A gentle voice. However, the tension soared, inversely proportional to the softness of the tone.
It wasn’t a bad thing that Carisia was looking for me.
If I had answered that request in time, that is. I forced a smile and let a hint of my employer’s tardiness slip out.
“Haha. It just happened that way.”
“Did it?”
…I tried to let it slide.
“I clearly remember you saying you’d leave early and return early this time. A city gets enveloped in an extra-dimensional storm, and only after the master of the Apex Towers is dethroned do you come back.”
Carisia wore a smile, but the laughter was absent from her voice.
“This is why I told you to bring Phoibos’s Elimination.”
A statement that was either a lament or a scold. I pulled out an appropriate excuse.
“But, boss. The Elimination probably didn’t warn of any particular danger…”
If Carisia had caught a glimpse of something truly dangerous from the Elimination, like the crazy scene of two or more elders from the Ten Towers attacking at the Pluton Great Temple, she would have dropped everything and rushed over.
She had left dozens of communications asking for my well-being, but it was clear she hadn’t come in person. Carisia wasn’t the type to easily hand over efficient members like me to others.
Somehow, the look on Carisia’s face grew even colder after hearing my words.
“Relics are not all-powerful, you know?”
“Don’t worry. Even without a relic, I am all-powerful.”
“……”
An austere silence fell between me and Carisia. It was a joke, but after a sigh, Carisia beckoned with her finger. It was a gesture to come closer and sit down.
“So, you said that as soon as you got here, you had to go see Knemon first. What did you talk about?”
It was a declaration of intent to let this pass for now. Strange. I hadn’t done anything wrong, but for some reason, I was feeling a bit suffocated.
“I took care of the salary issue in advance. Due to a few emergencies in Algoth City, I couldn’t perfectly prepare the compensation for that friend.”
*
Carisia listened slowly to Orthes’s explanation. Whether Argyrion had gone mad or not, he had caused an extra-dimensional storm and had cleverly turned Danao into an insider for Argyrion by manipulating the incident, all the while distorting public opinion regarding Blasphemia and rigging documents to position himself in the Amimone Tower Master decision.
“What’s especially helpful is that Danao directly gave Gorgopf the Mage Tower Core control authority. Even if we secured testimonies through the dreams shown to other insiders, if we lacked this kind of material evidence, it would have been hard to completely deceive Blasphemia.”
With her hands clasped and chin resting on them, Carisia pondered.
Maybe if she just hired Orthes at the Ten Towers and ignored things for a month or two, the Ten Towers might end up collapsing.
Naturally, from a common-sense perspective, it was an impossible thing. However, the man pretending to show off his plot as if it were nothing was one of the farthest from the word common sense.
Listening quietly to Orthes’s bragging, Carisia finally spoke up.
From when she was slowly piecing together the situation,
“So, what about Argyrion?”
There were several points to clarify. The extra-dimensional storm blew, and Argyrion appeared. Carisia felt a very ominous premonition at this point.
“It’s true that Argyrion was the one who caused the extra-dimensional storm. All the abilities to move between the contaminated zones using the storm are indeed real. It seems some kind of being that has infested them has revealed such magic.”
The beings beyond the extra-dimensional realm are usually referred to not as ‘beings’ but as ‘existence,’ but they were not singular. Just as the gods of this world were not one, the beings of the extra-dimensional realm were also not a unified entity or a singular individual with a vertical hierarchy, but many with their own intentions.
Most extra-dimensional beings view this world as a sort of snack. Thus, they are less inclined to understand individual humans or social cultures and are instead drawn to breaking down dimensional walls and savoring the world.
The indiscriminate destruction caused by the Eroders also stemmed from the tendencies of these extra-dimensional beings. However, the being behind Argyrion appeared to be vastly different.
Carisia elevated her assessment of Argyrion’s capabilities. If he had received such direct ‘support’ from an extra-dimensional being, one should not judge based on the standards of her past abilities as a Blasphemia agent.
Her magical capabilities had changed significantly since the Golden Desert Operation. While the quantity and output of her magic remained the same, the depth of the magic had evolved.
