WeTried Translations
Translator: [IncomeElastic]
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became a Blacksmith the Rankers Are Obsessed With ◈
Chapter 030
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Abyss
* * *
In the end, Yuna’s VPN got wrecked by the censorship filters.
[No no no, that can’t be right!!]
Denying reality wasn’t going to fix anything. There was no clever way around it.
Well, ta-daa, I guess I’ve become a dwarf living in the Outer Tower.
“Just kidding.”
Actually, there was no reason to blame Yuna for it.
If it weren’t for her, I never would have dreamed of faking it in the first place, let alone actually pulled it off.
“The location data still definitely reads as Inner Tower, right?”
[Yeah yeah yeah ㅠㅠ I really scrubbed it carefully…]
Well then, nothing to lose.
Let’s just try bluffing it through.
Anyway, there keep being these ■ blocks stuck in the middle.
Maybe reception’s bad wherever this dwarf lives, the messages keep coming through garbled.
It happened last time I opened that document too, I think, it’s giving me a slightly uneasy feeling.
“I live in the Inner Tower, you know?”
Just bluff it, go on.
Yuna typed it out immediately.
[Sun Dwar■]: Ah-ha! Is th■ so?
Still a garbage error message, but.
[■un Dwarf]: In that case, might I ask when you plan to c■me into the Inner Tower?
Damn, it’s not working.
This one’s got some serious backbone, not budging an inch.
I get the feeling bluffing isn’t going to make a dent at all.
Like this presence is seriously intense, is what I’d call it.
I had a feeling that no matter what I said right now, I was going to get worked over.
So for this question, I’d answer with the bare minimum for now.
“Sorry, but could you just get to the point?”
A little rude, sure, but this was the right call.
[Sun Dwar■]: Hmm~
[Sun Dwarf]: Oh, going to play it that way, are y■u?
“What kind of dwarf goes ‘hmm~’ like that.”
The interjection was oddly striking, like it was shattering the image I’d had in my head.
Let’s not even answer. Let’s just feel this out, feel it out.
“And what are you going to do if I come at it in this way?”
But that was when it happened.
[Sun Dw■rf]: D■ you know of a wa■ to enter the Tower without ever qualif■ing to climb it?
- Flinch.
“Uh…?”
[…Huh.]
Sure, I’m a kid who doesn’t know the ways of the world, and there’s plenty I don’t know, way more than plenty.
“But that’s not something you say to a dwarf, is it?”
A dwarf born inside the Tower to begin with, why would they ever need to climb it at all?
It’s not that the question itself didn’t make me curious.
It was genuinely an interesting thing to say. But it was almost like they already knew I couldn’t get into the Tower.
“Yuna.”
[Yeah.]
“I’m a little scared right now.”
[I’m analyzing every possibility I’ve observed so far.]
Yuna went abruptly, intensely calm, composed.
Which just meant the situation was that strange.
How much did they actually know about me right now?
And whether the person on the other end was really even a dwarf, on top of that.
[I can’t know everything.]
[What we do know for sure is that this message is being sent from inside the Inner Tower.]
[And even in the worst case, all they could know about you is that you live outside the Tower. That’s it.]
And now, another question rose up.
“That black-square error, doesn’t it look like the one from before?”
[But the connection isn’t having any issues right now.]
Then…
“Let’s block them.”
Block them right now and cut out every variable.
Oh, wait, one last test first.
Let’s ask this one thing and cut it off.
If the person on the other end really was a Sun Dwarf, they’d be able to answer this with their eyes closed, no question.
“Lay the flame in the furnace~ Hammer out the iron~”
[Oh?]
“…send it.”
The dwarves’ traditional anthem, the one I’d just spent four hours listening to.
Per Kim Yuna’s official statement, this was, for a Korean, right up there with “The East Sea and Mount Baekdu.”
Even sending just this, without any other words.
If they were really a dwarf… there was no way they couldn’t answer with the next verse.
Even I’d memorized the whole thing in just four hours.
I swallowed hard, waiting for the reply.
If something completely off came back here.
One…
Two…
Five seconds. At least within five seconds.
“…Strike it a thousand times~ Quench it ten thousand times~”
Anxious, I found myself quietly humming the next verse without meaning to.
And then.
