WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 29 - Growth (4)

As expected, Dercia, a 9-star wizard, wasn’t that easy to deal with.

"...Allow me to correct two things.”

She immediately cleared her throat and fixed a stern expression on her face as she retorted.

"First, ‘adoption’ wasn’t part of our deal. I said I’d merely take you as my disciple, nothing more.”

"Wouldn’t adopting me make it easier if you’re going to take me as your disciple? Otherwise, I’d still be tied to the orphanage legally. Won’t there be issues?”

"The law can’t bind me. And besides, shouldn’t you have realized by the fact that I hadn’t come to find you? I have yet to hear any rumors about you.”

"Really?”

"...I’ve merely heard mention of the thirtieth child who saved the other noble children. However, I only came to know about this since I asked. In other words, this doesn’t count.”

How strict.

Well, she’d definitely hear of me though when it was announced that I would be Elisia’s teacher. It was only a matter of time.

Dercia sighed as she turned her attention back to her book.

"So, why have you suddenly come here, saying all this nonsense…? And who is that child behind you?”

"Elisa, come introduce yourself.”

"Uugh…”

Elisia took a few hesitant steps forward before bowing her head.

"H-hello… My name is Elisia…”

"She’s your grand-disciple.”

"I believe I told you that you are not yet my disciple?"

"She has a rather unique gift, so I brought her here, thinking that she might catch your interest. You like interesting things, right, Dercia? That’s why you took a liking to me.”

"Hmm..."

I felt confident. I knew for a fact that Dercia was thirsty for any type of new knowledge.

But—all she did was let out a hum and curl up her lips in a rather mocking manner.

"Jern. It seems you still don’t understand yourself that well, do you?”

"...?"

What was she talking about?

"You said I like interesting things. While that is an extreme oversimplification, but… indeed, it is the truth. I think of myself as a book, and a book exists for the sole purpose of recording.”

What a strange way of thinking. Were all elves like that?

"I seek out what I favor. In my thousand years of life, I have recorded countless things. I have seen a lot and taken in even more. Because of that, I can now understand things even if they are unknown to me.”

When she suddenly stopped talking, she fixed her clouded eyes on me.

"But I cannot grasp a single thing about you. How you became like this. How you are able to wield this world’s magic while belonging to another. How… you think. Nothing about you.”

"Hmm, so in other words—you’re not interested in anyone but me.”

"For now, yes.”

Dercia calmly said words that one might expect to come out of a stalker's mouth before taking a sip of her coffee.

Having heard these words, I thought to myself that I should make it a habit to carry a whistle to call the Imperial Guard whenever I went to go see her. Still, I tried my damndest to promote Elisia.

"But she’s still pretty amazing, you know? She rejects magic, or rather, she nullifies it.”

"Anti-magic? Magic suppression? I understood all those concepts more than a hundred years ago. It’s nothing that would impress me, even if she had such an ability.”

"What if I told you that she might fall into the Abyss soon?”

"That is vaguely interesting. I’ll check later.”

"..."

She didn’t really seem interested, though.

I guess there was no way around it. I had brought those things to win her favor originally, but it seemed like I had to use them for a different purpose now.

"Wait a second.”

"?"

I went back to the carriage and took out the grimoires I had brought along from the storehouse just in case.

"Then let’s make a deal. These are grimoires kept by a noble family. If you just take a quick look at her, I’ll let you read them.”

“Do you really think I wouldn’t have read these already? Even if they were kept in a noble’s storehouse, I’ve almost seen every single one of them. And unfortunately for you, I have indeed read every single one you brought with you before.”

Dercia rested her chin on one hand as she gazed at me intently.

"Almost every single one?”

"Yes. That’s right. Are you curious about that? I already read through every grimoire owned by the Lightrod family. Even if you bring me others, the result stays the same.”

"That’s good news.”

"...What?”

"You said that you read ‘almost’ every single one, which means that you didn’t read every single one, right?”

"That is true.”

“You wouldn’t know this, since you said you haven’t ‘heard’ anything about it, but coincidentally I’m currently in a position where many noble families owe me favors since I saved their children.”

"...."

At that, Dercia’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"They wouldn’t find it too difficult to lend me, their children’s savior, a few grimoires from their storerooms, don’t you think? So, why don’t you just write down the ones you’d like to read, and I’ll only ask for those?”

I placed a sheet of paper and a pen on the desk before Dercia, meeting her gaze wearing a smirk.

I could see a trace of satisfaction in her eyes. It seemed that this had been some kind of test.

