Ch.133Proxy War (1)

Ortes could read that half of Carisia’s emotion was a joke. The other half, as he had guessed, was mixed with anger.

However, it wasn’t the kind of anger Ortes had anticipated.

What kind of mess is this?

They had clearly promised to call each other if things became dangerous.

Carisia had sensed the surge of magical energy from afar and immediately rushed toward the explosion’s epicenter, abandoning all her work. Yet Ortes greeted her with a grin on his face, covered in the aftermath of the explosion. His usual demeanor brought both relief and slight irritation.

“Didn’t we agree to call if things got dangerous?”

He didn’t appear to have any serious injuries. Perhaps just some scrapes at most. But even though he had luckily escaped the blast radius, it was the kind of attack that could have caused severe injuries.

“Ah. Don’t worry. I caused the explosion myself.”

Ortes offered an implausible excuse. Carisia could deduce the truth from the single sentence he had thrown out to evade the situation.

“You caused the explosion, you say. Since you can’t use magic, there must have been a magician nearby who could cast such a spell. I sense residual energy of various attributes, so multiple magicians must have gathered just to chase you.”

‘Oh no.’

This was embarrassing. Ortes grumbled inwardly that this was why working under a perceptive boss was so uncomfortable.

“Boss. Before we talk, let’s change locations. The Ten Towers subtly hinted at a ‘kill each other if necessary’ policy when they selected Algoth City as the testing ground before the interdimensional containment work was completed, but it wouldn’t be good to be caught behaving like this on the very day of assembly before the test has properly begun.”

After staring intently at Ortes’s face for a moment, Carisia nodded in agreement.

Though he had taken somewhat aggressive measures to draw out Arguirion, tonight hadn’t yielded much. If Arguirion had appeared, they could have diverted all of the Ten Towers’ attention to them, but not now.

Ortes and Carisia returned to their lodging on the outskirts of Algoth City, grumbling at each other.

The lodging they had secured was in a disastrous state. Under the blown-off ceiling, magicians who looked half-dead lay groaning.

***

“After all that communication!”

Kine shouted, filled with indignation. She tried to grab my collar but couldn’t due to our height difference, so she clutched at my clothes instead. Her childish temper was evident in the way she scuffled with me.

“An ambush, huh.”

It wasn’t unexpected. After all, wasn’t that why I had Kine with me in the first place? But at the same time, it exceeded my expectations.

To attempt assassination even before the test format was announced, on the eve of the event.

“Strange. They’re not the type to move this quickly…”

Kine heard me muttering to myself and looked up to meet my eyes.

“You and the boss were turning Algoth City upside down, weren’t you?”

“Wait. I’m just ‘you’ but the boss is ‘boss’?”

Kine ignored my petty complaint. Well, Carisia is the highest-ranking person here. The saying that children are perceptive seems to be true.

“Well. The boss was certainly going all out.”

“That’s why. I don’t know who they are, but they must have thought ‘if they’re making such a commotion, we can’t fall behind.’ We’re relatively unknown, after all.”

Kine’s remark about how the weak are the first to be attacked in a chaotic situation revealed experience beyond her years. It seemed to be from her actual experiences wandering as a devotee of Bacchus.

“You did well. Dark attribute magic without catalysts for necromancy isn’t suitable for direct combat. You seem to have applied curses quite effectively.”

“About that…”

Kine trailed off, then gestured for me to come closer. I bent down, and she whispered:

“I used a Bacchus devotee to shake their minds with curses and subdue them. But I’m not sure if that Knemon guy noticed or not.”

A Bacchus devotee who leads people into delusion. It certainly seemed to pair well with mind-eroding curses. Impressed by the coordination of magic and devotion, I answered Kine:

“It’s fine.”

“Huh?”

“Whether he noticed or not doesn’t matter. No, it’s better if he did notice.”

“What?”

“I was planning to tell him soon anyway.”

I had intended to bring in people from the Divine Light Cult, and I couldn’t keep it hidden forever.

“He’s not the type to blindly follow the system either, so he might even like it.”

***

Knemon’s expression was rigid.

“You have quite a harsh way of handling people.”

