In the late hours of the night, Oliver returned home.
It was quite a hectic day for him, as he went from place to place until late at night.
He wondered how the day had become this busy…
After returning home, he went straight up to the second floor, hung the quarterstaff on the wall, undressed, and took a shower.
As he felt exhausted from walking all day, when he washed up, he felt somewhat refreshed.
Immediately after, Oliver lay down on the bed.
In order to stay up all night for a few more days, he decided to sleep well today.
Leaving his thoughts behind, Oliver closed his eyes while covering himself with a blanket and placing his head on a pillow.
"……."
"……."
"……."
"……."
Oliver opened his eyes.
A truly bizarre thing happened.
Despite being sleepy, he couldn't fall asleep when he tried to sleep.
He lay down and closed his eyes, however, the cozy world of unconsciousness was out of reach for him.
It was the first time he felt such a thing.
From the orphanage, the beginning of his memories, to the mine, sausage factory, beggar's den, inn, and this warehouse, Oliver had lived in many places, but at no time has he been unable to sleep.
It took him less than a few seconds to fall asleep when he lay down to sleep, regardless of whether he was tired or not.
However, he was unable to sleep at the moment.
A strange sight, indeed.
The bed was nice, and he was tired enough to sleep, but he still couldn't.
The situation could not be described in any other way except bizarre.
After a moment's hesitation, Oliver rose from his bed.
Then he went down– to the basement of the warehouse.
Oliver found the basement cleaner than he found it the first time he came here.
Of course, it was because he cleaned it. It also felt like a laboratory in its own way.
In comparison to Glyph and Puppet’s lab, it could be called a joke, but it had a minimal range of experimental tables, experimental tools, shelves, drugs, ingredients, and books.
If Oliver worked steadily as a Solver to raise money and expand his connections, he may one day establish a laboratory comparable to Glyph and Puppet.
In any case, it didn't seem like a faraway dream.
If this became a reality, he could practice black magic more easily, create several Corpse dolls, and maybe even discover the identity of beautiful light.
A beautiful and wonderful future was ahead of him, and patience and sincerity were needed to achieve it.
For that distant future, right now he needed to rest.
After a little rest, he could make a Corpse doll with the body he ordered, or he could make money by taking a new job.
There was no difficulty at all.
It'll be fun and comfortable.
That was enough.
Oliver, who organized his thoughts in this manner, closed the basement door and went back to the second floor to sleep.
However, a few minutes after lying on the bed, he got up once again.
"Um, no, I can't."
⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩
"This is an unexpected guest, also at this late hour… What happened?"
In the middle of the night, Kent, who had just gotten out of bed, scratched his eyes and asked.
Next to him were stout men of PoorBrothers with lanterns, shotguns, clubs, and pistols.
Oliver bowed his head politely and apologized.
"I'm really sorry for coming in this late hour. I want some help."
Kent calmed his nervous fellow beggars and answered.
"But still… You should have come through someone, not like this, even if you had some business. Like I told you before, the people here don't like outsiders, especially ones that come out of the blue.”
Oliver nodded and apologized again.
Kent stared at Oliver silently and opened his mouth.
"…despite knowing this you've come like this, which means there must be a reason. What's going on?"
"I need your help with something."
"What help?"
Kent asked, reading the unusual atmosphere, and Oliver replied.
"Do you happen to know the way to the contaminated zone?"
"Contaminated zone? Are you talking about the one in District F?"
"Yes."
Kent wanted to ask the details but realized he had a lot of ears around him, so he made everyone step aside.
"Will you be okay?"
"Yeah. It's all right. Don't worry about me."
Kent took Oliver into his tent after responding to a young beggar who appeared to be in charge of security.
"You always surprise me.”
Oliver, who came into the tent, replied.
"I'm sorry."
"It's not that I don't like it, but….. Did you get some sleep? You look very tired.”
Oliver rubbed his sleepy eyes once and answered.
"I’m fine. It’s just that I can't sleep well."
"That's fascinating. In the short time I've known you, I've never seen you unable to sleep. You slept like a log. You don't snore, and don't even grind your teeth."
"I'm amazed by that, too."
"So…you want to know the way to the contaminated zone?"
