Wizard of the Abyss - Chapter 41

WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 41 - Declaration of War (4)

The day of our departure arrived.

Dercia lightly dumped her hefty luggage into the carriage and climbed into the back seat instead of taking the driver’s seat.

"Aren’t we supposed to be flying on brooms or something?”

"...What in the world are you talking about?”

Dercia gave me a bewildered look as she called the carriage.

But honestly, I was the one more shocked.

"I mean, I just thought it’s a bit weird for a 9-star mage to be riding in a carriage. It kind of ruins the mystique of it all, you know?”

"Jern, I’m sorry to crush your innocent childlike dreams, but most high-ranking wizards travel by fixing a spatial gate to a location and simply opening it when they need it, like me. There’s no real reason for us to move our bodies at all.”

"Doesn’t a carriage also move your body, though?”

"Indeed, but in a carriage, you can still do things while you travel. We can study inside while moving, so there won’t be any time wasted. Flying around ‘like a witch’ in the manner you mentioned might be a bit faster, but that time would be purely spent on traveling, so it’s inefficient.”

"..."

So she had caught on to the witch jab.

The carriage didn’t even have a coachman or horses for that matter.

Yet it still moved smoothly with decent speed. It was still impossible for me to properly grasp how all of this is working at my level, but it clearly didn’t use anything as crude as Telekinesis. It felt far more intricate and sophisticated than that.

As I unpacked my meager belongings, I started to ask some questions.

"So where are we headed?”

"Hmm…”

Dercia glanced at me for a moment before she said something strange again.

"How about we do a little thought experiment?”

"...?"

"Imagine you’re the leader of Scarlet Abyss. You’ve been gathering power in the shadows for decades or even longer, and yet the Empire never noticed a thing. If you make use of that gap in information and the power you accumulated, you could create a catastrophe far beyond imagination.”

"For example?"

"Well, an assassination of the imperial family, perhaps?”

"..."

I fell silent in my shock.

This wasn’t something one should casually joke about.

"But instead of unleashing that power, you chose the exact opposite.”

"And what would that be?”

"You empowered an unaffiliated Abyss Realm mage to kidnap noble children, although it ended in failure. You attacked a Magic Tower, could have killed the Tower Master, but settled for stealing a tome. You occupied a city, but instead of fortifying it and taking advantage of its defensive capabilities, you immediately fled, repeating actions with no clear objective.”

"So that’s what’s been happening.”

I nodded slowly before Dercia pressed on.

"These are unmistakably acts of terrorism. Attempts to clearly antagonize the Empire. However, despite having the power to execute them perfectly, they have chosen only to sow some seeds of unrest. Why do you think that is?”

"...What if they’re drunk on their own confidence and merely doing all that for amusement?”

"Explain."

"Isn’t every move they’ve made so far aiming to goad the Empire into reacting in some way? They could have taken advantage of the Empire’s complacency and slit their throat, but instead they are just taunting them by slapping and spitting on them… I guess it’s understandable. They have been lurking in the shadows for so long that they have lost all sense of proportion and are filled to the brim with arrogance.”

"So that’s the conclusion you came to.”

Dercia nodded slowly, but I interrupted her musings with an addition to my theory.

"-That’s how the Empire would see it. It’s the easiest and most comfortable conclusion to come to after all.”

"..."

She gazed at me, urging me to continue. I rubbed my chin, trying to trace Scarlet Abyss’ line of thought.

"I fell into the Abyss myself, right? From that perspective, no matter how I think about it, Scarlet Abyss shouldn’t be able to sustain itself.”

Faris’ Abyss Realm was tiny.

Perhaps that was why his burdens were so weak.

His magic was barely on par with ordinary wizards, and his burdens were laughable compared to mine.

If the members of Scarlet Abyss were of the same level, they would just outright die given the time.

"Even if they somehow found a way to extend their lives like I did, it couldn’t be enough to sustain them for decades, right…? Honestly, I think that’s impossible. Even if some of them had some knowledge to survive, it’d only work on a small number of them. With that in mind, I’m guessing that Scarlet Abyss is a very small organization of elite members.”

"And what does that have to do with anything?”

"Even a scorpion that can kill a thousand elephants with its venom won’t attack a human. It’s not because it’s stupid, but because it knows that if the corpse falls on it, it’ll get crushed underneath. There’s a great difference between an individual and a group. Even if they assassinate the Imperial Family or completely raze the capital itself…”

My thoughts were about to cross over into some dangerous territory.

"...I’m sure they wouldn’t want it to end there. Their goal must be higher than that.”

"Hmm, but if every member of this organization is going to die soon, wouldn’t they be even more likely to lash out at the world in hatred?”

"If they were those kinds of people, they wouldn't be hiding. If you might not even wake up tomorrow, why bother making plans for the future?”

