WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 121 - Using One Evil to Fight Another (11)

The Kingdom of Manganji.

Inside a dark room of a small mansion, a woman stood peering outside through the narrow gap of a window.

Her snake-like eyes followed a group of white-clad Fallen (Vile Blood among them) walking around with blissful expressions before she clenched her hand into a tight fist.

"...This can’t go on.”

Sunken Mire. Hidden inside the safehouse where Undercurrent had hidden her, she made up her mind.

She couldn’t stay hidden here any longer.

It wasn’t like she was lacking any supplies. Life here wasn’t particularly uncomfortable either.

Undercurrent seemed to be doing something strange, and seeing that he had even sold off Vile Blood, she couldn’t help but wonder if this had been his objective from the beginning.

Still, this just crossed the line.

"Just what is going on…?”

Even if she wasn’t all that amazing, she was still a keeper.

Sunken Mire had personal connections to quite a few Fallen.

In other words, she couldn’t not notice it. Recently, the number of Fallen in Manganji had been increasing at an absurd rate.

People who, back when she still lived with the Lower Tiers, had sworn they would rather die than ever serve under Nightfall were now strolling around with vacant, blissful smiles.

No matter how she looked at it, they were not sane. It was incredibly unsettling, but those people had definitely walked here of their own accord, throwing themselves into a fate worse than death.

'W-were they maybe forced somehow…?’

For a moment, Sunken Mire wondered whether Nightfall had used her powers to abduct other Fallen, but then quickly shook her head.

No matter how lightly the Upper Tiers treated the Lower Tiers, that would have been far too risky. If they truly regarded the Lower Tiers as disposable to such an extent, the Lower Tier would have vanished long ago.

In any case, the danger remained.

The number of Fallen in Manganji kept increasing at a completely unbelievable pace.

And Undercurrent hadn’t come looking for her. No, he hadn’t shown himself at all. That was the real problem. Sunken Mire was confident she could escape on her own if she truly wanted to.

But—

"I can’t lose him…”

Crunch—

Her fingers dug into the window frame, eyes burning.

Escaping? That much was easy.

But what then?

For nearly a year and several weeks, Sunken Mire had learned that even hell could contain a heaven.

She could no longer remember when she had last wandered the streets just to make up for the World-Sealing Elixirs she lacked. Undercurrent was quite literally the world’s most perfect employer to her.

Having plunged headfirst into the honey-pot called Undercurrent, she had no intention of leaving it behind. She would escape with him no matter what it took.

'He was probably taken.'

Even so, she forced herself to think rationally.

There was a high probability that Undercurrent had fallen into enemy hands. Otherwise, there was no way he could have disappeared for this long without a single word.

So she devised a plan. No matter the cost, she would rescue him and take him outside the range of Nightfall’s ability. And if that failed, she would ask other Fallen for help. No matter what it took, she would find a way.

With her plan in place, all that remained was action. Just as she was about to move, something suddenly came to her mind.

"What was that again?”

Undercurrent had left her a letter.

Could it be that it was some sort of contingency plan set up by him?

She hesitated, wondering whether to open it or not. Then she remembered that he hadn’t explicitly told her not to read it, so she opened it casually.

And then…

"...What is this?”

It was just a single, utterly unremarkable sentence. So unremarkable that she folded the letter back up in utter disbelief.

"Whether I show him this or not, it won’t change anything…”

Grumbling in irritation at her betrayed expectations, she stepped out the door.

* * *

Sunken Mire wasn’t an idiot.

She knew this was enemy territory, and that being discovered as an unaffiliated Fallen here would lead to nothing good.

Fortunately, Undercurrent had left behind more than enough World-Sealing Elixirs.

"..."

She sank into the ground, leaving only her head exposed with a bucket placed over it.

Then, peering cautiously through the gap between the bucket and ground, she began to move. A flawless disguise.

No one would ever assume there was a person underneath a bucket.