【Dwar?!%■?】: Inte!%resting■.?
- Shudder.
Every hair on my body stood on end.
“Block them, now!!”
[AAAAAAH!!]
I slammed the button in the upper left corner of the DM window without hesitation.
Block [■■■■■]?
“Do it! Do it!”
[■■■■■] has been blocked.
“…”
I dragged a hand down my face.
I’d just lived through the single greatest terror of Lionel’s life.
For reference, the terror that had just been bumped down to second place was cleaning up the dung of the first spotted cow I ever met after crossing into this world.
I closed the block confirmation window.
[■■■■■]: Interesting.
[■■■■■]: See you again sometime.
“…”
The name had been completely blacked out, painted over.
As if that had been its name all along.
With trembling hands, I scrolled the chat window back up.
[■■■■■]: Ah-ha! Is that so?
[■■■■■]: In that case, might I ask when you plan to come into the Inner Tower?
[■■■■■]: Hmm~
[■■■■■]: Oh, going to play it that way, are you?
[■■■■■]: Do you know of a way to enter the Tower without ever qualifying to climb it?
Every message we’d just exchanged had returned to normal.
The only thing that had changed was the name.
Stunned, I just sat in my chair and stared blankly up at the sky.
Why did a trial like this have to hit me right when I was feeling great about gaining a new Potential Ability…?
I felt like I’d had a similar experience to this before, too.
This uneasy feeling, this nameless chill, you could call it.
More precisely, I’d once opened a document that gave off a similar feeling.
“Yuna, can you just pull up the name of that document I opened before again?”
[🔒] [■Λb■y■■s5■]
Oh, this.
The document I’d thought was a Sun Dwarf file.
I’d opened this document before. On the surface, it had definitely looked like it was from the Sun Dwarves.
“Don’t open it, for now.”
[Abyss…?]
“Abyss?”
[If you really want to read it out… ABYSS. Abyss.]
I was good at English, so I knew exactly what “Abyss” meant.
The abyss. The bottomless deep.
What a name, seriously.
“Yuna, I’m scaaared.”
I had a strong, persistent feeling that I really should not get tangled up in this.
Enough that I wanted to run straight into Dolores’s arms and bawl my eyes out.
“Maman, please get rid of the scary thing.”
Still, I had to do what needed doing…
I steadied myself and called out to Yuna.
“Abyss… ugh, could you look that up for m-…”
That was when it happened.
“…Abyss?”
“?”
A familiar voice cut in from behind me.
I turned my head…
There stood a woman with long, flowing purple hair and a huge ribbon pinned to the back of her head.
Isabella, eyes wide and bright, gleaming with alertness.
The exact same look she’d had that time with the chess opening.
“…”
“…”
“…Abyss?”
“…Amiss.”
I did my best to try and dodge the situation, but.
“Lionel, you just said ‘Abyss,’ didn’t you…?”
“…”
Isabella clapped both hands over her mouth.
She almost looked moved, like she was touched by something.
What was that reaction about?
A bad feeling was creeping slowly up my spine.
Right then.
[I just looked into “Abyss.” Basically, it seems to be a pretty legendary concept.]
[It’s based on the idea that the Tower doesn’t only have floors going up, but floors going down too.]
[No one’s ever actually been there, but there are records of unidentified mana and energy being observed.]
[Apparently there’s a school of thought that studies it, trying to draw dimensional power up out of that abyss.]
“…”
[People call them “Abyssologists,” and the most famous one among them…]
[…is Isabella…]
Oh, you have got to be kidding me.
I slowly turned my head.
Isabella had somehow gotten right up in my face, eyes shining bright.
“Sure enough, Lionel…!”
“No.Idon’tknowwhatyou’rethinkingbutit’snotthat.”
“And here you didn’t even answer me back then…”
- Whirl.
My small body was hoisted up in a flash.
Every time this happened, I resented how small my body was.
- Plop.
I ended up planted right on Isabella’s lap.
and it turned into exactly the picture of being cradled in her arms.
“So deep down, you actually wanted to be my disciple too, didn’t you?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“You know… the head and the body are always honest.”
Isabella lowered her voice to a near-whisper against my ear.
“…Curious what the Abyss is?”
She tilted her head slightly.
