WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
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◈ The Wizard's Memoir ◈
Chapter 10: Possibility
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Spriggan.
Strictly speaking, they belonged to the fae, but that hardly meant they were good-natured. Goblins belonged to the fae family too, yet they were treated as perfectly respectable monsters.
“If I had to name their most striking feature... they're ugly.”
“What kind of answer is that?”
The adventurers looked baffled, but the miners nodded in agreement.
Their eyes were the size of fists and bulged out without eyelids. Their skin was wrinkled as though it had melted, without a single hair growing on it.
“What about this business of growing bigger?”
“They're usually small, like pixies, but when they get angry, they grow as big as giants.”
“...Is that possible?”
“They're fae.”
In this line of work, that explained everything. Fae, monsters, and demons couldn't be judged by common sense.
“They probably won't grow as large as actual giants, but we'd better be prepared for something the size of a bear.”
“A bear... Put that way, it sounds manageable.”
The miners stared at Olivia in disbelief at that display of confidence. People died because of bears here every year. They were a much more immediate terror than ogres, trolls, or cyclopes, which most people would never see unless they deliberately went looking.
“Th-then you can deal with them?”
“That's what we're here for. You'll be back to your normal lives soon.”
Faces brightened at Olivia's confident declaration. But someone had a different concern.
“Will we have to pay you?”
“Huh? No, no. We're adventurers, not mercenaries.”
Adventurers sometimes accepted commissions, but when it came to dungeons, they firmly maintained their independence.
It wasn't a matter of honor, pride, or professional ethics. The moment they accepted employment, they lost ownership of any treasure found in the dungeon. With several parties exploring together, the arrangements became complicated, and for some reason, the Guild didn't like it either.
“Just show us to the mine entrance tomorrow morning. That's enough. We'll take care of the rest.”
@
Like most country pubs, the Star Valley pub had no separate guest rooms.
Still, visitors needed somewhere to sleep, so the attic on the second floor served as communal lodging. It was “communal” in the most literal sense. Anyone could go upstairs, spread out their bedding, and lie down to sleep.
“I told you, you can stay at my house.”
“We like it here. There aren't any other guests. It's perfect.”
The foreman and several elderly villagers offered invitations with apologetic looks, then reluctantly withdrew. Etran looked up at their young leader with something close to respect. Olivia was more thoughtful and selfless than expected.
“You didn't want to impose on them, did you?”
“That's not it. Honestly, I don't trust them either.”
“...What?”
“A lot of people get curious about adventurers' equipment. Even if that's not the problem, plenty of them make a nuisance of themselves, acting like you owe them something. Once you get friendly, they start asking for all sorts of things.”
“......”
In any case, the pub was a public place, so trouble was less likely. Sometimes an entire village conspired against outsiders, but that happened in slash-and-burn farming settlements full of criminals, not respectable mining villages like this one.
Etran shook their head and went upstairs. Opening a narrow hatch revealed an attic where fifteen or sixteen people could squeeze in to sleep.
The ceiling was too low to straighten up in the corners, but that wouldn't matter if they lay with their heads toward the edges. Fortunately, the recent slump meant there were no other visitors. For Olivia's party of four, it was quite comfortable.
“No clean sheets, no soft beds... Aww...”
“Shelter from the dew and night wind is enough.”
Etran set a backpack in the corner, then removed their outer clothes and boots. They sniffed to check for any smell, but it wasn't too bad.
Next came the belt and leather armor. It hadn't been particularly heavy equipment, yet Etran felt light enough to float away. They couldn't imagine how much the others suffered in their mail and iron-studded brigandine armor.
“Aren't you going to sleep?”
“You go ahead.”
The hardships of the blade wielders and the crossbow wielder didn't end there. Unlike a wizard, who only had to worry about mental fatigue, they had plenty of physical preparations to make.
Olivia laid out a mace, an estoc, a dagger, and other weapons in turn, carefully tending to each. Bladed weapons in particular could fail to do their job after even a little neglect.
In that sense, Dahlia had the most work to do. There were throwing knives, working knives, knives for traps, needle-like knives, curved knives, and every other kind imaginable. Once again, Etran wondered where that small body could possibly hide them all.
Rolf had only a crossbow and a short blade. But maintaining them was harder than caring for a warrior's blades. All those mechanical parts had to be taken apart and put back together, and there was a whole bag of quarrels too.
‘Should I do mine as well?’
Etran checked the dagger they could now draw with reasonable skill. It was new and very clean. The leather armor still shone with the oil that hadn't yet worn away.
“What are you doing? I told you to sleep.”
“Just me?”
“You're the only wizard here.”
Clever Etran realized something.
From their perspective, the physical fighters had a lot to worry about. But from the others' perspective, it was the wizard who had a lot to worry about. A wizard had to keep body and mind in peak condition to use intense concentration, known in the trade as mana. Since the mind wasn't visible, the whole thing seemed difficult and demanding.
Etran decided to explain that, from their own point of view, the others had the wrong idea. It was a rather youthful but admirable resolution, even if they never carried it out, having begun to snore the moment they spread out two blankets and lay down.
