WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 107 - Choice (4)

The First Mage. The one who supposedly created magic in primordial times…

I’d heard of him now and then, and the robe I was wearing is something like a sacred relic said to have belonged to him, but to be honest, the First Mage was an utterly nonsensical existence.

As a part of history, claiming that he created magic was quite the problem. Did Newton create gravity? No, he just discovered it.

But the First Mage, according to every story passed down, even by his own name, insisted that he created magic.

In other words, even if it wasn’t a fairy tale, it was something that should be treated as myth.

That Scarlet Abyss took something like this seriously—

Hmm. If nothing else, it did make it easier to understand just how insane these people were.

Still, it seemed quite questionable that they truly believed the fairy tale completely. Not because one person believed, but because seven of them did.

If Scarlet Abyss really believed that story, then there must be a reason for it.

A reason they were made to believe it.

"So you can’t go up. Honestly, that’s probably for the best.”

"I see…”

Vile Blood, who clearly harbored deep resentment toward the Upper Tier, vented for a while before trying to coax me with gentler words.

"Why are you so desperate to climb up there anyway? Don’t tell me you think something will change if you do. Nothing will, I tell you. If anything, staying with us is the only way to live without fearing your world. Just think of those bastards as machines that make World-Sealing Elixirs.”

"You don’t seem fond of the Upper Tier.”

"Of course not. I really can’t understand why so many members worship them. Those bastards are demons. They’d watch a comrade die right next to them and keep walking like nothing happened. Tsk.”

I stared at Vile Blood, who clicked his tongue in disgust, before a thought suddenly struck me.

"Sounds like you know them pretty well.”

"Well…not exactly.”

Vile Blood frowned and shook his head.

"That’s just my judgement of what kind of people they are. As for what they’re actually planning, no clue. How could anyone understand the minds of madmen?”

"I see. You’ve given me some useful information. So an empty seat in the Upper Tier is an absolute requirement.”

"Exactly. So just give up on that. What do you think of my proposal?”

Vile Blood’s eyes gleamed as if that was the core of this matter.

"If you use your world for the sake of my faction, we can monopolize almost every mission. No matter how many World-Sealing Elixirs you need to consume, I’ll guarantee you more than enough.”

"Oho? That is quite tempting.”

"Heh, should I take that as acceptance?”

He smiled slyly, as if rejection wasn’t even an option.

If I actually rejected him right here in the middle of his base, he’d start the process of eliminating me, a rival.

I already knew from the reactions of the warehouses that I wasn’t exactly welcome even within the Lower Tiers.

From the moment I came to see Vile Blood, refusing meant fighting.

But just now, a new possibility had opened.

"Still, this is unexpected. I actually had a proposal of my own.”

"...What?"

Vile Blood, momentarily confused by my casual answer, nodded as if he’d realized something.

"Of course. We should discuss distribution. What kind of arrangement do you want?”

"No, not that. I'm suggesting we should try a different mission.”

"...Didn’t I say it earlier? We need to build trust first.”

"It’s not a mission written in the book.”

I stood up and took out the key to my workshop.

Seeing that, Vile Blood’s eyes widened slightly as he nodded.

"Magic Tower? So you were part of one? That explains it. Otherwise, it’d be hard to understand the strength of that world unless a mage from a Tower had fallen.”

"It’s too early to be surprised.”

I stepped outside the pavilion and opened the workshop.

-Thud.

From inside, I dragged out a sack far larger than my own body and dropped it onto the table.

"Open it.”

"..."

Vile Blood opened the sack with a wary expression—

"What is this…?”

He froze in shock.

It was because of the sheer number of World-Sealing Elixirs packed inside.

Naturally, I barely consumed any World-Sealing Elixirs, and Sunken Mire didn’t take that many either since her world was quite flimsy. As a result, nearly ten thousand pills had piled up. Vile Blood, staring at them, narrowed his eyes at me.

"What are you trying to do? Are you trying to curry favor? If that’s the case, I’d welcome it.”

