Ch.77The Butterfly Effect of Chaos (3)

Salmoshia slowly left the inner house. Though it’s described as “slowly,” that only applies until the moment he exits the entrance. His form began to dissolve into thin air from the parts that passed through the doorway.

‘Spatial magic…’

It was advanced magic that couldn’t be used carelessly because spatial distortion could invite interference from other dimensions. It must be magic from a special artifact issued to him as a high-ranking official of Panoptes.

“Hey. Been well, senior?”

Niobe, who remained in the inner house, greeted awkwardly. I responded appropriately to avoid creating any sense of discomfort.

“Yes. A field agent is doing well enough as long as all limbs are intact. How about you, Miss Niobe?”

“I have documents to deliver after the Audit Director’s return. You’ll understand after reading them, right?”

“Yes. I’ll handle them appropriately.”

The stack of documents Niobe handed over contained a list of Argos officials suspected of being informants.

‘I see why Salmoshia wanted me to open this when he wasn’t present.’

Though they were suspected of being informants, there was only circumstantial evidence, not concrete proof. Wasn’t this essentially the Audit Director of Blasphemia illegally leaking personal information of another organization’s members?

Officially, it was delivered through Niobe, a basic precaution to deny any connection to himself should things go wrong.

Even in a situation where the possibility of external leakage is extremely low, since the principle is to read and process it on the spot, he still prepared such insurance. Should I call this excessive caution or just habit?

“Will Miss Niobe be immediately deployed to the field after this?”

“Huh? No. I’m in a position to report about you to the Audit Director. Though not by choice, I guess you could say I got a fast promotion directly under the Audit Director? I’m included in the personnel list for the Argyrion tracking operation on paper, but I’ll be heading back soon.”

Salmoshia called Niobe by her name “Niobe” instead of her code name K17. This showed that Niobe held a fairly recognized position within Blasphemia.

It’s somewhat different from what I imagined, but I have an informant who can easily access the inner workings of Blasphemia.

Since we’ve met, I should ask a few things.

***

The conversation with my respected senior began with a gentle reprimand.

“Miss Niobe. It seems you reported my news directly to the Audit Director.”

“Huh? Yes. It was information you discovered, wasn’t it?”

L13 sighed softly. Though difficult for Niobe to recognize, this was quite intentional.

“When I passed information to you, Miss Niobe, it was meant for you to use it to rise to a key position. A position where you could identify the reactionaries I mentioned beforehand. Reporting directly to the Audit Director was a risky move.”

“Risky?”

“If a low-ranking member who normally wouldn’t have contact with the Audit Department suddenly meets with the Audit Director, and the next day a purge of traitors begins, wouldn’t anyone aware of these circumstances find it suspicious?”

Ortes pointed out how dangerous Niobe’s actions had been. It would have been safer to speak only after securing enough influence to make meeting with the Audit Director seem natural.

However, he also said:

“It was a courageous act. It’s rare to find someone who chooses the right path over their own safety.”

“Thank… you?”

Niobe’s shoulders, which had been somewhat hunched, straightened again. A genuine sense of pride welled up inside her. Ortes waited for the right moment before continuing.

“In your view, how many like-minded people are there within Blasphemia? People the Audit Director and you can trust?”

“Well, I’d say everyone within the Audit Department is trustworthy…”

Ortes carefully memorized the list of “trustworthy people” Niobe mentioned. These were people to avoid when recruiting insiders from Blasphemia in the future, and simultaneously, people who could become allies when acting as L13.

“So there’s no one who clearly opposes the Audit Director?”

“That’s right. The Commander, who’s the highest authority, is still in seclusion. And the Deputy Commander position is vacant. So I guess there’s no one whose authority equals or exceeds the Audit Director’s?”

The Commander in seclusion. Ortes recalled the Deputy Commander of Blasphemia he had faced.

The one who was deployed as the supreme commander of the Golden Desert Operation. Haltos was his name, wasn’t it? It seemed Haltos hadn’t returned from the Golden Desert Operation.

‘Was no successor appointed after Haltos? Or was one appointed but the position became vacant again? Either way…’

A flash of realization struck Ortes. The core executives of Argyrion were the Blasphemia-origin Corruptors that Ortes and Carisia had ejected into another dimension during the Golden Desert Operation.

