Chapter 199
Chapter 199
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 199
Chapter Title: Conversation (2)
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After finishing his meal, Oliver stood up along with Jo.
Sensing that something was off, Al approached and asked them to wait because Forrest was on his way, but Oliver politely declined, saying he would quickly take care of his promise to Jo and return.
"I'll finish my business and come back as soon as possible."
Al tried to persuade him again, but when their eyes met, he nodded shortly after.
He had intuited that it wasn't his place to intervene.
Oliver politely thanked Al, who was letting them go without resistance, then turned back toward Jo. Jo was staring off in the opposite direction, as if deliberately avoiding eye contact.
He was someone Oliver thought could handle anything well, but apparently, he had no talent for hiding his guilt.
"Shall we go now?"
Oliver followed behind Jo.
Jo walked faster than usual, likely due to his anxious state.
Thanks to that, Oliver could only read Jo's back and emotional state.
With every step Jo took, his emotions churned silently.
Guilt over whether this was really okay.
Self-justification that there was no choice.
Hesitation that wanted to stop despite it all.
Anxiety, fear, and terror with no room to retreat.
Jo's emotions raged like a storm, tearing into and wounding one another.
The turmoil was so intense that they threatened to spill out of his body.
Oliver could indirectly sense just how much pain Jo was in.
What could be tormenting him this badly?
Oliver wanted to ask but judged the timing wasn't right yet, so he silently followed without saying a word.
They walked in silence for quite a while.
Eventually, Oliver entered the outermost edge of T District.
Like any worker residential area, the outskirts of T District were sparsely populated.
At least on the surface.
Oliver scanned the emotions of dozens of people hiding in nearby alleys and side streets before asking,
"Is this the place?"
"......Yeah."
Jo stopped and replied.
At the same time, Sam appeared behind Oliver, aiming a gun at him.
Surprisingly, Sam harbored emotional states similar to Jo's.
Guilt toward Oliver, hesitation, regret, self-justification, fear, anxiety, terror, despair...
It was astonishing. Oliver had thought Sam didn't like him that much.
The others began revealing themselves one by one after that.
They were all black mages, each carrying their own varied emotional states.
Confusion, bewilderment, fear, anxiety, disarray...
Yet amid them, one person brimmed with eagerness. For instance, the man with an X-shaped scar on his face.
"Ha.... You actually managed to bring him? Turns out you're not as good at reading emotions in detail as the rumors say, huh? I mean, you followed so obediently."
The scarred man appeared while sharpening his cleaver—chara-lang, chara-lang—against a whetstone.
Behind him were numerous others armed with kitchen knives.
All of them had wrapped their blades in black magic.
Oliver felt they instinctively knew who these people were.
"......You're Fighter Crew members."
Oliver asked while manipulating the mana he had secretly accumulated in his body, unnoticed by anyone.
The mana flowed from his fingertips down to the ground and slowly spread outward in all directions.
No one noticed.
"Oh.... Pretty sharp, huh? Or should I say not sharp at all? The rumors have spread, and yet you followed Jo."
"Rumors?"
Laughter—kukuku—erupted from here and there as Oliver asked back.
Confidence in having seized the advantage, leisure from their position of superiority.
Just then, even without being asked, Jo spoke first.
"......You really don't know?"
"Yes. Would you tell me?"
Jo pulled out a vial filled with emotions and said,
"You're in charge of recovering the Crime Firm auction item that got stolen, right?"
"Yes. How did you know?"
"Rumors spread easily...... Do you happen to know who stole the auction item by teaming up with the Y District gang?"
"I know it's the Black Hand Human Flesh Chef faction."
"That's our boss. The boss of Fighter Crew."
Jo spoke calmly on the surface, but inside, he seemed deeply shocked.
As if the current situation was too much for him to handle.
"Ah.... I see. How long have you known?"
"Not long."
"I see. But—"
"—Don't you get the situation yet?"
The scarred man suddenly cut into the conversation.
For some unknowable reason, he felt intense disgust toward Oliver.
"If I've done something to offend you, I'm sorry. But what do you mean by the situation?"
"You're too relaxed when you're about to die by our hands. Do fixers these days get so cocky once their name gets out? Or do you look down on us as slum trash?"
Ah.... Oliver finally understood what he meant.
"I'm sorry...... May I have your name?"
"Why do you need my name?"
"To converse, I need to know your name."
"......Victor."
"Yes, Victor. First off, let me apologize again. I have no intention of looking down on you all. I never look down on X District folks to begin with. I'm an orphan myself."
"Ha..... Think you'll survive by flattering us?"
"No, it's not flattery—it's sincere. There are many amazing people in X District. Some teach workouts diligently, some fight for their younger siblings despite their fear, some look after a dead friend's younger brother."
Oliver glanced subtly at Jo. Jo flinched.
"......I absolutely do not look down on you all. I just don't understand."
"Understand what?"
"I understand that your boss is from the Human Flesh Chef faction...... But why are you trying to kill me?"
It was an utterly ridiculous question. But Oliver was sincere. He truly didn't know why they wanted to kill him.
As over fifty black mages buzzed in surprise, Victor yelled to calm them before shouting at Oliver.
"You're the boss's enemy! That makes you our enemy...... Are you insane?"
"That's not what I know."
"What?"
Oliver swept his gaze over the surrounding people before continuing.
"From what I know, you joined Fighter Crew to learn black magic and to survive. Not because you're battle maniacs who love fighting or because you're loyal to someone......"
Oliver recalled a past conversation with Jo—the time Jo had asked to be taught Black Suit.
