79. Ready (1)
Afterwards, Oliver got up after hearing more from Forrest about the contaminated area and cleaning up.
5 days ahead.
This was enough time to prepare everything.
As he was about to leave the office, Forrest pulled out a small communication device from a drawer.
“What is this?”
“It’s a secret communication device that I bought through a dealer. You can communicate directly with me.”
Oliver said, looking at the beetle-shaped communication device.
“A communication device?”
“Yeah, it’s something that I only give to my friends who have a good track record of the solvers I’ve contracted with……. Originally, it should have been given sooner, but this is also a procedure.”
“it’s okay. I am happy to receive it even now.”
“Then I’m glad. If anything happens, I’ll call you there.”
“Yes·····. Can it be used in contaminated areas?”
“Well····. No, that would be hard. The cause is unknown, but communication is restricted in the contaminated area, and sometimes it does, but it won’t work… Perhaps, after two or three days, the place for the cleaning convocation will be decided. Then I will call you.”
“Yes, I understand. Then, excuse me.”
“No, just one more word.”
“Yes? what.”
Forrest didn’t answer right away, took a sip and opened his mouth.
“·····Perhaps we will have a meeting with the fixers before we start cleaning. The city explains the mission before sending in a fixer.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Then some of the solvers will approach you. Some of them will sell my name.”
“Forrest?”
“okay····. The decision is yours, but don’t trust anyone too easily. Do you remember what I said?”
Of course I remembered. Because I said it before.
“In addition to zombies and polluting creatures in the polluted area, he also told me to be careful about mercenaries and fixers.”
“Okay, then. Let me call you back.”
***
Oliver then walked out of the office to greet Al politely, then exited the restaurant and headed straight for the Gray Market.
There was plenty of time for 5 days to go to the contaminated area, but isn’t it better to prepare sooner?
Oliver decided to visit the gray market, the gray market, a traditional market, and the underground gray market, which Murphy suggested.
The necessary items were emotions, vitality, and black magic tools such as gluttonous bags.
Judging from Forrest’s words, the polluted zone was not just a place where polluting creatures ran rampant, it was also a lawless zone where looters and warlocks also nested.
Oliver was planning to visit such a polluted area and pick up some useful stuff.
If there’s a warlock family, there’s a good chance there’s a black magic book or a book about demons.
So I gladly accepted the cleaning of the contaminated area.
“Are there any bigger glutton pockets?”
“hem? Bigger?”
“yes.”
Oliver asked the warlock who was selling items on one side of the gray market.
He looked so old that it was difficult for him to walk.
“This is enough, so why are you looking for a bigger one?!”
The old man had a temper. What the old man said wasn’t wrong.
Gangs, pickpockets, and thieves are mostly looking for black magic items in these places.
For them, a wallet-sized glutton pocket was enough.
At the very least, I’ll just put a few things like a watch and a ring, or a bill.
However, Oliver wanted more.
Books, surgical tools, work tools, etc. can be swallowed easily….
So, if possible, I needed a big glutton bag.
Oliver explained his situation in a detour and asked the old man if he had any other items, but the old man said he had none of that, so if he had nothing to buy, he had to turn it off.
After that, I went looking for other black magic merchants to find things, but they too shook their heads like the old man.
what to say… The people here didn’t seem very enthusiastic.
It wasn’t a misunderstanding because I had only been there once or twice, but a man interrupted me.
“Hey. Brother!”
Oliver turned his head in the direction of the sound.
The worst seat corner. A chubby man looked at Oliver cautiously. When our eyes met, he said excitedly.
“Yes, you!·····. Come this way!”
Oliver approached the man obediently.
Some of them were called, but it was because I was interested in a man.
He was smiling happily at his plump exterior, but his insides were trembling violently.
Even at this moment, didn’t he say something wrong? Isn’t that too much of a joke? I constantly questioned myself, nevertheless, I desperately gathered up my courage and pretended to be calm and teased.
“From a long time ago, it seemed like I was looking for a big bag of gluttons, right? Oh no, so am I right?”
The man’s voice trembled strangely as he was sweating profusely.
Either way, Oliver didn’t care, and explained what he wanted as before.
After listening for a while, the plump man took out his notebook.
“Please explain again. What specifically do you want?”
“I want a glutton bag for books or work tools. It would be nice if it could hold a little more, and it would be nice if it could be folded for easy carrying.”
The chubby man, like a pro, wrote down Oliver’s requirements one by one in a fine handwriting.
“What is the specific size?”
It’s the size…
“Are you about the size of a person?”
Oliver said without thinking. Roughly, this seems to be enough.
But the chubby man looked up in surprise.
“…are you serious?”
“I think it can hold a lot if it’s about the size of a person……. why? Is there any problem?”
“No, I don’t think I know anything.”
“Yes?”
“Isn’t the glutton bag just a bag that is easy to carry, like a magic bag?”
Abandon the BBW artificial attitude. He spoke in a more natural manner.
“····is not it?”
“Of course not! That’s why novices can’t… Honey show. It’s not dangerous because the glutton pocket is the size of a wallet. It is very dangerous for a person the size of a person.”
Hoo… Oliver was interested.
