“…”
“Your direct involvement, after being in seclusion, means that someone has been designated to resolve this matter, doesn’t it?”
Girard remained composed, showing no signs of wavering even when facing Virgil.
He had a clear understanding of his own predicament.
And what would transpire next.
“This is really… Isn’t that wizard too clever? I just planned to leak some information casually and buy time, but he even realized there’s a traitor within the organization and used that to his advantage in the negotiation… If I had known, I wouldn’t have said anything from the start.”
“Stop with the pointless acting. We know everything already, so there’s no need to make such a fuss.”
Virgil grinned.
Behind his sunglasses, crimson eyes gleamed.
“After your encounter with Van, you realized you were on the wrong track and immediately switched sides. You must have predicted that the damage would be far greater than your superior had thought, and that the responsibility would spread to the lower ranks?”
“……”
“Your prediction wasn’t wrong. The special forces led by Executive Director Avid Lowell were annihilated by just one person… That man is not just good at fighting. As a wizard, he understands better than anyone what it means to kill people.”
“……Hahahahaha!!”
Girard, who had been gazing blankly at Virgil, suddenly erupted into laughter.
His previously vacant expression quickly filled with vitality, and his eyes sparkled with delight.
This sudden outburst was a stark departure from his earlier demeanor, revealing his underlying madness.
With gleaming eyes, Girard peered up at Virgil, his lips curving slightly.
“Everyone’s too clever. Well, it’s convenient for me since we communicate well… But it’s scary, isn’t it? How can I carelessly speak anywhere now?”
“……”
“Well, if you know that much, there’s only one thing to say.”
Girard inquired, “Will you spare me?”
From the moment Girard was captured alive by Van, his life seemed all but forfeit.
However, he had managed to survive and return to the Cartel in these rapidly shifting circumstances by swiftly assessing his surroundings and taking decisive action.
“An interesting guy. We need someone like you who’s gone crazy in a refined way…”
Virgil chuckled.
“I’d say you pass by my standards, but… I need a firm answer first.”
“What answer?”
“That you’ll fully cooperate in capturing the traitor who betrayed the chairman.”
With those words, Virgil’s crimson eyes turned frigid, bearing down mercilessly on Girard’s resolve.
“Your direct superior, President McQueen of Division 1, betrayed the Cartel and colluded with the Ten Counts. You, who managed the collaborative businesses in District 40, must remember everything, right?”
Despite his initial disbelief, all the circumstantial evidence pointed to a single individual.
The foremost among the four presidents, a founding member who had been with the Cartel since its inception, and a senior figure who had wielded the authority to directly oversee the Cartel’s elite armed forces while serving as vice-chairman in the chairman’s absence.
The man who had served and remained loyal to the chairman longer than anyone else had turned his back on the organization.
He had deliberately provoked the wizard Van, causing chaos, embezzled internal funds while everyone’s attention was focused on this formidable adversary.
He had actively sought to rectify the situation through intermediaries like Girard.
And ultimately, he had endeavored to eliminate all evidence and cover up his transgressions, all on his own.
“So, you stepped in to resolve the situation… McQueen, I won’t let you get away with this.”
Virgil’s eyes gleamed menacingly behind his shades.
Observing this, Girard shrugged his shoulders silently.
“It’s not a difficult task. Now, could you please undo these restraints? My joints feel like they’re rotting after being tied up for over a week.”
“……”
“……Virgil?”
“That’s all I had in mind for the terms of your cooperation.”
Saying this, Virgil began to walk down the lengthy corridor, holding Girard’s handcuffs.
“We should also see what the chairman thinks.”
Upon hearing this, Girard’s expression underwent an instant transformation.
He halted abruptly.
“The, the, the chairman?”
“Yes. The chairman wants to see you in person.”
“Just a moment… There was no talk of this. Why suddenly should I see the chairman…”
Girard’s boldness, earned through surviving life-threatening situations, waned, replaced by a subtle fear in his demeanor.
