Chapter 125
Chapter 125: Payroll Settlement (2)
Her voice was soft, but the tension in the air skyrocketed, inversely proportional to the smoothness of her tone.
It wasn’t a bad thing that Carisia was looking for me.
That is—if I had answered her request in a timely manner. I forced a smile, trying to brush off her pointed remark about my lateness.
“Haha, things turned out that way.”
“That way?”
…I tried to brush it off.
“I’m pretty sure you said you’d be back soon this time. Yet you only returned after a city got swallowed by an extra-dimensional storm and the Tower Master of a Pure Tower was dethroned.”
Carisia’s lips were smiling, but her tone carried none of the warmth that her expression suggested.
“That’s why I told you to take Phoibos’ crystal with you.”
I couldn’t tell if it was a complaint or a sigh of disappointment. I quickly pulled out an excuse.
“But, boss, the crystal didn’t exactly warn of any real danger, did it…?”
If Carisia had seen any truly catastrophic danger through the crystal, like when we encountered the Temple of Pluton, where two or more Elders of the Ten Towers ambushed us, she would’ve dropped everything and rushed to the scene herself.
Sure, she had left me dozens of messages asking if I was okay, but she hadn’t shown up in person. That was a clear sign. Carisia wasn’t the type to let go of an asset like me so easily.
Yet somehow, my words only made Carisia’s gaze grow even colder.
“Relics aren’t omnipotent, you know?”
“Rest assured. I may not be a relic, but I *am* omnipotent.”
“…”
A heavy silence fell between us. It was meant as a joke. After a moment, Carisia sighed and waved her fingers, gesturing for me to sit closer.
“So, you said you had to meet with Kynemon first before seeing me. What did you talk about?”
For now, she seemed willing to let it go. Strange. I hadn’t done anything wrong, but I was still feeling stifled.
“I went ahead and sorted out some payroll issues. There were a few unexpected events in Algoth City, and I wasn’t able to perfectly prepare the payment I owed that friend of ours.”
***
Carisia listened quietly as Orthes explained. Argyrion had gone berserk, raising an extra-dimensional storm, and Orthes had cleverly used the incident to frame Danao as an Argyrion collaborator, misleading Blasphemia’s leadership and manipulating the documents to get Kynemon into the competition for Amimone Tower Master.
“The part where Danao personally handed over mana core control to Gorgov was especially useful. Even if I had testimony from the other traitors about the dreams they saw, without hard evidence like that, it would’ve been difficult to completely deceive Blasphemia.”
Carisia sat with her fingers interlaced, resting her chin on them, as she considered something.
For a brief moment, she imagined simply letting Orthes work for the Ten Towers for a couple of months, then stepping back to watch as the Ten Towers collapsed.
Of course, that was an impossible thought—too absurd. But the man sitting in front of her, this strange man with his half-closed eyes, excitedly boasting about the schemes he had set in motion, was one of the farthest people from the concept of “common sense.”
As she listened to Orthes’ smug recounting, Carisia finally spoke.
“So, what about Argyrion? What happened to them?”
There were a few things that needed clarification. There had been an extra-dimensional storm, and Argyrion had appeared. This part gave Carisia a very bad feeling.
“It’s true that Argyrion summoned the storm, and that they can use it to travel between contaminated zones. It seems that the extra-dimensional entity corrupting them has bestowed this kind of magic upon them.”
The beings beyond the extra-dimension are often referred to as “entities” for convenience, but they are not singular. Just as this world’s gods are many, the beings of the extra-dimension are also numerous, each with their own unique intentions. They don’t operate as a single, unified force.
Most of these beings view this world as a meal. They have no interest in understanding human individuals or societies—they just want to break through the dimensional walls and consume the world. The destructive nature of Eroders stems from this very inclination.
However, the entity backing Argyrion seemed to be very, very different.
Carisia raised her assessment of Argyrion’s capabilities. If they had direct “sponsorship” from an extra-dimensional entity, then the abilities she had encountered when Argyrion had once been Blasphemia agents were no longer relevant.
Carisia’s own magical prowess had changed dramatically since the Golden Desert Operation. While her raw mana reserves and output hadn’t significantly increased, the depth of her magic had.
