Chapter 94 – Each of Their Suspicions (1)
Orthes accepted the coat Carisia handed him.
“Isn’t this your coat, boss?”
“There’s no other option. What I’m wearing now is more like rags, so I might as well wear that.”
Orthes shrugged once and obediently put on the coat. It was originally a free size, so it fit him decently enough.
“What did you tell the other executives before you came out here?”
“I told them to keep working hard and left.”
Oh, for the love of… Orthes let out a sigh. *Is that how you expect the company to run properly, boss?*
Carisia, ignoring his grumbling, asked another question.
“How on earth did the meeting with our partner company turn into such chaos?”
“Ah.”
Orthes rummaged through his tattered jacket and pulled out a small round object.
It was Adoosiam’s core.
“Seems to be a golem made by the Mage King. It’s likely this thing that called the Ten Magic Towers here, but I can’t figure out why Argyrion was involved.”
“The Mage King?”
Showing interest, Carisia took the core from Orthes. Her magic quickly dissected and analyzed its structure.
“There’s a restriction on its performance.”
“Yes. The restrictions can only be lifted by the Mage King or his direct representative. I thought it might be useful as a sort of ‘Mage King resurrection detector,’ so I kept it.”
Sensing Carisia’s magic, Adoosiam’s core began to hum.
『Ten… White Light… detected… permission for higher access granted…』
Carisia’s grip on the core tightened. Her stern expression relaxed, and she tossed the core back to Orthes.
“It’s set to send out a signal to two types of targets. The disciples of the Mage King, meaning the holders of the Ten Magical Commandments, and the Mage King’s followers, like this golem’s kin.”
Orthes frowned.
“Are you saying Argyrion is part of that second group?”
“I’m not sure. Whether Argyrion received that signal or showed up for some other reason is something we can’t know.”
There was a possibility that Argyrion’s so-called “cause” might be tied to the Mage King.
It was an ominous sign.
Orthes decided to file this away as one of many potential threats. He didn’t know exactly what Argyrion was planning in the end, but it was always better to be prepared for the worst.
Carisia took a deep breath, asking in a casual tone, “So, did you manage to get anything useful?”
“Oh, quite a bit. I’ve developed a good eye for valuable things during my fixer work. I swiped only the best stuff.”
Carisia, knowing a little about Orthes’ enhanced vision, understood that his comment about his “good eye” was a bit of a joke. She smiled faintly and shifted the conversation.
“Didn’t an ancient spirit try to talk to you again, like last time?”
“There wasn’t much of a chance for that. I didn’t take my time with it—just grabbed what I could and stuffed it all in.”
Despite the sorry state of Orthes’ clothes, which looked more like torn-up rags than anything else, they were actually high-quality. The outfit was enchanted to maximize its storage capacity, allowing it to hold a surprising amount without leaking anything, much like an enchanted pocket.
Even the fabric itself wasn’t ordinary—it was woven from the fibers of the Arachnid, a giant spider-like magical beast, which made the material tougher than most steel.
Because of this, the amount of relics stored in Orthes’ clothes far exceeded what anyone would guess just by looking at him.
“Hmm. Thinking about it now, I’m not sure what condition they’re in.”
It was reasonable to assume that, considering he’d gotten involved in a battle between Argyrion and the Ten Magic Towers after gathering the relics, the relics might have taken some damage, just as his clothes had.
“Don’t worry. As long as they’re not completely shattered, their divine power will remain intact. That’s all we need.”
Orthes nodded. Since he wasn’t an expert on the magic theory surrounding the Artificial Commandments, if Carisia—who was at the forefront of that research alongside Kaicle—said it was fine, then it probably was.
The two continued their conversation casually as they made their way home.
***
The elders of the Ten Magic Towers had gathered. Not all of them were present, but just having this many in one place was a rare event.
“Talos is dead.”
“Killed by Argyrion?”
“Based on the circumstances.”
“Is that even possible?”
The Ether Space buzzed with agitation. Throughout the long history of the Ten Magic Towers, it was extremely rare for an elder to be killed for any reason other than during the succession battles.
“How long had Talos been serving as an elder?”
“Ninety-two years.”
“Quite a while.”
Among the elders of the Ten Magic Towers, some had lived for centuries, closer to magic than to humanity. However, barring some extreme cases, the power gap between elders wasn’t particularly wide.
