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Chapter 128: Happy Cooperation
The flames of the bonfire in the center of the site burned extremely high and the dry and cracked firewood made a series of crisp noises in the flames. The unique smell of wood burning filled the night breeze, making the summer night that was already warm hotter. People were dancing and they sprinkled the grass with their exaggerated clinking movements of their glasses spilling the inferior liquid that had a sour taste. The men made loud noises, while the ladies picked up their skirt and twirl around, while the children screamed and bumped in between people.
Adrian originally thought that what was waiting for him would be a relatively quiet tavern, not a lively bonfire party.
Jesse opened his coat, loosened his tied blond hair, and pulled his arm very freely into the crowd. He rushed all the way to the edge of the campfire, picked up two glasses of fruit wine that smelled a bit pungent, and briskly threw down a few coins.
“Yours.” He put the dirty wooden wine glass into Adrian’s hand, his fingers were wet of wine. “You’re welcome—”
The former knight commander looked down and saw fine grass clippings floating in the muddy liquor. As if he hadn’t seen it, Jesse drank most of the glass happily, and then began to scour the crowd, trying to find himself a snack.
Adrian took a sip, stared firmly at the blond shining hair in the night. He didn’t know if Jesse deliberately chose this kind of occasion. The overly warm and relaxed air here made him a little confused, and he didn’t know where to start.
Adrian Cross had met many people. It stood to reason that it was difficult for people to wash away the influence of their origin. No matter how their circumstances had changed, there was always a trace of past in their bones. He was good as grabbing clues, using it as a foundation, and slowly figuring out the person in front of him.
Except for this one.
He couldn’t find where the other party had come from, and Jesse Dylan could prose any accent when he was happy. He was as slippery as a loach, always avoiding temptation against himself, and didn’t seem to truly get angry about anything. To be honest, Adrian could perceive Oliver’s and Ann’s vigilance against Jesse. Disregarding Ann, even Oliver’s, who always seem to be good-tempered, alertness against him was a bit too unnatural.
Now that he thought about it, it could be something like a strong intuition.
He had to deal with Nemo Light and knew Nemo’s identity. No matter what Nemo’s true body was, Nemo was undoubtedly an extremely strong superior demon, so Jesse Dylan, as a trading partner, certainly won’t be weak either. Considering that Nemo doesn’t know anything about Jesse…
Only a fool would believe that this guy was really only twenty-seven years old.
Did he make a wish too? Adrian stared at the light blue figure. What is his wish?
This would make sense. If a person lived long enough— Long enough to completely forget his past, this unpredictable style could appear, but there was one thing that was unnatural. Only one thing. Human desires tend to become thinner and clearer as they grew older. This wasn’t the case with Jesse Dylan. He had a subtle attitude at mastering everything and was full of luster.
Adrian walked to a tree on the edge of the venue, took a sip of wine slowly, and wiped away the grass clippings from his lips. What happened not long ago seemed to be shaking before his eyes.
It was before the collapse of the Church of Silence. The young sacrifices were huddled in two groups in the cages. Even at this moment, they still maintained strict boundaries. It was bad to catch people at the junction between the three kingdoms. It was hard to determine the side of the believer they were catching.
The believers from the Laddism Church huddled on the left side of the cage, uttering prayers from their mouths, while the people from the Mooney Sect gathered in a group on the other side making complex prayer gestures with their hands. They were safe but clearly separated.
“I have seen this scene at least 100,000 times,” Jesse muttered.
“I can use a teleportation spell to get them out. It’s just that this place is too big. If it happens to collapse…”
“—Or get stuck in a tree. Wouldn’t that be fun?” The blond young man winked.
“You have an idea, don’t you?” Adrian didn’t have the slightest intention of joking with him. “You just promised Mr. Light to send them away. That’s doesn’t sound like a lie.”
“Of course, of course,” Jesse sigh while turning his back to the cage. “You’re such a party pooper. I still wanted to scare these unlucky guys.” He knocked on the cage unceremoniously, interrupting the trembling prayers of the sacrifices.
The young people of the Laddism Church raised their head and their eyes swept across Adrian’s monk uniform and suddenly they brightened up a bit. When those hopefully glances swept across where the emblem should be, that was replaced by an ugly stitching, that hope dimmed equally as quick.
The believers from the Mooney Sect just turned their heads and looked at the two of them before they continued to pray with their complex gestures. People’s low and vague voices diffused out of the cage, leaving a mixed of humming in the fragrant air.
