WeTried Translations

Translator: Botanica

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

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

Chapter 017

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Day Off (2)

I'm done sleeping.

Instead of closing my eyes beside Karisia, I decided to sit in a chair and organize my thoughts.

A thread-thin breath. It was a sound so pleasant it was almost too good to be white noise for work.

"The directors, huh."

Until now, I'd had little reason to worry much about the directors actions. I'd already dealt with Cryton's business that made Hydra Corporation a target for the protagonist's party.

But with the establishment of a department I'd never heard of called the Divinity Investigation Office, and me becoming its sole member and director, I needed to think differently.

'How can I minimize my workload.'

The ideal scenario would be for the directors to mobilize their organizations to bring in divinity-related items, and I just compile and report them. I could be a salary thief without stepping a single foot outside the office.

'But the problem is whether I have the ability to investigate such items.'

Among the personnel Hydra Corporation can mobilize, the one closest to divinity is undoubtedly Kaicel.

His career of studying ascension across two of the Ten Towers would be very useful. But he's one axis of the three-kingdom play unfolding in Etna City, I can't just let him run free outside.

Geryones is out for the same reason. Karisia?

If I said to the President, 'Could you go on a business trip?' the response would probably be 'Hahaha, this guy's lost his mind.' I'd rather run it myself.

Just the two of us, me and Karisia?

"That doesn't seem like a good idea…."

Going on a business trip with a superior. That's bearable.

Going on a business trip alone with a superior. It's awkward, but that's just how work is.

But when that superior is the President?

'That's a bit much.'

Following Kaicel and Geryones, I also draw a line under the word Karisia. Bertrand isn't suited for this kind of external business trip.

Arabel's body isn't easy to recharge in rough outdoor environments. To use an analogy, she's a desktop that needs to be run with good cooling equipment, not a portable laptop.

In the end, only some rather unstable ones are left.

Drug addicts like Meconion, or Talos, a mutant usually treated as a monster, are hard to show outside carelessly. That leaves three directors.

Divius, an illegal body modification expert, is someone who managed to escape here despite having bounties placed on him in various places.

He also has know-how in survival and information gathering, as he often does 'aftercare' for his clients. Put on hold for now.

Neiro the Hunter and Dimedes the Beast Tamer seem similar at first glance, but there's a big difference between the two.

The beasts Dimedes raises are fed on ordinary people. His specialty is hunting humans. Conversely, Neiro specializes in dealing with harmful wildlife, which is the common image of 'hunting.'

He does occasionally hunt humans with bounties on their heads, but most of his prey are beasts mutated by extradimensional mana. Most of the hunters belonging to Etna City's hunting guild, where he is the representative, are the same.

One who commands beasts that hunt humans, and a human who hunts beasts. The relationship between the two was bound to be hostile.

Considering social skills, Neiro seems the most suitable for external activities, but most of those possessing sacred relics are likely human. In that case, Dimedes is also a very attractive option.

'I'll think about it after I get a lead from Meconion first.'

Meconion herself had said there are those among her trading partners who speak of vanished gods.

The question was whether they were people who truly inherited the old doctrines deeply enough to possess sacred relics, or just drug addicts borrowing the name of a god.

For such trivial matters, I ultimately had no choice but to run around and confirm them myself. If I request cooperation from the directors and get nothing, it's a waste of time and manpower.

Today is a day off, so Meconion should be staying in her cavern.

I'll have to go ask her directly. After sunrise, sometime in the morning, should be a good time.

Unlike Karisia, I'm a person with a sense of time, after all.

After neatly folding the hastily written paper and throwing it away, there was nothing left to do. There were still about three hours until sunrise.

I'll just kill time watching Karisia.

***

Meconion took pride in her cavern, filled with colorful mist.

The ability of a half-spirit, an alraune hybrid. Countless plants bloomed even out of season and gave birth to hybrids unseen in nature.

Bizarre hybrid plants where poppy sap flowed and coca leaves drooped. Not just the narcotic components contained in the plants, but rare spiritual herbs imbued with mana.

When carefully refined and gently burned, the steam was colored in vibrant hues, bestowing merciful illusions upon the cavern's inhabitants.

A natural paradise steeped in happiness. Different from instant things like illusion magic or electronic drugs through neural terminals.

In her paradise, one gloomy intruder had settled in.

"It smells good."

"Want a hit?"

A flower attached to Meconion's green hair withered on its own. The flower's calyx crumbled, and its curled leaves formed a complete, single cigarette.

A sweet yet dizzying scent lingered. This cigarette, made from a flower that bloomed from Meconion's body, was the highest quality among the drugs she handled.

For a human without tolerance, it was a crystallization of pleasure capable of causing fainting from the scent alone.

Ortes just smiled calmly and waved his hand.

