I Became the Narrow-Eyed Henchman of the Evil Boss

Salmosia slowly walked out of the safehouse. “Slowly” is a bit misleading; it only applies until the moment he stepped out of the entrance. His form seemed to melt away into thin air from the moment he crossed beyond the door.

Wooosh…

“Space magic….”

Spatial Distortion calls for interference from extra-dimensional forces, making it a dangerously sophisticated spell that cannot be used recklessly. It must have been magic granted by a special artifact received as a high-ranking official of Panoptes.

“Oh. How have you been, senior?”

Niobe, left behind in the safehouse, awkwardly greeted him. She responded appropriately to avoid causing discomfort.

“Yes. As long as the field agent has all their limbs intact, that’s good enough. How about you, Miss Niobe?”

“I have documents that must be delivered since the Auditor General’s return… You understand once you read it, right?”

“Yes. I will handle it appropriately.”

The stack of documents Niobe handed over contained a list of those suspected to be traitors among the Argos officials.

“I see why Salmosia wanted it opened in his absence.”

Even though there are suspicions of treachery, it’s just a feeling without hard evidence. It’s as if the Auditor General of Blasphemia illegally leaked personal information on members of other organizations.

Since it was delivered through Niobe, he’d established a basic layer of protection in case things go awry to deny any connection to himself.

Given that the principle is to read and process it here, the chances of external leakage are extremely low. Should he label this as excessive caution or merely a habit?

“Are you being deployed to the field immediately after this, Miss Niobe?”

“Uh? No. I’m in a reporting position to the Auditor General about you. It’s unintentional, but I suppose you could call it a rapid promotion under the Auditor General? I’m listed as part of the personnel for the Argyrion tracking operation to come here, but I’ll be heading back soon.”

Salmosia referred to Niobe as “Niobe” instead of her code name K17. This indicated that Liobe held a considerable position within Blasphemia.

It wasn’t quite what he had imagined, but there was indeed an informant who could easily access the inner workings of Blasphemia.

Now that they met, it was the perfect time to ask a few questions.

Ding!

A conversation with his respected senior began softly with a gentle jab.

“Miss Niobe. It seems you reported my information directly to the Auditor General.”

“Uh? Yeah. It’s the information you discovered, right?”

L13 sighed gently. For Niobe, it was hard to grasp, but it was quite intentional.

“What I passed on to you was meant to help you ascend to a key position to identify the rebellious elements. Reporting directly to the Auditor General was a risky move.”

“Risky, how?”

“If a low-ranking person who’s supposed to avoid close contact with the Auditor General meets with them and then the traitor hunt begins the next day, wouldn’t anyone understand that dynamic to be suspicious?”

Orthes pointed out that Niobe’s actions were extremely dangerous. It would have been safer to speak only after securing the speaking rights that wouldn’t be bizarre even after meeting the Auditor General.

But at the same time, he said,

“It was a courageous act. It’s rare to see someone choose the right path over their own safety.”

“Thank… you?”

Niobe, who had shrunk a bit, was now standing tall again. A sense of pride swelled in her heart. Orthes patiently waited for the right moment to continue.

“From your perspective, Miss Niobe, how many people with meaningful intentions do you think there are inside Blasphemia, whom the Auditor General and you can trust?”

“Well… All the people within the Auditor’s office are trustworthy, for starters…”

Orthes carefully memorized the names of the “trustworthy individuals” Niobe mentioned. They would be people to avoid when trying to recruit from within Blasphemia later, as well as allies when acting as L13.

“There aren’t any prominent figures who stand in stark opposition to the Auditor General?”

“Right. The director, who’s the highest authority, is still in seclusion. The deputy director’s position is vacant. No one of equal or higher authority to the Auditor General exists, I’d say.”

The secluded director. Orthes recalled the deputy director of Blasphemia whom he had faced. The one who was deployed as the commander of the Golden Desert Operation. Wasn’t their name Halto? It seemed Halto didn’t return from the Golden Desert Operation.

“Wasn’t a successor appointed after Halto? Or did a successor get appointed and then became vacant again? Either way…”

A revelation struck Orthes like lightning. The core officials of Argyrion were the Eroders from Blasphemia that Argyrion and Carisia had ejected into the extra-dimension during the Golden Desert Operation.

