Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 166: Possibility

Oliver subconsciously touched his pocket and almost dropped the sandwich in his arms. He quickly caught it and, in the process, bumped his fingers against something hard.

It was the bad-tempered aristocratic warrior in their group.

Leonard was standing in front of him and made a scrunched-up face, as if he had seen something terrible. A layer of cold sweat suddenly appeared on Oliver’s forehead. Fortunately, he didn’t use much strength when he was catching the sandwiches; otherwise, he would have accidently knocked this man back and it would’ve been hard to explain afterwards.

“Sorry,” he apologized sincerely.

It seemed that the skills of the school hospital were quite good. Leonard didn’t seem weak or tired. He just stood coldly, holding a piece of parchment paper in his hand.

“You’re in the way,” Leonard said angrily, rolling his eyes.

Oliver hugged the sandwiches tightly, confirmed his position, then had a terrible guess. “…You want to bet on Tumbleweed?”

He was so shocked that he even forgot to move out of the way.

“It has nothing to do with you. Get out of the way, deserter.” His tone sounded provocative. Leonard raised his voice angrily and was about to reach out to push Oliver.

Noticing the small conflict, Elmer quickly put down his plate and strode over.

“What’s the matter?” he deliberately asked, very loudly. Leonard glanced at Elmer, and his expression quickly eased. He seemed to have a good impression of this brave young man.

“I want to bet, but this guy won’t leave.” Leonard pointed to Oliver casually. “This is your roommate, right? What’s wrong with him?”

“Misunderstanding.” Oliver spoke extremely fast. He moved a few steps quickly to make room for Leonard. “No offense, but I also plan to bet on Tumbleweed.”

Elmer looked at Oliver speechlessly. His face was saying, “You didn’t even know what this was just a minute ago”, but he thoughtfully didn’t expose the other party.

“Oh.” Leonard threw the parchment strip into the copper box, showing a sneer. “Then you must have studied them a lot. What was their second task?”

“Looking for Melody Delaney. The Bluebirds incident in Vincent Town,” Oliver replied without even thinking.

The faces of the other two showed varying degrees of surprise, but Leonard concealed it better. The noble warrior had hoped to expose the other party’s lies and have him make a fool of himself, but this country boy seemed to know more than he appeared.

“Here’s the wheel. How long will it take for the disk to produce results?” Oliver struck while the iron was hot.

“After the results of the next mission are officially registered, you can bet on anything during that period. Not just missions, major events, or team reshuffles, or whatever… Are you going to bet on it, Oliver? This isn’t a joke. If you bet wrong, you’ll lose your money.”

“Nn.” Oliver rubbed the sandwich in his arm. He glanced at Elmer and had an idea in his mind. “I know. I’m just casually looking today. I happen to know a bit about them.”

Elmer looked relieved.

“I thought you were really going to bet with him.” After returning to the dorms in the evening, Elmer looked worried. “Leonard… Oh, in fact, he’s not bad. He’s just a bit grumpy, so don’t take it personally.”

“I know,” Oliver put the sandwich at the head of the bed and replied in a calm tone. “And I have no money either.”

“…” Elmer decided to remain silent about this answer.

There was a soft and weak knock on the door. The two looked at each other before Oliver got up and opened the door first.

Nemo moved in with a pale face. He nodded in Elmer’s direction, then hugged Oliver and even buried his nose in the crook of Oliver’s neck and inhaled deeply.

Oliver was a little confused, but he still stretched out his hand and patted Nemo lightly on the back.

“I’m going out for a walk.” Seeing that something was wrong with Nemo’s state, Elmer took the lead.

“What’s the matter?” Oliver gave his roommate a grateful look and then stroked his lover’s back soothingly.

“I have good news and bad news. Which one do you hear first?” After another deep breath of Oliver’s neck, Nemo finally raised his head.

“Good news.” Oliver didn’t hesitate for a moment.

“The good news is that my escapade was significant, and I did find a lot—”

Oliver looked at Nemo encouragingly.

“—of bad news.” Nemo’s expression sank. “Now I can tell you the bad news, right?”

“……”

An hour later.

“You’ve gotten a lot bolder,” Jesse Dylan sighed while still gnawing on a piece of dried meat in his mouth. “Daring to contact me with visuals inside Clementine Academy. Let me see—this background… Are you in some kind of closet? Oh, this posture is very nice.”

“And you’re in the Great Isamel Labyrinth.” Nemo ignored Jesse’s nonsense. He moved his legs with difficulty while Oliver, who was squeezed beside him, took a deep breath. “The communication crystal can’t connect to multiple lines, so we can only do this.”

“Yeah. I can’t always hide myself.” Ann’s voice came from the communication crystal. “In case they are found out, these two boys can still find an excuse and say they’re making out. It’s fine if it’s just me alone.”

“Fine, fine.” Jesse chewed on a piece of jerky. “Why are we having this team meeting? Adri. Adri—come here quickly.”

They had a limited budget and only bought the cheapest image crystal. The small crystal ball was about the size of an egg. The knight commander seemed reluctant, but he leaned over. However, as soon as Adrian’s face appeared in Nemo’s field of vision, Jesse turned sideways and kissed his cheek very naturally.

The former Knight of Judgment looked numb. He stretched out his hand and calmly wiped the saliva from his face. “Something happened?”

Oliver almost forgot that he was in a closet. He shivered, causing the entire closet to shake badly and blow up a bunch of dust.

“Ah… Oh.” Nemo’s expression became complicated. He coughed lightly. “Ollie, come on.”

“In short, Telaranea’s inside the academy and it suspects Tumbleweed.” Oliver finally regained his relatively calm expression. “Now, for various reasons, it plans to make Nemo its assistant. Nemo has already modified its memories, so the risk of exposure is too high to do it a second time. We plan to use the labyrinth reset this weekend to pretend to be trapped and hide in it for a while. Where are you currently in the maze?”

“The center.” Jesse scratched his face. “It’s going to be late.”

“…” Ollie didn’t know what to say. If he hadn’t known it was impossible, he would have suspected that these two people had parachuted in directly from above the maze. The captain of Tumbleweed looked at his lover with a subtle expression and found that there was no surprise on Nemo’s face.

“But this does not prevent you from coming in,” Jesse continued. “There’s a one-way teleportation array in the center of the maze, which can be used to teleport directly back to Clementine Cathedral, which is very convenient for escape. The strength of the creatures here is quite interesting. Thanks to them, the surveillance here is much smaller, so it’s also very suitable for leisurely camping.”

The blond young man stopped talking for a moment, and his smile grew meaningful. “With the strength of you two alone, it’s not a problem to come to the center. Do you need me to set up a private room for two? As for our dear Miss Savage—”

“I have my own way. Just act as you wish.” Ann’s suspicious voice came from the communication crystal. “What happened to the sound just now? What did that bastard Dylan do again?”

“That bastard Dylan is still listening.” Jesse’s voice immediately became aggrieved. “You’re so hurtful.”

“Anyway, it’s settled.” Oliver took a hard breath, almost choking on the dust as he coughed. “We’ll contact you after entering the maze on the weekend. It’s better to act together now.”

“Oh. The two-person world of me and Adri—”

Oliver cut off the image connection blankly. He pursed his lips and looked at Nemo solemnly.

“I think I’m ready. Tell me, Nemo… What the hell is Jesse Dylan?” According to Ann, the Great Isamel Labyrinth was one of the most dangerous places on the surface. After successfully getting out of hot water from the Pope, he reached the center of the labyrinth in less than half a day. Jesse Dylan had completely escaped from the category of strong in a normal sense. This gave Oliver a very unpleasant suspicion. “He shouldn’t also be created by you—”

“No, no, no,” Nemo hastily denied, trying to maintain his dignity. “It’s just… Uh, are you sure you want to know now?”

“Yes.”

Nemo took a breath, put his lips to the other’s ear, and gently whispered.

Oliver’s face instantly became livid, and then quickly turned pale. He stopped breathing until he almost fainted. Oliver finally turned to face Nemo again…

“…Is it too late for me to resign as captain of the team now?”

The atmosphere around the other leader wasn’t relaxed either.

Godwin Lopez flipped through a mountain of information. Countless light screens were suspended in the room with text and pictures slowly floating on it.

He had investigated Oliver Ramon’s affairs before accepting the commission, and this time the client was a professor at Clementine Royal Military Academy. Clementine Academy has always been interested in the Black Chapters and regarded them as excellent research objects. It wasn’t unusual for Clementine’s professors to be attracted to a certain Black Chapter team. What was more, the other party provided a very favorable clue, and Godwin thought the task wouldn’t be difficult.

But Oliver Ramon suddenly changed from a dull-headed mudskipper to a slippery viper—his power suddenly became weird. All his traces disappeared extremely smoothly, and he learned about Horizon’s movements, which was something he shouldn’t have known about in the first place.

Until now, Godwin still hadn’t been able to obtain any valid information. He monitored all the small places where Tumbleweed might be hiding and planted eyes in larger and medium-sized cities. Unfortunately, he only harvested a lot of specious and useless information. He could only provide the employer with a sufficiently detailed background check. He even didn’t deliberately hide the fact that Oliver Ramon was most likely Flint Lopez’s son.

But this couldn’t hide the fact that Horizon’s investigative operations were weak.

Did he underestimate his cousin?

Godwin raised his head, rolled his shoulders and neck, and his expression became more serious. When dealing with Caleb’s witch incident, although Ramon’s performance was unorthodox, he himself wasn’t particularly vigilant. Now, he had to add that name to Horizon’s most vigilant enemies.

“Commander,” the deputy leader of Horizon, Victor, pushed open the door. “Miss Light led the team to complete a task and plans to return in the near future.”

“Send her a new one and hold her back,” Godwin replied in a flat voice. “Debbie is a good girl and I don’t want her to face this.”

“Understood.” Victor nodded. “There is another thing. His Royal Highness, Eldric, invites you to be his guests.”

“No.” Godwin pressed his temples. “Help me turn it down.”

“But after all, he is your nominal…”

“Her Royal Highness Annabelle’s daughter is only sixteen years old.” Godwin’s voice became cold. “Even if he made the marriage contract in advance, I would never see her before she becomes an adult. Just tell Eldric Alastair that.”

“I understand, commander.” Victor shrugged. “Do you have a message for Delia? After all, she is your fiancée.”

“Tell her not to worry about me. It doesn’t matter if she falls in love with someone else, and it’s fine to have a lover publicly.” Godwin closed his eyes. “I think we all know the true value of where this engagement lies.”

“There is also the question mentioned last time.” The tall warrior reminded with a volume that didn’t match his figure. “Her Royal Highness Delia wants to go to Clementine Academy to study. Although Her Royal Highness Eldric is her uncle, according to the regulations, she still needs your permission.”

“No.” Godwin rubbed his forehead harder. “At least not now. If I guess correctly, there will be a lot of chaos there soon…”

Godwin frowned. He pulled out two sheets from the mountain of parchment rolls. His brows tightened.

Clementine Academy. He had never considered this place before. Strict admission control and high tuition fees helped him subconsciously reject this possibility no matter what, but if he started with a certain point, there was indeed something doubtful…

The assassin who had just escaped from the Withered Castle was the well-known “Sancho’s Gray Fox” in the underground world. He was killed lightly, and a huge reward was taken away anonymously. There was no obvious capital flow to Tumbleweed’s team account, so he previously ignored it as irrelevant information, but the money didn’t enter the public account of a Black Chapter at all, so it didn’t make sense.

If he started from this perspective, was the Gray Fox really dead? Only bloody clothes and weapons were handed over, but there were no limbs or head. This was indeed in line with the regulations; as long as the Gray Fox no longer appeared, then “dead” was established as fact.

Yes. It was also from the underground world that they could detect the actions of Horizon. The Gray Fox may have reached some kind of agreement with Tumbleweed and provided them with funding and intelligence. Although it wasn’t clear what reward Tumbleweed could provide the Gray Fox, this was indeed a logical association.

Assuming that Tumbleweed had this huge amount of money, if he was the leader of Tumbleweed, how would he hide?

“Add a request for me.” Godwin clenched the parchment in his hand. “I need permission from the Alastair family—permission to enter Clementine Royal Military Academy to investigate.”

---

The author has something to say:

Nemo: The mental impact is too great. Take a breath, Ollie (?)

——————

The previous image in this cousin’s mind was of a mudskipper, Ollie. When your brother finds out about your first encounter, then you’ll really be a mudskipper*!

*Clarity: Referring to their first childhood encounter when Oliver climbed out of a mud pit and was literally covered in mud.

The noble warrior brother is secretly Tumbleweed’s fan√ Destined to be mentally shocked (……)

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 165: Wheel of Calamity

Aurorae?

Nemo stood up in shock and widened his eyes at the empty corridor in front of him.

Vance Talbott was the legendary superior demon slayer, and it sounds like his time was running out. This was completely beyond Nemo’s imagination. He thought Vance was just a collaborator with Telarenea. Originally, he was surprised by the vague subordinate atmosphere between the two of them. If Vance was Aurorae, this bizarre situation would be easy to explain.

The conversation in the room continued.

“It’s not about persistence,” Vance—or rather, superior demon Aurorae—answered the question nonchalantly. “Thank you for your gift, Telaranea.”

“Let’s be practical.” The Sage of the Abyss wasn’t half as polite as she could have been. “Those little guys in Horizon aren’t very useful at all. They haven’t caught anyone yet.”

“I won’t interfere in human affairs.”

“But this matter has nothing to do with you.” Telaranea snapped her fingers good-naturedly. A cleansing spell brushed the weird metal machinery, cleaning up the liquid leaving not a single drop left. “About Tumbleweed, I found something very interesting… Oliver Ramon, the captain of Tumbleweed, is the son of your rebellious student.”

Vance raised his head slowly, and his eyes narrowed.

“Things are getting more and more interesting!” Telarenea could barely contain her excitement. “Originally, I just suspected… Now I’m very sure that my memory loss was definitely related to Tumbleweed. If I hadn’t encountered something extremely unreasonable, I wouldn’t have opened the research project on the Trent Plague.”

“There were only two victims over the years. Sonia Ramon and her unborn child. Horizon’s report was still a bit useful. They at least helped me confirm the identity of Oliver Ramon. Now there’s only one question left—who did it to me?”

Vance clenched his fists, looking a little disgusted at the topic.

“I have a guess. No matter who did this, the purpose may not be just simple punishment. That guy is consciously protecting someone.” Seeing that the other party didn’t intend to respond, Telaranea continued softly. “If this wasn’t the case, before erasing my memory, he… or she didn’t need to specifically cut off my information transmission. Hiding his or her face would’ve been enough. The other party obviously didn’t want me to reveal the identity of the person who destroyed the Withered Castle.”

“Are you sure it was done by two people?” Vance finally asked rhetorically.

“The power to destroy the castle is unprecedented. The usage was simple and crude, but the spell that was cast on me was extremely precise, so it was definitely done by two people.”

Nemo clenched his fist. His mouth became bitter. Indeed, that was the best way he could think of at that time. He had expected Telaranea to only back off a bit, but as a result, the other party had retreated behind the scenes and pushed Godwin and Horizon to the forefront.

He underestimated Telaranea’s curiosity.

“No matter who it is, I think that it’s a serious warning.” Vance was silent. “Your body in the Withered Castle didn’t even spread any valuable information, and the opponent could completely suppress a superior demon. I don’t think Horizon can handle such an opponent.”

“Yes, I think so too.” Hearing the words “Withered Castle”, the smile on Telarena’s face immediately faded a bit. “So I just asked them to collect information on my behalf. As for Godwin Lopez’s decision to deal with Oliver Ramon, that has nothing to do with me.”

“You’re pretty sure he’ll do it… According to Godwin Lopez’s character, after discovering Ramon’s power, he would definitely try to defeat Ramon and send him to the headquarters of the Mercenary Guild. You just want to stop by to collect more information about Ramon, so you and I don’t need to appear here.”

“You don’t care? That’s Flint’s son.”

“I don’t have the habit of asking the son to repay his father’s debts. I really have no interest in him.”

“Oh?” Telarenea inquired, “Not interested? Even if I can tell you with great certainty, after screening all possibilities, he’s most likely the one who destroyed the Withered Castle with his own hands?”

“I said that I wouldn’t interfere in human affairs. His powers don’t belong to the Abyss. That’s enough.”

“How cold.” The Sage of the Abyss sighed expressionlessly, as if she was still unhappy about what happened at the Withered Castle. “What about Nemo Light, who has the power of the Demon King?”

Nemo, who was spying, froze. The demon spider in the corner of the ceiling almost slipped off.

“Whether it’s Ann Savage or Adrian Cross, or even that parrot, I know their details very well.” The female professor lowered her head and patted the dust off her robe. She then sniffed the blood-stained cuffs and sprayed some perfume with a disgusted expression. “There are only two people who have ever puzzled me—Mr. Light and Mr. Dylan.”

Vance looked at his compatriot in silence.

“If you don’t want to help me tussle with Tumbleweed, that’s fine.” Telarenea stuffed the perfume bottle into her pocket. “At least tell me one thing—you were at the scene of the demon cocoon incident in Roadside Town, weren’t you?”

“Nn.”

“Is Jesse Dylan really the black-clothed demon you met in the Abyssal Church that day?”

“I’m not sure. He doesn’t have the aura of the Abyss on him,” Vance replied quietly, “but I can’t see through him, so I can’t rule out the possibility that he used some other means or props.”

“Then there are no more than two possibilities. Either Jesse Dylan deceived the Laddism Church by some means and sneaked into the castle to save those people, or it was Nemo Light.”

“Light? If it’s just a fragment of the Demon King’s power…”

“No, I have another thought.” Telaranea touched her chin and smiled again. “Maybe he’s like me.”

“……”

“You see, since the Demon King can accidently create a ‘me’, why can’t he make a second one?”

“I promise you.” Vance frowned. “I will support you when necessary and investigate as you like, but don’t forget, Telaranea, our plans will always come first.”

“Alright, alright. I remember.” Telaranea curled her lips. “Ugh, what a pain in the ass.”

Ann had just secured the broom into her cart, grabbed a wet rag in her hand, and saw Nemo floating over from the end of the hallway.

Of course, their captain’s lover wasn’t literally floating, but he was walking as if he was a drunk pony and his face was as white as a ghost.

“What happened to Oliver?” Ann asked cautiously as she subconsciously shook the rag.

“Oliver is fine,” Nemo said in a dreamlike voice. “I’m not well. Just ask me why.”

“…Why?” Ann reluctantly put down the rough cloth that was still dripping.

“First, Telaranea is here, and its identity is a female professor. Second, the professor decided to recruit me as her assistant. Third, Aurorae is also with her. Yes, Aurorae is also here. Regarding his information, we can talk about it in detail later.” Fourth, Telaranea was probably created by him at some point in time, but Nemo didn’t dare say this.

The female warrior was frozen in place by the excessive amount of information and erupted internally several times.

“I’ve already told Ollie. You have to be careful too,” Nemo muttered in a low voice. “Telaranea must still remember us.”

“With all those nurses, why did she pick you as an assistant?” Ann perceptively spotted the problem.

