Ch.11In Search of the Lost Kaicle (1)

“…What brings you here?”

Bertrand greeted Ortes as if he had seen a ghost.

He had just come from the mine, sighed over the steadily declining production statistics, and returned to the guild master’s office only to find this faintly smiling man waiting for him.

“If it’s about Geryon’s confinement, rest assured. I’ve placed magic-binding shackles on him and imprisoned him deep in the mine. There’s been no unusual movement.”

“That’s a role the president assigned to you, Director. I have nothing to say about that matter.”

Ortes waved his hands dismissively, indicating he had neither the will nor the qualification to interfere. Bertrand’s worries only deepened.

“Then, you have other business?”

“I’d like to review the investigation records regarding Mount Etna.”

The gaze directed at him during the meeting wasn’t his imagination. Bertrand nodded.

“But there’s not much to those investigation records. As you know, all investigation results ultimately concluded with ‘no anomalies.'”

Ortes began reading the report right where he stood after receiving it. Rustle. Rustle. Only the sound of turning pages echoed in the guild master’s office.

Though Bertrand watched Ortes with discomfort, he soon began focusing on his own work.

With his dwarven pride and top-tier skills among Etna City’s miners, Bertrand was still active in the field. However, as guild master, he had no shortage of paperwork to process.

For some time, both men concentrated on their respective documents, creating a scene that resembled an ordinary day at any company.

“Director Bertrand.”

“What is it?”

“Is this event at Phytos Magic Tower still ongoing?”

Event? Bertrand pondered whether such a thing existed, then read the paragraph Ortes showed him and nodded.

“Ah. Yes. Though it’s too modest to call an event.”

The “event” Ortes mentioned was a ritual. It was a custom praying for safety and luck, commonly seen in places where a moment’s mistake could cost lives, like construction sites using heavy equipment or tools.

Phytos Magic Tower’s factory produces various machines, including automatons and automatic machinery. They aren’t absolutely dominant in the market, but they’re known for their durability and good value for money.

The fact that production continued without issues despite Kaichel’s absence indicated that their entire factory was fully automated. Nevertheless, the reason why these machines performed rituals remained a mystery to Bertrand.

“It seems to be an action routine that Kaichel programmed which hasn’t been canceled. Since there’s no one with the authority to cancel it, it continues to repeat.”

What was peculiar was that it took the form of a burnt offering.

“Every month, the first production of each model is thrown into Mount Etna’s crater as an offering. Quite interesting.”

“The Miners’ Guild once worried that it might be part of some sinister magical ritual.”

A strange form of ritual where non-living automatons were burned like living sacrifices. The fact that its overseer was a magician made the circumstances suspicious to anyone.

“But that was long ago. The ritual began before Kaichel’s disappearance, and even the investigation at that time found no peculiarities.”

“Thank you. So no one pays attention to Phytos Magic Tower’s ritual anymore?”

“There were some magicians who seized the offerings, thinking they might provide clues to find Kaichel’s Artificial Ten Commandments.”

Bertrand recalled old memories. There was even someone who jumped into the volcano with an android, believing Kaichel might be beneath it.

Of course, they never resurfaced.

A magician capable of cooling the vast magma buried in Mount Etna?

Such skilled magicians do exist. The elders of the Frost Magic Tower could perform the ridiculous miracle of freezing lava.

But a magician of such caliber would have been living a heavenly life, well-respected at the Central Magic Tower long ago.

Not throwing themselves into a volcano based on urban legends in this aging city.

“…But no one ever found him. That’s why I remain skeptical. Is Kaichel really under the volcano?”

“Yes. Looking at this ritual makes me more certain. Thank you.”

In the moment Bertrand nodded, Ortes had vanished without a trace.

“…Is he a descendant of some ancient assassin guild?”

Countless names were buried in history when the Magic King reestablished the world order.

Not only temples that were declining even before the Magic King’s appearance, but also factions using abilities other than magic gradually lost their glory.

