Nemo had the quickest reaction this time - he quickly took out the tattered book from the bag on the side of the goat and handed it to him. With a courtesy bow.
"We only have this book and sheet music," he asked solemnly, "did you lose this?"
Ann's hand just touched the spear body, Oliver's sword was only half drawn, but Adrian was ready to fight. At this moment, the movements of the three people froze, and the scene fell into a subtle silence for a while.
"I'm much prettier than him!" cried the grey parrot, not very pleased, "why are you being so polite to him?"
The deformed monster didn't seem to have expected this either. It wandered suspiciously a few steps away from Nemo, its claws digging hard on the ground. Its eyes are not as invisible as birds, but more human-like, if you ignore the twisted flesh, they are beautiful blue eyes. It's a pity that its feathers are sticky, and its bare skin is full of filth, exuding an unpleasant sour smell. The vague beauty immediately vanished.
"...Thank you?" There was still a bit of suspicion in its voice, and it didn't come close.
"I put it here." Nemo picked a place with thick grass and gently placed the book on the ground. He did regret it a little - even if it was a fairy tale ending with a cliché, he had only read half of it. "Get it yourself."
As he backed away, the monster swiftly swept back a few steps. It was extremely fast and seemed to be on the lookout for a possible attack. But nothing happened—it tilted its head, moved slowly to the grass, stretched out its twisted forelegs, and carefully picked up the book. But the sharply deformed fingers were not suitable for flipping books, and the tips of its claws almost pierced the already worn book. Fortunately, the monster reacted fast enough that it slanted its finger and only scratched its own palm. Blood poured out from the wound, bright red, very similar to humans.
The monster lowered its head, tears slowly gathering in its pretty eyes, and it let them drip onto the pages. It gave up flipping through the book and picked it up awkwardly with its arms between its wings and arms, like a fragile soap bubble.
Nemo scratched his head, now he knew where the blood and water stains came from. He tore a spare cloth bag from the goat and handed it to the monster.
"Any help?" he asked gently. "Look, we can communicate—just a book, and we don't want any conflict with you."
"...Thank you." The monster finally spoke again, his voice hoarse as if he had swallowed corrosive venom. It didn't get close, and it didn't take the cloth bag—it seemed to be completely deflated, and the ferocity that had just terrorized them was gone, and it became timid. "I won't bother you anymore. I didn't mean it just now... But you guys are Heizhang, I'm a little scared."
"We're just here to find people." Oliver spoke slowly. He took the cloth bag in Nemo's hand, tore a few strips of cloth from the mouth of the bag, and tied it into a small sturdy hanging bag. Just enough for the monster to hang on his chest. "Take it—use it for that book, or else it's easy to throw away."
The monster was silent. It looked at the four people in front of it, and under the brilliance of the bonfire jumping, the tears in its eyes became more and more obvious. After a while, it began to sob softly—it looked like it wanted to leave, but was undecided, like someone about to freeze to death who wouldn't leave the embers of that little fire.
Ann thought for a while, as if she noticed something. She snatched the cloth bag from Oliver's hand, thrust the spear into the ground, and walked straight over, her gestures showing something that could not be refused. The monster froze in place and did not dodge—the female warrior grabbed the book, put it in the cloth bag, and then hung the cloth around the monster's neck.
"Okay," she said, and Nemo still felt the sour stench a few steps away, but she didn't even frown. "Although I don't know why you speak Common, nor how you got into this unfortunate look - anyway, if you meet a blond man with a pretty face and a sweet mouth, remember to stay away from him, he Probably thinking about your corpse."
"Grace Bluebird?" Nemo stared at the monster in shock, "...is that what it looks like?"
"Not exactly." Ann rolled his eyes, "but the skeletons are really similar, they should be of the same race. This may only be cursed."
"But it—"
"It's her." Ann waved her hand impatiently, "Be careful with your words."
The monster's sobbing grew louder, it—or rather, she clutched the cloth bag on her chest, and her hoarse voice had a distinct tremor. "I'm not Grace Bluebird." She squeezed the sentence out of her throat and huddled. "I'm really not... I'm human."
This time even the grey parrot was stunned. Ann turned her face slowly, looking at her in disbelief.
