Wizard of the Deep Sea

TL/ED – Miso

A door made of rotting wood opened, and standing there was a man completely different from what I had imagined.

First of all, he was tall. Close to 2 meters.

That alone completely shattered my preconceived notions about Dwarves, but more shocking was the fact that he was clean-shaven without even a hint of a beard.

Lastly, he was young.

At a glance, he looked to be in his 30s. If he eased his scowling expression a bit, he could easily pass for his late 20s.

A tall, youthful, clean-shaven Dwarf.

Is that really a Dwarf? If he just carried a bow, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference from an Elf.

When I met his gaze with a slightly confused look, Brimdal furrowed his brows.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Ah, I apologize. I was just surprised because you look a bit different from what I expected.”

“You humans are always like that. When it comes to Dwarves too. Just because I shaved my beard, you act like I’ve chopped off my own limbs…”

Grumbling, Brimdal turned his eyes toward Linmel as if he had no interest in me.

His gaze toward her was entirely different from the one he gave me, it was filled with intense heat.

“You, living and breathing steel. Draw your sword.”

Linmel didn’t answer and looked at me.

Only when I gave a slight nod did she draw her sword, slash it once horizontally, and then smoothly sheathed it.

It wasn’t particularly fast, nor was it slow. To me, it just looked like she had drawn her sword, swung it once, and then put it away. And that’s exactly what happened.

Ooh, graceful movement.

That was about all I felt.

But Brimdal’s reaction was overwhelmingly intense.

“Ooh…”

He nodded with great satisfaction, smiling broadly as he took a step toward Linmel.

“I knew there would be someone like you somewhere in this world. Do you have a master? No, that doesn’t matter. I will prepare everything for you-”

It was perfect timing. I said to the bewildered Linmel,

“Thanks for your help. You can go now.”

“Okay! I’ll be waiting in the carriage.”

“…?”

Brimdal reached out in surprise, but Linmel was already out the door without even a glance back.

Only Brimdal and I remained in the cabin.

A brief, awkward silence passed. Brimdal was the one to break it.

“…Fine. I don’t know who you are, but it seems you’ve come well-prepared.”

“She’s a good child who listens to me very carefully.”

The trial version had ended.

Brimdal seemed to realize that much at least, as his burning eyes now turned toward me.

“Who the hell are you, and what do you want from me?”

“First, please read this.”

I handed him the letter I had received from Karin. Brimdal tore it open carelessly, and while reading, he frowned.

“Karin? That bastard’s still alive?”

“Did you know each other from before?”

“Yeah, he was a fairly useful raw gem. Not quite a master sword, but I did forge him well enough to handle small prey.”

Does he see people as swords?

If he were a wizard, he’d have fallen for sure. As I held onto that thought, Brimdal approached me.

Up close, he was even more imposing. He stretched out a hand larger than my face and gave an order.

“From the contents, I can guess what you want. Give me your hand.”

“Yes.”

Brimdal grabbed my wrist and did something for a few minutes, then blinked and let out a deep sigh.

“What the hell… What have you been through? Looks like you’ve narrowly escaped death several times.”

“How did you know? Wasn’t that written in the letter?”

“It just said, ‘Please take care of this guy’, nothing more.”

“…”

Well, if he had written all that in the letter, it would’ve been quite lengthy.

Trusting in the reasonable assumption that this eccentric Dwarf rarely had anyone to talk to, I decided to reveal the truth. Otherwise, we couldn’t even begin.

“I am a Fallen.”

“So you are, huh. Then I suppose the world you were in was either a mana wasteland or it’s a Great Realm.”

“Yes. That’s righ…?”

Suddenly, I realized.

Great Realm.

That’s a term used by Crimson Circle.

“…Where did you hear that?”

“Why. Am I not allowed to know?”

It’s hard to believe that this young-looking Dwarf knows something even Dersia didn’t.

Should I assume combat is inevitable? As I slowly stepped back, Brimdal’s expression twisted with disgust.

“You snot-nosed brat, what kind of delusion are you under? Our race was the one most killed by them. Ever since we were children, we’ve always been told: ‘If you see someone using magic without mana, either kill them or run away.’”

