#142
Talent Recruitment (2)
By the time the surroundings were slowly growing dark.
Clop, clop—
Inside a carriage racing down the city’s main avenue, a beautiful woman with pink hair and purple eyes was quietly looking out the window.
Her face, wearing a gentle smile, bore an innocent expression as if she knew nothing at all, but inside, she was anything but at peace.
‘This is...’
At the rising sense of wrongness, the woman—Siana—kept her gaze fixed outside the window while spreading only her senses to search the surroundings.
One, two, three...
Unlike before, the number of ghostly bodies had clearly increased.
Some of them even seemed to have designated her as a target of surveillance, following the carriage from a set distance behind.
And once the situation reached that point, she could tell for certain.
‘They’ve found my trail!’
The Immortal Army—Banshee Queen Olivia—was investigating her.
But she had no idea what exactly had given her away.
Through mere ghosts, they shouldn’t have been able to see through her identity when she was thoroughly disguised as a human.
‘No, they probably haven’t realized I’m that Siana yet. The investigation must have started for some other reason.’
If Olivia knew she was the “succubus Siana” and had placed her under surveillance, she would have moved far more thoroughly than this.
Right now, it was a little too sloppy to be aimed specifically at her, as if they were conducting an information war against an ordinary human.
‘Then where exactly did they catch my trail? It couldn’t be as an imperial noble... My activities with the Oath Against Heaven? Through Oldman?’
Her mind grew complicated.
But he should know nothing—not Siana’s real name, nor anything beyond the fact that her base was in the empire.
Their relationship had only ever been that level of cooperation from the beginning.
‘I’d been uneasy ever since contact with the ones I sent to Talaria suddenly cut off. Could it be connected to that?’
In the end, she had no choice but to conclude that her location had been exposed through several complex routes she couldn’t immediately identify.
‘Whatever the cause, now that I’ve drawn this much attention, I can’t stay here any longer. I’ll have to leave for now.’
Naturally, it wasn’t an easy decision, since it meant giving up many things.
After all, the Azerion Empire noble identity she currently held was a position she had painstakingly built over a very long period.
But the situation left her no choice.
The fact that Olivia had taken an interest meant the Immortal King’s gaze had turned this way as well.
If she lingered like this, she might be dragged back into the Immortal Army.
‘No! Enlisting again?! I’d rather die!’
Positions and identities could be made again any number of times.
But if she was caught by the Immortal King this time, she would once again be bound to him forever until he was subjugated.
‘Yes, let’s run.’
Once she thought that, she was able to steady her mind, but there were still far too many things she regretted leaving behind if she were to abandon everything and immediately hide herself.
‘Do you know how hard I worked to lay this foundation?!’
Shouldn’t she at least make the minimum arrangements in preparation for the day she returned?
She would also need to take some seed money for starting over...
‘...Surely they won’t barge in right this instant, right? A big shot on the level of the Immortal King won’t personally come forward either.’
Even if they did move, it would probably only be the executives, including Olivia.
And since she was in the middle of an imperial city, they wouldn’t be able to act easily with only that much force.
That meant she had at least a few days’ grace until they finished preparing to come for her.
In the end, unable to abandon her greed, Siana rationalized her choice and headed for the mansion first.
Among the useful things she needed to take was, of course, “Andrew Weaver.”
Though there were certain limitations, there was no other ability like his when it came to grasping the state of affairs across the continent from one’s seat.
Clop, clop— Clatter!
When she finally arrived at the mansion, she immediately opened the door and stepped down, ignoring the greetings of the servants who had come out to meet her as she headed straight for the place where she sensed Andrew’s presence.
Baaang—!
The door gave off a tremendous noise as she flung it open without hesitation.
But right now, she had no time to worry about such things.
“Andrew—!”
“Huh? Sister? What brings you here all of a sudd—”
“Prepare to move right now!”
“...Ooh! As expected, Sister thought the same thing! I was just about to tell you fir—”
“Enough. Move now!”
Andrew, who had been sprawled in an armchair, drowning in liquor and grinning foolishly, staggered to his feet under her pressure.
