249. Return to business (3)
“Are you old?”
Oliver looked at Merlin, who appeared as a ghost, and said. I was embarrassed because I couldn’t figure out when or how it appeared.
“long time no see.”
“Yes······. How did you appear?”
Merlin took his eyes off the report for a moment, then opened his mouth with a very serious expression.
“I have secretly planted devices that can move secretly throughout this tower so that they can appear out of the blue anytime, anywhere.”
“·················ogue.”
“·················ogue.”
“·················ogue.”
“····It’s a joke. What are you looking at with so much affection?”
Merlin denied it, but Oliver couldn’t easily believe it.
For some reason, it seemed like it could be enough.
Didn’t it suddenly appear in Mattel’s secret laboratory in the first place?
“It’s more surprising than that. Did you know Yareli?”
Merlin spoke up. Oliver turned and looked at the door, then looked at Merlin again.
“It’s just an acquaintance. I’m taking Professor Kevin’s class.”
“Oh, I heard that too. Thanks to that, other students flocked to Kevin’s class, so the plan went awry, didn’t it?”
Oliver nodded, saying yes.
Originally, Kevin was trying to reduce classes as much as possible this semester and focus on personal research.
In fact, it went the way I thought it would until the beginning.
Everyone thought Kevin’s class was going to be canceled because it was so unpopular. Even Kevin himself.
However, when Yareli of Skadi School showed interest in Kevin’s class, the story changed 180 degrees.
Other students followed after Yareli and signed up for Kevin’s class, and all classes were over capacity.
‘Well, Kevin’s choice to take over the whole class without refusing also played a part.’
“Yeah, what a great little girl.”
“Yes, I agree.”
“yes? Do you agree with what I said was great?”
“Didn’t you say that a lot of students came to Professor Kevin’s class thanks to Mr. Yareli? All the people in the tower are… Because you are so confident, it’s not easy to exert that kind of influence, isn’t it?”
“That’s not wrong either.”
“Did the old man think of anything else?”
“Well, yes. I know that little girl better than you.”
It seemed that Merlin and Yareli had a personal relationship.
“then. What did you say to the old man?”
“Well, I don’t mind answering it, but don’t you have more questions than that? I have a job too, so it’s hard to answer all of your endless questions.”
“ah·······.”
Oliver let out a sigh, canceling the previous question.
Leaving the mines, staying with the Joseph family, and then going out into the world to work as a solver, Oliver learned that questions were somewhat limited.
Because of a number of factors, including the situation, location, the value of the question, and the patience and stamina of the person answering it.
It was a pity personally, but Oliver got used to this rule to some extent.
So I was able to set my own priorities for the questions.
Taken from n̲o̲b̲l̲e̲m̲t̲l̲.̲c̲o̲m̲
Naturally, the thing about Yareli was down. Because it was just a passing curiosity.“Then, can I ask you another question?”
Just as I was about to cancel the question and ask the real question, Merlin raised her hand. It meant stop.
“First, let me ask you a question. I’ve come this far to answer my questions… Can you yield?”
Oliver nodded happily.
Merlin was now his teacher, no matter what.
“Yes, tell me. old man.”
“I heard about your work at Mountain Face.”
Oliver nodded. Merlin had already said several times that he had many friends to whisper to him.
“Yes.”
“I’m glad to hear that my temporary disciple has been active, but at the same time, I feel like a fool. It’s a corporation that has its time to show off its strength… tell me What on earth were you thinking of making such a difficult ball?”
Oliver knew what he meant.
As Kevin said earlier, Mountain Face’s achievements were not in Oliver’s favor.
Thanks to him, my plans to quietly read a book at the tower, take a class, or attend a lecture were shattered, and I was able to get everyone’s attention.
‘Especially to the School of Life….’
If Oliver had been an ordinary employee, there would have been no problem, but considering that he was a warlock, this gaze was not very good.
In some cases, it might cause great damage to Kevin or Merlin, who hired Oliver.
“Well······. I did not intend to do this either.”
“okay?”
“Yeah, I was already locked in the lab, so I couldn’t get out unless I knocked them down.”
“So, you mean you didn’t notice anything strange? Let me be honest. If you respect me.”
Oliver paused at the last words, then fell into his thoughts again.
“Well·······. To be honest, I kind of noticed it before entering the lab.”
“is it? They say that the Batory family’s camouflage is so good that even the rudimentary wizards don’t recognize it.”
