Wizard of the Deep Sea Chapter 74

TL/ED – Miso

Dersia touched me a lot.

Both directly and indirectly. It’s just sad that she’s too powerful for the Empire to judge.

However, she ultimately never realized my true identity.

Even though she’s a 9-Star wizard.

“…”

I kept my words to a minimum.

How much does she know, what has she inferred?

Azrael, seeing me like that, snorted.

“…To be honest, I had somewhat expected it.”

Though I didn’t know that I had two worlds.

Still, the fact that I could use ordinary magic despite having an Inner World allowed for a similar kind of deduction.

“But it was surprising that the shaman noticed something even Master didn’t.”

“It’s not that she didn’t know, it’s that she couldn’t even assume it. A wizard cannot possess two worlds. That’s an unchanging law that is an absolute premise in the world of magic, so she probably only looked for solutions within the bounds of that law.”

“Is it possible in the world of shamanism?”

“Absolutely impossible. In the first place, shamanism doesn’t even have the concept of a world.”

“?”

“I believe only what I see with my own eyes. You fell into the Abyss and yet you still have a star, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t use any magic, so how did you know?”

“If you want to hide it, start by wearing an blindfold. Traces remain where the star rises.”

Was there such a thing?

“Anyway, then it just means you have a second world. Isn’t that simple?”

I stared at Azrael in disbelief.

The shaman’s conclusion was simply that it looked like I had two worlds, so I must have two.

As I was thinking that he lives such a simple life, whether he knew it or not, he reached out his hand.

“Now, try using magic. At least in this domain, I can guarantee I know better than that Dersia, so rest easy.”

“…Yes.”

Half in doubt, I brushed his hand with wind.

Azrael, feeling the wind for a moment, examined me as if pondering something.

Soon, his expression sank deeply.

“This… hmm. Wait a moment.”

“What is it?”

“Hah. This… is this right? Try it again.”

“??”

Azrael, saying something trivial, examined me for quite a while.

It felt like he couldn’t believe the conclusion he had reached and was repeating the process over and over.

Once. Twice. Three times.

Just as I was starting to think he might be a quack, he opened his mouth with an expression close to shock.

“How bizarre and wondrous. Truly, it is so.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“…Human child. What do you think is the reason you survived the burden of the world?”

“Well, because I worked hard enough to almost die.”

It was an obvious fact. But Azrael shook his head.

“Well, yes. That might be true. Then what do you think gave you the time to make that effort?”

“I assumed it was because I wasn’t yet used to the Abyss, so the burden was lighter.”

“Why is your world waiting for your growth?”

“…?”

I couldn’t understand what Azrael was trying to say.

Seeing my puzzled expression, he began to explain calmly.

“Your Abyss Realm is deep, wide, and vast. In other words, it is what we call a Great World.”

“Um, yes.”

“But the other world is small and pitiful. Crushed by that immense world I mentioned before, it is so despairingly weak that it can’t even form a proper domain as a world.”

“…Yes. I’ve often heard that my world is insignificant.”

“-No. You’re under a strange illusion. It’s exactly the opposite.”

When I frowned and responded, Azrael shook his head with a solemn expression.

“I have seen the tallest mountains, the deepest oceans, and the longest rivers. But more than anything, from you I am learning how mysterious a world can be.”

“Why do you keep speaking in riddles since earlier?”

“Your talent for magic itself may be low, but your potential as a wizard is terrifying.”

“…What?”

It was exactly the same evaluation as Dersia’s.

As I stood flustered, he, wearing a more serious expression than mine, began to explain.

“Listen carefully. The burden is proportional to the size of the world. That’s why, even if one creates a Great World, it must not be made ‘too large’. If it is, one won’t be able to handle it and will explode and die. But your Inner World is unimaginably, overwhelmingly large. Whether the burden comes late or early, a child’s body can’t endure it.”

“But I’m alive and well.”

“The reason is your second world.”

Azrael gently patted my shoulder with a touch full of regret and reverence.

“Your other world gave up everything it was supposed to have as a world just to save you, its master. Space, objects, everything was consumed and it clung tightly to your body.”

