75. Rest (1)
Tick Tick Tick.
The warehouse damaged by the wizard’s attack was repaired the next morning.
Perhaps the repairers’ skills were good, but after only a few days, they entered the finishing stage, and thanks to the work mixed with these crowds, the magician’s workshop was also about to be completed.
“Wow····. Damn, you really dropped lightning?!”
“Yes···. You can’t believe it.”
“No, I believe it! Because the other uncles also said that lightning struck! Kya… Seven times? Bang here! Boom over there!·····. Say it again! How did you subdue the wizard?!”
A boy, with excitement, spoke to Oliver, who was far away from him so as not to interfere with the repairs in the warehouse.
The boy’s name is Milo Kimbell. He was the youngest brother of Murphy Kimbell.
He went home with his aunt Maggie before the wizard’s attack, and a few days after the raid, he and his aunt came to hear of Oliver’s work.
Then he hung around Oliver for several days, asking questions.
“So dodge the lightning, go forward, block the magic missile, thwart the lightning, and get close.”
Oliver numbly explained what he had done.
It was hard like an encyclopedia, and just listening to it made me fall asleep, but Milo’s eyes were brighter than ever.
“Oh, damn it…. Awesome····. I should have seen it too.”
The boy evoked pure ecstasy, longing, envy, and excitement, even pure in a sense.
He believed what Oliver was saying, and even if he had now grown potatoes on trees, he was ready to believe without any doubt.
Well, maybe it’s normal.
I saw with my own two eyes the magic tower wizards who fell asleep in deep sleep.
Oh, and by the way, now they have been transferred to a higher-level family that takes care of the Kimbell family.
He said that the help of the upper class of the Crime Firm is essential in order for wizards to talk to their families and horse towers about this and demand compensation for damage.
Some of the Kimbell family officials showed that it was a waste to bring the barely caught big fish to the top, but Oliver, the person who caught it, was not particularly disappointed.
Of course, it was a pity that the opportunity to talk to the wizards disappeared, but considering their emotional state, they were more likely to attack again. I decided not to have any regrets. Another chance will come next time.
“Warlock!”
Oliver turned his head at the loud noise.
Milo, who couldn’t contain his excitement, said with a smirk.
“Tell me a story! How was it when you were fighting wizards?!”
“ah·····. Well, I was a little scared and trembling.”
“to? Really?”
“Yes.”
“Didn’t you knock down four by yourself?”
“I am very grateful that luck followed. Everyone was vigilant and didn’t care about me. I don’t even know what would have happened if they had come together and attacked me from the beginning.”
Oliver spoke frankly about his feelings.
It was true that he won, but the story might have been different if the wizards had been determined from the beginning and moved on.
That was the case with the Electric Shock of the Lightning Wizard.
There was little means of resistance while caught. With a little bit of luck, it would have been Oliver who lost.
I looked at Milo wondering if Oliver’s words might have disappointed him, but the boy’s eyes shone with respect.
“Dog haircut……. sleepy it’s cool Is this the attitude of the strong? Recognize the other person?”
“····Yes?”
Milo asked, tapping Oliver’s arm in a friendly way. Like a child who spends a lot of time asking for toys.
“Black Mage! Can I learn it too? black magic! If the hyungs had money, they would give it to me!”
The boy’s emotions were pure curiosity and enthusiasm.
As Oliver was about to answer, a hand appeared and pulled Milo’s ear.
Where have you seen it once? That’s right, it was Maggie.
“ah! Aww! aunt! aunt! ear! Ears!”
“Warlock, stop bothering me and get out of here.”
Maggie said to her nephew with a tray in one hand.
On the tray was a hot dog with chopped onion and pickles, french fries and a cup of juice.
Maggie swung hard and let go of her ear, and Milo backed away, rubbing her sore ear. However, to match his energetic personality, he didn’t just go when he went.
“Hey, Black Mage. I’ll come back later!”
At Milo’s words, Madame Maggie tried to pull her ear again, and Milo sprinted.
There was a moment’s silence, when she placed a tray on a small table and invited Oliver to eat.
“Come on, let’s eat here.”
“thank you.”
Oliver ate right away. At the same time, the employees who were working and members of the Kimbell family were also eating.
About halfway through the hot dog, Maggie cautiously opened her mouth.
“Sorry for bothering you. Black Mage. I apologize if I was offended.”
“Yes? Ah, Milo-san… it’s okay. It’s not strange to have a lot of questions, right?”
“You are kind.”
“is that so?”
“Yes····. Everyone says that Warlocks are scary, but Warlocks seem a little different.”