As expected of someone who commanded people. No matter how sweet the bait looked, he didn’t bite easily.

"It’s down payment."

"What?"

"You don’t seem to like the Upper Tier much. So if World-Sealing Elixirs are all it takes, doesn’t that mean anyone can commission a job?”

"..."

Vile Blood opened his mouth to respond, then closed it again.

Offering World-Sealing Elixirs as payment for a request. That wasn’t something people of the Lower Tier could do.

World-Sealing Elixirs were lifelines. Putting them on the table was the same as wagering one’s life.

—No sane person would do such a thing. His expression clearly showed what he was thinking.

"Fine, it’s possible… Then what kind of job are you trying to commission, using these World-Sealing Elixirs as down payment?”

"The assassination of Scarlet Abyss’ Upper Tiers.”

"So that’s it.”

Vile Blood slumped into his chair, still gripping the sack, seeming dumbfounded.

"What did I just tell you earlier? Those bastards are lunatics. They have no desire, no malice. Becoming one of them isn't proof of strength. It’s proof that something’s wrong with your head.”

"I understand. But I’m not exactly sane either.”

"That much is obvious. If this is just a down payment, then you must have at least twice as many World-Sealing Elixirs. Don’t tell me—you haven’t taken them either?”

As Vile Blood glared at me, I answered with a light lie.

"I took quite a lot.”

"Hehe…"

Vile Blood scratched his chin, looking as though he was in deep thought.

"I was wondering what kind of bastard you were. Turns out you’re another freak like that bastard Lump. I still don’t get why you want to go up to the Upper Tier, but honestly, when I think about it, this isn’t exactly bad for us either.”

"Is that so? Why?”

"At least you're someone we can talk to.”

"?"

"Have you ever tried talking to those Upper Tier bastards?"

I recalled my conversations with Decay and the Lump.

"Hmm..."

"So you have. Those guys don’t communicate. Their egos are too rigid. If they suddenly decided not to produce World-Sealing Elixirs for three months, we’re all as good as dead. It’s entrusting our lifelines to mad dogs.”

"So you’re saying that if someone like me, who you can at least talk to, enters the Upper Tier, it wouldn’t be bad for you either.”

"Exactly. At least you’d tell us what they’re thinking. We actually tried something similar before. Back when there weren’t seven of them, we tried sending one person up to the Upper Tier. It failed.”

"Then?”

"I guess we need to rewind the conversation.”

With a hardened expression, Vile Blood tore the mission slip he’d handed me earlier to shreds.

"We don’t know you. Are you still sticking to that—that you don’t know your world?”

"Well, I still don’t know.”

"Then you’re saying we should invest our manpower into someone whose world, strength, and character are unknown to us.”

"Hmm, sounds about right?”

"We’re not lunatics like the Upper Tiers. We can’t do that. If you’re going to be the core of our plan, we need proof that you can be.”

"Isn’t the down payment enough?”

"This is a matter of trust.”

"Fine then. How do I prove it?”

"Strength."

In the end, what Vile Blood wanted to say was simple.

"Prove your ability. Not through the mission list, but right in front of us, where we can see and believe it.”

"..."

At this point, there was no avoiding it.

It seemed I really did need to team up with these lunatics.

Thinking that, I sighed, then frowned at the torn mission slip.

"Then why did you tear that up?”

"That kind of mission isn’t very useful as justification for targeting the Upper Tiers.”

Vile Blood snorted and pulled out a new mission slip.

"If it’s a mission for a lunatic trying to challenge the Upper Tiers, this is about right.”

What could it be?

The destruction of a small nation?

The assassination of a Magic Tower’s master?

If it were the latter, I might be able to ask them to fake their death. With that thought in mind, I checked the mission.

And…

The moment I read it, I shook my head and frowned deeply.

"...Hmm, this is absurdly difficult. Is there nothing else?”

"I understand. But this much is necessary. Only then is there any guarantee you’ll be accepted after taking down someone from the Upper Tier. If you want to give up, I won’t blame you.”

