Ch.105Misunderstanding Resolved (2) *AI Illustration Included

Carisia was overlooking two factors.

First, Carisia’s manner of speech was heavily influenced by Ortes.

The reason Lampades sensed Ortes’s shadow in Carisia the moment they first met was precisely because of her distinctive way of speaking.

Despite clearly addressing people politely, there was somehow a palpable pressure. It was a feeling that only those who had experienced Ortes could truly understand.

“Pleased to meet you. I probably don’t need to reintroduce myself to Mr. Lampades, but this is my first time meeting Mr. Knemon. I am Carisia, the CEO of Hydra Corporation.”

Knemon desperately signaled to Lampades with his eyes. It wasn’t an attempt to communicate through eye contact—they weren’t that close.

By applying Lampades’s bioelectric sensing magic, one could read surface consciousness through neural pathways. The eyes, being the organs most closely connected to the brain, were the most suitable for glimpsing into someone’s consciousness.

An expression urging him to read his thoughts as quickly as possible.

‘What kind of relationship does this person have with Ortes?’

The magic clearly conveyed Knemon’s bewildered emotions.

Lampades pondered how to respond, then simply shook his head.

‘I don’t know either…’

Carisia shook her head at the two men who looked as tense as defendants awaiting a verdict.

‘Ortes said he had three friends.’

I hope at least one of them is a true friend. Wishing a bit of luck for her subordinate who seemed so unfortunate in friendships, Carisia flipped a page with a flutter.

Two bundles of paper rose into the air and, guided by magical force, gently settled in front of Knemon and Lampades.

“Due to concerns about Ether Space hacking, I’ll be conducting this briefing in a somewhat classical manner. I hope you understand.”

Slowly and solemnly, the explanation began.

***

“I believe you all know that Etna City is currently in a state of war.”

Three magic towers divided Etna City. Hydra Corporation had pushed the Geryon faction to the brink of collapse with its remarkable dominance, but the sudden alliance between Caicle’s tower and Geryon had disrupted their business.

…That’s how it appeared on the surface. In reality, all the magic towers in Etna City had already fallen into Hydra Corporation’s hands, and the ongoing conflicts were merely demolition work for the city’s rapid redevelopment.

Maintaining the state of war was meant to minimize attention from the Ten Towers. A magic tower that couldn’t even secure dominance over a single city wasn’t worth notice in magical society.

Carisia didn’t reveal these intimate details. She didn’t see the need.

“I understand why you might find this strange. You’re probably thinking that if Ortes were here, eliminating the tower masters of such a city would be a simple matter.”

That was the doubt Lampades had been harboring. The Ortes he knew wouldn’t have hesitated to show up one night saying, “Hahaha. I cut off his head because keeping him alive would be a waste of rice,” while carrying a tower master’s corpse.

“To some extent, that’s true.”

“To some extent?”

“We could eliminate Geryon at any moment, but Caicle is the problem. He’s only issued a statement supporting Geryon, but his whereabouts remain unknown.”

Carisia attempted to dispel this doubt by mentioning Caicle’s disappearance.

Caicle was the type who would casually enter Hydra Corporation to take away sacred artifacts for research (which had been permitted for the creation of artificial Ten Commandments) or suddenly appear in the CEO’s office begging for more budget (claiming he was too scared to speak directly to the Head of Sacred Investigation, his immediate superior). But Lampades didn’t know that Caicle had become Hydra Corporation’s pawn. He wouldn’t find anything strange about this.

“Therefore, our company has decided to adopt a somewhat aggressive expansion strategy.”

Caicle had collected sacred artifacts through various channels as samples for creating artificial Ten Commandments. Normally, this would merely be considered a somewhat suspicious hobby, but the situation was different now that the Ten Towers had announced a major inspection of sacred artifacts.

“You could call it an off-field tactic to draw out Caicle. I’ve heard that Mr. Knemon has a hobby of collecting weaknesses of magic towers.”

Neither Knemon nor Lampades lacked political acumen. Lampades had navigated through the challenges that came with establishing a magic tower, while Knemon had acquired his abilities through the education he received as a tower heir.

Slowly, Knemon opened his mouth.

“So, CEO Carisia, you’re planning to report Caicle on charges of concealing sacred artifacts?”

Though Knemon had retired from the front lines, he still had eyes and ears. He was naturally aware of current affairs—how a terrorist organization opposing the Ten Towers had joined hands with superstition followers, making the Ten Towers increasingly sensitive about artifacts from old religious orders.

“That’s correct. If Caicle responds to the Ten Towers’ summons, we’ll be able to find him. Even if he doesn’t, his tower will be dismantled by the Ten Towers. But I didn’t invite Mr. Knemon just because of Caicle.”

“Not just Caicle?”