The warriors’ fighting spirit only survived as formulas to be programmed into mercenaries or combat androids.

His normally faint presence was perfectly optimized for assassination. If Ortes truly inherited the lineage of a vanished assassin guild, why would he serve Carisia?

Bertrand continued his fruitless contemplation.

***

Man, seriously. Isn’t there some SSS-rank stealth skill available?

Something that nullifies all physical attacks while hiding in the shadows of the world.

Something that doesn’t burn in lava or get wet in water…

“There’s no such thing.”

At least not for me right now.

I massaged between my eyes, soaked in fatigue. The more I investigated Kaichel, the more everything converged to one answer.

“Lava diving… Do I really have to?”

It’s certain that Kaichel created some kind of secret laboratory inside Mount Etna.

In the original work, it was described that the Artificial Ten Commandments had been accumulating magical power for decades “without moving from where they were first created.”

But the method of getting down there was the problem.

No matter how excellent a magician Kaichel was, it would be difficult to obtain information from the secular world while holed up at the bottom of a volcano.

Probably, he records information about the outside world in the storage devices of the machines offered to Mount Etna, then brings it into the laboratory through some method.

The reason magicians who examined the offerings couldn’t detect the hidden information was likely because the content was split and compressed across multiple storage devices, or measures were taken to prevent ordinary hacking.

Could I derive a method to infiltrate Kaichel’s hideout from these clues?

It’s not that there’s no one capable of finding Kaichel’s laboratory.

“It’s just that person happens to be Carisia.”

After confidently telling the boss, “Haha, I’ll find Kaichel for you!”

What reaction would I get if I said, “Hahaha, Boss, you need to find Kaichel yourself.”

“Wow, that’s interesting. Shall we strengthen our horizontal relationship?”

“Horizontal?”

“Get down and give me twenty.”

No, she wouldn’t do that.

Carisia’s scolding is much more sophisticated. Still, I could easily imagine a similar situation occurring.

“I roughly understand how they filter…”

Like most objects in this world, automatons also use magical power as their energy source. Newly produced automatons from Phytos Magic Tower’s factory are naturally charged with magical power.

The source of that magic is Phytos Magic Tower’s magic core. Kaichel clearly created a spell that selects only magic with specific wavelengths and transmits it to his residence.

And magicians can change the properties or wavelengths of their magic to some extent.

This means that even a magician born with fire attributes can use water magic with effort.

But.

I have no magical power.

Not close to zero, just zero.

“Damn this magical power gap society.”

The problem that had been troubling me since I opened my eyes in this world resurfaced.

“I won’t die immediately from falling into lava, but to dive in with just my bare body…”

Wait.

Bare body?

I flipped through the Phytos Magic Tower catalog I got from Bertrand. I quickly skimmed past the automatons that made up most of the items.

I definitely saw one being maintained at the Miners’ Guild.

“Found it.”

In the corner of the catalog was a multipurpose powered suit.

Since it’s an enhancement suit using magical power, it would naturally be charged with Phytos Magic Tower’s magic.

If I, completely devoid of magical power, wear the enhancement suit and throw myself into Mount Etna, wouldn’t I be transported to the laboratory along with the suit when it’s transferred?

I need to verify this hypothesis first.

If, by any chance, the reason Phytos Magic Tower’s automaton burnt offerings continue is really because Kaichel forgot to issue a stop command…

I’ll be an idiot swimming in lava wearing a powered suit.

***

Arabella greeted Ortes in a form where she could exert her full power. Since Ortes had already discovered all her secrets, there was no need to hide.

She appeared like a woman’s upper body on top of a giant spider’s body.

The steel spider was an external computing assistance device she had forged over many years. It was special equipment she only wore when hacking targets with powerful firewalls like Magic Towers.

“So, what do you want me to do?”

“You’ll need to hack into Phytos Magic Tower’s factory.”