Ortes gazed down at the strand of bio-fiber hair he held in his hand. It had been severed from its main body, which was already dead.
As the residual magic that had shaped the hair into a blade dissipated, the bio-fiber lost its cohesion and began to disperse strand by strand.
Niobe looked at Ortes. The pitiful sight of the magical engine car and the branch chief, now reduced to nothing more than a corpse before Ortes.
Her voice trembled as she steadied herself to ask:
“Why.”
Ortes shrugged. The strands of the branch chief’s hair scattered from his hand, resembling an act of scattering ashes after cremation, forming a gesture of mourning.
“It’s simply that those who were meant to d*e, have died.”
But the tone of his words was far from calm; it was harsh and merciless.
Niobe felt the gap between the clumsy ‘dropout agent’ who used to smile warmly and the current Ortes.
What added to her fear was Ortes’ faint smile, which remained unchanged from when they first met at the Vykada Wandering Troupe until now.
“Alright, everyone, please come out.”
Ortes assessed that there was “almost no one” present inside the Charlotte Branch when he boarded. Conversely, this meant that there were still a few people around.
Slowly, members of Blasphemia emerged from the chaotic room, each gripping their weapons tightly.
Ortes thought to himself:
“There are more than I expected?”
He had anticipated about five or six, but there were nearly twenty.
However, showing any sign of surprise would be amateurish. A true master knows how to repay even a thousand debts with just a word, and such masters never lose their smiles.
Ortes’ smile served as half a threat too. If you’ve cornered your opponent into a fatal trap yet they continue smiling, it naturally raises the question: “Did something go wrong?”
This momentary hesitation was Ortes’ survival strategy in the midst of battles where hesitation could mean life or d*ath.
However, the feelings of the Blasphemia agents towards his smile were different.
There is a hypothesis that smiles originally stem from the threatening stance of predators baring their teeth. Ortes’ expression matched this description.
The madman who murdered the branch chief using the latter’s own magic to stab him—this image struck fear into the agents, preventing them from immediately attacking Ortes.
There was another reason.
“I believe I should explain first.”
Ortes slowly scanned the revealed agents. They tried to read his psychology from his face, but his almost closed eyes acted as a powerful shield.
“Charlotte Branch Chief Nardanit conspired to betray Blasphemia.”
A calm yet shocking announcement. Upon hearing these words, Niobe let out a short exclamation of confusion and betrayal: “What?”
What further confused her was the reaction of her seniors.
About half, or perhaps seventy percent, of them bit their lips upon hearing Ortes’ declaration, clearly indicating their collusion with Nardanit.
“Oops. You shouldn’t let your expressions falter so easily when a scheme is discovered, juniors. It makes it too easy for me to weed you out.”
The absence of people in the Charlotte Branch was due to Nardanit’s intentions. After completing missions, Blasphemia agents are granted rest periods for self-maintenance.
Nardanit cleverly adjusted the mission assignment schedule using his authority as branch chief, gradually overlapping the rest periods of the traitorous faction.
His ultimate plan was to have all members of the faction on leave simultaneously, allowing the entire Charlotte Branch to join the rebellion.
Currently, seventy percent of the Blasphemia agents gathered in the Charlotte Branch—those who had been recruited into the traitorous faction—were bewildered and unable to decide their next move after their leader was suddenly killed.
Understanding the situation, Niobe asked in bewilderment:
“Ortes… who are you really?”
It’s done. I almost cheered in joy. With this atmosphere, I can deceive them all.
The side effects of staying awake to counteract the self-destruct magic are still severe.
With a ratio of 5 to 1, I could easily eliminate them all. But with 20 to 1, that’s something I need to think carefully about.
Moreover, if the entire Blasphemia branch goes up in flames, it would create another problem. The esteemed elders of the Ten Towers will start paying attention to matters below them at that point.
It’s still too early to confront the Ten Towers directly.
If I must choose a time, I should wait for the protagonist’s arrival. When the resurrected Wizard King appears and draws the attention of the Ten Towers, it would be more efficient to act from behind the scenes.
“Let me apologize first.”
I delivered the prepared response. Sometimes deception is more effective than outright slaughter.
Throwing another rebellion issue at Blasphemia, which is already short-staffed, will ensure they have no resources left to focus on peripheral cities like Etna City.
“My name isn’t Ortes, and neither is this face real.”
“The inspector wouldn’t reveal their real name or appearance.”
