Stray

n parked his cart on the side of the road and quickly got down to business.

Ann wrapped a cloak around her leather armor and strode forward.
“Ann Savage,” she said loudly, “Number eleven.”

The fat coachman blew his nose and plucked out a long cloth bag from the pile of weapons.
“Here.” He handed it forward impatiently.

Ann took out a few gold coins and put them on the messy shelf, picked up the cloth bag and left, removing the dirty cloth as she walked away.
When she came back to them, the contents of the package had been completely exposed.

“It’s not a good sword, so make do with it.
I’ll discuss the cost when you make money,” she said, throwing the sword at Oliver.
Although she said that, Nemo was sure that this sword was better than the others in the cart.
The blades on those swords were covered in dirt while this one had at least a clean leather scabbard.

While Ann had a tough attitude and a ruthless approach, her heart was good in the right places.
Before Nemo could finish his thought, he was almost hit by a metal rod that Ann threw over.

“What is this thing?” The stick was more than half a person long and was heavy.
There was hardly any workmanship and the top had a roughly inlaid yellow stone.
The stone had no signs of grinding marks, which made Nemo suspect that this was what it originally looked like when it was quarried.

“A staff.” Ann said, “You’re a mage, theoretically.”

Nemo stared at the black metal rod in horror.
“But I can’t use—”

“Yes, I know.
That’s why it’s iron.
That way you have a way to attack someone by surprise.” Ann made a waving gesture, looking very satisfied with her creativity.

“……”

Oliver, somewhat unaccustomed to hanging his sword around his belt, leaned over and patted Nemo on the shoulder with understanding.

Gradually, more carts came offering more types of things to buy.
At first it was only weapons, then some had medicines and simple scrolls.
The asking price wasn’t very high and the quality was awfully poor.
Judging from the gaps and patches on the clothes of the refugees, there was no market for high-end goods here.

Ann ignored the new carts.
She grabbed the clothes of the two people beside her and dragged them to the corner of the street.
The sky was getting brighter, and the morning fog had gradually dissipated.
The figures at the end of the stone road became clearer.

A group of people approached as they were talking and laughing.
The vendors who had just been busy quickly setting up their carriages, tore off a teleportation rune and quickly disappeared, leaving only pieces of fine garbage behind.
The refugees spontaneously retreated with their purchased goods in their arms, not saying a word.

“Remember,” Ann whispered in their ears, “White tin badges.
They are regular mercenaries.
Don’t provoke them.
Your black badge level is low compared to theirs.
If you don’t cause trouble, they won’t take the initiative to attack you.”

The sky was now completely bright, and the red light of the rising sun broke through the sky curtain.

“Let’s go.” Oliver nudge Nemo’s arm.
“Ann said that she had already helped fill in our information, but the certification has to be done in person—”

“The sun’s out,” Nemo said blankly, looking at the bright sun in the distance.

Oliver suddenly noticed something.

In the past few short days, Nemo Wright seems to have an indifferent attitude towards everything, which had nothing to do with the word positivity.
He was the embodiment of what it means to “live in the present” and leaving the troubles for tomorrow.
If Oliver was being honest, he didn’t appreciate this kind of character.
He doesn’t like how the other party didn’t seem to care about dying at any moment.
He had seen his pain, fear, and exhaustion, but it was mixed with an indescribable inconsistency.

This sense of inconsistency made him instinctively want to keep distance, but Nemo is undoubtedly a kind person in the traditional sense, as he really did save his life.
It wasn’t acceptable for him to alienate Nemo just because of some non-existent thing.
Oliver determined that this was all due to paranoia caused by his recent emotional outburst.

While he had obviously made up his mind, the feeling that had disappeared for a while had now resurfaced.

When Nemo looked back at him, Oliver recalled a certain moment many years ago with instant clarity.
It was the first time that they met when Nemo was peeping at him.

His back burst into hot sweat and then quickly became cold.
His heart was beating so fast that it made him uncomfortable.
The sound of blood flowing seemed to be magnified countless times, and dark spots appeared in his field of vision before he was about to faint.
He tried to adjust his breathing, trying to resist this strange and ominous feeling.
At that time, he was still young and had no concept of this kind of feeling.
Now, he knew how to describe it—

Instinctive fear.

It was as if some huge alien was standing behind his head and had entrenched its sharp nails directly against his scalp, which could pierce his head like berries.
The sense of oppression almost grounded his whole body into meat purée.

The feeling was instantly fleeting, but it stuck to him for hours.

“You see, even if we encounter such shit, the sunrise is still very beautiful,” Nemo said with emotion, showing off a big smile.
“I forgotten when was the last time I saw the sunrise.
Let’s go.
Aren’t we going to get our certification?”

Oliver smiled stiffly, holding his other arm in his hand, and he could feel his body trembling uncontrollably.

“Are you nervous?” Nemo blinked curiously.
“I don’t think you need to worry.
If anyone fails this test first, that person will probably be me.”

Oliver took a deep inhale, looked directly into Nemo’s eyes, and tried to keep his voice steady.
“Stop joking around.
Ann is waiting inside for us.”

You can’t show it. He repeated frantically in his heart. You can’t show it, Oliver Ramon.

It hurts to express fear wantonly before confirming the truth.

Kinky Thoughts:

It seems there’s more to Nemo than meets the eye.