Knock, knock
A knocking sound was heard.
Oliver, who was reading a book in the library, answered without turning his head.
"Come in, Marie."
As soon as permission was granted, Marie came in through the door.
In one of her hands, there was a tray with sandwiches.
"Hello, Master."
"Yeah…what's going on?"
"It looks like you are not eating, so I brought them."
Oliver turned his head slightly and looked toward Marie.
".....thank you."
Marie smiled as if it was a big thing, and set the tray down.
She looked at the book Oliver was reading.
Various other books were piled up including the books of the Anthony family.
".... What's the matter?"
"Ah, sorry, Master. I was just wondering what kind of book you were reading."
"Um… I'm reading Anthony Family's black magic book. It's about manipulation-type black magic. Animal manipulation, human manipulation, corpse manipulation, etc."
"Doesn't Master already know about it?"
"No…what I did was just an imitation, I don't know how to do it. For example, it's harder to control the living than to control the dead, and it's even harder to control people than animals. I know about this only after reading the book."
Oliver continued on, placing his hand on Dominic's book.
"I learned that there are various applications of disease-based black magic depending on the interpretation and application."
"You're really great, Master."
"Not really. The books that were in Master Joseph's study, contained a lot of information, but unfortunately, the books here have only traces of them, and nothing is written properly."
Oliver said while looking at the books that were piled up on the nearby bookshelf.
"I see… Have you finished reading most of the book, Master?"
"Not all, almost all? Soon, I would finish everything."
"Ah… aren't you pushing yourself too hard, Master?"
"What?"
"Recently, you've been overworking without eating or sleeping properly, so I'm worried."
"… Did I do something wrong?"
"No, it's not that! Quite the contrary! We all respect you for what you're doing from the bottom of our hearts…!"
Marie spoke hurriedly.
"Everyone is having a hard time, but we really respect Master. Master gave us everything that we dreamed of, including proper education, money, and meals….you can tell just by going to the Eatery right now. Master is really…awesome."
"... I see."
Oliver replied bluntly and began to read the book again.
It was a natural reaction.
In Oliver's standards, it wasn't important to earn respect or love.
It was just a sense of duty to do his job.
This was his minimum obligation since he was freed from the troublesome chores.
So Oliver was not very pleased with the respect and loyalty he had earned.
He just did what he had to do.
At Oliver's unkind reaction, Marie felt frustrated.
There was frustration toward Oliver who didn't understand how great the thing he had done.
She also felt frustrated that he was not able to recognize how valuable he was.
The frustration gradually grew, and soon began to fluctuate in a negative form of emotions.
Irritability, obsession, craving, self-hatred, and…
"Marie."
Oliver suddenly closed the book.
Marie replied in surprise.
"Yes, Master…"
"Come to think of it, I made a promise to you, right?"
Promise?
Marie thought for a moment and remembered.
"Ah…yes, you said we will talk about each other."
Marie's pale face turned bright red.
At that time, she unknowingly complained to Oliver, who showed interest in the paladin named Joanna.
She didn't know what he was thinking…
Still, Marie had a certain sense of anticipation.
She wondered if she could share something special with Oliver…
"I have to keep my promise…but before I start my story, can I ask you a question?"
"Yes… Master."
"Why does Marie want to know about me?"
Oliver was just curios. However, it was a question that was difficult to answer for Marie.
Marie was silent for a while.
She couldn't even figure out how to answer that innocent question.
As the silence grew longer, she opened her mouth since Oliver had interpreted it otherwise.
"Um, if you don't want to say about it, it's okay."
"No, it's not that!"
Marie said in a loud voice without realizing it.
"No … it's not that I don't want to say it, Master … can you wait a moment for my answer?"
"... Yes, take your time."
Oliver waited as promised.
After a long silence, Marie barely opened her mouth.
"I… want to always be by Master's side."
"You want to be with me?
"Yes, I want to be with Master."
Oliver thought she wanted to be with him like a direct disciple.
It was true, but it was also wrong.
Oliver was right about Marie wanting to be close to him, but what she wanted was more than that, and Marie just couldn't say it.
"You may not know, but no one has ever helped me as much as you did, Master."
"Me?"
"Yes… you are the only one who taught me black magic and trained me like this."
"… Didn't I teach you that as a condition for learning how to read from you?"
"… But, those two are really incomparable."
"Incomparable?"
"Yes, I was very grateful for the help you did. In fact, I almost gave up on becoming a Warlock. But, thanks to Master, I got hope that I could be a Warlock. Thank you very much."
"… Um, I have to thank Marie too, you have saved me once. And you don't have to thank me for becoming a warlock. After all, Marie's first step into becoming a warlock was thanks to Master, right?"
"Master…? Are you talking about Joseph?"
"Yes, Master Joseph."
When he talked about Joseph, Marie's emotions fluctuated like a turbulent light, and then the emotions of anger surfaced.
"Obviously, he gave me the dream and stole it, … he is incomparable to Master Oliver."
"Me?"
"Yes, he labeled me as an informal disciple because of my lack of obedience! If Master Oliver hadn't come, I would have been preparing meals in the kitchen all my life!"
