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Arabella forced a natural smile.'Where did the information leak from?'
Of course, her thoughts were different.
Arabella was the head of the city's information guild, and outwardly, she appeared to be an ordinary human without any peculiar traits or racial weaknesses.
Only a select few within her organization knew that over seventy percent of her real body had been replaced with magi-cybernetic parts.
She meticulously managed her organization. She kept a close watch on those within her guild who knew her true capabilities.
Naturally, neither Carisia nor Orthes had made any recent contact with Arabella's operatives.
Orthes was smiling, looking at a document with unknown contents.
His faint presence seemed like it might vanish if she didn't focus on him, making him all the more terrifying.
'Could he have infiltrated my base with stealth magic? I thought there wasn't anyone in this city better at stealth than me…!'
Still smiling, Orthes continued speaking casually.
"If anything I say is incorrect, please correct me. It's best to verify personal information directly with the individual."
It was unmistakable intimidation.
Arabella shuddered at the thought of what would happen if she revealed false information.
"You were captured by the Lernian faction and injected with the queen gene of the Arachnid species."
Something even more secretive than her magi-cybernetic body. A secret she alone was supposed to know slipped from his lips.
Horrific memories resurfaced.
In this city, it was common for the powerless to be trampled upon, but what awaited Arabella was a unique misfortune among them.
"They amputated the irreversibly altered parts and replaced them with magi-cybernetic implants."
The building where Hydra Corporation now stood used to be the Mage Tower of the Lernian faction.
The three Mage Towers in Etna City were each occupied by different factions. The Lernian faction was the weakest in terms of power but also the most brutal.
There are two main ways the Mage Tower core, the power source of a Mage Tower, recharges: gathering surplus magic from the atmosphere or having the members of the tower manually infuse it with magic.
High-level Mage Towers capable of accessing the Ten Commandments received additional magic from them, but the Lernian Mage Tower wasn't that advanced.
For the atmospheric magic concentration to rise, there had to be many magic-bearing beings nearby.
In this world, the poor were virtually synonymous with humans possessing low magic. And most of the Lernian faction's influence was over the slums.
Thus, the Lernian faction was a weak Mage Tower with little magic, but they could wield their power viciously over those under their control, who were also weak.
Arabella was one of those caught in their grasp.
"They processed the excised mutated tumors into familiars. And you also handle drones, don't you?"
With each of Orthes' words, scenes from Arabella's past flashed in her mind. The magicians of the Lernian faction who created her.
The ability to control 'blood kin' gained from the spider queen's gene, and her limbs replaced with cybernetics and her brain enhanced for hacking.
Modifications made to invade the half-realistic space, the Ether Space, created by the strange fusion of magic and electromagnetism.
She was once a spy tool for the tyrannical Lernian faction in this area.
"Your unique magic involves shrinking, doesn't it? There must be limitations, like it only works on inanimate objects or things connected to your magic. But you don't need to share that."
Arabella met Orthes' blurred eyes.
Years had passed since she escaped, faking her death as if she had been killed in a counterattack while hacking another faction's Mage Tower. By now, all records about her should have been long destroyed.
This was both to eliminate evidence of her to avoid detection by other factions and because she was a unique, unrepeatable success.
So how did he know all this?
The words of an unnamed person came to mind: "The unknown is the greatest fear."
Orthes, who had been watching Arabella, finally spoke with a faint smile.
"I'm glad to see there's no incorrect information."
'He didn't gather this information himself. Or was he bluffing?'
Arabella tried to find clues in Orthes' words.
At least one thing was certain: if any of the information had been incorrect, the source would have been permanently silenced.
***
"I'm glad to see there's no incorrect information."
When I wrote down the novel's events in the past, I also noted the abilities and actions of those under Carisia's command.
Among the eight directors, Arabella seemed the closest to her novel depiction and relatively loyal, so I tested my memory with her. Thankfully, my memory wasn't too bad.
Now, my next steps are becoming clearer.
"Excuse me, but I have… a question."
As I pondered the next interviewee, Arabella spoke up. Why was she being so polite to me?
Maybe to Carisia, but not to me.
"Director, please don't do that."
"What do you mean by that?"
"That. I don't hold an official position at Hydra Corporation."
Carisia, coming from a noble family, was rather picky about hierarchical structures and orders.
