WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 106 - Choice (3)

In the meantime, my relationship with the other members of Scarlet Abyss had been nonexistent, really.

There were two reason. The first was incompetence.

Of course, it was true that I had gathered some information of those serving as warehouses, but even those guys, who had connections to most members, were alarmingly detached from anything resembling crucial information.

When I tried digging up the information most important to me, information on the Three Calamities, the answers I got were roughly like this.

"Hmm, I heard the Three Calamities are terrifying even among Great Realms.”

"No. Isn’t it still unconfirmed whether the Three Calamities are Great Realms?”

"They probably are. I mean, considering who’s looking for them…”

They’d heard of them but didn’t really know anything concrete.

If even these well-connected Lower Tiers only knew that much, there was no need to check the rest.

The second reason was visceral disgust.

For example, when it came to missions that involved cleaning up the underworld, I could always leave behind some time bombs.

In those cases, I relied heavily on Dercia’s help.

"Ghk, ugh, agh, uuurgh…”

"...Is this really okay?”

[Are you following the instructions exactly?]

"Yes. I’m feeding them the medicine you sent and following the instructions.”

[Then there’s no problem. If one dies, replace them with another. They are people who deserve it anyway.]

"That may be true, but…”

After dismantling an organization, I followed Crow Dercia’s guidance, prodding needles into the heads of the leaders who would seize the territory once the organization vanished, performing several procedures.

Most of them were surveillance-related. If any of them contacted Scarlet Abyss and exchanged information, that fact would be relayed to the imperial family immediately.

I also compiled detailed information on back alleys and power structures within the cities and sent everything to Dercia.

Every underworld organization I touched might nominally have become a subcontractor to Scarlet Abyss, but in reality they had turned into spies transmitting their information and movements to the Empire without even realizing it.

Because of that, I could do it without any sense of guilt.

The Knight Orders might find my exploits in the underworld quite infuriating, but every bit of it was for the Empire.

But…

"Sir Undercurrent, then what about stallion and broodmare kidnappings? I think that suits your abilities the best…”

"I won’t do that.”

Not every mission was like that.

Every time I opened the Gospel, the full extent of the atrocities Scarlet Abyss committed beneath the surface was clearly revealed to me.

Decay had said they wouldn’t directly invade the Empire. After actually joining Scarlet Abyss, I realized that was mostly true, but they could commit plenty of sins indirectly.

Of course, I had no intention of stopping everything. I was already doing my best, and I didn’t have the leeway to handle problems that had already slipped out of my hands. Trying to do even that would be the mindset of someone like Sharmia.

Even so, every time I saw the list of completed missions, I found it hard not to frown.

Those were the reasons why I had avoided contact with the other members.

"S-sir Undercurrent! We got a reply!”

"What did he say?”

"They said their motivation is burning! They want to meet tonight!”

It seemed like it was time to make contact with them after all.

As I was about to put the mask over my face, a question suddenly popped up in my mind.

'I heard they were the best assassination squad, right?'

Just what kind of people were they?

If they had carried out missions together with the Lump then, hmm…

This might be a bit dangerous. I decided I should brace myself and stood up.

* * *

-Bang!

A slender man covered in scars slammed his fist onto the table.

"What the hell are you bastards doing?!”

"..."

"..."

The round table, with more than ten people sitting around it, shook.

The setting sun crept in through the windows, but not a single person dared to blink.

Vile Blood ground his teeth and scanned the room, a low, seething sound rising from his throat.

"Still? Still no information at all? About his world?”

"...We don’t know. Even the few brokers who tried spying on his methods said they couldn’t find any connection beyond the fact that it’s a Great Realm.”

"Did you dig into his background?”

"Other than the fact that he caught the eye of one of the Upper Tiers, nothing at all…”

"What the hell is this bastard, seriously…! Some nobody rolls in out of nowhere and muddies the waters!”

Grit—

Vile Blood’s teeth ground against each other.

Scarlet Abyss, especially the Lower Tier, had its own rule.

And those rules were nothing more than the logic of power.

World-Sealing Elixirs were limited, and the longer someone survived, the more they had to consume. No matter how strong one’s power was, every movement burned through World-Sealing Elixirs, making it impossible to save them up..

In the end, even people who couldn’t trust one another banded together under the instinct to survive. They stayed together, dividing just enough World-Sealing Elixirs so everyone could live. If someone grew greedy beyond that, the damage would fall on everyone, so anyone who caused unnecessary conflict would be expelled…

A desperate struggle by people who united just to survive. But unexpectedly, under the massive shared goal of survival, things had been running quite smoothly.

Until a gigantic loach swam in.

"Just how massive does his world have to be to gulp down that many World-Sealing Elixirs and still pull this kind of shit??”

"I bet he’s eating over a hundred per day.”

"Do you think I don’t know that? Because of that bastard, twenty people have already been crushed by their burdens!”

1000 World-Sealing Elixirs should be split among 10 people.

But this man deliberately took on all the dangerous missions no one else would touch, sweeping up thousands at a time all by himself.

