Chapter 183

As Oliver busied himself with tidying up his experiment/workroom, he found himself interrupted by an unexpected visitor. It was none other than his temporary master, Merlin, who had arrived unannounced.

Normally, Oliver would have cleaned up the room himself, but Merlin's sudden appearance had left him with no choice but to rely on the help of his corpse dolls – [Helper 1], [Duncan], [Sniper], and [Warlock].

"What did you come for?" Oliver asked, his voice laced with curiosity.

"I’m a temporary master, whatever it is? A master always has the right to visit and annoy his pupil. By the way, what is this?" Merlin responded, eyeing the cup of coffee in Oliver's hand.

"It's coffee. I put alcohol in it... I brought it for me. Would you like some?"

“You know how to treat guests..... What is this? Why is it delicious?”

"It's fortunate. I made it as I learned, and it suited my taste."

“Did you learn to make coffee? Where?”

"Angel's house."

In the past, when Oliver learned how to do makeup from Coco, he also learned how to make coffee, how to distinguish luxury goods, and how to find out the background of customers from other employees.

It was a field of little interest, but there was a little bit of fun.

"That's a strange name. It's like a brothel."

“What is a brothel?”

“... Don’t you know what a brothel is?”

"Yes, I've heard of it a few times, but I don't know the details."

“Are you kidding?”

“No, I don’t know. Can you tell me what it is?”

"What is a brothel... Uh, forget it. So, are you manipulating those corpse dolls one by one?"

Merlin suddenly pointed to the corpse dolls who were tidying up the lab.

"Um? Ah... no. I'm not controlling them. [Child] is controlling them."

"Child?"

“Yes. Hold on..... First, can you come here for a moment?”

At Oliver's call, helper 1, who was tidying up with six arms, approached.

Perhaps because of the combination of the three corpses, heavy footsteps rang out whenever it walked.

After a while, a small chunk of meat surrounded by black smoke emerged from the center of its head.

“This is Child.”

“Hoo... ... ."

Merlin looked at it with interest.

[Child] was wary of Merlin, but calmed down when Oliver reassured it.

“Black magic. Creation type.”

“Do you know about black magic?”

"I know a little more than normal wizards. In learning, scope is as important as depth. In that sense, aren't you amazing?" Merlin complimented.

“Me?”

"Yes, the creation series has a reputation for being difficult to master regardless of their power,"

Oliver knew that Merlin spoke the truth. Having read about black magic in Joseph's library, he was aware of the complexities of the creation series. The books evaluated the introductory difficulty of each series, and according to them, the creation series was the most challenging to master.

"It requires various materials such as emotions, life force, and mana, as well as ambiguous parts such as the creativity and imagination of the caster. So many things have not been revealed. It's such a paranormal series," Merlin explained.

Oliver nodded in agreement. "Yes, you are right. It's written that way in the books I've read as well. How do you know so much about black magic as a wizard?"

"Didn't I tell you? A scholar's range is as important as depth. It's not that hard to learn. If you beat warlocks when you're a war mage, you can steal their research materials and books. It's illegal, though," Merlin chuckled.

Oliver let out a small gasp. "Ah..."

"Anyway, the idea is interesting. A creature controlling a corpse doll. This will save you the effort of controlling the corpse doll. Of course, as long as the creature doesn't harm you."

“Does a creature kill its owner?” Oliver asked, interested.

“Of course, I don’t know....”

“-Kyakyakyahahhhh. Shut up! Baldy!”

"Right! Shut up! Baldy! Oldie!"

“Baldy! Baldy! Baldy! Baldy! Baldy!”

The children who were still cleaning were extremely agitated and shouted at Merlin.

Merlin reacted in surprise instead of anger.

“Can they speak?”

"Yes, but limited to basic words," Oliver explained, stepping in to calm the children down.

As they quieted down and followed Oliver's lead, Merlin chuckled. "Oh, that's great. It offends me a lot, but it's interesting. You should have said that from the beginning."

“Wait a minute. First. Get into the corpse.”

First entered the corpse doll-helper 1 as Oliver told him to.

“Iyyyyah... . we never betray. Kahhhh... ."

"Of course, I know. Please clean up. You worked hard today, so I'll make sure you have plenty of meals later.”

"Kyahehehehe..."

