Wizard of the Deep Sea Chapter 66

TL/ED – Miso

The reception room, though it was the same place, the reaction was different.

“…Why have you come again? Didn’t I say last time that everything was already confirmed?”

Alletus greeted me with a cold demeanor. That didn’t mean he was being impolite, his expression was calm, only his words carried weight.

That alone was enough, but the pressure was different. It felt like looking up at a giant stone statue.

Drinking tea that felt colder than last time, I replied nonchalantly.

“Please calm down. We’re just doing what we were instructed to do from above.”

“…That necklace.”

Alletus glared at me with a gaze full of disbelief.

“…”

So that’s what it was.

No wonder the inspectors were tense even though they didn’t say much.

“Someone from above… it seems you only have one superior. Are you saying this is an order from her?”

“Is that what you think?”

“No, it must be that you tricked Her Highness with that silver tongue of yours. Her Highness isn’t the kind of person to do something like that.”

She had done well with her image making.

Alletus tapped his finger on the table with a displeased expression.

“Don’t tell me it’s you who’s been behind this recent incident? Who are you, and where are you from? Even among the secretive members of the personal guard unit, I’ve never seen someone with such a bizarre appearance as yours.”

“You’re free to think as you wish.”

“Then I shall. The fact that you’ve been given this level of authority means Her Highness must trust you considerably, but it seems you don’t know your place. You should understand the scale of this incident better than anyone. In a week at most, you’ll have to take full responsibility.”

He was exactly right.

Even knowing I was safe, cold sweat trickled down from his words that pierced through to the core. I focused on keeping my composure and observed Alletus intently.

With current sense, and also to see if there was any change in the deep sea.

As we silently stared at each other, a knock came at the door.

“Vice Captain-nim, preparations are complete.”

“All right.”

I put down the teacup and stepped outside the mansion.

All of the mansion’s servants, housekeepers, maids, cooks, and so on, had gathered in one place.

I turned to the inspectors and reconfirmed.

“Are you sure this is everyone?”

“Yes! We not only searched the mansion, but also combed through every nearby household and brought every related servant.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“Shall we begin the investigation one by one now?”

“No.”

I shook my head at the eager inspector and glanced down at the gathered servants in the garden below.

They were all within range of current sense.

That unpleasant sensation I felt when I met Ren, the feeling that they were of the same kind as me, I looked for it…

But it wasn’t here.

“It’s over. Let’s withdraw.”

“…Huh?”

“Alletus-nim.”

Leaving the dumbfounded inspector behind, I addressed Alletus.

“The rebel does exist. For now, please lay low. After that, you’re free to kill me or let me live as you please.”

“…”

Though his gaze was filled with suspicion, Alletus gave a slight nod.

“So be it.”

“Thank you.”

Hmm.

Not being held responsible turned out to be sweeter than I’d expected.

I repeated the same process with every noble over the next two days.

“Why are the inspectors here again?!”

“We already did this last time!”

Those were the words I heard.

Using the identity given to me by the Princess, I neutralized their protests, gathered all their servants, and swept through them with current sense.

The inspectors worked hard. Though we completed the process, the fallen couldn’t be found.

Of course, it didn’t end there. I combed through not just the nobles, but also the families of their servants and even the families of those families without missing a single one.

The result.

“As expected…”

I scratched my head inside Brimdal’s Cabin.

Not a single noble had even a speck of blemish.

They were completely clean.

“Hmm…”

At this point, the Princess hiring the fallen no longer held any meaning.

Now it was my turn to step up.

The one who was certain that the Princess would arrive at the correct answer herself, was me.

…Or so I said.

But how?

No matter how much I agonized over it, no answer came to mind.

“If you need to take a shit, go and shit.”

Brimdal said that as he swung his sword to cut my spine.

–KWAJIK!

“It’s not that. I just have something I’m pondering.”

I jumped out of the chair in a hurry, letting the sword shatter the chair instead.

The blade wasn’t sharpened, so I wouldn’t die even if I got hit, but the pain would be enough to render me immobile.

Now wasn’t the time for that, I needed to move. Brimdal sheathed the sword as if nothing had happened and asked,

“Is it something related to the Princess?”

“Yes.”

I threw the broken chair into the bonfire. There were already too many burning chairs, so I had to press it down firmly just to fit it in.

These days, Brimdal constantly launched attacks filled with murderous intent, except when he was asleep.

He’d say things like: “You have to live with death constantly to become accustomed to the world. A monkey isn’t born knowing how to climb trees, it learns because there’s a leopard under the tree…”

Thanks to that, only the precision of my current sense was skyrocketing. At this point, I might actually be able to count the number of hairs on someone’s head.

