Ch.163Welcoming Guests (4)

Arguilion held a truly unique position. While being an Eroder who maintained rationality was special in its own right, their true value lay in their very existence.

In this century, Arguilion was the only apocalyptic group to have mounted such a large-scale rebellion against the Ten Towers. Nevertheless, the Ten Towers had still been unable to subjugate them.

The important distinction was that they “could not” rather than “did not” subjugate them. When Hector heard the news that one of the Ten Towers’ Elders had been killed, he was genuinely surprised.

With Hector’s personal power, confronting an Elder wouldn’t have been difficult. Yet he hadn’t killed any of the Ten Towers’ Elders. At least not yet.

This was because Hector had a “group” he was responsible for.

As an explorer of ancient history, Hector was wary of the Ten Towers’ merciless retaliatory capabilities. The assassination of an Elder would trigger that war machine.

No matter how delicate the relationships between the Ten Towers might be, or how precariously their balance might waver, that was an internal matter within the magical society.

The moment an outside intruder appeared, the unified will of the Ten Towers would crush them. Just as they had done to the Divine Faith Order for the past several millennia.

When Hector heard about Talo’s assassination, he believed Arguilion’s extinction was imminent. However, Arguilion didn’t stop there—they attempted to devour an entire Mage Tower whole to establish their forward base in the magical society.

When this plan failed too, Arguilion, as if mocking the Ten Towers, destroyed even a cornerstone of the Amimone Mage Tower. Naturally, the loss of the tower’s magical core accelerated the dimensional collapse in the area.

It was at this point that a “unique” suggestion was presented to Hector.

Form an alliance with Arguilion.

Although their foundation as Eroders meant an eventual split was inevitable, Arguilion’s value as a means to confront the Ten Towers, a formidable enemy, was clear. Acquire Arguilion as a tool for the anti-Ten Towers front.

Hector put that proposal on hold. First, the timing wasn’t right.

In response to Arguilion’s unprecedented provocation against the Ten Towers, the Ten Towers had taken equally unprecedented measures: forming an expeditionary force toward the outer dimension.

Not only would it be difficult to contact Arguilion right now, but the outcome of this massive subjugation operation against them was also uncertain.

Second.

He had confirmed Ortes’s presence in the video footage from Algot City collected for analyzing Arguilion’s forces.

It was natural for video footage to contain noise when it involved mages powerful enough to participate in the Tower Lord selection, as they all carried artifacts.

Skilled magical video experts could correct that noise. However, there was one person for whom they reported that correction beyond “a certain limit” was impossible.

Either the person possessed an extremely powerful artifact that prevented even the minimum image quality needed for restoration, or it was Ortes.

Hector recognized the black suit and high-frequency blade visible even in the distorted screen and contacted Ortes.

His only disciple, perhaps his final adversary.

And now.

“Arguilion must feel quite wronged. They’re taking the blame for my collusion with the Divine Faith Order. I was also behind the Talo incident in various ways.”

Hector was hearing from his disciple that Arguilion was completely misrepresented.

***

“So let me get this straight. You’re saying you were the one who took down Talo?”

“The Arguilion delegation did help. That’s why I left the scene arranged to make it look like they had defeated Talo, as a gift to them.”

“And blowing up the Amimone Mage Tower?”

“That wasn’t me.”

Indeed, perhaps Arguilion did have that kind of capability. Hector was nodding thoughtfully when—

“That was my boss. She’d been planning it for so long and finally blew it up with a bomb.”

Hector stared blankly at Carisia. She had the impression of a cold-hearted mage, like an iron-blooded ruler who commanded his disciple with just a tilt of her chin, but…

“It was necessary.”

Now she was somehow averting her gaze like a child who had done something wrong.

“Remember when I mentioned the parasite earlier? That explosion was to get rid of it. The boss had been planning it since she established Hydra Company, and she finally made it behind my back.”

“…You’re calling her ‘boss’? The highest authority who doesn’t need anyone’s approval for anything?”

“Yes, boss. If the boss wants to do business, how could I stop her? As her secretary, I only advised her several times not to do it because it was dangerous.”

At Ortes’s seemingly harsh but caring words, Carisia lowered her gaze. Hector thought that the relationship between the two might be much closer than he had assumed.

“Well, that’s how it is. When that mental parasite colluded with Arguilion, I discovered that both the creator of the parasite and Arguilion’s cause were ultimately just front accounts for the Mage King.”

“Then let me ask one more thing. Is the Mage King really returning in 2077?”

