Chapter 124
Chapter 124: Payroll Settlement (1)
“I think I’ve gone through most of the three-letter names. There’s one I haven’t mentioned, but no one here would recognize it anyway, so let’s skip that. As for the four-letter one… well, I’m not particularly fond of calling it my true name, but…”
Still, if I had to pick the name that most resembled a ‘real’ name in this world, it would be this one. It was the name I had chosen for myself.
“Orthes. That’s what my friends call me. There was also a time when I used a five-letter or even six-letter name, but—”
As I continued listing the names in order of length, starting with Utis, I suddenly realized there was no one left to hear the next one.
Danao’s eyes were closed. His nerves were gradually flickering out, the body that had already been pushed to its limits finally giving up its fight to stay alive.
“Phew…”
This had certainly deviated far from my expectations, but somehow, it was over.
Damn Argyrion. I never expected to waste the extra-dimensional relic I borrowed from Kynemon just to deal with them.
Originally, my plan was simple: secretly plant the extra-dimensional relic in the hidden vault and then frame the Tower Master socially. But Argyrion’s sudden and erratic involvement forced me to improvise at every turn.
“Well, for now…”
I needed to head back to the Tower Master’s chamber and restore the communication relay I’d cut from the mana core.
The traitors, who had witnessed the illusion, would testify that Danao had been one of their own. It wouldn’t be hard to spin the situation into what I had intended.
***
Since the news broke about the murder of one of the elders of the Ten Towers, the magical society had been on high alert.
It’s not that things were quiet. Quite the opposite—every other topic had been swept away by the furious current of the Ten Towers’ collective rage, leaving no room for anything else to gain attention.
And now, another storm hit the magical world.
Traitors aligned with Argyrion were nothing new. But this time, the scale was unprecedented.
A Tower Master had betrayed them.
More than a dozen Argos agents raised within Amimone Tower, and even the Tower Master of Amimone himself, had sided with Argyrion.
This was all that the common populace knew. However, among the higher echelons, those who occupied key positions within the towers and had access to the hidden truths of the magical world, a rumor began to spread—that the one who had uncovered this grand conspiracy was a Blasphemia agent. The internal power struggle within Panoptes had shifted dramatically.
Salmosia clapped her hands in joy at the boon brought about by L13.
“So, what did he ask for? No requests for enchantware maintenance or artifact upkeep?”
“He didn’t ask for anything,” Niobe replied, trying to hide her dismay. Her senior had finished everything before the reinforcements even arrived, leaving only cleanup for her to handle.
Salmosia praised him as the ‘paragon of inspectors,’ but Niobe felt that something was off.
It wasn’t a noble sense of duty or professional pride that she sensed from him. It felt more like… a deep and mundane fatigue.
‘It’s as if…’
It seemed like he was being chased by something. Even through his smiles, there was an unmistakable sense of urgency. While it could be explained as a hatred for Argyrion, Niobe felt there was something different about her senior’s behavior now compared to when he had previously pursued Argyrion.
***
‘Damn.’
The moment the extra-dimensional storm cleared and the global communications network was restored, my gauntlet-shaped communicator began buzzing with dozens of alarms.
They were messages from Carisia, asking why she hadn’t heard from me.
***
Kynemon sat across from Orthes, who, for some reason, looked particularly exhausted. Kynemon, of course, had ears and eyes everywhere. It was obvious this man had been involved in the catastrophe that had taken place in Algoth City.
Kynemon knew Danao well. Danao was the embodiment of greed—not all the greed in the world, perhaps, but enough to account for all of the greed in Algoth City. On top of that, he was a man driven by an even greater desire for self-preservation.
Danao always targeted weaker towers. His method was simple: slow, calculated growth by hunting down easy, safe prey.
For a man like that to team up with Argyrion? Impossible. Someone like Danao, who valued the balance of risk and reward more than any wizard, wouldn’t have made such a reckless choice.
Yet the world now believed that Danao had colluded with Argyrion.
