Chapter 127
Chapter 127: Social Ties and Cult Schemes (2)
There were two reasons why Orthes furrowed his brow.
The first was the fact that there was a magician showing interest in Hydra Corporation at all. This alone was unexpected.
Hydra Corporation had gone to great lengths to remain unnoticed by the mainstream magical community. While this policy would gradually shift after the Amimone Tower Master selection, no major power was supposed to be aware of Hydra’s true nature yet.
In other words, Hydra Corporation—and by extension, their sponsored candidate, Kynemon—was an unknown entity, expected to fade away without making waves.
‘There’s no reason for anyone to approach us right now.’
Perhaps, after the social gathering had ripened, and people were trying to form alliances with the leading candidates and their backers, such an approach would make sense. But to seek out Hydra Corporation at this moment was highly unusual.
Approaching when there was no need to approach? It meant the other party had an ulterior motive. That was the first reason for Orthes’ frown.
The second reason?
‘Holy power?’
The presence of holy power emanated from the group approaching them. So, to be precise, these people weren’t magicians at all—they were priests.
‘Unless they’re double-jobbing like Kine.’
But from Orthes’ quick assessment, these priests had little to offer in terms of magical prowess. Their many magical artifacts were impressive, but that only made it clear they relied heavily on their tools to present the *illusion* of being magicians.
They weren’t careless about hiding their holy power. It was just that Orthes’ perceptive eyes were borderline cheating.
Two women stood behind the branch leader of this small faction. Both were dressed in elegant gowns befitting the venue, and their beauty was undeniable. The kind of beauty that would normally earn the favor of others at such gatherings—polished, sophisticated, and undeniably attractive.
But this wasn’t the right time or place. Everyone present knew that this was a cutthroat competition for inheritance among magicians. Other candidates had also prepared to weaponize beauty, making it useless in this context. These women’s attractiveness was ill-suited to be wielded as a tool here.
Orthes made a quick mental note.
‘Carisia would look good in something like that.’
As he idly mused about the upper-class aesthetics of the event and was thankful the general level of beauty in the room kept them from drawing too much attention, the pace of their approach quickened.
Their movements were subtle but direct. It was clear they didn’t intend to draw attention, moving quietly without making their presence known. However, they didn’t even glance at anyone else as they approached Hydra Corporation’s group.
Orthes exchanged a glance with Carisia.
She gave a short nod. Orthes was given full authority to handle this.
Orthes took a step forward and raised a hand. A passing waiter saw the empty glass in Orthes’ hand and refilled it with champagne. Naturally, this maneuver placed Carisia and the rest of the group behind Orthes, positioning him as the one to intercept the newcomers.
When the suspicious group reached Hydra Corporation’s position, Orthes was able to block them a few steps before they could approach too closely.
It was a distance just awkward enough that anyone else in the Hydra group wouldn’t be drawn into the conversation. This was Orthes’ intent.
He prepared to use not only his eyes but also the information Arabella had painstakingly compiled to identify who they were. She had worked through the night to create a report on all the powers potentially interested in Amimone Tower’s remains.
Yet nowhere in that report was there any mention of priests or anyone tied to holy power.
With a familiar smile, Orthes buried his suspicion under the guise of casual politeness as he greeted them.
His first words were simple:
“Oh, greetings. You must be the branch leader of Lubrak City.”
The man at the front flinched. But he quickly composed himself and responded.
“Well, I’m honored. For you to recognize a small faction like ours right away… You must be the head of the Tabning faction?”
Orthes shook his head.
“I’m Orthes, representing Hydra Corporation and Kynemon in this matter. I’ve been entrusted with external cooperation authority.”
Orthes produced a business card from his jacket and handed it over politely. The title on the card read, “Chief Secretary of Hydra Corporation.”
The branch leader from Lubrak City gleaned quite a bit from this interaction. Hydra Corporation had a much closer relationship with the Tabning faction than he had expected—or perhaps they had completely taken control of it.
Entrusting someone with the authority for external cooperation—meaning social interactions and political negotiations—implied that either the Tabning faction had deep trust in or was tightly leashed by Hydra Corporation.
