I poured my heart into explaining the plan for the world-splitting strategy, triggered by Argyrion’s expedition from the Ten Towers.
Bam!
A surprise declaration of war while the tower’s main forces, including the elders, were all missing. And then the Hydra Corporation’s intrusion, perfectly timed to exhaust the Ten Towers’ reserve combat capability. Ultimately, we had arrived at the stage of seizing the commandments led by the Artificial Ten Commandments.
Clap clap clap!
I had finished explaining all the publicly available plans.
The directors didn’t applaud or welcome the plans immediately. Given that we were talking about the Ten Towers, it was only natural for them to deliberate carefully.
“…We have a problem.”
It was Neuro who spoke up.
“When wolves go hunting, there’s usually a leader who commands the pack. Does anyone in the Mage Society hold the title of leader to challenge the tiger right now?”
“Don’t worry. The new tower master of Amimone Tower has our backing, remember?”
Knemon and Amimone Tower were set to serve as the spearhead for the succession battle. To put it accurately, they weren’t really planning to fight.
Knemon would apply for the succession battle to the Ten Towers, and then maintain a deadlock for days after the challenge was announced.
“The Apex Towers have lost their Mage Tower Core. And yet, the Ten Towers can’t easily conclude the succession war against such a tower. The magical society will soon think like this.”
Hmm…
“‘Is the Ten Towers weaker than we thought?’”
In fact, Knemon’s strategy of ‘enduring without doing anything’ was expected to gain support from the Divine Cult. With the main forces all out, the Ten Towers would struggle to mobilize troops. And Amimone Tower, capable of gaining the upper hand in most defensive battles using Holy Power.
It was a sufficient condition to maintain the deadlock.
“The Ten Towers won’t look like a tiger anymore. Even if it is a tiger, it will appear as a toothless one. Of course, everyone will know those dangerous teeth will grow back soon.”
“…But that’s exactly why some will wish to kill the tiger before its teeth grow back and seize wealth and glory.”
I nodded. Neuro was reasonably logical and provided sensible insights. It meant I didn’t have to persuade each director individually.
“And if we have Director Meconion’s help, we can empower one of those dreamers.”
“Uh? Me?”
Meconion wouldn’t care much for the magical honor of the Ten Commandments. So persuading her was easier in some ways. If I said there were spells that would help her plants, or seeds of new plants she hadn’t seen yet up north, she would immediately agree.
In addition, Meconion needed connections fostered through her side business of illegal pharmacological sales. More specifically.
“Remember the magicians who were trading with you for research purposes, focusing on your half-human half-spirit traits?”
“Right. Our director told me to lay low for a while and avoid the eyes of the Ten Towers, so most of the other trades ended up getting cut off.”
“Contact them. Ask if they would want the pinnacle of all plant magic, the Ten Commandments’ Green Tree. As a first step for Knemon’s Amimone Tower. If we start the second succession war towards Green Tree Tower, the declarations for the other Ten Towers will follow naturally.”
In fact, there was also a third option prepared in case two impulses were insufficient. It was the Lampades’ Mage Tower, which didn’t want to participate in such risky matters and preferred to keep a fallback plan.
“I’ll predict when the Ten Towers’ combat capability will be exhausted. There are personnel infiltrated within the Ten Towers, so it should help gather information to some extent. And when we reach a critical juncture…”
“With the name of Hydra Corporation, we declare the succession war…”
It was Geryon who muttered this. He, too, must have once dreamt of obtaining the great legacy of the Ten Commandments as a magician.
Now, as a warlord in Etna City and having been captured by an adversary, he had paradoxically come closer to the Ten Commandments. It was an irony he could feel a pang of nostalgia about.
Divius, who had remained silent until then, raised his hand.
“Hey, you both, the boss and the director. You might know, but I’ve been a beneficiary of the Ten Towers. From that perspective, I have one question.”
“What is it?”
“The world-splitting strategy would receive applause from the old gods if they came to see it. But the biggest problem of this plan is that it relies on Argyrion.”
The expression of Cretone, seated next to Divius, turned peculiar. It was hard to grasp the meaning of relying on Argyrion at a glance.
In contrast, Arabella, who could say she had survived in Etna City just by her sharp instincts, gazed at me with a small exclamation of “Ah…!” This was indeed a problem.
“If Argyrion isn’t strong enough to establish a ‘fight’ against the expeditionary forces of the Ten Towers, there may not be enough time to trigger the succession war itself. Do we have any grasp on their capabilities?”
“Well, what about the incident involving Talo of Silver Iron?”
