WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 111 - Using One Evil to Fight Another (1)

Persuading Carose itself wasn’t particularly difficult.

If only Brimdal hadn’t added strange conditions.

"You show up after all this time just to make some strange request?”

"I’m sorry. It’s something I absolutely have to do.”

Naturally, I had explained everything to him before I went to infiltrate Scarlet Abyss.

Once he understood that this matter was tied to the identity of my world, he gave me his permission.

Still, he seemed dissatisfied with how long it was taking.

"Didn’t you say it wouldn’t take that long?”

"I did. It seems they’re far more wary of me than I expected.”

"Hmm…”

After a few moments of silence, Brimdal smiled as if he was harboring some ulterior motive.

"Well, in the end, all you need to do is bring Carose down in front of them, isn’t that right?”

"Yes. We agreed that after clashing blades a few times, Dame Carose would withdraw on her own.”

"No."

"What?"

"No matter how lacking in the head they may be, they are still members of Scarlet Abyss. That won’t be enough to fool them.”

"I think it’ll work though.”

"Trust this old master. I’ll make it more convincing.”

And that brings us to the present.

-Grit

Accompanied by the sound of Carose grinding her teeth, her afterimage was cut apart.

'...Maybe I should’ve stopped this somehow.'

Brimdal was clearly fighting seriously.

It seemed like he wanted to cross blades with Carose for a long time, and now that he could use me as an excuse, he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

I didn’t really mind, but Carose was clearly becoming quite annoyed.

"..."

After a single exchange of blows, she shot me a glare, then took on an unusual sword stance.

She spun her greatsword and gripped it in a reverse hold, as if it were a dagger.

Naturally, that meant she was holding the massive greatsword in just one hand, leaving the other hand empty. Brimdal’s eyes widened at the sight of that extreme inefficiency.

"Oho."

Brimdal, true to a conventional Knight, held his sword with both hands and aimed its tip at her.

From that moment on—My Tide Sense that had already been struggling, barely keeping track of the two of them, now registered nothing but the plains.

Even the fragments I could barely grasp during their combat, perhaps because my world deepened again, were now completely beyond my perception.

And the next instant, I thought I had blinked.

"...?"

Of course, I hadn’t made such a mistake while watching such a precious duel.

It was simply that my sense of sight was far too inadequate to capture the moment the two of them moved.

The ear-splitting sound of cracking metal came a beat later. Carose aimed for Brimdal’s neck, and Brimdal aimed elsewhere.

Her sword.

"..."

Brimdal quietly traced a finger along his own neck.

He touched the hot blood from the shallow, but unmistakably real, wound and let out a chuckle.

"The world is vast indeed. Who forged you into such a blade?”

"Everything that I am was made by Her Highness.”

"Tsk, My reputation as a dwarf will weep. To allow two mistakes with a human.”

"It seems I am still far from worthy of the title of Her Highness’ Knight as well.”

As he cast a slightly dissatisfied glance in my direction, Carose took advantage of the opening, not to attack, but to adjust the grip on her sword she had been holding in reverse.

The blade bore a long, narrow slit, as if something had bitten clean through it.

"I can no longer fight with this sword. This is my defeat.”

"What nonsense is that? You managed to cut my neck. Aren’t you basically speaking with a corpse right now?”

"A corpse cannot speak. In a duel, the process is not something that outweighs the result…”

Having said that, Carose stepped back, her expression suggesting she was satisfied.

"I will have to postpone my task of beading that small and dreadful demon for now. Do not think you can hide forever.”

With words filled with bone-deep hatred, her figure vanished in an instant.

it was unmistakably a retreat. A fine performance, indeed.

Wondering what the audience’s reaction might be, I turned around.

I saw Sunken Mire, squirming, tied to a tree with ropes.

I knew I had forgotten something.

* * *

"Little bro!”

Vile Blood spread his arms wide with a bright smile and moved to embrace me.

More precisely, he tried to. Anticipating what he wanted to do, I lightly stepped back and avoided him.

"I don’t ever recall acknowledging you as my older brother or something.”

"Is that so? Then I’ll just call you “big bro” instead, Big Bro Undercurrent!”

That reaction was quite unexpected.

