93. Promise (2)
just- just- just-
Oliver walked for a long time to visit Area P.
Zone P was a factory zone and worker residence like Zone T, but it seemed relatively safe compared to other worker residence zones because it was attached to the middle and upper-class residential areas.
However, that is also the story of the central part of the district.
When we went to the small church located on the outskirts, the whole area was very lonely.
It was like an abandoned place, but only beggars were seen occasionally.
Oliver handed the beggars one or two small bills and looked around.
Fortunately, nothing was suspicious.
It was a pleasure. Because Joanna was really going to talk to her.
Oliver entered the entrance to the church where the old cross had been erected.
The rectangular shape of the interior of the cathedral was filled with uncomfortably long, suffocating chairs.
Oliver wondered if it was because of this that no one was inside the church.
Of course, Oliver didn’t care.
Oliver took some bills from his pocket, put them on the offering plate, and went inside.
Then he sat down behind a woman with long blonde hair, sitting alone in the cathedral.
Oliver followed her, interlocking both hands, and said quietly.
“… Knight?”
“Shh. Wait.”
Oliver was silent as instructed.
Then I listened, and I could hear Joanna’s prayer.
“·····father. Grant us strength, courage, and wisdom when we are weak, and watch over us to fulfill the glorious mission you have given us. So please, make me a proud child of you. Father’s children pray… Mahala.”
After the prayer, a solemn silence enveloped the surroundings. After a while, Joanna slowly opened her mouth.
It was a calmer voice than I had heard before.
“Is that Oliver?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you for coming.”
“Thank you for calling me. I learned how honorable it is to have a conversation with a paladin. Thank you sincerely····. In that sense, can I ask you a question?”
“What?”
“How did you know I was me? As you can see, my face has changed, hasn’t it?”
Oliver asked, stroking his face covered in a leather mask.
Is there something that only paladins can recognize?
Joanna remained silent and opened her mouth.
“I just found out.”
“····Yes?”
“You’re the only one looking at your attitude and tone of voice, right?”
“················ogue.”
Oliver was shocked and silent.
I tried to become a normal, common-sense person in my own way… It was bittersweet that the effort seemed to have been denied.
“this·····. Did you mean to try harder?”
“What happened?”
“Yes? Ah, I tried to look like a normal person, but I guess I didn’t have enough effort.”
“no. That’s not what I’m asking… What are you doing here?”
“Yes? Of course, the knight called me here… Oh, why did you ask why you are working as a solver?”
Joanna, who had been staring straight ahead, feeling the limit of her patience, turned back and answered.
“Yes, yes. Why are you working as a solver? You were the head of the warlock organization, weren’t you?”
There was no hostility on her face.
Rather, there was confusion, doubt, and hope. The specific reason for the emotion is unknown, though.
Oliver answered, rubbing his eyes as if tired.
“I was just following the knight’s advice.”
“Advice?”
“Yeah, didn’t you tell me to get out of the world and hang out with people? So it came out… Of course, that’s not all, but it was a pretty big reason. thank you I’ve been wanting to say this, and I’m finally doing it.”
Joanna put on a puzzled expression in disbelief.
It was a look I saw a lot. A look on his face that he couldn’t understand. I couldn’t understand the English language, but the people who talked to Oliver had that kind of expression once in a while.
“········.”
“········.”
There was an awkward silence for a moment, and then Oliver broke the silence.
It was someone I wanted to meet, but isn’t it too wasteful to spend time in silence?
“How were you?”
“Me?”
“Yes···. The pharmacist said you had a good time, but I was a little worried. how are you?”
Then Joanna’s pure white face turned slightly red.
The shame, embarrassment, and guilt that came with him could be seen, but somehow she seemed to feel shameful and guilty about what happened at that time.
“…Did I make a mistake?”
silence for a while. Joanna answered.
“…it was embarrassingly good.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yes, the mission failed and the evil drug was not eradicated, but after successfully completing the mission, I received the title of a paladin and was formally assigned to this place… It’s really shameful and I’m sorry.”
Her words were sincere.
“Then why didn’t you tell the truth?”
Oliver asked without thinking. I’m really curious. However, apart from that, she flinched.
“…a lot of people who helped me tell me to keep quiet. He said that it would be better for the world and for everyone to take advantage of this opportunity and devote ourselves to it.”
Oh oh·····. Oliver admired the pharmacist.
It was as he said. He was right in saying that Joanna’s failure would not go unnoticed due to the complex interests of the Parterans, and that it would make Weinham safer.
He was a really clever man.
“…But the knight still doesn’t think that’s right.”
Joanna answered silently.
Emotions were churning in a complicated way, but it didn’t seem like it was simply a recommendation from those around him. There seemed to be another reason for her to make this choice. Something very precious is involved.
Just as she was about to ask about it, Joanna spoke half a beat faster.
“Then it’s my turn now.”
“Yes?”
“What has happened since you left the Warlock Organization?”
Oliver clenched his chin at the unexpected question.
can you tell me
What····. It seemed okay. She was the one who gave me the advice in the first place, so I thought she deserved an answer.
Above all else, there was no intention or malice in his emotions.
“Well, it doesn’t matter what you say, but the story could be a bit long.”
“Don’t worry, we still have plenty of time.”
Oliver nodded and opened his mouth.
The content itself didn’t matter.
He told the story of leaving the Joseph family secretly, visiting Area X, and meeting Cant in the meantime.
