#726 (Patreon)

#726. Test (1)

When Oliver silently turned and began walking away, the presences of Puppet, Unbending Knees, and Lilith departing were keenly felt. They moved immediately, fearing Oliver might change his mind. Judging by Oliver's current state, it was entirely plausible.

However, contrary to their concerns, Oliver did nothing out of the ordinary. He simply continued on his way. It wasn’t an act of special mercy. It was just that his mood, which had been driving Puppet to the brink of his mental limits moments ago, suddenly dissipated.

Seeing Puppet limp like his namesake, Unbending Knees holding firm, and Lilith, their shared past flashed in his mind, and a strange feeling arose. Thus, Oliver decided to let them go. After all, if he wanted, he could catch them anytime.

It was an arrogant thought, but in Oliver’s current state, it wasn’t unfounded. Hence, even after capturing the fish trying to bring about the apocalypse, Oliver let it go and walked out of the Magic Tower.

“Is the job done?”

The ruined Magic Tower stood behind him after his battle with Puppet. As he stepped outside, Kevin greeted him.

“Ah.”

Seeing Kevin and the numerous wizards, Magic Tower students, and hired staff gathered nearby, Oliver involuntarily let out a sound. During his fight with Puppet, he had expelled them to prevent interference, and only now did he realize he had sent them just outside the tower.

Full-fledged wizards, students, employees—it was a considerable number, nearly surrounding the Magic Tower. They all had their eyes fixed on Oliver.

It reminded him of similar moments in the past. When he first arrived at the Magic Tower, when he became Kevin's assistant, or when his identity as a warlock tied to Dave was revealed. Each time, countless eyes had been on him.

The difference was that in the past, those gazes were filled with suspicion, contempt, or hostility. Now, they held tension, fear, submission, and reverence—the kind of look one gives to an overwhelming power they cannot comprehend.

Thus, they dared not speak, simply waiting for Oliver to answer Kevin’s question.

Had he caught Puppet?

Unfortunately for them, their hopes were quickly dashed.

“It’s done, but I let him go.”

“Puppet?”

“Yes, due to my incompetence, I made a mistake.”

Oliver, who had deliberately let Puppet go, lied shamelessly.

The many people around him knew it wasn’t true. They had seen the bright white light that erupted from the center of the Magic Tower. In an instant—so brief it defied description—the light engulfed the entirety of Landa and, shockingly, turned the undead army invading Landa to ashes.

It skipped even the burning process.

It was a miracle beyond the realm of magic, and naturally, they believed it was the work of the Woodsman Dave. After all, when something inexplicable occurs, it’s easy to assume it’s divine.

That Oliver, of all people, had failed to capture Puppet? No matter how they thought about it, the only conclusion was that it was a lie. And such a conclusion inevitably led to doubts.

What was Oliver’s true intention in letting Puppet go?

As seeds of fear and doubt began to sprout in the hearts of the Magic Tower’s people, Kevin spoke up.

“I see. Understood.”

He said he believed Oliver. More precisely, he believed Oliver, who was lying.

Oliver, for his part, seemed indifferent to Kevin’s trust.

Proof of that indifference lay in his lack of reaction to Kevin’s response. Instead, he stared intently to Kevin’s left.

That oppressive gaze, as if piercing through everything, made those standing beside Kevin step aside one by one.

Moments later, the figures of Yareli Issai and her grandmother, Tilda Issai, hidden behind the human wall, came into view.

Curiously, Tilda was collapsed on the ground with both hands frozen, while Yareli was restraining her.

Considering their relationship as grandmother and granddaughter, it was a rather bizarre scene. Still, seeing them, Oliver instantly grasped what had happened.

Even so, he posed a question, wanting to hear it directly from the person involved.

“Did you subdue her, Ms. Yareli?”

“…Yes.”

“Didn’t you try to save her inside the tower?”

When the Military wizards were absorbed by the flesh summoned by Puppet, Tilda was nearly taken as well.

Thanks to Yareli’s narrowly timed intervention, Tilda survived. However, she was now restraining her own grandmother. The reason was simple.

“Grandmother tried to attack the Archiver. That’s why I subdued her.”

Indeed, when Puppet’s flesh attempted to absorb the surrounding wizards, Oliver had expelled everyone from the Magic Tower to prevent them from getting caught up in the chaos.

Yet, even in the midst of that, Tilda had attempted to ambush Kevin.

It was understandable. Her collusion with Puppet had been exposed, and she’d been abandoned by him. For her, stealing the Archiver’s power was the only way to secure a future for herself—and her family.

But her choice led to the consequence of being subdued by her own granddaughter.

Tilda, unable to accept this reality, lashed out at Yareli, her hands still frozen and restrained by her granddaughter’s magic.

“How could you possibly…! You—”

“Shhh.”

“······!”

Oliver raised a finger to his lips, silencing Tilda immediately. Then he turned to Yareli and asked,

“That’s impressive. Don’t you love your grandmother?”

“…I do, but this is the right thing to do. I need to clean up the mess my family caused.”

Yareli’s voice carried genuine conviction. She wanted to atone for her grandmother’s sins on behalf of their family. Subduing Tilda was one such act of resolution.

Hearing her response, Oliver silently nodded before turning and walking away.

As everyone parted to make way for him, Kevin asked,

“So, what do you plan to do now?”

“I plan to follow your advice, Professor Kevin. To figure out what I want to do.”

