Family
"… Jessie, get out of the tub."
"This is the guest room, you said I can use it as you like!"
"That's because you said you wanted to take a hot bath. I have to remind you that a typical hot bath doesn't last five hours. Now you look like you want to make your own soup, of course, if you really want to, I'd like to help—" Nemo snapped his knuckles.
"I love this tub," Jesse said.
He specially reduced his animal shape a little so that he could fit himself into the big round bathtub. The long white hairs floated on the surface of the hot water emitting a steaming mist, and the shrunken beast put its long mouth on the edge of the bathtub and narrowed its blue eyes comfortably.
Not far from the bathtub is a window, and the swirling snow floats on the windowsill and accumulates in a thick layer. Jesse hummed comfortably, and even gave the tub a free circle of thermal runes.
Nemo let out a long sigh: "...Mr. Cross!"
Hearing the call, footsteps sounded from the stairs. After more than ten seconds, Adrian Cross pushed open the door and entered.
"..." Taking a few glances at the scene in front of him, the former judge knight pinched his eyebrows, "How long has he been soaking?"
"More than five hours."
"I suggest you use the Freezing Charm directly." Adrian suggested politely.
"In less than five hours!" Jesse protested. "Ed, my heart is broken, how can you be so cruel—"
"It's been five hours and seven minutes since you said you were going to take a hot shower," Nemo interrupted brutally, "Debbie did your job for you. Don't tell me, Jessie. You're going to just go straight down to dinner later."
"Strictly speaking, we have been in friendship for tens of thousands of years, right? My dear world pillar, you don't care about these short five hours—"
"Then you can choose not to eat it for a while." Nemo rubbed his hands slowly, "I'll tell Debbie that the thornberries can stop de-thorning and use them to make jam. Because the fresh thornberry cake specially prepared for someone does not use up."
Jesse twitched the tips of her ears.
"By the way, you can add a dish for dinner and stew wolf broth. Anyway, the ingredients have already washed themselves very clean."
"...you know I'm not a wolf."
"It's okay, the guests don't know." Nemo straightened his sleeves and smiled as he stepped out of the bathroom with one foot. "It's up to you, Mr. Cross."
Jesse snorted at the back. "Okay, okay. Give me another ten minutes, and I'll go down and pluck those bloody thornberries."
"Ten minutes might be too late."
Adrian picked up the bath towel, wiped the beast's head, and put his two pointed ears under the bath towel.
"Miss Wright feeds the thornberries as she feeds them. In ten minutes there's probably nothing left - I suggest you get out of it quickly, I can use a drying spell."
The cool black nose protruded from under the bath towel and poked at the side of Adrian's face. Adrian stopped his movements and kissed the furry nose bridge of the beast: "Don't make trouble, Jesse... Well, Lord Chenni."
Jesse then stepped out of the bathtub with satisfaction and turned back into a human form.
"After all, it's an important day for those two." Jesse lifted her long blond hair and steamed it herself. "I'll make up for the lost progress, don't worry."
Nemo walked out of the guest room on the second floor, instead of going downstairs, he walked towards the top floor of the house.
The ceiling on the top floor is high, but it is the sloping roof style of a log house. More than half of one wall is made of glass windows, and the view is amazing. The balcony outside the small door was covered with thick snow, and under the action of the magic circle, the interior was as warm as spring.
The room was just furnished today.
The soft couch was placed in the center of the room, the wide wooden table in front was fitted with a tablecloth printed with a thermal insulation array, and the teapot on the table was still spouting hot air from the teapot spout.
The fire in the fireplace was burning brightly. The carpet is dense and thick, and it is very comfortable to walk on bare feet. The warm-toned landscape paintings hung on the walls, Nemo knew very well, and there were countless tumbleweed mission photos hidden after that—even if they had been sealed in a sturdy stone box beforehand, he and Bagelmore would have cost money It took a lot of things to pull them out from the bottom of the abyss.
In the corner not far from the oil painting, there is a majestic bird stand with a small nest padded with soft flannel. Lord Bagelmore must not be able to pick out any faults.
They covered it with a drape and decided to make it a surprise.
The large bed is tucked away behind a semi-enclosed partition, covered with new soft sheets. The vase on the small wooden table by the bed was filled with fresh flower branches, and the two water glasses were attached to each other and placed beside the vase.
After coming out from the bottom of the abyss, I bought a lot of books, and now they are neatly placed on the bookshelf not far from the bed.
