Wizard of the Deep Sea

TL/ED – Miso

Ascent.

Rising from below the water’s surface to above it.

Having spent my entire life in the Deep Sea, it was a sensation I could almost never feel, but I could imagine it.

A darkened world suddenly blazing with light, the sound of breathing, the beating of one’s heart pounding against the eardrums as though to shatter them, and the agony of being unable to exhale.

Every sense simultaneously breaking free from the water’s protection and thrashing wildly.

The very first sensation a human feels upon leaving the parent’s womb must be the terror and anguish of surfacing. That was the thought that came to me.

“…Kh, Graaagh…!”

My hazy consciousness snapped awake, and the sensations wringing my entire body came crashing in with excruciating clarity.

Soft skin without a single callus, as if it could be cut by paper alone, simple lighting, light footsteps, the fabric touching my skin… every sensation ravaged my body like torture.

As I writhed and suffered like a worm, someone gently grasped my shoulder.

Then a soft voice calmed me.

“Steady yourself and look around. Sensation is only personal perception. The world hasn’t collapsed. It doesn’t break apart that easily.”

“…Ngh.”

As though she understood my condition entirely, she held my trembling shoulders and soothed me.

“The ground is still flat, and breathing isn’t painful. No, wait, come to think of it, you don’t even breathe at all, Jern. You’re much better off than me.”

“…I just do it differently…cough, cough!”

After taking several deep breaths, I retched and spat out a mouthful of red blood.

My blurred vision came back into focus. A face so beautiful it was breathtaking, yet slightly different from the one I had seen before, appeared.

It was Sharmia.

“Kgh, ptoo… Where is…”

“Yes. Welcome back. You did so well…”

Sharmia let out a sigh of relief, pulled out a handkerchief, and wiped my forehead.

I forced my voice out and sat up.

“…This is awful. Do you go through this every time?”

“You get used to it after a little while. I came back too, and look how fine I am, right?”

The way she smiled so brightly looked different to me now. She had been going through this since she was ten years old.

…In a different sense, I found it truly remarkable.

As I was pulling myself together, the commotion from my thrashing must have been loud, because the door opened and someone came in.

“…So this is how things turned out.”

It was an Elf with a blunt expression I hadn’t seen in a long time.

She looked down at me with an uneasy face, then sighed and closed her eyes.

“I suppose we should count ourselves lucky there were no major problems, but this sort of thing must never be done again.”

“Yes, yes, I know. But the situation called for it. Jern said he would do it.”

“So… how long has it been?”

“Let me see. About one minute since I went outside.”

Devising the infiltration plan and borrowing Regression from the Princess had been just one minute ago.

Only then did I realize where I was: Sharmia’s office.

I had truly come back.

“…”

The realization finally sinking in, I stared at Sharmia blankly for a moment.

This Princess who had seemed like such a kind person, and yet her true goal had never been the salvation of all humanity, but rather creating a comfortable hospice.

Of course I understood her feelings to some extent, but…

I never imagined she had been hiding such an absurd secret all this time. I had been completely fooled.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Have you still not changed your mind?”

“Hm? Changed my mind about what…?”

Sharmia tilted her head with a look of genuine ignorance.

“No, don’t play dumb. You told me that when I die, those memories go to you, Princess, and that’s how you die as well. So you must also…”

“Hmm, it seems something went a bit wrong on your end. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Sharmia deliberately avoided my gaze as she said this. Shameless as ever.

When I swept over her with Current Sense, I could see her face was slightly flushed.

…Then again, from the Princess’s perspective, she never expected the secret she had revealed to only one person in the entire world would be found out like this. It must have felt like having a childhood embarrassment exposed.

I let out a sigh, wiped the corner of my mouth, and adjusted my posture.

“You don’t need to worry too much. I have no intention of breaking my promise.”

“…Pardon?”

“That was never something I said carelessly just to get out of the situation. Whatever your purpose may have been, many people were saved in the process.”

Looking at her wide, blinking eyes, I continued with the words I hadn’t been able to say in the past.

“I believe we are here now because of you. Thank you for not running away, when anyone in the world would have.”

“…”

If Sharmia had realized even once afterward that she could set down the responsibility given to her.

Or if she had resigned herself to an already determined future and thrown herself into the Crimson Circle.

We would have had not a single remaining chance.

But even after seeing a future that could never be changed, Sharmia chose to resist until the very end.

Thanks to that choice, one that no sane person could have made.

I was given an opportunity.

“So, from here on out, let me give it a try.”

An unchangeable future.

A predetermined end.

Nothing had changed. When I said it plainly, Sharmia’s calm eyes wavered for a moment.

The one who broke the brief silence was Dersia, wearing an uncomfortable expression.

“I don’t understand what you two are talking about. Did something happen?”

“…Nothing happened.”

“Then let’s discuss what was gained. Did you find a way to stop that shadow?”

“Yes. We just have to sit tight.”

“?”

“I’m serious. It has a limit. To be precise…”

I explained how that thing had spread across the world.

And that, ultimately, it was something that would end naturally with the passage of time.

Hearing this, Dersia stroked her chin and sank deep into thought.

“It’s difficult to go after it directly and defeat it. That’s what you mean.”

“Yes. But that’s not really what matters. Um…”

I trailed off for a moment, looking at Dersia.

She had trained with the aspiration of reaching the Celestial Realm. That was what I knew of her.

