t surprise him too much.

“Delia, why are you…?” Nemo politely moved his gaze away from the nervous former “Wasteland Mad Dog” and continued to ask.

“Nothing has happened recently, so I came to look. I brought a teleportation spell parchment so I can go back to the royal capital at any time.” Making sure that her seat was hidden enough, Delia took off her wide-brimmed hat.

Cat Whiskers jumped down from her shoulders and circled around the table excitedly. Seeing Nemo approaching, it stretched out its two front feet and waved vigorously.

Nemo poked it gently with his fingers, and a black shadow rotated at his fingertips, condensing into a black ball that exuded the magical aura of the Abyss.

The excitable spider happily caught it and ate it.

“I want potato soup with light cream, boiled chicken with cauliflower, and a little bread,” Delia whispered to Ann, who was writing menu requirements for Gallagher.

“I heard that Alban and Willard signed a peace treaty last week.” Nemo waited patiently for Ann to finish writing and found a topic casually. “Mr. Salter. You’re no longer in the position of Marshal, but I thought…”

“I don’t need to be there; Quentin Leonard can already handle these things beautifully.”

Gallagher raised his chin slightly, and his facial muscles were still a little stiff.

“But with all due respect, you’d better think of a way. Mr. Leonard still always talks about Tumbleweed—when rumors came out that Tumbleweed was almost annihilated in the expedition because of greed, he gave himself an amplification spell and promoted the glorious image of Tumbleweed to his subordinate for a whole week.” Immersed in memories, Gallagher’s voice grew more disgruntled. “This matter came directly to my side and his deputy, Mr. Elmer, had to drag him back.”

Nemo scratched his head and smiled a little embarrassedly.

“Don’t think too much about it. It’s just a simple act of mourning, Mr. Light. Mr. Leonard guessed very accurately. He insisted that the members of Tumbleweed were superior in strength and wouldn’t die because of stupid greed. They just used this to fade out of the public eye. In recent years, the haunting of the “Tumbleweed Ghost” has made him more and more convinced of his guess—if it weren’t for the marshal’s duties that stalled Mr. Leonard, I think he would dare to run out to find you directly, and I have a hunch that he would find you.”

“Then we’ll have to wait for him to leave office.” Oliver walked out of the back kitchen and put a jug of juice on the table. “If he can really find us by then, we will tell him part of the truth.”

“I reserve my opinion.” Ann stuffed the written menu into Oliver’s hand. “…There’s no telling if he’ll know through other channels, like when I decided to tell Gallagher.”

Delia stopped pouring juice. Cat Whiskers stared at its owner with its abdominal eyeballs, and then froze in the air.

“No,” Delia said coldly. “I said that tomorrow I would break up with Wilhelm.”

“You said that the day before yesterday, the day before yesterday and yesterday.” Ann held her chin and pointed it out with a smile.

“That’s just…”

“That kid Hayden has a good temper. In my opinion, it’s a miracle that you can quarrel for three days straight.” Ann took a sip of her juice. “Seriously, what are you two arguing about? It’s hard to tell which one of you is busier. If that’s what this is about—”

“Ann!”

“Okay, let’s change the subject. Nemo, do you remember Hayden Wilheim? That kid just got off the battlefield and ran to Clementine Academy to be a professor of nursing.”

“Ollie and I planned to go to Clementine in a few years. In that case, we might be able to see him then.” Nemo poured himself a glass of juice and shook the cup. “But looking at the situation back then, I thought he would have something for Marilyn Lawler…”

The cold gaze of the current Queen of Alban swept over her in an instant.

“Chief Healer Marilyn Lawler. I know this person.”

There was no hostility in Delia’s voice, only respect.

“When Ann sent me to Clementine Academy, a few of them hadn’t graduated yet. Ms. Lawler is still unmarried and devotes all her time to research. At this point, I admire her very much.”

After that, Delia lowered her head and drank the juice intently, without meaning to speak again.

“Speaking of that group of people… Leonard’s deputy was Oliver’s roommate, Elmer. Do you have an impression? He got married last year, and he left a table for Tumbleweed at the wedding. I secretly glanced at it. He should have received the gift I left behind.”

Ann laughed softly, didn’t touch the pre-dinner juice, and stubbornly waited for the wine. “That stubborn boy actually drove away a guest who pointed to the table and asked him to remove it on the spot.”

Seeing as the topic continued, Nemo’s expression of mixed nostalgia gradually appeared sad, and Ann stopped talking. She reached out her hand and touched her face along the line of sight of the other party, feeling the small wrinkles carved into the corners of her eyes due to the years.

“Come on, let’s not mention this. I have to leave some topics for dinner for a while.” She tried to make her tone appear more relaxed.

Oliver leaned towards the back kitchen’s dining window and served the steaming meatloaf to the table. Nemo took a deep breath, threw an insulation spell casually, and left the table.

“You guys talk first, I’ll go and see what Dylan is doing in the snack shop. I’ll be back in a while.” Nemo smiled a little reluctantly this time.

“Ollie.” Before leaving, he called his lover with something to say, and Oliver nodded knowingly.

Ann stood up from the table after seeing Nemo leave through the door, smacking her lips to the seductive aroma of the sizzling baked meatloaf. “Show me the shop, Oliver. I’m afraid I can’t help but want a tour.”

“Of course.” Oliver glanced at Delia, who was sipping the juice gracefully, and Gallagher, who was sitting upright like a soldier with his lips tightly pursed.

The two first came to the wooden platform where Nemo was just now. After Oliver walked to the wooden platform, he pulled out a bottle of wine.

“That kid Nemo, it’s been ten years, and he still can’t even act. It’s about the thing you mentioned in the letter, right?” Ann put her elbow on the wooden platform and pretended to look at the bottle of wine. “I have thought of the answer.”

“Ann…” Seeing the familiar open smile on the other party’s face, Oliver was sure that he had tasted some kind of bitterness in his mouth.

“I don’t need to live too long.”

Ann brushed the dusty wine bottle with her fingertips, with a smile in her voice.

“Don’t look at Gallagher like that. I still like him very much. And Delia, I watch that child grow so big… I can’t imagine sending them away with my own hands. I know, maybe you can also give them a long life. But as I just said, Delia will also fall in love with others, and she is likely to have her own children. What will you do then?”

“Ollie, we’re humas, and we’re fragile. Relatives, lovers, friends… At least I can’t bear the endless loss. I can’t really forget the pain of leaving now. If I decide not to be sad about it anymore, I may not be considered ‘me’.”

She patted him on the shoulder.

“Humans have human time. In my opinion, a hundred years is enough. Presumably by now, you and Nemo should be able to appreciate a little, uh, the inconvenience of almost eternal life.”

“Ann, we…”

“You don’t need my guidance anymore, Mr. Hero. Don’t show that expression, I can’t be swayed. To be honest, I’m more worried about you two… Looking at you, Debby and Godwin also gave similar answers to that question.”

“……Yes.”

“It’s not surprising, after all, we know our boundaries. Hey, don’t act like I’m going to die in the next second! You know, I don’t have any great ambitions. I’m just an ordinary person who wanted to live and eat comfortably before I die. Now I have a nice lover by my side and a lovely niece who can let me enjoy my life to the fullest, which is much better than my most unrealistic dream.”

“What’s more, it can make you, um, amazing guys show this expression for me. I think this is a pretty perfect life—if you shed tears at my funeral, I won’t spare you.”

“Ann, if you change your mind, we will be here anytime.”

“Uh-huh, it depends on my mood then.”

Ann stretched out her hand and rubbed Oliver’s hair vigorously.

“Live well. On the plus side, two people are better than one person.”

She huffed gently.

“Oliver, I have known you two for a long time now. You are all very amazing guys, and I hope you can always maintain your current state of mind. Coupled with Bagelmaurus, Tumbleweed can maintain at least five members… Don’t let it really disappear, okay?”

There was another bell ringing at the door.

“Nemo!” Ann waved her hand and narrowed her slightly moist eyes. “…And you, Dylan, why are you so slow. I’m starving to death!”

Ann picked up the wine bottle and sat back down in her place.

“Can I start eating my meatloaf now?”

---

The author has something to say:

Mr. Leonard, the little nobleman of the academy arc, a hard-core fan (……

And unfortunately, not everyone will live for a long time. _(:з”∠)_

————

The next text is the final chapter—!

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Kinky Thoughts:

Wow Ann got together with Gallagher! Delia with Wilhelm! I’m just so happy for everyone! The next chapter is the final chapter of this novel, followed by a few extras (*sobs* I don’t want it to end.)

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 274: Ten Years Later — Part 2

Old Jude quickly ran to the back kitchen.

Unlike most taverns, the back kitchen of the Dawn Tavern was very clean, which had not changed due to the change of ownership. Many years ago, he had taken herbal medicine for the treatment of his demon from here with Vance, and he still retained a little impression.

A weird floor lamp stood near the entrance of the back kitchen. He didn’t know if he was seeing things, but Jude always felt that the light pole looked a bit like a staff. Not far away from the floor lamp was a frozen magic pattern that flickered slightly, and the shelves with all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables continued to emit cold air.

There was a small wooden basin next to the fruit and vegetable rack, which was full of fresh fruits of an attractive color. A chubby gray parrot was lying on its back on the top of the fruit pile, stretching out its wings and clicking its beak contentedly.

Seeing someone coming in, the golden bird’s eyes slanted over, and then squinted contemptuously.

“Stupid bird,” Jude muttered, glancing at the basin of fresh fruit of great value. “What a waste of good food.”

“Idiot,” the gray parrot responded clearly. It straightened its round belly, tilted its head, and pecked at a golden cherry.

With the Knights of Judgement approaching, Jude didn’t intend to scold a brainless bird. He grabbed his demon partner, who was unusually obedient for some reason, and looked around in the back kitchen, hoping to find a trigger similar to a secret door.

When his gaze swept to the middle of the room, old Jude’s hair exploded…

There was no yawning fat chef. There was indeed something in a chef’s uniform that was close to human form, but when he looked at it closely, the skin that should have been exposed on the outside was pitch black.

It wasn’t a human at all, but a chaotic humanoid shadow.

It stretched out a limb to hold its hat, and then stretched out more than a dozen long alien arms behind it, handling the ingredients in an orderly manner.

For a second, Jude wanted to escape back to the front hall and surrender directly to the commander of the Knights of Judgement.

Fortunately, whether it was the damn bird or this thing that looked like a chef, they didn’t pay any attention to him. The gray parrot glanced at him and went back to chewing juicy grapes, while the monster chef continued to cut meat skillfully with both arms while another hand was stirring a pot that was bubbling with soup and its other arms were quickly making fried onion rings.

Jude swallowed laboriously and continued his plan in a cold sweat. Time was limited, so instead of trying to find a secret door or the entrance to the cellar, he looked at a few large wooden barrels in the corner storage.

Leaning against the wall and approaching the barrel, Jude quickly opened the lid of the barrel.

Then he looked at the red-eyed man awkwardly again.

The man squatted in the barrel, hugging his knees, not daring to come out. Seeing that the cover was taken away, he silently yanked the lid back from Jude’s hand and sealed himself in again.

“Why don’t you use a disguise spell? I thought…” Jude coughed dryly.

“If there is a magic fluctuation, Roderick will notice it faster.” There was a muffled response from the barrel.

It seemed that the commander from the Knight of Judgement came here to catch this guy.

Wyatt Roderick, the 370th Chief Justice after Adrian Cross.

Unlike Cross, who was dignified before his apostasy, Roderick was more like a pagan in the Laddism Church—This young genius had a ruthless approach to his enemies, a righteous and evil style of behavior, and a reputation for ferocity.

Although Cross was cold when he was in the office, at least his methods of doing things were decent. This one acted more like he was using poison to attack poison. Even the title granted by the old Pope was “Eclipse of the Moon”.

Although in terms of behavior, Mr. Roderick was indeed guarding the surface conscientiously, when speaking of his temperament and style, it was said that the conclusion of those who had seen him was very similar… This Mr. Chief Justice was better suited to be a thug than a knight.

Completely affected by this bastard, Jude grinded his teeth.

The demon he carried was a dangerous kind of intermediate demon. Other Knights of Judgement may decide to turn a blind eye for the time being, taking into account the progress of their own missions and the complexity of chasing criminals between state lines, but that monster Roderick would definitely drag him back by hand.

Jude immediately decided to leave here and tried to escape through the back kitchen window. However, the unique sound of the armor collision had already sounded outside the door.

It was too late, and it would be more conspicuous if he were to escape now.

Jude’s scalp exploded. He chose the innermost barrel and stuffed himself in desperately. He began to pray that the knight commander would focus on his goal and subconsciously ignore him.

Fortunately, in misfortune, from the moment he entered the tavern, his demon was extremely quiet, shrinking into a ball on his shoulders.

“Mr. Roderick, what are you doing here?”

The vague voice of the young waiter came from outside the wooden door, and there was no panic in his tone.

“Not to be rude, but you will frighten my guests by staying in my Dawn Tavern like this.”

“I’m looking for my teacher,” the Knight of Judgment replied, with a smile in his voice. “Black hair, gray-black mage robe, dark red eyes. He’s good looking. He looks… Well, he’s in his thirties. Have you ever seen such a person?”

“As you can see, our house is just a tavern, not a refuge.”

“You did not answer my question positively.” The smile in the voice of Chief Justice Roderick became a bit stronger. “My intuition tells me that he’s here.”

“If your teacher doesn’t want to advise you, I think he has his own reasons.”

“It won’t be my problem anyway.” Roderick replied in a lazy tone, deliberately raising his voice, with a bit of banditry in his tone that didn’t quite match his identity. “I did everything in the agreement, but he wouldn’t see me.”

“Perhaps he would be more willing to see you if you left your procession of Knights of Judgement behind.”

“No, he won’t. Get out of the way, boy, let me see your kitchen,” Roderick huffed, and there was the sound of metal armor colliding.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Roderick. I remember that according to the regulations, if proper instructions are not given, the Knights of Judgement from the Laddism Church aren’t allowed to trespass on private houses,” the young waiter said slowly, still not flustered. “Unfortunately, I am one of the shopkeepers here, and I have the right to get a reason that can convince me. The Chief Justice of the Knight of Judgement can’t lie, right?”

“…What a pain in the ass. Okay, okay—I’m not going to break your kitchen, nor am I going to stuff that cunning guy into the dungeon. I just want to talk to him.”

“Well…”

“Isn’t that enough? …Okay, damn rules. Boy, when I first became an adult, that bastard kicked me out of the house and asked me to look at the beautiful girls outside and don’t think about certain ‘inappropriate’ things—now that seven years have passed, I have saved 800 out of 1,000. I just wanted to go back and tell him and talk to him about it.”

“Then he ran away?”

“Then he ran away, and I chased him for a whole country and a half.”

“Mr. Roderick, I have one more little thing to ask. When you went to find your teacher, you also brought such a heavily armed… Uh, entourage with you?”

“Because I have a hunch that he will run away.”

“…Uh, you really don’t know what the problem is?”

“Mind your own business, get out of the way.”

“Okay, Mr. Medes is in the third barrel on the left side of the kitchen against the wall—he hasn’t popped out yet to escape with all his strength. According to what I know about him, he shouldn’t refuse to talk to you about it.” The waiter guided very empathetically.