“That was one elder. This time, even if we send two from each tower, that’s twenty people. Can Argyrion withstand against twenty elders?”
Ding ding ding!
“The fact that Argyrion’s base is in the extra-dimensional realm won’t help much.”
“It’s a full-scale campaign by the Ten Towers. They should be able to overcome dimensional disasters up to a certain extent,” I noted.
This was an angle I hadn’t anticipated. Could Argyrion buy enough time?
“Solving it… is a bit difficult but, there is a way to buy at least a little time.”
The speaker was surprisingly Geryon.
“While spending time with Bertrand, I got entangled in various tasks. As a captive, I had no particular regrets. But the more I worked, the more something akin to his engineering perspective started to open up.”
Huh?
You can overcome this situation with engineering knowledge? Bertrand looked taken aback by the idea.
“By retrofitting Lampades’ radar for divine investigations, I’ve picked up a few things. Originally, it was a radar to find safe extra-dimensional spaces. I’m not sure, but I believe the Ten Towers also utilize something similar, whether it’s an observational device or a vision spell, to secure the coordinates of space magic.”
The first to understand Geryon’s words was, of course, Bertrand. He muttered as if to himself.
“Are we changing Lampades’ radar into some kind of interference signal transmitter to confuse the Ten Towers’ spatial coordinates? To delay the clash between Argyrion and the Ten Towers as much as possible, giving the Ten Towers more time from their campaign to their return?”
“As you know, space magic is the most dangerous type of magic. No matter how much the Ten Towers want to secure safety first, they would only use it after ensuring safety. This should be enough to buy time.”
I looked at Divius. After hearing Geryon’s proposal, he seemed deep in thought, then nodded.
“Interference with spatial movement… Since this extra-dimensional radar is an unprecedented object, they likely won’t anticipate it. We should be able to buy the necessary time.”
It was the moment when Divius, who was the most knowledgeable about the current power of the Ten Towers, acknowledged that ‘there’s a possibility.’
The first stage of the world-splitting strategy, persuasion, was successful.
Dum dum!
After the meeting ended, only Orthes and Carisia remained on the top floor of the Hydra Corporation.
“Divius’s observation was sharp. If it weren’t for him, we might have failed due to an unexpected factor.”
Orthes chuckled. Once the plan was set in motion, the Hydra Corporation would gain the upper hand in the full-scale battle against the Ten Towers by deploying the Artificial Ten Commandments.
“So up next is to check on our collaborators?”
“Yes. Negotiating with the Divine Cult. Also, we’re waiting for contact from Niobe. But neither side has urgent matters. Let’s take a break for today.”
Carisia nodded. Since there was free time, she finally had to ask something that had been on her mind.
“Orthes, you don’t have anything to do right now, do you?”
“Uh? Ah, yes. I was thinking about further reviewing the plan, but since it’s essentially complete, there’s nothing special I need to do right now.”
“Then could you explain about that ‘Artifact Taxation Master’ friend of yours?”
Orthes nodded as if he found it an easy task. Carisia pointed to the chair in front of her.
“Where shall I start? He’s the first friend I ever met.”
“First, huh?”
“I woke up and saw that guy’s old face. We’ve had quite a long friendship since then.”
Orthes lamented how he had learned much from that “old man.”
“What I’m using now for enchantment rewriting requires an understanding of the enchantments. It now clicks when I see it, but it was that old man who provided me with the foundational knowledge needed for that understanding.”
“A person with detailed knowledge of magic spell structures and dismantling… Is it related to why he’s called the Taxation Master?”
“There’s the usage fee for patents and postulates, you know.”
Magic patents. The modern magic system is built upon the postulates proven by previous magical research. The Ten Towers requisitioning magical power from each tower also includes the royalties for the postulates derived from the Ten Commandments.
In addition to those postulates, unique spells like exceptional magic operation methods are recognized as patents granting creators rights.
Those like the Apex Towers, possessing many patents, can sue various towers for patent infringement, demanding usage fees or occasionally receiving the towers themselves.
“That old man obsessively disassembles the structure of magic to find another corner. He persistently argues that this magic is different from that magic using that as a justification. Maybe because he’s old, he’s well-versed in case law, so no one among the Panoptes judges can beat him.”
After achieving tax evasion—no, tax savings—he disappears suddenly.
“I haven’t heard from him in ages. But then he saw the news about Knemon supporting the coronation of the new tower master of Amimone Tower and our faces were out there, so he contacted me after a long time. With such extensive connections, isn’t he just perfect for our plan?”
Carisia felt a spark of hope.
Unlike the other two, she first contacted Orthes. Perhaps he could truly be a proper friend after all.
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