Ch.67Negotiation (3)

Lampades managed to push Ortes back with difficulty. It was a margin he had gained after carefully packaging his request for more time in various ways.

The Thunder Pearl was incredibly dangerous. But as dangerous as it was, it was equally powerful.

“A gift for Astrape…”

Typically, when a powerful artifact is gifted to a magic tower, the tower’s most exceptional mage—the Tower Master—is selected as its user.

However, Ortes had declared it was “for Astrape.”

‘…There’s an intention behind this.’

It couldn’t be something as ridiculous as simply wanting to enhance Astrape’s magical capabilities.

Yet Lampades couldn’t begin to guess what the reason might be. He had analyzed whether the Thunder Pearl contained some hidden mind-control magic, but no such trap was discovered.

“Come to think of it, Astrape did say something strange.”

I should hear the story. Lampades summoned Astrape.

***

In the reception room where I had come down to wait, coffee and biscuits had been thoughtfully prepared.

As I sat munching on snacks, I heard footsteps approaching from afar. That distinctive sound of heels. Judging by the volume and the weight it suggested, it had to be Lampades.

He had a strangely fatigued complexion.

“…I know this might sound odd, but let me ask you something.”

“Yes. I’ll tell you whatever I can answer.”

“Are you truly unacquainted with Astrape’s mother?”

I nearly dropped the coffee cup I was holding.

Wait, why is this topic coming up again here?

Lampades slowly began to speak.

“Astrape says she lived with her mother in Etna City. At least as far back as her earliest memories.”

Her mother was an exceptional mage who taught Astrape the basics of magic but instructed her to keep her abilities hidden as much as possible. And she told her…

“That even though they were living in hardship, someday her father or her father’s friends would come to help them?”

“That’s right.”

I shook my head. The timing was remarkably coincidental, but I was no Daddy Long Legs figure.

Astrape’s escape from Torres Magic Tower wasn’t the result of goodwill but of chance and calculation. It was unfortunate for a child longing for family, but I had no connection whatsoever to Astrape’s past.

“I saw the pendant that Astrape says her mother left her. It was engraved with a symbol that anyone who studies lightning magic and its history would recognize.”

“Oh. If there’s such a marker, perhaps she could find her father. That’s fortunate.”

While I was verbally agreeing, my mind grew complicated. Damn, if Astrape flies away like this, I’ll have fewer means to persuade Lampades.

“No. She can’t find him. The tower is already gone.”

“Gone?”

Why would anyone remember a fallen magic tower? I tried to recall the list of collapsed towers that had been renowned or had created special magic.

Among the towers that dealt with lightning magic…

“Manubia. Those who once challenged the Imperial Thunder.”

I recalled a description from the original work about how the “Thunder Talisman” had the highest compatibility with young Astrape, who hadn’t even undergone proper modification surgery yet. Even compared to the Tower Master of Torres Magic Tower, who was vastly superior to Astrape in magical capacity at that time.

Wait a minute?

***

Lampades observed Ortes’s reaction. The moment he brought up the topic, Ortes’s hand holding the coffee cup trembled.

It was a level of agitation that the usual Ortes would never have shown. Lampades was certain that Ortes knew something about Astrape’s past and the Manubia Magic Tower.

Ortes stroked his chin and asked back.

“Isn’t the fall of Manubia Magic Tower an ancient story? Even its last Tower Master must have lived over 1,000 years ago according to records.”

“Indeed. The final Tower Master of Manubia… Thunder Lord Keranos’s last movements are unclear. He relocated his base several times with the tower’s magical core, eventually disappeared, and the name of Manubia Tower vanished from history. I suspect Astrape’s father might have been a distant descendant of a mage who escaped during Manubia’s collapse.”

Ortes gave a hollow laugh. He had already experienced to the bone on Crete Island that the original work didn’t contain all the truths of this world.

But to think there was such a secret history behind Astrape’s compatibility with the Thunder Talisman. It was truly unexpected even for Ortes.

