Wizard of the Deep Sea

TL/ED – Miso

In history, there are plenty of instances where the attacking side succeeded in a disadvantageous siege.

For example, didn’t the Greek allied forces use a wooden horse to bring down Troy?

Of course, if Troy had had the intelligence to wonder, ‘Why did these bastards leave behind a huge wooden horse capable of hiding dozens of soldiers while retreating?’, the story might have been different.

But it was already done.

Here’s another example. According to the Bible, there was a prophet named Joshua who received a revelation from God. He led the Hebrews to Canaan, claiming that this was the land Yahweh had promised them.

The problem was that people were already living in Canaan. From their perspective, they were living peacefully when all of a sudden, people with swords appeared and said that their god told them this was their land, so hand it over.

Naturally, Canaan locked its gates and opted for a siege.

This is the famous Battle of Jericho. Joshua decided to march around the fortress for seven days to bring down the siege of Canaan. Absurdly, God then knocked down the walls.

There’s something we must learn from such siege war anecdotes.

Unless the enemy is profoundly dim-witted, or the heavens bring down the walls.

The attacking side cannot win.

That needing three times the number of troops is merely the minimum requirement. Even with that, it still takes a long time and an additional variable on the attacker’s side to break through fortified walls.

Let alone with ten people? Not just a castle, but an entire nation?

Absurd.

“The front is a definite no-go.”

“Inside is no good either. To stage a coup when the populace is all being controlled is impossible.”

Clip-clop, clip-clop. Riding on horseback, I searched for a way to crack a rock with an egg.

“The answer is swift and decisive. The only real option is to spot an opening the moment we meet and assassinate Dark Night.”

“Hmm, do you think Dark Night will meet with us?”

“No way. She’s the king of the Manganji Kingdom. She usually makes her puppets form contracts with ordinary Fallen, rarely involving herself directly.”

“Then is there any other way?”

“There is. Selling you off.”

“…What?”

As I made a stunned face, Piercing Blood explained the plan.

“I’ll convince Dark Night that you possess an absurdly large Great World, and that if she makes you into a marionette, it will undoubtedly be a great help to her. Of course, in return, I’ll demand an outrageous amount of World-Sealing Pills.”

“…Then Dark Night will come to verify it herself.”

“Exactly. She’s not the type to trust the words of a Lower Tier member. Curiosity alone will make her summon you to confirm it herself. That will be the first opportunity.”

“And the second?”

“It’s better to assume there won’t be one… but if, for some reason, we abandon the fight at the first meeting, then we’ll have to look for another opportunity within Dark Night’s country. But aside from that, getting close enough to face her won’t be easy. If we get kicked out of the country, we’ll be stuck with launching a siege.”

In other words, unless things go well, First-Sight Kill was necessary.

“…I see.”

I clenched and unclenched my hand. Though my Burden had grown heavier, I still had enough Water Barrier left to menifest the Inner World a few more times, so I wasn’t worried about being devoured mid-way by the Burden.

The real problem was whether I could even reach the Upper Tier level with full force.

I had captured Lump. But that guy was like a cockroach, having invested all his points in survival.

Dark Night supposedly wasn’t combat-specialized either, but who knows?

She commands numerous marionettes including Fallen, so it’s hard to predict the outcome. As I was calculating the chances of victory, the horse reached the road.

Only then did a question occur to me, and I asked,

“By the way, where are we going?”

“To catch a tiger, you must enter its den. We’re going to make contact with Dark Night.”

In this deep forest?

Following with a skeptical gaze, we eventually arrived at a small hut.

It looked so shabby that it would be lucky if even two people lived there, but there were signs of habitation. From tree fruits scattered on the ground to piles of laundry being dried.

“Hmm~ Hm hm hm~”

-Creak! And then, someone really came out holding a large load of laundry.

It was a man who looked to be in his mid-40s. He was startled upon seeing us on horseback, then put down the laundry nearby and stammered.

“Wh-who are you? What brings you here…”

A mix of fear and trembling. Piercing Blood looked at the man for a moment, then spoke to me.

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Didn’t you notice anything strange about this man?”

“…?”

I looked over the trembling man and shook my head.

“No, not really. Nothing stands out to me?”

And I wasn’t just saying that based on sight.

I scanned him with Current Sense. The trembling skin and heartbeat told me this man was truly afraid of us, not faking it. Which meant, he wasn’t hiding his strength, he really was just an ordinary person.

Piercing Blood sighed and tossed a World-Sealing Pill.

“Watch.”

-Roll… The man blinked as he saw the pill roll toward him.

“Ah.”

It was a mere reaction, yet the man’s heart stopped.