@
As summer approached, the day began earlier too.
Olivia's party busied themselves from the first light of dawn and were ready to leave by the zeroth hour, at sunrise. The foreman came in person and praised their thorough preparations.
“Very impressive.”
“Ahem!”
Star Valley's mine was old, with more than thirty shafts. The spriggans had appeared in Shaft 13, partway up the valley. It wasn't far, less than an hour from the village.
“A dungeon this close is dangerous...”
Monsters came out of dungeons. There was nothing unusual about that fact.
“Spriggans only move around underground, so it should be all right.”
“As long as they're the only things coming out.”
Olivia's party followed the winding valley path downward and reached the mine entrance. Work here had stopped some time ago, leaving carts, baskets, and sacks scattered about.
“This is as far as I go. In there...”
“Leave it to us.”
The foreman even removed their cap apologetically. Still, they had no desire to face that monster again.
Olivia's party drew their freshly maintained weapons and took up a scouting formation. Dahlia went first, followed by Rolf, Etran, and Olivia.
“Illumina.”
Etran snapped their fingers. Light Tracery danced, drawing patterns in the air. The foreman gave a startled cry of wonder, but the adventurers were used to it and showed little interest.
“Isn't it unwise to waste magic already?”
No, one of them wasn't used to it. Dahlia laughed at Rolf's concern.
“Our wizard can handle it! Etran could do this all day!”
Somehow, Dahlia sounded more boastful than the wizard in question. But you couldn't scoff at halfling friendship.
The old mine tunnel was spacious, with a level floor. Plenty of supports held up the ceiling, so there was no need to worry about a collapse.
“Watch the side passages.”
But there was a downside: the route was far too complicated. Passages had been dug in every direction, making it impossible to tell which way to go. Without a seeker, they would have been lost at once.
“Watch the side passages?”
“Intelligent monsters use passages like those to surround their prey.”
That was a chilling thought. It was also why Olivia, a warrior, was guarding the rear.
As time passed, Etran grew increasingly dizzy. They went up and down winding passages over and over. Even so, they never passed through the same place twice, thanks to a halfling's keen observation and sense of direction.
“How can you tell north from south in all this darkness?”
“How can you not? South is the way your body leans.”
“...Why would your body lean?”
“Don't try to understand it. Don't try to understand it.”
Etran made the Light Orb brighter still. It was hard to believe they were underground. Rolf stared at the lantern they had insisted on bringing, then tied it to their belt.
How much farther had they gone? Just as Etran was losing all sense of time, Dahlia signaled a halt. After bumping their nose against Rolf's back, Etran peeked around the crossbow wielder. A pitch-black vertical shaft lay ahead.
It wasn't meant for people to pass through, but for hauling baskets of ore upward. For adventurers, however, it offered a useful shortcut.
“If we go down here, we'll reach the place where the monster appeared.”
Etran took out the map to check their position. They couldn't identify any of the passages they had followed, but that single vertical shaft was enough to work out where they were. Their destination was very close.
“Etran?”
“Floaty discus.”
Etran created a Floating Disc, the spell they found more uses for than any other. Once again, Rolf, still unable to let go of common sense, pointed out a problem.
“We're going down by magic? Can it bear the weight?”
“Ahem! Ahem!”
Olivia and Dahlia wagged their fingers with smug expressions. They had been anxious and distrustful themselves, but they weren't about to miss a chance to show off.
In any case, they rode down the shaft two at a time. It was an indescribably strange feeling, like sinking into an abyss. The shaft was a full forty feet deep, about twelve meters.
“Miners are amazing... Digging iron out of somewhere this deep...”
“Who said anything about iron?”
“Huh? Isn't this an iron mine?”
“It's a copper mine. If it were iron, the local lords wouldn't have stayed out of it.”
There had been a time when copper was more precious, and that time might come again. For now, though, it wasn't nearly as useful as iron. At most, it might be used to make church bells. As a result, neither the lords nor the mine's owner took much interest.
“A treasure-guarding fae in a copper mine... That's a bit funny.”
“Surely the treasure won't turn out to be something like a copper statue?”
Everyone stopped at Etran's guess. It was possible. These days, even the smallest denomination, one dena, was a piece of silver, but copper money had been used in the days of the ancient kingdom. Olivia forced a laugh.
“That's a funny thought, but...”
“It's tempting fate.”
Dahlia finished the thought. The crossbow wielder nodded, thinking how well this party worked together. Once again, it was a mistake born of failing to understand the others. Dahlia drew a dagger and shouted again.
“I said it's tempting fate! Something's coming!”
Olivia pushed past the others and sprang to the front. A mace settled into the warrior's right hand and a round shield into the left in one smooth movement.
Etran made the Light Orb as bright as possible. A monster that lived in darkness would be vulnerable to light. Even making it hesitate for a moment with the light behind them would be enough.
After all, the party now had one more artillery specialist to handle attacks.
“Rolf!”
The leader gave the order. Without hesitation, the crossbow wielder raised the trigger. The nut released, the string sprang free, and the bow limbs sprang back as a wild beast leaped forth with fangs bared. Thwang!
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