Stray

Nadine didn't open her eyes the first time she woke up. She could feel the soft bed under her body, the friction of the fabric was several times brighter than before, and even brought a little pain. Her throat was dry and numb, her tongue still had the salty smell of blood, and a mixture of smells rushed into her nostrils—boiled peaches, sun-dried sheets, fresh juices from cut plants, and unknown floral scents.

She is alive.

Nadine turned her eyeballs with difficulty, and finally opened her eyelids. The sun stabbed her into tears, and Lisa was sitting on a chair by the bed, staring at her.

"Nadine." The female boss changed her loud voice and made her voice very soft. "Don't worry, you're at my house...do you want some water?"

Nadine nodded, she tried to raise a hand, and was startled by the young skin on the back of her hand. The joy of surviving had never hit her heart so hard. She shivered and drew the magic circle of the Eastern Witch in the air—nothing happened, not even the slightest touch of being bound by an invisible root.

She was relieved.

Nadine half sat up, holding the water cup Lisa handed over, swallowing the warm honey water. She tasted the salty taste of a little tear from it.

"Mr. Ramon and the others?" After trying to calm her breath, she finally managed to squeeze out the first sentence.

"I left this morning. I gave them a lot of thanks." Lisa wiped her face with a handkerchief soaked in hot water, and her eyes were still a little swollen. "Horizon left early this morning. They declared to Howard that 'the witch to get rid of doesn't exist,' and the **** almost peed his pants thinking he was going to be paid the full amount."

Nadine smiled hard: "I am indeed no longer a witch."

"I don't know much about these things," Lisa's voice was still a little hoarse after crying, "but when they said that, everyone thought that Mrs. Nadine... uh, it's you, already dead."

Naten was still staring at her skinny hands. She slowly raised her right hand, touched her cheek, and touched her lips. Her lips were no longer shriveled like sun-wrinkled peels, and her teeth were healthy and strong.

She hadn't felt this way for too long—desperately weak, but full of hope and energy.

"...That's it, there really won't be any more memory witches here." Nadine's tone was very slow, she wasn't quite used to the overly clear scenery in front of her and her no longer groggy head. "It's time for us to bury 'her'."

"What are you going to do in the future?" Lisa picked up the bowl of soft boiled peaches in sugar water, she carefully blew the heat on the bowl, scooped up a spoonful of the pulp, and sent it to Nadine mouth. "Come on, have something to eat."

"Keep being a doctor." Nadine chewed carefully. She was not used to a mouth with teeth and almost bit her tongue. After swallowing the pulp in her mouth, she smiled at her best friend. "...But I can only be a general doctor who collects money and dispenses medicine."

“…it feels really good to be healed.”

She said softly, rubbing the wrinkled skin on the back of her hand.

"Where's the Howards?"

“Charge more in the future.” Nadine smiled and shook her head. A pity, she thought. Lopez's son had left Caleb before she could thank him properly. Nadine sighed and turned her face in the direction of her friend. "I have to thank you, Li-"

The flowers in the vase by the bedside suddenly entered her field of vision, Nadine was completely stunned, and half of the words got stuck in her throat.

"This." Lisa obviously noticed the focus of her friend's eyes. "Here's the hydrangeas you planted in your backyard, and they're blooming all of a sudden... honestly, they're all over the place by now. Everyone thinks it's because of the death of 'Mrs Nadine', but we all know Not like that."

"Why...?"

"I don't know, and I'm not interested." Lisa picked up the flower, the liquid gold petals floating beside the stamen. She compared the flower on her friend's temple. "I can't explain the miracle...you need to get better soon, it definitely suits you."

"I will." Nadine stared at the ground Hyland, her eyes swelled again. However, it did not bring much useful information to her who had completely lost her power. So Nadine dropped her shoulders and decided to think about another question for the time being. "...Lisa?"

"Huh?"

"Did you see my cat?"

In the desert.

