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“Do you know about the Tick-Tock Apocalypse?”
Oliver asked the question that intrigued him the most.
After all, he had returned to the tower to ask this question.
However, Oliver witnessed something strange.
For a brief moment, the eyes of Merlin, who never lost his composure in any situation, wavered.
Even when disguised as an old bookstore owner, and when facing the Matell researchers, his eyes remained calm.
It might have been a mistake since it was such a short moment, but Oliver felt he had seen it correctly.
Merlin, who quickly regained his composure, opened his mouth.
It was so natural that it almost made him forget about the earlier wavering eyes.
“Tick-Tock Apocalypse… Ya mean the Doomsday Clock of Judgment, mate?”
Oliver, recalling Ewan Bremner’s story, nodded his head.
According to him, the ticking clock meant that the world was full of evil, and God’s patience had reached its limit, leading to the end of everything. So, it could also be called a judgment.
“Is the official name the Doomsday Clock of Judgment?”
Merlin shook his head.
“Official name, there ain’t no such name. Might be out there, but if so, it’s news to me.”
Oliver was surprised and focused on Merlin’s eyes. It was difficult to distinguish whether Merlin’s emotions were genuine or fake due to the wall of magic surrounding him.
“Ya look pretty gobsmacked there. Is it odd that I don’t know for sure?”
For a moment, Oliver almost mentioned about the existence called Archiver he had heard about from Ewan.
The great wizard who inherited over a thousand years of knowledge and power, a being who had received countless knowledge over a long period.
But Oliver didn’t let those words out of his mouth.
He didn’t know if he should talk about Ewan too… It seemed like the story would get too complicated.
“Dave?”
“Ah, I’m sorry, Elder. To be honest, it’s a bit surprising. I thought you would know.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because you’re strong, have a high position in the Tower, and must have studied a lot. So I thought you would know almost everything.”
“I used to think the same, ya know. But as I got older, I realized it was all me own foolishness and incompetence. Sorry to let ya down.”
A somewhat emotional response.
Regardless of the answer, Oliver found Merlin’s reaction interesting.
“But I can give ya what I know. Ya keen to have a listen?”
“If you would tell me, I would be more than happy.”
“Um… First things first, the Doomsday Clock of Judgment ya asked about is a bloody ancient tale. No one knows where it originated, not even me. They say it’s been ’round for hundreds of years, but it could be even older. Time’s just a metaphor, ya see?”
“You seem to know quite a bit.”
“It’s a story that’s been floatin’ ’round since the first Archiver… It’s like a myth, an old yarn, a spooky tale, or a fairytale. So, it’s been twisted and distorted beyond recognition by all them cults, doomsday believers, and whatnot. The original story’s lost its way, mate.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, even them warlocks and a bunch from the Parter religion use this story.”
“That’s… surprising.”
Oliver expressed his honest thoughts.
The fact that the two polar opposites shared the same story was quite interesting.
“Cheap people always try to steal old authority and wear it on their bodies inappropriately.”
Merlin’s words were filled with a sarcastic laugh.
There seemed to be some hidden meaning, but without being able to perceive Merlin’s emotions, it was hard to know for sure.
“Could you tell me how warlocks and the Parter church use it, if you don’t mind?”
Merlin looked straight at Oliver. He seemed likely to ask why Oliver was inquiring, but contrary to expectations, he readily answered.
“Among them warlocks, they reckon that when the world is full of evil, the Prince of Demons will open the gates of hell, punishing the hypocrites of the world and bringin’ in a new era.”
An image of Puppet crossed Oliver’s mind.
“And how about in the Parter church?”
“They reckon the minute them gates of hell swing open, the holiest son of an angel sacrifices himself to save us humans from all that evil.”
He had felt odd before, but now it felt even stranger.
It was not only strange that warlocks and the Parter church, entities that could be considered complete opposites, were using the same story, but also that they fit together so well.
It felt as if one piece had been split into two.
As if someone had artificially matched them up.
When Oliver voiced these thoughts, all Merlin did was laugh.
“The world’s a funny ol’ place, ain’t it? That’s what makes it bloody interestin’.”
“I feel the same way… Then, do you know the original story of this eschatology?”
Merlin shook his head.
Oliver wasn’t too disappointed.
Since he didn’t know the real name of the eschatology, the chances of having the original were virtually non-existent from the start.
However, he was able to hear another interesting story.
“But, there are a few records of other stories derived from that eschatology, are you interested?”
“Um, of course, I’m interested. But how?”
“There were a couple of past Archivers who took an interest in such stories. I inherited ’em, so if ya want, I can dig ’em up. Might take a bit of time, though.”
“If you could, I’d be very grateful.”
“There’s a condition, though.”
As if he had been waiting, Merlin put forth a condition. Oliver asked what it was.
“If ya happen to come across any stories related to this, reckon ya could share ’em with me? Keepin’ up the research of them past Archivers is part of me job too, ya see.”
“Yes, I think that would be fine. I might need your help as well.”
As soon as Oliver agreed, Merlin held out his pinky.
“Alright then, let’s make a proper promise. Pinky swear.”
Oliver made a pinky promise with Merlin.
It was beneficial for him, and there was no particular reason to refuse.
Merlin disappeared as soon as they made the promise, saying he would slowly look for the information, just like when he first arrived.
Such an unpredictable person… Well, it wasn’t bad.
Not long after Merlin disappeared, Kevin, who had finished his class, came.
As soon as Kevin arrived, he read the report that Oliver had written, and like Merlin, he was satisfied that there was no problem. After hearing the rest of Oliver’s story, he prepared for any potential questions or inquiries from the Magic Tower or other schools.
