Wizard of the Deep Sea

TL/ED – Miso

First, I assessed and responded as quickly as possible.

“Are you a cadet? What brings you here…”

With a slightly awkward expression and hands cautiously clasped together, I asked with my head slightly bowed, pretending to be a little scared.

I tried pretending I didn’t know anything… but there was no way that would work.

“Ah, no, how? Why?? A janitor… wait a second.”

Looking dumbfounded, she scurried over and started circling around me with her chin in her hand. Honestly, it was distracting.

She stopped behind me, looked at the back of my head, and shouted in a tone of realization.

“Ah! You’re that guy who was at the back of the classroom that time! The one wearing those weird clothes!”

“That wasn’t me.”

“What do you mean it wasn’t! It was you!”

Watching her stomp her feet in frustration, I felt a chill run down the back of my neck.

This is really bad. So I’ve been found out.

But more than being surprised, I was puzzled. I was sure there was no sign of anyone nearby, how did she see?

“How did you learn magic? You’re not a noble. Then why… can you teach me too…”

Watching the cadet start mumbling to herself, I quickly ran through dozens of simulations in my mind.

And then I picked the most reliable one and went with it.

“Cadet-nim.”

“What?”

“I’m really not sure what you’re talking about. Magic? I’m just an ordinary janitor.”

I maintained a confused expression.

At the same time, I subtly reached behind my back and tore off the end of a bandage.

As quickly as possible, I used the current to lift the loose end that was hard to grab and sharpened the wind to draw it out…

“…?”

It didn’t come out.

It had worked just fine a moment ago, why not now?

With no choice, I used my fingernail to lightly tear at it. Fortunately, the thread that made up the bandage came off in one go.

As soon as it was done, she shouted.

“Don’t lie! I just saw you lift the bandage!”

“Oh, this?”

I took the bandage I’d pulled from behind my back and tossed it on the floor.

Then I used the thin thread to pull it back into my hand.

“Sorry. I was a little bored, so I made a yo-yo out of some spare supplies. I won’t do it again.”

“…Huh?”

She stared blankly at the bandage with the thread, then shook her head.

“Then what was that time you cut the straw with wind magic!”

“Did you happen to see me cleaning? I used these scissors. Straw can be a fire hazard, so it has to be cut into small pieces and thrown away.”

I pulled a pair of scissors from my pocket. For the record, cutting up straw for disposal is complete nonsense. But what would a noble know about cleaning?

I was confident. Since my skill level wasn’t that high, I had to be really close to cut something with enough power.

Even if she’d been watching, unless it was from right in front of me, it would’ve been hard to notice.

“Uh, uh?”

Seeing her a little flustered, I was sure it had worked, and I quietly let out a sigh of relief.

Looks like it worked. Just in case, I threw in one final blow.

“Regardless, I’m truly sorry. It’s all my fault.”

“Huh?”

Thud. I dropped to my knees with a gloomy expression and bowed deeply.

“This is my first time working as a janitor, so I mistook this place for the staff infirmary. Without knowing my place, I walked into a cadets’ area with dirty shoes. I will accept any punishment. Please take full responsibility and discipline me.”

Contrary to what I said, I already knew this was the staff infirmary.

The important word here was responsibility.

Have you ever told a child to take responsibility?

“No, it’s not like you need to be punished… This is the staff infirmary…”

They always react like this. Without exception.

Tapping her index fingers together and avoiding my gaze, she already seemed completely deflated.

I let out a sigh of relief inwardly.

Looks like I got away with it.

Still, from now on, before class, I should come early and check on the kids, and if this one is here, I should run away instead of listening. Safety first.

The cadet gave me one last slightly suspicious look and asked.

“Uh, but you’re really not a wizard, right?”

“Yes. Logically, how could a janitor use magic? I know that magic is a privilege of nobles.”

“…It’s not always just like that though…”

“What?”

“Ah, anyway, if you’re not, then fine. Sorry for suspecting you…”

Why is this kid so obsessed with the idea of me being a wizard.

Taking advantage of the cadet’s timid moment, I stood up and bowed my head quickly.

“Thank you for your generous mercy. I’ll be going now.”

“Uh, okay…”

This was an uncomfortable situation for both of us. I tried to leave in a hurry.

[…So, this way?]

[Yeah, I’m sure…]

Until I heard the voices.

Of course, it wasn’t my problem, so I was just going to open the door and leave, but the cadet suddenly panicked and blocked me.

“No! Not now!”

“…?”

Small hands grabbed me. I frowned at the sudden physical contact, and the voices outside stopped.

