WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 143 - Connection (4)

"Come with me first. He's waiting."

The messenger hurriedly led me into the alleyways.

After twisting and turning several times, we arrived at a hidden safehouse. The man swallowed hard and placed his hand on the doorknob.

"...Hm."

"What? Is there a problem?”

"It’s nothing.”

So he already stirred up some shit.

I shook my head and went in—and what greeted me was a figure wearing a familiar mask.

"...It’s been a while."

The Abyssal Sea freezing around him, and surrounded by an even colder atmosphere.

Decay hadn’t changed at all.

After staring at that unpleasant sight for a moment, I tossed out the words bluntly.

"Cancel the plan. I’ll report to Heavenly Balance, and we’ll choose a different target.”

"Hmm.”

Despite how abrupt it was, Decay reacted calmly.

"Reason?"

"The one who came with the recruit is outside the norm. No matter what I do, I can’t find an opening.”

That wasn’t an exaggeration.

Even if Carose was only protecting an air bubble, I had no confidence I could break it. Decay wouldn’t either.

"You mean the shrine maiden’s Knight?”

"...You knew?”

"On the contrary, how could I not? She is the only blade in this world the shrine maiden truly trusts.”

As he said that, Decay rose from his seat—

"...B-boss! You crazy bastard!”

Something came into view behind the chair.

A man, kneeling in terror, frozen in that very pose, blood dripping from his mouth.

I wasn’t that surprised since I had already sensed him through my Tide Sense. But there was something strange about him. The droplets of blood took unnaturally long to hit the floor.

"You son of a bitch! What did you do?!”

Perhaps because his superior had just died, the man, who had led me here, had no room to notice that detail, however. He immediately screamed and reached for his waist.

It wasn’t much of a threat. He strained several times, but all that came was some rattling, unable to pull his blade free.

"What…?”

The man stared blankly at his frozen sword. Watching him silently, Decay spoke up properly for the first time.

"What a foolish thing to do. Even if you take a life, you must not take away the right to resist. That would make me no different from him…”

-Clang! 

The moment he finished speaking, the sword slid free as though nothing had happened.

Looking at that, Decay continued in a low voice.

"My apologies. I did not consider that lump of metal to be your only means of resistance. If you wish, I can grant you time to fetch another. Would that be necessary?”

"..."

The color gradually drained from the man’s face.

He had already realized that even breathing required Decay’s permission now, that everything was over.

-Clatter…

His trembling hand let go of the sword. Having completely lost even the will to resist, the deathly pale man asked his final question.

"Wh-why? We did everything you told us to. What was it that displeased you…? Or did you plan to do this from the start?”

"Did I plan it from the start, you ask…”

Decay tapped the desk lightly, as if faced with a difficult question.

"I don’t know.”

"...What?”

"Excluding you was not something that required deliberation in the first place.”

It was unclear whether the man even heard those words.

He had frozen midway through.

Pushing that rigid ice statue aside without a second glance, Decay approached me and continued.

"The purpose of this operation was to issue a warning.”

"I already heard that. What I’m saying is, the cost doesn’t add up. There’s no reason to fight a monster like that just to send a warning.”

"The shrine maiden rarely trusts people. Probably because of her ability.”

The answer didn’t match my question.

"So, what?”

"In other words, when she does trust someone, the trust she has in them is boundless. Even if she learns that her guard failed, she will not think her blade was at fault. She will think she misjudged her enemy’s strength. And that judgement will not stop at merely shrinking the influence of the Waxed Wings Unit. She will place restrictions on all their actions.”

"..."

These bastards…they knew Sharmia far too well.

As I stood there, flustered—

"That is why I came. Even if I cannot guarantee victory against the shrine maiden’s blade, I can hold her back.”

"Then what do I do?”

"While I do that, break their wings.”

So it really came to this.

I made sure not to let my emotions show. Killing Linmel was never an option.

The biggest problem was that Linmel was connected to me.

If Decay realized that, I couldn’t even imagine what kind of schemes he would pull.

I couldn’t refuse. After coming this far, rejecting such a simple task would only invite suspicion from Decay as well as Heavenly Balance.

In the end, I had to accept, but steer it toward a non-lethal outcome.

For that—

"It won’t be that difficult.”

"No, it will be. I know the one with her."

"...?"

I continued in a serious tone.

"The reason Carose keeps her close is because she has the potential to become the greatest sword in the Empire.”

"I knew that this girl’s talent was exceptional—but you think she’s hard for you to deal with? You must know her quite well.”

"Of course.”

I had to prove I knew her in another way.

"I saw her a few times at the academy. She was already beyond the level of an average Knight back then. I can’t even guess how much she has grown since then. If I had more time, maybe I could manage, but…”

"That will be difficult. I can’t hold Carose longer than 10 minutes at most.”

