Wizard of the Abyss - Chapter 62

WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 62 - Undercurrents (1)

Ren’s death didn’t change anything.

The Empire moved on, the Fallen were taken away, and I remained completely powerless.

All I could do was guide Aliren to the palace where Ren was buried.

"Thank you, really, thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Aliren said that, but I couldn’t quite grasp what she was so thankful for.

I watched her back as she left, then made my way to the carriage.

Brimdal was waiting there, his arms crossed. I hadn’t really asked him to come.

"Do you regret interfering?”

"No.”

"Hmph."

We stared at each other for a moment.

The princess had been right. Even if I could return to the past, I wouldn’t have chosen differently.

"You wouldn’t have wanted this outcome.”

"No. But I did expect it.”

"Aren’t you sad?”

"A little.”

Brimdal glanced at my seemingly composed face and muttered as if baffled.

"... Makes me wonder why I even asked. Let’s go. If you don’t want to die, you don’t have any time to waste here, especially considering your lacking talent.”

That was true.

In the end, the only thing I could do was struggle to stay alive.

Even indulging in something like grief was a luxury I couldn’t afford right now.

Rather than thinking about the bigger picture, I had to focus on training in Arcane Strengthening to keep my body from rotting.

I decided to only focus on that and nothing else.

* * *

"I noticed you’ve got some rather unusual abilities.”

"...Pardon?"

Several days had passed since he acknowledged me as his disciple. I was on break right now, lying on the ground gasping, when he asked me about my Abyssal magic all of a sudden.

"So… You can see things from afar? Like some kind of supernatural power?”

"Hmm, yes. I’m a Fallen, after all.”

"What else can you do?”

What was he on about?

I hadn’t really thought that much about my abilities or my existence as a Fallen for a while, so I was a bit puzzled but still told him about them.

After hearing everything, Brimdal stared down at me with a strangely thoughtful look.

"Hmmm..."

"What is it?”

"That could be useful.”

"Huh? For mastering Arcane Strengthening?”

"No, for becoming a Knight.”

"I have no intention of becoming a Knight, though?”

"Well, you need to now. No matter how hard I try to hide it, the rumor that you’re my disciple will spread, and with your current skill level, you’ll be met with a lot of suspicion. You’ll need to keep up the appearance of training as a Knight at least.”

Certainly. Even though I was Brimdal’s disciple, my swordsmanship was complete trash. If I kept sticking to him, suspicions would surely arise in one way or another.

But my talent was far too pitiful for me to even appear like a Knight. Brimdal himself had said so.

"If you think about it, that could be your talent as a Knight.”

"Huh?”

Right when I was wondering what he was talking about, he added.

"You know, that current stuff or Tide Sense or whatever.”

"That’s magic though, right?”

"Wrong. It’s not magic, it’s a talent inherent to you. Think about it carefully. A Knight with long arms and a Knight with short arms. Who would have the advantage?”

"I suppose the one with long arms? They’d have better reach.”

"Exactly. So a Knight with long arms has better talent, right? Don’t overthink it.”

So what he meant was:

My ability to control currents and my Tide Sense were ultimately like having a longer reach or a larger body.

While it made some sense… it still felt like nothing more than sophistry.

"I get what you’re saying, but isn’t that a bit far-fetched? I can’t even swing a sword properly.”

"Precisely. So don’t fight with a sword.”

"?"

"Does a Knight have to be good with a sword?”

"Yes."

That much was obvious. Even Brimdal had to admit that.

"Well, yeah. But what can I do? You won’t break, nor will you melt no matter how much I hammer or heat you.”

Brimdal shrugged.

"So we’ll just have to grind you into shape. As long as you look like a Knight, that’s enough. Don’t worry too much.”

Now that I thought more about it, he was right. I just had to look the part, right?

That wasn’t a particularly high bar to pass.

So we began researching how I could fake being a Knight using my Abyssal magic, though I didn’t hold any expectations for it.

"First, we need some information. How far can you see with that ability you call Tide Sense?”

"I can barely sense you. I also was able to detect that Knight called Azure in fragments.”

"Haha, right. You seem confident. So how much can you actually see?”

"Huh? I just told you.”

"Come on, enough with the jokes—”

About six months later, we discovered the truth.

"And the champion of the Youth Knight Tournament iiiis—Sir Brimdal’s disciple, Jern Aspandiiiil!”

"?"

The Abyssal Sea was a world made for Knights.

* * *

On a wide field filled with sand, with countless spectators watching down.

A black-haired apprentice pointed his sword at me.

"I’m finally going to beat you today.”

He was about fifteen years old, clad in silver armor, and wearing a fiercely determined expression.

