245. Post processing (1)
“Kururu-lu-lu-luk……. gurgle lug. Kook.”
Big Mouth swallowed each piece of Mother Bathory with a mouth with a zippered tooth.
First left leg, second right leg. Then he swallowed both arms.
It looked like a toad swallowing a large prey.
“Here is the head.”
“Grunt.”
Oliver gave Bathory’s head, and Big Mouse swallowed it like he was eating candy.
“Now, only the torso… huh?”
As he lifted up Bathory’s torso with Oliver, he caught something dripping from between the raged dresses.
It was a red notebook, with protection magic on it.
“Big Mouse. Could you please swallow this?”
Oliver fixed his gaze on the red notebook and handed Bathory’s body to Big Mouse.
Big Mouse swallowed the limbs and headless torso like a goose with his bulging arms, while Oliver reached for his notebook.
Break-up!
Although his fingertips couldn’t reach it, as he got closer, the blood magic planted in the notebook reacted and deflected Oliver’s hand.
“Hmm·····.”
After waving his hand to shake off the pain, Oliver tried to erode the notebook’s defense magic by drawing up the magical energy stored in his body.
A fairly complete defensive magic protected the notebook by sparking a rejection reaction, but as it continued to erode, Oliver quickly grasped the structure and pattern of the spell.
A defense magic that unlocks like a lock and disappears into the air.
Oliver picked up the notebook and looked inside.
Para Larang
In the notebook, all foreign languages, including the Kingdom language, were mixed in red ink.
Oliver soon realized what a list this was.
A list of people’s names and two dates.
[Josephine Tebott · 22/2/21 · 22/12/10]
in this way
Although he couldn’t figure out what the list was, Oliver had an intuition that it was not an ordinary item through defensive magic, etc., and continued to look through the customer list.
Then his gaze stopped at one point.
“uh·····. Is this person still alive?”
***
Oliver used the pool of blood to climb back up from the bottom floor of the Chimera Lab.
The bright red meat hammer and Big Mouse were carefully organized and placed in the magic bag, so when they came up, they came alone.
“Well then, slowly-”
“-What are you going to do soon?”
Oliver looked back.
Behind his back, Wallace, with a haggard face, stood with his long sword like a staff.
Oliver looked at him and said quietly.
“You woke up.”
“Thanks to.”
Wallace answered, holding up an empty potion bottle and a wound on the body that was urgently sealed with potions.
Oliver took Wallace with him when he threw it into the portal, so fortunately he seemed to have given himself first aid.
“Did the potion work?”
“Uh, unlike when you sprayed it, after the pain of the wound went away, it healed when I sprayed it again.”
If Oliver sprayed it, it would be when he first met Bathory, and if the pain was gone, it would be after Bathory died.
“Are you awake then?”
“Very little. So I know roughly how it went… thanks I survived thanks to you.”
Wallace said frankly. And that was very true.
Whatever it was, he miraculously saved his life thanks to Oliver.
If Oliver showed up a little later, or if he hadn’t done one thing, such as warming magic, portals, and potions, Wallace would have died from a lack of energy or got caught up in battle.
Wallace wasn’t aware of this either. So, despite having a lot to say, he got up and said thanks to Oliver.
“Oh, I’m glad. Mr. Wallace is thanking me.”
“I know I have a bad personality, but that doesn’t mean I’m not a person who doesn’t even know grace……. Can I sit down for a while?”
Wallace asked with trembling legs, and Oliver nodded.
Wallace sat down in a cold sweat.
Approaching Wallace, Oliver offered a potion.
“····You?”
Wallace asked, looking at Oliver, who was not as good as himself, but wounded.
“I have one to drink.”
Oliver showed a new healing potion in his arms, and Wallace drank the potion.
The injuries and damage were so severe that even after drinking one more bottle, he did not fully recover his energy, but he was able to breathe to some extent.
“Whoa….”
Wallace sighed and looked around. As if it had been bombarded, the surrounding area became a swampy field.
“Did you destroy it?”
Questions with many words omitted. However, Oliver, who had just fought Batory, understood the meaning.
“I was lucky.”
“Awesome.”
It was plain, but with that much sincerity, Wallace said.
Having been beaten by Bathory, I knew how strong she was.
Aside from being immortal, it was not enough to handle each magic freely, and her unique blood magic was so threatening that it even neutralized the fire magic that Wallace had been practicing all her life.
I don’t know how he was defeated, but in the end, the fight is all about the outcome.
Wallace realized and admitted that the warlock in front of him was stronger than him.
He was truly a strange person.
In just a few months, he had become strong enough to be considered a completely different person.
But what was even more surprising was his attitude. The attitude has hardly changed since the first time I saw it.
In this crazy world where survival of the fittest is a virtue, people’s attitudes and personalities change in an instant as their strength increases.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Yes? Oh, please tell me.”
“From the standpoint of being helped, why are you saying this, but why did you help me?”
Wallace asked. To be honest, it would have been better for Dave to die if he thought about it soberly.
He is almost the only person who knows that Dave is working in the tower while hiding his identity. It was much safer without it.
Of course, before, we had no choice but to cooperate due to timing and circumstances, but it didn’t make much sense from Dave’s point of view to actively utilize it when he was stretched out.
It would have been much easier to keep his secret if he had left him to die quietly.
“Why did you save me? Is it because we are working together?”
Oliver tilted his head and replied. It was like answering the obvious questions of why you eat and why you sleep.
