Wizard of the Deep Sea

As expected, Dersia, a 9-star wizard, was not to be underestimated.

“…I will correct your two factual errors.”

In an instant, she tidied her expression and shot back with a fierce look.

“‘Adoption’ was not among the conditions. It was only about accepting you as a disciple.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to adopt me first if you’re going to accept me as a disciple? Otherwise, I’m still affiliated with the Orphanage. I wonder if that wouldn’t cause legal issues.”

“The law cannot bind me. And, did you not realize from the fact that I didn’t come to find you? Rumors about you have not yet reached my ears.”

“Really?”

“…I have heard about the child who saved 30 noble children. However, since I found out by asking about it myself, it doesn’t count.”

How strict.

Well, once it becomes public that I’m Elysia’s teacher, she’ll hear about it. It’s just a matter of time.

Dersia sighed and reopened her book.

“What kind of absurd nonsense are you spouting all of a sudden… and who is that child behind you?”

“Elysia, go greet her.”

“Uuh…”

Elysia hesitated, then stepped forward and bowed her head deeply.

“H-Hello… My name is Elysia…”

“Your disciple’s disciple.”

“I believe I said you aren’t my disciple yet.”

“She has quite an unusual disposition, so I thought Dersia nim might find her interesting. Dersia nim likes intriguing things, right? That’s why you liked me, too.”

“Hmm…”

I was fairly confident. That Dersia was thirsting for new knowledge was something I knew for sure.

But- Dersia, who had let out a nasal breath, curled her lips as if to sneer.

“Jern. You still don’t understand yourself very well.”

“…?”

What’s she talking about?

“That I like interesting things- yes, that’s a very aggressively shortened sentence, but… it’s true. I consider myself a book, and books exist to record things.”

It was a peculiar way of thinking. Are all Elves like that?

“Because of that preference, I’ve searched. Over nearly a thousand years, I’ve recorded countless things. I’ve seen many things, and accepted even more. Thanks to that, even if I see something unfamiliar now, I can understand it.”

Suddenly, Dersia stopped speaking. Her cloudy eyes fixed on me.

“But I cannot understand you at all. I can’t grasp anything about you. How you ended up that way. How you use this world’s magic from that other world. How… you think like that. Nothing at all.”

“Uhm, so- other than me, you’re not interested?”

“For now, yes.”

Dersia, who casually spouted something that sounded like a stalker, took a sip of her coffee.

I should carry a whistle to call the Imperial soldiers when meeting Dersia in the future, I thought as I earnestly advertised Elysia.

“Still, she really is fascinating, you know? This kid rejects magic, even erases it.”

“Magic breaking, magic resistance. I understood all of that over a hundred years ago. Even if she can do it, it’s not that surprising.”

“She might fall into the Abyss soon, though?”

“That would be an interesting event. I’ll check after that happens.”

“…”

She truly didn’t seem interested.

But it wasn’t that I had no options. I originally brought this to win favor, but I could just use it like this.

“Please wait a moment.”

“?”

I went to the carriage and brought out the magic books I had packed just in case.

“Then let’s negotiate. These are magic books I took from the Noble Archives and if you just look at her for a bit, I’ll let you read them.”

“Do you think I haven’t seen these? Even if they were in the Archives, I’ve seen nearly all of them one way or another. Unfortunately, everything here is something I’ve already read.”

Dersia rested her chin on her hand and looked at me steadily.

“Did you say ‘nearly’?”

“Yes. That’s right. Not just that? I’ve read all of the Lightrud family’s magic books. Even if you bring something else, it won’t work.”

“That’s actually a good thing.”

“…What did you say?”

“When you say ‘nearly,’ it means you haven’t seen all of them, right?”

“That’s true.”

“By coincidence, Dersia nim wouldn’t know because you haven’t “heard” about it, but I’ve saved other noble children and earned their gratitude.”

“….”

At those words, Dersia opened her eyes slightly, as if surprised.

“At the very least, lending a few magic books from the Noble Archives to the savior of a child shouldn’t be that difficult, wouldn’t you agree? Now, go ahead and write down the magic books you’d like to read. I’ll only ask to borrow those.”

Slickly, I pushed paper and pen across the desk toward Dersia and met her gaze directly.

Satisfaction appeared in her eyes. It must’ve been a kind of test.

“You’re quite eloquent.”

“That’s all I’ve got going for me.”

