Chapter 468: Lack of Understanding

“Are you threatening the people around me by taking them hostage?”

Oliver asked directly to avoid any possible misunderstandings or confusion.

Shhhh······

As soon as the question was asked, Oliver’s atmosphere suddenly changed. It could have been a misunderstanding, but all the Pinkman present felt the air grow colder, and they got slight goosebumps.

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Everyone remained silent at this strange phenomenon. After all, this request came from the Royal Family, one of the Pinkman’s largest clients.

Naturally, every participant was an elite recognized by the Pinkman.

From the team leader to the specialized agents and even the general soldiers.

They had extraordinary abilities and mental strength. They could remain calm and accomplish their mission in any situation, even in front of a powerful opponent.

But despite that, they all flinched, feeling goosebumps for a moment—because of one black magician.

Even considering that this black magician was the same person who had killed 82 members of the Enjoyment in Randa, it was still something to be ashamed of.

Especially given that they had even equipped themselves with Holy Power items to counter him.

As the Pinkman struggled to regain their composure after being overwhelmed by a mere problem solver, a middle-aged gentleman leading them finally spoke up.

“This is not a threat. For us Pinkman, violence is just a business tool. It’s not something we wield impulsively for personal reasons.”

Oliver listened to his words with interest, genuinely trying to understand his thoughts.

“I’m just talking about something that could very well happen. It would be inevitable if you obstruct the work of the Royal Family and the nobles. Did you come to this job without such resolve?”

The middle-aged gentleman hinted that there were no emotions involved, but rather, it was something that could happen out of necessity because of their employer.

In truth, his words didn’t hold up logically when examined closely, but that wasn’t important.

What mattered more than words and reason was the power and circumstances to act on them.

Especially when the other party was scared and had nowhere to retreat.

Even the black magician who had become the top problem solver in Randa at such a young age was now lost in thought.

Just as the middle-aged gentleman judged that he had boxed Oliver into a corner with his words and prepared to act, Oliver spoke up after finishing his thoughts.

“By the way, are you married?”

The random question drew everyone’s attention to Oliver.

“······Excuse me?”

“I asked if you were married. It’s not my area of expertise, but I know that usually, by your age, one would be married and have children.”

At that moment, the middle-aged gentleman felt an emotion he had never experienced before.

“What are you trying to-”

“Ah, so you do have a child.”

“······”

Despite his silence, Oliver had correctly guessed that the middle-aged gentleman had a child.

Seeing this, the gentleman once again felt the confusion he had experienced earlier at the restaurant. It wasn’t as heavy or oppressive, but it returned nonetheless.

Oliver didn’t stop there.

“Does anyone else here have a family or someone important?······Ah, it seems all of you do.”

Oliver asked the questions and provided the answers himself. However, none of the Pinkman present could move.

Because they all had someone precious to them.

Loving parents and siblings, pregnant wives, and their children.

As soon as they heard Oliver’s question, they instinctively thought of them.

And then, an unnameable, ominous discomfort arose within them.

It felt like being covered in a swarm of insects. They wanted to shake it off immediately, but it was so unsettling that they couldn’t even move.

At that moment, Oliver spoke again. His tone and voice remained the same, but there was a slight hint of melancholy.

“Well, it’s only natural, isn’t it? There’s someone I know who is quite notorious, and he also had someone precious to him.”

Oliver sat down next to Pandora, looking extremely tired.

“It was his younger sister. The most precious person to him.”

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“She was really important to him. Even when he was forced into terrible situations, like being cut by a sword or afflicted by a dreadful disease, he tried to save her. She must have been more important to him than his own life.”

Oliver recalled his fight with the Flesh Cook after he had turned into a dragon, and what he had said.

‘I have someone precious even though I’m a monster. But you? You only have the feelings of attachment, like a cherished toy.’

“So, I pierced that younger sister’s heart with a Quarterstaff—right in front of him.”

“······Are you trying to threaten me?”

Breaking the oppressive silence that seemed as if it would crush him, the middle-aged gentleman asked.

Every word Oliver said felt like a real threat to his family.

Oliver, looking at the gentleman, then said something else.

“It was written in a book.”

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“About killing one sibling in front of another. It was written in a black magic book I read called [Techniques of Emotional Harvest].”

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“Just like magic requires mana, black magic requires emotions—especially genuine ones. That’s why there are various methods passed down for extracting human emotions to their absolute limit. Killing a sibling in front of another is one of them. There’s also a method that involves killing a child in front of their parents. Do you have both a wife and children?”

Oliver asked, looking at one of the Pinkman.

Although he wasn’t using any magic or black magic, the Pinkman felt a massive threat.

“According to what I read, torturing and killing a child in front of her mother yields high-quality anger, resentment, and despair.”

“What······?! You son of a-”

In a burst of rage, a Pinkman cried out, momentarily shaking off the pressure that had been weighing him down. But Oliver, calmly raising a skinny finger to his lips, quieted him.

It was just a simple gesture, but the Pinkman who had survived countless battles went silent as if under a spell.

