Chapter 347
Chapter 347
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 347
Chapter Title: Interference (2)
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"I was going to give him a good smack... and I have some words I want to say to him."
Hearing Oliver's reply, Gretel burst into laughter. She laughed so hard that tears welled up in her eyes.
She seemed as cheerful as she had been when inviting Kevin to this conference.
But it didn't feel like that was just due to her bubbly personality.
"Rose du Bois, what brings you here?"
"Hmm... Curious about that?"
"Well... Actually, there's something even more intriguing."
"Oh? What?"
"By any chance, are you the Cannibal Chef's sister?"
Oliver asked out of nowhere, stabbing right to the heart of it.
Gretel, caught off guard by the unexpected question, widened her eyes with gleaming interest.
"Hoo... Why do you think that?"
"The state of your emotions feels similar to the Cannibal Chef's disciples. Like they're awkwardly clumped together."
Oliver answered, recalling the Cannibal Chef's subordinates who had raided the auction house, along with the former Fighter Crew captain chef.
Though the degree varied, their emotions and life force all seemed pieced together from multiple people, fused in an unnatural jumble.
Gretel reacted with surprise at his answer.
"My... emotions are visible?"
"A little. When we first met, it was like peering through thick, opaque glass—I couldn't make out the details. But now, I can see them faintly."
It was the truth. Her emotions had definitely been unclear at first, but after his battle with Theodore moments ago—perhaps due to his growth—he could now glimpse them dimly.
Having heard the explanation, Gretel focused her black magician's eyes on Oliver, scrutinizing his emotions.
Wondering if he might be bluffing... But they were too calm; she couldn't read them at all.
Visible, yet unreadable—it was peculiar.
"Doesn't seem like you're lying...?"
"No reason to lie, is there?"
"I suppose not? Sorry for doubting you. Most men are liars and braggarts, at least from what I know."
Gretel laughed it off like a joke, but there was some sincerity behind it.
Unable to grasp the full story, Oliver sensed some tragic circumstances and added,
"There's one more reason for my guess."
"What?"
"When you saw Baron Bathory turned into a corpse puppet, you reacted. That's when I guessed you were the Cannibal Chef's sister. The First inside Bathory reacted to you as well."
Gretel glanced at the corpse puppet—Bathory—approaching Oliver's side, looking surprised.
"Thank you for the kind explanation... I didn't expect you'd share that much. I'm grateful."
"Felt like the polite thing to lay it all out."
Gretel laughed heartily again before descending from the air and bowing gracefully over the lake's surface like a proper lady.
"Allow me a proper introduction. I'm Gretel, another Cannibal Chef. A student at Rokuri University and a Finger of the Black Hand."
She introduced herself with her real name, openly calling herself a Cannibal Chef and a Finger.
As Unner—Bathory's disciple—had explained, she genuinely seemed to believe she was one.
'Not worth nitpicking.'
Oliver thought as he returned the bow with equal courtesy.
"I'm Xenon Bright, personal staff to the Magic Tower professor, and also Dave Light, fixer of T Sector. Pleased to meet you."
Oliver greeted her politely, just as the waitstaff at Angel's House had taught him. With only Gretel there to judge, his form looked quite refined—truly gentlemanly.
"Yes, I've heard so much about you. Catching Bathory, surviving Puppet and that inscrutable old man... I was intrigued, but meeting you in person, you're even more entertaining than I imagined."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. A street fixer and Magic Tower staff at the same time... That's no ordinary background."
"You seem even more extraordinary, Gretel."
Oliver spoke with genuine sincerity, no sarcasm intended.
He was just a fixer and a professor's personal aide, while Gretel—self-proclaimed though she was—was a Finger of the Black Hand and an official Rokuri University student... By any measure, she outshone him.
"Not to mention, a magic user of exceptional skill, deploying a massive barrier that enveloped the entire village."
"Oh dear... You noticed it was me?"
"Yes, I felt it during the interference."
Gretel smiled again. He had not only used her barrier magic but also detected her presence in the process.
It was theoretically possible, but only with tremendous skill... She now understood why Puppet—that old man—had made a deal with her brother to leave her alone.
"Still, I'm a bit curious why you watched quietly before revealing yourself now. Were you here to help Theodore?"
"No chance. I'm not fool enough to aid an old schemer who proposes teamwork then stabs you in the back. All I want is that old man's body."
Oliver reflexively glanced at Theodore, clutched in the mechanical arm.
He was rapidly aging—whether from the grueling fight or his grandson's essence escaping his body—and now lay feeble.
Even so, Oliver nodded as if accepting her demand.
Right now, he was just a terrified husk of an old man, but Theodore's body still held immense value.
An exceptional mage himself, he was a prime specimen of stably integrating hundreds or thousands of genes—a pinnacle achievement of the life school's techniques.
With sufficient skill, a black mage or regular mage could dissect him for knowledge of staggering worth.
'Or just devour him outright to absorb his power...'