Then, I flicked my finger and pulled over Elysia, who had been fidgeting her fingers in the distance.

Elysia, who had been hesitating, was dragged as if tied by an invisible rope.

“Kyaa!”

“Explain it to me. You say she interferes with magic?”

“Ah, yes.”

I activated elemental magic and showed how it was disrupted.

“Like this. Can you see the flow…?”

“You’ve already reached that stage? That’s fast.” 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

“I only heard about it.”

Dersia observed it closely, then shifted her gaze to Elysia.

“You said your name was Elysia, right?”

“Yes…”

“May I hear your Enlightenment?”

“Huh? En-Enlightenment, what is that?”

“It’s the rule for constructing the inner world that must never be shared with another wizard. Though this time, I suppose we have no choice but to hear it.”

“…”

I glared at Dersia.

She brushed it off lightly and shrugged at Elysia as if to say, only if you’re okay with it.

“I can’t help you if I don’t hear it.”

“Ah, no. I can tell you. But… I’m not really sure what I’ve realized…”

Dersia reassured the anxious-looking Elysia.

“It’s nothing much. You only need to answer a few questions.”

“Okay…”

“Elysia, do you- believe magic truly exists?”

“…?”

What kind of question is that?

Elysia was just as confused as I was and responded.

“Yes, of course. My dad is a wizard, too.”

“Then do you think magic is a natural phenomenon?”

“…”

Elysia couldn’t answer.

Her lips moved slightly, and then she wore a puzzled face as if she didn’t understand why she was reacting that way, and she thought hard for a long time.

“Well, I don’t know. It doesn’t feel natural…”

“Hmm.”

Dersia looked at me and smirked.

“She’s definitely in a dangerous state. If she had answered ‘yes’ to that first question, I’d have told you to prepare for her funeral…”

“Alright! Elysia, why don’t you go rest in the carriage for a bit? I’ll be getting a prescription from my teacher.”

“Uh, okay!”

I sent Elysia away and glared at Dersia.

“She’s still a child. You shouldn’t say things like that in front of her.”

“My apologies. The only human child I know usually regard his death with indifference, so I made a mistake.”

“…”

I had no words for that.

Dersia pulled out a piece of paper and began writing something down slowly as she continued speaking.

“She hasn’t fallen yet. That she’s in a dangerous state, however, is undeniable.”

“Is there a way she can recover?”

“Recover…”

She laughed in disbelief.

“All life ages with the passage of time, weakens in vitality, and reaches the conclusion known as death. Whether short-lived or long-lived, they fear and resist the inevitable end. Do you think even one being has ever escaped it?”

“No.”

“Exactly. Aging is not something that can be cured. It is a phenomenon, a law of the world. That child’s world is simply shaped that way. Changing the world is impossible, so she must adapt.”

“Ah, I see.”

She’s really spouting bullshit.

“Then… can she adapt?”

“That child is rejecting the very concept of magic. She doesn’t know it herself, but she has reached the Enlightenment of hatred toward magic.”

“Hatred?”

“Yes. Because her nature is so pure and fragile, it’s fortunate she hasn’t even realized her own hatred. If she can maintain that heart, she won’t fall. However, if you want her condition to improve, she’ll need to face her own pain and overcome it.”

“Hmm… I see.”

The story about her mother.

I should hear it again.

While I was thinking that, Dersia brought up something bizarre.

“Are you planning to make her an ally?”

“…Pardon?”

“I’m asking if you’re planning to make her fall.”

“…”

I stared at her blankly, not understanding what she was talking about.

“Don’t be too angry. It’s just a simple confirmation. Didn’t you say you’d do anything to survive?”

“I did.”

“You’ve found quite an amusing possibility. Using that rejection ability to reduce the burden on yourself… isn’t that what you’re thinking?”

“That’s also true.”

“There’s a simpler and easier method than developing that ability.”

Dersia whispered like a demon, not an Elf.

“Increase your allies. Fill the shortcomings of your own world with another world. It’s the most rational and effective method chosen by those who fall into the Abyss. Rather than slowly growing that rejection ability, making her fall and getting her accustomed to that world would be much faster. Haven’t you realized that you don’t have much time left?”

“A sweet proposal.”

“Yes. If you’re going to keep struggling, no greater opportunity will come along.”

I glanced toward the carriage.

