WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 207 - Blade (1)

Dercia’s workshop.

When I handed her the bottle containing the True Blood, she examined it from every angle with pure fascination.

"So this is the blood of a god?”

[Our creator.]

"Or so it says."

"Hmm..."

Letting out a thoughtful hum, she shrugged before replying.

"It’s worth researching. For now, though, I can’t distinguish it from ordinary blood.”

As she set the bottle down on the table, I finally gave the suggestion I had prepared.

"Why don’t you try drinking it?”

[Master, have you truly lost your mind?]

"...Why am I your master?”

[I abandoned being human and chose to become an object. The one who possesses an object is naturally its master.]

While I argued with Malo, Dercia tilted her head slightly.

"Jern. Are you trying to kill me?”

"What? No. I have no reason to do that.”

"Then I don’t understand why you’re suggesting I ingest a liquid that created such a monster. What’s your reasoning?”

"Malo said that the True Blood is able to grant wishes.”

It was a bit strange that the deep-sea creatures’ wish had been simply to see me, but considering that this creature had become a sacred relic, I suppose it wasn’t entirely wrong.

"You have a wish too, don't you, Master? Why not use this to reach the Heavenly Realm?”

[Why are you not telling her everything? True Blood is not a panacea that simply grants wishes. It forces you to abandon everything else…]

"That doesn’t matter to her. Right, Master?”

I met Dercia’s gaze calmly.

After spending so much time with her, I knew.

Dercia cared about nothing except magic. She might be helping me now on a whim, but her true goal had never changed.

And it never would.

"Isn’t it true that, to reach the end of magic, you’d be willing to sacrifice anything?”

"You know me well.”

Dercia lifted the bottle of True Blood with a serene expression and lightly swirled it.

"I appreciate the thought. But I cannot use it right now.”

"...What?"

"Because I cannot fully trust the words of that being.”

She glanced at Malo as she spoke.

"The nature of these sacred relics is suspicious. For now, I tolerate it because it benefits you, but if I had my way, I would very much like to dissect it and understand how it’s constructed.”

[I am made only of thread and blood. Even if you tear me apart…]

"Secondly, I can reach it without relying on something like this.”

It wasn’t mere pride, but certainty.

And not just any kind of certainty. Her words carried the tone of a teacher repeating something she had explained countless times before.

What she said sounded quite reasonable and believable. There was no way Dercia would trust the word of some shabby robe and drink an unknown liquid.

"Was that too arrogant of me?”

"No. If it’s you, master, then it makes sense. I think I was the one mistaken.”

"...For now, I’ll keep it. It feels like there might be some personal motive mixed in. Perhaps you thought that if I became a guardian of the Heavenly Realm, you might gain a way to escape the Abyssal Sea as well…but still, thank you.”

She had hit the nail on the head. As I gave her a sheepish smile, she stored the True Blood somewhere and spoke casually.

"And she has woken up. It seems she has a lot to say. Perhaps you should go calm her down.”

"Ah, already? Got it.”

I thought she’d be asleep much longer. She really had grown.

No matter how much I thanked Elisia, it wouldn’t be enough. Just as I hurried to leave, Dercia called out to me.

"Jern, and…”

"Yes?"

"..."

She hesitated for a moment, choosing her words, then shook her head.

"It’s nothing.”

* * *

To reach the pinnacle of magic.

Since when had she held that thought?

'I’ve sometimes heard some people say that the goal becomes blurred within the process…'

Unfortunately, Dercia was not the kind of elf to whom such ordinary perspectives applied.

She recorded everything down to the minute and second, and she remembered exactly what had driven her to pursue the ultimate peak of magic.

An unwavering resolve she had formed when she was still inexperienced and naive.

—To never go against her own nature.

'Did I think that was foolish…?'

She let a drop of True Blood fall onto the book in front of her, recalling old memories.

When all elves came to realize that, given enough time, they would inevitably descend into madness and become monsters that would destroy the world…

When they realized they were beings with no value in living…

They chose a peace worse than death. They entrusted their lives to a single elf and wished for a savior—someone of their own kind who would one day say it was okay for them to live, someone who would prove their worth simply by existing.

They wished for someone else to bear the burden for them.

Dercia despised that more than anything.

"Hmm..."

Her thoughts halted as she looked at the writhing book before her.

She immediately sealed the surroundings and focused completely on the book, which had just begun to move.

All the ink on its pages gathered together and vanished, leaving behind nothing but blank pages.

No matter which page she turned, there was no text.

It didn’t seem alive. Remembering Jern’s words about how this liquid could grant wishes, she flipped through the pages again.

[In the underground of the Violet Magic Tower, there exist creatures formed by combining humans and animals.]

And she realized her hypothesis was correct.

The book wanted to be read. That was its purpose. Its role was to be read by someone and spread information.

The creator’s blood had granted that wish—

Whatever was thought or asked, it would answer.

One could praise this as divine grace…but unfortunately, since it could not describe what those creatures actually looked like, it was ultimately an imperfect sacred relic that could only produce answers based on the reader’s own knowledge.

In the end, it was nothing more than a fake book that simply reiterated what was already known.

If all the True Blood were poured into it, perhaps it could become a truly omniscient sacred relic—

But now that she understood the nature of this blood, she couldn’t use it for something like that.

"..."

Dercia looked at the bottle containing the True Blood.

The lid was already open from when she had taken a drop earlier.

If she drank it, she could achieve it.

She recalled a time when she swore that even if she became broken, she would reach it. That living in a proper state was not the only path. She had once sworn to prove that.