“I heard that Crimson Circle was active a long time ago. Do you still keep records from that era?”

“We never forget what was done to us. We never forgive either, we just wait for the right time. Not just Crimson Circle. Humans, Elves, monkeys, Dragons, they’re all the same. If the opportunity comes, we’ll repay them all.”

“I’m curious what the monkeys did to you.” 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

“Knowing will get you hurt.”

Brimdal began pressing roughly on my shoulders, stomach, and head as he circled around me.

The result, well… it didn’t seem to be very good.

“Hopeless. Was it Crimson Circle that caused your fall?”

“Probably?”

Even I’m still not sure about that.

I might’ve been tortured before I turned five. Brimdal frowned at my vague answer.

“What are you even saying… anyway. Let’s make a deal.”

Thud. Brimdal sat directly on the floor without even a chair.

Wondering if this was a Dwarven lifestyle, I followed and sat down as well. He pulled a dagger from his pouch and stabbed it into the ground.

“Let’s set the conditions first. Convince that girl to become my disciple. If you do, I’ll kill you cleanly.”

“I feel like I may not understand the Dwarven language well, so I’ll ask a question. By any chance, does ‘deal’ mean something like ‘murder threat’ or ‘robbery’ in human language?”

“Fair enough, I jumped to the point too quickly. Let me explain.”

“There’s no need.”

I pulled out the dagger that was wobbling from the impact and placed it down neatly.

“You’re saying, ‘You will die soon. You’ll die painfully. So horribly you’ll wish for death. So I’ll kill you cleanly before that happens.’ Right?”

“…”

As Brimdal blinked silently, I calmly said what I needed to say.

“I’ve heard that so many times I don’t even bother counting anymore. That it’s better to die, that I’ll kill you painlessly, how am I even alive, how pitiful, how tragic… I can’t help but receive sympathy, but I’d rather you not try to break my will.”

“…Then.”

Brimdal asked in a slightly lowered voice.

“If you understand that much, then what do you live for?”

“Living itself. That’s it.”

I didn’t bother adding that the question wasn’t even worth answering. But I’m sure my expression gave it away.

Brimdal still looked at me with disdain. But at least, he no longer showed that same look of annoyance as before.

“A corpse comes asking me to heal its wounds… what kind of troublesome request is this…”

Or not.

Grumbling, Brimdal held up three fingers.

“You must promise me three things. First, I have no intention of solving your burden. I don’t know how. Just because I know about Crimson Circle doesn’t mean I know what exactly they do.”

“I’m already receiving help from someone else for that, so it’s fine.”

“Help or not, your death is inevitable. So if you die from your burden in the middle of training, it’s just a waste of my time.”

I understood what Brimdal was worried about and nodded.

“I’ll tell Linmel that if I die, she should become your disciple.”

“Good. Second, I’ll teach you, but if you can’t keep up, that’s not my problem.”

It was a rather irresponsible statement, so I frowned.

“That condition seems open to a very malicious interpretation.”

“Malicious? Ha. I’ve spent my life forging steel. I’ve struck other things too, but they were all metals. I’ve never thought of hammering stone, nor do I know how.”

“…Are you saying I’m stone?”

“You’re less than that. How high do you think your talent is? Out of all the seeds I’ve ever seen, you’re the most worthless.”

“You don’t need talent, do you? I’m only asking you to make sure I don’t melt.”

“You’ll find out once you start learning. At any rate, I’ll forge you like steel. And if you break, I won’t care in the slightest.”

“That much, I can agree to.”

As long as it doesn’t mean doing it half-heartedly, I don’t mind.

Thinking that, I answered, and Brimdal let out a snort as he folded down the last finger.

“…You’ve got guts. Third, write a will to your master.”

“A will?”

“Yeah. Since this is the training you chose, it’s to make sure she doesn’t come looking for you and cause trouble.”

“That’s honestly the easiest part.”

I immediately pulled out a sheet of paper from my backpack and wrote the will.

