Oliver entered Joseph's room according to the contents of the letter.
The room in the basement was the most luxurious room, and Oliver went to a place as mentioned as if he wasn't interested in anything else.
Right next to the bed, there was a small group of drawers and a lamp that worked with magic stones.
Oliver put away the lamp as the letter instructed, then with great effort pushed the chest of the drawers aside.
There, Oliver saw a small safe stuck to the wall, just as mentioned in the letter.
"Um…"
Oliver pulled out the letter again and checked the password.
"4…….7…….8….1….2……..2……..1… ….5 …….”
The dials were in the middle of the huge lump of iron that moved along with each other.
There was a gap in the tightly locked safe, when Oliver pulled the door open, he could see three metal storage boxes piled up one after the other.
Out of the three, Oliver grabbed the third numbered box.
A storage box that came with a smooth finish as if painted with oil.
It was so long that Oliver couldn't see the end of it, and the long storage box was tightly packed with bundles of large amounts of cash.
A large amount of money that most people cannot accumulate in their lifetime was filled in just one box.
However, Oliver wasn't even excited to see such a large sum of money, he just put the money in a prepared bag.
"Thirty 100,000 bill bundles… One, two, three…"
The piles of money piled up gradually filled the bag.
“…twenty-nine…thirty.”
After taking the money, Oliver triple-checked the backpack, which became quite heavy.
Oliver shoved the storage box back into the safe, then he closed the safe, and moved drawers and the magic stone lamp back into place.
It was the same as the first time, and now he put the bag on his back, then tied the locking strap at the top, and went outside.
As he went outside of the factory, Marie, Peter, and other disciples had gathered.
“…what? Why is everyone together?”
One of the senior disciples answered.
“Ah, you are taking orders from the master, so it is only appropriate for everyone to come together to send you off….Are there any problems?”
Oliver replied.
“No, there isn’t any…”
At that time, Marie approached cautiously and fixed the wrinkles on Oliver's coat.
Then she carefully placed the newsboy cap over his head.
“If you put this on, you won’t stand out.”
Oliver touched the hat once and nodded.
Now it was the time to depart.
“Follow me. A truck is waiting in the front for you.”
The truck was none other than the pharmacist's truck, and Oliver decided to ride in it since he was going to visit Landa.
Oliver was just going to follow along, but he suddenly had a question and asked the disciples who came along with him.
“I have a question, can I ask?
“Sure, what…”
“Does Master always run errands for money like this?”
The disciples who were standing, including the senior disciples, looked at each other.
Everyone tilted their heads as if this was the first time.
“…There wasn’t. He usually takes as much money as he needs. If he really needs more money, he will tell us to send it through the bank or send it in a letter.”
This was an unusual case.
It was then another senior disciple spoke.
“But in the first place, this kind of situation itself is a special, isn’t it?”
He wasn't wrong.
The reason Joseph left in the first place was to treat Andrew, who suffered a serious injury.
The lack of money made sense, and it was impossible to send such a large amount through a bank or a letter.
If you make a mistake, you might attract unwanted attention.
Oliver moved again, somewhat convinced.
"…I see. I'll go then. Goodbye."
“Yes, goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”
Oliver went to the truck and waited at the front door.
It was a six-wheeled truck that he rode when he went to fight a wizard which had a black Porter tent on the luggage compartment.
Oliver stared blankly at the luggage compartment for a moment, not knowing how to climb.
He was relatively short, and there was no place to put his legs.
“Are there any ladders?”
“Take my hand.”
An unknown voice replied to Oliver’s question.
Oliver looked up and saw a man within the luggage compartment.
He held out his hand and spoke again.
“Take my hand.”
As soon as Oliver took his hand as instructed, the man pulled Oliver up with great force.
“It’s been a while?”
Said the man looking at Oliver.
Oliver looked at his face and remembered the face in front of him.
It was Employee A, a subordinate of the pharmacist.
It was the man who was present in the truck along with Oliver when he went to fight the wizards.
“Ah, hello.”
Oliver greeted him as he recalled his memories.
A smile appeared on the man's angular face, as he made a gesture to take a seat.
“Sit. There aren’t any places to sit because of the luggage.”
As if to prove that, Employee A sat roughly on top of the piled-up luggage.
Oliver also followed him and sat on one of the luggage.
“Wow, that’s really awkward.”
Employee A looked at Oliver for a while and then spoke up.
Oliver didn't understand what was awkward, but Employee A kept talking.
"Are you normally this quiet?"
"Yes. I don't talk unless I have something to say."
"why?"
“This way, I don’t get hit by the supervisor.”
“Ah… that’s right. Most of the kids in your place are like that, aren't they? But isn't all that a thing of the past? After all, you are now the second-in-command of a Warlock organization, right?”
“No. The person second in command is still Sir. Andrew. He is currently receiving treatment.”
“Isn’t he going to be kicked out anyway? After all, he got beaten by a wizard while you won against the wizard? Isn't everything in the world of Warlocks based on skills?"
“…how do you know?”
"Well, if you're in our organization, you will find it easy to get a little bit of information about you guys. Other than that, I also have a lot of experience traveling the world. I've met a lot of people here and there."