"Will this not be good?" Nemo said to the orange cat on the sheep's back, the cat was standing on the back of White II, standing still in the sand of the desert . The real Fuller goat was babbling along, carrying several packs of preserved fruit from Lisa on his back. "Aren't you going to say goodbye to her?"

"She's not alone anymore, there's no need." The orange cat said in an unpleasant voice as always, "I have to take care of the ethnic group."

"Usually, it may be because she is afraid that she is reluctant to leave." An interjected, "Just like Debbie, didn't she pretend to have nothing to chat with you this morning? When I left, I cried like a water slime."

The cat frowned at her, and Nemo cautiously stopped touching the cat's hand.

"You can visit her occasionally." Oliver said seriously to the orange cat, "She will be happy."

"I will consider it, thank you." The orange cat raised his head, "I will send you here, there is a transfer station in front."

It jumped off the sheep's back neatly and returned to its original shape. The cross-section of the bone spur that it gnawed off by itself was very eye-catching, and Nemo scratched his head and took out the bone from his pocket.

"Stay still, I'll hook you up—"

"No." The pale yellow knuckle lizard stuck out its tongue, "Send it to you."

"Uh, I'll take it, but I can't use it..."

"No. Your strength is too pure, and you may be targeted." The huge knuckle lizard blinked its four eyes, and the tone was very determined. "You can use it as a medium to disguise attributes."

“…thank you then.”

Nemo was stunned for a few seconds before thanking him, and the leader of the knuckle lizard took the opportunity to run a few steps away and slip out of his reach. Seeing this, White II hurriedly followed, and also changed back to the appearance of a knuckle lizard. It hesitated for a while, took two steps, and cupped Oliver's hand again.

The restored White II is much shorter than the caramel. After rubbing Oliver, it grabbed the tail of the leader of the clan, forming a unique advancing formation of the knuckle lizard - but it always looked back from time to time, and hissed and screamed at the leader who was advancing in front.

"I understand the cat's mood a little bit." Oliver looked a little lost, "I don't like saying goodbye either."

"We can also visit them when we have time," Nemo stuffed the bone spurs back into his pockets, rubbing the hair behind the other's head boldly, "Anyway, we will have time in the future."

The branch of the Mercenary Guild was closer than they thought. Although its scale is really small, it is very easy to find just opposite the teleportation array.

Nemo's own emotions couldn't be higher now - at this moment, a temporary member of the team was so mad that he seemed to fly.

"Mr. Ramon—" Jesse's sweet smile successfully gave the other members a thick layer of goosebumps. "Look, Mr. Ramon, now you know Mr. Wright's identity... You've even become lovers! My prediction was right, and I didn't cause any trouble. Now is the time to keep the promise!"

"I won't break my promise." Oliver said very painfully, his face full of wanting to go back. His hand on the reception desk trembled a little, as if his whole body was resisting this fact. "Hello... We want to, um, go through the transfer formalities."

"Which team transfer procedure?" The young man at the reception desk was polite, his tone was steady, and he was not affected by the state of Captain Heizhang in front of him.

"Me." Jesse said beamingly, and threw the Sea Scorpion Black Badge on the wooden platform. "Come on, my dear sir."

The young receptionist glanced at the sea scorpion on the black seal, and his smile froze for a second. But he managed to hold on to it—the receptionist picked up the black seal with his white-gloved hand and placed it carefully on top of the circle.

"Your... original team..."

"Huh?" Jesse raised an eyebrow.

"They...were all wiped out in the elf tomb mission some time ago. It's a pity. Then according to the rules, all the money in the team's account will go to your name, Mr. Dylan." The receptionist said cautiously, "Are you going to go through the formalities together now?"

"Wait a minute, wait for me to join the team first." Jesse shrugged nonchalantly, as if not feeling sorry for his original team. "I'm not that bad."