Cant’s actions and the beggars who followed him were detailed, but not overly exaggerated, perhaps Oliver’s expectations.
What she felt when she saw Cant was that Joanna might tell her what she felt was difficult to explain…
Contrary to expectations, however, Joanna only nodded her head and said nothing.
Afterwards, Oliver told the story of leaving Cant and becoming a solver.
I told the story of a brave boy who asked me to teach him a story about a veteran and a story that he found interesting, omitting the content that would cause harm to others.
Oliver suddenly realized that he had met a lot of people after talking.
It’s hard to describe, but it was pretty satisfying.
Joanna said the look was off.
“You seem to be having fun.”
“Well····. Yes, it’s fun. The world . . . is a pretty interesting place.”
“That’s right, I’m glad…. But is there any particular reason why you became a solver?”
“Well, I was offered an offer, and this is the best thing I can do to make money, right?”
Oliver answered appropriately. It was not unusual to tell the paladin to buy books on black magic and demons.
“…so you make money by swinging your fists?”
“Yeah, no matter how hard you work in a restaurant, you can’t afford to buy a book……. Well, wouldn’t it be okay to choose a job that doesn’t harm the general public? The troublemakers are also cleaning the contaminated areas, so I think we are also helpful.”
Joanna was silent again, not knowing what to say.
She looked at Oliver with a very complex expression.
“I have a question for you.”
“Yes, you tell me.”
“Did you really have anything to do with the puppet?”
“Yes····. What specifically are you talking about?”
“…a warlock says that he has someone stronger than him as his master.”
Oliver recalled what had happened to the Joseph family in the past.
“Yes, I think so.”
“Didn’t you risk your life in exchange for being a puppet’s slave?”
“Um, no. no····. But I’m curious, so what if that happens?”
“I can’t let you go any longer.”
Joanna spoke firmly with intense eyes. She was sincere.
“Oh, is that so?”
“Yeah, puppets . . . are heinous criminals who have lived hundreds of years and have committed countless crimes. That’s not enough, it trains many warlocks, and creates chaos around the world by creating numerous criminal organizations. Above all else, he is also an executive of the Black Hand who seeks to destroy the human world. It is absolutely unacceptable.”
“…the Black Hand is trying to destroy the human world?”
“Yes···. Why?”
“ah····. I just knew that Blackhand was a criminal group of warlocks. So, it’s a rather strong and large organization. But I didn’t know that he was trying to destroy the human world.”
“······They periodically try to deal with the devil. According to the church’s investigation, yes.”
“Then, do you know about the Black Hand?”
“To some extent.”
“Can you tell me what kind of organization it is?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“I was just curious. As I said before, I had a chance to go in. The conditions for entry were a bit harsh, so I turned it down, but I’m curious about what kind of place it is.”
Joanna looked at Oliver again.
Deep doubts and faint beliefs. It was a mixture of two conflicting emotions, which could be said to be truly bizarre.
In a sense, I thought this might be a good thing about emotions.
Anomalous, conflicting, contradictory. So it was beautiful and fun.
“Blackhand is a loose coalition of powerful warlocks.”
Oliver pricked up his ears.
Since it was a group full of rumors, even Cant couldn’t tell you the details about the Black Hand, but I heard valuable information from a completely unexpected place.
“According to the research conducted by the denomination, it is not an organization led by a single head, but an organization that is actually led by each finger, which is difficult to call an organization.”
“Fingers?”
“Yes, I mean the black-handed executive. like a puppet.”
Oliver suddenly had a basic question.
“why? Why is Black Hand called Black Hand?”
In fact, it wasn’t a question I was expecting an answer to, but to my surprise, Joanna answered it.
“The black hand means death. Usually it is. And like a shadow, it is everywhere.”
It is the hand of death that exists everywhere.
“Really?”
“… Sadly. Puppets and many other fingers stretch like a spider’s web all over the world. It even has connections with corrupt high-level people in each country. We monitor and investigate it.”
It was interesting. As Cant said, I expected it to be a fairly dangerous and powerful organization, but Joanna’s explanation seemed to be more concrete.
increasingly saddened.
I thought he would have just accepted the offer of the puppeteer Glyph.
Maybe I could have met the puppet without being an enemy and had a conversation.
But again, it was a bit like that when I thought about the conditions.
Maybe I’d be willing to follow if I hadn’t met Cant.
what to say My stomach was a bit complicated.
As Oliver daydreamed and fell into the inner world, a small beep-beep-beep sounded.
I looked forward to see something, but Joanna was looking at a machine other than talking. It was like some kind of communication device.
She checked the machine, pressed a button to turn it off, and got up.
“I’m sorry, but I’ll just get up… Something happened all of a sudden.”
“ah····. I’m sorry. There were a lot of things I wanted to ask.”
“Don’t worry…. He will come to watch you from time to time.”
The tone was mixed with warning, but Oliver was rather happy.
So, doesn’t that mean we can meet again and have a conversation?
“That’s a good thing. Thank you sincerely.”
“Are you happy?”
“Yes, I like knights. Because it’s beautiful.”
Joanna flinched at the words, and blushed in anger.
“…don’t say anything strange.”
“…are you serious? Then that beautiful light… It was beautiful.”
“········.”
Joanna frowned and looked for something in her arms.
Oliver looked at him unconcernedly, but after a while she pulled out a small booklet.
“This·····?”
“It’s the Pater scriptures. You seem to like books, so please read them.”