***

After answering Kevin’s question, Oliver left and began walking toward the hotel Lilith had mentioned.

He knew its location and could teleport there immediately, but he chose instead to walk on foot, taking his time to observe his surroundings.

Perhaps it was because he feared meeting Kent too soon.

In any case, Oliver took a long detour, examining the city of Landa.

There wasn’t much to see.

The city was eerily quiet, as if still in the throes of war. People remained shut in their homes, leaving the streets so empty they resembled those of a ghost town.

In its own way, it was a spectacle.

For Landa—the largest, most densely populated city in the world—to have empty streets was a kind of miracle.

That didn’t mean there were no signs of life. Occasionally, people peeked at Oliver through their windows.

Most of them were civilians who didn’t know he was Woodsman Dave. Yet, whether by intuition or instinct, they sensed he wasn’t an ordinary person and retreated into their homes.

Given that he was walking confidently through the silent city, it wasn’t surprising that they found him unsettling.

“You agree with me, don’t you?”

Oliver stopped mid-stride, speaking to someone in a nearby alley.

Inside the alley stood Pandora in her Corpse doll and Eve in her fake body.

Both women stood with their heads bowed and hands clasped, as if awaiting judgment.

It was only natural—they had failed in their mission to locate and capture Lilith, who had been hiding in Landa, while Oliver confronted Puppet.

“Our apologies, Father.”

“We failed in the mission you entrusted to us.”

The two women apologized, but Oliver’s response was indifferent.

“It’s fine. It was a favor I asked of you, after all. But calling it a failure is inaccurate.”

“······.”

“······.”

“Failure is when you lack the ability or the circumstances to succeed. Choosing to let someone go isn’t failure. That’s closer to abandonment.”

Pandora and Eve closed their eyes, falling silent once more.

Oliver’s words were true.

Lilith was indeed housed in a Corpse doll crafted from the body of Gretel, the younger sister of Human-meat Chef. This granted her significant power. However, before all else, Lilith was one of the artificial spirits of the World Tree known as Eve.

Thus, if Pandora and Eve joined forces, they could easily subdue Lilith by engaging in a battle of control as Eves, establishing dominance through physical contact.

This was possible because Lilith was the weakest among the three Eves—a fragment of the smallest initial Eve shattered by Oliver, and had to devour her sisters to survive. 

Knowing this, Oliver entrusted Pandora and Eve with the task of capturing Lilith, but seeing them now, it was clear that they had let her go.

“Did you pity her?” Oliver asked, curious rather than accusatory, about their reason for letting Lilith go.

Having anticipated the question, Pandora and Eve immediately nodded.

“Yes, we are sorry.”

“There’s no need to apologize. I let her go too—twice, actually.”

The first time was during the theft of the Magic Tower’s project, and the second was now. Both times, guilt had driven Oliver’s actions.

After all, Pandora, Eve, and Lilith had been born from a single impulsive gesture of Oliver’s, and he had abandoned all of them.

While Pandora and Eve, being larger fragments, could sustain themselves without issue, Lilith struggled to survive, enduring numerous dangers before meeting Puppet, who helped her stay alive. In a sense, Oliver had left her to fend for herself.

Though he hadn't known better, it wasn’t something he could easily justify, especially considering how many orphans at the orphanage had suffered similarly.

For this reason, Oliver had no intention of reprimanding Pandora and Eve. He was merely curious.

“Can I ask why you pitied her? Was it because she’s also an Eve? Or because she’s your sister?”

Pandora pondered for a moment before answering.

“That’s part of it, but the more fundamental reason is that we could have ended up like Lilith. Father.”

Eve added, picking up where Pandora left off.

“Before Dave split us, we were one. We could have faced the same fate as Lilith. The only reason we didn’t was sheer luck.”

It was a compelling argument, especially Eve’s. After all, she too had been captured by Shamus and his group. Had fortune not favored Oliver and Eve during that time, what would have happened?

Eve might have been transformed into a calculator for stock predictions or something equally degrading. A minor difference in luck could have led to entirely different outcomes.

Eve spoke again.

“That’s why we pitied her—another version of ourselves, a sister. Besides…”

Pandora added,

“Seeing her worry so much about Finger Puppet was heartbreaking.”

Oliver read Pandora and Eve’s emotions.

Both were sincere. Lilith had genuinely worried about Puppet when he was in danger, and Puppet, having felt a kinship with Lilith, might have evoked the same in her.

It wasn’t strange.

Satisfied with their answers, Oliver seemed ready to continue on his way.

“Father.”

“Dave.”

“What is it?”

“What should we do now?”

Pandora and Eve asked for their next task. It was a natural question for them but an awkward one for Oliver.

After all, he wasn’t sure what he should do himself, or he knew but didn’t want to face it.

After a brief hesitation, Oliver replied.

“I’m not sure… Just do what you want to do.”

With that, he resumed his journey.

Eventually, he arrived in front of the Cross King Hotel, the place Lilith had mentioned.

Like the deserted streets, the hotel’s exterior was devoid of life, and the lobby was no different. Avoiding an invisible catastrophe, the only occupant of the hotel lobby was an elderly gentleman.

The man, Charlie Beasley, was the hotel’s owner and Puppet’s disciple.

Approaching him, Oliver greeted politely.

“Good day, Mr. Beasley. I’m here to meet Mr. Kent. Could you show me to him?”