Chapter 46

Tap, tap. I approached Lampades deliberately making sounds with my steps.

I’m practically a ghost as it is—I often hear that I have little presence. If I suddenly appear in front of him, he might get quite startled.

We used to be friends, but it’s been years since we last contacted each other. His face might even be blurry in my memory by now.

Hearing the sound, Lampades turned his head. For some reason, his movement was slow and unnatural, as if he had a stiff neck.

No. That pale complexion and the sweat trickling down—it’s not stiffness; it’s tension.

Is he nervous about the upcoming accreditation review?

Well, he did say it was his lifelong dream, so it makes sense. But what should I say to encourage him at a time like this?

After pondering for a moment, I decided on a phrase that would always work.

“Hello there! Congratulations on achieving your dream!”

***

Thud.

It was strange.

Elysion has one of the highest levels of foot traffic in the world, so it’s unusual for footsteps to stand out here.

But the sound of these steps was unusually clear. Unlike the ambient noise around me, it seemed to be directed solely at Lampades.

Thud.

The second sound came closer.

Lampades’ breathing quickened. No, no, it couldn’t be… The dark elf who loved machines slowly looked around.

His sluggish movements weren’t out of caution but more like a futile attempt to delay an inevitable doom—like a child who knows they’re about to be punished but still tries to hide their mistake.

Lampades turned off the audio sensors on his antennae. The range of his auditory sensors, which could pick up whispers from distant lovers, immediately narrowed.

Thud.

Still, the sound didn’t disappear. It came from the direction where he knew he’d have to turn eventually. There was no avoiding it.

Finally, Lampades turned his head.

A hazy face appeared before him, wearing the same unsettling smile from the past.

“Hello there!”

Lampades couldn’t speak. “You… You…”

“Dream achieved!”

Wasn’t he dead?

Lampades’ response wasn’t based on logic or thought but rather a reflexive social reaction.

“Not quite yet,” he managed to mutter. “Just barely passed the paperwork…”

This was the limit of Lampades’ reflexes. Fortunately, the augmented reality display in the corner of his vision showed recommended phrases suggested by his secretary elemental intelligence.

“—Just passed the practical exam. Isn’t the field test the hardest part?”

“Come on, don’t be modest. A magic tower capable of passing the paperwork will surely pass the field test too. You’ve already achieved it.”

“Thanks for the encouragement.”

Dozens of everyday conversation suggestions floated in Lampades’ vision, but he couldn’t choose any of them. What he truly needed to understand wasn’t something trivial like that.

“You… weren’t you reported dead?”

“Aha. I’ve never experienced death.”

***

Now I see why his expression was so pale when he saw me just now.

True, the situation could have easily led to Lampades misunderstanding. In the mission where I met Carisia, everyone except me died due to betrayal by our employer, and I disappeared with Carisia.

None of the other teammates who participated in that mission likely left behind any bodies, so the public probably assumed we were missing in action during the operation.

And in the worlds of investigators and mercenaries, “missing in action” is synonymous with “dead but no body found.”

From Lampades’ perspective, it must have felt like a friend he thought was dead for years had suddenly reappeared. It’s the perfect setup for a horror or mystery novel.

To ease Lampades’ tension, I moved closer.

“The report of my death has been greatly exaggerated. Look.”

I spread my hands in front of him.

“I’m alive and well, aren’t I?”

***

Impossible.

That was all Lampades could repeat.

Since the day of the incident where only he and Ortes survived out of ten investigators, Lampades had desperately accumulated funds to open his own magic tower and retired as soon as he reached the minimum requirement.

Even while building his track record for the accreditation review, he lived in constant fear that the person responsible might return.

Fearful thoughts like, “The grace period that saved you back then has expired.”

Then came the news: Missing in action.

The place where Lampades worked as an investigator was infamous as the frontline against extraplanar entities—a land so dangerous that ordinary people wouldn’t even know its name, and even those at rock bottom would rather sell their organs than go there.

The investigators who gathered there—or rather, those who successfully survived there—were top-tier professionals in the industry.

Every day was a battle against extraplanar invaders.

Ortes’ final mission was a special task selected from among the best of the best.

Details of the mission were unknown. All that was clear was that five top-tier investigators vanished without a trace simultaneously.

Even the best investigators dying on a mission wasn’t uncommon on the frontline against extraplanar threats.

However, Lampades didn’t believe Ortes was dead. He had a history of surviving missions where others didn’t, almost unnaturally.

Years after Ortes’ disappearance, Lampades finally decided to proceed with the accreditation review, still harboring the possibility that Ortes might show up anytime.

Ortes had clearly said:

“I support your dream. I’ll come visit once you achieve it.”

Despite all evidence pointing to his death, Lampades spent years in anguish, wondering if Ortes might somehow return. Now, during this accreditation review, he faced Ortes.

“Ah…”

A faceless Ortes had returned.

***

“How have you been?”

“Fine, fine. Busy gathering the required achievements to pass the paperwork…”

Lampades’ eyes wandered elsewhere. Apparently, there were members of the Lampades Magic Tower nearby.

“Oh. Are they from your magic tower? Maybe I should greet—”

“No! No need for that. Everyone hasn’t been to Elysion in a long time, so I gave them some free time. It’d be awkward if the Tower Master interfered, right?”

Lampades rambled quickly, showing exemplary care for his subordinates.

“Wow, I envy the people at Lampades’ magic tower. Your leader is on a whole different level compared to ours.”

“Leader?”

“Ah, sorry. I forgot to mention.”

I handed Lampades a business card with basic information, like an Ether Network email address. It was prepared by Carisia while I was getting ready to come to Elysion. My title as Director of Sacred Investigations was changed to Secretary General for external activities.

It was somewhat amusing that the Secretariat had only me as a member. The same went for the Sacred Investigation Division—if you counted properly, I was the only one there too.

“But soon Kine will join as an intern, at least in name.”

Lampades’ expression twisted strangely as he read the card before returning to normal.

“You running a company? Hard to imagine.”

Ah.

“While I did work alone as an investigator, it was all due to misunderstandings. People kept pushing me away whenever I tried to approach them, so I had no choice but to work solo.”

***

“I’m not antisocial.”

As Ortes smiled while saying this, his features remained vague.

If you asked passersby to describe Ortes’ facial features, they wouldn’t remember much beyond “He was smiling.”

Even Lampades wasn’t an exception. Compared to random pedestrians, he might recall slightly more details.

A faint smile and half-opened eyes. A memory of laughter without a distinct face.

That’s why Ortes was called “the faceless Ortes.”

Lampades recalled the eerie tales about Ortes—”Always returns alone,” “Consumes others’ faces to act as them.”

He himself had almost become a victim of the first story.

Lampades could easily read between the lines of Ortes’ hints.

The “different dimension” leader mentioned earlier. Lampades was someone who had witnessed Ortes’ true nature firsthand after surviving. If he himself was different, then there were two possibilities:

Was Ortes a monster like him? Or was this person simply too innocent to realize Ortes’ true identity?

“Ah, there they are.”

Following Ortes’ polite gesture, Lampades turned his gaze.

Hair as white as if it knew no darkness. Eyes like golden stars shimmering in the night sky.

Definitely not in the same category as Ortes.

“This is someone I owe a great deal to after my last mission. They’re now my boss.”

“Ah.”

So this was someone caught unaware in Ortes’ clutches, ignorant of the truth!