WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 57 - Tempering (3)

"What in the world happened to you…?”

"Nothing really. I just trained.”

The first place I visited was Aletus’ mansion.

In the reception room, Aletus looked at me with a bewildered expression on his face, as if he was trying to decide whether he should call a doctor or the guards, so I told him to do neither.

"It worked better than I expected. Would you try using some sort of spell? A wind spell, just close enough to brush my ear.”

"...Very well."

Aletus created a light breeze to graze past my ear.

I could see it—but at the same time, not really.

"?"

It seemed I’d learned a form of Arcane Strengthening that only worked with Abyssal magic.

Since the training method was the same, the obvious cause was probably the environment I adapted to.

Training in a place overflowing with normal mana versus training in a place overflowing with something more ‘unusual.’

"Hmm…”

In my opinion, I liked this way better. Now that I could sense Abyssal mana, I could also see the distortions caused by foreign mana.

Even though I couldn’t see Aletus’ wind itself, I could see how it disturbed the Abyssal Sea around me and dodge accordingly.

One couldn’t really see white paint put on white paper.

However, if one first painted the paper dark blue before applying the white paint, then it would stand out quite clearly.

That was how it felt. Though this might reduce my resistance to direct attacks. Or maybe not?

As I was considering various possibilities, Aletus dispelled the breeze, seeming intrigued.

"You can really see it? Even if it’s only elemental magic, seeing you react to it is quite remarkable. Sir Karrin was certain it would take you at least a year to learn Arcane Strengthening, if you didn’t melt to death first, that is…”

"These wounds weren’t completely meaningless.”

I tapped the dark blue bruises around my eyes.

"...I can’t deny the results, but I’m still not sure whether such methods are really necessary. You were literally betting your life on it.”

"Isn’t that what training is all about?"

"No. What do you think Knight training is? If a child your age went through such things, most of them would lose their spirit and abandon the Knight’s path entirely. Unless you have a body of steel and a heart of diamond, you could avoid destroying your own talent.”

"Miss Dercai taught me magic like this too, though."

"Wait, what? I thought you were learning magic?”

“Uh…yeah.”

It was magic, but I learned it while getting beaten half to death.

Of course, I already knew that this wasn’t normal, but thanks to that, Brimdal’s training didn’t seem all too strange to me.

Aeltus sighed before replying.

"Sir Brimdal undoubtedly is a remarkable Knight. Despite being a dwarf, he held no animosity toward human ways and, through honing his skills, accomplished many things. However, after his retirement, all he had done was take in aspiring Knights and beat them until they abandoned the path of the Knight.”

"You didn’t try to stop him?”

"...Well, usually, children dream of becoming Knights, and their parents try to discourage them. So if Brimdal forces them to give up on their dreams, even by using such methods—while it might be a bit of a stretch, everyone ends up happier for it.”

"Isn’t becoming a Knight supposed to be a glorious thing, though?”

"Maybe for commoners. But nobles share the strong impression that they didn’t need to bother pursuing that path since they’d just learn magic. Conversely, commoner parents are willing to accept some risk if it means their child can train under one of the greatest Knights.”

I had wondered why no one branded Brimdal as a public enemy despite him shattering so many apprentices. Now I knew the reason.

In any case, I wasn’t about to quit now that I was finally seeing some results.

Sipping my tea, I considered stopping by the orphanage, only to feel like something was missing.

That noisy silver-haired ball of fur wasn’t here. Feeling bewildered, I asked,

"Come to think of it, where is Lady Elisia?”

"Uuugh…”

Aletus’ head drooped.

That wasn’t a very good reaction.

"This isn’t your fault, of course, but remember how you promised her you’d visit her every day before, Jern? She claims that you abandoned her, so I had no other choice but to allow her to go out. She probably went looking for you. So you must have passed each other.”

"...I’m sorry.”

"Don’t worry. Since that day, I have secretly attached Shadow Knights to Elisia. Even if the worst comes to pass, I can at least ensure that she can escape.”

It seemed he had thoroughly prepared various precautions after his daughter had found herself in great danger twice.

"And I know you’re trying your hardest to survive here, so I have no right to scold you. There is nothing more precious than your life. Ah, I meant to mail this to you, but…”

Aletus handed me a small dagger.

It was quite beautiful, adorned with some shining jewels and ivory decorations, so it wasn’t exactly made for practical use.

I took it, feeling a bit puzzled.

"What is this?”

"Well, the year is almost over. And I realized I never heard when your birthday is.”

