Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 6: Ann Savage

Even so, the two of them didn’t know where to run; Oliver was still injured. Instead of returning to the depths of the forest, defenseless, to face unknown monsters, they might as well face a known race of the same kind as them. Since the other party had ways to find them, it was of little use to slowly try and change places.

“Teach me a few more spells, Bagelmaurus. Just defensive ones.” Nemo stood up and threw the sheepskin roll to Oliver. “Even if you’re not a superior demon, you can at least do that.”

“Defensive?” Putting aside the identity issue that it was too lazy to refute, the gray parrot was still dissatisfied with its disobedient contractor. “You might as well just hug that woman’s thigh* and beg for mercy.”

*(抱大腿) Trying to take advantage of other people to gain benefits, especially the weak, taking the initiative to take advantage of the strong.

“She’ll find us sooner or later unless we escape back to the forest. Oliver can’t fight right now and you’re of little use.” Nemo’s tone was firm. “Do I have any other options?”

“Useless? I have recovered a little bit now. If I try my best, I can kill with a single shot,” the gray parrot tutted loudly. “But you see, everyone has to make a way for themselves, right? After all, you two are useless, so I have to save this power until you can’t—”

“Spells.” Nemo insisted.

“Consider offensive spells. I promise the woman will survive. Although I don’t want to admit it, if you die now, I’ll have a headache.”

“Defensive spells,” Nemo continued to insist. “If you teach something else without telling me, don’t expect us to believe you again.”

“As if you ever believed my words in the first place,” the parrot grumbled.

“Wait.” Oliver finally couldn’t hold back. “Nemo, you don’t know how to use magic, right?”

“Just in case.” Nemo was still staring at the parrot, as if to scrape out a spell with just his eyes. “I learned a very important thing last night. Almost dying is an effective motivator.”

“Incorrigible idiot,” the parrot sneered contemptuously. “Listen, I’ll demonstrate it once. You can see for yourself whether it’s an offensive or a defensive spell.”

The spell was short. A palm-sized translucent shadow rose slowly in front of it and turned into a strangely shaped shadow shield that kept squirming around its edges.

“It can only block spells,” it said. “As you know, superior demons have no need to defend against ordinary sword strikes.”

Nemo repeated the spell, and as expected, the spell showed no sign of being activated. He didn’t give up this time and kept repeating the spell as he grabbed a stone. He was honestly at a loss, but on the bright side, he reflected bitterly on how he had grown accustomed to this sensation.

“That lady doesn’t seem to be an arrogant and unreasonable type.” Oliver stood up, leaning on the trunk of the tree. His injured leg trembled a bit. “Maybe we have a chance to clarify the facts…”

Before he could finish speaking, something flashed by from the corner of his eyes and directly scorched the trunk of the tree he was leaning against. Oliver coughed dryly and moved his hand silently. The other party came faster than they predicted.

The female warrior was riding a white horse and had a hunting spear in her right hand that was pointed at them from a distance. The tip of the spear was entangled with cyan lightning. Just when Nemo felt that he was about to be run over by the rushing horse, she stopped it and raised her eyebrows at Nemo who fell on the ground flat on his ass.

“I can’t believe I didn’t see it.” She gestured with her spear; the sharp tip was pressed against Nemo’s throat and the lightning became more intense. “You two little guys are actually ‘dangerous’. The acting skills of young people nowadays are truly amazing.”

Nemo swallowed with difficulty and tried to explain while repeating the spell frantically in his mind. The stone he was holding in his right hand had long been forgotten by him. “Miss, it’s not like that. We’re actually—”

Before he finished speaking, the spear was pulled back and he was stabbed in the shoulder. Nemo was so frightened that he quickly stopped talking, rolled on the spot, and avoided the tip of the spear. The lightning whipped his back, causing him to scream from the pain.

“Do I look like the kind of fool who waits for the enemy to narrate a story?” The female warrior, Ann, sneered. She threw the hunting spear, and it swam along its trajectory like a lightning snake. Nemo “just in case” didn’t happen as he watched the lightning explode at him.

Oliver dragged his injured leg and tried to grab the spear with a clumsy surprise attack, but Ann quickly turned around and dodged it. The hunting spear drew an arc in the air as the tail of the spear hit him on the chest, knocking Oliver abruptly back two steps.

Nemo, who had just escaped the lightning, took advantage of the situation by throwing stones at her. His strengthened physique was finally useful, and the stones rained down on Ann like cannonballs, but he was struck by the spear’s sweep.

This woman is more difficult to deal with than the wolfhound. Nemo rubbed the blood at the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand as he thought in a daze.

“Are you two really ‘dangerous’?” She threw out a question suspiciously, but the movement of her hand did not stop at all. The hunting spear pierced Nemo’s shoulder again.

An ominous dark purple light lit up, and Nemo turned around abruptly.

“Stop!” He roared. “Bagelmaurus, she didn’t kill!”

Unfortunately, it was too late. The brilliance was about to pass over his head and hit the female warrior on her head. Nemo’s mind was blank. The old water bottle was still hanging on his belt… She shouldn’t have to die like this.

Instead of running, he instinctively raised his hand, ignoring the spear’s tip piercing his shoulder—

Dark shadows flashed from the air, and in an instant, a dark curtain formed, almost extending out of his sight. Unlike the translucent shield demonstrated by the parrot, this one was thick and big, and he couldn’t see the other side. It seemed that something hit it, as negligible ripples could be seen, like water droplets falling into a lake.

The female warrior and Nemo were both stunned.

“Is this… Did you manage to cast it?” Oliver limped to the thick black shadow, stretched out his hand and poked it, but found he couldn’t touch it.

“I don’t know.” Nemo replied dryly, his eyes straightening. “I think—”

Then he felt the pain of being hit by a blunt instrument on the back of his head. At that moment, he opened his eyes instinctively and finally lost consciousness.

When he opened his eyes again, the sun was still hanging high in the sky, without the slightest intention of setting.

“Oh, you’re awake.” There was a white horse that was gnawing grass freely not far away, and its owner was squatting in front of him. Ann touched her chin, and her eyes were filled with curiosity. “Good physique, boy; the one behind you is still unconscious.”

Nemo was horrified to find that he was tied into a tight cocoon. Oliver was firmly tied behind him. Looking at his body, he should still be asleep. Oliver’s body temperature had seeped through the thin cloth, and it felt hot to the touch, as Nemo couldn’t help but sigh in his heart.

“Now we can talk.” Ann raised her left hand and pointed her thumb back to the gray parrot poking its head out on the branch in the distance. “What the hell is going on with you two?”

Nemo glanced at the hunting spear she was holding in her right hand, and then looked down at the shining silver on his chest.

“What is this?” He cleared his throat nervously. “What the hell do you want?”

“It’s me who’s asking the questions… Forget it.” Ann didn’t loosen her weapon. “That’s a magic charm. It will only make your whole body weak. Don’t worry, I didn’t do anything too excessive.” She accentuated the word “excessive”.

Nemo didn’t feel that he was weak, but he would not be stupid enough to share his discovery with the female warrior.

“We are innocent! …Maybe not that innocent, but there’s a reason.” He stopped talking nonsense and quickly spilled the beans. “The charges on the warrant are actually—”

“You’re Nemo Light, a demon worshipper, right? Is that your demon? It’s the first time I’ve seen a demon of this breed.” She glanced back at the gray parrot and wave her hand casually. “I’m not interested in your crime. The army usually makes up one, so they’ll kill you regardless.”

She raised her chin in Oliver’s direction. “I’m more curious about that one.”

“His father asked him to do it.” Nemo explained. He raised his head and looked at Ann without guilt. “The reason… I don’t know the reason. I was standing far away at the time, but one thing is clear. His father seemed dead at that time.”

“It’s more than that.” Ann gave a noncommittal tut. “This kind of thing would only be considered ‘abnormal’ at most. How does a demon worshipper rise to the level of ‘dangerous’? I can understand that the Emperor of Alban hates demons but killing only one civilian can’t be judged as ‘dangerous’, little guy.” 

“We also injured a wolfhound.” Nemo could only think of this.

“Then he was implicated by you?”

“Well, to be precise, he injured the wolfhound.”

“Killed!” the gray parrot interjected loudly in the distance.

Still, no one cared about it.

“Interesting.” The female warrior stood up with a spear. “Is the wolfhound part of the Albanian army? To be honest, I only have the confidence to run away in the face of them. Did your friend steal some powerful weapon—”

“The sword was picked up on the road. When we ran away, I couldn’t see anything and assumed that it must’ve been injured,” Nemo replied quickly. He didn’t think the dirty sword had any powerful origins. Otherwise, it would’ve been taken away by adventurers keen on treasure hunting.

Ann raised her eyebrows.

“What about you? Why are you summoning demons?” she said. “You don’t seem to be that kind of…” She paused and picked the words. “Unscrupulous person.”

“…Also picked it up on the road. No, I’m definitely not playing tricks on you! I did not summon it. It wanted to attack Oliver at that time.” Looking at the female warrior’s face, Nemo panicked.

“You’d better say things clearly. I didn’t ask you out of curiosity.” Ann curled her lips. “There must be dozens of bounty hunters waiting for you at the gate of Noer. In the face of the ‘dangerous’ level, no one wants to spend time catching you alive. But you… how can you say it’s not like that?”

Nemo looked at her a little puzzled.

“I have killed enough ‘dangerous’ wanted criminals, and I know exactly what they are.” She rolled her eyes. “If you are really ‘dangerous’, what just happened* should be a robbery, not a transaction. But of course, you may also be acting. I have to confirm, so stop prevaricating me with bullshit.”

*Clarity: She’s referring to when they first met, and he asked to trade for medicine.

“I’m not lying.” Nemo lowered his head and whispered.

“If you hadn’t blocked that for me just now, I would be holding both your heads and waiting to exchange them for money.”

“…I really didn’t lie.”

Ann suddenly sneered. She weighed the hunting spear in her hand, raised it and stabbed Nemo. Nemo froze in place. He didn’t dare to dodge, for fear of accidentally using Oliver as a shield. The gray parrot rushed over, screaming loudly.

