WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 9 - Survival (5)

I only realized after my body had been crushed that I probably hadn’t truly understood what situation I was in.

Of course, I knew it was truly, extremely dangerous… But there was a world of difference between knowing something in your head and experiencing it with your body.

Honestly… I was a bit scared.

Knowing that the world around me could shrink and crush me while I was walking down the street without any warning made me flinch even on an ordinary walk.

It was a horrific experience. However, at the same time, it was a useful one, valuable to me in its own way.

Because now I could clearly decide which direction I should take.

"It’s fine."

I sat in the barn in the dark of night, using Luminance to shine some light to examine my clothes.

Just because it got crushed under pressure naturally didn’t mean that fabric would get shredded or something. An eight-ton truck might squash a person, but the clothes would remain intact.

Thread, though, is another story.

The janitor's uniform was made of thicker material to withstand wear, but the seams had been crudely sewn, so those joints would split under even the slightest pressure.

Yet my clothes were fine. That meant one thing.

'Only I suffered from the pressure.'

The pressure of the deep sea seemed to completely ignore my clothes and only tried to grind my body to dust.

So if it ignored clothes, it would ignore armor too.

My plan to make a diving suit and somehow get through it collapsed.

It would have been the easiest path… Smiling bitterly, I tied the final knot binding together wood and some scrap metal.

I wasn’t that skilled with my hands, so the balance wasn’t perfect—but, hey, it’s for a complete beginner, so it’ll do.

I lifted my pair of makeshift dumbbells once to feel their heft before letting them down again.

It was a little tough, but it wasn’t impossible for me to lift.

"One, two, three, four…”

I hummed as I lifted and set them down.

Why train by moonlight?

Since I couldn’t rely on armor, my goal was to build up my body to withstand the pressure.

It might sound stupid when you put it that way. Even the greatest bodybuilder on Earth would be crushed when dropped to the deepest point of the sea.

Ultimately, there was a limit to density. The human body, made of flesh and bones, could only be trained so far.

-On Earth, that is.

This place was different. Knights learned something called Body Reinforcement, which granted the body unnatural power enough to snap swords with sheer strength.

The reason they learned this art was to wield their swords better, though.

Without any talent in swordsmanship, someone who could only use Body Reinforcement was just a punching bag for a Knight who had both.

Well, I didn’t plan on fighting Knights anyway, so it didn’t really matter.

Now there was just one thing left. I had to get my hands on the Body Reinforcement training manual that cost tens of thousands of gold and wasn’t even in the library.

And I managed to solve that very problem at lunch today.

To be precise, it was solved for me, which was why I chose this method.

"Jern, could you try learning this?”

"...?"

At lunch today.

Dragging my still-aching body back to the orphanage, I took the book the director had handed me and let out a silent gasp.

It wasn’t just any old body art manual, it was the Knight’s Body Reinforcement manual.

Sure, the orphanage seemed to be supported by an imperial princess, but I knew how much money it took to just feed all these children. The director always lived frugally, so I couldn’t help but ask.

"Where did you steal this from?”

"Wh-what are you saying?! It was given to me.”

"By whom?”

"...Come here for a moment.”

He led me out into the yard behind the orphanage and explained with his voice lowered as if he was trying to share a secret with me.

"You remember that, uhm… A Knight came by recently, right?”

"Yes. He visited when I wasn’t here and gave those that aspire to be Knights some pointers or something, right?”

The orphanage often got visits from professionals doing some volunteer work.

I didn’t really know why they came, but judging by their sullen faces as they rattled off common knowledge and handed out hollow platitudes, it was pretty obvious that they weren’t here of their own will. They probably receive some points for doing it, or maybe it was a form of punishment.

Still, the kids went crazy whenever they came, because the visitors would always bring some high-quality snacks they wouldn’t be able to buy with their allowance. I never really cared about it that much.

"Well, erm… That Knight was giving out empty talk like those before him as well—but that was when he noticed Linmel swinging a wooden sword in the back.”