“I… When I was taking the exam, I easily answered the sections on the Pathology of Abyssal Magic.”

Ann’s face immediately became gloomy. She moved her wrist, vaguely intending to press Nemo’s head into the rag.

“It’s not that my hands were itchy! I needed to get information about the Trent Plague!” Nemo hastily defended. Even if Ann’s combat power couldn’t pose a threat to him, he still instinctively shrank his neck and explained desperately. “…For Ollie.”

Ann raised her head and sighed at the ceiling.

“The information you give is not a trivial matter. We may need an in-team meeting.” Ann turned her neck, and her joints made a loud crack. “You’re obviously here yet you still encountered this kind of thing. Are you sure… you’re not carrying some strange curse?”

Nemo swallowed and lowered his head guiltily.

“It’s not like there’s nothing you can do.” After calming down, the female warrior grabbed the rag again and quickly wrung it out. “You two, try to delay this for a week.”

“But Horizon…”

“It’s fine. I’m suggesting we leave the Academy.” The female warrior gave a mischievous smile. “Cross and Dylan will enter the Isamel Labyrinth today. I contacted them this morning.”

“So?”

“This weekend just happens to be the monthly labyrinth reset. Every time it resets, a few unlucky people who didn’t listen get trapped in it. You and Oliver might consider encountering some ‘trouble’ together. Until then, since dear Professor Telaranea has her eyes on you, you can find a way to avoid her and take the opportunity to get more information.”

“…Ann.”

“Hmm?”

“Why do you know so much about the internal affairs of Clementine Academy? You said before that you’re not familiar with Clementine.”

“Oh.” Ann lowered her head and most of the smile on her face dissipated. “I have people I know… who have studied here.”

On the other side.

Oliver waited patiently for a while, but Nemo didn’t show up for lunch. Seeing that lunch time was about to end, Oliver had to regretfully walk to the canteen, thinking about wrapping a few fresh sandwiches for Nemo.

As for the contemptuous gaze and boos along the way, he ignored them all with his heart of steel built up from years of experience in the service industry. Oliver understood. No one liked cowards, and word of his decisive escape during the first training had spread throughout the entire school.

But most of the students were past the age of confrontation and picking a fight, so aside from the unpleasant whispers and insulting gestures, there weren’t any real obstacles on his way to the canteen. He happily piled his plate with fresh food, and the sandwich he saved for Nemo was ready…

“Oliver.” When Oliver was just about to start enjoying his lunch, his burly roommate pulled out a chair, put his plate down, and sat opposite of him.

He didn’t expect anyone to come talk to him. Oliver was chewing on a piece of beef in his mouth and almost choked. “Elmer…?”

“Why did you do that?”

“Ah, uh… I was so scared at that time. I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

“No.” Elmer clasped his stout fingers and lowered his voice. Even though the canteen had stopped offering food, somehow the entire dining hall was still filled with students. “You and White obviously saved everyone. Why did you deliberately cover it up?”

Oliver stared blankly for a moment while the corner of his mouth was still stained with brown sauce, before he frowned slightly. There was no confusion in the other party’s face, so it seemed like Elmer was positive in what he was saying.

“…You saw it.” It didn’t make sense to hide it.

“Yes. I have to say, you guys did a perfect job.” His tall roommate dug into his own plate of stew. His voice was so low that he could hardly hear him. “I’m a child of a hunter. I could see the state of the animals. When the snake mongoose attacked the snake-maned lion, although it was only for a split second, the reaction it had was less like an attack but more like a shock from being crushed.”

“Maybe you have your reasons. If you don’t want to say it, I can understand. But I really care about you Oliver. I can’t pretend it didn’t happen.”

Elmer chewed wordlessly for a moment before swallowing politely.

“So I still can’t help but ask… Who are you guys?”

“Don’t want to say,” Oliver responded.

Elmer’s chewing motion stagnated.

“Because I don’t want to lie to you.” Oliver shrugged, inserted the fork into the soft and juicy meat again, turned his head and glanced at the students talking loudly around him. “Although I know this request is a bit… Well, Elmer, maybe we can make a deal.”

Their friendship was still shallow, and their own situation was really suspicious, so it was a bit too much to directly ask the other party to keep it a secret. Elmer seemed like an honest person, so it was very likely he would just agree. Oliver didn’t want to take advantage of the other party’s tolerance, and it was not his style to put out “we saved you” so they needed to return the favor.

“You help us keep it a secret, and I’ll teach you swordsmanship.” Oliver wiped the sauce from the corner of his mouth. “Time is limited. I can only teach you the most basic things, but I have seen your movements in battle… You haven’t studied the basics seriously, have you?”

Elmer looked at him blankly for a moment, and then his eyes were flushed. “God, would you like—”

“Wait, wait, wait. Don’t get too excited.” Oliver almost lost his hold on his fork. “My swordsmanship is not special…”

Before he finished speaking, the wall in front of them cracked.

To be precise, it was divided into two halves and slowly receded at both ends. Several wheels—more like disc-like things—flew out of them and into the air. The students who were originally sitting in the dining room stood up, and a group of people poured in like a tide outside the door. Most of them were senior students, and some were their fellow classmates that were mixed in.

The big canteen right now was even busier than it was at mealtime.

“What is this?” Oliver stuffed the remaining pieces of beef into his mouth and asked with bulging cheeks. This was clearly not a suitable atmosphere for dining.

“I don’t know.” Elmer was much more honest. He moved to the wall obediently and decided to squat and enjoy his lunch.

Oliver leaned next to him, holding the sandwich for Nemo as he chewed like a hamster. He carefully let go of a little perception and listened to conversations of the students.

“It’s a pity, the previous team was destroyed in the tomb of the high elves, right? I have studied them for a long time.”

“The regiment was destroyed, and it seems the deputy leader has gone to another Black Chapter team. How much did you earn from them?”

“A dozen gold coins…”

“I bet on the ‘Shadow Snake’. The scope of activity… Well, if I’m not mistaken, it should be near Kenyatta in Garland. Based on their mission information last month, they are likely to choose a low key and safer mission this month. Fifty silver coins. That’s it.”

The wheel didn’t stop spinning and had no intention of stopping.

“Then I bet—”

“I see.” Elmer bit down into his fork and poked Oliver’s shoulder with his right hand. “It’s the Wheel of Calamity. I’ve heard about it.”

“What is it?” Oliver looked at the wheel closest to them. It was similar to a roulette wheel in a casino, but these discs had three circles inside and outside, with mission danger level, impact size, and city name written on them. The city name kept flashing and changing. The three rounds of black balls kept rolling along the circular orbit, making a soft clicking sound.

There was a brass box with an opening embedded underneath the wheel marked with the danger level, team name, number of players, and amount. The students wrote messages on the parchment strips one after another, signed their names, and put them into the opening of the box.

Within a few seconds of the note being put in, the number flickered, and the amount became a little larger.

The danger levels seemed a bit familiar. It was almost as if it was…

“Gambling?” Oliver swallowed the last of his food hard. “Gambling on the Black Chapter teams…?”

“That’s right.” Elmer put down his plate. “I’ve heard about it. It seems to be a fixed project by Clementine Academy. After all, the Mercenary Guild is unwilling to publish Black Chapter information to other organizations. I’m guessing this is to train our intelligence collection and analysis skills. After all, it’s still hard to guess the exact movement and purpose of a Black Chapter team.”

“Let me guess. The more dangerous the Black Chapter, the fewer people would be willing to bet, and the higher the reward after the bet?”

“It seems so.”

Oliver stood up. He was holding the sandwiches in his arms. Looking around, he finally found his goal…

[Tumbleweed, Snake Level, 5 members.]

[Current bet: 0.00]

---

The author has something to say:

The vest is crumbling. The team is (finally) about to assemble and make trouble XD

Yes, Tela was created by Nemo, so that’s why there’s only one Tela in the entire abyss.

————

Telaranea: I know I was created by the Demon King, but I firmly believe that the Demon King is a monster.

Aurorae: I know I was picked up by the Demon King, but… father.

——The dividing line of collapse——

Nemo: …Just let me act as if I have amnesia. Amnesia is very good! I don’t want to know anything!

Ollie: Ah, this sandwich looks good. I don’t know if he will like it.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Looks like Tumbleweed is about to solve their money problems.

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 164: The Long Dead Demon

After the two people walked slowly away, Nemo came out from behind the decorative stone pillar. He felt terribly depressed.

While he was relieved that he would still be sullen because of this kind of trivial matter, he was overwhelmed by the trouble that was coming. In fact, if he was being honest, he didn’t regret filling in the answers sheet for the Pathology of Abyssal Magic section. If he could find more detailed information on this continent, it would be either the Abyssal Church, the Withered Castle, the Mercenary Guild, or Clementine Academy—two of which had been destroyed by them.

Although Nemo had put all the information of the Abyssal Church into his head, because of its position, unlike other institutions that were dedicated to analyzing and eradicating curses and diseases, the perspective of the Abyssal Church wasn’t friendly. Believers wished the curse would be more difficult. For them, the Trent Plague was just an excellent weapon, and no one cared how it killed people or how to treat it.

The headquarters of the Mercenary Guild was far away, so the Clementine Royal Military Academy in front of him was a suitable choice. The academy was closed to outsiders, and he would never have such a good opportunity again.

The biggest trouble right now was Horizon was chasing their asses. Telaranea’s behavior was too unpredictable, so it was hard to say what it would do if it found them. It wasn’t like Nemo hadn’t thought about erasing the demon’s memory again, but he wasn’t sure that the demon, who was obsessed with knowledge, would take any preventative measures in advance after discovering its memory loss. In the event that Telaranea really suspected Tumbleweed as a result, that demon would surely try its best to block them and expose their true strength.

What was more, Telaranea didn’t come alone this time.

Vance Talbott. Nemo sighed again and rubbed his forehead. He instinctively felt that it was the Vance who was the mysterious swordsman of the Tin Soldier Mercenary Regiment, and not simply the same name.

Wait.

If Oliver’s father, Flint Lopez’s teacher, was really a superior demon, then everything would make sense. When he and Oliver had just met Bagelmaurus, the parrot made it clear that Oliver’s father used “domination” on the superior demon. According to Ann’s explanation at the time, Flint was able to transfer the summoning array, which meant that he also had researched a lot of the theory of abyssal magic.

If this was the case, seeing as how Vance Talbott taught Flint, Flint should also be aware of the true identity of his teacher.

However, humans shouldn’t be able to use abyssal magic on their own. The current Nemo was undoubtedly sure. Either use surface magic to trigger the spell of abyssal magic, or make a contract with a demon, or at the very least, use enough demon flesh as a medium.

However, at the beginning, Oliver’s father didn’t have a burning array in his hand, and there was no demonic enchantment following him. He cast abyssal magic with his bare hands.

Could it be that Flint Lopez was really a demon warlock without any obvious deformation?

Nemo tapped his chin with his fingers, desperately sorting out the information in his mind. If thinking could make sound, his high-speed thoughts should be able to shatter the glass windows of the building in front of him. He had stepped mechanically out and walked to the information room.

More than 20 years ago, Vance Talbott himself didn’t participate in the expedition and soon disappeared. Some people said he was dead or that he had some conflict with Flint Lopez. Over time, strange claims appeared one after another, but most people considered them anecdotes. There was only one thing they could be sure of—Vance Talbott never appeared in public after the destruction of the Tin Soldier Mercenary Regiment.

According to the situation when they first met, Vance should be working at the Dawn Tavern. Although Garland’s Noer City and Alban’s Roadside Town were only separated by the Border Forest, the distance between them could be reached within a day. Oliver didn’t know who Vance was. Nemo wasn’t sure whether it was intentionally or unknowingly severed, but Vance didn’t have any contact with the Ramon family.

Now the mysterious demon had reappeared but was mixed with the weird-tempered Telaranea.

What happened back then?

Forget it. Nemo carefully explored the situation around him and quickly reached the archives room. It was more imperative to solve the current crisis. As for Vance Talbott, since he had specially integrated into the academy, that demon shouldn’t leave so quickly. He could quietly observe him for the time being.

With Nemo’s current control, no superior demon could see through his disguise. If Mr. Vance didn’t have a strange interest like Telaranea, they could even talk calmly. After all, in the legend of the Tin Soldier, that mysterious swordsman always had a silent and reliable image. Flint must have good reason to respect Vance as a teacher under the premise of knowing his true identity.

The archives room of Clementine Academy was very large and encased in a beautiful crystal dome. The staircase moved regularly, and every corner was stuffed with the pleasantly thin sounds of gears turning. The interior of this building was intricate and elaborate, full of the unique beauty of engineering.

It was a shame that Mr. Demon King couldn’t appreciate such beauty at the moment.

Nemo could indeed detect living things. He had detected a powerful aura that was hovering in the corner of the building. Looking at the weird and slow movement, it shouldn’t be a professor who had nothing to do, but most likely Ann, who was cleaning.

He wanted to meet Ann first and exchange information so that the female soldier could also pay attention to her concealment, but Ann’s aura was far away, and he couldn’t get to her location.

After failing for the fifteenth time, Nemo retreated into the corner of the corridor in silence and sat down slowly against the wall.

Skipping class was indeed exciting, but how would he explain to Oliver that he gained nothing for two hours? Whether it was Ann or the information about the faculty, he didn’t find any of them. This place was more like a maze than the Great Isamel Labyrinth. The layout was clearly mapped in Nemo’s mind, but he couldn’t figure out the way.

He had to avoid many surveillance arrays along the way, and he was getting tired. After discovering his identity, Nemo originally wanted to behave more calmly and reliably in front of Oliver, but the development of the current situation was contrary to the words “calm and reliable”.

Since he was idle anyway, he might as well probe where Telaranea was right now…

Nemo closed his eyes and started to explore. Unlike the simple judgment just now, the vast starry sky appeared in his mind.

Then he jumped as if his ass caught on fire.

Telaranea was here.

It was better to say that both it and Vance Talbott were here, in this corridor. They should have taken very strict concealment measures to hide their aura. If he didn’t have this other way of detecting them, he might have been misled by them. Since it was in this corridor, he would be able to find them this time. Nemo nervously straightened his collar, once again eliminated his aura, and walked extremely carefully towards the room where the two demons were.

This should be an extremely remote corridor. In a place like Clementine Academy that paid attention to rules and cleanliness, the decorative paintings in the corridors were covered with a thin layer of floating soil. Nemo glanced at the door sign, and the instructions above were very detailed—the room here was mainly used to store some ancient medical props that had long been abandoned.

There was no sound at all; it was obvious that the other party was using means to seal all noises. He could easily break this defense, but he would be discovered by the two demons.

Telaranea should have quickly gotten rid of their principal and come here. No matter what was happening in this room, it could be assumed it was relatively important. Nemo’s gaze swept across a corner filled with cobwebs, and an inexplicable sense of familiarity suddenly hit him.

Nemo sharply jumped and caught a little spider less than half the size of a corn kernel. Probably feeling something, the spider lay motionless in the palm of his hand.

He had definitely done something similar before.

That weird feeling reappeared. Some kind of weird intuition emerged from the depths of his mind, and knowledge from unknown sources suddenly swirled in his thoughts. Nemo had an idea, and it was one that scared him a little.

He gently pressed his fingertips against the little gray-brown spider. Nemo didn’t unleash any magic but followed the knowledge in his head and wrapped it with power and precision.

The spider began to twist.

The size hadn’t changed significantly, but it had turned from an ordinary gray-brown to pitch black. The originally dim and rough abdomen turned into a moist and shiny sphere, and a cross-shaped pattern appeared on it. It began to slide slowly.

It wasn’t a pattern, but a pupil. A small eye was turning on the spider’s abdomen. The spider’s power wasn’t enhanced, and its strength had not changed significantly compared to before, but its aura had now completely disappeared. The spider seemed to know what was going on as its eight thin legs began to move slowly.

Nemo’s hand shook a little, and he almost squashed the spider in his palm.

An extremely dim star lit up in the starry sky. He knew very well in his heart—a brand new demon was born.

Nemo desperately suppressed the shock and panic that surged in his heart, let go of his hand, and sent the transformed spider into the crevice. The little spider seemed to be in a good mood. After turning a few times in place, it quickly went into the room.

Because its power was too weak, it wasn’t affected by the barrier. The black spider moved quickly along the gap under the cabinet, then climbed up the wall from a dark corner and stopped where the view was best.

Nemo took a deep breath and hid in the corner of the corridor. He leaned against the wall and covered one eye with his hand, then closed the other one.

There were blurred pictures and sounds in the dark at first, but after a few minutes, the outline of things became clearer, and the sound no longer resembled a faint echo in a cave.

The spider was lying in the corner and didn’t move anymore, so his vision stabilized.

That was indeed the Vance they had seen.

The long gray-white hair was casually scattered on his shoulders, and the orange eyes were alienated and indifferent. The demon was topless, sitting in a complex structure that he wasn’t sure what its purpose was, and stared blankly at the slowly moving mechanical arm.

The hose was wound around cold metal, and vicious liquid dripped from the long needle at the end of the mechanical arm. The sight would definitely make people physically ill, as Nemo instinctively shivered and touched the goosebumps on his arms.

“Sorry for the long wait,” the woman he just saw, Telaranea, said softly, sounding unemotional. The Sage of the Abyss unbuttoned her robe and exposed her chest.

Nemo: “……”

He wasn’t sure if he should continue to watch.

However, it turned out that he thought a little too much. In the next second, Telaranea reached out her right hand blankly and pierced it into the chest of her body. Oddly enough, only a very small amount of blood diffused from the wound, but even so, the scene was extremely terrifying. Nemo held back the desire to vomit and forced himself to continue watching.

After the tooth achingly sound of churning flesh and bones breaking, Telaranea took out a red ball the size of an apple from her chest. Countless pupils on it floated and merged, still stained with dark purple blood.

It was the flesh used by the Sage of the Abyss to possess those on the surface; one of its countless eyeballs.

The owner of the eyeball just rolled her eyes, gathered her protruded skin and broken ribs, and recovered as before under a spell. Except for the blood on her fair skin, the terrifying scene just now seemed like an illusion.

The “female professor” slowly buttoned up her robe, adjusted it, and casually threw the eyeball at Vance, as if it was really an apple.

“Please.” Telaranea shrugged. “What? Do you want me to wash it for you? Alas, I don’t have many eyeballs in existence here, and I have to find a way to replenish them after a while… What a nuisance.”

Vance didn’t say a word. He frowned and surveyed the crimson eyeball in his hand…

Then ate it.

Nemo covered his mouth. This time he really almost vomited.

Vance Talbott’s expression was extremely calm. Even when the mechanical arm suddenly swarmed around him with long needles piercing his torso, his face didn’t change a bit.

“Why bother?” Telaranea sighed, tidying up her copper-red hair. “I haven’t seen you like this… You persisted long enough. It’s meaningless to go on like this, and I’m in a lot of trouble on my side, tsk.”

“I’m still alive, and I can continue to live,” Vance replied in a low voice, ignoring the movements of the long needles as if he had lost the feeling of pain.

