WeTried Translations

Translator: Botanica

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became the Slit-Eyed Henchman of the Evil Boss

Chapter 011

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Looking for the Lost Kaicel (1)

“…What brings you here.”

Bertrand greeted Ortes as if he had seen a ghost.

After leaving the mine as usual, sighing over the steadily declining output statistics, he returned to the guildmaster's office only to find that man with the faint smile waiting for him.

“Rest assured regarding Geryones’s confinement. I have him chained with mana-restraining shackles and locked deep in the mine. No unusual movements either.”

“That is the role the President entrusted to you, Director. I have nothing to say on that matter.”

Ortes waved his hands as if to say he had neither the will nor the qualification to interfere. Bertrand’s concern only deepened.

“Then you must have other business?”

“I would like to access the investigation records on Mount Etna.”

The gaze that had been fixed on him during the meeting was no illusion. Bertrand nodded.

“But there isn’t much to those investigation records. As you know, every investigation ultimately concluded with ‘no anomalies detected.’”

Ortes began reading the report on the spot. Ssshh. Ssshh. Only the sound of pages turning echoed in the guildmaster’s office.

Bertrand, who had been watching Ortes with an uneasy mind, soon began to focus on his own work as well.

Pride as a dwarf and being the most skilled miner in Etna City meant Bertrand was still working in the field. But with the title of guildmaster, the paperwork he had to handle was far from insignificant.

Both men focused on their respective documents, a scene that could be mistaken for an ordinary day at any normal company, continuing for some time.

“Director Bertrand.”

“What is it?”

“Is this event at the Pithos Magic Tower still ongoing?”

Event? Bertrand wondered if there was such a thing, then read the paragraph Ortes showed him and nodded.

“Ah. That. Though it’s too modest to call it an event.”

The ‘event’ Ortes mentioned was a ritual. A custom often seen in places where a single mistake could cost a life, like construction sites using heavy machinery or tools, a practice praying for safety and good fortune.

The Pithos Magic Tower’s factory produces a wide variety of machines, including automata and automatons. While not holding an absolute advantage in the market, the company is praised for its durability and cost-effectiveness.

The fact that production runs smoothly even in Kaicel’s absence indicates that the entire factory is fully automated. Nevertheless, the reason the machines continue to hold this ritual was a mystery even to Bertrand.

“I suppose it’s because the behavioral routine Kaicel inputted remains active, uncanceled. Since no one has the authority to cancel it, it’s still repeating.”

What was peculiar was that it took the form of a burnt offering (燔祭).

“Every month, the first unit of each model is dropped into the Mount Etna crater as an offering. Quite interesting.”

“The Miners Guild once worried that it might be part of some sinister magical ritual.”

A bizarre ritual that burned lifeless automatons as if they were living sacrifices. And since its overseer was a mage, anyone would find the circumstances suspicious.

“But that was a long time ago. The ritual began before Kaicel’s disappearance, and even the investigations at the time found nothing unusual.”

“Thank you. So now no one pays any attention to the Pithos Magic Tower’s ritual?”

“There were a few mages who tried to steal the offerings, thinking they might be clues to finding Kaicel’s artificial Ten Commandments.”

Bertrand recalled old memories. There was even a madman who threw himself into the lava with an android, believing Kaicel might be beneath the volcano.

Of course, none of them ever resurfaced.

A mage who could cool the boundless lava buried in Mount Etna?

Such mages do exist. The elders of the Pale Ice Magic Tower could perform the absurd miracle of freezing lava.

But a mage of that caliber would have long since been treated well in an Apex Magic Tower, enjoying a heavenly life.

Not throwing themselves into a volcano chasing urban legends in this decaying city.

“…But no one ever found him. So I remain skeptical. Is Kaicel really beneath the volcano?”

“Yes. Seeing this ritual only strengthens my conviction. Thank you.”

Just as Bertrand gave a single nod, Ortes’s figure had vanished without a trace.

“…Is he a descendant of some old assassin clan?”

When the Mage King reestablished order in the world, countless names were buried in history.

