Oliver received an unexpected gift from Joanna.
He liked books, and he wanted to know the meaning behind the emotions of expectations and hopes with which she gave him the book as a gift, and he also wanted to know what she intended to do by giving it to him.
Oliver decided to ask Joanna about that after reading this gift, hence he decided to read the Pater scripture that Joanna gave him as a gift.
Oliver read the book when he was not dining, when he was not teaching Rosbane math and letters, when he was not reading the book about the Corpse dolls, when he was not learning the code language, and when he was not doing personal black magic experiments.
As a result, it took a pretty long time to finish the book and when he finally finished it, he found the book quite bizarre.
The book was a composition of texts that includes instructions, stories, poetry, and prophecies, but a major part of the book was an interpretation of them to provide guidelines on how people should live.
The problem was that this was pretty vague to Oliver.
It wasn't that the stories and instructions were bad, the problem he had was with the interpretations which could be interpreted differently from person to person, but the Pater Church came up with arbitrary interpretations and insisted that those were right.
Books are about gaining knowledge and expanding the scope of thinking, and in that sense, this Pater scripture did not function as a book.
In addition, contradictory, incoherent, and self-denial actions were rampant, which consumed more time and effort to understand the book.
Still, since it was a gift from Joanna, Oliver took a break for a while from what he was doing and read the scriptures.
In the meantime, there was no word from Forrest, who said he would call Oliver once he found a perfect job for him.
Time went by slowly without much change in Oliver’s life, and one day he heard surprising news from Forrest – the city decided to provide compensation for the people involved in this year’s cleaning.
It was said that the Brokers guild obtained it after persistent negotiations with the city officials.
Originally, compensation would have been given only to the deceased, and that too would have been given in batches, but the city administration made a concession this time since the nucleus of the problem was the poor handling of things by the city officials and also because of the damage caused to the brokers, which was larger than expected.
It was also said that the solvers who participated voluntarily will receive three times the amount of compensation written in the contract, while in the case of the solvers who were designated by the city and forced to participate, it was said that they would be paid differently according to the tasks they have accomplished.
The negotiation worked out in the favor of not only the dead but also Oliver.
"Here's your 30 million."
Oliver looked at the 300 bills consisting of 100,000 Landa notes.
"…do they normally give this much?"
"Absolutely not. It is true that Landa has a large budget, but they never waste a penny of that money. Rather, they might try to squeeze it out from the citizens if they had a chance. The worst evil business in Landa is the city itself."
There was no filter in Forrest’s words.
“… But this… it's both an advantage and a disadvantage. Under the guise of compensation, this is a pretty big investment on the city side.’’
"Investment?"
“Yes, investment. For example, the compensation you receive right now is much larger than what the other solvers receive.”
"Um?"
"Yeah. This compensation is kind of a gesture in wanting to keep a good relationship with you."
“I’m honored, but why does it sound a little burdensome?”
"That’s right. It's not a very good thing. It means that if they get a chance they will make you work your ass off. Of course, there is a way to take this opportunity to go under some big names and go higher, but you don't like it, right?"
It was true. Oliver's goal was to establish ties with influential people, but not to go under them.
It was his belief that once he goes under someone or an organization, he may have to prioritize their work, and may end up doing things he doesn't want to do.
"Um… Just in case, is there a way to refuse it?"
"Are you going to refuse the compensation?"
"Yes, it's a little burdensome. I don't have a lot of money right now, but I do have some money."
Forrest pushed the bundle of money toward Oliver.
“No, just take it. The city administration doesn't like it when people refuse their favor, irrespective of their intention.”
"Um… Isn’t that a bit unfair?"
"Of course it's unfair. That’s Landa for you. What did you learn after staying in this city all this time?"
With no way out, Oliver eventually took the money as per Forrest's recommendation. He thought that if things went out of hand, maybe he should abandon this identity.
‘…I should use it as a last resort. There's so much I've built up so far.'
Oliver thought about the path he walked as a solver, the people he met as Dave – Forrest, Murphy, the old man at the bookstore, and Joanna.
As Glutton bag sweetly swallowed the money, Forrest took a few files and placed them in front of Oliver.
“Are you done with resting?”
Oliver answered, checking the files.
“No, not yet.”
The file consisted of Nominated commission requests for Oliver.
As Forrest said, the conditions were generous, and the commission price ranged from 5 million to up to 100 million.
And the type of work was also varied. There was a request to destroy a glass factory in District U, a request to terrorize a smuggling market in District V, and a request to kill an unaffiliated gang in District X.
“How come things are more aggressive than the ones I did before?”
“As the money grows, they start making outspoken demands. But that’s not all there is to it.”
Indeed, as Forrest said, in addition to sabotage and assassination jobs, there were also jobs to guard things and objects, the most notable of which was to protect an auction house and auction items in District L.
The auction items included the mummy of a king brought from one of the colonies of the Great Empire, a golden crown, and a throne. Although Oliver found it interesting, the job was not appealing to him.
No, rather than not appealing, Oliver wasn't in the mood to go to work right away.
