Ch.54The King of Chaos (2)

I can’t accept this.

‘Really? You’re the best at deceiving others, yet you say that?’

Kine snorted, unable to contain her rising anger.

“Then what? Are you saying it’s also a lie that Argyrion planted gifts in the Order’s people?”

“Ah, that’s actually true. They found a gift in Sikton’s brain. Didn’t you hear?”

This was the first I’d heard of it.

“Why are you only telling me this now!”

“I apologize. You were busy learning to control your divine power, and I forgot I was going to tell you after you finished.”

Ortes shrugged. His words expressed apology, but his attitude showed none. It was clear that withholding this information until now was deliberate control.

‘He probably prevented any unexpected situations in case I tried to rush off for revenge. Now that I’m right beside him, he thinks he can control me.’

Kine continued to fume while following Ortes. It was obvious she’d be caught if she tried to run off to eliminate Argyrion right now.

‘…And my family’s capsule is at Hydra Company too.’

Suddenly, melancholy washed over her again.

***

‘Why is everyone suddenly looking at Carisia like she’s some kind of deity…?’

Returning to the award evaluation hall, I was bewildered by the shower of gazes directed at Carisia.

Looking at the automaton sprawled in front of the entrance and a corpse, I could roughly guess what had happened.

The admissions officer, seeing me return with Kine, kept bowing his head. I waved back in response and immediately approached Carisia.

The crowd was staring at Carisia but dared not approach her. The reverence in their eyes suggested what abilities she must have demonstrated here.

Still, it would be better to hear directly.

“Ma’am, what happened here?”

“You’re late, aren’t you?”

Such a kind reprimand right after returning. The boss is certainly strict about punctuality.

I looked around at the group I had sent ahead to the award hall. Neither Niobe nor the admissions officer knew about my relationship with Carisia. Therefore, they wouldn’t think to explain the situation to Carisia on my behalf.

Ah, as a Blasphemia agent, Niobe might know that Carisia is Ortes’s superior if she’d done thorough information gathering. But that was meaningless since she thought I was an inspector disguised as Ortes.

But you, Lampades, you’re different, aren’t you?

I turned my head toward Lampades. Just say “that friend had something come up and will be a bit late,” that’s all.

Receiving my gaze, Lampades suddenly shook his head. What is he denying?

Behind Lampades, I could see his Magic Tower people comforting each other. They were surrounding Astrape, apparently concerned about the youngest magician of the tower.

‘I see. He was too busy taking care of his people to have time to speak with Carisia.’

If that’s the case, it can’t be helped. I nodded to indicate that it was fine.

***

Upon arriving at the award evaluation hall, Lampades was thinking about Ortes.

‘Ortes clearly said he was attending as the chief secretary of Hydra Company.’

But how did the Mouseion admissions officer refer to him?

‘Rescue team leader. And even that little magician who’s actually from the emergency rescue team didn’t deny it.’

Could someone who came to participate in the award evaluation simultaneously be a rescue team leader?

If the rescue team had been an existing position, it might be forcibly acceptable. But this was an “emergency” rescue team. Literally personnel that would have been hastily assembled and dispatched after this terror incident occurred.

It would be impossible to hold both positions.

The words of the shabby man who had been emitting ominous aura confused Lampades even more. The unfamiliar word “Blasphemia.”

It seemed like something he had heard briefly during a confidential request once. Could this be a clue to discovering Ortes’s true identity?

Lost in thought, Lampades suddenly noticed Ortes had returned and was looking at him.

A gaze directed solely at him, not at the others who had escaped from the Mouseion admissions office. Lampades was the only one who knew about the relationship between Carisia and Ortes.

It was clearly a silent interrogation asking if he had told Carisia about Ortes’s various identities and different faces.

Lampades shook his head with all his heart. It was a declaration that he hadn’t said anything.

In a state of extreme tension and concentration, Lampades noticed that Ortes’s gaze had changed slightly. This wasn’t about the atmosphere, but something physical.

The direction of the pupils gleaming under the eyelids had shifted ever so slightly.

And that gleam was directed at the Magic Tower members behind him.

Whether it was a warning about the price to pay for speaking carelessly, or stemmed from greed for talent needed by Hydra Company, he couldn’t tell.

Eventually, Ortes smiled and nodded.

Lampades found hope in that interrogation.

‘Ortes is hiding his identity even from his own boss. He must have judged it’s not yet time to reveal his true self. Then there must be a significant difference in character between the Hydra Company president and Ortes…!’