I was 11 and a full head shorter, wearing no armor, and only using a wooden practice sword.

It wasn’t because I was getting discriminated against for being an orphan.

I simply saw the need for a handicap, and everyone agreed.

To be precise, I just didn’t have the confidence to stop a real sword mid-swing.

...How did things end up like this?

"Hmm, well… Good luck.”

I could tell just from his stance and the way he drew his sword.

He had worked incredibly hard. I also trained hard, but he probably held a sword since he was a toddler until his sword’s handle was completely worn down.

But there was a problem.

Tide Sense was just that much of a cheat.

-Tweeet!

"Hyaaaa!”

The whistle, our signal to start, blew and the kid rushed in.

I was able to see every single thing, from his motion to his every intention, from the very start.

I wasn’t exaggerating. I could dodge everything he threw at me with my eyes closed. Every bit of information, from how he raised his shoulders to how he twisted his waist and even shifted his balance, flowed into me.

So he was trying to do a flowing downward slash directed at my head.

I deliberately reacted a bit slower.

-Kang!

"Ugh—"

Even though I deflected the strike perfectly, my arm felt numb, but my opponent obviously didn’t stop there.

As if he had expected me to deflect, he placed one hand on the pommel, ready to push through.

...Of course, he would. I read his intentions as soon as he opened his hand, so I stepped back a bit before he moved.

Whoosh! The thrust missed my forehead by a few centimeters.

"Haaaaaaah!”

Slash, slash, slash, slash.

What followed was a relentless chain of dozens of strikes, as he desperately searched for an opening.

But I always saw his attack coming before he even unleashed his strikes.

There was no need to react. The way he moved before striking made it already obvious enough.

As I continued to dodge without attacking, my opponent suddenly gritted his teeth and shouted.

"...Fight me seriously!”

"H-huh?”

"You probably think I’m nothing, huh? And well, I guess it makes sense. You’re a mage, and yet you’re so talented at swordsmanship as well. A commoner like me must look pathetic to you!”

"Well, I was also born a commoner, and an orphan at that.”

"But I’ve trained three whole weeks just for today! I don’t care if I lose, but at least take me seriously!”

"..."

I felt incredibly wronged.

My swordsmanship was utter trash, to the point that even if I could predict my opponent's every move, all I could do was dodge.

Even if I met his sword with mine, I’d absolutely lose that clash. That was how pathetic my skills were.

So I just kept on dodging until my opponent got exhausted and made mistakes, which was when I would finish them off. I had to resort to such pathetic tactics—

...I guess it did look a bit like I was making fun of them.

But there was no helping it. I raised my wooden sword and assumed the most serious-looking, knight-like stance I could somehow muster.

"Fine. I’ll show you everything I’ve got. Come.”

"...Okay, here I come!”

The apprentice’s eyes were ignited with passion.

He sprinted toward me with all his might—

Which was when I lightly touched his foot with my currents.

"Huh, what?”

He instantly stumbled.

An opening.

Taking advantage of that opening, I dashed in, swinging my sword upward.

"...Not yet!”

His effort really shone through here.

Even after his stance broke, not wanting to give up, the apprentice gathered his strength and reacted.

...Man, I kind of felt bad.

I used a tiny bit of water pressure to stop his hand.

And with this tiny bit of interference at close range, it was over.

"Wait, what? Huh…?”

-Thud!

My wooden sword perfectly tapped his nape.

The match was finished.

As the whistle blew, I retracted my sword.

I offered him my hand as he sat there in the sand, still unable to comprehend what just happened.

"Come on, get up. That was a good fight.”

"Why did I fall? There weren’t any rocks… No, and at the end—”

"I won this time due to your misstep, but if we had really clashed, it could’ve gone either way. So, try training your mind more for the next match. I’ll fight you seriously from the start then.”

"...Y-yeah. Thanks.”

After loading my words with some flattery, the guy looked a bit puzzled yet happy instead of humiliated.

As I hurried off the field, I heard some Knights clapping and murmuring some words of admiration.

"A wizard and a Knight… I doubted it at first, but he’s the real deal.”

"I heard his magic isn't all that strong. He’s still just a 1-star.”

"What does that matter? Being both a mage and a Knight is really quite something.”

"True that…”

At this point, praise hardly moved me anymore.

I returned to the waiting room, changed, and came out. Brimdal was waiting for me outside.

His grumpy, almost displeased expression showed that he was pretty pissed.

I handed him the wooden sword and asked,

"Your student won, so why do you look like that?”

"...Why?"

"Huh?”

"Why…just why is your talent like this…?!”

"..."

Here we go again.