“Do you know him? He never said—”

“By the way, there is also a fugitive in the first barrel on the left side of the wall. You can take him away easily. It is a gift from our store.”

“……”

Fuck. Jude’s eyes darkened as he hid in the barrel.

Now, he had only one choice left.

Directly tearing off his most advanced acceleration rune paper, Jude pulled out a poisonous dagger hidden in his boots and rushed out of the door first. He directly locked the young waiter’s neck with his arm and squeezed the blade at the young man’s throat.

Wyatt Roderick was standing in the room of the Dawn Tavern, close to the entrance of the back kitchen, followed by a team of Knights of Judgment that couldn’t be counted at a glance.

The young knight had long, dark golden hair that wasn’t too long, and his eyes were a bit dull gray blue. On the left half of his cheek near his eyes, a small scar like a thin withered vine was present, like it was left over from a disease.

To be fair, Wyatt Roderick’s appearance wasn’t bad. It was a pity that the terrifying scars and cynicism of his smile really couldn’t leave a good impression, let alone, the long eyebrows of the Knight of Judgement even had a little evil aura.

“How old-fashioned.” Roderick waved his sword casually, without concealing the mockery in his voice.

Having said that, the young Knight of Judgment glanced at him vigilantly and then turned to the surrounding environment, obviously considering the safest countermeasure.

Jude vigilantly leaned his back against the door frame, holding the dagger firmly in his hand. Not to mention the strong enemy in front of him, the so-called “Mr. Medes” didn’t sound like a real fugitive. If that guy sneaked up from behind, his situation would be really bad.

At present, there was no movement in the back kitchen, which was the only good thing that had happened so far.

Jude shrugged his shoulders and motioned to his demon partner to wrap around the young shopkeeper’s neck to add a little more leverage. Unfortunately, that damned intermediate demon completely shrank itself into a small ball and began to pretend to be dead.

“Your goal is not me, honored Lord Knight.”

Jude squeezed out an ugly smile and pressed the poisonous dagger against the throat of the shopkeeper dressed as a waiter.

“Blame this kid for talking too much. Otherwise, just treat me as if you haven’t seen me, okay? If you don’t agree, I’m going to cut this kid’s throat. No matter how fast your sword and spells are, they can’t be faster than mine—”

A series of crisp bells came from the door of the Dawn Tavern, and another young man dressed as a waiter entered the door. The young man was holding a large box of fresh potatoes in his arms, and there were a few bunches of dried fish hanging on the side of the wooden box.

“Nemo, the potatoes you bought have arrived. Guess what? Colestoro sent some specialty dried fish from the glaciers… Hey?”

The young man with light brown hair blinked and stopped in place in shock at the scene in front of him.

“…What are you doing?” After a few seconds, the choked young man spoke again, and his tone sounded a bit awkward.

“Hostage.” The young man known as “Nemo” sounded a little emotional. “I haven’t been taken hostage in such an old-fashioned way, Ollie.”

Jude frowned and increased his strength, locking around his opponent’s throat. Something was wrong with this kid’s reaction. To put it bluntly, from the beginning, he didn’t shake at all.

The “Ollie” glanced at the shivering demon worshippers in the shop, squatting under the table with their heads, and the tense Knights of Judgment, and finally exhaled a long breath.

“Then I’ll send the potatoes to the kitchen first,” he continued solemnly. “The photo crystal is upstairs. Do you need me to take a picture for you?”

“Good idea, but I would rather witness this moment with you,” Nemo responded equally seriously.

“It seems that this gentleman doesn’t need much help, so I’ll come back later.” Roderick obviously didn’t have much sense of justice. He retracted his long sword and snapped his fingers. “I have to go and get my dear teacher out first.”

‘It’s not that I’m dreaming but the world had just finally gone crazy.’ Jude thought blankly.

He was pretty sure that he was holding a dagger with snake venom in his hand, not a carrot or something, but no one seemed to care about it.

They would regret it.

Although it wasn’t clear what the situation was, it was always a good thing for Roderick to leave temporarily. As long as he did his old tricks again, seriously injured this kid, and threw a few stinky smoke bombs…

Jude gritted his teeth and slashed the young man’s throat with a dagger.

There was no screaming, no blood.

Nothing happened.

In the blink of an eye, Jude had just reacted and found himself lying on the floor. The black-haired waiter with a delicate face smiled and looked down at him from above. Jude’s scalp tightened, and he suddenly wanted to get up, but found that his limbs were already tightly wrapped in fine shadow vines.

The shrunken Hitz poisonous squid rolled to the ground like a ball, and no matter how hard he tried to call it, it didn’t seem to have the slightest intention of moving.

“You tried to murder a poor old lady at the Ramon Inn.” Nemo patted the dust off his shoulder, “Unfortunately, I am very familiar with the hostess of the Ramon Inn. She told me everything, Jude Major.”

Nemo held the ball-shaped Hitz poisonous squid in his hand, and from that cold gaze, Jude even read a bit of emotion and nostalgia. But this was impossible. This kid was too young and looked completely green. There was no such person in his social circle.

This must be a ridiculous dream, and everything that was happening right now was simply unreasonable.

“Thank you for your cooperation… This gentleman, since ‘you’ know my teacher, I won’t ask for the details of the matter.”

Roderick directly carried Medes out with the barrel, nodded at Nemo, and then glanced at Jude, who was twisting on the ground.

“And you guys, pack this thing on the ground and take it back with us.”

“Yes, Lord Roderick.”

“When you’re done talking, remember to come over for a drink.” Nemo patted the barrel on Roderick’s shoulder.

“I will, Mr. Light,” Medes replied sullenly in the bucket. “By the way, it’s ‘me’, not ‘us’. There must be something wrong with my education… Asshole, don’t knock on the barrel! Answer me first, how is that village?”

“Oh, the village that expelled me.” Roderick smiled in a low voice. “On the whole, it’s still there—I endured it very hard, and I didn’t use the power you gave me to do excessive things like slaughtering the village. You promised me a reward if I would drop the matter. Well, that promise still stands, right?”

“……”

“Farewell.” Roderick stopped tapping his hand on the wall of the barrel, looking in a much better mood.

“Sorry to shock everyone. All orders that haven’t been settled yet are free of charge.”

Oliver, the shopkeeper, immediately took over. He walked to the other shopkeeper and gave him a quick kiss.

“…Everyone who has already checked out can also continue to order. You’re welcome.”

Seeing the Knights of Judgement leaving the Dawn Tavern, the demon worshippers who had huddled on the bottom of the table crawled out one after another, panting in horror. Although policies had been loosened in recent years, it was still difficult to quickly change the habits engraved in their bones.

“We have to make some baked meatloaf.” Nemo grabbed Oliver’s collar and kissed him back. “Ann and the others should be here in a while. She will order this every time.”

A few bold people in the shop blew a few whistles.

“Good.” After his lips parted, Oliver rubbed the other person’s hair with a smile between his brows. “Let me go. I’ll just check on the soup. Just wait for them here. You have to calculate today’s account carefully—you’re better at this than me.”

“Uh-huh.”

When Nemo sat down behind the wooden platform, the guests finally calmed down.

“If you ask me, Roderick definitely didn’t come here just to find someone. That must be a cover,” the nervous old man kept stroking the two-headed crow on his shoulders and said nervously.

“What do you mean?”

“Haven’t you heard? The ghost of Tumbleweed appeared nearby. The Chief Justice is here, so it must be to investigate this matter.”

“Tumbleweed, the Black Chapter team with the Knight of Ash? Aren’t they long gone?”

“The ghost is still there. Don’t mention it, it’s weird. Alas… Mr. Light, do you mind if we talk about this here? After all, this topic is a bit unlucky—”

“Don’t worry, everyone.”

Nemo raised the corner of his mouth, put down the book, and tugged at the ball of thread in his hands.

“We don’t mind at all.”

---

The author has something to say:

Jude: I have a hostage! I have a hostage!

Nemo: A novel experience, kudos (0ω0)b

————

Tumbleweed will definitely not simply disappear XDDD

Casually raising a student, but the result is he’s going to lose himself to it, Mr. Medes (?

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Kinky Thoughts:

Ahhh so many appearances from all the side characters. For those who forgot, Roderick is the child Medes adopted before he was contemplating to end himself… And now it turns out, Roderick has a thing for his teacher. At the rate this is going, the requirement of all the Chief Justices of the Knights of Judgement is that they gotta be gay (started by Adrian Cross).

Shout out to Colestoro and Duran. They got to see the glaciers after all! (I’m so happy for them)

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 273: Ten Years Later — Part 1

Jude Major leaned triumphantly against the wall and gently stroked the head of his new demon.

During the reign of the Blood Queen Andrea Alastair, Alban changed a lot of draconian laws against demon worshippers. If the partner is a subordinate demon, as long as you honestly go to the designated demon laboratory to register, after it is determined that it wasn’t too harmful, the servant can use them for legal purposes.

At least in terms of garbage disposal and pest control, they were much more efficient than surface organisms.

Unfortunately, there was something to be said for it.

Demon worshipper Jude Major touched the beard on his chin and tsked regretfully.

Speaking of more than ten years ago, he had met Ann Savage, who hadn’t become queen yet. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to develop any relationships.

Although she had been queen for about seven years, the Queen of Blood dragged her knights out of the palace and lived an adventurous life again. She wasn’t as crazy as the rumors were—Alban’s control over intermediate demons was still very strict, the procedures for registering intermediate demons were much more cumbersome than lower-level demons, and the deposit required was more than ten times higher. More harmful varieties were still prohibited from entering into contracts.

It would be great if that woman went a little crazier.

Jude shook the wine in the jug and sighed pretentiously…

Anyway, he won’t pay a deposit of thousands of gold coins for his new baby. Not to mention, his newly obtained intermediate demon wasn’t in the category that Alban allowed to register at all.

The demon who had made the contract with him was lying on his shoulders. Its translucent purple-black body was squirming slowly, and its slippery, soft skin glowed with water.

The Hitz, an extremely poisonous squid, was highly toxic and its combat power was particularly outstanding; it almost wiped out all his wealth, but no matter. It would soon earn back those glittering gold coins.

The best thing was that its toxicity was very difficult to detect, and the cause of death of the victim could easily be recognized as accidental consumption of moldy food.

What’s more, the target age this time was quite old.

Jude turned around, leaned his back against the blind corner of the balcony, and glanced at the old lady in the room, holding an herbal medicine and burying her head to quickly write.

There was no better place to start than an inn.

Five years ago, Godwin Lopez, who was in his prime, awarded his commander position to Victor, his deputy commander at the time, and retired from the front line. People have speculated that this “real Hero” would turn to the path of politics. Unexpectedly, Godwin had simply liquidated all his properties, ran to the remote town of Roadside Town, and bought the only inn in the village.

He kept the name of the Ramon Inn and began to try to operate it.

When this legendary hero first arrived in this small place, he caused an uproar. People from nearby towns came to watch, and many even came from other countries thousands of miles away to see the excitement, so the business of the Ramon Inn became prosperous.

Almost everyone agreed that Godwin Lopez was just taking a short break and taking advantage of the peace of the world to change his mood.

However, year after year passed, and Mr. Lopez’s third child had already learned to walk, and the famous Mr. Lopez still didn’t mean to give up the inn at all, and even seemed to be enjoying it.

For some reason, the new queen of Alban acquiesced to such behavior. At first, everyone was betting on when the envoys from the capital would come to recall him, but five years passed, and no one came.

It wasn’t bad, Jude rolled his eyes.

He just needed to wait for Lopez to leave the hotel and kill the old woman.

So what if he was a Hero? That silly old lady had just finished her breakfast, and when she was eliminated with no traces of evidence, Lopez wouldn’t be able to refute anything even if he tried. Once the statute of limitations had passed, the demon’s toxin would be completely decomposed, and even if Lopez investigated this matter deeply, he would most likely only get the result of food poisoning.

Not to mention that failure to find the murderer would tank Lopez’s business and drag down his reputation. On the whole, Mr. Hero won’t get any benefit at all. Who would do such a stupid thing?

Anyway, such a great person must be used to seeing life and death and wouldn’t make a fuss about the death of some old lady.

Jude pricked up his ears, pretended to taste the wine in the jug, and carefully eavesdropped on the conversation between Mr. Lopez and his beautiful wife downstairs.

“Ten years, Godwin.” Mrs. Lopez shook her head and huffed. “You can’t keep going to Ollie’s for get-togethers. We should hold a family banquet here or something.”

Godwin Lopez snorted solemnly, but this solemnity didn’t bring him much authority—Not far away, two little boys were fighting with tree branches.

The youngest girl rode on Mr. Lopez’s neck, pulling on the blond hair hard and giggling.

“They just came back from a trip last week, and this time they will probably stay in peace for a few more years. How about inviting them over to dinner this time?”

“We can go to the tavern together.” Mr. Hero’s voice was a bit uncomfortable.

“What did you say?” Mrs. Lopez crossed her arms with amazing momentum. “That skull has been in this yard for so many years. My eldest brother’s visit will not cause any natural disasters. What’s more, this is Ollie’s—”

“Okay, I admit I’m still psychologically challenged, but you think those brats would have started to remember.” Godwin rubbed his temples. “We have to figure out how to explain now that they can still remember ‘Uncle Ollie’. In another ten years, we have to explain to them why Uncle Ollie became Ollie’s brother. Debby, your older brother looks even better than you now—”

“Hmm?” Debby raised her tone.

“Older than you…”

“Hmm???”

“…Nothing.” Godwin coughed twice, swallowed the second half of the sentence, and quickly changed the subject. “Olivia, don’t pull daddy’s hair so hard.”

“Okay, let’s talk about this after dinner. You, first go to the next town to bring back the new dishes, and when you come back for dinner in the evening, I’ll go to the orphanage to tend to it.”

“Okay.”

Very good. Jude tightened the lid of the jug and wiped his mouth as he watched Godwin Lopez leave the Ramon Inn in a carriage.

Now the owner of the Ramon Inn was just a beautiful girl and her kids. There was nothing to worry about—Godwin Lopez had done at least one thing logically. He married a lady who was quite good looking.

Jude heard someone talk about Mrs. Lopez while drinking, but unfortunately, he was too drunk at that time and didn’t hear much, but it didn’t matter. It was just a woman that could be easily taken care of.

Making sure that the carriage had disappeared into the depths of the woods in the distance, and counting the time, Jude neatly pried open the balcony door and entered the room. Before the old lady had time to express her surprise, she just screamed a little, and fainted to the ground from the demon’s poisonous gas. Turning over the old lady’s eyelids and determining that the toxin had reached a lethal amount, Jude hummed happily and turned to the balcony—

Mrs. Lopez was squatting on the high-rise balcony in a standard mercenary posture; her eyes were cold.

Fearfully, her eldest son, with a branch in his mouth, jumped up just as awkwardly.

“Abyssal magic… I thought it was a registered demon worshipper, but it doesn’t seem to be anymore. Eddie, go and inform the garrison.”

“Okay, mom.” The boy narrowed his eyes and disappeared off the edge of the balcony. Jude was pretty sure he didn’t hear the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground.

“Motherfucker!” Jude took out a weird fruit from his pocket and smashed it directly to the ground.