Putting a few books scattered on the table back into the bookshelf, Nemo poured himself a cup of hot tea and looked through the window at the lively scene outside the window—
As the late winter celebrations approach, the whole city of Noe is covered with lanterns of all kinds, glowing warmly in the darkening night. Nearby are mostly residential houses with only one or two floors, and the roofs are covered with icing snow.
People went home with bread and hot wine, talking and laughing, while children screamed and laughed and rolled around in the snowdrifts.
Unconsciously raising the corner of his mouth, Nemo walked to the other side of the room and added some milk to the tea.
The back of the house can be seen here.
He and Oliver built a small garden at the back of the house, which is now also covered in snow. However, the necessary roads have been cleared, and the delicate lanterns have already been hung up.
Oliver's dark horse was moving freely in the small garden, as if having fun. The Fuller goat, on the other hand, sat in the comfort of his shack, munching on fresh hay.
A pair of warm arms wrapped around his shoulders from behind.
"Someone's slacking off." Oliver kissed his ear from behind.
"I terrorized our great god out of the bathtub two minutes ago." Nemo put on his muscular arm and turned his face to the side. "It's worth a cup of tea."
"I saw Jesse, he was just in time for the cleaning." Oliver rested his chin on his lover's shoulder contentedly. "You know, Jesse alone is enough for this job. He wants everyone to break up early to take a breath. Now only Mr. Cross and Bagmoru are still with him on the first floor. Wait, you can't guess this, Just straight-"
"Anyway, I'm done!" The gray parrot screamed harshly from the first floor, "Do you want me to spit it out, ah? You won't eat the thornberries I spit out, Dylan, don't think you... ah ah I apologize, I apologize, don't do it!"
Then there was the harsh sound of a table and chair rubbing against the ground.
"… Is he really cleaning?" Oliver choked, "I'll go down and see."
"Commander, wait for the commander, you can't just -" Debbie's voice came from the door, getting closer.
"Okay, I'm not going." Oliver changed his tune seriously, speaking quickly.
As soon as Nemo put down the teacup in his hand, Oliver tucked himself into the closet and pulled the door carefully.
The power of this new god is getting stronger and stronger. If it wasn't for the sight of Oliver getting into the closet, it would be difficult for Nemo to notice at a glance that there was a living thing inside.
Oliver just hid himself when there was a heavy knock on the door.
"Please come in." Nemo coughed twice, and they could all feel the strong breath of the visitor - the guest didn't bother to hide it.
"Where's Ramon?" Seeing Nemo, Godwin put his hand on the hilt subconsciously, his expression completely blank.
Captain Horizon was dressed in ordinary clothes to hide people's eyes and ears, and a funny cloth cap was buttoned on his head, and there was still a lot of half-melted snow foam on it. Godwin rested his right hand on the hilt of his sword, his left clutching the invitation.
"Long time no see, brother." Nemo's tone was pleasant.
Hearing the title, Godwin gasped as if his teeth hurt. He took a half step back, gritted his teeth, and repeated in a flat tone, "Where's Oliver Ramon?"
Debbie looked left and right, and decided to stand between Nemo and Godwin, trying to block the older brother who was much taller than him.
Godwin Lopez, who hadn't seen him in half a year, had slightly longer hair, and his tone didn't sound like he just wanted a brotherly hug.
"Captain is angry." Debbie poked Nemo's arm and whispered. "At the beginning, he wanted to announce the killing of the 'Demon King' as cooperation, and use our investigation data to reverse the case of the 'almost all sacrifice' Tumbleweed, to wash away his notoriety."
"And then?" Nemo whispered back.
"Oli must have said something underground. Almost everyone believed that he was not 'in time to escape' as Godwin said, but 'for the sake of bone jade'. The proof materials prepared by the regiment commander were also taken in advance. Let's go, just think about who did it-"
"Oh, I guess I know what Ollie thinks..."
"I know what he thinks too."
Godwin gritted his teeth and joined the conversation.
"I will never agree to say this kind of thing in advance. Yes, I know it will be more low-key to hide it, but the comments outside are really... His name deserves to be remembered on the surface! I have already warned Mr. Ramon that no more Fool me'. Now I'm here to punch, hope he's ready."
"Captain!"
"I can't even explain much to him!" Godwin exclaimed, subconsciously slamming his sword into the ground. As a result, Captain Horizon glanced at the thick and soft carpet on the ground, and took it back to the scabbard angrily. "Every time I explain—"
"...Poor Mr. Lopez, who was robbed of the title of hero by his own blood relatives, and justified that bastard like this."
Debbie interrupted Godwin, took out a handkerchief, pretended to wipe her tears, and deliberately raised her voice in a thin and sharp voice: "He's really nice, Miss Wright, can you give him this love letter for me? ?"