Virgil scoffed, “Enough with the nonsense, let’s go inside and talk. The chairman is waiting.”
Only then did Girard realize what awaited them at the end of this long, expansive corridor. He struggled, but it was already too late.
A grand arch-shaped door, reminiscent of a castle gate, loomed before them.
This door, constructed from robust stone, bore intricate metaphysical engravings.
The aesthetic sense behind each of these carvings surpassed the understanding of an ordinary individual.
A creature that appeared to have existed for centuries in its seated position.
This aged creature had ruled over the shadow of Vulcan in this sprawling city for decades.
Olivera Ron Maze’s office, the chairman of the Cartel, was now right before Girard’s eyes.
There was no need to announce their arrival.
The moment she became aware of their presence, Virgil and Girard were already within the depths of her consciousness.
A repository of books, undisturbed and covered in dust for decades, with golden stairs ascending regally above it.
Girard, upon making eye contact with the woman seated on the magnificent throne, promptly lowered his head to the ground.
Boom!!
“Girard Ojette presents himself before the chairman!!!”
Olivera paid no heed to his words and shifted her gaze toward Virgil, who stood beside her.
[What is his name?]
She didn’t even speak aloud. Her will resonated with mana, conveying her message.
Virgil responded.
“Girard. Girard Ojette. One of the management representatives of the collaborative businesses, and the personnel department is considering integrating him into the board of directors, taking into account his contributions. His abilities have long been verified, but his promotion was delayed due to his difficulty in blending into the organization.”
“…….”
Could there be anything more exhilarating than receiving a performance review directly from a president?
But Girard was too mentally paralyzed to ponder that.
He knew because he had bent his inherent imagery and fiercely struggled to successfully alter the nature of his mana, advancing to Level 6.
What he confronted now was no ordinary human.
A superhuman who had transcended the limitations of mere existence and achieved profound unity between their inner and outer selves.
A titan of the era, residing on an entirely different timeline, gazing upon distant horizons.
Olivera’s eyes gradually shifted toward Girard.
A resplendent iridescence flowed beautifully within her gaze.
Girard could do nothing but be entranced by that radiance.
[…….]
She inquired about nothing. She heard nothing.
She simply ‘observed’ all that Girard had experienced through her own eyes.
Virgil, who had been observing from the side, turned his head slightly.
‘The Seven Debts Jewel’s Mystic Eye… It’s chilling every time I see it.’
The seven hues within her gaze represented the culmination of all the spells Olivera Ron Maze had amassed over her lifetime.
For those lacking a comparable resistance to her enchantments, even a single glance would lead to their heads exploding from the overwhelming influx of information.
The fact that Girard retained his consciousness after making eye contact served as evidence of his level.
However, even Girard, twisted by malice, couldn’t sustain prolonged eye contact.
“Aghhhh…!!”
Boom!!
Witnessing Girard frothing at the mouth and collapsing in tremors, Olivera finally smiled slowly and shifted her gaze.
[I remember now. That child, he was one of the specimens I experimented on directly.]
“…….”
[I think it was decades ago. I caught an interesting specimen and made similar adjustments to the others… It was a method of forcibly imposing a Geas to realize a change in nature, wasn’t it?]
Virgil remained silent.
There was no need to dredge up another subject named Eolara in her hazy recollections.
[Well, it doesn’t matter. Since I don’t remember well, it couldn’t have been that important… Stand up.]
“Ha, hah…!!”
Girard, his face soaked in sweat, struggled to his feet, trembling.
He dared not look up at her any longer.
[Looking into your memories, I noticed an unusual wizard in that insect-like life of yours.]
Virgil wasn’t particularly surprised by this abrupt revelation.
Indeed, it would be odd if a sorceress of Olivera’s caliber failed to recognize such talent.
Girard had likely been summoned here because she wanted to hear something directly from him.
