Chapter 90: A Familiar Face (1)
After the fight with Puppet ended, Oliver searched the basement.
It was the natural next step.
As one of the executives of Black Hand, it was highly likely that his hideout, which had swept through the Contaminated Zone, would contain books on black magic and demons.
That was why Oliver had come in the first place.
Thus, Oliver desperately searched to find these books.
However, things in life rarely go as planned.
Despite searching the basement thoroughly, unfortunately, he didn’t find anything of significance, contrary to his expectations.
He had expected to find a considerable number of books, but it was as if they had been deliberately cleared out.
In the end, Oliver had no choice but to return with only a relatively undamaged corpse puppet, some experimental tools, a flask containing emotions, and a notebook with the method for making corpse puppets that had fallen on the floor.
It was truly a pity.
'Well, at least I had an interesting experience, so there’s no need to be too disappointed,' Oliver muttered to himself as he recalled the gate of hell and the artificial soul he had seen through Puppet.
Though he didn’t fully understand it yet, he could tell it was something extraordinary.
If he had the chance, he even thought he’d like to ask for guidance next time.
With that, he pushed aside his disappointment and pressed his emotion-laden fingertips against the wall.
He was trying to explore the structure of the basement, and it resembled a massive ant nest.
A deliberately large and complicated ant nest.
It gave off the strong impression that something was being hidden, which reminded Oliver of something Puppet had said earlier.
That this F-District basement contained many illegal experiments, some even related to demons.
It was a story that had nothing to do with Oliver at the moment, but it piqued his interest, just a little.
Wasn’t it intriguing? Even those magicians made deals with demons. It was quite a fascinating story.
Step by step, Oliver climbed the secret stairs and pressed his emotion-laden hand against the dead-end wall once again.
The black emotion seeped through the gaps in the bricks, and a door appeared with a soft sound.
At that moment, something flew toward him. It was a fist wearing brass knuckles.
Bam!
“...Is everyone alright?” Oliver asked as he blocked Joe’s punch with his quarterstaff.
Joe, drenched in blood and sweat, looked at Oliver with wide eyes, as if a dead man had come back to life.
“...How… how are you…?”
“I came up the stairs. Are you alright?”
Joe hesitated, pulling back his fist.
Though still shocked by the sight of Oliver, he could see Sam and Arthur sprawled out behind Joe in a similar state.
They, too, were in a condition much like Joe’s.
Although they hadn’t died, their bodies were soaked in sweat, and their clothes were torn to shreds, practically rags.
But more striking than that was the horde of zombies lying around, as if the strings controlling them had been cut, which Joe explained.
“When you fell down below, zombies suddenly appeared from all directions.”
“Yes, I saw.”
“We fought hard, but in the end, we were overpowered. They didn’t kill us, though... Then, just a moment ago, they all suddenly collapsed. Do you know anything about that?”
Oliver hesitated.
How should he explain this?
There were some things that didn’t sit well with fully explaining everything.
Like the gate of hell Puppet had shown him when trying to consume him.
Oliver had barely escaped by extracting emotions from there, but explaining that exactly as it happened didn’t seem like a good idea.
Just like talking about demons, mentioning hell too casually felt dangerous. If not handled carefully, something strange could happen to him.
Moreover, if Oliver told them he had defeated Puppet alone, things would get complicated and bothersome.
Although gaining fame as a fixer was indeed something necessary, he wasn’t ready to handle that yet.
It wasn’t as if defeating Puppet had been purely his own strength.
For these reasons, Oliver decided to make an appropriate excuse.
“Puppet let me go.”
“...What?”
“Well... He lured me down and took me somewhere, then subdued me. But all of a sudden, he let me go.”
“He just... let you go?”
“Yes, he looked at something and said it was enough, then released me... He said I was an interesting one.”
“.....”
Joe, Arthur, and Sam all stared at Oliver in silence.
Their reactions were as if they couldn’t believe it, and their emotions were filled with suspicion.
Arthur, gasping for breath, spoke.
“Sorry, but are you serious? He could have killed us all, but suddenly decided to let you go?”
Oliver spoke calmly, trying to make his explanation more convincing.
“Yes. He said he had gotten everything he needed and would let me live. Said I was amusing.”
“I see…”
Joe nodded as if he understood. His response was sincere, though Arthur still seemed confused and tilted his head.
“Still, something feels off.”