Niobe stared blankly at Ortes, or rather, Inspector L13.
Is the codename he gave me genuine?
“It’s quite unfortunate that I must use a false identity even when meeting old colleagues, but it’s part of the job.”
The inspector shrugged and added a few more words. To justify infiltrating the Charlotte Branch, he utilized Niobe, who had been dispatched to the Vykada Wandering Troupe. Coincidentally, Hydra Corp, a rising organization, was monitoring the troupe, so he approached disguised as an executive.
She had always found it strange. A Blasphemia agent shouldn’t pursue personal interests, yet he held a prestigious position within the Magic Tower.
Unless he intended to abandon the organization, his behavior didn’t align with someone wanting to return to it.
Still, everything from their initial meeting until now was a facade.
Niobe halted her thoughts. Her training as a Blasphemia agent kicked in. The psychological analysis methods taught to deduce the whole from small clues.
A technique to filter out the most truthful information by combining the subject’s words and actions.
The way he sprinkled the hair in mourning and now mentioning ‘old colleague’ implied that Branch Chief Nardanit and the inspector had some form of acquaintance.
“Glad to meet you, juniors. I am an inspector. There’s no need to tell you my name or codename. It’s better we don’t meet again. Forget my face—it’s not mine anyway.”
Amidst his seemingly playful tone, Niobe sensed a hint of sadness.
“Branch Chief Nardanit collaborated with traitors to hand over the entire Charlotte Branch. This situation has been reported to the Blasphemia Audit Office, and the entire Charlotte Branch is under investigation.”
Of course, Ortes wasn’t sad at all.
“I will submit the database files as evidence after the audit. Any tampering from this moment onward is prohibited. Personnel from headquarters will soon arrive to handle the situation.”
This was to create an excuse for Ortes to manipulate the database later. Though video editing wasn’t his specialty, Arabel would surely handle it well if asked.
“Those who agreed with Nardanit’s plan, please put on the magic-sealing handcuffs and wait. That concludes my announcement.”
Approaching the database, Ortes recalled the reporting system of Blasphemia’s Audit Division.
While it’s natural for secret inspectors to erase their traces, the method to guide the Audit Office was the issue.
The inspector must not meet them face-to-face when calling them. Otherwise, his false identity would be exposed.
‘This is usually handled through proper handover procedures. I need a reason for the inspector to leave abruptly without meeting the follow-up team.’
Ortes quickly decided on that ‘reason’.
“Didn’t the survivors of the Golden Desert Operation return infiltrated by extradimensional entities? Report that I’m leaving the scene to chase the trail of the infiltrators.”
The fake report Ortes prepared was simple:
“Confirmed treason by Charlotte Branch Chief Nardanit. Background: Extradimensional infiltrators. Note: The identities of the infiltrators are presumed to be agents deployed in the Golden Desert Operation. Leaving the scene to track them. Please send formal inspection personnel as soon as possible.”
‘Although I know quite a bit about this organization because I’ve turned several branches, I’m not familiar with these document formats. Instead of forcing unnecessary details, it’ll be more convincing to give the impression that I wrote it concisely due to chasing the rebels.’
Originally, the area surrounding the magic core is the heart of the magical engine car. Special barriers are installed to obscure the location of the magic core.
But it seemed that the magic inscribed on those special barriers had been destroyed during the fight between Ortes and Nardanit. Ortes easily approached the database following the magic emitted from the magic core.
Entering the database room, Ortes looked around.
“Where should it be?”
He was searching for Arabel’s spider drone.
*
Meanwhile, Arabel was perplexed after reading the message Nardanit had attempted to send.
A secret inspector from Blasphemia? What does that even mean?
When she and Divius were summoned together, she had heard hints suggesting that both the boss and Ortes might be high-ranking members of the Ten Towers.
So he was still active, not expelled?
Arabel’s confusion deepened as she heard footsteps approaching—Ortes.
“Director? Since there’s no one around right now, could you come out for a moment?”
Though hesitant, Arabel couldn’t delay any longer. The spider drone slowly crawled toward Ortes’ feet.
“I have a favor to ask. There are surveillance camera recordings, right?”
‘Hmm?’
Arabel experienced a different kind of bewilderment mixed with anger, something she had felt plenty over the past few days.
“Could you appropriately alter or delete the parts where my face appears? Also, please send the messages as directed to Database Internal BS 52:5.”
This was the frustration of a working professional facing unexpected overtime.
