WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 6 - Survival (2)

As soon as I got back to the orphanage, I applied for career counseling.

The director brewed me a warm cup of tea. Just from the aroma I could tell that it was quite expensive. He must have been in a good mood.

"Did you wait for long? Here, try it. It’s peppermint tea.”

I took a sip and slowly nodded.

"It’s good."

"Oh, you can tell?”

"Yes. I haven’t drunk much tea before, but it smells really good.”

"Hahaha! You’ve got a discerning nose! This tea is grown on the northern Great Plains, and…”

The director happily launched into an explanation about the tea.

I smiled on the outside, but inwardly, I was arranging my thoughts.

The director already knew that I was a wizard.

I was a bit worried he might let that bias his advice about my career path, but—

Seeing him now, it didn’t seem like I had to worry about that.

"Ah, forgive me. Here I am rambling when I have the brightest genius of our orphanage right in front of me.”

"...Brightest genius?”

"You’ve been the top student for five years straight, of course you are. Jern, I’m sure you could become a scribe. Did you come here today to apply for that position?”

"No. I’d like to try a different profession.”

I pulled out the award given only to the top student.

You might ask what meaning the kind of award given to an orphan might hold, but it was something really meaningful.

The award gave one the right to try a chosen profession for a few months.

In other words, a work-experience voucher.

Of course, I wouldn’t get any pay from that. It was basically volunteering to work for free in exchange for experience, so most kids didn’t really bother with it.

And there weren’t many jobs available to try anyway. The only really practical one was scribe.

The director tilted his head before opening his mouth.

"If not scribe, then which profession?"

"Janitor.”

"...Huh?"

"Janitor."

"Erm, y-you mean someone who cleans…?”

"Yes. I think it’s a perfect fit for me. I’m just as talented in cleaning as I am in writing, after all.”

"Well, that’s…”

He faltered, clearly unable to string together a coherent sentence.

He probably wanted to say that this job was beneath me or something.

I used this very moment to slip in my real request.

"Please, let me be a janitor at the Academy grounds.”

"...!"

At those words, the director gasped before staring at me sharply.

Well, I hadn’t expected him not to notice. I met his eyes without averting my gaze.

A tense silence stretched out between us before he broke it.

"Jern."

"Yes."

"Is it for the reason I think it is?”

"Yes."

There was no point in lying to him. It would only make things harder.

Though honesty didn’t always work. The director shook his head.

"No. It’s too dangerous.”

"No, not right now. It’s not dangerous yet.”

"Yet?"

"Yes. I’m ten. If I get caught, I’ll just cry and beg them to spare me.”

"Wait, just what are you—...”

"Uuuh..."

I started crying. Flustered, the director pulled out a handkerchief and wiped my eyes with a sigh.

"Fine, they probably wouldn’t beat you or anything. If they did, I’d raise hell myself.”

"That’s reassuring.”

"But that’s not what I’m worried about. It’s your… unusual advantage.”

He was worried about me, a commoner, being exposed as a mage.

"Have you ever seen magic, director?”

"Hmm? Yes. I know a noble who is a wizard, so I have some insight into this matter.”

"Well, I think I’m a bit strange even among the strange ones.”

"What… What do you mean?”

I lifted a book from the desk and floated it in the air.

The director’s eyes tripled in size.

"L-levitation magic?!”

"No. I’m just making it float.”

"Isn’t that the same thing?”

"It’s different. It’s not floating in the air. It’s floating in the sea.”

"??"

"Director. I can’t really explain this well, but right now I’m about to be crushed to death.”

"What?”

"That’s right. My magic is just that strange. I’m standing at a fork between learning magic or dying. And even if I learn, it’s still very likely that I die.”

"Huuh..."

He slumped back into he chair, his face showing how stunned he was.

"This is just so hard to believe."

"It sure is."

I still couldn’t believe that I was a wizard either.

