WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 7 - Survival (3)

Fortunately, there was a large map posted near the city square. 

If one looked at it from a bird’s-eye view, one would see that the city was circular and divided into four districts. 

Currently, I was in… District 4. The Knights’ training grounds. 

No wonder the people around here looked rather monstrous. From my perspective, as a child, I couldn’t be sure, but even judging objectively, most of them looked well over 190 cm.

"I got matched with an ogre for next week’s sparring match. I’m so dead.”

"Unlucky bastard…” 

That was my first time seeing Knights. Even their walk was somehow different.

Their strides were eerily uniform. One hand at their waist, chatting casually with their peers, while their eyes never stopped scanning their surroundings.

It was probably part of their training. Trying my utmost not to attract their attention, I walked for what felt like an eternity.

This place was truly large. It was no exaggeration to say that it was a small city itself.

Luckily, the wizards’ district, District 3, was right next door.

"Wow." 

The moment I approached District 3, what caught my eye were those spires.

Magic Towers. There was practically one on every block, like corner repair shops.

Weren’t Towers usually one per city? 

This was seriously unbelievable. So this was the Academy…

I felt a sense of awe as I slipped into a building that vaguely looked like a school.

Pretending to wipe down surfaces with a rag, I made my way to what seemed to be an information board in the lobby and read it—

[Advanced Magic Lecture Auditorium 5-1, 3:00 PM]

It seemed like I had found the right place. 

But Advanced Thaumatology? Even if I heard in on that, there was no way I would understand a thing.

Wasn’t there a class on Basic Thaumatology somewhere? No, but was it even necessary for me to study this? Was this even magic—

"Hey." 

"~~~~~~~!!!" 

I leapt up, my heart feeling as if it was about to explode. Turning, I saw a student in round spectacles staring at me, his head tilted.

In other words, a noble. I bowed at a perfect 90-degree angle.

"Good day. How may I help you? I’m sorry. I won’t come here again.”

"Ah, no. You’re a janitor, right? I just wanted to ask if you could toss this cup for me…”

"Yes." 

I immediately snatched the empty cup from him and stuffed it into my back pocket.

Fortunately, he didn’t seem angry about my reading the notice board.

Now that I thought about it, why would he?

What was so bad about looking at a simple notice board? 

Even as a janitor, it wasn’t like I wiped a rag across this student’s face or something.

The student studied me curiously.

"Really? Janitors are pretty young these days.” 

"I’m here through the work-experience program." 

"W-work experience? You’re doing that as a janitor?” 

"Yes. It’s a tradition at our orphanage." 

"Ah… I see.” 

The student was pretty gullible. A ten-year-old, pretty much drowning in clothes twice his size, claiming to be a janitor, and he just brushed it off as ‘janitors being pretty young these days.’

I felt like I could push this even further. 

"Since it’s my first time at the Academy, could you tell me where they hold the beginner magic classes?” 

"Beginner magic? Which kind of magic?” 

Magic was just magic, right? 

"Just the absolute basics.”

"Ah, you’re looking for the children’s class?” 

"Yes!!!" 

So it existed. I couldn’t help but shout, my excitement overflowing. The student just tilted his head but still gave me directions.

"It’s pretty close; just keep going a~ll the way over there, and turn once when you see the hill.” 

"Ooh, I see. Thank you.” 

I had finally found it. 

I bowed politely, then dashed off in the direction he had shown me.

Even though it was supposed to be for children’s classes, the building was by no means small. 

But rather than calling it imposing, even with its size, it seemed kind of friendly, painted in warm colors and filled with round edges. This place practically screamed, ‘Children play here~.’

It seemed like class was in session. I could hear a lecture going on inside.

"Hmhmm..." 

I hummed casually, pretending to sweep the floor with my broom as I slowly approached the door.

... I wasn’t even peeking in or something, just listening in. 

Well, for an orphan like me, trying to somehow experience an Academy class, I had to endure this level of humiliation.

I strained my ears and listened— 

"Alright, who here remembers the three elements of a wizard?” 

"Me!" 

...It was like what I had experienced in the orphanage all over again. 

The children were full of energy, barely even paying attention to the lesson.

However, the teacher remained determined, diligently teaching no matter what.

"Mana, humanity, and… willpower! Right?” 

"In a narrow sense, indeed. But strictly speaking, it’s world, self, and will.”

"Ehh? What about mana?” 

"Where do we get mana from? From this world, right?” 

"But then why call it world instead of mana?” 

"If our little Ria here someday becomes a great mage, she won’t be drawing mana from this reality anymore, but from her own created world. That’s why “world” is more accurate.”

"Create a world…?” 

"You don’t need to understand this yet. Just keep it in mind.”

"Okaaay..." 

The content was definitely basic. I listened intently. 

"And lastly, will… Even in academia, the opinions on this matter are rather divided. The word “will” doesn’t really capture what a mage’s will really is. It’s something far stickier and more intense.”

"What do you mean, sticky?” 

"W-well. The will of a truly excellent mage is so unyielding that simply calling it will doesn’t really fit. It takes on an al~most distorted form.”

"Ehh… So what do they call it then?” 

"210 years ago, Corpenius called it madness, or frenzy. These days, people prefer to call it dogmatism.”

"Those all sound like bad things, though." 

"Does that mean wizards are bad people…?” 