Meanwhile, Siana continued pondering how she could minimize the loss of her foundation while gathering the necessary items into a subspace made with black magic.
‘I absolutely have to take this... And it would be a waste to give up this matter after all the work I put into it. Is there no way to at least maintain the status quo? And that...’
But while she was moving busily, preparing to flee in the night—
Saaa—
A chilling sensation brushed the nape of her neck.
‘Ah?’
She knew this sensation very well.
An incomprehensibly dense, overwhelming power blanketing the security barriers densely installed throughout the mansion.
Deep and dark, heavy and viscous.
A death like an abyss that devoured everything.
It was the presence of “him,” the one she had desperately hoped it would not be.
‘Aaaagh—! I should’ve just abandoned everything and run!’
In the end, Siana, foreseeing her own fate, could only squeeze her eyes shut.
***
‘Tobea City... It may not be on the level of a metropolis, but it’s not small enough to ignore either.’
And a city of this scale was, in its own way, bound to have thorough precautions against all kinds of abnormalities.
In other words, not only would it be difficult to infiltrate quietly from the very start...
No matter how thoroughly he constructed a concealment barrier, it would be difficult to fully hide the aftermath of that magic power.
It was impossible to simply handle business quietly and leave.
So he had prepared.
Weeeng— Weeeng—!
Kwaaaang—!
“Argh! What the hell is that all of a sudden?!”
“Kyaaaah—!”
Emergency sirens rang out all across the city, and explosions burst forth in time with them.
Those explosions, which began regardless of whether the place was a splendid mansion or a shabby back alley, plunged the city that had been slowly sinking into darkness into chaos in an instant.
‘Now then, shall we go?’
If it was hard to move quietly, then all he had to do was move amid the commotion.
Taking advantage of the moment his subordinates began their activities, Hans quietly slipped into the barrier he had spread in advance.
Within the barrier stood an ordinary noble mansion.
But that was only its outward appearance; its interior was anything but ordinary...
‘Indeed, they put quite a bit of care into this. Most people wouldn’t even have noticed these security devices.’
Abilities such as “Path of Magic” and “Magic Domination” activated one after another, breathlessly analyzing the spells placed over the mansion.
Starting with perception distortion, then barriers that concealed auras and excluded intruders.
Each and every one was a high-level technique, so breaking through them normally would inevitably take quite a bit of time.
Crack—!
Pajik!
Of course, that did not apply to the Immortal King, who possessed overwhelming power.
Merely moving while raising his energy to its fullest was enough for the complex magical structures of the security barriers to be crushed and neutralized by the overwhelming density of black magic power dwelling in his body.
‘Let’s see. Then first...’
Woooong—
Hans, who had entered the interior in an instant while radiating a presence that distorted space, sent waves imbued with magic power spreading throughout the mansion from his body.
At the same time, he sensed people inside the mansion collapsing unconscious one by one—
And immediately after, he detected those who had resisted it.
[So there you were.]
And in the next moment.
Hans was already standing before them.
“H-hi... Hiiik...!”
There was one man with dull blond hair trembling violently at the sight of him, who had suddenly torn through the air and appeared...
[Hm? You are?]
And one pink-haired woman who had, at some point, thrown herself flat on the floor in a deep bow.
“Aah—! My King, you have finally come. This humble girl has been waiting with bated breath for Your Majesty to descend once more!”
“S-Sister?”
Unconditional obedience that could be seen at a glance.
The man beside her looked bewildered at her sudden change in stance, but right now, she had no leisure to care about him.
“Ohoho... I have worked so very hard all this time so that Your Majesty may conquer the continent more comfortably and more assuredly. Hiding secretly among humans, I endured long years solely with loyalty toward Your Majesty, waiting for the opportunity...”
The pink-haired woman rambled on desperately, even breaking out in a cold sweat.
And the Immortal King, Hans, who was silently looking down at her, immediately realized why she was acting this way.
‘The demon race succubus, Siana.’
She had disguised herself as a human so perfectly that even a bishop-level priest would be uncertain, but she could not escape his “Eye of the Abyss,” which detected all that was demonic.
