Wizard of the Deep Sea

TL/ED – Miso

When I came to my senses, I was naked.

And it was winter.

“…?”

Of course, if my memory was correct, I went to sleep in my bed last night.

While crouching and trembling as I tried to grasp the situation, I felt a strange sensation from the hands hugging my body, something I normally wouldn’t have felt.

“What is this…”

My skin was soft. To a ridiculous degree.

The fact that my voice sounded a little youthful wasn’t even worth worrying about compared to this strange situation. When I opened my hands and looked, it wasn’t my body. It was chubby and small.

The body of a boy who looked about five years old.

Looking around, I realized I was in some kind of street that looked like it belonged in the Middle Ages at night.

In short, to sum it up…

I couldn’t understand a single thing that had happened to me.

While I stood there shivering with a dumbfounded expression, I suddenly heard someone’s surprised voice.

“Oh my, hey, is that a naked child from the Orphanage?”

“Looks like it? What are you doing there in this cold, child?”

“…Huh?”

Two middle-aged women dressed like nannies rushed over and threw their clothes over me.

“Huh? Not one of the orphans? It’s a face I haven’t seen before.”

“Then this child is… oh dear, how pitiful, tsk tsk…”

“Um, excuse me. Where am I?”

At my childlike, slurred question, pity flashed across the women’s faces.

“Oh dear… He doesn’t seem to understand what’s going on yet.”

“If someone abandoned him in this weather, then they basically left him to die. People like that deserve divine punishment…”

“No, what are you talk-”

“Let’s get you inside first, or you’ll freeze to death.”

I was dragged into a building by the hand of the more pushy woman.

Inside, a dreadful scene awaited, dirty children choking each other, beating one another up, and crying loudly.

It wasn’t exactly surprising. When you have more than fifty kids under ten years old, this kind of chaos is normal.

The women, too, didn’t get angry, but clapped their hands to get everyone’s attention.

“Okay everyone. We have a new friend today. Please be kind and treat him warmly.”

“…”

As I felt dozens of curious gazes on me, a realization dawned.

Could this possibly be…

That… Isekai Reincarnation thing?

“Why the fuck is this happening to me when I didn’t do anything?”

“Oh my, in our Orphanage, we can’t use such bad words!”

I had no idea what was going on.

*

After my reincarnation, I spent the next five years, until I turned ten, agonizing thousands of times.

Why me?

It’s not like I killed myself out of despair, nor did I get hit by a truck. I wasn’t betrayed by a lover, nor was I defeated by my worst enemy in a climactic battle.

I was just living an ordinary life, and one day, I dozed off because I was tired.

If I’ve committed a sin, maybe it was that I lived contentedly with a mundane life.

And when I opened my eyes, I was a complete orphan.

It felt like getting slapped hard across the face while walking down the street. I kept thinking about what reason some fucking bastard had to send someone like me, who just lived decently and without much trouble, into this place, leaving others who were truly suffering alone.

But no answer came.

What could I do? In this world, I was just an ordinary orphan. I simply lived.

“Alright, everyone. Class is about to start, so gather in the classroom~”

“Yees~”

Living at the Orphanage, there was something I came to realize.

This country has a lot of money.

“Jern, how much allowance did you get?”

“500 Cooper.”

“What? Why did you get double what I got?”

“It’s not that I got more, it’s that yours was cut in half because you peed on Luis’s face while he was sleeping last time.”

“He said I could pee on him if he didn’t wake up!!”

Jern, that’s the name I was given. I still wasn’t used to it.

I blankly stared at the green coin in my hand before putting it in my pocket.

It’s not like I had to buy my own meals with this. Meals were provided regularly and punctually, and the allowance was more for snacks or cultural activities.

Even the quality of meals wasn’t an issue. There were so many strange vegetables and meats that I couldn’t say for sure what was what, but seeing the kids bulk up over the past three years instead of just growing made me wonder if they were mixing in some kind of growth stimulant. The quantity was also sufficient.

