Ch.30Grave Robbing and Excavation (1)

Q. What is the correct response from an employee when the CEO asks them to go on a business trip together?

1. I didn’t hear you clearly?

2. It’s an honor for my family.

3. There’s no need to use a cow-slaughtering knife for killing a chicken.

4. Actually, I’ve been preparing to resign since yesterday.

…I can’t think of a single proper answer.

For a moment, my mind felt completely blank. Why would they even ask this?

If I were in Carisia’s position, able to command people with just a fingertip, I would have stayed locked away in a back room doing nothing my entire life. Clearly, competent and efficient superiors exist to make their subordinates uncomfortable.

“Shouldn’t you be personally overseeing the fortification work in Etna City?”

This was one of the reasons for creating this war theater, even involving Kaicle and Geryones. With the excuse of a war between the three magic towers, it wouldn’t be strange to redevelop the entire city.

Carisia wanted Etna City to have sufficient defensive capabilities in a real war against the White Light Tower, not just in this theatrical conflict.

“At this point, everyone’s roles have already been determined.”

“But if unexpected accidents or emergencies occur, your decisive judgment would be needed.”

“If an organization can’t make proper decisions just because the top administrator is temporarily absent, it can’t be called a proper organization. I want to use this as an opportunity to evaluate flexibility in handling situations.”

Carisia’s resolve was firm. I rubbed my temple.

“If that’s what you wish, I have no choice. This is the location I’ve marked for our next business trip.”

I pointed to a place on the map. According to Blasphemia’s notes, the location was marked as “One of the lost god’s ruins. No holy power reaction. Original purpose unknown,” but I knew its true nature.

“A ruin of unknown details. You always did like adventure.”

“Not at all. I value peace and comfort above all. There’s simply a reason we must go to this place. In fact, this location isn’t unknown at all.”

***

Ortes spoke with the confident tone he always used in front of Carisia.

“That place is the temple of Phoibos Proopsios. In modern language, the god known as the ‘Radiant Prophet.'”

It was a name in Carisia’s memory. Even without the information implanted by the White Light Tower, it was a divine name that frequently appeared in old stories.

The one who watches over the earth from the highest heavens, the far-seeing one. The god of prophecy.

“The god’s sacred relic should remain in that place. I’m not certain, but it likely has the function of foreseeing the future and warning of approaching dangers.”

Though his words expressed uncertainty, his tone conveyed deep conviction. Carisia often felt that even she didn’t fully understand Ortes at times like these.

Carisia thought about Blasphemia. The deep enmity between Ortes and Blasphemia was simultaneously the enmity between Carisia and Blasphemia.

In other words, Carisia knew as much about Blasphemia’s secrets as Ortes did.

‘They divided superstition followers into three levels…’

Laity, priests, and leaders. This was the common classification for superstition followers.

However, theoretically, there were a few more positions. The Pope, who received loyalty from the leaders of all religious orders.

Or those with divine blood whom even leaders wouldn’t dare treat carelessly. Demigods.

As far as Carisia knew, Ortes understood gods and their sacred relics more deeply than anyone else in this world.

And Ortes’s “eyes” were an incomprehensible product that even the wisdom of the White Light implanted in Carisia couldn’t easily fathom.

If it was a power whose essence couldn’t be grasped even by wisdom inherited from the Ten Realms, there were limited possibilities for what it could be.

The very fact of not knowing became a clue in itself.

Several hypotheses arose in Carisia’s mind, then subsided.

‘Well, it’s not that important.’

The fact that Ortes was by her side now was more important than what his true identity might be.

***

‘Thank you, protagonist…!’

Naturally, the Phoibos ruins and its sacred relic that I confidently pointed out also appeared in the original work.

I recognized it from the gray temple that resembled Petra, an ancient ruin carved from sandstone on Earth.

It was an ancient relic that the resurrected protagonist remembered when worrying about trackers sent from the Ten Towers. “Come to think of it, there was something like that among the temples I personally destroyed during my Demon Lord days,” he had thought before going to find the sacred object.

Originally, it was an item that operated on holy power and rejected the magical power of wizards who had brought down the age of gods. In the novel, the protagonist demonstrated his competence by modifying it on the spot.

