Wizard of the Deep Sea

TL/ED – Miso

After a week had passed, a somewhat fixed routine was established.

Wake up at 5:30 a.m., when all the other children are still sound asleep.

Breakfast time is at 8, which is much later. However, when I go to the dining hall, there is always bread and soup in the basket, still warm.

I am always grateful to the Director.

Even though I wake up early, there is not that much time, so I quickly eat and go outside,

“Mm… Jern, hello.”

“…Linmel?”

Someone I normally do not see was awake.

Linmel, rubbing her still sleepy eyes, had a dark-colored Wooden Sword at her waist.

Since it was still a time when everyone should be asleep, I asked with a puzzled expression.

“I have somewhere to go for a bit. Why did you wake up early?”

She drew the Wooden Sword one-handed so skillfully that it was hard to believe she was only ten years old, then covered her yawn while swinging it around.

“I was told to do this, haaam…”

“The sword? Why?”

“I don’t really know…”

With a half-asleep look, Linmel headed to the Training Ground.

I was curious what was going on, but today I had a lot to prepare.

I decided to ask about Linmel later and checked the timetable I had copied (more precisely, looked at and copied) from the bulletin board.

‘There are six children’s classes today.’

I would attend all of them.

I put on the janitor’s clothes I had hidden in the next building. After being tailored by Aunt Anelin, they now fit perfectly on my body.

When I arrived a little early at the plaza and was previewing the lessons, sunbae came walking sluggishly from afar.

He is always fast. Though I am faster.

The sunbae tilted his head as he saw me sitting in front of the fountain and asked.

“What, isn’t it still early? Why have you been coming out so early these days?”

“The sooner you start, the sooner you finish.”

“…Well, yeah, that’s true. Smart kid.”

Following behind the sunbae, who kept mumbling about me being promising, I headed toward the Academy.

As soon as we arrived at the area that needed cleaning, I looked up at the sunbae with bright, expectant eyes.

The sunbae examined me suspiciously, then firmly warned me.

“This time it’s the northern area. Don’t disappear like last time.”

“Yes!”

“The restroom is inside, so use it when you go in.”

“Yes!”

“Answering… Anyway, be careful. You seem to be underestimating the Academy, but if you get caught here-”

Perhaps because I had vanished without a word last time and caused him much worry, the sunbae rambled on, warning me repeatedly.

“Yes, I’ll keep it in mind!”

“Good. Let’s do well.”

When I answered crisply, he seemed satisfied and went off to clean his own area.

I cleaned normally for five minutes while surveying the surroundings, and once I confirmed that no one was around, I swept the floor with currents.

It had become familiar work. It did not even take 30 seconds to gather up the trash.

And now, there is no need to throw it away either.

“Let’s see…”

Will it work?

I gently brought my fingers together.

The gathered trash slowly, very slowly, floated upward.

To someone who did not know, it might look like Telekinesis. But in truth, it was simply making them realize, even without direct touch.

I stirred the currents to create waves, and with the objects I touched, I made them realize they were in the sea, allowing them to float.

This is the pair of Magic I obtained as the price for being born in the Deep Sea and inheriting the fate of unavoidable death.

Nothing has changed even now. Only now, I can also make things realize that they are riding the current.

Two applications. The floating trash drifted together again toward the trash bin.

And when I released my hand from the currents.

-Thud, thud, the trash fell neatly into the bin.

“Good.”

I clapped my hands with a satisfied smile.

It is not that useful. Heavier things sink, so only light, miscellaneous trash like that can be floated.

And floating is more like rising slowly, so the speed is very slow. If there is one advantage…

It has no end.

Once, I kept the current without releasing it, wondering how far things would rise. The last thing I saw was them touching the clouds before disappearing from sight.

So, maybe…

Under the assumption that this world is the sea, it seems I truly am in the very, very deep Deep Sea.

In a place so deep that it takes several hours for a buoyant object to reach the surface.

Of course, since it had left my current, it would have fallen somewhere soon after.

“…It’s my fate.”

I could not help feeling a little impatient.

Although nothing much would change, I hurried along toward the Children’s Class where the lesson was about to begin. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

“Ahem, ahem…”

I had grown accustomed to pretending to be a janitor.