It was possible before if I focused, but now I could manage it even with half effort.

If I expanded current sense now like I did last time, even if I swallowed all the remaining pearl medicine in the chest, I wasn’t sure I could withstand it.

As I let out a sigh, Brimdal sat down with a slightly unsettled look.

“Hmmm, the Princess was a bit of a difficult one. If it’s a request from someone like her, it can’t be something easy.”

“Lumia-nim? Or Sharmia-nim?”

“The latter.”

“Wait, why?”

If anything, wasn’t Lumia the more troublesome one?

Brimdal muttered as he downed his beer.

“…It’s ominous, that’s the feeling I get.”

“Aha.”

Maybe it was some kind of Dwarf intuition? Perhaps something akin to prophetic magic.

I nodded with that thought in mind.

“Yes, maybe she’s hiding some kind of unknowable power or something like that.”

“No. It’s different from that.”

He slammed the empty beer mug down, folded his arms, and looked up at the ceiling as if recalling something.

“She’s clearly never received knight training, her body doesn’t even look that fit, and her character is extremely close to virtue, yet, she’s familiar with death.”

“…Huh?”

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

As I looked confused, Brimdal elaborated.

“That atmosphere, something that emanates from people who’ve killed thousands, no, tens of thousands. She had that same air around her when I met her at thirteen. Usually, people like that are unhinged, but the Princess was completely sane and always someone who thought of others before herself.”

“Hm.”

I thought deeply before replying.

“Couldn’t it just be jealousy? I mean, she sounds like a good person, but her vibe is weird and unsettling. Isn’t that what you’re getting at?”

“Hmph. She moves for the majority, but doesn’t abandon the minority. That sentence doesn’t make sense. Because one day, she will inevitably hit a wall. The world is fair. To save something, something else must be given up, but Sharmia has never done that. She’s just never been placed in such a situation…”

I was about to lighten the mood with a joke, something along the lines of, “Careful, that sounds like treason,” but today Brimdal seemed a bit serious.

“The Princess is definitely giving something up somewhere. I just don’t know what it is, which is why I don’t want to get involved. Just some advice, you’d best not get too deeply involved either.”

“What if I’m already so deeply entangled with her that I can’t separate myself?”

At my bold question, Brimdal snorted and filled his next mug of beer.

“Then I suppose we’ll have to pray for Sharmia’s soul.”

“Pardon?”

“The Princess may be ominous, sure, but compared to you, she’s a hundred times less so. You devil.”

Oh-ho.

So Brimdal could crack a joke too.

The day after I sent my report using the orb I received from the Princess.

“That was the result.”

In the same tea shop, the same maid greeted me.

I didn’t expect her to show up in person again. As I was thinking that, she reached into her bag to take out a letter, and I quickly stopped her in disgust.

“Just say it out loud. I’m tired of those.”

“Is that so? Actually, I don’t have one.”

“…I see.”

Princess Sharmia was more down-to-earth than I’d thought.

It’s a rude thought, but she felt more like a maid than a Princess.

Of course, I didn’t know her real face. The voice was also most likely fake.

But her plain hair and slightly freckled face matched that slightly airheaded personality perfectly.

Still, Brimdal’s so-called advice existed, so it was too early to trust her. I asked back as formally as possible.

“By any chance, in that prophecy, do you know what kind of process I went through to achieve it?”

“Yes. Of course.”

The Princess looked at the clock attached nearby. I followed her gaze, it read 3 o’clock.

“Thirty minutes remain.”

“…Until what?”

“That’s when you tell me you’ve found the answer.”

“…What?”

“That’s as far as I saw in the process. I couldn’t see the result. I can’t foresee anything beyond that.”

“…?”

I blinked and met the Princess’s gaze.

“That’s all?”

“Yes.”

Sharmia’s clear, sparkling eyes showed not even a hint of doubt.

I was dumbfounded and asked again.

“So, without me bringing any evidence or physical proof, just from hearing me say I figured it out.”

“Yes.”

“What if I lied? I mean, we’re in the real world now, not in a vision. There’s still the possibility that I-”

“Jern.”

Sharmia looked down at me with a gentle smile.

“Sorry, we’ve barely spoken, but I tend to get clingy and act close, don’t I?”

Suddenly?

If asked yes or no, the answer would be yes, but this wasn’t the time for that kind of question. As I was trying to make sense of it, Sharmia lowered her head and apologized.

“While seeing the possibilities, I became very intertwined with you, Jern. There is a connection you do not know about. So it is a bit difficult to gauge the distance.”

“That much is fine.”

“So, I know you well.”

Sharmia responded with a smile similar to the one she had at the beginning.

“You lie with such ease. Almost everything you say is misdirection or a means to deceive the other person.”