Dercia’s face remained expressionless.

Well, I hadn’t expected her to either confirm or deny it anyway. Instead, I just kept stringing my thoughts together and putting them into words.

"In that sense, I think their current priority is trying to match their scale.”

"What do you mean by that?”

"We’ve been misjudging them. They didn’t make some foolish, unfinished attempts as some sort of last hurrah. They wanted to be recognized as enemies of the Empire. More precisely, they wanted their name to be known. That was Scarlet Abyss’ real goal.”

"Known to whom?”

"To all those who consider the Empire their enemy. This declaration of war wasn’t actually meant for the Empire. It’s a declaration for their enemies and Scarlet Abyss’ potential allies. Something like, ‘We’ll fight, so please lend us your strength.’ And maybe they’ve already made contact. Their name’s been circulating through the underworld for a while now, after all.”

"And the basis for that hypothesis?”

"Considering the scale of their acts, their exits were remarkably smooth and clean. They occupied a city and then abandoned it. They attacked a Magic Tower, stole something, and then fled. They kidnapped noble children but left the rest to someone unaffiliated. Their goal was to simply spread their accomplishments to recruit allies without incurring real losses. This all fits with the idea that they are a small, elite force.”

"Assuming I had thought along those same lines, where would I go to find them?”

"I’m not sure. But if it were me, I’d start by finding whichever underground organization Scarlet Abyss got into contact with for assistance or to subjugate.”

"Haah…”

I shrugged as I voiced my conclusion. Dercia let out a deep sigh, seemingly finished with her interrogation of me.

It seemed like I had guessed wrong.

"You said you aren’t sure, and yet you’ve guessed everything correctly."

"...Huh?"

"There were some exaggerations and omissions mixed in, but you are right. We are currently on our way to the organizations Scarlet Abyss most likely reached out to in order to expand their numbers. Following the exact same line of reasoning you just displayed, Jern.”

So I hadn’t been wrong?

Honestly, I more or less got lucky there, since half of what I said had been guesswork based on my gut feeling.

Dercia, caught between amusement and disbelief, continued.

"Originally, I’d intended to use this carriage ride to teach you about reasoning and judgement, but it seems that was a foolish idea. At least in terms of creative thinking, you might already surpass me…”

"Ah, then does that mean I get to rest?”

My face lit up instantly for the first time in some time, before Dercia shook her head decisively.

"We can’t afford to waste time. Let’s continue practicing ‘Form.’”

"..."

I should have just played dumb.

* * *

The carriage ran across open plains for about two days.

When we had to camp outside for the first night, I took a quick look into Dercia’s luggage.

Books, books, books, and even more books.

Looking over to her, who was intently reading one of those books, I had to ask her.

"Umm, where’s the pot for boiling water?”

"I didn’t bring one.”

"Then what about sleeping bags and blankets?”

She looked at me with genuine confusion, to the point that I started to think that I might be the weird one here.

Dercia then stepped out of the carriage and pulled out a black metal key from her bosom.

...Ah.

"You can use that even on a carriage?”

"As long as it has a door and can be sealed, yes.”

Dercia opened the carriage door, and what lay beyond it was a library, of course. Not the one in the capital, but one several times larger.

I stepped inside, amazed by the seemingly endless rows of towering bookshelves.

"This is seriously huge. My own workshop is barely the size of a room in comparison. Why haven’t you shown me this before?”

"Because my workshop is completely useless.”

"...? How’s that? It’s huge and filled to the brim with books."

Dercia cast an annoyed glance over her workshop before replying.

"I’ve read every book in here. It's a bright, well-lit pile of nothing.”

"Aha."

"I chose it in my ignorant youth. I learned far too late that what matters isn’t owning books, but understanding them… Anyway, this place is more comfortable than the carriage, so feel free to make use of it.”

"Ah, yes.”

I looked around the massive hall, larger than a stadium, that was Dercia’s workshop.

I took out a few books and skimmed through them, but I wasn’t able to understand a single one.

I mean, that wasn’t why I entered this place anyway. After wandering around for about ten minutes, I finally made it back to the entrance, where Dercia was still reading, and asked,

"So where’s the bed?”

"...? You can just stack some books to sleep on, right?”

"And what about food—”

"You won’t die from not eating for two days.”

"Then what exactly made you think that this place is more comfortable than the carriage?”

“It’s more spacious, right?”

I stared into Dercia’s confused eyes that showed her incomprehension of the problem here.

And then I felt horrified.

Dercia was actually completely serious.

"...Understood. Have a pleasant night.”

Packing some jerky for myself felt like the smartest decision I had made in my whole life at that moment.

Nevertheless, by the time we reached our destination, my condition was awful.

