WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 60 - Tempering (6)

There had never been a time where I had to face off against Knights before. Scarlet Abyss was a group of Fallen mages, and while, sure, there had been one among them that was able to transform into something like a Knight, I didn’t see any of that since Dercia fought that thing.

I knew they were strong. I had even seen how Linmel erased part of her movements… 

But now that I was sharing the same space with one filled to the brim with hostility, playing a bout of human chess, I was absolutely certain. 

These guys didn’t even belong to the same species as I. 

"This is insane…” 

I squinted, losing track of Azure’s movements and catching them again, over and over.

For every corridor I passed, that guy cleared twenty. 

And he wasn’t even running. He would just vanish in a single step, then appear again in the next hallway. It was practically ‘Teleportation’. 

At this rate, he’d search every corner and find me in under a minute. And the moment he did, he’d threaten me to open my workshop. 

So I created indirect interferences while I ran. 

-Clatter! 

Predicting his path, I knocked over every flowerpot lining that corridor’s windowsill. 

[Huh? Why did the flowerpots fall all of a sudden…?] 

[W-We’ll get into trouble if anyone sees this! Sweep it up, quick!] 

Hearing the crash, the maids rushed in with brooms and dustpans, sweeping up shards of porcelain and dirt. 

As they mopped the floor, Azure arrived at the scene. Seeing the Knight of Heavenly Retribution, the maids went pale, frantically bowing to him.

[W-we’re sorry!] 

[It’s fine. Did you knock them over?] 

[We just got here, so—...] 

[Hmm.] 

Azure paused, glanced down the hallway for a bit, then turned around. 

[Ah, weren’t you going that way, Sir?] 

[I was. Until just now.]

He gave up on that path without a shred of hesitation. 

To put it simply, I just lost a psychological battle. 

Of course, I didn't expect those fallen pots to stop him or something. I basically advertised, “I’m right here! I knocked all those flowerpots over in my panic!” And he correctly deduced that this was too obvious. 

To be precise, he didn’t think I was stupid enough to leave behind such an obvious trail. 

Being acknowledged like that by one’s enemy felt kind of good. And since I acknowledged Azure as well, I closed a door way down the hall. 

-Click. 

[...Hmm.] 

I locked a small drawer inside the storage room several meters away. 

Of course, a normal person wouldn’t have heard a thing even if they pressed their ears against the door. 

But Azure immediately stopped, turned around, and opened that exact door.

He then pulled out a key from his coat—and unlocked the small drawer. 

There was nothing inside of it, of course. 

Azure left the room, his expression unchanged. I only made him lose a few seconds. Nothing significant.

Which is why I had to make them significant now. 

-Click.

-Click.

-Click.

[...] 

I twisted every doorknob in the entire area around Azure simultaneously. 

This time, I could clearly see his brows furrow slightly.

As obvious as it might seem, one could easily pull off these kinds of things with 1-star magic as long as it was at a close range. Nothing he could use as evidence against me in a trial. 

While Azure was busy unlocking and checking every single door, I arrived at the annex where the maids were. It probably was their dormitory or something. 

"Huff, huff…” 

I thought the training with Dercia had me build up enough stamina, but trying to sprint while exerting such fine control on objects made me want to puke. 

Leaning against a wall, I tried to catch my breath, tousled my hair, and opened the door to the dormitory. 

"Yeah, seriously. Her Highness has been…” 

"Really? Is that true?” 

"I told you it’s true.” 

I already knew because I sensed everything through my Tide Sense, but the atmosphere here was pretty relaxed. As expected of the Imperial family, even the servants lived quite comfortably. 

No one even looked my way when I proudly opened the door. But the moment I took a few steps in, their gazes naturally gathered on me, since a boy just casually walked into a women-only space. 

"...Oh my, what’s going on? A boy just walked in?” 

"Is he a noble kid someone here knows?”

"I don’t think so. I don’t know any young masters who look like that…” 

They were more curious than wary. Even though this was essentially a “no men allowed” zone, to them I was just a kid barely over 10. Hardly a man.

I hesitated for a moment, then simply shouted,

"I’m here to find my mother.” 

"Y-your mother…?” 

"What are you…talking about?” 

"Your mother is here??” 

Their expressions immediately turned serious. 

Having spent most of their lives around nobles, a child whose identity is unknown—usually meant one thing. 

Of course, pointing directly at someone here would ruin that maid’s career and life. So I decided to speak more indirectly, trying to be as gentle as possible. 

