Chapter 311 - Ode

The next month and a half flew by, sometimes the convoy was attacked by magic beast or bandits, but that lessened significantly once they were out of the Prious pass, from there it was smooth sailing, they were only attacked about once a week, so Mercury and Marie had lots of time to flirt around (While still taking care of Max of course) soon they were able to see the walls of Ode, their destination though it looked like they had to spend one last night outside as they were unable to reach the gate before it closed for the day

"And there…"

Mercury finished setting up the tent, something he was quite used to by this point, then he looked over to the campfire and saw Marie playing with Max and showed a smile that then slowly disappeared from his face as he thought

'Right, Max… What to do about him… If we could find his parents it would be for the best… What to do… Guess me, Julia and Marie can adopt him in the worst-case scenario…'

"No that sounds wrong… We can adopt him"

Mercury nodded to himself, he was quite fond of Max and so was Marie

'Though I am not sure that Julia likes children… Guess I'll ask her once we meet again…'

Mercury looked towards the city walls that were in the distance before he sighed and walked over and sat down next to Marie

"The tent's been set up"

"Okay Mercury, good job"

Mercury showed a smile before he teased Marie

"You know it's not that hard to do once you get the hang of it"

Marie pouted, so far she had attempted to set up the tent a total of 6 times… And she had failed a total of 6 times, Mercury laughed out loud which made Marie pout even more, Max looked at the two of them before he asked Mercury

"What's so funny Mercury..?"

"Well you see Max, Marie is bad at setting up the--- Ouch, stop I got it I won't make fun of you an--- Ouch!"

Halfway through explaining it to Max Marie began pinching his arm, after leaving a few marks on Mercury's arm Marie let him go and stood up and attempted to walk over to the tent, but was grabbed by Mercury that pulled her down into his embrace before he spoke to Max

"Looks like we have a pretty deep frown here, Max begin tickle treatment!"

"Yes, Mercury!"

"No please, no tick--- Ahahah---"

Mercury and Max began tickling Marie that struggled in vain, from afar they looked just like a happy family…

The next morning Mercury woke up first, as usual, he woke up before the horn had sounded out, but he figured that it wouldn't be long before it did so he crawled out of the sleeping bag and began massaging his injured leg to help the blood flow

'...Looks like it's healing well… Though it'll still take a few years before the muscle mass is back to normal…'

Mercury sighed before he rolled down his pants again and put on a shirt before he sneaked out of the tent without waking the two that was still sleeping, then he walked over to the edge of the road and, well took a morning piss, after rinsing his hands with some water from his waterskin he walked back to the campfire to get warmed up a bit, soon he was joined by Max that sat down next to him, he seemed a little uneasy so Mercury asked him

"What's wrong Max?"

Max was silent for a bit before he asked

"Are you going to leave me in Ode..?"

"No, not unless we find your parents there"

"...But I want to stay with you"

"Okay Max, if that's what you want, then we'll do it like that"

Max nodded, even though he acted quite mature for his age Mercury could still see him wiping his tears of joy in the corner of his eyes, Mercury showed a smile and ruffled Max's hair as he spoke

"Don't worry kid; I won't abandon you somewhere"

"...Thanks dad"

Mercury showed a smile as he watched Max run back to the tent in embarrassment from calling him dad, Mercury showed a smile and nodded to himself

'Guess I am a parent now… Parent…'

Mercury suddenly felt his ears ring and his eyes blur as the word 'parent' began repeating in his head louder and louder each time until finally, it was nothing but noise

'Shit…'

Flashing images passed through his head at high speed before he suddenly blacked out…

When Mercury could see again he was looking into a sterile room standing at a control panel, on the other side of a screen was an operating room with a person on the table with an open stomach were robotic arms reached into and operated, 'Mercury' let out a yawn before 'he' continued chanting

"Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Imm---"

Mercury woke up with a set, he was shaken by what he had just seen, he felt cold to his core

'Was that… Me?'

