Wizard of the Abyss - Chapter 156

WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 156 - Past (6)

After that, I kept causing chaos.

"...Gyaaagh! T-the hallway…”

"What’s going on?!”

"No, what the hell is this now…?

Three days ago, I had written an insult to the Emperor using blood.

The message read, ‘This sentence was written in the Emperor’s blood.’

Of course, it wasn’t actually the Emperor’s blood, but pig’s blood. However, the guards’ hearts must have dropped straight to their knees.

And once they realized I had deliberately used pig’s blood just to mock him, they made a ton of wizards search the palace—

And astonishingly, they found something.

"...We’ve discovered the cause.”

"Ooh, as expected of the Blue Tower Master! Who is the culprit? Are they inside the castle?”

"A pig from a nearby stable somehow snuck into the palace, avoided every guard’s sight, came all the way here, slit its own belly, wrote this sentence, and then vanished after being devoured by something in midair.”

"?”

"I…I truly have no idea what kind of magic this is…”

Of course, it only threw the investigation into deeper confusion.

Watching the Tower Master’s baffled expression, I let out a sigh of relief. If I had acted directly, I might have been discovered. Handling everything from afar had been the right call.

"Whoever this mage is, they must be at least a 7-star like me…or higher. And they’re using illusion magic completely unknown to the Empire.”

"...So there’s no way to stop them…?”

"It’s not completely impossible. A spell of this magnitude would require an enormous amount of mana. If we deploy wizards from our tower throughout the palace and catch the moment they cast, we can easily apprehend them.”

The Blue Tower Master, who had looked so confident, looked as pale as a corpse the next day. That was two days ago now.

"This time, the imperial archives were set on fire! It was extinguished quickly, but it’s clearly that assassin’s doing! Summon the mages immediately!”

"T-that can’t be…?”

He vanished, lost in thought.

It couldn’t be helped. This was a time before the existence of the Fallen had been made public.

After the Blue Tower Master’s defeat, the palace made its decision the following day.

"I’ve lived a long life, but this is the first time I’ve seen apprentices allowed into the palace…”

"You’re here under the Emperor’s command. Stay alert at all times.”

Most of the mages from every tower were summoned, filling the palace completely.

That was yesterday. The once quiet, spacious palace was now overflowing with mages, turning the palace noisy enough to feel crowded, if not as bustling as a marketplace.

No matter how close to omniscient my Tide Sense was, even I couldn’t handle this sheer volume of people.

As a result, the space I could safely occupy shrank drastically. Sometimes, when a room had no ceiling gaps, I had to hide like I was in some spy movie. I even started wearing a mask to prepare for any unexpected situation.

It was unbelievably uncomfortable—

But it worked. No more assassins came.

The Emperor knew it too. With this many eyes watching, any move he made would only add risk. If he had any sense left, he’d realize that he had to lie low and wait.

* * *

For the first time in a while, Sharmia had found something similar to peace.

"The palace feels a lot more crowded now."

"...It does.”

"Still, thanks to this, the attacks have decreased a lot. I wish every day was like this…”

As the head maid gently brushed the princess’ hair with a soft smile, Sharmia suddenly bowed her head.

"Y-Your Highness?”

The head maid grabbed her in alarm. After so many assassination attempts, she’d grown almost paranoid.

Sharmia quickly straightened up and shook her head, then forced a smile.

"Ah, sorry. I think I dozed off for a moment…”

"...Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

"Not at all…It’s more like I’ve been having nightmares. I haven’t been sleeping well because of them.”

Sharmia frowned and tilted her head.

"Nightmares? What kind of nightmares?”

"I don’t know.”

"...What?"

"It feels like I experienced something right before waking up, and I remember that it was terrifying, but I can’t remember any details.”

She frowned and lowered her head again.

"Anyway, that’s why I keep waking up in the middle of the night. Haah…”

"...”

Looking at her pitifully, the head maid glanced around. Realizing that only she, Sharmia, and a Knight standing guard outside were present, she spoke up cautiously.

"Your Highness. Have you ever thought about this? I know this might be irreverent, but…what your life might have been like if you were born a commoner instead of a princess…?”

"What?”

Sharmia tilted her head back in surprise, looking at the head maid with wide eyes.

"That’s irreverent indeed, Sheryl. If you said something like that in front of anyone else, you’d be arrested for treason. You should be more careful.”

"M-my apologies.”

"But, well, yes, I have thought about it a few times.”

Fortunately, she just brushed it off, gazing at the blackened mirror as she spoke lightly.

"Everything I learn is about making others kneel, obey, be placated, or be sacrificed. Of course, someone has to do it…but sometimes I feel doubtful.”

"..."

"Since you said something irreverent first, I’ll say something as well. Sometimes I wonder, why me? Why did it have to be me? Ah, you must never tell Father about this.”

"Of course, Your Highness.”

The head maid’s hand trembled slightly as she continued combing her hair.

When the two finished dressing and left the room, I quickly slipped down from the ceiling where I had been hiding.

Mages would come here soon as well. I wiped the ink covering the mirror, stared at it intently, and whispered quietly.

"Sharmia, it’s time you showed up.”

Two weeks had already passed beyond the promised time.

At this point, I’d be happy even if the other Sharmia appeared. No matter how much I was a Fallen surviving through information advantage, there was no guarantee I could keep hiding forever while Tower Masters roamed the palace.

She had to come. After threateningly tapping on the mirror for 30 seconds—

Finally.

[...Jern. Can you see me?]

A blurry Sharmia appeared.

The difference from before was that only her face could be seen this time.

"Yes. Where have you been all this time? I waited forever, and you never showed up. I thought you’d abandoned me.”

