Ch.104Misunderstanding Resolved (1)

I fled from the headache-inducing situation and headed straight to Carisia.

“Boss. We have a problem. Lampades wants our company’s trade secrets.”

“Could you explain in more detail?”

Somehow, Carisia was already massaging her temples. As if there was anything more to explain.

“At my request, Lampades brought Cnemon here. But Mr. Lampades is asking for something other than material compensation—he wants to know what we’re planning to do with Cnemon.”

The moment he heard that we brought him to obtain a list of magic towers hiding ancient relics behind the scenes, Lampades would likely develop a very negative impression of our company.

Carisia nodded slowly. Her expression suggested she understood Lampades’ feelings.

“How did you explain about Cnemon to Mr. Lampades?”

“Lampades knows that Cnemon and I are friends. He doesn’t know why we grew apart, so I only explained that part.”

It was a bit embarrassing to dig up my own dark history, but I told Carisia how Cnemon and I had grown distant.

When I explained that ‘it was probably because I used half of the relic without consulting him,’ Carisia tilted her head.

“What exactly was the effect of the relic that you could so easily give away the rest?”

“Nothing special. Just a high-performance bomb, you could say. After testing its performance, I found it wasn’t as good as I thought.”

Carisia’s gaze somehow felt cold. Perhaps it contained emotions along the lines of ‘and yet you still think of me as a bomb mage.’

I hastily began to explain myself.

“I understand what you might be thinking, but what I wanted from that relic wasn’t greater firepower or anything like that.”

“Then what was it?”

“Precision, I suppose. Hmm.”

Strange. The more I speak, the more I feel like I’m sinking into a quagmire.

“I should first explain how the relic works. It eliminates beings that the person who bursts the bubble is viewing through the soap bubble.”

“So the ‘viewed’ being is the target.”

Carisia’s gaze turned to my face, specifically my eyes. Her profound stare seemed to pierce through the blue irises hidden beneath my eyelids.

“Yes. As you suspect, I was curious about how my eyes would interact with the relic’s mechanism.”

I had my eyes wide open when I burst the erasure bubble.

What this means is that my field of vision reflected all the information and history possessed by everything in the world.

I had hoped that the erasure bubble could interfere even with abstract domains like ‘history’ or ‘the past.’

…But it couldn’t.

My range of perception did expand, causing widespread destruction in the surrounding area.

The damage even extended to dimensional walls not visible to the normal eye, causing a temporary overflow from other dimensions.

However, it didn’t achieve the performance I wanted.

Through that soap bubble, I was looking at the ruins I had just exited.

I was particularly focusing on information about ‘facilities destroyed by explorers’ in the ruins.

If the erasure bubble could interfere with the past realm, and thus make ‘destruction by explorers’ as if it never happened.

The ruins’ facilities would be restored.

Making a ‘fact that occurred’ in the past as if it never happened, thereby altering the present.

When I first understood the erasure bubble’s capabilities, I despaired thinking, ‘All that struggle just to find a peculiar eraser?’ But then this idea came to me, and I was filled with hope again.

If erasing the past had been possible, I could have returned by looking at myself and deleting ‘the fact that I fell into this world.’

Since I couldn’t express my thoughts exactly as they were, I vaguely glossed over the facts.

“For example, with things like scars or incurable diseases, if such facts could be erased, imagine the endless possibilities.”

“With normal vision, it’s impossible to ‘see’ history. It’s something only possible with your eyes.”

“Yes. So I used the relic multiple times, adjusting my eye’s performance to see if interfering with the past was possible.”

I shrugged at Carisia. The erasure bubble could only erase entities with substance—in other words, beings that could be interfered with by specific means like magical or physical force—but was useless against abstract concepts like ‘the past.’

“Still, it’s a shame. It would be quite useful when fighting against the Ten Towers… Ah.”

Carisia let out a soft exclamation. She must be thinking about the Ten Realms.

“Yes. The Ten Realms straddle the domain of ascension. Ascension is a realm that transcends the material world. I haven’t tested it directly, but even if we poured the entire remaining solution of the bubble into the Ten Realms, it would be of little use.”

The same would apply to tower lords connected to the Ten Realms, and the elders below them.

For elders who have left the tower, I can’t say there’s no possibility it might work, but within the Ten Towers’ territories where the power of the Ten Realms reaches, it would be meaningless.

“It’s astounding all over again. That Demon King…”

Carisia must be thinking about what I had said before. About the Demon King who would arrive in three years.

“Haha. Our goal isn’t to defeat the Demon King but to bring down the White Light. That makes things much simpler, doesn’t it?”

I swallowed the words that were about to escape from my throat.

That you, who made that Demon King experience ‘failure,’ are quite terrifying yourself. After all, you succeeded in destroying the Ten Realms’ White Light.

Judging from the fact that she ultimately destroyed the Ten Realms, the original Carisia, the White Nameless Mage, clearly had magical capabilities that reached the realm of ascension.

I’m not sure about the current Carisia.

She doesn’t show the terrible obsession or ruthlessness of the original, but in their place, she often displays bizarre creativity and adaptability.

‘Well, a person’s fundamental nature doesn’t change, so she must have the latent capacity to destroy the Ten Realms.’

“So, boss. How should I respond to Lampades?”

***

Carisia imagined the misunderstanding that Lampades and Cnemon might be having.

‘They probably think Ortes has some evil scheme again and that’s why he called Cnemon.’

It would be better not to reveal the artificial Ten Realms plan. With the Ten Towers lumping Arguirion and the Orders together as one faction to justify a great purge, the radical plan to create Ten Realms with relics seemed perfect for being reported to authorities.

‘But if I leave everything to Ortes, who knows what misunderstandings might arise. This is troublesome.’

After pondering for a moment, Carisia finally made a decision.

“I’ll explain to both of them, so bring them to my office. You either stand there without saying anything or leave altogether.”

“What? I can explain things well too.”

Memories of the past flashed through Carisia’s mind.

He does explain well. In a way that’s perfect for listeners to misunderstand. And not just any misunderstanding.

Even now, Kineman is confused about whether to see Ortes as ‘a great villain who exploits human souls’ or ‘a prophet of Phoibos’—two completely opposite misconceptions.

Ortes’ eloquence was truly extraordinary in its ability to simultaneously implant contradictory misconceptions.

‘Whether that extraordinariness is positive is another matter.’

“…Just bring them here. I’ll handle the explanation.”

Ortes, who had been proud of his presentation skills, left the room looking slightly dejected.

***

“The boss has granted you an audience.”

‘So the claim about it being a personal matter was a lie after all.’

Ortes had clearly told Cnemon that the favor he needed was ‘a personal matter that wouldn’t be interesting to hear about.’

However, it was actually a matter that required the boss’s permission.

Even if Ortes and the boss had a ‘personal’ relationship, if both leaders of Hydra Company were involved, it was no longer an issue that could remain at a personal level.

Both Lampades and Cnemon followed Ortes in a strange tension.

Thud, thud. Footsteps echoing like dissonance in the dark corridor.

Creak, the door opened.

“Please enter.”

“…What about you?”

An unstable tone of questioning. It was Cnemon. Ortes’ smile seemed to deepen somehow.

“The boss ordered that only you two should enter. I’ll stand guard outside.”

Ortes’ unwavering loyalty to the boss. It was an incomprehensible phenomenon for Lampades and Cnemon. Every time they witnessed it, it felt like their minds were being planed down.

As the two entered the boss’s office, the door closed silently.

Through the massive window, the dim sky of Etna City was visible. Against the faint heavens, Carisia looked at them.

“Please, make yourselves comfortable.”

An unreasonable request.