WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 146 - Connection (7)

Carose looked utterly flustered.

From her perspective, I had suddenly appeared, grabbed Linmel by the throat, and started threatening her. Not an easy sight to process.

Of course, given the situation, there was no time to explain things nicely.

"If you move any further, your little one dies.”

[Please, just try to listen to me. We’re in the middle of a mission.]

"Make the right call.”

[This isn’t the time to fight yet.]

Despite the harsh words, the current carved different letters into Carose’s back.

"...I’ll give you time. Withdraw."

In the end, Carose frowned but loosened her grip on the sword. Taking advantage of that opening, Decay stepped back several steps.

Only after Decay had enough distance to escape did I release my grip around Linmel’s neck.

"Go to your master.”

"...Uuh—”

Before Linmel could say anything, I used the currents to firmly seal her lips shut. I had to make sure she didn’t say anything unnecessary.

Startled for a moment, she quickly realized it was my doing and nodded.

Carose took Linmel into her arms, checked her limp arm, and, seeing that there was only blood but no real injury, let out a sigh of relief.

I understood the sentiment, but her acting was still lacking.

[No, frown a bit more.]

"...Tsk.”

She clicked her tongue in irritation at my micromanaging, but thanks to that, she finally looked like a master worried about her injured disciple.

It was convincing enough. I glanced at Decay, who was silently watching, and spoke calmly.

"If you don’t want your disciple to spend the rest of her life unable to hold a sword, you’d better retreat and get treatment now.”

[Meet me outside the city this evening. If you’re there, I’ll find you.]

With Linmel cradled in a princess carry, Carose shot me one last glare, then leapt backward through the rubble of the collapsed building.

As the dust still hung thick in the air, Decay let out a sigh.

"I was not told there was a Knight capable of perceiving other worlds. So that is the one the shrine maiden truly trusts.”

"Looks like the plan went awry. Did I show up too perfectly?”

I spoke shamelessly, and Decay slowly turned his gaze toward me.

"Yes. This is not the place to spill blood yet. You’ve helped me.”

"Still, I did sever the tendons in that brat's wrist. I spoke lightly, but I actually burned them. She won’t be holding a sword ever again.”

"I see. For someone who claimed weakness, you did quite well. But why bring her here instead of killing her?”

"As I said, I didn’t have an overwhelming advantage. I felt like I was getting pushed back, so I ran here. She chased me here.”

I had already prepared an answer for any possible question he might have.

I responded smoothly to his sharp question, watching his reaction carefully.

"I see. A blessing in disguise, then.”

Thankfully, Decay didn’t seem to suspect anything and let it go.

I let out a deep sigh of relief internally. Now, unless one was the most paranoid person in the universe, there was no way they’d suspect that I had any connection to Linmel.

Just as I was finally relaxing, Decay clicked his tongue in irritation.

"Still, if things have turned out like this, the shrine maiden will realize that we’re suffering enough damage from the Waxed Wings Unit to warrant direct intervention. This is close to the worst possible outcome…It seems like I’ll have to summon the Lump.”

An unexpected name popped up all of a sudden.

"The Lump? Why that thing?”

"If we can’t turn this into a battle of public opinion, then the only option left is to crush the Waxed Wings Unit completely. I don’t want to waste resources on something this trivial for long—but I can’t just sit back and watch all our limbs get severed.”

"..."

I could feel a heavy murderous intent hidden beneath Decay’s calm tone.

Using the Lump to wipe out every active member of the Waxed Wings Unit. The reason those words didn’t sound like a bunch of nonsense was quite simple. I had fought that thing myself.

This wasn’t something I could stop. If I interfered, I’d only risk rekindling the suspicion I had barely managed to extinguish.

So in the end, all I could do was continue doing what I was meant to do in my position.

As I was thinking bitterly, Decay suddenly turned toward me.

"Anyway, you did well, Undercurrent. Thanks to you, we avoided an unnecessary battle.”

"I don’t know about that. It was a failure either way.”

"No. I’ll report to Heavenly Balance that you performed your task flawlessly and that the failure was due to my own shortcomings. That wouldn’t even be a lie.”

As if he’d never been lost in thought, Decay looked at me again and smiled.

"If there’s anything you want, just say it. I’ll help however I can.”

"...Really? There’s something I’ve wanted to ask since I joined.”

"Hmm, what is it?”

I stared at him and mustered.

"What does this organization even exist for? Just killing wizards and repeating acts of terror?”

"Hmm, the short-term answer is the destruction of anything that can be called magic—that’s all.”

"And after that?”

"After? I haven’t thought about that.”

Decay answered without hesitation.

"Why?"

"Haha..."

Decay laughed. As far as I knew, that was the first time.

"What a strange question. Many speak of heaven, but have you ever seen anyone explain what comes after they reach it?”

"..."

Unfortunately, it seemed I still wasn’t corrupted enough to fully understand the logic of those madmen.

* * *

Right before returning in the evening.

I walked along the outer wall of the city. We hadn’t set a meeting place, but when I spread my Tide Sense, I soon found Linmel and Carose standing near the walls.

