Stray

ng directly,” the boy said solemnly, glancing curiously at the sword in Godwin’s hand.
“Are you the child of an adventurer? You should know this.”

“Nn.” Godwin responded stiffly.
“I… don’t remember much about it.”

“We call it laughing salt mushroom.” The boy shrugged and began to pull up the white mushrooms neatly.
“This stuff is chopped up and put into soup, which gives the soup a nice salty fresh taste.
You can’t eat it by itself, or you’ll get salted to death.
And—”

He paused mysteriously for a bit, gave a big smile, and another piece of dry mud fell from his face.
“If you don’t cook it with hot potato vine, it’ll keep you in a state of giggling.”

Godwin glanced at the cluster of mushrooms regretfully.
Giggling was the next best thing to high salt induced thirst that was fatal.
He could only bear to give them up and watch the kid in front of him pluck a handful of them.

“My name is Oliver.” After the muddy boy plucked all the mushrooms, he introduced himself with a big grin.
“How about you? Why are you here?”

“Um.” Back then, Godwin wasn’t used to lying so he had to look away embarrassingly.
The other party’s name had no reference value anyways, and he struggled to come up an excuse for himself.
There might be more than ten little boys named Oliver in this town alone.

“Oh, okay.
After all, you’re the child of an adventurer, I get it.” Oliver curled his lips.
“Where are your parents?”

“I… got separated from my father.” Godwin struggled to pull the lie out of his head.

“Oh, then you have to find him quick.” Oliver pulled out a thin hemp rope from the basket and expertly tied the mushrooms into a bunch.
“Look, it’s getting late… My father said that there are palulu weevils active nearby and many children have died recently.
They specifically target children who are running around alone, which is quite scary.”

As he said it, he raised his chest, obviously very proud of this knowledge.

Godwin was dumbfounded.
He had already memorized the demon encyclopedia thoroughly and there was absolutely no such thing.
It was probably made up by this kid’s father to fool him, but seeing the other party’s inexplicable cheerful mood, he didn’t want to spoil the mood.

“I see, thank you for your reminder.” He coughed a few times and prepared to find food somewhere else.

Oliver opened the lid of the back basket and put the bunched mushroom he skewered in.
The fleshy mushrooms brushed against vines and Godwin couldn’t help but turn his head and looked at it sternly.
“This… Is it really impossible to eat? Is there a way to get rid of the salt?”

“Nope, unless you cook soup.” Oliver shook his head solemnly.
“Although I picked so much, I really don’t like them at all.
This is a revenge prop.
Ah, do you see me like this? It’s all my dad’s fault.”

Godwin wanted to slip away quietly but was led to stay in place by this sentence.

“I switched the sugar and salt in the shop.” Oliver sounded a little angry.
“He was going to spank me with his shoe and chased me around half the town.
I can understand.
After all, the guests didn’t like the sweet onion soup, but when I ran away, I accidently fell into a mud pit.
You know, it was a really big mud pit! As a result, my dad…”

“What happened to him?”

“My dad went home with a wild smile and didn’t even pull me out,” Oliver sounded extremely aggrieved, “so I decided to do something to the mushroom soup for dinner.
I have replaced the potato vine with bean vine.
That’s all.”

He dangled a string of mushrooms.
“I’m going to make him giggle for a day.”

Sponsored Content

“…” Godwin’s heart inexplicably welled up with a little cold loss.
He looked at the boy of similar age as him and a strange sour feeling spread instantly.
He straightened his back, slate up his blood-stained face, and intended to leave.

“Hey, hey, hey, wait.
The sun is going down!” Oliver, who was squatting on the ground, stood up quickly, “Why don’t you go to town for the night first? There’s an orphanage in our town— Uh, sorry, I know you’re father is fine— I just want to say that Grandpa Patrick is very kind and he’s absolutely willing to take you in for a night.”

“No need,” Godwin whispered.
“I know where my father is.”

He couldn’t leave with such a stranger rashly.

“Well, since you insist… Ouch!” Oliver scratched his head and ended up forgetting about the mushroom skewer that he was still holding in his hand.
The back of the basket on the ground was ripping over, and two tied oil-paper bags rolled out.

The sweet smell of roasted apples suddenly leaked out a little causing Godwin to shook in place.
He glanced at the two paper bags quietly and decided to leave this unlucky place quickly.

However, his internal organs betrayed him.
There was an embarrassing loud growl that came from his stomach.

Oliver was stunned.
He glanced at the paper bag, then at Godwin, and finally turned his gaze to the paper bag.
Even if his face was covered with mud, Godwin could still see the struggle in his opponent’s eyes.

“You, you are hungry…” Oliver muttered in a low voice, “Oh, okay.”

He frowned and picked up one of the paper bags and stuffed it into Godwin’s hand.

“It’s rare that I was in a bad mood, so I spent all my pocket money in a single go.
This is for eating with Mr.
White.” Oliver’s voice was getting smaller.
“Although Mr.
White can’t eat it himself, I have to eat it for him… In short, it shouldn’t matter if I give you one! Mr.
White will certainly not blame me.”

