Genius Warlock

A few hours ago.

Oliver and Joseph looked at each other with a table filled with delicacies between them.

“Do you think we should eat this food?”

Oliver thought for a moment and then shook his head.

"No."

"Why?"

“That… it’s a little difficult to explain.

“Then explain it the difficult way.”

“Uh… well… the light around the person who brought us the food was weird.”

"Light?

“Yes….. I mean, the emotion. When angry, it flickers, and when sad, it wavers and it trembles when afraid.”

"So?"

“That man”

“The innkeeper?”

"Yes, the light around the innkeeper. It's faintly twisted."

“What if it’s twisted ?”

"I don't know. I've only seen it a few times. The supervisor of the Mine had that kind of a light right before he took me to the Mine and when he put me into a dangerous job."

“You mean that kind of light is when people tell a lie?”

“Uh… yes, I think so.”

At Oliver's reply, Joseph nodded as if he was satisfied with his answer.

"Why did the innkeeper lie to us?"

“I don’t know.”

"The reason is obvious. It's because they had a purpose. For example, this delicious food is mixed with sleeping pills. Then, after eating and sleeping, they will kill us to get our things.”

It wasn't a pleasant story, but Joseph seemed to be a little excited as if he was reminiscing his childhood memories.

"Well, then, what should we do?"

“Uh… we don’t eat?”

"That’s not the right answer. If you do that then the innkeeper will realize that we've noticed. Rather, we should pretend we've been tricked and be vigilant. Remember, tricks are important to be a warlock."

Oliver nodded his head with wide eyes as usual.

Joseph wondered if Oliver understood what he said, but he didn't talk further.

Instead, he pulled out a test tube from his chest pocket.

Oliver's eyes lit up slightly when he saw the test tube.

The test tube, sealed with a black stopper, contained a black liquid, as thick as tar, and it could be seen wriggling like a living creature.

“Is the….black thing…..emotions?!”

Oliver asked,

"…… Yeah. That's right. They are condensed emotions."

“How did you do it?”

Oliver's eyes were tinged with greed.

When Joseph saw his greed, he warned him.

"…. Don't be in such a hurry. It's not something you can learn yet. Instead, I'll show you something more interesting. Think you're lucky."

With those words, Joseph pulled out the stopper from the test tube, and as soon as the stopper opened, the liquid shook more violently, and Joseph placed his hand on it.

When the hand is removed from the test tube, the liquid became silent, and a strand of thread was pulled out.

Its appearance was reminiscent of a thread from a spinning machine, and as soon as the thread was pulled out, it started to change back to black light again and circled around Joseph's hand.

From liquid to thread and then to light.

Oliver watched the amazing and mysterious sight without saying a word.

No, he was doing more than just watching.

From the moment Joseph opened the lid, the world seemed to have slowed down for Oliver, he instinctively understood everything, including the principles, mechanisms, and even tricks.

This was the moment when the theory that he had built in his imagination was proved to be true.

Black light, emotion could be changed according to one’s purpose and could be processed into something new.

“Come out, Eater”

Joseph whispered towards the black light.

Hearing his whisper the black light began to sway and spun around, as it united into one, and then began to expand:

“This is…?”

Oliver said while looking at the sphere in the air.

It was the size of a human head, and Oliver reached out his hand towards the sphere out of curiosity before he knew it.

It was similar to a child extending his hand the first time he saw a fire?

Just before Oliver's hand touched the sphere, one side of the sphere opened.

And between the crevices appeared a huge, shaggy tongue and white teeth.

A gigantic mouth appeared in the air.

"Eater. A scavenge hunter I created. It wasn't originally intended for this, but it can be used like this too… .. Eat all the food.”

At Joseph's words, Eater began to devour the food placed on the table, licking and cleaning the plates completely, but Oliver was rather amazed at how it looked.

‘Black Magic…….It is really fun.’

“Are you curious?”

"…. Yes."

"Well then, stay awake tonight. Maybe, you will see something even more interesting."

And it was true.

⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩

“One.”

Joseph said while walking out of the door, and the frightened innkeeper screaming stupidly, got up and started running away.

“Two”

Joseph didn't care and took the thread again from the test tube.

When the thread turned back to light, the light condensed in an instant and turned into a bullet-like shape.

All this happened in just a second or two, and Joseph while pointing his finger at the employee said,

"Three. Hate Bullet."

The ball of light flew at the chant and pierced the back of the employee.

The force was so powerful that a hole the size of marble was created on his head, and the employee fell down and died even before he could scream.

Oliver followed Joseph and went down with him.

For safety, he should have stayed in the room, but his curiosity and lust to learn about Black Magic made it impossible.

He wanted to watch it through to the end.

He felt like it was his mission.

“Well, this is not surprising.”

Joseph saw something and murmured.

Oliver looked over Joseph's shoulder from the first floor of the inn.

What caught his eyes was a naked guest….

No, it was a corpse of the guest and a middle-aged woman carrying that body.

The fat woman innkeeper looked at Joseph and Oliver with a puzzled expression on her face,

"Huh? Huh? Didn’t you finish your dinner?"

“I’m a little cautious so I don’t eat anything suspicious.”

After speaking, Joseph responded like a gentleman to the woman, and he stretched out his hand.

"Hate Bullet."

The bullet of hate that flew pierced the middle-aged woman's head and chest at once.

One of the waitresses, who was mopping and wiping out bloodstains next to her, was terrified and ran into the kitchen.

Joseph walked leisurely and followed her, and Oliver followed Joseph, keeping a reasonable distance.

It was so much fun for Oliver, who never thought black magic can use emotions like bullets.

It felt like a dream come true.

It was very interesting and terrifying at the same time.