Knemon felt a strange passion bubbling up inside him alongside fear. Though he had fled, overwhelmed by Ortes’s madness, he once dreamed of overthrowing magical society.

In his opinion, now was the perfect time to overturn the world. Building strength in obscurity while Argyrion confronted the Ten Towers.

“To be precise, Ortes did intend to call you to deal with Caicle. But what follows is my own idea.”

This was Carisia’s consideration. Hadn’t Ortes been reluctant to talk about exploiting other towers in front of Lampades?

If so, she would present the “exploiting other towers” part as her own idea, and also claim that the reason for seeking Knemon was her order to find ways to deal with business competitors. This way, Ortes wouldn’t lose face among his friends.

‘Though whether he has any reputation left is another question.’

Ortes.

Knemon silently repeated those four syllables.

The moment he heard that name, Knemon felt his excitement vanish as if waking from a dream. What remained in place of passion was only dark fear.

His desire to overthrow magical society meant the end of the Ten Towers system—destroying the social structure of magic towers with powerful extra-dimensional forces and starting anew on equal ruins.

But what Ortes dreamed of was clearly annihilation that wouldn’t even leave ruins behind.

…And Carisia, to whom Ortes pledged loyalty, would be no different.

“Yes. Other magic towers. Towers that possess contraband that would be quite troublesome if revealed to the Ten Towers. We want to establish ‘amicable cooperative relationships’ using these hidden items.”

‘Needing other towers means… they plan to blackmail them with sacred artifacts to extract arcane knowledge.’

It seemed too ordinary and insignificant to be Ortes’s plan, let alone one with input from the CEO he served. A different possibility flashed through Knemon’s mind.

‘Subjugating towers… acquiring magical cores?’

It was an unchanging truth throughout history that the greater the magical power contained, the greater the explosion.

If one could draw a continental-scale magic circle using multiple towers as focal points and control it, and if all the accumulated magical power was concentrated solely on explosion, it would surely become a flame of annihilation that would sweep away the earth’s surface.

‘But is there an artifact capable of controlling and accepting magical power of this scale?’

If such a thing existed, it could only be the Ten Commandments—

‘Ortes, and Carisia, are planning something grand. I shouldn’t think conventionally. They won’t give up on a plan that requires the Ten Commandments. I should assume they’ll find a way to get their hands on them.’

A chaotic situation. Magic towers subjugated under the name of Hydra Corporation. The fallen authority of the Ten Towers.

‘…A succession battle?’

Multiple magic towers uniting to challenge a single Ten Tower was the traditional structure of a succession battle.

‘Do they plan to take a Ten Tower’s position and use the Ten Commandments for a chain of massive explosions to blow away civilization?!’

Horror crept up Knemon’s spine. Climbing to the pinnacle of magical society to destroy it—that was exactly the kind of thinking Ortes would have.

A long silence followed. In the end, the choice was Knemon’s. Cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

A world reborn from ashes was one thing, but annihilation that wouldn’t even leave ashes behind was not the future Knemon desired.

“I’m sorry, but—”

The door burst open.

“Lady Carisia, I need to ask—”

A height nearly twice that of an ordinary person. And an enchanted prosthetic eye embedded where the right eye should be.

It was Caicle, who was supposed to be missing.

“Oh my. I didn’t realize you had guests at this hour. I’ll come back later.”

Caicle bowed deeply and left the room. Such extreme courtesy shown to Carisia. Knemon was confused. Hadn’t they said they were looking for him to deal with Caicle?

Then it dawned on him.

Ortes was outside the door.

It was Ortes who had sent Caicle in.

Caicle had entered just as he was about to ‘express his refusal.’ Too coincidental to be mere chance.

Everything was going according to plan.

A formality to inform him that ‘even if you don’t cooperate, the plan is already in motion.’

Knemon glanced at Lampades. His expression was full of questions—either he hadn’t recognized Caicle, or he simply didn’t understand what was happening.

“…I accept your proposal.”

If destruction was inevitable no matter how he struggled, he would rather witness it from up close. Knemon resolved.

Carisia, pondering how to handle this unexpected situation, decided to take a somewhat brazen approach.

How could anyone be certain that the person who just entered and left was Caicle? She could simply insist it was a Hydra Corporation employee who resembled him. Even if they suspected it was Caicle, they had no means to prove it.

If Carisia claimed that the individual who just passed through wasn’t Caicle, they would have no choice but to accept it.

And here, the second factor Carisia had overlooked came into play.

“A truly wise choice. One last thing.”

She thought herself less suspicious than Ortes, but…

“I apologize for our employee’s mistake. Since this meeting wasn’t scheduled, he probably didn’t know we had guests.”

“Employee…?”

Knemon murmured.

“Yes, just an ordinary staff member.”

In truth, Carisia was sometimes even more suspicious than Ortes.