“Yes, someone who can see the flow of mana, grasp the essential principles subconsciously, and use them right away. People like that are usually called geniuses... but for something like that, you don’t seem very happy.”

What Merlin said was true. Oliver didn't look very happy at the special word genius, looked, just plain dumb.

"Amazing. It's not easy to hear the word genius from me, but your reaction is very boring."

Oliver answered innocently, “Oh, sorry.” Oliver was interested in accumulating knowledge and discovering new things, but he had little interest in his talents. Of course, he was grateful that this helped him achieve his goal, but a tool was just a tool.

Merlin nodded quietly as he heard Oliver's response. "Well, maybe that's a good attitude. Talent is certainly a blessing, but it's also a curse,"

Oliver was confused by the unknown words. However, before asking about it, Merlin immediately told the following story.

“I will start educating you irregularly from now on.”

“Irregularly?”

“Yeah, since you’re also working as a Solver, shouldn’t you be mindful of your work as well? Or can you take a long break?”

It was difficult. A few months ago it wouldn't have mattered, but now it was a different story. Aside from earning money for his research and living expenses, Oliver worked as a Solver, at least partly to get to know the world. Meeting people along the way was also fun. To be honest, the current Solver job was Oliver's own study and hobby.

"No, that sounds a bit difficult."

"That's why. A poor old man like me can't take care of your livelihood..."

It wasn't persuasive words from an old man with a mansion, but Oliver nodded without question. Whatever it was, caring was caring.

"Thank you."

Pak-!

At the same time as Oliver answered, all the mana on his body was consumed and the magic was dispelled.

As Merlin said, he maintained it without difficulty until the mana ran out.

Soon, the fierce cold kicked in.

“Can you give me some more mana?”

"No, let's go in."

As Merlin suggested, Merlin and Oliver entered the mansion. Inside the mansion stood wooden golems and corpse dolls. Each held out a towel to their master.

While the wooden golems were silent, the corpse dolls made a kyahaha sound.

Merlin, who was covered by the magic protection, refused the towel and continued the story.

“... I'll give you the means to communicate with me. Let me know when there is a raincheck. Then, I'll arrange it to match the time with me."

“Thank you again for your consideration. Could I ask what kind of thing you will be teaching?”

“First of all, we will do most of the basic theory training, and the rest will be filled with practical training. In terms of ratio, it will be 8:2 to 9:1.”

"I see," Oliver replied with satisfaction. It was not that he did not like practice, just that he was more interested in the theory since he was lacking in it.

"And once the basic training course is over, I'll let you enter the Magic Tower."

"Magic tower?"

“Oh, not a student, but something like an employee.”

Magic Tower. One of the institutions due to which Landa and other cities were discriminated against.

A pan-school organization of wizards, established to exchange with research departments. A place where wizards gather in Landa, where legal regulations for wizards are low.

Even though it existed in Landa, everyone talked about it from afar, as if referring to another world, so Oliver couldn't believe Merlin's words.

He wondered if he had heard it wrong, but Merlin assured him it wasn't.

“If you do well, you can read a book or take a class there.”

"Oh...... I didn't get it wrong. It's just amazing. By the way, can I really enter the Magic Tower? I'm a warlock?"

“Of course, you have to hide the fact that you are a warlock. And don’t worry, there is a way to enter.”

“May I ask how?”

"If a master wizard-level professor guarantees it, even an outsider can get a job within the Magic Tower. It's a right that's inscribed even in official documents. Because of that, money and lobbying come and go every year.”

Oliver didn't know the details, but it seemed like a great right.

To use that right for Oliver.

“Thank you. You did something like that.”

"Huh? Oh, don’t misunderstand. I won't use mine."

“......”

"It's a waste to use mine, so I'm thinking of handing you over to my disciple who will finish his military service and return to the Magic Tower just in time."

".....Will he allow it?"

“Will he allow it? He's my disciple, and I have his weakness."

“... Do you threaten your pupil?”

"I take as disciples only those I can intimidate. Are you surprised?"

Oliver pondered and answered, "No, my first master also tried to kill me... It seems normal. Then, I should prepare myself."

“What to prepare?”

"As you said, to go to the Magic Tower, I think I need to acquire at least basic knowledge, and I think I also need to take care of things in advance... Can I use a communication device here?"

Oliver asked, pulling out the direct-communication device with Forrest.

(To be Continued)

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