“Oh, and I have something to ask you.”
“Are you going to ask?”
“Yes·····. May I ask?”
Oliver, who had been trying to hold back on seeing Wallace’s condition, asked again, unable to overcome his curiosity.
“Whoa….. Do you have any alcohol or cigarettes?”
“There are both.”
Oliver took out of the magic bag a drink, a cup, and a pack of cigarettes of each type.
Wallace looked at him sullenly.
“Why are you carrying it?”
“I talked to other professors and staff, and they said that carrying around food you like, such as alcohol or cigarettes, would make your social life easier… I have a cigar, can I get you?”
“·····no it’s okay.”
Wallace looked at the incomprehensible existence in front of him and asked.
It was just a small citizen who acted like a monster strong. Of course, there were times when I acted boldly beyond my strength.
‘Like you said you were going to stop the war wizard alone…’
Oliver kindly bit Wallace with a cigarette, ignited it with magic power, and poured him a drink.
Wallace happily smoked and drank.
“ha····. I’ll live What do you want me to ask you?”
Oliver sat down with his buttocks across from Wallace.
It wasn’t a big deal, but it meant that Oliver’s interest was that great.
“When Mr. Wallace fought Bathory-sama, I fought the female warlocks here.”
“…all must have died.”
“It was not intentional. What happened to…”
“I think so, but?”
“At that time, I tried to imitate Mr. Wallace’s fire magic.”
Wallace didn’t say anything.
It is difficult to make, and three times more difficult to deal with, the flame of its own that twisted the magic to absorb the magic.
But there were no burns on Oliver’s face.
Proof that he handled it without unreasonableness even if it was improvised.
It was an unreasonable amount of talent, but it was so overwhelming that he didn’t even get angry.
“Awesome.”
“The great thing is Mr. Wallace. After trying it out, I think I know how much effort you put into it. Making that recipe and handling it freely… Indeed, it is wonderful.”
Oliver spoke with sincerity, and the truth passed on to Wallace.
Surprisingly, Wallace, who can climb up to the rank of Master of the Tower if he wants to, felt even a little proud of the praise he received from a kid younger than him.
“Thanks for the compliment.”
“I’m just stating my thoughts . . . However, I don’t understand. You worked so hard, but why did you commit to the Kell Free Independence Army?”
It was a question that would normally make him angry, but Wallace just smiled.
Because words are sometimes more important than people.
“Do you not understand?”
“Honestly, it’s not good. I don’t mean to insult Mr. Wallace, but I’ve seen a little bit of how the professors in the tower are treated…. There’s a better way than the Kell Freedom Army, so why did you do that?”
Oliver asked questions while alternately recalling Landa’s pursuit of wealth and power and Wallace’s struggles even while hiding her identity.
Wallace smiled at those words and opened his mouth.
“If you were a warlock like you, you could live comfortably anywhere, so why hide your identity and live like that? Professors preparing cigarettes and alcohol?”
“that-“
“-It’s probably not the value you’re looking for. Money or fame or pleasure.”
Oliver had nothing to say.
“I’m like that too… Normally, we would be talking about the kingdom’s unjust occupation and rule, the oppression and exploitation of the Kell people, and the legitimacy of our Kell Free Independence Army, but let’s stop… I’m not at the level to teach you.”
“Is there any level of teaching and being taught?”
“Still, don’t give up. I don’t have time.”
Wallace pulled out a pocket watch from his pocket and showed it. As he said, there was no time.
It was the time when the day was slowly getting brighter.
The truck would be back soon, and maybe they’d send someone from another lab nearby.
I had a pretty loud fight with Bathory.
“receive.”
Wallace held out the dagger at Oliver.
It was a dagger used to rescue hostages from a train. Upon closer inspection, the blade had a unique pattern like a checkered pattern.
“What is this?”
“The price of alcohol and cigarettes…. You can take this to the Kell community for help or meet me.”
Oliver didn’t like the sword itself, but he accepted the dagger. It’s old, but I had a gut feeling that it was a good thing.
“Read the history book. Or the Northland local newspaper.”
Wallace said first.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Read a history book or a Northland local newspaper, if you’re curious as to why I’m doing this…. In the first place, this is not something someone tells you, you have to find it yourself, but you can understand it properly. If you still have questions, I’ll answer them.”
It wasn’t just an attempt to avoid answering. Oliver nodded.
“Yes, I understand.”
“Uh-huh, talking about it makes my wound hurt again……. What are you going to do now?”
“Originally, I was going to treat Mr. Wallace, but he seems to be okay, so I’m going to do something else.”
“Something else?”
“Yeah, I’m trying to access the World Tree and see if I’ve been filmed fighting. Because you never know.”
“Can you even touch the World Tree?”
“How did you happen?”
“I am not surprised anymore.”
Wallace shook his head, rubbed his cigarette out, and looked around again.
Even after looking at it twice, the inside of the laboratory was a mess as if it had been bombed.
“…even if the world tree was manipulated, the scene would look like this, so it would be difficult to avoid being questioned.”
“Well····. I want to think about it slowly.”
“You don’t have time?”
Oliver shut his mouth. I checked the previous time, and as Wallace said, there was no time.
“Do you have any good ideas?”
“There is a way that’s a bit coercive.”
“Oh, what?”
“First, take a look at the world tree and talk to me.”
“What?”
“Batori. How the vampire took control of this place, how he fought, and how you won.”