Wizard of the Abyss - Chapter 66

WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 66 - Undercurrents (5)

The reception room. A familiar place yet with a completely different atmosphere now.

"...Why have you come again? I recall hearing that everything had been confirmed last time.”

Aletus greeted me coolly. His expression was so calm that I couldn’t even fault him for being a bit rude, but those words held great weight.

That was not all there was to it—the pressure he exerted on me was no joke. It was like staring up at a monolith.

Sipping on my tea, that somehow felt a lot colder now, I calmly replied.

"Please calm down. We’re simply following orders from above.”

"...That necklace.”

Aletus glared at me, his eyes filled with utter disbelief.

"So you’re a former member of Her Highness Princess Sharmia’s personal guard, I see.”

"..."

So that was what this meant.

That explained why the inspectors made such a fuss the moment they saw me without me saying even a single word.

"Orders from above… There is only one person above you. Are you telling me this is her command?”

"Is that what you believe?”

"No, you clearly talked Her Highness into this. She is not someone who would stoop to such things.”

She sure crafted her image well.

Aletus drummed his fingers on the table, clearly irritated.

"So you’re telling me that you were behind this entire mess? Who are you? Even among the shadows of the royal guard, I’ve never seen anyone as bizarre as you.”

"Think whatever you want.”

"Well, I’ll leave it at that. To grant someone this level of authority means you must be deeply trusted by Her Highness, yet you seem unaware how high the sky is. You, above anyone, should know the scale of this incident. Within a week, you will be held accountable for all of this.”

What an accurate statement.

Each word perfectly pierced the core of this situation. Even knowing I was safe, cold sweat still ran down my back. While trying to remain as composed as possible, I intently studied Aletus.

I made use of Tide Sense and checked for any changes within the Abyssal Sea.

While we were locked in this brief staring contest, a knock broke the silence.

"Vice-Captain, preparations are complete.”

"Good."

I set the teacup down and exited the mansion.

Dozens of butlers, maids, cooks, and other servants were gathered there in neat lines.

I glanced back at the inspector, double-checking,

"Is this everyone?”

"Yes! We not only searched the estate but also all nearby quarters. All affiliated servants have been brought here.”

"Good work."

"Shall we begin questioning them one by one?”

"No."

I shook my head at the eager inspector and looked down at the lined-up servants in the lower yard.

All of them were within the range of my senses.

I scanned all of them for that foul sensation I felt when I encountered Ren, something that showed me that I was facing a fellow Fallen…

And yet I could feel nothing.

"We’re done. Let’s withdraw.”

"...Pardon?”

"Lord Aletus.”

Leaving the dumbfounded inspector behind, I spoke to Aletus.

"The dissident does exist. For now, I ask you to remain cautious. After this, you may kill me or spare me as you wish.”

"..."

Aletus looked at me with suspicion still in his eyes but gave me a small nod.

“I will do so.”

"Thank you.”

Hmm.

Not having to take responsibility was sweeter than I expected.

For the next two days, I repeated the exact same process with every noble.

"What, the inspectors again…?!”

"Didn’t we go through all this last time?!”

I heard all kinds of protests from them.

Ignoring all of it, I used the authority granted by the princess, subdued them all, and gathered every servant in one place to thoroughly scan them using Tide Sense.

The inspectors had really done a great job. However, even after we went through all of them, I couldn’t find a single Fallen.

Of course, I didn’t stop there. I inspected every last member of their families and the families of their servants.

The result—

"As expected…”

I scratched my head in Brimdal’s cabin.

Not a single noble had even the slightest blemish.

They were perfectly innocent.

"Hmm…”

At this point, the princess bringing me in for my ability had lost all its meaning.

It was now my turn to make a move.

The future version of me she trusted had somehow reached the correct conclusion.

... However, even though I said that…

How did future me do it?

No matter how much I pondered over it, the answer still evaded me.

"If you need to take a dump, just do it.”

Brimdal spoke as he swung his sword, aiming to sever my spine.

-Crack!

"It’s not that. I’m just trying to think!”

I leapt off the chair just before his sword shattered it.

The blade hadn’t been sharpened, so I wouldn’t have died if it hit me, but I would be in too much pain to move.

And right now was the time when I had to absolutely move about. Brimdal sheathed his sword like nothing happened.

"Is this related to the princess?”

"Yes."

I tossed the ruined chair into the bonfire. There were already too many broken chairs burning. I had to press it down to make it fit in.

