Ch.8Nonsense Galore (2)

# The Purpose of Hydra Corporation

It was the first time Ortes had spoken about it directly, but it was a topic that had already been raised several times among the board members.

Why would a powerful mage like Carisia come to Etna City?

Though once a powerful city, it was now just a declining frontier.

To unify the city and accumulate wealth?

That’s not even a joke worth making.

This was Carisia, who had instantly defeated two of Etna City’s existing tower masters. Someone with her abilities wouldn’t need to go through the trouble of unifying the underworld and organizing a new company to amass wealth—she had countless other methods at her disposal.

The same went for honor.

A mage of such power might even receive recruitment offers not just from ordinary towers but from the Main Towers themselves.

‘Then again, who knows.’

Arabelle considered the possibility that such a powerful mage hadn’t “come” to the city but had been “driven out.”

Perhaps she had chosen Etna City as a place to hide and reorganize her forces after being pushed out in a power struggle within a magic tower.

But this hypothesis had its problems too. A mage of Carisia’s caliber, with loyal subordinates like Ortes, having to flee after defeat?

The number of towers where such a battle could take place was extremely limited.

Ignoring Arabelle’s anxious gaze, Ortes continued his speech.

“We will become the new King.”

King.

Not a king in the sense of a hereditary ruler of a nation. This was a world where the kings who once commanded the world, and even the gods who supposedly blessed royal bloodlines, had disappeared.

For a very long time, the power structure had been reorganized around the Ten Realms and the Magic Towers.

The Main Towers were the privileged class among magic towers. And among them, only ten places could be called “Kings.”

The ten towers that possessed the Ten Realms, the legacy of the Archmage King.

They didn’t need complicated names like Lernian or Torres. Their simple titles, composed only of magic color and attribute, proved their historical significance.

Because all magic towers using those attributes were under their command.

The tradition that these ten towers had received the Ten Realms directly from the Archmage King was passed down in poetic form:

White Light that announced the beginning.

Yellow Thunder that divided heaven and earth.

Red Flame that gathered heat.

Azure Ice that bound the cold.

Emerald Wind that mixed all things.

Blue Water that pooled in the great ocean.

Purple Earth that molded the land.

Green Wood where life sprouted.

Silver Iron that honed the blade,

Black Darkness that proclaimed the end.

The declaration of becoming a new king. Carisia’s light magic. All the board members thought of the White Light Tower, the firstborn among the ten.

‘Most of the Ten Towers’ masters maintain bloodlines descended from the Archmage King’s disciples. Could Carisia be an illegitimate child of the current White Light Tower master?’

Throughout the long history of magic, changes in ownership of the Ten Realms were extremely rare but did exist. Battles for the Ten Realms were often compared to fights between kings and usurpers, or royal succession ceremonies.

‘If a new usurper challenging for the throne has appeared, and that person is my boss…’

While Arabelle was contemplating what instructions to give to her information guild members, a declaration beyond the board members’ expectations followed.

“Of course, I’m not here to tell you some boring story about seizing the Ten Realms.”

This time, Carisia definitely smiled. Witnessing that pure smile, the board members felt a chilling sensation wrapping around their bodies.

“I believe you would know, Gerryones. About Kaicle, the master of the Phytos Tower.”

The conversation turned back to the captured Gerryones. He felt both bewilderment and fear simultaneously.

The most powerful of Etna City’s three towers. The urban legend about Phytos Tower’s secret weapon.

“Are there still people who believe in that superstitious rumor? It’s a story from decades ago.”

Among the eight gang leaders who had deep roots in Etna City, few fully understood what Gerryones was talking about.

Arabelle, who collected all city rumors as part of her profession. And…

“…”

Bertrand, the old dwarf who was also the head of the Miners’ Guild and had lived in Etna City since ancient times.

They noticed Ortes’s gaze briefly sweeping over them. It was clear that Ortes wasn’t clumsy enough to make such an obvious mistake with his eyes.

‘A warning, or an invitation.’

Either a warning not to act rashly, or an invitation to reveal everything they knew. He could bind people with just a single gesture. Arabelle upgraded her assessment of Ortes from “suspicious character” to “formidable individual.”

“What if it’s not just a rumor?”

“Ha!”

Gerryones laughed mockingly, momentarily forgetting his status as a prisoner. The lightness of his half-missing arm reminded him of reality, but while his laughter faded, his skepticism did not diminish.

“You would know, old man Bertrand. The reason why Etna City is declining.”

The dwarf stroked his beard. No exceptionally powerful mages or irreplaceable specialty products. Or perhaps being a frontier far removed from Elysion, the paradise of mages…

There could be many reasons, but for someone who had spent over a century digging in this city’s earth, there was only one reason why Etna City was fading.