Not only the temples that had been in decline even before the Mage King’s arrival, but also factions that used supernatural abilities other than magic gradually lost their glory.

Only the warriors fighting spirit survived as a formula for mercenaries or combat androids to input.

Even in peacetime, his blurry presence was a talent truly optimized for assassination. If Ortes truly inherited the legitimate lineage of a vanished assassin clan, why would he serve Karisia?

Bertrand continued his unanswered pondering.

***

Wow, seriously. Is there no SSS-rank stealth skill or something?

The kind where, while hidden in the shadows of the world, all physical attacks are nullified.

One that doesn’t burn in lava or get wet in water….

“There’s no way something like that exists.”

At least not for me right now.

I massaged between my eyes, soaked in fatigue. Because the more I dug into Kaicel, the more the answers converged into one.

“A lava dive…. Do I have to do it?”

It’s certain that Kaicel built some kind of secret laboratory inside Mount Etna.

Because in the original work, the artificial Ten Commandments were described as having accumulated mana for decades ‘without moving from the place they were first created.’

But the problem was the method of getting down there.

No matter how brilliant a mage Kaicel is, it’s hard for him to obtain information from the outside world while holed up at the bottom of a volcano.

Probably, information from the outside world is recorded in the storage devices of the machines offered as sacrifices to Mount Etna, and brought into the laboratory by some method.

The reason mages who examined the offerings didn’t notice the hidden information is likely because the contents are split and compressed across multiple storage devices, or measures were taken so that normal hacking couldn’t reveal them.

Can I derive a way to infiltrate Kaicel’s hideout from these clues?

It’s not that there’s no one capable of finding Kaicel’s laboratory.

“It’s just that it is Karisia.”

After confidently telling the ‘Haha, President, I will find Kaicel for you!’

If I then spouted something like, ‘Hahaha, President. You need to find Kaicel for me,’ what kind of reaction would I get?

‘Oh, that sounds fun. Shall we solidify our horizontal relationship?’

‘Horizontal?’

‘Drop and give me twenty.’

No. She wouldn’t do it like that.

Karisia’s scolding is far more refined. But I could easily guess a similar situation would occur.

“I roughly understand how to filter it out, but...”

Like most things in this world, the power source of automatons is also mana. An automaton fresh off the Pithos Magic Tower’s production line is naturally charged with mana.

The source of that mana is the Pithos Magic Tower’s mana core. Kaicel must have created a spell that selectively transmits only mana with a specific wavelength to his dwelling.

And a mage can change the attribute or wavelength of their own mana to some extent.

Meaning even a mage born with fire attributes can use water magic if they work at it.

But.

I have no mana.

Not close to zero, but just zero.

“Damn this mana-gap society.”

The problem that had been plaguing me ever since I opened my eyes in this world resurfaced.

“It’s not that my body would die instantly if I fell into lava, but jumping in naked is….”

Oh.

Naked?

I flipped through the catalog of Pithos Magic Tower among the documents I got from Bertrand. Quickly skipping past the automatons that made up most of the items.

I’m sure I saw them being maintained in the Miners Guild.

“There it is.”

In the corner of the catalog was a multi-purpose powered suit.

Since it’s a reinforcement suit using mana, it would naturally be charged with Pithos Magic Tower’s mana.

If I, completely devoid of mana, put on the reinforcement suit and get thrown into Mount Etna, wouldn't I be transported along with the suit when it is transferred to the laboratory?

First, I need to verify the hypothesis.

In the off chance that the reason the Pithos Magic Tower’s automaton burnt offerings continue to this day is really because Kaicel simply forgot to issue a stop command….

I’d end up as an idiot swimming in lava while wearing a powered suit.

***

Arabel greeted Ortes in a form where she could exert her full power. Since all her secrets were already exposed to Ortes, there was no need to hide.

A figure like a woman’s upper body atop a massive spider’s body.

The iron spider was an external computing assistance device she had cast over many years. Special equipment worn only when hacking targets with strong firewalls like a Magic Tower.

“So, what do you need me to do?”

“I need you to hack the Pithos Magic Tower’s factory.”

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