Chapter 101: CH 101

Amid the screams of the gray parrot, the bishop in the black veil hat released her hand holding Nemo’s chin. The black veil covered her face was like mist so Nemo could only see the abnormal size of her head, but not her expression.

“Lord Bagelmaurus?” she asked in a gentle voice. “What’s wrong?”

The gray parrot seemed to want to shrink itself into a ball, but due to some subtle dignity, it forcibly straightened its back. Its entire body eventually twisted into an unnatural and weird posture. Rather than answering Hagen’s question, it stared directly at Nemo’s face.

Hagen let out a soft sigh, then snap her fingers. Nemo suddenly found that he was tied firmly by bright red thorns. He used all his restraint not to move to avoid accidentally breaking free.

Should he immediately show weakness or beg for mercy? Nemo bitterly thought about Virgil’s comment about the Bishop of the Abyss not active during noon. If his opponent was an ordinary demon warlock, in the absence of Virgil, he would consider resisting, but this was the Bishop of the Abyss. If they accidentally hurt her, their hidden infiltration plan would be uncovered, and they’ll become the focus of attention from the entire church.

If worst comes to worst, it’s better to pretend to be dead. Nemo swallowed the sandpoint plum in his mouth with difficulty before he turned his gaze on the gray parrot. Based of Bagelmaurus guts, it shouldn’t screw with him at this time.

“Did he make you unhappy?” There were traces of regret in the bewildering female voice. Several thorns were tangled together closely around Nemo’s throat, like a drill. “It’s a pity. I quite like his face.”

“Wait a minute… Wait a minute!” Just as Nemo was thinking about how to struggle naturally, the gray parrot cried out in a trembling voice. “Let… Let him go first, Ingram.”

“Yes.” The Bishop of the Abyss obediently did as it commanded. The red thorns instantly disappeared around Nemo. “Is this your acquaintance?”

Her tone was polite and generous, and the hostility she emitted just now seemed to have never existed.

“You can call me White,” Nemo hurriedly spoke first. “We once had a relationship, Bagelmaurus… Uh, the Lord and my… Um, master had some unpleasantries in the past.”

He strained his face hard, trying not to let his facial muscles twitch.

“Oh, which one are you serving, Mr. White?” Hagen chuckled lightly, without any hesitant pause.

Great. Nemo breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at her reaction, Bagelmaurus shouldn’t have mentioned too much about him to her.

“……Telaranea.” Nemo glanced at the gray parrot again and winked desperately. “I mean, Lord Telaranea.”

“No… That’s right! I hate that voyeur.” Bagelmaurus stumblingly agreed. “Hell, I didn’t think you were interested in this kind of place!”

Nemo thought the second half of that sentence should be its true feelings. In fact, it might be more suitable to say Witherspoon, who was no longer on the surface, but he knew almost nothing about Witherspoon. He knew the basic process of the contract and general character of Telaranea though, so he could only take this risk.

“It turns out you’re a servant of the Sage of the Abyss.” Hagen nodded. Nemo wasn’t sure whether it was an illusion, but he felt there were always several meaningful layers that was projected behind the black veil. “No wonder you came here at such a time. Unfortunately, you made our distinguished guest feel unhappy, so please—”

“I have an idea,” Bagelmaurus said calmly. “Let me take this kid. I want the Telaranea’s people to serve me. That’s right. I’m so angry with that bastard. You can stand down and rest, Ingram.”

“…As you wish.” Hagen let go of her hand and the dendritic staff was suspended in the air.

Nemo hurried down and maintained an indifferent look on his face.

“Since you two know each other, I won’t make unnecessary introductions.” She saluted the gray parrot, causing the black veil to dance gently with her movements. “Please feel free to call me if you need it, Lord Bagelmaurus.”

“Ok,” the gray parrot responded blankly.

Once he confirmed the black skirt corner of the Bishop of the Abyss had disappeared around the corner of the corridor, Nemo quickly entered the library carrying the gray parrot. It may be because the time was too “late”, or because Bagelmaurus had plans to be here; there were no other figures in the library. Nemo carefully confirmed the signs of life nearby again before he threw the parrot in his hand to the side, put his back on the door, and breathed heavily for half a minute.

“Why don’t you let me go?” The gray parrot maintained its falling position. His voice was small and aggrieved. “The power of my flesh is just intermediate. Even if I used to… Uh, treated you badly, you‘ve already taken my powers away!”

“I just want to talk to you,” Nemo straightened himself up and said in shock. “She shouldn’t have found out, right?”

“What if she did? You’re a more distinguished guest that’s above me,” The gray parrot shrank its neck and muttered sourly. “Here, all demon warlocks and demon worshippers are not worth mentioning. What are you so nervous about?”

“We took on a task,” Nemo said carefully.

“Oh, that’s why you look so weird.” Bagelmaurus abandoned its prideful appearance as it once spirited look had completely disappeared. “Forget it… If you want to kill now, you can just do it. Besides… this flesh is already like this. It’s just returning my consciousness back to the Abyss. Eventually I’ll find a way again…”

Its’ bird eyes were wet, and it couldn’t stop crying. It had completely fallen into its imagined depressing scenario.

