Stray

    Devil City

    "Oli!" Debbie stood up first and patted Oliver's arm a few times.

    Godwin bowed politely, mixed feelings—they weren't the same as they were two years ago.

    Oliver Ramon's time seems to have stagnated, the head of the tumbleweed has calm and mature eyes, but the contours of his facial features still have some softness that is unique to young people, not half the same as when they first met the difference.

    Oliver's hair is soft, and now it's a little longer, making him look innocent. The loose burlap shirt concealed most of his muscular lines, and at first glance, Mr. Ramon looked more like a young employee of a fruit shop than a warrior. Godwin had to admit that Oliver looked far more innocuous than his neatly cropped, casual clothes.

    All kinds of terrible rumors of tumbleweed fill the intelligence agencies, and the leader of the terror team takes off his armor, and no one even notices his arrival.

    "Gift." Oliver showed a big smile and lifted the cloth bag in his hand to the two of them.

    Seeing the shape of the cloth bag, Godwin couldn't help showing a stomachache.

    "The tip of the Swift Monster's tail." Captain Horizon murmured in a voice that was close to suffocation, "Don't tell me..."

    "Yes, I got it from the last mission." Oliver pulled out the stool and sat down, scratching his head embarrassedly. "It's the one from last month, the task of 50,000 Swift Lizards eroding Mormo Forest."

    "Oh, the tumbleweed slaughtered 50,000 venomous lizards overnight, and smashed their bones into ashes. I guess that's not the case, but you did turn in several carloads of venomous lizard tails-"

    "Uh, how to say, we shouldn't have so many tails."

    Oliver scratched his nose embarrassedly.

    "They are just looking for water and have no other choice. Originally we made an appointment with them, Jesse and I teamed up to set up a space channel and send them directly to the barren swamps of another continent. This mission It should be until '50,000 Swift Monsters Mysteriously Evaporate'. If Nemo is here, he'll be enough."

    Hearing the name that made his nerves twitch, Godwin gritted his teeth: "So what's up with those tails?"

    "The monster lizards wanted to express their gratitude, but I didn't have time to say no. Jesse... let out a snarl and let out a roar. Most of the monster lizards cut off their tails instinctively on the spot. Those were turned over to The guild is over." Oliver gestured, "This one was cut off by the head of the monster lizard before he left, and it is more precious. I remembered that you and Debbie's leather armor seemed to be useful, so I kept it."

    "So you spent the whole night picking up tails, which is great - I guess few people will buy it when the information spreads." Debbie swallowed the fried potato with a smile. "Oli, this thing is worth a fortune. Are you sure you don't want to keep it?"

    "The rewards for those missions are very high. We don't need very good protective gear, and I don't lack this tail."

    "Thank you, Ollie." Debbie took the bag generously, "Thank you for my commander too, I guess he's too embarrassed to say it."

    "...I'll pay for this meal." Godwin coughed twice.

    "Actually I'll be-"

    "Close the store temporarily! Hurry up!" A clerk as thin as a deflated pod rushed through the door.

    The clerk quickly closed the store with the sign of suspension of business. The brightness of a few magic lights was turned down, and the store was darkened, causing a commotion among the customers.

    "Sorry everyone."

    After listening to the clerk whisper for a moment, the tavern owner bowed.

    "I'll give you a discount on your bill in a moment. My clerk found the tumbleweed man at a carnival not far away, and this is the only pub nearby. We don't want to get in trouble, Stay out of the limelight for a while, and please understand—”

    Everyone fell silent for a moment, and after a few seconds, they continued talking as if nothing had happened. Several guests who were planning to leave also sat back and waved to ask for more.

    "It must be Jesse... He definitely dragged Mr. Cross too." Oliver wiped his face with his hands, and there was a little despair in his voice.

    "Add a stew to this gentleman," Godwin greeted numbly, "and a big glass of light cider."

    "Where's Ann?" Debbie began to nibble at the meat on the lamb chops.

    "After the last mission, she was captured by Marshal Gallagher on the spot to take care of business. Jesse and Mr. Cross were supposed to wait for me at a nearby hotel, but if there is a carnival... , Jesse never misses an opportunity to party, and his face is too recognizable."

