"...and that’s mostly it," Cipher said after finishing up the report on what had happened over the past few days in the chairman’s absence. "I’ll send over the physical report once everything is cleared up," he added.
"Thanks," Marcus replied.
"Let’s move on to the current problems," the chairman began. "First, my existence..."
Cipher nodded. He understood what the chairman was talking about. If the resurrection ability he had used on the chairman was exposed to the public, it could lead to a lot of issues. It wasn’t just about the guilds - after all, the association had no need to be afraid of them at the moment - but more so about the civilians.
This could lead to huge PR problems as everyone would want the association to provide this power to everyone, and if they refused, they wouldn’t get to hear the end of it. It could also lead to people developing obsessions and could spark the rise of new cults. They already had enough on their plate with the Immortal King and didn’t need any more problems.
"At the moment, only two others know about the existence of the ability. As for the public, we already said you were alive before, so it’s not surprising that you came back. As for those who don’t believe it, they’ll just be a minority. Besides, even if they don’t believe it, what can they do about it?" Cipher said.
"Then it’s settled. From now on, this matter is classified. As for those..." Marcus began, but Cipher interjected before he could finish.
"I’ll talk to them," he said.
Elaine and Elara were the only two who knew that he had the resurrection ability.
Although they knew about the restriction of having to offer your life, Elaine knew for a fact that the chairman had been dead. Unlike the rest of the team who had just seen the chairman get dragged out in critical condition, Elaine had confirmed the chairman’s death with her Prayer ability at his request.
Still, it wasn’t that huge of a problem. Having helped save her sister, he was sure she wouldn’t mind keeping a secret or two.
"Then I’ll leave it to you," Marcus said.
"The other issue is the Immortal King. Although you hurt him by nearly destroying his undead army, he’s bound to come back again unless we give back the girl," Marcus said.
"What do you suppose we do?" Cipher asked.
"Obviously not give back the girl," Marcus responded.
"Why not?" Cipher asked.
"If we were to compromise, it wouldn’t be a great look for the association," Marcus said with a sigh. "Besides, for him to be so desperate, I can’t imagine what he might be able to do if he gets a hold of her." He paused. "I don’t believe in the words of a crazy man, but... do you really think he can become a god?"
Cipher smiled. "Of course not. He’s just crazy." Even the Heavenly Demon didn’t dare to call herself a god - what did the Immortal King know? Still, he couldn’t rule out the possibility that the Immortal King was receiving some support from a god. But there was no need to bring this up.
"I think so too. So, what do you think we should do about this situation?" Marcus asked.
...
Although Cipher had asked about handing her over, that of course wasn’t his real thoughts on the matter - he just wanted to hear the association’s stance on the matter.
Marcus observed Cipher calmly. Although he was externally calm, he was a little nervous inside. It had only been a little over a week since they’d first met, yet Cipher had grown so much over that one week - even to the level of testing him. But now, he had no choice but to prove himself to Cipher that the association was still an organization worth following.
"First, we have to ensure that we never let the Immortal King into the association buildings no matter what. After receiving your space magic, he can go any place he’s been to before. Seeing as he never teleported into the buildings during the fight, we can say that he’s never been inside. That’s why we were able to avoid him teleporting directly inside and taking the girl with him. We need to keep this advantage," Cipher said.
"For this, we need to increase the security and be on guard at all times," he said as Marcus nodded along. "I have some ideas on a more permanent solution, but for this, I’ll need to speak to Iris. We’ll also need to hold a meeting to vote on increasing the budget for both our departments to conduct this joint research."
The chairman nodded. "This is a matter of utmost importance, so we’ll hold a meeting tomorrow after everyone has rested."
Cipher nodded. He would’ve preferred having it today, but tomorrow was fine too.
"As for the girl, her matter will be classified. She seems to get along well with Iris and Elaine, who are both quite trustworthy, so we can let those two take care of her," he suggested.
"That’s good. We can also have Iris build an isolated place for her to stay while we try to find out why the Immortal King is so interested in her," Marcus added.
Cipher nodded. Looks like Elaine would have to owe him another favor.
"The other problem to address is the spy problem. How far have you gone with your investigation?" Marcus asked.
"We haven’t made much progress except for some low-level spies," Cipher said.
Marcus nodded. Low-level spies weren’t worth much. In fact, it was pretty much expected - almost every organization had their own spies in other organizations. There was no need to get rid of them since they weren’t exactly malicious. Besides, it was part of the organizations’ ecosystem.
What use is wasting resources to deal with them when another would just spawn right after?
Still, this didn’t mean they allowed spies. Those who infiltrated maliciously and gained high-level authority to access higher levels of information needed to be dealt with instantly. The main reason they allowed detected low level spies to exist is so they could keep track of them and get rid of them the moment they gained higher levels of authority.
Otherwise, if they got rid of them when they were still low level, others might replace them and they might not be able to detect them in time.
"I was thinking of having Vex and his Shadow Squad investigate some suspects and see if they’re doing anything suspicious, but now that he’s injured..."
Marcus nodded. "I understand. We can go with that plan once he recovers."
He then exhaled deeply. "I think that’s about all we can discuss as just the two of us. Anything else and we’ll have to call an official meeting."
"Then I’ll go talk to Elaine and Iris," Cipher said, getting up.
"Thanks. For everything," the chairman said as Cipher reached the door.
Cipher looked back with a smile.
He understood the Chairman’s concerns. It was difficult to articulate owing someone your life - literally.
"The chairman does his best for the world. And I do my best for the chairman," Cipher said before opening the door and leaving.
"The best for the world, huh?" the chairman echoed his words. Was this his response? This meant that as long as he didn’t betray the world, Cipher would support him. He looked through the open window. What kind of life would such a young man have lived to care about such things?
At that moment, the door opened and Amélie walked in.