Warlocks are scary… Oliver thought of his master, Joseph, and other warlocks.
Marie, Peter, Dominique, Anthony, etc.
“Well·····. I don’t know. Anyway, you don’t have to scold Milo. I have nothing to do anyway.”
That was true.
After defeating the wizard, other gangs or solvers who had been attacking from time to time did not come any more.
When I asked Murphy about this, he said it was thanks to rumors of his victory over the wizards.
Of course, there are a lot of people who don’t believe in half because it’s a floating cloud.
Thanks to that, Oliver was also earning money by sitting still and eating food.
“May I ask you a question?”
“A question?”
“Yeah, Mr. Murphy said he was going to hand over the wizards to a higher organization to negotiate. What specifically? They say they do it with the magic tower and the wizard family, but I don’t quite understand.”
“Ah, literally. They talk and negotiate with the Matoap Faculty and their families about this matter.”
“Are you negotiating? Are you talking about the ransom?”
“Yes, that is included. There are other things like silence cost and damage compensation for this.”
“The cost of silence?”
“Simply put, it’s a matter of face. Can I be a little honest?”
“…? Yes.”
“Wizards have had great status in the past, but now their social status and fame have reached their peak. In the early days of Landa, it was a position that was helped by a capitalist, but now it is a position where the capitalist is fighting for supremacy. In particular, the Horse Tower is a unique position among such wizards. For that reason, most of the people there are also prestigious families. What if they say they lost to the street fixer?”
“ah······. Is it a matter of self-esteem?”
“There are practical issues beyond simple self-esteem. If this is revealed, it will not only end in disgrace, but will also damage the reputation and trust of those around you. For example, the subsidies and sponsorships will be reduced in the case of the faculty they belong to, and the fiercely competitive wizarding families may be pushed out of internal competition because of this. To be honest, raiding the warehouse is no big deal. Losing is a big problem.”
Oliver nodded.
It’s not something I really agree with, but I understand roughly what you mean.
“That’s why we handed over the wizard to the upper levels of the Crime Firm, where we could negotiate with the officials of the tower and the family. Then they inflate the cost and damage compensation on our behalf like a mountain… Most of them will be eaten from the stomach in the name of commission, but we also get a big profit. To the extent that the financial situation that has been strained by unreasonable business expansion has improved. In that sense, I am sincerely grateful to the Warlock. I’m going to tell Murphy to say extra thanks for this.”
“No, thanks. I just did my job.”
Oliver waved his hand. He planned to earn as much money as he could, but he still planned to earn as much as he worked.
There’s nothing as dangerous as free money, said Cant… But wouldn’t it be ok if it was something else?
“Can I ask you for something in another form instead?”
“What do you mean?”
Maggie welcomed Oliver’s request. Of course, it was a calculated favor rather than a pure favor.
“I think the workshop will be completed safely. Then, Mr. Murphy said he would give me another Randa 30 million by the fall of next year.”
“Yeah, I think it’s a fair price.”
“Yes, but can I get it any other way other than money?”
“Anything other than money? What specifically are you talking about?”
“It’s like an identification card.”
said Oliver. To be honest, I hadn’t planned on using a specific ID yet, but I thought I’d prepare something like this in advance.
As Forrest said, fake IDs aren’t cheap, even if they’re cheap, and the real ones are pretty expensive.
About 3-5 million randa on average.
So Oliver brought up the story first, now that he has made a contribution.
Fortunately, Mrs. Maggie answered with a smile, whether she had figured it out.
“Are you talking about ID? Yes, I guess that would be it. We’ll talk to Murphy, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.”
“thank you.”
momentary silence. Maggie spoke again.
“Warlock?”
“Yes?”
“Please take good care of me for the rest of the time.”
“Oh, yes. All right.”
***
When the contract period with the Warlock ended, the warehouse repairs and the Wizard Factory were completed.
The factory’s production facilities were finally put into operation, led by Herbert in chains, and red steam from the production process rose up into the sky along a huge pipe.
Maggie asked her nephew Murphy.
“You’re not going to be caught because of that smoke, are you?”
“Do not worry. aunt. I have a vapor filter on the ceiling, so you won’t notice it at all. It’s expensive, so it’s worth it.”
Maggie nodded at her nephew’s words and saw the liquor, potatoes and corn piled up on one side of the studio.
But what stood out the most was the box in the corner of the warehouse.
That box contained a potion that was supplied directly from the horse tower.
A miracle drug that heals any trauma in an instant. The problem was that the price was also as expensive as a miracle.
