WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Wizard's Memoir ◈
Chapter 3: Magic
──────
Light Orb was a useful spell.
It gave off light but no heat, making it safe to handle. It could also float in the air, leaving both hands free. That also made it possible to get rid of blind spots.
Etran raised the Light Orb as high as possible.
With the light overhead, everything around them was bright, as though a small sun had risen. It neither flickered like a torch nor cast shadows like a lantern. Whichever way they looked, they could see clearly. It was the perfect light source.
“The trouble is, the enemy can see us just as well as we can see them. Stay alert.”
After that firm warning, Olivia lowered the rope ladder. Their order stayed the same. The seeker went first. Once Dahlia had descended, Etran carefully climbed into the well.
It was about 22 feet deep, roughly 6.7 meters. Though the entrance was narrow, there was a fair amount of room below. The groundwater had dried up completely, leaving no trace of dampness. Etran kept the Light Orb near the ceiling and looked eagerly around.
“Who thought to explore a place like this?”
“That’s just how adventurers are. Half curiosity, half recklessness.”
Olivia came down last. Etran briefly worried that someone might remove the rope ladder from above, then remembered the side passage leading to the castle and put the thought aside.
“Looks like this way.”
Dahlia pointed to one side of the cavern. There was a cave entrance where water must have flowed long ago. Olivia drew a mace and gave an order.
“Slowly.”
Dahlia bent forward and moved with feet almost sliding along the ground. It was a curious way of walking. Already short, the seeker seemed even smaller. With no movement up or down, Dahlia almost appeared to glide. From a distance, or in poor light, it would have been hard to notice the approach.
‘So that’s a seeker.’
Impressed, Etran guided the Light Orb along. This was their first time putting that knowledge into practice, but they had plenty of it. It was best to keep the Light Orb a little behind the seeker. That way, it would not interfere with scouting, and the backlighting could be used to their advantage if trouble arose.
“This way.”
It was the Well Cavern, not merely a passage beneath a well. At first, there had been only one route, but the farther they went, the more complicated it became.
Etran was not reckless enough to come alone. But if, by some one-in-a-thousand or one-in-ten-thousand chance, they had, it would not have been monsters that killed them. They would have died lost.
“Stop.”
Dahlia suddenly raised a fist. Olivia lifted the shield, and Etran dimmed the light.
“I smell something. Goblins.”
Etran and Olivia instinctively sniffed the air. All they could smell was the stale air typical of an underground cave.
“How many?”
“Can’t tell. But not many.”
Now it was Olivia’s turn as leader. Olivia had to decide whether to stop here, having confirmed that the goblins had returned, or find out how many there were and wipe them out if possible.
“Etran.”
“Yes?”
Olivia glanced at the Light Orb, which held steady at its lower brightness, and made a decision. With a wizard along, they could afford a little recklessness.
“Keep it like that for now. If a fight starts, make it as bright as you can. Can you do that?”
“That’s easy enough.”
“You said you could use Homing Arrow, right?”
“It’s a spell I’m confident in.”
“Good. Stay close behind me.”
In this party, the wizard served as both support and artillery. Etran would have to assist the others while also attacking. Yet whether through sheer nerve or something else, the wizard showed no sign of tension.
Olivia raised the shield to just below eye level and trudged in the direction Dahlia had indicated.
Without meaning to, Etran learned the difference between a warrior and a seeker. The seeker’s presence was faint even when right in front of them. The warrior, despite walking carefully, made a racket. Thump, thump. Clank, clank. It was not objectively loud, but it was noisy by comparison.
“...Found them.”
And soon, Etran saw a warrior’s strengths as well. Olivia spoke quietly, then kicked off the ground. It was a bold but sensible decision. The light had already given away their approach. Striking before the enemy could work out whether they were friend or foe would improve their chances.
Skreeee!
Olivia knocked a goblin over with the round shield, then stamped on its face with an iron boot. Body and equipment together easily weighed 200 pounds, about 90 kilograms. It was not an attack a small, scrawny goblin could withstand. Crack!
With one down, Olivia quickly scanned the rest. Just as Dahlia had said, there were not many. One on the right, two on the left, and two farther away, revealed as the Light Orb grew brighter. Five in all. Deciding those were manageable odds, Olivia struck the shield. Bang! Bang!
“Good! Let’s keep pushing...”
At that moment, Olivia made a mistake no warrior should make. In the middle of combat, the warrior actually looked back. But it could not be helped. Etran’s whisper had set off a warrior’s instincts. Something dangerous and frightening had happened.
“Lux sagitta.”
Those instincts were only half right. It was frightening, but not dangerous.
Magic circles floated in the empty space above, below, and on either side of Etran. A wizard forming magic circles was nothing remarkable, but the number was strange. Only a few seconds had passed since the battle began. In that brief time, more than thirty magic circles had been completed.
“What...”
There was no time to ask what spell it was. Ten beams of light shot from each circle, sending a total of 300 shining arrows flying at once. They were arrows that homed in on their targets.
True to their name, the Homing Arrows changed direction freely. They swept past Olivia on either side without touching the warrior at the front. Then they scattered toward the goblins.