I sat slumped over with my face on my knees inside the carriage while we were waiting for the line at the checkpoint to move. Dercia, however, was sitting with perfect posture next to me, smiling while praising me.

"Congratulations. You’ve advanced yet another step.”

"...I guess I did."

I gathered my mana and activated ‘Form’ across my whole body.

I then felt my muscles slowly relaxing, albeit only slightly.

Form: Rupture. At my current level, it was still rather weak. It felt more like a massage done by pressing down and twisting areas with one's thumb.

This wasn’t some sort of restorative magic, of course. Those kinds of spells worked by accelerating the body’s natural recovery by manipulating time itself. So even attempting it required one to be at least a 5-star or higher.

Still, I had definitely succeeded in activating ‘Form.’ I let out a long, heaving sigh before melting back into my seat.

"Feels like I can live now. It’s a bit weird, though, to use a spell designated for torture for recovery, though."

“Magic is a tool. It’s up to the mage to decide on how to use it.”

This time, I reversed the flow.

I created pain inside my mind, my inner world, and directed it into my arm.

It wasn’t the mild pressure created by a massage anymore.

"...Ugh."

It was painful enough to make me wince.

But it was a familiar kind of pain. Compared to the time Dercia pummeled, sliced, and tore me apart like I was her sworn enemy, this was nothing.

It actually helped.

"What’s the matter?”

"It’s just fascinating. Elemental magic was too easy to be interesting. ‘Purge’ just involved getting myself beaten half to death, so it barely felt like magic at all. And Abyssal magic feels more like a third arm to me. But this…well, how should I put it?”

I flexed my hands open and shut, muttering.

"...This feels like real magic.”

"Because it is real magic.”

While we chatted like that, our turn had finally come.

"Halt, state the purpose of your visit…”

"Elder of the Dark Magic Tower. Here for research. Here, these are my credentials.”

"...Confirmed! Please proceed!”

The guards, sharp and disciplined, waved us through without even bothering to check our luggage, unlike what they did with the carriages that were ahead of us.

Startled, I quickly asked,

"You’re an elder?”

"I’ve been part of the Tower for nearly fifty years now. It is only proper for me to hold that status.”

She said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Making you an apprentice was mainly to secure your workshop, but these small conveniences shouldn’t be dismissed either. Even a mere apprentice receives the same privileges, albeit to a different degree.”

"Ah, I see…”

"Is there something bothering you?”

"It’s nothing. I was just calculating your age backwards from the ‘50 years at the Tower’ bit.”

"...I’d advise you to stop.”

He heard the slight grinding of teeth, so I did as she said.

After parking the carriage near an inn, Dercia didn’t even bother to unpack and simply started walking.

"Just one thing before you rest. It won’t take long.”

"Yes."

We walked along the main street, scanning the area.

It was midday on a weekday, which wasn’t why many people were about, but there were still fewer than I had expected in a city of this size.

The only people wandering around were suspicious-looking or drunk. The streets themselves weren’t all that clean either…

The whole city wasn’t the nicest place overall. I kept my guard up, expecting pickpockets, but everyone that got into our vicinity flinched and scurried away when they saw Dercia’s pointed ears.

"Huh, an elf?”

"She's damn pretty… but you can tell just by looking at her that her personality is just as nasty…”

I mentally agreed to that second line.

I hadn’t really realized it before, but it seemed like elves weren’t exactly liked here.

Of course, Dercia couldn’t care less, judging by her face. She turned down a filthy, smelly alley without a shred of hesitation.

She weaved back and forth between alleys, then stopped at a dead end, then pulled out a hat and put it on to hide her ears.

"We’ve arrived. It should be around here.”

I asked, feeling puzzled.

"Did you plan on meeting someone?”

"No. What I’m looking for usually nests in alleys this dirty and narrow. That’s why we’re here.”

"...Are you looking for rats or bugs?”

"Something similar.”

I wonder what it was.

Scratching my head, my Tide Sense caught something.

Three men, wearing seemingly shabby clothes, lurking behind us. Seeing that they had been taking the same route as us for quite some time, it seemed like we were being followed.

If I had been able to sense them, then there was no way that Dercia hadn’t noticed. I seriously doubted that she had come here to meet those bastards either.

I figured she would take care of those idiots herself, but then she gave me an order.

"Suppress them immediately. Don’t let them scream or shout.”

"..."

Who, how, why.

I swallowed down all the questions I had. There was something more important to consider.

I lowered my head slightly and grumbled in protest.

"Wait, do I really have to do this when you’re here, Master?”

Dercia’s lips curved slightly upwards before she gave me her answer.

"You’ve learned a new spell, haven’t you? Shouldn’t you try using it in real combat?”

The dark circles under her eyes only made her eyes seem more murderous.

...Yeah.

She seemed determined to start cleaning from the bottom up until she found whatever vermin she was looking for.