Chapter 90

<90. A Familiar Face (1)>

After the fight with Puppet, Oliver searched the basement.

It was a natural course of action.

As a high-ranking member of the Black Hand and the mastermind behind the contaminated zone, there was a high probability that he had books on black magic and demons in his hideout.

That was also the reason why Oliver had come here in the first place.

Thus, he searched desperately for the books.

However, not everything goes as planned.

Despite his best efforts, the basement yielded nothing of what he had hoped for.

He had expected to find a considerable number of books, but it was as if they had been cleared out in preparation.

In the end, Oliver had to make do with a relatively undamaged corpse puppet and experimental tools, a flask of liquid, and a notebook detailing the method of creating a corpse puppet that had fallen to the floor.

It was truly a disappointing situation.

‘Well, at least it was an interesting experience, so there’s no need to be too disappointed, right?’

Oliver muttered to himself, recalling the entrance to hell and the artificial soul he had seen through Puppet.

It was still a realm he couldn’t fully understand, but he could tell it was impressive.

If given the chance, he would even consider asking for further teachings.

With a heavy heart, Oliver applied the liquid to the wall to explore the basement’s structure.

It was like a giant ant nest, deliberately built large and complex, as if to hide something.

This reminded him of what Puppet had said: that the basement in this F-sector was filled with illegal experiments, some of which involved demons.

Though it had nothing to do with Oliver, it piqued his interest a little.

After all, even the mages were dealing with demons. It was quite an intriguing story.

Thud, thud, thud.

Oliver climbed the secret stairs and applied the liquid to the wall again at the dead end.

The black liquid moved through the cracks in the bricks, and a door appeared.

At that moment, something fast flew towards him. It was a gloved fist.

Bang!

“...Are you all okay?”

Oliver asked, blocking Jo’s punch with his quarterstaff.

Jo was drenched in blood and sweat, and his eyes widened when he saw Oliver.

As if a dead person had come back to life.

“...How...?”

“I climbed the stairs. Are you okay?”

Jo retracted his fist, still looking shocked.

Behind him, Sam and Arthur were sprawled out, in a similar state.

They were drenched in sweat, their clothes torn to shreds.

But what stood out more were the fallen zombies around them, as if their strings had been cut.

Jo explained the situation.

“When you fell, zombies suddenly appeared from all directions.”

“Yes, I saw them.”

“We fought hard but were eventually overwhelmed. They didn’t kill us, though... and then they suddenly collapsed just now. Do you know anything about it?”

Oliver thought for a moment.

How should he explain this?

Explaining everything would raise some questions.

The entrance to hell he had seen when Puppet tried to swallow him, from which he had extracted the liquid to barely escape the crisis, seemed too unbelievable to share.

Talking about hell, like demons, might bring unwanted attention.

Moreover, if he said he had defeated Puppet alone, it would complicate things and make them bothersome.

While he needed a reputation as a resolver, it was too early for that.

Defeating Puppet wasn’t solely due to his own strength.

For these reasons, Oliver decided to fib a bit.

“Puppet let me go.”

“...What?”

“Um... He lured me down somewhere, overpowered me, and then suddenly let me go.”

“Just let you go?”

“Yes, he looked at something and said it was enough, then let me go... saying I was interesting.”

“......”

Jo, Arthur, and Sam all looked at Oliver in silence.

Their expressions clearly showed disbelief, and their emotions were tinged with suspicion.

Arthur, panting, asked, “Sorry, but are you serious? He could have killed us all, but just let you go?”

Oliver spoke calmly to add credibility.

“Yes, he said he had what he needed and would let me live because I was interesting.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Jo nodded in understanding, though Arthur still looked confused.

“Still, something seems off.”

The exhausted Oliver walked past Jo to Arthur.

One of his golem prosthetics was completely destroyed, and the other was half-broken.

“I think it’s odd too, but surviving is the most important thing, right?”

Arthur looked at Oliver in surprise, then sighed.

He seemed to admit he was wrong.

“You’re right. Sorry for the foolish question.”

“No, thank you for understanding... Shall we go up now?”

***

Oliver rejoined Jo’s group and they retraced their steps to the surface.

When they opened the door and climbed up, they were greeted by the Goodman Mercenary Team and a group of resolvers.

“Damn! You’re alive!”

“How...!”

“I won! Pay up, everyone.”

People were surprised to see Oliver’s group.

Some were genuinely shocked, some disbelieving, and some were happy to have won their bets.

But the most noticeable was the greedy look on some faces, like Hugh, the leader of the Goodman Mercenary Team.

“I’m glad you all made it back... What exactly happened down there?”

Just as Oliver was about to answer, Jo interjected.

He had drawn a line with Hugh, who had been friendly before they went down.

“First, let’s get out of here... By the way, the number of people has decreased. What happened?”

Hugh, seemingly losing the upper hand, hesitated before answering.

“Well... When the zombies outside suddenly collapsed or left, most of them escaped during that time. Only we were left.”

Hugh spoke proudly, as if to prove their friendship, but Jo ignored him.

“To go down for those people is unbelievable.”

“At least you all made it back safely, right?”

Oliver said without much thought.

He just wanted to keep things simple, but Jo looked at him with a mix of complaints, confusion, and disbelief, then looked down.

“Well... yeah.”

“What happened? What about Puppet?”

Hugh interjected again.

He seemed to expect a certain answer.

Oliver saw it clearly, but before he could answer, Arthur interjected.

“Let’s talk about that later. Everyone, let’s move. You guys, get ready to move quickly. The zombies might come back... Hey, friend, get ready to move.”

Arthur advised Oliver, with a hint of greed, concern, and affection.

