The grey parrot was tied into a spindle by the vines and looked pitiful.
It seems to have suffered a major blow, after all, no one thinks that a normal rattan can trap an intermediate demon. But it swayed so honestly, without saying a word, with straight eyes.
"Expert?" Nemo hung the gray parrot on the top of the staff, and rubbed the vine scraps in his palm on his clothes, trying to continue the conversation.
Ann watched in silence as Nemo packed the grey parrot, and was still a little dazed at the moment. "Oh... oh, I mean, you have to ask an experienced cleric. Demon believers only know the demons they have served, and there are guys who can snatch other people's demons. Your demons are relatively rare and may be There's trouble." She glanced at the gray parrot, which exuded a dull aura, "and I've never heard that the demon in the contract can attack the master."
God knows if the contract between them is still valid, Nemo wiped his face.
"Won't the clergy just kill me?" he asked cautiously.
"There is a church of confession in Hiram," Ann said. "Alban's most widely spread is the old sect of Ladism, and they are the most hostile to demons. But Garland is more popular with the Woden sect, and they will give repentance to demon believers. Chance - after all, some people don't cooperate with the devil willingly."
Like me, Nemo thought bitterly.
"If it goes well today, tomorrow you can choose a mission near Hiram. Hiram is the capital, and the traffic is relatively convenient - but you have to pay attention, the first task is also part of the test. If the first task fails, You can only retake the test next quarter."
"What?!" Nemo exclaimed, while Oliver buried his face in his palm.
"My suggestion is to pick a simpler one, and I will help me when the time comes." An stopped on a relatively open grassy slope and moved his shoulders. "Let's rest here for a while."
Her words were like a gravity spell, and before the last word had landed, Nemo and Oliver slumped to the ground. Some of the deformed staffs were shoved randomly into the grass by Nemo, and the grey parrots were still bundled up, dangling next to the staffs, like cocoons hanging from branches in summer. The backpack was also thrown on the ground by him, and the backrest had long been soaked with sweat.
Ann opened her backpack and took out a few dry biscuits wrapped in leaves. The slender and beautiful fingers slid through the air, and several water balls condensed in front of her. She dipped the dusty dry biscuit in the water, and the water-wet area showed some brownish yellow.
"Eat something," she said, turning to give it to Nemo, only to find that he was asleep.
Nemo collapsed on the grass and fell asleep. His short ponytail was almost gone, and his half-length black hair was stuck to his cheeks, revealing a soft aura that belonged to a scholar.
"Let him sleep for a while," Oliver whispered, shifting and brushing Nemo's hair from his face naturally.
"Aren't you going to sleep?" An blinked and stuffed the pancake into his mouth.
"I'm used to getting up at five o'clock, after all, the family is..." Oliver was stunned and did not continue.
The word "home" has become a fishbone stuck in the throat, and every time it is mentioned, it starts to ache. He keeps forgetting about it by accident - he has no home.
He smiled at Ann reluctantly, and buried himself in the biscuits.
"I'm sorry," Ann murmured, "It must have been a bad taste."
"If they didn't insist that I murdered him maliciously, I would go to jail," Oliver said, not looking at Ann. "I am indeed a murderer."
"It's ideal." An smiled bitterly, "I want to tell you, it's fortunate that you didn't fool yourself into the trap. As long as someone finds out your strength, you will definitely not be able to live in prison."
Oliver stopped chewing, frowned slightly, and showed a polite questioning expression.
"You'll be thrown on the front lines of the battlefield with a cursed collar, trust me," Ann said. "Even if you survive, you won't be 'you' anymore, that kind of place is hell—so I really don't Figure it out, clearly this world is so chaotic, why your father can still bear you to give up this talent."
"I chose the path myself." Oliver said, looking down at his hands-his palms were thickly callused from years of hard work, and his fingers were slender and strong, but they were not the hands of a warrior.
"Would you like to chat?"
"It doesn't matter," Oliver said. "I mentioned it before? Except for the last...I've seen my father use a spell once."
"uh-huh."
"That was my last lesson. I was about fourteen or fifteen at the time, and my father said he was going to teach me something new," he said. "He took me to a cave at the edge of the frontier forest, our secret base, Then he kicked a man in front of me—a man who weighed 300 pounds. I still remember the stench of a body. My father threw me a sword and told me to kill the man. The man was crying hard and desperately I beg for mercy, I even peeed my pants."
After the female warrior ate a piece of cake, she rubbed the cake residue on her hands. "and then?"
