Chapter 657: People Management is a Secret Organization's Job
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 657: People Management is a Secret Organization's Job
I briefly explained to Shei what had happened in the Celsius territory. I'd done so much that after summarizing and summarizing...
“I stirred up some trouble.”
...it was condensed into a single phrase. It was a crap explanation, but Shei understood it perfectly.
“You're still like this, even in the land of mages? What on earth didn't you like this time?”
“The rules.”
“No wonder they call you a barbarian! Is the King of Humans a spatula or something? Do you have to flip everything upside down to feel satisfied?!”
“It is satisfying, I'll admit.”
“If you're satisfied, then that's... not the point! That's not what's important! You said we had to find the Divine! I was trying to follow your lead this time, even going to the Shrine of the Divine, which I can't stand, to clean up after them! Did you flip everything over again like in Ende just because some prestigious magic family was acting a little high and mighty?”
Hey now. Lankart is right there listening, what are you saying? There's a limit to honesty. What would Lankart, a member of the Shrine of the Divine, think hearing that?
'Oh. That wench, despite her words and actions, is quite obedient to Huey? Surprisingly likable.'
He's thinking crap like that. You'd be better off having some sense of belonging.
“Am I the only one? You don't like it when people act high and mighty either, Shei.”
“It's fine as long as they don't do it to me!”
“Isn't that worse?”
I don't give anyone special treatment, nor do I particularly want it. I just pretend to be ordinary, and if things go south, I flip the table. Doesn't that make me the healthier one? I'm the one putting the words 'let's see if we can't flip this rotten world upside down' into practice.
“But you hold your breath and quietly watch for an opportunity right up until you flip everything... You, who stabs where it hurts the most, are the more vicious one.”
How soft. You're supposed to stab where it hurts. Why stab if it doesn't hurt?
Shei pressed a hand to her forehead as if she had a headache.
“You didn't contact me at all, and now you've caused a huge incident. If you drag the Celsius territory into this, things will really get out of hand. If you'd just explained beforehand, I could have at least coordinated with you.”
“You say that as if I'm the bad guy, but you didn't come looking for me either. It takes two to tango. Was I the only one who didn't look?”
“I wanted to see you too! I even came all the way to the Celsius territory! But you didn't leave any message or trace, so how was I supposed to find you!”
Huh? In this faraway, unfamiliar land, how am I supposed to leave a message or a trace? Besides, I'm a plebeian, so I can't even get on the Floating Castle. This is just unreasonable.
“Isn't the same true for you, Shei?”
At that, Shei's eyes widened and she stammered in bewilderment.
“Huh...? You wanted to see me? Th-that's...”
“That's not what I meant! I meant that you didn't leave a message either!”
This woman has gotten really weird. What on earth did I do? I never tried to get on her good side; in fact, I did my best to maintain my distance.
Shei let out a short sigh, “Ah,” then completely erased the emotion she had just shown and said.
“Elisha said she would arrange a room for you in the Celsius estate. If you had stayed there, we could have gotten in touch, but you were the one who refused.”
“You could have found me if you'd wanted to, Shei. You were the one who chose not to look.”
“Tch... I at least came down here...”
Shei clicked her tongue cutely and grumbled. Hearing her say that made me feel a little sorr... no, not really.
“In the first place, this is the first I'm hearing about you joining the Shrine of the Divine. What's gotten into you? Weren't you the type to avoid joining organizations like that?”
“It's like I said before. You're looking for the Divine. So since I was coming to the Floating Castle anyway, I thought I'd join the Shrine and see if I could find a few more clues.”
“So there was another spy.”
She came for information. Even if the Red Tower Master doesn't seem to care, isn't it dangerous to say that so openly? Lankart is here too.
“It seems she is prepared to serve Huey.”
Never mind. Let's just pretend he's not here.
Shei tilted her head.
“A spy? Another one?”
“It was just something I said, don't worry about it. How many clues have you found?”
“I haven't found many.”
“What? So you haven't done anything either.”
“What about you! I at least figured out that the Mage King has something like a memento!”
Even I knew that, and I was down on the surface.
“The Mage King's Unique Magic is the power to manipulate space, like Rene's. But the type is a little different. Unlike Rene, who creates pocket dimensions, the Mage King specializes in wielding space itself as a weapon.”