“Why do you have this idea?” Nemo sighed weakly. “Why do you think I want to kill you?”

“Don’t you know how terrible you are?”

“Really? You’re the one out of the entire team who seems to heavily respond to this the most,” Nemo frowned.

“That’s because they are too stupid and truly don’t understand at all!” the gray parrot complained angrily. “Wait, you’re here… Are you…”

“Well, I’m trying to find information about me here,” Nemo admitted frankly. He pulled the hood off his head and wiped the sweat from his neck. “But you’re also here so…”

The gray parrot turned his head and said in a vague tone, “Otherwise, I can’t sleep at night.”

“How much information did you find?”

“Nothing much,” the gray parrot muttered, “but I’m still scouring the first room. There are two more rooms in the back.”

Nemo raised his head and looked at the library in front of him. If this was a room, the space would be a bit too wide. Huge bookshelves were lined up, almost reaching the ceiling and the surrounding walls were also lined with books. The door at the other end of the room from this distance looked like half a piece of breakfast butter.

Nemo felt a trace of despair in an instant.

“And you have to deal with the books themselves.” The gray parrot saw that Nemo didn’t intend to do anything to it, so its voice became louder. “If the power isn’t enough, they won’t be willing to open for you. I was looking at the bookshelf in the middle of this room. With my current strength, it’ll take three minutes to open a book. There’s a bitter monk who came here to read. I heard that he’s been here for ten years and hasn’t been able to open the last row from this room—”

“There shouldn’t be a surveillance spell here, right?” Nemo frowned and fell into contemplation.

“Yes. The book themselves are protected.” Bagelmaurus finally stood up from the ground and shook its feathers. “This… This is a favor! Listen up, trash… Light. These books are all things that deceive the soft and fear the hard. If you forcibly open them or try to take them away, they will scream and sound the alarm.”

“…Then I’ll give it a try.” Nemo rubbed his hands, and his face was a bit reluctant. “It shouldn’t be forced.”

“Try what?” Bagelmaurus suddenly had a bad feeling.

Nemo didn’t answer it. He raised his hands and moved his fingers, as if he was playing an invisible piano.

The thick black shadow spread out quickly. The tsunami-like phantom slapped all the books in the first room causing all the heavy books to leave their original position and slipped onto the black shadow, completely opening. The pages of the book flipped frantically creating a rushing sound that resounded throughout the huge room. Within five minutes, all the books neatly closed at the same time and took off like living creatures, shuttling back into their original position.

Everything fell silent again. The books lied quietly in place on the bookshelf again, with some slight difference…

“I arranged it alphabetically,” Nemo said seriously, looking as if he was completely relieved. “Did they all put these books back indiscriminately after they finish reading?”

“…” Bagelmaurus was lost for words and didn’t know how to respond for a while. “Did you just…”

“I finished reading them.” Nemo opened the bag full of sandpoint plums and stuffed another one in his mouth. He thought for a moment and loped one in the direction of the gray parrot. “I’m just trying to see if it can be done by using Abyssal magic to identify the letters… It seems possible, but you’re right. There’s not relevant information in this room.”

The gray parrot stayed in place for half a minute, then swallowed the sandpoint plum without responding. The books here were written in several different languages, some of which were extremely ancient text, but the other party didn’t seem to care about it. Bagelmaurus decided not to ask questions.

You are reading story Stray at novel35.com

“How do I get into the second room?” Nemo passed by the high bookshelf and walked directly to the door.

“Go straight in.” Bagelmaurus boldly flew closer. It shivered a bit and stopped on Nemo’s shoulder causing the magic ornaments on its body to jingle.

The layout of the second room was similar to the first, except the books look closer to living creatures. They screamed with fear when they were opened. This time, Nemo had an ugly look on his face after returning the books to their place. He rarely frown, and the usual softness between his brows completely disappeared.

“Did you find the answer?” The grey parrot’s spirit was in shock. Its expectation for the truth overshadowed its fear and anxiety at this moment.

Nemo didn’t say anything but went straight into the third room. The gray parrot clenched his black robe with its claw, but Nemo’s reaction turned abnormal. It began to become uncertain whether it should continue to stay with him or leave.

When Nemo slightly violently waved away the prohibition in front of the third door, its feeling reached its climax.

The third room was unexpectedly small, about the same size as the guest room in a countryside inn. Books no longer were placed on shelves. They were like deformed snails carrying pages on their backs. They crawled along the walls that looked soft and fleshy. The black eyes on the spine of the book looked down and showed a little white.

“Those things are poisonous. You—” Bagelmaurus hesitated for a few seconds but decided to give him a warning.

However, Nemo didn’t use the dark shadow this time. He directly released his aura of a superior demon causing the book that was crawling happily to freeze instantly and fell to the ground. The eyes on the spine of the book spun frantically.

No. It’s different this time. Bagelmaurus shut its mouth. Nemo Light’s aura was completely different from when he first entered the library. Even if he was flustered and nervous at that time, he wasn’t like he was now…

Nemo was truly expressionless at the moment. Bagelmaurus could see that this “superior demon” was in a real state of confusion and was struggling with itself. The black-haired young man dressed like a mage personally picked up the book. His face was much paler than before. He looked eagerly at it as pages of the leather book flew left and right under his fingers. Bagelmaurus tried to peek but found that it didn’t recognize a single word.