However, the next moment, he felt a slight tingling of pain from blood rushing back to his limbs. The rope was scorched by lightning and scattered all over the place. The hunting spear did not stab him but cut the rope neatly.

The gray parrot’s scream abruptly came to an end, and it flapped its wings awkwardly in mid-air.

“I don’t think you’re one of those scum.” Ann shrugged, showing a grin. “If you are, your friend would definitely be stabbed right now.”

“Ann Savage, bounty hunter.” She plunged the hunting spear into the ground and stretched out her calloused right hand.

“Nemo Light, librarian.” Nemo scratched his head but got up slowly by himself. “Uh, former librarian. My hands are dirty, so I don’t want to—”

Ann laughed and retracted her right hand. “Loosen your friend’s rope first. It’ll take a while for him to wake up. The efficacy of the medicine should be starting soon.”

“You…” Nemo was a little uncomfortable, “Do you believe us?”

“Of course not. I’m not an idiot,” Ann said softly. “I just think you’re quite pleasing to the eye. If I read you wrong, that only means that you’re good at deception. In short, that’s my misfortune for my decision.”

“…Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me too early. I haven’t officially decided to let you go.” Ann patted him on the shoulder with a calm face. “Three thousand gold coins is not a small amount.”

“……”

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The author has something to say:

Catch insects.

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Kinky Thoughts:

Liking this Ann already!

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 5: A Question

The body behind him was getting hotter, to the point of abnormality. The woods ahead seemed endless and the crisp birdsong began to make him feel restless. Nemo took a deep breath and mechanically moved his legs.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought of a way. He even tried asking for help from the gray parrot, but the annoying bird was not only useless, but it also kept making countless inaudible noises, prattling as if “demonic healing magic” was an incredible blessing.

It was a good thing he didn’t encounter any monsters, so Nemo forced himself to cheer up and move on.

“Bah,” the gray parrot suddenly yelled, “your luck is here.”

Nemo subconsciously glanced around, seeing nothing special, until a dog’s barking could be heard. He hurriedly hid behind a tree with Oliver on his back and held his breath. As the sound got closer, he could hear the wooden wheels of a carriage crushing dead branches and the faint sound of laughter coming from it. It didn’t sound like their pursuers but more like a caravan.

He poked his head out a little and saw two carriages not far away, heading in the same direction as them. It seemed to be a small caravan with a small number of people. The coachman’s clothes were the popular style of the Garland people.

Nemo didn’t know if their story had spread from Roadside Town, but he was out of options. Being too cautious, would cause Oliver to die on his back even if he didn’t die from the wolfhound.

“Help!” He chased in the direction of the caravan, yelling with all his strength. “Please help me!”

The caravan pathfinder dogs discovered him first. They were well-trained, so they stopped him by barking frantically at him. The carriage slowed down slowly and two people jumped out of the carriage. Nemo ran forward, stumbling with Oliver on his back. His heart was beating wildly, as if it would jump out of his throat at any second.

He tried to open his mouth several times before he succeeded in making a sound.

“We were attacked by wild beasts.” He spoke rashly and quickly, not daring to take a closer look at their expressions. “My friend is badly injured. Do you… Do you have any medicine? I can exchange it for something.”

“Let me see.” The man with a goatee was the first to speak. He looked at Nemo from head to toe. “Put your friend down.”

Nemo gently lowered Oliver down. The latter’s face was flushed, his breathing was short and painful, and there was no sign of waking up. The linen cloth tied to his left leg had been soaked in blood and pus.

“This is very troublesome.” The man twisted his goatee and raised his eyes. “We do have medicine to deal with this, but it’s really not cheap. What do you have to exchange for it, sir?”

Nemo tore open his waist bag neatly. There was a gold pendant that was firmly sewn into the inner layer that looked heavy and exquisite. Unfortunately, it had encountered many difficulties as the entire pendant was marked and full of scratches.

“It’s made of gold.” He hesitated for a while, opened the pendant, and took out the pictures inside. “Would you take a look?”

The goatee merchant put the pendant on the palm of his hand and looked at it carefully for a while.

“Ann, give them a bottle of decontamination medicine,” he said to the woman standing on the side. “Also get two sets of old clothes.”

The woman raised an eyebrow before taking a dark brown medicine bottle from her pocket. She looked like a warrior, with short chestnut hair, and was tall and heroic-looking. There was a scar below her right eye that was particularly eye-catching, but it didn’t seem to affect her eyes, as those amber eyes were shining and full of banter.

“Get the clothes yourself. Don’t order me around,” She grinned at the goatee man, showing a row of beautiful teeth. “Do you want these two boys to wear women’s clothing?”

The goatee man smiled and shook his head, then returned to the carriage.

“What the hell do you have in this bag?” Ann approached them with the medicine, and Nemo could smell the faint aroma of thyme. “Open it quickly.”

Nemo carefully unwound the bandage, but the pus and blood had firmly adhered to the wound and linen, causing it to make an unpleasant tearing sound when it was removed. He tore at it slowly, his hands shaking unsteadily.

The female warrior shook her head and decisively pushed his hand away. She quickly removed the blood-stained linen cloth, took a metal pot from her belt and poured the liquid from it directly on the wound. The rich aroma of wine suddenly drifted into the air.

Oliver frowned, but still hadn’t regained consciousness. Ann took out a small dagger and cut off the blackened wound that had started to rot, dexterously as if it was cheese, then took out a clean handkerchief and carefully wiped away the remaining dirt and blood clots.

The entire process took less than five minutes until the ointment was finally applied and Oliver was rebandaged.

“It’s actually better to sew it as it’ll heal faster,” she murmured, glancing at Nemo casually, “but this works just about the same… Don’t worry, young man. Your friend won’t die. Give the rest to him and have him drink it three times.” She shook the medicine bottle.

“Thank you.” Nemo took the medicine bottle and thanked her solemnly.

“We’re just exchanging money for doing things.” Ann glanced at his blood-stained face. “What’s the matter with you? Have you wandered into the woods without anything? I don’t think you even have a bag of water on you. “

Nemo looked away in embarrassment.

“Here, take it. This will last for a day.” She pulled out a leather pouch from her waist bag that had water condensation roughly embroidered on it. “This place is not far from Noer in Garland. I suggest you wash yourself before entering the town. Don’t look at me like that. This thing isn’t really expensive. The pendant just now was pretty good, so it’s worth the price.”

“Two sets of clothes.” He didn’t know when, but the goatee man returned and handed Nemo a flat cloth bag. “Do you want to go with us? It’s hard to carry the sick on your back.”

Nemo moved his lips. “…No, thank you,” he said, as he carefully put the medicine bottle into the package, then held it to his chest. He bowed slightly to the two of them, and picked up Oliver, who was still asleep. “It’s only a few steps away. We can go by ourselves.”

The goatee man shrugged. “Then good luck, young man.”

The speed of the carriages was very fast, and the caravan quickly disappeared from his sight. He hoped that news about them hadn’t reached Garland yet. Nemo closed his eyes and slowly breathed out a sigh of relief.

“You didn’t want to hurt them, right?” He didn’t know when Oliver had woken up, as he asked softly behind his back. His tone was more like a statement than a question.

“Those two people were good just now,” Nemo said. “We’re lucky enough to have medicine and clean water.”

“Perhaps they recognize the two of you and were planning to turn you in to the guards at Garland for a reward,” the gray parrot remarked maliciously as it flew down from the branch.”They just gave you a bag of water. Tsk tsk. What about weapons? She didn’t mention a word, right?”

“I’m a realistic person.” Nemo stopped its chatter angrily. “I just look at the results.”

“Bah,” the parrot said.

Nemo found a relatively clean place for Oliver to lie down. There weren’t many dead branches and rotten leaves, and the ground was covered with thick moss. The air smelled fresh and clean. Oliver seemed to have recovered a little, as he was able to get up by himself and sat down, leaning against a tree.

“Take a break,” Nemo suggested. “We just need to leave this goddamn place before dark. Just in case we need to escape, we have to save our strength.”

“Okay,” Oliver replied quickly.

Then they fell into a subtle silence. The situation was urgent before, so the two of them had no time to waste on interpersonal communication. Now that the tension had faded, the unique sense of awkwardness among strangers had resurfaced. Nemo tried to find a topic, but he didn’t know if the other party had the mind or stamina to chat, so he had to grin in vain towards the air and then stiffly lower his head to study the moss on the ground.

In the end, Oliver, who had been through many hard battles in the service industry, took the lead in breaking the silence.

“Hey Nemo.” He blinked a few times, and his tone was as relaxed as leaning on an oak chair in a tavern. “Are there any girls in town who’ll miss you?”

Oliver almost immediately realized that he had chosen the wrong topic as he saw Nemo plucking up the moss on the ground uncomfortably.

“We broke up.” He sounded a little regretful. “You know, I’m too… Uh, busy. It was my fault.” It was just like any other love story and breakup. Even the reason was ordinary. He had the idea of inheriting the orphanage, but she wasn’t interested, which he couldn’t blame her for because it was a natural reaction. He hadn’t been with anyone in a long time, and he wasn’t as sad as he thought; he was just a little embarrassed when the subject was brought up.

“What about you? There are many beautiful girls who visit the inn,” Nemo quickly responded to his question.

Oliver instantly understood what it meant to dig one’s own grave.

“None.” He slid down the trunk a bit.

“How could that be?” Nemo didn’t bother hiding his shock. Oliver was pleasant and had a handsome appearance. He looked gentle and harmless, making it difficult for people to be wary of him. He was sociable, had a good temper, and was going to inherit the only inn in town. This made no sense at all.

“There’s a question that I haven’t figured out yet.” Seeing Nemo’s eyes widening larger and larger, Oliver quickly defended himself.

“What?”

“…My parents love each other very much.” Oliver raised his head and stared at the blue sky that was exposed between the leaves.

“Isn’t that great?” As an orphan, Nemo had no thoughts on this. His only relative was Old Patrick, who had long passed away, and the group of young children who were taken away when they were minors, so he lacked the empathy to relate.

