The office inside the pub wasn't that big.
It was about the same size as the office at Forrest Restaurant, but it felt more cramped because the office inside was not organized.
With just two people the room felt full, and if there was one more person, it felt like it would be hard to breathe.
As Oliver looked around the room, Murphy spoke while organizing the messy papers on the desk.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I've been busy lately, so it's kind of messy."
“It’s all right.”
Oliver said, recalling the bustling pub. It was packed, and many drank the magic wine while spending a lot of money on a single drink.
"There you go."
Murphy pulled a brown paper bag from the drawer and handed it to Oliver.
Oliver opened the paper bag and checked the contents.
On the inside, there was Oliver's fake birth certificate and an ID in the form of a notebook.
Oliver opened the ID, and there he saw the name "Dave Wright" along with a face that subtly resembled Oliver's face right now.
In addition, there was personal information such as his place of birth and his date of birth.
"Is this…?"
"This is your new ID. Do you like it?"
Oliver checked his ID and birth certificate.
“Yes. I like it.”
"I'm glad you liked it. It's worth preparing a first-grade ID."
“First-grade?”
"Ah, I guess you don't know. Fake IDs are also classified. There are various types, but they are usually divided into three classes."
Oliver showed interest. He was able to get a glimpse of people's wisdom from these trivial stories.
"If you don't mind, can you tell me how it’s divided?"
"Of course. There's nothing to lose. Do you like alcohol?"
“I only know how to take a sip.”
“Good.”
With those words, Murphy took a magic wine that was on one side of the office and poured it into a glass.
It had a green fluorescent color, and unlike what was sold at the bar, the concentration of mana was quite strong.
Murphy murmured while extending the glass toward Oliver.
"Fake IDs are divided into three main categories: Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3… Grade 3 is a toy that only imitates the appearance of an ID, and is garbage that even the police can see through if they look closely. Grade 2 is something obtained by bribing the city officials. Using those IDs won’t be a problem and it will be helpful in your everyday life, but if you get investigated, there is a high chance of getting caught."
Oliver nodded his head as he heard the delineation.
“Grade 1 is a bit different. It’s not artificially created, it’s more of bringing an original identity.”
“Original identity?”
“Yes, there are quite a few people who waste their lives even among those who are born with proper identities. Most of them go into debt that they can’t afford, and the Crime Firm confiscates their identity instead of their debt.”
Oliver looked at his ID.
“Then, does this ID have a separate owner?”
"Yes. So unless they meet and check every single person in Landa, there is no fear of being caught. The person who owned the ID is definitely a real person. It's like living a different person's life."
Oliver saw the face on his ID.
"Amazing. Does he have a face similar to mine?"
"It's because they did plastic surgery with magic. With a reasonable excuse and bribe, you can get a reissued ID anytime. Taking this opportunity, they change the name along with the face to match the customer's convenience."
“ho…”
Oliver responded like a kid listening to a folk tale.
"Although the method is simple, First-grade IDs are a little expensive because of the cost of plastic surgery, bribery, and the clean up after finding someone who meets the right conditions."
"Yes, I've heard about it from Mr. Forrest. He said it would cost hundreds of millions to make one. Thank you for doing this."
"No, it's not that great compared to what Mr. Warlock did. I benefited a lot from what happened last time… How did the wine taste?"
"Um, I didn’t drink it yet. Wait a minute."
Oliver answered and took a sip of the green fluorescent Magic wine.
It was quite edible.
"….It's delicious."
Seeing Oliver's reaction, which was not what he was expecting, Murphy felt a little disappointed.
"Oh, I'm glad to hear that. Do you like it?"
"Yes, it's delicious."
"That's a relief. I'm glad. It's made especially for the rich."
"The rich?"
"Yes, as I said earlier, my goal was not to make booze but to make a high-quality Magic wine. That’s why even though it cost more, I put labels on the bottles to package them and give them a plausible name. Having a label and name gives a class to the product.”
After taking a sip of the Magic wine, Murphy opened his mouth again.
"And we're going to maximize our profits by making the quality different for customers of various sections. This is a luxury item that's only sold to politicians, wizards, and capitalists in the city. Its name is Gut Oggau."
"…What does that mean?"
"It means a drop of water from God in Gallo language."
"Gallo?"
"It's a continental country under the Great Empire. I've fought a lot during the war with that side. They can't fight, but they're good at making food and alcohol."
"Is there a reason why you named the product in that language?"
"Yeah, doesn't it look cool? Most people like it when the product's name is in a foreign language they don't even know about."
"Um…"
Oliver nodded.
There was some truth in Murphy's words, and Oliver felt the trivia quite interesting.
Oliver drank the magic wine once again.
Compared to the alcohol that Forrest gave, it was definitely addictive – like something inside the drink that made him want to keep drinking.
At that time, Oliver suddenly thought that it would taste better if the alcohol was processed using emotions like Pilgaret.
‘No, it will be a waste. It would take a huge amount of emotion just to make the liquor sold at the pub.’
"I have a question, can I ask you, Mr. Murphy."
“Yes, speak comfortably, Mr. Warlock.”
"You told me last time that the Crime Firm also runs a real estate company, so, how long does it take to buy a warehouse or something like that? I don't have money to buy it, so I want to know whether I can just rent it."
