I Became the Slit-Eyed Henchman of the Evil Boss - Chapter 55

WeTried Translations

Translator: Botanica

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

Chapter 55

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That Was the King of Troublemaking (3)

The situation was gradually coming under control. The Blasphemia agents deployed into Elysion swiftly eliminated the hosts infected with silver threads, then began tracking the mana wavelength connected to the threads.

Soon, another one of Argyrion's mages would be killed too.

Lampades looked around.

Ortes was talking about something with the girl mage from the Emergency Relief Team. Hydra Corp's president seemed to be comforting Kyne, apparently the company's own corporate scholarship student.

Once this whole incident settled down, Lampades probably wouldn't get another chance to speak with Karisia one-on-one. Watching Ortes's movements closely, Lampades hardened his resolve.

'If I'm ever going to say it, it has to be now...!'

Ortes might catch him. No, he probably would.

But he couldn't just look away while someone danced on the palm of that Faceless Ortes's hand.

Especially not if that person was well on their way to becoming a second Ortes.

Lampades took a deep breath and started walking toward Karisia.

Karisia heard the footsteps approaching and turned her head.

"Tower Master Lampades. Have you reached a decision on the partnership proposal?"

"No. What I wanted to say is..."

Lampades looked at Kyne. Hydra Corp's corporate scholarship student. The girl who, probably on Ortes's orders, had volunteered herself as bait.

'Given that kind of eagerness, I'd have to guess she's one of Ortes's followers. Brainwashed right down to the core, probably.'

Karisia caught the direction of Lampades's gaze. A look that seemed concerned about Kyne.

"Ah. Is this perhaps a business confidentiality matter, something the student shouldn't hear?"

"Yes, that's right. I'm sorry, but Kyne, would you mind stepping away for a moment?"

Kyne tilted her head once, then walked off toward an empty spot with no one around. Astrape could be seen approaching the now-isolated Kyne. It looked like the two Museion Academy applicants were about to have a word with each other.

Lampades felt a flicker of unease. Was it really all right to leave Kyne, who might be one of Ortes's underlings, alone with Astrape?

Lampades hesitated, then shook his head. He had to focus on the conversation at hand.

He turned back to look at Karisia again, and Lampades noticed the surroundings had gone utterly silent.

Every scrap of noise that had been drifting through the listing review hall had been shut out entirely. A high-level soundproofing (遮音) barrier. More astonishing still was that he hadn't even sensed the telltale sign of magic at this level being cast.

'I can understand why Ortes wants to get his hands on her. A mage this powerful, and I can't even guess where she came from.'

"So, what was it you wanted to say?"

The moment Lampades opened his mouth, tension welled up inside him. No matter how firmly he'd steeled his resolve, some hesitation at the moment of action was unavoidable.

"Ortes..."

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to shut out his own fear.

* * *

"He isn't the good person you think he is."

So that was what he'd wanted to say. Karisia held back a laugh that threatened to come out hollow.

Honestly, it was harder than holding back a scream had been when a Blasphemia agent stabbed her with a blade.

The one line the dark elf tower master had wrung out from every last drop of his courage didn't so much as ripple across Karisia's heart.

No, actually, a suspicion did bloom inside her.

'Ortes, seriously, what is going on with your friendships?'

Not a suspicion about Ortes's character, a suspicion about his social skills.

'The person you so proudly introduced as your friend doesn't seem to trust you one bit, you know.'

When Karisia said nothing, Lampades cautiously opened his eyes.

"It's true. If you ever get the chance, ask any fixer from the extradimensional frontline about the Faceless Ortes. Ortes is..."

"I already know."

"What?"

A playful smile touched Karisia's lips. Lampades had said Ortes wasn't a "good" person.

But what Karisia's thoughts had landed on was the part about him not being a good "person."

The guardian of the sacred relic at Phoibos's temple. What had Ortes declared to the spirit of that ancient high priest?

'High priest. You have fulfilled your task. The fate entrusted to you ends here, so return to your peaceful slumber.'

To Ortes's declaration, the ghostly high priest had answered, 'Has the fate we witnessed already vanished!'

Of all humans, the ones who could see fate the farthest ahead would surely be Phoibos's priests, the prophets.

Who, in life, could possibly speak of the end of fate to someone who had once led those very prophets?