Carisia didn’t respond. She merely surveyed the scene and made a brief sound—”Hmm”—that could have been either a sigh or an expression of admiration.

“I understand that you personally stirred things up to gain an advantage in the Tower Lord selection, and that you wanted to test my abilities in the process. However.”

Knemon glanced at Kine.

“Isn’t that child raised by Hydra Company? Leaving such a child in this battlefield seems too cruel for a mere test.”

Only then did Carisia turn to look at Knemon.

Many thoughts crossed her mind. Truth and lies. Which answer would make this man easiest to control?

‘It would be most effective to say that all of this is a test planned by Hydra Company, as Knemon mistakenly believes.’

But…

Behind Knemon, she could see Ortes talking with Kine.

She had a certain trust that no matter what she said, Ortes would add something that would cause even greater confusion. Emboldened by this trust, Carisia told him everything honestly.

“To tell you the truth, I didn’t anticipate this. There were enemies to find, so I couldn’t pay attention to our allies. I regret that.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. I know the abilities of your servant Ortes. And not just Ortes—with you by his side, how could you fail to prevent a simple attack?”

“That Ortes was attacked himself.”

“What…?”

“You should hear the details from him.”

Carisia extended her arm toward Ortes. Seeing this, Ortes began walking slowly toward them.

***

“Mr. Knemon.”

Approaching, Ortes looked around. The attackers had been appropriately dealt with and were all unconscious. He couldn’t sense any magical surveillance devices either.

It should be fine to speak frankly now.

“The truth is, the situation in the city is quite complicated right now.”

“Complicated?”

“Yes. A suspicious monstrous entity that has lived for a very long time has secretly infiltrated the Tower Lord selection.”

It was an absurd statement. Knemon wondered if “a suspicious monstrous entity that has lived for a very long time” was actually Ortes describing himself.

“The truth is, it’s extremely dangerous. Even if I step in. Even if I borrow that foam again, there’s no guarantee we can catch it.”

This was a shock. Knemon knew what level of destruction Ortes could cause using the foam. For a being to have such vitality that even Ortes couldn’t handle it—he questioned whether such a thing could even be called a living entity.

“So you were too busy dealing with that to pay attention here?”

“I tried to persuade it with words, but in the end, it just ignored me.”

Knemon immediately sensed that this monstrous entity must be truly wise. It had noticed the poison hidden in Ortes’s eloquence and cut it off at once. A being with such wisdom would surely be a formidable adversary.

“So I called in a company specialized in dealing with such entities…”

It was a peculiar expression. A company that hunts beings dangerous enough to survive a confrontation with Ortes.

Though Knemon had long left the problem-solver industry, he would have heard of such high-level problem solvers if they existed. If they weren’t problem solvers but from a magic tower, they would already be participating in the Amimone Tower Lord selection.

“These people are difficult to operate publicly.”

“…Don’t tell me?”

Dangerous names flashed through Knemon’s mind. Groups as toxic to society as those who would naturally ally with anyone planning to burn the world.

“They’re called the Divine Light Cult. The most powerful group among priests usually dismissed as superstition followers.”

Knemon felt his vision darken. Now he understood.

‘Come to think of it, one of the Ten Towers’ elders was killed by Arguirion.’

The Ten Towers had blamed the evil methods of superstition followers for Arguirion’s ability to kill an elder. And now Ortes was saying he would call the most powerful priests to defeat the monstrous entity.

This implied that the monstrous entity that even Ortes struggled against was an elder of the Ten Towers.

Indeed. What other adversaries would priests have “specialized experience in handling” besides the magicians of the Ten Towers?

‘Yes. It would take at least an elder to escape from Ortes.’

A strange acceptance.

‘And telling me all this means…’

It must mean that Knemon himself had finally passed the test. Now he would become part of the plan to burn the world.

“I understand. I’ll cooperate to the best of my ability.”

“I knew it! I knew I could count on you, Mr. Knemon.”

Ortes laughed and patted Knemon’s shoulder. Carisia watched while unwrapping chocolate for Kine.

‘I didn’t tell a single lie just now…’

How do people fall for this so easily?

I don’t know whether to sigh or laugh.