Wizard of the Abyss - Chapter 23

WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 23 - Rising Above (6)

The prison seemed even worse from the corridor.

Puddles of rotting water collected here and there, creating a humid, almost sticky, uncomfortable atmosphere.

The lanterns that were connecting the dark prison cells and the corridors seemed like they were about to go out. Decaying corpses and bones were scattered everywhere in the other cells.

There was no way that those noble brats would be able to bear this place.

To no one’s surprise, the kids were basically begging me to let them out as fast as possible.

"A-answer me now! How did you get out?!”

"If you want to know, just shut up.”

"Why..."

"Shh."

Instead of answering, I simply glared at Hughins.

At the same time, I could hear a strange growling coming from the side.

"Grrrrouh..."

"Hiek—"

Hughins, who’d been shouting at me nonstop, turned as pale as a ghost and finally clamped that damn mouth of his shut. Judging by how his legs were trembling, it seemed like the time those mummies snatched him up became some sort of trauma for him.

... By the way, hadn’t that guy seen me before? I was ready to play dumb with all my might if he did recognize me, but it seemed like he didn’t.

Well, who’d expect a commoner wearing noble clothes to act so brazen, right?

While the other children were all cowering in a similar way, barely able to breathe—

"Umm..."

Only Elisia let out a short gasp, shocked at seeing me here.

She was clearly thinking something like, “Why are you here?” So I winked at her to signal her to keep quiet.

I had to take control of this situation, so things would turn really annoying if Elisia were to reveal that I was actually just a janitor.

"..."

She seemed to understand what I was getting at, seeing that she was nodding hard and kept her mouth shut. How cute.

"Grrroo?”

Not long after, a mummy appeared.

I met its eyes. I was certain they wouldn’t really care about me anyway.

"..."

I was able to confirm my hypothesis pretty quickly.

Despite a prisoner obviously standing outside of his cell, the mummy simply trudged along, instead of roaring or lunging at me.

This meant those things hadn’t been ordered to recapture any child that escaped. Apparently, whoever was controlling those things hadn’t even considered the possibility that the children, made unable to use their magic, could escape.

What an unexpected stroke of luck. Instead of provoking the thing, I just stayed still as the children, more frightened than anything, gestured towards me.

"Y-you hurry… Quick! Run away! Anywhere is fine!”

"C-can you go back in? You’ll die if you stay there!”

"Why?”

"Why? Because… that’s an enemy!”

"Don’t overthink it. It’s just a puppet.”

The mummy slowly walked past me.

In the process, one of its hands brushed my head. A hand that had been able to even make short work of Knight. I was sure it could easily crush a child’s skull in an instant.

Of course, I wasn’t the least bit shaken.

"...Huh?"

The children looked at me with great astonishment.

"See? I’m fine.”

"H-how did you know…?”

"I observed them. They’re like machines that only carry out whatever they are ordered to do. There’s no need to be so scared of them.”

The moment all their attention was gathered completely on me, I explained my plan to the now silent children.

"As you have probably figured out by now, we've been kidnapped by some unknown organization. Does anyone here have an idea why?”

"...I don’t know.”

"If anything, no matter how trivial it is, comes to your mind, please let me know. Identifying our enemy is of great importance.”

"Ah! Maybe…”

One of the noble kids raised his hand, wearing an anxious face.

"My father… once took over a little mill by force…”

"Hmm, I doubt that the mill owner would be so stupid as to kidnap this many noble children just for something like that.”

"My father once took bribes to hand contracts to a mercenary group…!”

"...No, I don’t mean stuff like that. Something bigger.”

"My mother’s having an affair with Marquis Darphan!”

"I mean, that’s big, but…”

"What? With my father??”

"..."

This has suddenly turned into some sort of confession time.

But none of the things they told me about had been worth kidnapping all these noble children over.

...Well, I did find out some unexpected things. I’d learned a whole bunch of dirt on a ton of noble families that only close family members would know.

That might be useful for later. Clearing my throat, I calmed the children, who were still spilling all their family secrets.

"I get it. So there must be another, unrelated reason.”

So the only information I could use was the stuff I had heard directly.

Scarlet Abyss.

I had come across that strange name twice recently. Those bastards were probably behind all this.