Every now and then, when guards passed by, she would get so startled she felt her heart was about to burst, but in the end, they only chatted among themselves and moved on.

"So what memories did you get?”

"Don’t freak out, but I had a wife.”

"What? No way, seriously?”

"It’s true. I don’t know the details yet, but…”

She ignored the incomprehensible chatter and soon arrived at the castle.

Still half-submerged in her swamp, Sunken Mire swallowed hard.

"...If I don’t go inside, I’ll never find him."

Undercurrent was somewhere in here.

She forcibly shoved aside any distracting thoughts, like how she wished she could borrow a fraction of his detection ability, and slipped into the castle, acting far more cautiously than she had outside.

The swamp turned even marble into mud. As she crept through the silent corridors, holding her breath, Sunken Mire realized a serious problem.

Unlike the ground outside, a bucket lying upside-down in a hallway stood out way too much.

Left with no other choice, she moved only along the very edges, and whenever she reached a spot where that wasn’t possible, she checked her surroundings, stood up, and ran.

"Hmm?"

"...!"

Despite her efforts to stay quiet, it seemed someone had heard her footsteps. A voice filled with clear suspicion echoed nearby.

She held her breath. Every instinct screamed at her to sink her head fully into the swamp—but if she did that, she might never come back out.

Sunken Mire had never once submerged her entire body into the swamp as long as she lived. Even now, leaving just her head exposed was something she could only manage by summoning every bit of courage she had, bolstered by the amount of World-Sealing Elixirs she had.

"What was that?”

The footsteps drew closer. Her heart began to pound wildly in perfect sync with them.

One step. When the sound reached the point directly above where her head was hidden…

"Ah, Sir Number 1.”

"Number 13, is that you?”

Someone approaching from the opposite direction saved Sunken Mire.

She didn’t even have time to feel relieved, silently gasping for breath, as the man addressed as Number 1 clicked his tongue in irritation.

"Tsk, I must be getting overly sensitive lately.”

"Is something the matter?”

"How could there not be? Some nobody who crawled out of nowhere is muddying all the waters.”

"Is that so? I’ve found things rather comfortable actually.”

"...And what do you mean by that?”

"That person has completely monopolized Lady Nightfall’s attention. She doesn’t gather us anymore, nor does she demand so many sacrifices. Since becoming part of her family, this is the first time we’ve had it this easy.”

"Don’t become drunk on that comfort. I’ve been by her side the longest, so I know. This is merely the calm before the tidal wave hits.”

"Do you really think so?”

"Yes. Look at the absurd things that brat is doing. Trading memories to children? Just who are they? Just the bottom of the barrel, called the Lower Tier. It’s so ridiculous all I can do is laugh.”

"But thanks to it, haven't we gained much more autonomy? Our workload has decreased as well.”

"That’s precisely why I’m saying all this. The times when we’re forced to do difficult, troublesome work are the safest…”

Number 1 ground his teeth as he spoke.

"So, where is that bastard Undercurrent now?”

"...!"

Sunken Mire, who had just been about to pull herself together and escape, froze in place.

The one they had been gossiping about just then was none other than her master.

'Well, calling him my master would be a bit much, but still…'

She strained her ears as Number 13 answered with thinly veiled mockery.

"He’s in the back garden, doing ‘that thing,’ as usual.”

The back garden.

That was all she needed. Sunken Mire immediately moved.

She knew where the garden was. Outside the castle walls, a clearly cultivated space filled with grass and trees.

Even if she hadn’t, she would have found it soon enough.

"A-aahn…!”

Moans echoed through the night.

It wasn’t a woman’s, but a man’s. Frowning deeply, she followed the sound—

"...What in the world?”

A long line filled the garden.

The people waiting politely stepped forward one by one, kneeling before the boy standing at the very front.

Naturally, it was Undercurrent.