“No, no, no. Strictly speaking, you are dead.” The Sage of the Abyss shook her finger. “Your body is rotting at the bottom of the Abyss, isn’t it? It’s just that this piece of flesh is barely able to ‘move’. If I fail to provide an eyeball in one month’s time, you’ll lose your energy source, and even this piece of flesh would rot.”

She sighed. “Although I usually don’t care about this… As a compatriot who has survived for so long, I still want to warn you that it’ll be more painful than you can imagine.”

“I know.”

“Believe me, you don’t know. I understand that you are in pain now, but that pain is not of the same magnitude as what you’re feeling now… If you want, I can kill you now. Of course, in a completely painless way.”

“Not yet.”

“Won’t you reconsider?”

“No.”

“Well, old men are truly stubborn.” Telaranea shrugged and rolled her eyes again.

“What the hell are you clinging to when it’s clear the original body has already settled in its final years, Vance… No, Aurorae?”

---

The author has something to say:

Nemo: ??? Skipping class this time was worth it.

Vance is probably the most wronged person to get exposed (……

——————

In order to prevent everyone from forgetting _(:з”∠)_ Note:

“Vance Talbott” is the human name used for disguise, similar to “Cahill Edwards” and “Mrs. Mandy” used by Tela.

His real demon name is Aurorae XD

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Just a reminder that because demons do not have gender unless otherwise stated, the pronouns used will be based on the body it currently possesses, so Telarenea is now a “she” (but its original form is just an “it”).

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 163: Viscountess

Bagelmaurus flapped its wings and flew around in a variety of patterns over Clementine Academy.

Considering Nemo Light’s true identity, the dyed gray parrot didn’t dare to really leave this limited sky space. Now it was extremely certain—even if it burrowed to the most remote corner of the Abyss itself, the Demon King had the ability to dig it out, so it could only test to a certain extent repeatedly, and when Nemo showed signs of anger, it would immediately concede on the spot.

This was a dangerous and exciting game that made its heart pump with exhilaration. Bagelmaurus landed on a tree in the academy adjacent to the castle and skillfully combed its feathers, which were made colorful by dyes.

‘Perhaps this generation of Demon King wasn’t particularly bad,’ it thought impartially. At least it had never heard of a Demon King that had a mate, as there was only one relationship between the Demon King and other creatures—hunter and prey.

No, no, to put it another way, Nemo Light may just be biding his time. Eventually, he would still eat those people who had no respect for the Demon King. After all, the Demon King was a completely different class from them. Occasionally hanging out with humans may just be one of the quirks for this current Demon King.

The gray parrot tilted its head and thought for a few minutes, and then came to that serious conclusion.

A group of humans passed under the tree. Bagelmaurus stopped combing its feathers, moved two steps, and hid itself in the lush green leaves. Honestly speaking, it didn’t think it was necessary to hide. After all, birds were one of the most popular pets, and there were many kinds of parrots at the academy. Even one student brought a red-feathered eagle.

However, thinking of Nemo’s warning of “not to be discovered”, the gray parrot couldn’t help but feel anger in its heart. The noble superior demon lord shrank its neck and once again reduced its sense of presence. Facts had proven that it was the correct choice. If it was still bemoaning at the end of the branch just now, it probably would’ve fallen to the ground at the bottom of the tree due to shock.

It recognized those people.

Although the appearance had been well concealed and the aura was beautifully eliminated, with its current strength, it could accurately detect the identity of the other party…

It was the nightmare it hadn’t seen for a long time, Vance Talbott.

After obtaining the blood that Nemo voluntarily gave, Bagelmaurus’ power exploded. In terms of power alone, it should surpass Vance, causing the confidentiality curse that he had placed on it to dissolve naturally.

But recalling the cold and ruthless suppression of his aura, it still shivered instinctively.

Vance Talbott was dressed as a manservant, with long gray hair that was tied up in a bun. He was carrying a huge leather suitcase in his hand. He was naturally mixed in with a group of humans—the distinctive orange pupils were obscured by an illusion, which made those eyes now look ordinarily light brown.

His expression wasn’t aloof, nor did he smile. It was as if he was wearing a mask.

A beautiful middle-aged woman was walking beside him. The woman had a perfect smile on her face, a kind temperament, and simple and natural makeup. Her long copper-red hair was coiled into a bun at the back of her head, and the brilliance of a diamond hairpin flickered in her hair. She was wearing the uniform of a professor at the academy, yet the simple style of the robe couldn’t cover up her beauty.

Bagelmaurus thought, ‘She was just as perfectly disguised,’ and shrank into the leaves again. Unfortunately, her combat ability seemed far worse than Vance’s, and it instantly recognized her.

They had met in Hailem in Garland, the Sage of the Abyss, Telaranea.

Even if it didn’t participate personally in the battle of the Withered Castle, the gray parrot still roughly knew what happened. It had never been good at analyzing, but there was only one simple conclusion in its head—Teleranea equaled trouble.

The demon didn’t make a big deal about going against the surface with great fanfare, but the two of them had clashed twice. However, in the opinion of the impartial Lord Bagelmaurus, Tumbleweed and Telaranea just happened to be on opposite sides of the fence. While Telaranea might not hate them, it was still inevitable that conflict would arise between them.

In fact, if they fought now, they might not be at a disadvantage, but it wasn’t clear if the Sage of the Abyss was planning something.

Thus, Bagelmaurus chose to turn its tail and flew towards Clementine’s student dorm. It could report this matter as soon as possible and make a small contribution, so that when the next time the mean Demon King bullied it too much, it could still bring up this matter and offset some of the punishment.

Not long after Nemo returned to the dormitory from the confinement room, he was pounced on by the colorful parrot, causing the books he was holding in his arms to scatter all over the floor.

Emanuel’s confession was still heavily pressed in his heart, so Nemo was distracted, but he couldn’t truly be angry with the gray parrot. He just sighed good-naturedly and began to pick up the books on the ground.

“Be careful next time, Bagelmaurus.” Nemo poked the gray parrot on the head. Hayden was still in the school hospital at the moment, so he didn’t need to deliberately lower his voice.

“Guess who I saw?” The gray parrot raised its chest. “You’ll never guess! This is major information.”

Nemo raised an eyebrow while placing the book neatly on the table.

“Telaranea is in this academy,” the gray parrot announced loudly. “He, no, she… Ah, forget it. It’s one of the female professors here.”

Nemo almost lost his hold and dropped the book in his hand again. Although he never thought he could get rid of it completely after the Withered Castle, he never thought he would encounter it so soon again.

“Professor of which major?” Nemo gulped. His own spells wouldn’t mess up. Telaranea had indeed forgotten everything about the Withered Castle, but in order to prevent it from being too unnatural, he didn’t erase the conflict between the two sides when they rescued Mr. Knight Commander. The original “Cahill”—that demon definitely recognized “Nemo Light” and it was well aware of his identity as a Black Chapter.

Even putting aside the matter of the Withered Castle, Nemo didn’t think that Telaranea would lightly ignore the news that “a poor Black Chapter had infiltrated the top academy in Alban”. They must not bump into each other.

“I don’t know, but I remember her face,” the gray parrot said. “She didn’t come alone. There’s another superior demon—that’s the demon I met in Noer.”

“The one they sent out during the Black Chapter test, Pandorater?” Nemo exclaimed. “Isn’t she still locked up in the Mercenary Guild?”

“No… It’s a different one. It didn’t tell me its real name. The name of the body is ‘Vance Talbott’ and he looked less than 30 years old.” Bagelmaurus flapped its wings. “Long gray hair and orange eyes. Do you have an impression?”

“You never mentioned this before.” Nemo’s brows raised as he recalled the brief disappearance of the gray parrot during the Black Chapter test and its unnatural state afterwards.

And the orange-eyed waiter near the Dawn Tavern.

“At that time, I was under a confidentiality curse!” the gray parrot screeched. “That guy is very strong… Uh, I mean, he was stronger than me at that time. He seems very interested in the Demon King, and I was kind enough to warn you!”

It wasn’t that Nemo had never heard of the name Vance Talbott. On the contrary, he was very familiar with it. Every biography related to the Tin Soldier Mercenary Regiment could not get around this man.

The consultant of the Tin Soldier Mercenary Regiment, a mysterious swordsman of unknown origin and the swordsmanship instructor of the leader, Flint Lopez. He had been wearing rusty armor in public and no one knew what he looked like, but after so many years, that swordsman should be over fifty years old.

That was, if Vance Talbott was really human.

“When you saw him in Noer, what clothes were he wearing?” Nemo frowned. He naturally remembered the weird familiarity that the waiter had brought to him. “Was it a black and white waiter uniform?”

“How did you know…”

“It seems that it is indeed him. If I’m not mistaken, Ollie and I met him once.” Although he was about to be late, Nemo didn’t intend to rush. “There might be a possibility that they just happened to have the same name. I have to confirm it—if he and Telaranea are together, it shouldn’t be so simple. Good job, Bagelmaurus.”

The gray parrot jumped up and down on the table with joy, its head held high.

“…So I won’t punish you for running around the college,” Nemo added with amusement.

Bagelmaurus stopped jumping for a while and sank onto the table flat on its ass as all its fluffy feathers drooped.

“Nemo?” Oliver poked his head in and knocked on the open door. “I’m ready. Do you want to go together? We’re going to be late.”

Oliver was immediately stunned. His lover’s expression was particularly serious, but his eyes gleamed with a rare excitement.

“Ollie,” Nemo put the stack of thick books on the table, loosened his hands, and spoke solemnly. “I have a plan. Even though I know it’s devious, to be honest, I’ve never done anything like this…”

Oliver suddenly held his breath.

“…I want to skip class!” Nemo announced it seriously. “In fact, I really want to do it with you, Ollie. But this time I have to escape alone. If we act together, it’ll be too conspicuous.”

“…” Oliver looked at the ceiling and adjusted his emotions for a while. “Ok.”

“By the way, what’s your class schedule for today?”

“Today are all indoor theory classes, and there will be no classroom changes.” Oliver saw that the other party quickly took off his nursing uniform and took out the standard student uniform that was issued to all students. Nemo didn’t hesitate to start changing clothes on the spot, which forced Oliver to look elsewhere to make sure his attention was focused on the right place. “Why are you asking all of a sudden?”

“Telaranea is in this academy, and I only know that its body here belongs to a female professor.” Nemo rubbed his hands. “Considering your major, I don’t think she’ll teach logistics—but I have to quickly determine her identity so I can avoid it carefully. Keep a low profile today, Ollie. It’s best to stay in the classroom the whole time.”

Oliver nodded calmly. “It’s almost time. I’ll go to class first. Make sure you pay attention to… Uh… Safety?” He always felt that saying this had no practical value.

“Nn.” Nemo finally finished dressing. He thought for a moment and spread his hair out to make himself look more inconspicuous. “You too. Use the communication crystal to contact me if you have a situation.”

Oliver left quickly. Nemo took a deep breath as a feeling of wonderful excitement filled his heart.

If he had stayed in Roadside Town, if he dared to skip class like this, he would have been pressed down by Old Patrick and forced to peel two large barrels of potatoes. At that moment, after calculating how much Clementine’s class was worth, Nemo had the tragic pleasure of witnessing the melting of gold coins.

Nemo tucked a strand of disobedient hair behind his ears and crept to the information room in the northwest corner of the campus. This was where all the basic information about the professor could be found. Considering the state of Alban, there should only be a handful of female professors, and all of them were members of the nobility, so it shouldn’t be difficult to find. Ann was in charge of cleaning over there, so maybe he could stop by and say hello to her.

“Mrs. Mandy, are you feeling better?” As soon as Nemo was halfway there, he heard voices coming from ahead. He immediately hid himself behind a decorative stone pillar, eliminated his aura, and even stopped his heartbeat.

“Much better. Thank you for your concern, dear Salter,” a pleasant female voice replied. Without even closing his eyes this time, Nemo instantly located this bright star in the “starry sky” in his mind. There was no doubt that that woman was a superior demon.

“Have you found out the cause? You can take a break for a while longer. No need to rush back to the lecture.” The other voice belonged to an old man. “Otherwise, the Viscount will complain to His Majesty.”

“Oh, no, no. He has always supported my career.” The woman chuckled. “It’s just an ordinary headache. No big deal. It’s just that my head isn’t quite clear.”

“If you’re not comfortable…”

“No, I’m fine. I don’t want the research project that I had just started to be delayed because of me alone.”

“Actually, I’ve always wanted to ask… It’s been so many years. Why do you suddenly want to start studying Trent Plague?”

“Well…” The woman was silent for a moment, then spoke with a weird smile in her voice. “You see, this is where my mind isn’t very clear… I forgot the reason, Mr. Salter, but this is a meaningful research project, isn’t it?”

This must be Telaranea. Nemo quickly made the judgment. He moved out and looked from the shadows at the two people who were talking as they walked. The red-haired woman in the professor’s robe was smiling and talking to an old man, unaware of his existence.

The next part would be simple. All he needed to do was find out which subject the “Viscountess” was teaching and stay away from the relevant areas.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Mrs. Mandy—Telaranea’s tone was extremely gentle. “I want to recruit an assistant from this batch of freshmen. As you know, I’ve already selected all the seniors, so I’ve been looking at entrance exams for this term. There’s a little guy who’s got a pretty good head on his shoulders.”

“I’m afraid if it’s a new student, it doesn’t meet the regulations…”

“I believe you’ll have a way around it, dear Salter, no, dear Mr. Principal.”

“Give me the name and I’ll have to look at the child’s family background first.”

“Okay, okay. Nemo Murkos White if I recall correctly.”

Nemo, who was hiding behind the pillar, buried his face in his hands in pain. He originally only wanted to answer a little bit of relevant knowledge so that he could get the qualification to access the professional materials of the Pathology of Abyssal Magic major.

Ann was right. Nemo wiped his depressed face. With his luck, he really shouldn’t do anything extra.

---

The author has something to say:

Other people messing with things may not do anything. Nemo messing with things is sure to bring those things back (……

And Ollie, the employer has been delivered to your door. Your brother is not far from finding you (?)

——————

Nemo: Since I am the Demon King, I decided to do something bad. Let’s start by wasting tuition and skipping class!

Ollie：………………Oh.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

I’m so happy they are still so cute and innocent! I hope they stay like this forever!

Ollie was probably thinking on a different line of what “devious” thing Nemo wanted to do.

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 162: Caramel Apple Tart

Four o’clock in the morning.

In the largest inn in the center of Clementine, Godwin Lopez opened his eyes as usual and sat up in bed.

The leader of Horizon didn’t bother with the armor placed on the wooden shelf. Wearing only pajamas, he stepped barefoot on the soft and comfortable carpet, then he frowned. He lifted it and rolled it up, revealing a smooth wooden floor under it. After he was ready, Godwin quickly changed into simple commoner clothing for training and grabbed his Breaking Dawn that was still in its scabbard by the bed.

It was time to practice.

When he first held the Breaking Dawn, he could hardly control the immense power that burned in his hands. Day after day of frantic fighting, Godwin finally got the hang of it, barely managing to hold more than half of its power in his hand and turning it to his own use when necessary. It wasn’t dawn yet, and the space in this inn was limited—there were no exaggerated movements. The steel of Breaking Dawn split the air, again and again, as its powers were suppressed by its owner.

Godwin didn’t slacken. This was just an extremely ordinary day for more than a decade. He stared at the sword in his hand, letting the sweat penetrate his eyebrows and slide across the bridge of his nose. Time passed by quickly. The moment the clock struck six, the sword slid just right into the deepest part of the scabbard.

The practice ended on time, and Godwin’s entire body seemed like it had just been fished out of water. He wiped his sweat casually with a handkerchief, took a quick shower, and then changed into a tight-fitting top that matched his armor. He cleaned up the sweat stains on the floor, spread the carpet again, and shortly after came a knock on the door.

It was the maid who came to deliver breakfast.

The contents of the breakfast were the same as always—pumpkin seed bread, boiled vegetables sprinkled with salt and pepper with sliced fried mushrooms, egg cups with perfectly cooked eggs, and a glass of milk. According to his request, the food in front of him was no different from yesterday’s.

As it should be.

Godwin raised his eyebrows and looked at the plate in the corner of the tray. A tempting golden brown dessert was lying on it, exuding bursts of sweet aroma—the apple was cut into extremely thin slices, blooming like a rose on the surface of the dessert, and the icing was shining with a crystal luster. The dessert didn’t look too big, and in terms of appearance, it could even be called a work of art.

“The specialty of our shop, caramel apple tart.” The maid showed a gratuitous smile. “This is a gift. Our chef admires you very much, and he wants to use it to express his respect for you.”

Godwin narrowed his eyes slightly and was silent for a few seconds.

“Thank you very much,” after a while, he replied in a cheerful voice. “It looks great. It’s a pity that my teeth have been a little painful recently, so it’s really inconvenient to eat sweet things.”

“Uh… Do you have any teammates who like sweets?” The maid winked. “If I bring it back to the kitchen now, it’ll get cold. It’s better to eat this thing hot—”

“It’s for you, lovely lady.” Godwin made a “shh” gesture. “How about you keep my toothache a secret?”

Godwin took the tray and kept a polite distance throughout the process, but the young maid’s face was still flushed. She picked up the small plate, looking a little at a loss. The handsome powerhouse in front of her showed a very kind smile, squinted at her, and then stuffed her with a few silver coins as a tip.

The maid held up the plate with the expensive dessert and nodded with a heartfelt gratitude.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t see… After the door closed, the warm smile on Godwin Lopez’s face disappeared instantly. The young leader of Horizon sat down at the table, looking at the steaming breakfast in front of him, and suddenly lost most of his appetite.

He still had to eat what he should eat. Godwin inserted a fork into the soft mushroom, mechanically stuffed it into his mouth, and chewed it carefully, but right now his attention wasn’t on the taste of the food at all.

Caramel apple tart, how simply ironic. After swallowing the food in his mouth, he let out a sigh from between his lips.

Everyone in Horizon knew that Godwin Lopez never touched sweets, and he didn’t eat hard to swallow food, just like those bitter monks. When the situation was tough, he was no different than others and wasn’t picky about food. It was just at the end of a mission, while everyone ate and drank whatever they wanted, their leader would still eat the same things year after year.

The strong were more or less weird, and the members of Horizon had long since stopped being surprised. After all, their leader never went on a hunger strike to abuse himself, and eating lighter was healthier, so over time, people stopped caring.

Godwin never touched alcohol, tobacco, sugar, or excessive spices and oils.

If it had been replaced by any other dessert, he wouldn’t have been shaken for half a second. Ironically, he did know what caramel apple tart tasted like. Godwin quickly finished his breakfast, took out a neatly packed pile of information, and began to look through it carefully.

This was a record related to Roadside Town.

Before taking over the investigation mission of Tumbleweed, after knowing the true identity of Oliver Ramon, he had already thoroughly studied this town by the border, but his contact with it wasn’t limited to paper and words.

He had been to the Border Forest near Roadside Town many years ago.

Godwin’s movement of looking through the paper slowed down. He lowered his gaze and looked at the neat handwriting on the parchment. When he was about six years old, his father took him to the Border Forest for survival training. That memory was still vivid and annoying to this day.