Suddenly, a thick yellow gas full of pungent odors filled the room.

Debby chanted, waved away the thick smoke, and rushed to the old woman who fell to the ground. Healing spells and detoxification spells were quickly completed in the air, but unfortunately, the old lady was weak, and the demon toxicity was really too strong—Thankfully her life was still safe, but Debby didn’t have time to chase the murderer.

“Mom!” her little daughter yelled angrily below. “Someone is running away into the woods; Rennie is going after him!”

“Catch your second brother!” Debby shouted downstairs while adjusting the healing spell. “It’s okay, he can’t get away!”

“Lies! He obviously ran away!” her youngest son screamed hard, sounding like he was struggling.

“There’s only one place the demon worshipper could go if he’s fleeing, and that’s to Noer.” Debby cleared her throat. “Just leave that asshole alone. Go to the basement and get some marigold powder and snake blood vine. Uncle Nemo will take care of this matter.”

“……Hmph.”

At the same time, Jude was running wildly in the Border Forest.

Hell, seeing that Mrs. Lopez was young and beautiful, he didn’t do an in-depth investigation. Rich enough and with a good face, Godwin Lopez obviously didn’t lack beautiful playthings that would be obedient… Is that man a masochist?

It seemed that with Mrs. Lopez’s posture, this task was probably going to fail.

But it didn’t matter. Jude took two breaths.

Garland’s attitude towards demons was still much looser. As long as he mixed into Noer before the garrison of Roadside Town released the news, he could escape the possible pursuit.

He had been walking outside for the past few years, and it was time to go to the Dawn Tavern for a drink and buy some new information from his colleagues.

About twelve years ago, the original owner of Dawn Tavern, Talbott Vance, disappeared. As soon as the two-and-a-half-year retention period passed, two wealthy young people bought it.

Jude happened to not be nearby during that time. When he stepped into the tavern again, the two young bosses were no longer in the store, and he heard that they were on a long-distance trip.

Fortunately, although the decoration style has changed a lot, Dawn Tavern still didn’t exclude guests who were close to demons. Although it was a pity that there wasn’t Vance who he could exchange information,

Jude used magic to speed himself up desperately, and when he got under the walls of Noer, he panted like an old dog with lung disease.

However, he was not panting alone.

Not far from him, a man in a black robe took off his hood, bent down, and held his knees with both hands, panting as if he was about to suffocate on the spot in the next second.

The man looked to be in his thirties. His black hair was stuck to his face by sweat, his skin was unhealthy pale, and his eyes were an ominous dark red. The man’s face was handsome and elegant, with a hint of arrogance. It was just that the arrogance was swallowed up by his current demeanor.

There is a tin badge pinned to the man’s black robe. It looked like it was quite old as the pattern was somewhat faded.

Although this person didn’t bring a demon, he was quite sure that this wasn’t a good sign. Jude sniffed. He was pretty sure he smelled the soil from graves, skeletons, and strong potions.

For a moment, the two looked at each other in silence and awkwardness. The black-robed man was the first to stop panting. A series of spells smashed down. Numerous stone platforms floated out from the walls, and the other man climbed up first.

Jude tugged at his gray beard and decided to take advantage of it. He grabbed the protruding small stone platform and climbed up after the man, happy and relaxed.

The strange man glanced at him in confusion with red eyes, and then leaned against the wall and looked around nervously, as if he was on guard for someone.

This guy was probably in the same situation as himself, and he was probably an unlucky fellow who had failed his dirty work and had been discovered. Jude smacked his mouth, climbed onto the wall, jumped over first and ran towards the Dawn Tavern in his memory.

And the black-robed man trotted beside him, taking the exact same route.

They glanced at each other embarrassedly again.

It seemed that he may not be able to get rid of his relationship with this kid. Jude patted his demon and ran faster.

The Dawn Tavern wasn’t in the center of the city. It had also been expanded by an extra floor, which made it very easy to find. There was no sound of armor clashing from soldiers running around. It seemed that he had escaped fast enough. Jude breathed a sigh of relief, walked into the tavern carelessly and touched the butt of the waitress in the shop…

As a result, before the hand could touch the waitress’ black skirt, the waitress with braided hair squeezed his wrist tightly. The cute girl with freckles looked at him with weird eyes and increased the strength of her hands with a smile.

Jude screamed and struggled desperately. Seeing that the woman finally let go, Jude cursed a few swear words secretly, rubbing his sore wrist bitterly. There was no waitress at the Dawn Tavern before, so he thought he could skim some oil off the water* to comfort his injured heart.

*Metaphor referring to taking advantage of others in public.

His luck was simply terrible today.

The black-robed man who came in with him had already rushed to the wooden platform and spoke hurriedly to the young man in the waiter’s uniform behind the wooden platform.

“Mr. Light, can I borrow your kitchen to hide for a while?”

“Yes, it’s okay…” The waiter was a beautiful young man with black hair tied behind his head in a ponytail, and he looked a little inexplicably familiar, but Jude was very sure that he shouldn’t have met such a young guy before.

“Thanks.” The man in the black robe didn’t say much, and hurriedly rushed to the back kitchen.

The young waiter looked a little helpless. He picked up a book and sat back in his seat.

Jude brushed past, and before he could order a drink, he heard the growing clamor outside.

“…A person from the Laddism Church…”

“Why is the commander of the Knights of Judgement here?”

“Shh, shh, keep your voice down!”

Jude’s heart thumped. He glanced nervously at the dangerous demon on his shoulder and swallowed.

Whether they were after him or not, it was too late to escape now, and it was better to not attract too much attention to himself.

“Mr. Light,” Jude imitated modestly. “Can I borrow your kitchen to hide for a while?”

The young waiter raised his eyebrows, looked at him up and down, and then smiled.

“Of course you can,” he said with a smile.

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 272: Home

“…Jesse, get out of the bathtub.”

“This is the guest room. You said I could use it casually!”

“That’s because you said you wanted to take a hot bath. I have to remind you that the average hot bath doesn’t last for five hours. Now you look like you want to stew in your own soup. Of course, if you really have this idea, I’m willing to help—” Nemo cracked his knuckles.

“I like this bathtub,” Jesse said.

He especially shrank his beast shape a little bit so that he could stuff himself into a large round bathtub. The long white fur floated on the hot water surface, emitting hot steam, and the shrunken beast put its long mouth on the edge of the bathtub and squinted its blue eyes comfortably.

Not far from the bathtub was a window that had accumulated a thick layer from the swirling snowflakes that floated onto the windowsill. Jesse hummed comfortably, and even added a circle of insulation runes to the bathtub for free.

Nemo took a deep inhale. “…Mr. Cross!”

Hearing the call, footsteps sounded from the stairs. Ten seconds later, Adrian Cross pushed the door in.

“…” After glancing at the scene in front of him, the former Knight of Judgment pinched his brows. “How long has he been soaking?”

“More than five hours.”

“I suggest you just directly use a freezing spell,” Adrian proposed politely.

“Less than five hours!” Jesse protested. “Adri, my heart is breaking. How can you be so cruel—”

“It’s been five hours and seven minutes since you said you were going to take a hot bath,” Nemo interrupted cruelly. “Debby did your share of work for you. Jesse, don’t tell me you’re just going to go down to dinner like this later.”

“Strictly speaking, our friendship has been for tens of thousands of years, right? My dear Pillar of the World, you don’t care about these short five hours—”

“Then you can choose not to eat later.” Nemo rubbed his hands slowly. “I’ll tell Debby to stop picking thornberries and turn the rest into jam because the fresh thornberry cake she had specially prepared for someone is no longer needed.”

Jesse shook the tips of his ears.

“By the way, we can add a dish to dinner, stewed wolf broth. Anyway, the ingredient has already washed itself very clean.”

“…You know, I’m not a wolf.”

“It’s okay, the guests don’t.” Nemo straightened his sleeves and smiled, and he stepped out of the bathroom with one foot. “I’ll leave it to you next, Mr. Cross.”

Jesse huffed back, “Okay, okay. Give me ten more minutes, and I’ll go down and pick those damn thornberries.”

“Ten minutes might be too late.”

Adrian picked up the bath towel, wiped the beast’s head, and covered its two-pointed ears with the bath towel.

“Miss Light used it to feed Bagelmaurus as she picked them. In ten minutes, there may be nothing left. I suggest you get out quickly and use a drying spell.”

The cool black nose poked out from under the bath towel and poked the side of Adrian’s face. Adrian stopped the movement of his hands and kissed the bridge of the beast’s furry nose lightly. “Stop it, Jesse…Okay, Lord Zenni.”

Only then did Jesse step out of the bathtub with satisfaction and change back to human form.

“After all, it is an important day for those two.” Jesse lifted up his long golden hair and steamed it dry by himself. “I will make up for the lost progress. Don’t worry.”

Nemo walked out of the guest room on the second floor. Instead of going downstairs, he walked to the top floor of the house.

The ceiling on the top floor was very high, but it was just the beveled roof style of a wooden house. More than half of one wall was covered with glass windows, and the view was surprisingly good. The balcony outside the small door was covered with thick snow, and under the action of the magic array, the interior was as warm as spring.

This room was only arranged today.

The soft sofa was placed in the middle of the room; the wide wooden table in front of it was equipped with a tablecloth printed with a heat preservation array, and the teapot on the table was still spewing hot air from its spout.

The fire in the fireplace was burning vigorously. The carpet was fine and thick enough that it was very comfortable to walk up barefoot. There were warm-toned landscape oil paintings on the walls, and Nemo knew very well that there were countless Tumbleweed mission photos hidden behind them—even if they were sealed in a solid stone box in advance, he and Bagelmaurus took a lot of trouble to get them out of the bottom of the Abyss.

Not far from the corner of the painting stood an elegant bird stand, with a nest covered with soft velvet. Lord Bagelmaurus wouldn’t be able to pick anything wrong.

They covered it with a cloth and decided to use it as a surprise.

The large bed was hidden behind a semi-enclosed partition, covered with brand-new soft sheets. The vase on the small wooden table at the head of the bed was filled with fresh flower branches, and the two water cups were attached together and placed next to the vase.

After coming out of the bottom of the Abyss, he bought a lot of books, and now they were neatly placed on the bookshelf not far from the bed.

Stuffing the few books scattered on the table back into the bookshelf, Nemo poured himself a cup of hot tea and looked out the window at the lively scene…

The late winter celebration was approaching, and the entire city of Noer was covered with all kinds of lanterns, flashing warm flames in the gradually dimming night. Most of the nearby houses had only one or two floors, and the roofs were covered with frosted snow.

People carried bread and mulled wine, talking and laughing, and returned home, while children screamed and laughed, rolling around in the snow.

Unconsciously raising the corner of his mouth, Nemo walked to the other side of the room and added some milk to the tea.

The back of the house could be seen here.

He and Oliver built a small garden at the back, which was now also buried by heavy snow. However, the necessary roads had been cleaned out, and the exquisite lanterns had already been hung up.

Oliver’s black horse was freely walking around in the small garden, as if it was spreading joy while the fuller goat honestly stopped in its comfortable shed and chewed fresh forage leisurely.

A pair of warm arms circled his shoulders from behind.

“Someone’s being lazy.” Oliver kissed his ear from behind.

“Two minutes ago, I just scared our great God out of the bathtub.” Nemo pushed down the muscular arm and turned his face sideways. “That’s worth a cup of tea.”

“I saw Jesse. He just caught up with the cleaning work.” Oliver contentedly put his chin on his lover’s shoulder. “You know, Jesse is enough for one person for this job, and he wanted everyone to take a break, so he dismissed them. Now, only Mr. Cross and Bagelmaurus are still with him on the first floor. Wait, you wouldn’t have guessed this before you just—”

“I’m done eating anyway!” The shrill scream of the gray parrot came from the first floor. “Do you want me to spit it out, huh? You won’t eat the thornberries I spit out, Dylan. Don’t think you… Ahhhhhh! I apologize, I apologize. Don’t do it—!”

Then an ear-splitting sound of tables and chairs banging to the ground resounded.

“…Is he really cleaning up?” Oliver choked. “I’ll go down and have a look.”

“Commander, wait. Commander, you can’t just—” Debby’s voice came from the door, getting closer and closer.

“Okay, I won’t go.” Oliver changed his words solemnly, speaking quickly.

As soon as Nemo put down the teacup in his hand, Oliver stuffed himself into the closet and carefully pulled the door closed.

The power of this newborn God was getting stronger. If it weren’t for seeing Oliver get into the closet, it would be difficult for Nemo to notice that a living thing was inside at first glance.

As soon as Oliver hid himself, there was a heavy knock on the door.

“Come in.” Nemo coughed dryly. They could all feel the powerful aura of the visitor—the guest didn’t bother to hide it.

“Where’s Ramon?” Seeing Nemo, Godwin subconsciously put his hand on the hilt of the sword; his expression was completely blank.

The leader of Horizon was wearing ordinary clothing that covered his eyes and ears and a funny cloth hat that was buttoned onto his head. There was still a lot of half-melted snow left on it. Godwin put his right hand on the hilt of the sword, holding an invitation tightly in his left.

“Long time no see, brother.” Nemo’s tone was very pleasant.

Hearing this address, Godwin sighed fiercely as if he had a toothache. He took a half step back, grinded his teeth, and repeated in a flat tone, “Where’s Oliver Ramon?”

Debby looked around and decided to stand between Nemo and Godwin, trying to block her eldest brother, who was much taller than herself.

Godwin Lopez, who he hadn’t seen for more than half a year, had slightly longer hair, and his tone didn’t sound like he just wanted a brotherly hug.

“The commander of the team is very angry,” Debby poked Nemo’s arm and whispered. “At first, he was going to publish the killing of the ‘Demon King’ as a collaboration and take our investigative information to clear the name of the ‘almost total sacrifice’ of Tumbleweed to reverse the notoriety.”

“Then what?” Nemo asked back in a low voice.

“Ollie must have said something underground, and almost everyone decided that he didn’t have time to escape, as Godwin said, but stayed back ‘for the bone jade’. The proof materials prepared by the commander were also taken away in advance, and I guessed who did it when I thought about it—”

“Oh, I probably know what Ollie was thinking…”

“I also know what he’s thinking.”

Godwin gritted his teeth and joined the conversation.

“If this kind of thing was said in advance, I would never agree to it. Yes, I know that concealment will be more low-key, but the comments outside are really… His name deserves to be remembered by the world! I warned Mr. Ramon a long time ago, ‘Don’t lie to me anymore’. Now I’m here to beat someone up. I hope he’s ready.”

“Commander!”

“I can’t even explain too much for him!” Godwin shouted, subconsciously trying to insert the sword in his hand into the ground. As a result, the leader of Horizon glanced at the thick and soft carpet on the ground, and bitterly retracted it from the scabbard. “Every time I explain—”

“…Poor Mr. Lopez, who was robbed of the name of the Hero by his own blood relatives and excusing that bastard in this way.”

Debby interrupted Godwin’s words, took out her handkerchief, pretended to wipe away tears, and deliberately raised her voice, thin and sharp. “He’s really too good. Miss Light, can you help me deliver a love letter to him?”

