Ch.206Emergency Meeting (2)

Even Ortes himself thought it was too simple a wordplay.

But this alone was enough to somewhat calm the confusion among the members of Hydra Corporation’s emergency board meeting.

Although he thought it unlikely, Ortes added a few more words as insurance in case the Demon King suddenly launched a public opinion campaign.

“Arguilion sincerely believed in and worshipped that extradimensional being as the Demon King. At the very least, it means that its powers are comparable to the Demon King of legend. Everyone, please approach this as if you are truly facing ‘the Demon King.'”

As he looked around, his eyes met with Kaikel’s. Kaikel seemed to have some kind of certainty about this being that even the eight Tower Masters, Ortes, and Karisia together couldn’t handle.

He was looking at Ortes as if to say, “Are you really not going to tell them?”

‘No. Why are you looking at me instead of Karisia?’

Kaikel knew that Karisia’s final judgment would align with Ortes’s final judgment. Ortes glanced around once more. Except for Hector, Karisia, and the Pope, everyone present seemed likely to be confused by the fact that the Demon King was their enemy.

Having to face a mythical figure. The pressure of having to turn against the greatest magician as an enemy.

If such facts were revealed in the middle of battle, it might not just lead to loss of fighting spirit but could even spark rebellion. While using artificial Ten Commandments alone might be manageable, the directors’ cooperation was essential for the battle plan that involved rapid firing of Ten Commandment bombs.

Ortes sighed and looked at Karisia.

Karisia silently nodded once. It was an expression of support for whatever answer he chose.

“And what I’ve just said is the official propaganda statement for external release.”

“Excuse me?”

Arabel questioned. If that was propaganda, then what was the truth?

“It means it’s an announcement that reveals only part of the truth, to prevent the True Magic Tower and minor Magic Towers from siding with the Demon King.”

The directors who still didn’t know the truth, along with Lampades and Knemon, all stared at Ortes with one mind. Their expressions hoped that the answer they were thinking of wouldn’t come out.

“We must fight the Demon King.”

***

It was utter chaos.

The Demon King? The greatest magician who created this world? Us?

Why?

Ortes waited until the directors had fully expressed their confusion, then dropped an even more shocking truth in succession.

“At the same time, the statement about an extradimensional being is not a lie either. The Demon King is actively trying to destroy our world, or at the very least, take all Ten Commandments. If the Ten Commandments are reclaimed and the Magic Tower’s extradimensional purification system collapses, the magical society will be finished.”

It was an answer that automatically closed the mouths of directors who were about to ask why they had to fight the Demon King.

Karisia raised her hand.

“I would like to explain the detailed titles of the external directors we’ve recruited to the Ten Commandments front.”

She gently dropped a bombshell.

“First, that person over there with cracks spreading all over his body.”

The Pope raised his hand. Priests of the Pope’s faction, brought by Prodito at some point, were pouring healing holy water on him, trying to delay the holy rupture even for a second.

“He is the Pope of the Divine Faith Order.”

“The… Divine Faith Order?”

Kriton, who had been solely focused on redevelopment and had no connection to holy investigation work, expressed doubt.

Divius, an unlicensed doctor from Blasphemia, held his head.

“Think of them as the ones at the very top of the old god’s priests…”

“And Ortes’s friend, Hector.”

The old man calmly shrugged his shoulders.

“Ortes’s friend, the head of the magical society revolutionary organization ‘The Order,’ the Sword Master. Yes, he is that knight who fell with the rise of magic.”

Knemon felt the back of his neck stiffen. It was a rumor that had circulated when he was playing the role of a doomsday believer. That there was a secret society secretly scouting fixers who specialized in martial arts.

‘Was that secret society connected to Ortes!’

The directors looked around at each other, and eventually shifted their gaze to Lampades and Knemon. It was a reasonable assumption that if one friend was the head of an anti-Ten Towers organization, the other friend might be similar.

Knemon and Lampades felt extremely wronged.

“For Mr. Lampades and Mr. Knemon, their current titles will suffice as answers. Yellow Thunder Magic Tower Master, Blue Water Magic Tower Master.”