For some reason, Oliver nodded and prepared to move, and Hugh, sensing the mood, quietly stepped back.

It wasn’t the right time.

Soon, Oliver, along with the Goodman Mercenary Team, Arthur’s resolver team, and the Fighter Crew including Jo and Sam, emerged from the building.

As Hugh had said, the zombies outside were all collapsed, seemingly confirming Puppet’s promise.

Indeed, he was a kind person.

However, the resolvers remained cautious.

After all, they had suffered greatly from the zombie horde.

If they had wanted to, they could have taken on the city defense forces guarding the contaminated zone’s perimeter.

Coincidence?

As they passed the fallen zombies and moved a bit further, they saw a group of soldiers in the distance.

At first, everyone rubbed their eyes, thinking they had seen wrong, but it was true.

The city defense forces were coming this way, with a proper formation.

There were hundreds of them, including regular soldiers armed with rifles and heavy weapons, about thirty soldiers in exoskeleton armor, and a couple of military mages.

Initially, the resolvers were relieved to see the city forces, but their expressions soon hardened.

The soldiers seemed more aggressive than helpful, as if they were there to escort rather than rescue.

Indeed, as they got closer, the soldiers skillfully surrounded Oliver’s group.

Despite the resolvers’ usual complaints about the city forces being wage thieves, cowards, and self-serving, they seemed capable.

Arthur, despite his fatigue, stepped forward and shouted.

“Damn it... Even if resolvers are just cleanup crews, what kind of treatment is this for those who survived!”

At that moment, a man emerged from among the trained soldiers.

Dressed in a suit, unlike the uniformed soldiers, he looked young but very tired.

Oliver recognized him; he was the city official who had given a brief explanation before they entered the contaminated zone.

He took out a megaphone and spoke.

“Ah! Ah! Hello, resolvers... We received a report and came here. Please, everyone, disarm. I repeat, everyone, disarm.”

***

Following the city official’s instructions, Oliver disarmed and was led by the soldiers into a building and locked in a room.

It wasn’t too small, but it was dark, and the darkness was not just physical.

It was infused with mana, which combined with the darkness to suppress one’s psyche.

However, it wasn’t a problem for Oliver.

He remained still.

There was a hidden surveillance device in the room, and Oliver was careful not to show any suspicious or hostile behavior.

Perhaps because of this, after some time, someone finally entered.

It was the city official who had urged them to disarm.

“Hello, Mr. Dave.”

The official greeted formally and sat down.

He still looked very tired, but his bloodshot eyes had a sharp gleam.

“Hello.”

“...I apologize for bringing you here. We received a report.”

“What’s your name?”

The conversation didn’t match.

The official’s eyes narrowed.

“Excuse me?”

“What’s your name? I was taught that you need to know someone’s name to have a conversation.”

The official carefully examined Oliver.

As if checking if he was up to something.

“...I apologize, but I’ll be the one asking the questions. You answer. Understand?”

“Yes... I understand.”

“...Then, I’ll ask. According to the resolvers who came before, the high-risk criminal Puppet set a trap in the contaminated zone and attacked them. Is that correct?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“And you were trapped in a building?”

“Yes.”

“You were the first to recognize Puppet, correct?”

“Yes, that’s true. I didn’t recognize him immediately, just noticed the corpse puppet. Later, Puppet revealed his identity.”

The official muttered.

“Corpse puppet... a high-performance zombie created from a human corpse.”

“Ah, you know about it?”

“To work in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, you need to know the basics. But I’ll be the one asking the questions.”

“Ah, sorry.”

“...How did you recognize it?”

“I’ve seen someone use a corpse puppet before.”

“Not just anyone can use a corpse puppet. Impressive.”

“Ah, is that so? It’s an interesting technique, but I didn’t know that.”

“...”

“...? Did I make a mistake?”

“No... But why did you go down to face Puppet?”

“It was dangerous to stay put. I just said it, and they accepted... He was quite kind.”

The official chuckled.

“Puppet was kind... What did you do down there?”

Oliver answered the question.

He told the story of going down with Jo, Sam, and Arthur, being ambushed, and getting trapped, and then going down alone.

“Did you meet Puppet there?”

As he had told the others, Oliver recounted the edited version of events, without a single discrepancy.

The official quickly compared it in his mind and nodded.

“Huh... He just let you go?”

“Yes, after overpowering me, he looked at something and said it was enough, then let me go, saying I was interesting.”

“He said you were interesting?”

“Yes, I don’t know why.”

“...I think I do.”

“...? What do you mean... Ah, sorry. You’re the one asking the questions.”

“...Can I ask a simple, personal question?”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“Why do you use the honorific ‘-nim’ with Puppet?”

The official narrowed his eyes, more of an accusation than a question.

“It’s a habit.”

“Habit?”

“Yes, I was taught to use honorifics from a young age. So, I just do it. If it bothers you, I’ll stop.”

The official stared at Oliver, as if trying to gauge something.

He was deep in thought, calculating something.

“...You said you had a conversation with Puppet. What did you talk about?”

“Various things.”

“What kind of things?”

“He taught me that the basement was full of illegal laboratories.”

“That’s a well-known fact. Anything else?”

“He talked about his research.”

“Research?”

“Yes.”

The official’s tired eyes lit up.

“Can you be more specific...”

“Step aside. If it involves black magic and demons, the Paternus Church has priority in the investigation. It’s written in the city agreement, so you have no right to stop us.”

A voice from outside the door.

Oliver and the official turned to the door, which opened with a bang.

A man and a woman entered, and among them was a familiar face.

It was the paladin Joanna.

“I am Paladin Elton from the Paternus Church’s Seland branch. We will take over from here.”