Brimdal now attacked me with concentrated killing intent at every moment except when he slept.

He would always say things like, “You only get accustomed to the world only when death is always beside you,” and “A monkey isn’t good at climbing from birth. It’s because leopards are always lurking beneath the trees that they become good at it.”

Thanks to that, my Tide Sense had insanely sharpened. I might really be able to count the hairs on someone’s head now.

I could do it before if I concentrated, but now I could do it casually.

If I expanded my Tide Sense the way I did last time, I had no idea if I could endure it even if I swallowed every single one of those pearl pills.

As I sighed, Brimdal sat down, looking uneasy.

"Hmm, the princess is quite the troublesome opponent. If she asked something of you, it probably won’t be anything simple.”

"Princess Lumia? Or Princess Sharmia?”

"The latter."

"Wait, why her?”

If I had to call someone troublesome, it would be Lumia.

Brimdal muttered as he downed his beer.

"...She just feels ominous.”

"Aha."

Could one call this dwarven intuition or something? It seemed like he had sensed her prophetic powers.

I nodded, just accepting that assumption as a fact.

"Yeah, like she’s hiding some strange power or something.”

"No. It’s different.”

He put down his empty mug, folded his arms, and stared at the ceiling as if he was recalling something unpleasant.

"She’s clearly never trained as a Knight, Her physique isn't particularly impressive either. Her personality is so close to pure good it’s irritating—yet she’s used to death.”

"...What?"

What kind of nonsense was that?

Seeing how bewildered I was, Brimdal clarified,

"It’s her aura—she has one of someone who has killed thousands, no, tens of thousands. I noticed it when she was about 13. Most people like that are complete lunatics, but she’s perfectly sane and always puts others before herself.”

"Huh."

I thought for a bit before opening my mouth again.

"Aren’t you just jealous? You’re basically saying that she’s nice, but the feeling you get from her creeps you out.”

"Hmph, she is working for the many but never lets go of the few. That’s contradictory. One is bound to hit some kind of wall someday if one acts like that. The world always demands sacrifice. You must abandon something to save something else. But Sharmia never found herself in that situation…”

I was about to lighten the mood with a joke, thinking that a certain someone might be charged with treason if this went on, but Brimdal was quite serious today.

"She is giving something up, somewhere. I have no idea what. And that’s exactly why I don’t want to get too involved with her. And I’d advise you shouldn’t either.”

"What if I’m already so entangled with her that I’m unable to escape?”

Brimdal let out a short laugh at my audacious question and filled his mug with beer again.

"Then I guess I should pray for Princess Sharmia’s soul.”

"Huh?"

"The princess is ominous, sure, but compared to you? You’re a hundred times more ominous, you damned demon.”

Oho.

So Brimdal could joke.

* * *

I reported my findings through the orb I had gotten from the princess the next day.

"That’s the conclusion I reached.”

I was greeted by the same maid at that same teahouse.

I didn’t expect the princess herself to show up again. Just as that thought crossed my mind, I saw her trying to pull out a letter out of her bag, to which I flinched and stopped her.

"Let’s just talk. I’m sick of letters.”

"Really? I didn’t bring any though.”

"...I see."

Princess Sharmia was far more outgoing than I had expected.

It might be rude to think this, but she felt more like a maid than a princess.

Of course, I didn’t know her real face. Her voice was probably fake as well.

But the simple hairstyle and faint freckles perfectly fit this slightly bubbly personality.

Still, Brimdal’s advice was still clear in my mind, so I hesitated to trust what she was presenting. Trying to be as formal as possible, I asked,

"Could you tell me what exactly I did in the future you saw?”

"Yes. Of course.”

She glanced at the clock beside her. I followed her eyes. It said 3 o’clock.

"There are 30 minutes left.”

"...Until what?”

"Until you tell me you’ve found the answer.”

"Huh?"

"That’s where the process I can see ends. I can’t see the results. I can’t foresee anything beyond that.”

"...?"

I blinked in disbelief, meeting her gaze.

"That’s all?”

"Yep."

Her clear, bright eyes held not a bit of doubt.

Bewildered, I asked again,

"So I don’t bring you a culprit, evidence, or anything and just tell you that I figured it out—”

"Yep."

"What if I lied? This isn't some possibility you’re foreseeing right now, but the real world. Maybe this will branch into a new—”

"Jern."

Sharmia looked at me with a warm smile.

"Sorry, we barely know each other, and I’m already acting overly familiar, aren’t I”

What was with that all of a sudden?

