194. Pre-Tuning (1)
As soon as the request was tentatively approved, Oliver asked Kevin to take a leave of absence.
Although he could not elaborate on the details, Kevin immediately granted Oliver’s request without hesitation.
He even told me not to file a formal leave application, and to just go to work when I have time.
‘The application for leave is rather conspicuous. After all, I don’t care if the staff goes to work or not. That’s the job of the hiring professor. So just come back when you have time. Anyway, I have agreed with Master on this matter.’
As Kevin said, this matter had already been agreed upon with Merlin. Nevertheless, Oliver expressed his sincere gratitude.
Because I wasn’t so ignorant that I didn’t know that this was a huge favor.
Kevin said it wasn’t a big deal as if it was bothersome, but if he really appreciated it, he asked him to help with his research later.
Oliver gladly accepted, and returned immediately to the dormitory to wash away his worries and to focus on his work as the solver Dave.
The first thing Oliver did was read the material that Forrest had given him, and the material he gave was of considerable quality.
Taken from n̲o̲b̲l̲e̲m̲t̲l̲.̲c̲o̲m̲
Not only was the date and situation of the attack neatly arranged, but also photos were attached.The photos showed the ruins of the Crime Firm’s secret warehouse and the corpses strewn around it.
For reference, the condition of the corpses in the photo was not very good either.
There were corpses cut into pieces as if they had been cut with a huge knife, others were crushed into paste, and there were even corpses that had dried up like dried fish.
There was an atmosphere of showing off as if to say hello, but the one that stood out in particular was a corpse whose body was rotten like a rotten vegetable.
‘Disease class, that’s also a weakened class… I don’t think it’s normal.’
Oliver made his decision based on the knowledge he had accumulated over the years.
Disease-based black magic was largely divided into two.
One was a reinforcement series that ate the vitality and the body and became temporarily stronger.
The other was the weakening series that weakened the body or caused artificial diseases.
At first glance, the former appears to be stronger, but in reality it is the exact opposite.
It was by no means ignoring the disease-enhancement-based black magic, but when compared only to the level of black magic, the true disease-based black magic could be said to be a weakening type.
It’s harder and more difficult to learn than disease-enhancing black magic, but depending on how you build your skills, its power was incomparable.
Taken from n̲o̲b̲l̲e̲m̲t̲l̲.̲c̲o̲m̲
No, in some cases, it could be more dangerous than any other classes such as firearms, manipulation, and creation, as well as disease-enhancing classes.In theory, it was possible to create a huge plague that could wipe out a small town or even a large city.
‘Of course, it is very difficult to get to that level.’
Oliver asserted. Needless to say, it wasn’t usually difficult to use disease-weakening type black magic.
The proof is that Oliver has been working as a solver for over a year and has not met anyone who uses disease-weakening type black magic.
So Oliver was only aware of this and was not prepared for it, but at this very moment, such an enemy appeared before his eyes.
It might not be bad. Gradually, there was a need to broaden the scope of learning.
“But this is not the only thing to worry about.”
Oliver mumbled as he turned to the next material.
According to Forrest’s investigation, those who stole the auction were not only members of the Black Hand, but others were also involved.
They are none other than gangs from the lawless Zone Y, which was quite shocking.
From Zone Y, it is a lawless zone that even the city has officially abandoned. It was enough to isolate it from the outside by installing a wall with the Shem River, and even the big hands of the shade did not want to deal with them.
It’s at the bottom of the solver and that’s what I’ve heard.
Then suddenly a question arose. How the hell did the Black Hand, an outside force, join hands with them…? Because of the nature of it, it would not be easy to get hands-on with an outsider.
‘Is there a book that connects you?’
Oliver pondered for a moment, then put the thought aside.
There’s no way Oliver knows what he’s thinking anyway.
Rather, what you need to worry about now is that you might have to go into area Y to find the auction items.
It’s the only place where you can safely hide your stolen auction items.
“Hmmm…”
After checking all the data that Forrest had given him, Oliver had a foreboding that this might be more dangerous than he thought.
Because my opponent is my opponent, I feel bad for some reason. What can I say, I had a sudden thought that things were going to be messy.
If you make a mistake, you may get caught in the gap between the whales like Crime Firm, Y Zone, and Black Hand.
In some cases, giving up is one way. But Oliver shook his head.
What you can get is pretty big. Above all else, I had already told Kevin that I was going to take a break, so I stopped talking and went to work normally.
There’s only one thing Oliver can do right now. He assumed the worst imaginable situation and reacted accordingly.
Oliver got up and headed for the reopened Gray Market and Black Market.
***
It was not known exactly how things were going, but Oliver prepared as much as he could in case of an emergency.
I bought a set of black magic experiments that I didn’t want to purchase before there was a stable laboratory, and made a defense against the disease series, and along with him, a new invoice doll to assist me was also rushed into production.
In addition to that, I made my own preparations, and in the meantime, I got a call from Forrest.
[Dave?]
“Yes, Forrest. That’s me.”
[How are you?]
“Yes, I am doing well while preparing.”
[That’s very believable.]
“Thank you for saying that. What’s going on?”
[As I said a few days ago, I told Jonathan that I would accept the job. Jonathan happily accepted, and the contract was formally signed. I want to see you today because I have something to say about a mission. Do you have time?]
