Stray

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Spells.” Nemo insisted.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nemo repeated the spell, and as expected, the spell showed no sign of being activated. He didn’t give up this time and kept repeating the spell in his mouth as he grabbed a stone in his hand. Honestly, he was at a loss, but on the bright side, he thought bitterly how he was used to this feeling.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nemo, who had just escaped the lightning, took the opportunity to throw stones at her. His strengthen physique was finally useful and the stone shot at Ann like cannonballs, but he was hit by the sweep of the spear.

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

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

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

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

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

Instead of avoiding, he instinctively raised his hand, ignoring the tip of the spear that piece his shoulder—

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

The female warrior and Nemo were stunned together.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Then he was implicated by you?”

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

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

Still, no one cared about it.

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

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

Ann raised her eyebrows.

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

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

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

Nemo looked at her a little moved.

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

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

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

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

“…I really didn’t lie.”

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

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

The grey parrot’s scream stopped abruptly, and it flapped its wings awkwardly in mid-air.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“…Thank you.”

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

“……”

The author has something to say：

Catch insects.

Kinky Thoughts:

Liking this Ann already!