WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 159 - Past (9)

Aletus knew that the one behind the assassination attempts on Sharmia was the Emperor himself.

He also knew that the reason those attempts had failed so far was because the Emperor was still hesitating, trapped in his own agony.

If—If he ever truly steeled his heart, then there would be no one in the Imperial Palace capable of opposing him.

That was why Aletus had formed a secret pact with the head maid, preparing a way to save Sharmia from a ruler who was slowly losing his sanity—

"I didn’t expect it to be this easy to get out…”

I borrowed what they had prepared.

A carriage prepared in advance.

A coachman who had resolved to complete the task even if it meant his death.

Clothes to wear during the journey, common currency used by civilians, and even a map.

Everything was perfectly prepared. From Sharmia’s perspective, it might have felt as though everyone had been waiting for her to say the word.

And they indeed had. As I quietly leaned against the wall of the carriage, using my Tide Sense to survey our surroundings, Sharmia, sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees, shot me a suspicious glare.

"More importantly, why are you here? I never gave permission for you to be in the same carriage as me.”

"My objective is to ensure that Your Highness reaches the destination safely.”

I replied casually.

More precisely, my goal was to make sure she didn’t die for the next 2 weeks.

"Then haven’t you already accomplished that?”

Because of our first meeting, and because I still refused to remove my mask, Sharmia didn’t really trust me.

Well… She’s been plagued by assassins since childhood, so there was no way that she would just believe someone who suddenly came to her saying, “I’m from the future, please trust me completely!” If she were that naive, she would have been dead long ago.

Ironically, that very skepticism made her quite easy to talk to.

"Your Highness is still in serious danger. Even if the head maid tries to conceal it, it will be discovered within a day at most and half a day at the shortest. That is simply what it means to be a princess. You’ll need my help.”

"..."

She didn’t argue, only buried her head between her knees.

I fully understood how overwhelming this must be for her, so I didn’t bother adding unnecessary details like “All of this was because your father, the Emperor, was trying to kill you.”

Looking at her, I organized my thoughts.

With this, I had satisfied the wishes of both Sharmias.

The Sharmia of Scarlet Abyss wanted the young princess to escape and head toward a place called the Ark.

The present Sharmia wanted me to act entirely on my own judgment.

But if their goals didn’t align, and if the future was already fixed…

'...Then what happens to me?'

Leaving Sharmia in the palace was far too dangerous. No matter how powerful my Tide Sense and currents were, protecting her 24/7 in a palace where the Emperor was fully alert was nearly impossible.

That was why I had taken her out to begin with. But if the Sharmia of Scarlet Abyss wanted this, it was guaranteed that something would happen during the journey, killing either Sharmia or me.

Either outcome would mark my end. If she knew that and still wanted the journey toward the Ark to happen, then I was walking straight toward my own death.

And yet, the present Sharmia wanted me to act according to my own will, regardless of what the Scarlet Abyss Sharmia said.

'Which one is right?'

The fact that both of them knew my future made it impossible to accept either answer.

An uncertain time paradox, traces left by the ticking of a clock, twisting an unchanging past within a fixed future…

While imagining all of that—

I wasn’t fully focused on my Tide Sense.

- Clang!

"...?"

The carriage came to a sudden halt.

We were still right in the middle of the capital. If we failed to get out of here quickly, things would go wrong from the very start.

Wondering what was happening, I looked around. Sharmia had pressed her ear against the side of the carriage, her expression serious.

"What is it?”

"Shh..."

She seemed to be listening closely, so I refocused on my Tide Sense.

[...I’m telling you, this carriage is suspicious. We just want to inspect it. Why are you acting like you’ve got something to hide?]

[I told you, this belongs to a noble household! The contents are magical tools that deteriorate in sunlight! What is the meaning of this?]

[How am I supposed to know whether that’s true or not?]

[What kind of nonsense are you spouting…?]

Hah.

Now that I thought about it, the past Empire was deeply corrupt.

Corrupt enough that guards would openly demand bribes from passing carriages in broad daylight.

However, the driver wasn’t actually a coachman. He was a Knight in disguise, so he didn’t understand that kind of custom at all and had mistaken the situation for mere harassment.

I was just about to draw up some currents to resolve things cleanly…

-Riiiip!

"...What are you doing?”

"In a situation like this, you should get outside first.”

Without the slightest hesitation, Sharmia slashed open the side of the carriage on the side where no guards were standing.