"You have quite the silver tongue.”

"This is all for survival.”

Then, as she quickly snapped her finger, Elisia, who had been fidgeting nervously a distance away, was dragged over to where we stood.

It was as if she had been yanked over by some sort of invisible rope.

"Kyah!”

"Explain. You say she can interfere with the flow of magic?”

"Ah, yes.”

I cast an elemental spell and showed her how it broke down.

"This is what happens. Can you… see the flow?”

"You have already reached that stage? That’s quite fast.”

"I only heard of it today, that’s all.”

Dercia watched closely, then turned her gaze to Elisia.

"Elisia, was it?"

"Yes..."

"Would you mind sharing your enlightenment with me?”

"What? Wh-what’s an enlightenment?”

"It’s the laws by which your inner world is shaped. Something you should never reveal to another wizard. However, this time I need to hear about it though.”

"..."

I shot Dercia a glare.

She, however, just shrugged lightly as if to tell me that Elisia didn’t have to tell her if she didn’t want to.

"I can’t help unless I hear it.”

"N-no. I can tell you. But… I don’t really know what it really is…”

Dercia reassured Elisia, seeing her anxious face.

"It’s nothing much. Just answer a few of my questions.”

"Okay..."

"Elisia, do you believe magic truly exists?”

"...?"

What kind of question was that?

Elicia looked just as confused as I felt but answered anyway.

"Yes, of course. My father is a wizard too.”

"Then do you think that magic is a natural phenomenon?”

"..."

This time Elisia couldn’t answer.

She soundlessly moved her lips, then her face twisted in confusion, as if she couldn’t explain why she couldn’t answer herself.

"I-I don’t know. It doesn’t seem natural…”

"Hmm."

Dercia glanced at me and smiled faintly.

"You’re definitely in quite the precarious state. If she had answered yes to the first question, I would have told you to prepare her funeral…”

"Alright! Elisia, why don’t you go to the carriage and rest for a moment? I’ll stay here with Master to get your prescription.”

"O-okay!”

Once Elisia left the library, I glared at Dercia.

"She’s still a child. You shouldn’t say stuff like that in front of her.”

"My apologies. The human child I usually interact with treats their own death quite lightly, so it seems I slipped.”

"..."

I was speechless.

Dercia took out a piece of paper and scribbled a note on it as she continued speaking slowly.

"She hasn’t fallen yet. However, I can’t deny that she is at risk.”

"Can she recover?”

"Recover…”

She let out a laugh, as if she was completely dumbfounded by the mere idea.

"All living beings age over time. Their vitality drains until they reach the point of death. Whether they are short-lived or long-lived, everyone fears and tries to evade their inevitable end. Do you believe a single person ever managed to do it?”

"No."

"Exactly. Aging isn't something that can be cured. It’s a natural phenomenon, a law of this world. That child’s world was simply created in such a manner. Changing a world is completely impossible. All she can do is adapt to it.”

"Ah, right.”

How absurd.

"Then will she be able to adapt?”

"That child rejects magic. She has already formed the enlightenment of hatred toward magic without even realizing it herself.”

"Hatred?"

"Yes. Since she is such an innocent and gentle soul, she hasn’t even realized her own hatred. As long as this aspect remains the same, she won’t fall. However, if she wishes to improve her condition, then she will have to overcome her own pain.”

"Hmm… I see.”

Her mother.

I should probably try asking Elisia about her sometime.

As I was thinking about this and that, Dercia suddenly said something quite strange.

"Are you planning on making her your comrade?”

"...What?"

"I’m asking if you intend to make her fall.”

"..."

I stared at her, trying to figure out whether I heard right.

"Don’t get so mad. I’m simply confirming the facts. Didn’t you say you’d do anything to survive?”

"I did."

"You’ve found a rather amusing possibility, haven’t you? To use her power of rejection to lighten your burden… Isn’t that what you were thinking?”

"That is also true.”

"There’s a far simpler and easier method than developing her power.”

Dercia whispered like she was the devil herself and not an elf.

"Make her fall and turn her into a comrade. Fill the void in your own world with another’s. That’s the most rational and effective path for those who have fallen into the Abyss. Instead of painstakingly nurturing her power of rejection, it would be a lot faster to make her fall and let her adapt to that world. I’m sure you realize that you don’t have much time left, right?”

"What a tempting proposal.”

"Indeed. If you truly keep struggling like you said, you won’t find an opportunity better than this.”

I glanced toward the carriage.