“Are they different?”
“They are. Even Unique Magic have genres. The essence of alchemy is the transmutation and transformation of matter; you can make weapons with it, but you don't wield the Unique Magic itself as a weapon. But these two are clearly different. Rene creates pocket dimensions, while the Mage King compresses and releases space to use as power. The material—space—is the same, but the result is different.”
A pocket dimension and compressed space. Now that she mentions it, that reminds me of something.
“So Rene is the Pocket and the Mage King is Chun-aeng?”
“A good analogy. That's exactly it.”
…No, it can't be an analogy. Doesn't your good intuition work at times like this?
“The Mage King uses at least two powers. Maybe even more. Even if spatial magic is a power close to omnipotence, it's different from making a star fall, isn't it? Considering the history of this Floating Castle, its ultimate weapon, 'Pride,' might be the power of the Divine.”
“Wait. Dropping a star? What do you mean by that?”
It seemed Lankart couldn't just let that slide. At his question, Shei belatedly realized her slip-up and shut her mouth, but I spoke up instead.
“Shei said she saw the Mage King drop a star in the future.”
“Was she a Saintess?”
“Something like that. The Sanctum has pretty much officially acknowledged it.”
“Hey! Hughes! You can't just say that!”
Why not? My identity as the King of Humans has already been exposed, so you think you get to maintain your mystique? Not a chance. I'll expose your identity too.
Besides, you being a Saintess is just a tiny part of who you are, isn't it?
“Curious. Why would a Saintess visit when the White Tower Master is here? More importantly, dropping a star? The Mage King? That can't be right.”
Lankart muttered. His tone held a strange conviction, so I asked.
“What do you know?”
“I know the Mage King. It wouldn't be strange for him to have the ability to drop a star. The Mage King's power is world-shaking, after all.”
True, what's a star of destruction, really? If you lift the Floating Castle a little higher and drop it, that's a star of destruction right there. He wouldn't waste the precious Floating Castle, filled with so much talent and magic, like that, but what's important is that he can. The Mage King has that kind of power.
“But there's no way he would drop a star. He's like the incarnation of all mages. He knows better than anyone that there's nothing to be gained by dropping a star, and he acts on that knowledge more clearly than anyone. There's no way he would make the judgment to drop a star.”
With great power comes great responsibility. Any ruler in their right mind wouldn't press the doomsday button. I agree with that, but I've met far too many people who've left their right minds behind.
“Something could happen to him, couldn't it? He could get drunk and lose his mind, or an enemy could appear that can only be defeated by dropping a star.”
“The former is impossible, and the latter is illogical. If an enemy were that powerful, could you really kill them by just dropping a star?”
“Or, someone more powerful than the Mage King could snatch the button and use it.”
“That's more plausible, but who could possibly be said to be more powerful than him...”
Lankart stopped mid-sentence and looked at me, startled.
“Huey? Don't tell me you're planning to drop a star on the surface?”
“What do you take me for? I'm not stupid enough to drop a star, and I'm not powerful enough to take anything from the Mage King.”
Why are you even looking at me? Your train of thought is weird.
Looks like there's nothing more to discuss. I said to Shei.
“So the conclusion is that the Mage King holds all the keys. We'll have to confront him eventually, but that's the hardest part. What's the Shrine of the Divine's plan?”
“...The exchange meeting in the Celsius territory. Apparently, the original plan was to persuade Elisha and get the Celsius family to make a move.”
“Did it succeed?”
“You could say it succeeded, or you could say it failed.”
“Huh?”
“The Red Tower Master and Elisha fought. Because of that, the heating system exploded and the pipes nearly burst. The damage was so great they had to gather all the mages from the Crystal Tower and the Celsius territory to repair it.”
Something that interesting happened while I was gone? If I'd known, maybe I should have infiltrated the Floating Castle.
“Did they fight for real?”
“It was a very deliberate fight. I played the role of mediator. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have helped.”
Shei acts on emotion and whim. Even if she's part of the Shrine of the Divine, she wouldn't attack the Blue Tower Master. Assuming there was no intent to attack from the start.
“So the target was the Floating Castle itself. You have to create a crack to make a crack in the Floating Castle.”
