I Became the Servant of the Blind Wicked Woman

To read over 260 fully translated episodes, patreon.com/Denji02

"I assume everyone has seen the news that was posted on the Ether Network. It seems likely that Argos will also get involved in the pursuit of Argyrion."

From the outset, Kaicle's expression darkened. On the other hand, the directors didn't seem to feel a significant sense of crisis despite the gravity of the situation.

The only one among the directors who looked grim was Arabella. Given her role in directly filtering and investigating information, she must have immediately grasped the scale of the scandal and its potential impact.

'Even if I exclude Bertrand and Meconion, who mainly operate within Etna City, it's strange that the other directors don't feel more alarmed…'

What's going on? Do they have something up their sleeves?

Neuro was the first to speak.

"However, Director, isn't this just a story of Argos and that Blasphemia group, the relic enforcement team, having more on their plates? For those of us who move around avoiding the relic enforcement team, the situation might actually be more advantageous."

Initially, when the directors learned about Blasphemia, they were described as "contractors" for the Ten Towers. But now, the true nature of Blasphemia had become clearer—they were the ones responsible for cracking down on the faith in the vanished gods and recovering relics.

There were still hidden aspects, but it was an explanation the directors could easily accept. The existence of relics from ancient times had been quietly known, even if such rumors didn't last long. It wasn't hard to guess that someone within the Ten Towers or the magical society was systematically controlling the spread of information about relics.

"That could be the case—initially."

It hasn't yet been decided who will lead the cooperation between Argos and Blasphemia. Whether Argos will just join the investigation of the magic towers or also participate in the pursuit of Argyrion is still under discussion.

Sometimes, the coordination between two different groups can be even sloppier than one acting alone.

However…

"Until now, Blasphemia was the only one forming the encirclement around Argyrion. If they had enough information, they could have dealt with the Eros early on. As you all know, Argos is the law enforcement of the magical society. The manpower they can mobilize is on a different scale from Blasphemia's."

A heavy sigh resonated through the room. The bronze-scaled skin of the mutant giant pulsated, and a question was asked with difficulty from the dragon-like head.

"The numbers… will increase?"

"Yes, Director Talos. If Argos begins to deploy their forces in earnest—"

I began calculating the scenarios if Argos's manpower were added to Blasphemia's encirclement. Even assuming there weren't individuals within Argos actively trying to sabotage Blasphemia, as Salmosia feared, it was inevitable that power struggles would arise between different groups.

If Argos were to take the lead in the encirclement, they might sideline Blasphemia to a nominal supporting role while nearly excluding them from actual operations.

The Blasphemia forces, left with nothing to do, would likely be relegated to perimeter security around the operation areas under the guise of maintaining order.

This would be a major blow to small operators like us.

"Both the quality and quantity of surveillance will likely surge. There won't even be a need to differentiate between the two. The quality of surveillance tends to be directly proportional to the number of observers. Unless Blasphemia decides to be completely uncooperative with Argos, I believe it will become impossible to conduct the kind of relaxed Divine Investigation we've been enjoying."

"Hmm…"

Kaicle stroked his beard. As the creator of the artificial Commandments, he was the one primarily responsible for extracting divine power from relics and infusing it into the artificial Commandments.

"How complete are the Commandments?"

This was Carisia's first question, after having listened quietly until now.

"At best, they're less than 30% complete. Strictly speaking, only around 20%. Our goal is to find the starting point of a path to ascension… a route leading to some metaphysical point where the gods or the Mage King reside, but we haven't even secured enough output to touch the world barrier yet."

"Being 20% complete is impressive in itself. But given the current situation, it's unclear how much longer it will take to ensure they reach 30% completion."

"Yes. Since this research prioritizes the quality of relics over quantity, if we had about ten more relics like that crystal you two brought back, we could reach near-completion in one stroke."

I let out a sigh internally the moment I heard Kaicle's words. Mentioning both me and Carisia together like that!

He could have just mentioned Carisia alone. With Carisia's picky personality, it wouldn't have been surprising if she started scolding me for not addressing her as "President" while calling me "Director."

But surprisingly, Carisia only furrowed her eyebrows slightly. Is it because the situation is urgent?

"That crystal's function is too valuable to be consumed. We'll need to investigate new relics."

A relic comparable to Phoibos's crystal…

It was an item that even the Mage King in the original story deemed "useful." Although it was in a situation where the Mage King had lost most of his power, the fact that it received such high praise was significant.

If it was a relic of that caliber, Blasphemia would have either already recovered it or it would be buried under a seal strong enough to evade their detection.

'This means we either need to hack into Blasphemia's database or get cooperation from the Divine Cult…'

No, if we get cooperation from the Divine Cult, it would become nearly impossible to smuggle it to our side. We need a way to find out the locations of the sealed relic sites from the Divine Cult, and only those locations.

