WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving the Frozen Dark Fantasy as a Genius Mage ◈
Chapter 45: A Spellcaster's Way of Getting By
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“They can treat it... but they also can't... Sob, waaah!”
Daisy lowered her head and tearfully delivered the shocking news.
Gimlius blamed himself, while Elena sat on the bed with her ears drooping.
Beyond them stood Agape, the orange-haired, half-lidded Priestess who had helped treat Dize before.
What did she mean, it was treatable but impossible?
Fuck, our talented damage dealer.
Was Elena, who'd grown up an orphan, really headed for a One-Armed Shanks fate?
What kind of bullshit was that?
I asked in a panic.
“What exactly is the problem?”
“Her arm is in too poor a condition to reattach. At least, it's beyond our capabilities.”
Hodrick's attack had been brutally strong, and foreign matter had entered the wound, causing it to rot from the inside.
“Even if we forcibly reattached it, it wouldn't function properly.”
Even I could see that the severed arm was in terrible condition.
Fuck, hearing that it could've been reattached if we'd acted a little sooner was even more irritating.
Or if we'd at least had a high-grade potion.
“I'm fine. Even with just one arm... I can still enter the Labyrinth.”
Elena tried to sound calm.
That was ridiculous!
“Please explain properly. What do you mean it can't be treated at your level?”
“It means exactly that. To reattach or regenerate this arm, she would need the help of high-ranking Priests holding at least bishop-level office. But they are currently occupied with important duties.”
The church's filthy hand: a torture technician, a masochistic Witch.
I looked at the beautiful Priestess shaking her head behind a mask of kindness, then voiced the cruel truth.
“In other words, we don't have enough money?”
“Yes.”
“What the...”
Hans sounded dumbfounded.
The Mana Stones we'd earned in the Secret Dungeon alone were worth more than a decent second-floor party could earn by clearing several areas. No, even a third-floor party.
Gimlius made a suggestion.
“What about trying another temple...?”
“It would be the same elsewhere.”
‘She's right.’
But I agreed.
Even Meia's church, with its considerable religious influence, had only two bishop-level clergy members in this huge city.
You'd need to be a noble or a high-ranking Expedition Party member just to meet one.
And asking for treatment would require an even greater price.
‘Even in this world, where magic and miracles exist, things are unfair as hell.’
For ordinary citizens and lower-floor Expedition Party members, losing a body part was the end.
They'd struggle through life as cripples.
Being exiled because they couldn't pay their taxes was commonplace.
Money was the enemy.
‘What a primitive Medieval Land.’
Even using Daisy's connection hadn't worked.
Why would a bishop care about a girl who'd only just begun training as a Priest?
Then Hans spoke as though he'd remembered something.
“A Grace Stone.”
“What?”
“We obtained a Grace Stone in the outer dimension. If money is the problem, can't we sell it? We also have the byproducts from a Drake.”
“You explored an outer dimension and returned? I understood you were still novice Expedition Party members...”
Agape looked stunned, but everyone's faces brightened.
Even the lowest-grade Grace Stone was a treasure worth gold coins.
Selling it would give us enough money for regenerative treatment.
“Good! I support it!”
“So do I.”
The loot we'd obtained together was practically party funds, but no one hesitated to use it to treat Elena.
They were good people.
‘Phew, I was right to bring it.’
“There’s no need.”
After finishing my calculations, I shook my head.
Gimlius stared at me in shock and shouted.
“What do you mean, there's no need? Are you saying you'll abandon Elena?”
“...?”
“No matter how much this long-eared brat eats, how foul-tempered she is, or how filthy she can be, isn't she your lover? How could you...!”
“Shut up, dwarf!”
“Ghk!”
Elena smacked Gimlius with her remaining hand.
Then she looked at me anxiously.
Squeeze!
“Ow!”
I tugged on Elena's ear and smiled.
“You don't trust me?”
Why should we spend money?
I'd brought something for exactly this situation.
“Hm?”