“I don’t think that’s a good thing.” Oliver was still staring at the sky. There was a strangeness to the calm tone in his voice.

“You know, I have never seen my mother. She passed away a long time ago. In contrast, my father…” Nemo closed his mouth immediately and looked at him nervously.

“It doesn’t matter, since we’re talking about this.” Oliver obviously felt the other party’s nervous eyes. “We can open up and talk.” Regarding this subject, Nemo was more cautious, so it was better for him to start.

“My father never told me anything about my mother, and there was no portrait or memorabilia of my mother at home.” Oliver narrated it smoothly, as if he was talking about somebody else. “When I was a kid, I was a little curious about my mother, but then I stopped caring much about it.”

“Then how did you know…?” How did you know that they were in love? Nemo didn’t find anything sweet or lovable in the story.

“His eyes,” Oliver said. “The only thing that was left to my father was the ukulele that was given to him by my mother. It had her signature engraved on it. He sometimes talked to it, and it looked like—” he paused, and considered his words for a second. “I never thought anyone could show such sad eyes… How can I put it? It seems like a part of him died with her. To be honest, I think that kind of relationship is a bit scary. Can people really love another person to that extent?”

Nemo opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.

“I have heard people say that when my father first arrived in Roadside Town, he carried a coffin and hugged me in his arms. He had nothing else with him. The coffin supposedly contained the body of my mother,” Oliver continued. “I always thought he was just waiting for me to grow up, and one day he would tell me the whole story, but he never did.”

“He just looked at me, as if he had finally let go of some unbearable responsibility. That was the feeling that I got. I kept trying to persuade him to find a good woman to live with, but he would always change the subject every time. Last night I… I could feel his worry, but I also felt his relief. Why didn’t I talk to him sooner?”

Oliver hugged his arms and clenched his sleeves.

“…How could I not blame him.” He raised his eyes. His cheeks were pale from the heavy blood loss. It was like pure anger that was finally wringing something out from his heart that had been building up for a long time and was full of bitterness. “If I hadn’t taken action at that time, would he still be saved? Why did he make such a request? Why didn’t he even try? I’ve killed my father with my own hands, and he didn’t even give me a reason!”

“He kept me alive but in the dark all this time. Sometimes I don’t even feel like I’m his family. I know the wine he likes to drink, the songs he likes to sing, and the books he likes to read… But I don’t know his birthday, his wife’s appearance, or how she died, let alone the story between them. I don’t know his hometown, I don’t understand his pain, and I don’t even understand why he chose to die.”

“What have I done…”

He finally poured it all out. Nemo thought. It was the kind of pain that was something he could relate to.

Nemo stared at Oliver as he raised his arm to block his eyes and clenched his teeth.

It was like this. For a moment, he finally found that the last bond between him and this world had disappeared, like a ship that had lost its anchor. The face and voice of the dead fade irreversibly from memory, only leaving behind remorse that would not dissipate, that would become a curse that corroded the spirit forever.

Oliver’s condition was even worse. He had to cut the anchor with his own hands.

“I can’t answer your question.” Nemo pulled the drawstring on the water bag a few times, causing the shriveled bag that was filled with water to gurgle. “I won’t comfort you by saying things like ‘it will pass’. We all know that it’s all bullshit. Take it and wash your face. It’ll make you feel better.”

“Thanks.” Oliver looked calmer. He moved his arm to block his eyes and took the water bag. Nemo didn’t see any tears this time; he only saw slightly red circles around his eyes. Nemo marveled at Oliver’s terrible self-control. In the days when Old Patrick had just passed away, he would shed tears just seeing the old man’s teacup.

“If you’re not going to cry together, I suggest you move somewhere fast,” the gray parrot said, while looking satisfied with its flying posture. They didn’t know which tree it had just rushed down from, but it threw a roll of crumpled parchment paper on Nemo’s head.

Nemo frowned and pulled on the roll of paper in front of him, unfolding it. After half a minute, he released it, then buried his face in his palm, showing what depression looked like with every movement of his body.

“What’s the matter?” Oliver still had water droplets on his face, but since it was probably the cleanest part of his body, he wisely chose to let it air dry.

“You know what?” Nemo announced, in horror. “We’re worth three thousand gold coins together! I have never even seen three thousand gold coins in my life…”

As soon as Oliver’s expression eased, it quickly stiffened back up.

“What?” He let out a weak exclamation. “I haven’t seen it either.”

“I tore it off at the gate in Noer.” It may be his own illusion, but Nemo always felt that there was some schadenfreude in the parrot’s voice. “What did I just say, kid? That woman saw this thing and now she’s coming back for you—on horseback, with her weapons, just for both of your heads.”

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The author has something to say:

…Yes, this is a story about bending each other!

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Kinky Thoughts:

I have to say, the author’s writing is quite beautiful and well done. Oliver will eventually find out that yes, you can love someone to that extent (hint: he’s right next to you).

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 4: Starting Point

An amazingly thick giant fir tree grew in the backyard of the inn. It was so high, it looked as if it could pierce the sky. Thanks to it, the Ramons’ inn was particularly easy to find.

Piper Ramon was sitting under the tree, casually playing the ukulele as he was humming the song “Beautiful Sandra”. The afternoon sun cast its rays over the leaves, and the breeze was full of the aroma of plants.

Oliver, on the other hand, held a wooden sword and was laboriously chopping the thick wooden stake in front of him.

“No.” His father stopped humming and scratched his chin. “This won’t do. You have to find an unshakable faith—or else, the magic won’t activate.”

“An unshakable faith?” How old was he then? Oliver pondered. Eight? Nine?

“It’s something you’ll never doubt.” Piper popped a grape into his mouth. “Just like your old dad. Back then, I… Forget it. In short, once the swordsman begins to deny his will, everything will be over.”

“I don’t want to be a swordsman.”

“Dad just wants to teach you some lifesaving moves. If you’re not interested, you can learn something else.” Piper Ramon winked and smiled. “Don’t think too much, son. No one says you must be a swordsman. What do you think of the ukulele? Do you want to learn it?”

“Who would be interested in that kind of thing,” the young Oliver muttered in a low voice. “What’s the point of cutting stakes?”

Piper couldn’t hold back his smile. “What happened to the stake?”

“The guests would talk about the outside world.” Oliver dropped his wooden sword and wiped the sweat on his neck off with his sleeve. “Those particularly powerful heroes had killed a lot—”

“What do you want to kill?” His father put down the ukulele in his arms. It was rare that there was a lack of emotion in his voice.

Oliver was taken aback; he hadn’t thought about this question at all. The guests would talk about heroes, and the bards would sing praises to legends that made the great warriors in those stories sound terribly handsome, so that it always had an excess of appeal to children.

“Demons, monsters…” he replied with uncertainty. “They’re the bad guys, right?”

“In order to become a ‘hero’?” Piper Ramon raised an eyebrow.

“For justice!” The little boy’s voice was loud, as if this was an unshakable truth.

He still remembered his father’s expression at the time. Oliver didn’t understand the meaning of that expression then, as he only remembered that his father smiled at him. Now that he thought about it, that smile was very familiar, as it reappeared again in their final farewell…

A bitter, sad, but gentle smile.

What was father’s answer at that time? Oliver couldn’t remember. He only knew that after he had finished the last lesson, he had never picked up the sword again.

Oliver suddenly panicked. He realized that if he really couldn’t recall it, the answer would disappear completely. He had no one to ask and confirm. Those trivial, irrelevant memories had become extremely precious at this moment, but when he didn’t care, they were already blurred with very few left.

The fact that his father was dead had never been clearer. At that time, he had just learned how to play the ukulele from his father…

Then he realized that the sourness in his mouth did not come from his feelings but from something tangible that belonged to the outside world. His head became clearer, and his body fell from the flickering warm dream, smashing into this damn reality.

After Oliver regained consciousness, the first thing he did was wrinkle his face desperately.

“You’re awake.” Nemo Light looked down at him and smiled apologetically. “I can’t help it. The water in the forest is not very clean. Thoreau fruit are a bit sour… but you have to drink something.”

Oliver blinked, finally completely woken up. It was already dawn. The turquoise leaves in the sun looked charming and harmless, and the bird calls were gentle and pleasant. He tried sitting up, but the muscles on his body screamed in pain and objected. His left leg, which was scratched by the wolfhound, was bandaged simply. The wound was covered by linen, and it was still burning painfully and was abnormally swollen. His body felt heavy and weak so that he couldn’t even clench his fists.

Oliver had to continue lying down as he looked at the person sitting next to him.

Old Light’s orphanage and the town library were both on the east side of the town, while his inn was on the west. They rarely interacted, let alone had a friendship, but Oliver had a deep impression of this person…

Strictly speaking, it was not Piper Ramon who discovered Nemo in the Frontier Forest that year, but 6-year-old Oliver. He had a big fight with his father and ran into the forest out of anger, scolding his unreliable father. At that time, the sun was high, and he was just walking on the edge of the woods, thinking he was safe.

Oliver still remembered how he felt at that time.

He was hiding behind a tree and peeking in the direction of the town in case his father had caught up to him while he wasn’t paying attention when he suddenly felt a chill behind his back causing all his hair to stand up.

Something was peeping at him. The little boy quickly turned around and pressed his back close to the tree as he swallowed nervously. He saw it at a glance—it was squatting on the ground, with long tangled hair covered in dead vines. Grass, stems, and indistinguishable filth covered its entire body, and only its eyes were exposed in the gap between its hair, staring directly at him. It was the only thing that could be considered clean, but there was no emotion in its silver pupils.

Oliver did what any 6-year-olds would do in fear—he burst into tears. The thing seemed to be frightened too, as it shrank into a ball in place, motionless. Piper Ramon, who was looking for his son everywhere, heard the cry and rushed quickly over and carried them back together.

It was… really shameful.

Because of this subtle psychology and the fact that they had no reason to communicate, they both maintained a state of acquaintance in which they simply nod when they meet. As a result, more than ten years later, he still had those silver eyes that he saw in the Frontier Forest that day, and now, comically, they had returned to that starting point.

