Tak-Tak-Tak.
After work, Oliver visited the Forrest restaurant on the 27th Street of District T and headed back straight to his accommodation.
He was tired, so he was just going to report about the job and return right away, but he ended up returning faster than he thought.
The reason was nothing but the absence of Forrest and Al.
When he went to the restaurant, a different employee came out and welcomed Oliver. He said that Forrest was not able to come to the restaurant because he had some important appointment.
When Oliver asked for the reason, the employee said Forrest went to a regular meeting at the broker's union in Landa and said he didn't know more than that.
Oliver didn't ask any more questions since he just asked one reflexively.
After a while, the employee brought a document and asked for a signature. Oliver signed the document as requested by the employee and left, leaving the official document that said he had completed the job.
As soon as he formally filled out the paperwork, Oliver felt like the job was finally over, and the fatigue he had accumulated over the past month came rushing in at once.
It wasn't that serious though, since Murphy took care of his bedding and meals, and Oliver had experienced worse life than this.
Oliver was a little sleepy, and it felt like if he rested for a day, he would be refreshed as if he had washed up.
Oliver arrived at the accommodation, opened the door, and entered.
“Who…ah! It’s you.”
The inn hostess, who was preparing food in the restaurant, said as soon as she saw Oliver.
“Yes, hello. It’s been a long time.”
“Yes, it’s been a long time. Is your work finished?”
“Yeah, roughly… How was everything?"
"How was everything? Except for the increase in egg prices, everything was good. How in the world can the price of eggs go up?… Have you eaten anything? Would you like a meal?”
"No, thanks."
"Ah!"
At that time, someone shouted.
It was none other than the boy who works at the inn. He had a basket full of potatoes in his hands, and the boy’s whole body was covered in dirt.
He was surprised as soon as he saw Oliver.
The image of someone suddenly came to Oliver’s mind,
‘um… Ah! Marie.’
"Rosbane! I told you to bring the potatoes! The basket doesn't walk on its own!"
As usual, Rosbane was startled by the inn hostess' shout and began to move the basket full of potatoes.
He had something he wanted to say, but Oliver did not dare to ask.
The first reason was, he wasn't particularly curious, and the second reason was, he was busy as well as sleepy. So, Oliver climbed up the stairs and went into his room.
He returned to his room after a month, but nothing had changed. There were not many personal items, and even if there were, they were put in a personal storage box.
Although he knew from experience that the owner of the inn was not the type of person to go through the guest's belongings when cleaning, he was cautious.
‘Um… even so, it's kind of weird to stay here for a long time.’
Oliver thought for a moment.
It wasn't that he was dissatisfied with his life here, but after considering some of the information he had recently received, he thought it would be good in many ways to leave this place and find a new place to stay.
Even if the price was low, staying in an inn felt like a waste of money in the long run, and he realized that it would be more profitable if he just rented or bought a house even if he had to spend a lot of money initially.
‘I'd rather buy a house on a long-term lease. It costs less money, and I would be less bothered. Above all else, I need a house.’
Oliver came to the conclusion that he needed a decent place to live, not a house as an asset.
Above all, Oliver wanted to have some personal space.
He wanted a house with a private workshop where he could experiment with black magic, and if that didn't work he thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to get a warehouse in a shady place like Puppeteer Glyph.
“Even if human bodies are not available, wouldn't the bodies of dogs or cats be okay?”
Just as Oliver was thinking of asking Forrest about this, he heard a knock on the door.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Oliver turned his head.
He saw the emotions on the other side of the door, and it was something he saw a while ago.
"… Rosbane? What's going on?"
Oliver's words surprised Rosbane.
A trembling voice was heard through the door.
“Can I speak to you for a moment, Sir?”
“Um, wait a minute.”
Oliver got up from his seat and opened the door.
The anxious boy with green-colored hair was fidgeting while looking down.
“Ah, hello.”
“Yes, hello. What do you want?”
"Sir, Madam asked if you are going to have anything for dinner."
“Dinner? Umm… Yes, I will.”
“Ah, yes…”
Rosbane didn't go back, just stood there fidgeting, even more. His emotions were tinged with nervousness and fear, and his hands were shaking.
A thin, yet tough willpower kept the boy standing.
“…what? Do you have something to say?”
"Ah…"
The boy's emotions fluctuated even more.
Resentment and frustration filled the boy as he struggled to stand up with his small, tenacious will.
Then the boy spoke in a trembling voice.
"Can you teach me to read and write, sir?”
⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩
In the evening, Oliver ate and went out right away.
He headed towards the marketplace where the gray market was located.
It was a normal market that would be present in every corner of the district. Perhaps because of the sunset, the traditional market was colored orange, people were quiet, and the stores started closing one by one.
Even the market was going to sleep when night came, but fortunately, Oliver's destination seemed to be the one that goes late to bed.
“… Oh my, it’s been a long time, young mate.” Said the old man at the small used books store.
He was sitting in front of the store reading today’s newspaper, just like the first time Oliver saw him.
“Hello, Mister.”
Oliver greeted the old man politely, thinking he should do this much since he had learned the knowledge about the world Tree from the book he had recommended.
The old man smiled as if he liked Oliver's attitude.
“The waiter boy has become more polite. Thank you, but it's too much for this old man, mate."