“That’s the forest closest to the Abyss.” The father in his memory had always been expressionless. “You will have a sword and you need to survive here alone for a week. I won’t make a move unless you’re really dying. Don’t take any chances and ask for help casually, remember.”

“Yes, father.”

“Don’t mention your identity to anyone.”

“Yes, father.”

“You just need to know one thing. You’re not destined to die in that place, Godwin.” His father stared into his eyes tightly; his eyes filled with emotions he couldn’t understand. “Perhaps this task will bring you great pain, but you have to remember—people have strength, and naturally, they also have the responsibility corresponding to that strength. You’re destined to save the world and maintain the well-being of mankind. Do you understand?”

“…Yes, father.” He had heard this phrase constantly repeated until his ears were calloused, but the young Godwin honestly couldn’t really understand the meaning of this sentence.

It wasn’t like he had never hated his father.

The depths of the Border Forest in the evening were no different from the demon realm. It had strange demons of all shapes and sizes lurking in the shadows. Although this wasn’t the first time he had conducted survival training and was mentally prepared in advance, Godwin was almost scared to tears. The form of plants looked distorted, revealing unusual bright colors, and he dared not eat them. Ordinary animals were extremely rare, and he couldn’t catch any prey. He was so hungry that he was about to faint.

Godwin, who was less than seven years old, clenched the silver sign on his chest with a location array engraved on it. Through it, his father would know where he was and his emotional and physical state…

But his great father had no intention of showing up.

His father was a liar. He was obviously about to die soon. Godwin touched his face with his sleeve, which had already been soaked in demon blood and sniffled. Hunger made him dizzy, and the demon he had just killed was lying beside him. Its stinky internal organs flowed all over the place. He stepped on the pile of slippery flesh and blood with one foot and firmly fell into a pile of corpses.

A little bit of black blood fell into his mouth, and Godwin quickly got up and began to force himself to vomit without hesitation. This thing was poisonous, and he didn’t want to completely fail so soon.

His stomach was empty, so he almost vomited bile. Godwin inserted the sword into the soil and resisted without falling again. His bloody mouth that was scratched by the demon was still burning with pain and his limbs were as soft as cotton.

I don’t want to continue.

Godwin trembled and grabbed the silver badge. With the fear of resisting his father for the first time, he threw it on top of the bloody corpse pile, and then stumbled towards the edge of the forest. If he remembered correctly, there should be a small town near the Border Forest. If there were inhabitants, it meant having food, clean water, and the breath of living people…

He was running away, and Godwin knew it. He could still feel the magic fluctuations coming from the silver badge, and it reminded him of this every moment.

But Godwin couldn’t care less right now. The sun was about to set, and after night fell, the depths of the forest would only get more dangerous. He had enough of this. He could smell the strong smell of death. Godwin thought desperately, ‘Even a vicious tiger won’t eat its cubs*. Was he really his father’s child?’

*(虎毒尚不食子) Idiom that refers to not hurting others that are close to you.

He didn’t know how long he ran before he reached the edge of the forest. The sword that was stained with purple and black blood was casually inserted at his feet as Godwin fell to his knees and held them with both hands, gasping for breath with difficulty and pain.

Then he saw food.

There were small white mushrooms growing by the root of a tree, which looked round and cute, completely different from those that were poisonous at first glance in the depths of the forest. Godwin vaguely remembered that this thing could be eaten, so he rushed to them. It was enough to satisfy his hunger.

He hurried to the pile of mushrooms, reaching to pluck one out…

“You want to eat this thing?” someone asked curiously.

Godwin trembled all over. He took two steps back abruptly, holding the hilt of the sword directly in his hand. Then he clearly saw the appearance of the visitor, and in just two seconds, he let go of his weapon in defeat.

The figure in front of him had just crawled out of a swamp. His head and face were covered with grime, and dried mud was caked all over his clothes. Even though he was covered in blood now, Godwin subtly thought he looked more decent than that figure.

It was a boy, almost the same height as him, with only green eyes and white teeth; those were the only things that still held their original color on the boy. The small basket behind him wasn’t stained with much mud, and the vines protruding from it were glowing warmly under the light of the setting sun.

“You can’t eat this thing directly,” the boy said solemnly, glancing curiously at the sword in Godwin’s hand. “Are you the child of an adventurer? You should know this.”

“Nn.” Godwin responded stiffly. “I… don’t remember much about it.”

“We call it the laughing salt mushroom.” The boy shrugged and began to pull up the white mushrooms neatly. “This stuff is chopped up and put into soup, which gives the soup a nice salty fresh taste. You can’t eat it by itself, or you’ll get salted to death. And—”

He paused mysteriously for a bit, gave a big smile, and another piece of dry mud fell from his face. “If you don’t cook it with hot potato vine, it’ll keep you in a state of giggling.”

Godwin glanced at the cluster of mushrooms regretfully. Giggling was the next best thing to a high salt-induced thirst that was fatal. He could only bear to give them up and watch the kid in front of him pluck a handful of them.

“My name is Oliver.” After the muddy boy plucked all the mushrooms, he introduced himself with a big grin. “How about you? Why are you here?”

“Um.” Back then, Godwin wasn’t used to lying, so he had to look away embarrassingly. The other party’s name had no reference value anyway, and he struggled to come up with an excuse for himself. There might be more than ten little boys named Oliver in this town alone.

“Oh, okay. After all, you’re the child of an adventurer, I get it.” Oliver curled his lips. “Where are your parents?”

“I… got separated from my father.” Godwin struggled to pull the lie out of his head.

“Oh, then you have to find him quickly.” Oliver pulled out a thin hemp rope from the basket and expertly tied the mushrooms into a bunch. “Look, it’s getting late… My father said that there are palulu weevils active nearby and many children have died recently. They specifically target children who are running around alone, which is quite scary.”

As he said it, he raised his chest, obviously very proud of this knowledge.

Godwin was dumbfounded. He had already memorized the demon encyclopedia thoroughly, and there was absolutely no such thing. It was probably made up by this kid’s father to fool him, but seeing the other party’s inexplicable cheerful mood, he didn’t want to spoil it.

“I see. Thank you for your reminder.” He coughed a few times and prepared to find food somewhere else.

Oliver opened the lid of the back basket and put the bunched mushrooms he skewered in there. The fleshy mushrooms brushed against vines, and Godwin couldn’t help but turn his head and look at them sternly. “This… Is it really impossible to eat? Is there a way to get rid of the salt?”

“Nope, unless you cook it with soup.” Oliver shook his head solemnly. “Although I picked so many, I really don’t like them at all. This is a revenge prop. Ah, do you see me like this? It’s all my dad’s fault.”

Godwin wanted to slip away quietly but was led to stay in place by this sentence.

“I switched the sugar and salt in the shop.” Oliver sounded a little angry. “He was going to spank me with his shoe and chased me around half the town. I can understand. After all, the guests didn’t like the sweet onion soup, but when I ran away, I accidently fell into a mud pit. You know, it was a really big mud pit! As a result, my dad…”

“What happened to him?”

“My dad went home with a wide smile and didn’t even pull me out,” Oliver sounded extremely aggrieved, “so I decided to do something to the mushroom soup for dinner. I have replaced the potato vine with bean vine. That’s all.”

He dangled a string of mushrooms. “I’m going to make him giggle for a day.”

“…” Godwin’s heart inexplicably welled up with a little cold loss. He looked at the boy of similar age as him and a strange sour feeling spread instantly. He straightened his back, slate up his blood-stained face, and intended to leave.

“Hey, hey, hey, wait. The sun is going down!” Oliver, who was squatting on the ground, stood up quickly, “Why don’t you go to town for the night first? There’s an orphanage in our town—uh, sorry, I know your father is fine— I just want to say that Grandpa Patrick is very kind and he’s absolutely willing to take you in for a night.”

“No need,” Godwin whispered. “I know where my father is.”

He couldn’t leave with such a stranger rashly.

“Well, since you insist… Ouch!” Oliver scratched his head and ended up forgetting about the mushroom skewer that he was still holding in his hand. The back of the basket on the ground was ripping over, and two tied oil-paper bags rolled out.

The sweet smell of roasted apples suddenly leaked out a little, causing Godwin to shiver in place. He glanced at the two paper bags quietly and decided to leave this unlucky place quickly.

However, his internal organs betrayed him. There was an embarrassingly loud growl that came from his stomach.

Oliver was stunned. He glanced at the paper bag, then at Godwin, and finally turned his gaze to the paper bag. Even if his face was covered with mud, Godwin could still see the struggle in the other’s eyes.

“You, you are hungry…” Oliver muttered in a low voice, “Oh, okay.”

He frowned and picked up one of the paper bags and stuffed it into Godwin’s hand.

“It’s rare that I was in a bad mood, so I spent all my pocket money in a single go. This is for eating with Mr. White.” Oliver’s voice was getting smaller. “Although Mr. White can’t eat it himself, so I have to eat it for him… In short, it shouldn’t matter if I give you one! Mr. White will certainly not blame me.”

Godwin’s hand trembled a little. He thanked him with difficulty and quickly tore open the paper bag and tossed away all the etiquette engraved in his mind. The thing in the paper bag wasn’t unfamiliar. He had seen it in the window of the dessert shop—caramel apple tart, a beautiful treat.

The sweetness was so seductive that he had asked his father for this treat twice, but unfortunately, they all ended in failure. Godwin never imagined he would come into contact with it in this kind of situation. He looked at half the apple tart that was pre-cut in the paper bag, took a deep breath, and bit into it carefully.

So it tasted like this.

Godwin couldn’t say anything. The dessert was delicious, better than anything he had ever eaten, but his eyes burst into tears. The muddy-faced boy on the opposite side didn’t seem to expect such a reaction, so he was stunned.

“Is it that delicious?” Oliver’s voice trembled a little. “I…I know this apple tart is good. After all, it wasn’t cheap… But is it really that good?”

Godwin didn’t answer him but swallowed the half piece of pastry while he made strong sniffles. Even though half a treat didn’t fill his stomach at all, the smell was enough to keep him quiet for a long time.

Oliver seemed to be struggling even more. He grinned and turned around a few times, as if he had made up his mind. He scratched his head and pushed the other paper bag he had over as well.

“You can eat it,” Oliver announced rather painfully as he huffed a few agonizing puffs. “Your movements, ah… You’re still hungry, right?”

“Hurry up and eat it. Otherwise, I might not be able to resist changing my mind.” Then he quickly put away the basket with determination, as if he intended to escape from the half piece of dessert left. “Just… That’s it! I’d better save up again and eat with Mr. White next time…”

Oliver sounded like he was on the verge of tears.

Godwin sighed and wanted to refuse, but the other party ran away without looking back.

“…You have to find your father quickly!” After running more than a hundred meters, the muddy figure stopped. Oliver turned his head and added, “Watch out for the weevils!”

Then he ran away, and soon disappeared.

Godwin sat on the ground flat on his ass. This time, he untied the second paper bag very carefully, chewed in small bites, and ate extremely slowly.

It was truly a very sweet treat, but it tasted much saltier than before. He failed to stop his tears, and the long-accumulated grievances and pain finally broke through. He struggled to stuff the last piece of it into his mouth, and then, for the first time in his life, he cried out of sadness.

‘They are really different,’ he thought.

[You are not destined to die in that place, Godwin.]

His father didn’t lie, so was the rest also true? ……For example, could he really bring true peace to the surface?

If the surface was destroyed, these kind people would also disappear, but his father said he was destined to save them. If this was a responsibility, then “responsibility” may not be a difficult concept to understand. People who were relaxed and happy, people who lived a life beyond his reach—he liked them, and he hoped they could continue to live like this without having to understand the bitterness that he felt.

Such a world may become a little better.

‘Father’s right,’ he thought bitterly. Sweetness could really deprave people and create the illusion of happiness. Godwin stood up and pulled out the sword that he had inserted into the soil. This time, it was his own choice and he glanced at the lights of the town not far away again…

He ran away, and this time he chose not to escape anymore.

Until now, he had never indulged once.

Pulling himself out of the memory of the past, Godwin put down the pages in his hand and began to put on his armor. According to the contract, it was time for him to report his current progress to his employer…

“Mr. Lopez.” The communication crystal lit up on time, and a warm, sweet female voice came from across the room. “Good morning.”

“Good morning, Mrs. Mandy. Are you in better health?” Godwin’s tone was calm and polite.

“Much better. Thank you for your concern.” The woman across the table let out a soft laugh. “I think I’ll be able to return to my post today… Gee, I haven’t seen those little ones for a few days and I kinda miss them. You don’t know how regretful I am to have missed the freshman orientation.”

The female employer of Horizon paused.

“I hope there will be a few good seedlings in the Pathology of Abyssal Magic class,” she sighed softly. “To tell you the truth, my memory is still a bit hazy. The research project on the Trent Plague… Well, I have to find a smart assistant for it.”

---

The author has something to say:

Oliver, if you didn’t have such a lousy name, your brother might be able to recognize you.

So what he did to the Demon King’s skull before was… buy two servings of food, pretends to give Mr. White one, and then eats it all happily (……

Nemo: Hehe, I remember it all, Ollie√

——————

The disease Ollie had was Trent Plague XD.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Oh man, this chapter is so bittersweet. I love how cute Oliver was as a kid. Poor Godwin. I take everything mean I thought about him back. He deserves happiness! I’ll buy you all the caramel apple tarts you want!

And the two of them didn’t even recognize each other ugh!!!

I also really love how the author can seamlessly connect all those small innocuous details. I don’t remember which chapter it was, but Ollie did mention how he once pissed off his dad by replacing the salt with sugar… and this led to this event.

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 161: Humanity

Adrian finally tightened his brows.

Even now, his mind was still calmly calculating the most rational way to deal with this. Jesse Dylan’s strength was above him, and his attitude seemed to be particularly determined. His resistance obviously wouldn’t bear fruit.

So the former knight commander did only one thing—he walked to the table and turned the small stone statue to the side of the wall. His pupils were almost black under the fire of the chandelier.

Jesse seemed completely amused by his approach. The beautiful blond young man laughed loudly, as if he had seen something terribly funny. He untied his light blue coat, threw it casually on the soft carpet, and then ripped the lining off his chest. After doing so, Jesse approached Adrian and deliberately let the hot and humid breath brush against the knight’s cheek.

Adrian didn’t avoid but stood straight in place without saying a word.

“Are you nervous?” Jesse stretched out his hand, and his slender fingers untied the buckles on the high collar of the monk’s uniform one by one. The black long clothes were scattered on the ground, followed by the simple white lining. The blond young man’s fingers moved dexterously, sliding each button away silently, exposing the knight’s chest. His muscles were just right, and his wheat-colored skin looked like the color of warm honey under candlelight. It could be seen that he was treated well in the previous wars as there were no distorted or convex scars on his skin; there were only faint traces of them.

The battlefield-hardened knight looked a little dazed at the moment.

“What should I do now?” Adrian’s voice was flat. He raised his hands awkwardly, but finally put them down.

“You don’t have to do anything,” Jesse snorted. He leaned forward, pressed his face on the other man’s cheek, and licked his ear. He felt with satisfaction the tautness of the body against his skin.

Adrian subconsciously took a step back and slammed directly into the table behind him, with a little more surprise on his face. “I thought…”

“It seems that you really misunderstand a lot.” Jesse licked his lips and pulled the collar closer. The ice-blue eyes were as clear as gems in the firelight, but the sight was like a hook, sticky and scorching. “It’s impossible for me to be the bottom, love.”

The knight commander lowered his gaze, and after a while, he compromised coldly. “Then please.”

“I like your reaction.” Jesse leaned forward, took a gentle bite of Adrian’s earlobe, put it into his mouth, and licked it slowly. “How upright… You haven’t been treated like this, have you? You promised not to lie.”

The blond young man’s voice became softer and more ambiguous with an upturned tone at the end, as if he was being coquettish.

“No…” Adrian said as he gritted his teeth and his body trembled slightly. He leaned his back against the table, propped his hands back on the edge, and stubbornly tried to straighten his body.

“I also like this about you too.” Jesse retreated slightly after the sound of moist water. He put the tip of his nose against Adrian’s and rubbed it affectionately. “Honesty is a good quality.”

Then he kissed mercilessly.

Adrian was stunned by the invasion of the other party’s heat. He wasn’t ignorant of this kind of thing. Walking on the edge of human nature, facing various distorted desires of sinners, the Chief Justice had dealt with countless indulgences and many cases of lust that led to death. He had even seen the most insane and twisted, and he wrote down the report with his own hand, but he had always been a spectator. No one had ever kissed him.

It was better to say, no one had the guts to kiss him.

Adrian knew very well what he looked like when he was in office; covered in blood, rational and indifferent, and never wavered. If there was any difference between himself and Godwin Lopez—he was more willing to abide by the morality he believed in than to accept the rules and regulations stuck on paper.

Cardinal Mercer once commented on this. “This is the closest thing you have to being ‘human’, my son. Don’t lose even that. Even if one day… We’re on opposite sides, out of selfishness, I still hope you will stand your ground.”

“Cherish what you believe in from the bottom of your heart. That is the code that belongs only to you.” When he said this, his teacher looked a little sad. “Adri, even though I know this is unlikely, I still hope you can…”

At that time, he waited for a long time, but not for the end of that sentence. That was a sentiment that Adrian hadn’t been able to figure out. He didn’t feel that he lacked anything. His heart had long been wrapped in the chains of faith and restraint, and despite the stench of corpses and blood in his life, he was still able to move forward towards that little bit of light.

In fact, Adrian didn’t think the scenery on the side of the road was worth stopping to admire. He could see the end of his life and it was one where he was bound to die in pursuit of his faith. The moment he ascended to the position of Chief Justice of the Knight of Judgment, he knew that he would never be able to get rid of the bloodstained thorns under his feet in this life, but if the world was to continue to function, someone had to take on such a role.

The rest of his life would be painful, but so what?

The dizziness from hypoxia distracted his thoughts and brought Adrian back to reality—Jesse didn’t just stop when he saw it but continued the long, suffocating kiss.

The pain or humiliation he expected did not appear, but a passion so pure that it terrified him. The soft tongue probed his mouth and traced his palate, sending jolts down the back of his head. Even if he hadn’t had any actual love experience, being a man who has seen many things, this matter wouldn’t make him feel ashamed, but…

The back of his head was firmly imprisoned, and the tongue dexterously plundered him, almost going around the entire mouth. It cruelly stirred the knight’s long tongue and made loud slurping sounds. The irresistible heat exploded from his brain, causing Adrian’s hands and feet to tingle. For the first time, the strange feeling gave him a clear sense of resistance. However, Jesse Dylan seemed to be welded in place, unmoving.

This unfamiliar sensation that swept over him almost suffocated him as Adrian let out an almost inaudible muffled groan.

As if he had received satisfactory feedback, Jesse finally stopped the kiss and let out a chuckle. Their chests were close to each other, and Adrian could feel the beating of the other person’s chest.