To be fair, Nemo Light was very good looking; he didn’t look much like him. Although he had a strong physique, his skin had an aristocratic paleness to it. His black hair was always a bit messy, and he would casually tie it into a short ponytail that would swish around in all directions. The silver eyes could easily make him look gloomy, but he always had a smile on his face that would make his eyes blossom, abruptly turning the gloominess into casual elegance.

It was a look that was extremely popular with the girls.

‘If he didn’t need to take care of several children, like an old mother hen for so long, he would have received a bouquet of flowers at the Rose Festival,’ Oliver commented impartially in his heart.

But at the moment, Nemo Light’s condition was not easy to compliment. His whole body was covered in blood and grime, and the left half of his sleeve was completely gone, revealing his entire arm. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to have suffered any serious injuries.

Still, Oliver remembered that he screamed last night. As soon as he wanted to open his mouth to ask questions, Nemo grabbed another thoreau fruit and squeezed all the juice into his mouth. Oliver’s face wrinkled even more severely as it was so sour that he couldn’t say a word.

“Are you still thirsty?” Nemo picked up another fruit with a gentle expression like a child.

Oliver shook his head desperately.

Nemo shrugged and took out the small packet of butter from his bag. After carefully cleaning the blood stains on it, he stuffed it into Oliver’s mouth.

“The wolfhound didn’t follow us,” he said. “It’s still safe here for the time being… probably.”

“That puppy is dead.” The gray parrot, who had finally learned how to fly, swooped over, and grabbed a thoreau fruit with its claw then flew above Oliver’s face and released it. Oliver suspected that it was practicing its aim. “It seems that you are still useful.”

Nemo caught the fruit that was about to hit the bridge of Oliver’s nose with one hand and skillfully grabbed the parrot with the other and threw it aside. The swelling on his right wrist seemed to have disappeared without a trace.

“The blinding lasted for most of the night.” Nemo continued, “I didn’t dare to stay there long, so I kept dragging you forward… It didn’t catch up to us, so it might have been seriously injured.”

“It was killed by this gingerbread head,” the gray parrot said as it used its beak to clean its feathers. It seemed that it was getting more accustomed to being a bird.

“He has a name, Oliver Ramon. Not ‘gingerbread head’.” Nemo rolled his eyes. “Just like I’m Nemo Light, not a ‘once-in-a-century idiot’. If you call our names wrong again, I’ll pluck out all your feathers.”

“Your injuries?” With the butter melted in his mouth, the sour taste finally became less unbearable. Oliver hurriedly spoke. “Last night, I heard you… um, scream.”

“I don’t know either.” Nemo scratched his head. His hair was covered with clotted blood, looking extremely uncomfortable. “Maybe I was lucky, and my arm got stuck between his teeth.”

“Bullshit!” the gray parrot yelled. “I know where my power has gone. Come. Cut off your hand—”

Nemo threw the fruit in his hand at the damn bird.

“Why are you so irritable?” The parrot said. “That’s my power.”

After that, it swooped in and clawed at the back of Nemo’s hand, leaving two gashes behind, causing Nemo to inhale sharply. In the next moment, under the gaze of the two people and one bird, the wound healed quickly. Except for a small amount of blood that was still stained on his skin, it seemed as if there wasn’t a previous wound there at all.

“Look!” the parrot said triumphantly. “Next time we can try your head. Maybe you can grow it—”

Nemo rubbed his temples and wiped his bloody face. He didn’t seem happy about it.

Oliver wasn’t surprised. A skilled human healer could treat a wound of this degree. Even if Nemo was truly lucky and gained the ability to regenerate limbs, it would not be of much use to him, who had no fighting capabilities. It was like giving a box of gold coins to a person who’s about to die from thirst in the desert. They wouldn’t be grateful for it.

“Oh.” Sure enough, Nemo responded without enthusiasm. “Oliver, can you stand?”

“Sorry,” Oliver responded apologetically. “I can’t move very much.”

Nemo stretched his arm. “I’ll carry you on my back.” He said simply, “You are burning up badly. We need to find someone to deal with your wounds quickly.”

“Don’t be so…” Before Oliver finished speaking, he found that his upper body was pulled up, “…anxious.”

“Hold onto my neck. Don’t be embarrassed,” Nemo said generously. “It’s okay. I can carry you. I’m sure if our positions were swapped, you wouldn’t leave me behind.”

Their sizes were not that much different, but Oliver was slightly bigger. He was worried that he would crush Nemo to the ground, but it turned out that Nemo had some strength in him. He stood up in a single breath, shook twice, and walked forward steadily. He even paid careful attention to the wound on Oliver’s left leg throughout the whole process and didn’t touch it at all.

“In any case, it seems like I have some connection to a demon, so it’s not easy for me to get tired,” Nemo said. Oliver could feel the vibration in his chest as he spoke. “Just keep walking west, right?”

“Yes.” Oliver put his chin on Nemo’s shoulder to prevent him from being poked in the face by the short ponytail behind Nemo’s head. At this moment, the black hair was still covered with reddish-brown blood stains, exuding the peculiar smell of stale blood.

“That bird…” Oliver spoke, completely ignoring the parrot flying nearby. “It shouldn’t be a superior demon.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Those who form contracts with superior demons aren’t called demon worshippers. They are called demon warlocks,” Oliver continued. “One had stayed in my inn before. I heard from my father that there will always be a part of a demon warlock’s body that becomes deformed.”

“Perhaps my intestines have turned bow-shaped,” Nemo grumbled. “Thank you for the comfort. It’s okay. I’m still a long way from collapsing.”

“It’s not that kind of deformation.” Oliver sighed slightly. “Let’s put it this way. The one who stayed at my inn, both his arms had extra joints, and they were long enough that they dragged on the ground. His chest was covered with insect-like feet, as if his ribs had been turned inside out… It’s said that this is a relatively normal appearance among demon warlocks.”

Unfortunately, this explanation was counterproductive as it caused Nemo to tremble and slowed down his pace.

“Demon worshippers are completely different,” Oliver quickly added. “They will only get a little power from ordinary demons, and their body appearance will not change.”

Nemo breathed a long sigh of relief this time.

“Thank you, I feel much better.” He turned his face slightly, and his tone was sincere.

“I don’t feel good at all,” the gray parrot said. “You’re slandering me.”

It was a pity that no one cared about it.

“What shall we do next?” Nemo murmured. “Do you have any ideas?”

“I have never left Alban,” Oliver replied dryly. “I heard from a businessman from Garland that the entry inspections at the border cities are quite strict. As for how long it takes to exchange information about wanted criminals… I don’t know.”

“I haven’t even been outside Roadside Town,” Nemo tried to make his tone sound optimistic, “but since we’re both unlucky now, good luck should be coming our way, right?”

Oliver chuckled. ‘It’s a bit cold,’ he thought wearily. Nemo didn’t seem to be in terribly bad condition, so it was fine for him to take a little break…

With a strange sense of peace of mind, he lost consciousness again.

On the other side of the forest, the garrison of Roadside Town was silent as he stood in front of the corpse of a ratliff wolfhound.

It was reasonable to say that the corpse of any creature that stayed overnight in the Frontier Forest, even that of a dragon, wouldn’t be left unscathed, but the corpse of the wolfhound, which exuded a strong smell of blood, didn’t lose a single hair. The frost everywhere had not disappeared, and there were still traces of coldness despite the summer sun. The trees on the edge of the forest were staggering, compared to what a disaster scene should look like.

A soldier pulled a bloodied object out of the wolfhound’s mouth that seemingly resembled a human arm.

“Sir, there are no fresh human corpses nearby.” The white light conjured by magic and used for reconnaissance disappeared as a soldier saluted and reported loudly.

“Look at this.” The captain of the garrison in Roadside Town lowered his face. “Which bastard said last night that it was fine to deal with it according to the ‘exception’?”

The soldiers looked at each other, then lowered their heads in unison. They all lived in the same town and knew more or less about the inhabitants’ affairs. What kind of combat power would the son of an innkeeper and a librarian have?

It was a capital crime to be involved with demons. Sending a wolfhound after them was more than enough to deal with two unruly ordinary people, overkill even. It was just that the wolfhound was so hungry and restless last night, so they intended to let it loose with the intention of letting it hunt for its food after they gave it instruction.

However, when it never came back, they realized that something was wrong and used magic to locate it but found that its sign of life had already disappeared.

“Raise the wanted level of those two people to ‘dangerous’,”  the captain ordered, while rubbing the wolfhound’s fur distressingly. He then tore off the silver medal engraved with a location array on its neck. “Oliver Ramon, a murderer of unknown strength. Nemo Light… No longer a suspected demon worshiper. Treat it as if he is one.”

He picked up the fleshy arm, and the fragments of clothing on it had the embroidery unique to a librarian’s uniform.

“Those two bastards are trickier than we thought. Notify Garland’s side immediately. No delay is allowed.”

---

Kinky Thoughts:

How Oliver and Nemo met kinda of reminds me of Ike and Soren from Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn. Even their classes are the same.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 3: A Blind Blow

The temptation of demons was not always effective.

“No,” Oliver didn’t answer. “I have no reason to believe you.”

That wasn’t the answer the parrot expected, so it simply took action. The same golden mantra that was used back then suddenly started spreading, pulling out a fat spider from the darkness.

The hanging spider blocked their way. It instinctively curled its eight legs in the air and its abdomen split from the middle, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth and biting in vain in the direction of the parrot. Transparent saliva splattered everywhere, almost spraying all over Oliver’s body.

Subordinate demonic spider-dogs were as common in the forest as ordinary spiders. Their teeth were poisonous, and their saliva was horribly sticky, but they weren’t very difficult to deal with. It was a miracle that this thing had grown to half a meter long, as usually ordinary people would just kill them by whacking them with a shovel.

The next moment, the golden threads suddenly tightened, and the spider-dog disappeared into thin air.

“Does it look familiar?” The parrot clicked its beak triumphantly. However, the two stupid humans were unmoved and ignored it tacitly, continuing on their way.