Well, I wasn’t especially curious about them. It was pretty clear that they were complete lunatics, seeing that they were kidnapping nobles, children even, so their goals probably weren’t anything worth finding out.

What mattered now was escaping. If they were crazy enough to pull shit like that, I highly doubt that their goal was a ransom.

Of course, I didn’t tell the kids all that. They’d just panic unnecessarily.

Instead, I just calmly continued to explain things to the kids.

"Let’s get out of here first. That Faris guy, or whatever his name was, should still be busy fighting the teachers. We'll just have to get out while he’s still away. If he comes back, then all our hope is lost.”

"We know that! First, do something about these bars!”

"But I can’t take everyone with me.”

"...?"

I continued to explain patiently to the gaping children.

"These sealing collars around your necks, or whatever they’re called, are suppressing your magic. Like this you’re nothing more than kids, so you won’t be much of a help.”

"You’re also wearing a collar! So how are you any different?”

"Yeah."

Whoosh–! I lifted the child who had said that using my current before setting him down again.

The reaction that caused was explosive. The kids were so shocked I was worried they might faint.

"Telekinesis…? Wh-who are you??”

"How did you learn telekinesis at that age?? Even my dad can’t do that!”

"Do you get it now? To be honest, I’d rather leave all of you here and just go on my own. That’s why I’ll only take those with me who meet my requirements.”

The moment I said that, all the children’s eyes darted around nervously.

Even though they were young, these nobles were quick to catch on. They were kidnapped, stuck in an utterly hopeless situation, with a mage capable of using Telekinesis among them, and now they were forced into a selection.

The kids who had been silent up until now were now busy showing off their own worth one by one in that instant.

"My father owns the rights to a mine.”

"My mother owns the rights to a river!”

"I-I don’t know who you are, but if you take me with you, I’ll definitely make sure that you’ll receive a generous compensation!”

"I don’t need any of that.”

I shook my head.

"There are still a lot of mummies roaming around outside. I don't know the full layout of this place yet. No matter what happens, you will have to obey my orders. That’s the first condition.”

"I’ll listen, I swear!”

"And no matter what happens in here, you won’t complain about it later once we’re outside. That’s the second. Can you do that as well?”

"Y-yeah!”

"Good. Then, if someone here doesn’t want to adhere to these conditions and would rather stay in this damp prison and get eaten by those mummies, take a step back.”

None of them stepped back.

Of course, they wouldn’t. Well, I never planned on only taking some of them anyway. If I were going to save them, it would be all of them.

I gave them a stern look and demanded that they swear that they’d keep what they promised here.

"In that case, all of you will follow my lead, understood?”

"Yes!!”

"Alright."

Clank! I pulled away the bars I had worked to remove earlier.

"Come out one at a time.”

The children quickly left the cell through the hole and gathered in front of me.

I was a bit taken aback at how they were looking at me right now, but it was understandable, I guess.

They were in an unfamiliar place that might as well be hell to them. They probably needed someone to lean on right now.

"Then let’s go. I can find the way out with my magic, so don’t worry.”

"O-okay. But…”

While I was talking, one of the kids raised their hand.

It was Hughins. Where did the arrogant brat from earlier go? His voice was extremely meek and cautious.

"Do you have a question?”

"Y-yeah. Which house might you be from?”

"..."

And of course, it was something I couldn’t answer.

But the others were also looking at me curiously, nodding slowly.

"I haven’t heard of anyone our age having gone past elemental magic. I mean, is that even possible?”

"It isn’t. If it were, then our families would have known about it…”

"So which family are you from?”

"Hmm, it seems like I haven’t told you yet, huh?”

The moment I showed signs that I was about to tell them, all their attention focused back on me.

I lifted one of my fingers and smiled faintly.

"The third condition is that you aren’t to ask me about that.”

"..."

Thank God I still had the upper hand here.

* * *

The underground prison was literally that.

'...Just how did the guards even live here?'

I walked down the dark, humid corridor, wearing a puzzled expression. The children followed me close behind, desperately afraid of getting left behind.

I didn’t have any room to relax. This place was littered with traps.

And they were extremely vicious as well. Just one step meant instant death.

"Huh, a fork in the road.”

"I can feel wind coming from this direction. That means the exit has to be that way… Let’s go!”

"No. We’re going left.”

"B-but the walls over there are smeared with blood! That means danger is waiting that way!”

