Ch.40Corporate Scholar (1)

Ortes thoroughly searched the lair of the Bacchus Order after defeating Sikton and came to one conclusion.

‘Nothing?’

There was no artifact or anything that could be considered the source of the power that controlled mana, not magic power—the force that had bound Dimedes.

‘Then that means the source of the power to manipulate mana isn’t somewhere external, but inside Sikton…’

Noiro, who had sensed something alien about that mysterious power, felt the need to uncover its true nature. He had no concrete logic, but the intuition he had built up over the years told him so.

As a result.

“Director, let’s charter a magical locomotive and transport all the bodies here.”

“How will we get them to the station?”

“By hand?”

Noiro considered the distance between the nearest station and this stone field. Even at his pace, it would take half a day.

To carry dozens of corpses plus one unconscious kid over that distance?

“I guess there’s no choice…”

Noiro recalled a phrase he hadn’t heard since becoming the Hunter Association Chairman.

When ordered to do something, you just do it.

In truth, he had plenty of experience transporting byproducts after a hunt. This time the number was somewhat larger, but regular group hunts organized by the Hunter Association yielded about this many.

It was a somewhat familiar task.

Even if it was the first time transporting so many humans rather than beasts. Noiro began assembling makeshift transport equipment using materials from his bag and drones.

“Ah, I’ll need to file a report, so I might need to take some of Dimedes’ chimeras too. Haha, moving them together would be faster.”

…just do it.

***

‘Where am I…?’

An unfamiliar ceiling. Kine looked around. Everything was white.

It felt similar to the hospital where she had once been admitted for a prosthetic arm implant.

“Oh, you’re awake?”

That chilling voice she had heard before collapsing. Kine immediately tried to get up and flee.

Clank!

She tried to turn her body quickly, but restraints were already attached to the bed. Her legs and abdomen were tied to the bed with straps.

“Don’t worry. This isn’t a hospital, but we found internal bleeding caused by spirit poison, so we used hemostatic agents and performed emergency surgery.”

Realizing she couldn’t escape, Kine glared at the narrow-eyed man.

“Well! Nice to meet you. I should introduce myself first. For now, please just call me the Director of the Divine Investigation Office.”

Divine Investigation Office. Kine repeated the name. A transparently blasphemous name with clear intentions to track down religious orders—

“Let me clarify in advance. Blasphemia doesn’t use such names. They refer to all faiths as ‘superstitions.’ If we were Blasphemia, we would probably use a name like ‘Special Superstition Investigation Unit’ or something similar.”

“…What?”

Kine spoke for the first time since regaining consciousness.

“Haha. You’re probably thinking something like this: ‘Sikton made a secret pact with Blasphemia. Sikton betrayed the Order, and Blasphemia disposed of Sikton after he was no longer useful.’ Am I right?”

Though Kine chose silence to avoid giving away any clues, the narrow-eyed man nodded without hesitation.

“I’m right. Then you must also be thinking…”

***

“What on earth is the celestial Bacchus doing? Why couldn’t the god my family so fervently believed in save anyone from that catastrophe?”

Kine’s body trembled.

It must feel somewhat creepy. To have thoughts you haven’t even voiced aloud read by someone else.

“Just to be clear, I’ve never used any mental magic to manipulate your brain or thoughts.”

The stories were based on the original work’s narrative, so they were quite similar.

“Kine, you were disappointed in Bacchus, and you wanted revenge on Blasphemia and the Ten Towers for annihilating your order. But, oh my, you’re critically lacking something.”

“Who are you?”

I deliberately didn’t answer. She would find out everything when it was time to sign the contract.

“The means for revenge. Since your inherent divine power isn’t sufficient, I think you were planning to choose magic. Am I right?”

I’m probably correct. Kine, who was originally a Bacchus believer, appears as a magician in the original work.

And not just any magician, but a Refiner of the Ten Towers.

In Part 1, the Demon King aims to restore his past powers by contacting the Ten Realms. And in each episode where he targets a realm of the Ten Towers, he meets one key helper.

Most of these helpers join the Demon King and become part of the protagonist’s group. Not all companions stay—some betray and die as one-time characters at the end of episodes. There were even artificial intelligences among them, not just people.

Astraphe, who had been captured by the slave trader Kriton, was one such “Ten Realms helper” who joined the group as a heroine.

One helper per realm. The only exception to this rule was the final enemy of Part 1.

Baekmumeong, or rather, Karisia.

She remained the protagonist’s adversary from beginning to end.

Kine could be considered somewhere between Astraphe and Karisia. If pressed, she’s closer to Astraphe since she ultimately joins the Demon King’s companions.

Described in the original work as “a girl magician with two left hands,” she was learning magic while hiding her dream of bringing down the Ten Towers.