“After such a trip, the one who contributed the most was obviously from Horizon. Oliver Lopez just grabbed the last blow… As a result, in order to steal the bone jade, Tumbleweed, with the exception of Savage, was obliterated. He really deserved it!” Nemo cooperated with Debby and imitated it with interest.

“You two know very well that I can hear you, right Lights?”

Godwin took a deep breath. “And, Mr. Light, think about your identity. Don’t talk about the last blow—I’m pretty sure you two are immortal now.”

“Speaking of which, Godwin, do you want bone jade? I can grab a piece for you.”

“…Stop talking.” Godwin rubbed his temples as if he had a headache. This topic had brought up his stomach pains again.

“Oliver is in the closet over there.” Nemo smiled and shook his head, and there was a muffled scream in the closet.

Godwin walked to the closet mercilessly and opened the door.

“Nemo,” Oliver slowly pushed himself into the back of his clothes, his voice aggrieved.

“You can’t hide from him for the rest of your life.” Nemo picked up the teacup. “Would you like a cup of hot tea, Debby?”

“Considering that today is your wedding, Mr. Ramon, I won’t punch you in the face.” Godwin punched Oliver in the stomach without a smile.

“It’s been a long time since I saw you. I miss you too, brother.” He didn’t avoid that fist and was punched in the abdomen. Oliver bent over like a shrimp, and he didn’t forget to pat Godwin’s arm on his hand.

Godwin’s facial muscles twitched, and he let out a long, cold snort.

“Don’t be fooled by that stinky face. He brought a gift, and it’s downstairs.” When Oliver straightened up, Debby stood on tiptoe, trying to get her face over Godwin’s shoulder to mouthed words to Oliver.

“Having said that, since you are ready to carry the stigma all the time, I thought you wanted to keep a completely low profile.” Godwin didn’t notice Debby, who was doing little tricks behind his back. “Why did you choose such a place?”

Oliver was startled.

“The scenery is pretty good and the whole town can see it. I heard that you repaired this house this year, and it seems that there’s even a garden behind it.”

Godwin looked meekly out of the window into the garden, and then quickly took his gaze back from the black horse that was trotting around.

“Since the third floor has been added, why not just raze it and rebuild it? It’s faster that way. We just glanced at it, and the second floor basically maintained its original layout.”

“An old friend’s house.” Oliver smiled, glancing at Nemo, who was drinking tea in silence. “We don’t want to damage those rooms.”

“Debby once told me that you directly bought the Dawn Tavern and the land. Old friend… Do you know the former owner of Dawn Tavern?” Godwin raised his eyebrows.

“Nn,” Nemo responded. “…He’s a good friend of mine.”

Godwin opened his mouth, obviously wanting to ask again. As a result, the gray parrot rushed into the room, covered with mud.

“Ready!” Bagelmaurus flapped its wings and quickly flew to Nemo’s shoulders, pretending that nothing had happened. “Banquet, banquet! Free banquet! There are a lot of people looking around at the door!”

“Where’s Ann?”

“She came a long time ago and brought Delia. Her picky knight just wiped down every table again. It was terrible. I just plucked a thornberry from the corner of the table and planned to eat it, but he directly burned it with a spell! Isn’t it just a little dirt?”

“……”

“Can I beat him up?” Seeing Nemo’s helpless expression, the gray parrot jumped eagerly a few times.

“Strictly speaking, Ann is our largest benefactor. Her knight does have the right to supervise.” Nemo scratched the feathers of the gray parrot. “I’ll buy you some fresher ones tomorrow.”

“…Tsk, okay.”

Seeing Oliver next to him walking towards the door, Nemo put the teacup aside, put down his rolled-up sleeves, and smoothed the folds of his cuffs.

“At any rate, it’s the first day of the Dawn Tavern’s re-opening.”

Stopping at the door, Oliver put on his formal clothes and stretched out his right hand. His face was full of smiles, and the ring on his left hand looked like a warm star under the yellowish indoor lighting.

“Even if it’s a wedding between two male shopkeepers who are ‘not blessed by God’, I don’t think there will be too few guests.”

“That’s right.”

Nemo raised the corner of his mouth and stretched out his left hand, wearing a ring.

“Take me away, my knight.”

From time to time, noisy laughter came from the first floor, and the deep winter festival in the center of the town had already begun. The snow was blown by the wind, and the fireworks that couldn’t stop burning brightened the dark winter sky.

The lights on the third floor of the Dawn Tavern went out.

The moment its new owner closed the door, the brilliance of a spell jumped out of his fingertips and lit up gently. The branches in the vase by the bed stretched out in an instant, and more than a dozen small, fragrant flowers bloomed in the dark.

The tiny flowers were illuminated by the fireworks in the distance, flickering in the dark.

When the owners of this room return again, the name “room” may no longer be appropriate…

In this case, people usually like to call it “home”.

---

The author has something to say:

Happy New Year everyone!!!

They got married in the New Year—! From now on, they are legal husbands(?) (*/ω＼*)

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 271: A Summer Day

Nemo, who was lying on Oliver’s lap, stopped poking the tip of his lover’s nose. He spread the five fingers of his right hand and rubbed Oliver’s cheek.

The cacophony of cicadas came from the trees above their heads, and the air was filled with the scent of fresh bark and ferns after being exposed to the sun.

Feeling the heat from that hand, Oliver moved the palm of his hand covering his eyes away, revealing little red circles around his eyes.

Nemo’s body temperature had always been slightly higher than his own, and he liked it very much. Oliver opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but his choked throat couldn’t squeeze out the slightest sound.

Under the sun, Nemo stared at him seriously and intently. The familiar yet unfamiliar pupils maintained the inhuman demon-shaped cross, and the warm eyes were full of smiles.

Oliver subconsciously grabbed the gold pendant hanging close to his chest, but the hand that was reaching for it suddenly changed direction halfway.

A cleansing spell removed the sweat, blood, and dirt from the two of them. Oliver then opened the pendant on his chest and took out the ring.

His Demon King blinked, turned his head, and his scattered black hair rubbed against his legs, without the slightest intention of sitting up.

Oliver twitched his nose and grabbed the hand that was still stroking his cheek. However, the freshly baked Mr. Hero grabbed an empty space and instead his wrist was squeezed.

Nemo curved his eyes with a smile. He released his right hand and finally propped up his upper body—the great Demon King propped up Oliver’s thigh and his right hand spread out with his palm pointed upward.

On top of the fair skin, two simple and generous rings were lying quietly together. One of those rings was just on his ring finger a few seconds ago. Oliver didn’t even notice how the other party managed to snatch it.

“Do it again.” The noon sun was extremely strong, and a spot of light swept across his eyes as Nemo narrowed them slightly.

“Your Majesty, you’re pressing on my leg. I can’t get down on one knee.” Oliver’s voice was still a little muffled.

“Who said I wanted you to propose? You have already asked, so now it’s my response.” Nemo’s face got closer. “Give me your hand, Ollie.”

Oliver raised his left hand obediently. The hand armor had been completely shattered in the fierce battle a while ago and was missing. His slender fingers were full of small blood gashes that were healing—concentrating all his energy to heal Nemo, he completely forgot the small pain between his fingers.

Nemo grabbed the hand and imprinted his lips on the fingers. The tip of his tongue poked out slightly, and the hot and humid touch brushed against his wounds and made Oliver’s back numb.

Then his Demon King kissed the back of his hand, and slowly and solemnly put the ring on the ring finger of his left hand, as if it was the most important thing in the world.

At this angle, Oliver could see his lover’s drooping eyelashes, and the top of Nemo’s hair was also very close. The subtle scent of that heartwarming smell once again burrowed into his nostrils.

“Okay, my fiancé.” Making sure the ring was in place, Nemo raised his head.

Since they met, Oliver had never heard Nemo speak in such a tone—it was smooth and bold, with reassuring confidence and power, but strangely mixed with a lot of restraint and shyness that belonged to “Nemo Light” alone.

Oliver grabbed the other party’s hand. His right hand, which was holding the ring, slightly trembled. This hand never deviated halfway when holding a sword, but now it took several tries to put the ring on his lover’s finger.

The black gem embedded in the ring had been carefully processed and polished to a pleasant roundness. The simple and elegant ring shape, complimented by Nemo’s slightly pale skin, made the scene perfect. His lover cocked the corners of his mouth. Nothing in this world could hurt them anymore.

Oliver’s eyes were a little sour again.

It was just that this time, rather than covering it with the palm of his hand, he chose to hug Nemo abruptly and kissed him fiercely.

Nemo didn’t force himself to maintain his balance. His back fell to the soft moss, his fingers dug into Oliver’s soft light brown hair, and he responded to the kiss with all his strength.

The warmth and shudder brought by the tongue sweeping across the gums was tantalizing, causing Nemo to press the other person tighter into his arms. His black robe that was turned into a cloak became tattered in the battle, and he didn’t have time to repair it, and now it was making an unbearable tearing sound, but he didn’t worry about it. He simply tore off the broken armor behind Oliver with his fingertips and rubbed his fingers slowly on his lover’s smooth and strong back.

Just sticking skin on skin and exchanging their body heat induced a trance—bringing with it a sense of satisfaction.

Unfortunately, the passionate lovers didn’t get to do anything further, so they had to stop moving.

“There’s a carriage coming towards us.” Nemo clearly heard the creaking of the spokes and the rustle of semi-dry leaves being run over.

Something flew out of the carriage and flew straight towards Nemo’s face. Nemo didn’t stand up but stretched out his hand and grabbed it.

It was a worn-out water bag, bulging inside, shaking and clanking.

“I arrived earlier than planned, and it seems that this decision was correct.”

A familiar voice sounded. Ann Savage, dressed as a warrior, jumped out of the carriage and waved to Marshal Gallagher, who was driving the carriage. Standing firmly on the ground, Ann’s sharp gaze swept past the two people who were not neatly dressed, and she tsked loudly.

“If I had come a little later, I probably would have seen something I shouldn’t have… And then have to go to a nearby inn with Mr. Mad Dog for a few days and wait until you two are done with your ‘long awaited reunion’ before we get down to business.”

She aggravated the pronunciation of “long awaited reunion” and made a lewd gesture from an angle that her knight couldn’t see.

Oliver’s face was a little red, compared to Nemo’s, who was much calmer.

“Ann.”

His robe was full of holes and one shoulder was exposed, revealing the beautifully shaped clavicle, but this obviously didn’t weaken the majesty of the Pillar of the World.

“Now you can settle accounts with me,” Nemo said softly.

“Oh, the thing about Abbas.” The smile on Ann’s face disappeared, and then she cleared her throat. “I do plan to deal with it. As I said before, I can’t just laugh it off… Even for you now, a human judgement may be just small and ridiculous.”

Nemo didn’t make a sound but looked seriously at the female warrior standing opposite of him.

Ann closed her eyes. “Nemo, as Andrea Alastair, my verdict is as follows—according to Alban’s law, prisoners who kill important members of the royal family need to be beheaded and all property confiscated. Relatives within three generations will be deprived of their citizenship and exiled abroad as refugees, and their heirs aren’t allowed to enter Alban. Once found, if they return, they will be punished according to the severity of the situation and expelled again.”

“The beheading part, per ‘Ulysses’ has already been done. As for Alban’s citizenship, you and Oliver have long since disappeared. In the end, your mimicry is perfect, and I don’t think you and Oliver will have any heirs. Then under the laws implemented by humans, I decree—Nemo Light and his fiancé Oliver Ramon will be banished from Alban and will not be allowed to do any work in Alban.”

“Ann…” Oliver was just about to say something but was stopped by Nemo’s raised hand.

“Just now you said, ‘as Andrea Alastair’, what about as Ann Savage?” Nemo nodded and asked calmly.

Ann took a long breath and looked at the woods around her with nostalgic eyes.

“As Ann Savage, let me see… You helped me save my lovely niece, stopped the prince’s comprehensive war plan for Alban and Willard, ended the expedition so that we no longer have to worry about the bone jade being further weaponized. These are great kindnesses to me, and my answer is already in that water bag. Don’t worry, I will give you a large remuneration, which will be paid out of my private account.”

Hearing this, Nemo untied the water bag, poured out the copper cylinder inside, and carefully unscrewed it. Oliver leaned over quickly, put his chin on Nemo’s shoulder, and stared at the small print on the parchment.

“…This is the proof of citizenship of Noer,” Oliver said softly.

“Nemo Light and Oliver Ramon. I didn’t change your names.” Ann shrugged. “Of course, this thing comes from, uh, my channel as a Black Chapter, which is not very formal, but I guess you two don’t want to go off and be some kind of big shot.”

Having said that, she didn’t hold herself tight, and laughed without any irony.

“What everyone knows these days is Oliver Lopez. No one cares about proof of identity for the little guy, do they?”

“I accept.” Nemo lowered his head a little and saluted.

“Ann, I’m sorry. ……This is not an apology for killing your brother. A fight is a fight. But as a friend, I’m sorry for the sad memories you have.”

“Okay, okay, I’ve already dealt with you two.”

Ann snorted softly and twitched the corners of her mouth.

“It’s not like I’m the one that wants to live with you. What else can I do next but to secretly scold you a few times in my heart and then think about how stupid you are starting to look. That is until I wake up one morning and no longer actively think about it.”

The Queen of Alban approached with great strides and patted Nemo on the head.

“Oh, don’t forget, remember to call me… Mr. Light of Garland at the wedding.”

Then she sprinted neatly and jumped into the carriage.

“See you in Noer!” The carriage began to rumble forward again as Ann put her hand to her mouth and shouted loudly. “Cross and Dylan are probably almost on the surface. I’ll go and see what’s going on over there! Next, please feel free to—”

“Let’s go to Noer.”” Watching the carriage disappear among the trees, Oliver weighed the worn out water bag with a lot of emotion in his tone. “First check in, and then—”

But before he finished speaking, he was tossed to the ground by his fiancé.

“Nemo?”

“Staying at an inn won’t do.” With black hair hanging down his cheeks, Nemo looked down at Oliver from top to bottom and spoke solemnly. “We haven’t seen each other for a very long time, right? I’m afraid I can’t control my power well. Noer is a small place. If it attracts attention too early, the identity Ann arranged for us will be in vain.”

“Uh, it’s still daytime—” Oliver swallowed, his tone uncertain. His shame as a human in the face of the happiness that almost burned his brain, inexplicably weakened.

“I like the sun.” Nemo lowered his head, put his lips to Oliver’s ears and breathed on his lover’s ear, which was getting redder. “…Your eyes look the best in the sun.”

Oliver held his breath for a moment.

His Demon King was flirting raw and awkwardly, and he found that this approach was really effective on him.

In the next second, Nemo’s back slammed into the leafy grass behind him, and the emerald eyes that had just been shrouded in the shadow of the Demon King looked down from above—Oliver wrapped his legs around Nemo’s legs, his arms exerted force, and pressed his lover under his body.

“If you think about it this way, it is indeed better during the day.” Oliver lowered his head and put his hand into the severely damaged black robe. “I haven’t seen your expression in the sun for a long time, Your Majesty.”

“And we have an agreement, right? I need to help you get your shame back,” he added in a low voice.

At first it was a soft kiss like a feather, like a butterfly perching at one’s fingertips. Then there was lingering licking and sucking, and finally it turned into a crazy eagerness to bite.