"Let’s… just get back to the point."

I sat down, deliberately ignoring the reverent gazes of the other members around me.

For some reason, the place I sat in felt soft. When I turned my head, Withered Grass was smiling servilely, having laid down a cushion of soft moss where I would sit.

Well, perhaps I should be glad the act worked this well.

"So can I assume that I passed the test?”

"Of course, however…"

Vile Blood cast a fearful glance at Brimdal, who was still standing beside me with his hands clasped behind his back.

"H-how were you able to employ such a Knight? Even a Great Realm wouldn’t be able to easily accomplish something like that.”

"It’s not that difficult. I could probably…hm, get about two more Knights of this caliber.”

I could hear Vile Blood swallow dryly from where I sat.

Noticing a few members sneaking closer to Brimdal with curious looks, I offered a casual piece of advice.

"Well, even so, my control isn’t perfect, so it’d be best not to provoke him. He still retains about half of his own will.”

"..."

The members promptly moved as far away from Brimdal as they could.

If one had witnessed the exchange of blows he had shared with Carose, even someone who wasn’t a Fallen would have reacted similarly.

I calmly answered Vile Blood.

"I’ve proven my strength, haven’t I?”

"I-Indeed.”

"Then now it’s your turn to prove yourselves to me.”

At those words, Vile Blood’s gaze hardened.

"...First of all, yes. I’m certain you possess enough strength to ascend to the Upper Tier. To be honest, I don’t think even members of the Upper Tier could have drawn out and driven back the princess’ escort Knight like that.”

"Then—”

"But the contract hasn’t been concluded.”

Wait, it still wasn’t enough?

Seeing my eyes grow sharper, Vile Blood hurriedly added.

"Undercurrent, it's not because of our side, but yours.”

"...What?"

"You still don’t know what kind of beings they are or what must be done. If, after hearing this, your resolve doesn’t change, then I will help you with everything I have. As I said, if someone who can be communicated with normally ascends to the Upper Tier, that alone is enough for us. If that person also has ties to us, all the better.”

"Are you asking me to explain my determination again? That’d be completely meaningless.”

"No, this is a more concrete, realistic problem.”

Vile Blood shook his head and sat down properly.

"First, let me ask you this. What do you think is the biggest problem in killing one of the Upper Tiers?”

"That would obviously be support from the other Upper Tiers.”

Just recalling how Decay had come charging in like a madman to interfere when I tried to kill the Lump made it quite clear. Those Upper Tier bastards were tightly bound together.

Killing one meant having to face two. That was the biggest issue.

However, Vile Blood let out a short laugh and shook his head.

"That’s not something you need to worry about at all.”

"Is there a reason?”

"They don’t get along with each other. Not at all. You could say they hate each other to the point that they want to kill each other.”

"That can’t be true.”

It was completely at odds with my own experiences.

"Listen carefully. The Upper Tiers only unite when they are following a ‘prophecy.’”

"A prophecy?”

"Yes. The prophecy written in the original Gospel. While the plan of that prophecy, carried out by Great Void, who stands at the center of the Upper Tiers, is in motion, they suppress the loathing they hold for each other and cooperate. But when that’s not the case, they actively try to kill one another.”

"...I can’t understand that. If they need each other to fulfill the prophecy, shouldn’t they avoid killing one another?”

"I don’t know the details either. Maybe they think that if one of them dies, then that one was never part of the prophecy to begin with—or something… That’s just my guess. Honestly, how could anyone understand the minds of lunatics? You can just think of them as psychopaths with not a shred of loyalty in their bodies or whatever else makes sense to you.”

"Hmm.”

It was hard to believe, but…if it was true, a lot of issues would be resolved.

Assuming it was true, I nodded.

"Then what exactly is the problem?”

"They aren’t individuals.”

"...?"

"Hmm, right. This is supposed to be a secret, but well… since we’re talking about wanting to kill one of the Upper Tiers, that much should be fine.”

Vile Blood shrugged and spoke without holding back.

"In truth, every member of the Upper Tier has a separate true name.”

"What do you mean by that?”

