NOVEL NEXT Chapter 79
“Everyone must have seen the news that’s surfaced on the Aether network. It seems Argos will also get involved in the pursuit of Argyrion.”
Kaicle’s expression darkened right from the start. On the other hand, the directors didn’t seem to feel a significant sense of crisis given the gravity of the situation.
The only one among the directors with a grave expression was Arabella. Being in a position to filter and investigate the information, she likely sensed the ripple effect this level of scandal could cause.
‘What’s with everyone? Do they have some sort of blind trust?’
Noiro was the first to speak up.
“But, Director. Ultimately, isn’t the burden being placed squarely on Argos and Blasphemia, the Relic enforcement team? For us, who are moving to dodge the Relic enforcement team, it seems like the situation might actually be favorable.”
When the directors were first made aware, Blasphemia was just a ‘subcontractor of the Ten Towers,’ but now the full picture had become clearer. They were those who regulated faith in the vanished god and recovered the relics.
Though some parts were still hidden, it was an easy explanation for the directors to accept. Even if the existence of relics from ancient times was known in whispers, such rumors didn’t last long. It was common for writings to suddenly disappear from the Aether network. It was easy to guess that someone from the Ten Towers or the magical society was systematically regulating relics.
“That might be true. In the early stage, at least.”
It hadn’t yet been determined who would take the lead in the collaboration between Argos and Blasphemia. Whether Argos would just meddle in the mage tower investigation or also join in the pursuit of Argyrion was still a topic for discussion.
Sometimes, the link between two entities that didn’t match was even more precarious than one acting alone.
But.
“Until now, Blasphemia was the only one forming the encirclement around Argyrion. If we had enough information just from that, it would have been possible to deal with the silver threads early. As you know well, Argos is like the police force of the magical society. The number of personnel they can mobilize is on a different scale than Blasphemia.”
A heavy huff was heard afterward. The bronze-scaled, mutated giant’s head pulsated. A question was thrown from its dragon-like mouth with difficulty.
“The number… increases?”
“Yes, Director Talos. Once Argos fully mobilizes its personnel—”
I calculated the scenario where Argos’s personnel joined Blasphemia’s encirclement. Even assuming there wasn’t anyone within Argos who would aggressively sabotage Blasphemia, it’s only natural that friction would arise between the different groups.
If Argos took the lead over the encirclement around Argyrion, they might place Blasphemia as a nominal support, virtually excluding them from the actual operations.
With Blasphemia’s personnel left with nothing to do, they’d likely be sent to guard the remnants of nearby ruins with fancy wording about maintaining order in the operational area.
For small businesses like ours, it would be a huge blow.
“Both the quality and quantity of the surveillance network will spike. There wouldn’t even be a need to distinguish between the two. The quality of surveillance tends to be directly proportional to the quantity of surveillers. Unless Blasphemia completely acts uncooperatively with Argos, it will be impossible to conduct leisurely divine investigations as we do now.”
“Hmm…”
Kaicle stroked his beard. As the creator of the Artificial Ten Commandments, he was the head responsible for extracting the divine power from relics and infusing it into the Artificial Ten Commandments.
“What’s the completion level of the Ten Commandments?”
It was the first question from Carisia, who had been silently listening.
“Even if you give it a generous view, it’s less than 30%. Strictly calculated, it’s around 20%. The goal is to find the starting point of the path of ascension… a place beyond which the vanished cult believed their god or the Mage King resides, but we haven’t even secured enough output to reach the world boundary yet.”
“Surprisingly, 20% completion is impressive. However, if the current situation continues, I don’t know how long it’ll take to guarantee that 30% completion.”
“Yes. Since research places more importance on the quality than quantity of relics, if the two of you, the previous boss and director, could procure around ten relics like that silver thread, we could reach near-completion in one go.”
As soon as I heard Kaicle’s words, a sigh escaped me. How could he put me and Carisia on the same level!
He could have just mentioned Carisia. With her uptight personality, it wouldn’t have been strange if she’d turned it into a fuss about whether the boss or director was a different person.
However, unexpectedly, Carisia just frowned once. Maybe the urgency of the situation was getting to her?
“The function it possesses is too useful to waste. We have to investigate new relics.”
A relic comparable to Phoibos’s silver thread.
Even the original Mage King evaluated it as ‘useful.’ While it was under limited circumstances where the Mage King had lost his power, the fact that it received such high praise was indeed unusual.
If it were that high-level a relic, Blasphemia would have retrieved it long ago, or it would be suppressed under a seal strong enough not to be detected.
‘Does this mean we’ll have to raid Blasphemia’s database or seek the cooperation of the Divine Cult…?’