"You remember the conditions, right?”

"Uuurgh..."

I easily suppressed the small dispute and headed for the left path.

If we had turned right, we would have ended up in pitch-black darkness with the floor giving way for an endless abyss.

Whoever was in the lead would inevitably fall in. That was what would have happened.

'What would I have done without my Tide Sense…’

I sighed in relief.

In other words, as long as I had my Tide Sense, I was practically invincible in this area.

"Don’t step there. There’s some sort of switch under the floor.”

"How did you know…? Y-you’re not working with the kidnappers, are you?!”

And so I was met with these kinds of ridiculous suspicions.

"Hmm, try sticking your hand in your robe and holding up some fingers.”

"...?"

"7. Now 4. You just changed it to 2."

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! H-how are you doing this? Clairvoyance? It’s clairvoyance, right?!”

"Put your hands behind your back now and try again. 5, 6, 0."

"..................Wow."

However, once I did a quick demonstration of my Tide Sense, all their doubts vanished.

Before long, we reached a collapsed bridge that we absolutely had to cross.

Below it was a dark abyss from which I could hear some occasional creaking and scraping sounds. I didn’t even bother spreading my Tide Sense down there. I didn’t even want to know what was down there.

The kids huddled together to brainstorm some ideas to get us through this desperate situation.

"How about I hold your legs, and you hold hers, and we make some sort of human ladder, then toss someone across?”

"I am so not getting thrown, you hear!!”

Well, not that I expected much.

"...There’s no need for that. Come here.”

"Huh?”

I grabbed one of the confused children—

Threw them straight up.

"Kyaaaaaaaah!!!!”

The first one I threw was Elisia.

I could only toss a child maybe like 10 meters without any help.

But I sure could carry her forward with my current. Elisia shot through the air like a bullet and safely landed on the other side as softly as a feather.

The instant she realized she was safe and sound, she stomped her feet.

"Wooow! Can we do that again?”

"No."

And that was how we advanced through the prison until we finally found our way upward.

And that was when I overheard the kids whispering among each other. And it wasn’t about just anything.

"So that’s what a real wizard’s like…”

“How can there be such a huge difference between us when we’re the same age?”

"Who could he be?”

It felt like they were trying to burn holes into my head with how intensely they stared at me with awe.

They probably thought they were being sneaky whispering like that, but since the prison was dead silent, I could hear even the slightest sound.

Not finding any reason to stop them, I just let them continue. Until Hughins suddenly spoke up, seemingly having come to a great realization, his voice dripping with respect.

"Do you idiots still not get it?”

"Hughins? Do you know who he is then?”

"He? Hey, watch your tongue. He’s obviously the Crown Prince.”

"...?"

What the hell was this idiot even talking about?

Hughins was slowly and steadily explaining his nonsense to the others.

"I mean, think about it. He’s not attending any classes at the Academy, which is the best in the Empire… Why do you think that is? It means he’s being taught directly by an Imperial court mage, so someone more skilled than anyone that can be found at the Academy.”

"Isn’t that a bit of a stretch? I’ve never heard of a Crown Prince even existing.”

"They probably just kept him hidden away up until now. He was probably just caught up in all of this while separately testing himself at the Regenstone. Bad luck, that’s all it was. There’s no other explanation.”

"...I guess?"

"Just look at that magic. How could he still be so overwhelmingly powerful while wearing the sealing collar? Only someone of imperial blood, the Crown Prince, could have such absurd levels of talent.”

Hughins kept glancing towards me passionately while talking, like some crazed fan meeting their favorite idol.

"That unique, yet distinctive outfit. That handsome face… He’s definitely the Crown Prince.”

...Should I just toss this brat into some pit and leave?

I had been wondering why he was bullying Elisia so much, but it turned out that he was just intensely worshipping pure-blooded nobles or something.

We really needed to get out of here quickly. Thankfully, I could finally sense the ground above us.

That was the first piece of good news I got in this godforsaken pit, so I passed it along.

"We’ll be out soon. By now the Knights should be swarming this whole place, so once we’re outside, scream for help.”

"Really?! Phew… I thought we were going to die in this place.”

"Thank the gods…"

"And I hope you remember what I said. Whatever happened down here—”

I froze mid-sentence.

A red fog began to seep into my vision.