“Yeah, the stomach is really good. It uses iron knives instead of a leather mask for better camouflage, and it eats the target’s blood to imitate the flow of magic, memories, and actions, making it more difficult to distinguish. But, do you know about the Bathory family?”
“I’ve never seen it in person, but I know a little bit about my teacher’s teacher’s teacher’s teacher’s teacher.”
“ah·······. So, I have a question about the Bathory family, can you answer it?”
“Later, now it’s my turn to ask. Anyway, I noticed, why didn’t you get out of the way? Were you curious about the identity of the Bathory family?”
“There is, too, but I think it would be better to solve the problems that came sooner rather than later. As an employee, I can’t tell the warlock that the lab has been occupied, can’t I?”
Merlin agreed.
“Well······. That’s right. As soon as it comes out of your mouth, you’ll hear some crazy shit.”
“Yes, that’s it. I think it would be better to solve Professor Lee Wang’s becoming the deputy director. Also, I thought that if I left it clumsy, the nearby research institute and village would suffer a lot of damage.”
“Oh, I didn’t expect you to care so much, which is surprising.”
“Well, it’s a job, so do you work at the same time? . . . by the way, can I ask why you are asking this?”
“Can I be honest?”
“Yes? Oh yes.”
“It’s because your mind is so curious. These days, I’m keeping a journal of observations about you as a hobby, and I’m asking this as a reference.”
“·················ogue.”
“I was joking. So don’t look at me with those eyes. It’s temporary, but I’m a teacher. get hurt.”
“Ah, sorry.”
“I’m just kidding… Actually, I’m here to make sure you’ve cleaned up your post. Kevin can get into a difficult situation and bite me like a water ghost, so isn’t it better to prepare in advance?”
“ah······. It’s like a warlock’s priestly relationship.”
“It’s the perfect sound to hit a stone in the tower. But it is not wrong.”
Merlin chuckled.
Oliver wasn’t sure if that was a joke or if he was serious.
“then······. What do you think of the report?”
Oliver asked Merlin, who was suddenly reading the last page of the report.
He put Oliver’s report after he had finished reading it on the desk.
“It’s fine… There’s nothing big enough to make a big fuss about. Hiring an outsider solver at will, you may sound sick, but that’s the professor’s authority, so there’s no problem. However, there are some areas of concern.”
“What are you?”
“Reports may be deceived, but the field cannot be deceived. I wonder if it will be okay The School of Life will investigate the Chimera Lab, and even if there is a slight problem, we can discuss it over there.”
“If that’s the case, then you probably don’t have to worry too much. The traces were also manipulated to match the report content. It was burned and destroyed by fire magic.”
“Well, then, usually labs have a Root Net that secretly monitors the whole lab for security reasons, but I don’t know if that’s okay. If any help-”
“- You don’t have to worry too much about that.”
“Do you have any evidence?”
“Yeah, as the old man said, four Ruth were secretly filming the entire Chimera Lab, but I deleted it. Probably, I think it will be fine.”
“I’m sorry, but I didn’t quite understand, did I say that I deleted the records stored in the world tree?”
“yes.”
“how?”
“Accessed the world tree and erased it.”
“That’s right…. I logged in and deleted it. Can I ask one more question? Why didn’t you tell me that you know how to access the world tree?”
“I do not know? Didn’t the old man ask?”
“Are you crazy?”
“Yes?”
Oliver asked, confused by Merlin’s sudden accusation.
“Why are you talking about my fault for not reporting properly? You didn’t ask, Rani. Of course I shouldn’t ask, of course I should report it.”
“I didn’t know what to report.”
Merlin shook his head, closed his eyes, and sighed.
“Uh-huh… If I had reported it, I would have been able to get you a much more comfortable and safe job at the Tower, but it’s a pity.”
Merlin is exhausted. Oliver opened his mouth to comfort Merlin.
“I am satisfied with my life right now, so you don’t have to be sorry.”
“I don’t mean that. Oh God····. Well, are you glad you found out now? When did the world tree become accessible? Did you try it right after dealing with magic?”
“Uh, similar but different.”
“···········?”
“I connected to the World Tree right after I first met the elderly. Do you remember?”
“Of course I remember. You lied to me that I was a restaurant worker, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, and he gave me a brief explanation of what a world tree is. He also recommended books.”
“I remember.”
“I read that book and connected to a world tree on the border between Sectors U and V.”
Merlin’s expression hardened subtly. It was as if I heard some nonsensical nonsense.
“Have you used magic since then?”
