Wizard of the Deep Sea

TL/ED – Miso

For nearly a year, Crimson Circle had expanded.

To the point that, if it were a normal organization, it would have burst apart and died, it had simply swollen madly.

At this point, it was fair to say that more than half of the Empire’s Underworld belonged to Crimson Circle.

And the reason that was possible, obviously.

“Fallen? What’s that now. Abyss Realm…? Are you saying it’s a kind of wizard?”

“Ha, I’ve learned Enhanced Mana Body-”

“R-Robin!! What is this, his heart just suddenly exploded!”

The presence of the Fallen.

Even the leaders of the Underworld were merely people who’d stolen knightly techniques and, by luck, became superhuman. Their Enhanced Mana Bodies only blocked the magic of the Material Realm, so they could not overcome the Fallen, who wielded the magic of their own respective worlds.

Walls melt, skies collapse. The earth rises…

The worlds of the Fallen, bizarre, eerie, and heretical, were unlike properly functioning magic.

Crimson Circle simply used the Fallen to silently kill and kill again the leaders of the Underworld. The power structure of the underworld shifted dozens of times over.

However, one leader, who now held dominion over numerous regions he couldn’t even have imagined possessing in the past, realized he couldn’t exactly be happy about it.

Just a week ago, a faction that had once been on par with his was annihilated, along with all its subordinates.

A guarantee that he wouldn’t end up the same way? There wasn’t one.

Those whose minds worked properly knelt first.

Those who didn’t, were made to kneel.

Of course, the Empire hadn’t been idle either.

“Speak! Where, and how, did you make contact?!”

“I-I don’t know! I really don’t know!”

“…Tsk.”

But because this hierarchy had been built through such means, proper communication was impossible from the start.

What the leaders of the Underworld understood was this: no matter how powerful the organization, if they defied Crimson Circle, something that rose from beneath the ground would bring punishment.

They were essentially slaves, if Crimson Circle occasionally showed up and demanded information, they handed it over; if given orders, they carried them out; if materials were requested, they turned them over no matter what it took.

Experience is the fastest way to learn something. Some organizations, no matter what, refused to endure this kind of treatment, and met the same end as their predecessors.

In the end, the difference in available means determined victory or defeat.

To confront a Crimson Circle-corrupted organization, one would have to send an entire Knights Order capable of battling the Fallen.

However, the Fallen under Crimson Circle’s command drifted like waterweed, storming across the nation. To survive, they did not rest a single day.

Crimson Circle’s speed in subjugating these underground organizations was far faster than the knights could destroy them.

And the cause of that was… well.

[You are not entirely without responsibility.]

“…No, but I did help, to be fair.”

The upper floor of the mansion.

Dersia, now nearly the size of a human while borrowing the body of a crow, flapped her wings and sighed atop a pole.

“I worked hard at espionage with the Mission Book. Honestly, if we weigh the merits and demerits, I have more merits.”

[…]

The crow gave him a sidelong glare, but it was true.

The names of the once-veiled Fallen, information about their worlds, their behavioral patterns.

None of it could have been known without him. Attempting infiltration had been the right choice.

As Crimson Circle expanded, the Empire also created multiple countermeasures based on his intel, and even now, bloody battles were unfolding behind the scenes.

And, the Princess, together with Dersia, was preparing the fang to drive into Crimson Circle’s neck.

A truly deep and sharp fang.

“How far along is the development?”

[A prototype has been produced, but confirmation is needed.]

-Kkek, kkekkkek, Dersia suddenly began to retch.

No way. As I waited in shock, my anxiety became reality.

Roll… A pinkish pill mixed with mucus rolled across the floor and touched my shoe.

“…”

[Please try using it.]

I responded with the most disgusted expression I could muster.

“Why didn’t you just tie it around your neck?”

[It could fall off during flight. If worn as a necklace to prevent that, the risk is too great if spotted by a Crimson Circle member.]

Dersia didn’t even snort. Sighing, I picked up the pill, wiped the mucus off by rubbing it appropriately on my robe, and swallowed it.

Before long, my body heated up slightly. In that state, I used Water Pressure to grab the miscellaneous items around me.

-Crunch!

“Hmm…”

I tried several more times after that.