The living space was also fine. Four people to a room, but the room was spacious enough that it didn’t feel cramped, and you could take a bath whenever you wanted.

More than anything, they were serious about education.

“Who knows the three essential things for farming?”

“Me! Land, strength, and… water!”

“Of course strength is necessary, but no matter how hard you till the soil, without this, crops won’t grow. Try thinking again.”

Compared to South Korea, the education here was at an elementary school level, but that was simply because we were of elementary school age. When I eavesdropped on the lessons given to slightly older orphans, I realized they were teaching a wide range of subjects with genuine effort.

Mathematics and science were only taught at a basic level.

Most of the focus was on history, law, language, and career experiences meant to broaden future options.

There were even programs to support children with academic talent so they could become civil servants. Honestly, I hadn’t expected it to be this thorough.

When I first heard it was a medieval orphanage, I imagined something like a gangster group that didn’t even feed the kids and forced them to beg while beating them, but to find such a bright and hopeful place instead.

It was nothing short of fortunate for me.

While I sat in class, silently sending boundless gratitude to the unknown Princess who had put effort into child welfare, crumpled paper balls kept lightly flying at me from behind.

I ignored it at first, but when I heard the cautious sound of a stone being pulled out from the desk, I frowned and turned my head slightly.

“What.”

“You have to go watch the performance after class.”

“…?”

After thinking it over for a moment, I realized this was one of those classic kid-style invitations where the decision had already been made for me.

Lately, the kids had been clinging to me a lot. Probably because my black hair was quite a unique trait and sparked their interest.

The blonde girl who spoke with a silly smile, her name was Linmel, I think. We are fairly close… probably. Maybe.

I shook my head.

“I’m not interested in the performance.”

“Then what are you gonna do?”

“I’m going to watch ants. And if it gets boring, I’m going to step on them.”

“Sounds fun! Can I join?”

“You’re going to the perform, never mind.”

At this age, “whimsical” didn’t even begin to describe how fast kids changed their minds. Seeing the teacher spitting as he energetically wrote the fundamental elements of farming on the board, I replied quietly.

“Actually, I have to study. So I can’t hang out with you. Sorry.”

“Stuuudy? We’re doing that now.”

“I have to do more.”

“Why?”

“Because smart kids get adopted more easily.”

“Adopted?”

“…It means parents show up and come to take us away.”

“My mom and dad said they left for a faraway country.”

“…Don’t you think even fake parents would be better than nothing?”

“Hmm…”

As I gave a nervous answer, Linmel thought for a while, then nodded.

“Yeah, that sounds good! I’ll study too!”

“…Phew.”

The facilities were nice, and the way people looked at us wasn’t all that bad.

But, at the end of the day, it was still an orphanage. The first wish of kids who hadn’t been completely broken yet was to be adopted.

Whether adoption was possible or not was generally decided around the age of ten. From what I’d heard, no one got adopted after turning ten.

But to be honest, I didn’t want to be adopted. I didn’t want to treat some strangers as my parents.

Becoming a scribe was the full extent of my goals. Of course, the path of a knight was the one that could bring wealth and fame, but

Thwack-

“Jern, you’re weak?”

“……”

A Wooden Sword was resting on top of my head.

Naturally, with so many kids dreaming of becoming knights, there was a Training Ground and Wooden Swords at the orphanage. So I once brought Linmel out to spar…

But I guess I had no talent for the sword.

I had no clue how people made swords “come alive” or whatever.

If anything, it was Linmel who clearly had talent for swordsmanship. She accurately countered my limp movements and rubbed the Wooden Sword against my crown.

Even the technique of pulling her strength at the last second to avoid injuring me.

This kid was definitely going to be a knight.

With a sigh, I pushed the sword off the top of my head.

“You’re amazing.”

“What? Jern is way cooler. You got first place in the history test again, didn’t you?”

“That’s…”

I was the only one paying attention in class.