To be precise, after about a century as an elder, most of them reached a similar level of competence.
On average, it took roughly that long—around a century—to fully master all the abilities granted by the wisdom of the Ten Magical Commandments. Beyond that point, further growth had to come from personal research. Only the tower lords could access the deeper powers of the Ten Magical Commandments.
The deeper realm of the Ten Magical Commandments, the stage beyond magic—the realm of the *magus*.
For all who were not tower lords, it remained a mystery. Barring a few exceptions like newly appointed elders or those who had attained extraordinary breakthroughs on their own, there was no clear distinction of superiority among the elders.
That’s why the news of Talos’ death was even more shocking.
“I thought Blasphemia would be able to handle them.”
“According to Salmosia’s report, it wasn’t just Blasphemia—Argos was involved as well. In other words, it seems Panoptes as a whole has been infiltrated.”
“This issue has grown too large to be left to a single lower organization….”
The elders began to entertain a disturbing and frightening hypothesis, tying Argyrion’s “cause” to something much darker. If true, it could explain the extraordinary abilities displayed by this group of Eroders.
“Chief Astronomer.”
“Yes.”
A young man was summoned to this gathering of the Ten Magic Tower’s most prominent elders. He was the head of the observers belonging to the Eidolons, who monitored extra-dimensional activities.
Among the Eidolons, the Chief Astronomer held a special status.
He was tasked with tracking the movements of the stars and deciphering omens of the future, a field that bordered on superstition. But more importantly, he was responsible for tracing the echoes of the Mage King’s ascension—a role that involved sharing in the most secret knowledge of the Ten Magic Towers.
“What about the vortex in the extra-dimension?”
“The movements of the extra-dimensional beings remain constant. They continue to open gates across the world, attempting to contact apocalyptic cults.”
“Is there any chance that an extra-dimensional being imitating the Mage King is behind the brainwashing of Argyrion?”
“It’s possible. The existence of extra-dimensional entities capable of mimicking the Mage King’s actions can’t be ruled out. However, no such entity has been observed acting in that manner so far.”
But then the Chief Astronomer hesitated before continuing.
“That said, assuming something hasn’t happened yet and that it will never happen is the mistake of a fool. If you ask me to categorize it as possible or impossible, I would say it’s possible.”
“Is it a fragment of the Mage King’s will? Or is it an extra-dimensional being that has begun to understand humanity more deeply? Either way, it’s a terrifying foe.”
The elders’ opinions converged. This was not something that Blasphemia alone could handle.
“We need to issue an emergency order to all of Panoptes.”
“But didn’t you just say there are infiltrators within Panoptes?”
“The only group that remains pure is the Eidolons. Hm…”
*Clap.* Someone clapped their hands. The sound came from a figure composed of dense blue mist, rather than flesh and bone.
It was the elder from the Jade Wind Tower.
“Here’s an idea. Argyrion exposed several names in their attempts to shake the magical society, didn’t they?”
The elders nodded. That was one of Argyrion’s underhanded tactics.
“We’ll launch a large-scale investigation into them. The magic towers that have nothing to hide will cooperate willingly, and any Panoptes investigators who are reluctant to join can be marked as potential suspects.”
“You want to use the investigation as bait to filter out the dangerous elements? For you, that’s a surprisingly mild approach.”
“My philosophy that more souls are better hasn’t changed. Whether it’s an extra-dimensional entity or the Mage King, it’s clear that the magical society must unite against this enemy with all its might. We can’t afford the loss of loyal servants of magic turning into magic stones.”
The elders communicated through various channels. Some used telepathy to speak directly to each other, while others sent messages through mana proxies. After some deliberation, they decided to launch a large-scale sweep for Argyrion infiltrators.
As the Ether Space gradually fell into silence, the Chief Astronomer suddenly spoke.
“Have the tower lords given any instructions?”
“It seems they consider Argyrion’s threat insignificant compared to the search for ascension clues. The lord of the Silver Iron Tower asked us to ‘please capture an angel alive next time we encounter one.’”
The Chief Astronomer nodded.
The tower lords were still not making a move.
“I’ll relay the message to the others.”
“You may leave now. Soon, we’ll inform Panoptes of the decisions made in this meeting.”