“I mean, there's something better.”
It's not like I'd abandon you.
You're my childhood friend, after all.
“...”
Elena lowered her head as she looked at my smile.
Her loose golden hair hid her face, but her cheeks were somehow red. Her shoulders shook, and her breathing grew louder.
She was touched.
See? She's still a kid.
“Priestess Agape.”
“Yes?”
“Please take a look at this.”
I took several chunks of metal stained with blood and strange flesh from my backpack.
Agape had looked interested, likely expecting me to take out a Grace Stone, but then tilted her head.
Among the metal pieces was a ring engraved with Meia's symbol.
It was a Paladin's insignia ring.
More precisely, it was the insignia of Hodrick, Meia's Paladin, the boss monster of the outer dimension we'd killed.
“This is...”
“It belonged to the Dimensional Guardian we encountered in the outer dimension. Sir Hodrick, Meia's Paladin. He had already been corrupted by the Labyrinth's madness.”
“Sir Hodrick...!”
At that name, Agape's normally half-lidded eyes opened wide in shock.
With movements too quick for a Priestess, she took the insignia ring from me. She carefully ran her fingers over Meia's symbol, then let out a sigh.
“Ah... The person believed to be missing was in an outer dimension...”
From her forehead to her chest, then to the left, Agape traced a holy sign.
“With this, I believe we can make a deal.”
“What?”
“I misspoke. I believe we can petition the bishop for a miracle.”
“Oh!”
“Restoring the honor of a missing Paladin and recovering his belongings to return them to the Goddess's embrace is a duty more important to the church than any other official matter.”
Agape wrote a letter, placed the insignia ring inside, sealed it with wax, and sent an apprentice monk off with it.
Either the news was truly important, or the bishop had more free time than expected.
He arrived in less than thirty minutes.
“So you are the people who brought traces of Sir Hodrick? Hoho.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
He was an old man wearing ceremonial robes more old-fashioned than those of ordinary priests.
Despite being a bishop, he felt more like a friendly old grandfather from next door.
He was Julius, one of Meia's Red Bishops.
‘He's famous in many ways.’
“Let me see the wound first.”
The bishop carefully examined Elena's severed arm and the shoulder where flesh had grown into a lump.
Then he suddenly accepted a huge butcher's knife from Priestess Agape.
“The knife.”
“Here it is, Your Excellency.”
He accepted it like a doctor receiving a scalpel.
“Huh? Don't tell me...”
“Hoho, bear with it. If I anesthetize you, it won't heal as well.”
Crunch!
“Gaaaaah!”
Then he suddenly cut Elena's shoulder and began slicing bits off the severed arm as if he were preparing ingredients for a meal.
“Eek!”
Daisy jumped at the blood spraying out.
“You crazy old man...!”
Tears welled up in Elena's eyes as she glared at the bishop.
“Stay still, Elena.”
“B-but...”
To my modern eyes, it looked like he was removing infected tissue.
It was fucking barbaric, though.
“I've made a fresh cross-section for smoother treatment, hoho!”
Julius pressed the severed arm against Elena's shoulder like he was assembling a robot, then used a healing spell.
The light was far clearer than anything Daisy or Priestess Agape could produce.
Hmm, my impression of high-level healing magic, the kind called a miracle, was that it was fucking disgusting.
Bone and muscle regrew from the severed surfaces, then skin covered them again.
‘Blegh.’
It was like surgery combined with Divine Power.
Only one thought came to mind.
‘I should never let my arm get cut off!’
“How is it?”
“I-it's completely healed! It doesn't hurt anymore!”
Elena stared at her neatly reattached arm as though she couldn't believe it, then smiled brightly and repeatedly clenched and opened her fist.
Sensation and function were both normal.
“Hey, don't speak casually to an elder, brat.”
The bishop immediately rapped her on the head with his knuckles.
Yelp!
“Ow...”
Elena rubbed her head.
She didn't dare argue with a bishop and only pouted.
