I Became the Servant of the Blind Wicked Woman

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The human-faced birds flapping their wings in the sky were originally the beasts of Dimedes' gang. But now, they were under the control of the old man who had taken over Dimedes, surrendering their eyes and ears to him.

"‥‥‥!"

The old man, wrapped in a violet robe, was vividly witnessing the chimeras being slaughtered through the eyes of the human-faced birds.

Since the moment the swordsman with the high-frequency blade started massacring the beasts, he thought. It was too powerful to belong to the same company as those half-wit chimeras that fed on human brains.

If Dimedes held the title of director, then, logically, the one stronger than him would be the president. However, the swordsman constantly consulted with the archer beside him before making a move.

Such behavior was rare for someone with final decision-making authority. The likelihood of him being the president was low.

Even now, he was provoking the strongest opponent, Dimedes, and volunteering for the dangerous task of handling other chimeras.

The archer simply captured a surviving chimera and watched from the rear.

This confirmed it.

There could be a boss who took the lead in the most dangerous tasks, but there couldn't be a subordinate who just watched the boss work.

At the very least, that swordsman wasn't the highest commanding authority of the Hydra Corporation.

'Then is the archer the president, and the swordsman a director? Someone on the same level as Dimedes?'

The more he thought about it, the less sense it made. How could the two hold the same rank?

'What if that idiot chimera was actually delusional, thinking of himself as a director?'

The old man restrained his thoughts from drifting into futile imagination. That wasn't what was important now.

Not even thirty-one chimeras were enough to obtain the swordsman's blood and flesh. There couldn't be a better sacrifice to complete the ritual.

'It can't be helped. If I dispatch more disciples, the ritual's maintenance will be impossible.'

He decided to give up on using that swordsman as a sacrifice. He would proceed with the remaining blood and flesh.

'Considering they might disrupt the ritual, it's best to wait until they leave.'

It was a given that the swordsman and archer would realize the existence of a puppeteer behind Dimedes' corpse. But they were few in number.

Would they choose to fight an enemy who could command dozens of chimeras and beasts alone, or would they prepare more thoroughly and return later?

Given they didn't know where the enemy was hiding or what tricks remained, it would be rational to retreat, regroup, and come back.

"And by that time, the ritual will be complete."

Even if the two intruders left for half a day, the ritual could be finished.

Even if they looked into the captured chimera's memories with mental magic, it would be meaningless. The brains of those things had been cleaned beforehand.

No matter how skilled a mage, they couldn't find him by analyzing the magic on the chimeras.

Since he hadn't used magic to control the chimeras, it wasn't magic.

How could one analyze non-existent magic?

The old man smiled leisurely.

"Hmm?"

Orthes began to stride forward.

***

"Wait. Where are you going?"

"To catch the culprit."

It was like a detective novel suddenly revealing the criminal's name without showing the reasoning process. When had he figured out the culprit's location?

'Did he do something to the chimera?'

Neuro looked at the chimera locked in a cage. No. He hadn't seen Orthes apply any reagent or cast any magic on it.

Moreover, not much time had passed since they captured the chimera. At most, about five minutes.

During that time, all Orthes had done was stare at the chimera for a moment.

'Can he find a hidden mage just by looking?'

Doubts arose for a moment, but Neuro decided to go along with Orthes's judgment.

'What good would it do to refuse here?'

In ninety-nine out of a hundred cases, he'd get dragged along with a scolding like, "Are you insane? You're leaving a potential threat to the boss unchecked?"

The other one case Neuro imagined was a cold-blooded purge declaration, "You're useless now. Neuro, the former director."

Orthes would have been dumbfounded if he knew Neuro's thoughts, thinking, 'Do you think I'm some butcher who kills everyone who crosses the boss's path?'

However, the ruthless farewell Orthes uttered as he sent Dimedes to the afterlife had shocked Neuro that much.

Meanwhile, Orthes was focusing on the mana thread connected to the chimera.

'Interesting.'

It wasn't magical power but mana.

Generally, mana referred to the raw material needed to wield supernatural abilities. It was a comprehensive term encompassing magical power, ki, and other energies.

At the same time, mana had another meaning beyond its categorical designation. It referred specifically to unprocessed, pure supernatural raw material.

In the dictionary, it would be recorded as something like . However, Orthes found the world's dictionary too biased towards mages.

'Even mercenaries use mana to refine their ki.'

In other words, using raw, unrefined mana was extremely rare.

'Could divine power be the pure state of mana?'

Orthes recalled the residual thoughts of the ancient priest he met at the Temple of Phoibos. The power he felt from that priest was distinctly different from magical power or ki.

Orthes fiddled with the crystal relic in his pocket and then shook his head.

'No. Divine power was also different from mana. What was this magic-like technique?'

After pondering for a while, Orthes made a decision.

'I'll think about it after I go and deal with it.'

***

Neuro's gas mask's augmented reality display kept ringing alarms. It was alerting him that something was off in the air.