The table made an ear-splitting sound of being pushed away. When he recovered, Adrian found himself lying on the thick carpet of the prayer room, between his faded monk clothes. He panted slightly. His brain hadn’t fully recovered due to the lack of oxygen. Jesse put his hands on his ears and, with an aggressive look coming from above, his long, cold blond hair spread across the knight commander’s bare-naked chest.

“First it was a mark,” Jesse said softly, glancing at the old monk’s uniform. “Don’t think about the one you’re imagining. I’ll give you a real seal.”

After that, Jesse leaned down and sucked the skin on the side of his neck, unexpectedly not arousing any pain. Then came the fingertips. Adrian thought that he must’ve used some spell. The hands that wandered around seemed to have an electric arc, setting off bursts of numbness and heat. All kinds of unfamiliar pleasure swarmed over Adrian’s scalp, and for the first time, he felt a bit overwhelmed. He forcibly swallowed the moan that almost spilled from his throat without uttering a sound and only frowned his brows more tightly.

There was no harsh teasing, no humiliating pain. Jesse Dylan’s performance was strangely gentle, as if they were lovers who loved each other from the bottom of their hearts. His movements were considerate and gentle, without any reluctance or urgency, and even gave him the illusion of being cherished.

‘This is just a deal,’ Adrian thought firmly. ‘I can’t be tempted by lust. Otherwise, it’s like…’

It’s like hedonism.

“Do you not like it?” Jesse raised his eyes and looked at him, sliding his right hand up along Adrian’s muscular left arm, rubbing the knight commander’s wrist lingeringly.

Adrian looked away for the first time.

“Don’t you want to look at me?” Jesse asked in a soft voice, and the movement of his hands stopped.

Adrian didn’t answer. At that moment, he really didn’t know how to answer.

“It’s okay,” Jesse said in a sweet tone as he tore off the wide ribbon that tied up his long hair. “I respect your wishes. If you don’t want to look at me, then just don’t look.”

A cold and smooth touch attached to his eyelids. Jesse gently raised Adrian’s head a little and blindfolded his dark brown eyes with a ribbon. Adrian’s vision instantly sank into darkness. His instinct as a warrior awakened again, and the muscles of the knight commander’s entire body immediately tightened.

“Shh—” Jesse lowered his head. More blond hair fell down, and his voice was dripping with laughter. “It’s okay, Adri. This isn’t torture, nor is it a dirty thing. Your Zenni won’t mind.”

After losing his vision, the touch of his body was suddenly magnified several folds. Soft and warm lips, a fiery tongue, moist fingers wandering around, and the ambiguous friction between skin—Adrian opened his mouth slightly, trying to inhale more cool night air in order to keep his mind calm.

But as soon as he took a few silent breaths, two slender fingers plundered into his mouth and teased his tongue for a while.

“Why are you holding back?” Jesse whispered in his ear, licking it even more unscrupulously with his tongue. “You’re a human after all. Isn’t it good to accept this? Absolute rationality doesn’t exist, love.”

He took out his fingers and stroked Adrian’s slightly red and swollen lips.

Adrian was a bit of a mess. He was barely able to muster any strength under the uncontrollable pleasure. Although he didn’t think that he was in perfect condition to beat Jesse Dylan, he was completely incapacitated…

He had experienced countless harsh training and knew very well how to control every feeling. Judge the injury by the pain. Ignore the severe pain and continue to act. No matter how many injuries he suffered, he could always support his body freely.

But the current situation was out of control. He felt a sense of panic when the dominant person changed to someone else, and that panic was mixed with a strange sense of relief. His brain seemed to be burning, unable to think clearly. Adrian bit his lower lip hard and tasted blood from his nearly numb mouth.

He still didn’t make any sound.

“Looks like that’s your last resistance,” Jesse kissed the other person’s forehead, which was oozing a thin layer of sweat. “Look at you. Looks like you’re ready.”

The memory that followed was shattered.

He should have been driven unconscious by the cascading pleasure, but his will, which had been polished by the battlefield for over a decade, didn’t allow him to do so. Adrian couldn’t remember exactly how long he persisted—he clung to the scattered monk clothes under him, almost clawing at the sturdy fabric. Long, slender legs trembled strangely with desire, while his vision remained pitch black.

Not only for these emotions, but he also became unfamiliar with himself at this moment.

In life, he should be a desperate inquisitor, and in death, he must become a bloodstained guide. Adrian had always been able to accurately interpret himself thoroughly in the eyes of others, but now he was confused for the first time.

No matter what it was before…

Countless noisy voices surfaced from his increasingly gloomy mind.

“Lord Cross has lost his powers?”

“Zenni is always righteous… He hasn’t recovered for so long; maybe he really is involved with a demon…”

‘It doesn’t matter,’ he thought.

“Did you hear that rumor? That war…Originally, Willard planned to use the Death Row Legion as bait to directly detonate the dragon breath stone mine and blow up Lord Cross and his knights. As a result, Lord Cross suddenly lost his powers, causing them to temporarily change their plans.”

“God, did he get the news from somewhere? To find such an excuse and take advantage of the situation to retreat—”

“Willard’s side are pagans! I don’t believe Lord Cross would collude with the leaders of the Mooney Sect…”

‘It’s fine,’ he thought.

There was no confusion in his heart and spirit as always. Adrian thought that no pain or guilt could strike him down, and in contrast, death was merely the end of his gray journey. He had forgotten the last time he really felt “happy” but it was fine to just keep it that way. Without attachments, there was no selfishness, and without selfishness, there was no deviation from the path ahead.

He did have reliable subordinates and trustworthy friends, but he was equally aware of their thoughts. They would eventually all be buried on the battlefield—it was only a matter of time before that was destined.

So if one day his life really ended, it would be a matter of course. There may be sadness in his body, but there would never be regrets or remorse. They would respect his death and regard it as some kind of shining golden glory. They would accept it peacefully and naturally, just as they accept the dead leaves falling from the branches in late autumn.

It should have been like this.

The knight commander tried to find a few prayers from his near-blank mind, but he couldn’t remember a word. The blood all over his body was boiling, making his throat dry and itchy, and his head was dizzy. For the first time in his life, his world was shaking due to another person, and there was no stopping it.

Some terrible longing exploded in his chest and quickly penetrated into his limbs. Adrian lifted his arms with difficulty, trying to touch the other person’s smooth, hot skin. The satin against his eyelids was moistened by sweat and a few tears, and the clothes beneath him were soaked through. He finally gasped and let out a very low whimper in the seemingly never-ending lurch.

……

Even at the last moment, Adrian failed to faint. He completely lost the strength to stand up or speak. Jesse put on his underwear and shrewdly performed a cleansing spell on the entire room. All the sticky liquid disappeared, and the clothes scattered all over the place became clean and fresh, but he had no intention of eliminating any of the marks left on the other person’s skin, and he didn’t have any plans to leave the prayer room.

The blond young man with scattered hair neatly folded the clothes scattered all over the place and stuffed them under Adrian’s head. Then he picked up his long coat and gently covered the knight commander. The candle was about to burn out, and Jesse leaned against the table with a tiny arc at the corner of his mouth.

Adrian let out a long sigh and closed his eyes.

“Adrian Cross,” Jesse suddenly said. “I have thought about my third request.”

“Hmm.” Adrian didn’t open his eyes. He squeezed out a hoarse response from his throat.

“Promise me that you won’t die easily,” Jesse’s voice was very soft but rarely serious.

Adrian was silent for a long time, and after suppressing the sudden sourness in his heart, he was finally able to make a sound again.

“……Nn.” With vigilance for that unknown feeling, the exhausted knight turned over and quickly sank into sleep.

“Even so, there is no flicker, my star.” After making sure that the other party was asleep, he fastened the buttons of his underwear and sighed in an unclear manner. “You are still… silly and cute. Do you just love ‘me’ so much?”

He glanced at the statue of Zenni in the corner of the table. The small stone statue that was facing the wall had a deep and compassionate face. Jesse shook his head, sneered, and casually nudged the statue.

It cracked and shattered in an instant, not even leaving behind powder or dust.

When he woke up the next day, Adrian was the first to notice the soft pillows and thin quilt under him.

The sun had just risen, and the light that slipped into the window was still orange. Adrian didn’t react for a while, and when he tried to support his body, the soreness he had never experienced slammed him back onto the bed, making him unable to move. To make matters worse, that was not the only obstacle for the knight to get up. An arm was resting on his waist, vaguely perceptively pulling him back under the covers.

“Mr. Dylan.” Adrian couldn’t help pinching his brows. “Please let me go.”

“Call me Jesse, okay?” Jesse grunted in discontent. He propped his head with one hand and buried his elbows into the soft pillow. “Oh, you were much more enthusiastic last night than you are now.”

Adrian gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to gasp. A steady stream of soreness hit him in his lower back, only highlighting how unexpected the deadly aftermath of last night was. The knight commander pursed his lips tightly, grabbed the clean undergarments resting on the head of the bed, and roughly put it on. The white fabric covered most of the ambiguous red marks on his chest and neck. He wasn’t sure if the other party did it on purpose, but there were some traces that couldn’t be covered even with the high collar of the monk’s uniform.

“Plan?” Adrian asked succinctly by the bed, after putting on his uniform.

Jesse stretched out and the blanket slipped off his chest. He grinned widely, revealing his upper body as he rubbed up against the knight commander. “It’s simple. Let’s go and steal the magic stone from the Sword of Ruinous Fire. No, don’t frown just yet—I think you probably sensed that our dear Lord Pope is testing me.”

“I know.” Adrian nodded and moved his gaze away from the other’s brilliant golden hair.

“If I’m not mistaken, they’re probably fretting over Mr. Light’s staff.” Jesse gave a devious grin. “How perfect, a powerful and mysterious staff, an unexplainable mystery. They couldn’t figure out the details of that staff, so it’s obviously more reasonable to determine my abilities first.”

“Do you want to prove to him that your vision is narrow?” Adrian gauged the other man’s meaning.

“That’s right.” Jesse shrugged. A strand of blond hair slid off his shoulders. “There’s nothing better to control than people who are purely profit-seeking. The Sword of Ruinous Fire is not something anyone can use, but the magic stone is priceless. If we really get our hands on it and successfully escape—in the end, we’ll only be ‘capable thieves’, not ‘dangerous fire’.”

Power in hand, but without a vision to match, meant you have no real power. Looking at it from this perspective…

“It just so happens to also explain where Mr. Light got that staff.” Adrian habitually rubbed his chin with his hand and lowered his voice. “Overtly doing insignificant small tasks, secretly aiming at powerful weapons and props. Indeed, if that’s the position, everything would make sense.”

“Without clear evidence, the Laddism Church cannot confiscate the staff for no reason. Using that staff and bluffing our strength as bait, tangibly entering the labyrinth but only stealing the precious magic stone—when they find that the magic stone is gone, we would’ve taken the staff back long ago and already be on our merry way.” Jesse spread his hands up and bent his eyes with a smile. “You see, if you want to choose between being a ‘bold thief’ or ‘the scourge of the surface’, I personally prefer the former.”

“I have a question.” Adrian pondered for a moment. “If it’s a priceless magic stone, then there must be the possibility it could be weaponized. The Laddism Church won’t give up so easily.”

“Don’t worry.” Jesse laughed even more happily. “Believe me, that staff isn’t the first weapon that’s not worthy of its name. The head before that old man was more cunning than the old man himself.”

Adrian felt relieved. He was just about to turn around and walk away, but Jesse grabbed his sleeve…

“Adri.” The blond young man sat upright on the soft bed. His tone was relaxed and casual. “How are you today? Do you like me a little bit now?”

The knight commander stretched out his free hand and pulled off a long strand of blond hair from his monk’s uniform. He lowered his eyes to the gorgeous face, and an almost imperceptible wry smile surfaced at the corner of his mouth.

Then he shook his head gently.

---

The author has something to say:

It seems that many people have turned against the side CP (…), Jesse, look at you, look at you! Really not good√

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Who would be against this CP?! Oh god, this chapter is so fucking hot that I need Jesus Zenni Jesse.

And, yessss Adrian bottoms. It can’t get any hotter than this. They’re breaking the stereotypical gong x shou mold. Nothing is hotter than a beauty topping a hunk. Call me an ambulance because I just lost so much blood from this chapter… Ollie and Nemo, take notes, babies.

I always had an inkling that Jesse would be Zenni, considering all the obsession and devotion Adrian has towards him. Now darling Adri, you get to have your cake and eat it too (L-I-T-E-R-A-L-L-Y)… Well, I guess Jesse’s the one eating cake… But you get my point.

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 160: Confinement Room and Prayer Room

“Father.” The young Godwin was much more cheerful than the one they knew. He looked like he was four or five years old. “I want to eat that—”

Emanuel was leading him to practice in the backyard. The honorable Chief Justice didn’t buy a luxurious house for himself but chose an ordinary home. Two children from the neighbor’s house climbed onto the wall and looked curiously into the courtyard. They were holding honey cookies in their hands, and their eyes were shining on Godwin’s sword.

Although Godwin Lopez was still young, that sharp iron sword was indeed real.

Godwin inserted the sword into the mud, wiped the sweat from his head with his sleeves, and had a pure smile unique to a child on his face. “If I have completed all the training today, can I eat one?”

“No.” Emanuel’s voice was cold and hard. “Sweetness will corrode your soul, and pleasure will make you fall. Godwin, you’re different from them.”

The smile on Godwin’s face solidified, and he flattened his mouth aggrieved, and finally lowered his head. “Yes, father.”

Even though he knew that it wasn’t his own feelings, the dark emotions that seemed to burn his internal organs still made Nemo very uncomfortable. Nemo didn’t think that the Emanuel in this memory still retained his sanity—the pain of contradiction almost dried up the young knight’s heart, making it as dark and hard as a rock.

Entertainment wasn’t allowed, crying wasn’t allowed, weakness wasn’t allowed, and escape wasn’t allowed. The two words he said the most to Godwin were either “not allowed” or “not enough”.

In Emanuel’s sealed memory, he had looked into Godwin’s eyes many times, trying to find resistance and hatred from the depths of those eyes, but he only found full trust and love, and that unreserved affection drove him crazy. A living person trusted himself wholeheartedly, and he never thought that this relationship would be so heavy. People often say that parents are gods to their children but look at what he had done—he was clearly unworthy.

He didn’t deserve to be loved. Emanuel thought to himself. Why doesn’t this kid hate him?

Godwin was a good boy, and Emanuel knew this very well. His son was strong and well-behaved and never cried. The same question was never asked twice, with one exception.

“Can I have a piece of cake, father?” For some reason, Emanuel had never held a birthday celebration ceremony for his son, but on his birthday, not long after a day of training, his son asked cautiously for a second time.

“No.” Emanuel’s answer had not changed.

Godwin had never asked that question again.

As time passed, Emanuel became convinced that his son was the one in the prophecy. Yes, he had put in a lot of effort, broadening his contacts for his son and introducing him to dignitaries, and Godwin had never disappointed him. His son became a perfect and noble warrior, as he expected.

Just the right kindness, unshakable principles, absolute control over one’s own desires—Godwin Lopez was even stronger than Flint, who occasionally laughed back then. His son would not relax, would not hesitate, and would not let himself indulge in useless pleasures. Godwin lived an extremely “standard” life, like an ideal puppet.

Flint was hit by what happened at the bottom of the Abyss, but his son would not. Being too kind and soft-hearted had always been the weakness of his brother. Emanuel knew this well and had personally created a powerhouse who could surpass his brother.

But his son rarely showed a real smile, and the smile on his face would never reach his eyes.

After dragging down his favorite brother, he personally ruined the lives of his wife and child. Perhaps this was all fate, or at least that was what he wanted to believe.

Emanuel looked at his hands, and under that shiny armor, the blood vessels were almost black. His will was twisting. As a Chief Justice who had been on the edge of the Abyss for a long time, the demons he killed began to show an ambiguous smile at him before they died. The power of darkness was gently engulfing him gradually.

No, perhaps it was precisely he himself who was chasing death, deliberately touching the magic that was destined to corrode him. His spirit had long been like a piece of gravel that had been weathered for a long time, and it would collapse into dust when touched.

You can let go.

Before he was completely swallowed by the darkness, before he completely lost his mind because of guilt, he wanted a meaningful end. Emanuel could feel the rapid passage of his health and reason—he couldn’t sleep at night. Every breath became a burden, and his eyes seemed to have lost the ability to distinguish colors.

[Step over the bones of your dearest relative.]

‘It’s time,’ Emanuel thought. Godwin was strong enough and no longer needed a bad father like him. He dedicated his son to God and dedicated it to the world as a sacrifice. If one day, Godwin Lopez could really end all the turmoil, would there be at least some value to everything he had done?

As someone who chased demons, he knew very well how to catch a superior demon and how to temporarily suppress it.

Emanuel Lopez sat in the living room, wearing the armor that had accompanied him for many years, waiting for his son to come home. The letters Flint had sent him were burning in the fireplace. The dry petals exuded a faint aroma in the flames, and then quickly turned black. That was the last evidence of him as a person made of flesh and blood, and they didn’t need to exist anymore.

Godwin would definitely come. His son had always been very obedient.

This would be the last cruel thing he could do in his life, and it would also be the last time he hurt his close relatives. Emanuel closed his eyes.

Everything happened very quickly.

Before the darkness completely invaded, he grabbed Godwin’s placket and nervously explained his final entrustment. He put a simple word at the end, but he didn’t have time to say it—

His son attacked him in the gentlest and fastest way to death.

He didn’t have time to say “sorry”.

Then the memory turned into darkness.

“Generally speaking, the memory fragments in the glory records and confession records need to be reviewed,” Emanuel’s phantom whispered in the darkness. “I did something to hide this part of the fragment and recorded my memory in real time, so don’t be surprised if you see my death.”

After that, he was silent for a while. “…This illusion is just a message. I don’t know how I’ll die, but it must be extremely ridiculous. This is what you see, young man. I was once strong, and I hope these memories will give you some insight.”

“Don’t follow the path as I did. As you can see, I am a miserable failure.”

The illusion disappeared.

The two sat back at the table and fiddled with their quills stiffly. Oliver couldn’t write a word right now; he was about to break the fragile pen. Emanuel Lopez’s confession record didn’t solve any problems but made everything even more confusing. And he seemed… unable to keep Godwin Lopez out of his heart once more.

Oliver couldn’t imagine such a childhood. As a father, Flint was very conscientious, despite his awkwardness. He had been dissatisfied with his father’s concealment from the bottom of his heart, but in comparison…

“Something’s wrong,” he sighed fiercely. “Father’s behavior is a bit strange.”

“Nn,” Nemo replied with a sullen face. “Although I’m not familiar with your father, I have read a lot of biographies about the Tin Soldiers. Combined with the memory fragments just now, Flint Lopez shouldn’t be the type who would just disappear without a word. And…” Nemo’s voice hesitated.

“And?”

“In the previous generation, the Demon King Ulysses… No, in my memory—I did kill most of the members of the Tin Soldiers.” Nemo clenched his fists and said, almost coldly, “But it was a dignified battle. At that, I shouldn’t have done anything to your father. At least when we were separated, he was in a good mood.”