I was wondering how to approach them when a good idea came to mind. I sliced nearby grass and stones with my currents.

"...Huh? Master, something’s strange over there.”

"Linmel, step back.”

Carose immediately reached for the sword at her waist. Maybe because of what happened earlier, she seemed to be overreacting a bit.

Even though I was still quite a distance away, I hadn’t been idle.

A current refined to the extreme could be used like this.

"Huh?"

Branches and stones swirled together within a steady current, forming the shape of a human.

I couldn’t perfectly recreate the details of my face, but it was accurate enough that anyone who knew me would recognize me.

"...You’ve learned something quite pointless."

"When did you become an Archmage??”

Their reactions split evenly.

Carose sighed like she was looking at something utterly useless, while Linmel’s eyes sparkled as she poked and prodded my (fake) body from every angle.

[I just tried it once. Isn’t it fascinating?]

In the end, we had to rely on the primitive method of writing words on their backs to communicate.

Linmel, her eyes still sparkling, kept touching my stone body until it completely collapsed. I restored it while bowing my head.

[I want to apologize for earlier. It was my first mission, and I never expected to run into you, Dame Carose… or you, Linmel. I ended up acting too hastily. I hope I didn’t offend you.]

"That’s fine. But why did you suddenly kidnap Linmel?”

[Because I can’t let anyone find out that Linmel and I know each other.]

I briefly explained this baffling situation.

At the start, Carose listened while nodding lightly, but as time passed, her expression twisted into something bizarre.

"So…you’re saying that both the executive and the leader of Scarlet Abyss know you’re a traitor, and yet they’re letting you do whatever you want?”

[That’s exactly right.]

"What do you think their objective is?"

[I honestly have no clue.]

"They’re insane, so trying to understand them is pointless…but this time, their actions are especially incomprehensible. Why would they do this?”

As Carose and I exchanged information, Linmel cut in with a dumbfounded look on her face.

"Jern, you infiltrated Scarlet Abyss as a spy? Why didn’t you tell me, Master?!”

"If I had, you would’ve followed him, right? This mission is top secret, known only to Her Highness and a few others. The fewer people who know, the better.”

After admonishing Linmel, Carose turned serious again.

"Anyway, if that’s the case, I understand. But there’s something I need to warn you about.”

[Warn me about?]

"Yes. Something I felt when I clashed with Decay this morning."

She paused for a moment, then suddenly asked something strange.

"Do you…remember what his world was?"

[...What? Isn’t it something that slows down your cognition?]

"Is that so? All my memories about this are very vague."

Carose continued in a calm, serious voice.

"I remember fighting him, then meeting you, protecting Linmel, and escaping. But I can't clearly remember what our battle was like. Even now, it feels very hazy…like a daydream.”

[…So what you’re saying is …]

"Yes."

She nodded quietly, as if confirming my thoughts.

"I only fought for a few minutes, and yet I feel like this. That means his world must still be hiding a secret we don’t understand.”

[...]

"Please be careful. This is just a feeling, but…it’s dangerous. Extremely dangerous.”

We weren’t particularly close, but the concern in Carose’s voice was genuine.

[...Thank you. And please make sure Linmel doesn’t pick up a sword for a while.]

"How long?"

[About a month. After that, it’ll be over.]

"..."

Carose frowned for a moment, seeming to understand exactly what I meant with ‘It’ll be over.’

But she quickly smoothed her expression, nodded, and agreed to my request.

"I understand. I wish you good luck."

[Please take care of Linmel.]

"Ah!"

Crumble…

Before Linmel could say anything, the puppet I created using my current had lightly collapsed.

I returned to my real body and, before heading back, stopped by the base of the underworld gang that had once ruled this city. There, I looked upon the devastation Decay had left behind.

Cold statues, gathered in a pit, gazed up at the sky with faces frozen in pleas of mercy. A truly grotesque sight.

According to Decay, since we had already been discovered, it was better to raze them entirely. That was the reason behind this slaughter.

"Hmm..."

It was horrifying, but after joining Scarlet Abyss, I’d seen enough that I could endure this much.

They hadn’t been frozen for long. Out of curiosity, I picked up one of the ice statues and placed it by a campfire to see how it would melt.

A frozen frog and a human were completely different, so thawing usually didn’t bring a human back. It was just a small experiment to see how thoroughly they had been frozen.

I couldn’t deny that I had the fleeting thought that this might save them, and astonishingly—

"U-uh…”

"?"

The melting statue recovered enough to produce a broken, ragged sound.

That should have been impossible if this person had been frozen properly. I frowned as the person’s unfocused eyes trembled.

"Where..."

That was their last word. After that, they turned into a corpse.

Just in case, I melted the others too. More than half were already dead, and the rest died shortly after, leaving only their dying words behind.

The strange thing was that all of them said the same things.

"Wh-where am I…”

"Who…are you?”

"It’s hot…”

The last one, in particular, no matter how close I placed them to the fire, wasn’t something a person who had returned from death should be saying.

I looked down at the pile of corpses, feeling rather uneasy, and let out a long sigh.

"I’ve still got a long way to go.”

The abyss of Scarlet Abyss was far deeper than I had imagined.

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