Ch.28Business Trip and Its Aftermath (2)

It was an untimely journey on foot.

Thanks to Arabel keeping me company, I wasn’t bored for a while. But once we got closer to Etna City, she cut the communication to go to sleep, so from there I had to continue while talking to myself.

By the time I arrived, it was already midnight. Going to my room through the main entrance would involve complicated procedures, so I headed for the back door.

The firmly closed back door had a “No Entry Except for Authorized Personnel” sign attached to it. But who else would be Hydra Company personnel if not me?

As I held up my white access card, I heard the sound of the lock disengaging. This white access card was issued by Carisia as soon as we conquered the Lernian Magic Tower and gained sovereignty over the magic core.

“You’re here.”

On my way to the room prepared on the top floor of Hydra Company, I encountered the CEO in the corridor.

***

“…CEO?”

‘That expression clearly says he can’t understand why I’m here.’

Carisia smiled slightly and shrugged.

“I thought you’d be coming soon. I was waiting.”

“The report isn’t ready yet.”

Ortes’ businesslike response.

Carisia didn’t seem particularly disappointed by his attitude. That’s just how he was.

“I know. I’m not so lacking in time awareness that I’d request a report from someone who just returned from a business trip.”

Ortes felt a strange sensation. He felt like he had heard similar nuanced words somewhere before.

“Then why?”

“Just wanted to see your face. It’s late. Sleep well.”

Carisia passed by Ortes and headed to her room. To put it differently, she opened the door to the room next to Ortes’ and went in.

Click. The door closed. The sound of the lock engaging, the metallic clank that should have followed, didn’t come.

‘What is she really thinking?’

Ortes gazed at Carisia’s retreating figure, lost in thought.

If she had said something like “good job on your business trip,” it would have been understandable. After all, the years Ortes and Carisia had spent together were not short.

He would have been amazed that “Our CEO actually has human emotions!” and then gone to bed.

But in cases like this, when she just briefly looked at his face before going in, it was difficult to guess Carisia’s inner thoughts.

‘Ah, whatever. Judging by her expression, she didn’t seem upset. I’ll think about it after I get some sleep.’

***

The data Arabel extracted from the Blasphemia branch was useful in many ways.

Since it was stored in a mere branch rather than Blasphemia headquarters, it didn’t contain the Ten Towers’ confidential information, but it had sufficient information for tracking “superstition followers,” which was Blasphemia’s original mission.

These superstition followers were precisely the believers in vanished gods that Hydra Company needed to find.

While Ortes was on his arduous journey on foot to avoid potential tracking by Blasphemia, the directors had already held several meetings based on the information Arabel brought.

After discussions, they came up with a reasonable division of tasks for tracking divinity. However, Carisia, who had the final approval authority, had not yet approved the directors’ business plan.

The reason was simple: since this project fell under the Divine Investigation Department’s responsibility, all work could only begin after Ortes, the head of the department, returned.

In reality, there was no need for Ortes at this point. Since the CEO naturally had higher authority than the head of the Divine Investigation Department, the work could proceed smoothly if Carisia approved it.

Nevertheless, why did Carisia insist that “it must go through the head of the Divine Investigation Department”?

The directors’ thoughts converged on one reason: authority.

It was to give Ortes authority.

Until the establishment of the Divine Investigation Department, Ortes had worked as Carisia’s right-hand man without a clear rank. If one were to interpret his position, he would be equivalent to the CEO’s direct secretary, but even this wasn’t an official title.

As a result, despite being effectively the second-in-command of Hydra Company, his official authority fell short of the directors’.

In response, Carisia appointed Ortes as the head of the new Divine Investigation Department while simultaneously granting that department nearly unlimited discretionary power.

Ironically, instead of using this discretionary power to command the directors, Ortes carried out missions alone, which made the hierarchy between the directors and the head of the Divine Investigation Department unclear.

In this subtle situation, by halting the Divine Investigation Department’s work until Ortes’ return, Carisia impressed upon everyone that, at least in matters related to “divinity,” the authority of the head of the Divine Investigation Department superseded that of the directors.