‘I think she was close to the top ten even among the previous Immortal King’s subordinates.’
She was a demon summoned from the neighboring dimension known as the Demon Realm, and she had joined the Immortal Army literally through a series of coincidences.
Searching through the information remaining in his mind, he found an assessment that her combat power was usable enough, but like Olivia, she was more useful in other fields.
‘Well, it can’t be easy for a demon to hide her identity and pose as an imperial noble. Her abilities are certainly impressive.’
It meant she had fooled even the eyes of the highest-ranking powers, including the temple, so when it came to behind-the-scenes maneuvering, she could truly be called the finest talent.
Of course, right now, she was merely a former executive who had been caught after going into hiding.
[Kekeke, from the look of it, you’ve been living quite comfortably all this time, haven’t you?]
“T-that is not so! This humble girl has been waiting only for this day, counting the days on her fingers...”
[For that, it seems you put quite a lot of effort into hiding.]
“Ho, hoho... I am deeply ashamed that I was unable to contact you during that time...”
Her excuses began again, but he had no intention of listening to any more of that useless chatter.
“...But even that was done with the mindset of carrying out my mission more thoroughly. I absolutely was not satisfying my own selfish desires...”
[Siana—]
“Hieek?!”
Woooong—
The moment he spoke that name, a strange resonance spread out and burrowed into Siana’s body.
Along with it, the forced contract from three hundred years ago was renewed once more and newly overlaid.
“Aah...”
Not even realizing that horns had protruded from her head in the aftermath, she let out a moan at the Immortal King’s energy flowing into her body.
Unlike the other undead executives, she would not become stronger than before under the influence of the power of death...
‘I’ve gone and enlisted again after all.’
But that alone was enough for her to be subordinated to the Immortal King once more.
Drip—
A single tear flowed down without her realizing it at the re-enlistment she had not wanted.
“Ah, ah? Th-these are tears of emotion, flowing without my knowing? Is this not the very manifestation of my loyalty? Ohohohot...”
Even so, she diligently worked her mouth as her survival instincts dictated.
Hans nodded in satisfaction, then turned his gaze to the man who was still standing stiffly and fidgeting.
‘What is this one? His body is full of mana, but there are no traces of him having learned magic or aura.’
The debauched-looking man with dull blond hair froze solid under that gaze, but Hans paid it no mind and slowly looked him up and down, like a predator examining its prey.
‘There are no signs of training, yet his physical abilities are strangely good. This is just like... Hm? Could it be?’
Physical enhancement caused not by growth through normal training, but by an external influence.
He knew this phenomenon very well.
“It seems Your Majesty has taken an interest in this child. Andrew! Hurry and offer your greetings.”
“Y-yes, sir! Hello! My name is Andrew Weaver. Um... I look forward to working with you?”
The blond man, Andrew, acted dazed and confused in the sudden situation.
But what interested Hans right now was his exact identity.
And Siana, who had somehow possessed the spirit of history’s greatest sycophant, began spilling out information he hadn’t even asked for in order to win his favor somehow.
“Andrew is also a talent I found for the great undertaking. Once Your Majesty sees how useful his ability is, you’ll surely be surprised. As for what he has accomplished all this time...”
And at the end of that story, the information he had wanted finally popped out.
“...Another surprising fact is that he is an otherworlder! They say he’s from a completely different dimensional world—not the Demon Realm, nor the Spirit Realm. Ohoho.”
[...Ho? Another dimension, you say?]
Hans’s eyes flashed as he quietly looked at him.
Siana was arbitrarily leaking his personal information, but Andrew couldn’t protest at all and merely forced the corners of his mouth up into a servile smile.
“Y-yes... Lord Immortal King. I came from, uh, a place called Earth. Hehe... It’ll soon be nine full years now, yes sir.”
And his answer stirred a special feeling in Hans.
‘An Awakened from Earth... other than me.’
It had been close to two years since he was transmitted to the dimension of Auterica.
And this was the first moment he had met someone from his hometown.