“Not up, but down. A world where everything is inverted. That’s the Abyss.”
Since I still remembered flatly ignoring her and turning her away at the door a few days back.
with a bit of guilt weighing on me, I ended up calmly having a proper conversation with her.
Honestly, I was a little curious myself, too.
Better to be chased by an acquaintance of Isabella’s who lived in the abyss than by some inexplicable horror, anyway.
“…So have you actually been there?”
“No.”
“…?”
As if flatly rejecting my expectations, Isabella shook her head, unfazed.
“I’m working hard on researching it!”
“…Ah. Right…”
She clenched both fists, eyes sparkling.
[But… I don’t think you should write her off as pathetic, actually, brother.]
[Apparently she’s the very first climber to discover and study the concept of the Abyss.]
[…The person you’re currently sitting on top of.]
This soft, cushiony woman I was currently sitting on turned out to be, in her own way, a pioneer of knowledge.
If that’s the case, I can respect it.
Pioneers of knowledge always have it rough, after all.
[Looking at what people say about Isabella, apparently she’s supposed to be a terrifyingly sharp person…?]
No way that’s true.
It has to be a total lie.
“Whenever you’re curious about the Abyss, just reach out to me.”
“Sure… I’ll do that…”
Honestly, asking more about the Abyss right now was out of the question.
Not when I, someone who’d never even climbed the Tower, was in this situation right now.
‘Someone contacted me through the Tower’s messenger, what do I do…’
There’s just no way I could say that.
Since it wasn’t causing any actual problems for now, it seemed like all I could do was keep an eye on it.
Guess she really is someone impressive, after all.
And just as my opinion of Isabella was climbing loftily upward like that.
“…By the way, you came by once before, didn’t you?”
“…Huh? Yeah, I did.”
“Sorry about that. I was just really busy at the time.”
“Hm?”
Isabella tilted her head…
then let out a short laugh.
“…A great mage doesn’t dwell on things like that.”
“Oh, wow…”
She’s more big-hearted than I gave her credit for.
“You ignored me for exactly twenty-seven minutes and thirty-one seconds, and blew off everything I said the whole time while sewing up your stocking runs about a hundred and eighty-one times, but that kind of thing is all trivial.”
“…”
I was already starting to feel exhausted.
As my energy drained away in real time like that.
Isabella suddenly turned her head.
“Anyway, Lionel, can I take it you’re my disciple now?”
“No.”
I shook my head, smiling.
This woman really doesn’t listen when people talk to her.
I get it, though, being some noble great mage and all, it’s not like she’d be expected to show great people skills.
“Because I’m Dolores’s disciple.”
“…”
For a moment Isabella’s eyes turned gloomy, but then she looked away,
- Slip.
her hand reaching for the gloves sitting on the table.
“…These are the gloves Dolores wears, aren’t they?”
“Y-yeah, I guess so?”
- Flinch.
I found myself looking away without meaning to.
I really couldn’t let her find out I’d made them.
Of all people, this woman had gotten a clear look at me darning stocking runs just a few days ago.
“She said there was a hole in them, so… I mended them for her.”
“Then I should try them on.”
Before I could even think to stop her, she’d already slipped on the Apprentice Blacksmith’s Warming Gloves.
“How is it, do they suit me?”
She held me tight against her while showing off her hands one after the other.
Whatever the case, right in front of my eyes.
─────────────────
[the Apprentice Blacksmith’s Warming Gloves][★☆☆☆☆]
[Unique Equipment] [Compatibility Rating][9/40]
[Enhancement Level: +16]
─────────────────
[It won’t do any harm, but there’s no real reason to wear it either.]
[… The person it truly suits is, ‘clearly,’ someone else entirely.]
─────────────────
An honest Compatibility Rating of 9.
There was no way I could just read that out loud as-is, so.
“Yeah, well, it suits you.”
I gave her a soulless, halfhearted compliment.
- Fwoosh.
“Oh, it even shoots out fire, how neat.”
She was hugging me close, enjoying the gloves’ enchanted debut, when…
- Creak.
the door opened.
“…”
and I found myself locking eyes with Dolores, who’d just opened the workshop door.
“My gloves. My Lionel.”
The temperature in the workshop instantly.
“Put them both down.”
dropped.
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