69. Direct Request (1)
Oliver followed Al’s directions. But for some reason today, I was guided through the small side door next to the grocery store, not the president’s office.
“Where?”
“The boss is waiting down here.”
It’s a different place than usual…
“…before, Forrest said he was waiting for me, can I ask why?”
“sorry. Dave Mr. There I am not authorized to answer. I am truly sorry.”
Al’s words were sincere. He wanted to answer, but he couldn’t.
Taken from n̲o̲b̲l̲e̲m̲t̲l̲.̲c̲o̲m̲
Normally, it would have passed, but Oliver opened his mouth again, recalling the bargaining he had seen at the local market.“okay.”
“Yes, the boss will tell you when you go down. sorry again.”
“Well···. So what is it instead, can you answer another question later?”
“Any other question?”
“Yes, can you tell me what the restaurant waiter does?”
Al tilted his head as if he didn’t understand.
“Yes, of course it’s not difficult, but…. But may I ask what the reason is?”
“Ah, I suddenly got curious.”
Oliver said, remembering the old man at the bookstore.
Egg seemed to be unsure, but he didn’t even dig deep.
“Yes, I will let you know early in the morning or when the evening business is over.”
“thank you.”
Oliver sincerely greeted Al’s favor.
Al greeted him the same way, took a key from his pocket and opened the side door next to the grocery store.
When the door with a sign stating “No entry except for officials” opened, I saw an invisible downhill staircase below it.
***
Oliver made his way down the dimly lit stairs.
It was deeper than I saw above, but it didn’t seem like a normal place.
It has to be said that it is unusually deep compared to the building.
Still, whether there is no end, I finally reached the bottom floor.
With a small sigh of relief, Oliver got off the stairs and moved down the narrow hallway leading to a single road.
It reminds me of a time when I used to live in the basement of Joseph’s sausage factory. The only difference here is that the walls and floors are well finished.
Eventually we reached the end of the hallway.
There was only a small side door at the end of the hallway, but compared to the way down, it was a very ordinary door.
smart-
Oliver knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
When permission was granted, the door opened immediately.
Oliver could tell right away that the basement was the office of the broker Forrest, not the restaurant owner Forrest.
A table and chairs on one side, a huge counter, and a filing cabinet full of things behind it.
I was wondering how to work as a broker in that small office, but that question has been resolved today.
“I’m sorry for calling you in such a gloomy mood.”
Forrest said as he organized the material he had just pulled out of the cabinet.
“No, thanks. But what are you doing?”
“Suddenly, something happened to me. It has nothing to do with you, so don’t worry about it.”
“is that so?”
“Yeah, it’s not that great.”
It didn’t seem like it was true to say that it wasn’t a big deal, but I didn’t ask about it.
It was said that if you ask too much about an individual on this floor, you will become a target of caution… No. Has Oliver already crossed this? Anyway….
“You said you’ve been waiting for me, can I ask what’s going on?”
After finishing the paperwork, Forrest nodded and took the money out of the drawer.
It was 200 bills woven in 100,000 randa notes.
“This?”
“It’s yours.”
“…? If it was the reward for the last mission, I received it.”
“Additional remuneration. The ledgers and documents you brought with you and the undiluted potion. The client really liked it. Can we sit down and talk for a moment?”
Oliver nodded politely and sat across from the forrest.
Forrest poured out a glass of wine as usual, and Oliver sniffed and passed it to his throat.
“Is it edible? I thought I was drinking better than I thought, so I picked it up and served it.”
Oliver, dull in taste, nodded without a second thought.
“I’m glad…. Thanks to the documents and books you brought, you indirectly helped the client’s business.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course, we got more information about where and at what price to supply magic wine through the accounts and prices written in the ledger. If you bring something like that to the black market, it sells at a pretty high price.”
Five····. Oliver nodded again at the new information.
“Originally, I planned to sell it at a higher price, but the client paid first. As you can see, it’s 20 million.”
“What is Forrest’s fee?”
“Not this time. I didn’t do anything in the first place, and I paid the money out there first.”
It didn’t matter if I took the fee, but I didn’t bother to open my mouth because I said it was okay.
The money was slowly accumulating. It was fortunate. I didn’t know when I would need the money, but I had to earn it when I could.
I suddenly had a question.
“But how do you usually give money like this?”
“Good point. From now on, that’s the point. That money is definitely the price for your fair work, but it’s also a bribe.”
“A bribe?”
“Yeah, let’s go back to it. That money is your fair price. So even if you take the money, you never owe anyone.”
“Yes····. All right.”
“However, apart from that, the client wants to meet you in person.”
“Are you? Why do you want to meet him?”
“He said he wanted to say thank you in person. But my heart is that I want to get acquainted with a skilled warlock. There is nothing wrong with knowing.”
“Are you a skilled warlock?”
“Yeah, right there. why? Isn’t that enough to fill you up?”
“no. no. But for that reason, you willingly offered up this much money?”
That was an accurate point. Among the contents of the last request, the client said that he barely met the minimum level of remuneration.
It means that you are either a nerd trying to get things done cheaply, or a person who is short on money.
But did such a person willingly offer the same amount as the remuneration he managed to get? Just to say hello and get to know each other?
That didn’t make sense.
“Of course not. It’s all pretending, I’ve got something to do right now. I have something to ask you, and something to ask of you.”
“Are you going to ask and ask?”
“Yeah, don’t worry too much. When a competent solver appears on this floor, all kinds of organizations and brokers are muddy.”
Oliver nodded silently. It seemed that he was gradually recognized as a problem solver. Well, I haven’t had any failures yet.
“What are you going to ask?”
“It’s not that great. Now that you’ve been around the wizard’s workshop, I’m asking you to give me a rough outline of what it looks like.”
