WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
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◈ Surviving the Frozen Dark Fantasy as a Genius Mage ◈
Chapter 58: The Peaceful City of Primitive Medieval Barbarians
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The churning lake grew still.
The wrecked ship had become a ghost ship, little more than shattered ruins.
Fishfolk corpses.
In the middle of that damp, sodden underwater graveyard, the elf Elias caught her breath.
“Haah, haah...”
Her chest rose and fell, and her elven ears twitched.
Her dazed gaze shifted from the charcoal-blackened Alligator to the young mage who had reduced it to ash.
“My god...”
When that massive underwater monster had appeared while they were fending off the fishfolk assault, she had thought it was over.
It was a powerful, cunning monster, and even the battlefield favored it.
Yet a single Expedition Party member had brought that entire hopeless situation to an end.
The mage with cold silver hair.
He was young.
No, he wasn’t merely young. He was a child.
He had seemed like the leader, but he had not done anything particularly remarkable while passing the Treasure Guardian’s trial. Elias had only held a vague impression of him.
But she had been wrong.
Elias recalled the miracle the young mage had created.
That Lightning spell, powerful enough to make her feel as though her entire body would burn just from watching it.
‘It happened in the blink of an eye.’
Light flashed, and the fishfolk and that horrifying monster had all died at once.
She had seen several mages while exploring the Labyrinth, but even among those arrogant elites, none had displayed power as overwhelming as the silver-haired mage before her.
‘There was no friendly fire either, which is Lightning magic’s weakness.’
‘It was probably thanks to the dice he just obtained...’
‘He knew what that magical item could do beforehand.’
‘He came up with a strategy on the spot...’
The more she thought about it, the more she saw the planning and precision behind it all. It left Elias both chilled and relieved.
If they had chosen to fight them before meeting the Treasure Guardians, they would have ended up like those charred fish floating on the water.
His skill was impossible to believe for a second-floor-level Expedition Party member.
Elias considered herself an outstanding warrior compared to other members of her rank, but beside that mage, she was nothing.
“...”
“Is that a mage from the Magic Tower?”
“Crazy...”
Her companions seemed to feel the same way. Every one of them stood there with their mouths hanging open.
“Bwahahahahahaha! Did you see that? This is the power of a genius mage! Wahahahahaha!”
“Eeeek! I knew I could trust you, Ian! Kya-kya-kya-kya-kya!”
Though for someone with that much skill, his laughter was strangely frivolous.
Elias, the Elven Archer, shook her head and cleared her thoughts.
Amazing was amazing, but she still had responsibilities as the party leader.
First, they needed to divide the Mana Stones from the fishfolk. They also needed to discuss the loot.
Everyone was exhausted and wounded, so they had to decide how to handle the rest of the expedition as well.
‘No matter how exceptional a mage he is, I’m still a proud descendant of the World Tree.’
‘I won’t let myself get taken for a fool!’
Hm!
With her ears standing tall, Elias approached Ian with a determined expression.
“Um... you said your name was Ian, right?”
“Yes.”
“Do you happen to have an opening for a Scout?”
“...What?”
Without realizing it, Elias had tried to win his favor.
‘Oh my.’
* * *
The blinding light faded, and a dimmer light stung my eyes.
Faint snow brushed against my face as the beautiful sights of civilization came into view.
-Ugh! What’s that smell...?
-Did they roll around among corpses for weeks?
The people nearby caught a whiff of us and covered their noses.
So what?
They should try rolling around with fishfolk for days on end too.
“Phew.”
“Aaaah! We made it!”
“I’m hungry! Let’s eat first!”
My companions beside me shouted in their ragged state.
Something had clearly been wrong.
We decided it was too dangerous to continue exploring if someone had artificially triggered the wave, so we grabbed the loot and returned immediately.
Until we found the return portal, we had cooperated with Elias’s elf party.
Part of it was because we had been wary of another second-floor region, the Burning City, appearing. But what was this? We had cleared just one region and returned to the city right away.
‘Funny how luck follows me in situations like this.’
“It wouldn’t show up when we were begging it to.”
“This must be another whim of the Labyrinth... heh.”
Elena spoke hollowly, probably remembering the trouble we had gone through because of the portal during our second expedition.
Gimlius seemed weaker than usual, perhaps because the injuries he had taken from the Salt Slime had left him in poor condition.
As I stretched out my aching body, sore from the Salt Cave’s salt and humidity, I looked at the elf party that had suffered alongside us.
“You all worked hard. I’ll think over your offer.”
“Yes. May the World Tree’s blessing be with you.”
Elias’s party left.
We headed to the Appraisal Office, exchanged the Mana Stones for money, and delivered the requested goods.
Hm, this wasn’t good...
Just as my expression darkened, a guild employee suddenly asked me a question.
“Did you happen to come out of the Salt Cave?”
“Yes. What’s going on?”
“Well...”
According to the employee, the return rate of Expedition Party members who had recently gone to explore the second floor had dropped.
The guild was investigating the matter and asked whether I could cooperate.
‘So someone really did interfere with that altar on purpose.’
To learn more about the situation, I sent my companions ahead and followed the employee alone.
When I entered one of the rooms on the second floor, rather than the first floor I usually visited, a familiar face greeted me.
“Hey. I didn’t expect you to come.”
A bald man in plate armor, with a scar running across his eye.
“You are...”
By coincidence, he was the instructor who had taught us basic knowledge about the Labyrinth when we had been newbies. His name was...
“I’m Max. I’m the deputy head of the southern branch of the Expedition Party Guild. You’re Ian, right?”
“Yes.”
I had thought he was just an ordinary bald guy, but he was a bigger figure than I expected.
Even a genius mage had to show humility at times.