"I was told someone here knows my mother. I want to speak with her.” 

I lifted my hand and pointed at one person. 

The maids parted like waves. The woman at the end of my finger looked bewildered as she stared at me. 

"Miss Aliren." 

"What…?” 

"Could we talk somewhere privately?” 

I calmly met her gaze. 

To be honest, they didn’t really resemble each other much. If not for the shared name and her limp, I would have never guessed that it was her.

But the important thing was that I knew.

"Please." 

I bowed politely while threatening her. 

It was a literal threat. With all the things I had already said, she should have realized that I was aware of everything. 

She probably knew better than I did what would happen if she were to refuse. What would happen when it became public that a maid and a noble had a child together? 

Even with my head bowed, I could sense her facial expression. She was maintaining her composure better than I expected, but— 

-Thump, thump… But she couldn’t hide that panicked heartbeat of hers. 

"...Ah, okay. I don’t know what this is about, but if it’s something I can help with, I’ll cooperate. But right now—” 

"Right now." 

"Huh...?" 

"You need to come with me and listen to my explanation right now.” 

I clenched my teeth as I spoke. 

Azure had already unlocked every room that I had set up, and I was in a terrible condition right now. 

And this was after I took 2 whole pills. Without them, my brain might have just turned into mush. 

That also meant that I must never fully unleash my Abyssal magic without using them again. Disgusting as it was, the medicine Scarlet Abyss provided had been extremely useful. Hopefully this wasn’t some type of elixir made from crushed children or something. 

Praying to everything that is good in the world that it wasn’t, I glared at Aliren. She flinched, then nodded. 

"O-okay. Then let’s go to my room…” 

"That won’t do either." 

I shook my head again.

If we talked here, Azure would definitely find me. 

"You’ll have to come with me to somewhere quiet. I’ll guide you.” 

"No, little one. You can’t do that.”

The nearby maids, who had been listening, looked quite baffled and tried to stop me. 

"While I don’t know what’s going on, Aliren’s leg is bad, so she can’t…”

"I know." 

–Snap 

With a snap of my fingers, stars flashed in my eyes before the chair Aliren was sitting on lifted into the air. 

"I’ll just do this.” 

"...!" 

Magic, proof of blue blood. 

The maids immediately backed away, fearfully looking at Aliren, realizing what she must have done. 

Right when I was about to leave quickly, since time was running short, a maid nervously approached and knelt down. 

"What?" 

"M-my Lord…” 

The most annoying form of address in the world. 

I looked at her slightly sullen, to which she trembled and seemed ready to beg for mercy.

"Wh-what do you…plan to do to Aliren, if I may ask?” 

Her eyes seemed weirdly resolute. 

Since I was seriously pressed for time, I gave her a blunt response.

"It’s not like this woman had an affair with my dad and is trying to put her child on the family register or that I’m trying to kidnap her and kill her for it. I just have something I wanted to ask her. Don’t misunderstand.”

"...Yes?" 

"I know it sounds unbelievable, but it’s true. Once we finish talking, I’ll safely put her on a carriage and send her home, so don’t worry. She has no connection to nobility whatsoever. And I’m not a noble either.” 

That was all I could say to reassure her. 

Brushing past the stunned maid with the floating chair-bound Aliren right behind me. I then asked her curtly, 

"Is there a back door?”

"Ah, yes…”

It seemed like I wouldn’t have to climb over the wall. 

As I left the palace through the back door Aliren had pointed out, the busy, snow-covered capital immediately filled my view. A floating chair and a wizard boy were bound to draw quite some attention, so I slipped into an alley at once. 

After that, I ran nonstop. 

"P-please wait…!” 

"You better keep your mouth closed unless you want to bite your tongue.”

I turned, and turned, and turned yet again. 

It might not be of much help, but I even left some decoy footprints here and there, trying to erase our tracks as best I could. 

Only when we reached the very end of an alley—a dead-end corner with nowhere else to go—did I finally stop and set the chair down. 

I stared at Aliren, gripping the armrest of the chair hard enough to show veins as I cut away the nearby wall with wind.

"I’m sorry it’s not a nice cozy café.” 

"... Didn’t you say earlier that you wouldn’t kill me?” 

Aliren was breathing heavily, but her gaze was still firmly fixed on me. 

I had absolutely no intention of dragging this out either. 

"Greg, Ren. Do you know those names?” 

"...!" 

