Ch.44Rest? (3)

“What do you mean?”

The president asked softly. His gentle tone made me all the more wary. He was someone the Director of Divine Investigation “served.” How could I not be cautious?

Carisia could easily read the fear of Ortes in Kine’s eyes, even as she trembled while trying her best to appear confident.

‘Really, this is…’

Sighing inwardly, Carisia gestured to Ortes.

“Yes, President.”

“Please step outside for a moment.”

“Pardon?”

Despite Ortes’s questioning response, Carisia gave no reply. Ortes knew that Carisia’s resolve was absolutely firm at times like this.

“Well then, Miss Kine. I hope you have a pleasant conversation with the President.”

Leaving behind a greeting with a thoroughly suspicious expression, Ortes left the hospital room. Now only Kine and Carisia remained. Carisia snapped her fingers.

Complex magical formations wrapped around every surface of the room. From floor to ceiling, completely. The golden glowing magical formations reflected in Kine’s eyes.

‘Normally, there’s no need to show the magical formations.’

But showing them visually would help this poor child feel more at ease.

“Now the Director of Divine Investigation can’t hear what we say in this room.”

“What?”

Carisia shrugged her shoulders.

“Miss Kine. Director of Divine Investigation Ortes has great expectations for your talent.”

“I… know.”

“No. You don’t know. Ortes seriously believes that you might become a main force in the fight against the Ten Towers.”

Kine wondered when Ortes had seen her to develop such strong conviction. But such minor questions were far outweighed by resignation and despair.

‘Heheheh. If you want to get your family’s corpses back, you’ll need to perform well on this mission.’

In Kine’s imagination, Ortes was muttering such words while sending her off to war against the Ten Towers.

“Is that why they collected all the bodies from the Order? To release them one by one whenever I achieve results in battle? You don’t need to put a leash on me like that…!”

Carisia was confused whether to sigh or burst into laughter.

‘Yes. When Ortes’s way with words combines with his impression, it sometimes brings about disastrous results.’

“At the very least, I have no intention of handling you in such a manner.”

This statement was hard to believe coming from the president of the company where Ortes, who had tempted her like a devil, worked. Kine looked up at Carisia, dumbfounded.

“Honestly. The Ten Towers are powerful. As you said, the passive will of someone on a ‘leash’ would only get in the way.”

Until now, Kine had felt aversion toward a future where she would be dragged into battle while on a leash. But somehow, she felt the same aversion now when Carisia was saying “you are not needed in the fight against the Ten Towers.”

That was natural. Yesterday, Ortes had only made Kine directly recognize the sadness within her that she herself hadn’t known.

Kine had never had an opportunity to resolve or erase her desire for revenge.

Her desire for revenge against the Ten Towers, who had forced the Bakos Order to wander the world in escape, had merely been obscured by her grief because it was smaller in magnitude—not because it had disappeared.

“So I want to offer you an opportunity.”

“An opportunity?”

“The opportunity to choose whether you’ll simply be a corporate scholarship student of Hydra Company, or whether you’ll truly join hands with us. If you choose to remain an ordinary corporate scholarship student, it will be enough for you to achieve results at Museion and become our advertisement.”

She added that even in this case, the bodies of Kine’s family would be properly preserved and transferred to Kine at a later date. Kine waited nervously for the next explanation.

“However. If you truly wish to join hands with us to confront the Ten Towers, Miss Kine, you must risk your life. At the same time, we will prepare appropriate compensation for your efforts.”

Life—Kine pronounced the word in her mouth.

The conversation with Carisia was unusual. Despite discussing the risk to her life more directly than during her conversation with Ortes, somehow it felt more trustworthy.

Was it because, unlike those suspicious squinting eyes that revealed no intentions, this was someone she could properly communicate with?

Perhaps that was part of the reason. Kine calmed her agitation and thought carefully.

Ah.

The reason she trusted Carisia more than Ortes was simple. The situation when Carisia sent Ortes out.

The implication behind the words, ‘At the very least, I have no intention of handling you in such a manner.’ Carisia had emphasized that her intentions differed from Ortes’s.

