Wizard of the Deep Sea Chapter 48

TL/ED – Miso

Decay thought.

This battle had been over from the moment it began.

“You are admirable. Truly, you’ve put in great effort.”

“…”

Dersia, smiling as if everything was normal while praising him, and the terrain around them that was anything but ordinary.

The ground was melting and ablaze, as if scraped by the claws of a giant dragon. Flames flickered and scorched the ink, releasing black, pungent steam. The bricks that had once been parts of buildings had turned into red, sticky liquid, corroding their surroundings. The few remnants of snow and ice were evaporating into steam, fleeing from this world…

He had never seen a snowy field like this.

In other words, the attempt to overlay it with his Inner World.

Dersia, who had likely created all of this without much effort, murmured in a languid voice.

“I was terribly mistaken. I didn’t focus on your greatest weapon because I was unfamiliar with wizards of the abyss. Summoning your world and transferring the burden, an interesting approach. What would have happened to me if snow had started falling?”

“…You would have become an ice statue, unable to think anything after the sensory confusion.”

“How fascinating. It’s a shame I couldn’t experience it.”

Crazy bitch.

Decay bit his lips, watching Dersia smile wickedly, clearly speaking from the heart.

There was no escape. Half of his face had already been blown off.

He was still alive only because the wound was so severely burned that no blood flowed from the severed area.

That was all because that dreadful Elf had not allowed him to die.

Decay forced himself to resist.

“Even if you kill me, nothing will change.”

“Yes. Well, I suppose so. You’re not the main body, just that ‘lump’ that transformed, isn’t that what you’re trying to say?”

“…”

When Decay clamped his mouth shut, Dersia sneered and slowly walked forward.

“However, the lump will certainly die. That much cannot be avoided.”

She stamped his forehead, which was tightly bound by ink, preventing him from moving his pen.

He felt the flesh split and something seeping into his skull. More precisely, it was entering the brain of the lump where Decay’s body resided.

Decay clenched his teeth and threatened her.

“We too can kill the tree you call Mother at any time. It would be wise not to make unnecessary enemies.”

“I am disowned, so feel free to kill it as you wish. And that’s just a big, old tree. Before I came here, I peeled off its bark and examined it.”

“…What?”

“It was nothing special, yet it struggled. Tsk.”

Hearing such an unforgivable statement for an Elf, and watching Dersia click her tongue, Decay realized.

This one, was a truly mad Elf.

No, after uttering such a statement, it wasn’t even certain she could still be considered an Elf. She might be something else wearing that skin.

He was wondering how such a being hadn’t fallen into the Abyss when Dersia changed the subject.

“Let’s talk about something more important. What do you think the ink I implanted is?”

“A curse.”

“Yes. That lump will likely never be usable again. Soon, the suicidal urges will be amplified dozens of times. It’s a real kind of magic that fake wizards like you can’t use.”

“…Curses are not magic.”

“Truly astounding. That the elders who worship magic and the orphans abandoned by magic say the exact same thing. Is this what they call extremes meeting?”

Of course, even conversation didn’t work.

Decay carefully clenched his teeth and answered.

“What do you want.”

“If you want to save him, return the stolen Magic Tome. It’s not like you people can use it anyway. Then I’ll spare the lump.”

“How can I trust you?”

“You can also choose to not trust me and let him die.”

“…”

The lump’s transformation ability was necessary for the plan. And since the Magic Tome had already fulfilled its role by being stolen, there was no major issue in returning it.

Nothing to lose. Decay nodded reluctantly. He was not permitted any other movement.

Dersia, as if something had come to mind, added an additional request.

“Also, let me know that method.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I don’t know what it’s called, but I mean this ability to overlay the world.”

“…Why do you want to learn something like that? You should hate us.”

“Hmm…”

After a brief thought, Dersia twirled her pen and answered.

“I might fall into the Abyss too, so I’d better learn it. Do you have a problem with that?”

“Even if I tell you, you won’t be able to comprehend it. We simply exist.”

Contrary to Decay’s expectations, Dersia frowned the moment she heard those words.

“That’s the worst. So that’s what happens if you survive without dying?”

“…You-”

His expression twisted. He had caught on from Dersia’s tone.

With a voice cold as ice, Decay snapped.

“How much do you know.”

“That’s the fate of those who survive to the end? What a truly miserable curse. That’s all I can see it as.”

The world desires its master’s death.

But if a miracle occurs, if one survives in a world that wishes their death, it melts, digests, and makes them a part of itself. Cruel, and horrifying.

Receiving Dersia’s gaze mixed with pity, Decay glared at her fiercely.

“…Someone like you cannot understand a thing. Do you dare speak of the sky after seeing the moon inside a teacup?”

