Chapter 12

Ortes suddenly appeared and made an unreasonable request.

Arabel didn’t respond with a trite “What?” Instead, she prepared a more formal rebuttal.

“Hacking into the Pythos factory happened a few times during the Artificial Tenth Rank incident. But all the data in the factory is limited to the basic operating systems of automatons. There’s nothing else remarkable.”

“That’s important. The automaton operating system is still being updated regularly, isn’t it?”

After searching through her auxiliary brain’s data, Arabel nodded. The automatons at the Pythos Tower were indeed receiving regular updates.

“But those are just mechanical tasks performed by the tower’s artificial spirits. There’s no secret message from Caike inside.”

Ortes merely shrugged and smiled, giving off the impression that he had no intention of backing down.

I’d like to see that smug grin wiped off his face someday. Swallowing her desire, Arabel began her work.

***

Ethereal Space. A hidden world formed by the accumulation of magical residues, existing halfway between reality and unreality—a semi-realistic place.

Ordinary mages connect to Ethereal Space through their astral bodies while meditating, but in rare cases, some directly link their brains to this space.

Arabel was one such case.

While connecting the physical body directly to Ethereal Space allows for far greater flexibility in wielding mana, it also significantly increases the risk of death.

Most mages who attempted hacking into other towers ended up dying when their brains overheated—often due to trying this direct connection method.

If the firewall of a Ten Towers-like organization was too advanced, it could destroy the hacker’s real-world body via the astral body. Fortunately, Pythos Tower’s firewall wasn’t that sophisticated.

In Ethereal Space, Arabel appeared as a fully-fledged queen spider. Spider-shaped drones created from her flesh infiltrated the physical servers of the Pythos Tower, aiding in the breach.

The moment four spider drones injected ethereal virus venom into the real-world servers, the Pythos Tower activated its antivirus program.

This was exactly what Arabel had been waiting for.

The antivirus program manifested as a fiery wolf within Ethereal Space, while the virus injected by Arabel’s drones appeared as a swarm of tens of thousands of spiders.

The fiery wolf unleashed flames, incinerating the spiders. As the antivirus program focused its resources on destroying the viruses…

Arabel cast her web, grabbing hold of the data stored in Ethereal Space.

She read, copied, and returned the data to its original position. It took the antivirus program about 15 seconds to eliminate all the viruses.

For Arabel, who once played dangerous games with fractions of a second during her time under Lernian Tower, this was more than enough time.

***

What should I do? I’m getting nervous.

Every move made by Arabel, fused with the Hyper Mechanic Spider, defied my expectations.

Well, if others hadn’t thought of what I came up with five minutes after hearing from Bertrand, then they wouldn’t be very clever either.

But if all my guesses turn out to be completely wrong, there won’t be anything left for me to do.

Oh, wait. There is one thing.

I could run to Carisia and ask her to look into it instead. Though dealing with the aftermath sounds unpleasant, it’s better than outright failing.

While contemplating how I might grovel to make Carisia feel sorry for me, Arabel opened her eyes, seemingly finished with her task.

“Much faster than expected.”

“That’s because there’s no mage currently controlling Pythos Tower’s firewalls directly. This is the limitation of an unmanned tower.”

Arabel shrugged and snapped her fingers. The cables connected to her spine detached one by one.

“And don’t even think about attempting to take over Pythos Tower through hacking. To do that, you’d have to hack the core itself.”

“Hacking a tower core linked to the radiance of the Ten Sages would be suicide. I know that well.”

I’m not someone like Carisia. Give me tasks humans can handle. Whether Arabel noticed or not, she continued disengaging the external computational device without regard for my reproachful gaze.

As Arabel descended from the steel spider, she tossed a USB stick in my direction.

“Catch. That’s all there is aside from the machine control programs from the unmanned factory.”

It’s simple for magicians above a certain level to review information extracted from Ethereal Space.

For magicians, of course. I’m not a magician.

Though there are various tricks, like magic sigil drives, so I’m not entirely limited to physical attacks, it still feels frustrating at times like this.