"After such a trip, the one who contributed the most is obviously the one on the horizon. Oliver Lopez just grabbed the last blow... In order to steal the bone jade, all the tumbleweeds except Savage were folded inside, Deserving it!" Nemo co-operated with Debbie and imitated enthusiastically.
"You two know that I can hear you, right? Wrights?"
Godwin took a deep breath. "And, Mr. Wright, think about who you are, and don't talk about the final blow—I'm pretty sure you two will be endless from now on."
"Speaking of which, Godwin, do you want bone jade? I can give you one right now."
"…Stop talking." Godwin rubbed his temples with a headache, apparently indigestion about the subject.
"Oliver is in the closet over there." Nemo smiled and shook his head, and there was a muffled scream from the closet.
Godwin walked relentlessly to the closet and opened the door.
"Nimo." Oliver slowly sank himself into the back of his clothes, his voice aggrieved.
"You can't hide from him forever." Nemo picked up the teacup. "Want some hot tea, Debbie?"
"Considering that today is your wedding, Mr. Ramon, I won't slap in the face." Godwin punched Oliver in the belly with a smile.
"Long time no see, I miss you too, brother." Without avoiding the fist, he was punched in the stomach. Oliver stooped like a shrimp, and patted Godwin's arm with his hand.
Godwin's facial muscles twitched, and he snorted coldly for a long time.
"Don't be fooled by that stinky face, he's downstairs with a present." When Oliver straightened up, Debbie stood on tiptoe, trying to get her face over Godwin's shoulder, and lip-synching Oliver.
"By the way, since you're going to be stigmatized all the time, I thought you guys wanted to keep a low profile." Godwin didn't notice Debbie, who was making small moves behind his back, "Why did you choose such a place?"
Oliver was startled.
"It's a nice view, you can see it all over the town. But I heard you guys built this house for a year, well, it looks like there's a garden behind it."
Goldwyn looked out the window to the garden, then quickly took his eyes away from the black horse that was draped around.
"Since the third floor has been added, why not just overthrow and rebuild? It's faster. I just took a look, and the second floor basically maintains the original layout."
"The old man's house." Oliver smiled and glanced at Nemo who was drinking tea silently. "We don't want to ruin those rooms."
"Debbie once told me that you bought the Dawning Tavern directly with this land. Old friends... You know the previous owner of the Dawning Tavern?" Godwin raised his eyebrows.
"Well," Nemo responded, "… a good friend of mine."
Godwin opened his mouth, apparently wanting to ask more. As a result, he was almost smeared in the face by the gray parrot that rushed through the door.
"Ready!" Bagelmoru flapped his wings and flew quickly over Nemo's shoulders, pretending that nothing had happened. "Banquet, banquet! Free banquet! There are many people watching at the door!"
"What about Ann?"
"Come here long ago, and brought Delia with her. Her picky knight just wiped every table again. It's terrible. I just pulled a thornberry from the corner of the table to eat, and he directly A spell is burnt! Isn't it just stained with ashes!"
"… "
"Can I beat him?" Seeing Nemo's helpless expression, the grey parrot jumped a few times eagerly.
"Strictly speaking, Ann is our biggest investor. Her knights do have oversight." Nemo scratched the grey parrot's feathers, "I'll buy you some fresher ones tomorrow."
"… tsk, okay."
Seeing Oliver beside him walking towards the door, Nemo put down the teacup, put down his rolled up sleeves, and smoothed out the wrinkles on the cuffs.
"Anyway, it's the first day of the reopening of the Dawning Tavern."
Stopping at the door, Oliver straightened his formal suit and stretched out his right hand. His face was full of smiles, and the ring on his left hand slid past a few warm stars in the yellowish lighting in the room.
"Even if it's a wedding where the two male shop owners are 'not blessed by God', I don't think there will be too many guests."
"yes."
Nemo raised the corner of his mouth and stretched out his ring-wearing left hand.
"Take me away, my knight."
Loud laughter could be heard from time to time on the first floor, and the deep winter festival in the center of the town had already begun. Snowflakes were blown up by the wind, and the fireworks that kept burning illuminated the dark winter sky.
The lights on the third floor of the Dawning Tavern went out.
The moment its new owner closed the door, the brilliance of the spell leaped out from his fingertips and lit up softly. The branches in the vase by the bed stretched out in an instant, and in the darkness, a dozen small flowers with delicate fragrance bloomed.
Tiny flowers, illuminated by fireworks in the distance, flicker in and out of the darkness.
When the owner of this room returns again, the name "room" may no longer be appropriate—
In this case, people usually like to call it a "home".