Kine’s characteristic was being a magician who hated magicians. A former believer who once had faith but thought she had been abandoned by her god. It was quite surprising that she was a Bacchus believer, as the exact deity she had worshipped wasn’t properly described in the original.

It was ironic that she belonged to the Ten Towers she wanted to destroy, but the Ten Towers were where the most diverse and powerful magic was taught, so she hid her anger and cultivated her power.

And when the Demon King arrives, she plays a crucial role in his contact with the Dark Ten Realms.

Initially telling the Demon King, “You’re just an evil magician too, but I’ll cooperate for the destruction of the more evil Ten Towers,” she eventually becomes his companion and joins his journey.

Karisia’s… no, my best future plan is to destroy only the White Light Ten Realms and disappear while the protagonist and the Ten Towers clash in 2077.

So the balance between the protagonist and the Ten Towers must be maintained. In the original work, the protagonist moved too quickly. Karisia hadn’t even begun her full-scale actions when the protagonist was already reaching for the White Light Ten Realms.

If I can reduce the number of people who would become the protagonist’s helpers even slightly, his pace might slow down.

***

Kine felt her whole body trembling.

She desperately tried to convince herself that what she was feeling was “anger,” but she knew better than anyone that it wasn’t.

This was fear.

Everything the narrow-eyed man had said with a smile matched her own thoughts.

But they were thoughts like uncut gems, still dormant within her bubbling sense of betrayal toward Sikton and resentment toward Bacchus, not yet fully formed.

This narrow-eyed man had understood her heart faster than she herself had.

Kine began to wonder if these thoughts were truly “her own.”

Perhaps this man had planted such ideas in her mind.

What was truly terrifying was the rising feeling that she didn’t care either way.

It was her inner self, willing to accept it even if this person was implanting anger and resentment to use her as some kind of tool, as long as she could have revenge on the Ten Towers.

If she hadn’t learned how to observe emotions by watching the adults of the Bacchus Order, she might have right now…

“Let me correct a few facts.”

The man continued speaking, regardless of Kine’s fear. Somehow, she couldn’t look away from those eerily shining narrow eyes.

“First, we don’t yet know who was behind Sikton. It’s probably not Blasphemia. According to our check of the Blasphemia database a few days ago, they didn’t pay much attention to your group.”

“…”

The man gave an even deeper smile to the silent Kine.

“Of course, it wasn’t us either. We went there to search for an employee who went missing during a business trip to your area.”

“Employee? You mean a company?”

“Yes, Kine. We suspect there might be a third party connected to Sikton.”

The narrow-eyed man’s muttered words, “To be precise, not ‘we’ but ‘I’,” didn’t quite reach her ears. Only the question “why” filled her mind.

Why would he crystallize her anger and resentment, then tell her it wasn’t true?

Why was he revealing everything instead of burying the truth in darkness?

“Let’s return to the topic of magic. Kine, we are willing to fully support you if you wish to learn magic.”

“W-why?”

“Because of your talent, of course. You might need to learn how to conceal your divine power or abandon your faith, but you have talent. Talent that even the Ten Towers would covet.”

Snap. Ortes snapped his fingers.

Images were projected onto the white walls of the room. They showed people encased in capsules. All were people Kine knew.

“You have a natural talent for the Dark arts, particularly necromancy. You might even be able to call back the souls of those people who are now brain-dead.”

That struck something deeper within Kine. Within the seeds of resentment and anger, there bloomed a flower called revenge.

But examining the soil where those seeds had taken root, it was grief.

Grief from wanting to see the lost ones again. An emotion more primal than passion.

***

‘Kine only realized that such grief was at the foundation of her psyche after fighting the Dark Magic Tower.’

But that mustn’t happen. Before any misplaced anger is directed at Hydra Company, the misunderstanding must be cleared up. If she harbors vengeful feelings toward our company and then meets the protagonist, it would be disastrous.

I want our corporate scholarship student to be filled with pride and self-respect for Hydra Company.

With abundant company loyalty, shouting “When I grow up, I want to join Hydra Company!” while being bossed around by Karisia…

No. I hope to gain a capable successor who will assist Karisia.

I extended my hand to Kine.

***

“Complete resurrection is nearly impossible.”

“But don’t you want to see them again?”

“Don’t you want to say your final goodbyes?”

Kine shed tears. And she realized why the narrow-eyed man had drawn out her desire for revenge, only to disperse it.

It was to put a leash on her.

A leash named hope. The hope of meeting them again to soothe her grief.

“To meet everyone again…”

She looked at the outstretched hand. Taking that hand meant selling her future to this person. But she couldn’t refuse.

Because she couldn’t possibly ignore the grief that filled her heart.

“Don’t you want power?”

Kine took Ortes’s hand.

She accepted the leash.