Chapter 4
Oliver stayed awake all night.
After leaving the inn, Oliver spent every night without an ounce of sleep.
Even though he was tired because of the long journey, he couldn’t sleep.
It was not because Oliver was physically or mentally strained, rather the opposite — he was excited.
During his days in the orphanage and mine, every day was just the same.
He could fall asleep at any time because he was not interested in anything other than survival, but the past few days were different.
Every day was exciting.
He thought of it several times a day…. no, dozens or hundreds of times, about the time, when he extracted the emotions from the inn employee and shot him with Hate Bullet.
The mysterious and yet familiar sensation made him feel like he was flying in the sky with wings.
Recalling those memories not only made Oliver excited but also at the same time feel bad.
Oliver felt that if he had concentrated a little more at that time, he could have extracted much more emotions at a much faster speed.
He felt if he had restrained his joy and concentrated a little more, he could have shot several shots at the same time, not one.
He regretted that he could have cast advanced black magic rather than imitating what Joseph did.
Oliver reflected on each of those regrets.
And he did image training in his head to relieve that disappointment. He extracts more emotions, shoots more Hate Bullets, and increases the speed, accuracy, and power.
In time, he also gave a unique shape to the Hate bullet.
Even though it was just an imagination in his head, Oliver had the confidence to apply it in reality.
If it had not been for the words of Joseph, his master, and teacher, he would have extracted his emotions and experimented with them right away.
“Don't practice black magic without my permission."
"Why… Master?"
“Unlike the shapes created using emotions which can’t be seen by people, black magic spells could be seen. We’ll be arriving at our destination soon and I don’t want you to attract useless attention. Above everything, a true Warlock would never use his own emotions for black Magic.”
“Emotions are limited resources, and if you use them recklessly, your soul will become empty, so unless you are really out of options, you should avoid using your emotions.”
“Then, can I practice if I extract it from someone?”
“No. You should never use black magic without my permission. Did you forget what I told you at the inn? You should obey and follow me without asking questions. Then I will teach you.”
Because of those words, Oliver had no choice but to practice Black magic only in his head.
It was frustrating, but he couldn't help it.
Joseph demanded obedience, so he had to obey as much as he could in order to receive his teaching, even if it was just on the surface.
Before he knew it, the dark sky turned gray and gradually turned blue.
The sun rose again, and Joseph also rose up from his seat.
"Hmmm…! Sleeping in the streets isn’t that bad. Huh? Did you wake up early? No, you didn't sleep, right?”
Joseph said, looking at Oliver with a pale complexion and increased dark circles around his eyes.
As usual, Joseph went to a nearby stream to wash his face and washed his mouth with an oral cleanser.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Joseph said after spitting out a thick sputum-like cleanser.
“Do you usually not sleep? Or are you not sleeping on purpose? Even if you get tired in the middle, I won’t give you a piggyback ride."
Oliver replied with a glance at Joseph.
"I'm sorry, master… I couldn't sleep because I was excited when I heard that we were about to arrive at the destination."
Oliver wasn't lying.
Oliver couldn't wait to reach the destination and start learning black magic.
It was a feeling he felt for the first time in his life, so he couldn't control it.
Joseph said in a soft voice as if he didn't like such an appearance.
"Well, it's not that I don't understand. All the other kids were also like that."
“Other kids?”
“What? Did you think you were the only one I've ever met who's talented? There are many other talented children besides you.”
Oliver saw the light around Joseph.
The light staggered subtly.
It meant what he was saying was half true and half lie.
"Of course, not all of them are talented. There are many other kids besides you. You know what to do if you're from an orphanage, right?
"I'll behave properly, Master.”
"Yeah, you're the youngest who just came in. You have to behave like a newcomer. Rank is really important in our society."
Oliver nodded his head.
It wasn't much different from the orphanage and mine.
The weak or the newcomers had always made to do the hardest work and sleep in the worst position.
In order to get out of such treatment, you have to be stronger than other children or have to be close with a strong child.
So far, Oliver has been out of the spotlight by staying quiet because he wasn’t interested in anything, but now Oliver doesn't know what he should do since there is something he is interested in.
Joseph said warningly to such Oliver,
“Did you catch my point?"
“ Yes, Master… I obey the master, and the rules of the place I’ll be living.”
"That's right. Follow the rules if you want to learn. "
Oliver nodded his head once again.
After a while, Joseph and Oliver had a small loaf of bread for the meal and they started walking again.
As they reached close to the destination, the number of trees gradually decreased, and the artificial smell peculiar to the city came out, and soon, a small city appeared down the hill.
"That's Wineham."
Hearing Joseph’s words, Oliver’s eyes grew wider looking at the city.
It was because of the number of people in the city and the various emotions they exuded.
“ It’s not a big city, but at the same time not a small city. How does it look?"
"…it looks lively."
Oliver replied, looking at the gleam of irritation, anger, and resentment swirling around the people.
"Well, maybe. Some of the big factories that supported the city will be relocated to ‘Landa.' That’s why everyone is emotionally unstable."
Oliver didn't fully understand the meaning, but he understood that factories leaving was the cause of that fluctuating light.