Whether class had not yet started, the children were chattering as they moved about, and I heard the teacher struggling to get them under control; naturally, I swept and scrubbed the floor until the class began.

“Today we will learn the basic ignition magic for lighting lanterns!”

“…Ugh.”

A bust.

I sighed and moved on.

There was some time before the next class, so I should study on my own.

I went to the back of the classroom where no one came, gathered some straw just in case, and tried for the 109th time.

I looked at the straw and drew up mana.

“Burn.”

-Fssshh…

I sighed and looked down at the straw emitting smoke.

As I had realized in the last lesson, it was as I expected.

I, regardless of other things, could never learn fire-based magic.

Other elemental magic could be handled easily, but anything related to fire I could not succeed at.

As for the reason… it’s harder to say.

It must be that fire does not catch in water.

In other words, attending this class would be worthless. It is better to practice something else.

“Split.”

-tuk.

This time, as I muttered softly while looking at the straw, the bundle of straw split cleanly in two as if cut by a knife.

This was a wind-type magic I had been practicing intensively lately. If compressed like this, it could be used as an attack. But that is not what I desire.

Wind, of course, includes air. If the Deep Sea were to steal someone’s breath, it might help in some way.

It might not help at all in practice, but if so, I will devise another solution then.

For now, trying everything is important.

I had been researching wind magic for a long time without noticing the time pass when…

“…!”

Suddenly, I felt a chilling sensation.

Someone’s presence. I immediately snapped my head around to look behind.

Fortunately, there was no one.

“Phew…”

I had definitely felt a gaze, but it must have been my imagination.

I breathed a sigh of relief and hastily gathered the straw.

Destroying evidence was the top priority.

It is something I must always keep in mind: eavesdropping on classes is clearly a crime.

Of course, they would not punish me harshly for being a genuine child. At most they would spank my butt and ban me from entering.

But for me, being banned from the Academy…

meant the end of even my final struggle.

*

“…Just now, that kid…”

*

After listening to all the classes, I headed to the library.

The existence of a wizard to whom I could ask questions could not be abandoned simply because it felt a bit unpleasant.

“What on earth did you do and how?”

I was asked the question in return.

I wriggled free from Dersia Aspandil, who was groping over my body here and there.

“I just did it, and since the Astral Wheel manifested, isn’t it not that strange?”

I raised my palm.

A gentle breeze blew and fluttered my collar.

It really was a trivial magic. Magic itself is wondrous, but the most astonishing thing is my very existence being in the sea.

Blowing air from one’s palm is something anyone can do. To be precise, the children in the class I had observed succeeded within fifteen minutes.

…I took twenty minutes, though.

Dersia shook her head as if I should not be saying such things.

“Other wizards live in this world, and you live in that world. No matter if the Astral Wheel manifested, it makes no sense that you could learn so freely like this. You must be paying a price somewhere…”

Dersia looked at me with eyes full of wonder, as if she were watching a monkey with a nose bigger than its hands.

Rather than her zoo-animal gaze, I focused on the unsettling word she had used.

“Huh? A price?”

“Yes. It seems there is something to be inferred.”

“Ah, yes, I can’t gather mana in the normal way.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“This… should I call it seawater? When I fill my lungs with it and feel like I’m drowning, only then does it become full.”

“A dreadful method. However, that is not a price. In fact, it is closer to a blessing. Despite your mind not yet being accustomed to this world, you are at least able to borrow resources.”

Those words could not be overlooked, so I protested fiercely.

“Wait, hold on. Dersia nim, you speak carelessly. Have you ever drowned? Do you know how painful it really is? This is not a blessing at all.”

“You would do better to consider yourself fortunate. If your Inner World were a burning forest, inhaling until every inch of your skin was scorched might have been your method of drawing mana.”

“…”

It was chillingly persuasive.

Dersia observed me calmly and continued speaking.

“I do not know your Inner World well, Jern. However, no matter what world it is, one cannot escape the laws of causality, so it would be wise to recognize that the price will come for you eventually.”

“Before that, could I not just die from the pressure?”

“Hmm…”

After pondering for a moment, Dersia answered.

“You have struck at the truth. That too is quite a high possibility.”

“…”

I had noticed before, but she was the type who would never utter an empty word.