This was evident three days ago when she shot a death beam at me for calling her "employer" out of habit after her appointment as boss.
"At best, I'm just the boss's secretary. As a director, you should be speaking down to me, not using honorifics."
If Carisia saw this scene, she would have scolded us about workplace hierarchy. If she had been born on Earth, she'd probably be a stickler for using the correct level of formality.
Arabella's face twisted strangely before returning to normal. It's not like I said anything odd.
"Alright, I'll stop using formalities then."
As Arabella bowed, her red hair spilled out from under her black veil.
The black dress and veil, reminiscent of mourning clothes, along with her red hair, reminded me of a venomous spider with a red dot on its black body.
To be honest, I first thought of Spider-Man.
I had forgotten about modern culture for a few years, but since realizing this was a world from a novel, things from my original world kept popping up in my mind.
Ha, I missed the third installment of the animated movie where multiple Spider-Men gathered. I wonder if it's out by now.
"I'm using formal speech out of habit, not with any other intent. I use the same tone with other directors and with you. When I use informal speech, people tend to cling to it weirdly."
Was it the silence while I was lost in thought? Arabella seemed to think I was still bothered by her using formal speech and started explaining.
I considered explaining that it wasn't about disliking formal speech, but rather about Carisia's quirks, but I held back.
If Arabella reported everything she heard to Carisia, the repercussions would be severe.
Instead,
"Oh. I see. I'm the same way."
I decided to build rapport with a colleague I'd be seeing for a long time.
***
"I use formal speech to avoid causing unnecessary hostility, but people look at me suspiciously. It's a sad situation."
'It's because you look suspicious…!'
Arabella swallowed back the retort that surged up her throat.
She had suspected as much when Orthes displayed an unusual degree of loyalty by insisting on not using formal speech except for Carisia. Orthes' mental state wasn't normal.
His faint presence seemed like it would disappear if one didn't focus on him. It was natural to find him suspicious whether he spoke formally or informally.
What would usually be seen as a friendly smile combined with his dubious first impression naturally made him come off as an unsettling figure.
Given what he had done since coming to Etna City, suspicion wasn't just a prejudice but a close fact.
While Carisia was sweeping through the underworld with light, Orthes was her shadow, assisting with the killings.
When Orthes finally stopped his tirade about the sadness of being seen as suspicious, he let out a low hum.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I've kept a busy person for too long. Could you call in the next person?"
Orthes' natural command to Arabella.
It was a subtle indication that he saw himself as ranking higher than the eight directors of Hydra Corporation. It silently demonstrated to Arabella who the second-in-command of Hydra Corporation was.
'Maybe he avoids being formally addressed because he thinks it could undermine Carisia's authority? He's almost like a religious fanatic devoted to long-gone ancient gods…'
"Who should I call?"
"Let's see."
Orthes rubbed his chin. His eyes, which had been almost mere lines, suddenly sharpened. The blue flames flickering under his eyelids made him appear terrifyingly intense.
"Cretone. Call in Director Cretone."
But the next moment, the eerie aura was gone. The only thing left was a man with an almost unnoticeable presence, smiling.
Arabella bowed and turned to leave.
"Oh."
Orthes' voice came from behind her.
"If I also end up going on a business trip after the boss, I'll need you to oversee things."
A command to monitor the other directors. Understanding why she was the first interviewee, Arabella had no choice but to agree without resistance.
'Both the top and second-in-command leaving right after the establishment… Is this a loyalty test?'
With that thought in mind, Arabella stepped out.
***
Cretone was a giant.
It wasn't just that he was born with a sturdy physique. He was a living weapon, having survived being injected with various experimental drugs from multiple Mage Towers, including the Lernian Mage Tower.
His cybernetic eye could observe human cells with precision, and his body, infused with troll blood, could reattach a severed limb in seconds if it was placed against the stump.
All the bones in his body had been replaced with reinforced alloys long ago. Cretone, known as the butcher of Etna City, was.
"What… are you talking about?"
"Cut off dealings with the Torres faction."
'I've never told anyone about that!'
"Let me be more precise. Terminate the contract where you select slaves for the Torres faction and, in exchange, receive brainwashing magical imprint drives."
He was facing an incomprehensible enigma.
***
Thinking back, it's your fault our company got targeted by the protagonist.
To read over 200 fully translated episodes, patreon.com/Denji02