Kynemon’s prize was the Amimone Tower, but could a tower known for betraying its own survive for long?
The only reason it hadn’t been torn apart yet was due to its Pure Tower status, but in all other respects, Amimone was a dead tower walking.
“Haha, Kynemon. I’m sorry.”
The sudden apology at the start of their conversation was the last thing Kynemon had expected.
“…Huh?”
“I have a lot to apologize for… First, that bubble wand. I used it once.”
“What?”
Kynemon had already abandoned any hope of getting back the Bubble of Erasure when Orthes first requested it, saying he needed it to deal with Amimone’s Tower Master.
It’s rare for something to actually be returned after someone says, “I’ll give it back later.”
Kynemon raised the container of bubbles, examining it in the light. The liquid inside had diminished ever so slightly.
“I originally planned to use this as leverage to dethrone the Tower Master, then quietly return it to you once it was all over. But things went awry, so I had to use it. If you ever need help with anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Ah, well… sure.”
Kynemon mumbled in response, trailing off. He had assumed Orthes took the Bubble of Erasure as a preemptive measure in case Kynemon ever decided to turn against the Hydra Corporation—a way to ensure loyalty.
Orthes had given him the relic with the same nonchalance he’d shown when he’d handed it to him back in the extra-dimensional contamination zone.
“And as for the matter of your appointment as the new Tower Master of Amimone…”
Kynemon nearly choked. Orthes had personally torn Amimone Tower to pieces—what kind of position was there left to inherit in a tower that was about to be dissolved and its assets redistributed?
“I’m sorry about that as well. My plan was for you to receive your official Tower Master credentials the moment I returned, but things got a little… complicated.”
“What?”
“Amimone Tower won’t be dissolved. I’ve already made arrangements with Blasphemia.”
Orthes casually admitted to pulling strings within Panoptes while delivering an even more shocking revelation.
“Kynemon, you’ve been listed as one of the candidates for Amimone Tower Master. Best of luck to you.”
***
Kynemon, who hadn’t fully grasped the situation, pressed Orthes for more details. Orthes explained:
“If the Pure Tower is purged entirely, the repercussions would be too great. There are many neutral factions who engaged in trade with Argyrion without knowing their true nature, and once they saw Argyrion’s true colors, they were paralyzed, unsure what to do.”
“If the Ten Towers were to completely erase a Pure Tower like Amimone, then every tower that had ever dealt with Argyrion, even unknowingly, would have no hope of redemption.”
“So they’re keeping the Amimone Tower as a signal of goodwill, even if it’s in name only. The idea is that as long as the Tower Master changes, the tower itself can continue to exist. The implication is that if you bring them the head of the traitorous Tower Master, even if the tower itself collaborated with the enemy, it can still be spared.”
Kynemon sighed. “That’s all fine, but how am I one of the Tower Master candidates?”
“Haha. Amimone Tower is infamous for its sprawling expansion. It crushes towers that resist, but the ones that surrender are absorbed as subsidiary branches. I made sure to prepare some documents indicating that your old tower had been absorbed as one of those branches.”
Kynemon finally realized Orthes’s true intention.
This was a test. A chance to prove himself by showing that he could rise to the occasion. It was also a way for them to assess whether Kynemon, who had been out of the field for some time, still had what it took.
At the same time, the reward couldn’t have been sweeter. This competition to select Amimone’s new Tower Master was an official process certified by the Ten Towers. In other words…
It was an opportunity to rewrite history, to turn the narrative so that Kynemon’s lost tower had, in fact, taken over Amimone Tower instead.
“I’m truly sorry things turned out this way.”
Orthes’s sly grin now seemed almost welcome to Kynemon. Even the cunning phrasing, asking him to “prove his abilities,” now felt like a pleasant challenge.
“I’ll do my best.”
***
I was glad Kynemon had understood the situation. But my relief was short-lived.
“Hmmm.”
Because the boss was now standing right in front of me. I had used Kynemon as an excuse to avoid this conversation earlier, but now I was cornered, and there was no escape.
“You’re a bit late.”
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