Ch.160Welcoming Guests (1)

Working life is painful. Regardless of how tired you were the night before, it’s because the time to go to work is approaching.

I laughed emptily as I watched the dawn breaking. We talked so much that it’s already this time.

“Boss, let’s get up. You need to go to your room to prepare for work.”

“I don’t want to…”

“Really, is that how you’re going to be?”

“I’m the boss, you know. Bosses can come in a little late.”

It was an absurd complaint. How many things couldn’t proceed without Carisia? Even for the artificial Ten Commandments activation experiment, they needed Carisia, the magician who would use the Ten Commandments.

I massaged my temple while checking the time. Looking at the scheduled appointments and buffer time…

“You can stay in bed for about 30 more minutes. I’ll bring your clothes so you can change right here.”

Watching Carisia nod, I recited today’s schedule. Most of it involved laying groundwork before fully implementing the World Division Plan.

“Oh, and my friend will probably arrive today. Should I schedule some time during your free hours?”

Carisia suddenly sat up. The sleepiness that had faintly shown just moments ago had completely disappeared.

“Let me know as soon as they arrive. I need to meet them personally.”

“True. An old man who has advised various magic towers on tax evasion—I mean, tax avoidance—will surely have many useful connections. I’ll inform you immediately when they arrive.”

***

Carisia’s reason for wanting to meet Ortes’s “old man” friend wasn’t just because of the World Division Plan.

Of course, his abilities would clearly be a great help in implementing the plan. There was no one better suited for the role of persuading other magic towers to simultaneously declare succession battles.

However, most of the questions occupying Carisia’s mind were closer to “Is he really a friend?”

Ortes had revealed that he had three friends. Two of those friends only considered Ortes a friend from his perspective; from their perspective, Ortes was closer to a supernatural disaster.

In this situation, Carisia was skeptical about whether the third friend truly considered Ortes a friend.

At the same time, she wondered: if this person doesn’t consider Ortes a friend, why would they contact him first?

Strangely, Ortes didn’t use his eye ability on his acquaintances. So she had no choice but to check for herself.

***

In front of Hydra Company’s main entrance, Ortes was fiddling with the communication device equipped on his gauntlet.

It had already been 15 minutes since his friend had left a message saying he would arrive soon. He wasn’t the type to die a sudden death somewhere, but had something happened?

But then again, he was a notoriously elusive old man. Even if Ortes went looking for him, there was no guarantee he could find him. It would likely just waste time and strain his eyes. As Ortes was scratching his head, he spotted a silhouette approaching in the distance.

He waved his hand.

“Old man! Over here!”

“Ha! Listen to how you talk!”

The approaching elderly man’s attire was flamboyant. It was the complete opposite of Ortes’s outfit, who was dressed in a pitch-black monochrome suit.

A red top with vibrant patterns that would have been called an aloha shirt in Ortes’s original world. Loose shorts paired with sandals that flopped as he walked.

If not for the long staff-like object slung over his back, he would have looked like a leisurely old man commonly seen in Elysion on weekends.

The exception to his ordinariness was his face.

His slightly curly white hair was well-maintained, giving him an elegant charm. His appearance reminded Ortes of middle-aged actors from movies he had seen during his Earth days, though Ortes thought the old man’s fashion sense didn’t do justice to his face.

“Hector. It’s been a while. You’re still dressing like that?”

“This is the most comfortable. You should try wearing something other than suits for once.”

Ortes shrugged. Just as the old man insisted on his own taste, Ortes had his preferences too.

“Let’s go up for now. I’ll contact the boss and arrange a meeting.”

A crystalline light flickered in the old man’s eyes. It was a look of interest, curiosity, and surprise.

“So it’s true. You’re working under someone?”

“Oh, really. Why does everyone I know say that? I have decent social skills, you know.”

“Sure, you do. Just not the kind of social skills that would have you working under someone, especially as a middle manager.”

Entering Hydra Company under Ortes’s guidance, Hector glanced around. Compared to the scale of the grand plan Ortes had told him about, there weren’t many employees walking around.

“Ah. Everyone’s busy. The only people here are those who have work that must be done in this building.”

“I see. Hmm, I was quite surprised.”

“About what?”

“That you’re trying to bring down the Ten Towers this way. Weren’t you focused on something else before?”

“As you said, I was troubled about that for a while. For now, I’m focusing on this task.”

