Ch.41Corporate Scholar (2)

Before the formal meeting where other directors would gather, Carisia was having a private audience with Ortes.

“The brain-dead bodies have been placed in preservation capsules, and the corpses of Sikton and Dimedes were sent to Divius’s operating room for detailed analysis…”

Tap, tap, tap. Carisia’s right index finger drummed on the armrest of her chair.

“Is something wrong?”

“I understand the other parts, but why are we preserving the brain-dead followers of the Bacchus Order?”

“As I mentioned, it’s a measure to recruit the child we found on site. The child has sufficient talent.”

“You said talent in dark magic.”

Ortes nodded. He already knew that Carisia had been watching his conversation with Kine through the screen.

“The child would likely stand out even if sent to Elysion immediately.”

“What about holy power? Having been born and raised in the Bacchus Order, wouldn’t the child have considerable talent?”

“That would be difficult. This child directly witnessed Order members dying after being betrayed by a friend. Holy power requires faith, and it would be hard to restore belief in Bacchus.”

Ortes’s response was smooth and unhesitating.

Carisia pouted. Is collecting magically talented people his hobby?

“Is that really ‘recruitment’?”

“Pardon?”

“Listening to you, it sounds more like a devil’s temptation. The child looked like they were about to faint.”

“That’s not possible.”

Ortes shrugged once and continued. It was truly an eloquent excuse.

“I merely informed the child in detail about their inner self before they resolved to seek revenge. You know well how difficult it is to take revenge against such a massive entity, don’t you, President?”

That was certainly true. Even Carisia, who could confidently claim to surpass anyone of this era in magical talent, would be at a disadvantage in a fight against the Ten Towers.

That’s why she was going through the trouble of creating and managing this company to overturn that gap.

“I understand the situation. I’ve entrusted you with full authority regarding holy investigations and our objectives. Do as you wish.”

Ortes bowed deeply. Carisia waved her hand to indicate such formality wasn’t necessary and murmured softly.

“Let’s have the damage and achievement report in an hour. I’m counting on you.”

If she went down to the conference room now, everything would be thoroughly prepared as usual. From gathering the directors to summoning external personnel like Kaicle and Gerryones. Everything needed would be perfect.

“Haaa…”

Carisia stretched and thought.

If you prepared those vegetative Bacchus Order members to bind Kine, what have you prepared to bind me?

What would it take to bind you?

***

I looked around at those attending the meeting. Noiro had subtly expressed his intention to skip, claiming fatigue.

Since I had accompanied both the hunt for Dimedes and the exploration of the Bacchus Order’s base, I alone could provide the field report. I offered a few words of empty praise, telling him he’d worked hard and should get some rest.

Gerryones wore an expression suggesting he didn’t understand why he’d been summoned. It was to fabricate the situation that Dimedes had died in battle with the magic towers of Etna City.

Kaicle’s expression was filled with anticipation. He had rushed over upon hearing that relics from the Order had been secured.

Everyone waits, seated according to their protocol rank. From far away comes the sound of footsteps: click, click, click.

I open the door at the calculated time. Carisia stands before me.

I follow her into the conference room.

Carisia, seated at the head position, opened her mouth.

“Then, let us begin the achievement report meeting regarding the investigation of the Bacchus Order.”

***

“First, I must inform you of an important matter. The death of former director Dimedes has been confirmed.”

The news delivered by Ortes, who was in charge of the presentation, was shocking from the very first sentence.

“Former director Dimedes, along with 30 beast tamers and 120 magical beasts, have all been annihilated. The circumstances, condition of the bodies, and processing of beast byproducts are summarized on the next page of the report.”

The half-spirit Mekonion had little interest in such tedious meetings. Rather than hitting, breaking, and killing, intense pleasure was what she pursued.

The reason Mekonion willingly participated in the meeting was because she wanted to see the items from the Bacchus Order, the god of pleasure and entertainment.

After the briefing on the cause of Dimedes’ death concluded, and around the time opinions were being raised about staging it to look like Gerryones had killed Dimedes, Mekonion raised her hand.

“Yes, Director Mekonion.”

“So. What did you bring back? Is there anything that could help with my work?”

“There are some things…”

Ortes manipulated the hologram image. Several bunches of grapes and what looked like seeds appeared.

“These are grape varieties cultivated by their Order. Interestingly, they grow well underground even with minimal light.”

“Are there… no other relics imbued with holy power?” Kaicle asked carefully from his specially large chair.

“There are a few, but neither the high priest’s ceremonial robes nor the golden chalice used in rituals retained particularly strong power.”

“Still better than nothing,” muttered Divius, who had been summoned while in the middle of dissecting Dimedes.

It was skepticism born from seeing too many fake trinkets claimed to be divine relics while working at Blasphemia.

“For now, I’ll ask you to research extracting holy power from Bacchus’s relics.”