***

Carisia was listening to Ortes’s hushed explanation, or rather, his whisper.

She liked the voice whispering in her ear.

“I’ll explain the details after we return to Etna City. For now, just know that we’ve obtained an effective countermeasure against the terrorist organization Argyrion.”

As soon as he was told he was late, Ortes reported as concisely as possible what had happened during his absence.

‘I only said that because everyone else was here except you.’

With his extremely businesslike attitude, Carisia shook her head.

“So, what happened on your end, ma’am?”

“A magician from Argyrion attacked directly, and I took him down. I didn’t expect them to come all the way to the evaluation hall.”

Ortes frowned as if perplexed. It was such a subtle change that only someone familiar with Ortes’s expressions, like Carisia, would notice.

“Didn’t the crystal give you a warning?”

“No. The crystal didn’t show any premonitions. I felt the barrier trembling, so I was prepared. As soon as he broke through, I captured him with a preemptive strike.”

Carisia briefly explained the battle. She had isolated herself and the Argyrion magician within a temporary barrier created by releasing magical power, then defeated him with a curse that kills upon sight.

“…A curse that kills upon sight?”

“Ah, given its operating mechanism, it wouldn’t work on higher-level Infected or stronger magicians. There’s the issue of how to penetrate the magical field, and it’s pointless if they can regenerate after having their brain burned, so…”

At this point, Ortes realized why Phoibos’s crystal hadn’t worked.

It warns of dangers approaching in the future.

‘The Argyrion magician wasn’t even close to being a threat to Carisia!’

How could it be a threat or crisis when the opponent fought well but collapsed after one look at Carisia? Ortes let out a laugh at the absurd magical capability, then asked seriously:

“The situation seems to be ending soon. Shall we head to Etna City right away?”

“Yes. The Ten Towers probably won’t show interest just because we took down one magician, but let’s return quickly just in case.”

“Then I’ll finish up the remaining matters here and come back.”

***

The first person I approached was Niobe. She seemed surprisingly suited to the emergency rescue team role, skillfully administering magic ampules and providing first aid to those who had depleted their magical power.

“Miss Niobe.”

“Ah, senior. What about that child?”

She opened her hand, pointing in Kine’s direction. Kine was chattering about something to Carisia.

“That’s a relief… But what’s going on?”

Seeing that the emergency treatment for the patients was mostly complete, I handed Niobe a piece of paper. It contained instructions to memorize the contents, including future papers, and then burn them.

Niobe looked at me with a stern face.

“Relax your expression, Miss Niobe. You should always maintain a bright face wherever you are.”

“I see. So senior always smiles to make it difficult to read your emotions…!”

That wasn’t really it; I just developed the habit of approaching people with a smile because others were so wary of me.

But there was no need to correct her if she thought I was an exemplary senior agent.

I took out another memo and wrote down what I had deduced on the spot.

<There are apocalyptic cultists within the Ten Towers who are in league with Argyrion.>

This was more fact than conjecture. The fire-wielding magician who fought Niobe was from that faction. Most of the other content was also close to fact.

<Blasphemia is no exception. Remember Nardanit.>

<Be especially cautious of operations to eliminate Argyrion. They may be traps disguised as elimination operations.>

Adding to the fact that a traitor had been discovered, I inferred that there were more traitors.

<Do not trust the existing reporting system. If you discover suspected collaborators, find an opportunity to speak directly to the Audit Office Director or send to L13’s email address.>

The final conclusion outlined measures to overcome the crisis.

But would it be easier for a mere agent to contact the Audit Office Director, or to contact a somewhat close senior?

Moreover, the Audit Office Director has multiple email addresses. Besides the public reporting account known to regular agents, there’s a separate account for true emergencies.

The urgent contact account was the one I used to send a report through Arabel after defeating Nardanit. In situations like this, managing the urgent contact account would be challenging enough, let alone the public reporting account that Niobe would know about.

Niobe read all the messages and nodded.

With this, all possible countermeasures against Argyrion had been prepared.

Niobe is a regular agent. She might not access classified information, but she knows enough about Blasphemia’s general operational patterns.

If the Divine Light Order starts tracking Argyrion, they’ll contact me, so I’ve established channels with both the Divine Light Order and Blasphemia.

‘By leaking information from both sides to each other, I can somewhat control their actions.’

In other words, a three-way division of power between Argyrion, Blasphemia, and the Divine Light Order.

I felt deeply grateful to the exemplary super-employee Zhuge Kongming, who made his employer come looking for him three times.