Suppressing a sigh, I asked about what had been troubling me.

“I understand. But more importantly, I can’t use fire magic at all. Is this normal?”

“Pardon? What do you mean by that.”

Dersia looked completely dumbfounded, as if asking what nonsense I was spouting.

“No, it just doesn’t work.”

“That too makes no sense. You can use other magic, so why not the flame element?”

“How can fire burn underwater?”

“How can wind blow underwater?”

“Well…”

I was at a loss for words.

Of course, there was also the current, but that was more like water flow than wind.

Even if a strong wind blew underwater, it would just turn into bubbles and rise…

Huh?

“You’re right. Why really doesn’t it work?”

“Hmm, we must first identify the problem. Would you try manifesting it once?”

“Ah, yes.”

For the 110th time, I attempted to light fire magic on my palm.

-whoosh!

“…It works.”

“…It works?”

So easily that the 109 failures became meaningless, a small flame flared up like lighting a gas stove.

I stupidly looked back and forth between Dersia and the flame.

“Why does this work?”

“Because it works, I can only apologize that I can offer no other explanation.”

“…”

Huh.

I looked down at my palm and came to a certain enlightenment.

Perhaps this so-called sea I was in,

though extremely similar, was not really the true Deep Sea but rather.

“Ah.”

The moment I reached that thought.

My breath caught.

“Ugh… kuh, kuhuk.”

“What is happening to you?”

Suddenly, a sensation like a heavy stone pressing down on my entire body.

A terrible pain, as if my entire body were bound with countless ropes and slowly twisted and squeezed, came without any warning.

“…”

So this is what it means when they say that if pain is great enough, you cannot even make a sound.

Slowly, I dropped to my knees, and slowly, I was being crushed alive…

As my vision turned white.

“Damn!”

With a sharp popping sound, the flame before my eyes went out.

Only then did I return to reality.

“Uhh, uuaaaaagh…!!!!!”

The pain shifted from one that could not be voiced to one that could.

Dersia hastily snapped her fingers. At once, a pressure similar to before pressed down on my whole body.

But it was different from what I had just felt. There was no malice in it.

“Calm yourself. I am not trying to kill you. If you break away from that pressure all at once, your body will be in danger. You must come out more slowly, so endure it.”

“…”

I silently nodded.

Over five minutes, Dersia slowly applied pressure to my body.

As the pressure eased, my breathing became lighter, and at some point I felt so fine that it was hard to believe I had nearly died just a moment ago.

“Haa, haa, cough! What the fuck was that?”

Barely returned to my original state, I gagged and asked.

It was not so much my body in pain as my mind feeling completely drained.

“Calm yourself first. You have just brushed against life and death, so of course you are not in your right mind.”

“…I understand.”

I wiped my mouth and stood, then grabbed a rag to clean up what I had vomited.

Dersia looked at me with slightly surprised eyes.

“Hmm, for someone who just came back from the brink of death, your reaction is rather subdued.”

“If I don’t understand what just happened to me, I’ll really die. I have to stay calm.”

The fear of being able to explode and die instantly, even in the safest place.

It was far more terrifying than a murderer charging at you with a knife.

That fear went so far that it felt as if I had been doused in ice water, making me unnaturally calm.

Looking at my cold, sunken expression, Dersia gave a slight nod and continued.

“You were trying to reach some kind of realization just now, weren’t you.”

“…Yes.”

“That is forbidden. Do not continue with that line of thought. And never again attempt to manifest flame magic. Do not ask why, either. You are clever, so I trust you understand what I mean.”

“Yes.”

“If so, then you should remain safe until the time comes. And, this is only my personal opinion…”

Dersia let out a short laugh and said.

“I was wrong when I said you had no talent. I retract that.”

“Oh, really? So I do have talent in magic?”

It felt a little wrong to be excited after nearly dying, but hearing one of the Empire’s greatest wizards declare, “You have talent,” carried immense weight.

“No, you have no talent in magic.”

“…”

“However, as a wizard, you have talent beyond compare.”

Isn’t that the same thing?

“I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean.”

“One day, you will understand.”

Snapping her fingers, Dersia burned away the vomit stains from my clothes and muttered as if amused.

“Though for now, you must not know.”

…It was the first smile I had seen from her since we met.