Stray Ch100

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 100: Lord Bagelmaurus

“Mr. White, this way, please.” Seeing Nemo’s posture as if he was about to sit down and listen to the sermon, Virgil whispered quickly. He controlled his volume politely, but it was still loud enough for the people closest to them to hear clearly.

The preacher, with only a mouth on his face, had a very beautiful voice. His tone seemed to have magic powers that could make people believe everything he said. Nemo was stunned for a few seconds and bit fiercely into the sandpoint plum that was in his mouth. He instantly recalled his current situation, accompanied by the sour taste that almost choked into tears.

“What is the origin of magic? We have reason to think…” The demon warlock who was preaching completely ignored them.

Nemo pulled the top edge of his hood up with one hand and strived to show only half his face. He then straightened his back and followed Virgil out of the hall as calmly as possible. Virgil seemed to be familiar with the area. He stuck to the wall on the left side of the nave and went directly into a long corridor. Nemo held back a belly full of questions he wanted to ask as the other party continued to walk in front of him without any hesitation. He could only obediently remain quiet.

After passing by dozens of incense lamps, doors finally started appearing on both sides of the corridor. The thick, dark wooden doors were carved with two symmetrical arcs that intersect at the top and bottom. The middle was neatly separated by a vertical line. Virgil stopped in front of one of the doors. Unlike the other doors, the mark on this door flashed coldly in the dim shadows. “You can stay here. As your ‘assistant’, I’ll stay in the servant room on the side.”

The visitor room of Abyssal Church felt equally cold. There were no odd decorations in it. Rather, the cramped room was almost empty. There was only a long wooden table with books and a stone bed. From the suffocatingly narrow side door, he could catch a glimpse of the servant’s room. There wasn’t even a bed in it. Only a withered patch of piled yellow straw was in the corner.

Fortunately, it was clean enough and there was no dust.

After they both entered the room, Virgil carefully locked the door. He took out his paintbrush and buffed it casually in the air a few times. The stone interior, which originally lacked color, instantly became darker. Then he took out a small cloth bag from his shoulder, reached in and dug into it for a good half a minute before finally taking out a yellow and white candle that had almost been burnt up and threw it on the wooden table.

It wasn’t until it was lit that the slender candle became half a meter high, causing Nemo to realize that it wasn’t an ordinary candle.

“We can communicate freely now,” Virgil said. He took off the weird mask on his face, but his voice was still very light. “But lower your volume. Better to be safe.”

“You’re very familiar with this place.” Nemo picked up a book without a title on the wooden table and looked at it carefully by candlelight. Its leather cover was printed with the same symbol as the door.

“Yes.” Virgil nodded bluntly. “Perhaps more familiar than you think.”

“When will we officially act?” Nemo rubbed the book cover and breathed a sigh of relief. He licked his lips, which were slightly sticky because of tension. “If believers move more at night, it would be better to act during the day.”

“I will go out for a walk tonight to find out why the sacrifice is ahead of schedule.” Virgil stared at the candlelight. “Things seem to have changed. We’ll have to wait for the status quo to be determined before discussing the details. You can rest in the room until dawn.”

“Can I go to the library tonight?”

“You’d better not. There are not many hours left before dawn. It’s better around noon, when most people go back to their rooms to rest. Most importantly, the Bishop of the Abyss will not wander around at noon,” Virgil patiently explained.

“Bishop of the Abyss? ……Was it the man who was preaching?”

“The Abyssal Church doesn’t have a Pope. It’s managed by twelve bishops in turns.” Virgil looked serious. “It’s not the preacher just now, but you should have noticed. The bishop in power this month is that woman in the veil hat, Hagen Ingram.”

“Okay,” Nemo responded. “Then let’s talk at noon.”

“I may not be able to come back in time after dawn, so I’ll leave you a road map to the library.” Virgil took out a thin drawing board and quickly painted on it with his charcoal pen. “You can go by yourself… You won’t have trouble finding the way… right?”

“I am confident in my memory,” Nemo whispered.

“I’m sorry,” Virgil sighed, rubbing his nose uncomfortably. “I promised to take you there.”

“Don’t worry, it’s fine.” Nemo finally put down his hood, and the scattered hair made the back of his neck itchy.

Virgil put on the mask again and put a tightly wrapped paper bag and a small piece of crystal on the wooden table. “This is dry food. The Abyssal Church doesn’t provide food for visitors. You should be able to condense water spells, right?”

Nemo nodded with uncertainty.

He put away the charcoal pen and put the thin drawing board and the things on the table together. “And this is the road map… I’m going out first. You have a good rest.”