"...Ah."

"It might be a bit late, but consider it a birthday present.”

He was right.

I was an orphan, so I had no way of knowing when my exact birthday was, but…

I should have turned eleven by now.

"Thank you.”

I took the dagger and stowed it in my pocket.

How should I put it?

It kind of felt strange, realizing that I had survived an entire year in the Abyssal Sea.

* * *

Dercia was still asleep.

Well, if you could call that state asleep. She was sitting at a table, muttering as if she were possessed, constantly scribbling things in a language I couldn’t read.

It was around 1 pm. If I swung by the orphanage and returned, it should be close to 3 pm.

I was about to stop by a bakery to buy gifts for the kids with my Magic Tower Unlimited Credit Card.

When the air around me suddenly grew hot.

"...?"

-Bang

Heat washed over me all of a sudden.

Because my world was the Abyssal Sea, I normally barely noticed heat even if I stood right next to a bonfire. I quickly scanned my surroundings and saw a hooded child precariously walking ahead, dripping blood.

Her breathing was ragged, making it obvious that something was very wrong with her. I was already taking a few cautious steps back when bystanders, wearing puzzled expressions, approached.

"Hey, kid, are you okay? What’s with all this blood?”

"..."

"Let’s see here… Oh my! The kid’s burning up!”

"Oh no, this isn’t normal. Shouldn’t we call a doctor?”

"......"

This wasn’t good.

I clicked my tongue as people started flocking to the child.

We were in the middle of the capital, and the other person was a young child.

That was enough to kill everyone’s sense of caution.

I looked around but saw no Knights close by. Even if they were, since everyone was standing so close by, it would be too late anyway.

A fruit vendor lifted the girl’s robe—then his face turned pale.

"W-wait a second. Isn’t this kid one of those being dragged away earlier—”

I could feel the moisture in the air boiling, to which I sighed.

I had to stop this no matter what.

"Ah—”

"There you are. I’ve been looking for you all over. What are you doing here?”

Before the vendor could scream, I swooped in and grabbed the girl by her shoulder.

She literally was as hot as a ball of fire. She was panting too, digging around in her robe for something.

"She’s my little sister. She got hurt badly while playing, caught pneumonia, and even had to get stitches, but she still snuck out to play. I’m sorry for the trouble.”

"Y-your little sister? But…”

I took out my key, showing it to the vendor as I spoke calmly.

"I’m Jern Aspandil, an apprentice at the Dark Magic Tower. If this child has caused any trouble, please notify the Tower and we will resolve it promptly.”

"Ah, yes! No trouble at all.”

That Magic Tower’s name sure carried quite some weight.

The crowd dispersed as quickly as it had gathered. With my hand still on the child’s shoulder, I steered her into an alley.

"Follow me quietly.”

"...Kgh!"

I saw something spark beneath the hood.

Resistance, albeit weak.

I immediately smothered the emerging flame with my current, instantly turning it into smoke that instantly dissolved before it could even rise to the sky.

I then manipulated the current to gently grab the child’s throat, then released it again.

This was to show who held whose life in their hands.

"...!"

"It’s better for the both of us that you behave.”

Perhaps understanding the sheer gap in our strength, or perhaps because she realized that we were the same kind, all fight left her features.

After that, she obediently followed me. I pinned the young Abyss Realm mage against the alley wall, checking three times that we were alone, and then asked,

"How did you escape?”

Those Knights of Heavenly Retribution who had been escorting the kids couldn’t be that sloppy.

The kid, hesitant at first, parting and closing her lips multiple times, finally answered cautiously.

"The man who caught us went to make a report, so…”

So she slipped away in that brief moment while the Knight of Heavenly Retribution wasn’t watching.

But there was no way they were guarding them so leisurely that one could slip away like that, even if they went away.

"G-Greg, he, at that time…got crushed to death.”

"Greg?”

Given the context, he must have been another Fallen like her.

The girl clutched her shabby hood tightly as if it were the only armor protecting her, trembling as she spoke with a voice on the brink of tears.

"He was my brother…”

"I see."

"He said he couldn’t endure it anymore, so he gave up holding back… all the other Knights fainted then. That’s how I managed to run away…”

"Hmm."

So a Fallen couldn’t withstand it any more and went berserk, knocking out every Knight in the surrounding in the process.

A truly horrific situation. If I were one of those Knights of Heavenly Retribution, I’d probably lose my mind at the sheer absurdity of it.