'Mages who handle plants often spread poisonous spores… Is it a wide-area suppression spell of that sort?'

Wait.

The head of the Divine Investigation Office didn't have a gas mask or a filter, right?

"Orthes!"

A startled Neuro ran towards Orthes to check for signs of poisoning.

"Hmm? An ambush?"

But Orthes, with his ever-present smile, showed no signs of difficulty breathing or bloodshot eyes, indicating poisoning.

"…There's something like poison in the air."

Neuro felt somewhat embarrassed.

"Thank you. It seems we've come to the right place."

Despite the poison being spread, Orthes saying they were in the right place? Neuro carefully interpreted his words.

"Indeed! If it's a mage's lair, it's common to lay traps to prevent intrusion. Capturing the chimera was to find the place with the strongest scent, like a detection dog."

This made sense. Orthes could have simply looked at the chimera's face and deduced the enemy's hiding place.

Skillfully modifying a chimera to this extent indicated deep expertise in life-type magic of wood or earth attributes. Those who wield such magic usually use poison for defense.

However, beasts often use poisonous plants as food or gather poison components for self-defense. The enemy mage must have used the poisonous plants in the food provided to the chimeras for efficiency.

Using the wounded chimera's instinct to search for food to find the enemy's hideout!

Neuro admired Orthes's keen insight.

'What exactly did he accept?'

Orthes wondered if that man was a bit of a fool.

***

'How…!'

They found the core area of the ritual without hesitation. Not the central part of the magic circle where magical power converges but a place slightly to the east.

The detection devices installed around the hideout transmitted the sounds from above.

"Hmm? There are signs of disguise under that rock. It seems like a passage used frequently by people."

"Indeed. You seem to be quite the hunter."

"What do you mean 'seem to be'?"

"Oh, sorry. The suit you wore to the meeting room suited you so well that I forgot you were a hunter, Director."

While monitoring the movements through the human-faced birds' eyes, he suspected it but truly didn't expect them to track this far.

An intuition so sharp it was chilling.

The old man recalled the disciples tied up in the sacrificial chamber. Should he use part of the sacrifices to fight them?

No. Given the power they showed against the chimeras, even sacrificing ten would not be enough to overwhelm them.

"If even that much dies, there won't be enough blood to offer to the god."

Muttering in a gloomy voice, the old man took a grapevine staff and headed to the center of the altar.

It couldn't be helped. The preparations were incomplete, and part of the formation was damaged, but he had to proceed with the ritual immediately.

Fortunately, the barrier would take a considerable amount of time to break through. If he could succeed in the ritual even in a simplified form and open the gate…

"O great Bacchus, twice-born Bacchus. I offer this blood to you, so transform it into wine that promises immortality upon rebirth…"

With sufficient sacrifices, if he could make up for the lack with his own abilities──

"What are you doing?"

A voice suddenly interrupted.

The old man reflexively summoned his divine power. The authority granted by the god of pleasure and wine emanated. A sticky sweetness mixed with the scent of flowers filled the space.

It was a holy incantation mimicking the scent of divine wine. Just a moment of inhalation would make one drunk and collapse.

However, Orthes remained unmoved.

"A violet robe. You must be someone quite high up in the Bacchus cult.

Isn't that a color granted to bishops?"

The old bishop of the Bacchus cult, Sikton, trembled at the clear voice.

Knowing this much about the cult could only mean he was someone who also believed in a god.

"You wretch! A dog of the Ten Towers! You've come all the way here!"

Because only Blasphemia, who had slaughtered their comrades, would know so much.

"No wonder you were much stronger than those chimera half-wits. You belonged to the Ten Towers…"

***

A resentful voice murmuring as it glared at me.

I had Neuro wait above, thinking that if I couldn't get out, he should inform Carisia of what happened.

That man seemed to have an oddly vivid imagination. Listening to what he said might lead to him embellishing my actions with bizarre imaginations again.

'What I'm feeling here is divine power, though?'

Certainly, the energy flowing through the magic circle before I interrupted it was divine power. It was somewhat different from what I felt at the Temple of Phoibos, perhaps due to the difference in gods.

'What was that technique dealing with raw mana?'

"Calm down, old man."

I pulled out the crystal relic of Phoibos from my pocket. It was to reassure the old bishop of Bacchus and extract information by creating an opening.

The crystal in my hand emitted light. The old bishop, witnessing the crystal's brilliance, opened his mouth wide.

"A relic of the god Phoibos. Was it because you were a seer who could see the truth that the illusion barrier didn't work?"

Initially shocked, the bishop's expression changed drastically. He seemed even more fierce than when he mistook me for Blasphemia.

"Then the Pope must have sent you. If he picked a priest of Phoibos who could see through Bacchus's illusion, the reason is obvious…!"

I was taken aback.

Of course, there was the surprise that everyone I met recently seemed to be betraying their own organizations.

But the biggest part of my confusion was a different question.

'That Pope really exists?'

So Blasphemia wasn't making it up?

______________

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