Looking at Employee A's emotions, what he said seemed to be true to some extent.
Although there was a bit of bluff, it was within the acceptable range,
“And finally I settled in this town.”
“Why?”
“…are you curious about that?”
“A little.”
"You are a funny guy… Well, a lot of things happened here and there. I was getting old and I wanted to settle down somewhere a little safer. In that sense, I envy you."
“Me?”
"Oh, seriously. Don't take me wrong because I don't have any ulterior motives. I survived because of you. When we were about to die, you saved us. If you hadn’t come, we would have become prey to the wizards. Fortunately, that didn’t happen.”
Employee A's feelings were sincere.
There was also a bit of envy.
“Why are you jealous?”
“Kuk, are you kidding me?”
When Oliver didn't respond, Employee A frowned and asked.
“You really don’t know?”
"Yes."
“Ah…are you for real? Why are we envious of you geniuses? It’s because of black magic.”
“Just for that?”
"You punk! You're hitting on a sore spot! I’ve personally seen how you fought. I even see you in my dreams every now and then. Dozens of black blades fell like rain and the whole area exploded. It was freaking cool. Isn’t life way easier for you geniuses?”
Oliver didn't react.
No, it would be more correct to say that there is nothing to react to.
The easy life of genius – to Oliver, these words didn't really mean anything.
Because Oliver's greatest concern has always been survival, the only recent additions were black magic and the beautiful light and there was nothing else.
Employee A's words about money or power did not impress Oliver.
When Oliver didn't react, Employee A spoke in dismay.
“Ha…Is it what they call a genius’s leisure? Or is that how genius was supposed to be?"
“I’m sorry, honestly, I still don’t know what you’re talking about…. In short, are you saying that you are envious of me because of black magic?”
"Well…that's what it is. If I knew black magic I wouldn’t bother carrying a gun around?"
“Then, why don’t Mr. Employee try learning black magic?”
"Employee? Oh, I still didn't tell you my name… By the way, what do you mean learning black magic? Do you think I have talent?"
"I don’t know?"
“What….what’s the meaning of learning if you don’t have a talent?”
“Isn’t that better than not learning it?”
Oliver said these words without much thought, but at those words, Employee A's eyes widened slightly and he gave a strange smile.
“Why? Would you teach me?”
“If Master allows it.”
"……..Are you serious?"
"Yes."
“That’s amazing. Warlocks and Wizards generally don’t teach their knowledge to others, as they only like to suck on the blood of ordinary people.”
" Oh, there's also a condition."
"Of course, of course. What is it?"
“When we first met, I thought you knew a lot about wizards, can you teach me what you know about them?”
"What?"
“About the Wizards”
“No, no, no. I heard what you said. Do you mean it? You’re not kidding?”
"Yes."
Employee A stared at Oliver, then said seriously.
“I only know a little bit more about wizards than other people.”
"That's enough. Some stories you heard will also do."
"…Okay. Let's talk more about it later."
Oliver nodded his head.
Employee A then nodded with a strange expression on his face.
⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩
“Come look, your destination has arrived.”
Olive didn’t know how many hours had passed when Employee A said while raising the tent slightly.
Between the slight opening of the tent, the background of Landa came into view, and Oliver took a closer look at it while trying to adapt to the new environment.
The first thing he saw was a big road that was filled with cars.
It was so glorious and so humongous that it could not be compared to Wineham.
And the difference did not end there.
Airships flew casually in the sky, and there were strangely many people moving under the tall and huge building.
Compared to this the quiet wineham was like a den of cockroaches.
Compared to the people in Weinham who wear only normal tops and pants, the people here were wearing very colorful clothes.
A man in a cape wearing a silk hat, a man with goggles in the place where his eyes should be, a woman with a mechanical arm on one side, a woman in tight-fitting clothes that showed off her bosom, and a man with a cross on his back.
It was a completely different world.
“You look surprised.”
Employee A spoke softly as if guessing roughly what Oliver was thinking.
“Yes…there are a lot of people.”
Oliver said, looking at the place filled with lights everywhere.
“Of course. This city is a city that has grown rapidly by consuming the many cities and rural areas around it.
"Do you know this place well?"
"Well, I used to live here."
"Hmm.. then…"
As Oliver was about to ask more, the truck stopped and they heard a voice from the driver's seat.
“Come on, we have arrived. Get off.”
“Hey, I guess it’s time for us to part,” said Employee A
It was a bit disappointing but Master’s job was the first priority, so Oliver nodded too.
As he was about to get off the truck, Employee A reached out and said.
“I wasn’t bored on the way here. I want to continue our conversation later.”
"…Yes, thank you for taking care of me."
Oliver answered, cupping his hands.
As Oliver tried to let go of his hand after the handshake, Employee A grabbed Oliver's hand again and said,
“Oh, by the way, my name is not Mr. Employee, it’s James. Call me James from now on.”
“Uh, yes.”
“Then tell me your name.”
"What?"
“I know your name, but I want to hear it from you… What is your name?”
Oliver looked at James’ face for a while before answering.
“Oliver.”
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