“The Shrine of the Divine tried to draw in Elisha and the Celsius family, but Elisha staunchly refused. So they decided to move on to Plan B, but right at that moment, an incident occurred in the Celsius family.”
“What incident?”
“The one where you stirred up trouble.”
Ah, what a shame.
“I wasn't particularly aiming for it, but it somehow ended up that way.”
“It's too much of a coincidence. We can now move the Celsius family without going through Elisha. Did you, by any chance, talk with the Shrine of the Divine beforehand?”
“How could I? You've joined the Shrine, so you should know. Was I ever part of their plans or considerations?”
“...No, but.”
'In the end, the Shrine of the Divine got what it wanted, we achieved our goal, and the Celsius family is fine. But in the future I saw, the Celsius territory was supposed to shatter and scatter.'
What? Shatter and scatter? What does that mean? Is it literal? It sounds unrealistic, but looking at the map of the Mage Federation, it might be possible.
No. Let's not think too deeply about it.
Shei's thoughts might not be lies, but there's definitely an intention behind them.
Tearing my gaze from Shei, I asked Lankart.
“As a result, it seems I've ended up cooperating with the Shrine of the Divine, so since it's come to this, I might as well help you out. What's the Shrine's plan?”
“The Celsius territory was deeply involved in designing the Floating Castle's water purification, cooling, and heating systems. The recent battle between the Blue and Red Tower Masters caused problems with the facilities, and the Celsius territory, being the site of the Advent, dedicated itself to the restoration work. The Blue and Red Tower Masters have an obligation to repair the damage since they were the ones who fought, but the Celsius territory essentially volunteered its services for free. The Mage King is a rational man, so he will surely grant the Celsius territory a fitting reward.”
“Mhm. I get the gist of it. So you'll provoke or persuade the Celsius territory to demand a reward related to Rene's Pocket, and in the process, find the Divine that will be revealed?”
“Precisely. So even the Shrine's plan is within your expectations?”
'What the hell? You're spilling the plan to Hughes, who just got here? You're the real spy.'
Ignoring Shei's thoughts, I briefly considered how the plan would unfold. It's not a bad plan, but it's too straightforward. The basis of any operation is to deceive others and hide your own intentions.
“It's a decent operation, but a little boring. Let's change it.”
'You're changing it just like that? You just got here, are you allowed to do that?'
Lankart answered without even asking why.
“What do you need?”
“Everything's ready. Let's go.”
Lankart and I headed for the fireplace we'd come through. On the fireplace made for me, which had only recently been connected to Rene's attic, the words 'Celsius Territory Annex' were written in small letters. I conjured a flame, connecting the passage to the annex.
Stepping into the roaring flames required considerable resolve. If I didn't have regeneration, I would have sent Lankart in first. As I stepped into the fireplace, my surroundings shimmered like a heat haze, and soon the scenery changed.
An ice castle. A room made of ice that wasn't cold. The walls, the ceiling, the windowpanes, the dishes, and the furniture were all ice. The fact that even the fireplace, meant for a fire, was built by stacking ice was the height of irony.
“...Welcome, members of the Shrine of the Divine. Is your meeting over?”
When I returned to that strange room, Elcia was there to greet me with a displeased expression. Since she wasn't part of the Shrine, she couldn't enter Rene's attic and had been waiting here.
“We've decided on a general course of action. I hear you have the right to request a reward from the Mage King in return for helping to fix the Floating Castle?”
Elcia Celsius, understanding what I was getting at, adopted a firm attitude.
“Impossible. The Advent is an event that happens maybe once a decade, and the opportunity to serve the Floating Castle is even rarer. We also used a great deal of our family's alchemic resources to restore the castle. We cannot simply hand that reward over to you for nothing.”
Hmm. That doesn't sound like she won't give us the reward, but more like she wants us to promise a similar reward in return.
That wouldn't be so bad, but what about another option?
“Of course, we're not asking for it empty-handed. Your mind will change when you hear the alternative we're proposing.”
“Then please speak carefully, so that we don't have to request your eviction from the Floating Castle.”
A warning to be careful, as she could just side with the Mage King if things go wrong. I'll admit she has a right to be on edge, since the Shrine of the Divine barged in like a bunch of thugs. But once she hears what I have to say, all those thoughts will vanish.
I offered Elcia a business-like smile and made my proposal.
“I'll give you the Floating Castle.”