"They even have separate identities. Before they became Upper Tiers of Scarlet Abyss, they each held different statuses in different nations. You wouldn’t be wrong to say that they gathered together to form Scarlet Abyss.”

"...I see."

It was a surprising statement, but I couldn’t help wondering what was so significant about that.

"So what? Could they be anything greater than being the Upper Tiers of Scarlet Abyss?”

"Not greater, but similar…”

"Stop beating around the bush and say it clearly.”

"Hm, all of them are forces on the scale of nations.”

"?"

"To put it more simply, each one is the ruler of a country.”

"...??"

Watching Vile Blood’s impassive expression, I blinked a few times and asked,

"So—do you mean city-states?”

"No. I mean rulers of countries so far outside the Empire’s influence that you’d have to ride for months just to see their borders. Some of them rule nations nearly half the size of the Empire.”

"And those monarchs—"

"Are the Upper Tiers of Scarlet Abyss right now.”

"...???"

Dozens of questions flashed through my mind.

But only one remained.

"Why?"

"How would I know? I told you. How could anyone understand the minds of lunatics?”

"No, but then why… Hmm…Erm…”

Rulers of entire nations.

What could they possibly lack to create this deranged cult?

And why did they use it to wreak havoc in the Empire and create Fallen?

Why didn’t they just do it within their own countries? Or were they already doing that?

"I really don’t get it. Was the Lump also a ruler of a nation?”

"That bastard’s just an idiot. So he didn’t need land or a country, but you can’t kill the Lump, right?”

"True."

That bastard couldn’t be killed easily. His very existence was a burden.

"Anyway, do you understand what this means?”

"We have to target them when they aren’t actively carrying out a prophecy. If they are, they band together and help each other.”

"But when they aren’t, they’d just return to their own countries. In other words, the only way to face one of them and not all seven of the Upper Tiers is—”

"To overthrow an entire nation.”

"Do you get it now?”

"Yes."

Now I understood why Vile Blood had dismissed me as just another madman and tried to kill me.

And why, even after seeing that I was strong enough to drive back Carose, he still demanded further confirmation.

Killing an Upper Tier meant taking a handful of people, barely a 10-person squad, and successfully fighting a nation.

It really was an absurd proposition. This time, I couldn’t even rely on the princess’ help. If I dragged the Empire into this, the Upper Tiers would surely grow suspicious of me.

If it was to be done, it had to be with Vile Blood, his companions, and myself.

Even if it were possible, it was still a problem. Just how many tens of thousands of innocent people would have to be ground into nothing for me to stand before the Upper Tiers? This matter was simply on a completely different scale.

Seeing my expression, Vile Blood gave me a bitter smile, as if he had expected this.

"Just as I thought. You, Undercurrent, would hesitate.”

"...It really is difficult.”

"And—that hesitation is what made me decide.”

"?"

Vile Blood stood up and looked down at me, a vicious smile creeping across his face.

"If you’d heard all this and answered something like, ‘I don’t care. I’ll just charge in,’ then I would’ve decided you were just another one of those Upper Tier lunatics who can’t be reasoned with. I’d have looked for some sort of an opening and ditched you.”

"Are you sure you want to say that to my face?”

"But no. You’re definitely sane. You hesitated because you understand how utterly absurd it is for a small group like us to fight a nation. Am I wrong?”

"More or less.”

"Then you’re someone I can trust… If there truly had been no way to do this, I wouldn’t have called you ‘big bro,’ hehe…”

Hearing the word "big bro" from someone who looked to be in his fifties almost felt insulting, but judging by the atmosphere, it seemed like he was getting to the point, so I waited. Vile Blood picked up a twig and began writing something on the ground.

"In fact, there is a shortcut. A method made possible by exploiting the fact that your world is still considered unknown to assassinate a member of the Upper Tier comfortably and safely.”

Puppet.

As Vile Blood wrote that familiar word, his clenched fist began to tremble.

The other members trembled as well. Even Sunken Mire clearly looked weary when she saw the word.

"There’s exactly one. An Upper Tier who rules a country with no living people.”

"..."

"We call it a country where only corpses walk… So what do you say?”

The expectation contained in his smile—

"You should be able to easily deal with that nation using your world.”

—was just a bit hard for me to answer to.

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