"…? I read an interesting book thanks to you, so what does that have to do with being an old man?"
At Oliver's innocent question, the old man smiled and shrugged.
It was a gesture not to talk anymore about this topic.
“More than that, what did you come here for? Seeing that you came from afar, it doesn’t seem like you came here on a business trip?”
He looked back the way Oliver had come. Despite his old age, he seemed to have very good eyes.
“Yes, that’s right.”
"… Can I make a guess, mate? Here's the reason. Maybe you came to me because you were curious about some of the contents of that book, right? By the way, it's a shame that you came with empty hands."
The old man spoke in a confident tone.
Oliver answered honestly without any malice.
"No, I came here because I thought there would be a good book to teach letters to a child."
The old man looked at Oliver without saying a word.
He pretended to be calm on the outside, but on the inside, embarrassment was creeping up.
Oliver looked at him as if he made a mistake, and there was an awkward silence for a while.
“…”
“… Did I say something wrong, Mister?”
"No… no. Just stay still for a moment. I need to drink some medicine of courage."
With those words, the old man drank a bottle of wine from a brown bag. He took another deep breath, but still, his embarrassment did not subside.
"It’s a little better….I think. What kind of book are you looking for?”
"A good book to study letters for a child who’s about…14 years old? Maybe 15? It's for a child to learn. Um! It would be great if you have a math book too, do you have it, Mister?"
“Fourteen or fifteen years old… books to learn letters and arithmetic… it’s strangely specific.”
The old man said as he slowly got up from his chair. The old man's stiff knees creaked like a broken tree as he stood up.
"Perhaps, yes. But young mate…if it's okay with you, may I ask why you're buying this book for?”
Since there was no need to hide anything, Oliver answered immediately after thinking for a while.
“The kid who works at the inn where I’m currently staying asked me to teach him.”
"The kid at the inn…? Is it the innkeeper's child? Are you teaching him to lower the rent a bit?"
The old man went deep into the bookstore and opened a huge book and asked. It seemed to be a list of book locations.
“Um… can you save rent like that?”
“Isn’t it?”
“No? He is just a kid who works there.”
The old man grinned.
“Teaching without receiving anything? Why?”
“Well? Because he asked me to teach him?”
The old man stopped looking for the book and turned his head slightly. His expression seemed grim, maybe because of the darkness inside the bookstore.
“Are you telling me that you are teaching him just because he asked you to teach him?”
"Yes…can't I?"
“It’s not that you can’t… but it’s kind of weird. Most people don’t.”
‘Certainly…’
Oliver pondered why people seem a little impatient when it comes to teaching someone what they knew and why he accepted the boy's request.
He questioned his own choice.
It took quite a while, and in the meantime, the old man took out the book that Oliver had ordered from the corner.
It seemed like a very old book, and with a gentle wind, brown dust flew from it.
"Fortunately, there is a book here. I don't know why it exists, but it's an old and dirty book. In total, please give me 10,000 Landa currency."
Oliver continued to ponder and took the money out of his wallet.
And the moment he handed the money, he opened his mouth.
“Because he is great.”
"…? I'm sorry. What did you say?"
“He’s a great kid.”
"…what's so great about him?"
"He has a lot of fear when he works at an inn every day, and when he was about to ask me to teach letters, he was so much scared, but he still asked courageously… I think that's why I'm trying to teach him, because, his will to learn is so great.”
Oliver spoke like a three-year-old with a poor vocabulary.
However, it was also the most candid answer, enough to convince the old man.
The old man grinned and took out a pen from under the counter.
"This is…?"
"Service. I'm also proud of that little mate. He is very willing to learn. You are right."
"Oh, thank you."
Oliver thanked the old man for his kindness and took the pen along with the two books.
When he achieved his goal, Oliver’s mind became free.
“Um, can I ask you a question about the book you gave?"
"Oh… After all, you do have something to ask me. Then why did you not say it back then? Why are you saying it now? It’s so late, mate.”
"Sorry."
“Okay. What’s your question?”
“I read the book about the World Tree that you recommended last time.”
“Oh, You read it all… What did you not understand?”
“It is said that the world tree stores, manages, and prints information from all over the world, isn’t it?”
“Yes. What about it?”
Oliver spoke as if he had already thought about it.
"The whole world has different languages and texts, so how does the World Tree manage this? If it just leaves it as it is, it doesn't look like proper management."
The old man's eyes widened slightly, and he looked at Oliver, with a subtle but small admiration.
“… It’s a pretty interesting question, mate.”
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Usually, even the kids studying about it don't ask such questions. Were there one or two?… Anyway, that's right. Texts and languages are different around the world, and if you keep them as they are, it can't be called management. So the information stored in the World Tree goes through processing.”
“Processing?”
“That’s right. It’s called ‘code language’. The World Tree processes the extracted information in its own way. The principle is not yet known, but all the informations are converted and stored as code."
Oliver recalled the unknown characters he saw when he went into the World Tree and searched for information on Forrest.
‘That was codes.’
“Then, how do you access the information?”
"What’s there to ask? Of course, you should learn the code language, mate."
With these words, the old man held out an old and very thick book.
On the outside of the book, the words [Basic Code Learning (Part 1)] was embedded in bold letters.
“I can sell it for 300,000. It’s such a precious book, mate.”
(To be Continued)
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