Since he had an ID, Oliver thought maybe it wouldn't be bad to prepare one by one.
He knew he wouldn't be able to get one right away, but he thought it wouldn't be bad to find out the price.
Hearing Oliver’s words, Murphy smiled.
"What a great coincidence."
"Pardon?"
“I was going to tell you about that, too.”
"…?"
"Mr. Warlock, what if you could have a warehouse? A warehouse that is free from external surveillance and eyes. I just got one at a bargain price."
"…Um."
"Well, I guess one glass isn’t enough for the conversation, how ‘bout another one?"
⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩
Of course, quite naturally, Murphy wasn’t planning on giving the warehouse to Oliver for free.
There was a corresponding request.
"Truck problem?"
"Yes."
"Does Mr. Murphy run a truck business?"
"No, not me. The family that's above our family is running it, the Hoffman family. They do a lot of business, but their main focus is transportation."
"Transportation?"
"Yes, Hoffman Transportation Company, which carries goods in huge trucks and delivers anything anywhere. Flour, alcohol, canned food, clothes, fuel… Sometimes drugs, smuggled products, magic wine are also loaded."
Oliver just listened while nodding his head.
Listening to Murphy's detailed explanation, the Hoffman family didn’t seem like a small family.
In addition to legal transportation, they delivered Crime Firm's goods, and it was said that they had a high delivery success rate due to their connection with the cops.
In other words, it was a family that has a huge share in the distribution of illegal goods, and such a family was experiencing some difficulties recently.
"What's the trouble?"
"Someone keeps attacking their truck."
"Attacking? Who?"
"We don't know that for sure. It's a field where it's not weird to get backstabbed at any time. There are many reasons and suspects, including personal resentment, business, and politics."
"Um… can't you guess?"
"Actually, there are a few. If Hoffman doesn't do the job properly, the Crime Firm board will hand over the business to the others….. There are four or five families aiming for that. But I'm not sure. We don't even know what kind of mercenary they’re using.”
“So, you want me to catch the attackers?”
"Yes, for your information, Hoffman has already tried a few times. They spend a lot of money on famous solvers. But still, they couldn't stop them, and just lost all their money….. Oh! And there's one more thing. "
"What?"
“Right now, the truck drivers are going on a strike.”
"Why? Is it because they were attacked and their colleagues died?"
"There's that, too, but the major thing was, the company tweaked the documents and stole half of the insurance money that they were supposed to receive."
"Um…isn't that a bad thing?"
"It's a very bad thing."
“So, what do you want me to do?”
“It wasn’t just that the drivers went on strike, they were also supported by the union, who are even providing them support by hiring Solvers. They’re determined. I'd like you to help me with that, too."
Oliver shook his head.
"I don't want to do that"
"Why?"
"I don't want to get involved with ordinary people. Since I'm a Warlock, I might go to jail if something went wrong. No, I might even die. I don’t want that."
There were also other things that Oliver didn't like about it, but he didn't bother talking about them.
"Oh, my explanation was lacking. I'm not asking you to kill the drivers, I'm asking you to help me with the negotiations."
"Negotiation? I'm sorry, but I don't know anything about negotiation."
"It's enough if someone like Mr. Warlock stands by my side. The situation isn't easy on the company side either, so we're trying to reach an agreement at an appropriate level by paying 65% of the insurance premium."
"That doesn’t look very good."
"This is normal. Regular businesses often do this. You can think of 35 percent as a kind of fee."
It still didn’t seem good for Oliver but he didn't bother to argue.
He knew that Murphy knows better than him about how things pan out in Landa.
"Then why aren't the workers negotiating?"
“Originally, they would do it, but the labor union members who are helping them keep intervening. They’re asking us to double the compensation. The people in the Union just want to fill their pockets. Even if we doubled the compensation, the share that drivers get will not be much different. In other words, I want you to stand by my side so that my persuasion can have little force in it. Of course, I might need your strength if a situation arises, but I'll try to end it as peacefully as possible."
Murphy explained very gently, in a much more careful way than before.
"I don't know if my presence will help?"
Murphy took a sip of the magic wine.
"…I saw Mr. Warlock fight the Wizards. I'm sure you'll be helpful. In particular, more interesting rumors have spread recently."
"Rumors?"
"Yeah, the story of a warlock from District T who survived after fighting against Puppet. The city officials are trying to block the spread as much as possible, but eventually, the rumors will spread."
“… . I didn't survive, he just spared me."
"It doesn't matter. What's important is that you met Puppet and survived."
Oliver pondered whether this was a good thing.
It was true that his goal was to increase his reputation as a Solver, but for some reason, he thought this was not the right way.
The defeat of Puppet was not solely due to Oliver's power, but rather due to powerful energy sources such as the entrance to hell and artificial soul.
After pondering for a while, Oliver gave up thinking about it since it had already happened and there was nothing he could do about it.
"By the way, are you going to give me a warehouse if I help you with the Hoffman Transportation Company?"
“Yes, we can customize the warehouse to your liking, whether it’s a purchase or a long-term rental.”
"Then, can I see the warehouse? I'd like to check it out."
(To be Continued)