The space rift closed behind the four of them cutting off the army, wailing, and air full of burning smell on the other side.
The evening breeze in the woods was warm and pleasant, and insects chirped on the grass. The woods here weren’t dense, and the bushes had obvious traces of people coming and going. Looking down from the gentle slope, a small town was flashing lights not far away, showing a quiet and peaceful scene.
“This is…?”
After a long hesitation, the young girl among the group of four spoke.
“We’re still in Walden.” Nemo carefully placed Oliver on the thick grass and used magic to clean up his bloodstains and dirt from his body. “Don’t worry. I didn’t take the two of you out of the border.”
He sat down as he spoke, put Oliver’s head on his thigh, and used abyssal magic to carefully repair the Oliver’s withered and damaged internal organs. Nemo wanted to remove those terrible scars so that the dull pain on his chest could stop for a while, but Oliver seemed to want to keep them, so he had to carefully avoided the scar, treat the ulceration and infection of the wounds, and let it quickly scab.
The armor of the Knight of Silence had sharp, sleek lines and dark metal fasted tightly together, making the missing piece of armor on Oliver’s left wrist particularly conspicuous. Nemo gently turned over the wrist and stared at the engraving made of scars.
He let out a small sigh, brushed aside Oliver’s clean light brown hair, then leaned down and branded a kiss on his forehead.
“What are you two going to do next?” As if to force himself to divert his attention, Nemo finally turned his head. “Where do you want to go, or…”
“No. This is enough,” the tall man uncomfortably raised the heavy shield in his hand. His voice was a little dry. “We have a way out. Thank you very much for your help, Mr. Light.”
“It’s me who should thank you,” Nemo smiled stiffly. “If it weren’t for you to send me Ollie’s message in time, I might have…” If he was one step slower and didn’t arrive at the furnace in time, Oliver might have been blown up by the bone jade bomb, the bomb that he had erased from this world.
Nemo didn’t want to think about what would happen after that. Just seeing the current situation, he was almost unable to breathe because of the pain.
There was no expression on the tall man’s face, but his eyes dropped in the next moment. “Mr. Ramon also saved me, and now we’re even.”
“Are you his boyfriend? He said he had a boyfriend,” the petite girl interjected. “Although I don’t agree with his philosophy, Mr. Ramon is indeed an admirable person… When will he wake up? We still have to do our due courtesy, so at least let us say goodbye to him.”
“I don’t know, but he… should be fine.” Feeling Oliver’s even and long breath, Nemo replied in a low voice. “And it doesn’t matter if it’s even or not. I really appreciate it… By the way, there are traces of a demon’s curse on the two of you, do you know?”
“We know.” Randy nodded. Although he didn’t really see it in the gray mist barrier, Mr. Ramon’s lover seemed to be able to use extremely powerful abyssal magic. Perhaps they could ask Light politely and get some information about a superior demon. “Excuse me—”
“I removed it,” Nemo murmured still rubbing Oliver’s soft and smooth hair. “The curse blocking contact isn’t fatal. I didn’t judge the content carefully. Although I don’t know why you two are prohibited from touching… I just want to tell you that it’s gone now.”
“I don’t have any money, so I can only thank you two with this.” Those silver eyes were extremely sincere.
Nemo Light sounded as if he was stating “you have a leaf on your head, so I just took it off for you” without any deliberate modesty. He seemed genuinely embarrassed for “only being able to do this little thing”. The two assassins didn’t know what to say for a while. They stood in the same place, not daring to move. Ten seconds later, Mora pinched herself fiercely, then let out a scream.
Randy put down his shield and looked at his scarred hands, seeing them tremble for the first time.
Everything was too sudden. The journey of more than ten years suddenly reached the end, and the unreality made him dizzy. The thick shield fell to the ground and the tall assassin turned around and looked intently at his lover. Mora shook off her sharp weapons on her fingers and rushed straight to Randy. Her lip was trembling violently. The two of them were so close, and neither said a word.
Mora stretched out a hand that still had dust and bloodstains from the battle and the slightly thinner hand stopped in the air, while its owner raised her head and looked at her lover with red eyes.
Randy reached his hand into his waist bag. His hand shook so badly that he failed to unbutton it multiple times, but he finally opened it and took out a small paper bag. He began to untie the string above, before simply tearing it apart.
Inside were two rings.
The style was simple, rough, without any gems embedded in it. The silvery metal twisted into a simple foxtail shape and laid quietly in Randy’s broad palm. He gently twisted the small one, as carefully as if he was treating his own eyeball, then turned to the hand that stopped in midair.
He stretched out his hand, as if intending to hold it, but suddenly shrank midway. After several struggles, he finally stretched out his hand and gently held the other’s slender fingers.
He shook so hard that he almost dropped the ring into the grass.
Randy silently bit his lower lip and carefully put the ring on the ring finger of Mora’s left hand. He didn’t even ask any questions. When the tall assassin tore his gaze away from the place where their skin came into contact, he saw that the other party was already full of tears.
“You… Stupid stake—” Mora sobbed. “You forgot to propose, you…”
She gritted her teeth, but in the end, she failed to finish her sentence. She flung her arms around Randy and buried her face in his chest; her entire body trembling like a dead leaf in the wind.
She hugged him fiercely, then took a deep breath and turned to Nemo.
Nemo Light easily lifted their curse, and they didn’t even know how he did it. He was probably a real superior demon, but that wasn’t important, Mora thought. Everything was no longer important.
She kissed the ring, as if she had lost the ability to feel fear— Their joke-like fate came to a dramatic end. Even if she died at this moment, she would be happy enough.