"No, thank you. I'm sorry to bother you on your day off, but I came for work."

"Right. That's the kind of person you are."

A languid reply. Meconion reviewed the information she had obtained from Arabel.

'He seems sly and flexible, but his core is close to a fanatic who worships Karisia... was it.'

Having seen countless fire moths that burn their own lives, Meconion knew well that human faith could sometimes become more dangerous than pleasure.

Allaunephin, the cigarette made from her own flowers, was bait thrown to gauge that.

The types of humans who appear unfazed by Allaunephin are largely three.

Terminal patients whose pleasure threshold is already broken to the point Allaunephin can't stimulate them.

Or powerful mages whose self-control over their bodies surpasses the flower's temptation.

Lastly, those so deeply devoted to something that they consider pleasure trivial.

To put it simply, people with something wrong in some part of their minds.

Ortes was certainly not the first type of scumbag. She thought he might be the second type of mage, but if so, there should at least have been signs of expelling toxins through breathing or purification magic.

His faint smile, unwavering even once since entering here, hinted at the third possibility.

There's no solution for that type. No way exists to shake his blind loyalty towards Karisia.

Target Karisia instead? Even setting aside whether seducing Karisia is possible, the probability of having his throat slit by Ortes on the way is extremely high.

'Really. I'm really glad I didn't fight.'

The number of addicts using Meconion's cavern was not small. There were also plenty of people willing to risk their lives for the Allaunephin she offered.

However, when Ortes and Karisia turned Etna City upside down, Meconion lay flat and waited for the storm to pass rather than oppose them.

She was lucky. Looking at what happened to Cryton's organization or Dimedes's beasts, who attacked before her, and above all, the Lernian Magic Tower, opposing them was the worst of all strategies.

"I don't want to keep disturbing your holiday, Director. Could you give me information about the followers of the old gods?"

"I was already preparing it after hearing about it in yesterday's meeting. Take it."

Meconion let out a sigh of relief inwardly. According to the information Arabel gave her, the way he handles people is the same as the President, so she had prepared just in case.

But she never thought he would actually barge in on a holiday and demand information. Should she consider giving her one night as a mercy?

"Oh. I thought it would take at least an hour or two. You're fast."

His praising demeanor, as if he knew nothing, was irritating.

'No. Is this really just a simple evaluation that my information sorting is fast?'

Normally, this kind of transaction treats client confidentiality like one's own life. In that sense, from yesterday's meeting, Ortes's attitude of 'hand over the information willingly' was close to a threat.

'Was it a kind of loyalty test... whether to resist that notification-like decision or accept it!'

The praise just now wasn't about maintaining trust with clients, but about the choice to be loyal to Hydra Corporation itself.

Sensing that she had just narrowly passed a life-or-death crisis, she pretended to be relaxed and waved her hand lazily.

It was a somewhat rude expulsion order directed at the organization's second-in-command.

But Ortes simply bowed his head once and quietly disappeared.

Indeed, the evaluation was accurate: as long as work is handled on time, he doesn't care about anything other than Karisia.

As he quietly withdrew from the intended rudeness meant to gauge his limits, Meconion drank some cold water and let out her tension.

"Phew. What a crazy bastard, obsessed with the boss…."

Meconion tossed additional herbs into the incense burner burning grass.

Though the meeting was short, the tension was heavy. She would need to inhale the incense for a few hours to regain her peace of mind.

***

"…So, the reason you left your room on a holiday was that?"

Those were the first words I heard upon returning home, admiring Meconion's quick and efficient work.

It was Karisia's voice, who still hadn't left my room.

"Didn't you tell me this dawn that you, the President, should 'also' follow the will of the Mage King and rest? But you yourself-."

Karisia. What's the problem this time? The somehow resentful gaze is piercing.

"It's preparation for work starting the day after tomorrow. I need at least some verification before assigning tasks to the directors."

Ha, with a short sigh, Karisia leaned her face close to mine.

"It seems like you're the one who needs to be told to rest, not me."

I shrugged. She knows full well who's keeping me from resting, yet she says this.

As I was browsing through the information on the USB, Karisia pulled a chair and sat behind me.

"So, do they really seem like people who believe in gods?"

"It seems so. The ones who tear people apart while smoking drugs seem like followers of Bacchus."

Bacchus. The god of pleasure, revelry, and wine. Those suspected of being his followers were a traveling troupe that regularly visited Etna City.

But even calling them a troupe, they weren't showing ordinary circuses. They specialized in violent and eccentric performances like illegal electronic drugs or android disassembly shows.

"We'll have to check directly whether they're genuine priests or just half-baked amateurs who picked up some old myths."

The interval between their visits to Etna City was once every two months. The next scheduled visit is…

Coincidentally, next week.

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