"You guys don't seem like some of those bad black seals... You're the only ones willing to talk to me these past few weeks," she said shiveringly, seeming more receptive to Ann's approach than Nemo and Oliver. "You even have a monk. Mr. monk, you must have seen a lot of curses. Do you know what happened to me? Please..."
"I can't tell just by looking." Adrian looked at her carefully by the firelight. "You need to tell me the cause and effect. Miss Savage, is it convenient to perform an illumination technique?"
"But she doesn't smell like a curse?" the grey parrot murmured, looking lost. It flew on the fuller goat's back and started stealing nuts from the bag--everyone was too busy to be surprised at the moment, and no one had time to care about it.
Ann's face was still full of shock, she stretched out her hands numbly, and the soft white light suddenly broke through the darkness. The monster girl's appearance was illuminated more clearly, and it looked even more terrifying. She instinctively shrank into the shadow, as if she was a little photophobic.
"I... I'm from Vincent Town." After half a minute of silence, she opened the mouth tentatively. "My name is Merody Delaney."
"...Why do I think this name sounds familiar?" Nemo turned to Oliver stiffly, "Isn't it my illusion?"
Oliver took out the contract paper and confirmed it several times: "But the data..."
On the parchment was a very detailed portrait of a very beautiful girl - the missing Merlotti Delaney with shaggy black curly hair and well-dressed. She holds the lute in her arms, and her smile is beautiful and refined.
"Are you Merlotty Delaney?" Oliver tried to calm his voice, "Isaac Delaney's daughter in Vincent Town?"
"You know me?" The monster, or Merorty Delaney, immediately retreated back into the darkness.
"Your parents released the task of tracing people last night." An quickly reassured, "We are the black stamps who took the task, don't be afraid. We can..." Halfway through, her voice stopped awkwardly.
Nemo could probably know what Ann was thinking. How could they bring back such a Merlotti Delaney to fight? not to mention…
"I'm not going back!" The unpleasant voice suddenly became an octave higher, almost breaking. "I managed to escape, and I will never go back!"
"You go ahead." The well-informed knight commander was the most calm at the moment, "How did you become like this?"
"I don't know, I was fine when I escaped." She stretched out her arms towards her face, as if trying to cover her face - but the sharp fingers added a few fresh wounds to her face. "I just escaped, is this really God's punishment?"
Nemo immediately turned his eyes to Adrian, who had never heard Adrian praising God. The current scene is very suitable for saying "God is forgiving", and he couldn't help but speak for the knight commander.
"Although our beliefs may be different, I don't think so." Adrian said seriously, without the slightest intention of praising God in a recitation tone. "Don't jump to conclusions, Miss Delaney. If you don't mind... why are you running away from home?"
"Because I met someone I wanted to spend my life with." The muscles in her face twitched, which Nemo guessed was a smile. "And then my parents, they... thought I was crazy or something. But I loved him, I loved him soberly."
Nemo and Oliver looked at each other, wondering if it was his illusion, Oliver's eyes seemed to float a little.
"He?" Ann interjected in surprise, "Your parents reacted so strongly, I thought you fell in love with someone's girl. Vincent Town is not a big place, it's not like this—"
The monster shook his head slightly.
"My lover's name is Pasototu." There was a little softness in the hoarse voice. "He's a Grace Bird."
For a split second, Nemo saw a similar emotion on Ann's face—for a split second, she clearly thought the girl was crazy. But she quickly suppressed the surprise. And he and Oliver have lived in a remote town for more than 20 years, and have no concept of Grace Blue Bird at all. So they could only stare blankly at Ann, waiting for her to continue.
"You can't even talk," Ann said in shock, and a gesture stopped Adrian, who was about to speak. "They—er, sorry—they do have human-like intelligence, but they're just… bird monsters that don't squeak."
"Looks like you don't hear either." She looked at Ann with sad blue eyes. "They're not 'humanly intelligent', they're smarter than humans. Yes, people keep telling me this over and over—that Just a bunch of vicious and stupid monsters, not worth living in this world."
"But I heard it," she said with difficulty. "I heard the most beautiful song in the world. They've been talking about music, and they're no different from us."
"They're not dumb, we're deaf."
,Wonderful!
(m.. = )