ALL NOVEL Chapter 2
Business Proposal.
The first word written on a blank page.
When someone discovers what I’ve jotted down about the future, it seemed like the best excuse to cover up any suspicions.
I’ve planned to burn it all once my thoughts are organized, but there’s a small chance Carisia might suddenly drop by and ask what I’m writing, so I feel the need to prepare an alibi in advance.
No matter how suspicious the writings in the business proposal might be, I’m sure she’d just think, “Oh, he’s talking nonsense again.”
Even if Carisia were to peek over my shoulder at this document right now, she’d probably brush it off as some trivial fantasy.
She’d likely criticize me for dreaming up grand visions like a decade or century plan, reminding me to focus on what I have to do tomorrow instead.
The first number that popped into my mind was 2077.
Isn’t that the year the title of the “original work” revolves around the return of the Mage King? I’m not entirely sure if it’s resurrection or return, but it’s definitely a different word.
Fading memories can be so frustrating.
“Damn it. If I had known it was a world from a novel, I would have written it all down before I forgot.”
The title isn’t the important part. Convincing myself, I strung a few words together.
2077. Resurrection. Ten Commandments.
The first person to systematize magic in this world was the protagonist of the original work, the “Mage King.”
When the Mage King ascended, he divided his wisdom into ten attributes and left behind the first artifact known as the Ten Commandments.
His disciples, who inherited the Ten Commandments, established their own schools, thus becoming the founders of the Mage Towers. Even modern mages strive to refine their skills to become the chosen magicians who can access the Ten Commandments.
…This was the history known in this world, and the truth written in the novel is somewhat different.
The Mage King’s disciples killed their master who was attempting ascension, tearing apart his powers for themselves.
In other words, the Ten Commandments were the very essence of the fragmented powers of the Mage King.
Thanks to a safety net he’d prepared in case his ascension failed, the slain Mage King successfully resurrected, traversing vast amounts of time.
The first chapter of the story begins with him being bewildered by the gap between the mythological age when he died and the truly cyberpunk year of 2077.
The crux of the story is the resurrected Mage King Simon regaining his ability to ascend by retrieving the Ten Commandments.
“Our employer is Simon’s enemy, huh.”
To be precise, Carisia wasn’t always Simon’s enemy from the start. She showed up as a competitor in the process of reclaiming the Ten Commandments, evolving into a deadly showdown.
The reason was simple. The Mage King’s goal was to access the Ten Commandments and recover the wisdom he had lost during resurrection.
Other mages target the Ten Commandments for the same reason.
They seek to acquire the accumulated wisdom of the mages from the mythological age and beyond, hoping to get closer to ascension.
But Carisia was different.
Carisia wanted to destroy the Ten Commandments.
To be exact, the Ten Commandments of Light.
At this point, I was pulling my hair out. How could I not recognize a major adversary competing with the protagonist regarding the most crucial element of the story?
But it was somewhat unavoidable.
The original Carisia had no name.
“The middle head of Hydra,” “The nameless witch,” or more simply, “White Nameless.”
That was what they called Carisia in the novel.
Damn it. It’s clear that the little girl who looks so impressive didn’t want to associate with someone like me by saying, “I have no name to tell you.”
Yet, calling her “Miss” every time felt tedious, so I haphazardly borrowed a name from a research facility I found.
“Going round and round like this…”
My head hurts.
Just knowing that she’s the pale-haired lady who shoots Death Beams, I should have immediately thought of White Nameless. But the name Carisia blinded me from facing the incredibly unlikely truth.
I realized her true identity the instant I heard the name Hydra Corporation at the founding ceremony.
Oddly enough, despite getting quite close, she never mentioned her real name. It must be a secret she couldn’t reveal with just an acquaintance or perhaps she had none to begin with.
Confronting the business proposal, I stared at the hastily scrawled word “Light” below the Ten Commandments.
White Nameless exits the story by sacrificing her life with a powerful spell to destroy the Ten Commandments.
Since she vanished as an unnamed being, there was never a moment for her true name to be revealed, with only speculation lingering that she was a test subject from the White Light Tower.
