WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 36 - Growth (11)

I held no ill feelings toward the princess.

If anything, I had a pretty positive impression of her.

Wasn’t she the one who ordered the expansion of orphanages? I didn’t know how she was involved in state affairs at such a young age though…

But the fact that I wasn’t raised just to be beaten and used like a disposable tool was all thanks to the princess.

So as I stood at attention, trying to remain as respectful as I could, Lumia, who finished persuading the previous examinee, turned her gaze toward me.

Our eyes met. The Knights standing behind her immediately stepped forward, shooting threatening glares my way.

"Mind your manners.”

"-Stand down. Expect what you should expect.”

"...?"

It seemed like I wasn’t supposed to make eye contact with her. I quickly lowered my head, only to be given the exact opposite command.

"Raise it. We didn’t come here to receive bows and the like from you.”

"Yes."

The difference in our height forced me to slightly look up.

Lumia looked me over from head to toe before asking,

"Disciple of Dercia, what is your name?”

"I am called Jern.”

"'I am called'? Hahaha…”

She laughed lightly, wiping the corner of her eyes, before offering me some advice.

"Drop that pompous speech. You need at least three more months of practice before you could even dream of interacting with us properly.”

"Ah, understood.”"

"As we said, we didn’t come here for that."

She strode up to me and poked my chest with the baton she was holding.

"Do you know who we are?”

"Yes. You are Princess Lumia.”

"Correct. No commoner could not know us. But what I’m asking is what you know about us.”

"I know that I owe Your Highness a great debt. I’ve always carried deep gratitude toward you.”

"...What?"

Lumia seemed a bit puzzled after I expressed my gratitude to her.

"As far as I know, it was Your Highness who commanded extensive support for orphanages. As someone who grew up in one, I benefited greatly from it, so…”

"N-no…”

"Ahem…”

Noticing the Knights’ unusual reactions as I spoke, I realized that I seemed to have made some sort of mistake.

They were staring at me as if I were insane, their mouths agape. The princess’ face also seemed to scream, ‘What the hell is this brat talking about?’

In the end, it was Lumia who broke this awkward silence.

"...That was our sister’s doing.”

"...Ah."

"You’ve really got some nerve, praising our sister’s accomplishments in front of us.”

"My apologies. I didn’t know.”

"No, no. It’s quite amusing."

Lumia chuckled as she turned her back to me, walking away toward the center of the arena.

And then she gave an order to the host, who was practically on his knees.

"Get ready."

"Yes!!"

"You said your name was Jern?”

"...That’s right.”

I’d done it now.

It felt like I had stepped on a major landmine. Even though Lumia kept a smile on her lips, I could clearly see that the corners of her mouth twitched slightly.

"Your master, Dercia, was meant to be our master.”

"...I see. I didn’t know that.”

"But she rejected us, saying that she wanted to keep following the path of magic without distractions.”

As the flustered host hurried out of the arena, Lumia suddenly raised her right hand.

Flames blossomed in her palm, and I almost knew instinctively.

Those flames weren't anything simple. They were writhing in agony as if they were alive, and the moment they turned toward me, they seemed to smile.

I was aware that flames weren't supposed to be able to smile, and yet that was exactly what they looked like to me.

"We understood. A mage of her caliber would have little reason to take in a disciple. On top of that, she’s an elf who still has centuries to live…”

Lumia, who kept muttering in a low voice, turned her gaze back to me.

"And yet, she chose you over me?”

So now she actually referred to herself as ‘me’ instead of ‘us.’

I chose my words with utmost care.

"Wait, of course, in terms of talent, a lowly commoner like me could never be compared to Your Highness, but Master…”

"Do not lump us in with others. We acknowledge your talent.”

"Huh?"

"The fact that you were able to surpass elemental magic at your age is proof enough of that. It’s an accomplishment few can claim even if one looked through the entire history of the Empire.”

"Ah, thank you.”

Her assessment of me was far more generous than I had expected.

Of course, she didn’t seem to know the true nature of Growth, Form, and Purge.

"But your master made a mistake.”

"...A mistake?”

"Indeed."

Lumia let out a derisive laugh before continuing.

"No matter how brilliant you are, if she rejected me, then she had no right to become anyone else’s teacher. Her decision was nothing short of foolishness. And we will be the one to make her realize that.”

"Hmm…”

She wasn’t wrong.