In the days when she was being hunted right after her creation by the White Light Tower, she hadn’t had time to fully explore the magical knowledge buried within her subconscious. As a result, her only form of attack was a brute-force approach, where her magic output was directly proportional to the amount of mana she pumped into it.
Now, after spending time with Orthes, who had helped her evade Blasphemia’s hunters and allowed her to focus inward, Carisia had been steadily mastering the knowledge buried within her. The strange death-on-sight spell she had tested in Elysion was just one application of that internal wisdom.
Among modern magicians, Carisia likely had more magical knowledge than anyone—except perhaps the Tower Masters of the Ten Towers. Maybe even including them.
However, the extra-dimension was filled with phenomena beyond even her vast knowledge.
Orthes. As capable as he claimed to be, he was not invincible. As the Phoibos Crystal had hinted, if he got caught up in truly unpredictable events, even he could be in danger.
The idea of her Orthes being put in such peril did not sit well with her.
Tap. Tap. Carisia’s index finger drummed rhythmically on the table. Sitting across from her, Orthes began to feel like a job applicant being scrutinized by an interviewer.
“This won’t do.”
“What won’t do?”
“I think it’s time I got personally involved.”
The central head of Hydra had come to a decision.
If you’re unsure of what someone’s going to do, just kill them all before they get the chance.
***
Carisia’s declaration was chilling. I wasn’t sure which part of this situation had triggered her, but… wasn’t this basically a way of saying she didn’t trust me to handle things anymore?
Normally, if my boss told me I didn’t have to do any more work, I’d raise both hands in celebration. But this time, the situation had a very different, more ominous tone.
A cold instinct told me I might be facing something akin to… getting fired.
“Uh, boss, don’t you think it’s enough that I handle all the annoying tasks and minions by myself?”
“Every time you go out on your own, things spiral out of control in unexpected ways. Instead of worrying about what might go wrong, I’ll just go with you from the start.”
I tried to process her words. It took a moment to fully sink in.
“So… you mean you’re going to come along on my missions?”
Carisia nodded lightly.
“For a while, yes.”
This was far scarier than getting fired.
As I rubbed my temples, trying to absorb the gravity of this new arrangement, Carisia posed another question.
“Kynemon’s going to be part of the Tower Master Selection. You’re planning to help him, right?”
“Ah, yes. The agreement was to reward him with the Tower Master title, not just a spot as a candidate.”
With a snap of Carisia’s fingers, several holographic displays appeared above the table, showcasing detailed information about the various factions within Amimone Tower.
“…Interesting.”
The news that the position of Tower Master had been left vacant and would soon be filled by one of the Tower’s factions spread quickly. At the same time, forces scrambled to align themselves with one of the candidates, or manipulate them from behind the scenes, in order to seize control of Amimone Tower’s future vision.
“Kynemon’s compensation was something promised at the corporate level, not just by you personally. I intend to ensure that payment is fulfilled.”
Carisia had already categorized the other candidates into groups based on specific criteria, most of which revolved around the size and influence of the “backers” behind each candidate.
I could sense Arabella’s late-night labor in the neatly organized data sheets.
“The Ten Towers themselves will likely predict that the faction wars will be determined by which candidates have the strongest backers… or should I say ‘investors.’ And if I’m not mistaken, Argyrion is almost certainly going to interfere in this Tower Master selection, either directly or indirectly.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Carisia stared at me for a moment, saying nothing. After a few seconds of silence, I realized what she meant.
“Because of me?”
“Sprigo said so, didn’t he? He told you that Halto was convinced everything in Algoth City was happening because of you.”
I nodded. Damn that Halto. Why did he have to blame me for everything without a shred of proof?
“That means they’re likely to assume that you’ll also be behind the Amimone Tower Master selection.”
“But why? What for?”
This was
pure speculation, right? Sure, I had been involved in the situation to some degree, but there weren’t any clear clues pointing to my presence. To assume I was influencing everything would be a sign of paranoia.
I’d gone to great lengths to leave no traces of my involvement, and now I had to worry about some delusional maniac tracking me down? The unfairness of it all stung.
Carisia crushed my sense of injustice with a single sentence.
“I would assume the same, if I were them.”
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