"N-no, no, no!! It’s not that bad. It’s just that, erm… The wizards who reached the heights of the Ten Thousand Heavens are that kind of people. Only someone who truly, sincerely believes that the world is wrong and they’re right can become the master of a new world. In their world, they are the truth.”

Even though these were noble children, they weren’t all that different from the kids at the orphanage. 

Actually, they felt more spoiled. Perhaps because the teacher couldn’t hit them.

"It still feels kinda icky…” 

"S-shall we try learning how to gather mana with teacher? It’s fun.”

"Yes!" 

To lift the kid’s mood, the teacher quickly moved from theory to practice.

This was it. I focused even harder. 

"Everything in this world contains mana. That means, by breathing and eating, you’re constantly replenishing it.” 

"Then why should we bother to gather it manually if we can get it from eating?" 

"Because magic consumes enormous amounts of mana. Just eating and breathing isn’t nearly enough. Even a basic spell like Ignition would take three months of eating and sleeping to build up enough mana.”

I then heard the children gasping in awe. Probably because the teacher did a little demonstration.

"So the wizards of old researched ways to compress and accelerate the acts of eating, sleeping, and breathing by dozens of times. Since breathing is what we do the most, naturally breathing techniques evolved the most.”

"Ooh..." 

"Now, try it yourselves. Imagine you’re not inhaling air. Think of something else surrounding us that is not air and breathe it in. Slowly…”

Something other than air. 

I gave it a try, but—

"...Nothing’s happening.” 

I furrowed my brow. I mean, what else was there besides air, anyway? 

Was this some sort of scam? However, inside, the kids started to succeed one by one.

"W-wow! It feels like something’s filling up in my chest!”

"Right?”

"I did it too!” 

By the time nearly every child had succeeded, I still couldn’t even understand what they were talking about.

Honestly, it was a bit infuriating. 

Even if this was knowledge from a completely different world, I couldn’t even beat one kid to it?

If not air, that just leaves seawater, right?

Should I try breathing that in? 

"...Urg, cough, khek!” 

I shouldn’t have done that. 

The moment I breathed in while visualizing seawater, it really felt like my lungs filled up with water.

I couldn’t breathe. I collapsed, retching multiple times. Nothing came out but dry heaves.

"Cough, cough… Ah, I’m seriously gonna die…” 

Only after I calmed down did I stagger around to the back of the building to hide.

Once class ended and the kids came out, if they saw me like this, they’d immediately notice that something was off with my current state.

I wiped the drool from my mouth and shivered. I had never actually drowned before, but I was sure it would feel exactly like this.

As I grumbled to myself, wondering whether this actually did something, I tried to cast Luminance again. 

And then— 

A light sphere far brighter than the one I had made in the library rose from my hand and lit the up the back of the building.

"...?" 

I stared blankly at the glowing orb in my hand. 

Strangely, that squeezing sensation I had felt in my chest the first time I had used magic was completely gone.

I did feel like something had been drained, but if I had to use a metaphor, it felt more like a single strand being pulled from my thick head of hair.

In other words... 

"...It seems like I just have to die gracefully.”

...I could only gather mana by experiencing drowning multiple times.

* * * 

It wasn’t all bad, though. 

The seawater I could feel sloshing inside my chest barely diminished, no matter how much magic I used.

Sure, the only spell I could actually use was Luminance, but compared to the last time, when I could barely maintain it for a few seconds before completely losing all my strength, the difference was like night and day.

Would drinking it work instead? 

I tried imagining not breathing it in but swallowing the seawater the way one drinks from a cup. 

...Nothing happened. 

I tried many other methods as well, but in the end all I gained were a few hopeless truths.

1. I must fill my lungs with seawater to convert it into mana. 

2. The sensation is extremely close to drowning.

3. But the amount of mana I get from it is staggering. Enough to keep Luminance going for three days straight, with plenty left over.

I sighed as I erased the notes I had written in the sand with my foot.

"...Why does it have to be my lungs?” 

If it were my stomach, it would’ve been so much easier. 

Even without much knowledge about magic, I knew this wasn’t a normal method.

It probably was because I was born into the Abyss Realm. Maybe one day I’d get used to the sensation of my lungs filling up with water…

'Could anyone really get used to that though…?' 

This was just an overall loss. 

Still, at least my mana was full for now. I didn’t need to worry about it until I ran out again. 

I decided to leave these problems to the future me and picked up my broom again. My senior would probably finish soon.

"Wha-what the hell? Where were you? I’ve been looking all over for you!” 

Even though I ran as fast as I could, I found my senior still searching for me. 

I blinked, acting as if I was intimidated by him.

"I was just looking for the toilet, but I couldn’t find one, and then I got lost.” 

"Of course it’s inside the building…!” 

He sighed, half relieved and half exasperated, then looked around, seeming confused. 

"...But wait, huh? You already finished cleaning? How?? An area this big should have taken you at least two hours.”

"I’m really good at cleaning.” 

"Really? ... No, no. That still doesn’t make any sense. Even I would need two hours. What did you—” 

Seeing that he was starting to get suspicious, I instantly put on a dark expression and unleashed my trump card.

"A-actually…” 

"Hm?” 

"I’m just used to these kinds of things… The director makes me clean the entire training field that’s even bigger than this one in under thirty minutes every day. If I fail, he’d beat me until my backside splits open…” 

At my tearful recount, my senior’s expression twisted into something indescribable, and he let out a long sigh.

"...I-I see. I shouldn’t have asked. Anyway, you did a good job…”

Works every time.

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