“How’s it going?” Bagelmaurus asked cautiously half an hour later when Nemo finally put down the last book.

“The demons have no so-called innate knowledge.” Nemo said slowly as the book under his feet fled from him. “Knowledge can only be accumulated in person or… taken from others.”

“That’s right,” Bagelmaurus said dryly. “How do you think I know about information on the surface? It’s a pity that the corpse didn’t have much insight—”

“There’s no record of any humanoid demons,” Nemo interrupted the gray parrot. He lowered his eyes and stared at the wet marks left by the strange books.

“Yes! I’ve already said this long ago—” the gray parrot stretched his tone this time, waiting for Nemo to interrupt it, but the other party remained silent.

He didn’t find any information that could directly determine his identity. Nothing. Nemo clenched his fists. He had expected this… but he seemed to become aware of other problems.

[Why is there always… only an abnormal life at the bottom of the Abyss?]

Although it was around noon, Nemo suddenly felt chilly. After finishing all the books in the Abyssal Church, he discovered some unnatural details that creeped him out. Nemo raised his hand and eighteen black shadows condensed into figures appeared in the air.

These were the image of the Demon Kings through the ages. Their appearance ranges from vague description to pinpoint accuracy. Their sizes varied greatly, their appearance were completely irregular, and they were all races that had never appeared before.

Is it really like this?

Nemo stared at the eighteenth image, which was named the “Grim Reaper’s Scythe” Ulysses. From a glance, its appearance was distorted and weird, but if disassembled, its anatomy was somewhat similar to that of a multi-legged shadow beast on the surface. Similar partial characteristics could be found in all other parts of the superior demon.

There was no mistake or omission. It was like a synthetic life that absorbed the advantages of countless demons based on certain surface creatures.

Nemo raised his hand again, and a row of corresponding names and information appeared under each image. “Coincidentally”, there happened to be a leader of the multi-legged shadow beast in the brave team that fought against the seventeenth-generation Demon King. The huge number of books in the collection were all turned into lines of text in his mind and countless legends and documents with side descriptions or positive narratives swirled in his mind. If he removed those contradictory points and integrate the coincidences of all the data…

The sixteenth generation.

The fifteenth generation.

. . . . . .

The first generation… The first generation wasn’t actually the first. Before that, mankind hadn’t flourished so there wasn’t any testable information.

However, whenever there was a record, he could find a similar “corresponding archetype”. That archetype was sometimes the hero of the previous generation, sometimes a member of the previous archetype of the expedition army; most of them were generally the latter. What they all had in common was obvious. All surface archetypes were ridiculous strong without exception and none of them were human.

Could he assume that the “appearance foundation” of each generation of Demon King was consistent with the strongest creature in the previous generation of the expedition army?

Yes. The name of the hero had always been given to the one that “gave the Demon King the final blow”, but no one had ever said that the creature that “gave the final blow” was the strongest in the expedition. On the other hand, regardless of any laws, this shouldn’t be a message that could be conveyed after an individual dies. If all the death information of the previous generation could be learned by the next generation, is the Demon King really “natural” and “unrelated individuals”?

There would always be and will always be only one. It was like something that was constantly evolving.

If… A vague thought crossed his mind like a whisper in his ears. What if the strongest creature in the eighteenth-generation expedition happens to be a “human”?

He became frightened by such a thought.

At the same time, in the Bishop’s room.

“Lord Telaranea,” Hagen lowered her head and raised her skirt. “I’m sorry to disturb you at this moment.”

“How rare– It’s you who contacted me, Miss Ingram,” a young male voice came from the communication crystal. “Why? Are there religious knights causing trouble?”

“It’s just a trivial matter, but I need to confirm with you. After all, this involves your reputation.” Bagelmaurus’ reaction wasn’t simple. Hagen adjusted her veil and shook her head.

“Speak.”

“Do you still have a demon warlock contract on the surface at present?”

“No. Why did you suddenly ask this?”

“…No reason. I’m sorry to bother you.” Sure enough, she thought. Demon warlocks would never— or rather dare not— lie about “serving a demon”.

So, who’s the one that broke the rules? Or rather… which person?

The author has something to say：

Nemo：……………………………… Fuck, I’m super bad at guessing.

Hagen: Ah, how cute to watch this kid(?) put on an act.

Telaranea: Stop! He might look innocent, but he actually has a gun!

…In any case, the Abyssal Church is about to make this into a big deal XD

Kinky Thoughts:

Just a note on Lord. This is used as a respectful title to the demons these believers worship and is genderless (think along the lines of Master/Ruler, ect.) Demons have no gender unless otherwise stated in the text (like Pandorater) or they are currently possessing a human body. That’s why Bagelmaurus and other demons are referred to as an it not a he/she.

Miss Ingram, you’re about to bark up the wrong tree…

You can find story with these keywords: Stray, Read Stray, Stray novel, Stray book, Stray story, Stray full, Stray Latest Chapter