So, what do I do with her? I couldn’t just walk away now that I knew.

As I pondered, the girl, who had been crouching up to this point, suddenly sprang to her feet and desperately grabbed my shoulders.

"P-please help me.”

"Help you?”

"I’m scared. I don’t want to live like this anymore. You’re an apprentice at a Magic Tower, right? Please, I know you have no reason to do it, but… please give me a chance! I’ll do anything…absolutely anything…!”

"..."

I looked at the face that had been hidden by the hood.

It was truly horrific. Burns layered over burns. If it weren’t for the hood, most people would have realized immediately that she was a Fallen.

Most of all—those eyes filled with nothing but utter despair.

I slowly nodded.

I wasn’t broken enough to need justification to help a kid.

"...Alright. I’ll help you.”

"R-really?”

"Yeah. I even bought some medicine earlier. I’m not sure if it’ll help you.”

I pulled out an ointment from my pocket and handed it to her. She stared at it, her expression quite puzzled.

"What is this…?”

"Medicine. Apply it, it’ll make you feel a bit better.”

"I-I don’t need this. I’ve already tried lots of similar things, but none really worked…”

"Better than nothing though, right?”

"But—”

"Put some on for now. Then we’ll find something better.”

Keeping an eye on the streets outside of the alley, I muttered cautiously,

"You’ll need to apply it every day. Then we can look into getting the damaged skin replaced with artificial one. After that, we’ll need to change your constitution. Maybe cool your blood down, though I don’t know if that’s possible—”

"W-wait!”

She stopped me, as if she found my words odd.

I turned around, wondering what she was doing, then she finally asked, her voice completely puzzled, as if she thought I was hiding something.

"Isn’t that just…exchanging one temporary solution with another?”

"Well…yeah?”

"What? So…I’ll have to endure this forever?”

"Hmm..."

I scratched my cheek a bit, then shrugged.

"Yeah. That’s all there is.”

"...Don’t lie to me!”

The child’s eyes were filled with anger.

Thud! She lunged forward, slamming me against the wall, clutching my throat as she screamed.

"Y-you’re perfectly fine! You know the way to escape this, don’t you?! How to get out of this! Tell me! I-I want to live…!”

"There is no such thing.”

I didn’t get angry, because I understood how she felt.

A drowning person grabbed onto anything close to them. It didn’t mean that they wished to drag others down with them.

So I simply looked at her straight and told her the truth.

"You endure one moment. Then the next. Then the next time your burdens press down on you, you survive again. Even when it hurts, you endure. Even when you feel you’re going to die. You just keep enduring.”

"...?"

The girl, puzzled by how calm my voice was for someone being strangled, suddenly realized something, her eyes widening.

"Y-you’re…not…breathing…”

"Right. It’s pretty hard to breathe in my world, so I replaced my lungs already.”

"ㅡ"

The strength in the girl’s grip weakened, then her head drooped.

Having proven my words, it seemed like the little motivation she had was completely crushed.

"...How long do we have to do this?”

"Until you feel that death would be better.”

"What...?"

"When you’ve resisted enough. When you think that you’ve done everything you could. When stubbornly holding on to your life feels meaningless. You keep enduring until then. There’s no end. There’s no escape.”

"..."

Unfortunately, I didn’t know how to put this in a more pleasant way.

Even if I did, giving a Fallen hope wasn’t something someone with a human heart could possibly do.

You should try to survive now. And maybe if you’re lucky, you can survive the next moment as well—that was the only comfort people like us could get.

The child slowly lifted her head. She seemingly understood my words, seeing that here was not a hint of hope in those eyes.

"Then why do you live?”

"Because it pisses me off.”

"?"

"I can’t say living is better than dying. That’d be a lie.”

The Abyssal Sea was terrifying. The thought that it might be better if I just died crossed my mind several times a day.

But if I had to pick a reason as to why I wasn’t giving in. Well…

"I don’t want to lose to the world I created myself.”

That would be the biggest one.

"So what are you going to do?”

"..."

I waited for the girl to make her choice.

"If you want to struggle, I’ll help. It’s not even that hard.”

"...Mom."

She suddenly whispered something before raising her head.

Her voice still trembled, but unlike before, it held a certain will.

It seemed like she managed to glean something from my vague words.

"If I’m going to die anyway, I want to see my mom one last time.”

"That’s easy enough. Where is she?”

"A-at the palace…”

"?"

Right—

She definitely wasn’t just some ordinary kid.

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