“Ramon… Um, Oliver.” After a few minutes, Nemo couldn’t help but speak. “Are you really not going to listen to it?”

“Demons cannot be trusted,” Oliver said quickly, with a stiff tone, as if he was reciting those boring safety regulations. Nemo hurriedly shut his mouth as Oliver didn’t sound eager to talk at this moment.

The two men marched silently into the depths of the forest.

It was midsummer at this time, which meant more lush branches and leaves that made the night even darker. While the sounds of birds and insects were fine, the rustling noise of a body sliding across the ground or through the bushes was quite dreadful. These unknown movements sounded far and near enough that it made Nemo start to hate his imagination. Oliver continued walking in front of him without saying a word, leaving him to stare at only a vague figure.

Nemo touched the goosebumps on his arm. The courage he had just mustered had already been wiped out. He stared at the back of Oliver’s head, not even sure if he was still the original “human” that was walking in front of him.

Despite his cautiousness, he couldn’t help but say a few words to prevent himself from being driven mad by the dark forest.

“Oliver, why don’t we take a break… We’re both very tired. In case we encounter something…” He paused as he wanted to give himself some face and quickly covered it up with a dry smile. “I mean, it’s also important to regain some of our strength.”

Oliver turned his head. Although it was pitch black all around, Nemo could still see the familiar facial features of his face from this distance. He couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Fortunately, everything was just in his head.

“Ok.” Oliver cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, I just… I haven’t been into the woods at night, so I’m not sure…”

He might as well not say it, as Nemo closed his eyes in pain. Even now, he wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to stop and rest. He even began to feel pity for the monsters that had not attacked them until now. Considering they lacked knowledge, weapons, and were exhausted both physically and mentally, they were like two hot and fresh warm meals waiting to be served, with a sign lighting up as if inviting the forest’s occupants to come have dinner.

Roadside Town was located on the border between Garland and Alban, with Garland being on the west side of the Frontier Forest. Since Roadside Town was a small transportation hub, the nearby forest wasn’t too difficult to traverse. The Garland people would usually come to do business, and seasoned adventurers could pass through the woods within a day.

However, unless the situation was urgent, no one would step into the Frontier Forest at night. It was too close to the Abyss, and there were as many messy species as there were stars in the sky. God knew what kind of creature that they had never seen before would suddenly appear. The most popular horror stories in Roadside Town used the Frontier Forest at night as their setting.

Terrified by those horror story, it only added more suffocation to Nemo. Just as he was letting his imagination run wild, something grabbed his head. Nemo shuddered violently, barely managing to hold back the scream that was rushing out of his throat.

At the same time, Oliver, who was walking in front, fell forward silently. Nemo didn’t dare look back, nor did he dare move forward. The clothes on his back were completely soaked with cold sweat. Before he had time to imagine the dangerous situation ahead and what monsters were behind him, a familiar and annoying voice sounded again…

“Why the fuck are you leaving me again—” The gray parrot squawked as it angrily jumped up and down on his head. “Did I give you permission to go!”

Nemo was determined to ignore it.

“Oliver,” he took a short step forward nervously, “are you okay?”

The young man, who had just fallen, got up silently, stretched out his right hand, and a small flame ignited in his palm. The soft light cut through the darkness.

For the first time in his life, Nemo never loved light as much as in this moment. Perhaps due to safety concerns, the fire was the size of a walnut and could only illuminate a few steps ahead of them, but it was enough for the two of them to see the culprit who tripped Oliver. Several human bones were scattered on the ground, covered in an unknown filth. What looked like a string of eyeballs was drilling in and out of the skeleton’s empty eye sockets, creating an amazing visual effect.

Oliver’s face turned blue while Nemo rescinded his love just now and his hatred for light came boiling from the bottom of his heart.

“It’s just an eyeball centipede. This thing only eats carrion.” The gray parrot sneered, and then seemed to have thought of something serious. “I say… The two of you don’t have any ability to protect yourselves, do you?”

“Dad… My father taught me a little basic swordsmanship before,” Oliver whispered as he moved the fireball, sounding a bit despondent, “but I haven’t cut a living thing before.”

“I work in the library, so don’t count on it,” Nemo replied, matter-of-factly, with a hint of righteous despair. “I have only ever used knives in the kitchen.”

“Fuck, two losers—” The gray parrot was distressed.

“…Didn’t you call yourself a superior demon?” Nemo couldn’t help pouring all his grievances and anger towards the bird, wishing that every word had thorns in it. “Then, my dear Mr. Bagelmaurus, why do you care about the combat experience of two lowly humans? It stands to reason that no matter how strong we are, we can’t possibly compare to a single hand of yours.”

“Because an idiot caused me to lose most of my strength,” the parrot retaliated by pulling on his hair.

“I may not be comparable to an intermediate demon now, but the person who stole my power can’t even hold back a fart,” it squawked sadly as it pecked his fingers angrily.

“There are three swords here.” Oliver was beginning to get a headache caused by the quarrel between the two of them, so he quickly interjected. “Light, do you want one?” As he said it, he moved the fireball closer thoughtfully, and the filth on the hilt of the sword was illuminated clearly.

Nemo poked the hilt of the sword with his left hand causing the unknown filth to stick to his fingertips along with the wrapping.

“No need,” he replied, shaking his swollen right wrist. “It doesn’t seem convenient.”

Oliver nodded and said nothing. He picked up a relatively clean-looking one-handed sword and waved it around.

“You don’t have to be so nervous. Even if I am not in the best of shape, those stupid bastards will not get close.” The gray parrot jumped off Nemo’s head. It was hard to say whether it wanted to appease them or was just showing off. “They can sense class suppression. This is instinct—”

“Are you going to follow us?” Nemo interrupted the parrot’s chattering unceremoniously.

“Until I get my strength back.” The gray parrot puffed out its chest. “Thanks to you two—”

“Alright, alright. I know.” Nemo interrupted it again, impatiently. The Frontier Forest was a wonderful place surrounded by boundless darkness and monsters. Nemo no longer had the strength to be afraid of this noisy bird.

It was always reassuring if they had weapons. They cautiously passed the corpses and continued to advance in the dark. There was no one to lead them, they had no map, and there was nothing beneath them that could even be remotely called a road. As they ventured forward, the shrubs got denser. The two young men were dressed thinly, in tune with the summer season. They didn’t know how many cuts were made on their legs and how many poisonous burrs they had rubbed against, but their speed did not slow down. Fear and tension sometimes were much more effective than anesthetics.

“…Would you like something to eat?” This was probably the reason for the high degree of tension right now. Although he was exhausted to death, Nemo wasn’t troubled by drowsiness. Oliver had just puked out all the contents in his stomach not long ago, that even the night couldn’t hide his pale, stricken face. The young man kept walking ahead with a dirty sword as his clothes were soaked in blood as his back shivered. 

Nemo touched the package on his belt that held a little butter, jerky, and hard bread. It was barely enough to feed two. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any water.

“Let’s eat something.” He lied, “I brought a lot, so don’t hold back.”

As he said it, he handed a small package wrapped in oil paper over, and instantly the delicate aroma of butter wafted.

“Thank you.” Oliver whispered. He turned around but did not pick up the small paper bag. “You can keep it first. I’m not hungry yet—”

Without warning, his voice got stuck strangely. Suddenly, Oliver used his sword to pierce Nemo’s ear, trembling, as he drew a bloody gash in his ear. It was hard to say whether Nemo felt the pain first in his ear or felt the sense of heat coming from behind him. In the next second, a hoarse roar exploded from behind, causing Nemo to turn his head stiffly.

Ratliff wolfhounds.

The garrison in Roadside Town were indeed experienced, as they didn’t intend to give them a chance to cross the border. Ratliff wolfhounds were experts at catching fugitives. They knew to gnaw off the limbs of sinners and take their heads back to the cross.

The thing was taller than them just by standing.

When Nemo read about these wolfhounds before, he often wondered how the garrison could afford to support these big guys. Seeing them now, drooling with saliva, he believed that he had found the answer.

“This isn’t appropriate.” Nemo began to regret that he hadn’t grabbed a sword just then. “We haven’t been formally convicted yet!”

“It’s because a demon intervened,” Oliver pointed his sword at the wolfhound and glanced at the parrot with his eyes.

The gray parrot dodged his look as it gazed into the sky.

Ratliff wolfhounds were inherently cautious and human training had made them cunning. At that moment, the wolfhound lowered its body slightly and stared at Oliver’s shaking sword. Its eyes cast a green glow in the dark.

He wasn’t sure if it was due to fatigue, nervousness, or fear, but Oliver’s sword shook even more severely. The duel wasn’t fair from the beginning, and the beast didn’t intend to give him any time to prepare or warm up. The wolfhound seemed to have discovered its opponent’s vulnerability, and it jumped up with a low growl, creating blue halos that rippled out like water lines.

Nemo’s vision was instantly engulfed by darkness.

His heart suddenly tightened, as if he was clenched by cold claws. The beast did not underestimate its enemy, despite their lack of combat power.

There was nothing more terrifying than losing your vision unknowingly. Nemo clenched his fist in pain. The huge beast was mere steps away from him, and he had no idea when it would rush over. All kinds of weird noises and chirping in the depths of the forest were instantly amplified, and his temples felt like they were pierced by awls. His brain wanted to burst from all the chaotic sounds.

He couldn’t help but hug his head and bend down towards a thorny bush until a repressed scream filled his ears.

“Oliver!” Nemo yelled subconsciously, ignoring his swollen and painful wrist and blindly sticking out his right hand in the direction of the sound.

“Don’t come over!” The other party cried back almost immediately. “It’s just a scratch. It’s still here… Don’t come over!”

“Bagelmaurus, didn’t you call yourself a superior demon?!” Nemo struggled to push a bush aside that was in his way. “Do something!”

“The rest of my strength was used up just now!” He didn’t know in which direction the parrot’s voice sounded from. “This thing doesn’t have demonic blood. I can’t control it. You have to think of a solution yourself…”

Think my fucking ass. Nemo gritted his teeth. Think about what? How to die more decently? If this thing regards itself as a superior demon, then he could call himself the fucking Pope!