Nemo raised his head, letting the sweet pain flow through his nerves. His fingertips moved dexterously on the other party’s skin, from his arms to his back, to his thin and sturdy waist. From smooth and flat skin to raised scars, Oliver’s skin gradually became damp, and his muscles gradually tightened.

He relaxed his body, his chest fluctuated violently, letting his knight tear the remnants of the black robe. The tips of his black hair were wet with sweat and swept across his shoulders. The left hand wearing the ring was tightly held by Oliver’s right hand, with ten fingers clasped, firmly pressed against the grass.

The sun swept across the shiny sweat on Oliver’s cheeks, and his emerald eyes were incredibly green.

In the midst of scorching gasps and frantic mutual demands, Nemo licked the corners of his mouth, stretched out his arms, and exerted a little force—he sat up, wrapped his arms around his lover’s shoulders, and maintained a dangerous sitting position.

“Is that okay?” Oliver chuckled. “I heard the sound of a carriage.”

“It’s a caravan.” Nemo’s voice habitually brought out a little discomfort. “But don’t worry, they won’t see or hear anything—”

However, his hand that was about to cast a spell was suddenly clasped by Oliver.

“At this distance and forward trajectory, even if they don’t cast a spell, they can’t see us.” Oliver bit Nemo’s earlobes lightly, without pausing in his body movements. “As for the sound… I think it’s fine.”

“Nice try.”

Nemo tensed his back, and in the gradually increasing pleasure, the blood seemed to turn into magma. His ears buzzed, and his voice let out soft moans.

“But Ollie, you… That’s a big caravan. They brought… hunting wolves…”

“I don’t think they can beat Your Majesty.” Oliver’s voice was also intermittent.

Nemo chuckled a few times, leaving an ambiguous bite mark on the other party’s shrugging shoulder.

“Of course.” The pale cheeks were slightly red, but the calmness in Nemo’s voice wasn’t broken. He kissed those emerald eyes and moved cooperatively. “If you want to ‘dominate’ me, you still have a long way to go… my Sir Knight.”

The eyes and smell of wolves were countless times sharper than those of humans, and the one guarding the caravan was naturally no exception.

It lifted its nose and was pretty sure it smelled something similar to a human. The wolf stopped hesitantly, focused its magic on its eyes, and looked at the source of the smell…

It looked like two humans. They had almost no clothes left on them, and they were busy with… something it couldn’t understand. The young man with a darker complexion was facing him with his sweaty back full of deep scars, posing at an angle suitable for attacking.

And the other young man sitting on him had pale skin and black hair scattered on his shoulders.

The black-haired young man held the other man’s shoulder tightly with one hand, pressing his fingertips into the strong muscles, while the other hand was slightly raised. His index finger was pressed to his lips, which looked like a human gesture of ‘be quiet’.

The silver eyes were like melted silver in the sun, and the cross-eyed pupils were particularly dazzling.

The sense of oppression suddenly slammed into its head, and the tail of the wolf suddenly drooped down. Anyway, these two humans weren’t planning to come over, so it turned its heads with limited capacity and decided to pretend that it hadn’t seen anything.

The driver tugged at his beard and smacked his mouth.

“Just now, that wolf stopped for a while. Will it…”

“It’s daytime now. Why care so much? I heard that the expeditionary force is coming back. This is a good opportunity. If we get there late, the good items will be robbed by those old foxes—when the time comes, everyone will come over, and there will be nothing to sell. Then we’ll be hung by the boss in front of the store.”

That’s right. The driver glanced at the wolf again. Except for the tail sandwiched behind it, it didn’t show much abnormality. Thus, he just shrugged, yawned, and sped up the carriage.

The sun was shining, and there was no trace of clouds in the sky.

This was just an ordinary summer day, no different from the past.

---

The author has something to say:

Let me turn off the lights for the two newlyweds on the last day of 2018*—·*·: ε(ε:)

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Kinky Thoughts:

Well, this was much more descriptive than the previous scenes, so worth it.

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 270: The One Who Ends It All

“We’re almost there.”

Jesse sniffed the air and wagged his tail to the other side of his body.

“The arrangement of the temporary teleportation array has been completed. However, once the magic array is activated, even if we don’t activate it, the shortest-acting material can only remain valid for five hours… Mr. Ramon and Mr. Light have been fighting for more than seven hours. Maybe we should finish it later.”

“Don’t worry, love. They’re not going to dawdle and make fools of themselves in such matters. Surely they will act for real. Wait for my signal. After all, we have to send these two to the surface before we can slip away.”

Jesse huffed his moist nose.

“I wonder how our Godwin Lopez is progressing now?”

Not far from the center of the city.

Godwin Lopez’s heart was blank, but it wasn’t in a bad way.

In addition to the strength of the fighters themselves, the real battle was influenced by countless factors—from the environment, weapons and equipment, the possible follow-up effects of war, and the humidity of the air, mood, and tension.

Individual combat power was just a simple part of this complex formula.

This was Godwin Lopez’s first time exposed to such a battle.

There was no hatred, no worry, and no terrible responsibility to shoulder. He only needed to control the team in the right position, and at the same time attract the attention of the so-called “Demon King” in front of him.

Even if he knew in advance that what was in front of him was not the real Demon King, he couldn’t help but get serious.

For the first time since entering the Abyss, Godwin’s blood began to boil. He no longer needed to look forward and think about other things. Those intricate situations, the worrying past and future, all disappeared in his mind at this moment.

Along the way, he did have a headache because of Oliver’s and Debby’s undisguised beaming, but if that was the price of joining this battle, it was quite worth it.

The body of the holy sword, which had cut the Demon King twice, trembled. The strange beast in front of him let out an earth-shattering roar. The green feathers on the edge of its black wings cut four dazzling arcs of light in the dim battlefield.

The most powerful and… safest enemy in the world.

This wasn’t for others. It wasn’t a task, but just to “help”. He finally left everything in the world behind and the unprecedented sense of peace and happiness wrapped around Godwin.

It was just a simple, unforgettable battle.

He didn’t know if it was Nemo Light’s advanced arrangements, as all the attention of the “Lord of Illusion” was focused on Godwin. The rest of the members of the expeditionary force rarely attacked, as only the strongest of humans could withstand such a concentrated attack…

An attack spell grazed his body, and the sharp blade that counterattacked opened its scales. Godwin no longer had time to think about “what he looked like”. He only knew that the blood was rushing to his head and every one of his pores was dilating. His body was freed from his mental shackles, and he felt as light as a feather.

The sword in his hand had never been so obedient to command. The pains that ran through his life were thus brought to a close and relegated into memories one by one.

He was simply enjoying it, and Godwin couldn’t help but feel ridiculous.

Behind him, the dragons returned to their original size one after another and continued to bombard the relatively soft abdomen of the strange beast with magic, helping him control the “Demon King” in a certain area. Debby used magic to support an extremely strong protection. The shiny green barrier protected the weakest parts of the army to ensure that he wouldn’t be distracted by the safety of the people below.

The elves surrounded the outermost side to ensure that the golems wouldn’t disrupt the army’s formation. The one-eyed dwarves jumped around and laid brief forbidden magic arrays at the feet of the Demon King, eliminating the possibility of the Demon King summoning giant golems.

All races performed their duties and formed a huge orchestra with blades and spells as musical instruments, playing a symphony of blood and fire without any chaos.

The soldiers looked at their leader, the strongest human in Horizon, like a conductor. The orange-red light that broke out around Godwin Lopez’s body almost turned into gold, devouring the waves of incoming darkness…

Even if the enemy was outrageously terrifying, perhaps… they could survive and win.

It wasn’t until the scenery began to change rapidly that Godwin realized that the “Demon King” in front of him was retreating towards the center of the city.

[Nemo planned everything in the city.] Oliver’s voice in his memories awakened him from that wonderful sense of happiness. [His creation has no thoughts. Perceiving Nemo’s weakness, it will instinctively retreat towards the center of the city.]

[At the moment when Nemo is “dying”, I will do my best to trigger a power impact, so that his body… Uh, so it will think the Demon King is dead and there will be a, uh, moment of relaxation. With the power of Jesse and Adri, they can make a very powerful teleportation spell to the surface, and they can teleport me and Nemo out at that moment.]

[Let’s not mention all the “uh’s” you’ve been saying or how bullshit the whole middle part of your plan sounds, especially since it looks like you’re just making it up on the spot.] That was how he responded at that time. [What about the expeditionary force? What are you going to do about them?]

[Nemo has already calculated it. With the guidance of Telaranea, you’ll have time to return to the teleportation array the same way.]

[What about your companions?]

[Telaranea will bring my horse and goat back. Jesse and Adri are strong, and they can leave on their own. As a demon, Bagelmaurus only needs to fly away from the bottom of the abyss in advance.]

[One more question, if you take Light away, what will happen to the fake Demon King Light made?]

[It will disintegrate.]

[Then the expeditionary force will think I killed it, right?]

[Uh, yes. But this is not something I can decide on my own, so I want to discuss this with you—]

[I refuse.] Godwin shook his head firmly. [I don’t need this fame. I’ll let you follow your father’s path by doing the same thing. Since the fake Demon King will retreat to the center of the dead city by itself, you should have time to finish it off before you leave. I want this as part of our cooperation.]

And this cooperation was finally about to begin.

The soldiers in the expedition weren’t like sheep who would follow the leader. With the battle underway and the “nineteenth generation” in front of them so terrifyingly powerful, the fighting style was much more defensive, and they couldn’t help but constantly retreat.

Although the battle in front of them was approaching to a hot point, many people’s attention began to turn to the direction of the Demon King’s retreat, attracted by the abnormal energy radiating from the center of the dead city.

The elves, who like to act in groups of two or three, had already risen into the air, trying to discern what the ominous ball of energy expanding outward from the center of the dead city was. Several Gatekeepers had even left the team and marched towards the center on their own.

It should be time.

Godwin, who had been attracting most of the attention of the “Demon King”, avoided a black flame, waved his sword in his hand, and severed one of the wings of the beautiful creature. The strange beast in front of him let out a roar, raised its other wings while spraying out black blood, and finally rushed towards the city.

However, everyone in the expeditionary force wasn’t overwhelmed by the immediate victory in front of them. The representatives of various races wouldn’t be stupid enough to quarrel at this time. With almost no casualties, the soldiers gathered together more cautiously and didn’t break their formation.

Horizon, as the vanguard, chased the fastest speed. After more than ten minutes, all the troops rushed to the middle of the dead city and were immediately held firmly in place by the scene in front of them.

The nineteenth generation Demon King was collapsing.

The huge beast gradually melted in the literal sense, and the hard black scales turned into a thick black liquid.

It was stepping on a huge, unseen magic array under its feet. There was vigorous surface magic power running in the magic array, and the brilliance of the magic array was becoming stronger. Perhaps the Demon King’s weakness was due to this magic array. The dazzling white brilliance swallowed all the dark shadows laid by the Demon King.

Near the Demon King, Godwin Lopez seemed exhausted, and half knelt on the ground.

Oliver Lopez was holding a figure tightly in his left hand, with a weird smile on his face, and the aura around him could be described as terrifying. The ominous brilliance on the bone sword in his right hand became stronger as if it was another Demon King.

The young Debby Light suddenly covered her mouth with both hands, and a little tear flashed in her eyes. There were a few curious Gatekeepers who wanted to get close, but they were so overwhelmed by the aura that they couldn’t move.

Whatever that move was, it must’ve accumulated to its limit.

“No!” someone subconsciously shouted. “This bastard wants—”

Unfortunately, that simple shouting couldn’t stop what happened next.

A beam of light shot out.

An uncomfortable gray light penetrated the head of the “Lord of Illusion”, and the Demon King’s huge body stagnated in place. Just like the countless previous Demon Kings in legends, it began to collapse rapidly, turning into a translucent black liquid, releasing countless miasmas.

It stood to reason that now the expeditionary force should leave here immediately and look for the bone jade that would appear nearby.

But no one cheered, no one cried, and no one could even recover.

Compared with the previous months of battles, this time the expedition only lasted for about a day. It went too smoothly, as if it was a trap, and no one subconsciously was willing to buy it. This directly caused no one to accept the reality that had just happened in front of their eyes until the tremor brought everyone back from their stupor.

With the death of this generation of Demon King, the bottom of the abyss didn’t calm down, but began to tremble more strongly. The dead city began to disintegrate, and the sound of explosions sounded all around.

Countless huge stones fell from the sky above the bottom of the Abyss, and the battlefield instantly turned into a tomb that was about to be filled.

“Retreat!” Godwin Lopez’s voice was hoarse. He used his magic to amplify his voice to the maximum and then stepped off his equally exhausted mount and rushed to the tail of the army.

“But bone jade…” The human powerhouse closest to him spit out half a sentence of doubt.

“Withdraw now—!”

The shocking facts were in front of them while the deadly crisis was behind them. No one wanted to doubt the Hero’s words—it was just a teleportation to the shallow depths of the Abyss. Besides, they had plenty of remaining supplies, and they could wait for the inexplicable collapse to end before exploring for the bone jade.

The expeditionary force quickly changed its formation and withdrew to the previous teleportation gateway as quickly as possible.

Shamelessly snatching the final blow, Oliver Ramon, who would be awarded the title of “Hero”, was still standing in the dazzling white formation, motionless.

Godwin Lopez didn’t intend to care about him, but the Gatekeeper who had just returned from the slaughter made a sound.

“Oliver Lopez, it’s time to leave.”

“I want to guard my treasure.” The leader of Tumbleweed’s voice is so brisk and annoying. “Get lost.”

“Treasure? Do you want to take the opportunity to hide bone jade for yourself? …Your greed will kill you.”

“Someone once said this to me, but obviously, I am still alive and well.”

Oliver Lopez didn’t deny the speculation. The smile on his face became brighter, but the intimidation in his mouth became colder.

“Well, if you still stay here and plan to obstruct me… I may have to clean you up as well.”

Several Gatekeepers glanced at each other, ignited a parchment spell, and disappeared into the air.

Oliver breathed a sigh of relief as he knelt and sat on top of the formation.

Since the end of the battle with Nemo, he had been transferring his power into Nemo.

Before Nemo completely entered a near-death state, he couldn’t risk withdrawing the power that protected the last bit of life. This piece of flesh was like a bottomless pit, and he must be prepared for the final burst. He couldn’t tolerate the slightest distraction.

Fortunately, the battlefield was finally empty again.

In the increasingly intense white light, in the gradually intense miasma, among the collapsed ruins, he leaned the head of his lover in his arms on his shoulder.

Oliver kissed Nemo’s slightly cold ear, carefully staring at the huge beast that was melting in the array.

In front of him, the huge false creation finally melted completely until there was no black scale left.

The Demon King’s dying moment had arrived.

Oliver didn’t make a sound to remind Jesse and Adrian, who were hiding in the dark. He had a more direct way…

The last of his power exploded in the body of the newborn God, and after a steady stream of delivery, the terrifying power of the death of the flesh was perfectly simulated.

Since Godwin arrived, the magic array that had been shining brightly had finally been activated.

It was just an instant.

At the bottom of the Abyss, there was no longer a single figure left on the collapsed battlefield.

At that moment, everyone on the edge of the great teleportation gateway could feel the emptiness under their feet. It was as if the illusion of falling when they fell asleep as the ground under their feet seemed to be shrinking inward.

