WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 2 - Birth (2)

After experiencing the world of magic and plowing through a stack of mostly unhelpful books, I had come to one conclusion. 

It was the opposite. 

It’s not wizards who are special—it’s normal humans who are. 

I hadn’t realized it before becoming one of these wizards, but this world was one big ocean of sorts.

Everything here existed under this sea. We just never noticed.

But there was one being that escaped that rule.

Humans. 

Humans could walk on the surface of this ocean somehow. 

That was why they couldn't feel the currents. They had no idea what was happening beneath their very feet. 

And that was an enormous advantage. 

Simply by not being swept up in the currents, humans were far superior to wizards.

Wizards were nothing more than malformed creatures who lost the ability to do that, getting enveloped by the sea.

...Those nobles seriously were just a bunch of idiots. 

Why would they actually want to become like this? 

“It’s kind of convenient though.” 

I pushed a floating book into the shelf. 

The slot was pretty narrow, but the book slid in slowly and precisely.

It felt quite strange. If the me before going through the Soul Fever had seen this, he’d probably call this a miracle or something…

But the me now knew. This was nothing special at all. 

I mean, when you move your arms around underwater, ripples and waves would usually spread through the water, right?

My magic was like that. I’d decided to call it “current.”

Grabbing a book would make it recognize that it too was underwater.

It might sound weird, but it was actually pretty simple. Because I was underwater, anything I touched would also become aware that it was underwater.

And then it would float. 

And once I created a current beneath it, it would slowly move forward.

It would eventually fall, but far slower than it would above water.

The difference between knowing this whole world was actually under the sea and not knowing. Just barely knowing made such a huge difference. 

But here was the problem. 

“Just how strong is this exactly?” 

I sighed softly as I glanced at the 100 or so books floating around me.

All of them peacefully floated around my waist level. 

It wasn’t even particularly hard. As long as I didn’t lose consciousness, I felt I could maintain this for hours. Maybe even if I did lose consciousness.

I wasn’t even sure if I was expending any sort of energy at all here.

“Hmm...”

After thinking for a bit, I placed my foot on one of the books. 

-Thud

The moment I put a bit of weight on it, the book immediately sank straight to the floor. It seemed like it couldn’t support my body weight.

So how strong was this? Was I a once-in-a-century magical genius?

Or was this something any wizard could do, and I was just overreacting because I didn’t know anyone else I could compare myself to?

I practically tore through the orphanage’s attached library, but every book related to magic was either a fairy tale book or books of similar levels. In other words, I couldn’t find any real information.

Unless I somehow managed to sneak into the Imperial Library and read their restricted tomes. Sadly, that place could only be entered by nobles, so that wasn’t a feasible option.

The best thing would be to ignore all of this and just live my life.

However, there was a pretty clear reason why I thought of wizards as people who had fallen into the sea.

[~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~!] 

Ever since I suffered from the Soul Fever, I had been seeing these strange black shapes.

Sometimes they even tried to talk to me. If one could call circling me while chittering talking.

I named those things deep-sea fish. Because the way they moved was clearly like swimming fish.

'...Though they don’t exactly look like normal fish.' 

Even though I was just seeing their silhouettes, their long, ragged teeth were quite something, and their bodies seemed grotesque.

The day those things finally noticed me properly… 

I seriously doubted that anything good would happen. 

Sometimes, when the ocean currents surged, I’d even end up stumbling on empty air.

I wasn’t joking. If things got any worse, I might suddenly just get swept up and fly into the sky while walking normally.

The outcome would obviously be instant death. 

Just how did other wizards deal with these kinds of things?

I had no idea. 

Could just some noble miraculously appear before me out of thin air and teach me the basics a novice wizard should know?

Well, not that that was likely to happen. 

Just what was I supposed to do? 

“Haah...” 

Either I found a way to seal away my magic forever, or at least I figured out how to escape my current situation.

And if this tiny orphanage library didn’t have the answer to that—

Then I’d just have to look through other libraries. 

A plan instantly took form in my head.

I went back to the dormitory, pulled out the piggy bank I had stashed deep under my bed, and smashed it with tears streaming down my face.

-Clang! 

The other kids who saw that leapt up in shock.

“J-Jern! What are you doing?!” 

“Jern’s went crazy!!!!!! He broke his piggy bank!” 

The director had given every orphan one to save at least a little bit of money in anticipation of our independence, even if it was just a tenth of our allowance.

Breaking it meant three days of punishment. One wouldn’t be allowed to play and just study. 

Honestly, that was nothing but a benefit to me. The real issue was that my savings were the highest in this orphanage’s entire history.

I never found a reason to spend my money, so I had saved every single coin I was given. After five years, even small amounts had piled up to a substantial amount.

This was supposed to be like a marshmallow reward I had to patiently wait to receive in the future, but right now, I was basically stranded alone in a vast, open sea.

This wasn’t the time to be picky about methods. 

“I’ll be out for a while. Tell the teachers for me, okay?” 

I stuffed the coins into a leather pouch and headed straight for Ms. Annelin’s clothing shop.

Ms. Annelin ran a small clothing store nearby. It seemed like she once made quite the fortune as a talented, top-tier fashion designer in the capital.

While I never really was the one to spend a lot of money on clothes, in both my previous life and this one, I owed her quite a lot, since she always volunteered to mend the orphans’ clothes for free.

When I opened the door to her shop, being as kind as she was, her face lit up with a warm smile. 

“Oh my, Jern? Don’t tell me you’ve torn your sleeve again.”

“No, I came to buy clothes.” 

“Clothes? Aren’t you still at the age where you’re growing…? Also, didn’t I just fit you a set a month ago?” 