“…?”

“It was a chillingly quick and precise decision. The moment you suffered the Awakening Fever, your Inner World must have started pressing down on that world. It created such a domain in a single night. In that brief time…”

He looked at me, face stiff, and delivered the final blow.

“You possess the largest world I have ever seen, and the smallest world, simultaneously.”

In other words.

The Inner World of the owner of this body is the Abyss, the largest and widest world.

The second, presumably the world of the me from Earth, became the smallest world to save me within that Abyss.

That’s how I, at ten years old, was able to survive, so it seems.

…Then that means the me from South Korea was also a wizard.

I raised my hand and examined it closely.

“You’re saying a world is attached to my body?”

“Yes. Even now, this moment, it is protecting you.”

Fascinating. It’s like having an invisible guardian spirit.

“Can you tell how long it will protect me?”

“Until it bursts under the pressure of your Abyss Realm.”

Then it won’t be long. The burden is steadily growing. If it reaches the point where it could kill me, it becomes meaningless.

I knew my world was working hard, but in the end, nothing really changed?

As I made a bitter expression, Azrael shook his head.

“You mustn’t let it go that easily. It’s one of your greatest weapons. It’ll be a huge help in buying time.”

“How do I grow it?”

“The way a wizard grows is always the same. Enlightenment.”

“That’s not possible.”

I denied it and clenched my hand.

“I’ve already attained it once.”

Flames, and the memory of almost dying, came back to me.

“But then the burden came, so I intentionally forgot. It was an enlightenment related more to the Abyss Realm than the small one, anyway.”

“Remember that your small world is struggling right now to protect you from within the Abyss. Enlightenment about the Abyss becomes information on the enemy, and thus enlightenment for the small world. In the first place, the Abyss Realm is already a completed world, so even if you gain enlightenment, you can’t advance further from it.”

Its purpose is to protect me within the Abyss.

If I gain understanding about the Abyss, I use that to grow, then?

Like knowing that arrows will be shot and gathering cloth to make armor?

…Then why does the burden happen?

“It’s probably because, during the reconfiguration process, it cannot protect you temporarily.”

“I see… No, wait, then I die.”

In the end, there was no way to evolve the world.

If my small world extinguishes now, I won’t be able to endure the burden and I’ll die.

“Here, if you wish, I can provide the additional reward I mentioned earlier.”

“…”

I glared at Azrael, who said that so confidently.

He was, in essence, telling me to entrust my life to him.

“It’s simple. While you gain enlightenment and reconfigure your world, I can keep you alive through the burden, for just that brief moment.”

“I’ll decline.”

Just because the reward is visible doesn’t mean I should jump at it right away.

Whether Azrael has the ability to momentarily erase my burden… Hmm. I suppose he probably could.

But whether he would actually do it was another matter entirely.

This was our first meeting, and thinking about how this man had rendered all Elves mentally deficient for the sake of some ‘greater cause’, just accepting his offer with a yes would’ve been foolish.

“Just the fact that you’ve shared such interesting knowledge is more than enough. Let’s get to the main point now. I have to find Master and stop her.”

“…Alright.”

Azrael, wearing a slightly regretful expression, changed the subject.

“According to others, the World Tree directly raised its branch and wrote letters on the ground.”

“If it’s Master you’re talking about, she could do something like that from behind hundreds of mountains.”

“That’s not quite right either.”

Azrael snorted and shook his head.

“Do you think I just picked any random tree behind the mountain and called it the World Tree? That tree has lived the longest, and I further grew it from something with a circumference of over ten meters into one tens of meters tall. I also cast all sorts of spells to prevent human wizards from gaining control over the Elves.”

“Ah, yes. Great job turning the Elves into morons.”

“Watch your mouth, you little… Anyway, no matter how skilled Dersia may be, unless she made direct contact with the World Tree, she wouldn’t be able to break through my spell and manipulate it. But apparently, no one saw her physically attached to it.”

“Then what does that mean?”

Azrael pointed to the ground with an exasperated look.

“The roots.”

“…What?”

