Wizard of the Deep Sea

TL/ED – Miso

“S-so you’ve become a Marionette…?”

“A Marionette?”

“They’re like slaves that Dark Night controls.”

I looked down at Damyu without a word.

She was a woman who somehow resembled a snake. Honestly, she didn’t look particularly intelligent—if anything, she gave off the impression of being rather dim.

But the fact that she had come to find me at this hour meant something.

“What’s with this path…?”

“The ground’s weird?”

“…Eek.”

When she gasped in surprise, I looked at the ground to find it had become something sludgy and was sinking in.

Was that the kind of world she was living in? It seemed like her trail had been found because she failed to control her power.

I sighed and pointed to the bushes behind me.

“Hide in those bushes.”

“Oh, okay.”

I sat calmly on a nearby bench, pretending to admire the garden, when two guards approached and bowed deeply.

“Leader-nim. Mass will begin soon.”

“Is it that time already? How many have gathered today?”

“Almost everyone.”

Perfect. I nodded with a satisfied expression.

“Very well. I’ll be there shortly. You two go ahead.”

“Yes.”

Long after the guards had left, Damyu emerged from the bushes with a dumbfounded expression.

“Withered Grass and Piercing Blood…? You’ve been using them as guards?”

“Are they people I knew?”

“Whether you knew them or not, they were the reason you came here in the first place. Ah, no, this isn’t the time for that.”

Damyu shook her head vigorously, then spoke with a grave expression.

“I know this will be hard to believe if you’ve lost your memories—well, you probably won’t believe it anyway—but it’s the truth, so please hear me out. Undercurrent-nim, you’re not actually one of Dark Night’s subordinates. In fact, you…”

“Came here to kill her.”

“Yes. Wait, what?”

Damyu was nodding along when she suddenly froze in shock.

“You haven’t lost all your memories?”

“Unfortunately, I believe I have lost them all.”

I sighed and rubbed my head.

I remembered nothing except coming here and pledging my loyalty to Dark Night.

Not my childhood, not the things I’d done. Nothing at all.

“Then how do you know that?”

“Because I offered up my memories of my own free will.”

“…What?”

“Exactly as I said. The only memory I have is asking Dark Night to erase my past memories since they were useless, and to make me into a faithful servant.”

“Um… Then wouldn’t it be correct to think that your past memories really were useless? That was the judgment Undercurrent-nim made.”

“Me?”

I let out a light laugh at the absurdity.

“Based on everything I’ve observed and concluded since then, this country is one massive hell, and Dark Night is a monster so vile that calling her trash would be too generous. There’s no way I would have pledged loyalty to something like that. The past me—this Undercurrent—knew that, which is why he offered up his memories.”

“Why? Why would he do that?”

“He must have known. That if I saw this situation, with or without memories, I would act the same way. He infiltrated this place fully prepared to sacrifice his memories from the start.”

“…??”

“And it seems today is the time.”

I strode forward, and Damyu hurried after me, asking:

“The time?”

“Yes. You’re probably part of Undercurrent’s arrangement. Your appearance must be the signal for me to act.”

“Um… I came to rescue Undercurrent-nim because I thought something had gone wrong…”

“He would have calculated that timing too. Stop being a nuisance.”

“W-wait a moment. Isn’t that too much speculation? How could he possibly know that his self without memories would act that way?”

“Because I would have done the exact same thing.”

I had heard all the basic information from Number 1 and Dark Night.

About the Fallen, the nation, its deformed structure, the Livestock and the Family.

When I thought about what I would do to bring down Dark Night in this situation, I reached only one conclusion—the same thing he had done.

“C-can’t you just run away…?”

“What?”

I turned around at the absurd suggestion. Damyu swallowed hard and protested.

“Honestly, I don’t see any chance of winning…”

“Hmm. Go on.”

“I’ve seen a lot while I was hiding too.”

A flicker of fear crossed her expression.

“Look at this city. It seems like more than half of the Fallen from the Lower Tier have been swallowed up. If all these people are Puppets, Marionettes that follow Dark Night-nim’s orders absolutely, then she was terrifying before, but now there’s no way to resist her.”

“I made it that way.”

“Y-yeah, that’s what it looked like. The Fallen were following orders well… Anyway, if you have your wits about you, instead of fighting, you should count yourself lucky and escape.”

“Duly noted.”

I nodded and smiled at Damyu.

“It seems this Undercurrent fellow really didn’t trust you.”

“…Huh?”

“How could he not explain a single thing to you? Are you really his ally? Doesn’t seem like it.”

“…”

“I’ll explain as we go. Listen.”

I headed toward the Cathedral. A Cathedral I had built.

“What do you think was the first thing I searched for after learning about the Fallen, Puppets, Crimson Circle, and all that common knowledge, and recognizing Dark Night as the enemy I needed to kill?”

“A way to escape?”

“What is the Burden of the Puppet World?”

“…Huh?”

“The Puppet World has absurd power compared to anything else. It can freely control people under contract—or even without one—manipulate memories, and even remove people’s Burdens. But a Fallen’s World couldn’t be that generous. The Burden is a thousand times the ability—isn’t that why the Fallen die early?”

“I don’t think it’s quite a thousand times…”

“No, it is.”

I grimaced in disgust as I dodged to avoid the wriggling eel brushing against my cheek.

I found myself wondering how the past me had managed to live with this kind of World without killing himself.

“It was clear that Puppet must have a Burden too, so I thought about what it could be—and I figured it out.”

“What is it?”

“She has to keep her contracts.”

“…What?”

“If she promised to remove someone’s Burden, she has to do it. That’s her Burden.”