“If it’s something like that, would it be worthwhile to just sell it on a black market?”
“If you process it into sorcery and sell it, you will get a lot of money, not just salty. There are only a handful of companies that make proper magic wine…”
“How many months can I use with that amount?”
“Yes, even as a mage, it dilutes the potion tremendously. I said above that I would deliver on a regular basis. Well, yes, it’s leftovers from eating.”
It was. In the process of returning the attacked wizard safely, the Crime Firm made a huge hit.
He received a huge ransom for the captured wizards, the cost of silence, and a promise that he would be able to secretly purchase potions that he regularly manages in the tower.
Matop Potion was something that could not be easily obtained even if you wanted to get it, so it was savory even if you just sold it, and you could reprocess it with magic or drugs, but Murphy also got the right to buy the leftovers.
Of course, I didn’t quite understand it, even though I followed it.
Maggie comforted her.
“Even if it’s scum, it’s dregs. That made us safer, didn’t we? If it’s at that level anyway, it’s still enough to support our production.”
“Yeah, at that amount, it will last three months of production. But my goal is to reach production that consumes that in a matter of weeks.”
Maggie laughed lightly. That was enough to supply magic wine to all of Seland.
Those with such a business scale were at the level of a crime firm director.
It was a pretty risky statement, but Maggie didn’t dislike her nephew’s ambition.
‘But to become a director, you need not only money, but also the appropriate force.’
In that sense, Maggie was sad.
The original plan was to invite a warlock named Dabra to be their family’s exclusive warlock.
Of course, a warlock with that level of skill wouldn’t even look at the contract he was losing, but…
He looked a bit immature, and the world seemed dark, so I thought he would just have to persuade him.
For example, by handing over the stake, giving away a percentage of the net profit of the magic wine factory.
However, when he was about to put the plan into action, Maggie gave up without realizing it.
I wondered if he was scared because he was a warlock who defeated the wizard, but before that, there was an unknown fear.
Is it a sense of alienation from other people hidden under his immature appearance?
It felt strongly that it should not be touched hastily.
If you ignore it and stretch out your hand clumsily, you’ll miss it forever.
So Maggie quit. It was an uncertain risk, but it was too ominous… It was a relationship too precious to miss in this way.
Murphy asked as if noticing this.
“Did you talk to the Warlock? You want me to become our exclusive warlock?”
“····no. I was going to do it, but I just gave up.”
“Good job. Bribes to the police are strange to me, but I am not just a fool.”
“…you make the same expression when you talk about wizards.”
When Murphy had just returned from the military, he told me about a wizard he saw on the battlefield.
Although the change in expression was extremely limited due to the surgery to transform into a modified human, Maggie could still understand the fear, fear, and despair the child felt.
A human being, but not just a human being. And the indescribable sense of deprivation and inferiority felt when faced with such an existence.
“What····. Yes, we defeated four wizards instead of one.”
“…But, is that person really the one who defeated the wizard? I can’t help but believe it because I haven’t seen it, but to be honest, I don’t think I’m the type of person that suits a fight. I didn’t say anything against Milo’s annoyance for hours.”
“Yes? I don’t believe it either. But I saw it. how he fights Even when he was about to die, he didn’t even blink. As if from another world. It was a little creepy”
Murphy smoked.
“…well, it doesn’t matter. After all, warlocks and wizards are hard to understand from our point of view. You just need to build the right relationship and get help at the crucial moment. Did he say he wanted ID?”
“okay.”
“Then, I have to prepare for the first grade. It’s a bit expensive, but the profit you’ve earned thanks to that person is greater than that. It’s going to be more expensive than anything else in the future.”
“Because you defeated the wizard?”
“Yeah, no matter how much you hide on this floor, the rumors spread somehow. Already some of the people above are suggesting and showing interest. Well, of course. A warlock who defeated a wizard.”
“That person must be tired, too.”
Maggie said sincerely.
Although I didn’t know much about that floor, from the back alley bar to the Kimbell family secretary.
Because he lived his whole life in a back alley, the rumors he heard did not lose to anyone.
In the case of a solver, the stronger the solver, the higher the ransom price, but at the same time, the possibility of getting caught up in a commotion was high.
Things like unreasonable demands outside of one’s ability, or dirty work that even poetry is reluctant to do.
Politicians, capitalists, and other organizations try to take control or exploit them with political and economic power as well as bundles of money if they want to be useful.
Well, nothing to be embarrassed about. It was such a world in the first place. But, I was curious.
If he overcomes such a situation and survives, what kind of existence will that warlock named Dabra become… I was very curious.