Since none of the books Oliver had read dealt with such a subject, I wanted to hear more.
“Why?”
“The gluttonous pouch is more like an artificial creature with an ego. So it moves on its own… When it’s small enough to be the size of a wallet, it’s weak, so I’ll do whatever it’s told, but when it’s as big as a human, do you think it’ll do what you’re told?”
Oliver remembered what had happened in the past.
After meeting Forrest for the first time and becoming a solver, the first time staying at an inn.
Then he ordered the glutton to vomit money to make plans for the future.
The gluttonous bag resisted, even for a short time.
Oh, I didn’t think it was anything special, but it turned out to be more interesting than I thought.
“You know it pretty well. Incredible.”
Oliver said sincerely.
“Of course not! I live on this, and this is the basics.”
The chubby man said so, but it didn’t seem like he didn’t like it.
The attitude of artificial craftsmanship that had already been created for the first time disappeared without a hitch.
“Then, talk again. Then I’ll try my best to match it. Ever since then, I’ve always had a knack for making magic tools… ah! How can you make it so docile when it’s the size of a baby? Even when I became the size of a child, the rebellion grew stronger. What size do you want?”
“It’s the size of an adult human.”
Oliver said in a more confident voice than at first.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes. it can not?”
“It’s not that I can’t…. But it’s really dangerous. There are quite a few pockets of glutton that eat my master.”
It was quite possible given the greedy appearance of swallowing banknotes.
Gourmet bag…. I thought it was just human skin and teeth processed with emotions, but maybe it’s more interesting than that.
“Yes, it doesn’t matter.”
The plump man sighed at Oliver’s unchanging attitude. Now he seemed to have given up on trying to convince him too.
“It’s fine…. But it takes a lot of time and money to make something like this. How much money do you have?”
“How much do you need?”
“Let’s see… Including material cost, my labor cost, and risk allowance…. 3,000, no, at least 40 million. I also took into account the fact that I can’t make this kind of thing a few times and the quality may deteriorate, so don’t even think about cutting a penny.”
The chubby man was very determined at that moment. It was enough to show pride in his own things and pride in his own abilities.
40 million randara. This is a decent amount for Oliver to have to work as a solver 3 or 4 times.
However, the fact that it was a necessary item and that it could satisfy my curiosity, I decided it was well worth the payment.
Having made the decision, Oliver took out a gluttonous bag from his arms, and forced his hand into his mouth to take out two hundred sheets of Rs. 100,000.
While taking it out, the glutton bag shed tears with a strange sound.
Kuek…! Cuckoo gurgling . . . . Shut it off…!
“How about giving half of it as an advance payment, and giving the rest more after the product is finished?”
“really?! Oh no. I say good.”
“But when will I receive the goods?”
“If you include the time to get materials and make them… a week?”
“I need mine in five days, can’t I do it in three or four days?”
“No, I have another livelihood, but I can’t.”
“Can I give you another ten million randa after work?”
Then the chubby man jumped up from his seat and suddenly started tidying up the stall.
Looking at it, Oliver asked.
“What are you doing?”
“What are you doing? I’m in need of something fast. Then we have to make it quickly!”
***
Time has passed since then.
The chubby man was fortunate to keep his promise, but on the third day, when I visited him, he met Oliver with his eyes wide open.
To Oliver’s order, he made a human-sized gluttonous bag and gave him a folding leather case and belt for storage.
It was a small expense, but it was not worth it.
It was the money I had raised for this in the first place.
Before leaving, he warned about his belongings.
‘It’s tough stuff, as expected. As he grew to the size of a human, his physical strength was no less than that of a human, and he became even more ferocious. I was tied to the chain in advance and passed without a hitch, but please be extra careful when using it. He is stubborn and can swallow things and not spit them out. I warned you.’
Oliver nodded and thanked him.
In fact, when I touched the bag of glutton in the leather case that had been folded over and over again, I felt quite a bit of rebellion and viciousness.
It didn’t seem like something that could be easily used.
said the plump warlock again.
‘Be careful. I don’t want to hear that the first customer ate my stuff and died.’
Oliver nodded again and said yes. Then I came to the meeting place that Forrest said.
“Is this right?”
Oliver said in front of an entrance near the polluted area.
Area F had many large and strangely shaped buildings like a hub (HUB) where various research facilities were gathered, but it became insignificant as it got closer to the polluted area.
From the 500-meter radius of the contaminated area, the city defense forces are guarding it, but unlike the shiny F area, it looked very gloomy because of the iron fence and the soldiers armed with personal firearms.
“Are you from the Brokers’ Guild?”
At the entrance to the control area, someone appeared and spoke to me.
Looking at his outfit, he was a soldier, but Oliver nodded and held out the business card that Forrest had given him.
Then he checked his business card, opened a small door, and took Oliver away as if by force.
“Where are you going?”
“A place where solvers gather. Follow me quietly.”
After passing several cement obstacles, watchtowers, iron fences and barbed wire fences, we arrived in front of a building.
This building had a bunker-like building that seemed to focus on defense instead of giving up aesthetics, but there were a lot of emotions inside. They were the solvers.
“Go inside.”
The soldier spoke to Oliver, and Oliver did as the soldier told him to open the door and enter the building.