Ch.80The Great Holy War (1)

When Ortes opened the door to the conference room and entered, his expression seemed much more relaxed than before.

That is, it seemed that way to Carisia. Others lacked the experience to distinguish such subtle changes in his expression.

Standing behind Carisia again, Ortes bent down and whispered.

“I’ve found a way. Argos will actively interfere with Blasphemia’s movements.”

Carisia maintained her expressionless face. This wasn’t because she wasn’t surprised.

It was simply that Ortes stepping out briefly and returning with outlandish news wasn’t anything new.

“Explain.”

Nodding, Ortes stepped forward. He manipulated his terminal to transfer data to the holographic projector in the center of the conference room.

A map appeared in midair. Arabelle recalled the terrain of the region shown. An unremarkable plain. A few artifacts from ancient times had been excavated there.

But they weren’t relics with magical value or divine properties. Just pottery and sculptures that offered glimpses into ancient daily life—nothing that would cause a stir in academic circles or auction houses.

“We have collaborators within Argos.”

What is he talking about?

The directors were dumbfounded by Ortes’s words. The meeting they had been having was about “the increased difficulty of divine investigations due to Argos.”

If they had planted agents inside Argos, the very premise of their meeting would be overturned.

“Until now, it was uncertain how far these collaborators could help us. Therefore, I didn’t present it as a viable countermeasure, but I just received contact.”

His calm explanation continued. Ortes’s collaborators had successfully gained control of public opinion within Argos, and serious conflict would arise between Argos and Blasphemia.

“The area you see on screen is part of that ‘conflict.’ As you can see, it’s an empty zone, but Argos will strongly insist that Blasphemia must inspect this location.”

Though it was an uninhabited plain, it was vast in size. Even using Blasphemia’s maximum available personnel, it would take at least ten days.

Arabelle understood the situation. Even though the area was unremarkable, ancient artifacts did occasionally surface there, so requesting inspection from Blasphemia, experts in that era, made sense.

‘They’ll probably make excuses like finding excavation plans for that plain in materials from a magic tower connected to Argurion. It would be difficult to refuse.’

Both Argos and Blasphemia knew that no valuable artifacts would actually be found in that plain. It was simply a measure to frustrate Blasphemia.

“We’ll use this opportunity to conduct as many divine investigations as possible. I’ll update Argos’s deployment information as much as possible, but I won’t be accompanying you in the field this time.”

Ortes had always accompanied the directors on divine investigation missions since Dimedes’s violent death. Had that policy been abolished?

‘Has trust in the directors’ abilities been somewhat restored?’

Arabelle shook her head. The directors’ divine investigations were conducted under strictly controlled conditions. Their ability to respond to unexpected situations remained unverified.

If the policy hadn’t been changed by the directors, then there must be a compelling reason for Ortes himself to be absent.

“I need to attend meetings with our ‘collaborators.'”

After several months since Hydra Company’s founding, the directors who had performed numerous duties including divine investigations finally believed they understood the capabilities of the two people who had unified Etna City—Ortes and Carisia.

Regardless of individual combat power, there were limitations on the social front. That’s why they didn’t just defeat the directors but brought them under their command and reorganized them into a company.

What an individual can do differs from what a group can accomplish. The efficiency of division of labor, one might say.

But now Ortes was demonstrating achievements far beyond the scope of “what an individual can do.”

When exactly?

While supervising divine investigations and going on every field mission, when did he find time to recruit personnel inside Argos?

‘Is this physically possible?’

The time allocation seemed completely unrealistic. It’s not like he had 48 hours in his day.

Handling such agents couldn’t be done through electronic means alone. It inevitably required meeting them in person to assess their character and abilities.

As the head of Etna City’s information broker guild, Arabelle knew this fact better than anyone.

Another clue about Ortes’s identity resurfaced in her mind.

‘If a secret inspector is interfering with Blasphemia’s activities, there’s only one reason: Blasphemia itself must be seriously corrupted…’

Then could Ortes’s collaborators be other Blasphemia inspectors? Arabelle looked at Divius, who was once in charge of Blasphemia’s body modifications.