Oliver, feeling tired, passed Joe and approached Arthur, speaking as he did so.
One of Arthur’s golem prosthetic arms was completely destroyed, and the other was half-damaged.
“I think it’s strange too, but isn’t the important thing that we survived?”
Arthur looked at Oliver with surprised eyes for a moment, then sighed and responded, a look of acceptance on his face.
“You’re right. I apologize for asking a foolish question.”
“No need. Thank you for understanding… Shall we head up now?”
...
Reuniting with Joe’s group, Oliver retraced their steps and went back up to the surface.
When they opened the door and emerged, the Goodman Mercenary Group and a team of fixers were there to greet them.
“Damn! You’re alive!”
“How did…?”
“I won! Everyone, pay up!”
Some people reacted with pure astonishment upon seeing Oliver’s group, while others couldn’t believe it, and some were simply delighted to win a bet.
But what stood out most were the greedy expressions, as if they had just laid eyes on a pile of gold.
Just like Hugh, the leader of the Goodman Mercenary Group.
“I’m glad everyone made it back safely… What the hell happened down there?”
Before Oliver could answer, Joe stepped in.
He had drawn a line with Hugh, who had been quite friendly before they descended into the basement.
“Let’s focus on getting out of here first… And why are there fewer people now? What happened?”
Hugh, seemingly taken aback by Joe’s forceful demeanor, hesitated before answering.
“Well… when the zombies outside suddenly collapsed or left, most people took the chance to run. Only those of us here remained.”
Hugh spoke as if trying to prove their loyalty, but Joe didn’t seem to care.
“I can’t believe we went down there for people like that.”
“Well, at least they made it out safely, right?” Oliver said nonchalantly.
He was just trying to say something positive, but Joe looked at him with a mix of frustration and confusion before lowering his eyes.
“Well… I guess so.”
“What happened? What about Puppet?” Hugh interrupted, asking again.
It was obvious he was expecting a certain answer, and Oliver could see right through it.
Before Oliver could respond, Arthur stepped in this time.
“We’ll discuss that later. For now, let’s get moving. You lot, get ready to move. Even if the area seems clear, zombies could show up again later... Hey, friend, you get ready to move too,” Arthur advised Oliver.
There was a touch of greed, but also concern and a bit of goodwill in his words toward Oliver.
Though unsure why, Oliver nodded in agreement, preparing to move with the others. Hugh, noticing the atmosphere, quietly backed off as if realizing this wasn’t the right time.
Not long after, Oliver, the Goodman Mercenary Group, Arthur’s fixer team, Knuckle Joe, Dual-gun Sam, and the other members of the Fighter Crew all left the building.
As Hugh mentioned, the zombies that had once filled the outside were all lying on the ground, seemingly dead. It appeared Puppet had kept his promise.
He truly was a kind person.
Still, the fixers remained cautious.
After all, they had been tormented by this zombie horde for quite some time.
Honestly, if things had gone differently, this zombie army might have been able to challenge even the city’s defense forces stationed around the outskirts of the Contaminated Zone.
Perhaps it was fate...?
As they passed by the fallen zombies, they spotted a group of soldiers in the distance.
At first, they rubbed their eyes, thinking they were mistaken, but it was real.
The city defense forces, who guarded the Contaminated Zone, were marching toward them.
And it wasn’t just a handful of soldiers; it was a fully organized force.
At least several hundred men, equipped with rifles and heavy weapons, with about thirty soldiers in exoskeleton suits and even two military magicians.
At first, the fixers seemed relieved to see the city forces, but that quickly changed as their expressions hardened.
It was understandable, considering the soldiers’ menacing demeanor didn’t suggest they were there to help.
It looked more like an arrest than a rescue.
As they got closer, the soldiers skillfully surrounded Oliver’s group.
Fixers often called the city defense forces lazy, cowardly, and selfish, but it seemed they weren’t entirely incompetent.
Arthur, dragging his exhausted body, shouted out.
“What the hell… Even if we’re just clean-up workers for the city, this is no way to treat people who’ve barely survived!”
At that moment, a man appeared from among the disciplined soldiers.
Unlike the uniformed soldiers, he was dressed in a suit, looking much younger than his weary expression suggested.
Oliver recognized him. It was the city official who had briefed them before they entered the Contaminated Zone.
The official pulled out a loudspeaker and spoke.