The directors looked at Ortes, who stood behind Carisia, with uncomfortable eyes.

Despite having a seat prepared for the head of the Divine Investigation Department, he deliberately stood behind Carisia as usual. Probably an expression of loyalty.

Although Ortes had discretionary power that could potentially threaten Carisia, his attitude demonstrated that he personally had no intention of going against her.

***

‘My muscles are already sore from all that walking.’

A meeting first thing in the morning. My legs hurt.

I glared at an empty seat. Kaikel or Geryon?

What are they doing that they still haven’t shown up for the meeting? They’re just making me stand here longer.

“It seems all necessary personnel are here. Shall we start the meeting?”

Those were the welcome words from old man Bertrand. Carisia glanced at me and nodded.

***

The first director to step forward was Dimedes, the beast tamer.

“First of all, Head of Divine Investigation. Wasn’t your return too late?”

Mekonion let out an “oh” in admiration. That human hunter was boldly picking a fight with the second-in-command.

No matter how bloodthirsty he was, couldn’t he distinguish between those he should and shouldn’t challenge?

Or perhaps there was another reason. As he had experienced, Ortes would overlook most rudeness as long as the CEO wasn’t touched—he was an extreme CEO loyalist.

“Haha, I apologize. Given the nature of the work, I couldn’t afford to be followed.”

The tail reference. It was clearly aimed at the beasts Dimedes commanded. This was fine so far, but it implied that if he went further, he’d be stepped on.

Dimedes was impulsive and rude, but not foolish. He had sufficient ability to interpret Ortes’ words.

He ceased his provocation and got to the point.

“Ahem. So, have you already read the divine investigation task allocation materials?”

***

What is he talking about?

I bowed slightly when he complained about my late return from the business trip—that’s just the kind of nitpicking high-ranking officials do when they’re bored.

Is he suggesting I should have familiarized myself with the work as soon as I arrived last night?

I almost bit my lip. This was unexpected.

Could it be that in the few days I was gone, the directors had adopted Carisia’s mindset of working people to the bone? I desperately tried to read Carisia’s expression.

Seeing that she made no particular comment on Dimedes’ words, it seemed that these “task allocation materials” actually existed.

In this situation, I had no choice but to say something that sounded plausible while assessing the situation and trying to figure things out.

“Of course. Director Dimedes, are you not satisfied with the tasks assigned to you?”

“I like the content. But the person responsible for approving the plan was absent, wasn’t he!”

I recalled what I had whispered to Carisia while half-asleep.

Did I say something like “Dimedes’ dogs are thirsty for blood, so throw them some wanted criminals before they harm innocent people”?

Judging by his satisfaction, it seemed he had indeed been assigned to human hunting. If so, Noiro would be excluded from tracking wanted persons, and most of the task allocation would have been based on what I mentioned before.

“I’m glad you’re enthusiastic about your work. How many beasts can you mobilize right now, Director?”

“Hmph. 120. Didn’t the CEO order us to gather all the beasts and wait? They’re all hungry.”

“Then how many tamers do you have to control these beasts?”

“Thirty tamers ready for deployment. I can assign four beasts per person.”

He says “four beasts per person,” but in truth, those thirty “persons” should also be called beasts.

Dimedes himself and all his subordinate tamers are ability users who can inject beast factors to transform into beast-men.

…that’s the surface disguise. In reality, they are chimeras who maintain human form and intelligence by injecting human factors.

The true nature of beast taming was the chimeras’ ability as superior species to beasts. Chimeras were created by combining various beasts to make more powerful ones. They had the ability to dominate the types of beasts that constituted their own bodies.

Considerable time had passed since hunting was banned after Carisia’s arrival.

There must be a limit to how long they could sustain themselves with stockpiled humans, so chimeras experiencing gradual loss of intelligence were probably appearing one by one.

Therefore, they were desperately appealing for permission to hunt humans in the current situation.

So, who should I order these blood-hungry beasts to hunt?