Time was enough. It wasn’t all, but the preparations were almost over.
Oliver answered, looking at the new invoice doll he was making.
“Yes, of course, we have plenty of time……. Have you ever talked about compensation?”
[Of course. It turned out better than I expected. However, I just want to talk about it separately.]
Things went well… Although the details were unknown, Oliver decided to believe Forrest.
He always did his job well.
“All right. Where would you like to go?”
***
The meeting point was a safe house owned by Pinkman’s office in District T.
According to Forrest, Pinkman has a number of these safe houses in each district to carry out his mission.
Considering Landa’s murderous real estate price, it could be said to be staggering.
smart-
Oliver knocked on the door of an ordinary house.
As the door opened, a woman who appeared to be in her 30s slightly opened the door and showed her face.
On the outside, she was an ordinary housewife, but the eyes of a warlock who could see through emotions and the eyes of a solver that she had accumulated over the years taught me that she was not an ordinary housewife.
“Who are you?”
A woman asking calmly. Oliver replied.
“My name is Dave. I was introduced by Mr. Forrest.”
The woman, who appeared to be a housewife, quickly glanced at Oliver and gave her a business smile.
“Come on in. The manager is waiting for you.”
The woman opened the door wide and greeted Oliver.
The inside of the house was an ordinary family house, but that was limited to the first floor.
When I went up to the second floor under the guidance of a woman, I saw a completely different landscape.
Efficiently placed chairs and tables, gigantic land maps, portraits, and diagrams connected by threads hung on the walls.
“Mr Dave. Are you here?”
Jonathan, who was in the middle of a meeting, said as he looked up at Oliver on the second floor. His colleagues, who were meeting with Jonathan, also looked at Oliver.
I thought there were only people like Jonathan and Duncan because of the Pink Man, but contrary to what I expected, each of my colleagues had distinct personalities.
The only thing they have in common is that they all wore pink suits.
Although brief, Oliver and Jonathan’s colleagues observed each other, then a young man in his late teens with a tattoo on one eye opened his mouth.
“Is that the famous warlock these days? Doesn’t it look like that?”
Instead of answering, Oliver looked at the young man with the tattooed eyes. Judging from the amount and flow of magic in his body, he seemed to be a wizard, not a simple magician.
‘Spatialism?’
“What do you mean in the beginning? Don’t be cocky about new topics.”
The old-looking muscular giant slapped the eye tattooed young man on the back with his thick arm.
There was no malicious intent to hit hard, but a dull sound resounded because of his natural strength.
puck-!
“It hurts…. Inspiring Taengi is counting his strength ignorantly…!”
“Come on, everyone, stop the contest and go down for a while. I get embarrassed when I put it in front of guests.”
At Jonathan’s words, the comrades went down to the first floor, leaving only Oliver and Jonathan.
“Thank you for accepting the mission.”
“no. I accepted it because I wanted to, so you don’t have to.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard a bit of a story. You want the devil’s book?”
It was a bit awkward for a warlock to find a book of the devil, whether it be dark or light, but Jonathan shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal.
A gesture of literally not caring.
“First of all, I would like to say this to avoid any misunderstanding. Me and Pinkman don’t really care what Dave wants. That is also the floor rule.”
Sincerity.
“Also, fortunately, we don’t want that book either, and the crime firm hasn’t traded it yet, so I don’t think there will be any problems with handing it over.”
“That’s fortunate.”
“However, aside from that, rumors spread that this could become an unexpected problem. Rumors spread well, even though this floor may seem strict. I’m not trying to do anything fancy, I’m really worried about it.”
This is also sincere. Oliver nodded.
“Then what shall we do? Forrest said he had something to say about it.”
“Yeah, if it’s okay with Dave, how about we take over your book for us and hand it over to you later?”
“Yes?”
“I asked if we could take it over and give it to Dave instead. That way, strange rumors won’t spread, and Dave won’t be in trouble.”
Five····. It wasn’t a bad offer. Taking the devil’s book for you, and handing it over to Oliver.
“But wouldn’t Jonathan be in trouble then?”
“No, not necessarily. I’m not a warlock, so I can say it’s a stolen property or a gift for a wealthy customer.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, Pinkman deals with a wide variety of customers, so we sometimes handle those items as well. So no one sees it as strange.”
Sincerity.
“then····. Can I pick up the items Jonathan wants and hand them over?”
“No, you don’t have to. The conditions are the same. Just ask Dave for the two you want.”
“Yes? But, wouldn’t that hurt Jonathan?”
Jonathan didn’t answer right away, but sighed. From now on, it seemed to be the main point.
“·····Therefore, there is something I would like to ask Dave-san separately. Please help me capture the members of the Black Hand who will be facing in this quest alive.”
“Catch the Black Hand members alive?”
“Yes that’s right.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want you to ask me why. We don’t care more than we need to, Dave.”
oh······. Having said that, even curious Oliver could not ask any more questions. Now Jonathan was offering a deal.
Oliver thought deeply and nodded.
Personally, I was curious as to why Pinkman captures the Black Hand members, but for now it was more important to safely obtain the Devil’s Book.
“Yes, I understand.”
“Thanks for your cooperation. So, now let’s share the information we obtained from our side. Dave needs a lot of help, so please take care of it.”