With Virgil’s departure, the color of everything in the room returned to normal. Nemo suddenly relaxed. He threw the staff away, took off his shoes and jumped on the stone bed while holding a book and retracted into a corner of the room. The dark shadows rose from the air around him, affixed to every weak gap in the room while blocking the door at the same time.

He would finish reading this book before sunrise and report to Oliver then. Afterwards, he would sleep until noon.

However, Oliver’s side didn’t have it as easy as he thought.

After the Knights of Silence left, Oliver painstakingly began to paint the camouflage array again. From time to time, he would touch the piece of crystal in his pocket with his hand. Although it was still a while before sunrise, he couldn’t help but rub it a few times.

“If you are worried about Nemo…” Ann once again completed the camouflage array ahead of time. “I can assure you, don’t think the Knights of Silence are terrifying. Your sweetheart can take down that entire team by himself.”

“Strength is one thing, mood is another.” Oliver painted much faster this time around. “I hope it goes well for them.”

He threw away the branches with satisfaction and nodded at the newly painted array. Three seconds later, the formation triggered again, and Oliver didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. They quickly hid behind the trees. Oliver thought melancholically that at this rate he would never be able to set up his tent.

The visitor this time had nothing in common with the Knights of Silence. Rather, it could be said to be the complete opposite. The man was riding a white horse without a trace of unruly hair. He wore silver armor on his body, which shone dimly in the moonlight. He wasn’t wearing a helmet, which revealed short, supple burgundy hair.

“…Is there a knight exhibition going on?” Ann muttered in a low voice. “Why would a Knight of Judgment from the Laddism Church come to such a hellhole alone?”

Her voice was low, so low that Oliver, who was close by, couldn’t hear it clearly. However, the Knight of Judgment, who wasn’t far away, suddenly turned in their direction. He turned his horse’s head and rushed straight over, immediately lowered his body, and pulled out a long sword that was giving off a silver glow.

This time, Ann cursed loudly. Oliver sadly glanced at the camouflage array that had lost its effectiveness and pulled out his Rest in Peace.

This battle was much simpler than they thought.

“Don’t struggle, okay?” Oliver began to apply the camouflage array again for the third time with a blank expression. The Knight of Judgment was entangled in vines and was locked up in a simple cage made from ice. “We’re not going to do anything to you.”

“Despicable Black Chapters!” The tone of the Knight of Judgment was still in shock. “Your footwork… That is the advanced footwork of the Knights of Judgment. Where are you from—”

‘I learnt it from your former Chief Justice,’ Oliver replied in his heart while pursing his lips tightly. The movements of the person in front of him was like a downgraded version of Adrian Cross. As soon as he raised his sword, Oliver would react, as he knew exactly what he was going to do. The whole battle didn’t even last five minutes.

Even the fuller goat didn’t budge from its position as it remained chewing peacefully in place on the grass.

“It seems that Adr— Ahem, your training has paid off.” The female warrior showed signs of annoyance as she was getting tired of repeatedly repainting the camouflage array. She began to tease the white horse with a carrot. “Speaking of which, with such a guy, do we really have to hide?”

“We’re just performing a task related to the Abyssal Church.” Oliver rubbed his face and walked towards the Knight of Judgment. “You don’t need to care about our origins. We’ll leave in a few days.”

“Few days,” the knight sneered dismissively. His light blue eyes were gleaming with anger. “You guys sure know how to pick the time.”

“Speaking of which, what are you doing here?”

“Do you think I will tell you?” The Knight of Judgment grabbed his neck and made a gesture of slicing his finger across it.

“What should I do, captain?” Ann yawned. “He looks like he doesn’t want to let us go.”

“It’s a good idea to knock him out. We have animal repellent powder here to ensure that he wakes up alive.” Oliver rubbed his temples. “But if there is another team of Knights of Silence, they’ll most likely find him.”

“So?”

“Let’s take care of this first.” Oliver stopped the hand that was painting the array and continued to set up his tent, ignoring the angry gaze from the Knight of Judgment. “Anyways, he can’t do anything… Ann, let’s draw another camouflage array.”

The Knight of Judgment obviously didn’t believe that two snake-level Black Chapters would simply stop here. Until the eastern sky began to turn white, the two squatted in front of the tent and began to cook soup in a small pot.

“You almost threw the small piece of crystal into the soup and cooked it.” Ann poked the soft-boiled carrots in the soup with a freshly peeled branch. Her tone sounded a bit more pitiful. “The sun hasn’t come out yet. Relax. Even if the entire Church of Silence exploded, Nemo would be fine.”