“Here. Keep this as a souvenir.”
The bishop went further and handed Elena the chunks of flesh that had once been her old arm as though they were toys.
“Eek, th-this grandpa is scary...”
Even Elena was frightened by his madness.
“Congratulations, Elena! Hahahaha! You may be the first lower-floor Expedition Party member to receive treatment from a bishop!”
Gimlius practically danced around as he patted Elena on the shoulder in relief.
“Elena... I'm glad... Sniff.”
Daisy teared up, having feared she might lose another friend after Dize.
“I'm glad, Elena.”
Hans also looked relieved, then stared at me in admiration.
“You are remarkable, Ian. You foresaw all of this.”
He meant that I'd collected Hodrick's belongings in case Elena's condition took a turn for the worse.
I folded my arms and smiled.
“Well, I'm a genius mage.”
“You really love showing off. Still... I'll admit it this time. Thank you, Ian. And everyone.”
That foolish Elena had finally recognized my greatness.
“You said your name was Ian, correct? I won't ask payment for the healing spell. But I'd like to speak with you.”
‘He probably needs an explanation.’
I told my companions I'd be back, then followed the bishop to his private office.
* * *
The office was so modest that the silver candleholder in the center was its most luxurious item.
“That is what happened.”
In the quiet room scented with incense, I told him what had happened in the outer dimension.
I told him how I had granted peace to a holy Paladin corrupted by the Labyrinth's malice.
“Hmm... I see.”
Julius stroked his beard and explained.
“Sir Hodrick disappeared while exploring the Labyrinth. I don't know how he ended up in an outer dimension, but did he leave any words behind? Anything at all?”
“No. He wasn't in a state where we could communicate.”
“Hmm, I see.”
There was something I wondered about.
In the game, although it took a considerable amount of time, the Dimensional Guardian would eventually respawn.
But this was reality.
If Hodrick had truly been a person from this world, as the bishop said, what happened when an Expedition Party member became a boss monster?
Would he respawn? Disappear forever?
“We need to investigate. For now, all I can do is hope Sir Hodrick's soul has escaped the Labyrinth's malice.”
Bishop Julius made the sign of the cross.
As I watched his solemn expression, I quietly placed the bloodstained chunks of metal on the table.
“That is...”
“Sir Hodrick's equipment. Shouldn't it return to the church's care?”
Honestly, it was fucking wasteful.
The equipment had been chewed by a Drake, and Hodrick himself had gone berserk and turned much of it into scrap metal, but the gauntlets, boots, and especially the enchanted sword were still usable.
But I willingly set aside my greed.
“Hmm. You are a kind spellcaster rarely seen these days... no, young man. It would be understandable for you to want them.”
The bishop had apparently suspected that we might have killed Hodrick and stolen his belongings.
But after seeing the strange flesh stuck to the armor and the traces of corruption, he completely abandoned that suspicion.
‘Good. That clears the suspicion too.’
“How could I commit such a blasphemous act while Meia watches over us? The church changed the life of my friend Daisy, and Your Excellency saved my friend Elena.”
I placed a hand over my chest and spoke with an expression full of piety, like when I was in the military and attended religious services because they handed out pizza.
“...”
Even if I'd wanted to keep the equipment, the church wouldn't have allowed it.
Temple items bore their symbols, so melting them down and using them would be difficult too.
In that case...
‘What if I lower myself a little and talk him up?’
“Hohoho! I thought every mage was arrogant and rude, but there is such an enlightened young man among them. I like you! Ian, was it?”
“Yes.”
The coin spun.
But there was no need to toss it and gamble.
This had a one hundred percent chance...
“If you explored an outer dimension, you must have acquired a Grace Stone. Let the church appraise it for you. Free of charge.”
Right. If you knew how to say the right thing, you could gain small benefits like this.
“Oh, you don't have to go that far... But if you insist, I'll gratefully accept.”
“Hohohoho! Continue to keep Meia's teachings deep in your heart.”