However, I shook my head as I could not feel any difference.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like the Burden has changed. It still feels premature.”

[Hmm, I see…]

Mass production of the World-Sealing Pill.

The Princess’s scheme was to reverse the situation by exploiting the fact that most of the Fallen were bound to Crimson Circle through this pill.

Even from my perspective, if the Empire could produce World-Sealing Pills, the tide of battle would clearly shift.

Judging by how Dersia spent so much time only to produce a failed version, it must be an immensely difficult task.

She cawed with regret in her voice and said:

[My handling of existing World-Sealing Pills has reached its peak. I’ve succeeded over a hundred times in increasing the pill’s effects or concentrating them to enhance dosage, but it seems I still can’t replicate the same effect using different ingredients. I’ll have to try using more extreme materials.]

“You’re not telling me you grind up people to get these effects, right?”

[If it were such a simple ingredient, there’s no way I wouldn’t have figured it out.]

“?”

[More importantly, Jern, how has your physical condition been lately?]

A different emotion was mixed into the crow’s nasal tone. After a moment’s hesitation, I asked frankly.

“…Do you happen to share senses as well?”

[? Yes.]

I approached her and grabbed the back of her neck where the feathers were.

The crow flinched for a moment, then lightly trembled her beak.

[This is-]

“It’s been like this for a while now. I can still endure it.”

There was no issue with breathing. Thanks to the gold crown embedded in my body.

As long as I had Water Barrier, even water pressure only caused a dull tingling sensation.

[…Freezing to death in the Deep Sea. What a ridiculous thing.]

But on the flip side, having endured the worst of it,

The lesser Burdens I hadn’t paid much attention to, thinking they were insignificant, began asserting themselves.

The Deep Sea isn’t a temperature fit for human survival. No matter what kind of robe I wear now, it feels like standing naked in winter.

“For now, I’m using the barrier to reduce the sensation of my hands freezing, but I probably won’t last long.”

[It’s not an extremely dangerous Burden. If you return and undergo a minor procedure, it might be resolved more easily than expected.]

“I haven’t obtained what I really came for yet. I can’t go back now.”

I shrugged in denial.

Honestly, I’d gained quite a lot from joining. Through the process of meeting various Fallen, I’d come up with several highly probable hypotheses about my Abyss Realm. Even if I were to escape now, it wouldn’t be a loss.

But I still hadn’t reached the most important piece of information I was seeking when I joined Crimson Circle.

The Three Evils.

Of course, I didn’t just complete missions quietly, I met with several members over the past year and asked around, but most of them weren’t much different from Damyu. They were either completely off-track or dismissed it as a baseless rumor.

It was driving me insane. No, seriously, how come these people don’t know something even that bastard Parse knew?

Thinking about it this way only made my anger surge.

“Seriously, why the hell aren’t these bastards contacting me? There’s no one else in the Lower Tier who’s shown as much outstanding achievement as I have.”

[What about the possibility that your identity was exposed?]

“If that were the case, they wouldn’t have given me this Mission Book.”

The Mission Book. That’s what Damyu called this thing.

From the list of missions written in it and the identities of the members, the information I uncovered was literally a mountain. It doesn’t add up.

Sure, I committed a lot of terroristic acts, but I left behind every means that could later be recovered. Practically 80% of the hundreds of missions were like bombs planted inside Crimson Circle.

By completing missions, I earned trust from the enemy and at the same time left behind landmines. It was a win-win situation, so I worked hard…

But now that I looked back, it felt like I’d only been laying landmines. Only the Princess benefited.

“There must be… something else that the Upper Tier is focused on. But I don’t know what that is.”

Even what Decay had said was now hard to understand.

What exactly did he want from me? Did he just want me to take on this level of a role in the Lower Tier?

Watching me sink into deep thought, Dersia, still in the form of a crow, cautiously offered some advice.

[Jern. Have you tried contacting the members in a different way?]

“Yes. I’ve reached out to the Warehouse, who’s said to have the widest connections, and a few other standout members.”

[What I mean is, have you tried doing missions with them?]

“I haven’t. That seems far too dangerous.”

I replied flatly.

Frankly, doing missions with anyone besides Damyu was an extremely risky move.