“Ah, ah—! Greetings, fixers... We received a report and had to come here ourselves. I’m sorry, but we need you to disarm. I repeat, please disarm yourselves.”
...
Following the city official’s instructions, Oliver disarmed and was escorted by the soldiers into a building, where he was locked in a room.
It wasn’t too cramped, but it was dark, and not just because of the lack of light.
The darkness carried traces of magic, blending with the shadows to suppress one's spirit.
Of course, this didn’t affect Oliver much.
He remained still.
A surveillance device hidden in the corner was watching him, but Oliver made sure not to do anything suspicious or hostile.
Perhaps because of this, after some time, someone finally entered.
It was the city official who had ordered their disarmament earlier.
“Hello, Mr. Dave.”
The official greeted him with a formal tone as he sat down.
Though still looking tired, his eyes gleamed sharply, despite the dark circles under them.
“Hello.”
“...Yes, I apologize for bringing you here like this. We received a report, you see.”
“What’s your name?”
An odd exchange.
The official narrowed his eyes.
“Excuse me?”
“I asked your name. I was taught it’s polite to know the other person’s name before having a conversation.”
The official studied Oliver carefully.
As if trying to figure out if Oliver was playing some sort of trick.
“...Sorry, but I’ll be the one asking the questions. You’ll be answering. Understood?”
“Ah… Yes, of course.”
“...Then let’s begin. According to the other fixers, the high-risk criminal Puppet set a trap in the Contaminated Zone and attacked you. Is that correct?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“And you were trapped in a building?”
“Yes.”
“You were the first to recognize Puppet, weren’t you?”
“Yes, that’s true. But I didn’t realize it was Puppet right away. I just noticed the corpse puppets. Later, Puppet revealed his identity.”
The official muttered to himself.
“Corpse puppets… high-performance zombies made from human corpses.”
“Oh? You know about them?”
“If you work for the Landa Ministry of Internal Affairs, you need to know the basics. But remember, I’m the one asking questions.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“...How did you recognize them?”
“I’ve seen someone use corpse puppets before.”
“Not just anyone can use corpse puppets. Impressive.”
“Oh, really? It’s an interesting technique, but I didn’t know it was that rare.”
“........”
“...Did I say something wrong?”
“No… Why did you go down to face Puppet?”
“It seemed dangerous to just sit around, so I suggested it. He agreed… He was rather kind.”
The official smirked.
“Kind, you say... What did you do down there?”
Oliver answered the question.
He explained how they went down with Joe, Sam, and Arthur, were ambushed, and ended up separated, with him facing Puppet alone.
“Did you meet Puppet there?”
Oliver told the story he had already shared with the others, without any deviations.
Whether it worked or not, the official seemed to mentally compare it with something and nodded.
“...And Puppet just let you go?”
“Yes, after subduing me, he looked at something and decided it was enough, then let me go. He said I was interesting.”
“He called you interesting?”
“Yes, though I don’t know why.”
“Ah… I think I might know.”
“Excuse me? What’s that supposed to… Oh, right. You ask the questions, right?”
“...Mind if I ask you a simple, personal question?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“Why do you add ‘nim’ when referring to Puppet?”
The official narrowed his eyes sharply, almost as if interrogating him.
“It’s just a habit.”
“A habit?”
“Yes, I was taught to always use honorifics when I was younger. So it’s just something I do. I’ll stop if it makes you uncomfortable.”
Instead of responding, the official simply stared at Oliver, as if trying to assess something.
It seemed he was deeply contemplating something in his mind.
“...You said you spoke with Puppet. What did you talk about?”
“Oh, a variety of things.”
“What things?”
“He told me that the underground in Landa is filled with illegal laboratories.”
“Well, that’s common knowledge. What else?”
“Hmm, he also talked about his research.”
“Research?”
“Yes.”
The official’s tired eyes lit up.
“Can you tell me specifically what—”
“Step aside. If it involves black magic or demons, our Pater Church has primary investigative authority. According to the city agreement, you have no right to stop us.”
A voice came from beyond the door.
Oliver and the official turned their heads toward the sound, and with a loud crash, the door opened.
A man and a woman entered, and one of them was a familiar face.
It was none other than the Holy Knight, Joanna.
“We’re from the Celland branch of the Pater Church. I’m Holy Knight Elton. From now on, we’ll take over.”