Homing Arrow was known as a spell that could be blocked but not dodged. Now, however, even blocking was impossible. Each goblin faced an average of sixty shots. The arrows of light were smaller and thinner than real arrows, but with sixty aimed at a goblin’s small body, there was no gap left from head to toe.
Skreeek!
Gak!
A shower of arrows, no, a storm of arrows, swept through the cave. It happened so quickly that it took a moment to grasp the result. Beneath the Light Orb, all that remained were goblin corpses riddled with holes. Corpses, corpses, and more corpses.
“...Good heavens.”
Olivia stared openmouthed at the “genius wizard.” This was not a genius who could cast all sorts of different spells. This was a combat genius who poured out an incredible amount of mana at an incredible speed.
“You’re the ultimate artillery!”
@
Etran examined a goblin.
It stood 4.5 feet tall, about 135 centimeters, and its body was only four and a half heads in height, giving it a large head and short legs. It had four fingers on each hand and four toes on each foot. In human terms, it lacked little fingers and little toes. Its pupils were vertical, like a snake’s. Its nose was sharply hooked, and its greenish-brown skin was bumpy, as though covered in boils.
“What are you staring at so hard?”
“I’ve never seen one in person.”
“In person?”
“I’ve looked through illustrated guides in the Storm-Seed Library plenty of times, but... seeing really is believing.”
In short, it was very ugly. Having reached that conclusion, Etran moved the Light Orb toward the others.
Olivia was wiping blood off the boots, while Dahlia cut off the goblins’ ears and threaded them onto a wire. This was not a hobby involving the collection of body parts. They were evidence to submit to the Guild.
“Can you get dena for those?”
“Oh, come on. Who’d pay money for something like this?”
“Then why...?”
“You don’t finish exploring a dungeon this big in a day or two. It can take weeks, months, or even years in the worst cases. So what are adventurers supposed to live on until the exploration’s over?”
“Do they take out loans?”
“To be precise, it’s a matter of collateral. Once the exploration’s finished, everyone’s contribution is assessed, and the earnings are divided up.”
The greater the contribution, the larger the share. The Guild lent adventurers dena in silver coins against their expected share. In practice, it amounted to hunting goblins and getting paid.
“So when you kill monsters, you need to collect proof.”
“That’s right. We’re all trying to make a living.”
Etran nodded, taking in this practical knowledge. One experience in the field really was better than reading a book a hundred times.
“Now I’ve got a question.”
Olivia stood up, planting the freshly cleaned iron boots on the ground. Etran knew what the warrior wanted to ask and answered at once.
“I can use three spells.”
“Light Orb, Homing Arrow, and Floating Disc, you said?”
“That was an application of those three.”
Etran snapped their fingers to create Light Tracery, then drew a magic circle with a particularly large number of triangles. It was Floating Disc, one of the basic spells.
Its original purpose was to carry things. With enough mana, it could even carry a person. Etran, however, used it for something a little different.
They began drawing another magic circle on top of the Floating Disc. This one was far more complicated, with geometric patterns as well as triangles, squares, and diamonds. Still, as expected of a skilled wizard, it did not take long.
“That finishes the preparations.”
“R-really?”
As a warrior, Olivia had no idea what those preparations were for. But there was no need to ask. Etran began splitting the disc, now bearing a magic circle, “vertically.”
“Oh?”
The magic circles separated like cards being drawn one at a time from a deck. One became two, then four, then eight, filling the space around them. Unlike cards, however, the light inscribed on the transparent discs was copied exactly.
“I could draw them one by one, but this is faster.”
The theory was simple. Use Light Tracery to form a Floating Disc, form Homing Arrow on top of the disc, then split the disc to make endless copies.
“You can do that?”
“Of course.”
“Then why don’t other wizards do it?”
“I suppose they have trouble with it.”
There was good reason for that. It required maintaining at least two spells. In Etran’s case, including the Light Orb, three spells were in use at once. That alone was beyond an ordinary wizard. Dahlia, with years of experience, pointed this out in disbelief.
“It’s like reading three books at the same time.”
“Huh? It is?”
Still, simultaneous spellcasting could be managed with practice. Activating all the copied spells at once, however, was impossible even with practice. There simply would not be enough mana.
“So you can do it because you’re a genius?”
“I wouldn’t go that far...”
Etran snapped their fingers and dismissed the magic circles, which had increased to thirty-six. Olivia gave a belated start. Even the Homing Arrows that had wiped out the goblins had not been Etran’s full power. It was an ability that had stunned every scholar at Storm-Seed University, yet the wizard remained modest.
“If we’re only talking about power, Fireball and Lightning Strike are much stronger.”
“That’s not how it works.”
“No. Not at all.”
As they had said at the tavern, a powerful spell was not necessarily a good spell. A useful spell was a good spell. On that point, Olivia and Dahlia were of one mind. They exchanged a glance and acted quickly.
“Welcome to our party!”
“Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!”
Etran gave them a doubtful look. Had they not been a party until now? But the warrior and the seeker clapped the wizard on the back and backside, putting their stamp on Etran so there would be no leaving for another party.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