A drowning person blindly grasps at whatever is around them, no matter whether it is a lifeline, another person, or something else.

I didn’t think that this would make them evil. No, I didn’t even believe that this was a matter of morality.

The most important thing was one’s own life, after all, right? Killing in order to survive is an ironclad rule of nature. To deny it would be nothing more than hypocrisy.

After pondering over it in various ways, I answered her lightly.

"I refuse.”

Following that, Dercia asked me another question as if she had been expecting this.

"May I hear your reason?”

"I don’t want to mistake who my enemy is.”

"...And what would you mean by that?”

"If we’re fighting the same enemy, then that would make her my comrade.”

Elisia and I would be the same in the aspect that we were fighting against our own inner worlds.

There was no way; I would never deliberately try to infect someone else with my own disease just so that we could forge a stronger bond.

After staring at me blankly for a while, the smile on Dercia’s lips broadened.

"I heard you had an encounter with Scarlet Abyss.”

"Yes."

"Jern, they are a group of people who have chosen differently from you. How were they?”

"Absolute fucking trash, that’s how they were. I’d rather die than become like those guys. Do you know more about those bastards?”

Dercia rose from her seat, opened the door, and left.

Before I could even wonder what the heck she was doing, she returned, holding a dusty, ancient-looking document.

...Yeah, of course she could teleport. She was 9-stars after all.

"There aren’t many records. As I had mentioned earlier, their reason for grouping together like that was in order to heal each other’s wounds and survive. Their goals, however, are different.”

"What was it?”

"The same as any normal mage. To reach the Heavenly Realm.”

"...?"

I tilted my head as Dercia spread out the parchment and explained.

"The Heavenly Realm and the Abyss Realm are very closely connected. So Scarlet Abyss came up with quite the intriguing idea. They believe that to reach the Heavenly Realm, one has to first fall into the deepest depths…”

"No way—"

"Yes. Their goal wasn’t merely to increase their numbers. They seek to reach the Heavenly Realm by any means necessary and escape their world. They call this act… Severing Fate.”

"And what is your opinion on this as a 9-star wizard?”

"An utterly worthless idea not even worth discussing. They say that those who fall have no wings left to lift them. Do you believe anything of worth would remain with those who have fallen? They can never escape their fate.”

"..."

"However, for that very purpose, they spent centuries creating and managing Abyss mages, and in the end they managed to succeed in establishing their own systems and terminology as a way to standardize these worlds.”

"Standardize?"

"Yes. They divided and named fallen inner worlds, identifying their traits and methods of survival.”

My heart started to pound wildly at those words.

"So…”

"They might know about the Abyssal Sea you carry within yourself as well.”

"..."

Dercia, noticing how weighed down by thought I currently was, offered me another piece of advice.

"It is rather unlikely that they are the same organization as the Scarlet Abyss from the past.”

"At the very least, they do have their own terminology. The guy I fought rambled on about something called the Three Calamities. and what not.”

"The Three Calamities…?”

"I’d been planning to avoid them no matter what, but… should I actually try making contact with them instead?”

"I guess so, but—”

"Only after I’ve grown stronger."

"Correct."

That was the moment I decided that instead of running away with my tail tucked between my legs at their mere sight, I might as well chase after them myself.

Watching me think, Dercia frowned and let out a sigh.

"...I really don’t understand.”

"Pardon?"

"Jern, you’re far too mature mentally for your age. Your judgement surpasses most grown mages, and you possess the humanity to keep to your principles with frightening consistency. While you do cross the line occasionally, it’s to such a childish degree that it almost seems cute, to the point that I can’t even get angry.”

"...Ah, I see, thank you?”

What was she on about now?

"I’m not complimenting you. The Abyss is where the twisted fall. You, of all people, who seem mentally healthier than many, should never have ended up there.”

"I know, right? That’s why I feel so wronged. I’m such a pure, delicate child.”

"You are indeed cute in your own way.”

Dercia chuckled and then declared,

"Even so, I still felt a little hesitant to take on a dying orphan as my disciple. But there clearly is no point in that. You know far too well how to pique my interest. Saving those children, while not something I expected, certainly shows that you have risen above everyone around you.”

"Meaning—”

"Yes, I concede. I’ll come find you soon.”

"...Do we still have to go through all this?”

Dercia laughed when she saw the sullen expression on my face.

"You’d probably be quite surprised."

It was as if she was looking at an ignorant child.

"If only you knew what it means to others that I have taken a disciple.”

Later I came to the realization that I should have thought about her words more carefully.

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