WeTried Translations
Translator: Botanica
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Slit-Eyed Henchman of the Evil Boss ◈
Chapter 98
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An Unexpected Visit (3)
The agents Panoptes had sent would probably withdraw after nothing more than a formal inspection.
The sweeping audit of the Magic Towers that the Ten Towers had declared wasn't something that could be wrapped up in a day or two. There was neither the need nor the reason to pour manpower and resources into a thorough inspection of Magic Towers that, like this one, had bowed their heads and volunteered so early.
Their real interest lay with the traitors allied with Argyrion, not with the ordinary majority of Magic Towers.
Though, of course, there was always the one-in-ten-thousand chance.
'The artificial Ten Commandments have always been down at the bottom of Mount Etna, after all.'
Meaning even if Panoptes's audit team thought, "While we're at it, why not go dig through Geryones's and Kaicel's towers too?" there'd be nothing for them to find.
Karisia was roughly aware of the whole situation herself, so this call had meant little more than a routine check-in. I wrapped up the conversation and turned to face Lampades.
"I'm not much of a people person myself, honestly."
This guy's got a good sense of humor. Not even back when I was active in the field, at the height of my career, did I ever meet a fixer as good at finding people as you.
"Ha ha, always joking. I've never seen another fixer with connections as wide as yours."
There's such a thing as bioelectricity (生體電氣), the electrical signal generated by a living creature's activity. Even the neurons that fire when a human being thinks give off this same kind of electricity.
Lampades was extremely skilled at detecting this kind of bioelectricity. He said that, whether it came from the mana unique to each living being or not, casting a spell to pick up on bioelectric current let him sense a subtle "individuality" distinct enough to tell exactly who someone was.
Seeing a friend with that kind of ability show this much humility, it seemed the reward I'd offered had fallen short somehow.
Right now I didn't have the authority to spend company funds privately... no, wait. Why would this even count as private?
Searching for Knemon was, unambiguously, part of company business. There wasn't a shred of guilt in spending the budget on it.
"Might you need some other artifact besides the Thunderknell Orb?"
"No! No, I swear I don't need any other artifact. I just have some Magic Tower Master duties to handle, so it might take a little time, that's all."
Lampades waved his hands. So time was indeed the problem.
I ran through the schedule in my head. Thanks to this bit of relic embezzlement, progress on the artificial Ten Commandments had leaped forward considerably.
...And at the same time, a question had come up that needed answering.
The question of just what the ancient Order of the Divine Name had actually done. That was precisely why I was looking for Knemon.
Recalibrating Lampades's extradimensional radar would make the search for sacred relics, the Divinity Investigation, far easier. But finding the Order of the Divine Name's ancient relics, the special ones with a priest's very soul bound inside, called for a somewhat different approach.
Pluton's Great Temple was the order's last stronghold. Even after searching the place from top to bottom, only six relics had turned up.
Add the Phoibos relic I'd already gotten my hands on, and that made seven ancient relics of the Order of the Divine Name whose whereabouts were now known. The remaining five had most likely gone missing sometime during the war between the order and the Mage King.
Put plainly, they'd probably ended up as war spoils claimed by various Magic Towers.
This was exactly where Knemon came in.
That guy knew all sorts of Magic Tower secrets, inside and out. Back when I was running around the fixer business, I hadn't cared enough to pay attention, and let most of it go in one ear and out the other...
Now, with the Ten Towers pushing this sweeping inspection of sacred relics, Knemon was probably still keeping a careful record of who owned what, a list that could turn into leverage against every other Magic Tower.
I should've actually listened when he kept saying we should join forces and tear this rotten Magic Tower world down together. I regret those days I spent with no interest in reforming mage society, just going along with a flat "Is that so."
While I was lost in old memories, Lampades suddenly spoke up.
* * *
"Would it be alright if I contacted my own tower's people for a moment? This is my first time visiting another tower, and I'm afraid I might be imposing."
For Lampades, this was unusually direct. But hidden between those direct words lay a message beneath the surface.
The message he wasn't hiding was a request, to protect Lampades Tower from the auditors soon to arrive. A natural enough thing to ask, given he'd brought up his tower's own people.
The message beneath the surface showed itself in his choice of the words "might be imposing." It was an emphasis of resolve, that if things went badly, he'd use force to get out if he had to.
This much, at least, was a non-negotiable condition.
