WeTried Translations

Translator: Botanica

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

Chapter 10

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After work meeting with the President

My tongue tries to spit out words my brain hasn't approved.

My reason stopped me from reflexively answering, 'Why are you arbitrarily including me in "us"?' Well done, my reason.

The slowly rotating chair stopped precisely facing me. Karisia's heeled foot swayed gently.

"Won't you tell me what you think?"

I hope I don't end up like that guy who suggested retreating after seeing Cao Cao eating chicken ribs and got executed for saying a strange plan without consulting me. Still, we've spent years together.

Thinking about it slowly, now the situation is that everyone else has been sent out and only the two of us remain.

If this was something she intended to do to me publicly, she would have done it earlier, not now.

So this question isn't Karisia indirectly expressing her discomfort. It's just a question that came out of pure curiosity about my thoughts.

…Probably.

"Ah. Do you want to sit? Standing must be uncomfortable too."

Anyone who agrees to sit here is a rookie. If I actually sit down, it'll lead to criticism like, 'Our company sure is horizontal. An employee eating at the same table as the president.'

I am a skilled subordinate. The time I've worked under Karisia is no superficial thing.

"No, President. How could I dare do such a thing."

"I confirmed there's no eavesdropping, you know. Between us."

"That's precisely why I must act this way, precisely because it's between you and me."

Karisia's eyes sharpened. What was there to be offended by in what I just said?

This is why it's hard to serve a erratic boss. You have to be able to know where the scales are.

"Why is that?"

I tensed up and formulated a plausible answer.

"You may be essential to me, President. But I must not become essential to you."

***

"Human attachment is a weakness."

Ortes's expression was rarely stiff. A sharp line drawn. The line drawn between him and herself never changed.

Feeling relieved at that constancy while simultaneously wishing for it to waver, a self-contradictory emotion. Instead of sighing, Karisia adjusted her posture.

A dignified posture befitting a ruler, as Ortes had taught her.

"Let's compare your battle to chess. compare me, undeservedly, to the queen. The queen is certainly a powerful piece."

Chess played against the White Light Magic Tower. It wasn't a fair game. The White Light Magic Tower possessed countless pieces, while Karisia had only eight pawns and one queen.

"But one must not become attached to a powerful piece. Because in a game, there are times when you must make a move that sacrifices the queen."

Strength went into Karisia's right arm resting on the armrest. She didn't like Ortes's words.

"Ruin a game just to protect a single piece is not only laughable but foolish."

Karisia knew well that it was nearly impossible to persuade Ortes when he was this serious.

"...Haah."

She finally let out a sigh. No matter how many years passed, she could never cross that line.

"Fine. Let's return to the original topic. Starting with why you explained a different plan to the Directors."

***

"You are a heretic, President."

Thinking about it carefully, maybe the problem was my choice of the informal phrase 'between you and me' without any respectful distance.

There are people like that. They can approach their subordinates without authority, but if the subordinate approaches them, they shout, 'How dare you!'

Unless it's like the old days when the two of us were wandering the desert alone, I need to mind my manners.

Even if she pretends not to, she likes being treated well.

"A heretic. A word befitting the fanatics who believe in vanished gods."

"Isn't that the reality? The Mage King is the god of mages, and the Ten Commandments are the relics he left behind. The obsession mages have with ascension resembles the yearning for religious salvation."

Karisia twisted her lips into a smile. A sneer mixed with hatred and anger toward mages, specifically the White Light Magic Tower.

"In this world, the Ten Commandments are the guidelines for salvation. Most mages set the goal of their lives on connecting to the Ten Commandments even once. In that situation, your plan, President, is far too radical."

"You think the Directors might inform on us to the White Light Magic Tower?"

I nodded. Karisia shook her head as if to say it was an unnecessary worry.

"President. Secrets grow weaker the more they are shared."

"What if the purpose is to create an inner circle that shares the secret?"

Karisia asked with a somehow mischievous expression. But I could answer without hesitation.

"It's premature."

It's just that I and Karisia are unusual. As far as I know, there is no mage in this world besides Karisia who thinks about destroying the Ten Commandments.