“I believe you.” Oliver frowned and fell into contemplation. “To be honest, Nemo, I don’t think my father left his brother because of the collapse. There must be other reasons. In Uncle Emanuel’s cognition, my mother died when she was five months pregnant with me, and it didn’t take long for Godwin to be born, right? But before that, my father disappeared completely. This doesn’t make sense—I know my father. No matter how decrepit he is, he would definitely not ignore Godwin’s birth.”

“The biographies I have read are probably the same.” Nemo nodded. “It’s the same as the memory fragment, so it should be true. The child died five months into the pregnancy. Most people really didn’t think that the child would survive. I suspect that Godwin has also investigated your father’s affairs, and he seems to be more receptive to the matter of ‘you’re still alive’ than his father.”

“My mother…”

“Oliver.” Nemo cleared his throat. “Did Flint mention to you anything about the Trent Plague?”

“No.” Oliver propped his forehead with both hands and scratched his hair into a mess. “Why?”

“…It’s fine. I’ll continue to check it myself, but I have a guess about the reason why your father didn’t tell Emanuel.”

“I have one too.” Oliver smiled reluctantly. “But I sincerely hope I’m just thinking too much.”

“It’s estimated that our guesses are very similar,” Nemo said, with difficulty. “Let me make it clear that it was your father who gave me the final blow last time, not Abbas Alastair. He was… killed by me in the middle of the war… In short, your father should have been the true hero, but he gave false evidence, insisting that Abbas Alastair was the one who gave me the last blow—if I guessed it correctly, he and his deputy commander must have had a pretty good relationship.”

Oliver nodded bitterly. “Honestly, I’m not surprised that my father did this kind of thing. Every time the bard makes a fuss about the hero, he always drives them out of the inn.”

In Emanuel’s memory, Flint Lopez’s strength was an unquestionable fact. Oliver’s thoughts were very pure. If there was anything that could make that power completely bow down…

“He gave up this glory and gave it to the fallen Abbas, who was killed in battle. From the overall situation, this was indeed the wisest thing to do. And before that, whether he had contacted the royal family of Alban through Abbas or not, he would certainly reach out at that time.” Seeing Oliver didn’t say a word, Nemo continued to analyze in a low voice. “Flint Lopez was always a citizen of Alban. If he was forced to give in to something…”

“The Alastair family, right?” Oliver twiddled his fingers; his voice was becoming a little erratic. “Yes, the royal prince was killed, but he won the title of ‘Hero’ on the surface. This was indeed very important to Alban at the time, and it could even have gained a certain advantage in the war. For such a big matter, my father must have been in contact with the Alastair family.”

“Emanuel Lopez was the Chief Justice of the Knights of Judgment at the time and was sheltered by the Laddism Church. Even the royal family couldn’t take action against him without clear evidence. Ollie, your father is probably protecting Emanuel, but I really can’t think of a reason. According to what we’ve seen, he should’ve befriended the royal family.”

“The most I can guess is that this matter has something to do with the royal family.” Oliver shook his head. “As for the reason… I said that he never told me anything about his past… Is it because he was protecting me?”

They found out more, but the truth seemed to become more distant.

“Forget it.” Nemo sighed and tugged on the quill pen in his hand. The moonlight poured in from the window, and the sky had darkened quietly at some unknown time. “Let’s go to sleep first, Ollie. There are still clues here, so I’ll check them tomorrow.”

“But my report is still…”

“I finished writing it for you,” Nemo said, pushing the roll of parchment paper to Oliver’s elbow, which was undoubtedly in Oliver’s own handwriting. “Rest early. This has been a long day.”

They tacitly didn’t mention Godwin again, and the two of them huddled on the couch and lay down quietly. Nemo stayed up all night again, staring at the black book with Emanuel’s name on the table as Oliver embraced him tightly.

Not far from them at the Clementine Cathedral.

Adrian Cross knelt on one knee on the thick carpet, praying at night in the prayer room attached to the church residence. Since meeting the Pope, Jesse Dylan had been much more peaceful. It was just that on the night of meeting the Pope, the blond young man disappeared again before he could ask what he was planning…

Cunning guy. Adrian ended his prayer, pinched his brow, and felt a headache was coming.

“Thinking of me?” A frivolous voice sounded from behind.

“Please remember to knock next time,” Adrian said without looking back.

“You didn’t deny it, so you’re thinking of me.” Jesse, who disappeared for a day and a night, leaned over to him, with a trace of cool air belonging to the night on his blue coat. “How untruthful.”

“Indeed, because you promised me to be ‘straightforward and not say things half-assed’, but then turned around and ran away.” The knight commander’s face was expressionless. “Although I don’t know what level your strength is, the Great Isamel Labyrinth may be more dangerous than you think… At least for me, it’s not a place that’s easy to deal with.”

“Thank you for your concern.” Jesse bent down. His long blond hair hanging down on the black monk’s uniform looked particularly dazzling in the candlelight. “I do have a good plan, and I’ll tell you all about it… But, it’s still early and the atmosphere is nice. We might be able to do something else first.”

He breathed into Adrian’s ears suggestively. “How about it, Adri?”

Adrian pressed his forehead and replied in a flat tone, “I have no problem with it, but I need to prepare a little—”

Before he finished speaking, there was a dull, heavy noise behind him. Jesse made a random gesture, causing the door of the prayer room to slam shut, and he stuck the latch on himself.

“…Please don’t do this.” The voice of the former knight commander sank as he glanced unintentionally at the chandelier and the small statue of Zenni. There wasn’t even a chair in the small prayer room. “This is a prayer room.”

“I think it’s fine.” Jesse shrugged. “Why not?”

This time, instead of sticking to him like a bone, the blond young man held up his arms and smiled ambiguously. “I said you’ll definitely regret it.”

---

The author has something to say:

The identity of Tumbleweed’s big sister (?

…And why do I always turn off the lights too often???

Toeing the line makes me happy! _(:D”∠)_

---

Kinky Thoughts:

So many bombshells in this chapter, but more importantly; Author, please stop turning off the lights T__T. I want to SEE EVERYTHING!!!

From the looks of things, Adrian’s going to bottom, and I’m all for that. Get ready for a really spicy chapter.

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 159: Confession

The confinement room was completely different from what the two imagined.

Speaking of confinement, the cell in the Withered Castle unexpectedly appeared in Oliver’s mind, and he calmly stuffed it back into the depths of his thoughts while Nemo’s mind was full of the cobweb-covered storage room of the Light Orphanage. After creating trouble, Old Patrick would drag them by their collar and toss them in, and they wouldn’t be allowed to come out until they had peeled all the potatoes.

The layout here was interesting. Except for the wall at the entrance, which was covered with portraits, the other three walls were full of books. The wall facing the door protruded inwards, forming a perfect arc. They quickly figured out the purpose of this thing. As long as the brass lever next to it was pulled to the position engraved with a specific major, the curved book wall would slowly rotate, showing all the books related to the major.

The remaining two book walls were a bit special. One side was pure black, like charcoal powder, and the other side was pristine white. There was only one name on the monotonous spine of the books, followed by a line of fine print.

Nemo happened to be leaning on the white side. He took the book casually, and then found that there was no paper between the cover books, but a liquid, like mercury. He looked at it suspiciously for a while and finally decided to open it.

The mercury-like liquid seemed to regain its gravity in an instant and slammed into the smooth floor with a bang. A silver-gleaming mist rose into the air, and a “person” appeared in front of Nemo. His face was very clear, but he didn’t reveal the lightest breath unique to life. The outline of the man shook occasionally, overflowing with colored mist.

It was an illusion.

The bearded man formed by the illusion was flushed. His gorgeous clothes seemed to bulge from his stomach, and the buttons were stretched out in the next second. His gaze passed through Nemo and was cast into the void not far away with an enthusiastic smile all over his face. Nemo looked at the man up and down for a while. When the man’s illusion took a deep breath and looked like it was about to speak, Nemo snapped the book cover in his hand shut.

The illusion instantly disappeared. A silvery mist whooshed into the book cover and once again condensed into a quivering, metallic shimmering liquid.

“Glory records.” Oliver leaned over and read the words on the bronze plate not far away. “This is what it says—’Listen to the teachings of those who have succeeded and immerse yourself in the joy that comes from piety and justice. These memories and emotions are voluntarily disclosed by their owners. May Zenni’s glory last forever’.”

As he spoke, he also took out a book and opened it. This time, it was a short old man with a white beard and hair who appeared. Unlike Nemo, Oliver gave the illusion time to speak, but there were no surprises. The old man was like a real professor, gently talking about his understanding of life. Oliver shrugged and was about to close the book when the old man reached out his hand and touched the back of Oliver’s hand.

Oliver took a step back and shuddered.

“What’s the matter?” Nemo was busy stuffing the white book back into the bookshelf as he tried to turn his head.

“Memory fragments, the kind with feelings.” Oliver touched the goose bumps on his arm. “I clearly know that it doesn’t belong to me, but I can feel the attachments of others. I think it’s for educational purposes.” His tongue felt a bit knotted. “But it’s really weird. Do you want to try it?”

Nemo shook his head quickly. Fragments of his own memories were enough for him. He didn’t want to stuff other people’s memories into his mind to experience it.

“Overall, they are all positive feelings.” Oliver breathed slowly. “It’s Clementine, after all. This thing is really more useful than preaching from one’s mouth.”

“I guess that wall is negative.” Nemo pointed to the black book. “Since there are positive cases, there must be negative ones.”

“Confession record.” Oliver stretched out his neck and glanced, wisely not touching it. “Congratulations, your answer is correct.”

After figuring out all the mechanisms in the room, the two quickly lost interest in the confinement room.

“Let’s finish what we have to write first.” Nemo pulled out a long roll of parchment paper and dipped the tip of his pen in ink. “Well, at least there’s a couch here. It won’t be too difficult tonight.”

The ease on Oliver’s face finally disappeared. He frowned and took down a stack of thick books from the curved wall and moved to his seat. When Oliver first put the book down, Nemo had already written a large paragraph. And when he finished reading the book and was about to write, he found that his lover had already finished writing a whole piece of paper and was blowing the dry ink with his mouth.

Oliver: “……”

He was just about to open his mouth to make a few ridiculing remarks, but his gaze was attracted again by the wall full of white books behind Nemo. He wasn’t sure if he was hallucinating, but a white book on the top of the bookshelf kept flashing. It quickly switched between black and white, which made it look quite conspicuous.

“What’s going on with that book?” Oliver pointed a quill pen in the direction behind Nemo.

“Oh, that one.” Nemo raised his head slightly and wrinkled his nose. “That should be in the confession record. Maybe someone misplaced it.”

“…” Oliver was stunned for a few seconds. “It looks black to you?”

“Isn’t it?” Nemo responded blankly.

Oliver pulled aside his chair and decided to escape from the report for a few minutes. He returned to the wall stuffed with white books, ignored the ladder next to him, and kicked up step by step, accurately removing the strange book at the top. Striding to Nemo’s side, Oliver braced one hand on the round table while the other naturally opened the book. His gaze swept towards the name on the spine.

Then his body suddenly stiffened.

Seeing Oliver’s strange reaction, Nemo ignored the report he had just written and stuck his head over. To his eyes, there was nothing special about this black book, with the same names and brief descriptions embroidered in gold thread on the spine—until he read the words.

[Emanuel Lopez, the 368^th Chief Justice of the Knights of Judgment.]

“…If I remember correctly, this is Godwin Lopez’s father? Your…”

“Yes.” Oliver narrowed his eyes and tried desperately to empty his mind. The flashing book in his hand finally stayed white. After taking a deep breath, Oliver carefully opened the book cover.

The figure of a Knight of Judgment appeared in the air. It had dark golden hair and emerald eyes that were very similar to Oliver. Emanuel’s phantom had no smile on his face, and his entire temperament was cold and melancholy.

In fact, his eyebrows were indeed very similar to the Flint they knew well, but they were so very different in temperament that it almost overshadowed the similarities. The funny thing was that Oliver’s temperament at this moment was closer to the phantom in front of him than Flint.

Flint Lopez—the “Piper Ramon” they knew—was a little too enthusiastic, more talkative than Oliver, and gave people a more burning and sharp feeling. Oliver’s temperament was much softer, and the person in front of him was at the other extreme. Emanuel looked like a blood-stained dagger.

The two stared at Emanuel Lopez’s phantom in silence. Oliver’s breathing was a little short. The dead with the same blood were standing in front of him, and this was the first time he truly realized the existence of this relative.

His father’s younger brother.

Emanuel’s image opened his mouth and spat out a dry sermon. The phantom’s face still lacked the feelings that humans should have, and his voice was lower than Flint’s. Oliver pursed his lips and snapped the book shut, dispelling the phantom.

He thought for a moment and handed the book to his lover. “Nemo, what you see is black, right? You should try it.”

Nemo didn’t ask much. He simply took the book and opened it neatly. He moved so fast that he almost overturned the ink bottle with the edge of his sleeve.

The figure appeared again. Emanuel Lopez looked no different from just now. Oliver scratched his head and was about to study the book again when Emanuel’s phantom spoke.

The words exported this time were not preaching.

“You’re very strong,” the phantom said gloomily. Like the previous phantom, his gaze penetrated directly into the two people in front of him, and he cast his gaze into the void. “You saw through its disguise, didn’t you?”

Oliver and Nemo glanced at each other quickly.

“Compared to those useless empty words, I would rather use my own memory to warn you—no matter who you are, young man in this confinement room, I pray here, please don’t follow the same path as me. If you’re concerned about your power, if you’re unhappy in this arena of a world…”

“Please remember that some things are irreparable, and once you start, you can’t look back. Allow me to tell you this.”

The phantom stretched out his right hand and held it mid-air. It was a cold gesture of invitation.

Oliver stared at the hand tightly and wiped his face. He recalled for a moment what Elmer told him—those things about the Lopez brothers. To be honest, he wasn’t obsessed with the past, but at this moment, the past had found him.

Nemo let out a soft sigh, stretched out his hand to grab Oliver’s wrist, and took advantage of the situation to kiss his fingers.

“Let’s go together,” Nemo whispered. “We have an appointment to find out more about your father. Maybe there will be clues here.”

Oliver nodded in silence, brushed his fingers across the other’s warm and soft lips, and then touched the smoke-composed, armor-covered right hand with Nemo.

They were right to bet that these memories were indeed related to Oliver’s father. It was better to say that most of those memories were about Flint Lopez. The pain Emanuel injected into the book was very real, and Nemo’s eyes were almost blackened by the sharpness of the pain. It wasn’t a one-time occurrence, but a long-term, suffocating depression.

Flint Lopez had been a very lucky person since he was a child, as if he was loved by God. Even if he tripped over a stone, he could find a little crushed ore in the crevices of that stone. With this terrifying good fortune, after losing their parents in the war, he and his younger brother successfully escaped from the war-torn village and survived in a small town near Clementine.

He took on all the burdens and brought up Emanuel when he was still a young boy. He was warm, loved by all, and was a wonderful older brother.

The young Emanuel admired such a brother purely. In principle, Alban prohibited the employment of child labor, and his personality was too introverted to get a short-term job that could subsidize the family with a talkative mouth like his brother.

So he had to redouble his efforts, absorbing all the knowledge around him like a sponge. Emanuel sharpened a wooden sword himself and practiced day and night. The blood blister broke and scabbed, and sweat seeped into it, causing pain like sandpaper friction, but he insisted—as long as he could gain the local bishop’s attention and get funding, his brother would not continue to work so hard.

His efforts finally paid off, but he wasn’t the only one who had received funding.

“Hey, Eman, we can go to school together!” Flint, who was still a teenager, shouted as he hugged his younger brother and swung him in a circle. “I didn’t expect to meet such a generous noble lord. Let me tell you…”

His older brother was a genius.

Despite being torn by a poor life, his brother still laughed fearlessly. Without expending much effort, Flint easily caught up with Emanuel’s progress of several years of hard training in just a few days.

A genius loved by fate.

He loved his brother deeply, and this love had not become weak as a result, but something else sneaked in, sour and desperate—this was jealousy. Emanuel, who was also a teenager, thought to himself, undoubtedly jealousy and this thought suffocated him.

His brother could have been a hero. If he had left him as a burden in the first place, it was estimated that he would have been discovered by a discerning noble or bishop earlier, while he, who had benefited from such sacrifice, was shamelessly jealous of the other…

What followed was a deeper sense of guilt, which he kept in his heart. He continued to practice hard day and night, afraid to stop, for fear that his strength would be left behind by his brother. His desperate efforts did pay off—Emanuel’s fighting power was closely chasing Flint, but there was always a subtle gap that could not be crossed.

But he didn’t have time to feel desperate.

After the unexpected death of the bishop who funded them, Emanuel even felt a dark relief. Perhaps he could get out of this desperate chase and become the one who would support his brother in turn. His sun-like brother was finally able to gain true freedom.

“Keep studying. I’ll be a mercenary. Anyway, this was going to happen sooner or later,” was what Flint said. “Eman, I’m not fit to be… Uh, a guard. I’m confident! Even if the noble lord pays only part of the commission, it should be enough for you to keep studying!”

Flint was a person who liked to take action and then talk about it later. He had even completed the final withdrawal formalities.

“You can certainly become a great man, Eman.” His brother patted him on the shoulder. “Your sense of responsibility is much stronger than mine. I…”

Emanuel didn’t listen to the next words. The long chase was finally over, and he was in a daze. His older brother stopped, and he would continue to move forward. The jealousy that had been restraining him dissipated a little bit, but the guilt accumulated more. He couldn’t say anything, so he could only give Flint a tight hug.

“You have to be careful.” He squeezed a sentence from his throat with difficulty.

But Flint’s strong luck did not end as a result.

The Tin Soldier Mercenary Regiment was developing at a speed that could be called abnormal, and its members included all the strong races. Instead of stopping, his brother was like a phoenix rushing out of a cage, leaving behind burning flames that almost dyed the entire sky red.

Flint Lopez became a legend while Emanuel successfully graduated and became the youngest Chief Justice of the Knights of Judgment in history.

It seemed to be a perfect development from the outside world.

But that subtle sense of jealousy and despair couldn’t be eliminated. From time to time, his brother would send happy letters with rare stones or flowers while he slaughtered a foreign tribe or when he had thrust his sword into the chest of a child.

He shouldn’t feel jealous. It was wrong. Emanuel couldn’t stop repeating it to himself.

At least he hoped for his brother’s happiness from the bottom of his heart, and he should not be filthy under that light. He must become a dignified person and take on his own responsibilities. If he couldn’t eliminate such ugly thoughts…

Emanuel Lopez hated those letters from the bottom of his heart, but he couldn’t help but smile when he read them, enjoying the last bright color in his life. Perhaps his world would continue to exist so contradictorily until he found the answer that could free him.

Thus, Emanuel followed the “most perfect” life trajectory, engaged in an emotionless political marriage with the nobles, and had a powerful offspring as planned. He pressed all his love, obsession, and dark thoughts into the deepest part of his soul, living like a walking codex.

But when the young Knight of Judgment was about to accept reality, his sun went out—the Tin Soldier Mercenary Regiment was almost wiped out in the Abyss expedition.