‘After regaining a bit of magical power, he set up alarms and divination magic, but only used it as an actual alarm once or twice…’

If I were someone who wanted the world to proceed “according to the original work,” I wouldn’t have touched such an item.

But my goal is to change the disastrous future of the original work and live quietly in comfort. I have no shame in misappropriating the protagonist’s tools.

No, wait.

Come to think of it, it’s because of him that Carisia dies and the world falls apart as a result.

‘I take back my thanks.’

***

An email was sent to the directors of Hydra Company. It was a link for a video conference. The announced content was simple.

Carisia would accompany Ortes on his business trip.

Arabel could see that Ortes’s expression was subtly distorted on the other side of the screen.

Whether it was joy at being with Carisia, or guilt from feeling that he had troubled the CEO due to his own inadequacy, she couldn’t tell.

‘With that man’s temperament, it could be both.’

“Divine power…”

After the video conference, which was more like an announcement than a meeting, Arabel thought about Hydra Company’s goals.

‘If Ortes really was Blasphemia’s secret inspector…’

If the foundation of his intelligence that found Kaicle’s hiding place, concealed for decades, was Blasphemia’s ability, many questions would be resolved.

Blasphemia had identified the whereabouts of Kaicle, the heretic of the Ten Towers, early on but didn’t eliminate him because they judged that completing the artificial Ten Realms was impossible.

However, for some reason, Ortes knew that Kaicle really could potentially complete the artificial Ten Realms and found his hideout based on that information.

This was probably the connection.

At the same time, new questions arose.

‘If ascension is the process of becoming a god as Kaicle said, did the Ten Towers already know they could attempt ascension through divine power?’

If so, why had they continued to oppress religious orders, calling them superstition followers? Was there a reason they couldn’t tolerate a different method of ascension?

Among the questions that kept leading to more questions, everything came down to one:

“What is that Ortes really up to…”

If it weren’t for the branch manager’s dying message about a secret inspector, she wouldn’t have had to rack her brains like this.

Arabel glared at the blank screen for no reason.

***

One reason I somewhat willingly accepted Carisia’s company was my judgment that this task itself wouldn’t be particularly difficult.

This was an artifact the protagonist obtained very early in the original work. If it had been difficult to acquire, he would have sought it after growing stronger.

Blasphemia’s report also reinforced my conviction.

Their assessment that it was just an ordinary ruin not worth investigating. This ruin, like the one the protagonist infiltrated, wouldn’t authenticate visitors without some special method, making it just an old pile of stones.

Blasphemia didn’t know this information, so I thought they had just touched some stones and concluded there was no need to investigate what kind of place it originally was.

‘They definitely wrote a sloppy report because it was cold.’

Damn it. The temple of Phoibos whatever was on top of a snow-covered mountain.

Even considering that extra-dimensional magical power often causes natural environments to change abnormally, this level of cold on a not-so-high mountain?

Those Blasphemia guys definitely thought, “It’s cold, let’s just finish the investigation here and go home.”

This wasn’t just cold. It felt like some transcendental being’s malice creeping through the gaps in human skin.

A magical extreme cold, you might say.

“Are you cold?”

“More than I expected. It’s strange. The divine nature of the radiant Phoibos is closer to the sun, not a god of snow or winter.”

To Carisia, this extreme cold probably felt just “a bit chilly.” Is it because she has a lot of magical power?

It feels especially colder to people without magical power. Some weird character must have cast a strange spell.

“Fortunately, the mountain itself isn’t that high. I can see the ruins over there.”

In the distance, stone pillars engraved with ancient myths began to appear.

***

The ruins Ortes mentioned began to come into Carisia’s view as well.

A structure carved out of an entire cliff at the mountain’s summit. A granite gray door was carved across the entire cliff face. The shadows inside the door seemed to hold ancient mysteries.

Its appearance was an impressive sight even to Carisia, who was accustomed to the skyscrapers of this era. However, as they approached, the damage inflicted by snow and rain became apparent.

Parts of the myths that would have been intricately carved were now blurred and worn, making their forms difficult to recognize, and the floor that would have been smoothly polished was now uneven and pitted in places.

It was clearly the result of being eroded by snow and rain over a long time. Looking again, the darkness filling the ruins now felt lonely rather than mysterious.

Ortes took a step into the darkness that had been abandoned for a long time.