This suggested a secret opposition between the two. If Ortes was completely trusted by the president, there would be no reason for the president to pursue a different course than Ortes.

Kine thought that while Carisia might not be her ally, she was more trustworthy than Ortes.

Carisia looked at Kine and thought.

‘Sometimes there are people like this… hmm.’

‘People with innocent minds.’

***

After waiting outside for about 30 minutes, Carisia emerged from Kine’s hospital room.

“How did it go?”

“I decided to give her a grace period. To decide whether she’ll simply study at Museion as Hydra Company’s corporate scholarship student and then get employed, or whether she’ll truly stand against the Ten Towers.”

“It would be difficult to grasp the true power of the Ten Towers just by thinking alone.”

“That’s why I plan to take her to the listing examination. She needs to see with her own eyes what kind of beings those she vowed to take revenge against truly are.”

I found Carisia’s attitude quite interesting.

These were generous terms, hard to imagine from an evil boss who had been squeezing her employees until now.

Given how she treats me, I would have expected her to start one-on-one magic tutoring from today, finishing the basics in a day and making her self-study until bedtime.

“Did something happen?”

“She’s not the first to rush in vowing revenge against the Ten Towers.”

It seemed that a sense of kinship as avengers had drawn this unusual response from Carisia.

“I at least had you, but that child has nothing.”

Carisia’s empty flattery. I just laughed it off. It’s hard to claim that I was of help to Carisia. She was a complete magician from the beginning.

“Now I can finally get some rest.”

“Yes. Me too.”

“Pardon?”

At my question, Carisia stared at me. Her golden eyes felt particularly piercing today.

Spending a holiday with my boss? President, that’s a bit harsh…

…I didn’t have the courage to say that. After rubbing my temple once, I headed toward my room.

I heard Carisia’s footsteps following behind me.

I don’t know. Maybe I’ll just finish organizing the list of Magic Tower fugitives by distance that I planned to do today, then think about it.

No, I should also handle the distribution of compatible fugitives according to the directors’ organizational structure.

***

While Ortes sat at his desk in his room engaging in paperwork—a hobby he denied having—Carisia watched him from Ortes’s bed.

Without turning around, Ortes asked as he manipulated holograms and typed.

“President. Do you find this kind of spectating entertaining?”

“Yes. Very much.”

Ortes sighed. Do high-ranking people get a dopamine rush from watching their subordinates work?

Soon Ortes changed his mind. Since Carisia had come to his room anyway, he should consult with her about future action plans.

“After the listing examination, if the conflict between the Blasphemia rebels and the Ten Towers intensifies, we can take advantage of the situation to proceed with divine investigations more smoothly.”

“We’re not the only ones thinking that way.”

The Shinmyeong Order. Carisia was wary of the movements of the ancient order buried in history.

Although she wasn’t sure exactly what plans they had, it was inevitable that they would eventually clash with Hydra Company, which was collecting divine artifacts.

“How should we act when we encounter them?”

“Do as you see fit.”

Carisia answered without hesitation. From her perspective, it was natural. Ortes’s choices were always the best.

Ortes wanted to hold back tears at that answer. He had expected at least some work guidelines. Starting from scratch again, it seems.

‘Someday when employees join the Divine Investigation Department, I’ll really delegate everything and just sign documents.’

After completing customized response plans based on the directors’ organizational capabilities using fugitive information, Ortes immediately uploaded it to Hydra Company’s internal ether network.

Reviewing the uploaded documents once more, Ortes smiled with satisfaction.

It was pride in being a kind office worker who, unlike Carisia, prepared specific work guidelines.

It was a smile that didn’t consider how the work guidelines uploaded under the name of the Director of Divine Investigation on a holiday would be received by the directors.

***

The list assigned to Arabel, filled with ether space criminals matching her abilities, was several times longer than the lists of other directors.

It was an assignment considering that while other criminals needed to be tracked in physical reality, the criminals Arabel had to catch could be captured through hacking within the ether space.

“Aaaaargh! Come on! On a holiday!”

Arabel despaired at the workload assigned to her.