How ridiculous.

Usually, at this time, he would be lying in bed with some honey tea at his bedside. If he was in a good mood, he would read a few books under candlelight. Everything would be safe and warm.

He didn’t know why, but suddenly he was struck with the urge to live.

Nemo broke off a branch that felt relatively sturdy and rushed out of the bushes. He squeezed the branch tightly in his left hand and felt around aimlessly with his right, desperately trying to sense the heavy breath of the wolfhound that contained a fishy smell amidst the countless noises. The moment his right hand touched fur, Nemo raised his left hand and vigorously stabbed his stick, poking something.

However, a miracle didn’t happen.

The thick-skinned wolfhound wasn’t injured, and Nemo wasn’t lucky enough to poke at its eyes. His left arm was wrapped in something warm as it was followed by a creepy crunching sound. Nemo couldn’t suppress his screams as he pulled his left arm away frantically. He broke free from the wolf’s mouth, but it didn’t get rid of the pain. In addition, the pain on the back of his neck where he was drilled was starting to itch, and his brain was boiling in agony.

I don’t want to die.

He stared at the darkness in front of him, his teeth clenched tightly, and his mouth was full of blood.

I don’t want to die. At least not here.

His right hand was still clutching the thick fur. The wolfhound shook its body vigorously, but the young man seemed to nail himself onto it, as if his clenched right hand was like iron pliers.

If he couldn’t see and couldn’t escape, it was better to just fight for his life than to die in fear like a coward!

“Oliver,” he called hoarsely. “Oliver!”

“Nemo, stay away.” A weak response came from not far away. “I can’t see it anymore. I might hurt you by mistake—”

“Attack here!” Nemo gripped tighter onto the piece of fur, clinging to life to prevent the wolfhound from chewing him to pieces. “I caught it. Come to me!”

Oliver took a deep breath.

“…Okay.” He replied slowly, without unnecessary nonsense. “I’m going to cut it. Be careful.”

Nemo dug his fingers into the wolfhound’s fur as he smiled weakly in the direction of the voice.

Come on. He thought coldly. He could only hand his fate over to God now.

Suddenly, something cold swept by, and the wolfhound let out a hoarse roar as warm liquid poured all over its face. Nemo found that his left shoulder was tender, but the severe pain prevented him from thinking about it further. There was only one thought in his mind—I’m alive.

Even if half of his body was burning with pain, he was still alive.

The gray parrot looked at everything silently among the branches. It stared at its contractor. Nemo Light’s left arm was bitten to pieces by the ratliff wolfhound, while Oliver Ramon’s sword lopped off a piece of the wolfhound’s left shoulder. The blood from the wolfhound mixed with Nemo’s own, covering him completely.

However, the young man himself seemed to be unaware since he did not collapse because of blood loss. Rather, it was the opposite—the terrifying wound started squirming rapidly as his bones began to recover. Muscle tissue slowly started to form before finally the skin covered everything back up. In less than a minute, Nemo’s left arm was intact again, as good as before, as if he had never been injured in the first place. Nemo hobbled closer to Oliver, ignorant about the entire event.

On the other hand, Oliver, who was sturdier than him, had lost too much blood. He dropped the broken sword from his hand and knelt weakly on the ground before collapsing forward.

“Wow,” the gray parrot smacked its beak, “for someone who’s ‘never cut a living thing before’… For your first time, I must say, well done.”

In the golden eyes of the bird, Nemo lugged Oliver’s arm around his neck and carried his companion forward with great care and difficulty, while behind them lay a huge wolfhound motionless on the ground…

It was nearly split in half and behind it was a fan-shaped spot of ten meters that once had lush trees but was blasted completely clean, replaced with an empty ground that was covered with thick frost.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 2: Murderers and Demon Worshipers

The Ramons ran the only inn in town.

Piper Ramon was the nominal boss, since almost all inn-related work was done by his son. Although he was less than 50 years old, Old Ramon had already turned himself into an old man who spent his days in the tavern listening to adventurers talking and boasting while playing his homemade ukulele and singing a few words. He would go to the library, where Nemo did odd jobs to read books on occasion, and as soon as the sun went down, he would rush back to his inn.

His reputation in town had always been good. Whether he was too enthusiastic or simply foolish, no matter who was in trouble, he would always provide help. If the adventurers were seriously injured, Old Ramon would even allocate special rooms from the inn for them to rest for free. This kind of reckless behavior from the good old man made it so that the inn’s revenue was just enough for the father and son to eat.

It was hard for people to hate a truly warm-hearted person, not to mention that Old Ramon had a tough and good appearance. Although he often made a mess of himself, he couldn’t hide the sharpness in his eyes. It was a pity that his son Oliver didn’t look much like him. Oliver Ramon was the more serious innkeeper. He was handsome and gentle and always had a smile accompanied by his bright eyes.

If it weren’t for the fact that they both had exactly the same emerald eyes, Nemo would have suspected that Oliver had been picked up somewhere by Old Ramon.

Strictly speaking, Nemo could be regarded as the beneficiary of Old Ramon’s warm heart. If it hadn’t been for Old Ramon picking up Nemo when he was around six from the Frontier Forest more than ten years ago, he wouldn’t have lived to his current age, so witnessing this kind of scene was something that he didn’t want to see at all.

Piper Ramon straightened his back, which had always been slightly hunched, making his whole figure look like a sword’s scabbard. He smiled at Oliver as if what he was holding wasn’t a giant monster but a harmless young deer.

Oliver looked completely stunned. From the moment he was attacked by the monster just now, his accumulated confusion and loss finally exceeded his tolerance limit. The young man shook his head and took a step back.

“Uncle Ramon…” Nemo whispered to the other party, but he didn’t know what to say. The grey parrot slipped to his feet, grabbed Nemo’s clothes with difficulty, and climbed onto his shoulders, but Nemo didn’t bother to pay attention to it at all…

Old Ramon didn’t look too good.

The golden thread-like mantra was still swimming in his left hand like a living thing, but his whole entire right arm was almost entirely bone. The poisonous gas from the deadwood jellyfish was devouring this old man. His flesh and blood gradually melted, dripping down his bones as they fell to the ground, like a wax doll that was too close to fire. However, the smile remained on his face. There wasn’t the slightest trace of a frown, as if he didn’t know what pain was.

Old Ramon obviously heard Nemo’s muttering, as he turned his face and nodded at him. His gaze seemed to stay on the gray parrot for a few seconds.

“Ollie.” Then he turned his gaze back to his son. “I’m really sorry.”

This time, Nemo took a few steps back. He didn’t like what he saw in front of him, and he didn’t dare imagine Oliver Ramon’s mood at all. He too had lost a loved one when Patrick Light died on a soft bed. It wasn’t painful to walk, but the moment the old man closed his eyes, he felt as if someone had punched him in the gut and stirred his internal organs into meat sauce.

Furthermore…

“I have a dagger in my belt, but unfortunately I can’t hand it to you,” Old Ramon said. The bones on his right shoulder began to show white. “I have to control this big guy.”

Oliver’s Adam’s apple bobbed, as if he had lost his ability to speak. He stared at the white bones on his father’s shoulders, seeing the flesh and blood flowing down like hot wax. He didn’t even dare to move or breathe, as if worried that the disturbed air flow would make the flesh and blood crackle and fall even faster.

“I don’t have time to explain to you, son.” Old Ramon grinned. “This is all my responsibility… I’m sorry.”

He didn’t seem to plan to explain anything at all. He just apologized repeatedly.

“But you have grown so big.” As he was talking, his ribs could faintly be seen under the melted flesh. “When I see your mother, at least I won’t be scolded too badly by her… Come on, son.”

He gently urged.

“It’s too late.”

Nemo couldn’t watch it anymore. He was out of breath. He felt that he had stepped into a nightmare that was about to run its course through his life. Even standing quietly was like stepping on someone’s wound. This cognition made it unbearable, and he wanted to escape from here, but his legs were too soft to obey.

Just as he tried to move, Oliver moved.

He quickly drew out the dagger, and then gave his father a hug as he pointed the tip of the dagger towards him. He didn’t ask for anything, and he didn’t seem to care about the melted flesh and blood. The young man was holding the hilt of the dagger in his right hand, while his left hand was holding his father tightly, as if trying to distract each other’s pain. The white coat he had on was soaked in a mess by the blood of his close relative. 

Nemo couldn’t see his face, but he could hear his steady voice.

“It’s okay, Dad,” he said; his voice clear and firm. “I don’t blame you.”

“…I don’t blame you.”

The huge monster gradually became transparent, and eventually the pale figure completely dissipated in the air. The small town was still burning, but the frightening sense of oppression was missing. As if centuries had passed, Oliver slowly bent down and carefully placed his father’s body on the grass.

Nemo tentatively walked forward with staggering steps. He wanted to pat Oliver on the back but felt that this comforting gesture was completely unsuitable for the occasion, so he bitterly retracted his outstretched hand. He didn’t know what to say, but he intuitively couldn’t leave Oliver alone.

The town was still emitting billowing smoke in the distance, as Oliver was half kneeling in front of the corpse, motionless, like a tombstone.

Nemo didn’t have a hero complex, but he wasn’t cold-hearted either. Seeing others in pain but doing nothing gave him a tingling sense of guilt. Unfortunately, while he could skillfully laugh at his younger siblings, he could only remain silent before the truly incomprehensible sadness.

“Sir—!” He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but a sudden scream came from not far away. “Murderer!”

Nemo was taken aback and didn’t realize who they were referring to until an arrow flew across Oliver’s cheek and almost hit him, who was standing behind him.

‘I can explain.’ Nemo thought. ‘I’m a witness. I can prove it—’

The gray parrot, which had been neglected for a long time, let out a roar that did not belong to a bird at this moment. An unknown light lit up and radiated out along the ground like lightning, leaving some conspicuous traces of corrosion in the night.

“Abyssal magic.”

“…It’s abyssal magic…”

More human voices were mixed with the increasingly clear sound of armor rubbing. The garrison had arrived late. Their steel armor reflected the vague light of fire, giving off a bright orange edge to them. Nemo couldn’t clearly see their faces.