"I originally planned to take you too, but watching the fight, you seemed troublesome. Plus, my promise with Puppet that old man... So, here's a deal: hand over that old Theodore and his punk grandson, and I'll withdraw just like this."
"You're serious."
"Of course! I never lie."
"That was a lie."
Oliver calmly pointed out the truth.
Not one to take it lightly, Gretel's expression hardened unpleasantly.
"Don't... You can't just peek into a lady's heart like that."
"Ah, sorry."
"Apology accepted. So, as a gentleman, you'll accept my proposal?"
"No. Sorry, but I must decline."
Oliver refused firmly yet courteously.
He still needed to smack Kal and had questions for Theodore.
Though whether he could get answers in his current state was doubtful, he couldn't just hand them over.
Worst case, he'd recycle them as corpse puppets. Simply because he wanted to.
Gretel, however, didn't take kindly to his response.
"Refusing a woman's proposal? How rude. They say all kingdom men are gentlemen."
"I'm from Randaine. Besides, I have business with these two."
"What business?"
"Words I want to say to Kal, questions for Theodore... And I'd like to try making them into corpse puppets. One just broke, conveniently."
Oliver pointed to the shattered corpse puppet—the sniper. It had been closest when Theodore burst apart alive moments ago.
"So, yielding them is difficult... Please forgive me."
Oliver made his request with sincere politeness, and it seemed to touch her; Gretel pondered briefly.
"Hmm... No helping it, then."
With those words, she instantly invoked spatial magic, conjuring multiple portals around Oliver.
Similar to space school's portals, yet different. From them emerged numerous mages resembling Rokuri University's life alchemy department, along with women who looked like black mages.
All highly skilled.
As Oliver and his corpse puppets braced for battle, blue lightning lanced down from the clear sky—precisely matching the enemies' numbers—sniping them one by one.
Those struck were mostly slain outright or gravely wounded.
In less than a second.
The air grew taut. Then, a new presence suddenly registered, followed by a third voice.
"That's a regrettable answer."
Oliver and Gretel whipped their heads toward the sound. There stood an old man—no telling when he'd arrived.
It was Oliver's temporary master, Merlin.
***
The atmosphere shifted drastically with Merlin's abrupt arrival, utterly without warning.
Gretel's tense emotions were proof enough.
Oliver, meanwhile, greeted him casually, tinged with surprise.
"Hello, elder... Weren't you skipping this conference?"
"Old folks get whims as fickle as boiling porridge. Changed my mind. What a mess this is. Pardon me a moment."
Merlin sidled naturally to Oliver's side before stepping forward a few paces and greeting Gretel.
"Hello there. Gretel. First time laying eyes on you, but pleased to meet."
"You're the Archive for this大会... Was disappointed when you said you weren't coming, and seeing you now? Not thrilled."
Oliver watched their exchange silently. They seemed acquainted yet strangers—a strange vibe.
"Frankly, I'm not thrilled about meeting like this either. So, straight to it: how about withdrawing for now?"
Merlin proposed bluntly. He seemed different from usual—his aura, at least.
His emotions were shrouded by a thick mana barrier, hard to read.
'...A touch annoyed?'
Oliver wondered, catching the faintest glimmer beyond the mana wall.
"That's a pretty unreasonable demand... I heard this Archive was the mild sort."
"Was foul-tempered from the start. Don't know my limits, prefer fists to words. Just that side showing... Anyway, withdraw quietly now, and I won't touch you for the moment. Good offer? You've had plenty of fun already."
It wasn't wrong. Just as the life school had kidnapped conference invitees with their own mages, Gretel had done the same using her life alchemy subordinates.
"Not nearly enough for me—what now?"
"It's fine. Sometimes you withdraw unsatisfied. Like when you meet someone stronger..."
"I agree, but doesn't that depend on the situation?"
"What situation?"
"My subordinates are hidden here. Just give the signal, and they'll finish off those barely surviving Magic Tower fools—"
Flash!
Mid-sentence as she tried proposing her own deal, blue lightning erupted sporadically across all of Lake Village from the silent sky above.
In that fleeting instant, Oliver glimpsed mana surging wildly from Merlin's body, along with lightning from a spell—powerful yet delicately precise and restrained.
Instinct told him her subordinates lurked exactly where the bolts struck.
"There... "
"Just dropped lightning on your lurking subordinates. Probably halved your forces. Shall we continue?"
It seemed to be true.
Merlin's mana barrier had thickened further—no reading even faint emotions now—but Gretel's rattled reaction proved his words no bluff.
The moment she mentioned her troops, Merlin rendered them moot with a single strike.
Absurd magic, like sniping with a bomber.
Truly impressive.
Turning wide-area lightning bombardment into precision sniping against hidden foes—a technique even Oliver hadn't conceived.
It demanded mana volume and control beyond norms.
He'd known Merlin was a great mage, but this exceeded expectations.
Gretel scanned all of Lake Village with her black magician's eyes and mana detection, then spoke with an angry smile.
"Haa... As expected, the Archive lives up to the name."