“She’s underground right now.”

“…”

It seemed Dersia had become a cicada larva.

Elf Village, Inn.

“So Master has become a cicada larva.”

Ciel, after hearing the explanation, voiced exactly what I had been thinking.

Well, if she’s latched onto the roots of a tree and is controlling the World Tree, it’s hard to imagine anything else.

Nodding in agreement, I was met with Brimdal mumbling in disgust.

“If you know where she is, finish it quickly. I can’t keep dealing with this deranged pointy-ear runaway drama.”

“Do we have to dig the ground?”

To Linmel’s innocent question, Azrael shook his head.

“No. First, we have to talk. I don’t know what Dersia’s intentions are. I want to avoid a fight as much as possible. And also…”

Azrael soon turned his glare to Ciel.

“You were with her. You couldn’t stop her?”

“I’m sorry. I should have been firmer…”

Ciel let out a sigh and lowered her head.

More connected than expected. If she’s known by both Brimdal and Azrael, maybe she used to be something like a messenger?

“Before we go, one last thing. Make sure this is clear.”

Azrael looked over us one by one and warned firmly.

“If talking is impossible, run immediately. If Dersia has made preparations, we won’t be able to respond.”

“Understood.”

Of course, I didn’t really think a fight would break out.

I didn’t believe Dersia would try to harm me, or my companions. No matter how far gone she might be, I trusted that she’d have at least that much judgment left.

“And you.”

“Yes.”

“Do you truly not need my help?”

On the way to the World Tree.

Azrael kept clinging to the matter, as if unwilling to let it go.

“I don’t think enough trust has built up between us yet. If you can help in front of Master, I’ll accept it then.”

“You’re going to throw away a golden opportunity over something like distrust?”

“The director who raised me at the Orphanage told me to never accept a gift from someone I don’t know well, no matter how nice it looks.”

“…That’s a good teaching.”

Azrael shrugged his shoulders.

“Then fine, I’ll do it in front of Dersia.”

He seemed determined to help me no matter what.

Of course, that only made me more suspicious.

“Why are you trying so hard to look after me?”

“Because I want to see it, you brat.”

What the hell does that mean?

As I tried to calm down Linmel, who was gleefully skipping ahead like she was enjoying all this, we passed over a mountain.

And there it was.

No, I mistook it for a mountain.

…It was a tree.

“What the f- What is this?”

I almost cursed without realizing it, but held back because Linmel was there.

Azrael chuckled and nodded with pride.

“How about it? Makes you want to worship it, doesn’t it?”

“It does seem that way.”

Even knowing it had been enhanced, I had assumed it was just a bunch of trees merged together.

But this- this was no joke. It was the size of an apartment building.

Looking up hurt my neck. Amazed by its sheer scale, I approached with a new sense of understanding, maybe shamanism isn’t entirely baseless after all.

The closer we got, the more it felt like a massive brown wall came into view. Just the roots alone would probably take months to fully search.

“What do we do now?”

“Leave it to me.”

Ciel approached the World Tree with a confident expression and clicked open the bag she had been carrying.

“I’m very experienced at getting Dersia-nim to come out.”

Inside the bag, was a whole lot of oil.

I frowned and looked at Azrael, but he just shrugged.

It was a silent permission, I suppose. Ciel went ahead and flipped open a lighter.

I couldn’t help but voice my concern.

“Are you seriously going to do it?”

“Yes. I used to do this at the mansion sometimes.”

…That explains the burn marks I saw in the room.

Still, setting fire to the World Tree, or even just a tree this massive, would be an outright disaster if it burned…

I stared worriedly at Ciel, who looked like she really meant to go through with it.

Just before the lighter touched the tree. At that very moment.

[…Did I not clearly write it at the end of the letter?]

The highest branch bent in a grotesque way and came down toward us.

It took on a human shape. Though made of leaves and branches, on closer look it resembled none other than Dersia.

Branch-Version Dersia crossed her arms and glared at us.

[I told you not to believe Ciel’s words.]

It was definitely Dersia.

She really came out like this, huh.

“The contents were too strange to believe.”