Naturally, the World-Sealing Elixirs allocated to later missions shrank, while their difficulty increased.

He hadn’t struck them directly, but with the pie getting smaller, starvation was inevitable. Vile Blood’s faction had been hit in such a way as well.

"Tsk, and now he comes looking for us at a time like this…”

"Yes. It seems he has some sort of ulterior motive…”

"Shut up, you idiot. You’ve been repeating stuff I already know this whole time!”

As Vile Blood was trying to rein in his fury after silencing the other member, someone knocked on the pavilion’s door.

"Undercurrent has arrived.”

"...Tell him to come up.”

Vile Blood wiped the anger from his face.

No matter how much trouble he’d caused, considering the fact that Undercurrent had accomplished nearly all of his tasks almost single-handedly, with nothing more than a minor broker at his side, he couldn’t afford to act on emotion alone.

'Right. If I can use him somehow, even now…'

It wasn’t only his own faction that had suffered losses because of Undercurrent’s antics.

All the other factions had taken heavy damage as well, and if Undercurrent had chosen this place, that alone meant their territory could expand dramatically.

The only way to forget losses was to gain even greater profit.

As he composed himself with those thoughts in mind—the door opened.

"Hmm."

-Rattle

The sliding door drew open, and the one who had made their lives hell all this time revealed himself.

A completely ordinary man, wearing a robe and a mask.

Other than the mask, there was nothing distinctive about him, and he didn’t look particularly dangerous.

In an instant, doubt filled everyone’s eyes.

'That’s him?'

'That’s the guy?'

"There are a lot of people here."

Having said that, Undercurrent casually ignored the stares boring into him and sat down at the edge of the round table.

Vile Blood didn’t let his guard down. If anything, he grew even more tense.

From experience, those who flaunted their peculiarity through their appearance were usually just disguising their fear.

To deliberately appear ordinary in a situation where one should look dangerous was a sign of true confidence.

"Nice to meet you, Undercurrent. This is our first time meeting, isn’t it?”

"Yes."

Cautiously receiving him, Vile Blood offered a gentle smile and offered some greetings.

"I’m Vile Blood. My world is Torrential Rain.”

"T-Torrential Rain?”

"Hmm, you seem skeptical, but it’s true.”

Vile Blood felt a flicker of pride and straightened his back.

It was a shitty world, but in moments like this, it helped. When people heard the words torrential rain, most instinctively associated it with a Great Realm.

It wasn’t, though. Undercurrent, coughing lightly, slowly nodded and replied.

"Undercurrent. I don’t know my world.”

"...What?"

Vile Blood furrowed his brows.

"You don’t know? Your own world?”

"Yeah. I don’t know. It’s hard to believe, but it’s the truth.”

"No…”

His expression began to darken.

A bird knew it could fly through the sky. A fish knew it could swim through water.

Because they were flying, because they were swimming. It was impossible not to know one’s own world.

"And you expect me to believe that?”

"Well, you don’t have to.”

Sensing the lightness in Undercurrent’s words, Vile Blood clenched his fists slightly. But thinking it through again, this was practically the same as exposing a weakness.

Revealing nothing meant that, the moment it was figured out, his world would be easy to counter. Vile Blood smiled and nodded.

"...Okay, I’ll believe you. If you can’t trust your comrades, what can you trust?”

"Comrades?”

"Wasn’t that the case? I assumed you came here because you wanted to work with us.”

"Hmm, you’re not wrong. We could help each other.”

Those words were quite loaded. Vile Blood narrowed his eyes briefly, then slid a sheet of paper across the table.

"You always take missions that can be handled alone. But if you work with us, you’ll be able to take on much larger jobs.”

This mission had been carefully selected ever since Undercurrent declared his intent to make contact.

It was nothing special, yet the reward was quite large, making it a sweet deal. Simply purchasing natural-borns discreetly from the underworld market. Anyone could do it, and it would net a massive amount of World-Sealing Elixirs.

Watching Undercurrent read the mission, Vile Blood explained.

"Of course, this one is extremely easy. We already know how capable you are, but—shouldn’t we confirm exactly what you can do with this?”

"...Hmm."

"I know. If we split it, your share won’t be that large. But think of this as a very simple…yes, a very simple test. From the next one onward, we’ll move on to missions in the tens of thousands…”

"Wait. There’s something I want to ask.”

Undercurrent folded the paper and looked straight at Vile Blood.

"Can you clear the room? It wouldn’t be good if others overheard.”

"...!"

At those words, the surrounding members sprang to their feet, glaring at Undercurrent.

It was practically the same as saying, ‘I want to assassinate you, but the witnesses are in the way, so could you please remove them?’

But Vile Blood laughed heartily and waved his hand.

"I see. You want to speak one-on-one. No reason to refuse. Everyone, leave.”

"B-but leader.”

"—Do I need to say it twice?”

At Vile Blood’s chilling gaze, the other members hesitated, then lowered their heads and went out.