She stared in disbelief at the scene, like some deranged cult ritual, when the person at the front stepped forward with a flushed face and dropped to their knees.

"What do you desire?”

"Erm, can I choose?”

"You may choose the category. Family, lover, success—everything else is, of course, completely random.”

"Family, please!"

"Understood."

Undercurrent raised his hands into the air and moved them about a few times—

The man’s eyes flew wide open as he clutched his head.

"Y-yes. That’s right… Mother…”

"Congratulations. However, there are people waiting behind you, so if you’ve understood, please step aside.”

"Ah, yes!”

The man rose with a blissful expression, bowing repeatedly as he left.

And Sunken Mire did not quite understand any of this.

'...Wasn’t he captured?'

She had expected him to be getting tortured somewhere in an underground prison.

But here he was not saving anyone. He went and founded a cult.

He seemed to be doing incredibly well. As she hesitated, wondering if she was about to do something unnecessary—Undercurrent suddenly stood up.

"It seems something has come up. We’ll stop here for today.”

"Ah…”

The people looked disappointed, yet none voiced any complaints. Instead, they deeply bowed and dispersed.

Undercurrent waited until every last one of them had vanished—

"Who are you?”

He murmured those words.

Sunken Mire carefully stood up. She had never believed she could escape Undercurrent’s detection ability to begin with.

Nor did she have any reason to. Looking startled, she spoke to him.

"You're fine? Thank goodness…”

"..."

"I was really worried since you hadn’t contacted me at all. I thought you’d been captured somewhere, so I came all this way trying to save you, but I guess there was no need. I mean, at least you could’ve said someth—”

Midway through her grumblings, Sunken Mire noticed that something was off.

"I asked you.”

His face was a little different.

Undercurrent had never worn any particularly pleasant expression or something. It usually hovered somewhere between sullen and irritated.

But that could only be said to be mild by comparison to what he was showing her now.

With no one else around, Undercurrent was calm.

Unpleasantly so.

"Huk, ghk…!”

"Who are you?”

-Crack!

Sunken Mire felt her breath cut off as she was lifted into the air.

Some force was crushing her throat. She thrashed desperately, barely forcing out air.

"I-I…Su-Suken Mire…”

"You know me?”

"Ye-sh..."

He loosened his grip just enough for her to answer but did not let go.

"Can you explain it in a way I can trust?”

"L-letter…”

"What?”

"I have, a letter you gave me…"

Still coughing, Sunken Mire pulled the letter from her clothes and handed it to him.

Undercurrent opened it immediately. There was only a single sentence written inside.

[What you’re doing right now is correct. Continue as you are.]

"Hmm."

Undercurrent released Sunken Mire without hesitation.

"Cough, cough…”

"Right. I would write something like that.”

"H-have you lost your memories??”

Sunken Mire asked in shock as she collapsed onto the ground. Undercurrent nodded to that.

"Partially? So I wanted to ask what exactly were you to me?”

"...!"

Even amid the confusion, something flashed through Sunken Mire’s mind.

'This is my chance!'

If he really had lost his memories—

And yet somehow retained his sense of self, then this was an opportunity to redefine their relationship.

Her thoughts raced, arriving at a conclusion in an instant.

"Yes. We were inseparable, unable to live without each other. That’s why I came all this way to save you, Sir Undercurrent.”

"..."

Undercurrent propped his chin on his hand, wearing a look of genuine revulsion.

"It seems my past self had terrible taste.”

"Huh?"

"No, never mind. Anyway, if we knew each other, there’s something I want to ask.”

Undercurrent stared into empty space.

It looked as though he was following something with his gaze—

But Sunken Mire couldn’t see anything there.

"Did the me you knew ever talk about something like, erm, ‘fish’?”

"H-huh, fish?”

"..."

Undercurrent pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed as he looked at the bewildered Sunken Mire.

"What in the world do I do to myself…”

She couldn’t hear his next words properly.

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