‘I just thought she had incredible talent because she was the protagonist.’

“If that’s the case, Astrape would be the only mage carrying on the academic tradition of Manubia Tower. Lampades, she’s material that will not only inherit your magic but make it flourish further.”

“Yes. That’s right…”

Lampades turned his head briefly and took a deep breath. ‘Thunder Lord’ and ‘Thunder Pearl.’ It was impossible not to notice the connection between these names.

Ortes’s pretense of not noticing even that much was clearly a poker face to hide his bewilderment. His unusual reaction when hearing about Astrape’s mother was telling.

In fact, Lampades hadn’t told Ortes everything that Astrape had shared with him.

The part he omitted was Astrape’s account of when she was captured by Torres Tower’s slave traders. The unbelievable testimony that Ortes had been searching for her.

Lampades couldn’t even imagine Ortes making an effort to save someone.

‘Let’s think about why Ortes would act that way.’

Two reasons came to Lampades’s mind. One ominous, one uncertain.

The ominous reason was obviously a scheme to use Astrape. If so, Ortes must have a very close connection to the cause of Astrape’s father’s disappearance or…

He might be the cause itself.

Was it coincidence that Hydra Corporation was established in Etna City where Astrape and her mother lived?

Was it coincidence that Ortes was waiting on the very day Astrape came to Elysion?

…There were too many suspicious clues.

On the other hand, the uncertain reason.

‘Is Ortes Astrape’s father?’

Lampades recalled Ortes at Elysion. He had shown a human-like intimacy toward Carisia that was hard to believe for the “Faceless Ortes.”

Ortes seemed to show explosive trust to those within his boundaries. The criteria for those boundaries were just incredibly strict.

‘I heard he didn’t threaten Astrape while waiting in the lobby either. If Astrape is within Ortes’s boundaries…’

The reason for giving the Thunder Pearl while revealing it was an excavated item from Torres Tower changes. Not to use its origin as a leash to control Lampades, but as a safeguard to prevent Lampades from potentially exploiting Astrape.

Lampades had thought Ortes was “a man incapable of creating a family,” but in this strange situation, he couldn’t help but doubt.

After all, wasn’t he bringing the final relic of Manubia Tower to the last mage inheriting Manubia’s tradition?

How could an outsider know that Astrape had inherited Manubia’s academic lineage? The only answer Lampades could think of was that “he had known Astrape from the past.”

The Thunder Pearl was far too valuable an artifact to be used merely as a leash.

Yet to think of it as pure goodwill was difficult, considering the giver was Ortes.

Lampades organized his thoughts amid the confusion. Either way, Ortes intended to pass that damn precious gift to Lampades Tower.

If so, shouldn’t he at least secure the initiative in this situation?

“Astrape is quite fond of the Thunder Pearl. As you predicted, her compatibility with the artifact is exceptionally high. I gladly accept your gift.”

“That’s wonderful. The CEO will be pleased as well.”

“The initial model of the extradimensional radar is nearing completion. When it’s finished, I’ll visit your Hydra Corporation.”

He would go directly to Etna City to follow clues about Astrape.

At that time, he would discover whether that bewilderment about ‘Astrape’s mother’ was the sorrow of a man who couldn’t care for his family, or the mistake of a villain trying to hide his crime.

***

I engaged in untimely parental talk, suggesting that Kine and Astrape should become friends if they met at the Mouseion.

In reality, since Kine was planned to stand out at the Mouseion, receive a scout from Black Darkness, and enter as an apprentice mage, they wouldn’t have much free time to hang out together.

‘But the more the merrier. Having a friend or two of the same age wouldn’t hurt.’

Since Lampades had said he would come to Etna City with the extradimensional radar, this task was more or less wrapped up.

‘Now…’

I read the hologram message projected from my gauntlet.

“The Divine Light Cult wants to meet you.”

Time to prepare for a business meeting with the cult.