"Yes. I want to go there, but the city's defense forces are guarding it thoroughly. I don't know any other way. Do you know any, Mr. Kent? Any underground passage leading to the contaminated zone."
Kent did not immediately answer.
Stroking his chin, he thought for a moment.
"Well, I do know a way."
"Can you show it to me?"
"I can do it for you, but it's not that easy. The roads under the ground are complicated, dangerous, and each one claims it’s their territory.”
"Is that so?"
"Yes, sometimes murders happen. That's why you gotta be careful under the ground, for the same reason we’re being careful even though it's our PoorBrothers' home."
"Can you help me, I won’t ask you to do it for free."
Oliver took a glutton bag out of his pocket.
"I don't have a lot of money right now, how much do you need?”
"It’s not about money, put your wallet back. I've already received enough money from you."
"Then…"
Kant stroked his beard.
"…Why do you want to enter the contaminated zone this badly?"
"I need to check on something."
"You're changing the subject, that’s unlike you. I can help you only if you tell me properly."
At Kent's words, Oliver yawned softly and told the truth.
About the missing Rosbane and Mattel Lab.
Kent's emotions and expression quickly darkened, and his reaction was not much different from others.
"What does that have to do with the contaminated zone?"
"I'm going to go check it out. Was Rosbane really taken to the lab?”
"How?"
"Through the World Tree."
"World Tree?"
"Yes, I heard that there are some World Tree branches in the contaminated zone. I think if I can go there, I can check it out."
"…Come again. Accessing the World Tree? I'm sorry, Oliver….. But World Tree can only be used by Wizards."
Oliver took the test tube out of his arms instead of explaining. It was the test tube that had the extracted mana.
"That's…"
Even before Kent could finish his words, Oliver extracted the mana.
"…Were you a Rare-case?"
"Yes, I've learned that recently, too
Oliver answered, playing with the mana in his hand.
Now he could use it as skillfully as emotions.
After thinking for a while, Kent opened his mouth.
"Why do you want to go to the contaminated zone when there are branches in many other places besides the contaminated zone?"
"I have to access it in the contaminated zone to avoid being traced. Isn't accessing the World Tree prohibited for the general public? People can come as soon as I log in."
"Ho… you have studied. By the way, you can't use the World Tree just because you can control mana. Didn't you study this?"
"No, I can use it."
"Hey, I don't know much about…"
"… Don't worry. Mr. Kent. I can use it. I've used it before."
"……."
Kent, who was about to say something, paused and opened his mouth as if he didn't know what to say.
His head was full of questions about when Oliver accessed the World Tree, and whether he could read the code language, but he didn't dare to ask.
It wasn't that he didn't believe it.
In common sense, you should doubt that, but strangely enough, Kent believed everything Oliver said.
For some reason, he thought if it was Oliver he could really do it.
It was a ridiculous expression, but Oliver's existence itself was convincing.
"…Still, don’t go."
"Why?"
"You are a Rare-case, and the child who was close to you got taken by Mattel….. Don’t you find it strange?"
"… Are you saying they took Rosbane to lure me?”
"Not for sure, but we can’t strike it out. They don't want to touch you first, so maybe they did this to trap you. It's a surprisingly effective method."
Oliver suddenly remembered that Kent was a Solver in the past.
"Um, then, what should I do?"
"Now go home and get some sleep."
"What about Rosbane?"
"Pretend you don't know him and just forget."
"…Fascinating. Mr. Forrest said the same thing."
"Because he and I have been together since we were brats. Didn't Forrest teach you about the rules of this city?"
"He told me. Never swim against the tide."
"Right. It's a taboo in this city, and it's hard to avoid death unless a miracle happens."
"It's a little strange that Mr. Kent says that."
"It's not strange. This is the reality of this world… What you’re trying to do is just pointless madness. Stop it. Just pretend you don't know him and go back. No one will dare to blame you for pretending not to know. That’s normal."
Oliver looked at Kent silently.
His emotions were genuinely filled with concern for Oliver.
Oliver said after looking at it for a while.
"…thank you, but I'm not trying to save him because someone will blame me."
"Then why do you want to save him? Is he special to you?"
Oliver shook his head.