"Your wish, President, lies outside the realm of understanding for the Directors, and what cannot be understood often becomes an object of worship or fear."

Most mages wouldn't even understand the concept of destroying the Ten Commandments. Not monopolizing the Ten Commandments or challenging ascension with the knowledge within them, but just trying to smash them?

"And the Directors are highly likely to fear your goal, President."

If any of the Directors, worried that the clue to ascension would disappear from the world forever, informed the Apex Magic Towers, the probability was far from low.

The yearning for the Ten Commandments and ascension was that strong. Even mages from the underworld, completely jaded by reality, hadn't fully abandoned that desire.

"It's more advantageous to reveal a plausible other goal to the Directors and proceed with the plan beneath the surface."

"Fine. That's reasonable. The puppet play using Geryones and Kaicel is quite to my liking too. But the artificial Ten Commandments."

Is she going to ask if it really exists? A sudden surge of tension stiffens the back of my neck.

If even Karisia doubts its existence, there's nothing I can do but plead with tears for her to believe me.

"That thing. Do we absolutely have to use it like the Ten Commandments?"

Fortunately, Karisia didn't seem to doubt its existence at all. After all, even in the original work without me, Kaicel's artificial Ten Commandments fell into her hands.

Maybe she felt the wavelength of the artificial Ten Commandments as soon as she arrived in this city.

"Like the Ten Commandments? Do you have another use in mind, President?"

"The magical formulas imprinted on the artificial Ten Commandments would probably be limited to Kaicel's and his Magic Tower's knowledge, but the amount of mana must be considerable, right?"

The image of The White Nameless's massive bomb terrorism from the original flashed through my mind.

Surely not.

"If we process it into a mana bomb and throw it at the White Light Magic Tower-"

My goodness. That personality of yours is truly innate.

"...I'll also look into that method of utilization. But President. The artificial Ten Commandments can become an object of desire for the Directors."

If I create something like that, who knows when they'll try to use it for a suicide bomb terrorism. If Etna City were to evaporate due to negligence in management, wouldn't most of my future plans be ruined?

"It's a new clue to ascension that has never existed before, isn't it? Even if the reality is different, what's important is making the Directors think that way."

For now, let's turn your thoughts away from bombs. Don't do that.

***

"Fatten their desires, give them a little at a time, and make them crave more."

Karisia sometimes thought Ortes's words resembled a teacher's instruction.

In fact, from the moment she escaped the White Light Magic Tower's laboratory until now, she had spent most of her time with Ortes.

"If you, President, also act as if you place great significance on the artificial Ten Commandments, you can certainly influence the Directors actions."

The knowledge she could acquire inside the laboratory was limited only to fields related to magic.

Of course, in the faint past before being captured by the laboratory, there were memories of learning something else.

But those memories were crushed and shattered by the information of the Ten Commandments that the White Light Magic Tower had implanted in her.

All that remained were fragmentary memories, like ashes that had smoldered out.

To Karisia, who had lost her past, the one who taught her things other than magic was Ortes.

"If you make them believe that lie about becoming a new king is the Hydra Corporation's greatest secret."

Her right hand, her teacher, smiled.

"No one will pay attention to the real secret."

Destroy the name of White Light. Both the Ten Commandments and the Magic Tower.

She listened with satisfaction to the blueprint of the future whispered by her most reliable ally in her revenge.

At the same time, she became aware of one problem.

The advice Ortes had stated at the beginning of their private conversation: 'You must also know how to sacrifice a piece.'

Karisia didn't like that.

***

"It seems all your questions have been answered. May I go up now?"

I need to go up quickly and figure out a way to meet Kaicel.

I need to finish my plan as quickly as possible, while Karisia has no doubts. At least to the point where I can vaguely talk my way through an unannounced inspection with plausible words.

"Yes. Go ahead."

"And you, President?"

"I have some things to think about for a moment."

For some reason, Karisia's gaze looking at my face is piercing. I greet her as naturally as possible and exit the conference room.

Then I head to my room at full speed. First, I need to wash up properly and think.

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