Godwin’s hand trembled a little.
He thanked him with difficulty and quickly tore open the paper bag and toss away all the etiquette engraved in his mind.
The thing in the paper bag wasn’t unfamiliar.
He had seen it in the window of the dessert shop— Caramel apple tart, a beautiful treat.

The sweetness was so seductive that he had asked his father for this treat twice, but unfortunately they all ended in failure.
Godwin never imagined he would come into contact with it in this kind of situation.
He looked at half the apple tart that was pre-cut in the paper bag, took a deep breath, and bit into it carefully.

So it tasted like this.

Godwin couldn’t say anything.
The dessert was delicious, better than anything he had ever eaten, but his eyes burst into tears.
The muddy-faced boy on the opposite side didn’t seem to expect such a reaction so he was stunned.

“Is it that delicious?” Oliver’s voice trembled a little.
“I…I know this apple tart is good.
After all, it wasn’t cheap… but is it really that good?”

Godwin didn’t answer him but swallowed the half piece of pastry while he made strong sniffles.
Even though half a treat didn’t fill his stomach at all, the smell was enough to keep him quiet for a long time.

Oliver seemed to be struggling even more.
He grinned and turned around a few times, as if he made up his mind.
He scratched his head and pushed the other paper bag he had over as well.

“You can eat it,” Oliver announced rather painfully as he huffed a few agonizing puffs.
“Your movements, ah… You’re still hungry, right?”

“Hurry up and eat it.
Otherwise, I might not be able to resist changing my mind.” Then he quickly put away the basket with a determined air, as if he intended to escape from the half piece of dessert left.
“Just… That’s it! I’d better save up again and eat with Mr.
White next time…”

Oliver sounded like he was on the verge of tears.

Godwin sighed and wanted to refuse, but the other party ran out without looking back.

“…You have to find your father quickly!” After running more than a hundred meters, the muddy figure stopped.
Oliver turned his head and added, “Watch out for the weevils!”

Then he ran away, and soon disappeared.

Godwin sat on the ground flat on his ass.
This time, he untied the second paper bag very carefully, chewed in small bites, and ate extremely slowly.

Sponsored Content

It was truly, a very sweet treat, but it tasted much saltier than before.
He failed to stop his tears and the long-accumulated grievances and pain finally broke through.
He struggled to stuff the last piece of it into his mouth, and then for the first time in his life, he cried out of sadness.

‘They are really different,’ he thought.

[You are not destined to die in that place Godwin.]

His father didn’t lie, so was the rest also true? ……For example, could he really bring true peace to the surface?

If the surface was destroyed these kind people would also disappear, but his father said he was destined to save them.
If this was responsibility, then “responsibility” may not be a difficult concept to understand.
People who were relaxed and happy, people who live a life beyond his reach— He liked them, and he hoped they could continue to live like this without having to understand the bitterness that he felt.

Such a world may become a little better.

‘Father’s right,’ he thought bitterly.
Sweetness could really deprave people and create the illusion of happiness.
Godwin stood up and pulled out the sword that he inserted into the soil.
This time, it was his own choice and he glanced at the lights of the town not far away again…

He ran away, and this time he chose not to escape anymore.

Until now, he had never indulged once.

Pulling himself out of the long-ago memory, Godwin put down the pages in his hand and began to put on his armor.
According to the contract, it was time for him to report his current progress to his employer…

“Mr.
Lopez.” The communication crystal lit up on time, and a warm, sweet female voice came from across the room.
“Good morning.”

“Good morning, Mrs.
Mandy.
Are you in better health?” Godwin’s tone was calm and polite.

“Much better.
Thank you for your concern.” The woman across the table let out a soft laugh.
“I think I’ll be able to return to my post today… Gee, I haven’t seen those little ones for a few days and I kinda miss them.
You don’t know how sorry I am to have missed the freshman orientation.”

The female employer of Horizon paused.

“I hope there will be a few good seedlings in the Pathology of Abyssal Magic class,” she sighed softly.
“To tell you the truth, my memory is still a bit hazy.
The research project on the Trent Plague… Well, I have to find a smart assistant for it.”

The author has something to say：

Oliver, if you didn’t have such a lousy name, your brother might be able to recognize you.

So what he did to the Demon King’s skull before was… buy two servings of food, pretend to give Mr.
White one, and then eat it all happily (……

Nemo: Hehe, I remember it all, Ollie√

——————

Trent Plague is the disease Ollie had XD

Kinky Thoughts:

Oh man, this chapter is so bittersweet.
I love how cute Oliver was as a kid.
Poor Godwin.
I take everything mean I thought about him back.
He deserves happiness! I’ll buy you all the caramel apple tarts you want!

And the two of them didn’t even recognize each other ugh!!!

I also really love how the author can seamlessly connect all those small innocuous details.
I don’t remember which chapter it was, but Ollie did mention how he once pissed off his dad by replacing the salt with sugar… and this led to this event.