No one asked for help. People retracted their gaze and stared at a certain point in the air that did not exist and continue to pray and chant.
“Drugs.” Adrian quickly made a judgement.
“It’s not a strong drug.” Jesse shrugged and turned in the direction of the cage. “Seriously, admit it. You’re not a ‘hero’ in line with their fantasy. You should learn from dear Nemo— It’s time for you to change your clothes.”
The people raised their heads again in a daze, but this time the hope in their eyes did not go out. Someone even stretched out his hand from the gap of the cage and caught a strand of Jesse’s blond hair.
“Zenni’s messenger…” the young man said in a daze as he stared into Jesse’s eyes. “It’s Zenni’s messenger.”
“No, it’s not. Ouch!” Jesse curled his lips and pulled back his hair in distressed.
“The traitor who lost the holy emblem!” When Adrian stretched out his hand, the man let out a nervous scream.
“You see, this is their truth.”
“They’re delirious.”
“But that’s the truth.”
“…” Adrian looked at the noisy blond young man helplessly. “Okay, be honest. It’s time for you to save them now. We have limited time.”
Jesse stared at him angrily.
“Why should I compete with a young man who has been drugged?” Adrian added, feeling from the bottom of his heart that it was a little childish for the other party to seize all opportunities to poke him. He even wanted to laugh.
“Fine,” Jesse shouted. “I’ll give you the coordinates. You have to be aware; it may directly lead to death—”
“Coordinates,” Adrian responded calmly.
Jesse smacked his mouth, and after just a few seconds, the smile returned to that beautiful face. He threw out a string of coordinates in the air. “Just saying, don’t blame me for not reminding you.”
Adrian didn’t say much and directly drew the coordinates into the array. While the white light flowed from his fingertips, he could feel Jesse’s powers flowing into his body along the blood marks on the back of his neck. The power felt even warm.
The white light dissipated, and there was no one left in the cell.
“You believe me just like that?” Jesse’s brows raised high and the smile on his face became more pronounced.
In fact, Adrian had envisioned several bad endings for a second, but now that he knew the strength of his opponent, he didn’t want to waste too much time with these twists and turns. If Jesse Dylan wanted to go against him, there was nothing he could do.
This was a logical and rational inference. Personal feelings would only delay time and interfere with his judgement.
This was also something his teacher, Mr. Mercer, was very dissatisfied with. This was what he had never figured out. The acting style of being completely loyal to reason was very suitable for his position at that time. It could keep him sober and rational, so that he won’t be unable to grab the hilt of the sword because he was blinded by his personal affairs.
Abide by principles, fulfill promises, and look forward to glory. This was Adrian Cross’ whole life, and now the journey was nothing more than two points now— Atonement and keeping his promises. He promised Mrs. Edwards to live, so he would try to live until his body decay.
“This is not ‘living’, my child,” his teacher once told him that.
Adrian emptied the glass and pulled himself out of his memories. Jesse Dylan had returned from the crowd. The empty wine glass was now full of honey and his hand was full, holding various snacks. Even his mouth was stuffed and there were traces of biscuit crumbs and yellow sugar around it.
That beautiful face was in high spirits, as if he had just won a big battle.
When Adrian discovered the location he sent the sacrifices, this was the same expression that wicked diviner had on his face. Jesse Dylan did a cruel thing— He threw the sacrifices into the ranks of the opposing religions, even though the knights from the Laddism Church and the Mooney Sect were nearby. He was overjoyed at the frozen expression of the former knight commander, as if it was the funniest thing in the world…
It seemed to despise everything in the world, but with simple and fierce enthusiasm.
He may never guess what this person could do, just as he couldn’t predict that he would save the land of Hailem. Adrian shook his head and silently decided to push his inquiry away. He turned his face and refused to look at the other party’s mouth that was full of snacks.
“I say,” Jesse swallowed the biscuit in his mouth and picked up a piece of honey dessert while giving off an aggrieved expression, “this is our first date. Can you be more enthusiastic? You see, if you continue to be so cold, I could be snatched away!”
The blond young man casually pointed his fingers behind his back. Several girls had stopped dancing and were whispering into each other’s ears and looked their way with flushed faces.
Adrian looked calm and continue to lean on the tree on the edge of the field. “How nice.”
“Nice? What about over there?” Jesse raised his voice, increasing the strength of his movements, and almost threw the snacks in his hand.
Adrian looked at his honey-stained fingers, and his whole body tensed in an instant. Not far away, two Knights of Judgement were standing on the edge of the crowd talking in a low voice. One of them was looking this way and he seemed to want to come over.
