Stray

he parrot’s neck.
After a week of sewer life, the hot bath and soft bed made him feel like he was in heaven.
“Is it fine to leave him alone with that guy?”

“He has a lot of combat experience.” Oliver dried his hair vigorously with a towel.
“…And has deeper knowledge than us.
He should be able to handle it.”

“That Dylan doesn’t seem very good.” Nemo buried himself in the quilt and let out a comfortable sigh.
“…But I can’t figure out what he wants from us.”

“I don’t think he’s good either.” The gray parrot finally spoke after a long time.
Nemo’s and Oliver’s eyes instantly focused on it.

“…Another superior demon?” Nemo asked in shock, suddenly holding back a yawn.
“Are superior demons all over the streets now?”

“I’m not sure.
I can’t feel anything.” Bagelmaurus sounded unusually serious.
“He must have hidden his aura.
Maybe there have been some techniques that I don’t know about over the years… but even if some means is used, Dylan’s strength is at least above mine; I mean my flesh.”

“…I’m starting to worry about Mr.
Cross,” Nemo murmured.

“His black badge is a sea scorpion.
According to Ann, he should be a dangerous person.” Oliver frowned.
“Bagelmaurus is not that strong though.
It would be fine if Mr.
Cross hadn’t lost his powers, but…”

The gray parrot grabbed Oliver’s hair frantically and forcibly interrupted him.

“Anyways, I’ll take a look.” Oliver said, casually throwing the grey parrot aside.
“You go to bed first.
If you’re okay with it, we can let Mr.
Cross squeeze in with us.”

As a result, as soon as he opened the door, he almost bumped head on into Adrian Cross who was carrying a pillow between one arm and was about the knock on the door with his hand.
At this moment, the hand stopped awkwardly in the air.

“Uh… Mr.
Cross.” Oliver took two steps back and let Adrian into the room.
“Are you okay?”

“…Dylan’s too noisy.” Adrian thought for a moment, and concluded in a heavy tone.
“Can I borrow your floor to sleep for one night.”

Nemo didn’t want to imagine what the “noise” was that could make a former Chief Justice would want to escape.
“You can sleep on the bed.
Oliver and I can squeeze into one.”

Oliver didn’t say anything.
He quickly made room on his bed.

“Thank you.” Adrian didn’t refuse.
He sat upright on the edge of the empty bed.
“Now that I have time, Mr.
Light, can I talk to you for a bit?”

“You don’t need to be so formal.
Just call me Nemo,” Nemo replied while holding a pillow.
The other party’s posture was too formal, so he felt embarrassed to lie down.
“What’s the matter?”

“About you… your situation,” Adrian said solemnly.
“If you don’t mind, can you tell me the more about it? I’ve seen enough demon warlocks before so maybe I can help.”

Now Nemo was fully awake.
He jumped up from the bed as if he had finally found his savior.
From being attacked by Bagelmaurus, to fighting Witherspoon, Nemo describe every unnatural event clearly and concisely.

However, his hope gradually died between the frowns of the Knight Commander.

“Generally speaking, there are three types of abnormal contracts with demons.
If the human does not have any magic talent, but the demon still insists on entering a contract, the human would directly dry up and die after making a wish.
We call this the ‘poor’s law reaction’.
The others are extremely rare.
When the human magic talent is stronger than the demon’s flesh, they will die together after the contract is successful because the magic isn’t compatible.
This is called ‘excessive rejection’.
Therefore, when the superior demon selects the target of corruption, they will evaluate the qualification of their prey first.”

“You only said two kinds so far.” Nemo’s Adam’s apple bobbed nervously.

“The last one is ‘cannibalism’.
We have only seen one example.
The experiment done by Telaranea.
Even if the human has been completely corrupted by the superior demon, they can still make contracts with other superior demons.” There was a trace of disgust on Adrian’s face.
“After the wish is fulfilled, the two pieces of flesh will fight in the human body and devour each other with the strong side gaining dominance of the body.
When they do that, the human body container will be greatly distorted and the victim will swell up, becoming almost as big…” He looked around, “as this room.”

Nemo shuddered at the spacious room.

“He absolutely did not have that situation,” Oliver interjected.
“I witnessed the whole process of him being attack by Bagelmaurus and we have never been separated since.”

“I can only guess,” Adrian said.
“I really haven’t seen this kind of abnormality.
I’m very sorry I couldn’t help.”

“No, I feel more at ease,” Nemo said hurriedly.
“It may be that Bagelmaurus is too weak.”

The gray parrot, who had been huddling in the blanket since Adrian entered, poked out its head and squawked aggrievedly.

“Actually, I also have a question to ask,” Nemo stuffed the gray parrot back into place and tried to change the subject.
“Since you hate Telaranea so much, why did you want to give him information? If he could reproduce the reason why you lost your powers…”

“It can’t be reproduced.
If that information was really that valuable, I would never have made that kind of mistake,” Adrian sighed.
“I know you’re curious and I have nothing to hide.
I don’t know why I lost my powers.
Simply put, I didn’t do anything special.
It just… disappeared suddenly.”

Nemo felt much better this time.
At least he wasn’t the only one in the room who was being played with by this inexplicable reality.

“So it turns out to be like this.
This was beyond my expectations.”

“Yes, I am also very… Wait?!” Nemo who was so spirited, suddenly summoned the dark shadow.
“Jesse Dylan? When did you—”

“You guys were talking so happily that you didn’t notice me at all.” The blond young man in the corner casually carried a pillow and gesticulated happily with his other hand.
“It’s such a shame for me to sleep in that room all alone.
You see, I’m not so well off so I asked for a refund of that room.
Dear Nemo, can you get rid of these shadows? I’m very timid!”

“The floor is still empty,” Oliver said slowly.
“Please, Mr.
Dylan.”

“Can’t this bed accommodate two people? Don’t be too insightful.”

“Please.” Adrian stood up decisively.
Instead of lying on the floor, he stood up and leaned against the wall.
The former Knight Commander’s eyes were sharp, without any fatigue.
He looked as if he could stand all night.

“Do you hate me that much?” Jesse said with a sad face, as if he had just been dumped by a lover who he had been in love with for so many years.
“Even if you don’t have the strength, I won’t do anything… too much.
Although I don’t mind being watched by others, I prefer to the kind you—”

“Shut up!” the other three roared at the same time.

The author has something to say：

—Black Chapter—

The more eyes on the black badge, the higher the team’s danger level and the more it needed to be monitored.

One eye: Night Owl

Two eyes: Jackal (Ann’s original team level)

Three eyes: Lizard

Four eyes: Snake (current team level of Nemo and Ollie)

Five eyes: Sea Scorpion (Jesse Dylan’s team level)

The numbers of eyes are related to the number of eyes these animals possess.