A cabin on the outskirts of Sharia.
My third meeting with Orsted there.
Ariel successfully persuaded Perugius.
I report that to him, as well as the news that the magic circles to Asura Kingdom are broken.
Orsted smiles when he heard the news.
A wicked smile.
Or maybe that's his normal one.
"I see, well done."
I was praised.
But problems remain.
"About the magic teleportation circles, what do you think?"
About the magic teleport circles he seems to doubt me momentarily, but soon looks convinced of my innocence.
It's expected that he would suspect [What's he hiding] from me.
"It was probably Hitogami's doing. That idiot made a bad move for his opener. Let's hope that continues."
Orsted seems to have realized something.
Quite merry.
Murmuring [With this, just one more] or something.
What he means by that, I hope he will tell me.
"If possible, can you explain the mistake?"
"Mm, indeed."
Orsted sits back down and stares at me.
His glare is blinding.
Any more and his eyes might start glowing.
"Perugius confirmed that he can't use the magic teleportation circles?"
"Aye, boss."
"Boss... In Asura Kingdom, there are not many magic teleportation circles available. They're mostly emergency escapes for the nobility and royalties. Some of which are defunct, which Perugius takes advantage of."
I see.
Royalty's escape route.
"And that's where the error is."
I see, that's how it is.
No, I don't.
"What is? Explain a bit more! Please!"
"... Basically, magic teleportation circles are not places regular people would have access to. They're protected by soldiers. To enter and hinder the magic circles, only royalty or upper nobles have the power to do so."
"Oh, of course. And then?"
"... Think a little on your own."
"Yes."
The power of royalty.
For them, stopping magic teleportation circles is equivalent to cutting their own life line.
Because of the possibility of Perugius using them, the defunct magic circles were destroyed.
The chances are high that this happened under instruction of Hitogami.
Which means chances are an apostle exist among the royalty or someone who advises them.
And he is?
"So First Prince Grabell or Senior Minister Darius are likely Hitogami's apostle...?"
"Indeed. Moreover, the manpower necessary to destroy all the magic circles within the entire Asura Kingdom, there isn't anyone but Senior Minister Darius who wields a private army of that size."
Oh.
So that's how it is.
Him wielding a large private army is news to me.
"Basically, [Senior Minister Darius is an apostle of Hitogami] has been confirmed?"
"Yes. The possibility exists for the First Prince as well, but... that doesn't matter. He's a target to kill either way."
The First Prince is an enemy to Ariel, so kill him.
Part of me doesn't want to be involved with regicide, but...
It can't be helped.
If it ends up being something I have to do, I'll do it.
"With this, there's one more person."
"You mean... Luke is also a sure thing?"
"No doubt about it."
"What about Ariel?"
"Impossible."
Enough with that kind of joke. [1]
"What do you base that on?"
"There are people Hitogami can't manipulate."
"Ariel is someone he cannot manipulate. You have a way to determine that?"
"......My intuition after many years."
Intuition...?
But it seemed like he said it after thinking, so he might have some certain basis that he won't say to me.
I won't ask for an explanation for now.
There are more important things to talk about.
"If we're wrong, and that Ariel is an apostle, then what?"
"If that happens, I'll take responsibility and settle things."
He'll settle things?
Well, that's not necessarily killing.
Anyways, for now I will ignore the possibility that Ariel is an apostle.
In that case, maybe I should inform Ariel of Orsted's intel?
Ariel seems to have some resistance to Orsted's curse.[2]
If she isn't an apostle of Hitogami, wouldn't it be better if we gain her full cooperation by telling her everything?
...Oh, never mind.
Sylphy as well, they both trust Luke.
They believe Luke would never betray them.
Luke, also, might think he's working in Ariel's best interest.
Right.
Manipulated by Hitogami, that possibility exists.
He may have convinced himself that, given the situation, he's making the best move, but only makes things worse.
How troublesome.
Orsted is thinking that Luke has the role of intermediary.
Luke's role is to inform Hitogami of my movements.
But there's a possibility that when push comes to shove, Hitogami will give him advice that appears to benefit Ariel and actually leads her to ruin.
Very troublesome.
I can understand why Orsted wants to kill him immediately.
"... Orsted-sama."
"Yes?"
"I want to confirm our fight against Hitogami. Just to make sure I understand the situation. Is that okay?"
"Oh?"
I begin to recite.
Summary of Hitogami's and Orsted's battle tactics.
First, Hitogami can see the future.
The future he sees is both extensive and detailed.
And he has the power to change that future by manipulating someone.
But he can't see futures that are influenced by Orsted.
Compared to Hitogami's foresight, the Dragon God's secret art is stronger.
When Orsted influences things, Hitogami ends up seeing an incorrect future.
When he discovers something out of place in that future, or possibly when there's a clear change in the future, Hitogami knows Orsted is interfering.
But he cannot see how Orsted changed that future.
He can only estimate.
So long as he does not know what Orsted is trying to arrange or what Orsted's objective is, Hitogami does not have a sure fire way to change the future as desired.
Because of the curse of being hated, Orsted is able to take action with Hitogami not discerning most of his hand.
But also because of the curse, Orsted has few help available to him, limiting his reach.
But now with me in league with him, his reach increased.
My existence could be called an invisible chess piece.
But if this piece moves too brazenly, then Orsted's intentions would be exposed.
So I should act prudently.
And avoid leaking information to Hitogami's spy - Luke.
And also those that trust Luke, that would confide to him, Sylphy and Ariel.
You can't stop people from talking, so it would be better if I talked about this to others as little as possible.
Do what I can to hide Orsted's intentions and actions.
I might look suspicious again.
But it's fine as long as we succeed.
Our goals here are to not let Hitogami know our intentions and defeat Hitogami's apostles.
I will work until I die and help bring Orsted victory in a hundred years.
"Is that... right?"
"Yes. It is."
Orsted nods heavily.
Got it... Now I know what I must do.
Perugius may call me timid, but...
No matter what, we'll move towards our objective.
Likely candidates for Hitogami's apostles.
Luke and Darius.
That's two.
"And the final one?"
"Unsure. But, based on Hitogami's habits, likely someone with talent with the sword or magic."
"Talented in sword or magic..."