So conversation is possible. I took a step forward and met eyes with Branch-Dersia.

“Your actions are incomprehensible. Why are you causing such a mess here? If you’re doing this for me, all I can ask is that you stop.”

[Jern.]

Dersia.

Was not flustered. She wasn’t angry.

She didn’t even look like she was trying to hide anything.

She simply answered, with the usual calm and composed demeanor of Dersia.

[I am perfectly normal, not the slightest bit off.]

“You certainly look that way.”

For all the fuss about a Fall or mental illness, she looked absolutely fine.

[I apologize for not explaining in more detail. However, I had no intention whatsoever of slaughtering all my kin. There’s no reason to, and even if there were, it’s something that must never be done. What I did to make them into wizards was only temporary, and can be reversed at any time.]

“Is that really true?”

[I stake my name on it. No elf will be harmed in this matter.]

“…”

She wasn’t someone who would lie.

Dersia touched her forehead, shook her head slightly, and muttered.

[I caused you unnecessary worry. I’m sorry for writing such a confusing letter. I had something urgent to do here, so I had no choice.]

…What.

[But after you woke up, rather than confirming your condition first, I decided to act right away, just in case the worst had happened, and report to you afterward. That’s all.]

This is way too normal?

At least during this conversation, I couldn’t tell any difference between the old Dersia and the current one.

Thank god. I let out a breath of relief.

Dersia had not Fallen. Not even a trace of it.

“Ah, so she says. Seems like we overreacted a bit.”

The situation fizzled out anticlimactically. When I turned around, Ciel was pursing her lips tightly as she stared at Dersia.

“…!”

Her expression was tense.

What’s wrong? Just as I opened my mouth to ask.

Someone took a heavy step forward.

“Dersia Aspandil.”

A deep voice.

It was Brimdal, who had been silently following without a word until now.

He stood just within arm’s reach, looking down at Dersia, and asked,

“Do you know who I am?”

[I’ve heard of the deranged Dwarf knight who sees humans as swords.]

It was such an appalling remark, it was almost shocking it wasn’t said with hostility, but Brimdal didn’t seem to care at all.

Rather, it was Dersia who looked puzzled and asked in return.

[If it’s Ciel, Jern, Azrael, and that knight cadet, Jern’s friend, I can understand, but… why are you here? An interesting face.]

“I’ve come to tell you something.”

Wait, wasn’t I just here to not skip out on my Enhanced Mana Body training?

It was the first time I heard that Brimdal had a purpose with Dersia.

[As far as I know, we’ve never even met.]

Whether Dersia refused or not.

Brimdal took a step forward and glanced behind him.

-He looked at me.

“To be precise, I came to make a request.”

[I suppose I’ll at least hear you out.]

“Hand over your disciple.”

For a moment, in a silence sharp enough to cut, I doubted my own ears.

Was that a joke?

Was Brimdal the kind of person no, Dwarf who could even make a joke?

[Excuse me? No… what?]

I wasn’t the only one taken aback.

Even Dersia, rarely seen flustered, stammered her words, but Brimdal confidently declared,

“While you were gone, I took on the role of Jern’s master.”

[…What did you say?]

“At first, it was a hassle. I only intended to teach him half-heartedly and be done with it, just to get that gold, Linmel, behind him.”

Brimdal was looking at Dersia as he spoke.

But his words were meant for me.

“A good sword is forged from good materials. That’s obvious. A truth so unquestionable I’ve never doubted it even once, but that talentless hunk of stone, no matter how much I hammered and struck, simply wouldn’t break.”

[…]

“And then, at some point, I came to a simple realization. If no amount of beating will break a stone, what does it lack compared to the hardest steel in the world?”

[What are you trying to say?]

Brimdal declared in a low voice.

“I will forge my final sword with that boy.”

[…]

“Hand him over. He’s too precious for you to keep. I’ll raise him well.”

[…Hmm.]

After Dersia’s nasal hum.

Even Linmel, sensing the mood, swallowed hard and stayed silent.

…It was a silence so heavy, it felt suffocating, and it lasted a long time.