“That’s not true.”

“There, another lie. But, there is one time when you undoubtedly speak the absolute truth.”

Sharmia raised her finger as if she was used to this.

“When you speak vaguely, as if you’re not even sure yourself.”

“…Huh?”

“Well, I’ll be hearing it soon, so I’ll know. That’s the only time you speak nothing but solid truth.”

Even after hearing the explanation, she just seemed like a lunatic.

But that’s how prophets usually seem. Realizing I had little time left, I started to think.

If I didn’t find the answer within thirty minutes, it would become the wrong timeline.

From that point on, nothing could stop what would happen. My brain’s performance over these thirty minutes would determine fate.

“Let’s restate the facts. It’s related to Crimson Circle, correct?”

“Yes. It’s definitely connected in some way. I saw their appearance in the result.”

“What kind of person was it?”

“Hmm, I didn’t see them myself, but according to the nobles’ testimonies, they were furious, calling him the kind of bastard you’d want to rip apart. The name… I don’t remember. I never really recall the faces of the first disasters I see.”

Crimson Circle involvement, confirmed.

“Within a week?”

“Yes. It should’ve been earlier, but since I pinned all the crimes on the high-ranking nobles, it got delayed. So the culprit is definitely among them.”

“But those people are all clean.”

“That’s when I realized, they don’t know they’re the traitor. The culprit is definitely inside, but if no one knows they’re the culprit.”

“Yes, that would make sense.”

I rested my chin on my hand and pondered.

Deducing the traitor from these facts…

Hmm.

…I’ve got nothing. I’m a wizard, not some damn detective.

Time kept passing, but finding the answer based solely on the given premises seemed close to impossible.

With no other choice, I decided to rely on my future self.

“Sharmia-nim.”

“Ah, someone might misunderstand, so please call me something else when we’re outside.”

“Understood, Shar.”

At that, Sharmia choked slightly as if something went down the wrong pipe.

“…O-oh. That’s a bit bold, isn’t it?”

“We’re close, aren’t we?”

“Ah, yes. We are close.”

“In the future possibilities, did I not say something like finding a clue?”

“No.”

“Even after learning you are a prophet?”

“Yes. It seemed like you knew nothing.”

Even my future self was in the exact same situation as I was now.

Was I really this incompetent? That I couldn’t even find a single clue?

No, doesn’t that mean it’s impossible? I furrowed my brow and factored that in as well.

That my future selves were incredibly useless.

“You did say I did a lot of things though.”

“Ah, yes. You were really active. Infiltrated the Imperial Palace, opened the moat, tried to assassinate me.”

At that moment.

I caught something strange in her words.

“You said I was active?”

“? Yes.”

“…”

It didn’t sound like much, but it was important.

I moved with everything I had. Without sparing myself, even going as far as attempting to assassinate the Princess.

And the result was… knowing absolutely nothing?

If that was all, I could chalk it up to incompetence.

However, there was a lack of motive.

I’m not the kind of person to be that passionate. If you asked me whether I’d go that far just to protect the Capital… hmm, not really.

Rather, upon learning that the Princess was a prophet, I probably would’ve said, “Handle it yourself. You’re amazing,” and run away with people I knew.

But I did move. I must have known something. That much was certain.

Then again, a new question arose.

If I did know something, why didn’t I tell the Princess?

“Oh no, not much time left.”

Tick-tock, I heard the ticking of the clock hands as I looked at her smiling brightly without a hint of tension.

Hard to believe?

…No, whatever my future self decided, the Princess was definitely a prophet, and more than anything, she knew the secret of my birth.

Cooperating was the correct choice. No matter how I looked at it, fighting a prophetic Princess was the worst option.

So then.

Why, over hundreds of possible futures, did I refuse her help or even act hostile?

Contact with the Crimson Circle.

The disaster that was delayed because of imprisonment for treason.

Yet within all that, the fallen couldn’t be found.

The reason my future self moved so desperately.

Something I hid, even while treating the Princess as an enemy, despite her being a strong ally.

At the same time, something I judged I had to keep hidden from her.

Why? If I told her, it would all end right there.

“…Ah.”

When all the facts aligned in my head, a single possibility emerged.

When the nobles were placed under house arrest for treason, someone slipped through the investigation.

Someone connected to the Crimson Circle.

The reason my future self moved so actively.

The reason I had to keep it from the Princess.

“Jern?”

As sweat ran down my face, I muttered slowly to the puzzled Shar.

“I might have… found it. Not certain though.”

“Ah! I knew you would.”

Looking at Shar grinning from ear to ear, and as the clock chimed at 3:30, I forced a smile.

Right now.

There is something inside Elysia.