Oliver rubbed the bread in his hand silently. When she saw that he was about to stuff the crystal into his mouth with his other hand, Ann stretched out the branch stained with soup, slowly pressed Oliver’s hand holding the crystal piece down, and knocked on the hand he was using to rub the bread.

“You should be glad Dylan’s not there. Otherwise, he’ll laugh at you for a month.” The female warrior shook her head. “It’s nice to be young.”

At the same time, the crystal piece suddenly burst into cracks and Oliver bounced back into place.

“Ollie?” Nemo’s voice came from the crystal piece. “We’re in the Abyssal Church.”

“Are you okay?” Oliver maintained a steady tone of voice. As the conversation went on, the cracks on the crystal piece became denser.

“…” Nemo’s voice paused for a moment. “From an aesthetic point of view, I prefer the Laddism Church.”

Oliver bent the corner of his mouth. “You’re okay.”

“I’m okay.” Nemo’s murmur revealed some dissatisfaction. “I’m not acting with you. I’m not used to this.”

The crystal piece shattered, forcibly terminating the communication. Oliver closed his mouth that had just opened, and his expression became stiff. The Knight of Judgment, a few steps away, had stayed up all night and looked at the scene in disbelief.

“Yeah, it’s a great conspiracy.” Ann served herself a bowl of soup and gave herself an extra piece of boiled jerky. “That’s the boyfriend of our leader, who just conveyed important information about the aesthetics of the Abyssal Church. Is there anything else you want to ask this gentleman?”

The Knight of Judgment snorted coldly with some difficulty and turned his head away. It was just that this time, his attitude wasn’t as determined as previously.

When Nemo opened his eyes again, the strong afternoon sun shone into the room through the small window in the room, making everything look not as cold and hard as it was at night. Too good of a memory could have its downside. It only took him a few minutes to read through the doctrine taught by the Laddism Church. His only hope was to contact Oliver, but the crystal was truly too fragile. It seemed that the Abyssal Church’s tolerance for them wasn’t unreasonable.

He rubbed the crystal powder in his hand and moved the dark shadows away from the door. After a brief glance at the map on the table, Nemo put the dry food into his pocket and picked up his staff. He took a deep breath and opened the door with a look as if he was heading towards his death…

He poked his head out and looked around.

As Virgil said, there were almost no figures in the Church of Silence during the day. Nemo made up his mind. He put on his hood again and walked towards his destination with his staff in hand. According to the instructions on the road map, the library was on the ground floor of the second half of the church. The structure of the entire Church of Silence wasn’t symmetrical. It had many passages that were crooked and twisted, and the corridors were like an ant’s nest, which made it very difficult to tell where he was going. It took him almost an hour to find the “white stone gate” indicated by the destination.

The only thing he could consider lucky was that he hadn’t run into anyone along the way. With gratitude to the god of luck, Nemo looked around at the empty surroundings again and pushed the door open with satisfaction.

“We are here.” As soon as the stone gate made a little moving sound, a velvety female voice came from behind him. “Is it still the same area as last time, Lord Bagelmaurus?”

Nemo froze.

He almost dropped the staff he was holding in his hand. It was too conspicuous if he were to grab his hood, so he slowly moved away and stepped aside, trying his best to lower his head. He tried to look out from the edge of the hood.

He could see a woman dressed in a long black dress. As his vision moved up, he saw an enlarged head that didn’t match the enchanting body that was covered by an exquisite black veil hat. The Bishop of the Abyss, Hagen Ingram, was holding a thin dendritic staff with golden bones, and on top, a gray parrot was perched on it in high spirits. It was surrounded by several rune ornaments, emitting a strong, powerful aura. On its feet were inlaid with small gemstones that glittered with fine light.

Nemo suddenly lowered his head even lower, so that he even drooped his shoulders slightly. Although he did plan to have a good talk with the gray parrot, this plan didn’t include the Bishop of the Abyss as a bystander. Bagelmaurus was arrogant by nature, so it shouldn’t pay attention to a “human” who it occasionally passed by.

In fact, it wasn’t the gray parrot that noticed him but someone else.

“Oh,” Hagen Ingram stopped. She stretched out her spare hand and naturally squeezed Nemo’s chin. “You’re yesterday’s visitor, that beautiful young man.”

Nemo’s head was lifted by force, revealing his entire face.

“Ah,” he sighed dejectedly.

“Ah—!!!” Bagelmaurus let out an earth-shattering scream.

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The author has something to say:

Chapter 100!!! The title of this chapter is given to the gray parrot. Are you happy now, gray parrot?

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Probably the most glorious flirting in Ms. Ingram’s career…

And the deepest psychological shadow of Bagelmaurus…

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Kinky Thoughts:

Uh oh, do I smell vinegar?

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