Marie's breathing became unstable, and her emotions fluctuated as if she was flustered and also as if she was shaken by anger and betrayal.
However, soon, she regained her composure when she saw Oliver.
"So, My Master will be always Master Oliver, who truly reached out to me."
She expressed her earnest words.
However, there was no change in Oliver's reaction.
Neither did he understand her nor did he feel empathized with Marie.
"Um… Still, isn't it Master Joseph who saved you back then?"
"He wasn't, Master. He was trying to sacrifice us to the Demon! He was just trying to take advantage of us!"
"Is that so? Um…but, isn't it also true that he helped you when you were about to be raped by the gangsters?"
Marie was shocked.
Her eyes widened as her emotions fluctuated.
"… "
"Um… did I say something wrong?"
"... How did you know that, Master?"
"On the day I met with Master Joseph at Landa, he told me about it during the conversation."
Marie groaned a little.
It was because Oliver learned about a secret that she never wanted him to know.
She exuded a myriad of emotions like displeasure, shame, anger, and sadness, and Oliver observed her emotions in silence.
It looked like he made a mistake, but he didn't know what he did wrong.
"If I said something wrong, I'll apologize."
"... No, you don't need to apologize, Master. You are my Master, and you are correct….. Have I ever told you about my past, Master?"
"Yes…you said you wanted to become a warlock and wanted to become strong."
"Yes… that's right. My parents and I were both weak people."
Marie started telling her story to Oliver.
She told him the story of her days in an illegal shantytown near a dye factory.
When the factory released its dirty sewage right next to her house, she couldn't do anything about it.
When her mother collapsed from illegal labor, she couldn't do anything,
When her father got beaten to death by the local gangsters, she couldn't do anything.
Eventually, when she went to get revenge on those gangsters, she suffered something that became traumatic.
She was calm at first, but as the story progressed, Marie's emotions started to fluctuate and tears welled up in her eyes.
"…that's how I get to meet Joseph, and that's why I am here now."
"…. I see."
"Yes, so I once thought of Joseph as my savior but after some time I realized that it was all just an illusion."
".... That's unfortunate?"
"No Master, I was fortunate. Thanks to that, I met Master Oliver. Master gave me a new chance to live, so I want to be always with Master and serve you."
"…. I see."
"… Then…., can you tell me about yourself, Master?"
"What?"
"Since I have told you my story. I also want to hear the story of Master… Can't I?"
Oliver was silent for a moment.
"... No. It's just that there wasn't much to say, but I'll tell you if you want."
" I want to hear it, Master."
"Well then…"
So Oliver began his story.
The story began from the time when Oliver was living in an orphanage.
He described how many children were there and how strict the director was, without showing any emotions.
The robot-like explanation was more like reciting a rule book.
Still, Marie paid great attention as she listened to the story.
When Oliver said about the time he got bullied or received unfair punishment, she got sad and angry.
Oliver did not show any emotions during his narration.
Although he had not much to say, Oliver still recounted his life in as much detail as Marie wished.
A day wasn't enough to completely hear the story, so Marie visits the library every day as if she had promised to listen to Oliver's story – Like a fire moth chasing light.
Meanwhile, Oliver's Joseph family also found stability as time passed.
Soon, Peter and some senior disciples were able to naturally synthesize emotions, and they even reached a point where they could produce pilgarets even without Oliver.
"Ah, so Master was able to see emotions from the beginning?"
"Yes, I thought it was normal, but it wasn't, so it felt nice when I got to meet someone like our master."
"…."
Now, Marie and the other disciples were able to stand against Oliver to some extent when they come at him together.
As evidence, they were able to subdue any gangsters or small and medium-sized warlocks even without the help of Oliver.
"Ah…the pilgaret you smoked at that time was Joseph's emotion right before his death, right Master?"
"Yes, it was an emotion that shined with a very beautiful light."
"Are you still interested in that light, Master?"
"Yes, I haven't fully figured out what it is yet… I want to see it again."
"… If you want it then just give a command, Master. We will risk our lives to find it and dedicate it to Master Oliver… Yes, you can order us to find it. This is Oliver's family."
"Um, that's not…"
"No. We are Oliver's disciples. You can order anything you want, Master. We will dedicate our lives to making your wish come true, Master."
Time passed by and autumn came.
Loyalty towards Oliver further strengthened the unity of the organization,
Unable to endure any longer, the small and medium-sized warlock organizations threw away all their pride and surrendered to Oliver through the pharmacist.
Joseph family became the only Warlock family in Wineham.
Marie got up from her bed with great joy.
After washing and dressing, Marie went to wake Oliver as usual.
It was a privilege that only she had.
"Master, it's time to wake up."
The answer did not come back.
Normally, the answer 'Okay, Marie.' would have come, but it didn't today
Marie felt something strange, so she soon opened the door and looked inside.
Marie's eyes saw an empty bed and a note lying on it.
[I'm not needed here anymore, so I'm leaving.]
[P.S. Everyone can do whatever they want to.]