So Mora didn’t ask anything. She put her weapons solemnly in front of Nemo, then she took of her blood-stained coat, folded it neatly, and placed it next to the weapons. She sniffed hard the entire time and her eyes were red and slightly swollen.
Randy also walked over and did the exact same thing.
After Nemo told them he had removed the curse, his attention remained focused on Oliver. He was taken back by their actions and his eyes held a look of confusion.
“You said you don’t have any money,” Mora said hoarsely. “You can take these to the Mercenary Guild and close the arrest warrant for killing the ‘Sancho’s Gray Fox’. This is our iconic weapons along with the bloody clothes— Although there are no corpses, you can still get a lot of money.”
“’Sancho’s Gray Fox’ will no longer be active.” She showed a brilliant smile. “It’s finally dead.”
When Oliver woke up again, the first thing that caught his eye was a spice bag hanging from a wooden roof. The warm sunlight was projected on the thin quilt, and everything was too bright that it almost hurt is eyes. Oliver subconsciously touched his side, trying to find the Rest in Peace, then found it lying on the soft bed, already cleaned and white as snow.
The armor, which was full of scratches and abrasions, was also cleaned and placed neatly on the wooden platform beside the bed. Even the bone helmet was stacked on top, platted with a light layer of gold by the sun.
The hunger, thirst, and pain in his body disappeared. His heart had never beat so vigorously, and his body was as light as if it no longer existed. Oliver unconsciously touched his chest— There was no sticky bloodstains, nor the stench of rotten flesh, pus, and blood that would stick to his nose.
There was only the aroma of sweet milk and fresh lemon in the air. Now his whole body was clean and refreshed. His body that was soaked in pus and blood, and his tattered underwear had long been replaced with a wide and comfortable nightgown. If it weren’t for the hideous scar still on his skin, Oliver almost thought he had just had a long nightmare.
He moved his fingers unaccustomed, turned his head and found Nemo on the side where the sunlight was stronger.
Nemo was sitting on a wooden stool by the bed. His hair was scattered, and he was engrossed in peeling the skin of a purple pear with a small knife. The bright purple peel slipped down from his fingers continuously and fell into the trashcan below. It was just that the purple peel was also followed by pale red flesh— Nemo had peeled it so absentmindedly that he completely peeled almost the entire large fruit.
Oliver, “……”
He decided to remain silent first, making sure that this wasn’t another dream of his own making.
After peeling the pear, Nemo was stunned for a few seconds. With a straight face, he threw the fruit into the trashcan and took an even bigger one from the basket at his feet.
Seeing that the tragedy was about to repeat itself, Oliver couldn’t help but hold up his body and coughed to increase his sense of existence.
This time, the entire pear fell into the trash can.
Nemo looked at him blankly, still maintaining his peeling posture with his hands. He opened his mouth and succeeded in making a sound after a few seconds.
“Ollie, you… Would you like something to drink?” he hurriedly said as he tossed the knife into the fruit basket. “I remember you like honey milk, but it doesn’t quench your thirst. I also prepared water and…”
“Nemo.” Oliver adjusted his posture and leaned on the soft pillow on the bed. “Can you come over for a little bit?”
At that moment, Oliver found that his lover was at a loss. There was an obvious struggle on Nemo’s face. He seemed to want to fly over, but something stopped him. Finally, he pursed his lips, picked up a glass of cold water, and approached cautiously.
Oliver held out his hand.
Nemo seemed to think he was going to take the glass of water and naturally sent the beautiful glass forward. However, in the next second, water spilled on Oliver’s chest and the glass rolled down the quilt. Oliver grabbed his fair wrist and pulled Nemo into his arms, hugging him tightly.
“Nemo,” he repeated in a low voice, burying his nose into the crook of Nemo’s neck and smelling the unique cold smell between Nemo’s hair. “Don’t move. Let me… hold you for a while.”
The other party’s weight and body temperature was so real that it made his heart sour.
“I’m still alive,” Oliver announced in a low voice, feeling the other party’s rapid heartbeat and sharp undulating chest. “……I’m still alive.”
“Nn,” Nemo responded briefly. Oliver couldn’t see his expression right now.
“I… I have registered a fake task for an ‘interview’ in the Mercenary Guild and designated Tumbleweed. Although it will cost a little more money, Ann will find us. It’s too dangerous to go back to Alban now.”
“Mm,” Oliver continued to hug him harder, while responding vaguely.
“She had already taken the task not long ago. Considering the transmission distance, she’ll probably be here tomorrow morning… to pick you up.” He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but Nemo’s body seemed a bit stiff— It was more like he was obediently allowing himself to be held, unlike before, there wasn’t any intention to respond fiercely.
“It’s not pick me up, it’s pick us up,” Oliver added.
“Pick you up,” Nemo said in a muffled voice. “Ollie, would you like something to eat? Although I healed your internal organs, you haven’t eaten for too long, so you can’t eat anything that is too difficult to digest right now…”
“Your technique at changing the subject still isn’t very good,” Oliver sighed, reluctantly letting go of Nemo. He leaned back his head and stared earnestly at those silver eyes.
“We had a deal. When this was all over, we’ll talk seriously.” He reached out his hand and caressed the black hair that was scattered on Nemo’s shoulder.
“Now’s the time.”
“No, now…”
“If what we’re going to talk about makes you so miserable,” Oliver repeated, “then now’s the time.”
The author has something to say:
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey—
Confess! Confess! Confess and then…!
Go back in circles—!
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Ann: Why am I always on the front line for some fresh dog food? I quit!!!