Pit Them Against Each Other - 1
The Red Scale Tribe, followers of the Red Dragon, had put out wanted posters.
Even though the montage was drawn from Ignite’s description, the quality was surprisingly high. I had to assume my face was already fully known to them. It would be a hassle, but if I disguised myself with magic, the chance of being recognized was almost nil.
The Magic Tower, on the other hand, was tracking my mana. I had burned every belonging of the mage I killed, yet one of the relics had somehow ended up far away. Because of that single oversight I couldn’t destroy everything, and my mana still clung to the item. Using that residue, the Magic Tower had branded me a murderer and was now in pursuit. Mana is unique; get too close to a pursuer and you are found out at once. Unlike the Red Scales, however, they did not know my face. Suppress the mana and keep your distance, and they would never notice.
“If I stay like this, one side or the other is bound to grab me by the scruff of the neck.”
Didn’t you say you had a plan?
“Yeah, of course I do.”
The crucial point was that the Red Scales and the Magic Tower used completely different criteria to identify me. Red Scales looked at appearance; the Magic Tower looked at mana. Beyond those two things, neither could pin me down. And that meant something very useful: if I disguised my identity, I could have some real fun.
“Fooling the Red Scales is probably impossible.”
The Magic Tower naturally favored magic and despised swordsmanship. When I ran into Ignite I had been carrying a sword. Claiming to be a Magic Tower mage in order to deceive the Red Scales would therefore be pure idiocy. But the reverse?
“I’ll pretend that I—the one who killed their mage—belong to the Red Scale Tribe.”
With the Magic Tower there is certainly a chance. But will those slippery snakes actually fall for it?
“That’s why we craft a situation so airtight they have no choice but to fall for it.”
I had countless methods of sowing discord stored in my head. I had once lived as a modern keyboard warrior; after absorbing every ingenious gaslighting technique the internet had to offer, turning two factions into mortal enemies was child’s play.
“First, though, the groundwork has to be laid carefully.”
I was certain that once the operation began it would succeed. That was precisely why the preparation stage was both the most important and the most dangerous. Two separate forces were already hunting me inside the city. Avoiding their eyes while I set everything up was the heart of the plan.
“And conveniently, a useful piece of firepower is already on its way here.”
The moment I returned to the inn a crow tapped at the window—Hades’s messenger familiar. The note tied to its leg announced she would arrive in Yuran today or tomorrow. Hades had been the prime architect of Kang Junhyuk’s fall into the abyss, a subordinate whose loyalty was absolute and who carried out every order I gave without fail.
With Hades’s help this time, the operation should go off without a hitch.
But tell me—when do you intend to reward such an excellent subordinate?
Hmm… You’re right. I’ve been working her pretty hard without much in return.
Bestow at least a simple reward. Otherwise even the loyalty she already has will wither away.
I’ll do my best.
A proper ruler ought to know how to acknowledge a subordinate’s labor. I understood that in theory, yet putting it into practice was not easy. Should the reward suit a Demi-Lich, or should it suit the beautiful girl Hades? Handing cosmetics or jewelry to a Lich felt somehow wrong. More than that, I simply had no idea what kind of gift would actually please a Demi-Lich. Left alone, Hades would grow stronger without any interference from me. Those who had reached her level already possessed firm magical principles; there was nothing I needed to teach her. In magic the only field where I still outstripped her was ice magic—and even that strength had come from the loophole of becoming a follower of Prihart.
In any case, I decided to think about the reward carefully later. If necessary I could simply ask her what she wanted and give it. Right now the plan itself had to succeed first.
“All right. Let’s get started.”
I’ll show them what real chaos-sowing looks like.
How much longer do I have to rot in this damn city? It’s driving me insane!
Ledger in one hand, fan in the other, Karipa strode through the streets. Two days earlier she had visited Sestia’s residence, obtained the list of mages, and been promptly shown the door; ever since, she had been circling the city. Residual mana still lingered inside the town. Until she found the one who had killed the auditor, she could not return to the Magic Tower.
If that arrogant dragon bitch had actually helped, this would have been finished long ago…!
Karipa still seethed over being dismissed after receiving nothing more than a list. As a descendant of the seven great mages who founded the Magic Tower, she had originally been scheduled for a major project. Then the mages sent to kidnap the elf saintess vanished, manpower grew scarce, and to make matters worse the high-ranking auditor and S-rank mercenary who had left for the Valley of Mist disappeared as well. Hearing of the successive vanishings, the Magic Tower Master concluded that an enemy of the Tower was at work and ordered Karipa to uncover the full truth.
Not that I can simply ignore the Tower Master’s command…
While combing the sites of the disappearances she had luckily found a single piece of evidence. Abandoning it now would waste both the time already spent and invite the Tower Master’s wrath. So Karipa had steeled herself: she would not return until the culprit was caught.
I will catch him. I will!
Just once, she wished, let him show himself. The thought had barely formed when a familiar mana scent brushed past her nose. Her eyes snapped open; she sharpened every olfactory nerve to lock onto the residual trail.
“This smell…!”
It was the mana she had hunted for two solid days—the unmistakable scent of the man who had killed the high-ranking auditor. Only then did the corners of her mouth curl upward in pure delight. After trailing nothing but faint echoes she had finally found dense, living mana.
Closer than I expected…! I can catch him right now!
Karipa spun toward the source and broke into a sprint, charging like a traveler who had just spotted an oasis in the desert. She plunged into a deserted alley—voluntarily entering a dark space where anything could happen.