However, I simply bowed my head after a short moment of silence.

"Forgive me, but may I ask something of you?”

"Hmm, speak.”

"I ask that you take back those words.”

"...Oho."

The princess looked at me with slight surprise when she heard my words.

"Why?”

"As for me, well, I’m not all too special or brilliant, so feel free to insult and criticize me to your heart’s content. I also am of the belief that my master’s choice cannot be said to have been the wisest.”

"Then there should be no problem with my words, or am I wrong?”

"However, I don’t think it’s right to insult my master right in front of me, the disciple she chose.”

"...Is that so?”

My eyes locked with the princess’.

For quite some time at that.

Up until the host raised a trembling hand.

"Then make me."

Lumia, still smiling brightly, showed no signs of backing down.

I raised my hand and asked,

"Excuse me, wait just a minute.”

"Do you still have more to ask? If you think of running away…”

"I’d just like to ask the host something, not you, Your Highness.”"

"?"

I carefully asked the bewildered host.

"Um… Didn’t Her Highness cast magic before the match even began? Isn’t that grounds for disqualification?”

The host answered without any hesitation whatsoever.

"No. Begin!”

Connections really are everything, huh?

As soon as the start signal fell, I could see two stars lighting up in Lumia’s eyes.

Right, two of them.

Two stars. I wasn’t completely sure, but as far as I knew, that was a level she shouldn’t have reached yet at this age.

The flames that she had been holding in her hands suddenly changed their color to a bright blue.

I guess I could say that was rather fortunate. Fire was actually one of the weakest elements.

Not only was it a phenomenon rooted in reality, but one could also extinguish it with water, blow it out with wind, and use whatever is around you to—

"Don’t even think about holding back. If I see so much as a hint of you doing that—”

"Excuse me!”

I kicked the floor with all my might.

Sand flew straight towards the princess’ hand. Since she had been holding a flame in her right hand the whole time, I assumed that it might be some sort of medium to control another spell.

"...I see, I was worrying for nothing.”

Fwoosh!

The sand never managed to reach her.

It was caught midair by a flaming hand.

"..."

Craaackle… The grains instantly burned, melted, and fell to the ground.

The heat of her flames was no joke. But what was even more terrifying was their shape.

Several gigantic hands of flame stretched from the princess’ back, moving as naturally as if they were alive.

Lumia looked at them with pride.

"Flame Spirit Manifestation. Against a 1-star wizard like you, this would normally be considered attempted murder.”

"In that case, would that make this a little dangerous for you?”

"And who, pray tell, would dare to punish me?”

She seriously was out of her mind.

The princess smirked as her manifestation clenched its fists.

"Don’t pretend to be weak. You can endure this much.”

"I can’t—”

Boom!

The strike landed right on my body.

"Kgh."

I bounced back a few times before crashing into the ground.

The impact itself wasn't that bad. Getting hit by Dercia was much, much, much more painful, so I quickly regained my composure.

The problem was the heat. My skin burned and stung.

I had immediately spent all my energy to cast Purge: Heat on myself. Otherwise I’d literally have gotten roasted alive.

I got back on my feet, a stern expression on my face.

"Do you really have to go this far?”

"Yes."

"I don’t want to fight you, Your Highness. I gain nothing no matter whether I win or lose.”

"To assume you’d win in a duel against us… I’m getting more and more intrigued.”

"...This was your choice, Your Highness.”

From that moment on, I started counting down.

I readied my stance.

It would have been best if we could have avoided this fight with words, but I already knew that would never happen.

Lumia, wearing a wicked smile, began to approach me.

...I see. So her spell’s range was quite short. She traded reach for destructive power, huh?

If I just kept my distance—

Fwoosh-!

"...Or not."

Before I could even finish that thought, the flame spirit scooped up the sand around me.

I sighed, already aware of what she was about to do.

This seriously was a cheat-like ability.

"Take this."

Fsssshhhk! The molten sand spread over the area in front of me.

"Tsk..."

I couldn’t dodge that. Wrapping wind around my arm, I tried to bat away as much of it as I could to keep it from making contact with my body.

However, inevitably, some of it still reached me. Even with ‘Purge’ active, it still felt like hot wax was getting dropped onto my skin. In other words, an unpleasant sensation.

And the princess’ attack didn’t end there. The fiery fists had greatly closed the distance and were now hammering down onto the ground.

If I got it by even one of those hits, it would be over.