A drowning person can’t see ahead. They reach out and grab whatever’s nearby, whether it’s a life tube, another person, or anything else.

I don’t think that’s a bad thing. No, I don’t even think it’s a matter of good and evil.

The most important thing is one’s own life. Taking a life to survive is called the law of nature. If you live within that cycle, denying it makes you nothing but a hypocrite.

After following that line of thought, I answered clearly.

“I’ll refuse.”

As if she expected that, Dersia asked:

“May I ask why?”

“I don’t want to mistake my enemy.”

“…What do you mean by that?”

“If we’re fighting the same enemy, then I think we’re allies.”

From the stance of fighting against one’s own world, Elysia is the same as me.

I had no intention whatsoever of transferring my illness just to deepen our bond as fellow patients.

Dersia stared at me blankly, then smiled deeply.

“I heard you met Crimson Circle.”

“Yes.”

“Jern, they are a group of people who made a different choice than you. What did you think of them?”

“Truly, a bunch of fucking assholes. I never want to become like them. Do you happen to know much about those bastards?”

Dersia stood from her seat, opened the door, and walked out.

Just as I wondered what that was about, she returned, with an ancient document covered in dust in hand.

…Well, being able to teleport would be expected of a 9-star wizard.

“There aren’t many materials. As I said earlier, they came together to survive by patching each other’s wounds, though their goal was different.”

“What was it?”

“Same as any ordinary wizard. To reach the Celestial Realm.”

“…?”

As I tilted my head in confusion, Dersia opened the parchment and explained.

“You’ve heard that the Celestial Realm and the Abyss are extremely close. Crimson Circle came up with a clever idea from that. To reach the sky, one must first reach the deepest depths…”

“Don’t tell me-”

“Yes. Their goal isn’t simply to increase allies. They’re doing whatever it takes to reach the Celestial Realm and escape from the abyss. In their terms… they call it ‘Transcendence’.”

“And what do you think of that, as a 9-star wizard?”

“It’s a pitiful idea not even worth discussing. There’s a saying that what is falling has no wings. Then do you think there would be any left for what has already fallen? They cannot come back from there.”

“…”

“However, for that goal, they’ve spent the past few hundred years creating and managing wizards of the abyss, and in doing so, they’ve succeeded in systemizing their own structures and terminology and standardizing the world.”

“Standardizing?”

“Yes. They have divided and named the corrupted world as a whole, discovering its characteristics and ways of survival.”

At those words, I could feel my heart pounding.

“So that means…”

“The Deep Sea may also exist within that.”

“…”

Seeing the look in my eyes, filled with thoughts, Dersia offered a piece of advice.

“It’s unlikely that they’re an organization like Crimson Circle from back then.”

“At the very least, they definitely have their own terminology. They were babbling strange things like ‘Three Evils’.”

“‘Three Evils…?”

“I was only thinking of avoiding them… but maybe I should try making contact?”

“You should. However-”

“After I’ve gained strength.”

“Correct.”

I was thinking of running away at the first sign of their tail, but it turned out to be the opposite.

It was I who had to go looking for them.

As she looked at me like that, Dersia furrowed her brow and let out a sigh.

“…I really don’t understand.”

“Yes?”

“Jern, you are mentally far too mature. Your judgment is more capable than most wizards, and you possess a sense of integrity that adheres strictly to your own decisions. Sometimes you try to cross the line, but it’s only to a cute degree, so I don’t even get angry.”

“…Ah, yes, thank you.”

What’s with this all of a sudden?

“That wasn’t a compliment. The Abyss is the end that twisted beings fall into. It’s not a place for someone as mentally sound as you.”

“That’s why I’m frustrated, too. I’m such a pure and delicate child.”

“Yes, definitely in the cute range.”

Dersia chuckled briefly and made a declaration.

“I had planned to wait a bit, thinking it wouldn’t be right to take in a dying orphan as a disciple… but that seems pointless now. You know too well how to pique my interest. The fact that you saved those children was different from my expectations, but it’s a brilliant deed nonetheless.”

“So that means-”

“Yes, I concede. I’ll come find you soon.”

“…Is that whole process really necessary?”

Seeing my sour expression, Dersia answered with a smile.

“You’ll probably be surprised.”

As if looking at a child who knows nothing.

“Once you realize what it means to others when I take someone in as my disciple.”

I only understood later.

I should have thought about those words more carefully.