It seemed like my persuasion failed. As I was bitterly starting to draft my next move, the director pulled out a work experience certificate from the drawer and began filling it out.

"...Director?"

"Hmm, I should have said this sooner, but… Jern, you’re special.”

"Sure, I’m a wizard, so I guess that’s true.”

"That’s not what I mean."

He slowly shook her head.

"Do you remember when Linmel fell from a tree while playing in the mountains and broke her arms and legs?”

"...Ah, yes. I gave her first aid, didn’t I?”

"You did. You laid her out perfectly straight, put a splint on her limbs, and then set the tree on fire.”

"..."

"Do you know how shocked we were when we saw the fire? You were about to set another tree next to it on fire, with Linmel wrapped up in a blanket, sobbing… We thought you’d turned into some kind of thug and arsonist.”

"No, I did run to fetch an adult, but when I came back, Linmel looked like she might stop breathing…”

"I know. The doctor said the same. Without your quick wit, Linmel would have surely died or lived crippled for the rest of her life. I’m not scolding you. You did a great job.”

He patted my head and handed me the certificate.

"But more than your quick thinking and cleverness, I think what made you truly special was how you held both of Linmel’s hands so that she wouldn’t pass out.”

"...Thank you."

"I believe in you. I still don’t know exactly what’s going on… But Jern, I trust you’ll be able to manage. If you ever need anything, just let me know.”

The director saw me off with the same warm smile as the one he wore before.

Clutching the certificate with both of my hands, I left he office.

Perhaps it was the tea, but my body felt strangely warm.

* * *

The next morning.

I put on clothes I wouldn’t mind getting dirty and headed for the meeting point, the capital plaza.

To put a long story short, it really was a waste of effort.

"What? They sent me a little brat like you?”

"I’m fifteen."

"What? You?”

"Yes. I didn’t get much to eat, and the director beat me every day, so I never managed to grow properly.”

The janitor, who seemed to be in his mid-twenties, blinked at me, then shoved the work clothes he was holding into my arms.

"...Go change in that alley for now.”

"Understood."

But just when I was changing into them, I realized a problem.

These clothes didn’t fit at all.

Even after rolling the pant legs up as much as I could, they still dragged along the ground.

It seemed like I had no other choice. I shuffled out, dragging the hems across the ground.

The senior janitor sighed when he saw me.

"...Hey, how about you just go home? I’ll tell your orphanage that you did your job.”

"No. I like cleaning. Please let me do it. If I go back like this, the director will starve me.”

"Urgh… What am I supposed to do here…? To think orphanages like that still existed.”

Despite his words, he still took me along.

As I followed after him, curiosity suddenly grew inside of me.

I had never actually seen the Academy before.

But, if it was a place every noble had to attend, they must have poured obscene amounts of money into it. It probably was somewhere really obvious within the capital…

Yet strangely I never noticed any unusual buildings like that.

Was it underground? Lost in such thoughts, I trailed behind the cleaner until we arrived at City Hall.

"Is this the Academy?”

"Huh? Aah, this is your first time here, huh? You get there from here.”

"...?"

He stood on a carpet inside City Hall and handed a clerk, who came closer to us, my certificate along with his own.

"The Academy."

"And the kid…?”

"He’s here for the work experience program.”

"Confirmed."

Looking to the side, I saw other workers standing on a nearby carpet vanish into thin air for similar reasons.

We followed them. For a moment everything turned black, and when I opened my eyes again—

Thud.

We were in the middle of some nameless city.

"Wow."

"Surprised? First-timers always react like that.”

I stood up straight and stared at the enormous castle before me.

This place rivaled the capital in size.

This whole place—

"Is this the Academy?”

"Yep. Surprised? You get used to teleportation after some time.”

"...Yes, I’m surprised."

I was, but for an entirely different reason.

This wasn’t just some simple teleportation transporting us into the Academy established in another district or something.

As a mage, I could tell from the start that different laws applied here.