Mercury looked around, he was inside a tent

'Where is this again..? Oh right, outside of Ode…'

Mercury crawled out of his sleeping bag and opened the tent to look outside, he looked up at the sky and saw it was around midday and sighed when he saw that the convoy was still there, he quickly got out of the tent and walked over to the convoy where Marie stood along with Max, Hann, some of the mercenaries and Hannibal, the head merchant, they looked surprised when they saw Mercury walking over, Marie ran over and asked him sounding a little concerned

"Mercury, are you alright?"

"...I have a headache, but I am fine, mostly… Sorry for holding up the convoy"

Hannibal shook his head and spoke

"Don't worry about that Mercury, you have saved us much more time than you have used to rest just now"

Hann nodded and spoke

"That's right Mercury, a few of us also owe you our lives, so don't worry about sleeping a bit longer"

Mercury showed a smile and thanked them for their patience again and cheered up Max that seemed a little down with some tickle treatment before the convoy began moving again, as they reached the walls of Ode Mercury was amazed by the size of the walls that were about 15 meters tall and about 10 meters thick

'...I bet I could jump that'

As Mercury was having some weird thoughts the convoy passed the inspection and was allowed into the city, Mercury hurried after them and looked around while the convoy moved down the main street, at the end of the street about 10 kilometers away was a large and majestic castle

"...Let's find a place to stay and then look for some more permanent housing tomorrow"

Marie and Max nodded after they got paid and said their goodbyes to the people from the convoy they walked a little down the main street and soon found an inn where they spent the night…

"---Immortal, immortal, immortal, immortal, immortal, immortal, immortal, immortal, immortal, immortal, immortal, immortal, immortal, immortal, immortal, immortal, immortal, immortal, immortal, immortal---"

When Mercury woke his head was ringing he let out a groan as he sat himself op in bed he hit the side of his head a few times as he muttered

"Will you shut up already..?"

It was the middle of the night, alas he didn't feel like sleeping anymore so he sneaked out of the room where Marie and Max still slept before he walked downstairs into the bar and sat himself down at the counter, the barkeep showed a smile and asked Mercury

"So what's your poison?"

"Be--- No, give me something strong… Something mellow to dull this thought clutter…"

Even now the chant continued inside his head '---Immortal, Immortal---' After he dulled his head with a few glasses of something strong, Mercury walked out onto the streets to get some fresh air, he breathed out and watched his breath turn white before he slapped the side of his head again and muttered

"Will you stop already..?"

He didn't know what started it but soon he was walking around the night city before he knew it the sun was rising, and it seemed that he could finally get some peace as the thought clutter seemed to stop as the sunlight broke, like evil spirits being driven away by the holy morning light, Mercury struck a strange pose and spoke

"Praise the sun"

Then he walked back to the inn he had been staying in and found Marie and Max eating breakfast and sat down next to Max as he greeted them

"Good morning you two"

Max quickly swallowed his food before he asked Mercury

"Where did you go, dad? Marie was panicking when she realized you left"

Mercury ruffled Max's hair and looked over at Marie as he apologized

"Sorry Marie, I had to clear my head"

Marie showed a pout before she asked

"Were you drinking all night?"

Mercury nodded

"Yeah, I had a few drinks… Sorry again"

Marie sighed as she seemed to forgive Mercury for sneaking out and showed a smile

"Next time bring me as well, okay?"

"Yeah sure, though I don't hope this turns into a regular thing…"

Marie tilted her head, but Max asked before her

"What happened?"

"Thought clutter"

"Thought clutter?"

Mercury nodded before he explained

"Thought clutter is the feeling of experiencing multiple involuntary thoughts at the same time, like being in a room with lots of people all talking loudly, all cramped inside your mind"

"Oh… Does it hurt?"

Mercury showed a smile at Max's concern and ruffled his hair again

"No, though it's very unpleasant"

"Okay"