“No, I want real clothes.” 

I stood on my tiptoes and put the heavy leather pouch full of coins onto the counter.

Ms. Annelin peeked inside a bit before quickly waving her hands in surprise.

“Jern, you must have misunderstood something. You don’t need this much money to buy clothes. If you broke your piggy bank, I’ll explain things to the director for you, so don’t worry and…”

“That’s fine. Could you make me an outfit like the ones nobles wear? If it’s not enough, I’ll save more of my allowance and pay later.”

“Hmm...?” 

Ms. Annelin’s face showed puzzlement for a moment, but then she smiled warmly, the way she always did when she looked at kids.

Well, she probably thought that this was just some childish wish to play nobleman or something.

“If that’s what you want, I actually have the perfect thing. Just wait a moment.”

She disappeared into the storeroom, then returned with an outfit that looked slightly antique. 

Even I, who wasn’t much of an expert on clothing, thought that these clothes, woven from white and blue fabric, were well made.

They were a bit dusty, though. 

“I poured my heart into making these garments. But they were returned for the ridiculous reason that blue wasn’t in trend right now, so no one’s ever worn it…” 

Seeing that it was rejected for such an absurd reason, I figured it really had been made for a noble.

“How much is it?” 

“It was just rotting away in my storage anyway, so I won’t take any money for it. Just promise me something instead.” 

“A promise...?” 

“Yes. Before you break your piggy bank again, promise you’ll come to me first and see if we can find another way. Can you do that?”

“Uhm… Yes.” 

I could save my money, so all was good. 

“Then wait just a moment. I’ll touch up some of the faded spots…”

She tapped the outfit with some kind of magical tool to shake off the dust, then brushed some kind of clear reagent on it. The clothes instantly looked brand new.

I put on the clothes and beret before spinning once in front of the mirror. I really did look like a noble child.

Ms. Annelin kept showering me with compliments, telling me how cute I looked.

“Oh my goodness! You look like a little angel.” 

“Thank you…”

I kept chatting with her for over thirty minutes after that, but considering that I managed to save the money I had been saving for five years, it was more than worth it.

After leaving the clothing store, I washed my face and tidied my hair at a nearby well, then used the money I had saved to catch a carriage.

I had originally planned to walk there, which would have taken about two hours.

My destination—the heart of the capital. 

The orphanage was technically in the capital as well, but at the very edge of it. Even if one took a carriage, it would take over thirty minutes just to reach the center.

When I got off, a massive cathedral spiking into the heavens, not even comparable to the old orphanage, came into view along with bustling crowds and streets overflowing with life.

The sheer flood of information made me feel dizzy, but I had already visited this place before on a field trip, so I knew my way around somewhat.

I headed straight for the library. It wasn’t that far away, so it didn’t take me long before I reached a colossal curved building so huge it blocked the sun, rivaling even the greatest works of architecture I had seen on Earth.

The guards, who were chatting in front of the entrance, exchanged some glances when they saw me approach and crossed their spears.

“Halt, one moment. Who are you?” 

My mouth went dry. If I spoke, my voice would probably come out all shaky and pathetic. 

So I didn’t say a word.

Instead, I put on an annoyed expression and flicked my fingers as if to brush their spears aside.

At the same time, I moved the current. It was my first time using magic directly on others, so I wasn’t quite sure if it would work, but—

Swoosh–

The spears naturally parted, and though the guards tilted their heads in confusion, they still let me through.

“Huh… We weren’t expecting any visitors today…” 

“That’s because I didn’t announce it. Can I go in now?”

“Yes, of course.” 

The guards looked quite puzzled, but it seemed like they concluded that I was clearly a noble, having seen me use magic, so they opened the doors for me. 

Once inside the library, I finally had a moment to calm my trembling heart.

Phew, it worked. 

If it hadn’t, I would have just run for it using the escape routes I had already scouted beforehand.

Of course, getting in wasn’t the end. The inside, as befitting of a library, held nothing but mountains upon mountains of books. There also didn’t seem to be a soul here, so I couldn’t even hear the sounds of footsteps.

I let out a sigh as I looked up at the shelves towering ten times higher than my own head. If I had to search through them myself for what I was looking for, it would probably take at least a year.

I needed a librarian. Trotting along on my short legs toward the center, I saw a woman sitting at what appeared to be an information desk, lazily reading a book.

Casual clothes, silver-white hair that reached her waist, inky eyes, a somewhat weary-looking face, and… long ears.

An elf. The first non-human I had ever seen.

Even seeing her turning the pages of the book before her seemed to carry a different sort of grace from ordinary people. I swallowed, feeling like her presence alone was enough to keep others from carelessly speaking to her.

But what had to be done had to be done. 

I stepped forward and opened my mouth.

“Uhm—” 

“...?” 

When she heard my voice, the elf’s eyes that had been fixed on the book shifted to me.

“Are you… perhaps, the librarian?” 

I was supposed to speak condescendingly to her, considering who I was impersonating, but her aura simply didn’t allow it.

She stared at me quite intently for a while. 

Could it be that she wasn’t the librarian? Did I make a mistake perhaps? Was I screwed? These kinds of thoughts kept on filling my head until the elf finally closed her book and bowed her head.

“My apologies.” 

“Pardon?” 

“I was told no one would be coming today, so I acted quite rudely. My name is Dercia Aspandil.”

The elf lifted the hem of her skirt and bowed gracefully, her face still expressionless.

“How may I help you?” 

“E-erm…”

Everything seemed to be going smoothly. 

Or at least, that was what I thought— 

But for some reason, the elf’s completely unmoving expression made my heart sink as I slowly opened my mouth…

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