Book 2: Chapter 356
“Diablo is beginning to move in earnest.”
That wasn’t an answer to the question. It seemed that Asilla was intentionally avoiding answering.
“That means that he has completed his preparations, while you guys, the Circle, are still arguing instead of doing something productive.”
“We know that. But the thing we need to pay attention to is timing.”
“Timing?”
“Yes. The Circle, Ivan’s forces, and the Anti Circle Alliance. The three groups who have been opposing and pressuring each other have agreed to a temporary cooperative effort. We planned to form a subjugation team in at most a few months and deal with Diablo directly.”
“This is my first time hearing about that.”
“That’s natural. Since it was a conversation that was only held between the top executives of each organisation. We were planning to let the other members know just before the deadline.”
“That’s no longer possible. Diablo showed his true colours at a time that makes it difficult for you to respond. Do you understand what this means?”
Iris was silent for a while before letting out a breath and speaking in a cold tone.
“A traitor.”
“…”
Peran wasn’t surprised.
Although Iris’ reasoning was sharp, her conclusion wasn’t anything special. This was because it was an easy conclusion to reach after considering all of the clues.
It was only after then that she showed her truly terrifying side.
“Although it’s unfortunate, we do have traitors. The process of getting rid of them is still ongoing even at this moment, but I honestly don’t think it will end any time soon. It seems that there are many more traitors than I initially expected.”
Tremendous momentum. It couldn’t have been more than a few days since she realised the existence of traitors, but she had already begun the process of finding and removing them.
This would have been impossible if there weren’t already systems in place to deal with traitors.
However, Asilla seemed to be surprised for a different reason than Peran.
“That’s surprising.”
“How so?”
“I thought you’d be a bit more cautious. I never would have thought you’d allow traitors to appear in a group you were personally leading.”
“Well, you see. It’s a bit weird. If they were ‘normal traitors’ then this wouldn’t have happened.”
Iris wasn’t boasting emptily.
That was the truth.
Asilla was right. The woman named Iris Phisfounder would never have allowed traitors in an organisation that she was personally leading.
“So you’re saying they aren’t normal traitors?”
“Most of the traitors we found were Wizards. Or Magic Warriors, or Magicologist… and so forth, no matter who it was, they were closely related to mana.” (TL: ‘Magicologists’ is new to me too. It’s literally ‘Magical science people’ or ‘Magical scientists’)
Iris continued without changing her tone.
“Their desire for teaching and obsession with reaching a higher level was, to be frank, extremely disturbing, even for me. The stronger they were, the more severe it was.”
“…Wizards.”
In an almost synchronised motion, the two women’s eye’s turned to Peran.
Peran held back a sigh that threatened to slip out.
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Although they couldn’t be regarded as his allies, he couldn’t just stand there and allow them to brand him as a traitor.
This wasn’t the time for distrust and unnecessary pressure which would just exhaust them.
“Shepard Jun has betrayed us.”
“…”
Both Iris and Asilla knew the name he had just mentioned. Peran was talking about his own father.
“I learned of it when I went to the Jun Family Mansion. He wanted me to become a traitor as well. It is as you said, Miss Iris, they use teaching as bait.”
They didn’t need to ask the outcome of that encounter.
If he had betrayed them then he wouldn’t have been there, and he wouldn’t have mentioned it either.
“I also confirmed the betrayal of Cairo Wilsemann.”
“…he also betrayed us?”
Iris muttered, unable to hide the surprise in her eyes.
“He should have known that the information that he turned traitor would be revealed when they let me get away. So Cairo has probably already disappeared from Sir Ivan’s side.”
“So you’re saying that our enemies have at least two 9 star Wizards.”
Iris frowned openly.
It was quite intimidating when such an expression appeared on her usually emotionless face.
When Peran saw this, he felt a bit conflicted.
…Diablo’s trump card was probably not the ma.s.s defection of the Wizards.
He had something that was far more dangerous than himself, Cairo Wilsemann, and his thousands of high ranking undead.
Snow de Pred.i.c.kwood.
He had ‘some being’ or ‘some means’ capable of pushing the strongest Swordsman of this era to the brink of death.
That was the first thing that anyone who opposed Diablo should be cautious of.
…However, if he brought that up, it would be inevitable for him to mention Snow, who had been seriously injured
Could he really trust these two that much?
Enough to tell them that Snow, the absolute leader of the Anti Circle Alliance, was currently in critical condition?
“…”
In the end, Peran chose to remain silent.
Turning her gaze to the black box floating in front of them, Asilla opened her mouth.
“Diablo wants to obtain that box.”
“Since when?”
“Since I obtained it.”
“Why?”
“That—”
Asilla’s words cut off and her eyebrows twitched slightly.
“…intruders.”
“Huh?”
“Two high level Wizards are secretly spreading their mana across this city.”
“Are they Diablo’s underlings?”
“There’s a nine out of ten chance of that… Iris, can I ask your help to deal with them?”
Iris smiled beautifully and pointed at the box.
“Give this thing to me.”
“You don’t even know what it is.”
“That just makes me want it more. I like riddles.”
Surprisingly, Asilla nodded her head without any further thought.
“I see. In that case, if you manage to unseal this box or learn what it is, please let me know.”
“Of course.”
“…and Peran Jun, I would also like to ask for your help to defend this city.”
“I accept.”
Peran spoke up before Asilla could say any more.
“As remuneration, I’ll accept the relic of the Regal Emperor.”