"And?"

"At first he just looked over… But then he suddenly widened his eyes and couldn’t seem to look away. For thirty minutes. If Linmel hadn’t gotten bored and left, he might have kept watching longer…”

"..."

I could already guess where this was going.

The director held up the training manual with a grave expression.

"And then he handed me this and said, [Give this to that child. If, the next time I come by, she’s caught my eye again, I’ll support her]."

"Support? What kind of support?”

"I assume he meant full backing to become a Knight. The other teachers are so motivated they’ve started training her with great vigor.”

"Ah, that explains why I saw Linmel at dawn this morning with her sword.”

"Yes, we coaxed her with food to get her up early. We couldn't just let a chance like this pass. It’s still hard to believe that Linmel, that tiny little girl, has knightly talent…”

The director looked astonished that it wasn’t a bigger, sturdier kid, but the ten-year-old Linmel who had been chosen by the Knight.

I wasn’t really surprised. I had already seen it quite often.

Linmel had talent. She completely understood the sword’s essence.

She was a true prodigy, not like me, some freak wizard chosen by magic.

It wasn’t strange for that Knight to set their eyes on her. If anything, ten was considered quite late to show promise.

Wondering if I should start kissing up to her more, I nodded to myself when an obvious question came to me.

"Wait, then why are you giving this to me? Shouldn’t Linmel have this?”

"...I gave it to her. I really did.”

The director’s face turned gloomy.

"Hmm, let me guess. She said it was too boring and didn’t want to do it?”

"If only that were the case…"

I tilted my head as he let out a sigh of defeat.

"Huh? If it’s not that, then what’s the problem?”

"Erm, Linmel… can’t really read that well.”

"?"

"It’s not like she doesn’t know how to entirely, but she says there are too many difficult words and sentences, so she can’t read it properly…”

...Wait.

She was just ten, how could she?

For a moment, I thought that Linmel was just a bit slow, but when I flipped through the manual myself, I realized that it wasn’t that strange for her to be unable to read it.

It was filled with words like "femoral muscles" or "gastrocnemius rupture." There was no way in hell that an elementary schooler was going to understand any of that. There was nothing weird about this situation.

"We tried teaching her ourselves, but she said if it meant she had to study to use swordsmanship, then she didn’t want to, so there was nothing more we could do. So, since Linmel listens to you better than anyone, we were wondering if you could teach her perhaps. Unless… you’re too busy?”

"...Not at all."

After thinking it over for a moment, I gathered my thoughts and gave the director, whose eyes were sparkling, my best friendly smile.

"Don’t worry. I’ll learn it properly and teach her myself.”

"Jern...!"

That was how I ended up receiving the director’s gratitude-filled gaze.

And that was why, having gotten the Body Reinforcement Manual, I was out here in the middle of the night, deciding that this was the only possible way for me to get through that water pressure.

"This should do it.”

I pumped my muscles as much as possible and leaned over to look at my reflection in the well’s water.

A human toothpick. Thin, almost delicate. That was probably the price of skipping most of the gym classes.

Well, it shouldn’t matter much once I learn Body Reinforcement, right? Sighing, I opened the manual and tried to follow the first stance. Then I froze.

"...What the hell?”

The stances illustrated in the book were utterly bizarre.

Joints bent at impossible angles, while the text instructed me to perform strength exercises from these positions.

Apparently the point was to develop even the tiniest, most delicate muscles so that later, when learning proper Body Reinforcement technique, I wouldn’t end up crippling myself—

But was this even possible? These stances looked like something straight out of a contortionist act.

I hesitated for a moment, then shrugged and reached one arm between my legs.

I might as well do what it says. It wasn’t like I would actually get hurt, right?

-Craaack!

* * *

The next morning.

"Erm, are you hurt or something?”

"Yes."

My senior stared at me, bafflement on his face.

Well, anyone would be wondering similar things if they saw me hobble around, using the broom as my crutch.

Normally I’d just say that I was fine, but this was way past the point where that lie would work.