I mean, my mental software was that of an adult man. If I couldn’t memorize elementary school-level material, I might as well go die.

From my perspective, Linmel, who had talent in swordsmanship, was way more impressive. I’d seen tons of kids who were good at studying back on Earth, but I’d never seen someone who could actually handle a sword well.

I cleaned up the area and stood up.

Let’s live here in moderation too, just be content with what I was given.

It was the next morning that I realized I had a talent that wouldn’t let me do just that.

*

Early morning.

When I woke up, the ceiling was wobbling.

“What the…”

As I tried to get up from the bed-crash I rolled off hard onto the floor.

My legs wouldn’t move, and the floor against my cheek was freezing cold…

My body was burning.

It felt like my entire body had become a ball of fire. When I called for help in a cracked voice, the kids who had just started waking up screamed in shock.

“Uwaaah! Jern’s dead!”

“Sh-should we call the Director?”

The shouting made my head throb, and my mind became hazy. I slipped back into sleep.

A severe cold? The flu? No, it was something else. It didn’t feel like I was sick, it felt like something was mixing into me.

When I opened my eyes in the infirmary, I saw the Director and the teachers looking at me with grave expressions, an unusual sight.

It’s not like they would all gather just because one kid caught a cold. Feeling uneasy, I asked,

“…What’s going on? Am I dying?”

They exchanged quiet words among themselves, and then the Director, wearing a sorrowful expression, began to speak.

“Jern, your parents gave you a terrible gift.”

“Sorry?”

Awakening Fever.

That was the name of the illness that had burned through my body.

To put it simply, it’s the pain that all wizards experience during childhood.

I thought, what kind of wizard would I be when I didn’t even know magic? But that’s not what it meant.

In this world, wizards are like people born with three arms.

You have to be born that way to use magic. If you weren’t, then no matter what you did, you’d never be able to use it.

Naturally, people with “three arms” aren’t born so easily.

Even with an outrageous stroke of luck, maybe one is born every ten years, and even then, it’s usually because they have a wizard somewhere in their ancestry.

But there is exactly one guaranteed way to produce a wizard.

If both parents are wizards.

“Wait, just a moment. From what I know, wizards…”

As I trailed off, recalling what I’d heard during class, the Director nodded gravely.

“This, shouldn’t we be using honorifics?”

“It’s not certain. Could be from a distant ancestor…”

“Hmm. Still, we should consider hiding it for now.”

A bewildering secret about my birth.

It seemed I was an illegitimate child of a noble.

The reason was simple, all nobles are wizards.

Because since ancient times, nobles have continually married, and married, and married actual wizards with truly noble blood…

So now, all nobles are born with the talent for magic.

Of course, there are people who are wizards but not nobles, but they’re extremely rare. I was taught they were like prophets training in the snowy mountains.

And I couldn’t imagine people like that having children, so the likelihood of me being a noble’s illegitimate child was high.

A kid like me, an orphan, actually had noble blood?

Hmm.

I didn’t particularly want this kind of social reversal.

“I’m sorry, Jern, but this matter…”

“This is bad.”

“N-not exactly, but going around telling people won’t do you any good either.”

I gave it a moment’s thought.

They were trying to comfort me, but yes, this was bad.

The fact that someone who isn’t a noble is a wizard is, from a noble’s perspective, extremely unpleasant.

Even from the commoner’s side, it’s hard to deal with. It’s similar to a messed-up family registry.

I had become something difficult for both nobles and commoners to handle.

“So, for now…”

“I’ll keep it hidden.”

“Oh? Um, yes. Let’s do that. Don’t go showing it off in front of others.”

“Okay.”

Hearing me agree so obediently only made the teachers more anxious.

But really, why would I go around flaunting a tumor-like secret that would only turn into a weakness the moment it was revealed?

Unless I was some once-in-a-generation genius.

…

..

.

“Am I…?”

After levitating about a hundred books in the storage room, my opinion started to shift a little.

Maybe I really do have some talent.