Wizard of the Abyss - Chapter 202

WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 202 - Journey (8)

Unfortunately, Malo didn’t remember everything about the past.

From the beginning it had been created as a tool. It was essentially nothing more than an emergency measure in case something went wrong. In other words, it was basically just a wind-up doll in the form of a robe.

Even so, it clearly possessed intelligence.

[I awaken from hibernation when I come into contact with the blood of a Fallen. That is how I was designed.]

"Why that method of all things? Wouldn’t it have been easier if you were awake from the start?”

Growing by consuming the blood of Fallen was an extremely, extremely inefficient method. That kind of blood wasn’t exactly common, and I had simply mistaken it for an ordinary robe and put it on.

Malo let out something that sounded like a sigh, as if it couldn’t be helped.

[Because I was created as a living being. All life must consume something and slowly die as its lifespan is spent. No matter how long-lived a species is, they can’t escape this chain. Not even worlds.]

"Even so, there was no reason to make you consume the blood of Fallen specifically. Wouldn’t something like water have been enough?”

[If Scarlet Abyss could appear at any moment, merely remaining alive would only be a meaningless waste of life. My creator predicted that the world would one day be drenched in slaughter with the rise of Scarlet Abyss. Therefore, I was designed to awaken when a mage wearing a sacred relic defeated a Fallen and stained the relic with their blood.]

"I see."

Since Scarlet Abyss is entirely composed of Fallen, that made sense.

In other words, they were designed in a way that if a True-Blood Factor naturally wore a relic and defeated a Fallen of Scarlet Abyss in battle, it would awaken, creating a hero.

"Then all of you must take forms useful to wizards. Otherwise there’d be no reason for wizards to use you in battle.”

[Correct. I am a robe. The corpse of the companion I had no choice but to consume in order to regain my ability to act was a staff.]

"You’re telling me that tree root was a staff?”

[It had disguised itself as a forest. Even in its final moments it avoided Scarlet Abyss’ notice and sacrificed itself so that its death would be passed to us. Thanks to that, I recovered enough strength to speak to you.]

"It would’ve been nice if it had survived.”

[They are all dead. At least their situation is worse than mine. We were born together, so I can tell. But…]

After drinking so much blood. Malo could now form words much more fluently.

[…Is this really the right time for you to be chatting with me?]

"Hm.”

So much for escaping reality.

Still hanging upside down by a rope, I forced myself to look at the scene I had been trying to ignore.

"Stop it! I hate this! She’s totally a witch! Not an elf!”

"While you resist, Jern will only suffer more terrible pain. The only thing you can do is open your eyes wide and witness this tragedy.”

"Aaaaaaargh! No! Stop it already!”

Malo had awakened because it drank blood.

And the blood used as the catalyst wasn’t the blood of another Fallen. It was my blood.

The reason was simple—

Dercia was torturing me while hanging me upside down.

...Right in front of Elisia.

"Master. Are we really sure this is the right method? Because I honestly have no idea.”

"Jern. What you must do right now is scream as if you are in unbearable pain.”

"...A-aah. It hurts. It’s agonizing.”

“He said it hurts!!”

Watching Elisia sobbing loudly with tears and snot running down her face, I sighed and used the currents to carefully write words on Dercia’s back.

[I’ll read your lips, so just say it. Is this really a process that will help Elisia?]

[Yes. Probably.]

[In what way?]

[This is my theory, but if I were to describe the ability this child possesses in a single word…it would be ‘severance.’]

Dercia calmly grabbed Elisia by the back of her neck as she ran toward me with tear-filled eyes and spoke coldly.

[It is an extremely pure and brutally simple ability. She cuts away what she hates. She believed magic was connected to her mother’s death, so she cut it away. When she saw other Fallen suffering from their worlds, she decided she hated those worlds and temporarily severed them as well.]

[At this rate, won’t Elisia sever you too, Master?]

[I have not lived such a trivial life that a child like her could sever it. What we are doing now is merely to determine whether my theory is correct. And besides, the blood was yours, wasn’t it?]

[I was bored just hanging here.]

Dercia had only intended to pretend to torture me, but simply being tied up felt too dull, so I cut myself and summoned Malo with my own blood.

As a result, Elisia’s panic had only grown worse. While I sighed at the miserable scene, my head suddenly began to drop downward.

"...This is—”

"Uwaaargh!”

-Thud!

The moment my head touched the floor, Elisia rushed toward me and collapsed.

"...!"

"...Snore..."

Thinking something had gone wrong, I hurriedly cut the rope and caught her just before her head could hit the ground.

Dercia approached with an intrigued expression. She snapped her fingers once, and all the marks left on my body vanished. Then she looked at the end of the rope and nodded as if she had expected it.

"What was that?"

"This rope wasn’t actually tied to the ceiling. I had suspended it using a 4th-rank spell. That Child severed it.”

"Hmm, so then…”

"Yes. That proves my hypothesis once again. This child truly does possess the ability to sever what she hates.”

"...Impressive.”

Elisia hated seeing me in pain and wished for me to fall from the rope.