Ortes, walking ahead, didn’t notice, but Hector’s expression momentarily hardened upon hearing Ortes’s words. He quickly resumed the faint smile typical of a good-natured old man of his age and continued walking.

“This is the reception room. Please wait a moment.”

Ortes left the room to call Carisia. He apparently didn’t intend to lower his voice, as the word “Boss” could be heard without even focusing one’s senses.

Hector thought to himself.

‘Is this boss person using Ortes?’

If so, it would be a shame. There was deep trust evident in their voices as they conversed. Ortes rarely gave his trust to people.

If the person he had chosen to dedicate himself to, even setting aside his own dreams, only intended to use Ortes, it would certainly be a cause for indignation.

But on the other hand, there was also a sense of relief. Relief that Ortes wasn’t using his abilities to their full extent.

If he had been, Hector might have had to engage in a life-or-death battle with Ortes today.

The door suddenly opened.

“She’ll be here soon. Let’s pass the time for a bit.”

“Hmm, for a boss, she’s quite prompt. Either she doesn’t have much to do, or she knows how to efficiently delegate work to her subordinates.”

“It’s closer to the latter. I’ve never seen someone who can squeeze people so effectively.”

“More than you?”

“Me? What do you mean?”

Hector gave a hollow laugh. It was from the early days when he had overseen Ortes’s work as a solver. Ortes had dominated temporary teammates with fear through his ominous smile and razor-sharp formal speech.

The solvers who had broken through an abandoned laboratory in an extra-dimensional contaminated zone in just one night immediately left the city afterward. It was a manifestation of their desire to avoid further entanglement with Ortes.

“Well, if that’s what you think, then so be it.”

Hector shrugged and asked.

“Do you still use the sword?”

“Huh? Well, yes. It’s all I know how to do.”

“I taught you proper swordsmanship. You just use it crudely.”

“This old man, really. How is that swordsmanship? More like anti-magic disruption tactics, if anything.”

Hector shrugged. In his own mind, teaching his swordsmanship to Ortes was both the best thing he had ever done and the worst.

Ortes’s “eye” renders all magical formula security meaningless. Hector believed that this eye was the talent that would perfect, or even transcend, the swordsmanship he had inherited.

Despite deep and intense internal conflict, Hector had passed on his swordsmanship to Ortes.

Techniques like formula overwriting that Ortes had developed were based on the theoretical foundation of Hector’s swordsmanship. As Ortes had said, Hector’s swordsmanship was an anti-magic tactic.

It was a magician-hunting swordsmanship centered on meticulously analyzing magical formulas and destroying them before they could be completed.

***

Carisia opened the door to the reception room and entered. Contrary to her concerns, the conversation between Ortes and this Hector person seemed quite friendly.

While Hector sat drinking tea, Ortes stood holding a coffee cup as they talked. Carisia had never seen such an informal side of him before. Hadn’t he been respectfully polite—regardless of how they actually felt—to his two friends, Knemon and Lampades?

“Ah, the boss is here. Old man Hector, this is Boss Carisia.”

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Hector. Something of a senior solver to Ortes. Now just an old man doing odd jobs.”

“I’m pleased to meet you too, Hector. I’m Carisia.”

Carisia gave Ortes a look. Ortes interpreted it as a signal to leave so she could conduct an interview.

It was closer to a determined will to discern whether Hector was a con artist or not, but there were similarities in that it was a character assessment.

After Ortes left, Hector and Carisia began to probe each other with simple conversations.

The current state of the Ten Towers. Argyrion’s provocations. The resulting chaos.

And finally, the World Division Plan.

“You introduced yourself as an old man doing odd jobs, but Ortes told me you’re a ‘professional tax evasion consultant.’ Are those connections still valid?”

“Haha. Enough to recommend people for Ortes’s World Division Plan.”

Their sharp gazes crossed.

“Do you consider Ortes a friend?”

“I should be asking you that. What do you consider Ortes to be?”

While Carisia hesitated, Hector interpreted that pause in his own way and continued.

“You’re quite bold. To use him like this.”

“Use him?”

“What else would you call it? Ortes…”

Hector held his breath. Carisia sensed that something other than magical power was enveloping the room, preventing sound from leaking outside.

“Using the fragmented soul of the Demon King to destroy the magical society?”

“…Excuse me?”

Carisia thought to herself:

What is it with Ortes’s friends that they can’t help but make some kind of misunderstanding?