In those early days when she had been created by the White Light Tower and awakened her self-awareness, she had no time to gather the magical knowledge lying dormant within her. Thus, the attacks she could make were all limited to crude beam-type attacks, merely proportional to the amount of magic power inputted.
Now, having shaken off Blasphemia’s pursuit and found the time to concentrate on her inner self alongside Orthes, Carisia was embodying that inner knowledge, one by one. Strange spells like the instantaneous-death magic tested in Elysion were also applications of that knowledge.
Among the people of this era, excluding the Tower Masters of the Ten Towers, Carisia was a mage with the most knowledge of magic. Perhaps even including the Tower Masters.
Yet, the extra-dimensionality posed phenomena that even her inner wisdom could hardly grasp.
Orthes. He was, as he self-identified, a near-all-powerful being. Yet, as shown by Phoibos’s vision, if he were truly caught up in an out-of-the-norm incident, he could also be in danger.
The fact that her Orthes could encounter such danger troubled Carisia greatly.
Tap. Tap. Carisia’s index finger began to rhythmically tap on the table. Sitting directly across from her, Orthes started to feel like a job applicant facing an interviewer.
“I don’t think this will do.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s time for me to step in myself.”
The center head of Hydra thought.
If you don’t know what someone might do, isn’t it better to just kill them all beforehand?
*
Carisia’s declaration was chilling. I didn’t know which part of this incident triggered her, but didn’t this mean that it would be difficult to assign me more work?
Under normal circumstances, if she said there was no need for more work, I would have welcomed that with open arms, but the current situation felt significantly serious.
A chill instinct came over me that I might be facing a layoff.
“Uh… Boss. Dealing with the lowly rank-and-file and taking on tedious tasks should be enough for just me, right?”
“Every time you go out alone, doesn’t it lead to unpredictable situations? Rather than worrying, it’s better to accompany you from the start.”
I mulled over Carisia’s words, finding them a bit difficult to comprehend.
“So… you’re saying you’ll join me on the trip?”
Carisia nodded lightly.
“For the time being, yes.”
It was a fear far greater than a layoff.
After a moment of massaging her temples, Carisia casually threw a question.
“Regarding the Tower Master decision regarding Knemon, you’ll help out, right?”
“Oh. Yes. The compensation wasn’t for the Tower Master position but rather for the candidate position.”
As Carisia snapped her fingers, several holographic images formed on the desk. Upon closer inspection, they were articles summarizing the factions of the Amimone Tower.
“…Oh.”
The news that the vacant spot for the Tower Master of the Apex Towers would be handed over to one of the factions quickly spread. At the same time, forces aiming to line up with one of the candidates or manipulate candidates behind the scenes to gain the vision of the Amimone Tower also rose sharply.
“The compensation for Knemon wasn’t promised by you personally but was a promise at the level of Hydra Corporation. I also believe it’s only right to do my utmost to ensure the payment.”
Carisia had sorted out candidates other than Knemon by several criteria. Most were classified according to the scale of the ‘backing’ that selected the candidates.
I could feel Arabella’s late-night labor in the neatly organized information format.
“The competition among factions within the Ten Towers will practically be determined by their backers… to put it nicely, based on investors. And for Argyrion, I’d say 99 out of 100 would be involved in the Tower Master decision as an investor.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Hearing my question, Carisia simply stared at me. After a few seconds of silence, I finally caught on to her intent.
“Is it because of me?”
“Didn’t Sprigo mention that Halto was convinced that the situation in Algoth City was your doing?”
I nodded. Why was that bastard Halto making such wild accusations without any evidence?
“Then, it’s highly likely that the Tower Master decision in the Amimone Tower also occurred under your influence.”
“No, how can that be?”
That was quite the wild conjecture. It’s true that I had somewhat influenced the situation, but to make such a judgment without a single clue about my existence was completely irrational.
After trying so hard not to leave any traces, now I had to worry about being tracked by some delusional person. How unjust!
Carisia crushed my grievances with a single sentence.
“If I were in your shoes, I’d think the same.”