At the same time, the prophecy that symbolized the end was born.

It didn’t matter, Emanuel believed so firmly at first. His brother would definitely come out of this suffering and make a comeback. His older brother’s wife was already pregnant, and the child was probably inseparable from the prophecy.

After all, it was Flint Lopez.

But this time, Emanuel guessed wrong.

Flint Lopez’s wife died suddenly of an acute illness, leaving one corpse but two deaths. His brother retired quietly, stopped sending him letters, disappeared completely, and his fate was unknown. It didn’t take long for the rumors about the head of the Tin Soldier Mercenary Regiment “not having the strength, was only fishing for fame” to spread all over Alban.

This time, the chase between the brothers was finally over, in the way he least wanted to see. Something absolutely happened at the bottom of the Abyss, and no matter what, it completely destroyed his brother.

With cold hatred in his arms, Emanuel Lopez fell into a long-term numbness, and the sense of guilt entangled his heart like poison ivy. Even in his wife’s room, when he heard the first cry of his son after he was born, he still couldn’t squeeze out any warmth-related feelings from his heart.

Then he felt the power. Extremely powerful, pure power.

He possessed a miracle; a baby with amazing strength and no physical defects at the same time. He was holding his son in his arms, and the baby was still stained with blood…

“My lord, my lord!” the healer called anxiously. “You have to lend me a little strength. Madam’s situation is very bad. Lord Lopez—”

[Born of death and betrayal.]

The prophetic content that surfaced in his mind made Emanuel stretch out half of his hand and stop in the air. His wife was gasping violently, and her consciousness was close to disappearing. Her lips were a terrible blue and pale, and her body twitched uncontrollably.

He may or may not be able to save her, but if…

Emanuel’s hand trembled a little, and the guilt that had gathered for several years finally erupted at this moment, tearing his soul in half.

His older brother’s child had died, and his older brother loved his wife so deeply that he would never marry again. If this was…

It was as if another self was whispering in his ear, and the darkness almost overwhelmed his vision. Emanuel looked down at the blood-stained baby in his arms, suddenly showing a stiff smile.

Instead of reaching out, he turned his face toward the healer.

“My wife died suddenly after giving birth.” The eyes of the Chief Justice exuded the golden color unique to the charm spell. “Only this child survived.”

The woman on the bed twitched a few times at last, but did not move again. Emanuel pressed a hand on the baby’s forehead and lowered his gaze…

The prophecy had started to come true. In his frenzied thoughts, he gently closed his eyes.

“Listen,” he whispered to the baby. “You must destroy the Abyss, Godwin.”

---

The author has something to say:

Godwin is indeed a traditional hero. The reason why… is here. _(:з”∠)_

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Ah, poor Godwin. I’m surprised he didn’t turn out TOO fucked up because of such a father. Jealousy is the root of all evil.

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 158: Confinement Requirements

Elmer’s body stiffened instantly. He looked in disbelief in the direction of Oliver’s escape, and then moved his gaze to Nemo. The latter’s expression was tight, his gaze was glued to the snake-maned lion, and he couldn’t catch any exposed emotions at all.

A logistics running away wouldn’t affect the situation of the battle. The commander’s face became ugly, but he didn’t say a word.

All the combat units of this team had some skills. They avoided the maned snakes that were ejected from time to time between the mane of the snake-maned lion, but unfortunately, a few of them suffered a few scratches from its claws. Nemo moved in accordance with the calculated steps, staring closely at the wounds and quickly calculating the blind spots of the surveillance crystal ball.

All current matters were within his expectations. Only Hayden’s reaction surprised him.

The little man who found out that he was holding the maned snake and was about to scream and run away, was now terribly calm. Hayden didn’t boast. He was really suitable for this kind of profession. In intermittence, when someone got injured, the healer student almost panicked, but Hayden Wilhelm seemed to be a different person.

Thanks to his own strength, Nemo could see the injuries of the others at a glance, but Hayden was just an ordinary human with low magic, but his reaction wasn’t much slower than Nemo’s. He treated the soldiers skillfully and even had time to soothe the healer’s emotions in the midst of chaos.

Nemo assisted calmly, neither too much nor too little, and now he was more like Hayden’s shadow. From time to time, he glanced at the huge snake-maned lion from the corner of his eyes. The professor or school staff didn’t appear, so it was to be said that this snake-maned lion was probably arranged by the college in advance.

But the front line of the group had already shown signs of collapse.

Truthfully, Nemo knew this situation well. He and Oliver had also walked on the path paved with real swords and arrows, so he was extremely keen on the possible problems of newcomers on the battlefield. Actual combat was different from training, and the students here weren’t stupid enough to be blindly confident. They just went to the other extreme—they didn’t know how to allocate their energy and strength. As soon as they fought, they went all out and didn’t consider the length of the battle at all. At present, various combat units were beginning to experience subsequent fatigue, and the magic of the healer was close to being exhausted.

However, the sunk cost was already too high. They had no choice but to knock down the enemy in front of them and get the main mane snake. Even if they could barely escape now, the group no longer had the energy to deal with another energetic snake-maned lion.

Fortunately, when the situation was close to despair, the five warriors who had left before finally returned to the team. The creeping swamp wasn’t easy to break free from, and they seemed to have expended a lot of effort, especially Leonard. One of his arms was already bloody, and there were many long bright green thorns in his wound.

The protective barrier of the defensive mage finally broke, and the mage almost fainted.

The soldiers rushed forward one after another, and the few in charge of defense barely stabilized the situation. As soon as Leonard was about to rush over, Hayden kicked him on the knee and caused him to kneel on the ground.

“You—”

“Stop!” Hayden screamed; his big, neurotic eyes were almost on fire. “If the thorns of the creeping vines aren’t taken out in time, you’ll be paralyzed in less than ten minutes from now! Do you want to be paralyzed under the claws of that thing?”

Leonard closed his mouth and his eyes looked complicated.

“The healer is almost out of magic,” Hayden said coldly, with an unquestionable taste. “Bear with me, warrior. You’ll be fine soon.”

He was talking with his mouth, but his hands weren’t slow. Hayden’s movements were light and fast. The blood-stained long thorns were removed one by one and neatly thrown on the ground. This was followed by a suture movement that could not be seen clearly. After the ointment was applied, the wound was almost no longer oozing blood. The whole process took no more than ten seconds.

“Go.” Hayden didn’t stop and turned directly to the next wounded man.

Leonard didn’t talk nonsense any longer and directly raised his sword and rushed up. Honestly speaking, this arrogant aristocratic young man’s foundation wasn’t bad. He even cut off a small half-maned snake from the snake-maned lion, causing the latter to let out a howl of pain.

‘However, they’re still too young and green,’ Nemo thought. If the enemy was an ordinary snake-maned lion, this battle wouldn’t be suspenseful. Enemies of this level were much too early for them. Although nursing could suture the wounds of the soldiers in time, they couldn’t restore the lost magic and blood. The healer finally couldn’t support them any longer and knelt to the ground. Hayden’s face was covered with sweat and dust, and his white clothes were covered with blood and dirt.

However, he still kept going.

Seeing such a small head gritted his teeth and persisted, the wounded warriors rushed towards the behemoth again and again; among them, Leonard’s offensive was particularly fierce. Unfortunately, it was useless. The gap in strength was obvious. Nemo moved his wrists. If they continued to work hard, the professor would certainly intervene. The task would almost certainly fail this time.

If Oliver didn’t make it back in time…

The snake-maned lion let out an angry roar. Its eyes were completely red. The maned snake left on its neck was struggling frantically. The grayish-green beast raised its claws and swiped Leonard, who insisted on attacking in front. The latter seemed to be red with murder and didn’t intend to take a step back, going for a serious blow.

Nemo took a breath and began to calculate the blind spots again. It was one thing to hide his strength, but it wasn’t his style to ignore someone’s death. Leonard’s sword had reached its limit, and he would definitely be unable to withstand this blow. With the guards and the professor, Leonard probably wouldn’t die, but he wouldn’t escape without serious injuries either.

But before he could make a move, the harsh noise of loud piercing metal sounded. The only logistics left on the field used an iron pot as a shield and rushed forward, barely blocking the blow in time. Elmer’s muscles were violently convex, and he remained standing in silence. The iron pot was directly pierced by the sharp beast’s claws, and the tip of the claws was less than half a centimeter from the tip of his nose.

“Your sword is about to break,” Elmer whispered. “I can hear it, sir. You’re very heroic, but the weapons provided here are too fragile, and you seem to have forgotten this.”

He twisted the iron pot. The broken metal pierced into the beast’s claws, causing the snake-maned lion to suddenly retract its paw. The sturdy logistics took this opportunity to pull Leonard back, and the two quickly escaped the danger zone.

“You don’t understand,” Leonard roared. The noble warrior slashed the sword on the stone pillar of a ruin, and the upper half of the sword flew off. He observed the broken sword for a moment and wanted to step forward again. “It was my initial misjudgment that led to the separation of combat power. I have a responsibility. Listen! I have a responsibility to solve this!”

“No. Now our first priority is to save our strength.” The commander panted. His body was stained with blood. “If this is really a battlefield, facing an enemy that cannot be defeated, it’s not wise to fight hard—and that logistic, Elmer, right? Don’t act without authorization! Everyone understands this time, but military regulations are military regulations. There won’t be a second time—”

Before he finished speaking, another logistics officer who had been fleeing for a long time finally arrived.

Oliver was covered in dust and still looked like he was running away. A large cloud of smoke and dust was following behind him, and a dark shadow about the size of a snake-maned lion appeared in it.

“Help!” Oliver tried to make himself sound more frightened and cast his eyes directly at Nemo.

“Damn it, back off!” The command screamed and swore directly. “Oliver Borne, fuck. You’re—”

Naturally, the snake-maned lion didn’t give up this opportunity. It aimed at Hayden, the shortest and weakest of the team, and rushed straight at him. Leonard didn’t hesitate and directly pushed the little man back and blocked the snake-maned lion directly with one hand, holding the broken sword. It pierced the main maned snake on the head of the snake-maned lion.

The impact was much more severe than he thought, but the main maned snake was extremely cunning. The blow only scratched the face of the snake-maned lion, leaving it with a bloody gash by its mouth. Hayden, who was pushed to the side, didn’t avoid. He gritted his teeth and threw a bottle of paralysis potion at the snake-maned lion. Although it was impossible to bring down this behemoth, it could delay it for at least half a second.

The potion penetrated into the wound on the face of the snake-maned lion, causing the beast’s biting motion to stagnate for a moment. Hayden desperately pulled Leonard’s arm while the rest of the fighter’s legs softened. They barely survived another wave of attacks.

“Shrink the formation. Hurry! What the hell did that bastard attract—”

This sentence was like a spell. Oliver fell beautifully, and his whole body was almost submerged in dust. The dark figure ambled down, making a standard attacking motion.

The face, with extraordinarily brilliant care, instantly lost control.

“Oh my god, Ollie!” Nemo shouted, leaving the team “regardless of danger” and rushed forward.

In his mind, he simulated the surveillance screen of the crystal ball. Nemo hooked the corners of his mouth. While observing the blind spots between his teammates and the monitoring crystal ball, he secretly gave the snake-maned lion a kick. If he read it right, Oliver just relied on the cover of the dust to throw another attack at the behemoth. He could help his lover calibrate his goals.

The snake-maned lion was suddenly knocked out of balance and took a few steps back as if it was drunk. It just happened to be squashed by another behemoth that rushed over. The movement of the giant beast rushing over was slightly weird, as if it had been thrown over alive, but no one had the mind to care about this right now.

“It’s a dust storm snake mongoose,” the commander murmured. He didn’t have time to care about the two inexplicable auxiliary personnel anymore. “Yes… Yes, since there are so many snake-maned lions, the college must also raise these things to control…”

The dust storm snake mongoose seemed a bit confused. It shook its head dizzily and found itself lying on a lump of fresh food, so it did what most creatures would do—happily lowered its mouth and directly bit the snake-maned lion’s maned snakes.

The snake-maned lion let out an earth-shattering whine, and the two behemoths instantly fought.

“Why did you come so slowly?” Nemo ran to Oliver, who “fell to the ground”, pretending to check his lover’s injuries.

“I almost had to tap dance in front of it because it refused to attack me.” Oliver coughed a few times in the dust raised by the dust storm. “In the end, I could only pull its fur… When I pulled on it for the fifth time, it finally became angry.”

“…Thank you for your hard work.” Nemo patted Oliver sympathetically on the shoulder and helped him up.

The dust storm snake mongoose finally pressed the snake-maned lion to the ground at this moment and began to eat the mane snake on its neck with a pleasant grunt in its throat. Before the others could react, Leonard dragged his bloody wounded arm forward and cut off the main maned snake quickly like lightning and dragged it back to the team.

The snake mongoose gave him a blank look and continued to bow its head to enjoy its afternoon meal happily. All the team members listened to the chewing sound in silence for nearly twenty minutes. Finally, the dust storm snake mongoose finally chewed the snake-maned lion completely bald, then it let out a belch in satisfaction and walked away slowly.

“You two, you failed and seriously violated the rules.” The attackers quickly finished scoring the auxiliary personnel after handing the head of the main maned snake to the presiding professor. Except for the two team members who were almost unscathed, the rest were guided to the school hospital.

The scoring adopted a public system, but the name of the scorer was hidden.

Hayden Wilhelm got a perfect score of 100%. It seemed that his thin roommate at least didn’t have to worry about the contempt of Leonard anymore, Nemo thought with relief while ignoring his bloody face.

Oliver was worse, with only one pitiful ten.

They knew very well what misunderstanding their approach would lead to, so after the battle, they just followed the team far behind and didn’t even return with them.

“One escaped from cold feet and even led danger back to the team, the other disobeyed the commander on the spot. Hmm?” When they watched their teammates leave and finally reached the exit, the professor scolded them. “Oliver Borne, if you lead another snake-maned lion back, your team would be dragged down by you alone. Understand? And you, Mr. Light, your commander should have emphasized that auxiliary personnel are not allowed to cross the line. To nursing, personal disobedience is the most taboo on the battlefield.”

“We… are very sorry.” The two of them lowered their heads cooperatively.

“Yes, you two weren’t injured much, but all your teammates need to be hospitalized until tomorrow morning.” The professor’s expression became even more ugly. “’Sorry’ is no use on the battlefield. Listen, you two, go to the confinement room after dinner and write a battle review. Analyze your own problems and describe the performance of qualified personnel. You’re confined until tomorrow morning, and both of you need to appreciate the sacrifices of your comrades who achieved this victory.”

“Okay, professor.”

The sun was about to set. After dinner, the uninjured students continued to wander or study in the castle, waiting for the start of evening class. Only two people walked to the school building alone, preparing for their confinement.

“Actually, it’s pretty good,” Nemo said suddenly.

“What?”

“Going to school.” Nemo looked at the sky dyed red by the sunset. “This way of living is also… interesting.”

If he could, he even wanted to stay here longer. The prejudices here were sharper, but they were also more fragile. In the process of being temporary comrades-in-arms and doing their best to reach out to their goal, there were a few seconds that made him completely forget his situation.

“You’re right.” Oliver’s fingertips flashed across the delicate walls in the corridor, and everything there revealed a little warmth. “I like this feeling of peace very much.”

After that, he opened the dorm door that had his copper nameplate, he hesitated for a few seconds, then scratched his cheek. “Nemo…”

Nemo, who was about to take out his bronze badge, turned his head. “What?”

“It will all end.” Oliver’s tone was firm. “Then we can choose a similar place to live. A lively and peaceful place. I can’t say it well, um… maybe we’ll have a chance to come back here.”

Nemo’s movements stiffened for a few seconds. “…I hope so.”

His voice was very soft.

Oliver covered his face and began to put water in the bath. He took out a brand-new clean uniform from the closet, put it on the bed, and then stuffed the dirty clothes into a hamper that was painted with a cleaning array. Unlike Nemo, there wasn’t much blood on his body, but it was full of sand and dirt. At that moment, he didn’t even dare to lean against the edge of the thick carpet for fear of soiling the soft fabric.

They took a bath and changed clothes, then they had to make do with one night in the confinement room.

Each dorm in Clementine Academy was equipped with two private bathrooms. Oliver soaked himself in the hot water and was pretty sure he smelled the fragrance of fresh citrus. He put his hand in the hot water, stirred it a few times, and water droplets dripped over the dense scars on his skin.

The Withered Castle also needed to ensure that the prisoners’ bodies were clean; otherwise, with their frequent injuries, most death row prisoners would die first from wound infections. Usually, they only had an extremely simple cleaning spell after entering the arena. It was over in an instant, and they wouldn’t feel anything. They didn’t even bother cleaning up the bloodstains.

Now he was lying in a large, comfortable bathtub.

Oliver put his hand on his wet hair. The sound insulation of the room was very good. Except for the sound of water in his ears, everything else sounded extremely weak. The students were either in the hospital or the school district. Nemo was well hidden, and the breath of life around him was close to nothing.

It was as if he was the only one left in the world.

Oliver was sure he was getting better. He wouldn’t lose his mind because of these dark memories, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t make him feel restless. Oliver slid into the water again, sank his mouth and nose under the water, and blew out strings of bubbles solemnly.

He was concentrating intently, so when the bathroom door opened, Oliver almost choked from shock.

“Are you making your own soup, Ollie?” Nemo leaned against the bathroom door, wearing only a bathrobe with his black hair still dripping. “You’ve been bathing for almost an hour.”

Oliver glanced at Nemo’s clavicle that was carelessly exposed, then he spat out a string of bubbles before sitting up slightly and raising his mouth and nose out of the water. “Something happened?”

“That bastard Bagelmaurus still ran away.” Nemo shrugged. “I can feel it flying around in the castle.”

“Don’t worry. You dyed it like that and its aura is sealed, so it shouldn’t be a big deal.”

“I hope so,” Nemo sighed, but he didn’t leave. He threw off his indoor shoes and walked barefoot to the big bathtub, then leaned down slightly and straightened Oliver’s wet bangs with his hands.

“Your face is very bad.” Nemo’s tone was serious. “I guess so. The Withered Castle, right? It’s not the first time, Ollie. I know every time you wake up in a panic. I won’t think you’re weak because of this, or…”

“I know you won’t.” Oliver grabbed his hand and pressed it to his lips. “I just don’t want you to worry, just like you don’t want me to worry.”

Nemo was silent.

“Have you already forgotten about being the ‘Demon King’? Nemo, you’re the envy of all these students. I could see it.”

“Don’t say that.” Nemo pulled back his hand, lowered his head, and exchanged a moist kiss with Oliver.

“Good.” Oliver’s breathing was chaotic for a moment. “Let’s talk about something else. Let me see… What exactly did you say to Leonard about this ‘technique’ thing?”

With a forceful movement, he directly dragged the unsuspecting Nemo into the bathtub. The thin bathrobe was thoroughly soaked, and Nemo was half-kneeling in the tub. He wiped the hot water on his face in embarrassment.