A being capable of bending a fate that even a mortal had foreseen.

Among the vanished gods' cults, two titles came to mind, ones Blasphemia watched for with special wariness. One was Pope. The other was...

Karisia answered, half in earnest and half in jest.

"Ortes may not be the person I believe him to be. But..."

Whatever his true identity was, Karisia's choice didn't change.

"He is the person I chose."

Ortes had chosen Karisia, and Karisia had chosen Ortes.

* * *

After I finished talking with Niobe and turned around, I saw Lampades walking over beside Karisia, wearing a bewildered expression.

Had he signed some kind of fraudulent contract while listening to the partnership terms?

Lampades wasn't dumb enough for that, but I knew better than anyone just how chillingly sharp Karisia's business sense could be. Still, we were friends, weren't we? If Lampades had gotten saddled with a raw deal, I had enough loyalty in me to go plead his case to the president.

When I walked up to Lampades to ask what had happened, he flinched, startled, and shrank back.

"Ortes?"

"Yes. What did you and Karisia discuss?"

"No, well..."

He was stumbling over his words, unable to get anything out. Had he really messed up the contract?

"If there is something you cannot bring yourself to say, please, tell me. If it concerns the president, I will find some way, whatever it takes-"

"We were talking about what a shady person you are."

Karisia walked up, her brilliant white hair fluttering. I let her joke slide with an easy laugh.

"Shady? I am always doing my utmost for the president."

"I heard you used to run wild on the extradimensional frontline?"

So that's why he couldn't look me straight in the face. The two of them had been talking about my past.

Karisia didn't know everything about my time on the extradimensional frontline either, so it made sense she'd be curious.

It was a period when I'd lived pretty recklessly, so I hadn't told even Karisia all of it. Had Karisia dangled the contract terms as bait to get him to spill my past?

I shot Lampades a sidelong glare and shook my head.

"Whatever the president heard has been exaggerated some. Is that not how it always goes with stories about friends?"

Just as I tossed out a light joke to dilute my own past, a crackle of static rang out across Elysion.

* * *

The explosions coming through the loudspeakers were proof of a battle. Amid the roar of clashing magic, a human voice cried out.

「Drop the Magic Imprinting Drive and power down your enchant-ware!」

「Ha. You fools. The Ten Towers' brainwashing has blinded you.」

The static cutting into the broadcast grew worse, as if the fighting had intensified. Ragged breathing came through, more and more. It sounded like Argyrion's mage was being pushed onto the defensive.

「Guess I did what I could. Kuhuhu...」

The mage who'd muttered that low murmur could be heard drawing in a breath.

「Ten Towers! We of Argyrion have already sown, across the whole world, the very seeds of blessing we scattered in Elysion today! Anyone who wants new eyes and new ears, seek out the silver threads and find the truth!」

「The broadcast line...?! Cut the feed, now!」

「For truth and the greater cause!」

An explosion more violent than anything before it. Not a sound carried through the loudspeakers. An eardrum-splitting roar spread across the whole of Elysion.

Along with flames that swallowed an entire building in Elysion's streets whole.

* * *

The dying words Argyrion's mage had spat out bore an eerie resemblance to Ortes's prophecy.

Kyne studied Ortes's expression. Still that same smiling face.

In other words, not the slightest shift from his usual look. That unchanging (不變) look was proof, in itself, that Ortes wasn't feeling anything like particular satisfaction.

Whether he'd genuinely seen the future or simply arrived at it through logical inference, shouldn't he feel at least some pride at pulling off a prediction this accurate?

A calm as flat as if to say, "What was going to happen, happened."

That chilly composure brought back to Kyne what she and Karisia had been talking about, before she'd stepped away because of Lampades.

'Is there really a relic that shows the future?'

'Did Ortes tell you that? There are too many ears around, so don't get specific here.'

Kyne looked up at Karisia with a face that demanded an answer. Karisia nodded.

'I have it.'

That meant, when Ortes had made his prophecy to Enyalios's priest, he hadn't even borrowed the relic's power to do it.

'How did you get it?'

'By proving whoever it was qualified, at the place that's kept it since time immemorial. That's how.'

'...Who was even qualified for that?'

'Ortes, obviously.'

So, let's sum up the situation.