“Wait…!”

Knemon tried to protest. The master of the Blue Water Magic Tower was the Divine Faith Order. He was registered as the tower master because they didn’t know how the Ten Commandments would react if members of the Order attempted to make contact.

In other words, he was a figurehead. Knemon was already overwhelmed managing the Amimone Magic Tower (which used to be) that had been demoted from the True Magic Tower.

However, Lampades stopped Knemon. He had the mindset that he couldn’t die alone now that things had come this far.

‘Lampades, you too!’

‘I can’t remain as just Ortes’s friend!’

The directors fell into complete confusion. Two anti-magic organizations, and now two of the Ten Towers were allies of Hydra Corporation.

It seemed like an unlikely combination.

“In addition, all former Ten Tower Masters will also come to Elysion to begin discussions on the Demon King repulsion operation. And I will propose an anti-magic field as a strategy in that meeting. To implement this strategy, we need your cooperation.”

“Are you saying, President, that you need us more than all the former Ten Tower Masters?”

Bertrand asked.

Karisia nodded.

“The project I entrusted to you and Arabel is particularly important. It’s also something that only you, who have been organizing Etna City itself, can do.”

“If we want to… run away…”

Taros, the half-dragon giant, timidly raised his hand. Despite his sturdy physique, he had always been reluctant to fight first. Noiro also nodded. Noiro was a hunter, and while he didn’t refuse the challenge of catching strong prey, the Demon King was different.

He wasn’t a being that could become prey, but one who was always the hunter.

Karisia left the answer to Ortes. After all, Ortes would ultimately be the architect of the big picture in facing the Demon King.

“I won’t stop you. Forcing you would only backfire.”

However, Ortes added with a “but.”

“I don’t think the Demon King will leave this world alone. Even the former White Light Tower Master, who directly served the Demon King, has declared that the Demon King is a threat to the world.”

The implication was clear: would they flee and stand by as the world was destroyed? The fear of possibly dying versus the confirmed outcome of death if they didn’t fight. The survival instinct to flee and live even one more day versus the will to secure a future with their own hands—these forces were in opposition.

“I’ll give you time to think. There’s about an hour left until all the former Ten Tower Masters arrive at Elysion. Please consider carefully and make your decision.”

***

As the directors were leaving one by one, one director approached Karisia. It was Bertrand.

“What is it?”

“I have something for you.”

It was a weapon he had been designing for quite some time. A new version of Karisia’s gauntlet-type magic computing device. A plan to curry favor by creating and presenting it.

Although it had been indefinitely postponed due to Karisia assigning all sorts of impossible blueprints, Bertrand had managed to complete the new gauntlet in the meantime.

It was a weapon exclusively for Karisia, crafted from the byproducts of the projects she had assigned and the sacred artifacts left over after being invested in the artificial Ten Commandments.

A black gauntlet like the one she usually wore. But this one was flawless without a single seam. A weapon beyond craftsmanship, utterly extraordinary.

“Perhaps because the sacred artifact of the blacksmith god Polybron was used, the hammering worked strangely well. It has all the functions of the gauntlet you’ve been using, plus self-destruct and magical rocket propulsion.”

Ortes wondered if he had misheard something. Rocket punch was one thing, but self-destruct?

Had Karisia’s love for explosions spread to the directors?

Karisia accepted the gauntlet with satisfaction. She smiled gently and said,

“Thank you. If we live to see tomorrow, I’ll reward you more generously.”

“If we live to see tomorrow, that itself will be the reward. Then we’ll go continue our research.”

Bertrand stopped Arabel, who was trying to sneak out of the meeting room, and dragged Geryones and Kaikel along to his workshop. It seemed they were determined to fight to the end.

“How many will remain? When the opponent is the Demon King.”

In the meeting room, now empty as even Hector and the Pope had left to gather their forces, Karisia asked Ortes candidly.

“I don’t know.”

Ortes answered honestly as well. Karisia nodded. Indeed, even he doesn’t know everything.

But Ortes wasn’t finished speaking.

“But you and I will remain, won’t we?”

Karisia chuckled.

“That goes without saying.”