...This place was another world.

Looking outside the city walls, I saw endless plains. They probably were actually endless.

"Heavenly Realm…”

"What did you say?”

"...It’s nothing.”

This was a new world created by an archmage who had reached the Heavenly Realm.

In other words, they had established the Academy inside their own world.

...Honestly, I thought creating a world was just some sort of metaphor…

But turns out it was literal.

Shivering slightly, I followed my senior.

The laws in this place surprisingly matched those of the original, the real, world.

It seemed like the archmage who made this place intended it that way.

Feeling a bit relieved, I walked down the main street and took in the scenery, completely different from the capital.

"What are those spires?”

"Those are all Magic Towers.”

"...There was only one in the capital.”

"They say it’s safest to build towers at the Academy, the land is a lot cheaper, and there are a lot more benefits to it. Wait, am I your guide or something?”

"Senior, what are those clothes everyone around us is wearing?”

"S-senior? Ehem, those are student uniforms. Only students can stay at the academy long-term. Over seventy percent of the population here are students, twenty percent are professors and Magic Tower staff, and the rest are laborers like us. You can think of it as a city where only students and professors live.”

"I see."

Feeling my spirits lift at my senior’s explanation, I looked around.

Shops selling magical tools, outrageously expensive dessert shops, some restaurants, and hollow-eyed students walking and chatting in the streets.

This definitely felt like a world where mages lived, in many ways.

My senior warned me not to do anything stupid.

"The students here are all nobles. If you mess up, immediately drop to the ground and beg for mercy. We’re nothing here after all.”

"You don’t seem that nervous though.”

"I’ve been working here for three years. We’re really nothing, so they don’t even pay any attention to us. We’re like the trees on the roadside. As long as you don’t cause any trouble, you’ll be fine.”

“I see. Since they’re wizards, they’d all be nobles, huh.”

"Not really? There aren’t actually that many proper wizards. We’re just near the Magic Tower Boulevard, that’s why you can see so many here. Most people in this place are Knight cadets or officials.”

As we chatted, we arrived at an old-fashioned building near the center of the city.

"This is where we work.”

"What is this place?”

"Huh? The Knights’ training hall. Don’t wander around and just sweep the area.”

Ah, crap.

"Yes."

"You can handle a broom, right? Sweep the whole street, then clean the stairs here. I’ll be wiping down the railings in the next area. Let me know if you have any questions.”

"Understood.”

Once my senior disappeared, I looked over the area I was supposed to clean.

There wasn’t a lot of trash, but fine dust and sand were scattered everywhere. The sheer size of this place made it seem like a daunting job.

But why sand? There wasn’t even a beach nearby.

I listened carefully. I could hear shouts and battle cries coming from inside the building.

It seemed like the Knights were training on a sandlot or something.

After looking around to make sure no one was watching, I waved my hand.

"Let’s see if this works."

I pictured the tide rolling in, sweeping the floor with the seawater I pulled in.

Sssshk… The results weren’t bad. Trash and dust gathered together in one place in waves, turning what would have taken the whole day into something I could finish in just a few sweeps.

[? ...?]

No, it wasn’t entirely good, though.

It was the first time I had used my magic on such a large scale. The deep-sea fish above me seemed to have sensed something amiss and started scanning the area.

I froze in place. Not long after, they looked as if they lost interest and drifted away.

“This is supposed to be another world, so why…”

Why were they still here?

Grumbling, I finished up the last of the cleaning.

All I really had to do at this point was dump whatever I had swept up already. Within just a few minutes, the street was squeaky clean.

“Okay, then…”

There wasn’t anything I could gain here anyway, so I started to formulate various excuses in my head.

I was just looking for the restroom and suddenly got lost, since I was a first-time visitor and all.

Perfect.

I tossed the broom aside and walked out onto the main road.

...Well, I still had to look like a janitor at least, so I picked it back up again.

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