Stray

a very ordinary metal bow and a bunch of arrows.
Even with the deterrence of the black badge, the shop owner’s eyes almost rolled to the back of his head and his actions were both sad and angry when he was giving them change.

With their weapons ready, Ann began to pile bags of various sizes onto the fuller goat, which was about half a person tall.
It had a long neck and was as big as little pony.
It ruminated slowly, looking at them one by one crossed-eyed.
The gray parrot flew happily and stood still between its curly horns and puffed out its chest.

Nemo poked the goat’s moist noise curiously and was immediately spat on.
He straightened his waist in silence and wiped his face carefully with his sleeves under the loud ridicule of the gray parrot.

“Done.” On the other side, Oliver and Adrian were holding the luggage, while Ann tied the last belt around it and tightened it.
“With a few small teleports, it should take us about a week to walk there.
Nemo, don’t poke it.
It’s our companion for the time being.”

Jesse looked at them with a smile dozens of steps away.
He was casually carrying a cloth bag, but he didn’t bring any large luggage.

“We should be able to pass through the forest at noon.” Ann ignored him and pointed to the hills not far away.
“Then we’ll take a break.
Oliver don’t sleep on the goat.
You’re too heavy.”

It was boring moving forward in silence.
At first their feet stepped on stone bricks but the pebbled pavement was soon replaced by dirt.
After a while, the dirt road was gone, leaving only crooked grass and thorny vines.
The sun hung high in the center of the sky.
It was so hot that everything in their field of vision had a harsh white light.
Insects buzzed amidst the grass and the uneven touch against their soles made everyone feel uncomfortable.
Nemo’s feet felt sour as he walked.
The hot air burned his will, so he had to distract himself by looking around.

Jesse Dylan walked leisurely in the hot sun, haunting behind them.

The female warrior and the knight have expansive combat experience, while Nemo had monster-like physical strength.
It stood out that Oliver was the weakest member of the team, and it could be seen that he cared deeply about it.
Nemo watched Oliver staggered forward, and decided he needed to be vigilant so that their captain wouldn’t fall flat on his face.

Ann and Adrian were keenly aware of this as well.
As soon as they entered the woods, Ann announced to break in advance.
Oliver didn’t push himself harder any longer.
He sat down on the soft rotten leaves and quickly fell asleep against a tree trunk.
Adrian chose another area with shade, sat crossed legged and began to take a nap as well.

“I hope I don’t get the chance to experience Mr.
Dylan’s snoring.” Ann huffed and sat down by the shade near a tree.
“This is the first time I’ve seen Oliver so listless.”

“Bless you,” Nemo said dully as he pulled on the leaves and grass with his hands.
The weather was too hot that his drowsiness had burnt out.
“…But I feel terrible.
Look, he’s coming again.”

“How did he do it?” Ann murmured.
“Did he rise to the level of a sea scorpion by being this shameless?”

“Don’t say that,” Jesse leaned forward and sat down not far from them.
“I just want to casually chat.
It’s boring to travel alone.”

Ann and Nemo turned their heads slowly showing lifeless eyes.

“How about in order to express my apologies, I can share a little interesting knowledge with Mr.
Light.” The blond young man tucked his bangs behind his ears revealing not a single drop of sweat on his face.
“After all, I have always acted alone before, and I haven’t paid much attention to this.
Miss Savage, you should understand… Oh, I didn’t mean to accuse you of snoring.”

“What knowledge?” Nemo snapped his fingers and made up his mind that if this man opened his mouth again and said something vulgar, he wouldn’t mind using violence to threaten him.

“I accidentally overheard your conversation yesterday,” Jesse accentuated the word “accidentally”.
“It seems that you have never successfully casted a spell before being corrupted by the demon?”

“Yes,” Nemo replied dryly.

“I have some experience ont his issue.” Jesse beamed.
“You see, there must be a lot of people telling you how to mediate or devoutly recite mantras religiously— a bunch of naïve fools! The essence of magic is trading.
It’s nothing more than a creature with insufficient power asking for a trade from a more powerful being.
Of course, this is just a boring atheist’s theory.” He pulled out a grotesque purple fruit from the cloth bag and threw it to Nemo.

“Would you like her fruit?” He threw another one to Ann who caught it with a sullen face.

“…I already have one.”

“Exactly.”

Jesse leaned generously close to Nemo’s side; so close that his lips almost pressed to Nemo’s ears.
He opened his mouth at a volume that only Nemo could hear, and his voice was full of laughter.

“If you ask others for what you already have in your hands, who will respond to you? If you ask me, you’re just being misled.
That power is originally yours.
You should have found out by now, right? Your spells don’t need incantations.”

Nemo’s face frozen.
The light of the Abyssal magic slowly emerged, and the edges of the dark shadow exuded dark purple halos.
They danced hideously as they were about to cover Jesse’s face.
“You’re too close.”

“You are indeed a powerful caster before you were corrupted.” Jesse smiled as usual.
He was close enough that Nemo could tell that there was no smile in those beautiful blue eyes.
“Please don’t doubt this.”

The author has something to say：

Jesse: Tentatively on the verge of Nemo’s outburst.jpg

Nemo’s rage value +10

Ann’s rage value +5

Adrian’s rage value +5

Oliver’s rage value +50

……

Grey parrot favorability +5

Kinky Thoughts:

I know we all have our guesses but lets keep them to ourselves until its fully revealed to avoid potential spoilers, or you can join my discord server to discuss the novel (or others I’ve translated).