She was certain she would reach the Heavenly Realm someday—

But if she could shorten that tedious journey, why shouldn’t she?

Dercia’s hand slowly moved toward the bottle.

"Hmm."

But instead of lifting it to drink, she turned a page.

[If you reach the end of magic, it will no longer be necessary.]

The book answered using knowledge she already possessed.

Beside it lay the deep-sea creature bestiary that Jern had written.

Her contemplation lasted a long time. She stared at the bottle for nearly an hour.

-Click.

The conclusion she had come to led her to close the lid.

At this point, how elves lived no longer mattered to her.

With a faint smile, she opened the bestiary and flipped to the last page, where the grotesque illustration of the ‘barnacle’ was drawn. She frowned when it entered her view.

'His drawing skill…'

Jern was always improving.

Though this time, it was a completely unnecessary form of improvement.

* * *

After becoming genuinely helpful to me, Elisia had grown incredibly motivated.

"S-so, erm…I was beaten a lot when I was younger…and then…um…”

"What were you beaten with? A club? A spear? A sword? Arrows?”

"Erm, well, u-usually with liquor bottles?”

"Wine? Beer? They were made out of glass, right? How thick were they?”

As a result, Sunken Mire was currently suffering quite a bit…

But surprisingly, now that she was being treated entirely like an experimental subject, she seemed somewhat satisfied with her current life.

I had played a role in that. Since I found out that she would always be able to escape no matter where we locked her up, our approach had shifted to persuasion instead of torture or threats.

She eagerly accepted. And thus, she became something like a prisoner, or rather, a servant that had to respond whenever she was summoned…

And now, she was enduring Elisia’s barrage of questions, clearly flustered.

"Hmm, I see, I see…”

Elisia, who was filled to the brim with enthusiasm, wrote down everything Sunken Mire said. After thinking for a long time, she finally nodded.

"Then now, try using your ability on me!”

"Th-then won’t I die?”

Sunken Mire asked nervously, sitting in a nearby chair and glancing toward me, who casually had my hand dipped in a water canteen, as if asking for help.

"I won’t kill you. Just don’t cross the line.”

"What line?”

"Figure it out yourself."

"H-hnnng..."

With a frightened expression, Sunken Mire cautiously glanced at Elisia’s feet.

Then, the ground softened, turning mushy, and her feet slightly sank into it.

"Whoa! What is this? The ground is all soft! It’s kind of sticky too…”

Startled, Elisia flailed around, then quickly composed herself and put on a serious expression.

"Ahem. Anyway, good. I think I get it now. Okay, try putting your foot in too.”

"Okaaay..."

Sunken Mire immediately plunged her foot into the ground.

There was quite a height difference between them, but now they were at the same eye level.

Elisia closed her eyes and murmured something.

"Swamp, swamp, swamp…”

"...Huh?"

On the surface, nothing seemed to change—

But the ground beneath Elisia no longer shook.

As if the construction had been done incorrectly, only footprints remained, while the ground solidified.

Elisia, looking slightly exhausted, still smiled proudly.

"It worked! Success!”

"W-wooow! It really did! My legs won’t move…they won’t move?”

"Impressive.”

She had completely countered it.

She understood Sunken Mire and erased the concept of a ‘swamp.’ As a result, Sunken Mire was effectively trapped in a prison of solid marble.

"U-um. How do I get out of this?”

"I really get it now!”

Elisia skipped over, proudly explaining her realization.

"I hug and pull the person I touch!”

"Pull them?”

"Yeah. Like, people in bad worlds, like you, Jern, or other Fallen. I just pull them out like this and bring them to where I am!”

"Could you maybe pull me out too…?”

Ignoring Sunken Mire’s pleas, I nodded.

"I see. Pulling, huh…That’s better than calling it severing.”

It was closer to guidance than severance. Of course, that was just how she interpreted it, but it suited her much better.

"Well done. You’ve improved a lot.”

"Hehe."

More than anything, Elisia was improving at an incredible speed.

Even now, it had taken her less than 30 minutes to understand and guide Sunken Mire’s world. At this rate, she might do it in just a few minutes soon.

The only drawback was that it didn’t last, but even that might be solved eventually. As I patted her head proudly, she looked at me curiously.

"What about you, Jern?”

"...Doesn’t seem to work.”

The water in the canteen was the same temperature as before.

No, if anything, it actually felt a bit warmer…

I tried every method I could think of, but I couldn’t obtain the power of Absolute Frost.

"I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do.”

There was nothing left in Decay’s body.

Naturally, there were no clues to activate the power of Absolute Frost either. In the end, all I could do was keep my hand dipped in the canteen like this and try things until something changed.

Deep-sea creatures would gradually acquire the power of Absolute Frost, but if I alone showed no progress, it would just mean I was increasing my own burdens for nothing.

As I spoke bitterly, Elisia carefully looked at me and tried to encourage me.

"But it’ll work out in the end! You’re smart after all, Jern!”

"Thanks for the kind words.”

"Ah, then do you want to go out for a change of pace?”

"...Change of pace? Where?”

"They’re holding some kind of event in the capital! There’s a play and a special market too! Do you want to go check it out?”

Elisia looked rather excited. It seemed like she really wanted to go.

Still, it’s not like staying here would solve anything, and I wanted to indulge her as much as I could.

So I nodded.

"Well, staying like this won’t get anything done anyway…”

Before I even finished speaking, Elisia hurriedly packed her bag and dashed outside.

"H-hey, me too…”

It was a bright, sunny day.

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