Kaicle nodded at Ortes’s order.

What was lost in the Bacchus Order expedition: Dimedes and his organization. What was gained: a handful of relics imbued with holy power.

“The losses are significant…”

Arabelle was the first among the directors to complete the profit-loss calculation. The other directors tacitly agreed with her assessment. Who would have thought that going to investigate a declining order would result in one of Hydra Company’s heads completely evaporating?

They said it was a series of coincidences that led to this result, but the perceived risk of “holy investigation” work suddenly increased.

“For now.”

Carisia’s golden eyes gleamed.

“The vacant position on the board of directors will remain unfilled. Henceforth, personnel assignments for holy investigation work must be reviewed and approved by the head of the Holy Investigation Department.”

With that, the meeting was largely concluded. Dimedes was dead, and the reason would be disguised as a conflict with Gerryones’ side. Kaicle would take charge of investigating the relics imbued with holy power.

The byproducts from Dimedes’ beasts and chimeras were currently being processed by the Hunters’ Association. Mekonion’s garden would receive the Bacchus grapevines as a gift.

Just as everyone thought Carisia would declare the meeting over, an unexpected statement was heard.

“And I intend to send a survivor from the Bacchus Order to Elysion as a corporate scholarship student of Hydra Company.”

***

Elysion. The paradise of magicians.

It was located exactly in the center of a decagon formed by using the locations of the Ten Towers as vertices.

Elysion, where the Magic King was said to have ascended, was nothing short of a holy land for magicians. It was a place where the purest mana in the world continuously welled up, and being connected to all Ten Towers’ ether networks, magical news gathered there fastest.

Due to its central position in the Ten Realms, the atmospheric mana was not biased toward any attribute, making Elysion the center for various magical explorations.

In precise magical experiments or large-scale tests, the bias of external mana attributes was a very troublesome variable to calculate.

However, Elysion was filled with mana that was “uniformly balanced in all attribute forces,” something that existed only in theory elsewhere.

Owing to this quality, Elysion was typically the venue for competitions or examinations of a certain scale and prestige, such as Magic Tower promotion reviews or registration exams for formal Magic Towers. Only events where magical attributes were prominent, like the Flame Magic Contest or the Eternal Snow Research Regular Conference, were exceptions.

With so many magicians gathering, core facilities affecting multiple towers, such as the central exchange for promoted Magic Towers or the Magic Patent Management Office, were naturally built in Elysion.

And among those facilities, the place that most towers paid attention to was…

“I intend to write a letter of recommendation for admission to the Mouseion Academy.”

The Mouseion Academy. A cradle for geniuses with a strictly recommendation-based admission system. The pinnacle of all magical educational institutions, where one could only apply for the entrance exam with a recommendation from a Magic Tower.

“Grrrr…”

A low growl escaped from the mouth of Taros, the representative of Etna City’s mutants. The sigh of the half-dragon giant, whose entire body was covered in bronze scales, had the effect of instantly cooling the atmosphere.

“Director Taros. Please speak.”

With Carisia’s permission to speak, the acquired half-dragon Taros seemed to have difficulty pronouncing words, gurgling several times to adjust his voice. Finally, he slowly opened his mouth.

“Mouseion’s, admission period—”

“Has already passed, is that what you’re saying?”

It was Ortes who completed Taros’s sentence. Taros slowly nodded in affirmation.

Ortes was quite surprised that Taros was aware of something like a school’s admission period.

‘Not a practical question like how to hide holy power.’

He had thought Taros cared about nothing except looking after people who had become mutants.

‘Perhaps he had children?’

It was curious to hear such an unexpected remark from someone who, in the original work, had no characterization beyond being an enemy with monstrous strength.

“Indeed, Mouseion’s regular admission period has already passed. However, students with recommendations from Magic Towers of some renown can take a mid-term transfer exam. It’s held about once every three months, and since this month is the Month of Fire… next month, the Month of Ice, there will be one.”

Suddenly feeling ominous, Arabelle asked.

“Renown…?”

“Yes. That is.”

Ortes smiled.

“As long as we accumulate enough achievements to pass the Magic Tower promotion review paperwork. Directors who haven’t been assigned Holy Investigation Department work for the time being, please focus on capturing Magic Tower wanted criminals. That’s easier than building up magical research achievements.”

***

Dimedes died without catching criminals, so it’s hard to pass the Magic Tower promotion review paperwork?

Just make up an excuse and assign it to other directors.

I rejoiced at finally being able to pass off work and take a short break.

***

The gathered directors interpreted Ortes’s smile differently.

It was Ortes’s declaration that “I’ll handle holy investigations alone since you all are no help,” showing his great disappointment in the directors’ “abilities” after Dimedes’s sudden death.

Arabelle clicked her tongue at Ortes’s perfectionism.

‘Look at him trying to handle everything related to the president himself…’