“I can still make inferences.”

Dersia pulled back, lifting her pen.

“Three days. Within that time, return the book to the Black Magic Tower by any means. That is, if you don’t want to discard that useful world.”

“…The contract is established.”

“That was a good deal. I like that we only said what needed to be said.”

–Crack! The ink pierced into Decay’s heart, stopping his breath.

Even until the very end, Decay glared at Dersia and murmured.

“Hiding your skill and staying reclusive, that was the luck that saved you today. Don’t expect a second time.”

“Was it perhaps I who was defeated? I truly don’t understand where that confidence comes from while lying there like that.”

“Truth!”

His skin melted, and bones split apart.

Even as he dissolved in a scene resembling a corpse being thrown into acid, he spat out his words in an eerily calm voice, almost chewing on each one.

“Dersia Aspandil. I shall ask you a question you will never be able to answer.”

“Yes. Go ahead.”

“This world you call the Material Realm, whose Inner World do you think it is?”

“…?”

Decay certainly did not lie.

He melted away before she could even answer.

“…Physically correct words.”

And Dersia didn’t really care and moved on.

It was just another desperate line thrown after taking a brutal beating. Likely a last attempt to plant a useless suspicion and lead her into internal deviation.

No, even if that had been his goal, he failed miserably. It was nonsense from the beginning.

If someone was enforcing the laws of the world, that being could only be called a god.

And in this world, there is no god. She had known that ever since she peeled back the bark of the tree to confirm it.

For those reasons, Dersia cleanly forgot it.

“Guess I should go find Jern now.”

The next moment, she had completely forgotten Decay’s words.

“What is this…”

Top floor of the spire.

I was checking on the unconscious Elysia when a slight headache made me grab my head.

“Ugh…”

Withdrawal symptoms.

…How was it resolved?

Tilting my head in confusion, I looked around. Blood was trailing, showing that I had reached the door.

I must have resisted the suicidal urges to make it this far. I remember being swallowed by the Deep Sea at the end, but after that…

No, this isn’t the time for that.

“Elysia, Elysia! Are you okay?”

“Mmm…”

Fortunately, she was still breathing. I let out a sigh and checked Elysia’s physical condition.

Then I clenched my teeth.

“These fucking bastards…”

It seemed that some vile, demonic bastards had tortured her while I was fighting Wihwa.

Her entire body was covered in bruises as if she’d been beaten with a club. Some bones seemed to be slightly fractured, too.

Just how much space is there to hit on such a small body… I don’t know who did this, but once I find them, I’ll make sure they take full responsibility.

But, first comes medical attention. Just as I was about to lift her onto my back, a sharp pain shot through my leg.

The wooden shard I had driven into myself to regain consciousness was hurting. Spitting out blood-tinged saliva, I forced myself up and headed to the room where Alletus had been confined.

“Alletus nim, are you safe?”

“…”

Alletus was also unconscious.

I quickly checked him, but it looked like he had just been struck on the back of the neck, no major injuries. With a sigh of relief, I lifted him and left the room, then pulled out the key.

After sealing the gaps of the room completely and turning the doorknob, I found the treatment room I had seen before. My Workshop.

Glad I took it. I laid Elysia on the bed first, applied medicine, then wrapped her in bandages and splints.

Next was Alletus. I positioned him properly on the bed and, just in case, gave him a hemostatic agent.

Lastly, I bit down on a bandage.

“…Kh, uuugh…”

And slowly pulled out the wooden shard embedded in my thigh.

This wasn’t something anyone should do while in their right mind. My hands trembled as if I had tremors, and I poured antiseptic carelessly over the wound before wrapping it in a bandage.

When I poured the antiseptic, it felt like scalding water. After the emergency treatment, I downed every painkiller I had.

Overdose or not, I felt like I was dying right now.

“Huuh…”

Only after the medicine kicked in was I barely able to stand.

Before closing the Workshop door, I made sure once more that Elysia and Alletus were both stable, took the key, and went down the spire.

While fighting the Crimson Circle, I had felt it again and again.

No matter how I looked at it, the safest place was next to Dersia.

Dragging myself down the stairs as best I could and opening the door, I was met with Dersia’s languid eyes, dark circles, and a strangely sweet scent.

Sniffing the air, I asked a question.

“Did you put on perfume?”

“No. You’re in better shape than I expected.”

I looked down at my leg, where blood had started to seep through.

“Surprisingly intact for the price of stupidity. Why did you fight head-on?”

“I thought you sent me to fight, of course.”

“Jern. I think you’re misunderstanding something, so let me make it clear this time.”

Dersia shook her head with a disappointed expression and came closer, the scent growing stronger.