I mean, if I had to answer that, then yeah, but what had this to do with anything? As I was wondering what she was talking about, Sharmia dipped her head apologetically.

"I’ve interacted with you for so long within those possibilities. There are connections between us you don’t know about. So it’s quite difficult for me to judge the distance between us.”

"That’s fine."

"That’s why I know you very well.”

Her smile, similar to the one she first showed me, appeared on her face again as she replied.

"You lie effortlessly. Almost everything you say is a smokescreen, a device to trick the other person.”

"That’s not true.”

"There you go lying again. However, there is one time you always tell me the absolute truth.”

She raised her finger, as if she had explained this a thousand times.

"It’s when you speak vaguely, as if you’re not quite sure yourself.”

"...Huh?"

"Well, you’ll understand once you hear it. The moment you always tell me the truth.”

Even after her explanation, she still sounded like nothing more than a lunatic.

But that was how prophets always sounded. I noticed the time running out quickly, so I racked my brain.

If I failed to find the answer within these 30 minutes, that would mean this worldline was the wrong one.

From then on, no matter what we did, nothing would be able to stop what was coming. The fate of the future hinged on my next 30 minutes of thought.

"Let me re-establish the facts. It is connected to Scarlet Abyss, correct?”

"Yes. They are certainly connected to this in some way. I confirmed their appearance.”

"Who was it?”

"Hmm, I didn’t see it myself, but the nobles who survived described them as someone they wanted to rip apart with their bare hands. I can’t… recall the name. The early disasters are the ones I remember the least about.”

So Scarlet Abyss was definitely connected.

"Within a week?”

"Yes. Originally, it should have happened already, but by framing all the high-ranking nobles, I managed to delay it. Which means the perpetrator really is among them.”

"But they’re all clean.”

"That’s when I realized they don’t know they’re traitors. The traitor is definitely among them, but if no one is aware of it—”

"Yes, that’s likely.”

I rested my chin on my hand as I pondered.

How should I deduce the culprit with these fragmented facts?

Hmm.

...I didn’t know. Was I a mage or some goddamn detective?

Time continued to pass by, and I still felt like it was close to impossible to come to a conclusion in these circumstances.

So I had no other choice but to gamble on my future self.

"Lady Sharmia.”

"Ah, please call me something else while we’re outside. Someone might misunderstand.”

"Understood. Shar then.”

Sharmia choked hearing those words, seeming as if I had just slapped her in the face.

"...O-ooh. That’s certainly bold of you, isn’t it?”

"You said we’re close.”

“Ah, yes. We’re close.”

"Did I ever mention that I had some sort of clue in any of those possibilities?”

"No."

"Even after I found out you were a prophet?”

"Still no. You acted like you knew nothing.”

So my future selves were just as clueless as I was now.

Had I always been this incompetent? I couldn’t even find a single clue.

No, if I didn’t, that meant it was impossible. I frowned, factoring that theory in as well.

The future versions of me were extremely incompetent.

"You said I did a lot, though."

"Ah, yes. You worked incredibly hard. You infiltrated the palace, opened the sea gates, and tried to assassinate me—”

And in that moment, something in that phrasing struck me as odd.

"I worked hard?”

"? Yes."

"..."

It sounded trivial but was incredibly important.

I moved relentlessly. I spared no effort, pushing myself to the extreme, including trying to assassinate the princess.

And despite all that, I still remained completely clueless?

If that were all there was to it, one could just chalk it up to incompetence.

But—I didn't have that kind of motivation inside of me.

I wasn’t someone passionate enough to throw myself into danger for the greater good. If someone asked me whether I would take such risks to protect the capital… Yeah, my honest answer would always be “No.”

If anything, once I learned the princess was a prophet, I would probably say something like, “Good luck with that. I’m out!” and run away with the few people I wanted to protect.

So I must have come to know something in those futures. Something that forced me to act.

That much was certain.

Then, a new question would arise.

If I knew something, why didn’t I tell the princess?

"Oh, the time’s almost up.”

–Tick, tick

I stared at her brightly smiling face, seeming completely unbothered.

Would it be hard to believe?

...No, no matter what my future self thought, Sharmia definitely was a prophet. And more importantly, she knew the truth of my origin.

Working with her would be the correct choice. No matter how I looked at it, fighting a prophetic princess was the worst option.

So why would I?

Why, out of hundreds of possibilities, did I choose to reject or oppose her?