I Became the Servant of the Blind Wicked Woman

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A maniac who casually spoke of secrets he had spent his entire life researching.

Kaicle focused his magical power on his mechanical eye to uncover the truth. The visual information sent from his biological left eye to his brain separated, allowing him to observe through his right eye.

His left eye still saw the blurred features of a human face.

However, his right mechanical eye, powered by magic, only saw a shadow of a human form without capturing its shape.

The biological eye has countless blind spots, an inferior and incomplete organ compared to the meticulously designed mechanical eye.

But why was it that the mechanical eye couldn't capture it?

There was no way to explain this bizarre phenomenon.

Creak. The figure took a step forward.

"How odd."

Step. Kaicle took a step back.

"Didn't Simon Magus attempt ascension? The process to join the celestial thrones where the gods reside. How is it strange to infer divinity in one who seeks to stand among the gods?"

"Because they hid it!!"

Kaicle shouted impulsively. What the figure was saying were secrets the Ten Towers had concealed.

"They hid that the pinnacle of magic, which drove out the gods, would ultimately lead to the birth of another god! Who are you? Where did you come from?"

"It's embarrassing to call such a thing a secret."

The intruder muttered that if the Ten Towers truly wanted to conceal it, they would have changed the term 'ascension.'

"Let's talk practicalities. Up to a certain point, quantitative expansion equates to qualitative improvement."

Indeed, the more essence absorbed from Mount Etna, the more refined and powerful the magic wielded using the artificial commandments became.

"But there are limits. Even if the amount of magic increases, there comes a stage where the level of magic does not. It seems you've been stuck at this stage for quite a while."

On the left side, Kaicle saw the figure's smile. With his right eye, he saw a human-shaped shadow replacing reality.

"I am aware of your failure, but I commend your rigorous efforts up to that point."

"Who are you! Where did you come from! An assassin sent by the Ten Towers?"

No. The Ten Towers are not idle enough to bother with such a failure. They're too busy competing in the race towards ascension.

But who else but the Ten Towers could create such an inexplicable being?

"Oh dear. Haven't I introduced myself already?"

The Lernian Magic Tower? No. Such a tower couldn't harbor such a being.

Come to think of it, did he say 'closest to Lernian'?

Something from the Lernian faction? No. The Lernian Tower isn't grand enough to contain such an enigma.

Kaicle steadied his trembling body and focused on the figure. He needed to reintegrate the views from his left and right eyes.

No matter how much he observed with his right eye, it was clear he would learn nothing. To overcome his fear, he had to revert his vision to normal.

Clap.

At that moment, the figure clapped.

A movement devoid of hostility but enough to disrupt his focus.

"Pardon. It seemed like you weren't concentrating."

'It saw through my internal magic?'

The figure wanted Kaicle to observe it with his right eye. He couldn't fathom why.

"It seems there's a misunderstanding, so let me reintroduce myself. I am Orthes from Hydra Corporation."

"Hydra Corporation?"

The entity that called itself Orthes shrugged.

"This month's information prepared by Pythos Tower's automatic information collection program should mention us. We're a new tower that annihilated the Lernian faction and took their place."

"Are you the boss?"

The smile visible only through his left eye deepened.

"The boss? Hardly. I'm not even considered an executive in Hydra Corporation. In the hierarchy, I'm probably just an ordinary employee."

Unbelievable. Amidst extreme confusion, Kaicle groped for the purpose of this encounter.

"Because of the artificial commandments… You sought me out for such a 'failure' even you acknowledged?"

"Until now, it was a failure. But, if you join us, it will be different."

Step. The shadow approached fearlessly, and Kaicle could only retreat helplessly.

Thunk. His heel hit a spot indicating no more room to retreat. He realized he had backed up to the control device of the artificial commandments.

"Is this the commandments? Though it's somewhat bulky compared to the real ones due to lack of integration, the magic compression rate is unparalleled."

Orthes's hand extended past him, touching the control device. Kaicle's right eye witnessed it.

───!

Then, an elemental resonance too primal to be described filled the mountain. It flowed down, vibrating the entire city.

Fire sprouted wherever the resonance seeped, raising flames. The dormant heart of Mount Etna beat once more.

Kaicle understood what it was.

"An echo…!"

An echo left by Typhoeus in this world. The very thing Kaicle had sought his entire life.

The last known place recorded with Typhoeus's traces, the legendary great beast, father of many monstrous creatures, and a deity. Mount Etna was it.

Kaicle's reason for trying to condense the fire of Etna into the artificial commandments was here.

If the commandments were the powers left behind by ascendants, beings who had attained divinity.

Couldn't the remnants left by the gods be collected and made into something similar?

But Kaicle had underestimated time.

The Mage King's ascension was now ancient history. The age of the vanished gods had faded into barely legible records.

Kaicle had underestimated the power of time that reclaims all.

No matter how much fire he gathered from Mount Etna, it was uncertain if he could find even a fragment of Typhoeus's divinity from that era.

In the growing despair of repeated failures, just as he was about to acknowledge his defeat.

Orthes performed a miracle.

Kaicle's right eye replayed the recent event clearly. Orthes's hand, which appeared as a shadow in the right eye, touched the control device of the artificial commandments.

Something surged from the shadow, enveloping the artificial commandments.

From within, the echo of divinity stirred. Orthes had summoned the echo of divinity back into the world, transcending time.

"Wh-who are you?"

Unconsciously kneeling, Kaicle asked. Originally a giant, even kneeling, his eyes were higher than Orthes's.

But Kaicle didn't feel like he was looking down on Orthes. If anything, he felt Orthes was observing him.

"Who are you to reveal my hidden abode and have ancient divinity respond to your call?"

Orthes smiled in silence. Each passing second added to Kaicle's sweat beads.

"I am."

Orthes broke the silence that felt eternal.

"A servant of Hydra Corporation."

That was no answer. Kaicle wanted to retort.

"The answers you seek lie within us."

Why does Orthes know the secrets of the Ten Towers?

How did his touch activate the artificial commandments?

Before the heretic who had left the Ten Towers, a figure extended a hand, promising answers to all questions.

"Do not fear. The one I serve lifts even the small to great heights. How much more success would be granted to one who has already achieved such a great failure?"

Kaicle took the hand extended to him.

***

I don't know. What is this? It's terrifying.

From the start of the conversation, it felt thoroughly wrong, so I pretended to be part of some suspicious faction, preventing Kaicle from making the first move.

It was good until I cornered him, dropping settings from the original story one by one.

Seeing the giant man's expression change from confusion to shock, and then to fear, was a bit heartbreaking, but isn't it better to resolve things through words than to fight?

In fact, in the original story, Kaicle never appeared because White No Name used the artificial commandments as a bomb right away. He probably died a miserable death.

To reduce the chances of Carisia following White No Name's path, I decided to recruit a competent mage. It was a perfect plan.

Just when I intended to end the pressure interview, praise his invention, and entice him with benefits from 'our company,' the bizarre phenomenon occurred when I touched the commandments.

I couldn't guess the reason.

'Is it because of the mysterious facility this body was in?'

I had a hypothesis but no solid evidence.

Kaicle was looking at me with sparkling eyes, almost ready to prostrate himself.

Desperate for an answer, I chose the only option.

I dumped everything on Carisia.

With her abilities, she should easily meet the expectations of a depressed giant mage researching in a volcanic basement.

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