After the fight with Puppet, Oliver searched the basement.
It was a natural procedure.
As an executive of the Black Hand, there was a high probability that there would be books on black magic and demons in his hideout that he used to sweep through the contaminated zone.
Oliver searched the place desperately in the hopes that he would find books that would quench some of his curiosity.
However, the world doesn't always work out the way you want it to.
He searched the basement as hard as he could, but unfortunately, contrary to his expectations, he could not find anything.
He expected that there would be quite a few books, but the whole place was empty as if it was cleaned by someone.
In the end, Oliver decided to compromise himself with some relatively less damaged Corpse dolls, laboratory tools, emotions in a flask, and a notebook with instructions on how to make Corpse dolls.
“It’s really sad… Well, it was a fun experience, so it wasn’t regrettable?"
Oliver murmured as he recalled the entrance to hell and the artificial soul he saw thanks to Puppet.
It was something that he still did not understand, but he instinctively knew that it was something great.
If there was an opportunity, he thought he should ask Puppet to teach him about that.
Leaving behind such regrets, Oliver took out some emotions and brought them close to a wall.
It was to explore the structure of the basement, which was like a huge ant den.
Ant dens that were purposely built as large and complex.
It felt like they were trying to hide something, and at that moment, Puppet's words came to Oliver’s mind.
It was the words about the many illegal experiments that were conducted in the basement of District F, and how, among them, some of which were related to demons.
It was something that had nothing to do with Oliver at the moment, but he felt it a little bit interesting – the fact that the Wizards also try to communicate with the Demons.
Tuk Tuk Tuk Tuk.
Oliver climbed up the secret staircase and placed the hand that had emotions against the wall.
Black emotions moved through the cracks in the bricks, and a door suddenly appeared.
From the door, something suddenly came rushing toward Oliver.
BANG
It was the fist of Knuckle Joe.
“…is everyone okay?”
Oliver asked, blocking Joe's fist with his quarterstaff.
Joe’s body was wet with blood and sweat, and his eyes widened when he saw Oliver as if he saw someone who died come back to life
"…you, how…?"
“I came up the stairs. Are you okay?”
Joe frowned and clenched his fists.
He was still surprised to see Oliver and behind him, there were Sam and Arthur, who lay down on the ground, in a state similar to Joe’s.
They didn't die, but their whole body was drenched in sweat, and their clothes were torn here and there like a rag.
But what stood out more than that was the swarm of zombies that were scattered around as if the connection to control got cut off.
“You fell down and all of a sudden… zombies appeared from everywhere.”
“Yes, I saw it.”
“We fought hard, but in the end, we were suppressed, but they didn’t kill us…. And then we suddenly collapsed. So, what happened?”
Oliver pondered for a moment.
He thought about how he should explain.
The part which he felt would be hard to explain was the entrance to Hell that Puppet showed him when he tried to swallow him.
Oliver managed to escape the crisis by extracting the emotions from there, but it seemed impossible to explain it as it is.
It felt like Hell was also something similar to the books about Demons – topics that should not be spoken to anyone carelessly, and if he did, it seemed like it would put his life in danger.
Most of all, it also seemed like if he said that he knocked down Puppet alone, the whole thing would become very complicated and annoying.
It was true that he needed a reputation as a Solver, but this one seemed like something he would not be able to handle right now.
And, it wasn't just his skills that took down Puppet.
For that reason, in the end, Oliver decided to tweak the truth – to Lie.
“Puppet released me.”
"…….What?"
“Um… He lured me down and took me somewhere, then he restrained me, and then he suddenly let me go.”
“He just let you go?”
“Yes, he said he wanted to look at me in person and then let me go… funny guy, right?”
“……!!!!!!”
Joe, Arthur, and Sam all looked at Oliver without saying a word.
Their reaction said that they could not believe the story, but their emotions were dyed with nothing but suspicion.
Arthur gasped and said.
“I’m sorry, but are you serious?… He could have killed us all, but suddenly he just let us all go?”
Oliver spoke calmly to be persuasive.
"Uh, yes. He said he got everything he needed and had fun, so said he’ll just let us go."
“Hmm, I see.”
Joe responded as if he understood, but Arthur shook his head as if he was still confused.