After finishing his words Joseph began to walk, while Oliver followed the suit and they soon reached a shabby factory built on the outskirts of the city.
The building with the ceiling tilted to one side had a smiling pig and hanging sausage as a signboard.
"Is this…?"
"Officially a small, unsightly sausage factory. Unofficially, it's our family base."
Joseph went inside and Oliver followed.
Shortly after entering the factory, Oliver saw the inside of the factory.
There was a little bit of spoiled meat, a huge grinder, a cart carrying minced meat, and young workers working there.
Even though they were young, they looked older than Oliver, all of them were in their mid to early twenties.
As soon as Joseph appeared, they stopped what they were doing, approached Joseph, and bowed their heads.
“I greet the Master.”
“Welcome. Master.”
“How was the journey Master?”
The smell of spoiled meat and sweat emanated from their body, but they tried their best to look good in front of Joseph.
As if familiar with the sight, Joseph pushed Oliver's back and spoke.
"This is the new kid I brought. He’ll be a family member from today, so teach him the rules and everything about this place."
The children smiled brightly at Joseph's words.
They looked happy as if they got a new brother, at least on the outside,
"Yes, We will do it. Master."
Upon hearing the answer, Joseph calmly left Oliver behind.
Oliver didn't understand what was going on, and soon he was left alone in a strange place.
No, Oliver wasn’t alone, there were fiercely glaring workers around.
They spoke with a frown like an angry dog.
"….. What? Don’t you understand what's going on? Go, get ready to work!"
Thus began Oliver's new life.
⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩
Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!
In the morning, there was the sound of knocking on the crushed frying pan.
The children, who were sleeping on a soggy mattress, woke up one by one to the painful metal sound.
If there was anyone who was still sleeping without waking up, the children who played the role of supervisors screamed at them.
"What are you doing piece of sh*t! Don't be lazy. Get up quickly!"
After hearing the scream, the children woke up in a hurry because they knew if they didn’t soon a kick would follow, and the first to wake among them was Oliver.
A week has passed since Oliver came here, and he was quickly adjusting to life here.
It was one of his unique abilities – to adapt quickly wherever he was.
In the morning, he came out of the warehouse called the accommodation and cleaned the inside of the factory.
After he finished cleaning, he ate the bread and soup provided.
It was an old hard bread, but it was a pretty good meal compared to the watery porridge he had in the mine.
After the meal, he once again started working in the factory.
For Oliver, this wasn't hard because it was a job where he had to just make sausage with the meat that came in that day.
The smell of spoiled meat was bad, but it wasn't a big deal for Oliver, who had a dull sense of taste or smell, and it was easy compared to the heavy work he had to do in the mine where there wouldn’t be any sunlight.
The workload was also jagged from day to day, but it was basically small and had nothing to complain about.
Rather it was the mind, not the body that was having a hard time.
Obviously, Oliver expected that Joseph would teach him black magic as soon as he came to this place, but contrary to his expectations, Joseph just left after leaving Oliver here.
Oliver wanted to ask what was going on, but he couldn't ask because of his experience in the orphanage and mine, and his desire to obey.
Working was not a problem at all, but he wanted to know when he could learn black magic.
Oliver wasn't confident about dealing with the disappointment in case he had to continue working in the factory without being able to learn Black magic.
It was then.
SLAP!
A burning pain rushed into Oliver's face, as he stumbled backward.
When the blurred vision became clear, there was a man standing in front of him — A ferocious young man with a masculine body.
He said, thrusting his hand on Oliver’s chest.
“ This damn fu*ker….Didn’t I ask you to move all the meat?"
He was the supervisor in charge of the male workers.
"I… mooo…ved it,"
Oliver replied with a dull pronunciation from the pain.
Dissatisfied with the look on Oliver’s face, the supervisor thrust his hand on Oliver one more time.
“This bugger… Hey, teach him a lesson! Even though I’ll be leaving this place soon, I can't stand the thought of this sucker staying in the place where I once worked. It's not like we’ve got a shortage of workers."
At the supervisor's words, the workers around, as well as the other fellow supervisors, nodded their heads.
As if he liked the atmosphere, the energetic supervisor said, grabbing Oliver by the collar.
"Hey, little sh*t. I warn you if you want to stay here as a worker, get your act together. It's no use pretending to be a fool. If I catch you doing something weird, I’ll put you in the grinder and make you minced meat. Did you get it?!"
Oliver nodded his head from his experience of becoming submissive whenever someone gets angry at him.
The supervisor's face got further distorted by contempt.
"Huh! You moron… clean up all the mess here today as punishment!"
Oliver nodded again.
Only then did the supervisor let go of Oliver's collar.
At that moment another supervisor intervened.
It was a woman with pale skin and short purple hair.
"Hey, you can't just ditch your job on someone else. Today's workshop cleaning is you guys."
Everyone's eyes were on her.
The supervisor who hit Oliver crumpled his face, and the female supervisor folded her arms without losing to him.
Everyone swallowed their saliva and stopped their breath, while Oliver had only one thought.
‘When are you going to teach me Black magic?’
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