"Then I can’t guarantee killing her. And this time we have to maintain a disguise, don’t we? The goal is to make it look like she was taken down by someone she underestimated. That’s the objective, right?”

"That is correct.”

"Then it gets even harder. If I can’t let my identity slip, I probably won’t be able to kill her.”

"Hmm…”

Watching Decay’s profile, pondering, as I swallowed dryly, he finally asked in a slow tone.

"Can you make it so she can never hold a sword again?”

"That should be possible."

"Then that will suffice."

I almost let out a sigh of relief.

At least this was a relatively mild outcome. I was just thinking how fortunate it was that Decay wasn’t the Lump, who was utterly impossible to reason with, when he gently changed the subject.

"Have you obtained what you wanted?”

"...What?"

"Not yet, then. If you need help, say so.”

"..."

Decay was one of the very few, along with Great Void, who knew my true identity.

He knew I had entered Scarlet Abyss with another purpose, and yet he still accepted me.

I still couldn’t comprehend this. I was slowly gathering information, learning their internal workings, no different from spying. 

And yet, the one the organization calls its leader allowed it, and his right-hand man stepped forward personally, offering to help me kill their own troops. How was I supposed to take that?

If their goal was Scarlet Abyss’ destruction, or if they were just doing things they didn’t want to do, I might have understood, but no… They were perfectly doing everything they needed to.

I was rowing desperately just to survive, punching holes in the same boat they were riding, and yet they were asking if I needed help. The irony was just too absurd.

"...I still don't know what you people want from me. Great Void said that if I learned everything, I’d end up on your side, but the more I dig, the more I just think you're a bunch of crazy bastards.”

"We want you to achieve your goal.”

"Really? Then you made a mistake.”

I slid the window open and jumped out, raising my middle finger as I fell.

"My goal is for all of you to be wiped out.”

"Indeed."

Decay casually accepted my words.

"For now, that is.”

* * *

A wide open space at the highest point of the city, where the sky was fully visible.

[Are you sure this place has been devoured? The guards are working so hard and everything?]

[You probably wouldn’t know, since you’ve always trained in nothing but horrible places, but devouring a city’s core directly is something only idiots do. People who never think about the aftermath. Usually, they pretend it’s a peaceful city like this.]

[Then if I beat up those guards, bad guys will come out instead of more guards, right?]

[...They probably won’t use such a crude method.]

"Why is she exactly the same as she was before?”

I chuckled as I listened in on Linmel and Carose through Tide Sense.

If I had to point out one difference, it would be that she seemed to be talking a little more than before… but aside from that, she was exactly the Linmel I remembered.

[What did I tell you to do in cities like this?]

[To always look around. That everyone could be an enemy.]

[Are you doing that?]

[Yes! The people looking at me right now are that weird uncle sitting in the tavern behind us and the scary fruit shop lady.]

Listening in, it seemed Carose was putting Linmel through all kinds of training.

My feelings grew complicated. I knew she was talented, but how she ended up with Carose of all people…

As I sighed, something else got caught in my Tide Sense.

Decay, standing on the opposite side from me, lightly scratched letters into the nearby wall.

[Start]

"Tsk."

That was enough dwelling on thoughts.

If I slipped up even once and they realized Linmel and I knew each other, they’d use her as leverage to chain me down.

Even if that didn’t happen, I’d lose my mind from anxiety alone. I wanted this to end with me and me alone.

I pulled the mask over my face and prepared to descend, when Linmel suddenly frowned, crossed her arms, and tilted her head.

[Hm~m? Hmmm...]

[What is it?]

[It feels like… There’s something else. One more …]

[Hm?]

"..."

I hurriedly slipped behind a chimney.

Linmel’s gaze had turned in my direction.

[...Maybe it was just my imagination!]

[No, it wasn’t.]

Did Carose notice?

I didn’t think that was particularly strange, but then she turned into the alley.

[We’re being followed. It seems our identities have been discovered.]

[Huh, already?]

[Yes. I sensed their eyes. They’re quite far away, but…you did well.]

[Hmm…I think they were a bit farther away though…]

I extended my Tide Sense and saw several bandits far behind them, their faces stiff as they hid weapons under their cloaks.

They were probably sent by Decay. If that was what Carose was sensing…then she hadn’t noticed me yet.

But Linmel had definitely looked this way.

I briefly recalled what Brimdal had once said about Linmel.

And then her future self.

"No way…”

I gently twisted the current, letting it brush against Linmel.

[Hm?]

[What is it?]

[Hnnnn...Something weird happened again…]

[Focus. This is a combat situation.]

"...You’ve got to be kidding."

I let out a hollow laugh as I watched her avoid the current without even realizing what it was.

The excuse I had given Decay had just been something I had come up with to fool him.

But it seemed that Linmel had turned my words into reality.

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