“Shouldn’t you tell me something else first? Like the truth about the Wizard King’s resurrection and why it was kept hidden until now?”
“Uh, you’re serious?”
Carisia asked with an air of nonchalance, as if inquiring about breakfast. I nodded awkwardly.
“…Yes. It’s true. At least, that’s what I believe.”
“In that case, isn’t there another concern? Unless hearing your reasons for withholding the prophecy will help us defeat the Wizard King.”
Unexpected trust.
“But did you deliberately hide it? That’s upsetting. Who could trust you more than me?”
Her smile carried a hint of mockery, though her words were laced with jest. I didn’t let my guard down – knowing Carisia, this would come back to me as triple the workload later.
“It wasn’t intentional. I did think about telling you eventually…”
“And?”
“I forgot.”
Carisia’s gaze felt piercing. After letting out a curious “Hmm,” she shook her head with a mysterious smile.
“Since you’re not one for lies… The Wizard King, huh.”
“Aren’t you afraid, Chairman?”
“He’s thousands of years old! It’s hard to really feel fear or dread. He lost once before too.”
As Carisia mused to herself, her usual bomb-related thoughts surfaced again.
Why does she always go straight to explosions?
What’s different this time is that using bombs, specifically the Artificial Tenth Rank, might actually be worth considering seriously – as a means to defeat the mighty Wizard King. Would detonating it at the moment of his resurrection work?
According to original accounts, the Wizard King is weakest immediately after resurrection. Even so, his mastery of mana and magic likely defies comprehension…
But if we timed the explosion of the Tenth Rank precisely at the moment of resurrection, even the Wizard King wouldn’t be able to ignore the damage…
The original story doesn’t delve deeply into the moments right after resurrection – just the King awakening, raging at betrayal, punishing his disciples, only to encounter the neon-lit skyscrapers of 2077 instead.
Afterward, he spent time gathering information and planning to reclaim the Ten Sages. This brings us to Chapter One.
Neither the resurrection location nor his immediate departure are specified.
“Assuming the Wizard King was unprepared for attack, we could deal significant damage.”
“You’re not saying we could kill him?”
“I haven’t seen him myself.”
From Argeyirion to the Theistic Order, this world has diverged significantly from the original tale. There’s enough evidence to confirm the world no longer follows the novel’s path.
Still, we can’t afford to underestimate the Wizard King – not because he’s the protagonist, but because he truly is the strongest mage in the world.
“While there’s still time, I’d rather address more immediate matters than the Wizard King. We should wait for contact from the Theistic Order -”
Vroom.
A vibration sounded as a hologram appeared above the gauntlet. An email had arrived on the L13 account. The sender’s name looked like random numbers – meaningless.
The Theistic Order.
As I moved to open the mail, another vibration came. From Niobe’s address.
Both the Theistic Order and Blasphemia have contacted us.
Carisia nodded when I looked at her. With her approval, I quickly scanned through the messages.
*
Ortes was reading the email with his usual calm expression, while Carisia’s thoughts grew complicated.
The grand event of the Wizard King’s return dismissed simply as “I forgot.”
Logically, Ortes had no reason to lie to her. But at the same time…
‘Can you really forget something like that?’
It was hard not to be skeptical. While Ortes could be spontaneous at times, he wasn’t careless enough to forget something so major.
To be precise, Ortes hadn’t forgotten about the Wizard King’s return itself. He remembered it well enough to use it as a negotiation card with the Theistic Order.
He just “forgot” to tell it to himself.
‘How could he…’
Rather than expressing disappointment, Carisia chose to consider the implications for world politics. If the Wizard King wields his power, the Ten Towers would either bow to him or fight against him.
Since his return must be to reclaim the Ten Sages, the Towers, who cannot abandon the Sages, would inevitably choose to fight.
The crucial factor that allowed the original ten disciples to defeat the Wizard King was the Ten Sages themselves. The infinite mana combined with betrayal – without either, defeating him would have been impossible.
Recalling fragments of ancient history brought a pain like a deep gash to Carisia’s mind, cutting through to her very bones.
Before meeting Ortes, this pain had been familiar. Maintaining her composure, Carisia organized her thoughts.
It was simple when thought of like a seesaw. No matter how hard you try to lift someone on the other side, you need to be evenly matched in weight. Against the overwhelming presence of the Wizard King, the Ten Towers without their Sages lack the strength to oppose him.
“Shall we destroy Baegwang and face the Wizard King, or defeat the Wizard King and then destroy Baegwang…?”
This was the fork in the road of the future.
With the revived Wizard King seeking the Ten Sages and Carisia maintaining her goal of destroying Baegwang, their collision was inevitable.
“Do we really need to separate these tasks?”
Ortes responded to Carisia’s muttering.
“Huh?”
“Listening to your talk about the Artificial Tenth Rank bomb made me think. If we really have to use it as a bomb…”
Ortes’ eyes gleamed. Carisia tried to read his intent, aware that just as Ortes often tried to understand her inner thoughts, his own remained largely unknown to her.
“Shouldn’t we make it count in one big explosion? When the Wizard King personally arrives to reclaim Baegwang, wouldn’t it be best to detonate it in front of the Sage?”
“…Are you serious?”
Frowning at Carisia’s question, Ortes adopted an aggrieved expression.
“No. You kept talking about bombs, so it just came to mind.”
Claiming he didn’t like such crude methods, Ortes offered various excuses. Watching him, Carisia couldn’t help but smile.
“Let’s set aside talk of futures yet to come. What about the Theistic Order’s response?”
Muttering something, Ortes adjusted his posture.
“They’ll cooperate. For some reason, they’ve agreed to actively assist in recovering the artifacts. Perhaps the Pope’s ‘profane plan’ might require them.”
“In that case?”
“Through Blasphemia’s database records and the ancient ruins documented by the Theistic Order, both sides’ sacred sites can become targets for investigation.”
Ortes explained his plan.
The Theistic Order considers Ortes an insider of Blasphemia. Under the pretense of revealing areas with minimal Blasphemia surveillance, they’ll provide locations of ancient temples they possess.
Blasphemia still recognizes Ortes’ secret inspector status at L13, and Niobe remains a valid liaison. Some of Blasphemia’s surveillance data can still be obtained.
“We’ll need more than this, but I do have Argeyirion’s location data that the Theistic Order has been tracking.”
Tracking Argeyirion magically is nearly impossible – they were once top trackers within Blasphemia themselves.
However, the Theistic Order can mobilize their followers. If the divine archers or Phobos’ prophecies manifest among the faithful, locating Argeyirion shouldn’t be difficult.
If we relay Argeyirion’s appearance under the L13 banner to Blasphemia…
They’ll have no choice but to dispatch agents to that area. This will create a blind spot in surveillance of that region’s order relics.
During this gap, the Theistic Order can collect artifacts.
In other words:
“I can move Blasphemia by providing Argeyirion’s location and guide the Theistic Order’s movements by revealing the weakest-monitored ruins.”
“The areas unaffected by both Blasphemia and the Theistic Order will fall entirely to Hydra Corp.”
Ortes nodded satisfactorily. His balancing act between Blasphemia and the Theistic Order had succeeded perfectly.
“The time has come to begin our sacred investigations.”