“There are demon worshippers here. We have to report it…”

Nemo glanced at the arrow stuck on the ground. He instinctively thought, ‘Ask for help’. He could ask for help. As long as they explain things well, they can be saved, and all this will be over. They still have time to return to their original lives. Oliver will be sad for a while, but they can talk about it then…

Suddenly, a hand grabbed his wrist with astonishing strength, causing Nemo to gasp for air. He didn’t realize when Oliver had stood up. With bloody hands, he grabbed Nemo’s wrist tightly, turned, and ran towards the road that they were on.

Nemo was almost dragged forward; his mind hadn’t even registered what was going on.

It wasn’t easy for them to talk, considering the speed at which they were moving was close to frantically running for their lives. The gray parrot had fallen off when Oliver pulled him, and he wasn’t sure whether or not it was still following them. They ran like this until the two stumbled towards the Frontier Forest. Fierce shouts and screams could faintly be heard from behind, but it was all scattered by the winds and they couldn’t hear the contents clearly.

When they got to the forest, the sound of their chasers finally disappeared completely.

Oliver slowed down his steps while Nemo collapsed on the ground and began coughing. Although his physique could be considered good, he usually only did work in managing the bookshelf at the library, so he was completely unaccustomed to such intense exercise. After accumulating a night of fear, confusion, and anxiety, Nemo found that he could hardly think normally. His whole body was exhausted and he wanted to faint.

After he finished coughing, he raised his head and looked at the young man in front of him.

Oliver stood there with his back tightly stretched. He was also gasping violently but didn’t make much noise. He stood there upright as the dim moonlight leaked through the branches allowing Nemo to see the tears that were clearly flowing down his face.

“You…” Nemo subconsciously wanted to ask if he was okay but felt what complete nonsense that was. He decided to change the subject to try and distract the other party. “Why did you run?”

“You made a wish, right?” Oliver grinned, as if trying to squeeze out a smile, but he didn’t succeed. “That thing uses abyssal magic. No matter what you say, you’ll be treated like a demon worshiper…”

Nemo certainly knew what a demon worshiper was. There were always those out there who liked to use magic to control demons. They yearned for the abyss, though they lived under the sky. However, his understanding was only at the level of “the law stipulates that collaborating with demons is a capital crime”. According to Oliver’s tone, the “punishment” may be worse than he anticipated.

“Then… You don’t have to run away with me,” he stuttered. “Besides, we can prove our innocence by being each other’s witnesses.”

“But it’s a fact that I’m a murderer,” Oliver whispered. “No one will believe what a demon worshiper will say.”

He had originally wanted to divert the other’s attention, but it had circled back anyways. Nemo felt discouraged. “But you’re his son. They can’t—”

“So, after killing my father, I have to abandon the person who saved my life from that monster?” Oliver finally gave a wry smile. “I don’t want to be that much of an asshole.”

He stretched out his hand to Nemo, as if to pull him up. In the dim moonlight, the bloodstains on his hands were almost black, making them extremely dazzling.

Oliver looked at his hand in silence and suddenly puked. Nemo got up from the ground in fright and patted him on the back hurriedly. Oliver seemed to have emptied out his entire stomach. He didn’t howl or sob, but his whole body was shaking badly.

Nemo sniffled and turned his gaze away. He looked at the familiar forest in front of him. He came and went here countless times to gather mushrooms or bird eggs to add meals to the little ones in the orphanage. At this moment, it felt terribly unfamiliar. It seemed that someone had dragged them out of a world that relied on common sense and left them in some magical realm with the same scenery but full of dangers.

“Let’s run away together,” he whispered, still patting the young man’s back. Oliver wiped his face and turned his head slightly to look at him.

“I said, let’s run away together.” Nemo raised his voice this time. These words used up almost all his courage. “Or do you have any better ideas?”

“So this is where you guys are!” Before he could adjust his emotions, a rough voice intervened. The two of them subconsciously looked at the source of the sound; the thin gray parrot that was trotting over. “How dare you leave me—”

Nemo immediately threw the topic of escape into the air, squatted down and grabbed it by the neck. His anger directly overshadowed the fear and pain. “What spell did you just use indiscriminately?!”

“Didn’t you see someone shoot you with an arrow?” The grey parrot replied in shock. “Do you have a death wish?”

“…That has nothing to do with you.” Nemo gritted his teeth.

“How come it has nothing to do with me?!” The gray parrot’s feathers exploded, and its voice rose a pitch. “I haven’t settled accounts with you yet. Where is my power? I thought things would return to normal after the contract was completed, so spit out my power—”

It finally realized that it had wings, and it fluttered frantically in Nemo’s hands.

“Things can return to normal…?” Oliver stood up straight.

The gray parrot stopped fluttering.

“Yes.” Its neck was grabbed by Nemo, but it still tried to pose proudly. “I’ve fulfilled his wish, and he gave me his body. Is there any problem?”

“Is this thing really a demon?” Nemo recalled. “…Are you talking about the demon’s contract?”

“I’m the superior demon Bagelmaurus.” The grey parrot raised its head vigorously, but due to body’s problems, this move didn’t bring the slightest deterrent.

“I don’t think so.” Nemo hesitated for a few seconds, but still said his thoughts. He let go of the hand choking the grey parrot, allowing it to plop to the ground. “It’s too…”

Compared with a legendary, powerful, and mysterious superior demon, it was too stupid.

“…I understand.” This time, his attention was successfully distracted. A little life seemed to have come back to Oliver. “It’s very common for demons to lie.”

The gray parrot let out a sneer, but a bird making this kind of notion without momentum only looked ridiculous.

“You’ll know if you try,” it snorted angrily at Nemo. “Part of my flesh is in your body. Although I don’t know why I can’t control it… You should be able to use spells on the level of a superior demon now.”

It then uttered a long string of obscure syllables. Nemo looked at it with some embarrassment.

“It’s too hard to remember.” He frankly admitted. He didn’t want to torture his brain given the bad situation that they were in.

The parrot rolled its eyes and changed it to a shorter one. After repeating it more than ten times, Nemo finally managed to memorize the mouthful pronunciation. He hesitantly stretched out his uninjured left hand and recited the string of syllables quickly. Oliver, who was at his side, took a few steps back and held his breath.

Nothing happened.

“This is impossible!” the parrot squawked. “You must have read it wrong!”

Nemo sighed and repeated it again—still nothing happened.

The grey parrot, who claimed to be a superior demon, was stunned. It stared at Nemo in a daze, looking inexplicably pitiful.

“I have no magical talent. I can’t even activate the most basic lighting magic.” Nemo shrugged, feeling a little relieved as this thing now seemed to have no longer had intentions of killing him. “You lied to the wrong person.”

“Let’s go.” Oliver rubbed the blood on his hands as he stared at the ground. “It’s best to go through the woods tonight… After crossing the border, they won’t be able to catch us.”

Although Nemo felt that he was on the verge of exhaustion and would collapse on the ground any minute now, he still nodded vigorously. ‘But what do we do after crossing the border?’ he thought bitterly.

He was afraid none of them knew where to go or what to do.

“Okay, let’s go,” he said, ignoring the gray parrot, who was still in a daze.

“Wait! That brat over there—” the gray parrot yelled from behind them. “I still have proof. Don’t you want to know what your father just did?”

Its voice sounded happy and vicious.

“Don’t you want to know? Why did your father use the ‘domination’ on the superior demon?”

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Kinky Thoughts:

The first three chapters are just the prologue, but it’s already very exciting.

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Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 1: Gray Parrot

Nemo Light had never been so embarrassed.

He knelt on the ground with one knee, desperately grasping the creature’s limbs that were strangling him with both his hands. Unfortunately, the damn thing was too slippery, covered with blood and mucus of unknown origins. He couldn’t grasp it firmly and could only bear the sharp pain from the back of his neck in despair. That thing must have punctured a hole back there and was desperately drilling in further.

He could clearly feel something sticking into his flesh, entangling his spine. The person who had caused this situation was kneeling next to him, equally frantic, trying to tear the monster off as his face was riddled with panic and guilt.

The cause of this matter was simple.

Roadside Town was adjacent to the Ash Mountain Range. It was regarded as the closest human town to the entrance to the Abyss. Subordinate demons were as common in small towns as voles. Occasionally, a few brainless intermediate demons would break into town, causing the guards to ring the alarm that would alert the townsfolk to hide while they dealt with them. When the garrison vanquished them, everyone would slowly come back out, resuming their daily lives. These attacks were so common to the point that even an eight-year-old would try and grab more candy from the table under the premise that they were trying to hide as quickly as possible. Because of this, no one felt any tension when these things happened.

Since the death of Old Light six years ago, the Light Orphanage still stood, but only in name. The oldest, Nemo Light, gritted his teeth and raised the remaining cubs as he saw them being taken away one by one by passing mercenaries. Finally, this year, he was the only one left.

The moment he heard the alarm bell ringing, he didn’t need to notify anyone. The young man, Nemo Light, picked up his bag and a bird cage, then went out, heading leisurely towards the shelter near the forest.

Until he met this idiot who he didn’t know why was running back.

The guy was running solemnly, completely unaware of what was chasing behind him… A highly decomposed human corpse that was on all fours. It was twisted into a ball and followed him silently like a spider.

Nemo’s scalp instantly exploded.

He wanted to warn the guy about what was chasing him, but before he could say anything, he saw something catapult out of its body and rush at the prey not far away.

At this moment, Nemo’s body moved before his brain had time to think. He instantly swooped over and pushed the man away. The other party was caught off guard and fell to the ground, while Nemo himself avoided the fate of landing on his face. However, he instinctively used his right hand to push himself up and found that he had sprained his wrist.

At this point, this small rescue has disgraced both sides. The man wasn’t small, but Nemo was able to knock him down easily. Nemo awkwardly got up and patted the mud off his pants and realized the pain in his wrist was increasing.