Even without checking her heartbeat, I knew how shocked she was since it was obvious on her face. Since that alone could be seen as a confession, I kept my explanation to a minimum. 

"So you do. Then do you also know what those children are doing now and where they are?" 

"I don’t know." 

Aliren shook her head, as if she was completely clueless. 

"And if this is about that, you’ve made a mistake.” 

"What do you mean?”

"I have nothing to do with those children.” 

"Hmm." 

I closely examined her expression. 

I couldn’t say that she looked confident, but she was sure of her words at least. 

So that was the type she was, huh? 

"I don’t know who hired you or for what, but let me go. I have absolutely nothing to tell you.”

"I see. The orphanage records say otherwise, though.” 

"..." 

Aliren’s face stiffened slightly. 

Not much. Then it turned into a scowl again as she snapped back, 

"Fine, I did some volunteer work at the orphanage. Is that a crime? I didn’t just care for those kids but all the children there. No matter how much you search…”

I nodded as I watched her make excuses. 

"Well, that does make sense." 

"...Now look—huh?” 

I nodded again, to which her expression twisted into one of confusion. 

"I made a mistake. Linking you to them just because you volunteered at an orphanage was a bit of a stretch.”

"Ah, yes."

"My apologies for the trouble. I’ll send you back now.” 

"...??" 

I wasn’t just saying that. 

I would really return her and simply tell Ren that I couldn't find her. That would be the end of this. 

However, not even 30 seconds after we started walking, Aliren, who was still being carried by me, suddenly spoke up. 

"E-erm—” 

“Yes? Do you have a question?” 

"Well, um, I’m not really related to them, but since they were from the orphanage I volunteered at… I do know them, right?” 

"I suppose so." 

"So, hmm… I just wanted to ask why you’re looking for them.”

"They both fell. Greg was crushed to death by his burdens while trying to help his little sister escape from the Knights, and Ren will soon be burned to death by her own world.”

"...What???" 

Aliren let out a much higher-pitched shriek. 

"W-wait. What are you talking about? Is that some sort of cruel joke?” 

"No. Because one of their parents was a wizard, they received an incredibly terrible gift. They became wizards.” 

"...!" 

"And growing up in the orphanage, they faced many hardships. Unlike the children who held onto meaningless yet bright hope that their parents would someday take them home, their hope was trampled over right in front of their eyes, which was maybe why… Yes, they both fell."

I turned around to look at her. 

Her eyes were trembling incessantly. 

"...Where are the children—no, where is Ren now?” 

"I have no reason to tell you.” 

"W-why not?!” 

"You’re not related." 

"Ugh…! But…” 

Aliren bit her lip, to which I answered coldly. 

"And even if you were related, I wouldn’t want you to meet. At least let her final moments be ones where she isn’t rejected. Wouldn’t that be kinder?” 

"...I’m not…related.”

"Yes. I know.” 

That was exactly the answer I expected. 

I didn't blame her, though. One’s own safety naturally outweighs concerns for a child whose death was imminent. 

As we continued walking, Aliren added, 

"It’s true. You’re thinking that I’m their mother, right?”

"From what I’ve heard.” 

"I’m not. That much I can say with absolute certainty.” 

"...?" 

Aliren swallowed dryly, staring at me with earnest eyes.

"I didn’t go through the pain of childbirth for them, but I do know who their real mother is.”

"..." 

We locked eyes for a moment, then I asked, 

"Who is it?” 

"Kathren. A maid, like me.” 

"And where is she? If we go back to the palace now, can we meet her?” 

"No." 

Aliren lowered her head, her expression showing sorrow. 

"She died a long time ago.” 

"...What?" 

"It was a miserable end. She wasn’t satisfied with just a one-night fling, because she truly believed they were in love. Even when she was told the best-case scenario would be getting assassinated by the noble’s official mistress, she still— She was such a foolish woman, who still gave birth to those two even if it meant getting fired from her position as a maid.”

Aliren, who spoke as if confessing her sins, didn’t sound like she was lying. 

So, if what she said was true. 

"So, you’re saying that you’re not their real mother?”

"Yes. She really was such…a foolish woman…” 

...Greg and Ren had suffered from a grave misunderstanding.

Aliren kept her head lowered as she continued to speak. Clear tears were dripping down her dress.

"Kathren was my closest friend. At first we became close because our names ended in the same syllable—but soon we became inseparable, to the point that it didn’t even matter anymore how we became friends. I helped her a lot, since a woman alone couldn’t possibly raise children easily. But Kathren didn’t care to look after the kids and only chased after that nobleman.”