“Doesn’t this feel very strange?”
Tired Oliver passed Joe and walked over to Arthur.
One of his golem's hands was completely shattered, and the other was also half broken.
“I think it’s very strange, too, but isn’t it good that we’re alive for now?”
Arthur looked at Oliver in amazement, and then he sighed.
“That’s right. I apologize for the stupid question.”
“No. Thank you for understanding… Then, shall we go up now?”
⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩
Joe, Sam, Arthur, and Oliver went back the way they came and climbed to the top.
As they climbed up and opened the door, a group of Goodman mercenaries and a group of Solvers greeted Oliver's party.
“Damn! They were alive!”
“How…!”
“I won! Give me your money.”
When they saw Oliver's group, they were surprised.
There were those who were genuinely surprised, there were those who did not believe, and there were those who were happy to win the bet.
But what stood out the most was the greedy expression, as if they had discovered gold, like the captain of the Goodman Mercenaries.
"I'm glad everyone came back safely… What the hell happened down there?"
As Oliver was about to answer, Joe intercepted.
“First of all, getting out is the first priority…. The number of people has decreased. What happened?”
Hugh replied while hesitating as if he got pushed back in the fight.
“Ah…that is, when the zombies on the outside suddenly collapsed, most of them ran away. We’re the only ones left here.”
Hugh spoke proudly as if to prove their friendship, but it did not matter to Joe.
“I can’t believe we went down for those guys.”
“But, isn’t it good that everyone left safely?”
Oliver said without thinking, but Joe looked at Oliver with emotions of dissatisfaction and incomprehension, and then he lowered his eyes.
“Huh… that’s right.”
“What the hell happened? Puppet?”
Hugh interjected again.
He asked, expecting an answer while looking into Oliver's eyes, but when Oliver tried to answer, Arthur intervened.
“For now, let’s move, the explanation comes later. Hey, you guys, get ready to move quickly. It might be okay right now, but zombies may appear again later… Hey, buddy. Get ready to move too.”
Arthur advised Oliver to move, and there was a bit of greed, along with concern for Oliver in his emotions.
Oliver did not know why, but he nodded his head to Arthur’s question and prepared to move with him.
Shortly after, Oliver came out of the building along with members of the Fighter Crew, Goodman Mercenaries, and Arthur's Solver Team.
As Hugh said, all the zombies outside the building had collapsed, and Puppet seemed to have kept his promise.
Oliver felt that Puppet was kind enough to let them all go, but still, the vigil in the eyes of everyone did not disappear. After all, everyone suffered a great deal from the zombie army.
As they passed through the hordes of fallen zombies, finally they saw a group of soldiers in the distance.
At first, everyone rubbed their eyes wondering if it was a mistake, but it wasn't a mistake.
The city’s defense force, which was guarding the contaminated zone, was coming in their direction.
There were not just one or two, but a well-formed squadron of several hundred men. In addition to ordinary soldiers armed with rifles and heavy weaponry, there were also about thirty soldiers armed with exoskeleton armor and two War Wizards.
At first, everyone was delighted to see the defense force, but soon, they hardened their faces looking at the eyes of Soldiers coming toward them, the eyes that looked at them as criminals rather than victims.
It felt like they were marching toward them to arrest them rather than rescue them, and as if to prove their suspicion was true, once they got closer to a certain extent, the soldiers surrounded Oliver's group.
Oliver understood why the Solvers and Mercenaries did not trust the city’s defense force and why they hated them.
Arthur pulled his tired body forward and shouted.
“What the fu*k is the meaning of this… We Solvers are the janitors who fu*king clean your sh*ts, and this is how you're gonna treat us!”
At that moment, a man emerged from among the trained soldiers.
He was wearing a suit in contrast to the soldiers in military uniform, and he had a very tired expression in contrast to his youthful appearance.
He was someone everyone knew.
It was none other than the city official who gave a brief explanation before entering the contaminated zone.
He took out his speaker and said.
"Ah-! Ah! Hello, Solvers… I came here directly after a report came in. I'm sorry but throw away the weapons you have. I say again. Please disarm yourself."
⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩
After disarming as the city official said, Oliver was led into a building by the soldiers and was confined in a room.