[To Dersia nim. Master, if you’re reading this will, I’m probably dead. It’s most likely because I was too embarrassed to face you knowing you had no idea what state I was in and ended up hiding, but please don’t blame yourself too much. It’s entirely my fault. I trust that, knowing your personality, you won’t seek revenge. Feel free to dissect my corpse all you want.]

“Done.”

I wrote it quickly, and Brimdal let out a deep sigh.

“…You’re just stubborn as hell. Do you really have no intention of dying quietly?”

“None at all, so please just keep your promise.”

“Tsk…”

He probably thought I’d get scared and run away if he threatened me this much.

I’m not that easy. I sat upright, calm and composed, and Brimdal grumbled as he got up.

“There’s no time, so let’s start right now.”

“Yes.”

“The lecture- well, I’ll keep it short. When I checked your pulse, I figured you’d narrowly escaped death several times. What do you think the reason is?”

“I don’t know.”

“Because you’re still alive and haven’t melted.”

“…?”

What is he talking about? As I tried to make sense of it, Brimdal picked up a sword and a hammer from a shelf and began pondering.

“Not this one… Why do you think someone like you, with no talent, hasn’t melted after over a year of taking that mana into your body?”

“Well… it did seem strange. I never actually thought I would melt. I was too fine, physically speaking.”

Unlike my burden, my body was in perfect condition.

If Karin hadn’t told me, I truly wouldn’t have noticed. They say it only takes a few months to melt, and yet I was fine after nearly a year. It was hard to understand.

Especially considering that I wasn’t all that gifted to begin with.

“You’ve set foot into the Enhanced Mana Body.”

“…Huh? But I’ve barely even held a sword.”

“Ha. Training in the Enhanced Mana Body isn’t about swinging a sword. If it were, your level would just be determined by your sword skills.”

As he spoke, Brimdal picked a small hammer and looked at it with satisfaction.

“Humans have better adaptability than any other race. But because of that, it’s not a power that easily manifests. Only in truly extreme situations, like a soldier who loses a leg and runs laps around a castle dozens of times, brushing shoulders with death, does the body begin to adapt.”

“…Ah, so that means-”

“You’ve already entered your own mana territory. And you’ve probably endured death multiple times. In the middle of that, your body instinctively tried to adapt to the environment.”

I see.

Nearly dying from my burden, almost dying to Crimson Circle, and almost dying because of Dersia (that one was the most painful).

Without realizing, I had dipped at least a toe into the training process of the Enhanced Mana Body.

That’s how I managed to endure.

“That’s amazing. So then, have I already mastered the Enhanced Mana Body?”

“You’re just getting started.”

Brimdal stood before me with the hammer in hand.

What.

I had a bad feeling, but given the conversation so far, it seemed very possible.

Suppressing my unease, I asked him back.

“Is there really no other way than such a brute-force method?”

“I gave you full warning of the risks. You agreed to it too.”

“What about treatment?”

“Of course I can treat you. How many people do you think I’ve hammered? I can perfectly distinguish between what will really kill someone and what won’t. You’ll be in situations where it feels like you’ll die, but you won’t. Don’t worry.”

“So you’re seriously-”

“Yes. From today, you’ll have to cross the line of death twice every hour. Until your body becomes used to your world and grows gills.”

Apparently, the fish metaphor is a pretty standard one for explaining the Enhanced Mana Body.

Brimdal rested the hammer on his shoulder, as if offering one final piece of advice. This time, his gaze clearly carried sympathy, looking down on something pitiful.

“It’s not too late yet.”

“…”

“Do you really want to fill the end of your life with something this horrific? You could just enjoy what you want to the fullest, and when you’re asleep, without even feeling it.”

“Brimdal nim.”

“What is it.”

I took a deep breath to steel my resolve, then glared at him.

“Just go ahead and bring that down.”

“…Alright.”

My tone had practically turned into a command.

But Brimdal didn’t seem particularly offended. For the first time since we started talking, he let out a faint chuckle as he raised the hammer.

“If you’re stone, then you’d better be ready for this much.”

I clenched my teeth.

If I didn’t want to melt, I couldn’t afford to break either.

*

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