Ch.112The Storm Blowing Over Amymone (3)

“So Blasphemia is having quite a difficult time. All the external evidence is clear, but they can’t connect it to anyone on the inside.”

Niobe led me to a private room in a nearby restaurant. The way she checked for surveillance devices with her magical artifact detector seemed quite practiced.

‘Has she risen in both practical skills and position in just the few days I haven’t seen her?’

She’s quite talented. If she weren’t affiliated with Blasphemia, I might have considered recruiting her.

I thought about the vacant head position at Hydra Company. The position left empty after Dimedes’ sudden death.

Actually, one empty director position wasn’t a big problem. However, the fact that this director took his entire organization with him when he disappeared was somewhat problematic.

‘Hm. She must have quite a few subordinates in her high position at Blasphemia. If I could extract that entire line, it would more than replace Dimedes and his Chimera organization.’

But it was just a fantasy. Unless Blasphemia collapsed entirely, the loyalty of its agents wouldn’t waver.

‘Unless they were corrupted by extradimensional influence like Argyrion…’

Even if they were corrupted by an extradimensional entity, the probability of them becoming the talent I wanted was low. No, nonexistent.

Their rigid loyalty to the Ten Towers would simply transform into loyalty to the extradimensional entity. Whether Argyrion or Blasphemia, only the direction of their fanaticism differs; the absolute value remains the same.

“Senior, are you listening?”

Was it obvious I was lost in thought? I always have to keep my eyes half-open, and unless someone is exceptionally observant, they wouldn’t notice even if I were openly dozing off.

I adjusted my evaluation of Niobe’s perceptiveness upward as I answered.

“Haha. Of course. So you’re saying it’s troublesome that the Amymone Magic Tower isn’t showing its tail.”

“Oh. I thought you were dozing off.”

My multitasking ability, honed through my life as a troubleshooter and my escape with Carisia, was improving daily.

If I were a mage, it would be a useful skill for multiple incantations, but lacking magical power, I could only use it to listen to briefings while my mind wandered.

“Let me summarize. So the allegations against the Argos agents from Amymone Magic Tower don’t have enough clear evidence to prove guilt?”

“We received a tip, isolated and interrogated them, but nothing came up. With no solid evidence and Argos backing them, we can’t even resort to physical means.”

It was natural that no evidence emerged. After all, I had used my L13 status to push the situation forward.

“At this rate, we would have had to yield to Argos’s counterattack, but the discovery of those relics in Algoth City has brought us back to square one.”

“Isn’t that enough to charge the entire tower with treason? It seems like damning evidence to me.”

“The problem is that Amymone is an orthodox tower. Their defense that ‘this is a plot by superstitious followers to isolate an orthodox tower from magical society’ is working reasonably well.”

“Hmm…”

I stroked my chin. Amymone Magic Tower was defending against the attack more calmly than I expected. I suppose it’s the political acumen expected of an orthodox tower with centuries of experience in intrigue.

But with my arrival, things would change.

“Very well. Let’s wait patiently for now. There’s a limit to how long they can hold out by removing internal traces. If Amymone Tower really has collaborators, they’ll eventually contact Argyrion for instructions on how to proceed at a critical moment.”

“You mean that communication signal in the report? Since they don’t know we’ve identified the signal, they’ll probably try to make contact eventually.”

Niobe nodded and sighed deeply.

“But the longer we wait without evidence, the more disadvantaged we become.”

“Because of Argos?”

“Yes. Right now, Algoth City is like the eye of a storm. It’s eerily quiet because Blasphemia and Argos are locked in a power struggle over Amymone Tower… but the moment either side shows weakness, merciless winds will blow in that direction.”

She showed some experience. I nodded while pretending to smile warmly.

“I understand your concern, but haste often leads to mistakes. The other side is likely feeling rushed as well, so this is a battle of who makes the first error.”

I emptied my teacup before continuing. By placing pauses between my words, I projected the image of a seasoned organizational veteran.

“Let’s wait patiently.”

I’ll activate Adusiam’s core tonight.

***

Danao felt like he was going insane. Both Blasphemia and Argos were facing off without giving an inch.

Blasphemia was determined to investigate the entire Amymone Magic Tower, while Argos adamantly blocked them, insisting that internal matters of the magical society were under their jurisdiction.

The unexpected discovery of relics in Algoth City had shifted the advantage somewhat to Blasphemia, but it seemed they could still buy time for now.

Danao had no intention of wasting this precious time. He gathered the Argos agents from Amymone Tower who had been accused and began a meeting.

“What the hell have you all been doing!”

The opening sounded more like venting than a meeting.

“When you make enemies, you need to clean up properly. The fact that such an elaborate operation is possible means there’s a proper force backing it, not just some failed outcasts. Did you get on someone’s radar while working within Argos?”

What perplexed Danao most was the relics buried in Algoth City without his knowledge. The skill to penetrate the tower’s barriers and leave no trace in the city’s surveillance network.

This wasn’t something an ordinary mage could do. The fact that no burial scene remained in any CCTV footage testified to the extraordinary skill of whoever buried the relics.

…Or, the administrator of the CCTV. It could be circumstantial evidence that Amymone Tower was colluding with whoever buried the relics.

Blasphemia was pressuring Danao with such suspicions.

It was crude in how it used high-level magical skill to execute what amounted to a baseless plot, yet sophisticated in how it made all circumstances point to the existence of a collaborator within Amymone Tower.

Grinding his teeth, Danao looked around at those gathered again.

“Speak up! Whether you took too many bribes, or perhaps executed someone who turned out to be an orthodox tower master’s illegitimate child. Anything you can think of!”

But only silence lingered. Sighing deeply, Danao gestured.

A wordless instruction to leave. The mages of Amymone slowly exited the tower master’s chamber.

“Who is it… Why would they start something like this?”

While Danao growled, unable to guess the reason of “the opportunity cost of destroying Amymone Tower being too high,”

Gorgoph, one of the expelled Argos agents, was thinking.

‘Shouldn’t I use this opportunity to awaken my tower brethren to the cause?’

He looked around with sunken eyes. Surely Argyrion had contacted other Argos dispatchers as well—though technically regular Argos employees, most personnel who entered Argos on the recommendation of orthodox towers considered their true affiliation to be with their original towers and thus called themselves dispatchers.

The truth of the origin that Argyrion had revealed was truly shocking. Enough to make one ashamed of their current life of obedience to the Ten Towers.

‘If I could contact other dispatchers who were moved by Argyrion’s truth and cause, things would be easier…’

Gorgoph considered revealing the truth of the origin to Danao to recruit him, but soon shook his head.

‘That one is too corrupt.’

A well-fed pig lapping up the honey of the order created by the Ten Towers. Even if told the truth, such a person would dismiss it with “What does that matter to me?”

He stroked his mana proxy. He could enter the secret code right now to request support from Argyrion. But now was not the time.

He needed to connect with comrades hiding like himself, join hands, deal with Danao, seize all of Amymone Tower’s arcane knowledge, and then request support for it to be meaningful.

Gorgoph pondered how to achieve a swift transfer of power.

While Danao groaned with stress and Gorgoph prepared his conspiracy with ambition,

Ortes opened his drowsy eyes and was breaking through Amymone Tower’s surveillance system.

In an empty room of Amymone Tower where no one’s gaze reached, Ortes took out the box containing Adusiam’s core.

The box that had been shielding Adusiam from the outside world opened.

Click.

The sound of all of Danao and Gorgoph’s desperate efforts coming undone.