That only worked because this was an ordinary transport carriage made of fabric. After tearing a hole large enough to escape through, she looked at me, then widened the opening further.

"We can wait outside and come back once the guards leave. Once they see there’s really nothing inside, they’ll stop nitpicking. They wouldn’t make a fuss over a bit of torn fabric, right?”

It was a fairly good judgment. Except for the fact that it wasn’t necessary at all.

I was just about to open my mouth to stop her when…

"Huh?"

Sharmia leaned her head out of the carriage, frowned in confusion, then pulled back in and unfolded the map.

"Since when has this place turned into a slum? According to the map, we should be on the main road.”

"This is the main road.”

"...Huh?"

"Have you never gone out on your own before?”

"I have. I’ve walked along the main road before!”

"And three days before every outing, you reported it to the head maid, didn't you?”

"...No, that’s not the point. If this is the main road, there should be streetlights over there…”

As she argued, scanning what she had called a slum, Sharmia’s expression gradually darkened.

She had realized the truth. The place was the same. However, the gap between the world she had seen during her outings and the world as it was now was pretty vast.

It was simply that, whenever the princess went out for inspection, they had long since been sweeping everything away, no matter if it was regular trash or human trash, and polishing even a single gutter on the road until it gleamed.

Confronted with the true nature of the Empire, Sharmia gaped for a moment as she stared at what could only be called a horror show.

"...This is the Empire’s main road…?”

Even in the future, when I had first entered the Imperial Palace, I’d been so shocked it felt like stepping into another world.

But if the palace itself hadn’t changed while the world outside had deteriorated even further, then a reaction like hers was unavoidable.

As she stood there in shock, unable to bring herself to step out through the gap in the carriage, children who had been lying around nearby began to come closer.

"P-please, just one coin..."

"Please…my mother is starving at home…"

"..."

Sharmia’s eyes slowly wavered as she looked at the filthy children attempting to beg.

I didn’t just watch their begging. I also noticed the fact that several of their body parts had been severed.

Anyone as sharp as her would immediately realize what that meant. Those parts had been deliberately cut away to prevent ‘smooth movements.’ In other words, to stop them from running away.

Watching the miserable scene, I suddenly understood something and nodded to myself.

'Ah, so that’s why she started funding orphanages…’

Was it because she’d been impacted so heavily by this very sight today?

It had helped a great deal. Since I was aiming for a more complete future, I hadn’t bothered stopping her.

But the princess was about to do something very reckless.

"W-wait just a moment…”

"?"

She opened her bag with trembling hands and tried to take out something shiny.

It seemed to be a gold coin. I immediately frowned, stepped forward, and grabbed her hand.

"Don’t."

"Wh-what?”

"It won’t help at all.”

"What—do you mean it won’t?”

Instead of answering, I pulled out a much lower-quality copper coin from my pocket and handed it to the biggest, sturdiest-looking child.

The moment I did that—

The other children lunged forward, trying to snatch the coin away.

"Give it!”

"Agh...!"

I had deliberately chosen the toughest-looking one so it wouldn’t be stolen immediately, but the fight was so violent it nearly turned into a bloodbath.

Seeing that, Sharmia looked at me in panic and cried.

"S-stop them! They’re fighting…”

"Understood.”

I lightly moved the currents, forcibly pushing the children apart.

Struck by an invisible force, the children stared at one another in confusion. Then they looked at my raised hand and realized that they had just experienced magic.

"U-uuuwaaaargh!”

"It’s a wizard! A noble…”

Their terror showed just how poor the public perception of mages was. As they scattered and fled in panic, Sharmia stared at me, shocked, her hand covering her mouth.

"You were…a mage?”

"Lowly as I am, I can manage things like this.”

[...C-cough…!]

[Jan? No, Jan… Eeeek! A-a mage…!]

[I’m sorry, I’m sorry, so please forgive me just this once!]

[What in the …]

As the voices of the guards writhing in pain drifted in from beyond the torn cloth, Sharmia looked into my eyes beyond the mask. A look of awe was plastered on her face.

"Wi-without stars…”

"Do you know what it means to use magic without stars?”

"...Doesn’t it just mean you’re using light magic?”

So she didn’t know about the Fallen after all.

Thanks to that, she seemed to be mistaking me for something like an Archmage, someone capable of casting high-tier magic like telekinesis without even manifesting any stars. There was no reason for me to correct her, so as I used the current to seal the torn cloth, I explained why I’d stopped her.

