WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 89 - Hunt (2)

"Your Highness, shall we call for the royal physician?”

"If you wish, we can also summon the court mage.”

The guards watched the prince’s frantic behavior with worried expressions.

The prince’s lower eyelids trembled, then he muttered in a quieter tone.

"...N-no, it’s fine. I must’ve imagined it…”

"Are you certain? Haven’t you been losing sleep lately as well? For the sake of your health, at least allow us to—”

"I-I’m fine. There’s no need to check.”

In the end, the guards couldn’t do anything about the prince, who desperately shook his head.

If they dragged him away against his will, that would be treason. With no other choice, they left and headed toward the hall instead of standing guard.

[See? He couldn’t even look us in the eyes.]

[I did. How can someone be that timid…]

[Well, he’s still young… Ahem. Let’s report this for now.]

It seemed the prince’s mental state was so poor that even the guards were genuinely worried.

As soon as the sound of their footsteps faded, the prince, slumped over his desk, let out a sigh.

"Ugh… What is it this time…”

This time, huh?

It was about time for me to step in. I took off my mask and moved out onto the terrace.

The prince’s terrace was designed to be extremely narrow, to counter against an assassin’s infiltration attempts. It was barely wide enough for a single person to stand on it.

Just wide enough for a single boy. I swung my legs lightly, testing the strength of my currents, then charged a tiny Thunder Gale.

I heavily reduced the compression rate and didn’t concentrate it to a single point.

Peering down at the dizzying drop below, I steeled myself. Falling from here wouldn’t kill me anyway.

-Tap!

I leaped. As far as I could.

But it wasn’t far enough. The terrace was still several meters away, and I began to slowly descend…

I immediately detonated Thunder Gale under my feet.

Sounding like a muted firecracker going off somewhere, it propelled me farther forward through the air.

I landed as gracefully as—an elephant. The output was far stronger than I expected, so I only barely managed to grab onto the terrace railing before clambering up in a really undignified fashion.

"Huh?"

The prince heard the sound and turned toward the terrace. More precisely, he looked toward me through the glass window.

"...?"

He must’ve had some princely training.

In a situation like this, he should call the guards and immediately report the intruder—

"Th-this time it looks different…”

But it seemed like his curiosity outweighed fear for now. Though I couldn’t really understand what he meant with his words.

I grabbed the terrace door. It was locked, but picking a lock was trivial.

Click.

The door opened easily. Only then did the prince tense up.

"A-an assassin??"

We looked alike, but that didn’t change the fact that I was an intruder. Anyone sneaking into the prince’s chambers was unlikely to have any good intentions.

The prince quickly backed away, trying to sound threatening.

"T-take one more step and I’ll call for help…!”

Even his threat sounded completely deflated.

A timid voice, eyes that couldn’t meet mine, narrow shoulders.

Familiar. I had seen plenty of kids like that at the orphanage.

Those who arrived when they were old enough to understand they’d been abandoned by their parents.

Their self-esteem had already hit rock bottom. I had no idea why this prince turned out that way, though.

Anyway, handling kids like this wasn’t difficult.

"Nice to meet you, little brother."

"...?"

"Come here, let me give you a hug.”

"Huh?"

Kids like him were weak to familiar affection.

Naturally, the prince didn’t believe any of my words.

"Tha-that can’t be… I don’t have a brother!”

"Father met a maid in his younger days, which is how I was born. It’s only natural you wouldn’t know.”

I casually brushed my hair back.

"But look at us. Don’t we look alike?”

"Ugh..."

Even if I was wearing a slight frown on my face, our resemblance couldn’t be denied.

The prince—staring at me with his mouth hanging open—panicked and quickly shook his head.

"Looking alike could just be a coincidence!”

"Is that so? Then how about this?”

I scanned the prince’s body with Tide Sense.

At this close a distance, I could detect even the smallest skin blemishes with it.

Acting as if I was trying to recall something, I let out a thoughtful hum and asked something only the prince would know the answer to.

"Hmm… I remember when we used to bathe together. You had two moles on your thigh. Do you still have them?”

"...!"

At that the prince’s eyes flew wide open.

"We used to bathe together…?”

"Yes. You were so young back then, so it’s natural you wouldn’t remember.”

Confused, he shook his head hard.

"No, no. Father would never hide something like that from me… Th-then use magic!”

"Magic?”

"Y-yes!"

The prince blinked rapidly. A star appeared, and fire blossomed in his hand.

I frowned. Using magic here was dangerous.

However, perhaps because his understanding was still shallow, the deep-sea creatures didn’t react to him at all.

Still, the output of his flame was incredibly high. Even for elemental magic, a 1-star mage shouldn’t be able to procure a fire strong enough to scorch the ceiling.