The bottom of the Abyss was collapsing at a terrifying speed, but no one was in the mood to consider whether this was normal at the moment.

“Quick!” After Godwin commanded Horizon, one person dropped out of the team.

“Telaranea… Telaranea!” Godwin roared, kicking the last member of Horizon into the array. “It’s about to collapse!”

“I know.”

The gray parrot had already dragged the goat away through the teleportation array, and the girl with the braided hair had led the horse into it, but she was still standing outside the array.

“I knew it. You wouldn’t be kind enough to come down and show us the way,” Godwin panted wearily. “No matter what you want to do, follow me first… If something happens to your shell here, Oliver will definitely—”

“I won’t do such stupid wasteful behavior.”

The girl with the braided hair looked at the bottom of the Abyss that was gradually shattering.

“…Godwin Lopez, did you know? For every human that I make a deal with, I will ask them a question. ‘What is the last thing you regret in your life?’”

“What the hell are you…”

“Until now, I haven’t been able to understand all the information because the answers given to me by many of them are trivial. It was obvious that such long and rich lives would go through countless twists and turns of fate—One of those idiots even told me that the last thing he regretted was that he didn’t give his child a parting kiss before he left home many years ago.”

“I don’t have time to talk this nonsense with you. Come here quickly!”

Telaranea pierced her own chest with one hand, bloodily breaking it open and pulling out a bright red eyeball. Then the demon untied the orange crystal on her chest and wrapped it around her eyeball.

“If I had given him a little more strength at the beginning, maybe the result would have changed… Now I can more or less understand those inexplicable answers.”

The eyeball flew away with the pendant, overwhelmed by endless darkness and dust.

“…It’s okay now. Let’s go.”

The girl with the braided hair turned her face, which had a calm expression. She picked up her skirt and stepped into the teleportation array without looking back.

In this way, after the last expedition member left, the teleportation array finally dimmed, and then was instantly buried by countless falling boulders.

At the same time, somewhere in the Border Forest between Garland and Alban.

The Rest in Peace lay quietly on the grass on one side, and its owner still maintained a kneeling posture.

Oliver’s arms were not empty.

…They succeeded.

After leaving the abyss, he began to desperately heal his lover, who had a small breath left. Now Nemo’s chin was still resting on his shoulder, sleeping very heavily. His heartbeat was weak but regular.

It wasn’t until his breathing began to fail that Oliver realized that he was already in tears.

The black armor was so damaged that there was not much left, and he shakily held Nemo as he leaned against a nearby tree. After adjusting his posture with difficulty for a while, he sat down against the tree and let his lover’s head rest on his leg.

After doing all this, he covered his eyes with one hand and stopped controlling the tears.

Sunlight penetrated through the gaps in the leaves, leaving patches of light on the grass. The leaves were green, the birds sang softly, and the air was humid and warm, just like the summer when their escape began three years ago.

“Good morning, Ollie.”

A weak but gentle voice sounded in his ears.

“’No matter how bad things are, I will always greet you with a smile. At least I won’t cry like the first time.’ …Who said this again?”

His Demon King stretched out a blood-stained hand and poked the tip of his nose in revenge.

“Also, where is my ring, Mr. Hero?”

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The author has something to say:

Back to square one!!!

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Kinky Thoughts:

Reunited on the surface!!!!

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 269: Fight

The corpses of demons that have been silted up at the bottom of the Abyss for many years were missing. The air underground was cold and dry, and it smelled like snow that had been frozen for a long time near the roots of trees.

The white behemoth drew a track of faint light in the darkness. Jesse sprinted quickly between spells, his paws occasionally stomping on the skulls of demons fluttering in the air, changing direction sharply.

Considering that it took more time to prepare in advance, it was too unnatural for the three of them to disappear together. Taking advantage of the play performed by Bagelmaurus, they left the expeditionary forces to engage in fighting a “demon” in advance, then Adrian and Jesse headed in the direction of Nemo Light.

It was different from the weak appearance when guarding the reconnaissance team two years ago. Adrian’s fingertips plunged into the hot white fur. Skimming the soft fleece close to the skin, he could feel Jesse’s undulating breath and the vitality that flourished beneath the skin.

It seemed that Jesse was in excellent physical condition, and Adrian breathed a sigh of relief.

Feeling the touch of the person behind him, the behemoth turned his head and licked the fur next to his mouth. “Adri, we’re working right now. If you touch me like this, I can’t help but slow down—”

Adrian glanced at the smoke and dust exploding in the distance, skillfully ignoring the other party’s meaningful subtext. “Mr. Ramon should have left.”

“Mm-hmm, I can feel his aura.”

Jesse twisted his head straight. His claws crushed a huge floating skull, and the bone fragments splattered with the illuminating liquid contained in it. By using this as a springboard, his speed became a little faster.

“Why, Adri, are you worried that those two will end things too soon? Not to mention that they will definitely have a serious fight, even if the Devil King stands still and lets Mr. Ramon fight. This battle will take a lot of time. After all, this is the territory of the Pillar of the World.”

“I know, but we must be ready at any time.” Adrian rubbed the soft fur under his palm.

“You sound in a good mood,” Jesse hummed.

“They will succeed.”

“Maybe, maybe Ramon’s hand will slip—”

“Isn’t that what you prepared for beforehand?” Adrian was at peace.

The white behemoth shook its ears.

“There were many ways for Mr. Light to find out about his identity in the first place, but you guided them to the Eastern Witch Nadine. Without that, the two of them might not be able to find a solution so quickly.”

“Oh, you always like to think of me very well, my dear Adri,” Jesse said in a particularly hypocritical tone.

“With Horizon watching, most humans would choose to stay out of the way and stand idly by. It’s not like I can predict the fate of those two. Strictly speaking, they saved themselves. I’m just trying various possibilities—such as letting two young people meet and seeing what would happen.”

“Maybe.” Adrian smiled and shook his head.

There was a trace of order mixed with ruthlessness, and the other party was never willing to admit this.

“Since your faith is still so firm.” The tips of Jesse’s ears drooped a little. “Then why don’t you want to— I mean, even once— call me Zenni in bed? Won’t you try it?”

“No.”

“How stingy.”

“……”

Adrian grabbed the fur a little harder, and there was a faint smile in his sigh. “If everything goes well.”

The white behemoth tightened its neck, and its speed immediately increased a bit faster.

Less than an hour later, the open space in the middle of the dead city.

“I’ve been waiting for two years, Ollie.”

The black-robed Demon King’s tone was peaceful and gentle, as if they had never been separated.

Oliver’s nose is a bit sour.

This was the first time they really met after learning of Nemo’s identity.

Unlike when they first met, today’s Nemo was still flesh and blood, but had lost his initial restraint and panic, like a swaying reed turning into an ancient tree with roots deep in the soil. The beautiful silver pupils of his eyes smiled mildly. The cold inhuman feeling was a few times heavier, and the faint sense of detachment had completely disappeared.

The confusion dissipated, leaving everything under control; the calm and quiet that belonged exclusively to a higher power. The plain original stone was finally deftly carved, and Oliver couldn’t take his eyes off that luster.

This time it wasn’t a phantom or a voice. In front of him was his lover, with a true body temperature and the master of the world beneath his feet.

He thought he should have mixed feelings, mixed with awe or something in his emotions…

But now, Oliver realized that there was only one kind of feeling left in his heart, rich and ordinary.

He raised his hand.

An ice layer lifted from the battlefield layer by layer, and the originally dry air was suddenly filled with ice flakes. Nemo’s shadow blade lingered but attacked mercilessly, breaking through the hard and thick ice—but the center, guarded by the petal-like ice layer, was already empty.

Nemo reacted quickly, and the shadow shield was immediately erected. The Rest in Peace passed over the shadow shield, leaving deep traces of bubbling edges and a series of hissing sounds.

Shadow thorns rose mercilessly from the ground, and several large formations bombarded down from the sky.

A cool fingertip swept across Nemo’s cheek before the blade passed over, barely making contact.

“…I miss you so much,” Oliver said softly, jumping back, perfectly avoiding the shadow thorns exploding on the ground.

The other party’s body temperature was still on his fingertips, which should have been warm, but his fingertips were on fire.

The majestic gray mist suddenly rose, corroding all the large formations that had been smashed, and a circle of storms burst out in mid-air. The dead city around the two of them became ruins in an instant, and the rubble shattered into dust and exploded all around.

“Me too, Ollie,” Nemo responded with a gentle smile, but his offensive was even fiercer.

His Demon King was very serious, and there was no sign of letting up.

‘How wonderful,’ Oliver thought to himself.

Although the effect of the contract was there, the Pillar of the World would not really do anything to the surface, but considering the way they came to break through the Pillars of the World instinct, Oliver didn’t want to do it unilaterally.

Something brushed his cheek, causing warm blood to trickle down the side of his face. The corners of Oliver’s mouth rose higher. The overwhelming sense of oppression made him recall the battle with Jesse Dylan more than two years ago, but now he didn’t feel any despair or pain.

Even if the next shadow blade directly cuts off his left arm.

This time there was no bleeding from the fracture. His left arm turned into a gray mist and quickly returned to its position with the ring on his left finger still intact. Unfortunately, the sleeves of the clothes and the arm armor fell to the ground, but Oliver didn’t bother to direct the gray mist to pick them up.

It should have been painful, but it felt as if he was paralyzed by the joy of reunion, and Oliver’s movements didn’t stagnate at all.

The Demon King’s fighting spirit spiraled upwards. A condensed shadow dragon rose into the air, and black flames came down on his head.

On the other side, sharp ice blades gathered together and became a giant eagle entangled in the gray mist. A weird array flickered and rotated around the slender ice cone. These cold murder weapons continued to lase towards the shadow dragons, one of which couldn’t be dodged and pierced through its throat, causing it to roar and scatter.

Nemo’s chest was pierced by an icicle the moment Oliver’s right leg was burned by the black flame. But his lover merely raised an eyebrow, his rib cage quickly closed, and the icicle turned into powder.

“You stayed your hand. Just now you clearly could have attacked my head.” Nemo wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, but there was not much blame in his voice.

“Young people are just inexperienced, Nemo. You have to be fair.” The burned foot was also recovering rapidly, and Oliver grimaced a little jerkily.

“Who was the one who screamed, ‘I don’t want to hurt you unilaterally! It’s better to take this opportunity, fight in a dignified manner, and let me prove myself completely—’” Nemo vividly imitated Oliver’s tone in his memory. “You’d better hurry up. If you make a fuss like this, Jesse and Mr. Cross will get tired of waiting.”

“…I didn’t scream at that time!”

“The volume was very loud and the voice was very sharp. It was like a scream to me.”

Oliver blinked pitifully, stepping on the trembling earth.

The gray mist swept up, swallowing all the ruins around, leaving no trace. The Rest in Peace, controlled by the gray mist, pointed straight at the Demon King, but its owner sounded like he was bickering childishly.

“You can’t say that. Do you have the heart if you were me and had to beat an unarmed me until I was almost broken?”

“…” Nemo didn’t turn away.

“Don’t look at me like that. I feel terrible.” Oliver picked up the tip of his sword, and the rapidly circling gray mist immediately engulfed Nemo’s figure.

“Then you should be more straightforward and give me a hard time.” Dragging his mutilated body, which quickly recovered, Nemo finally unconsciously accelerated his breathing. “Of course, I won’t hold back either. In terms of heartache, we’re even.”

Somehow, the black shadow thorns spread over the ground and wrapped around Oliver’s heels. The thorns quickly bloomed with strange black flowers, and the long and narrow petals flew up like they were incredibly sharp blades that could saw off bones.

Oliver sucked in a cold breath, wiping the blood from his eyes.

The tremor of the earth under his feet became more severe.

“Are you so distressed that you’re shaking?”

“…I was just thinking, when will this lovely human bring me back to the surface. I can’t wait.”

“Where’s the ring?” Oliver commanded his army of gray mist while dissipating his breath and lending cover to get closer to Nemo.

“Even if you don’t give it, I can take it. But look, you’re still wearing it properly, and I don’t think you have any intention of backtracking.”

It was hard to tell day from night in the Abyss. The long and bloody dance spanned time, and the rhythm was getting faster.

In fact, regarding the return to the surface, he and Nemo discovered the solution almost at the same time.

Three years ago, when they were still in a small village in the desert, trying to save the witch Nadine, Nemo wasn’t wrong about Woodruff’s theorem.

[“Once a two-way connection across space is established, it can only die out naturally in accordance with the rules. The connection itself cannot be destroyed”… The surface contract of a superior demon also conforms to this theorem, and I suspect this is the reason I know it.]

[That’s indeed why I know it.] On the night when he re-established the knight’s oath, Nemo talked about this. [To be precise, this is the biggest theoretical basis for me to successfully send Aurorae to the surface.]

[It seems that we thought of the same thing.] Oliver, at the time, replied like this.

Nemo climbed to the surface for the first time, relying on eliminating his own cognition. He asked Flint Lopez to take away his skull, thereby causing a memory disorder that would last for decades or even hundreds of years, and successfully deceived his subconscious. It was like a human being who successfully hypnotized himself.

But Oliver didn’t want to cut off his lover’s head with his own hands and spend years waiting for the next Demon King to arise naturally.

Since they had to do it anyway, they had to find a better way.

They had done the exact same thing – tricked the cognitive instincts of some massive creature.

The root system of the Eastern Witches had no brains, and the consciousness of the Pillar of the World was in Nemo’s body, retaining only biological instincts. The situation they face was very familiar.

At that time, Oliver first put forward his own idea.

[If your flesh is on the verge of death, then let’s simulate the energy burst brought about when the flesh disappears. Can this fool your instinct…? I mean, if your body thinks that consciousness is about to return for a moment, it will definitely react a little bit, right?]

[Yes, I will relax for a moment, waiting to receive the information brought by the flesh. At least at that moment, the fence that Jesse and I erected will fail. The body of a superior demon is very large, so that moment is not enough for them to pass]

[But you can.]

[I can’t do this alone.] Nemo’s voice in memory wasn’t distressed. [Let me think about it, I was relaxed at that moment, and my enemy might have taken the opportunity to kill me.]

At the end, his voice even brought a smile.

[…Well, maybe I should change my statement. We can. But Nemo, in the end, Nadine lost her power as a result, would you—]

[No, the root system and the Eastern Witches are not considered the same as me. Their association is much weaker. I only need to pull away for a moment. That’s it.]

Yes, they only need that small moment.

Nemo stepped over the dark shadow and rose into the air. Oliver hid in the gray mist, patiently waiting for the opportunity to attack.

Consistent breathing, consistent heartbeat.

It was now.

It was more like a hug than an attack—the pale bone sword pierced Nemo’s back, covered with blood. The erosion spell that surrounds the sword devoured the flesh and was hissing.

Everything was quiet in an instant.

The body of Oliver’s sword was smooth and didn’t tremble at all.

He put his spare left arm around Nemo’s waist and hugged his lover tightly. Embracing the sweet pain, feeling the life rapidly flowing inside each other.

“Nemo…”

“Shh, my knight.” Nemo grabbed the hair on the back of his head and leaned his blood-stained lips up. “Be ready.”