"To those children, a single copper coin is a lifeline worth breathing one another over. If you were to give them a gold coin, murder would surely follow. Just now, Your Highness was about to pass a death sentence on that child.”

"Th-they’re children. They wouldn’t go so far as to kill someone…”

"They were forced to grow up far too early. You shouldn’t judge them by Your Highness’ standards.”

"...Why?”

"What do you mean?”

Rather than looking sad, Sharmia wore an expression that showed incomprehension as she stared through the gap in the cloth I had tried to seal.

"Why did Father hide something like this from me? Why did no one ever tell me about this?"

"Why would they? These people were never meant to have anything to do with Your Highness. It’s even possible that His Majesty himself doesn’t know they exist.”

"...That can’t be true."

"It’s not impossible."

"..."

Sharmia remained silent, simply gazing at the ruined Empire through the narrow opening for a long, long while until the coachman emerged from the capital.

* * *

Unfortunately, there could only be one driver.

More people meant more resources consumed. Since this would be a long-term task, fewer hands were better.

"Your Highness. I apologize for the discomfort, but tonight…”

"Ah, yes. I understand.”

"If a pursuit unit appears, I’ll wake you immediately."

We arrived at an inn in a city some distance away.

It wasn’t exactly close to the capital, but close enough that pursuit was still possible.

"The chances are low. Even if they realize the princess has vanished, they’ll search the palace first, then the capital. They won't start with other cities. And even if they do, it’ll be low priority.”

"I see…but why are you here?”

She repeated the same question she had asked in the carriage the moment we entered the inn room.

Her eyes were much sharper now.

Her guard was far higher now. With a sigh, I stood up from the table.

"Didn’t I say my role is to protect you, Your Highness?”

"...I’ll call the Knight.”

"Calling him would be pointless. I’d like you to remember that I’m someone who can move through the imperial palace as if it were my own home, despite there being hundreds of Knights there far superior to him.”

"I don’t think that’s something to brag about…I don’t know who you really are, but you’re a very strange person.”

The princess let out a long sigh, her cheeks slightly flushed as she headed into the bathroom, adding a warning.

"Still, when it’s time to sleep, you need to go out. We can’t sleep together in such a cramped room.”

...Cramped.

Standing in the center of the inn’s largest room, which, by modern standards, could house a family of five, I let out a sigh.

Was this the imperial standard? As I was thinking that…

I witnessed retribution catching up to the princess.

It wasn't anything serious. As I waited, Sharmia emerged after washing her hair, wearing a disgusted expression and grumbling.

"The bathwater seems to be rotten. There’s no scent at all.”

"Water doesn't normally have a scent.”

"...?"

She gave me a look like she couldn’t believe it, then sat down on the bed.

Her expression turned gloomy as she clasped her hands.

"...Sheryl will be okay, right?”

She had many things she could have worried about, but it was her loyal maid who came to her mind first.

"Do you want empathy or reality?”

"Reality first, please."

"Aiding Your Highness’ escape is an offense punishable with the death penalty. If she’s discovered, she’ll need to be prepared.”

"...Now empathy."

"Given Aletus’ personality, who orchestrated all of this, he won’t let her die. You don’t need to worry too much.”

"Aletus helped me escape?”

"Yes."

"That does sound like something he’d do.”

Sharmia let out a small sigh of relief, then clutched her stomach.

"I’m a little hungry. Do you think there’s something to eat outside?”

"There is a bloodthirsty murderer.”

"?"

At the exact moment Sharmia tilted her head in confusion—

-Knock, knock, knock!

Someone knocked on the door.

"Stay where you are.”

Sharmia, reading my expression, immediately turned deathly pale.

"They already found us…?”

"They aren’t from the palace.”

"...Huh?"

Before she could process my words properly—

-Bang!

The door shattered.

"Hey, damn it. You deaf or something? Why didn’t you answer?”

What burst in was a thug holding a leash.

He looked between me and Sharmia, then scratched his head and yanked on the leash in his hand.

"Hey, which one?”

"..."

The blood-soaked little girl bound to the leash raised a trembling finger and pointed at Sharmia.

A wide smile spread across the thug’s face.

"Hey, missy. Don’t know who you are, but how about giving me some donations—”

-Crack.

Those became his last words before the thug’s head twisted ninety degrees.

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