"My father said that the man killed his wife with his own hands and turned the body into a slag. Under Alban's law, his actions definitely deserved the death penalty."
"Have you done it yet?" An took out the water bag and took two mouthfuls.
"I don't dare, the first time I've ever seen a person, I'm scared like that. It's like... whine like an animal, and can say anything flattering to a fourteen-fifteen-year-old child. He desperately insists that he is innocent. Yes, it was his wife who made the first move, he was just defending himself."
"I can't do it because he's still alive...I can't describe the feeling. I was hesitating when a little girl suddenly came in with a tracking charm, crying and begging us not to kill her dad , screaming that Mom is the bad guy. I immediately lost my sword and had no idea - after all my father never lied to me, I couldn't understand what he was thinking at the time."
Ann rested her cheeks with her hands and raised her eyebrows.
"Several soldiers followed after a while, one came up to protect the girl, and the other went to ask what happened to the father. The soldier said that the man had used abyss magic to control his wife and daughter for a long time. The wife broke free of the magic and wanted to take her daughter to escape. Wanting information on the man's wife, claiming that there is no body to be convicted. I thought this crazy teaching was coming to an end, but when they were about to leave, my father suddenly picked up the sword and killed the man with the backhand - a sword hit the chest , blood splattered all over the place. You know what? For a split second I thought my father was so handsome, he just killed a bastard that the law couldn't punish."
"The soldier who went to detect the man's heartbeat suddenly shouted, pointing out the witch's emblem slowly emerging from the neck of the corpse. You should have heard... Eastern witches like to seduce men. When their daughters reach the right age, they will cheat and get away. Put the blame on the husband, so that the child can accumulate enough pain to become the new witch. Which means that the man didn't lie, he was innocent in the first place, but..."
"It stands to reason that that thing won't appear too soon," An Pie pouted, "Is your father taken away?"
"No." Oliver lowered his head, and Ann couldn't see his expression clearly. "I panicked to death. Suddenly the soldier disappeared and so did the little girl, only the corpse was staring. Then my father asked me that question - he asked me, do you know what 'kill' means? ?"
"'It's just one person. If you want, I can teach you how to kill thousands of people in one go. But do you really understand what that means?' he said at the time."
Yes, he remembered every detail. He was a teenager at the time, and a little complacent about his power. Often can't help but fantasize about defending against thousands of troops in a heroic war and being a hero who is qualified to meet the king.
But it all ends in that dark cave.
"Oli, you have to know that reality doesn't give you time to investigate the innocence of every enemy. Girls won't come, soldiers won't come, and emblems won't be discovered. Many times when you kill a Man, you killed a part of the truth in this world." The father's tone in the memory was a little cold, "Telling yourself that they are all alive is the easiest way. If you can't fool yourself, then try to stress how miserable you are—ah, Tragic encounters are the most effective self-narcotics. Of course, if you don't even have a tragic past, you have to go around and preach that you are not malicious. Remember, this is a common practice for cowards."
"Killing itself is never worthy of praise, it should be your last resort, not a tool to show off your power. And unfortunately, when you find out that you are wrong, you are going to carry this mistake your entire life, there is no escape method. All you can do is take responsibility."
"And what's worse, acts of kindness don't necessarily lead to the desired outcome. The flowers and glory that idlers sing about may never come, and you may face malice, stupidity, or indifference. With the power to make them surrender, can you control yourself?"
"If you pick up the sword, then this is what you are destined to experience. People like to say that doing evil has a price, and I tell you now, doing good has a price. Only those who can understand the pain are qualified to be called 'heroes', I don't I hope you will accept all those silly songs, and then you will be disappointed with reality without authorization."
"Answer me now, Ollie, are you going to pick up this sword?"
He raised his sword, which was still stained with the man's blood.
"So how did you answer that?" Ann's question pulled Oliver out of his memory.
"I said I couldn't imagine it," Oliver replied calmly, "so I gave up."
"Because of fear?"
"No, because I know how selfish and ignorant I am. I can only start slowly and work hard to protect the people around me... I think this should not require the power that can kill millions of people in an instant."
"It's hard to say, what if one day you want to be the enemy of most people for the people you cherish?"
Oliver thought for a moment. "... I can run away with that person."
Thinking about it carefully, that should be the only time he saw his father serious. Before they left the cave, he also asked his father a question.
"So it's all fake?" He looked at the fading corpse of the man on the rock.
"No, it was true, I just sped up the tempo a little." Piper Ramon didn't smile, "I'm glad you didn't do it, Ollie. You're not like me in that. "
,Wonderful!
(m.. = )