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“I apologize if I offended you. I’m genuinely sorry. I suppose you’d be angry if someone threatened your family, right?······I wouldn’t know since I don’t have a family.”

Oliver glanced at Pandora, then resumed his story.

“The book said that by starving the mother for ten days and then roasting her own child’s flesh to serve her, even more emotions could be harvested.”

Despite being capable of mass murdering protestors or killing innocent people for their mission, all the Pinkman were appalled and disgusted.

Maybe the story wasn’t the problem, but rather the man telling it.

The black magician standing before them—because he spoke as if he were discussing a casual experiment. It wasn’t something anyone could do through mere bravado or acting.

The Pinkman, who had seen countless human beings, could tell.

“It said that by doing so, one could harvest deep despair, self-loathing, and guilt. I agree it seems efficient, drawing even more emotions from someone you’ve already drained once.······By the way, a lot of people eat the meat as well, according to the book.······ Is there anyone with a pregnant wife here?”

Naturally, none of the Pinkman answered. But it was meaningless. Oliver had already figured out exactly who did.

It was as if his gaze saw through all humanity, like the eyes of a god who observes everyone, or a devil who knows all human sins.

Oliver then spoke of experiments and methods of emotion extraction that could be performed on pregnant women. They were even more inhumane and horrific than the ones he had mentioned earlier.

Just hearing them induced a biological rejection and an intense sense of disgust. The Pinkman present wanted nothing more than to sew Oliver’s mouth shut.

But regardless, Oliver seemed almost possessed as he continued to ask each Pinkman who had someone precious in their lives, telling stories of related horrifying emotional extraction methods.

Very calmly, very quietly, very deliberately.

Therefore, it felt all the more real, not like typical street threats, but as if it was reality.

Even though the fight hadn’t started, the Pinkman began to feel a growing fear of Oliver.

An ominous, unsettling malice with no bottom.

The Pinkman took a half-step back.

At that moment, the middle-aged gentleman drew out the magical power inside him and brandished his cane sword.

He couldn’t let Oliver keep running his mouth.

Slash!

As the middle-aged gentleman slashed the air with his cane sword, the Pinkman, who had been mesmerized by Oliver’s words, all snapped back to their senses.

They barely managed to regain the initiative.

The middle-aged gentleman spoke.

“I’m curious why you would say such things. Are you trying to blackmail us by taking our families hostage? Are you telling us to be careful because you’re so brutal?”

Oliver turned his head towards the middle-aged man and replied. His expression remained calm, but he looked slightly tired.

“······I’m just curious. That notorious man loved his sister so much; how could he kill and eat others so easily? And with all of you having loved ones, how can you use someone else’s loved ones to threaten them?······It’s hard for me to understand. Could you explain it to me?”

“You want an answer?”

The middle-aged man said.

“Nothing like that is ever going to happen to us. We are the Pinkman, backed by a vast organization and countless supporters. We’re not like the other trash in the back alleys.”

Hearing this, Oliver’s eyes opened a little wider.

It was something obvious, but still, it piqued Oliver’s interest. That it wouldn’t happen to them.

“Maybe such threats worked on the people you’ve met before, but we-”

“-I haven’t made any threats.”

Oliver cut him off. His voice was calm and cool, but his words felt even sharper.

“It’s not really something I want to do, that kind of emotional extraction.”

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“Wouldn’t you agree? It would be uncomfortable to kill someone else’s child in front of them, force them to eat it, inject chemicals into a pregnant woman’s belly, force her to give birth to a twisted child, and see whether or not they raise it… that would be uncomfortable, wouldn’t it? So I can’t do it. Even if I wanted to, sometimes… But here’s the thing.”

Oliver stopped speaking and looked at each of the Pinkman and the middle-aged gentleman one by one, as if engraving their emotions and faces in his memory.

“For some reason, I don’t think it would be uncomfortable to do it to your families.”

Shudder······!!

Goosebumps ran down the spines of all the Pinkman.

The strange discomfort, ominousness, and alertness they had felt earlier, all exploded at once.

It was as if something wearing human skin had finally shed its disguise.

Feared to the extreme, the Pinkman were trained to ignore their fear.

They activated their Holy Power items to neutralize both magic and black magic, planning to attack Oliver with high-powered firearms that were impervious to Holy Power. They intended to have the middle-aged gentleman and the other magic users finish him off.

It wasn’t a bad plan.

No matter how formidable a black magician or magic user was, once their power was sealed with Holy Power, they weren’t much of a threat.

And if they could eliminate his Zombie Puppet before it even had a chance to be deployed, there would be no problem.

In fact, the Pinkman had built their reputation by taking down quite a few powerful opponents in this way.

However, they never got the chance to put that plan into action.

A small but distinct explosion sounded from somewhere far away, shaking the ground.

It wasn’t an earthquake; it was something more deliberate and manmade.

“An explosive attack.”

Oliver mumbled reflexively, looking at the towering black smoke.

It was too similar to the bombings the Flesh Cook had carried out in the past.