“Since you brought Professor Herbert, wouldn’t it be quicker to ask him?”
“That’s right. The problem is that he’s already been hit in the head once, and his trust in him has fallen to the bottom. I need something to contrast with. No matter how illegal a moonshine shop is, it doesn’t cost a penny or two.”
It seemed right.
“I think that would be fine.”
“Good luck. By the way, the second one won’t be okay.”
“If it’s the second time, will you please?”
“Yeah, it’s not a request, it’s a request.”
“What kind of request is it?”
“I’m asking you to watch over the wizard’s workshop until it’s up and running. The duration is about a month.”
“Then why do you want to meet me and ask? If it’s an official request, shouldn’t it be conveyed through Forrest?”
“I refused.”
“Reject?”
“Yeah, because it’s an unacceptable condition by my standards.”
Oliver was intrigued.
It’s a condition that Forrest can’t agree to, what kind of condition is it? And Forrest wondered why he had brought up this story to himself nonetheless.
“Are the conditions too harsh?”
“For you who defeated 3 fighter crew members. While you were away, rumors have already spread, and your name has become somewhat known. It’s like a dark horse that comes out every year, but there are still quite a few people paying attention.”
Forrest spoke the truth without any exaggeration or demeaning.
Well, Knuckle Joe and Nico, big chins are pretty tricky enemies. It didn’t even seem that strange.
“The condition suggested by the client is 15 million in advance with the condition of paying the cost of the workshop for one month. He said he would give me an additional amount of the same amount if I finished the job safely. In other words, if you keep it safe for a month, you can earn Rs 30 million, or Randa 15 million if you fail.”
“I think it looks pretty good, right?”
“Of course, that is the case in general. Do you remember? That the client belongs to a crime firm. A sub-organization of many large organizations.”
“Yes, I heard.”
“As you know, it’s pretty good if you belong to a crime firm. You can get protection and help from the same organization you belong to. But sometimes we get caught up in internal competition.”
Oliver nodded. I heard of Cant and knew. Many organizations belonging to the crime firm compete with each other, so they have to behave well within it.
“The sorcerer industry is a money-making business. Demand is always high, but supply is always low. That’s why it becomes money, and where there is a lot of money, there is bound to be a fight.”
“Does that mean that the mage production workshop could be attacked by an organization belonging to the same crime firm?”
“Not necessarily, but with a fairly high probability. There are a lot of people who keep their clients in check. That’s not the end of it.”
“Isn’t that the end?”
Forrest pulled out a round glass bottle from within. There was a seal stamped on the outside, but I looked at it and saw that it was something Oliver had given me in the past.
“Isn’t this the potion I gave you last time?”
“right. I’ll ask again. Was this really what you found in Associate Professor Herbert’s workshop?”
“Yes.”
“This thing is a horse tower thing.”
“Matop?”
“Yes, this seal is proof of that. It is stamped on an object under the management of the tower, and you can tell because it has been specially treated. I did some research.”
Oliver asked, pondering.
“Why was the horse tower thing there?”
“There are two possibilities. Professor Herbert was surprised that he raided and robbed the goods being transported to the tower, or was secretly dealing with the insider of the tower.”
“It will be the latter.”
“Yeah, if things from the tower had been stolen in a raid, rumors had spread that this floor would have been quite noisy, but there was no sign of that, so it must have been stolen. Well, it’s not that rare.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, the tower is a place that deals with a lot of magical knowledge and resources, living up to its name. If you have a bad mind, it’s not even about stealing objects that are sleeping in the warehouse or manipulating documents by touching them a few times. That’s why big professors and students who go on a regular basis are sometimes caught in this kind of thing. Surprisingly, the country’s pride and Landa’s elite, the Matopians, are also the main business partners of the backstreets.”
Forrest looked happy somehow.
“Does that mean you can attack not only competing gangs, but also horse tower officials?”
“The probability is low, but it is not impossible. After examining Professor Herbert’s ledger, a significant portion of the money was passed on to unidentified people, probably a member of the Magic Tower who is doing something secretly.”
Oliver nodded, recalling the potion he had seen in the magician’s workshop.
“Of course, unless it’s a reckless guy from the tower, he’ll get away with it, but there’s nothing certain about this floor. Herbert’s mage was quite popular, so the money they received was also small. Also, the existence of a wizard is not easily predictable because of factors such as pride and favoritism.”
“In other words, although the probability is low, it cannot be denied that it can attack clients.”
“Okay, that’s why I declined. Aside from the fact that fighting with a magician belonging to the tower is dangerous in itself, fighting a wizard with 30 million is a little bit different. It’s a lot of money, but if you put in a little more effort, you can earn more comfortably and safely. So I declined.”
Oliver nodded. Everything Forrest said was sincere. Cant said that he knew the solver’s capabilities and entrusted him with the safest and most efficient work, but he seemed right.
Still, there was something I didn’t understand.
“Then why are you telling me this?”
Forrest leaned forward slightly.
“I asked the client to give me a chance to persuade myself. So I’m asking for your opinion. He is also a friend who personally watches with interest.”
Sincerity.
“Also, if it’s your personality, you might want to meet someone from a crime firm. Of course, it’s all my guess. If it’s uncomfortable, I can just sort it out on my own line. I’m just asking what you think.”
Oliver thought. how should i do it
Continuing quests, crime pumps, rival gangs, and related parties…. I was a little interested.
Oliver answered, glancing at the man waiting in the next room.
“Then, can we just meet?”
“Of course, you can just say no after we meet. Hey, come in.”
With those words, a secret door on one wall of the office opened and a man entered.
He said.
“hello. Black Mage. My name is Murphy Kimbell.”