The room wasn't narrow, but it was dark, not just normal dark, very dark, where nothing could be seen.
There was magic in the darkness, the magic power to weaken people's minds.
Of course, it wasn't much of a problem for Oliver, but Oliver stayed still.
Oliver knew that someone was monitoring the room through a surveillance device secretly embedded in the side of the room, so he did not show any suspicious or hostile movements.
Was it because of that, after a while, someone finally came in.
It was the city official who asked everyone to disarm.
“Hello, Mr. Dave.”
The official sat down with a formal greeting.
He still looked tired, but his tired eyes with dark circles contained a sharp light.
"Hello?"
"……Yes, sorry for bringing you here. I received a report tha…"
“Um… What’s your name?”
The conversation got interrupted.
The city official's eyes narrowed.
"Pardon?"
"What's your name? I'd been taught that I need to know the name of the person in order to talk to that person.”
The city official looked at Oliver silently. It was as if he was trying to figure out what Oliver was trying to do.
“…Sorry, in this place, I’ll be the one who asks the question. You answer it. Do you understand?”
“Um… yes.”
"…Then I'll ask you. First, according to the Solvers who came in, a high-risk criminal named Puppet dug a trap in the contaminated zone and attacked the Solvers, right?"
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Then you got locked up in a building?
"Yes."
“I heard that you were the first to recognize Puppet, is that true?”
"Yes, that's true. However, I didn't recognize that it was Mr. Puppet. I just noticed that it was a Corpse doll. Afterward, Mr. Puppet just revealed his identity."
Hearing the answer, the city official muttered.
“Corpse doll….a high-performance zombie made with the human corpse as a base.”
"Huh? You know?"
“If you want to work for the Landa Department of the Interior, you need to know the basics. And, as I said earlier, I ask the questions.”
“Ah, sorry.”
“…how did you find out?”
“I’ve seen someone who used a Corpse doll in the past.”
“Not everyone can use a Corpse doll, it’s amazing that you met one by coincidence.”
“Oh, is it? It’s a fun technique, but I didn’t know it was like that.”
“……”
“…?Is something wrong with my answer?”
“No…why did you go down to fight Puppet?”
“Isn’t it dangerous to stand still? So I just said I would fight, and he accepted it….Mr. Puppet was kind.”
The city official laughed.
"Puppet is kind… What did you do when you got down?"
Oliver said about going down with Joe, Sam, and Arthur, being ambushed and falling into the trap, and going down alone.
“Did you meet Puppet over there?”
As he told his companions, Oliver told the story he came up with without a single error.
As if his story actually worked, the city official quickly processed the information in his head and nodded.
“So… he just released you?”
“Yes, after restraining me, he looked at me, and then released me saying that it was enough. He told me it was fun.”
“He said it was fun?”
“Yes, I don’t know why.”
“Ah… I feel like I know.”
“Really? What is it… Ah, I’m sorry. Officer will be the one who will be asking questions.”
“…Can I ask you a simple question? It’s a personal curiosity.”
“Yes, tell me.”
“Why are you attaching Mr. whenever you’re calling Puppet?”
The city official blatantly narrowed his eyes. It was more of an inquiry than a question.
“It’s kind of a habit.”
"Habit?"
“Yes, I was taught to be respectful from a young age. If it makes you uncomfortable, I’ll stop.”
Instead of answering, the city official stared at Oliver as if judging something.
He was constantly calculating something in his head and was in a state of deep trouble.
"…you said you talked to Puppet, what kind of conversation did you have?"
“This and that.”
“What?”
“He told me that there are a lot of illegal laboratories in the basement of Landa.”
“Well, it’s a public fact. Other than that?”
“Well, we also talked about his research.”
"Research?"
"Yes."
A light shone in the eyes of the tired city official.
“Be specific…”
"Get out of the way. When it comes to black magic and demons, our Parter Church has priority. It's written in the city agreement, so you have no right to stop us."
At that moment, the sound of someone arguing came through the door.
Oliver and the city official turned their heads toward the door, and the door opened with a bang.
A man and woman came in, and among them, one was someone Oliver knew.
It was Paladin Joanna.
“Paladin Elton from the Parter church Landa branch. We’ll take over from here.”
(To be Continued)
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