Watching them go, Undercurrent whistled.

"Hmm, I said it, but I didn’t think you’d really agree.”

"How could I earn your trust if I’m afraid of being alone with you? And—”

-Drip

A single drop of water fell from the pavilion ceiling, wetting the floor.

"I prefer it this way. In an emergency, I won’t have to kill my precious subordinates.”

Vile Blood smiled lightly as he drained the cup in front of him.

It was meant as a threat, but Undercurrent continued as if nothing had happened.

"I see. Then I'll be direct. Do you know someone called the Lump? According to the mission records, you worked with him.”

"...The Lump?”

At the name he hadn’t heard in a long time, Vile Blood frowned.

"A complete lunatic. Why do you ask? No, how did you even know about that guy?”

"Is it really okay to speak like that? I heard he’s part of the Upper Tier now.”

"Hmpf, the Upper Tiers only make the World-Sealing Elixirs. They aren’t our superiors. They’re far crazier than we are. Completely out of their minds. As long as they decide you’re useful, you could curse them to their faces and they wouldn’t do a thing.”

"I’m interested in the Lump’s past actions.”

"Ugh, I don’t know why you’re so curious about that, but…”

Vile Blood continued, his voice tinged with slight discomfort.

"He wasn’t right in the head from the moment he joined. He worked without taking World-Sealing Elixirs.”

"What?"

"The guy said he didn't need them. I don't know why. It worked out for me, so I tried to squeeze as much out of him as I could before he got crushed by his burdens. And then, out of nowhere, he caught the eyes of the Upper Tiers.”

"Is that true? He didn’t take any World-Sealing Elixirs?”

"Yeah. It’s not like he overcame his burdens either. He was clearly in pain but still refused to take them.”

"..."

Undercurrent began to ponder something seriously.

"So why do you ask? Do you have a grudge against the Lump? Well, that guy might’ve already created several Fallen by now…”

"Not really. My goal is to reach the Upper Tier, so I wanted to know more about someone who rose from the Lower Tier to the Upper Tier.”

"Wh-what? The Upper Tier?”

"Yes."

Vile Blood stared at Undercurrent with a blank expression, then—

"Hah, wahahaha! Haha, hahahaha!!”

He burst into loud laughter.

Watching him, Undercurrent tilted his head and asked,

"Why are you laughing?”

"No. What? You want to become an Upper Tier? That’s your goal?”

"Yes."

"Hah, haha… You bastard. Do you really not know why you’re here? You’ve been in this place for a full year and still haven’t realized it?”

"...?"

"We’re all just dogs raised by those insane Upper Tier bastards. They threw us in here when we were still human, then fed us fodder that we’ll die without if we don’t eat it!”

"Hmm, that’s true.”

Undercurrent nodded calmly.

"So I want to be the owner, not the dog. What’s so strange about thinking that?”

"..."

Vile Blood frowned as he looked at Undercurrent.

He knew the man wasn’t normal, but he hadn’t expected this much.

"It’s not impossible, right? The Lump made it up there, right?”

"...There’s something you don’t know, so let me tell you.”

With half pity for a madman and half regret for having feared this, he continued.

"Do you know why this book that gives out missions is called the Gospel?”

"I don’t.”

"Most of the members who idolize and worship the Upper Tier don’t know this, but originally, those Upper Tier bastards were nothing more than a bunch of deranged fanatics.”

"...What?"

"Ever heard of the First Mage? The one said to have created magic in primordial times. The one who reached the Heavenly Realm. Don’t you know that story?”

"I’ve heard of it.”

Undercurrent briefly glanced at his robe. Oblivious to that, Vile Blood sighed and went on.

"Well, you've probably heard of it. It pops up in fairy tales sometimes. Scarlet Abyss took its name from the villainous group in those stories. Think about it, what kind of place would borrow the name of a fairy tale’s villain?”

"I don’t know."

"They’re the kind of people who believe that fairy tale is real.”

"..."

"In fact, it’s even worse. The Upper Tiers believe that the First Mage was actually a Fallen. They think his Heavenly Realm was a highly concealed Abyss Realm, and that they prophesied the distant future to save the world—that’s what they believe.”

"Hmm, is there no possibility that it’s true?”

"No. It’s complete bullshit. The Upper Tier guys are just powerful lunatics with minds stuck in a childish state to the point that they sincerely believe fictional stories. And listen. In the fairy tale they say was the original, Scarlet Abyss consisted of seven people, you know?”

Bang, bang. Vile Blood slammed the desk as he vented his anger.

"That’s why they divided the organization into Upper and Lower Tier. To preserve the ‘canon’ of that damn fairy tale they worship! Do you understand what that means?”

"...How many people are in the Upper Tier right now?”

"So you do know. 7.”

Even through the mask, Vile Blood could tell Undercurrent’s expression darkened, and he drove in the final nail.

"The Lump was lucky. He made it up when there were only 6. You won’t.”

It was just a difference in timing.

Undercurrent was—simply too late.

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