The other party’s body temperature was as beautiful as a dream.

Oliver let go of the hilt of the sword and kissed his lover with all his strength. His eyes were sour, and the hair on his arms almost stood up. He tasted the sweetness, the bloody aura, and the unique taste of Nemo that had appeared in his dreams countless times—a faint cold fragrance, like the ashes of fragrant wood after burning.

He tightened his arms, eager to embed the opponent directly into his body, and used all his strength to keep his mind clear.

He was kissing his world.

Nemo’s body was getting cold and his body temperature was dropping. The other party’s breathing slowly stopped, and the hand holding his hair slowly lost strength.

The outbreak of power before the collapse of flesh was right in front of him. Oliver moved his lips up and put them on his forehead.

“Let’s go.”

He whispered softly, completely letting go of the restraints of power and pouring all of them into Nemo’s body. While retaining the last vitality, it simulated the terrifying power of flesh erupting on its deathbed.

“…Let’s go home.”

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Ahhhh *crying*. They deserve happiness!!!

For those confused or forgotten, basically what they are trying to do was what they did during the witch’s arc. Since Nemo regained his memory and was now cognizant of his identity, he could no longer leave the Abyss. To get around this “law” they were going to simulate his death. At the moment of his death, his consciousness would return to the Pillar of the World, and at that moment was when they could bypass the “law” and get Nemo back to the surface because he no longer had his cognition. This was like how they dealt with the root system of the Eastern Witch that was draining Nadine. After basically faking her death, the root system thought she was dead and no longer was attached to drain her, thus freeing her of the curse.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 268: Lord of Illusion

Parish Sherman, a Knight of Judgement who specializes in spying, was in poor shape.

In the destruction battle against the Abyssal Church headquarters, he personally ignited his flesh and used his body as coordinates for the army. This spell was extremely dangerous. Fortunately, the Church of Silence sank to the ground and the remaining Abyss worshippers were easy to clean up—the battle went smoothly and didn’t require long-term guidance. He barely managed to save his life before it completely burnt to a crisp.

As one of the few seriously injured and the only guide, Parish received a generous award.

He had been recuperating for more than two years. Perhaps affected by the rumored “miracle of the God of War”, his originally hopeless body returned to its peak state perfectly, and he just happened to catch up with the expedition.

However, unlike those guys who weren’t firm in their beliefs, Parish didn’t intend to believe in any “God of War”. Even if there was such a gentle miracle, it was definitely a blessing from Zenni.

But when he first recovered, there was always something unclear in the depths of his mind. It felt like he hadn’t slept well the night before or had forgotten something irrelevant.

In the past two years, as a member of the Knights of Judgment, he had naturally glanced at the information about Tumbleweed. Whenever he saw Alban’s Queen, Ann Savage, and the notorious “Knight of Ash”, Oliver Lopez, the feeling of forgetting something became stronger.

Not to mention Ann Savage, Parish always had a strange intuition—Oliver Lopez may be a clever liar who deliberately misled public opinion. The notoriety circulating around him always made him feel that something was off.

However, a little sense of inconsistency wasn’t enough for Parish to leave his job and obsess over finding out. Now that the opportunity had come, perhaps on the way of a smooth march, he could observe the situation of Tumbleweed more carefully.

Having said that, it was a shame.

Before Parrish turned his gaze from the back of Godwin’s head to the leader of Tumbleweed, he couldn’t help but lament quietly in his heart.

Since Adrian Cross’ apostasy, the position of the Chief Justice of the Knights of Judgement had been vacant. The strength gap between the candidates was very narrow, and infighting among the various factions had erupted. Now, several candidates were acting very actively as nominal “lieutenants”.

Pope Quinn had turned a blind eye to the vacancy of the position in the past two years. It wasn’t as if the matter couldn’t be solved quickly. Parish simply suspected that this old man had decided to watch a good show and was looking for the opportunity to sort out the scattered power that had accumulated in the Laddism Church for hundreds of years.

It would be great if Godwin Lopez’s faith was firmer.

At least for now, it seemed that regardless of strength, reputation, or image, even if it was just an honorary title, Godwin was more suitable for that position than all the candidates in the Laddism Church.

If it weren’t for the past two years that Godwin Lopez’s enthusiasm for the Laddism Church not only didn’t increase but actually decreased, even Parish himself would want to try and lobby for that great Hero.

Godwin rode his white horse quietly, his dark red cloak blowing in the wind. The orange-red halo of the holy sword, Breaking Dawn, spread through the air, and it easily defeated the magic golem that was stuck in a ball that didn’t seem to have any life.

They were made of black shadows sticking stones together. From the edge of this dead city to the center, they writhed and fell in increasing numbers from the stone wall that was seemingly glued together.

To be fair, normal intermediate demons were better to deal with—living things at least had a minimum of fear and a little temperament of life. At that moment, these terrible assassins didn’t even need to breathe.

There was no fixed form. They could easily pretend to be part of the huge dead city, slowly crawling out of any nooks and crannies.

Fortunately, this wasn’t a desolate and empty ruin but a maze of stone forests. These things were useless and were crushed in great quantities in this space. For warriors with sufficient experience, as long as they made good use of the terrain, the magic golems weren’t enough to become a deadly threat.

But as long as they were still moving forward, these things would continue to come.

Even if it was okay to deal with it at first, compared to the tireless stones, the flesh and blood would eventually become exhausted.

It seemed that Godwin’s and the one-eyed dwarf’s judgments were correct. This expedition was completely unsuitable for a prolonged war.

Horizon’s deputy captain, Warrior Victor, quickly received instructions to lead the human elites to disperse these slow-moving enemies and ensure that the vanguard formation of the expeditionary force wouldn’t fall apart.

It was rare for the chief mage of Horizon not to control the formation with the deputy leader.

At this moment, Debby Light seemed like she was a scout. Her chestnut horse almost overtook Godwin several times, and Godwin had to helplessly call her back to his side.

The elves dexterously got into the gap, and the rain of arrows, amplified by a magic array, firmly nailed the squirming darkness to the ground. The one-eyed dwarves set up a defense, smothering the advance, while the dragons simply regained their form, and directly used their claws that was painted with erosion charms, and trampled without mercy.

In the human team, the sounds of metal and stones colliding and spells exploding were endless. Compared with the sudden bloody rain and wind and the screams that cut through the air, this dull suffocation was even more unbearable.

Parish breathed slowly and released a small group of insect bugs with crystals embedded in their abdomens to the southeast, vigilantly watching the feedback of the crystals in his hands.

Everyone was busy, except for Oliver Lopez, not far away.

The leader of Tumbleweed didn’t even draw his sword. He rode leisurely on a black horse and was talking to the girl with braided hair sitting sideways on the back of the goat. His eyes were full of the unique smiles of men in love.

His own idea that “Oliver Lopez wasn’t that bad” was ultimately an illusion. Parish gritted his teeth.

An endless golem army surrounded them, and the terrifying pressure of the nineteenth generation Demon King was in the distance. The entire army was straining every nerve in the shaking dead city, and he didn’t even dare to breathe unnecessarily. Yet this bastard still had the mind to flirt with women.

It wasn’t just the lives and deaths of unrelated people; the leader of Tumbleweed obviously didn’t even care about his own companions.

After all, not far away, the giant snake demon that made people tremble on both legs roared loudly. Its stout tail swept across the dead city, and the smoke from the collapse of the stalagmites was like the smoke of a forest fire. Cross, the apostate, was using power that he didn’t know where he stole from, trying to use strong light to limit the demon’s actions.

The giant snake straightened its body and crushed it hard on the ground, causing the ground to tremble.

The dull sound climbed up along the boots and rushed straight to the head. Parrish stopped observing Oliver Lopez, vigilantly lowered his body’s center of gravity, and moved to the other side of the team until the giant snake disappeared from his vision.

Oliver Lopez straightened his waist at this moment, no longer posing as if he was idle and had that indolent look. For some reason, Parish always felt that he looked a little nervous.

In the next second, a sudden change happened.

The sky above his head was still dark, and the flying illuminated demon skull suddenly accelerated its speed of shuttling between the stalagmites.

The cold sand under people’s feet turned into grass and stone roads, and the temperature suddenly rose by a lot. The chill around them was no longer so unbearable.

Without warning, a dark, dead city was resurrected.

The black stones were like shrunken grass that regained moisture, gradually expanding, becoming flat, and possessing a regular shape. Immediately, bright-hued paint and tiles diffused from the flat surface, forming buildings well-known to all races on the surface.

Giant trees that shouldn’t have existed here rose from the ground, and buildings belonging to various races and styles blended strangely and harmoniously. Looking at it in the limited light, it looked like the most prosperous cities on the surface have been cut out of small pieces and then cleverly mixed together in one place.

But the more familiar the scenery became, the more obvious the horror caused by the darkness above the head and the floating skull.

Parish, the Knight of Judgment, swallowed quietly, drew out his sword, and scanned around vigilantly.

Something wasn’t quite right… It was too… quiet?

The moment he realized this, Parish’s back exploded in hot sweat and drenched the lining of his armor.

The giant snake being handled by the two villains of Tumbleweed was behind the expeditionary force was supposed to be struggling, but at this moment everything was silent. The figure of the nineteenth generation Demon King should have been a good distance away from them…

The Demon King wasn’t where he should be.

They were distracted by the appearance of their hometown, transformed from the dead city, and made a fatal mistake.

Less than a second after the change was over, overwhelming magic pressure bombarded down, causing the Knight of Judgement, who wasn’t weak himself, to suddenly vomit a mouthful of blood. The huge head of a strange beast stretched out from the darkness not far away, and that head alone was half the size of the original body of a dragon.

Its sharp fang was a thick as a bell tower flickering in the darkness and the cold, emotionless eyes tightly locked on the expeditionary army that suddenly looked small compared to it. The dark scales were glossy and thick, and the edges rolled over with streams of light. Parish was a little unsure whether his sword could even pierce the scale armor.

The facts were worse than they thought.

They had been completely and utterly reckoned with.

That giant snake and this city were definitely part of a trap—the nineteenth generation was undoubtedly an insidious and smart demon. After being disturbed by the giant snake, they subconsciously believed that it was the Demon King’s guard, thinking that the Demon King would obediently wait for them in the middle of the city, as was in the legends.

Most likely it was a conspiracy when the Demon King of this generation deliberately imitated Ulysses’ aura two years ago. It wasn’t to show off its strength, but to lead them to make a wrong judgement, thinking that it was comparable to Ulysses.

Parish had never been in contact with Ulysses, but as far as he remembered Ulysses’ information, the new Demon King in front of him was more than ten times larger.

…And Ulysses had destroyed the surface elites four times…

We’ll die here.

Instinctive thoughts came out of the bottom of his heart uncontrollably. Parish trembled for a long time under the impact of the seemingly boundless magic pressure.

And he wasn’t the only one. The Knight of Judgement was pretty sure he heard a few desperate sobs.

Only two people returned from the last expedition, and Oliver Lopez killed one of them. At present, the only one with expedition experience was Karapan of the Mooney Sect. Most people didn’t know how it felt to face the master of the Abyss…

It was pure, unadulterated terror.

As one of the Knights of Judgment who were loyal to the gods and had firm faith, Parish couldn’t even spare a thought for prayer or remorse.

This time it was still Godwin Lopez who moved first.

Like all the heroes in religious legends, the leader of Horizon seemed to be missing the feeling of “fear”.

With the strong light of a magic array, the white horse stepped onto the illusory array, and at the behest of the owner, he rushed directly towards the terrifying beast in front of him…

Accompanied by the admiration that almost made him cry, Parish finally recovered from the state of horror to immobility, and subconsciously turned his gaze in a different direction to the other Lopez.

Only the figure of the girl with the braided hair was left on the black horse.

He didn’t know when, but Oliver Lopez disappeared. Most likely, he saw that the situation had changed, and the odds of winning were small and unprofitable, so he slipped away quietly.

Fuck Oliver Lopez.

Parrish completely abandoned the inexplicable tolerance, cursed from the bottom of his heart, and then set up the formation with the vanguard team around him.

The palms of his hands were full of cold sweat, and the illuminated defensive formation finally allowed him to breathe again. The follow-up expeditionary forces quickly came, and the formation was constantly being replenished.

Under the leadership of Godwin, the expedition against the nineteenth generation Demon King officially kicked off…

No one noticed a gray parrot sneaking past in the dark.

“Ramon! …Oh, so you plan to walk over.”

Bagelmaurus stopped in the air on a stone road in the fantasy realm, raising its voice in joy.

“Well? How was my performance just now?”

“Very impressive.” Oliver raised his arm, let the parrot stop on his wrist armor, and poked the fluffy parrot with a smile.

“Cross and Dylan took a detour to go first. They’re already getting ready.” The gray parrot used its beak to groom its feathers skillfully. “Godwin has also made his move… If it weren’t for finding a peaceful place to stop, my body would’ve found you sooner!”

“It’s fine.” The smile on Oliver’s face was getting stronger. “I know the way.”

On both sides of the stone road were sweat-inducing streetlights—they were both old and new, and the styles were from many civilizations of different eras, but they all emitted a cold white light.

Like a scene in a nightmare, they lit up one by one, as if to show him the way.

“Bah,” the parrot spat in dissatisfaction. “I don’t care about you anymore! The great Lord Bagelmaurus is ready to go back to the goat. Anyway, Telaranea will bring it back to the surface, right? ……Tell me, you didn’t eat all the almond cookies while I was away.”

“Don’t worry, there are two bags left.”

“Oh.” Bagelmaurus raised its head arrogantly. “Then I’ll go first.”

“See you on the surface.” Oliver flicked its head lightly.

Soon, he was alone again.

At first, Oliver took advantage of people being distracted by the illusions and directly opened up a space tunnel and quickly broke away from the team. Although he couldn’t move in an instant like Nemo, he could also figure out an efficient and safe way for himself.

But as the nostalgic aura was right in front of him, Oliver couldn’t help but slow down, choosing to move forward slowly with his feet.

Holding the Rest in Peace tightly in his hand, Oliver stepped on the stone road step by step. This twisted road that made people’s hair stand upside down seemed to have no end, but it made his heartbeat faster and faster.

Finally, the road came to an end, and the lights stopped turning on.

This was the center of the dead city, and the open space that had been deliberately delimited was orderly and empty. In the subtle light shed by a skull, a figure stood quietly in the middle of the clearing.

When he was still a dozen steps away, Oliver stopped.

Rough black robe, broken staff. In front of him, the real Demon King raised his eyes full of smiles.

“Good evening, Ollie,” he greeted him casually.

Oliver’s lips trembled slightly, and he should have responded equally as casually, but the long-standing thoughts were thicker than he had imagined.

After a long silence, Oliver licked his dry lips and finally opened his mouth: “Nemo, considering the need to ensure the integrity of the ring. Before I give you the ring—”

“Hmm?”

“Can I ask you to dance for a song?”

The knight, who was no longer human, didn’t stretch out his hand. He raised his sword, and the gray mist suddenly swayed, full of fighting intent.

“Of course.”

Nemo’s voice was also full of laughter. As soon as the staff was raised, countless dark shadows rose from under his feet, heading straight towards his lover.

“…I’ve been waiting for two years, Ollie.”

---

The author has something to say:

Fighting but actually flirting!