No. Getting cooperation from the Divine Cult would make it nearly impossible for us to smuggle it in. We only needed a way to find out the location of the sealed ruins from the Divine Cult.
The expressions of the outside activity directors, who now finally understood the situation, darkened. What were we to do?
‘Are we really going to raid a Blasphemia warehouse?’
No, that’d be going too far. If we did that, Blasphemia might issue a high-alert saying, “That guy from the past has returned!”
Actually, during that time, Blasphemia had been wary not of me, but of Carisia, so it should be ‘that girl.’
Amidst the sluggish meeting, a vibration rang from the gauntlet.
*
A glance exchanged between Orthes and Carisia. When Carisia nodded, Orthes briefly exited the meeting room.
That was unusual.
Orthes had never left Carisia’s side during a meeting. He always stood firmly behind her, even when he had a seat reserved.
Ignoring the curiosity of the directors, Orthes checked the message from Demus.
“I’ve confirmed the opportunity you created. The Divine Cult is planning to use this chaos to initiate a liberation operation for the Great Temple. You are qualified. If you wish to participate in the Great Temple liberation operation, come to the previously agreed meeting spot…”
Orthes read the message’s opening several times, but the content remained unchanged. Demus genuinely seemed to believe Orthes had instigated the mage tower exposure incident.
‘How could there be such a misunderstanding?’
Putting aside his momentary bewilderment, Orthes began to focus on the Divine Cult’s plan. Given how large this matter had grown, the Divine Cult likely suspected that Argos was about to make a major move.
How would the Divine Cult resolve the strengthened surveillance network?
“We have a spy within Argos. You probably knew, but it’s a clever priest from the Elimon Cult.”
I didn’t know. Orthes recalled information about Elimon.
The goddess of pleasure and love. The method used was likely using Holy Power to employ beauty as a means. It was somewhat expected for the Divine Cult to infiltrate Argos.
Unable to infiltrate the secret organization of Blasphemia, it seems they judged the way in through another branch of Panoptes, which Blasphemia belonged to.
By planting a mole in the relatively easier-to-infiltrate Argos, they could indirectly gain information from Blasphemia. It must have been a product of efforts for the survival of the entire cult.
“If we can use them to disrupt Blasphemia’s movements, it would create an opportunity to attempt the Great Temple liberation. Knowing that the Divine Cult has planted a spy in Argos and utilizing that fact are two different domains. Creating a situation where Argos can exert influence over Blasphemia with this large exposure… As a priest of the War God, I’m impressed by your strategy.”
Orthes let out a hollow laugh. The situation had turned so tangled it had changed for the better.
‘Now we have a spy from the Divine Cult, not Argyrion.’
Salmosia’s imagination of Argos systematically impeding Blasphemia had come true.
Though the backer wasn’t Argyrion but the Divine Cult.
‘Indeed, controlling Argos from Argyrion is impossible unless there’s a hypnotic app or something.’
The Divine Power of Elimon could be seen as a type of hypnosis. Unlike Argyrion, whose identity was revealed due to the Elysion terror, they would likely hide the fact that they were opposed to the magical society.
Orthes carefully crafted the words to report this new information.
It was an unexpectedly fortuitous development.
*
Halto, the leader of Argyrion, slowly read through the documents. Fortunately, most of the situation had unfolded as he intended.
“Our collaborators within Argos have thankfully performed admirably.”
“Yes. The most important Apex Towers have perfectly avoided the surveillance network.”
The exposure list, carefully adjusted by Nastion under Halto’s orders, had excluded the most important collaborators. With the attention diverted to the other mage towers, they had perfectly escaped suspicion.
“What was unexpected was the response from within Argos. Aside from the collaborators, there were also executives in favor of confronting Blasphemia.”
“Isn’t that Blasphemia’s original sin? They’re presenting themselves as executing the most secretive mission of the Ten Towers, so it’s only natural they’d evoke backlash. With the incompetence exposed in Elysion during such a time, it’s obvious they’d want to suppress them as well.”
“Then… Should we try to recruit those who harbor such grievances?”
Nastion pulled out a rectangular device that projected a holographic image from the swirling shadows.
Halto pondered for a moment before shaking his head.
“No. There’s no need to increase our allies right now. Unless they accept the truth, those who can’t must inevitably be eliminated. The fact that the opinions within Argos are united is sufficient.”
The hologram within the device Nastion had produced wasn’t just an ordinary image.
It was a light that contained the truth. Wizards exposed to that light would come to embrace the ‘truth.’
There were two reactions from the wizards who witnessed the truth.
They either denied it and became hostile or joined Argyrion.
One day, the time would come to publicly unveil the truth to the world, but it wasn’t the right moment yet, especially not in the midst of a battlefield like the Ten Towers.