As a result, she severed the magic holding the rope in place. She had used so much energy doing so that she fainted.

When I picked Elisia up in a princess carry, Dercia looked at her with the expression of someone staring at treasure, smiling deeply.

"A mechanism different from magic—truly an ability engraved in her blood itself. A power inherited from bloodline to bloodline. In fact, it may be more accurate to consider them a species entirely separate from humans.”

"If not human, then what are they?”

"If I had to give a name to their species…perhaps 'wizard' would be the only appropriate one. It may even be that wizards like us are just imitations…”

Dercia murmured while rubbing her chin, seemingly deep in thought.

"Jern. It seems we must make this young wizard hate the Abyssal Sea.”

"...Hate it?”

"Yes. Hate it. If we make her harbor an extremely intense hatred toward it, then just as you said, you should be able to escape the Abyssal Sea, if only for a moment. The possibilities would be endless.”

Dercia came to the same conclusion as I did about Elisia’s ability.

But I trailed off with a bitter expression.

"Hmm…”

"Is there a problem?”

"I understand what you’re saying. If Elisia truly comes to hate the Abyssal Sea intensely, then she could sever it. But I don’t think that’s possible.”

Looking at the sleeping Elisia, I let out a sigh.

"If she saw me crushed to death by the Abyssal Sea right in front of her, she might deeply hate it in that moment, but deliberately letting myself get crushed just to escape the Abyssal Sea would be absurd. And even if we stage something like we did now, it would only work once or twice before she catches on. Most importantly, this child just isn’t that ruthless.”

Elisia couldn’t even treat children who hated her harshly.

Her nature was simply kind and gentle. Even if it were an inanimate object, she would find it hard to truly hate it.

"That’s a reasonable point.”

Dercia seemed to think about it for a moment, likely because she knew Elisia’s personality as well—

Then she answered as if it were nothing.

"Then we simply need to create a reason.”

"...A reason?”

"Yes. You said she developed trauma toward magic after her mother’s death, right? Because of that, she created a small area where the magic surrounding her was faintly severed for several years.”

While gently stroking Elisia’s hair with a loving hand, she murmured quietly.

"If we create a situation similar to that—though not exactly the same—then we could make her hate the Abyssal Sea for years, no, perhaps for the rest of her life with a single performance.”

I was at a complete loss for words. Malo, who apparently hadn’t fallen asleep yet, rubbed its collar together softly so that Dercia wouldn’t hear.

[...The reason I hate elves is because my creator designed me that way.]

"...”

[Now you can probably guess why, right?]

...For once, I couldn’t bring myself to argue back.

* * *

"Absolutely not. If you’re going to do anything, you must get my permission first. I mean it.”

Inside the carriage.

After making Dercia promise multiple times that she would discuss and plan things with me properly before acting, and after quickly dropping off Elisia at Aletus’ mansion so she wouldn’t even get the chance to lay a finger on her, we were on our way back.

I had almost forgotten because of her recent heroic deeds and the softer way she had been treating me, but Dercia was actually a pretty unhinged elf.

Still, since she agreed without much resistance, it was probably something she had just mentioned casually.

[Elves have always been like that. You’d do well not to trust them.]

"She’s not like that every day…though it does happen a lot.”

After replying with a sigh, we continued riding the carriage back toward the library.

Noticing that Malo had been awake for much longer than expected, I asked curiously.

"By the way, how are you still awake? Shouldn’t you be turning back into a normal robe by now?”

[...?]

Malo shook its collar as if it had only just realized the same thing.

[That—is strange. Why have I been awake for this long…? Ah!]

It trailed off mid-sentence and suddenly shouted in surprise.

"What happened?”

[Th-this—was it right under the lampshade this whole time…?]

"??"

As I tilted my head in confusion, Malo answered as if dumbfounded by this situation.

[Do you have something urgent to do right now?]

"Well, I was planning to look for some fairy tale books at the library…”

The fairy tale from Iavon had contained hints about Malo—that is, about sacred relics.

Which meant similar stories might exist in other fairy tales as well. I was planning to search for them immediately, but at least checking seemed worthwhile.

Malo shook its collar vigorously in denial.

[Unless it’s truly urgent, listen to me. The greatest force that moves me isn’t the blood of the Fallen, but the blood of my creator. The Fallen can move me only because their blood is an imperfect form of my creator’s blood.]

"So what? Are you trying to say that my blood is your creator’s blood?”

[No, no…sacred relics. Sacred relics like me are made from the creator’s blood. The blood of the companion you consumed is his blood.]

"I see. So what? That’s basically the same thing.”

[...You’ve eaten someone from the Upper Tier before, haven’t you?]

"I have."

Puppet and Decay. Both were sleeping in my Abyssal Sea.

Come to think of it, I still needed to find Decay as well. While I was thinking about that, Malo continued seriously.

[A tiny amount of relic blood is mixed into your blood right now. That’s why I was able to move for so long after drinking your blood.]

"...Wait, don’t tell me…”

As I frowned, having realized what that implied, Malo nodded as if confirming it.

"...?"

[Jern]