“I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to walk into such an obvious trap.”
A deep male voice drifted down from above. Karipa looked up. On the rooftop a man in a red hood crouched, watching her. The mana that faintly leaked from him matched the residue left on the bloodstained badge. No doubt remained: this was the killer.
“Oh my. I got so impatient I made a serious mistake without realizing it.”
“Then you’ll have to pay the price for that mistake.”
“Do you really think I’ll just take whatever you dish out? Yes, I walked into the trap, but that doesn’t mean I came unprepared.”
Before entering the alley she had already finished her chant. The completed spell sat ready inside the storage magic Memorize; she could unleash attack or defense at any moment. She had charged in because the trail might vanish, yet she was not completely reckless.
“I don’t know what trap you’ve set, but unless it’s a magic-nullification artifact you’d better give up early. Even if it is, spending something that rare just to catch one mage would be your loss.”
Magic-nullification artifacts were vanishingly scarce and ruinously expensive. They were not permanent either—each use cost roughly five hundred gold. Far too precious to waste on a single target.
“Pfft. I don’t bother with petty tricks like that.”
“Is that so? Then the trap you’ve prepared is completely usele—”
“Is it? For me, simply luring you here already counts as success.”
“What?”
The red-hooded man dropped lightly from the roof and landed on the ground. This was the man who had erased both an auditor and an S-rank mercenary. If she did not strike first she would die. Karipa triggered her stored magic—
“Did you think preparing ahead of time meant you could actually land a preemptive strike?”
“Ah…? Kyaaaaah!!”
Slash—!
Her wrist was severed on a diagonal and tumbled to the dirt. The forming magic circle shattered; the spell collapsed into sparks.
“You Magic Tower people are far too complacent. You were planning to rule the world in secret, yet you thought Lord Ignite would simply sit back and watch?”
“What…?”
“Wake up. We already know your grand design. No matter how high you fly or how deep you burrow, you are still inside a dragon’s palm.”
“C-Could this entire incident have been orchestrated by the Red Scale Tribe…?”
“And if it was, what are you going to do about it? You’re going to die here either way.”
Relations between the Magic Tower and the Red Dragon had always been lukewarm—neither enmity nor friendship, merely mutual awareness. Karipa had assumed friction would never arise. Yet the Red Dragon possessed a clear justification for striking. The “grand plan” the man had just mentioned was nothing less than a scheme to become an existence beyond even dragons and gods. To a race that had reigned as the strongest for ages, such ambition was pure blasphemy. Crushing the Tower would not have been strange at all. What she could not understand was how the Red Dragon had learned a top-secret known to only eight people inside the Tower.
I have to report this to the Tower Master at once—but how?
The man’s martial power was overwhelming. Against a blade that could sever a wrist faster than magic could form, combat was impossible. Attack spells would be interrupted before activation; defensive barriers would be crushed like soft tofu. Even the final resort—the return stone—would be shattered the instant she drew it. She needed only a split-second opening, yet none appeared.
Just one momentary gap…!
The heavens remained merciless. The man advanced slowly, as though a death sentence were walking toward her on two legs.
“Hmm. I could kill you right now, but it would be a waste to discard such a face and figure so quickly.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll use you for relief first, then kill you. I’ve been stuck in foreign lands long enough that things have… built up.”
He licked his lips with a wicked smile. Karipa saw the opening she needed. In a situation where death was certain, this was the only chance to create a gap. Without being ordered she shrugged off her coat and began undoing her clothes.
“Trying to seduce me? Don’t imagine that means I’ll spare you.”
“Oh my, please don’t misunderstand. Since I’m going to die meaninglessly anyway, I’d like to enjoy my last moments as well.”
“Ha! What an interesting woman.”
“Do you dislike proactive women?”
“Not at all. Then shall I sample the devoted service of a city girl?”
He took his hand from the sword hilt and rested it on his zipper. Karipa pretended to unhook her bra while her fingers closed around the stone hidden inside her undergarments.
“…Hah! You bitch!”
“Unfortunately my body is expensive. Far too good to hand over to a barbarian like you!”
“How dare you deceive me…!”
“Haha! The one who got fooled is the idiot!”
Light enveloped Karipa’s body and she began to shimmer—the telltale sign of a return stone activating. The man yanked his sword free and swung, yet by a hair’s breadth the blade passed through empty air. She was gone.
Left alone in the alley, the man gazed up at the sky with casual indifference, then pulled the red hood free.
“Phew… Enduring that chicken-coop perfume was hard work.”
It really looked like you were about to jump her…
“That’s your imagination. I can’t stand women who cake their faces with that much makeup.”
Oh? I’ll have to update the contractor’s preferences.
“Give me a break…”
Bern shook his head as if the spirit were hopeless. He had pressured Karipa with a full theatrical performance. He could have killed her at any moment, yet he had deliberately let her escape—solely so the plan would succeed.
“First stage went smoothly. The seed of suspicion is planted nice and deep.”
Do you think the Magic Tower will swallow it the way you intend?
“Of course they won’t believe it from this alone. That’s why we cultivate the seed until it blooms into the flower of certainty.”
So this is only the beginning.
“Yeah—until the day the Magic Tower and the Red Scale Tribe tear each other apart.”
He would move busily behind the scenes, sowing discord every step of the way. Bern’s smile was brighter than it had been in a long time.