He had been doing this after every match lately. I frowned as well as we walked to the carriage.

"I can’t help what I don’t have, you know? It's not like I can fabricate talent out of thin air.”

"Then you shouldn’t have that talent in the first place!! How can someone with the most coveted ability every Knight dreams of have such trash physical ability?!”

"To put it more accurately, that’s the price of this power.”

I didn’t have any talent—not a lick—as a Knight, partly because of this body’s limitations and partly because of my burdens.

Even though I had gotten used to it by now, every step still felt like I was cutting through strong currents. The water pressure was continuously pressing down on me—and whenever I swung something, I could feel some resistance.

I couldn’t really do anything about this but consider all that a price for my Tide Sense.

But Brimdal still didn’t seem convinced, his hands trembling and his eyes bloodshot, filled to the brim with frustration.

"This is just so—why does a wizard have this ability anyone would sell their soul for?! My blood is boiling. That's how infuriating this is…!”

"Is it really that good?”

"Of course. Do you not understand what it means that you are able to perceive Azure's movements?! As long as you keep your head on straight, no Knight below his rank will ever be able to even touch your collar!”

"Same for me."

I sat in the back of the carriage and opened my book on swordsmanship.

Getting to this level all came from intensive reading.

Twisting one’s foot and pulling it forward would lead to a lunge, and pulling one’s wrist would lead to a thrust.

I memorized these simple movements along with advanced muscle control, footwork patterns, and sword forms. Like this I became able to foresee certain moves as long as I knew their motions.

Just by reading some books I was able to boost my evasion rate. In other words, I was like an RPG character with a bugged skill tree.

"It’s all just trickery anyway, so calm down.”

"...Fine."

"That means I can rest for a while, right?”

"I already told you. You won’t have to appear as a Knight for at least a month. I planned to only enter you into a few matches for show before leaving, but then suddenly every noble starts calling for you…”

Honestly, it did help. That was why I was studying so hard.

It was extremely useful to learn how to evade Knights. And Tide Sense, unlike the currents or water pressure, was so subtle that no one would be able to tell when I was using it no matter how hard they tried.

But my real enemies were mages. Scarlet Abyss, to be exact.

Unless this stuff somehow helped me fight against them, pretending to be a Knight was a mere stepping stone to master Arcane Strengthening under Brimdal’s tutelage.

The problem was that it was working a little too well.

"Maybe I should start losing? Aren’t I climbing up a bit too fast?”

"That would probably be for the better. There are already some trying to arrange marriages with you. We must cool this momentum somehow.”

"...What?"

I blinked, bewildered.

"Marriage? To me? I’m only 11 though?”

"? Isn’t that when engagements are usually arranged?”

Brimdal seemed genuinely confused, looking at me as if he was wondering what I was talking about.

There were still some moments where the difference between my and this world’s common sense caught me off guard. I squinted my eyes slightly.

"Who was trying to do that?”

"There were several noble families. Check the back of the carriage.”

I rummaged through the books stacked around me. I was shocked to find four of them and shocked once more when I noticed that all of them held the seals of nobles.

"Are these people insane? I’m an orphan.”

"And you’re also my disciple, an apprentice at the Dark Magic Tower, an exceptional one at that, and you’re under the guardianship of Aletus. If one shovels gold into a pit long enough, it’ll eventually disappear.”

"Still, this is just ridiculous.”

"More and more nobles are starting to learn your name. Don’t expect to keep that unknown, mysterious orphan status for much longer. You’re already becoming a hot commodity.”

"Hmm…”

I pondered for a moment, then asked something that just occurred to me.

"What if I just lose miserably in the next match, crying and begging for mercy—”

"Don’t you dare."

"...Yes."

Even though I was being praised, I didn’t feel particularly good about it.

I was progressing.

I was told that my Arcane Strengthening training had reached a certain plateau. It wasn’t enough to slow my growth, though.

The physical training was also helping me endure my burdens.

I still had a lot of those pearl pills from Scarlet Abyss left as well. As long as I had those, I didn’t have to worry about dying from the burdens for now.

But…

I couldn’t take a single decisive step forward.

Every day felt like simply surviving one more day and enduring.

Was this really the best I could do? Sighing, I sorted through the letters when I noticed one with an unusual seal.

What was this?

I was about to open it when Brimdal suddenly muttered something in a low voice.

"Strange. Why the hell are they sending me your marriage matches?”

"You’re my guardian right now, aren’t you?”

"I never agreed to that. Wait, I know you grew up without parents, but didn’t you say you have a master? Why are they not sending these to them?”

"Ah, well…”

How should I explain this to him without mentioning Dercia?

While I was still pondering over this matter…