As soon as he said the last sentence, Nemo suddenly felt a little heart throb. An Ze frowned, she walked over to Oliver and lowered her voice: "This kid is a prophet, shouldn't he be the kind of 'Black Widow' who finds a team that is about to die, and then inherits the inheritance on his own? Heizhang? There have been types like this-"

"...First we have to have money." Oliver responded in a low voice, "Speaking of this, Ann...Even if I didn't earn much from the last mission, is it okay for Nemo and I to owe money? …”

Nemo, who was standing aside, immediately pricked up his ears.

"It's a pity, Captain. You have to save at least a thousand team funds to withstand most unexpected situations, and the first task deposit is so much, the Edwards family's land deed has not been realized, We spent a lot after that... Anyway, we still have to save, and we don't have any personal income yet."

"But I just saw you put money in Mr. Cross." Oliver pointed out solemnly.

"That's what he applied for, and Mr. Close claims he has business to do."

“Me too…” Nemo whispered.

"What business do you have, buy gifts for your boyfriend? Young people, taking too much debt is not a good thing."

"...Please pretend I didn't say it." Nemo briefly thought about the possibility of doing odd jobs for a few seconds, and Oliver, who was a few steps away, showed the same thoughtful expression.

"Mr. Ramon?" the receptionist raised his voice, "Please come over."

"Sign? Hold on, I'll-" Oliver raised his head.

"No." The young receptionist shook his head, "After Mr. Dillon joined, your team is full of five people. At present it has met the minimum standard for a medium-sized team, and you need a formal name."

Adrian Cross was missing with the money, except for the happy new member, the remaining three fell into silence.

"...To be honest, I never thought about it." Oliver said dryly, "Do you have any ideas?"

"No." Nemo responded blankly, "I thought we wouldn't get very far—"

An was determined to ignore the true identity of the black-haired youth in this second, and she slapped him on the back of the head with a loud slap: "Hey, pay attention when you speak!"

"Do you want me to help?" Jesse approached with a smirk, and was pushed away by the expressionless Nemo.

"No." Oliver followed a refusal smoothly, "Uh... Ann, can you provide any reference?"

"The more famous...'Tin Soldier' ​​and 'Horizon', we met 'Steel Wolf'. It's basically the same tone, you can make up any one. I've been there before, I Think... 'Shadow Serpent' 'Burning Sigil'..."

“…ordinary?”

"No, the name is the face of the team, everyone wants their team to sound stronger." An glanced at Nemo, "...Forget it, we don't need to stress it too much."

"Or else." Nemo took a step back uncomfortably. "Draw a lottery, or just throw something at random..."

"In case of throwing a bald pedestrian." After eating the deflated, Jesse shrewdly kept her distance. "Is this team going to be called 'The Bald'? If that's the way to persuade me to quit, I have to say I'm really shaken."

“…”

"I don't really want a name that's too menacing...Considering our situation, the lower the sense of presence, the higher the sense of presence." Oliver scratched his head vigorously, "I think about, uh—"

A small crash sounded at the door.

A huge mass of tumbleweed hit the door of the branch, blocking the door tightly. The staff at the door scolded and slammed it open with a magic circle—it seems that this has happened more than once.

"How about this?" Oliver pointed to the mass outside the door, "Tumbleweed."

“…If you look at it from the level of 'Alive, but looks like it is dead', I think it is appropriate.” An said dryly.

"I think we can be a little more positive, 'looks dead, but still alive' is not bad," Nemo added sternly.

"I have no problem." Jesse was very succinct, "'Wherever you go', it seems to be a good fit for this team."

Then his voice got smaller and smaller under Oliver's deep gaze.

"Since everyone has no opinion, let's do it." Oliver shook his head, "I don't think Mr. Cross would care about that."

He picked up the pen and filled in the harmless team name that would later become the "Team of Calamity". "Tumbleweed." After filling it in, he repeated it silently, "It's okay, it looks pretty safe."

The only Tumbleweed member who missed the naming ceremony was standing at the mission window and pushed out the purse in his hand.

"I know it's not a lot of money," Adrian sighed, "so I don't have any special requirements."

"I just need information about Jesse Dillon, anything."

(m..=)