[I’m sorry. All the mirrors were destroyed. I barely managed to find a hand mirror.]

"...What? If mirrors break, can’t you just make new ones?"

[No. I can only view memories through mirrors that my past self actually used. It’s less like seeing them and more like retrieving what was left behind…]

"I see. First things first. Let’s check the bread.”

Sharmia lifted the croissant.

I let out a sigh and covered the mirror before speaking.

"There’s something I need to ask. Why didn’t you tell me that the Emperor tried to assassinate you?”

Sharmia acted quite casually.

But it was clearly strange that she hid something so serious.

At my words, Sharmia—

[Huh? What are you talking about? Father tried to kill me?]

"?"

She tilted her head, completely confused.

We stared at each other. I was the first to break the silence.

"Most of the assassination attempts you suffered through as a child were on the Emperor’s order. Do you remember? After your 10th birthday celebration, he summoned you and had tea with you, right?”

[Yes. Why?]

"Weren’t you unable to drink the tea?”

[...Huh, yes. I think I was.]

"I stopped you from drinking it. I saw him poison it."

[...???]

Sharmia tilted her head, utterly unable to believe it.

[That makes no sense. He was frightening when I was young, sure, but once I steeled myself and began my trials, he never spared anything for me. In all the many futures I’ve lived through, there wasn’t one where Father became my enemy.]

"That might be true, but what do you want me to do? Even now, I’m going through hell trying to keep you alive, writing messages in pig’s blood in the corridors just to raise alert levels.”

[...What are you doing?! Wait, that was you?! I thought some stupid assassin was behind that! Didn’t I tell you not to change the past??]

"I’m sorry. But I had no choice. I’m certain that if I hadn’t, you would have died.”

Sharmia, who was rarely shaken, grabbed her brow on the other side of the mirror and sighed.

[I-I get it. But from now on, you really should stop altering the future. I’ve figured out a way to get you out anyway.]

"That’s the best thing I’ve heard in forever. What is it?”

[Endure it.]

"What?"

[You haven’t died yet in this reality.]

"?"

[Lady Dercia told me. If you had died, her spell would have activated. But it hasn't. Which means you never truly died in the first place…]

"But I definitely killed myself."

[Where?]

"...Ah."

Only then did I realize it. The place where I died was Heaven.

An immortal purgatory that healed all wounds and erased all pain.

I had only experienced death, but I never truly died.

And because they couldn’t obtain me, they tried to erase me from the world.

To ensure my future ended as the remnant of the past, they used Sharmia.

It made sense. If they had to oppose one of the Three Calamities, the most reasonable method was to make the conflict itself never happen.

As I nodded slowly, Sharmia continued.

[You seem to have figured it out. In any case, the one piece of good news is that you were born with the Abyssal Sea.]

"And that is good news because?”

[If you’re unconscious, you’ll be crushed to death soon anyway. Even if they try to keep you alive by any means, rescuing a Fallen from the Abyssal Sea is impossible. Lady Dercia said so herself.]

"..."

Those were some horrifying words. But they were true.

Even if I were still alive, I would eventually be crushed. The Abyssal Sea wasn’t a place one could survive without doing anything.

[When that happens, Lady Dercia’s spell will activate, and everything will return to normal. What I want to ask is, how long can you endure…?]

I was very well aware of that.

"No matter what, I can’t last more than a month.”

[I’m not doubting you, but are you sure?]

"Yes."

If they left me in Heaven, it would have collapsed under the sheer pressure.

"Only 2 weeks left. If we keep the young Princess Sharmia alive until then, we’re fine.”

[You can’t die either.]

"I understand. But…what did you mean when you said all the mirrors were destroyed?"

[...It seems Scarlet Abyss also wants to make sure you can’t return.]

Watching Sharmia’s serious expression, I clenched my fist.

2 weeks. I only had to endure for that long.

"There won’t be any other complications, right?”

[Erm, well, I kind of end up running away from home for a bit…]

"Wait.”

In the middle of our conversation—

I sensed mages approaching. I immediately tore off the mask I was wearing, threw off my robe, and flung it up to the ceiling, where it stayed suspended.

Then I grabbed a broom beside me and started sweeping the floor with an utterly bored expression.

"Hmm?”

"Ah, hello there.”

The moment the wizards entered, I bowed deeply and swept even harder.

A palace servant’s uniform, paired with a completely forgettable face.

They didn’t even spare me a glance. Instead, they scanned the room with mana, found nothing abnormal, and closed the door as they left.

They’d only just been summoned to the palace. They couldn’t possibly recognize every servant’s face yet. A fact I shamelessly used to my advantage.

"Phew, please continue.”

[...]

After they left, I closed the door and turned back to the mirror.

Sharmia’s expression was kind of strange.

If I had to describe it, it was the look of someone who had just put on one shoe, only to see a spider crawl out of the other.

[J-Jern?]

"Yes?"

[Why does your face look like that?]

"Ah, I put on some makeup."

Even if I was acting as a servant, if the guards caught me, they’d start asking questions like, ‘Why is a kid like this here…?’ or ‘Ah, it’s that one again!’

So after dyeing my hair blond, I’d used whatever cosmetics I could find to make myself look as ordinary as possible.

Was it weird? I thought I did a pretty good job.

As I was pondering over that, Sharmia stared at me blankly for a long time.

Then, with a completely dazed expression, wrote something on a piece of paper.

[Erm, I told you already, right? That the future is fixed and can’t be changed?]

"Yes. I get that already."

[And that acting in the past with some kind of purpose is dangerous?]

"Yes."

[...I should have emphasized that more strongly.]

"?"

I tilted my head, not understanding what she was talking about.

Then a sudden thought struck me like lightning.