"But I’ll be okay.”

And that wasn’t a lie either.

My legs… hurt like hell, but the rest of my body actually felt perfectly fine.

The basics of Body Reinforcement started with awakening all the body’s muscles.

Even now I felt kind of weird walking normally. For the first time, I realized just how many tiny muscles my body actually had.

It wasn’t a bad thing. Using parts I hadn’t even known existed made my body feel quite a bit lighter. It was worth sacrificing my legs.

"Hey..."

Instead of nagging me like usual, my senior covered his face with a hand and stared up at the sky.

What the hell?

"So… does it hurt a lot?”

"Sorry?"

"I mean, it might be a bit odd for me to say this after only working with you for two weeks, but if it’s really that bad, just tell me. That director of yours, I’ll take responsibility and…”

Sensing danger, I frantically waved both of my hands.

"No! No, nono, it wasn’t the director! I just fell down by myself, really.”

"...I-Is that so?”

"Yes! I’m fine. So please, don’t do anything reckless.”

I had almost turned the director, my savior, into a criminal.

Looking at my confused senior, I realized that I seriously needed to tone down my excuses from now on. Being a kid made everything I said way too believable.

"Don’t worry, I’ll work hard cleaning today too!”

"What the hell are you talking about? How’s a kid with a busted leg supposed to clean?”

"I’m fine!”

"Well, I’m not. Come on.”

"..."

With a stern expression, brimming with a sense of duty, on his face, my senior dragged me off to some building at the edge of the Academy. It seemed to be a place resembling an infirmary. Then he spoke as if to threaten me.

"This is the sickroom. You’re resting here today. There’s medicine and bandages, so if anything’s wrong with your leg, speak up. I’ll be cleaning outside this building, so don’t even think about sneaking out to work!”

Despite his strict tone, what he actually said was ridiculously kind.

"But…”

"Tsk. Taking care of a ‘junior’ is part of a ‘senior’s’ job. Got it?”

It seemed like he really liked that word.

Crushing the last bit of my resistance, my senior rubbed his nose proudly and gently closed the door behind him.

And like that, I was left alone in the room.

Since he’d said he’d be cleaning right in front of the building, escaping was pretty much impossible.

"Damn..."

I had a lot of classes to eavesdrop on today.

Well, I guess this could be considered my punishment for shamelessly using the director as cover. I decided I might as well use this time to study.

Fortunately, there were plenty of decent bandages in the room. Just the right weight, perfect for practice. I gathered a bunch in my hands and dropped them one by one.

This was a countermeasure against things flying off because of the current.

I tried to use wind magic to slow their fall.

"This sure is harder than I thought…”

But maybe because of my lacking proficiency, I couldn’t quite manage it. The bandages just rolled across the floor normally after they left my hand.

While I could use the current to nudge them, that would defeat the purpose of this. I was trying to train the magic of this world.

So I narrowed my eyes and focused.

I finally succeeded after dropping the twelfth one.

—Swish. Just before hitting the ground, the bandage froze in midair, then bounced right back into my palm.

It reminded me of a rubber ball. My first real success.

"Ah...!"

As I was still basking in the pleasant afterglow of my success, I heard a small sound.

"...?"

I turned my head just to see that someone was there.

...Wait, what? Why? I didn’t even hear the door opening.

A girl about my age with short silver hair, big round eyes, and a set of clothes that was of such a high quality that it couldn’t even be compared to my shabby uniform stood there, her expression showing something between shock and confusion.

Of course, the most flustered and confused person here was me. Our eyes met as a good ten seconds of tense silence hung between us.

"Erm, excuse me…"

Who are you?

Before I could even finish my sentence, she spoke up first.

The little kid covered her mouth with one hand, pointed straight at me, and then shouted with all her might.

"Y-you just, just used magic? Even though you’re a janitor??”

Seeing her face showing nothing but pure disbelief, I calmly tried to sort through this situation.

Hmm.

Yeah, this is the end for me.

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