“Mount Etna is cooling down.”

The cooling of the volcano that was Etna City’s lifeline. Originally, Etna City’s miners made their living by extracting fire-attribute magic stones that accumulated from the volcano’s energy.

However, now, as the production of magic stones diminished, the volcano was also cooling down.

“Phytos Tower did something to Mount Etna. They intercepted the volcano’s essence to prepare some special magic. Rumors were rampant, but according to our Miners’ Guild investigation, there was no magical device installed outside the volcano.”

“Kaicle is trying to condense Mount Etna’s magical power to create a new Realm!”

Gerryones exclaimed theatrically. Soon his expression turned bitter.

“I too was once enchanted by that rumor and tried to overturn this city. Kaicle, was he an ordinary person? He was a legendary figure who was once a formal disciple of the Red Flame Tower before being scouted by the Silver Iron Tower…”

Gerryones carefully looked at Carisia. Without showing any reaction to Gerryones’s gaze, Carisia’s eyes were fixed on Ortes.

“He’s also a monstrous mage who went alone to Etna City’s premier tower and seized control of it. Just like your boss.”

As if recalling his defeat at Carisia’s hands, Gerryones lowered his head. But he soon raised it again. It was the confidence of someone who had obtained certainty through his own efforts.

“But I’m certain of this. There is no artificial Realm in Phytos Tower.”

“No. From the beginning.”

“That bastard Kaicle isn’t even in this city.”

Currently, Phytos Tower was operating unmanned.

Etna City’s largest magic tower was without its master.

***

Well. So far, everything is as expected.

Bertrand, who had worked as a miner in the Mount Etna mines for almost his entire life, and Gerryones, who had competed with Phytos Tower for power.

The two were meant to play the role of opponents who would claim that Phytos Tower’s artificial Realm didn’t exist.

But I knew that “Phytos Tower’s Realm” did exist.

To be precise, it wasn’t something that could be called a Realm.

How should I put it?

A Realm aspirant? A Realm candidate? A Realm (promotion pending)?

The two prominent characteristics of a Realm are immense magical power and latent memories. Just by knocking on a Realm’s door, a mage’s maximum magical capacity increases, and they realize spells they’ve never even heard of.

The tower masters of the Ten Towers, directly connected to the Realms, can wield nearly infinite magical power and use the Archmage King’s formulas.

Phytos Tower’s—Kaicle’s—Realm couldn’t do that. Because of the limits of Kaicle’s own knowledge, there was a limit to the formulas he could inscribe.

But thanks to embezzling Mount Etna’s magical power for a long time, it had accumulated magical power that, while not infinite like a Realm, was immeasurable by ordinary standards.

Of course, I knew this because Baek Mu-myeong had used it in the original “Return of the Archmage King” in 2077.

How did Baek Mu-myeong use this Realm?

‘He just blew it up, didn’t he?’

He used it as an explosive that vaporized the entire Etna City. A power that would be understated if compared to a nuclear bomb, more like an antimatter bomb.

It was a trap prepared to kill the protagonist when their confrontation reached its extreme. After this plan, which even used Hydra Corporation’s headquarters as bait, ultimately failed, Baek Mu-myeong ended up facing the protagonist directly, risking his life.

In other words, if I could make it be used for something other than a bomb, I could eliminate one reason for Carisia to die as she did in the original story.

I smiled at the board members and said:

“No. Kaicle is in Etna.”

***

It was Arabelle who noticed the dissonance in Ortes’s words.

“Etna? Not Etna City?”

As if waiting for those words, Ortes opened his mouth.

“Yes. Kaicle is in Mount Etna.”

“But…”

Bertrand didn’t know what to call Ortes. He had never been given any official position in Hydra Corporation.

But it was evident that he was the second-in-command of Hydra Corporation.

“You may call me by my name.”

As if reading his mind, Ortes suggested. Bertrand pronounced the name with an uncomfortable feeling.

“Ortes. Our Miners’ Guild has investigated Mount Etna several times. But there was only a gradually diminishing flame there.”

“Of course. That’s true for the places you investigated, Director Bertrand.”

“Are you saying there are places the Miners’ Guild couldn’t investigate?”

“Let me explain more precisely. Kaicle is ‘inside’ Mount Etna.”

Ortes looked around with an eerie smile. Only Carisia, who was in the only area not touched by that smile, had a satisfied expression.

“We will draw out Kaicle and take over the artificial Realm.”

His gaze turned to Gerryones.

“And your role begins then.”