So, I felt a bit of resistance about whether it was right to tell her this.

“…?”

Noticing my hesitation, Dersia narrowed her brow and pressed me.

“Don’t hide it. Speak. No matter what they may have done, I am not one to be shocked.”

“The truth is, wizards are all basically similar to the Fallen.”

“Excuse me? It should be the other way around. The Fallen are a type of wizard…”

“No. The truth is, this world is the Celestial Realm, and it’s about to be destroyed.”

“?”

Seeing Dersia’s bewildered expression, I quickly added more before the shock could hit her harder.

“The Fallen of the Celestial Realm, that is, The First Wizard, passed down fragments of the Celestial Realm to his bloodline. Those Fallen of the Celestial Realm are what we call wizards. Every wizard is a type of Fallen.”

“…Why would he do such a thing?”

“If the Celestial Realm is destroyed, this world is destroyed with it. And as I mentioned, I was told it’s been gradually breaking down. So… the ultimate goal was to create a wizard who could replace the broken Celestial Realm with a new one.”

“Hmm…”

After tilting her head in thought for a moment, Dersia offered an unexpected take.

“But this world is holding up quite well. I’ve even tried to break it myself once, and it didn’t look like a world on the verge of collapse.”

“Apparently the fragments of the Celestial Realm, meaning the wizards, are what sustain the world.”

“Then the reason the Crimson Circle is trying to kill wizards is…”

“Yes. If every wizard is exterminated, this world is destroyed too. What the Crimson Circle is really after isn’t the Empire itself, but the wizards within it. Their goal is to destroy this world entirely.”

I wondered how Dersia would react if she knew she herself was one of the Fallen.

Slightly anxious that she might instantly fall, I checked her reaction…

“They were far crazier than I thought.”

Dersia simply shook her head with a distasteful expression, and that was the end of it.

Having expected a more intense reaction, I cautiously asked.

“…Are you alright?”

“About what?”

“The, the fact that you’re a Fallen.”

“It’s not a fact, so there’s nothing to be angry about.”

Had she entered the denial stage?

When I looked at her with a pitying expression, the bewildered Dersia quietly clenched her teeth and argued back.

“You seem to be thinking something strange. But calling every wizard a Fallen is too great a leap. Then why do only wizards fall? If they’ve already fallen into a world called the Celestial Realm, there should be no reason to fall again.”

“That’s… actually a fair point.”

“Most likely, these so-called fragments of the Celestial Realm are something that cannot yet be called a world. In the process of handling and expanding that power, the potential for contact with other worlds grows. Being able to reach the Celestial Realm means, by the same logic, being able to reach other worlds as well. That must be the reason wizards fall.”

“Oh…”

The conclusion Dersia reached was quite compelling.

Wizards were not yet Fallen, but beings who trained with the goal of becoming Fallen of the Celestial Realm.

And if one carves away at oneself to make room for something, unwanted things could also enter that space. That was the fall: other worlds intruding into the space created for the Celestial Realm.

It was an idea I hadn’t even thought of. As I was marveling at her reasoning, Dersia tapped the desk to get my attention.

“But there’s still something I don’t understand. I think I need to hear more details.”

With a light flick of her fingers, she brought over the nearby teacups and set a still-warm cup of apple tea in front of me.

One in front of herself as well, and one in front of Sharmia. Though what sat before Dersia herself was just plain water. Was it really alright to treat the Princess this way?

Fortunately, Sharmia only wore a troubled smile and said nothing.

“Go ahead and lay out everything you experienced, from start to finish. In detail.”

“Ah, yes.”

Pressed by the silent pressure, I began recounting everything I had experienced at the Crimson Circle’s headquarters, one thing at a time. Every last detail.

“J-Jern? Someone who looks like me was there? What do you mean by that?”

“…They called her, the Priestess…”

Even as Sharmia interjected from time to time, Dersia listened to me in silence without a single word.

Long after the story ended.

About thirty minutes later, after deliberating long enough for the tea to go completely cold, she finally spoke.

“…I understand what happened. You truly went through a great deal.”

“Yes.”

“I know you’ve just returned from death moments ago, but something has come up that I need to ask of you. I expect it will be quite difficult, but there’s no other choice.”

“Yes. Go ahead.”

Having obtained information about the Crimson Circle, with a clear picture now of what needed to be done.

Now was the time when there was the most to do.

I steeled my resolve and adjusted my posture.

Dersia slowly opened her mouth.

“For the time being, forget about the Crimson Circle and everything else.”

“What?”

“I’ll be honest. While listening to your story, I was thinking about something else entirely. But I couldn’t find an answer.”

“What was it?”

“Could you tell me exactly how you regressed?”

“Well, I was probably crushed to death by the Deep Sea.”

In the end, it was I who had been forcibly transferred from Paradise, the immortal realm, into Sharmia’s past.

The past was inescapable, and my true body could not die in Paradise. An ordinary Fallen would have vanished there without accomplishing anything, but…

Since my world was the Deep Sea, even Paradise couldn’t keep me alive for more than two weeks. I didn’t know the exact details, but being crushed to death was the most likely cause.

When I explained this, Dersia nodded as though she had expected as much.

“Just as I thought.”

“…Huh?”

“Jern.”

With an expression more grave than anything before.

“I no longer have any idea how to extend your lifespan.”

She handed down a death sentence.