“Something attacked you just now. It’s something you haven’t seen before.” He pointed to the corpse that was a few steps away with his left hand, which was sticky, and explained to the hapless man, who was still sitting on the ground. He couldn’t tell who the hapless man was as it was too dark. “You…”

Suddenly, something cold and sticky touched his neck, making him swallow the rest of what he was about to say. Then came a severe pain that went deep into his bones that almost made him cry.

He thought about how truly bad his luck was.

Growing up in such a dangerous place, Nemo thought that he was fully prepared for a “bad ending”, but he didn’t think death would come so soon. He didn’t even have time to feel fear. He opened his mouth to try and breathe, but could only make a strange sound. He could feel warm blood gushing from the back of his neck.

Perhaps his psychological preparation wasn’t as good as he thought. He struggled in a daze under this unknown attack, trying to hold onto a non-existent life-saving rope, like he was drowning while drunk.

“Spellcaster.”

However, the darkness of death did not come as scheduled, and the severe pain didn’t disappear. A thin and joyful voice penetrated Nemo’s ears.

“…You’re also a spellcaster!”

No, I’m really not. Not even close. He thought in a daze.

“Make a wish, spellcaster,” the voice said, every word smelling of command. The suffocating shackles finally loosened a bit, as Nemo struggled to take a breath of fresh air. “I’ll give you a minute to think about—”

“…Can you go back to where you came from?” In less than three seconds, Nemo struggled to squeeze his wish from his throat, speaking with absolute sincerity and urgency from the bottom of his heart.

The voice was silent for a while.

“No,” it said bluntly.

“What about ‘don’t kill me’?” Nemo quickly found his next wish.

“No.” The voice sounded a little angry this time. “Either make a wish or I will kill you now.”

“Then how about waiting for me to die of old age before killing—”

This time the voice ignored him and instead added more force to the area around his throat.

“…Then I don’t have any other wishes,” he spat out words a little dully.

“Procrastinating is useless,” the voice said. “It’s impossible for humans to not have wishes.”

If it insisted on a wish, there was one, but it was destined to be unfulfilled. Unfortunately, “the dead cannot come back to life” was the iron clad rule of this world. Patrick Light had long since passed away. In terms of age, it was rare for someone to live that long in such a shithole like this. Besides that, all his former family members now had stable homes, so they could live comfortably until they reached adulthood.

Nemo Light had always believed that there was nothing wrong with living an ordinary life. He wasn’t young, so he hadn’t had any youthful dreams for a while now. When you didn’t ask for them, you didn’t have to worry about them. This kind of story full of blood and fire would always take place in some other world, but he could only hope to continue to be an insignificant ordinary person in a small town.

He suddenly wanted to laugh a little, seeing as death was imminent and he didn’t even have a serious wish to delay some time.

“Okay… Okay.” Finally, he sighed and stretched out his hand to catch the wrist of the original victim. The man was still trying to help peel off the slippery unknown creature while turning to look at him from time to time. From the way he was reacting, it seemed that this man hadn’t heard the words of the creature.

Now, Nemo could finally clearly see who this unlucky fellow was. It was Oliver Ramon, the son of the innkeeper. If he recalled, he was just a few years younger than him.

“Stop pulling it Ramon.” Nemo scratched his hair irritably, trying to ignore the weird bitter taste in his mouth. “Why are you running back into town?”

“My dad didn’t keep up.” Although he didn’t understand why Nemo had asked this suddenly, the young man answered honestly. “He clearly told me…”

“Okay, take us to this guy’s father,” Nemo said. “This is my wish.”

Oliver Ramon looked at him in confusion.

“Easy.” The voice replied, “You’re really stupid to waste such a precious opportunity—Ah!”

That thing—whatever it was—made a scream that only Nemo could hear, which sounded so loud that it could tear one’s eardrums. The severe pain in the back of his neck turned into a numb tingling sensation, and his suffocation disappeared. The cold and sticky feelings were suddenly replaced by warmth. Nemo touched his neck subconsciously and felt blood on his hand.

He lowered his neck and finally saw the identity of the culprit; a mass of bluish-purple flesh that was squirming on the ground, struggling to squeeze itself into the bird cage. It finally managed to break in and wrap itself around the half-dead grey parrot inside.

“What the hell is this?” Oliver said.

“I don’t know,” Nemo muttered in a low voice, hesitating whether he should save the bird.

It turned out that he thought too much, as in just a few seconds, the piece of flesh quickly penetrated into the gray parrot’s body, like water seeping into a dry sponge.

The piece of flesh was much larger than the poor bird, but at this moment, it disappeared out of thin air, leaving behind only a gray parrot that was still the same size as before. There wasn’t even a single missing feather on it. The bird was as old as a ragged feather duster, so it made no resistance during the entire process; only occasionally twitching symbolically.

Then it jumped up.

“What’s going on?!” The gray parrot let out a hearty complaint and no longer looked sickly at all. “The contract was established—”

Nemo and Oliver glanced at each other and were discouraged to find that there was only an unexpected blankness on their faces.

“In other words, my wish is still valid?” He didn’t know the reason, but Nemo felt that there was something weird spreading in his heart, regardless of everything just now. He didn’t know where he managed to scour up this courage. At this moment, he should probably scream and run away; as far away from this strange thing as possible, then have a final struggle.

But the people who acted like this in stories usually didn’t end up with good results. The corner of Nemo’s mouth twitched as he thought perhaps he was too used to giving up. Facing the current situation where only God knew what was going on, leaving it up to fate could also be regarded as a kind of solution.

“…Then lead the way,” he said calmly while wiping the blood away from the back of his neck.

The gray parrot clicked its tongue a few times and pondered for a while. “Fine,” it announced arrogantly, “but open the cage first.”

Nemo raised his eyebrows and began to wonder if this little monster who couldn’t even open a bird cage could really kill him. He opened the cage, and the gray parrot squeezed out with some unsightly movement and fell to the ground.

“Follow me.” The grey parrot version of the monster acted like nothing was wrong at all and got up quickly again.

…Then it took small, little steps, strolling towards the town.

Nemo suddenly struggled in his heart as his desire to survive kicked in. He didn’t want to be killed by such a thing. He at least still had some basic dignity as a human being.

Oliver Ramon, on the other hand, looked at the gray parrot trying to trot in front of him, then looked back at Nemo. At this moment, the only horror left on the young man’s face disappeared, and all that remained was blankness.

“Don’t ask. It will take us to your father… Probably,” Nemo said with a straight face. His wrist was aching, his neck was bleeding, and he had exhausted all his willpower just by holding back the cold air. “Don’t ask now, please.”

Oliver closed his just opened mouth and nodded empathetically. He felt a bit embarrassed and silly following such a bird. His steps were not firm at all, as if he was full of hesitation.

However, this weird atmosphere of embarrassment quickly disappeared from them.

Although they hadn’t yet reached the town, the distance was enough to see the fire reflected in the red night sky. A huge shadow that shouldn’t have appeared was slowly moving in the direction where they were.

Nemo subconsciously held his breath, and this time the fear really hit him. The familiar building was burning in front of him. It shouldn’t be like this. What about the guards? Where are the garrison units? Roadside Town wasn’t a safe place to live. After all, it was stained by the light of the Ash Mountain Range. The fact that it was unsafe only meant that the vigilance here was doubled.

He had never seen such a serious situation before.

The gray parrot was still running in front of him regardless of the situation, unmoved. Oliver stopped and his expression became serious.

“The situation is not good,” he quickly spoke in an anxious tone. “Do you want to wait here? I can go by myself.”

“Ramon…”

“I don’t know what happened just now, but you really don’t need to follow—”

“Ramon!” Nemo grabbed the collar of the young man who was still chattering. “That stupid parrot stopped!”

The young man widened his eyes and looked at him in puzzlement.

Nemo’s lips trembled a little. Oliver had his back towards the town, so he was unable to see what was going on. The shadow that had loomed over it finally got close enough that its appearance could be clearly illuminated by the fire. Unfortunately, this time, Nemo knew what it was.

A deadwood jellyfish should never appear in such a place.

Although the name sounded harmless, the deadwood jellyfish was a powerful monster. In terms of strength, it was even considered to be in the upper-tier class of demons. Nemo had never had a passion for studying demons, but this type was well-known; their weird habits were often joked about by adventurers.

They were equivalent to large sloths in the Abyss. They lacked interest in other creatures and had little desire to attack. Docile deadwood jellyfish only did one thing, float back and forth in their habitat.

From the outward appearance, they looked almost beautiful. The pale cap-shaped head had a circle of dark eyes neatly embedded on the edge. Its body was shrouded in flowing smoke, with only a few white bone spines stretching out from the smoke like dead branches. Even with the flames that were soaring into the sky at this moment, the milky white smoke still flashed with fascinating brilliance.

All they needed to do was float back and forth. The smoke would digest anything that once belonged to life that came into contact with it. This feature made them difficult to deal with, but as long as an adventurer had eyes, they could easily bypass it quietly by going around it when they encountered a deadwood jellyfish in the Abyss.

These things never left their habitat, and no one was stupid enough to summon this useless and dangerous monster.

However, there was another person who shouldn’t be here.

“Alright.” The gray parrot screamed not far away. “This is the person you are looking for—”

The deadwood jellyfish wasn’t advancing towards them, but it was being dragged over abruptly.

Golden thread-like mantras loomed from the smoke. Compared with the huge bodies of the monster, these were as slender and fragile as spider silk, but they were able to bind to the deadwood jellyfish. Those golden threads intertwined with each other and, at the end, were met with five human fingers.

The owner of the fingers, the unkempt innkeeper, raised his head and gave Oliver a big smile.

“Hi son, I’m sorry,” he said. “I have to trouble you to kill me.”

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Kinky Thoughts:

A new project that I saw someone on Reddit highly recommended that’s a danmei set in a western fantasy, so a lot of the characters have western names. I don’t see western fantasy in danmei that often, and fantasy is one of my favorite genres. I believe the only one I’ve read so far is The Reader and the Protagonist Have to be in True Love, which I highly recommend.

Though the real reason why I wanted to pick it up is because the artwork covers for volumes 1 and 2, which can be ordered here. Below is what the main characters look like, to give you a better visual sense.

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