————

Ollie: (≧ω≦) I’m going to see Nemo!

Debby: (≧ω≦) Yes, big brother is coming home!

Godwin: I tried my best. I really can’t get up. I really tried my best… With these two guys next to me, there’s really no tension! _(:з”∠)_

————

Ollie: (≧ω≦) I’m going to see Nemo!

Tela: …Shut up.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Reunion!!! I’m so happy for them!

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 267: Deep in the Shadows

In the past two years, the seven sets of large teleportation arrays that had gradually deepened have been repaired by experienced experts. While repairing the two sets of arrays closest to the bottom of the Abyss, the cold, sweat-soaked mages were preparing to escape every second.

However, the nineteenth generation Demon King was unexpectedly quiet. Except for the occasional rumbling sound from a distance underground, no sense of oppression leaked out.

Although scholars couldn’t determine whether the rumble was the migration of the lantern blind bugs or originated from other things, the Demon King didn’t come near the teleportation array, as Karapan from the Mooney Sect said, which was considered to be a good sign.

[While they were gathering for dinner, I asked Bagelmaurus to change the coordinates of the teleportation array. The teleportation array would take the expeditionary force to a more suitable location. The underground stone city has a lot of sharp corners, and I don’t really want to see a bunch of people falling from the sky and skewering themselves bloody on them.]

In memory, Nemo’s voice came from the phonetic crystal extremely clear, with a little bit of helplessness.

[Humans are relatively disciplined. Remember to keep an eye on the elves, and don’t let the Gatekeepers run around.]

His lover instructed in a rambling manner, his voice a bit vague. His Majesty the Demon King’s words were mixed with whispered crisp chewing, as if he was gnawing on fresh fruit.

In the past two years, a lot of images, sounds, and photos have been exchanged, but no kind of magic could replace the body temperature that the other party couldn’t touch. The longing didn’t diminish as a result, but only became heavier.

Oliver took a melancholy bite of a raw carrot and stuffed the leftover part to the black horse. The black horse raised its lips, sprayed its nose on the carrot in disgust, and then turned its head resolutely.

Oliver had to throw the carrot into the wide stone crevice in the distance and watch a small group of abyssal insects carry it away with joy.

Unlike the escort mission two years ago, this expedition would inevitably include top knights of various religions, as well as powerful mounts that were connected to their hearts. Not to mention the black horse or the fuller goat, even if the notorious Tumbleweed led a goose down, the human team could only turn a blind eye and didn’t bother to argue with such gangsters.

At present, the expeditionary force had just passed through two large teleportation arrays and was resting in a calm, windless zone. Looking down from the protruding cliff, the armies of various forces even had regular meals.

Of course, it was natural to ignore Tumbleweed that slipped onto the cliff.

“How are you feeling?” Adrian Cross patiently broke open a piece of soft cake sprinkled with sugar and handed the larger piece to Jesse Dylan.

“Well, just like I said before—Our Pillar of the World is awake, but he doesn’t regard me as a hostile object now. I’m so comfortable that I can sleep.”

Jesse chewed the soft cake and looked into the bottomless Abyss. “Is that parrot ready?”

“Bagelmaurus will not make mistakes on this kind of thing.” Oliver still stared at the organized army below.

“Don’t look. They won’t take the opportunity to get lost quickly if you turn away for a few seconds.”

“Anything can happen in reality,” Oliver responded worriedly. “It’s not convenient for us to let go of our aura, in case we suddenly encounter a demon similar to Witherspoon…”

The girl with braids sat in the distance snorting coldly. She played with the bagel in her hand casually, without meaning to eat it. “I have checked. There are no powerful demons that would threaten the army within 30 kilometers. In the past few hundred years, the route of the expedition has been relatively fixed, which isn’t unreasonable.”

“By the way, Witherspoon has moved to the area farthest from the scope of human activities.” The slender fingers poked into the hole of the bagel and spun it in circles at will. “I guess he hasn’t figured out what the hell’s going on with that flat snake. Well, his muscle brain will barely be able to discover anything—don’t worry about him suddenly popping up.”

However, these words didn’t have a practical effect, and Oliver still looked nervous. The fierce leader of Tumbleweed carefully rubbed off the mud spots on his armor while checking the surrounding conditions.

“I think our Mr. Ramon is nervous for other reasons.” Jesse dragged his cheeks with one hand, still holding the soft cake in his mouth. “Leave him alone, lovely lady.”

Telaranea thought for a moment and decided to pretend that she hadn’t heard anything.

The cliff was full of the smell of a picnic, and in the tent under the cliff, Godwin mechanically stuffed soft-boiled jerky into his mouth, devouring lunch like he was chewing wax.

“This afternoon, we will advance to the vicinity of Phantom Throat. If there is no reaction from the Demon King when we get there, I suggest an immediate retreat.”

The leader of the elves tapped his finger at a certain point on the map of the Phantom Throat, and a golden fork was left on the paper.

“It’s impossible for the nineteenth generation to fail to perceive the activation of a large teleportation array near the bottom of the Abyss. It would be more prudent for the army to retreat, with some of the scouts bringing along mages who are good at illusions to take the lead in feint attacks.”

“It will waste a lot of supplies to retreat!” The representative of the one-eyed dwarf screamed against it, “Judging from the changes in the landscape at the bottom of the Abyss, this may be a prolonged battle. Even if the supplies are sufficient, we must consider—”

The male elf leader next to him didn’t look very good. “To gamble with the lives of expeditionary warriors for a little bit of supply?”

“Since we are all here, whether for fame or profit, there will be no shrinking wimps!” There was a hint of mockery in the voice of the one-eyed dwarf. “Excessive caution equals cowardice, and we can certainly consider other solutions. As soon as we’re here, we decide that everyone should retreat… Ha.”

Godwin sipped the hot jerky soup from the bowl in silence.

There were a lot of people in the huge tent. Just as there were several powerful humans from various countries and political backgrounds sitting behind him, whether elves, dwarves, dragons, or other intelligent races, behind the silk threads were countless forces involved.

Of course, no one would really be timid, but no one wanted to be this heroic bird of prey.

If he didn’t know the situation of the Demon King at the bottom of the Abyss and was still himself a few years ago, he would probably need to use all his strength to suppress the boiling hot blood and the excitement inside, however…

Godwin gulped down a mouthful of soup. The sound wasn’t loud, but it was particularly clear in the silent confrontation. Although this was a nominal lunch gathering, in fact, he was the only one who was eating politely.

Everyone swept their eyes over it in an instant. The elf who had just spoken narrowed his eyes and looked up and down at the power man on the human side with a boorish gaze.

“You seem quite sure of yourself.” The voice of the male elf was very pleasant to the ears.

In the eyes of most humans, elves were undoubtedly beautiful, although their appearance was far from that of humans.

This woodland race had finer and softer hair than humans, with a soft glow like fine satin. The elves’ limbs were longer and slimmer, their noses more protruding, their large, moist, beautiful eyes tilted to the sides of their heads, and their eyelashes long and thick, full of the fragile beauty unique to herbivores.

Although elves and humans were more similar in size than the one-eyed dwarves or dragons, they preferred flexible and strong enchanted leather armor that didn’t make a sound compared to the cold armor of humans.

As an omnivore, Godwin Lopez slowly swallowed the bacon in his mouth and coughed. “Yes, Phantom Throat is still some distance from the bottom of the Abyss. Since many arrangements have been made at the bottom of the Abyss, I don’t think the Demon King will act so early—but this is just my guess. I understand your love for your people very well.”

The male elf blinked, obviously not buying this conciliatory speech.

“Then we see eye to eye,” he said coldly. “As agreed at the beginning, the plan must be adjusted accordingly according to the situation underground. I think this is the right time to adjust the plan.”

 “Perhaps a portion of the delegates can take the lead and the rest of the troops will follow in a triangle formation.” The dragon, who had remained silent, finally joined the conversation.

“The triangular formation must require a head formation. This brings us back to the topic just now, doesn’t it? No one wants to suffer.” A swordsman behind Godwin spread out his hands and swept the spoon toward the commander of Horizon in dissatisfaction.

“Just screen it according to the proportion. It’s the fairest way.”

“…We can transport most of the expedition warriors. Rashly putting dragons in the position of scouting is a bit inappropriate. The one-eyed dwarves focus on intelligence reserves and spell responses, while elves and humans are the most flexible races.”

“We are good at long-range attacks and are accustomed to acting in groups. Individual soldiers are only used for surprise attacks.” The male elf took a sip of leaf tea. “If you are not willing to mobilize manpower…”

“I am willing to take Horizon to the forefront.” Godwin put down the spoon and sighed.

“Lopez!” The mercenaries of Horizon were calm, while the other powerful men from other mercenary groups and organizations raised their voices in opposition. “You have to think about—”

“It will be fine.” Godwin waved his left hand; his tone was flat and determined.

With a spoon in his right hand, he stirred the cold broth. The commander of Horizon suddenly felt a little tired facing the forces surging in the peaceful atmosphere in front of him.

Unfortunately, the people following behind didn’t think so. Everyone present was a smart person who was proficient in human affairs. It was impossible for them not to hear the confidence and certainty in that sentence. It wasn’t blind confidence in his own strength. Godwin Lopez was very sure he could handle everything.

Maybe this was the real strength gap. With a hint of awe for the stronger, the part of the human warriors with impure intentions began to readjust the proportion of the interests of all parties in their hearts and pressed a few weights to Horizon’s side.

When the expedition army arrived at Phantom Throat, this indescribable sense of awe reached its peak…

The magnificent white ground of Phantom Throat was completely buried by black gravel. Here, they could even see sharp stalagmites from the bottom of the Abyss emerging from the gap.

Godwin Lopez didn’t show half a worry, as his command was calm and steady. All the way to the final large teleportation array, they didn’t know if it was a coincidence or the blessing of God, but they didn’t encounter any demons that could be considered opponents.

Facing the large teleportation array leading to the unknown, the leader of Horizon didn’t hesitate to advance, and according to the agreement, he took the lead in stepping in.

“The Pope of the Laddism Church won’t admit it, but I think he’s probably the swordsman of the prophecy.”

“…At this time, no matter what you say, we should let the Lopez of Tumbleweed go in first.”

“If Tumbleweed really fornicates with the Abyss, the situation over there would be difficult to control. There’s no problem with Godwin’s decision. Moreover, he himself rushed ahead. If he needs Tumbleweed, they have no way to directly refuse him—Those bastards have indeed done a bunch of appalling things, but cowardice has never appeared.”

The mercenaries’ guess was quickly “fulfilled”.

After crossing the final teleportation array of Phantom Throat, the army finally reached the bottom of the Abyss. And the moment they stepped on the ground and saw the scene in front of them clearly, almost all creatures shuddered…

Contrary to the previous peaceful and abnormal atmosphere, the fighting spirit and sense of oppression here was so heavy that people couldn’t straighten up. Unlike any previous expedition record, this time there was light at the bottom of the Abyss.

The skulls of hundreds of superior demons were bloomed with silver light, hovering over the bottom of the Abyss. The dark stalagmites were facing straight towards the surface, and the top couldn’t be seen. The black stones formed a weird lair, and the teleported army was in the center of a deliberately enclosed open field.

This site was square, and it wasn’t naturally formed no matter how you looked at it. The sense of horror that fell into the net was too strong, and several visitors who were relatively mentally fragile and were more like commanders than warriors softened their knees and sat directly on the ground.

Although Godwin Lopez showed a bit of surprise, he didn’t even frown.

The black-toned lair in front of him had a weird beauty, like a bustling town had died and dried up into a dark corpse.

The high “city wall” surrounded everyone’s sight, and under the light of the wandering skull, the solemn atmosphere made people unable to breathe. Coupled with the magic pressure poured from the distance, the expedition army froze in place for more than ten seconds.

Godwin drew out the holy sword, and the blade lit up with a hazy, warm halo. The Hero stepped forward indifferently, observing the terrain.

And as soon as he stepped onto the ruins, the entire ground trembled violently.

An exceptionally huge serpentine demon raised its head from the corner of this weird dead city, spitting purple-black flames, and the blood-red sparks flashing between the scales were almost connected into a line…

It opened its mouth and let out a sharp and unpleasant roar. Accompanied by the gas explosion generated by the sound waves, the poisonous smoke swayed around it, and stone debris instantly crumbled, creating dust everywhere.

There were no other tiny creatures living naturally in this dead city, and no one would think that this superior demon just happened to pass by.

“Oliver Lopez.” Godwin took a breath and immediately ordered. “This thing is yours. Can you handle it?”

“I said that Tumbleweed wouldn’t accept commands.”

“I’ll allow you to choose reinforcements. If you can kill it, its body will be at Tumbleweed’s disposal.”

“Well…”

The villain, who was wandering at the end of the team, finally pulled the reins and approached closer on his black horse. His tone of arrogance was as offensive as possible. “It’s not impossible if everything goes to us.”

“I need a more definite answer.”

“Yes.” The leader of Tumbleweed tightened the skeleton helmet on his head and glanced at the turbulent expeditionary force behind him. “But I don’t need reinforcements. Cross, Dylan. I’ll leave that thing to you. Go early and return early. Remember to bring back the most valuable part.”

“Yes, captain.” Jessie the viper blew a kiss. His voice was sweet and greasy. “Let’s go, darling Adri.”

“Two people?! Even if it’s Tumbleweed—”

However, before the human team had time to raise objections, a greater crisis came.

Behind the ominous serpentine demon, a larger demon appeared in shadow. It was still far away from them, but it was extremely large, and people could see it quite clearly in the dim light.

The four alien wings were spread wide, and the edges shone with an icy glare. The black beast bent its neck and let out a series of low growls in the direction of the expeditionary army. A hurricane with cold wind instantly rolled over, and the lights, which weren’t bright to begin with, dulled by even more.

Like a sponge soaked in water, the fear engraved in instinct was wrenched out of all the living creatures present by this roar. Several younger soldiers even peed their pants.

Compared with that aura, the extremely powerful serpentine demon in front of them became like a decoration.

“It’s the nineteenth generation Demon King.”

Whispers passed between the gaps of the army.

“…It’s the Lord of Illusion.”

But most of the people present were strong men who had been tested by life and death. Even under the pressure of this mind-swelling horror, the soldiers still barely maintained their formation and clustered together vigilantly.

There was still some terrifying calm on Godwin Lopez’s face. He shook his head and whispered in the ear of the leader of Tumbleweed, looking a little tired, but without the slightest fear.

After saying that, Godwin neatly adjusted the direction of the march, avoiding the serpentine demon, and leading the army in another direction.

In the mouth of the bard decades later, that whisper was the last warning to Oliver Lopez, who was hopeless as a blood relative.

However, in fact, Godwin’s words were unexpectedly brief.

“Take care of your parrot,” he muttered dryly.

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The author has something to say:

Godwin: I’m tired and don’t want to accompany the performance, but considering the peace on the surface… ugh. (dead eyes)

Expeditionary Force: Calm and composed, without fear! This is a real powerhouse.

Oliver on the other side: Cross, Dylan. That thing (Bagelmaurus) is up to you. Go early and return early. Remember to bring back the most valuable part (the flesh in the parrot). (We really can’t give that thing snacks and fruits in that size)

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