Wizard of the Deep Sea

TL/ED – Miso

From within the forest, about ten people walked out.

No, could they even be called people?

Except for the man at the front, the rest moved with limping steps, their entire bodies wrapped in bandages, resembling moving corpses.

“Wh-who are you?”

One of the teachers stepped forward first. At a glance, they didn’t appear to be a group with any legitimate purpose, but the man who seemed to be their leader looked like an ordinary knight.

Red hair and a flawless face, it was the man from yesterday.

“My name is Parse, your noble lordships.”

With that, he introduced himself and bowed his head slyly.

There was not a single flaw in his greeting.

Except for the unmistakable hint of mockery.

“…”

This wasn’t a situation to take lightly. Exchanging glances, the teachers stepped forward, pushing the confused children who didn’t know what was happening behind them.

“There should’ve been knights on guard.”

“Ah, that? Want me to show you?”

When Parse snapped his fingers, one of the mummies from behind crawled forward and spat something out.

“Gweeeek…”

-Roll roll.

Several severed fingers rolled out. Judging by their thickness, they clearly belonged to an adult male.

“…You’ve lost your mind.”

Now fully prepared for battle, the two teachers stomped their feet.

Rumble… From the ground, hands made of stone rose as if yearning for freedom, planted themselves on the earth, and pushed upward.

Then, several golems, each easily over two meters tall, stood up.

“Do you even know who you’re dealing with right now?”

When the other teacher snapped their fingers, the air split open, and a liquid like melted gold poured out.

The gold, as if alive, covered the golems, forming armor, and the remaining portion transformed into gleaming spears.

Three stars floated in their eyes.

Even though they were teachers of the children’s class, given they were teaching nobles, they didn’t seem like ordinary wizards.

Parse rubbed his chin and answered with a troubled look.

“Two 3-star wizards? That’s pretty scary, honestly.”

“We are nothing. The ones you’re dealing with are these children’s parents. Whoever instigated you, reveal it right now and disarm yourself. Otherwise, you’ll wish death was better…”

“That’s easy, I’ll tell you. One.”

Parse cut the teacher off mid-sentence and held up one finger.

“?”

“Crimson Circle. That’s the organization that gave me the order.”

“This isn’t the time for jokes.”

“It’s true though? Well, I figured you wouldn’t believe me. It’s not just the name, they say it’s the same group… I’m still not fully convinced myself.”

Shrugging, Parse held up two fingers.

“Two. Would I pull this kind of bullshit if I were scared of nobles? They can’t catch me anyway.”

“…”

“Three. You’re probably mistaken because I look fine, but dying right now would actually be better for me.”

As if it were nothing, he tore at the skin on his face.

Zzzzzick-!

“Kyaaak!!”

“Wh-what?!”

The children, slowly starting to grasp the situation, screamed when they saw his face.

His face was melting, oozing with all kinds of pus. Not a single patch of skin remained intact.

It looked like the face of a leper cursed with undeath.

But instead, Parse laughed heartily at their reactions.

“Not that I want to die though. Enduring like this is still bearable.”

“…Inner World, so that’s what you mean!”

“Hey now, that’s harsh. ‘Mean’, you say… I may look like this, but I’m a young man with plenty of life left to live. Ah, and four.”

Extending his pinky, Parse said cheerfully.

“I don’t know if there’ll be a ‘next’ for you greenhouse-flower wizards, but once you’re on the battlefield, don’t listen to what your opponent says. It’s always a stall tactic.”

“What-”

Before the sentence could even finish.

Something began densely filling the current sense.

An overwhelming number. Twenty, thirty, fifty, eighty…

It wasn’t until it had far surpassed a hundred that part of it crawled out, wrapping around the children.

Countless mummies were thoroughly blocking off any possible escape routes. Only then did Parse let out a sigh of relief and scratch his head.

“Seriously, how many knights did they deploy? I almost shit myself. That scared the hell outta me. Anyway, thanks for waiting. I’ll handle the aftermath myself, so just hand over the kids. You guys are 3-star and above, hard to take down, so you’re useless to me.”

“You filthy demon bastard…! There’s no way we’re handing the children over to you!”

