I Became the Servant of the Blind Wicked Woman

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Clack. Orthes' footsteps echoed off the stone slabs of the temple floor.

Breaking through the temple's dense silence, Orthes strode forward without hesitation.

At the end of the direction Orthes was heading towards, there was a massive stone relief. The intricately carved mural covering the entire wall clearly depicted stories from ancient mythology.

In the middle of the mythological tale, there was a door carved into the wall where Orthes was headed.

A stone door, though not an actual functional door but merely a carving on the wall. Orthes slowly traced his hand over the door's engraving.

"What is that?"

Carisia asked. In this world's mythology, there weren't any significant tales focusing on a 'door'. Even if there were, it wouldn't be so important as to be carved in the very center of such a grand mural.

Surely, Blasphemia agents who visited before had also examined that door.

And they would have returned empty-handed.

The once abundant divine power had dissipated, and the place was left as an abandoned ruin without any altars or symbols, exactly as Blasphemia reported: 'No divine power detected. Original purpose unknown.'

Orthes, after a moment of contemplation, spoke up.

"It's a door, just as it appears."

Was this a joke? Carisia, who was pleased that Orthes might be joking with her, watched his expression.

But his face was serious, not simply joking.

If others could read Carisia's thoughts, they might wonder how she could tell, given that Orthes' usual smile seemed the same. Yet, Carisia's analysis was spot on.

Orthes was not joking.

"Consider the beings from the extra-dimension. They cast shadows on this world by crossing the sea of dimensions. It's something people hesitate to admit, but it's akin to divine power."

Beings with god-like powers reigning from the heavens.

What else could they be called but gods?

"Are you saying the vanished gods and these extra-dimensional beings are essentially the same?"

"I can't claim to understand the grand essence of gods, but I know that gods once descended from beyond into this world. This door symbolizes that descent."

An ancient myth not included in, or intentionally omitted from, the Ten Magical Commandments.

Orthes, speaking of forgotten wisdom, resembled a prophet recorded in old scriptures.

"This space beyond the door is the true temple. A place symbolizing the heavens where gods descended. That's where Phoibos's relic will be."

***

Straining my memory of the original work to answer Carisia's question, I continued to wrestle with this damned door.

The protagonist would have just come and said, 'Haha, such outdated protective magic?' and opened it instantly.

But I had no clue how to open it.

'Should I just open my eyes and look?'

My eyes were omnipotent, but I was not. If I opened my eyes, I could see the structure of every atom making up the door and how the magic was applied.

However, these 'ancient' labeled spells had the problem of being incredibly complex. They compressed an extraordinary amount of information beyond the usual level.

Such ancient magic, or highly complex entities like grand mages, overwhelmed my brain's processing speed.

It's like having a high-resolution monitor without a compatible graphics card or CPU to handle it.

While my brain could handle 2K resolution, sometimes I encountered phenomena at 8K, 16K, or beyond measurable resolution.

As I pondered in front of the door, Carisia approached me.

She placed her hand on the door and channeled her magic.

…Magic?

Wasn't this temple sealed by the Mage King?

"Chief, it's dangerous!"

But nothing happened.

Carisia chuckled and looked at me.

"If a trap had activated from just injecting some magic, it would have been noted in Blasphemia's report. This won't trigger any traps."

Carisia spread her magic net wider. The powerful ripple seemed to encompass the entire mountain.

"Ah, so that's the structure."

It was a sight most wizards couldn't dare emulate. It wasn't about technical skill but about sustaining enough magic to cover such a vast area.

Any typical wizard attempting this would collapse within seconds due to the immense consumption. Carisia maintained the magic flow for about a minute with her eyes closed.

No wonder Blasphemia couldn't find it. Even among the Ten Towers, a wizard like Carisia was rare.

Maybe even nonexistent.

Eventually, Carisia opened her eyes. A brilliant white light gathered in her gauntlet.

"Chief, are you…"

"Destroying it would be faster, wouldn't it?"

Considering such a temper, it was certain. No one like her existed.

"I won't stop you, but wouldn't that mark us as intruders?"

"We've always smashed our way through, haven't we?"

She claimed that, but it was defamation. I was always the one desperately trying to clean up her destructive paths.

***

As soon as Orthes nodded with a troubled expression, Carisia moved her right hand.

The light gathered in the black gauntlet didn't explode but instead permeated the entire gauntlet, coating it. The glowing gauntlet resembled a five-pronged light saber.

Carisia traced the carvings on the door with her light-coated hand.

The door cut through like butter, not stone. Watching Carisia's delicate yet swift cutting, Orthes thought.

'It's better than seeing her melt people as in the original story.'

Though she had melted people before, it was more in self-defense rather than actively seeking to melt them as the original White No Name did.

"What are you doing?"

Carisia, having finished her cutting, looked back at Orthes.

In response to such intrusions, there were automatic shutdown procedures where the connected portal would be destroyed if the door was broken, but Carisia forcibly maintained the portal by continuously injecting her magic.

The logic was akin to maintaining water levels by pouring more water as it drained.

Understanding how Carisia was maintaining the portal, Orthes started to speak but shook his head instead.

"Never mind. Let's go."

'I wish I could waste magic like that.'

***

"The divine space isn't as grand as I expected."

"It's a metaphor. In reality, it's just a carved-out space beneath this mountain."

Phoibos's secret temple was a space finished with white marble. Everything was white, like a place above the clouds.

On the central marble altar lay a gem with dozens of facets. A meticulously crafted gem.

"Originally, there would have been a priestess here, delivering prophecies by looking into that gem. In other words, where we were before was the waiting room. This place is the audience chamber."

Orthes stepped forward and reached for the gem.

The moment his fingers touched the gem—

The white marble turned black.

'No, the marble didn't turn black—'

The light vanished. The mysterious light illuminating the marble room, whose source was unknown, seemed to be absorbed into the gem Orthes touched.

Carisia watched the spectacle with interest and felt a sense of relief.

No one witnessing this scene could doubt that Orthes had some connection to the old gods. Yet, he did not refuse her company.

He shared his secret with Carisia, and she was glad for that.

Orthes was thinking.

'What's this now?'

***

The gem that suddenly absorbed the light began to glow oddly. Like a projector in a theater, it cast light toward the marble wall.

The wavering shadows coalesced into a silhouette resembling a human.

「Why…」

A grand, yet faint, echoing voice. It was loud but lacked strength.

This wasn't described in the novel. What's this? Did I find something earlier than the protagonist, some residual consciousness?

"We're here to take the relic."

「Not that. Why are you with…? Who are you? You of all should…」

There's static. It's not questioning my purpose but my companion.

With a peculiar sense of discomfort, I spoke up.

"Who I'm with is my choice. Now, tell me who you are. Who are you to be haunting the old gods' relic with your delusions?"

「I am the high priest of Phoibos. I've endured long to pass the relic to a rightful successor. You are qualified. But your companion—」

Ah, now I get it.

The relic's self-destruct mechanism rejecting the Mage King in the original work. The priest's residual consciousness itself was the relic's safety measure.

Its extreme rejection of Carisia was likely due to the Ten Commandments' knowledge or magic bestowed by the White Light Magic Tower.

I wish I had the magic ability to forcibly suppress the relic's self-destruction like the Mage King, but I don't. Maybe Carisia could manage something similar.

For now, I have to convince this long-dormant old man before he decides to self-destruct just because he doesn't like me.

Given that he thinks I'm qualified, this might be doable.

***

"What does it matter?"

「A fragment of the power that led to our era's downfall—」

"She is my chosen companion."

Silence filled the room for a moment.

To read over 200 fully translated episodes, patreon.com/Denji02