Lubrak’s branch leader was clearly in the latter category. In his mind, the voice of his “sponsor” echoed. Words to say to Hydra Corporation’s Chief Secretary were planted in his mind.
“Haha, so you’re in charge of external cooperation. Do you think we approached you for that kind of purpose?”
It was a roundabout way of asking if they thought Lubrak’s group was here to form an alliance or negotiate a non-aggression pact for the later stages of the competition.
“Haha, my two employers believe that social interactions are the foundation of all cooperation.”
Orthes responded to the question by offering a subtle hint. He didn’t name Carisia or Kynemon directly but instead referred to them as his two employers, implying that their power was equal.
Of course, that wasn’t the truth, but Orthes had no intention of letting these suspicious individuals know that.
By saying, “social interactions are the foundation of cooperation,” Orthes was effectively saying, “Look, we both know why you’re approaching us. Let’s skip the formalities and get down to business.”
“Direct, aren’t you?”
***
Carisia watched Orthes handle the approaching magicians with a cool gaze. Beside her, Kine nervously clung to her sleeve.
Looking down at Kine, Carisia smiled softly before addressing Kynemon.
“Kynemon.”
“Mm?”
“We have no complaints about how you choose to handle the competition. Win using whatever method you see fit.”
“Harvest, you say.”
‘To them, even deciding the successor of a Pure Tower is just mechanical labor.’
It made sense. Not only was the boss herself here, but Orthes was as well. Kynemon had already experienced firsthand Orthes’ frightening abilities multiple times.
Orthes was the perfect person to deal with assassination tactics, which other candidates would be seriously considering. It wouldn’t surprise Kynemon if he mentioned there were too many candidates, and then found half of them gone the next day.
However, Kynemon had no intention of asking Hydra Corporation for help just yet. Firstly, he sensed that Carisia had brought Orthes along for “another reason” she hadn’t fully explained.
‘Orthes is likely a necessary part of Hydra’s bigger picture. I can’t just borrow him whenever I like.’
Secondly, and perhaps more irrationally, there was a personal, emotional factor at play.
This was his moment to complete his revenge against the Tower that had destroyed his own. For the final step, he wanted to rely on no one but himself.
“If things truly take a turn for the worse, I won’t hesitate to ask for help. But until then, I’ll handle it with my own power.”
Carisia had expected this answer. Based on the stories Orthes had told her and what she’d observed of Kynemon’s behavior in the Hydra building, this response was entirely in line with his personality.
“Good luck.”
With that brief response, Carisia turned and walked toward Orthes. At some point, the branch leader of Lubrak City had taken a step back behind the two beautiful women, while Orthes continued exchanging what appeared to be pleasant conversation—at least on the surface.
Carisia seamlessly joined the conversation. Kynemon felt a slight sense of unease.
‘This is odd. I thought the plan was to let Orthes handle this and extract all the information…’
But since Carisia was involved, there had to be a deeper reason. Kynemon, left with his childlike bodyguard, called over a waiter to order chocolate for the awkward girl and drank his wine.
***
When Carisia joined the conversation, the suspicious group surprisingly withdrew rather quickly. Perhaps they thought her intervention was a signal that the employer herself had come to end the talks, realizing things were dragging on.
I glanced at the champagne in my hand. Clinking glasses with Carisia, I smiled.
“You seemed to be enjoying yourself.”
“No one enjoys work, boss.”
Carisia shrugged, raising her empty hand to gesture at herself. Apparently, if you reach boss-level status, work becomes enjoyable. That was something I’d never understand.
And within that simple gesture was a masterfully concealed spell. An extreme simplification of a hand-sign. A soundproofing spell, to ensure no words would escape our conversation.
“What kind of people were they?”
I rubbed my chin thoughtfully.
“Well, I’m not sure they’re people at all.”
***
“…”
The two beautiful women who had distanced themselves from Orthes were deep in thought. They didn’t need to voice their concerns aloud—they already knew what each other was thinking.
To be precise, they shared a single thought, a single consciousness.
A multi-layered spiritual entity that existed across several humans pondered.
‘What kind of human is that?’
Human? Or not?
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