"......So why get involved in something this dangerous? Is there any reason to go that far?"
Some who had been skeptical began to waver at Oliver's words. Victor sensed the unrest and pressed Jo.
"Hey, Jo. What are you doing? Gonna let him keep yapping?!"
As Jo opened his mouth to speak, Oliver made a request.
"If you want, go ahead and attack me. It's something you have to be prepared for in this line of work. So no need to feel guilty. But please answer my question. This is my second condition for changing plans at the restaurant and following without a word."
Jo's eyes shook.
"......Keep talking."
"Hey!"
Ignoring Victor, Oliver asked Jo and the others,
"Fighter Crew is a place you joined to survive, so why risk yourselves for something your boss did on his own? One wrong move, and you could end up fighting Crime Firm too."
Victor shouted,
"We're already in a situation where we have to fight Crime Firm. They've always targeted us, so they'll see this as their chance."
"I think I can help with that. I know a couple people at Crime Firm, and since it's a misunderstanding, I'll explain. That it was your boss's solo act and you're not involved."
A few murmured. It seemed not everyone wanted to fight Crime Firm.
Victor yelled,
"You idiots, why waver?! It's obvious lies!"
"I'm sincere. I can't guarantee success, but I can try."
Fighter Crew members murmured again.
"Snap out of it! The boss said he'll accept us as Black Hand members. You know what that means? A chance to say goodbye to your trash slum lives!! And you're gonna blow it?!"
"By any chance, Victor, do you know anything about the Human Flesh Chef?"
"What?!"
"I've looked into the Human Flesh Chef to some extent. Through Crime Firm, through brokers, through Pinkman."
Oliver recited the information he'd gathered from Murphy, Forrest, and Jonathan.
"Human Flesh Chef. A high-risk criminal operating around Galos, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Puppeteer of Eternal Life, Eternal Child Fan, and Pied Piper Kidnapper as one of Black Hand's fingers. He's particularly dangerous due to his interest in worldly matters. Estimated to have the second-largest organization after Puppeteer, with the highest organizational strength, making him a force even the government struggles to handle."
"Yeah, a chance for slum trash lives to finally change."
"And he eats people."
Snip.
No sound was heard, but it was as if scissors had cut something—everyone froze.
"It's not confirmed, just speculation, but the Human Flesh Chef faction is known for eating human flesh. They gain great power by consuming people."
"......"
"Personally, I think it's true. It explains their immense regeneration, abnormally high life force, mana, and emotions...... Out of curiosity, can you all eat people?"
"......You're the one who makes puppets from corpses preaching to us? Word's already out that you handle corpse puppets."
"No, no. Not at all. If I've been misunderstood, I apologize. I don't condemn the Human Flesh Chef or the act of eating people. I don't think I have the right to judge anyone to begin with. I can be nosy sometimes, but I'm trying to hold back."
Oliver thought of Marie as he spoke. He still didn't fully approve of what she did, but he couldn't deny her worth entirely.
"I'm just curious if you can eat people. No matter how tough survival is, I was taught everyone has a line. Like, you don't fight people you don't want to fight."
Oliver looked at Jo again.
"Jo. I'm really curious, but if things work out, you'd have to follow the chef, right? Would you bring Nico, whom you're looking after, and Big Jaw's family along?"
Jo answered with silence. He visibly wavered, as if he hadn't thought that far.
"Hey, Jo! Get a grip! It's too late anyway. You think your kids will be safe if you pull some stunt?! No time to hesitate! The weak have no choice but to obey the strong. You know that?!"
"No choice but to obey the strong?"
"Yeah! That's the rule in this world!"
"Ah.... Is that so?"
At his response, Oliver activated and condensed the mana he had secretly spread.
At Oliver's will, the mana chains, split into dozens of strands, glowed and instantly bound the surrounding black mages.
Like snakes forged from iron.
It happened so fast that no one but Jo could react.
"Wh-what is this?!"
"Mana chains. A basic spell from the Pure Mana school. Highly versatile, with power varying greatly based on mana quantity."
As if to prove it, Victor struggled to break free, but the mana chains didn't budge.
Thanks to Kevin's advice, carrying mana in his body at all times proved incredibly helpful. Fortunately, unlike emotions, it didn't disperse.
"Sorry for suddenly restraining you. It seemed like you were preparing something, so I acted first out of fear."
As Oliver said, magic scrolls and emotion vials tumbled from Victor's subordinates' pockets—means to check and attack Oliver.
But they were caught before they could use them. By a single basic spell.
Now, the only one left to face Oliver was Jo.
An utterly absurd situation. It starkly showed the gap between Oliver and his opponents.
"Jo! Attack now! With this many restrained, his movements are limited. It's too late!!"
Victor shouted, and Oliver silently gripped his quarterstaff with one hand.
Jo extracted emotions, wrapped his body in black magic, and asked,
"What if I charge at you?"
"We'd have to fight."
"Would you kill me?"
"I don't plan to, but it could happen."
After hearing the answer, Jo chuckled lowly and asked again.
"......What if I ask for your help?"
"I'd help you."
Having heard that, Jo seemed to make up his mind. He steadied his emotions and asked Victor,
"Hey, I'm gonna get help from him. I don't wanna risk my life for someone else's business. You?"
"What bullshit! You think we'll get out of this alive?! Kill that bast—"
Thwack!!
Before Victor could finish, Jo lunged and smashed his bound head with a fist.
Red fragments scattered like hitting a lump of metal, horrifying Victor's subordinates.
Jo asked again.
"What about you all?"