Feeling proud, the prince declared,

"If you’re really my older brother, you should be stronger than me! Otherwise you didn’t inherit Father’s blood.”

"Hmm.”

So he still had some pride as a royal.

I snapped my fingers without saying another word.

-Fwsh…

"...H-huh? Why isn’t it working anymore?”

The flame the prince summoned fizzled out instantly.

Incredibly flustered, he stared at his hand, then met my gaze.

Two stars.

It seemed like it took him about 10 seconds to realize that even though I seemed to be about his age, I managed to become a 2-star mage, which was an impressive feat.

Even Lumia, who was recognized as a peerless genius in the Empire, only got her second star when she was older than me right now.

It was already pretty much decided how the prince would react to this.

"Brother...?"

There wasn’t even a single hint of doubt remaining in his reverent gaze.

* * *

"Why… Why did Father hide your existence from me?”

"Try to understand his choice. I was the child of a maid. My very existence would have stirred up trouble. He had no choice but to conceal me.”

"I-I see…”

The prince sat beside the desk, looking up at me with sparkling eyes, so bright it almost felt burdensome.

It seemed he was rather thrilled to suddenly discover that a mature, capable 2-star mage turned out to be his older brother.

He was supposed to be a puppet, yet nothing about him felt different from a normal human.

As impressed as I was by Scarlet Abyss’ level of technology, I felt fear creep up inside of me. Could they have made someone like me, a Fallen living in the Abyssal Sea? Had he awakened just now?

If so—was this entire kingdom just a breeding ground to raise him?

I had no clue. For now, I extended my hand toward my cute, gullible puppet pseudo-brother, who seemed ready to tell me anything as long as I asked.

"My name is Horen."

"Ah, Rahyan! My name is Rahyan.”

Was it this body’s original name?

We shook hands before I spoke to Rahyan with a serious expression on his face.

"Little brother, there are plenty of things I want to talk about, but this isn’t the time."

"Huh? Why?”

"The kingdom’s in danger.”

Rahyan blinked slowly, seemingly unable to comprehend my words, then suddenly opened his mouth wide.

"Why...!"

"Ssh."

Having noticed that the guards had returned to their post, I tried to make him lower his voice.

"We can’t trust anyone with how things are right now. That’s why I didn’t go to Father. As horrible as it sounds, even he may have fallen into the enemy’s grasp.”

"That’s…that’s ridiculous!”

"I think so too. But we must consider the worst. That’s why I came to you first.”

"J-just what happened?”

"Have you ever heard of Scarlet Abyss?”

"No..."

Rahyan shook his head, seeming genuine.

From that I became certain of a single fact. These puppets weren’t under Scarlet Abyss’ direct control during normal time.

Certainly, if they had to be controlled at every given moment, then Scarlet Abyss would have had to keep their personnel tied up in this kingdom for the last 7 years.

They were indistinguishable from living, breathing humans.

Then how was I supposed to tell the difference?

There was practically nothing that set this puppet prince apart from a real person.

Should I wait until night and ask Dercia?

"Brother Horen?”

I had been lost in thought for quite some time, it seems. Reassuring the anxious Rahyan, I explained the situation to him.

"They infiltrated the royal palace, wearing other people’s skins and pretending to be human. If we don’t find them, they’ll slowly consume everything. In the end, this kingdom will fall.”

"Is that really true…?”

"Yes. I came here to stop them.”

I had to figure out some way to tell them apart, no matter what.

As I focused on Rahyan—

"...Wait.”

Rahyan’s eyes suddenly widened as he sank into deep thought.

"B-big brother. I’m not sure, but—I think they might have done something strange to me.”

"Something strange?”

"Yeah. It’s happening even now.”

"What do you mean?"

"I-it’s different from normal. There are fish floating in the air. And…everything looks kind of dark. That’s how the world looks to me.”

"...Is that so? They might really have done something to you.”

You fell.

I kept that thought to myself as Rahyan continued, his expression growing more serious.

"But I remember something similar to this happening to me before.”

"What?"

"Sometimes…suddenly, for no reason, everyone in the world looks like me.”

"...?"

"So when I first saw you, I thought it was just that again. But this time felt a little different…”

The boy, hesitating for a moment, said something I could barely comprehend.

"I tried explaining it to Father and others several times, but no one ever understood. Could this be the process of them trying to consume me?”

"Can you describe that phenomenon in more detail?”

"Well, umm…”

Rahyan stared into empty space, muttering as if he was remembering something.

"Everyone looks like me, and I don't know which one is really me. It’s so confusing. Then the person I thought was me talks to me, and then I suddenly realize that the me I thought wasn’t me is actually me, and I barely manage to respond…”

In short, he sometimes completely loses the ability to distinguish between the individual and the collective.