Gritting my teeth, I ran around as quickly as I could. In the end, the only thing Purge worked against were spells I could resist, so it was completely useless against those fists.

As I did the only thing I could, which was run, the princess laughed, clearly mocking me.

"You were talking so big just now, and now all you do is run away?"

Running away wasn’t a worthless tactic.

I was properly maintaining my breathing. That showed that even while embroiled in an intense battle, my training worked. In that sense, I had achieved what I wanted during this training regime.

"That won’t do.”

"What—”

Thunk.

I felt my foot hitting the edge of the arena boundary, which made me freeze up.

"...Do you mean?"

Damn it.

I had thought she was just swinging those arms wildly, but no.

She had been cornering me steadily.

The princess smiled, curling her right hand into a fist.

"No one has ever bested me in this arena, not even mages of the same level.”

"I'm sure of that. With that kind of destructive power, you’d practically be invincible in a confined space like an arena.”

"You could always surrender. Of course, that would leave quite the bad aftertaste since you’d have been unable to show me anything."

"Hmm."

I shrugged.

If I left the princess with regrets here, she’d just try to do something like this again.

So it seems better to make sure to leave a very strong impression on her once and for all.

"Well then… come.”

"..."

The princess widened her eyes for a moment, faced with my attitude, and then—

flashed a satisfied smile.

"That’s more like it."

Boom—!

* * *

"Oh my, you’re not going to stop this?”

"No."

Dercia casually responded to Rohymdal’s amused question.

However, unlike her, the others on the terrace were watching this match that was closer to an execution with eyes filled with pity.

"This is just pointless. Why is Her Highness doing this…?”

"A fight between a 1-star and a 2-star, especially when the enemy is Her Highness, Princess Lumia, is nothing short of bullying.”

"Shh, she might hear you…”

Some were expressing their worry for the boy who had only recently gone through the Soul Fever, now forced to face the princess—

"Hooh, Princess Lumia’s Flame Spirit Manifestation has improved yet again!”

"So she’s already decided on her unique 2nd-rank magic? Incredible, indeed!”

"It's a shame for that boy, but, ahem.”

While the rest of them were thrilled to see the princess’ growth.

No matter how one-sided the duel looked, if one side was a poor orphan and the other, the imperial princess, no one in their right mind would dare to argue over the fight.

Of course, there as still the fact that he bore the title of Dercia’s disciple—

"..."

However, the one who should have reacted the most fiercely to all of this, Dercia herself, had only thrown a single casual glance at the arena before proceeding to sit somewhere to read a book.

She looked completely uninterested in her own disciple. Even Rohymdal’s occasional commentary was met with almost complete apathy.

Naturally, such aloofness didn’t earn her any goodwill.

"...Even if you chose him solely for his talent, he’s still your disciple, right?”

"He’s suffering for his own sins, tsk…”

"Typical elves…”

No one dared to voice their dissatisfaction, of course.

If anyone here had been foolish enough to start a fight with a 9-star mage, they wouldn’t have made it this far.

"...Hmm."

The only one feeling most unsettled about this, however, was Rohymdal.

He had expected her to be quite indifferent towards her disciple, but he could have never foreseen that she would be so dismissive.

'I was trying to use this to humiliate her, but…'

No matter how talented, someone who had gone through Soul Fever a few months ago would never be able to beat the princess.

That was the whole point of this—the princess she had cast aside shone far brighter than the commoner she chose. She made the wrong choice. That was what Rohymdal wanted to prove.

But he couldn’t even start mocking her since she was acting so indifferently.

He let out a sigh when Dercia spoke up.

"Sir Rohymdal."

"...What is it?”

"Has Her Highness’ education been progressing properly?”

"Ah, why of course!”

Finally she was showing some envy.

He sure wouldn’t let this small reaction go. However, before Rohymdal could even respond—

"In that case, there shouldn’t be a single scenario in which Her Highness would lose to my disciple, who went through Soul Fever just a few months ago.”

"...?"

When Dercia cut off his words.

Rohymdal blinked in confusion before he nodded.

"That should go without saying.”

"Since you’re so confident about that, how about we make a wager?”

"Huh? A wager…? What are you suggesting?”

"Yes, a wager. If Her Highness fails to defeat my disciple—you must step down from your post as Imperial Court Mage.”

"Wh-what?!”

"In return, if Her Highness wins, I will personally show you the way to reach the 8th star.”