As I sat down, I said, “I didn’t think someone at the level of deputy branch head would remember the name of a seventh-rank Expedition Party member.”
“The guild doesn’t judge Expedition Party members by rank. Each one is a precious talent who can drive winter from this world, isn’t that so?”
I recalled what Max had said during that lecture.
I was pretty sure he had told us to abandon foolish thoughts about restoring light to the world or something.
“Besides, you’re special. You’re an official mage of the Magic Tower.”
There it was.
Hah.
I adjusted my posture so the Astrafe School emblem on my dirty robe would be clearly visible.
“What do you want to know?”
“I’d like to hear in detail what happened in the Salt Cave.”
I told him about what had happened in the Salt Cave.
I loosely altered the part about the Treasure Guardians, then told him about suddenly encountering the wave and taking down the field boss, the Alligator.
Deputy Branch Head Max listened carefully with a furrowed brow, then finally released the breath he had been holding.
“That’s unbelievable. You only lost two people after going through all that? No, your party had a one hundred percent survival rate?”
“Are you saying I’m lying?”
“Of course not. The name of your school, the name of the Magic Tower, cannot be taken lightly. I believe you. I do. I was simply surprised. Wasn’t this only your third trip into the Labyrinth?”
When had he investigated me so thoroughly?
There was only one thing I had to say to this bald primitive Medieval Lander.
“Because I’m a genius.”
“...Hm. When you put it that way, I suppose it makes sense... Do people ever tell you that you’re obnoxious?”
“No? Not at all? Everyone calls me the fun, humble, kind Ian.”
...
“I see.”
The bald deputy branch head nodded awkwardly and asked, “Returning to the matter at hand, did you see anything suspicious while exploring the second floor? Someone lingering in front of an altar, for example. Or perhaps someone killing other Expedition Party members.”
I had found traces of an unholy ritual.
At first, I thought the fishfolk had done it, but later I became sure someone had triggered it artificially.
Still, I shook my head and asked as though I were startled.
“No. Are you saying someone deliberately caused that wave?”
“...That’s what the guild believes.”
“Who was it? What kind of bastards or group are we talking about?”
Max shook his head at my question.
“That’s the problem. There are too many likely suspects. This place looks peaceful, but it’s actually full of problems.”
Max, a veteran adventurer and guild official, told me about the problems lurking beneath the surface throughout Labyrinth City.
“Madmen who worship dragons and train to become like them. Creepy spellcasters who eat and sleep in the Labyrinth, doing gods know what. Vampires who only move at night, doomsday cultists, and more. There are plenty of suspects. But in my opinion... this was the dark elves’ work.”
“Dark elves!”
“What race causes more trouble than they do in this city?”
Max’s face twisted with disgust.
He was right.
There was no race in the Labyrinth with a worse reputation than dark elves.
Something happened? Blame the dark elves first. Nine times out of ten, you’d be right.
“Then why don’t you arrest them?”
“Because there’s no physical evidence.”
Max, whose shiny bald head somehow made him seem likable, shrugged and explained just how cunning and vicious the dark elves were.
He also explained why they were a necessary evil in Labyrinth City.
“They’re damn good at fighting. A well-forged blade has many uses, doesn’t it?”
There were powerful people in city hall connected to dark elves, and nobles too. Some of the high-ranking officials who managed the Expedition Party Guild were dark elves as well.
‘Their ability to see through darkness also makes them exceptional Labyrinth explorers.’
Then Max said something suggestive.
“I think it might have something to do with trouble involving the elves.”
The elf mage I had met during the outer dimension expedition had claimed that the dark elves, Darnen’s group, had stolen a seed of the World Tree or something.
Even though I knew about that, I asked as though I had no idea what he meant.
“Elves?”
“...That was a mistake. Forget you heard that.”
Max quickly shut his mouth, then shrugged.
“Ah, then you’re saying you haven’t encountered dark elves during this expedition or your previous one either?”
“...”
I did not answer right away. My eyes narrowed.
I had not reported meeting Darnen’s group before, or what had happened in the outer dimension, to the guild.
I had also told my companions to watch what they said.
Dark elves could be operating inside the Expedition Party Guild and everywhere else.
‘Maybe that guy Max is working with the dark elves too.’
As I thought that...
Spin.
A coin turned above Max’s head.
[Heads/Tails]
‘Heads.’
[Heads]
The coin succeeded.
Words appeared in my mind.
[Insight]
[Max has close ties with the dark elves.]
[He wants to cover up this incident when the time is right.]
A truth only I could know appeared.
I looked at Max’s calm face, then nodded.
“Yes.”
“Really? That’s unfortunate. It could’ve been a chance to catch them by the tail.”
Max clicked his tongue as if he were genuinely disappointed.
Thanks to the coin, I knew what lay beneath his facade, and chills ran down my spine.
‘The dark elf mage Darnen knows what our group looks like.’
‘If I had tried to make that incident public or trace the evidence, this bastard would have reported it. Then the dark elves’ eyes would have turned toward us.’
Max mentioning the elves just now?
That had not been a mistake either. He had deliberately tested me.
To see whether we would do something stupid.
‘This fucking bald bastard.’
As I thought that, Max smiled warmly like a friendly neighbor and held out his hand.
“Thank you for cooperating. I’ll make sure the achievements you and your companions made during this expedition are properly recorded. You’ll receive extra points toward future promotions.”
“Sounds good. I’ll be going, then.”
I shook his hand lightly and turned away.
“Take care.”
The door shut with a clunk.
“...”
I remained silent as I passed through the relatively quiet second floor and the noisy first floor, all the way until I left the guild.
Once outside, I let out the breath I had been holding.
Phew.
“This really is a town where you can’t let your guard down.”
Shaking my head, I walked through the peaceful city.
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