Although Oliver felt it was a bit too much to do this to someone who had been working and running around, he decided to just work hard, considering his identity.
Until long past the end of work hours.
Despite the hard work, Oliver was not only able to quickly wrap up the issue at hand, but also managed to get a short vacation.
‘Yes, it wouldn’t be strange to take a vacation for recovery after doing something this big. It’s rather conspicuous to come back as if nothing happened… Take a few days off. I’ll try to sort this out in the meantime.’
Kevin’s words were sincere, and Oliver gladly followed his suggestion.
Having asked Merlin the questions he wanted to ask, there was nothing to do at the Magic Tower for a while, and Oliver also had tasks to complete.
So Oliver handed over the evidence (storage device) he had obtained from the Chimera Research Institute to Kevin, officially took a vacation, returned home, rested for a day to recover his strength, and finished up the work that had been piling up.
For example, dealing with materials (bodies).
“…Phew, it’s tiring.”
A residence in District L of the upper-middle class of Landa, a rather decent area.
In the basement of the house, Oliver wiped the sweat off his forehead, groaning.
It was natural, considering he had processed over thirty bodies at once, including twenty that he had only collected and not processed before, the bodies of eight female warlocks recently secured, and Bathory’s body.
It was quite tough. But not to the point of death.
Thanks to the help of Children.
“Are you guys okay?”
“Kyaheung… It’s tough!”
“Pusheuk-! Pusheuk-!”
The ‘Corpse Doll-Helper 1’ and ‘Helper 2 Parker’, who were in charge of professional tasks such as dipping the bodies in preservative three times and applying a coating to the bones after slicing the flesh, each responded.
‘Rag’, who was hanging the processed bodies on hooks and organizing them along the ceiling-mounted rail, and ‘Duncan’, who was stamping the organized bodies and writing up the material items, also responded.
“Clak-clak-! Clak-clak-!”
“…….”
These two were specialized in combat, but due to a shortage of hands, they were tasked with moving things and stamping materials, simple tasks.
Fortunately, they did the work better than expected.
Thanks to this, the first-ever two-digit body processing was finished faster than expected.
It made him realize anew why it was said to secure manpower when making Corpse dolls. The difference between having and not having was like heaven and earth.
“Everyone worked hard. Thanks to you, we finished quickly. Thank you.”
“Kyaheung… It’s done!!”
“Pusheuk-! Pusheuk-! Pusheuk-!”
“Clak-clak-! Clak-clak-! Clak-clak!!”
“……..”
The Children also seemed happy that the work was done, each giving their own responses.
Oliver decided to immediately give the promised rewards.
Providing a large amount of emotion and Life-force mixed together in a giant flask to the Children.
The only thing that made the Children happy was eating.
‘At least so far…’
Oliver naturally mixed emotion and Life-force as if he were breathing, and the Children, being hungry, opened their mouths wide and quickly sucked in the mixture of emotion and Life-force.
Shoo-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-hak——!
Shoo-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-hak——!
Shoo-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-hak——!
Shoo-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-hak——!
The rapidly diminishing mixture of emotion and Life-force.
In the meantime, Oliver looked over the processed materials.
They were all in good condition, and the stamps were correctly placed.
Ordinary bodies with no special abilities or characteristics had a C stamp,
Bodies with normal abilities or characteristics had a B stamp,
Bodies with significant abilities or characteristics had an A stamp, and so on.
Currently, most of the bodies Oliver possessed were C, but happily, thanks to the business trip, he was able to secure many good bodies.
The female warlocks, who were A-grade bodies, and Bathory, an S-grade body, were such cases.
Oliver paid particular attention to the bodies of the female warlocks and Bathory.
The female warlocks had no upper parts of their bodies because Oliver had burst all their heads in the process of subduing them, and Bathory’s body was severed from its limbs and head.
Probably, it was hard to avoid a functional decline. The quality of the Corpse dolls was determined by the state and damage of the body.
‘What a waste…’
Oliver thought as he looked at the bodies of the female warlocks and Bathory.
However, at the same time, Oliver also considered how to preserve their functions to the maximum and use them effectively.
Although the condition was not good, it was an exceptional case to have obtained such materials, so it was only right to find a way to utilize them as much as possible.
‘Especially, I should research a way to move them all at once… Even if there are many Corpse dolls, if the amount that can be handled at once is limited, it’s meaningless.’
Oliver thought about increasing the number of Children, but soon gave up the idea.
Considering the maintenance cost of the Children, it wasn’t a good choice to increase them arbitrarily. It was also difficult to manage. Now was just right.
Then, Oliver’s gaze fixed on Bathory’s body.
He looked at the limbless body without a head hanging on a hook, and the headless limbs next to it.
‘I guess I should use Lady Bathory. She seems to have a deep understanding of manipulation. If done well, she could become a Corpse doll controlling the other Corpse dolls…’
Oliver thought, recalling the semi-corpse zombie and her daughters he saw at the Chimera Research Institute.
‘Well, even if that doesn’t work, it’s not a big loss.’
Oliver pulled out a red notebook from his possession.
It was a notebook seized from Bathory, which seemed to be a customer list no matter how he thought about it.
Customers of the blood elixir made based on blood magic.
‘If Elder said so, it’s probably right… But why does she carry it around? Isn’t it important?’
He thought for a moment, but Oliver soon shook his head.
What was important was that Bathory’s body, capable of creating blood magic potions, and the customer list were in his possession.
Oliver decided to ignore the minor details and focus only on his goal.
Oliver put the notebook back into his possession and picked up the leather case containing the glutton bag.
Then he looked back at the Children who had finished eating.
“Shall we start preparing to go out?”