“Ehh. Let’s not make this harder than it has to be. Honestly, at this point, you get it, right? Resisting here just means one or two more corpses. After I leave, just make some superficial wounds and say, ‘We did our best, but the enemy was too strong..!’ It’s a win-win…”

Swoosh… Bang!

Before he could finish his sentence, one of the teachers shot a flare into the sky, which exploded in black.

No doubt, it was a distress signal. Someone must have seen it.

Parse, seeing that, clicked his tongue and spat in irritation.

“Ah, there’s a time limit now. Hey, just kidnap as many as you can and run.”

The moment he snapped his fingers,

“Kya, kyaaaah!!! Teacher!!! Help us!!” 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

“Don’t touch me! D-do you know who I am??”

The mummies rushed in and began snatching up the children one after another.

Those who resisted too much were knocked out with blows to the neck.

The teachers charged in, eyes blazing at the horrifying sight,

“Kids!!”

“Oops, looks like you teachers are gonna have to play with me.”

“Kh…!”

Even the golems were being swarmed by the mummies.

As expected, the level of their magic was different. Each swing of a spear or punch sent multiple mummies flying at once.

But the numbers were just too overwhelming.

Even with two 3-star wizards, there was no stopping dozens of such monsters clinging to them.

“I’ll hold them off! Teacher Yuli, please save the children!”

“Understood!”

One teacher, prepared to fight to the death, stood alone against the mummies.

“I said let’s play.”

“What is this…?!”

A grotesque scene unfolded.

The blood that had been dripping from Parse’s hand slithered like it was alive, grabbing Yuli’s ankle and clinging tightly, grinning viscously.

“I know I’m in no position to say this… but don’t you think this world is just horrible?”

It was a truly dreadful smile.

“G-get it off me…! Kyaaa!!”

Meanwhile, Elysia was also snatched away by a mummy.

The mummies that succeeded in kidnapping the children showed no hesitation as they fled swiftly into the forest.

Their speed was faster than most horses. It was hard to believe they were once human.

Now what?

I crossed my arms. So, during a noble kids’ field trip, someone managed to break through all the knight escorts and pull off a mass abduction? I’d never have imagined it.

But it figures. This whole thing is the worst possible method of suicide.

If the grieving noble families unite, no matter how far or how fast they run, they’ll be caught and made to drink molten iron until they beg for death.

I have no idea why someone would do something like this. Is he just sick and desperate to die faster?

Whatever the purpose, what’s done is done. Time was of the essence, and I had to make a decision quickly.

“…Should I even?”

Maybe the best move is to do nothing and stay right here.

The mummies hadn’t noticed me. If I stayed put, there was a high chance I’d get through this without issue.

But.

“S-save me!! Daddy!!”

“No…! Please help!!”

“…”

I let out a deep sigh as I watched children around my age scream and resist in tears.

…When I think about it, if I let the kidnapping happen, literally nothing else will happen either.

That’s a loss. What did I even pay the carriage fare and entrance fee twice for?

And if this ends here, they might uncover that one noble kid arrived a little early during the investigation.

Elysia probably won’t make it out safe either, so…

Yeah, these are good enough reasons.

Convincing myself, I stepped out of the hole.

It was time to move.

*

I said it coolly, but that doesn’t mean I can actually beat the mummies.

It looks easy since those two 3-star wizards are just wiping them out over there, but considering the mummy was biting a knight’s finger, there’s no way I could go up against it.

I don’t really want to use it, but there’s only one method that’s actually effective.

“Guuhk?”

“Hi.”

I stood in front of a mummy that was rushing to kidnap the children.

When my eyes met the mummy’s, I spread both arms wide.

Look, here’s a kid in noble clothes.

Try kidnapping me.

“…”

But the mummy just stared at me for a moment, then turned away as if to leave.

…What’s with this asshole?

“Where the hell do you think you’re going, you fucker.”

“Gyeeeek!!”

Whoosh! I smacked its head once with a wind spell, and only then did it turn toward me with a screech and grab me.

Then, with precise movement, it struck the back of my neck.

But I had already seen it coming, so I had stuffed some twigs at my neck. That kept me from passing out.

And I realized something at the same time.