[…Hmm. This voice…]

[Kekeke…]

Seeing the girl cover her mouth as if she’d made a mistake, I roughly pieced the situation together.

I’d wondered why a noble had come all the way to the staff infirmary. Looks like she was being chased by someone.

-Bang bang bang!

Immediately, a series of aggressive knocks came from the door.

[Hey, open up!]

[We know you’re in there!]

“W-what do I do…”

“They’re asking to open it. Should I?”

“No, don’t…”

The cadet trembled, not knowing what to do.

Her eyes were getting moist, a pattern I’d often seen at the Orphanage. The state kids show right before they start crying.

Well, she probably did something to deserve it. Not my problem anyway.

[How dare you run away without a word? We’ll fix that habit today?]

[We’ll cut that hair of yours!]

…Okay, maybe she didn’t actually do anything wrong.

But still, kids grow up fighting.

Sure, 2 against 1 is a little grim, but if you hit first, you can win. Even just scratching their faces with wind magic as soon as the door opens would take half of them out.

[You’re just an inferior student who can’t even use magic!]

[Hurry up and come out! Want me to burn your clothes too?]

“…Wait, you can’t use magic?”

This was unexpected. That meant she couldn’t fight back.

Does she use it but with weak output or something?

“Yeah…”

But seeing her nod with such a gloomy face, it seemed she really couldn’t use it at all.

Basic magic, at least, even a kindergarten kid could do as long as they were a wizard.

This wasn’t about being an inferior student. There was some other reason.

I think I get why she’s being bullied by those kids.

“…Sigh.”

I let out a deep sigh as I looked at the pounding door and this cheeky little girl who didn’t know what to do.

Normally, I could just chalk it up to kids fighting and ignore it.

But a wizard against a normal person. And 2 against 1 at that?

No matter how kindly I tried to see it, I could only picture something brutal.

And since it’s kids fighting, they wouldn’t hold back. It might even really end in bloodshed.

Then… just for being here, I’d get dragged into it.

I couldn’t just sit back and watch such a dangerous possibility. I had no choice but to grab all the bandages nearby.

“Please endure for a moment.”

“What?”

There was no place to hide in this room.

It was the third floor, and escaping through the window was impossible.

So I tied up the cadet’s hands tightly with the bandage and fixed her in place.

She looked at me with a bewildered expression. Her blue eyes, like glass beads, were quite striking.

“W-what are you doing?”

“Don’t scream. You’ll be safe.”

I looped the bandage tightly under her arms, wrapping her up like a bundle in an instant.

“Just in case, I’ll cover your mouth too.”

“?”

Before she could grasp the situation, I had made her into something like prey wrapped in a spider’s web.

“? ??”

“It’s okay, don’t struggle. Heave-ho.”

“?! ???!!!!!!”

And- I threw her out the window.

The bandage tied to the railing went taut and began to support her weight.

This is insane. If this cadet were to fall and die like this, I’d be executed as the janitor who killed a noble.

Of course, I had absolutely no intention of trusting some tough bandage with her life.

‘It’s floating well.’

The bandage was merely to deceive the eye and senses, and served as a secondary safety device in case of an emergency.

The real purpose was to wrap her tightly so she would catch the flow of the current.

For some reason, it’s extremely difficult to directly manipulate living beings with the current unless they’re wearing something like heavy armor. If it were that easy, I would’ve been levitating myself already.

But once tightly wrapped in bandages without any gaps, thus judged as an object, she could be manipulated just fine.

And thanks to recently messing around with the current so much, my current magic’s limit had increased considerably.

Even so, not enough to make a girl float in midair…

But at the very least, I could make sure she didn’t fall.

Third floor?

That’s within the range of my current magic.

Even if I were to cut all the bandages now, she would slowly drift down and land safely.

Just in case she started struggling, I looked out the window and gave her one last warning.

“I’ll pull you back in after I deal with this. Until then, please stay quiet.”

“…”

She couldn’t speak because her mouth was covered, but if nothing else, the fact that I was trying to help her seemed to get across. Despite the confusion, she nodded slowly.

Good. I closed the window and messed up my hair to look like someone who had just woken up.

Then I grabbed the broom like a crutch and approached the door to open it.

“Why’d you take so long to open it? Are you seriously looking to die- what the hell?”

“Who the hell is this guy?”

Before I said anything, I scanned my opponents.

Judging by their faces, they couldn’t be more than one or two years older than me, but they were built like tanks. They must’ve eaten like crazy growing up; I’d believe they were fifteen.