“You are not that strong. While I acknowledge your talent in combat as a wizard, you are still far too young. Compared to an organization like the Crimson Circle, you’re barely a speck. I didn’t think someone as clever as you would choose a death match. Naturally, I thought you’d run and wait for an opportunity to extract the kidnapped individuals skillfully.”

“…That is certainly true.”

After a moment’s thought, I admitted my mistake.

No matter how I looked at it, she was right.

The moment I saw Elysia, I should’ve escaped with her and left Alletus’s fate to chance. Without a doubt, Alletus would have wanted that too.

But.

“I was swept up in anger and made a poor judgment. I have no excuse.”

I couldn’t do it.

It wasn’t that I didn’t. I couldn’t.

“…”

As I bowed my head in apology, Dersia looked at me and sighed.

“…It’s not something you need to apologize for. That temperament of yours is part of what drew me to you.”

“You and I, Master, are in a contractual relationship. Your goal was to watch me die, but if I die alone, that would be a breach. So yes, I should apologize.”

“Jern. You are not in your right mind.”

“Neither are you, Master.”

After an exchange of a few words, Dersia asked with a weary expression.

“So, did you complete the rescue?”

When I held up the key, Dersia nodded.

“What about the opponent?”

“It was an fool who fell into a dream world. He kidnapped children and their parents, showed them happy dreams, and then, upon waking, slaughtered the parents right in front of the children to drive them into the Abyss.”

“Hmm, I see… Should I be the one apologizing this time?”

“No matter how you package it, I am just an idiot who fell for the enemy’s words. Please do not.”

Together with Dersia, I climbed the spire and showed her the grinning head of Wihwa.

Dersia grabbed it, opened a Workshop in one of the nearby rooms, and began tossing the body parts in one by one.

Startled by the sight of the library being tainted so disgustingly, I asked,

“…Wait. Why are you keeping that?”

“It’s the corpse of a wizard of abyss. In a situation where information is extremely scarce, it’s an excellent teaching aid. On the contrary, I see no reason not to keep it.”

“Ah, yes…”

“Now, let me ask you something. How did you do it?”

Dersia looked at my wrecked body, clearly baffled, and questioned me.

“This isn’t something someone like you should’ve been able to accomplish. You must’ve used some method to cut him in a way that he couldn’t regenerate… but how did you manage it?”

“It’s a long story… Can I explain it after we return?”

“No reason why not. But before that, let’s make one last stop.”

“Where?”

“The underground of the spire. There’s something down there.”

“What? Underground?”

“I scanned the spire when we entered and found something. In every city occupied by the Crimson Circle so far, there’s always been a large empty space left untouched. I believe we can finally find out what it is.”

Indeed, if it was underground, I hadn’t used my current sense there.

I’d avoided it since I was already in an unstable state, and so I followed Dersia, who lit a flame at her fingertip, down to the basement of the spire.

Being underground, it was naturally a damp space. When she opened a massive door, seemingly used as a storage room.

The stench of death wafted out.

“…Urk!”

I barely held back the nausea as horror overtook me.

It was a massive space, like a swimming pool.

Only, the smell inside was a concentrated rot of every imaginable foul odor in the world.

…It hadn’t even been that long since they occupied this city.

“Please wait here.”

Dersia stopped me from entering and walked in calmly, then looked down at the pool’s bottom.

“Hmm.”

“Is it… what I think it is?”

To my uneasy question, Dersia gave a confirming nod.

“Yes. Quite a number. Around fifty, all with shackles around their necks.”

“And… they’re all nobles?”

“No. I don’t recognize any of their faces. Hmm… Most likely, they kidnapped Natural-born Wizards and bred them with other Natural-borns, then drowned the resulting children.”

“…Ha.”

“Are you angry?”

“Honestly, at this point… it’s more terrifying than infuriating.”

What exactly is their purpose in doing all this?

No, even if every member of the Crimson Circle thinks like Dersia, where humans don’t even appear human in their eyes.

Even if they feel no guilt in killing.

Still, they wouldn’t do something like this without reason, would they?

“Let me see…”

Dersia snapped her fingers and drew up a little of the water.

Knowing what was in that water, I flinched and stepped back.

“You’re not going to drink that, are you?”

“…From that question, I can see how terribly you view me. Have I ever said or done anything to justify that?”

There were too many instances to count, so I didn’t bother replying.

Dersia gave me an incredulous look, then conjured fire and began boiling the water.

The high heat evaporated the water instantly.

But something remained in the air. Something solid.

“I see…”

Dersia murmured as if something had clicked, then turned toward me and tossed the object on the ground.

“Jern.”

“Yes?”

“Most likely, these Crimson Circle bastards are after you.”

The white crystalline fragments scattered across the floor, took the form of salt.