“There was a prophecy from the Divine Faith Order. Ah, the current Order doesn’t know the details. But the expiration date of that prophecy is a bit inconsistent… It’s not very accurate.”

“Huh.”

Hector let out a hollow laugh. His disciple had always had a faint yet terrifying presence and a way of speaking that pinpointed the core of issues to manipulate others.

And now that disciple had invented a new form of eloquence, pouring mind-boggling truths in a plain tone, intensifying Hector’s headache.

“So Arguilion was a stock not worth investing in.”

“Looking at their portfolio, they’re quite an impressive terrorist group. Though I did spice things up a bit.”

“You’ve become an excellent con artist!”

“Haha. Could I ever match up to you, old man?”

“You have surpassed me. You may descend the mountain.”

“Could we even define that place where I learned swordsmanship as a mountain? The terrain was a mess due to outer dimensional erosion.”

The conversation bounced from topic to topic. Carisia felt deeply satisfied that her judgment of Hector being something close to a friend was accurate.

However, regardless of her satisfaction, the conversation between the two was now drifting toward something strange like “the correlation between the altitude of outer dimensional erosion zones and the flight speed of seagulls.”

Since paying attention to such meaningless conversation was pointless, she stopped thinking and focused on resting, savoring the aroma of the tea Ortes had brewed.

“You know, Ortes. Since you’re feeding me these shocking revelations by the bowlful.”

“What? They’re neither shocking nor that voluminous, are they?”

“I always knew you’d cause trouble with that mouth of yours.”

“Thanks for the compliment. I’ve always preferred making a living with my mouth rather than my fists.”

Hector shook his head. What he just said was a rebuke for your absurd answer, and now comes the main point.

“I heard you learned about a secret underground organization of knights while fighting Talo.”

“Oh? You talked about that too? He had quite an imagination, probably from studying magic for too long. It made it easier to read his moves, though.”

“Actually, that’s me.”

“…What?”

At Ortes’s blank response, Hector shrugged. Carisia, who was drinking tea, realized that Hector’s shrug was remarkably similar to the gesture Ortes occasionally showed.

‘It seems they’ve influenced each other far more than a typical master-disciple relationship. Is this what they call a true successor? A disciple who inherits everything from their master.’

“The secret group of fallen knights exists, and I’m their leader.”

“Oh damn. Old man. This changes everything.”

A suddenly cold sentence escaped his lips. Carisia’s tension rose accordingly.

“Don’t you know the terms change between individual-to-business transactions and business-to-business transactions? I need to recalculate the quote.”

It was nonsense. The kind friends casually throw at each other. Carisia lost interest again.

“Well, listen first. Actually, we started as a group of knights who failed to assassinate the Mage King.”

“What?”

An amazing ancient history unfolded from Hector’s lips. A kingdom destroyed during the Mage King’s conquest wars. The last knight of that kingdom.

The lone knight resolved to assassinate the Mage King. Since both his honor and life had vanished with the kingdom, he had no hesitation.

His day of action was the moment of ascension. The final achievement left by the Mage King who believed he had subjugated all kingdoms and defeated all enemies.

That’s why the Mage King would be off guard.

“But the plan didn’t go as expected. The knight saw the Mage King already dead before he could assassinate him. Though it wasn’t a proper death, apparently.”

“Um… so what happened?”

“That knight made two resolutions. One, to kill the Mage King when he returns. Two, to revolutionize this unjust world.”

The crown of the world built with the Mage King’s blood went to the ten mages who betrayed their king and master. Both the returning Mage King and the crown called magical society had to be destroyed for the revenge to be complete.

“But well. It was impossible at the time. The ten Tower Lords who murdered their master were also skilled in handling the Ten Realms. Perhaps he could have died together with one of them, but assassinating all ten was too difficult.”

So the first knight entrusted his will and swordsmanship to future generations. As this succession continued, a secret organization of knights was formed.

“The secrets of the Ascension Day and the swordsmanship for assassinating the Mage King were only passed down orally to the highest leaders, so I’m the only one who knows the full picture of the knight order now.”

Ortes massaged his temple. The story was larger in scale than he had expected.

“So, Ortes. When you think about it, you’re the legitimate successor.”

“What legitimate successor are you talking about?”

“The legitimate successor of rebels. You learned swordsmanship from the direct line of knights who set out to kill the Mage King, and now you’ve drawn your sword to dismantle magical society—truly a student surpassing the master!”

Carisia recalled the words left by the giant in last night’s dream. Ortes, chosen from another world, had been perfected through personal guidance from this world’s top anti-establishment instructor.

He was truly the embodiment of chaos, created to shake the magical society to its core.