That obviously wasn’t a burden the Abyssal Sea bestowed. I had never had anything like that happen to me before, nor have I even heard of something like that possibly happening.

"..."

Resting my chin in my hand, I pondered over his words.

He sometimes experienced these strange burdens. However, when I approached him, he suddenly became a Fallen of the Abyssal Sea. Did his Abyss Realm get swapped out or something…?

...No.

"Rahyan. Can I borrow this for a moment?”

"O-okay."

I tore down the curtains in the room and twisted them into a rope.

After tying it to the terrace, I hopped down. About 3 minutes later, I climbed back.

"Did anything change?”

"Y-yeah!”

Rahyan nodded vigorously.

"When you were nearby, the fish were swimming around, but when you left, they disappeared!”

"..."

I stared intently at the prince.

He might be able to distinguish puppets from humans. No, maybe more than that…

Maybe we could approach this matter in a different way.

I grabbed Rahyan by the shoulders and said proudly,

"Rahyan."

"Y-yes?”

"I think you might be able to save this country."

"M-me?”

Watching the doll, wearing the same face as mine, look at me in disbelief, I smiled deeply to myself.

Rahyan, for some reason—

had the ability to see the worlds of nearby Fallen.

* * *

The palace kitchen was always busy.

But today, it was especially chaotic, all because of the sudden arrival of the Imperial Princess’ envoy.

Since they were pouring out luxurious ingredients that they normally never used, not only the chefs but even the maids had to help with kitchen work.

In a situation where mistakes were bound to happen, the worst possible one did.

-Craaash!

A pot full of boiling water spilled, soaking a middle-aged woman’s foot.

The head chef rushed over in shock.

"Miss Head Maid! Are you alright??”

"Hm? I’m fine.”

"B-but the boiling water…"

"..."

Only then did the head maid look down at her foot, her face twisting as if in pain.

"...I see. I should rest for a bit.”

"I-I’m sorry! It was my mistake…”

"I can see how busy you are, so things like this can happen. Excuse me.”

Dragging her foot at a steady pace, the head maid headed toward her private room to rest.

The chef stared blankly at the absurd scene, then hurried back to the battlefield when he heard someone call for him.

"Tsk."

The moment she entered the room, the head maid's demeanor changed instantly.

She opened the diary hidden in her robes.

[Checking. Stand by.]

The instant she read the message, she scrawled a reply with her pen.

[What do you mean, stand by? If an imperial envoy showed up, that means we’ve already been exposed. Let’s just kill everyone and take only the valuables that bitch made before we leave.]

[You can do that if the worst-case scenario happens.]

[Isn’t this already the worst-case scenario?]

[After reviewing the report, it appears that the Knight truly came with nothing more than flimsy circumstantial suspicion. It seems they were searching through every city in the area, so this is a mere coincidence. There is no reason to retreat.]

[Can’t I just kill them? That Knight looks pretty strong. If I don’t take care of those guys first, I’ll be the one in danger.]

[...]

For a moment, the page remained blank.

Then new words appeared.

[Keep to the current orders. However, summon Decay in advance.]

[That bastard hates me. What if he doesn’t come to save me?]

Nothing more was written after that.

The Lump let out a sigh and slipped the diary back into its pocket.

Wait, wait, and wait some more.

'Ah, for fuck's sake. I only caused a tiny bit of trouble, and now they’re locking everything down.'

Staying idle like this only made its burdens grow worse.

By now, it was hard to tell whether it was itself that was injured or whether the head chef who had called it was itself.

It had to kill and wound those around it so that it could be certain that it was itself. To survive.

And that it was the most horrific thing alive.

That it was the most grotesque, an unparalleled monster no one else could ever reach. It had to affirm that again and again.

That was why this waiting mission was so unbearably dull and tedious.

"Maybe I should just enjoy myself a bit in secret…”

The itch was getting more and more unbearable.

The Lump’s hand twisted grotesquely. Even if not in the royal palace, maybe it could slaughter a few people in a nearby village.

As it smacked its lips at the thought—

-Knock, knock, knock!

"Miss Head Maid! You’re being summoned!”

"..."

With no other choice, the Lump restored its hand to normal and opened the door.

"What is it?”

The maid answered with a face that clearly said she didn’t understand what this was about either.

"The imperial envoy…”

"The envoy?”

The Lump lowered its voice.

It would decide based on what this maid said next.

If it truly had been found out—

If this really was the worst-case scenario—then it would kill this woman first, take what it could, and flee.

As it began twisting the hand hidden behind its back once more, preparing for the next words.

"He’s furious, demanding how you dare to welcome him with such a paltry banquet…”

"?"

"H-he says if you don’t throw a banquet at least 100 times grander immediately, the Imperial Family will consider this a grave insult!”

Hmm.

The Lump carefully relaxed its hand.

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