If they had transplanted their pre-corruption command structure directly into Argyrion, then Haltos was likely the leader of Argyrion.

‘Perhaps I could use this?’

Salmoshia’s suspicions about Argos. And Haltos, who might be in Argyrion’s leadership. These two clues swirled in Ortes’s mind.

Ortes organized his thoughts and formulated a sentence to conclude the conversation.

“Please share my information only among those trustworthy people you mentioned, but if a situation arises where even those people must be suspected of betrayal, don’t hesitate to contact me.”

Niobe nodded with a solemn expression. It was hard to imagine the feelings of L13, who was fighting from the closest position to Argyrion, who had once all been comrades.

“Well then, until next time. I hope to see you in good health again.”

***

“Both Director Noir and Director Divius have safely completed the divine investigation and returned. However, we’ve detected that Blasphemia has become aware of the divine investigation. I will devise countermeasures.”

Ortes, having returned from the investigation, had his usual private meeting with Carisia. The report on the contact with Blasphemia added to the divine investigation.

With the addition of his inference about Argyrion’s leadership, the meeting ran longer than usual.

“Haltos…”

Carisia began twirling her right front lock of hair around her index finger. Ortes guessed from this gesture that Carisia was organizing her past memories.

“Even in the information obtained from the Blasphemia branch, details about high-ranking officials were limited. I don’t recall fighting him in the desert.”

“I didn’t actively fight Haltos either. He just slightly hindered me whenever I tried to reach you, Director.”

And so they stalled for time until the extra-dimensional storm arrived, then evacuated using the spatial magic Carisia had prepared in advance.

The plan was that the spatial-temporal imbalance caused by the spatial magic would accelerate the arrival of the extra-dimensional storm, forcing Blasphemia’s pursuit team to retreat.

It succeeded too well, resulting in the appearance of Argyrion.

“There doesn’t seem to be a way to draw out Haltos right now. How do you plan to handle the Argos situation?”

“Yes. I received a list of suspected informants from Blasphemia.”

“To sow discord between the two groups, we shouldn’t interrogate the suspicious ones, right?”

Carisia’s question.

It’s not unfair when a suspicious person is arrested for being suspicious. But when someone who appears diligent, hardworking, and honest to everyone is arrested on suspicion, people feel it’s unjust.

If Ortes wants to seriously instigate conflict between Argyrion and Argos, choosing someone completely above suspicion would be best.

So that Argos could be enraged at their colleague being falsely accused.

But Ortes shook his head.

Ortes thought Salmoshia was overestimating Argyrion’s capabilities. The reason Blasphemia’s executives could contact Argyrion was because Argyrion originally consisted of Blasphemia insiders.

‘Even when corruption occurs in the military, it usually happens within one branch—army, navy, or air force. It’s rare for the army and navy, or navy and air force to collaborate in acts of betrayal, isn’t it?’

Even within the same broad organization, Argos and Blasphemia are separate entities. It would be difficult for them to work together seamlessly.

Unless the other dimension had given Argyrion some kind of hypnotic application or something…

“Detaining just one person isn’t enough. They have the ability to smooth over the detention of one or two people, after all.”

Once someone was secured as a suspect, Blasphemia could create countless reasons for suspicion. Unless there was a summary execution, Argos’s protests would be blocked by the excuse that it was legitimate work performed under reasonable suspicion.

“The best way to create conflict is the very existence of secrets.”

Ortes slowly planted the seeds of discord. The impact of specific facts has clear limitations.

“‘Blasphemia’s Attempt at Illegal Surveillance of Argos’… That’s a good headline. If we convey that such an ‘attempt’ existed within Argos, how indignant would Argos become?”

But suspicion is different. Since no one knows exactly where and to what extent Blasphemia planned the surveillance, it can be exaggerated to any degree.

“The attitude of concealing secrets will provoke even greater public outrage. If I were to convey this to Argos right now, Salmoshia might suspect me, so I’ll need to refine the specific implementation plan.”

Ortes contemplated how to disseminate this information to Argos.

His plan began to twist with the breaking news that struck the Ether Network.

“List of Magic Towers Affiliated with the Argyrion Alliance”

It was a major revelation that shook the social order of the magic towers.