‘These mummies are stupid?’

They were like machines that could only follow the exact instructions given. I could make use of this.

While pretending to be unconscious, I carefully memorized where the mummies were taking me.

For about 30 minutes, they ran nonstop, crossing multiple mountains that a horse wouldn’t even manage, until finally they reached somewhere.

There, the mummy placed a steel shackle around my neck.

Then it entered a small well.

“…?”

Are they planning to drown me? Not like they need to, I’d do it myself soon enough.

I braced myself to fall into water, but it wasn’t that.

There was no water in the well.

Instead, there was a narrow space in the wall near the bottom, just big enough for one person to crawl through.

After crawling for several minutes through the narrow, stinking tunnel.

A prison made of rotting stone, with a single lamp that seemed like it would go out at any moment hanging from the ceiling.

The mummy tossed me inside and sealed the entrance hole.

-Thud!

“Gah. Ow…”

It had thrown me pretty hard, and I smacked against the far wall.

As I rubbed my head, noise started coming from a corner.

“L-light up! Explode, burn…”

“It’s no use… magic won’t activate!”

When I peeked out from the corner into the center of the prison.

The kids who were taken earlier were huddled together, shouting.

Magic won’t activate?

I moved to the corner so the others wouldn’t see me and tried using a wind spell.

“Blow.”

Nothing came out.

Was it because of this shackle on my neck? Seems like some kind of artifact.

To test it, I activated my current detection.

Thankfully, that still worked. The currents spread instantly and showed me the structure around me.

Scanning it carefully, I saw it was a proper underground prison. Given the amount of damage here and there, it didn’t look newly built, more like they were using something that had already existed.

“Argh… damn it! Do you even know who I am?? Open this door right now! I’m telling my dad about all of this!”

“We’re all dead…”

Let’s see, what should I do.

First, maybe I’ll try doing something about these bars.

They were firmly fixed, but not strong enough to withstand time. Dust fell off every time I shook them.

If I rubbed them just right…

“Elysia! You called them, didn’t you!”

“Say something that makes sense! Why the hell would I call them!”

“You kidnapped us because you didn’t want anyone to know you couldn’t use magic!”

“Quit talking nonsense! Then why would I get kidnapped too?!”

“To avoid suspicion…”

Oh, it’s working.

I pushed a current into the joints of the bars and rubbed hard. I could feel the stone loosening and wearing away.

Same principle as unlocking. The only difference is I’m using water’s force.

The trick is to pour water into the tiny cracks in the stone and force them apart. Even if it’s not quite erosion, if I take my time, it’ll work.

“Don’t you get it yet? We’re all going to die…”

“W-what are you talking about?”

“They kidnapped all of us. If it was just one, you could say it was for ransom, but this many… it means they don’t plan to keep us alive! It’s just terrorism!”

“Then why didn’t they just kill us right away?”

“To show our parents. To show them how we die slowly… They’ll probably cut off our fingers and send them back, without feeding us…”

“Don’t say scary things! We can get out of here, it’s just a room!”

“How? If we can’t use magic, we’re just kids!”

“…”

Clunk-

The bottom part of the bars came loose.

The upper part was still intact, but pulling that out would take too long.

When I yanked, a small opening formed, just big enough to squeeze through. This should be enough.

“Elysia, let us out right now!”

“How am I supposed to let you out! I was kidnapped too! Are you crazy??”

“Argh… I can’t die here!”

Clap-

I stepped outside, clapped my hands together, and drew the attention of the kids who were still bickering.

“Hey, everyone.”

“…?”

All the nobles turned their eyes toward me.

Huins, who was grabbing Elysia by the collar, and even Elysia herself.

Since I was wearing noble clothing, they would naturally see me as a noble.

Huins stared at me wide-eyed, like he’d just seen something out of a nightmare, gripping the bars tightly.

“Wh-who are you? How did you escape?”

“It’s nothing special. It’s really easy. If you promise just one thing, I’ll let you out too.”

“…What?”

To the kids who had gone silent in an instant and were now watching my mouth, I made a request.

“Just shut up for five minutes. Please.”

“?”

Seriously, I was on the verge of catching his nervous breakdown.