“Yes! Long live Meia! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!”
“Hohohoho! Good! Very good!”
* * *
The western district of Labyrinth, the Labyrinth City.
Deep within that unsavory district, where thugs, gangsters, and every sort of criminal gathered.
“Ugh...”
The western district's residents, people who boasted of torture, rape, and murder as if they were medals, trembled and cleared the road.
Step. Step.
It was because of the woman walking through their midst.
Pale gray skin and long ears like an elf's.
A dark elf was moving through the district, a member of the group most infamous even in the western district.
Darnen Veliar, who had emerged from the Labyrinth, walked on.
Everyone feared or revered her.
That was because she was a dark elf.
A subspecies of elves that had burst out of the Labyrinth long ago.
Unlike elves, who were kind and loved nature, they were a race that delighted in destruction, cruelty, and malice.
Yet their strength and brutality helped explore the Labyrinth and maintain the city, so those in power, such as the Expedition Party Guild and City Hall, tolerated them.
A secret meeting room in an underground facility in the western district.
Standing before Darnen was a dark elf who radiated gloomy magic while hiding his entire body beneath a black robe.
It was Daimond, a member of the Elder Council that led this cunning and ferocious race.
“You have returned. Why are you alone? Where is Drian?”
The voice leaking from beneath the robe was low and dry.
Darnen answered without concern.
“If you mean that child, he died.”
“To the elves?”
“No. To the Labyrinth Guardian.”
“You were there too, yet he died to a mere first-floor Guardian?”
Suspicion appeared in Daimond's eyes.
“The information was wrong.”
Darnen herself had cut Drian's throat, but she spoke of the unexpected variables in the outer dimension and lied without changing her expression.
Just like a dark elf.
“But I recovered the target.”
She took out a black book that radiated an ominous aura.
The Necronomicon.
“Haha, as expected of you!”
Daimond's lips curved in satisfaction.
As though Drian's death had never mattered in the first place, Daimond greedily swept his gaze over the book's cover.
“Despite such a severe matchup disadvantage, you seized the knowledge from beyond. You truly are the heir of our glorious race.”
“...”
Darnen remained silent.
Before that monstrous Guardian, all she had done was crawl miserably across the ground and wait for an opportunity.
The one who had hunted it and destroyed the outer dimension was the young mage with silver hair, the same color as hers.
‘Until now, I never thought I was mediocre.’
Darnen recalled that silver-haired mage who had called himself a genius.
The quick thinking that allowed him to summon a dragon while bypassing the Labyrinth's rules.
The madness and self-belief that made him willingly throw himself into a Drake's breath to engrave a stronger spell into his brain.
The overwhelming genius that awakened amid that storm and shattered the Guardian.
At the thought of that young man, Darnen's fingertips trembled faintly.
She was stronger than him. The circumstances of this expedition had simply been bad.
Yet before that silver-haired mage, Darnen felt endlessly insignificant.
‘If it were me, if I had been him, could I have done the same?’
“Train for a while. For the great cause of our race, you must become a sharper blade.”
Daimond's praise lingered in her ears, but Darnen only answered in a dry voice.
“I will.”
Had Daimond sensed something in those words?
He warned her.
“Do not forget, Darnen Veliar. You may be half-blooded, but you carry the glorious blood of our race. You can never belong anywhere else. The only refuge that will accept you is here.”
She could belong nowhere else...
For some reason, the face of the silver-haired young man who had explored the outer dimension with her came to Darnen's mind.
It had been a dangerous mission, but unlike before...
‘It was quite fun.’
Darnen smiled inwardly.
But she soon realized it was an emotion she must never allow herself to feel, and buried it.
“...”
The dark elf burdened with a harsh fate turned away, hiding her slender shoulders beneath her robe.
“I know.”
The heavy destiny she had unwillingly carried and the loneliness no one could understand filled her once more.
‘No one knows.’
Unaware that there was exactly one person in this world who understood her circumstances.
Footnotes:
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