“No, it was a long time after I used magic.”
“But how about the world tree? Aren’t you even a druid?”
“Yeah, so I connected with emotion.”
Oliver spoke frankly about his experience, and Merlin’s expression wrinkled even more. It was difficult to read what he was thinking by looking at his expression, but he seemed a little surprised.
“Can you tell me more?”
Oliver said. How did you access the world tree?
After reading all the books he bought from Merlin, he wondered why he couldn’t connect with his emotions, so he tried to connect once as an experiment.
“I thought I would fail, but I succeeded. It seems strange.”
Merlin nodded.
“Yeah, that’s really cool. To the extent that I want to study it… Perhaps-“
“I’m sorry, old man. May I ask a question from now on? I also have a question. If you yield to me, I will answer you more faithfully later.”
Oliver said, considering it was time for Kevin to return soon.
When Kevin came, there was quite a bit of work, such as reviewing the report and matching words. From now on, Oliver had to ask.
Merlin agreed.
“Okay, I’m sorry, but I’ve heard interesting stories…. What do you want to know?”
“First of all, I would like to ask about the Bathory family.”
“Specifically?”
Oliver thought for a moment.
“Information about Bathory, the owner of the family, and the entire Bathory family.”
“It’s broad. Well·······. As far as I know, Bathory was originally a wizard. A family of wizards with their own legacy in the center of the continent. Also, she was a pretty attractive girl.”
“Are you acquainted?”
“My teacher’s teacher’s teacher’s teacher’s teacher knew each other. I think we exchanged for a while.”
“ah·······.”
“Anyway, at that time, I think the Gaju had a lot of talent, ability, and a pioneering vision. Well, at any rate, it ended tragically like other Central Continent wizards.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, suddenly, rumors spread that he was obsessed with black magic, and rumors of eating people and even dealing with demons spread and collapsed in an instant. They all died… However, decades later, a warlock appeared in the afterlife. Even though he is a warlock with excellent skills, he does not join the Black Hand, but rather fights with a human flesh cook.”
“Is that Bathory?”
“Yeah, it’s not officially known, but when I analyzed the characteristics of the blood magic used, it turned out that it was. He’s not very famous here in Seland because he’s active on the continent across the sea, but he’s a huge player there.”
‘…and you defeated the giant.’ Merlin was deliberately silent.
With it or not, Oliver continued to ask questions to clear his doubts. For example, the identity of the red notebook I picked up from Bathory.
“Do you know what the main source of income or business of the Bathory family is?”
“The main source of income? business? I know. They mainly sell drugs based on blood magic. At least as far as I know.”
“A drug based on blood magic?”
“okay. It is said to be an elixir of blood, bringing back health and stamina to men and the blessing of youth for women. Customers are mainly nobles, royalty, and jejus from the continent. Perhaps there are customers here in Seland as well.”
“Who is your main customer?”
“Well, are you sure you are a rich person?”
“He is a rich man…”
“Why are you asking that?”
“Oh, I wondered if it had something to do with the Mountain Face raid. May I ask you another question?”
“However much.”
“I went to a secret lab when fighting the Bathory family at the Chimera Lab… There were some interesting subjects.”
“Something?”
“He was a chimera with a cow’s head and a human body. It was called Improved Human-C03. By any chance, do you know what it is? It seems like a pretty important study.”
Merlin was silent.
“Do you think I know that?”
“Yeah, I think you know.”
Oliver answered without hesitation. There was no reason, but somehow it felt like that. And the feeling was not wrong.
“Did you know that wizards have fallen into supremacy?”
Oliver nodded.
The most developed city in the world had such a sign. It doesn’t matter if it’s bad or bad. After working at the tower, I was able to find out more.
There is only a difference in degree, and the wizards thought they were superior to the general public.
“And the Biology School is worse than the other Schools. Even systematic.”
“Yes, I know.”
“So you do more than simply claim superiority. For example, envisioning a perfect society centered on wizards.”
Oliver remembered what the female warlock had said. The life school dreamed of a systemized world.
“Can you tell me a little bit more?”
Merlin looked at his watch and shook his head.
“Don’t postpone that story. It’s a bit difficult to explain in a short time… We’ll talk later with your world tree.”
Sadly, Oliver nodded. If possible, I wanted to hear it properly.
“Now ask your last question. When Kevin sees me, I think he’ll get angry saying that he came to work as he wanted.”
“Then, may I ask you the most curious thing?”
“Fun things always come last.”
“Do you know about eschatology?”