If they transplanted the command structure they had before becoming Eroders directly into Argyrion, there was a high possibility that Halto would be leading Argyrion.

“Maybe I could use this?”

Doubts about Argos swirled in Salmosia’s mind, along with Halto’s position at the helm of Argyrion. Two clues whirled around in Orthes’ head.

As he organized his thoughts, he composed his closing statement for their conversation.

“Please only share my information among those you feel are trustworthy. But if it comes to a situation where you must suspect even those individuals of being traitors, do not hesitate to contact me.”

Niobe nodded with a serious expression. It was hard to imagine the feelings of L13, fighting closest to Argyrion, who had once been comrades in arms in the past.

“Then, I’ll take my leave. I hope to see you in good health next time.”

Ding!

“Both Director Neuro and Director Divius have safely completed the Divine Investigation and returned. However, we’ve detected that Blasphemia is aware of the Divine Investigation efforts. We will devise a countermeasure.”

Returning from the investigation, Orthes met with Carisia as usual. The report included their contact with Blasphemia regarding the Divine Investigation.

As the insights into Argyrion’s higher-ups piled up, he found he had stayed longer than usual.

“Halto…”

Carisia began twirling a strand of her bangs around her finger. Orthes deduced that she was sorting through her memories from the past.

“Even the information acquired from the Blasphemia branch had limited insights on high-ranking positions. I have no recollection of fighting with you in the desert.”

“I didn’t actively fight Halto either. I’ve only interfered a bit each time he tried to get to the boss.”

While stalling until the extra-dimensional storm arrived, they had used previously prepared Space Magic to escape.

Due to the imbalance of time caused by Space Magic, the extra-dimensional storm had arrived much sooner, forcing Blasphemia’s pursuit team to retreat.

Even with success, it was too successful and Argyrion ended up appearing.

“Right now, there doesn’t seem to be any other way to draw Halto out. How will you deal with Argos?”

“Yes. We received a list of suspected traitors from Blasphemia.”

“To stir discord between the two groups, we can’t interrogate anyone suspicious, right?”

Carisia asked. It doesn’t feel unjust if a suspicious person is caught as suspicious. If someone who looks hardworking, sincere, and honest were suddenly caught as suspicious, people would perceive it as unfair.

If Orthes were to truly incite conflict between Argyrion and Argos, it was best to choose someone who wouldn’t arouse suspicion at all.

To make Argos angry at the frame-up of their comrade.

But Orthes shook his head.

Orthes thought Salmosia was overestimating Argyrion’s capabilities. The reason Blasphemia’s higher-ups managed to interact with Argyrion was that they were originally insiders of Blasphemia.

“Even when wrangling happens in the military, it’s usually one of the branches, either land, sea, or air, not a collusion between the army and the navy, or between the navy and the air force for embezzlement, right?”

Even though they belonged to the same larger organization, Argos and Blasphemia were independent entities. Their collaboration would likely be difficult.

Unless the extra-dimension provided some kind of hypnotic app to Argyrion…

“One person locked up wouldn’t be enough. Whatever the case, they can handle detaining one or two people without it being too problematic.”

By securing a suspect, Blasphemia could derive numerous reasons for suspicion from them. Unless they were promptly dealt with, Argos’ objections would be obstructed by the pretext of legitimate operation under reasonable suspicion.

“The best way to trigger discord is the mere existence of a secret.”

Orthes slowly began to plant the seeds of strife into his mind. The limits of the waves brought on by specific facts were clear.

“Blasphemia’s illegal surveillance attempts on Argos… That’s a catchy headline. Just delivering that Argos experienced such ‘attempts’ will ignite their outrage, won’t it?”

But suspicion was different. No one would know exactly where Blasphemia had planned their surveillance, so it could be inflated as far as it needed to go.

“The attitude of trying to hide a secret would provoke even more outrage. If I relay this to Argos now, Salmosia might suspect me, so I need to refine my specific execution plans.”

Orthes pondered ways to disseminate this information to Argos.

His plans began to twist from the urgent news that struck the Ether Network.

Ding!

“List of Mage Towers affiliated with the Argyrion Alliance.”

It was a revelation that shook the social order of the Mage Towers.

Boom!

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