Why did the Knights of Judgement appear here?
The two Knights of Judgement seemed to have reached an agreement on something and walked directly in the direction of where they were. Whether it was taking out a weapon or feeling, this distance would most likely arouse their vigilance. Adrian thought quickly and suddenly felt a burst of hot air that was unsuspectingly blown into his ears.
Jesse pressed him directly on the tree. His beautiful face tightly pressed to the side of his face. The blond young man’s figure didn’t seem strong, but it was slender and powerful. The blond hair shook slightly with the night breeze, covering the iconic three leather buckles on the monk’s uniform.
“Look,” Jesse’s voice came from very close to his ears. The warm breath brushed against his ears, causing a tingling sensation. “You need me very much right now.”
“You didn’t wash your hands.” Adrian lowered his eyes and glanced at the other party’s fingers on his chest.
Jesse suddenly jerked back his head and looked at him in disbelief. “Don’t you have any other feelings?”
After that, he got up again angrily, and move his hand like he was doing a demonstration. His honey-stained fingers dexterously slid open the tight neckline of the monk’s uniform and then snaked all the way down…
“How is it?” Although the blond young man’s stroking technique was very old-fashioned, there was no frivolity in his voice.
“They hesitated,” Adrian responded in a low voice, ignoring the hand that was stroking the skin on his chest. “But they are still looking over here.”
“It’s close enough. Can you read their lips?” Jesse turned his head and bit Adrian’s neck. His voice was ambiguous. The strength he used wasn’t weak and the knight commander could feel the blood slowly oozing from the wound. “…You can definitely see what they are talking about.”
“They are saying, ‘Well that can’t be Adrian Cross.’” Adrian inserted his fingers into Jesse’s soft blond hair. His dark brown eyes were as calm as ice. “But they’re not leaving.”
“Thank them,” Jesse snorted and licked the bleeding toothmark on Adrian’s neck.
At this moment, the tightly buttoned monk’s clothes was completely opened, revealing the white lining and a large area of skin on his chest. It could no longer be discerned by its style from a glance. Adrian grabbed Jesse’s blond hair and pulled away the other’s face. From a distance, he seemed to be flirting, but his eyes stuck on the two Knights of Judgement like a hawk, without any intention of letting up.
“Lord Bishop is not in a good mood’,” Adrian put his face to the side of Jesse’s and whispered in a low voice. “’I don’t know which bastard did it. Zenni should be on top, so why did they include Mooney in it and stuck them into the reserve team?’”
“’No way. The Abyss is ahead so they are considered temporary partners for the time being. We don’t have to send people over yet.’” Jesse put his hand into Adrian’s clothes and hooked his arm around the other’s thin waist and turned them slightly. “Yes, love. I can understand it too.”
“’In order to settle that group of people, I just lost a demon warlock. There’s still a demon warlock among the people. I hope it’s not an important role.’” Adrian’s voice sank. “…Did you do it on purpose?”
“Guess?”
“’Yeah, I finally caught a few Knights of Silence, but I didn’t keep any of them alive. On the contrary, the Mooney bastards caught one alive, so the Bishop must be angry.’” Adrian continued to try to read their lips. The Knights of Judgement seemed to be planning to leave and had begun to look away.
“’It’s said that he’s Alban. We could have taken over and executed him… but it seems that the Gatekeepers intervined?’”
Adrian tightened his five fingers that clasped on the back of Jesse’s neck causing the latter to take in a deep breath. “So you like it rough!”
“That’s it for tonight, Dylan.” Adrian was still staring at the two pale backs that were particularly striking in the night. “We must confirm this information immediately.”
“Oh.” Seeing the Knights of Judgement walking away, Jesse took a step back and adjusted his clothes. “Well, I have to say, we had a particularly pleasant cooperation—”
He smiled proudly, but before the smile dispersed, a white spell broke through the night sky that was close to them.
“Enemy attack from the Abyss!” This time they didn’t need to read lips. The Knights of Judgement shouted vigilantly, and they drew their swords to protect the crowd. “Everyone, take refuge—”
“They said, ‘It’s the Bishop’s warning sign’—” After watching the lively scene, Jesse turned his head. The smile on his face remained motionless, and he whispered what the knight’s were warning, “love, they’re saying, ‘there’s a strong guy here’.”
The author has something to say：
Jesse: Dating is really useful! Let’s make a few more appointments—
Adri: No.
Kinky Thoughts:
I had to fan myself from all this sexual tension between Adri and Jesse.