Money was good, but still, it was just a tool for Oliver – a tool to get what he wanted.
Rather than working, right now, Oliver wanted to repair and remodel the Corpse dolls that he took from the contaminated zone as soon as possible.
Oliver wasn’t trying to repair the Corpse dolls just to satisfy his curiosity, he was also thinking that hopefully, he could make a decent tool that could also be used in his work as a Solver, but the problem was, it was not as easy as it sounds.
In order to experiment, a safe space separated from the outside world was essential. However, it was not possible to procure something like that immediately due to Oliver's situation.
‘Um..…. It's a pity, maybe I should postpone the experiment and start working to save money. It would cost more than just a penny or two to buy a warehouse. Or should I ask him to negotiate for a warehouse?’
As Oliver slowly devised a plan to buy a warehouse, a person’s face flashed in his head.
It was the face of Murphy Kimbell. In order to buy a warehouse, Oliver needed an ID along with money, and Murphy had offered to provide Oliver with an ID in the past.
"Mr. Forrest."
"Yes?"
“Have you been contacted by Mr. Murphy by any chance?”
Hearing Oliver’s question, Forrest's eyes widened slightly.
"How? How did you know? Murphy called me this morning, and said that he has something to tell you.”
Forrest’s emotions were filled with awe, and when Oliver asked about the reason for Murphy contacting him, Forrest answered.
"He said he prepared the reward he mentioned last time. He asked you to stop by his pub when it's convenient."
⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩
It was a starry night, and Oliver was walking in a street adjacent to the factory area in District T.
The street was crowded with people who varied from workers to residents, and most of them entered the street taverns or mysterious shops with red roofs.
Occasionally there were screams of women, swearing, and even fighting.
It was a kind of place Oliver had never seen before.
It was as if the whole street was full of emotions, so full that Oliver felt that he could extract emotions without causing any damage to the subject.
‘Maybe if I hide the extraction process, I might easily secure emotions. Then, maybe I can save some money.’
It didn't seem like a bad idea, and Oliver thought it was worth giving it a try. However, he put this thought aside for a moment and went to the meeting place.
Through Forrest, Murphy informed Oliver that he had made the ID he asked for, and he asked Oliver to come to his pub and pick it up.
Murphy politely apologized for not being able to come by himself due to the busy business, and Oliver accepted the apology without any complaints since he was giving him a nice gift.
And to be honest, Oliver was also curious about the pub Kimbell was running.
“Is it here?”
Oliver said as he looked down the stairs between the red brick buildings.
It wasn't very deep, but there was a small door at the end of the stairs, and quite a few people kept going in.
According to Forrest, this was a secret pub run by the Kimbell family, but from the appearance, it didn’t really seem that secret.
-If you give the local police some money, everything becomes a secret.
Forrest's words came to Oliver’s mind.
Oliver looked at the pub for a moment and then entered along with the crowd.
TAT TAT.
Oliver descended the stairs and entered the pub in the basement.
Contrary to the exterior, the pub had a rather ornate interior.
Of course, it wasn't a luxury hotel like the Blue Moon that Joseph liked, but it was the most glamorous of the shops in District T.
Although it was a brick wall, it was dust-free, the tables and chairs were properly furnished, and behind the counter where people ordered drinks, there were a lot of colorful liquors.
Among them, the liquors that glowed with various fluorescent lights had mana in it, though only a minuscule amount.
“Give me a glass of Palm Escher.”
"Yes, Sir."
"Give me a Ibe Beji. A whole bottle."
"Sorry, sir. We don't sell it that way."
"Damn…! Then give me a peg first!"
"Give me five Shuk Pieks. I'm going to have it here with my friends."
Skillful bartenders poured magic wine into glasses according to the orders of the flocking customers.
They gladly handed the bills and drank alcohol, and they all looked very happy.
"Interesting."
“What’s interesting?”
Oliver turned his head in the direction of the voice, and at the place where his eyes met, stood Murphy with his head turned to one side.
A neat suit, a gold watch on the wrist, and shiny shoes.
He looked much richer than before.
Looking at the changed Murphy, Oliver answered.
"It's interesting that the bottle has a label. Technically, it's a processed magic potion, but why does it have a label?"
“I ordered it. The product is important, but so is the packaging. It's like a woman putting on makeup. It elevates the quality to the next level.”
Murphy said with conviction.
It was certainly persuasive, and Oliver seemed to understand why Forrest was keeping an eye on him.
"Amazing."
"Thanks for the compliment. I want to sell a product, not some booze… By the way, thank you for coming here. I'm sorry for calling you… and it must have been really difficult after all those contaminated zone stuff. ”
Oliver knew that rumors would travel very fast in Landa, but never thought it would be this fast.
"No, that's fine. Can I get it now?"
"I have the ID in the office room, could you please follow me for a sec? I also wanted to share a few stories with you… please."
For some reason, Murphy seemed more cautious than before.
There seemed to be some hidden intention, but it didn't seem malicious. So Oliver agreed and followed him to the office inside the Kimbell family's pub.
(To be Continued)