“That’s her Burden? That’s way too simple! Wait, she uses all those abilities and all she gets is that one thing? If she keeps her promises, that’s the end of it!”

“It won’t end.”

I shook my head quietly.

“Dark Night distributes contracts. The Fallen pledge unconditional loyalty in exchange for having their Burdens removed, and she transfers those Burdens to the citizens of Manganji Kingdom—the ones she calls Livestock. The Livestock are forced into contracts to accept those divided Burdens.”

“Then what did the citizens receive in exchange for taking on that Burden…?”

“They received this hell. A hell with no conflict, no suffering, no strife—but also no free will.”

A well-constructed hell.

“This contract works because Dark Night is truly insane. Because she’s out of her mind, the Puppet World genuinely considers this place a paradise.”

“…I understand even less now.”

Damyu replied with a serious expression.

“Then for Dark Night, increasing the number of Fallen puppets just means gaining allies at no cost? Why would you do something like that?”

“First, to gain her trust.”

I shrugged.

“As you said, increasing the pawns she controls benefits only Dark Night. If I kept doing that over and over, she would have no choice but to believe I was unconditionally loyal.”

“That doesn’t seem worth it… What’s the second reason?”

“Dark Night can manipulate specific parts of memories. If the original Puppet can do that, then a copy like me should be able to as well, given permission. I needed that ability.”

“Why?”

“You’re about to see for yourself.”

When we arrived at the Cathedral, a large crowd had already gathered.

“O-oh! Number 33-nim!”

“What is today’s Mass about?”

“Who is the woman beside you…?”

Fallen dressed in white robes.

A place I had created by personally bringing in Fallen, granting them certain memories, and spreading a religion that proclaimed Dark Night as the one true god.

Damyu stared at me incredulously.

“What is all this? Are you going to make them fight Dark Night?”

“I merely gave the Marionettes their settings. Order them to attack their master? That’s absurd. Unless I could control the puppet master’s hands, that would be impossible.”

“Then why…?”

“These people made a contract with Dark Night. They became her faithful dolls in exchange for having all their Burdens transferred away.”

I said only that much before climbing onto the pulpit at the front of the Cathedral and spreading my arms wide.

“Everyone. Under Dark Night-nim’s benevolence today, are you happy without any suffering?”

“Yes! We are happy!!”

“Truly?”

“Yes!!”

“That is somewhat troubling.”

“…Huh?”

Leaving the bewildered Believers, I took a deep breath.

These people should have been mere dolls. Dolls that would sit blankly even if someone cut off their arms. Marionettes that obeyed only Dark Night’s commands.

But I had granted them life under the pretense of efficiency.

I had restored some of their memories. Made them able to converse. Made them able to judge. That alone had given them vitality. They had become humans capable of action.

Of course, their absolute loyalty to Dark Night remained unchanged. If I tried to incite a rebellion here, they would just say the Leader had gone mad and execute me.

That didn’t matter.

Humans who could think, who had memories, who knew happiness—they possessed a weakness that dolls never would.

The ability to become unhappy.

“Damyu. Go outside, count exactly two minutes, then come back.”

“What?”

“Now.”

Damyu hesitated but, seeing the gravity on my face, quickly left.

By then, the Believers inside the Cathedral also sensed something wrong in the air and grew uneasy.

“L-Leader-nim?”

“Everyone, please calm down. I sent her out because today’s message may be slightly uncomfortable for some.”

“I-I see… But who was that woman just now…?”

“Just a pitiful little lamb. Though not as pitiful as myself.”

Mass was familiar to me. I put on a gentle smile and calmed the Believers.

“The truth is… I, who should be guiding you all, still carry traces of sin due to my insufficient faith.”

“Huh, how could that be…”

Everyone murmured in surprise.

Sin referred to Burden. The news that the Leader of all people still carried Burden changed everyone’s expressions.

None of that mattered anymore. Using my World, I slammed the doors shut, let out a sigh, and continued my Confession.

“Moreover, rather than cutting away that sin, I have tested it multiple times with the blasphemous thought that it might be useful. Yes. I am a sinner who has committed high treason.”

“But Leader-nim, someone as knowledgeable as you—why would you…”

“In the process, I also came to learn something quite dreadful.”

I felt the small walls before me tremble and close in.

I released my World.

“And so, I have arranged today’s gathering in hopes that you might experience my sin for yourselves.”

“What do you mean??”

Before long, something strange occurred.

One Believer was uncomfortably tapping at their throat when suddenly, the breath they exhaled turned into water droplets and floated up toward the ceiling.

“…”

“…”

Everyone watched in confusion until one person suddenly shot up from their seat, clutching their throat.

“Guh, gack… I can’t… breathe…!”

“Shit, what is this!”

Hmm.

Even after knowing I could do this, it was my first time actually doing it.

The sensation was quite horrible.

“O-open the door…!”

“It’s locked! Cough, gurgle…”

“Urk.”

Gradually, most of the congregation floated upward.

Rather than floating, it felt more like they were rising through buoyancy.

Not one of them could breathe, and their bodies gradually turned red from the tightening pressure.

Every single one struggled to survive, but eventually, they realized.

Realized what?

What could they possibly do? Where, what, how?

What method could they use to survive this?

As despair gradually filled their eyes, I wasn’t faring well either. Even as I felt my throat constricting, my gaze remained fixed on one thing.

Threads.

I clenched my teeth and stared at the threads holding the Believers.

If my hypothesis was correct, and if they wanted to survive—

-…Snap.

“…Whew.”

Before long, one of the threads wrapped around a Believer’s arm snapped and fell away.

It was the first step.