While the tall blond and red-haired cadets stared at me with expressions like ‘Who the hell is this guy?’, I acted first. I bowed repeatedly, wearing a dazed look.

“Oh dear, what brings you cadets here?”

“We definitely heard voices… Where is she?”

“Oh my? Who are you referring to?”

“Elysia, of course!”

“Elysia…? I’m not sure who that is…”

So that one’s name was Elysia.

I tilted my head like I genuinely didn’t know, and the red-haired brat flared up in anger.

“That silver-haired mutt! How dare she run off without knowing her place? I was going to properly teach her a lesson today.”

“I-I’m terribly sorry. I was asleep here, so I didn’t see anyone.”

“Tch, are you serious? You’re not hiding her in here or something?”

“There’s nowhere to hide in this tiny room, is there? But if you’d like, you’re free to search all you want.”

“Hmm…”

“Tch… Huins, what now?”

It looked like the final say belonged to the blond cadet named Huins.

Feeling a bit nervous, I waited as Huins scanned the room, then clicked his tongue.

“This guy’s right. Where could anyone even hide in here? We must’ve misheard.”

“You think so…?”

“Let’s go. She’s definitely hiding somewhere around here. Let’s search the upper floor.”

“Got it! Wherever she’s hiding, once I find her…”

The red-haired cadet stormed out of the room, and Huins turned to follow, but suddenly looked back at me.

“You, are you a janitor?”

“Ah, yes…”

“Looks like you’re hurt. Sorry for waking you up. Here.”

-Ping!

Huins flicked something shiny from his pocket.

I caught it reflexively… It was 1 silver coin.

Wait, a silver coin? That’s like half a year’s allowance for me.

“You didn’t have to… Thank you so much!”

Having money is never a bad thing.

I tried to hide my smile as I quietly pocketed the bonus income, and Huins calmly continued.

“If you happen to find that silver-haired cadet, sneak up to the 4th floor and tell me. I’ll pay you ten times more.”

“How could I refuse! But…”

I asked cautiously.

“Did she do something wrong?”

“Wrong? Hmph, of course she did.”

Huins crossed his arms with a truly disgusted expression.

“How dare that mutt try to take the same classes as us. She doesn’t know her place. We need to beat her until she quits.”

“By mutt, you mean…?”

“She can’t even use magic. She’s not a wizard.”

Huins’s face was filled with deep contempt.

“One of her parents is a commoner, right? Disgusting…”

“…”

Whoever her parents are, they really failed at home education.

As I was offering silent condolences, Huins let out a sleazy laugh and said something absurd.

“Oh right. If you find her, it’s fine if you beat her up and drag her here. She’s a commoner like you anyway. Doesn’t matter if she gets roughed up a bit.”

What a load of bullshit. What does he take me for, a suicide applicant?

“Yes. I’ll knock her out cold the moment I see her!”

“What? Hahaha! I like you, man!”

Not that I was hoping for it, but it seems I earned some favor. After laughing heartily, Huins headed up to the fourth floor.

Only after all their footsteps had completely faded did I go to the window and pull up the bandage.

“Heave-ho… Are you all right?”

“…”

“I’ll take that silence as a yes.”

Even as I untied the bandages, Elysia kept her head lowered with a heavy expression.

She must’ve heard the entire conversation from outside the window.

If all of that is true… then it makes sense why she was so obsessed with me using magic.

I carefully removed the wrappings so her skin wouldn’t get hurt, then sat her on the bed and offered some mild comfort.

“Don’t worry too much. Not being able to use magic won’t affect your life at all.”

I’d actually prefer to be unable to use it.

Elysia still mumbled with a gloomy expression.

“Why are you still speaking formally?”

“Excuse me?”

“Everything they said is true. I… can’t use magic…”

Where had the cheerful girl from our first meeting gone? Now she had pulled her knees up and entered full despair mode, starting to talk down on herself.

“I’m a half-baked noble, so I skip classes all the time and keep running away. That’s why…”

“Skip.”

“…Huh?”

I raised my hand and cut her off mid-sentence.

Before Elysia could tilt her head and say anything, I spoke first.

“That’s really unfortunate. I wish you the best. You can do it. Fighting.”

“…Huh? Wha?”

Leaving just those words behind, I backed out of the room, leaving the bewildered Elysia behind.

The thought of getting involved in that bizarre event?

Not even a little bit. Not at all.

I have my own problems to deal with.

It’s my day off anyway, might as well find another room and get some proper sleep.

“Eh, what…?”

I could still hear Elysia’s confused muttering from the room, as she struggled to make sense of the situation.