The situation was so sudden that there was no way to react. Current Sense no longer transmitted the man’s heartbeat.

However, the man didn’t collapse. He simply stood there blankly, staring at Piercing Blood.

Humans die when their hearts stop. If he didn’t die, then he wasn’t human. Following that logic, I cautiously opened my mouth.

“Is this that… thing?”

“Yeah. A marionette.”

Like he was waiting for something, the expressionless man turned to Piercing Blood and asked while examining several parts of his body.

“That’s strange. Just a moment ago, he was definitely an ordinary human. Now, it’s like he’s a moving corpse.”

“I ordered him to mimic his appearance in life.”

“Then that means he retains his memories?”

“Probably. I don’t know exactly. All I know is that these guys are the only means of connecting with Dark Night.”

“Guys?”

“Yeah. It’s not just one or two. Dark Night has scattered these things throughout the empire little by little. That’s why we can contact her so easily.”

Piercing Blood looked at the man as if he found him unpleasant, then suddenly pulled a dagger from his clothes.

There was no time to stop him. The dagger flew in a straight line like flowing water and pierced through the marionette’s neck in an instant.

“You…”

Before I could say anything, I noticed there was no blood flowing from the neck.

Even as it swayed from the impact of the throw, the marionette stood there with a dazed expression, still staring at Piercing Blood.

It was quite a bizarre scene, but Piercing Blood acted like it was nothing and sat down.

“I showed him the World-Sealing Pill, triggered the connection, then cut it. Dark Night will soon send a subordinate. This is the only way to make contact with her.”

Piercing Blood set up a camp as if it were no big deal.

I couldn’t do the same. I anxiously stared at the marionette still standing with a dagger in its neck, then sighed and leaned against a nearby stump.

“How long will it take?”

“Who knows. It’s not like I’ve ever used such a loan shark deal before. If it were just my own life, maybe, but I’ve never been desperate enough to stake even my afterlife. I’ve seen other people try to contact Dark Night a few times, but-”

Piercing Blood sighed bitterly.

“When I checked later, they were all at Dark Night’s side.”

“Couldn’t you have just lent to them?”

“What a terrible thing that would be…”

Right. He was part of Crimson Circle too, after all.

As we continued talking like that, that evening came. Members under Piercing Blood’s command returned with pleased expressions.

“We’ve brought the Holy Relic!”

“…Haha! These guys really brought something good. Undercurrent, look.”

Piercing Blood, with a satisfied expression, carefully lifted what looked like a rosary… or a bracelet.

“It’s a high-grade item among Holy Relics. Every time you take a heavy toll from your World, a bead will shatter to protect you. It’s convenient, and it works automatically, so there’s nothing else quite like it in terms of utility.”

I cautiously accepted the Holy Relic and put it on.

I was slightly tense, wondering if all the beads would shatter the moment I wore it, but after a brief vibration, like something had processed, it didn’t break.

“Not bad.”

As I waved my hand and examined the black beads attached to the bracelet, Piercing Blood, who had been watching, suddenly cleared his throat.

“Ahem, by the way.”

“Hmm?”

“Why did you let the knight who fought Karos go?”

“You mean Brimdal?”

“Yeah. If you had kept him with you, he would’ve been a great help… If there’s no particular reason, why not bring him along?”

A perfectly reasonable suggestion, enough to make me nod.

But, that wasn’t possible.

Not because he was hard to convince. If I asked him to come, he would.

Brimdal just… couldn’t act.

He was absurdly bad at it. So bad, it was enough for even someone like Dark Night, or Piercing Blood, no, even Damyu, to catch on.

The only reason he passed during the battle with Karos was because the fight was so intense. Even in the middle of it, he kept saying things he wasn’t supposed to, and I nearly had a heart attack every time.

This kind of reconnaissance mission didn’t suit him at all. On the contrary, there was the option of pretending to control Karos and taking her along, but if he did that, Dark Night would never let him in.

Trying to recruit other knights wasn’t worth it either. The moment he got caught, it’d be all over. It was a gamble he didn’t want to test.

In the end, he shrugged and replied.

“Sorry. Once I’ve controlled a person, I can never control them again.”

“W-what?”

From the reaction, it seemed even they didn’t know much about Dark Night’s puppets. He figured this kind of bluff would definitely work, so he went with it.

As expected, Piercing Blood nodded with a low hum.

“In that case, it can’t be helped. What a shame.”

“I don’t think we need to obtain someone here. We can just take one of the strongest knights or Fallen under Dark Night in the Manganji Kingdom and control them instead. What do you think?”

“…You want to steal ownership? That won’t be easy.”