White Nameless’s death becomes the turning point in the original story.
The Mage King’s incomplete ascent and the subsequent attempts by later challengers cause the already damaged dimensional barriers to break completely, pouring in extra-dimensional magic.
This means she is the very catalyst driving the world, which had already been a cyberpunk-ish society of magic disparity, even further into chaos.
The method of destruction was so violent that the world couldn’t handle the aftermath; that’s what I vaguely remember being described.
How could destruction not be violent, but the problem lay in how the Ten Commandments weren’t gradually dismantled but were rather obliterated in one blow.
The collective yearning of the mages hoping for ascension surged all at once, breaking apart the dimensional barrier.
With the Mage King in pursuit, the only choice White Nameless had was to shatter the Ten Commandments by sacrificing her own soul, which makes sense.
So what I have to do is…
*
“Boss. Don’t be the fool who includes dying in the plan.”
“What are you suddenly talking about?”
Isn’t it enough to make one develop an attachment to life?
“Should you have time to babble such nonsense, please focus on work. I will be away for a while.”
*
Three days after the founding of Hydra Corporation.
Carisia announced that she would be absent to change the Tower Master.
The eight leaders who would now be referred to as Directors were taken aback.
No matter how skilled she believed herself to be, would she really leave during the chaotic phase of establishing an organization?
What would she do if a few of the directors formed an alliance and plotted a rebellion?
Despite having a stronghold with overwhelming power, Carisia was still just a human.
She wasn’t an unreachable being like a mage attempting ascension. If she gathers people, prepares her means, and waits for the right moment, she could be killed.
Once she gained control over the tower’s authority, there would be no other way to resist; if an assassination were attempted, it would be their last opportunity.
At least, that’s what some of the eight directors believed.
While contemplating such thoughts, Orthes, standing behind Carisia, spoke up.
“Boss. Don’t be the fool who includes dying in the plan.”
Those words shook those considering the risks and returns of rebellion.
Carisia’s eyebrow twitched. Her reaction seemed to suggest it wasn’t worth listening to.
Calmly leaving only the command to “focus on work,” Carisia exited the meeting room.
Arabella swallowed hard, deducing the hidden meaning behind that conversation.
“To focus on work in her absence, that clearly means she’s assigning someone to take her place.”
After Carisia left, Orthes stood there, still wearing a faint smile. Not taking up the empty seat was a silent indication that only Carisia could take the boss’s place.
“Boss is still quick on her feet. Now then, Directors, I believe you all have plenty of time left. Shall we speak one by one?”
“Not here, but in the interview room.”
Arabella hoped she wouldn’t be the first interviewee. Being third or fourth would be perfect.
By observing the visiting candidates ahead of her, she could gain hints about what might unfold inside.
“Arabella Director, are you ready?”
How could she dare to shake her head? Arabella forced a smile and nodded.
*
In this world, the term “Mage Tower” has two major meanings.
The first refers to a Mage Tower as a school formed by mages of similar ideals.
The second refers to a Mage Tower as a facility that purifies extra-dimensional magic, supplying it throughout the city.
Usually, the first type of Mage Tower forms around the second type.
The qualifications for the Tower Master, to which Carisia was going to renew her claim, were also linked to the second meaning of the Mage Tower.
Ever since the head of the Lernian Tower, the original owner of the Hydra Corporation building, vanished, the magic distribution system of the tower has been working automatically.
But if Carisia officially registers as the Tower Master, she will effectively own one-third of this city, Etna, in true sense.
In this world, magic holds the same position as electricity or water did in the modern society I lived in.
However, just as one can survive without electricity or water, one can find ways to live even with restricted magic. A mage can supply magic directly if they wish.
But that’s incredibly inconvenient and bothersome.
Arabella seemed like the exact type of person who would detest such inconveniences.
If Carisia were to die before her official registration, she’d rejoice and plot to take the Tower Master’s position. But if Carisia completed her registration, she would humbly bow beneath her without hesitation.
And rightly so.
“Arabella Director, what’s your percentage of modification?”
She was a human who had undergone magic body modification, unable to survive without magical-electricity, after all.