"I see…”

[Assassination of Carose, the escort Knight of the princess]

"It can’t be helped. I’ll do it.”

"Hmm, you’ve got guts, I’ll give you that."

I forced myself to suppress the sigh of relief that was creeping up.

* * *

As soon as I returned to the base we were using as our hideout, I woke Sunken Mire, who was sleeping peacefully.

"Hey—do you know that fairy tale about the First Mage?”

"Th-the First Mage? Um, that would be…”

After wiping the drool from her mouth, she stole dozens of related fairy tale books from a nearby village in less than an hour.

I didn’t expect to be reading fairy tales at this age.

I read them carefully, letter by letter, searching for any hidden meaning.

"Hmm…"

The details varied wildly.

Some described Scarlet Abyss as rivals, others as traitors. Some said they consisted of seven people, others of twelve, or thirty, or even three thousand.

Information about the First Mage was similarly diverse. They were either male, female, or a god. Everything under the sun.

Nevertheless—the core story was eerily consistent.

The First Mage created magic and spread it throughout the world.

But the evil Scarlet Abyss killed them.

The resurrected First Mage then punished Scarlet Abyss.

Scarlet Abyss was condemned to eternal suffering.

The Mage lived happily and died. The end.

As I read, I found myself frowning.

"This is literally—”

A fairy tale.

Pastel-colored illustrations meant to be easily understood by children, rhymed wording, and good triumphs over evil.

There was barely any substance.

If Scarlet Abyss truly believed this and named their organization after it, I almost felt bad for the Empire for being played by such idiots.

"Is there no original text?”

I asked Sunken Mire, who was waiting obediently at my side. She shook her head.

"No? An original text? This is just a typical folk tale. Didn’t you hear it when you were little?”

"What?"

"It’s really famous. Commoners usually learn what wizards are like from stories like this. There are even rumors that nobles made them to glorify how amazing wizards are.”

"There’s an organization called Scarlet Abyss in here. What do you think about it having the exact same name as ours?”

"Well…maybe they just used it? I don’t really know what the Upper Tiers are thinking…”

Leaving the confused Sunken Mire alone, I read through more fairy tales.

"Hmm…”

I quickly came to a conclusion.

I didn’t know.

Maybe trying to understand the minds of lunatics was the problem itself. Even if they believed this, there was nothing to take from it.

Even if Scarlet Abyss tried to kill the First Mage like in the story, the ending always had them ascending to the Heavens or living happily until death. What would that even accomplish?

I decided I should at least pass this on to Dercia, then spoke to Sunken Mire, who was just smiling brightly.

"I've decided on the next mission."

"Ah, yes. So you’ve finally decided to do a mission with someone else. What is it? Since it’s the first one, I’m sure it’s an easy—...”

"Assassinating the princess’ escort Knight.”

"...Huh?"

"Understand that, and get ready. We leave in three days.”

"N-no. You’re joking, right? Excuse me? Sir Undercurrent?”

There was a lot to do.

Inform Dercia of what I’d learned, ask the princess for help, and prepare to head to the capital. None of that would be done in a day or two.

I was about to head upstairs, leaving behind the trembling Sunken Mire so I could start planning properly…

"...Ugh."

—That was when a throbbing pain flared up in my chest.

"...?"

What was that?

It was sharp enough to be called pain. It vanished in an instant, but it didn’t feel natural at all.

A burden—? Water pressure?

No. It felt different from pressure. It was an internal pain.

Could it be a new burden? I tried to think of a situation in the Abyssal Sea that would cause chest pain, but nothing came to mind.

"Haah..."

Unrelated to that, even my breath felt cold now.

Well, thinking about it, maybe this was a good thing.

"Since I’m going anyway, maybe I’ll get this fixed as well…”

It had been a while, so I might as well go see my master in her true form and not just as a crow.

_______________________________________________________________________

Join our Discord for updates on releases! https://dsc.gg/wetried