"Do you even—? How can you mention reaching the 8th star so casually?!”

"I have reached that level after all. Of course, if you’d rather decline, there’s nothing I can do about that.”

Dercia let her eyes sink back on her book as though this matter didn’t hold any importance to her.

"..."

Rohymdal, who was just standing there blankly, twitched his fingers, hurrying back to watch the match.

-Boom!

"...!"

The commoner was still being pounded by the flaming fists, unable to do anything.

It was so miserably one-sided; this could barely even be called a match.

There was no way for him to make a comeback from that.

Actually, even if there were a thousand of those commoner mages, they wouldn’t be able to break through the princess’ Fire Spirit Manifestation.

“...”

Rohymdal’s mind started to race.

Of course, giving up his post as Imperial Court Mage was completely unthinkable.

Did she even know how much hardship he had gone through just to reach that position?

But then again—if she truly knew how to reach the 8th star, that knowledge would absolutely be worth enough for him to abandon that post.

The moment his thoughts had reached this point, a deafening explosion rang through the arena.

-Booooom!!

This time the commoner brat, who had managed to dodge up to this point, took the full brunt of the princess’ attack. He could clearly see even from up here that one jewel on his necklace had shattered.

At this rate, the match was as good as over. Rohymdal immediately returned to Dercia, clutching the edge of the desk before her with both hands.

"I-I accept!”

"Are you sure? Everyone is watching. You’d do well to take your time to think it through before making a decision…”

"No, I won’t go back on my word once this is over!”

Dercia looked into Rohymdal’s bloodshot, frenzied eyes.

"...Hmm. Is that so?”

She smiled faintly.

* * *

"...Pft, kuhugh."

I spat out some blood.

It splattered right next to my face.

It seemed like I was lying flat on the ground. Staring up at the clear sky, I let out a sigh, only to hear a pitying voice reach my ears.

"It’s over.”

Hearing Lumia’s voice, I forced myself upright.

It felt like the air was burning. Her fiery fists were hovering exceedingly close to me.

Only one of the gems was left, and even that one was heavily cracked.

It didn’t even seem to have absorbed the shock properly. It probably was designed to only be used in duels between novice mages, not to withstand the full force of a 2-star mage.

And then there was the heat that even pierced through Purge: Heat.

I didn’t need a mirror to know that I was in a miserable state.

The princess frowned, sighing.

"Hm, so that’s your limit…”

"..."

"If all you can do is use magic to endure, then I truly cannot understand why she chose you… Well, doing anything more would be nothing but cruelty.”

"..."

"Still, I was able to witness your loyalty to your master. I don’t wish to torment you, so I’ll end this as quickly as I can.”

The flaming fist clenched, preparing to strike again.

The final blow that would shatter my last jewel hurtled down towards me—

"...?"

But then.

The fist suddenly vanished.

The princess froze, wearing a ‘baffled’ expression, then immediately swung another down toward my sprawled-out body.

However, that one vanished as well.

It just disappeared without a trace, without any warning.

"What is… Ngh!”

The flames floating in Lumia’s right hand pulsated wildly.

She instantly stumbled back, her fists raised defensively.

I could see all of that happening from my position.

"Haah, I can finally breathe again…”

"Wha—”

I let out the breath I had been holding, dragging my ruined upper body upright, pulling up one knee and resting my elbow on it.

I probably looked no better than a corpse.

But I could see it.

I could see myself. But not just that. I could also see the bewildered Knights, the swords resting in their scabbards, their trembling legs, the stands, the scraps of paper that had fallen to the ground, every grain of sand in the arena, the brooms lying around in the distance, the spotless marble floor…

Everything, all of it.

All that fell within the range of my Tide Sense.

Thump–

Of course.

Thump—Thump—Thump—

Even the princess’ heartbeat, that seemed to have slightly accelerated due to tension.

"You…”

The princess narrowed her brows.

It seemed like she had realized who had caused this sudden change.

"What did you do?”

"Hmm."

She had taken on a completely different stance than before, when she hadn’t even considered me worth calling an opponent.

Sitting on the ground, I felt incredibly refreshed, my lips twisting into a grin.

Now that I had unsealed everything, I truly understood.

I really belonged to this world.

"Five minutes have passed.”

"??"

Despite the clear answer I gave her, the princess didn’t seem to understand what I was telling her at all.

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