“If I expected it to be easy, I wouldn’t be doing this in the first place.”

He said it confidently, and Piercing Blood’s expression relaxed.

“Right, Undercurrent, you’re not one to spout nonsense. Then, for now-”

“Ge…Geh-ruh…”

“…Kyaaaaaaah!”

In the middle of the conversation, Damyu let out a shrill scream.

The squad members, Piercing Blood, and I all jumped to our feet at once and looked in the direction Damyu was pointing with trembling fingers.

“Th-that’s…”

“Kuh…urk.”

The marionette that Piercing Blood had stabbed in the neck earlier that day was now standing up, staring blankly this way.

Its heart had started beating again. It looked as if the man from the morning had resurrected after some time had passed.

But.

“…Hiiik.”

Gulp…

The squad members backed away in terror, swallowing nervously. Piercing Blood and I clenched our teeth.

The atmosphere was completely different now.

There was not a hint of fluctuation in the steady heartbeat and that cold gaze.

…So this was how it worked.

“Hmm, it’s been a while since I’ve done this.”

Tap tap. The man, now possessed by Dark Night, shook his head to clear the blood pooled in his ears, then looked at me. Or so I thought.

Her gaze wasn’t fixed on me, it was locked onto Piercing Blood and didn’t move.

“Are you Lady Dark Night?”

Piercing Blood greeted her more calmly than expected.

The marionette, with slightly widened eyes, soon shook its head.

“No. I am a Servant, Number 9. Please refer to me as her niece in front of her.”

“Niece…?”

“Yes. I’m her niece.”

“Lady Dark Night had family?”

“She didn’t have one. It was created.”

Number 9 said something bizarre in a calm tone, then urged for a response.

“Why have you summoned me? At present, I’m extremely busy carrying out various missions. Please be brief.”

“…”

Piercing Blood swallowed dryly. He met those cold eyes and stepped forward as he replied.

“Someone wishes to meet Lady Dark Night. I called you to request an introduction.”

“An introduction.”

“Yes.”

“Hmm…”

Number 9 rubbed her chin with a bloodied hand, then finally glanced around.

“Who is it?”

“This person beside me. He goes by the name Undercurrent.”

“Alright, I understand.”

Cutting the explanation short, she got straight to the point.

“As usual, the repayment terms will be 10% of what is earned through missions and posthumous ownership of the body. How many World-Sealing Pills do you want?”

She spoke so fluently, it was clear she’d done this sort of thing more than once.

Then her emotionless gaze briefly landed on me, and for a moment, the faint contempt in her eyes lingered just long enough to make me wonder if it was a misunderstanding, then disappeared.

“Still, no matter how generously I appraise it, with that body, anything over 200 pills seems unlikely. I can’t see your World clearly, but it looks rather weak. The value can’t be that high.”

“You don’t know Undercurrent?”

“Ah, was he someone famous?”

Number 9 immediately bowed her head.

“My apologies. I’m not well-informed on Lower Tier members. In that case, may I hear the terms you’re proposing?”

“Fine. We demand 350,000 World-Sealing Pills.”

“…What did you just say?”

“350,000. We will accept no less.”

“…”

Number 9’s gaze turned toward me again.

After staring at me, she slowly spoke.

“How strange, Piercing Blood. You’re not a fool.”

“Of course not. You’re the fool. You’re about to miss the chance to use Undercurrent for a mere 350,000?”

Piercing Blood threw a Mission Book. Number 9 caught it lightly and opened the mission list.

Undercurrent, going through the lists with that name written on them took quite a bit of time, one by one, but in the end, she was convinced.

“I understand that it’s quite a valuable body… but still, 350,000 is excessive.”

“Then let’s call off the deal.”

Without the slightest hesitation, Piercing Blood grabbed my shoulder.

“It might take a little time, but we’ll recover that 350,000 within a few years. We were just trying to offload him at a low price because of the recent shortage of World-Sealing Pills, but eh, tsk…”

“…Hmm.”

Honestly, Piercing Blood hadn’t exactly delivered a stellar performance.

And the marionette, descended into someone else’s corpse, didn’t seem to have particularly sharp cognitive abilities, it stared with dull, vacant eyes.

“Please wait a moment.”

Just as Piercing Blood and I were really about to leave, Number 9 called out to stop us and slowly opened her mouth.

“Then perhaps, could we borrow some time?”

“Time?”

“Yes. To handle that kind of quantity, we first need her permission.”

I could feel Piercing Blood’s hand tightening on my shoulder.

“…It’s also difficult to properly assess his value here and now.”

Hmm.

At the very least, the first step in bringing down the Upper Tier had been properly taken.