“Could you lend me a tool to view this? My workshop hasn’t been organized yet.”

“…You’re cautious. Of course.”

Why the sudden compliment? It doesn’t seem like mockery for my inability to use magic.

***

Arabel clicked her tongue at Ortes’ paranoid security mindset. Did he think she had installed malicious code in the magic sigil drive she handed over?

This choice considered the possibility of spyware installation while using internal tower facilities. Having only recently submitted to Hydra Corp, it was natural for him not to trust her.

Still, Arabel felt somewhat aggrieved.

She had no intention of injecting malicious code. Since the day Ortes warned her, betrayal was no longer an option for Arabel.

Sure, she had minor complaints—like finding his constant smirk annoying or fearing the chairman—but those were separate issues.

Her body, remodeled as an Ethereal Space-specific prosthetic by Lernian Tower, was inefficient. Even with mana replenishment, six hours of external activity required backup power.

Given that Carisia could cut off the mana supply to the area where the Information Guild was located and Ortes already knew her identity, Arabel couldn’t afford to offend them.

‘The goal of becoming a new king seems overly ambitious…’

Arabel observed Ortes as he projected the compressed ethereal data from the magic sigil drive onto a holographic projector in his usual manner.

Typically, magicians prefer to plug the drive directly into neural terminals for faster, more efficient viewing. They also possess the ability to defend against malicious information.

Yet here was someone accustomed to handling ethereal data through external devices. Several hypotheses surfaced in Arabel’s mind.

One: He feared falling victim to extremely potent malware.

Two: Creating backup data was habitual for him.

Three: He isn’t a magician.

The first two could be considered professional paranoia.

Magicians who deal with large amounts of information inevitably encounter someone whose brain was overwhelmed by malware, leading to attempts at skin breathing or memory loss. Such experiences often lead to adopting safer methods involving external tools.

‘The third possibility…’

Arabel frowned. Honestly, it seemed least likely.

Still, considering all possibilities was part of her job as an information handler.

‘Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen him cast proper magic.’

He does deliver fatal blows using basic magic through magic sigil drives, but his fighting style resembles that of a warrior or assassin rather than a magician.

‘Hmm?’

Perhaps he really isn’t a magician. No records exist of Ortes using powerful magic during his rampage through Etna City’s underworld with Carisia.

As Arabel meticulously reviewed these hypotheses, one final question arose.

That faint presence. Nothing short of magic could explain it.

‘Unless it’s an artifact imbued with that kind of magic…’

What other abilities besides magic could cause such anomalies?

“Mr. Chairman?”

Lost in thought, Arabel was interrupted by Ortes’ voice.

“Is there a problem with decompressing the data? I set up the system to handle beyond average processing limits.”

“No. What are these files among the automaton model base installs that seem utterly useless?”

Reading the code projected in hologram form, Arabel slowly shook her head.

“Exactly as stated. Useless dummy data. Pre-installed for OS rollbacks or updates, they serve no function under normal circumstances.”

“I see.”

Ortes began extracting only the dummy data. Watching his busy hands, Arabel carefully observed the situation before asking,

“Are you uncertain?”

“What do you mean, Mr. Chairman?”

“You were so confident during the meeting, declaring that Caike was beneath the volcano. Now you’re acting cautiously, as if you know nothing.”

This was a probing question aimed at uncovering the true nature of Ortes’ information network. Both last time and this time, Ortes seemed intent on re-verifying information—an action typically taken when the source of information isn’t trustworthy. His response could help narrow down which group provided Ortes with his information.

“99 percent sure.”

Without hesitation, Ortes gave a simple answer.

‘If that’s the case, all my assumptions are wrong.’

“If the information is that reliable, there’s no reason to obsess over cross-verification, right?”

A question straddling the line between inquiry, provocation, and accusation. Ortes’ expression remained calm.

“In most cases, I agree.”

***

“It’s the chairman’s order. Anything less than 100% certainty is unacceptable.”

What nonsense is he spouting now? Is he not getting scolded enough by Carisia?