    "..." recalled Jesse Dillon's identity for a few seconds. Even after two years, Godwin was not surprised to find that he still had a tendency to worsen his stomach pain.

    "I hear it, it's Tumbleweed Apostate and Viper Jesse." The man at the next table lowered his voice. "To be honest, I still feel that Adrian Cross is... a pity. His strength seems to have recovered? Well, if he is willing to confess to Chenni and suffer for a few years, His Majesty the Pope will definitely accept him. "

    "Yeah, the face of the viper can't be faulted, but he is a tall man. If Clos is just **** for beauty, when he returns to the high position of the Holy See, he will definitely want to climb into bed I really don't know what's going on in his mind."

    "Maybe people like the smell of lawlessness and danger. To put it in a bad way, I would not bless the kind of people who like men - you see, anyway, the religion is betrayed, play beautiful Criminals are no big deal."

    Oliver coughed in great embarrassment.

    The person at the next table immediately stopped talking, and found that it was a young man in his early twenties who was coughing. Fortunately, their attention quickly turned to the expedition that was about to begin, and they were no longer interested in talking about that suffocating topic.

    Godwin chewed the biscuits silently before sighing.

    "Has Clos really repented?" After a few seconds, Godwin asked dryly.

    "Probably once...Mr. Cross emptied the milk pail Jesse was going to use to make the snack, it smelled sour and he thought it had gone rancid. Had to say , Mr. Cross's apology afterwards was quite sincere."

    Godwin stared solemnly at the tavern ceiling, trying to maintain his inner peace.

    "...But then again, there are tumbleweeds in this expedition, is it really okay? I heard people say a few months ago that they have been dealing with things in the abyss." The next table A few of them started chatting drunkenly again.

    "Oh oh, I know about it—their parrot, huh? It was seen carrying the package into the abyss, and the tumbleweeds were all out there, God knows they were Connect with something. Let this dangerous team join the expedition, tsk tsk tsk."

    "This expedition also has a horizon, I hope Godwin Lopez can keep an eye on the tumbleweed. Well, if you really want to maintain the surface, the horizon should take the opportunity to kill them." One of The man made a rude gesture around his neck.

     "Maybe, isn't Godwin Lopez and Oliver Lopez a bad relationship?"

    "It says so..."

    "Brother." Oliver sipped the fruit wine carefully, "Why don't I pay the bill."

    "As much as I can really treat you, eat you." Godwin pushed the dessert in front of him irritably.

    "What's with that package?" Debbie pricked up her ears.

    "Piggybacking for Nemo." Oliver replied quite naturally.

    "...Wait?! You haven't seen him, I thought—"

    "Why?" Oliver stopped chewing, his voice a little nervous.

    "I thought my poor eldest brother and poor you were separated, and a sad drama of love and longing was being staged." Debbie clutched her chest. "Only demons can pass through the barrier and convey some verbal information...that sort of thing."

    "Ah. I promised him, I'll put a ring on him next time we meet and pick him up." Oliver replied a little embarrassedly, "The two of us are at most separated now. land, work separately. Last week I sent him the latest book and snacks, and magic photos…”

    "...you're right, Ollie, it's good to hold back from seeing each other, at least he has something to think about. As he is, if you go down like this every now and then, Nemo is very Maybe too lazy to go back to the surface."

    Debbie thought for a few seconds, nodded earnestly, and said with a heavy tone: "Don't take him out, I'm serious."

    "Can we talk about expeditions now?" Godwin interjected weakly.

     "Of course, of course." Oliver nodded quickly.

    "First of all, what we said about two years ago, now I can tell you the whole truth - we are about to start working together, and you have a right to know the truth."

     The head of the tumbleweed became serious.

    The atmosphere suddenly became solemn, Godwin and Debbie looked at each other.

    "Let's talk about the expedition first." Godwin's voice returned to calm.

    Oliver raised his eyebrows slightly.

    "Well, I have the same attitude as Debbie about the so-called truth."

    Godwin Lopez threw a **** into his mouth, and the breathless deterrence of those days disappeared a lot.