"Was she killed?”

"It would have been better if she had been. That man wasn’t cruel enough to kill the woman who bore his children, nor brave enough to take her in. A small, pathetic man. He rejected her over and over again—until Kathren chose to end her own life.”

"..." 

"I couldn’t decide what to do. How was I supposed to treat the children who bore the blood of that loathsome man and my friend that I loved so dearly…?” 

"So you sent them to the orphanage?” 

"Yes. I tried to forget them, but I always found myself going back. Every time I saw them I could see their father's face, but also their mother's. I just didn’t know what to do. And eventually I made up my mind—”

Aliren lifted and snapped open the pendant around her neck with trembling hands. 

Inside was a faded document. 

"I received this on that night. If I signed this, I would have become their mother. But Greg misheard and—”

"Hmm." 

I didn’t really need to hear the rest of the story to know what happened.

I muttered as I watched Aliren shedding tears. 

"To be honest, I’m not sure you really have the right to hate that noble.”

"...What?”

She lifted her head. Anger was clearly burning in her reddened eyes. 

Not that I cared. I scoffed and gave her an answer. 

"You said he wasn’t cruel enough to kill the woman who bore his children, nor brave enough to take her in. Doesn’t that sound like you were talking about yourself?”

"Huh...?" 

"If instead of wavering you had either chosen to hate them as the children of the one who drove your friend to death or love them as the last proof of your beloved best friend’s existence, those two would never have fallen.” 

"...Wh-what are you talking about?” 

"An inner world doesn’t break that easily. Even Scarlet Abyss struggles to shatter one without tearing off arms and legs first. 

Why did Illusory Flower force people to see happy dreams?

It was to build height. 

Not to drag someone down from the ground into a never-ending pit, but to drop them from the heavens. 

"Because you loved them, because you made them believe that you were their true mother, no matter if it was true or not, they rose up into the heavens. And because they gained certainty that you were their real mother, they felt as if they had been abandoned twice, so they fell into the Abyss.” 

"...I-I never meant to—” 

"Yes, you also didn’t know they were wizards. You probably only heard about what the Fallen are and how they came about recently, right? So in truth, you did very little wrong. You were simply unlucky. You can just leave it at that, but—”

I continued to chip away at the wall as I spoke. 

"---Can you really leave it at that?” 

"..." 

Aliren opened her mouth, trying to say something, then lowered her head, muttering something as she sobbed. 

"...I want to see her." 

"And what would you do after seeing her?” 

"A-apologize…” 

I frowned as I watched Aliren gritting her teeth. 

How naive. She didn’t even understand her own emotions. 

Personally, regardless of whether they were good or evil, I hated people like that. 

But what could I do? 

The client wanted this. 

-Click

I inserted the key into the door I had just created. 

"This is—” 

"What happens next is up to you.” 

"..." 

I glanced at Aliren, who hesitantly reached for the door, then turned away. 

I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious how their reunion would go, but this was no time to worry about such things. 

"Whew…” 

As expected, it didn’t work.

I forced a smile as I focused on the Knight who had completely seen through my decoys and was coming straight toward me. 

A Knight who killed mages. 

A Knight of Heavenly Retribution who could even kill those other Knights. 

An elite selected to hunt the dangerous Fallen.

Testing the strength of this potential enemy of mine wasn’t a bad idea.

"Should I give it a try—” 

It was insanely risky, but I would have to enter the Abyssal Fusion state. 

And even then, I still didn’t feel certain that I could win against him. 

Just as these thoughts passed through my mind— 

"What the hell do you think you’re doing, you stupid brat?” 

"...!" 

-Grab. 

I felt a hand clasping the back of my neck. 

Goosebumps immediately appeared all over my body. My perception was clearly overly sensitive now that I had fully used Tide Sense.

And yet—even right now, with this person’s hand ripping my neck, I felt nothing.

Other than the sensation on my neck, I could feel nothing at all behind me with Tide Sense. 

This was the first time Tide Sense had been outpaced by physical sensations. I could hardly breathe as that hand began to roughly squeeze my shoulder. 

"Agh, ow.”

"Scared? What are you so terrified of, you tiny brat?” 

"...B-Brimdal?”

I looked up at the tall dwarf with utter disbelief written on my face. 

He wasn’t some unknown stranger. 

...But just a stranger.

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