He was just some boy who asked him to help with something, and he just promised to meet again later.
He was nothing more, nothing less.
"Then why are you doing this?"
"Nothing much. If I just pretend I don't know, I think it will remain in my head all the time– when I eat, before going to bed, and when I study. That's kind of…. annoying?"
⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩
Whether Oliver's words worked, Kent decided to help Oliver after a long thought.
However, he said he would only agree if Oliver could agree to one request.
“Please don't die.”
Oliver agreed to the request, and Kent began to walk down the sewer with a handful of beggars.
Although the party took a shortcut to reach the contaminated zone, it took a while for them to get there.
"That's it. I can guide you only up to this point."
said Kent, halting his steps.
"If you go straight from here, you can enter the contaminated zone.”
Kent's words were sincere.
Oliver focused his energy on his eyes and looked above.
There were countless emotions on the ground.
It seemed to be the city’s defense force.
"Thank you, Mr. Kent."
"…I honestly wonder if I did the right thing. I want to force you to not go, but it's just a pity that I don't have the power to do that."
"Thank you for listening to me."
"We have to go now, Sir. Kent. We've been here too long."
A fellow beggar whispered to Kent.
"I understand……. Dave."
"Yes, Mr. Kent."
"As a friend, I ask you again. Please don't do anything dangerous.”
"… Were we friends?"
"Well… at least I want to be friends with you. So, will you allow me?”
"…I am honored. That's the best thing I heard today."
Kent's eyes widened slightly at the words, but soon he nodded and stepped back.
After Kent disappeared to the other side of the darkness, Oliver took off his current leather mask and changed it into a new leather mask, and moved.
Fortunately, as Kent said, he seemed to have entered the contaminated zone.
He entered an underground road similar to when he faced Puppet in the past.
After walking for a long time, he felt a space different from other places.
Oliver focused the energy on his eyes and widened his field of vision in all directions.
‘More, more, more.’
Then, in time, he found something and walked on, and came to a dead end.
Oliver placed the extracted emotions on the wall.
Black emotions moved along the brick gap, causing the brick to move as if it were interlocking, creating a small secret space.
Despite the narrow space, there was one thing that stood out.
There was a dried-up branch of the World Tree that looked like it was almost dead.
Fortunately, it was not completely dead yet and could be used.
The colored mana moving inside the World Tree's branch was the proof.
Oliver went inside and closed the wall the same way he opened it, becoming alone in the dark.
And after extracting mana and emotion, he put them in the World Tree.
BUUUUUU
With the sound of wind blowing out a candle, Oliver connected to the root net, the abyssal world inside the World Tree…
It was more natural than when he accidentally accessed it at first.
Oliver looked around.
A world without sky and land and black as the night sky on all sides.
Only the colorful mana passed around like a meteor.
It was still an amazing sight, but Oliver got used to it because it was his second visit.
Oliver was planning to look for information on Mattel Lab to find out what happened to Rosbane, and if possible, he thought of finding out the blueprint of the Mattel Lab.
Oliver organized the plan and tried to move… while still being so tired.
"Mattel Lab."
As if in response to Oliver's words, mana came flying from far away and exploded before his eyes.
Along with that, numerous code words were listed above the air.
The amount of information was so huge that he thought he would have a hard time reading it.
‘I think I need time to read them all. No, I can save time by filtering unnecessary information by applying keywords.’
Oliver rubbed his eyes and recalled what he saw in the book.
And as soon as he raised his hand and tried to move the code words, he felt a strong gaze.
A sense of emptiness.
Something similar to when he first accessed the World Tree.
As he turned his head to the place from where he felt the gaze, he saw eyes made of countless mana in the air.
The eyes spoke to Oliver.
[Who are you?]]
"……."
[Who are you?]]
"……."
[Who are you?]]
Before he knew it, the eyes came close to Oliver's eyes and pressed him.
He even felt a strong tenacity.
Oliver waved his hand at the huge eyes.
CLATTER—!
Then, the eyeballs made of mana broke and disappeared like glass fragments, after which Oliver obtained the necessary information by using keywords while rubbing his eyes.
"Keywords. . . Experiments. Test subject. Rosbane."
(To be Continued on Jan 09 {MON})
OR
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