Ortes gave an easy, unhurried nod.
"Of course. Ah, Astrape should be having some age-appropriate conversation with Kyne right now, so she might not be able to pick up if you call."
Kyne, too, was a mage Ortes had raised. Putting her together with Astrape could be read two different ways.
'Rest easy, since one of my own people is right there with Astrape,' or, 'Astrape's life is in your hands now.'
'Here, it was probably fair to say it was both at once.'
If Lampades himself faithfully carried out Ortes's "request," Kyne would become a wall shielding Astrape. But if he strayed from what Ortes expected, she'd turn into a blade plunged straight into Astrape without hesitation.
Either way, it meant Ortes had no intention of harming Lampades Tower's people right now. Lampades shook his head weakly and asked.
"How much time do we have left, exactly?"
"Ah, it's not that urgent a matter. I'm simply hoping you might look for him whenever you have spare time, alongside everything else."
'"Spare time," is it. I suppose that means he wants me to find the man sometime within our stay at Hydra Corp.'
This visit's stay at Hydra Corp was set for a bit over ten days. A rather tight timeline.
To find Knemon and bring him back within that window, Lampades himself would inevitably have to move, which meant that while he was away, the only one left to protect his tower's people would be Ortes.
Since Ortes himself had said he'd protect them, he would surely keep that promise to the letter. But finding, within ten days, a man who'd fled beyond even Ortes's own sight was clearly no small task.
"Still, I'm curious. Why are you looking for Knemon?"
This was Lampades's genuine question. Ortes had once promised he'd come find him someday, but had never once actually used that promise to pressure him.
'And that was precisely why I went ahead and entered the listing review, believing Ortes might already be dead...'
A bitterness welled up in him. It felt like a fish caught in a net. But separate from the raw ache of that feeling, a rational question raised its head.
If you compared Ortes to a fisherman, he'd be an extraordinarily patient one, the kind who wouldn't show a shred of impatience even after waiting years just to reel in a single fish.
Hadn't he stayed away without so much as a shadow the entire time Lampades built up his tower, just so he could appear the instant Lampades let his guard down completely?
And now that same Ortes was, unusually, ordering him to "find Knemon and bring him here." Just what in the world had Knemon done in the past?
'No. Maybe I should think about this differently.'
Maybe Knemon was holding onto something Ortes actually wanted...
Ortes, seeming to mull it over for a moment, nodded. Maybe he'd decided it was fine to let Lampades in on it, since he was the one actually carrying out the task.
'Still, he won't tell me every last detail. That guy's always got some corner of himself that stays murky.'
"Let's just say there's something I'd like from Knemon. Tell him I'll arrange a fair fee for it. And that I'm sorry about how things went before, too."
"Before?"
Ortes had always thrown himself onto the extradimensional frontline. He'd fling his body into the most dangerous jobs, come back alive as if it were nothing, then take on another job, over and over without end.
So many other fixers who'd taken on those same high-risk jobs alongside him had wound up dead that rumors even circulated that Ortes, with his miraculous unbroken streak of survival, might secretly be behind every one of those deaths himself...
But Ortes took on those same high-risk jobs even when there was no other fixer working alongside him at all. It was precisely that attitude, that mad, extradimensional-obsessed streak of his, that made it common knowledge that he was an apocalypticist.
If there was any job Ortes and Knemon had done together, it could only have been exploring some extradimensional-corrupted zone. Did that mean Ortes had actually made some kind of mistake?
That Ortes?
Reading the doubt written across Lampades's face, Ortes gave an awkward laugh and answered.
"Ha. When I was exploring some extradimensional-corrupted ruins once, I got hold of an artifact and ran a few tests on it. Turned out it was a single-use item, though. I gave him everything that was left over, but I suppose Knemon didn't think that was quite a fair split. He's seemed to avoid me ever since."
It made sense as a reason. And yet...
'Isn't that a rather modest reason for two apocalypticists to fall out with each other?'
"Ah, here I've kept you far too long when you meant to call your tower's people. I'll clear out so you can speak freely."
"...Right."
Ortes rose and left the room.
'I know as well as Ortes does that this call of mine is just a pretext. What should I actually ask for, to keep us out of the auditors' sight...'
Lampades sank into deep thought.
As for Ortes, he took another call from the president.
"Yes. The auditors have left? Already?"
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