As Joseph was on his way to the kitchen, the employee who ran away came out.

She came out with a shotgun that was usually used at the inn and pointed it at Joseph.

Oliver thought at that moment.

‘Is it possible to spread the emotion out wide and block it like a shield?’

As if he had known from the beginning an image was drawn in his head and to his surprise, Joseph created a curtain larger than the human height using the black light as Oliver had imagined.

“Dieeeeeeeeeeee”

The waitress opened fire aiming at Joseph

BANG BANG BANG

“Black Shield.”

A loud gunshot rang out.

However, all the bullets from the shotgun were blocked by a wide black curtain.

The bullets fired from close range were blocked so futilely, and the waitress looked at that with her eyes wide open as if she was possessed by a ghost, but that was a fatal mistake.

“Hate Bullet.”

Joseph fired bullets of hatred with no mercy.

With a sound, the employee with holes in her chest and stomach collapsed.

‘Beautiful!’

From strange creatures to bullets and shields…Everything Oliver thought and didn't think, filled his eyes.

“Knowing how to treat customers properly is the first virtue of a waitress….well, it’s already too late for you.”

Joseph muttered as he approached the fallen corpse, and then muttered as if he had remembered it too late:

“Didn’t the inn owner say there were five….”

Saying those words, Oliver turned his head to the basement without knowing it.

At that moment, his eyes met with the last employee who was coming out of the basement.

He was sweaty as if he had moved a heavy load.

As soon as he saw the dead waitress, his face distorted and he rushed in.

“You b*stards!”

He was more frightening than the Supervisor of the coal mine, the butcher's knife in his hand was so sharp – as if it could cut anything with a small touch, and above all, the light emanating from his body was flickering more severely than anyone Oliver had ever seen before.

Oliver was sure that he would die if he got caught.

But…..

Oliver wasn’t afraid, rather he felt the opposite – happy.

Oliver stretched out his hand.

It wasn't taught by anyone, but he instinctively reached out.

Then he extracted the emotions of the angry employee swirling around him toward his hand.

The black light moving around Oliver's hand was huge, and it was difficult to even for Oliver to explain how he did it.

It was like walking for human beings – which is not taught but done instinctively.

It was the realm of talent that Joseph talked about.

THUMP … THUMP … THUMP…

Oliver’s cold heart started beating and all his nerves were focused on his hand.

The inn employee was almost a few steps away,

But Oliver was neither afraid nor nervous.

He only cared about the emotions in his hands.

Oliver painted the image in his head.

Like Joseph, he condensed the fluctuating emotions– Fastly and more precisely.

As time passed slowly the fiery emotions found stability in Oliver's hand and they took the form that he had imagined.

Oliver made his hand into the shape of a gun while stretching the thumb finger and index finger.

A bullet of hatred was formed at the tip of his index finger.

After that, he left everything to his instincts and took aim.

“Hate Bullet.”

The bullets of hatred from his fingertips flew at the chant and pierced the chest of the employee.

A fist-sized hole was created with the sound of a pop, and the employee died with his eyes wide open.

The silence was the only thing that filled the inn.

Oliver stared intently at his hand.

He recalled the feeling of using black magic for the first time, and the feeling still lingered …

Soon a hand touched Oliver's head.

It was Joseph.

He gently stroked Oliver's head with a very admirable expression on his face.

“Good job.”

⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩

Oliver followed Joseph down to the basement.

In the basement, there were piles of stolen items taken from the murdered guests.

Expensive coats, pants, and shoes.

In addition, various watches, wallets, belts, and wedding rings were packed in the box.

“Hahaha… they worked really hard.”

Joseph pulled a pouch out of his pocket.

The yellowish leather pouch had tooth-like zippers.

It was like a little creature, which was a bit unpleasant.

“Take everything.”

At Joseph's words, clumsy hands and feet sprouted from the pouch and they began to devour the stolen belongings.

After confirming that the pouch was collecting the belongings, Joseph approached Oliver and spoke to him.

“What are you looking at?”

“Ah, just… Why do you want to collect this?”

Oliver said, looking at the packed corpses and piles of blood packs.

Rather than fear, there was only pure curiosity.

“To sell on the black market. There's nothing that can’t be bought, and there's nothing that can't be sold. You may be able to use it in the future.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, warlocks inevitably use the black market. Do you want to be a warlock?"

Oliver nodded his head.

Oliver wanted to be a warlock, it was fun and weird for Oliver.

Joseph placed his hand on Oliver's head once again.

It was a very friendly gesture.

“Why do you think I bought you?”

Oliver didn't answer.

He heard a lot of interesting stories about how to use emotions and what black magic was, but he didn't know why Joseph bought him.

It was natural because he had no interest.

“My goal is to train excellent warlocks. That's why I’m gathering talented kids."

"Me…talented?"

“Yes. So, do you know why my goal is to train Warlocks?”

Oliver shook his head.

“For their survival. If you live as a warlock, you will naturally face the world's persecutions and threats. The only way to survive is to become stronger. And I'm nurturing those talents to be strong so that they can face the world.”

Oliver didn't quite understand, but he just nodded his head.

“But nurturing talents is not easy. It's hard to find talented kids, and there's no such thing as a cleric, paladin, or mage education system. I have to bear all the effort and expenses required for education… Do you know how difficult this is?”

Oliver nodded mechanically and Joseph continued,

“And nothing is free in this world. Everything, whether it’s a kind act or an evil act, all done with compensation in mind.”

“… I don’t have any money?”

“I don't need money. All I need is Loyalty. Loyalty to your teacher and your Master.”

Oliver saw the light around Joseph.

The pulsing light in Joseph's body – was desire.

Oliver, understanding the meaning of the light, immediately bowed his head.

“I will obey the MASTER.”