She needed to find time to talk with him. Without knowing exactly who they were serving, the fear would be unbearable.

‘If I use the directors’ meeting as an excuse, I could pass off some work…’

Besides, she couldn’t handle any more work than this.

Arabelle prepared to escape from the impending workload.

***

Before leaving, I called Arabelle to give her some instructions.

With me—who had been overseeing divine investigation work—absent, who would guide the directors on infiltration routes and coordinate forces?

Arabelle, with her flexible thinking and improvisation skills, plus her ability to monitor multiple locations through drones, was the perfect candidate.

After a brief handover, I immediately moved to meet with Demos.

I couldn’t easily guess what the “Great Temple” mentioned by the Faith Order might be. But it must be a crucial location if they were mobilizing even Argos agents—their trump card—to reclaim it.

It’s a place that would yield something valuable if searched.

“You’re here.”

Demos nodded as he saw me. Around him were several unfamiliar faces.

***

“Ho. New faces, I see.”

The narrow-eyed man—who called himself Nobody (Outis)—scrutinized the priests with his peculiar gaze.

The priests targeted by that gaze felt as if he wasn’t simply “looking” at them but “seeing through” them. A sensation of having their innermost secrets completely dissected.

It was the same feeling they had when meeting the bishop of Phoibos Proopsios before. There was something in the eyes of prophets who could see the future that stirred people’s hearts.

“You weren’t at the gathering, are you Demos’s brothers?”

He wasn’t literally asking about blood relations. It was a question about faith brotherhood—whether they worshipped the same god.

The priest of Enyalios flinched. Thinking calmly, it was a simple deduction. Priests accompanying Demos would likely serve the same god, Enyalios.

But truth from a prophet’s mouth always felt weighty.

Especially from Outis, whom Demos had introduced as “the most exceptional prophet I know.”

“Yes. But you should watch your words.”

Demos pointed his finger toward the sky. Their current meeting place was in the bustling center of a city controlled by a mid-tier magic tower. While the noise of busy pedestrians masked their voices, the magical drones scattered by the towers to monitor citizens were always a concern.

“Haha. Don’t worry. I see everything.”

Outis’s smile, which so easily dismissed such concerns, felt more frightening and strange than reassuring.

Even if prophecy operated differently from other divine powers, was he constantly peering into the future in this stronghold of magicians?

“So, Demos. Where are we going?”

Demos surveyed the surroundings once. Even with his senses enhanced by divine power, he detected no drones, spirits, or other minions of magicians.

Trusting his senses and the prophet’s calm assurance, he spoke.

“The end of the mythic era. The last temple where the pantheon gathered to resist the Mage King.”

“A god with enough authority to serve as a rallying point for all orders to gather. Is it Aigios’s temple?”

A dangerously heretical conversation—if magicians heard it, they would immediately arrest them as superstition followers. The priests of Enyalios turned pale.

“…Aigios and the twelve most powerful orders were feared even by the Mage King. That’s why he attacked and defeated them first. The place where the orders gathered and resisted until the end was Pluto’s Great Temple.”

Huh. Ortes quietly marveled. So we’re going to Pluto’s temple.

“I see. Though not among the twelve gods, Pluto has equal status and could indeed serve as a rallying point for resistance. What about the other priests I saw at the gathering?”

“They’re all departing from different directions with their own groups. We’ll enter at midnight.”

Ortes nodded. Deploying so many priests—the Faith Order clearly had high expectations for liberating this Great Temple.

“No matter how much Argos keeps Blasphemia occupied, we can’t hide all the divine power that will be released when the temple is liberated. We need to break all seals and retrieve the sacred artifacts within an hour.”

“I’ll take care of the Bacchus Order’s share.”

Ortes casually indicated his disinterest in other artifacts, saying that Phoibos’s relics would be recovered by Phoibos’s order. He would only secure what was due to the Bacchus Order, as he was protecting its last priest.

Demos shook his head.

“Not just the twelve orders, but sacred artifacts from numerous minor orders will be gathered there. We’ll think about distribution later—for now, we need to recover everything we see.”

Ortes nodded with satisfaction.

He could already envision how many sacred artifacts he could embezzle.