    "The answer is there, it doesn't mean that we have to understand it. Since knowing it can't change anything, it just adds to the troubles, so it's not bad to live like this. Although it is a 'not motivated enough' idea, but now I do."

    The head of Horizon raised his mouth: "Your ring alone gave me a headache for half a year. When will I really catch up with Flint Lopez's mood, We can talk about this again."

    It took him two years to determine that there are really unsurpassed people in this world and things that cannot be done. Now, he finally doesn't need to push himself too hard—a tough change, but Godwin likes the outcome.

    "… Until then, I'd like to help you with your plans. Oliver Ramon."

    At least compared to many years ago, his words can be called calm now.

    The depths of the abyss.

    Nemo posted another magic photo to the wall of the Mirage library. Although the content of that photo is puzzling - the three members of the Tumbleweed pestle in the middle of a pile of wriggling poison lizard tails, throwing or whipping each other with their broken tails. Adrian Cross was standing at the edge of the screen, pinching his eyebrows.

    Finding the right spot, Nemo clapped his hands in satisfaction, took two steps back, and threw a butterscotch in his mouth.

    The entire wall is almost covered with letters and photos, and the phonograph spar that was brought down on the wooden table is spitting out a soft song. In the phantom sunshine, Nemo stretched.

    "Wait, Wright."

    The grey parrot, which was resting on the bookshelf of the fantasy world, spoke solemnly.

    "I suddenly have a feeling, are you using me as a carrier pigeon? Are you? How dare you—sorry, Ramon dare—"

    "Nothing." Nemo hurriedly denied, "This is an exchange of information that breaks through the surface and the abyss. You are the greatest messenger of all time, Lord Bagelmore."

    "It's about the same." The grey parrot raised its head and swallowed a small almond biscuit.

    "You can eat this, I scraped it off my . Holding it in his arms, he gave the grey parrot a small plate of black scale fragments. "Leave me some biscuits, but here's one less one."

    "I'll send new ones! The scales are good though..."

    "After all, it takes up a lot of space. Didn't you get seen last time?"

    "Bah, that's the fault of those humans!"

    "But—"

    "You even kept a Pandora while I was away. Look, have I ever complained? Huh?" The grey parrot flapped its wings vigorously.

    "She has her own tribe, only occasionally—"

    "I don't care! She's just eating and drinking, and I'll send you a letter!"

    Nimo silently returned the cookie jar, and the grey parrot stopped his sharp cry and chewed the biscuits scaly.

    "I'm going out first." Nemo looked away from the bottom of the cookie jar, gasping in distress.

    "Do you want to continue today too?"

    "Well, after all, Ollie is not lazy, and I can't give myself a long vacation."

    "Go, go, I'll go back to the surface after I finish eating the cookies here." Gray parrot straightened his feathers.

    Nemo **** the scattered black hair and picked up the long-repaired staff leaning against the door.

      And outside that sleeping creature—

    The cold desert and the corpse were nowhere to be seen. The dark and strange rocks overlapped each other, towering like mountain peaks, forming an endless nightmare city. Rough in style and light in structure, it does not appear to be naturally formed, like a nest of something.

    Different from the previous "every generation" of demon kings, the "19th generation" will soon have a legendary city of demon kings.

    Nemo closed his eyes, sipped the unfinished candy in his mouth, and calculated for a moment the design of this huge dead city. Then he smiled and raised the staff in his hand slightly.

    An earthquake-like tremor began, and with a rumble, an ordinary day began again.

    This may be the first expedition he looks forward to in his long memory, the Demon King thought to himself.

    "Come on, Ollie."

    Countless black boulders floated up in the air, lined up quickly, and then fell heavily.

    “…let’s have a good fight.”

    The author has something to say:

    Oli: Work **** the surface to make money and hack yourself (?) to be a competent salesman.

    Nimo: Eating takeout, receiving couriers, moving bricks like crazy.

    …the two of them are very serious about building the future for each other (×

    ———

    Jessie: Ah, when the yogurt is ready, I'll make some yogurt snacks... (flick tail)

    Ed: Is this milk broken? Give him a fresh bucket. (drained)

    Jessie: ……………………

    Ed: …sorry.

    Jesse: Lie down and say it again, and I'll forgive you.