Finally, the expressions of the directors who specialized in external activities darkened as they understood the situation. What should we do?

'Should we really just raid one of Blasphemia's warehouses?'

No, that would be going too far. If we go off the rails like that, Blasphemia might issue a top-level alert thinking, "That bastard from the past is back!"

In truth, back then, Blasphemia wasn't wary of me, but of Carisia, so it would be more accurate to say "that woman" instead of "that bastard."

Amid the dragging meeting, my gauntlet vibrated.

***

Orthes and Carisia exchanged glances. When Carisia nodded, Orthes stepped out of the meeting room for a moment.

It was an unusual move.

Orthes leaving Carisia's side during a meeting was unprecedented. Even when his own seat was available, he would steadfastly stand behind Carisia.

Leaving the directors curious, Orthes checked the message he had received from Demus.

"I've confirmed the opportunity you created. The Divine Cult intends to carry out the Great Temple Liberation Operation using this chaos. You have the qualifications. If you wish to participate in the Great Temple Liberation, meet at the previous location…"

Orthes read the beginning of the message several times, but the content didn't change. Demus genuinely believed that Orthes had instigated the magic tower exposé.

'How could he misunderstand so drastically?'

Setting aside his surprise for a moment, Orthes began focusing on the Divine Cult's plan. Given the scale of the situation, the Divine Cult must also anticipate that Argos would start mobilizing heavily.

How had the Divine Cult planned to counter the increased surveillance?

"There's a mole within Argos. As you might have guessed, it's the handiwork of priests from the Eleimon Cult."

I didn't know. Orthes recalled information about Eleimon.

The goddess of pleasure and erotic love. They probably used beauty as a tool, likely through the use of holy incantations. It made sense that the Divine Cult would infiltrate Argos.

They couldn't infiltrate the secretive Blasphemia. So they must have decided to penetrate another part of Panoptes, where Blasphemia belonged.

By planting a spy in Argos, which was relatively easier to infiltrate, they could indirectly gather information on Blasphemia. It was likely a result of their efforts to ensure the survival of the entire Cult.

"If you use them to disrupt Blasphemia's movements, you can create an opening to attempt the Great Temple Liberation. Knowing about a mole in Argos and actually utilizing them are two different things. The fact that you created a situation where Argos could exert influence over Blasphemia with such a massive exposé… As a priest of the god of war, I'm impressed with your strategy."

Orthes smirked. The situation had gotten tangled up, yet had somehow turned in his favor.

'A mole wasn't created by Argyrion but by the Divine Cult.'

Salmosia's fears of Argos systematically sabotaging Blasphemia had now become reality.

But the mastermind wasn't Argyrion—it was the Divine Cult.

'As expected, there's no way Argyrion could manipulate Argos without some kind of mind-control app.'

The holy incantations of Eleimon could be considered a form of hypnosis. Unlike Argyrion, whose identity as a group opposing the magical society had been exposed during the Elysion terror, the Divine Cult had managed to keep their true nature hidden.

Orthes began crafting the words to report this new development in a suitably packaged form.

It was an unexpected stroke of good fortune.

***

Halto, the leader of Argyrion, slowly read through the

documents. Fortunately, most of the situation was unfolding according to his intentions.

"It's fortunate that our collaborators within Argos have been doing their jobs well."

"Yes. The most important magic towers have completely slipped out of the surveillance network."

The list of exposed names, delicately curated by Nastion under Halto's orders, excluded their most crucial collaborators. With attention drawn to other magic towers, they had perfectly evaded suspicion.

"What was unexpected was the response within Argos. Besides our collaborators, there were senior officials who were in favor of confronting Blasphemia."

"That's Blasphemia's original sin, isn't it? They've adorned themselves as the executors of the most secretive missions of the Ten Towers, so it's only natural they'd garner resentment. It's also understandable that they'd want to suppress them given the incompetence that was exposed during the Elysion incident."

"In that case… Should we try to recruit those with such resentment?"

Nastion pulled out a square device from the wavering shadows, a terminal that projected a hologram.

After a moment of contemplation, Halto shook his head.

"No. There's no need to recruit more allies right now. If they can't accept the truth, they'll inevitably need to be eliminated. It's enough that the opinions within Argos are unified."

The hologram within the terminal Nastion had pulled out wasn't an ordinary video.

It was a light containing the truth. Mages exposed to that light with both eyes would 'welcome' the truth.

Mages who witnessed the truth would have one of two reactions:

Either they would deny the truth and become enemies, or they would join Argyrion.

The time would eventually come when they would reveal the truth to the world, but that time wasn't now, especially when they hadn't yet ascended to the battlefield alongside the Ten Towers.

To read over 260 fully translated episodes, patreon.com/Denji02