[The wizard from District 49. Tell me everything you saw and felt about this man named Van. Instead of looking into your memories, I want to hear it from your mouth.]
* * *
“I’ve secured the personal information of President Parden McQueen, as you requested.”
Evelyn’s dispassionate voice emanated from the phone.
“It’s too risky to hand over the personal information of all the executive-level officers. It would have been difficult to get the information on the first president without Hina’s help.”
Lennok, who had tilted his head slightly while holding the phone to his ear, nodded.
“You’ve done well. This will probably be a big help in solving this issue.”
Within the bustling city center’s municipal central library.
Now wholly repurposed by Lennok and Aris for their university work, Lennok was swiftly reviewing answer sheets in the library corridor.
This semester’s midterms for the Department of Elemental Studies. For assistant professors like Lennok, participating in such a significant event involving all students was inevitable.
As a result, Lennok spent his time grading hundreds of exam papers, with Aris sharing the workload.
It was an unplanned interruption to their discussions about magic, but it wasn’t detrimental to Lennok.
No matter how much guidance he provided, Aris seemed to require time to think independently rather than rely on advice.
After all, the pivotal step had to be taken independently, regardless of all the assistance and guidance.
As a fellow sorcerer who had traversed a similar path, Lennok understood this better than anyone.
He could never express enough gratitude for Yakson’s
The opportunity Lennok had gained by exploiting its side effects had expanded the possibilities available to him.
“I won’t be able to contact you for a while after today.”
“It seems the agents are quite busy too.”
“Recently, the range of tasks assigned to our side has rapidly expanded. I’ve been cutting off anything that goes too far, but it’s true that the trends outside the metropolis are not normal.”
“…….”
“You might not be interested in what’s happening outside the city, but it’s best to wrap up things with the Cartel as soon as possible. If the Vulcan City Council wants to turn its attention outward, they’ll want to clean up the internal issues first.”
“Well… It’s not as easy as it sounds. There’s a lot to do, but…”
Lennok sighed and began annotating the exam paper with a red pen.
The answer sheet provided by Aris now lay in the background.
While adding a five-line grading rationale and explanation at the bottom of the test paper, Evelyn continued in an incredulous tone.
“I’ve heard rumors here that you wiped out the Cartel’s execution squad by yourself. It seems strange that you’re being modest about it.”
“I was just lucky.”
“…The leader of the execution squad and Executive Director Avid is a well-known sorcerer among the pleasure killers of the underworld. To summon such a sorcerer to the battlefield, engage him one-on-one, and kill him there, and all you say is that? I wonder what expressions the sorcerers I know would make.”
“…….”
“Well, fine. The fact that the young wizard I saved that day was actually a secret heir to arcane magic isn’t that important. What matters is that you wrap up things with the Cartel well. Don’t forget to properly receive the few boxes of vegetables I sent to your bar,” she remarked before ending the call.
Lennok chuckled as he gazed at the phone.
He had thought he might escape another tedious conversation about vegetables this time, but Evelyn had saved it for the last moment.
However, the underlying message in the conversation he’d just had with Evelyn was worth noting.
Evelyn was one of the few individuals who remembered both the Lennok who had nearly perished at Croken’s hands in the factory and his current standing.
As a distinguished archer of her caliber, it wouldn’t be surprising for her to make a rough estimate of Lennok’s current level.
Yet, instead of emphasizing Lennok’s abilities, she opted to conclude the call with a discussion about vegetables…
‘Someday, I need to have a proper conversation with Evelyn.’
Even the seemingly trivial remarks that Lennok let slide were etched in his mind.
He recalled a particularly memorable title among the few names that Grisha had mentioned as examples when he decided to join the Lighthouse in the autonomous region.
The Emerald Archer.
If the collaborator Grisha alluded to is the same individual Lennok is thinking of…
In the worst-case scenario, he might need to share the identities of Evan and Van with just one person.
Before that unexpected moment arrives, Lennok knew he had to prepare.