Damyu was too dumb to grasp anything about my Abyss Realm, and more importantly, she usually holed up somewhere nearby during missions, so there was little chance of her seeing anything of note.

But if I did a mission with someone else, there would inevitably be close interaction.

If even one of them knew anything about the Deep Sea…

And if what they saw was reported to the Upper Tier, then things would spiral out of control too quickly to manage.

The best-case scenario would be getting confirmed as a member of The Three Evils and ascending to the Upper Tier.

The worst-case scenario would be getting captured and used as a vessel to unfold the Deep Sea into the world.

“More than anything, I’ve come to the conclusion that Lower Tier members, being so limited in information, aren’t much help.”

[I agree. But hear me out. For example, Lump was once in the Lower Tier before ascending to the Upper Tier, wasn’t he?]

“Yes, that’s right.”

[Then that means Lump did something that caught the attention of the Upper Tier. The Lower Tier members may not know the details, but they might remember him displaying strange behavior before he left for the Upper Tier.]

“…”

I considered that possibility for a moment.

“Hmm, but during the questioning process, I might reveal that I have the goal of reaching the Upper Tier.”

[That doesn’t matter. At this point, there’s no real reason to hold back. Try this approach once, and if it really doesn’t work, return and resolve the issue with that Burden. At any rate, if it’s at that level already, the other Burdens probably won’t be something you can brush off with jokes either.]

“That’s true.”

The Water Barrier was steadily shrinking.

Which meant the Burden of the Deep Sea was intensifying. Though I’d described it like a diving suit, it wasn’t complete isolation, so even with my own skin I could feel the strengthening of the Burden.

Lately, I’d barely used the Inner World Menifestation. If I used it recklessly in this state, I’d be found out.

[.,.,….–~~~~~….]

By these things.

I frowned at the sight of a red eel with nine tails swimming nearby, then opened the Deep Sea Creature notebook and took notes. This was a new one.

“Alright, then I’ll try what you suggested for now. Anything else I should know?”

[…If you see the Knights Order during your next mission, run away if you can.]

“Why?”

[The captain of the Silver Wing Knights Order has declared that he won’t be able to sleep until he devours Undercurrent. He’s mobilized nearly all forces. It’s going to be a bloodbath.]

“…I’ll take that to heart.”

Lately, I had been getting impatient and took on a lot of missions, and caused quite a bit of chaos in the process.

In the long run, all of it benefited the Empire, but to those on the receiving end, there was no more annoying pest than me.

The name “Undercurrent” had become very well-known within the Empire. In a bad way.

“Hmm… Lump…”

I opened the Mission Book and flipped through the list of completed missions.

Though it was a small book, no matter how many pages I turned, more kept appearing, while previous ones turned to dust and scattered.

Anyone who knew Lump’s past would be someone who had done missions with him.

It took over 50 minutes of page flipping before the name Lump even came up.

What in the world had he done to catch the attention of the Upper Tier?

“…No way.”

And finally, I found Lump’s last mission in the Lower Tier.

At first, I was shocked by its contents. Then, I was stunned by the personnel list.

Frowning, I flipped a few more pages.

But as expected, no surprises.

Lump had been with that person for nearly every mission listed.

“Sigh…”

I let out a breath and left the top floor of the mansion, then woke up the sleeping Damyu.

“Get up. There’s something we have to do.”

“Mmm… Yes, huh?”

The now-chubby girl rubbed her eyes but promptly got ready to take notes. Ever since she realized I didn’t need a companion but rather a secretary to reduce hassle, Damyu had volunteered to become the perfect secretary.

Issuing orders to the thoroughly disciplined Damyu, I threw on my robe.

“Go to Piercing Blood now and deliver a message.”

“Yep! What should I tell her?”

“Tell her I want to do a mission together next time.”

“Okay. Understoo… Wait, huh?? Undercurrent nim, you’re going to do a mission together??”

“That’s right.”

Though surprised, Damyu quickly ran out of the mansion.

If I’d known it would be like this, I would’ve done it a bit sooner.

I sighed and looked down at the mission list from Lump’s final assignment.

[Extermination of Rogenia]

[Special Note: Leave no one alive.]

[Quantity: 900,000.]

[Solo]

[190/190]

Surely not…

I pushed down the uneasy thought that I might end up doing something like that too.