“‘If I made a list of reasons why I like him, that would definitely be at the bottom of the list’… But this is the truth.” Nemo tore off his robe, threw it out of the bathtub, and reached out to clasp Oliver’s left hand. “How about admitting a loss occasionally? Let me do it this time.”

“Oh.” Oliver arched an eyebrow and looked at the pale skin of the other party that was faintly turning red under the hot water. “Your Majesty seems very confident in his skills.”

“Hey, don’t call me ‘Your Majesty’,” Nemo protested in a low voice.

“I like it though, especially now.” Oliver smiled. The dark void in his heart was completely filled by Nemo’s temperature and weight. “I’m not confused by your appearance. I know exactly what you mean—isn’t that great? …Well, this isn’t entirely true. In another sense, I’m indeed bewitched.”

Nemo was stunned for a few seconds, then his ears began to turn red again. “In terms of reading or theoretical studies, I certainly don’t lose to you. Of course I’m confident—”

He forced the topic back, with his ears getting redder.

“Have you forgotten my family’s business?” Oliver shook his head, amused. “You know, in a place like an inn—I’ve been forced to run into all kinds of scenes. I lost control last time. I’m sorry. But this time…”

“…Wait, Ollie. There’s just a little over an hour left before the confinement begins. Last time you were—”

“I know, so we have to move faster. After all, you can’t use a cleaning spell this time, right?”

“You… Uh.”

“Don’t scratch the edge of the bathtub. You’ll break it. Hook your arms around my neck, Your Majesty.”

……

“Actually, I’m very curious.” Oliver tentatively spoke as the two of them wiped the water stains on the floor together. “You said that technique is one of the last reasons you like about me, then what is the last thing on that list?”

“There’s no such thing.” Nemo smiled as he wrung the towel in his hand. “I originally wanted to say, ‘Everything else is tied for first place, Ollie’… but now it’s different.”

“Huh?”

“Put away that smugness on your face.” Nemo gritted his teeth. “Okay, it’s really not the penultimate reason now. Now there’s a new winner in its place—Ollie, get rid of your habit of calling me Your Majesty.”

“You see, I’m still confident in my ability to learn.” Oliver looked at the clean floor and put on his uniform jacket. “Besides, I won’t stop, Nemo. At least for that time just now, you looked very pleased whenever I called you by that title.” Rather than deliberately avoiding this fact, it was better to let Nemo recognize it. He knew his lover very well and knew that he had resigned himself to it.

Then Oliver paused meaningfully for a few seconds. “I won’t call you that on any other occasions, so rest assured.”

“There has to be a penultimate reason. Otherwise, number one is meaningless.” Nemo rubbed his ears, exhaled deeply, and began to change into his uniform. “To be honest, it’s not easy to choose anything else.”

“Then maybe I can provide an idea on the spot. So far, you heartily dislike it, but I like it quite a lot… Yes.”

“Hmm?”

“…I really like your uniform.”

“……”

---

The author has something to say:

Turned off the light! Young people just have to study hard (^ρ^)/

Nemo’s heart to counterattack never dies, but it’s a pity he’ll never succeed in his attack* (…)

*Referring to him trying to be the gong but will always fail.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Wow, things are heating up and I’m not talking about the water in that tub. God how I wish I could read the details of what went on in that bathroom.

Don’t be so close-minded, Oliver. Versatility is a thing, you know!

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 157: Group Exercise

“Cause and effect, fast.” Seeing the warrior getting closer and closer, the two of them moved away from their roommates. Oliver lowered his voice and sped up his speech.

“He did something to Hayden, my roommate. It was pretty rude,” Nemo said quickly. “I grabbed his wrist and asked him to apologize. Hayden asked me to go with him, so I couldn’t turn a blind eye.”

“Understood,” Oliver said calmly. “What do I need to do?”

“To prevent him from making trouble again, I acted a little grumpy. He also mentioned you—in his eyes, you are a guy whose only good quality is your face, and now you also have one more skill that isn’t very good.”

Oliver raised his eyebrows.

“The circumstances were… special,” Nemo said with a flat face. “He brought it up first, so I just blurted it out…”

“I—ahem, understand. It seems that you weren’t grumpy enough. He doesn’t seem like he’ll let it go. I can probably guess what happened.” Oliver stretched out his hand and rubbed Nemo’s hair. His tone became more meaningful. “As for the topic of ‘technique’, we’ll continue that later.”

After that, he lowered his gaze and adjusted his breathing. He moved his shoulders slightly, and when Oliver raised his head again, Nemo found that his lover had become a bit strange. The usual calmness and gentleness on Oliver’s face disappeared in an instant, and the newly emerging tension was mixed with a little confusion, as if he was holding on to his last bit of dignity.

Nemo was no stranger to such expressions. When the shopkeepers in Roadside Town faced the tax collector, they more or less had this expression on their faces.

“Leave it to me,” Oliver whispered when the warrior was still a few steps away from them.

“Quentin Leonard.” The warrior stopped in front of them; his voice cold. “What a coincidence that we are in the same group. You are—”

“Nemo Murkos White,” Nemo threw out the pseudonym dryly.

“Mr. Leonard.” Oliver took a step forward, with that complicated expression on his face. “What do you want from us?”

“Don’t worry, I haven’t lowered myself to specifically target two civilians.” Leonard glanced at Oliver’s face and coldly snorted, letting out a breath of relief. “Keep an eye on your wild cat, so he knows better to not stretch out his paws and scratch other people casually.”

“Oh, he doesn’t belong to me. It’s his freedom to do what he wants,” Oliver responded without smiling. “I’ll persuade him well, Mr. Leonard, but I have to remind you that he has a really bad temper. Since we’ll be fighting together for the next year as comrades-in-arms, I suggest—”

“Comrades-in-arms?” Leonard sneered. “Do you think you can be on an equal footing with everyone when you enter Clementine?”

Oliver swallowed. His voice was a little low, so he cleared his throat and swallowed harder to highlight his “uneasiness”. Nemo turned his head, and his expression twitched a bit due to a smirk.

“After all, logistics and nursing are just expendables for the army. Of course, gold will shine, and then it’ll be picked up. All that’s left is useless sand. Considering yourself a ‘comrade-in-arms’ with no magic aptitude?” He grinned nastily. “You will know in a while… First of all, I won’t deliberately give you a low score, but I won’t give you the slightest bit of mercy.”

“As you say.” Oliver squeezed out a hard smirk.

Leonard snorted disdainfully, turned around and left. Oliver rubbed his face and the slickness that was unique to low-level businessmen just now suddenly disappeared.

“Do you know what he’s talking about?” Nemo patted Oliver on the back of the head lightly.

“I don’t know,” Oliver admitted frankly, “but I can see what kind of person he is. The good news is that he probably won’t bother us specifically in the future. The bad news is that he’ll definitely pay more attention to us. Our Mr. Leonard isn’t a bad character, but too immature.”

Nemo turned to Oliver and raised his brows. He had never been as good as Oliver in this aspect. “What do you mean?”

“He has his own additional magic array on his cloth armor, plus a high-society accent. His skin has no roughness; he has the smell of cologne; and his nails are neat and clean.” Oliver listed them out one by one. “A true nobleman, not a titular nobleman who’s being sponsored. I gave in a little, and Mr. Leonard didn’t press further. Guess he… just lives on the basis of indoctrinated ideas, so he can’t be much worse than others.”

“Your performance wasn’t like a ‘civilian’, which is beyond Mr. Leonard’s understanding. He just came to prove that his cognition hasn’t been wrong.” Oliver shrugged. “Don’t look at me like that, Nemo. There had previously been such nobles at the Roadside Town Inn. Those difficulties weren’t out of dissatisfaction. They want to see you obedient or miserable.”

“But if this kind of thing happens again, I don’t think I can—”

“No, your judgment is correct. It’s a good choice to be grumpy.” Oliver leaned forward and kissed Nemo’s ear. “We are in different situations and being grumpy can save you a lot of trouble. And… about the ‘technique’ part. Well, here’s the deal. When training is over, we’ll ‘discuss’ this issue seriously and thoroughly.”

As soon as his voice fell, the amplified voice sounded again.

“No lunch,” the voice said. “I believe you’re all unprepared. This class will last until sunset. Please follow your group into the outermost layer of the Isamel Labyrinth.”

The words “no lunch” deflected the attention of the two like the sound of thunder. They were both stunned at the same time.

“There will be almost no notice on the battlefield. Don’t be too nervous. We have set up a monitoring crystal ball—if things get out of hand, there will be a professor and school workers ready to help at any time. The monsters inside have also been strictly restricted in power, and in theory, your lives will not be in danger. There’s no food, and only uniformly distributed weapons are allowed to be used. After sunset, the combat units of each group will be scored, and this score will be included in your final score.”

“In addition to the healers, the logistics and nursing of the auxiliary unit will be graded by the same group of students. The score will also be included as a proportion of your final score, so please take note.”

Hearing that, Nemo’s attention was finally pulled back, and he suddenly understood what Leonard meant.

“Isn’t that a bit unfair?” When the school worker took away the props needed for nursing, he asked his roommate in a low voice. “Why is there a separate score for nursing and logistics?”

“Because they are easily replaceable.” Hayden neatly hung the bizarre metal utensils into his pocket. “These two majors don’t use magic, so basically anyone could do it. The reason why Clementine opened these two majors is… Ah, let me put it this way. If you want to temporarily recruit nursing and logistics from other institutions, first, you can’t guarantee the quality, and second, the synchronization rate doesn’t work and would need ample practice.”

“So we’re sort of… supporting?” Nemo smacked his lips.

“Nn,” Hayden muttered in a low voice. “After all, each school has its own teaching style, and it’s easier for people who come out of the same system to cooperate, but it’s only likely that we’ll go with healers to treat the wounded. They won’t deliberately cooperate with us, so the evaluation of the same team will also be counted in the final score.”

With that, the team reached the door of the Great Isamel Labyrinth. Nemo had noticed this place before, but subconsciously regarded it as a garden or something like it. The support staff lined up at the back of the line, and he slipped back to Oliver in a natural manner.

The heavy off-white stone gate made a muffled rumbling sound and slowly opened, revealing the ruins of an ancient city inside. The buildings were all in the style of hundreds of years ago. A small part had fallen into a pile, but most of them were still standing firmly, barely maintaining the appearance of a “city”. Trees grew out of all kinds of strange places, and one even took root on the dilapidated roof of an abandoned church.

Green climbing vines were everywhere, weeds and shrubs almost drowned the road, and if one didn’t pay attention, they would trip over the stone bricks. From time to time, low-level demons passed through the grass, and the breath of monsters and ordinary beasts filled the ruins. A high black wall could be vaguely seen in the distance. Nemo guessed that it was one of the outermost boundaries of the maze.

The messy and huge ruins of the city in front of him were indeed qualified to be called a labyrinth. The strange thing was that there was no shortage of towering buildings in the ruins, which should reasonably be quite conspicuous, but they were grouped outside, and obviously looked empty.

“Battlefield of Ruins.” The voice that guided them became louder. “There’s only one task requirement. Get the main mane snake head on the snake-maned lion before sunset. You’re not allowed to kill the body of the snake-maned lion. The labyrinth is about to close. I wish you all the best in your task.”

“Is everyone hungry?” Oliver’s burly roommate stood up first. Elmer scratched his head with a silly smile on his face. “It’s almost lunch time now, Ollie. I’m going to get food. How about you arrange a stronghold with the team?”

“No problem, but you’ll be alone…”

“I’ll go with him.” Leonard stood up. “I’ll stop by and do some environmental reconnaissance.”

Oliver selected a small side hall in the ruins of the church. The architectural structure there was quite complete, and those nearby were all inconspicuous little demons, and the soldiers with the team easily drove them away. After neatly disposing of the weeds that were piercing them, Oliver cleared up the ground covered with gravel and debris. He then made a fire and used it to boil the animal repellent soup.

The healer in the group was a thin young man with a long face. He sat firmly on the floor, bathed in a few rays of sunlight that was leaking from the roof. His expression resembled a capybara soaked in warm water.

Elmer came back faster than Leonard. He put his bulging bag on the ground, and several plant tubes rolled out from the mouth of the bag.

“I found fire potato vines nearby and also caught a few four-eyed rats and climbing pheasants that are pretty fat.” Elmer wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Everyone, wait a bit… Ollie, help.” As he spoke, he made another fire and began to bake potatoes in batches. Oliver weighed the bunch of climbing pheasants and dealt with them neatly.

“Do you want help?” Nemo asked, subconsciously.

“Sit back.” Before Oliver shook his head, the healer spoke. “Save your energy, White. Don’t trouble me. That’s logistics job.”

Nemo sat back on the floor bitterly, staring melancholically at the hot potatoes rolling around on the ground. He recalled the food at the ceremony dinner yesterday for a few seconds and showed a regretful expression. Still, hot potato is also good, he thought impartially. It was very filling and when cooked with mushrooms, the taste wasn’t bad.

“Leonard has made contact.” The soldiers gathered in the corner of the side hall. “He found the snake-maned lion. Commander, we need a few more people.”

“Four will go.” Their commander was dressed like a mage. “Leaving two garrisons at the base and the offensive mage… Let’s see, Dave, right? You’ll also go with them. Depending on the situation, you can provide support. I, myself, can also partially be an offensive mage, so it shouldn’t matter.”

“Bring these.” Elmer carefully wrapped the roasted potatoes and handed them to the soldier. “Replenish some energy on the road.”

Oliver’s roommate was the tallest and strongest on the field, but he didn’t even have a sword. Nemo could perceive a little bitterness in Elmer’s tone.

After the five people left, there were still ten of them in the room, half of which were auxiliary units.

“The climbing pheasant is ready.” Oliver cleared his throat and took a bowl and spoon from his big backpack. “I still have a fishy smell on my hands. Elmer, let’s switch. I’ll deal with the four-eyed rats.”

The mage and the commander rushed over in silence, while the two warriors at the door waved their hands and motioned for logistics to send them over. The healer squinted while still sitting in his original place, soaking up the sun, unsure whether he wanted to eat or not.

The air began to fall awkwardly tranquil. The mage and the commander took the bowl, drank the broth silently, and talked about the theory of magic in a voice that sounded like they were talking to themselves. Elmer served the soup in silence, and Oliver was still flaying the rats.

“Excuse me,” Nemo couldn’t help but say, attempting to dispel the awkward atmosphere that was enveloping him from all sides. “Mr. Elmer, I seem to have caught something extra.”

As he said it, he raised his right hand, and a strange snake as thick as a wrist was being held down by him, struggling desperately. “Do you think this can be eaten?”

Hayden let out a scream and crawled away from Nemo with both hands and feet. Elmer raised his head when he heard the sound, then frowned quickly.

“Don’t move!” he shouted. “Just don’t move, Mr. White, that thing is highly poisonous!”

Oliver paused for a moment, then calmly continued stripping the rats.

“Oh.” Nemo was a little disappointed. He still missed the grilled snake meat at the Light Orphanage. After finding a crack big enough, he swung his arm and was about to throw the snake away…

“It’s a maned snake from the snake-maned lion!” The commander finally raised his head, and then his face turned pale. “Defend immediately! Auxiliary unit retreat. Nursing, where did you catch this thing? How did you catch this thing?”

“Uh, I caught a lot of snakes when I was a kid, so it was easy.” There was a thin sweat on Nemo’s forehead, and his mind was instantly churning out information about the snake-maned lion. He had only seen a portrait of the snake-maned lion, but he failed to recognize the snake in time. At that moment, he was found out, so he could only continue to pretend to be ignorant. “What do I do with it?”

“This is not a real snake. It’s part of a snake-maned lion.” The commander gritted his teeth, and a spell directly hit it. The snake suddenly became scorched black, exuding the smell of burnt flesh. “This is a maned snake used for predation and search. The snake-maned lion has already found us. Quickly call Leonard and the others back!”

Having said that, he gave the healer a look. “Confirm the nursing condition, the maned snake is highly poisonous, even if scratched a little by its fangs—”

“Nemo’s fine.” Hayden’s voice was unexpectedly calm and powerful. Before Nemo could react, his right hand was pulled over. “There are no signs of poisoning.”

“Very good. Just stay alert; the target may appear at any time.” The commander turned his head and tore his throat at the vigilant soldiers. “Leonard, are they not ready yet? What’s the matter!”

“They were led into the creeping vine swamp by a maned snake and then it ran away.” One of the soldiers raised his sword. “There’s no danger to their life, but it’ll be difficult for them to get here in a short time. We’re we pitted by this snake-maned lion? It’s almost like…”

“Don’t think too much,” the team’s defensive magician interjected. “The snake-maned lion doesn’t have that kind of intelligence, unless—”

The wall on one side of the side hall collapsed and dust splattered. It instantly spilled into the soup and overturned the other pot of animal repellent soup. A huge lion-like beast stood on top of the collapsed ruins with a low growl in its throat. It was four meters high, and its entire body was grayish-green. Looking at its size, it really looked like a lion, but those things that looked like a lion’s mane were all thin and dense snakes that were squirming up and down. One of them was exceptionally stout, as thick as someone’s thigh, and was tightly wrapped around the head of the snake-maned lion.

The main mane snake that was specified by the task.

The enormous beast opened its mouth, spitting out muddy, viscous saliva that splattered on the ground. The hind legs of the snake-maned lion were a bit lame as dark purple blood was oozing out.

“—Unless it’s the leader of the snake-maned lion.” The defense mage finished the second half of his sentence with difficulty. He seemed to want to roll his eyes to the back of his head. “Okay, we were really pitted by it.”

He trembled a bit, but his movements in his hands weren’t slow. With a wave of his staff, a protective barrier was quickly released.

“No, we don’t have enough manpower.” The commander himself also raised his staff. “Defense is the main focus. Delay time. Wait for Leonard and the others to come back! This is a tough guy, friends. He’s hurt, so we still have a chance—”

Elmer grabbed the logistic knife that he was using to prepare food, while Hayden was unexpectedly calm as he stayed near the healer and stared at the beast in front of him.

Only two people were out of place in this tense atmosphere…

“Did you find out?” Oliver, who was pushed to the back of the team, inquired quietly.

“Nn,” Nemo nodded. “There are two reactions at this level. This thing is being chased by something.”

“You stay here. I’ll go. They are not opponents of this thing. The power of the healer isn’t strong. Once there are more than two seriously injured people, the task is over.” Oliver thought for a moment. “…Anyway, our personal achievements don’t matter. You’ll cooperate with me when the time comes.”

“Okay.” Quickly understanding the other party’s plan, Nemo quickly kissed the tip of Oliver’s nose. “Go and come back quickly. Do you want me to tell you where the monitoring arrays and the professors are?”

“No need. I can feel it. I’ll avoid it.” Oliver smiled quickly, then he took a few steps back and yelled as if in extreme panic…

Then he ran away.

---

The author has something to say:

Ollie: Let’s [stress] “discuss” this issue seriously and thoroughly [/stress]? I want to learn more.

Nemo: …

---

Kinky Thoughts:

I’m glad Nemo and Oliver still maintain some of their innocence despite all they’ve been through. Nothing is currently more important to them than lunch!

---

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