Wizard of the Deep Sea

TL/ED – Miso

The First Mage. The one said to have created magic for the first time… that kind of person.

I’ve heard about it occasionally, and although the robe I’m wearing is supposedly a Holy Relic once worn by that person, honestly, the so-called First Mage is a absurd existence.

It’s problematic to treat it as history when it claims he created magic. Did Newton create gravity? He discovered it.

But the First Mage, even from the stories passed down, even from the name, claims that he himself created magic.

In other words, even if it’s not quite a fairy tale, it’s something that should be treated at least as a myth.

Crimson Circle seriously believes in something like that.

Hmm. Perhaps it makes sense. That shows just how insane these guys really are.

But to think they completely believe in a fairy tale doesn’t add up, especially when there are not just one or two, but seven of them.

If the people of Crimson Circle really believed in that fairy tale, there had to be a reason. A reason that made them believe in the fairy tale.

“So you can’t go up. It’s better this way, actually.”

“Is that so…”

Piercing Blood, perhaps harboring a deep grudge against the Upper Tier, let out a burst of pent-up anger and then subtly tried to coax me.

“Why are you trying to go up to a place like that? Don’t tell me you think something will change if you get there. There’s nothing like that. Rather, being with us is the only way you won’t have to fear the World. Just think of those guys as machines that produce World-Sealing Pills.”

“Seems you’re not fond of the Upper Tier.”

“Of course not. I can’t understand why most of the members worship the Upper Tier. They’re like demons. Even if a comrade dies right next to them, they’ll just go on their way without a care. Tsk.”

I stared quietly at Piercing Blood, who clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction, and suddenly a useful thought came to mind.

“You seem to know them quite well.”

“That’s… not quite right.”

Piercing Blood frowned and shook his head.

“That’s just my judgment of what kind of people they are. As for their own intentions, I have no idea what they’re planning. How could you know what lunatics are thinking?”

“I see. That’s good information. So you’re saying there must be a vacancy in the Upper Tier.”

“Right. Give up on going up, and what do you think of my proposal?”

This seemed to be the main point, and Piercing Blood’s eyes gleamed.

“If your World joins my faction, we could monopolize almost all the missions. No matter how many World-Sealing Pills you need to take, I promise you a supply more than enough to meet your needs.”

“Oh, that’s quite tempting.”

“Heh, can I take that as a yes?”

He grinned slyly, as if rejection wasn’t even an option he had considered.

And indeed, if I refused, here, in this bastard’s own stronghold, it would simply become a job to eliminate a rival.

I could already tell from the reactions in the storage rooms that I wasn’t particularly welcomed even within the Lower Tier.

From the moment I sought out Piercing Blood, if I refused, it would only lead to a fight.

But just now, a new possibility opened up.

“Still, this is a bit unexpected. Actually, I had a proposal of my own.”

“…What?”

At my nonchalant reply, Piercing Blood looked puzzled, then nodded slightly as if something had clicked.

“Right, we should of course talk about distribution. What method do you prefer?”

“No, not that. I’m talking about doing a different kind of mission.”

“…Didn’t I say before? First, we need to build trust.”

“It’s not a mission written in any book.”

I stood up, then took out the key to the Workshop.

Seeing that, Piercing Blood nodded in surprise.

“Magic Tower? So you were a member. No wonder, the strength of that World would be hard to understand if it wasn’t from a fallen Wizard of the Magic Tower.”

“It’s too early to be surprised.”

I stepped out of the pavilion and opened the Workshop.

-Thunk. From inside, I dragged out a sack much larger than my body and placed it on the desk.

“Open it.”

“…”

Piercing Blood, with a doubtful look, opened the sack.

“What the…”

He was horrified.

Because of the sheer number of World-Sealing Pills inside.

Of course, I had barely taken any World-Sealing Pills. And since Damyu also possessed a weak World, she hadn’t taken many either. That’s why, as Piercing Blood looked at the nearly ten thousand gathered World-Sealing Pills, his eyes narrowed as he looked at me.

“What are you trying to do with this? Are you trying to build rapport? If that’s the case, I’d welcome it.”

As expected, from the position of leading people of this level, he wouldn’t easily bite even the sweetest bait.

“It’s a down payment.”

“What?”

“From what I see, you don’t seem to like the Upper Tier that much. Then if one simply provides World-Sealing Pills, can’t anyone request a job?”

“…”

Piercing Blood opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it again.

Offering World-Sealing Pills as payment for a request, that’s not something people of the Lower Tier can do.

World-Sealing Pills are life itself. Putting those up means staking your lifespan.

-Only a madman would do such a thing. That thought was written all over his face.

“Fine, it can be done… So with these World-Sealing Pills as a down payment, what kind of job are you trying to commission?”

“The assassination of a Crimson Circle Upper Tier member.”

“I knew it.”

Piercing Blood sat down on his chair with the sack in hand, looking dumbfounded.

“What did you take my words earlier for? Those guys are lunatics. They have no desires, no malice. Being part of them isn’t proof of strength, it’s proof that there’s something wrong with your mind.”

“I understand. But I’m not exactly sane either.”

“Seems like it. If it’s a down payment, then you must have that many World-Sealing Pills to spare, don’t tell me, you haven’t taken them either?”

I lightly lied as I looked into Piercing Blood’s glaring eyes.

“I’ve taken quite a lot.”

“Ha…”

Piercing Blood scratched his chin as if contemplating.

“”I wondered what kind of guy you were… turns out you’re a weirdo like Lump. I don’t have the faintest idea why you’re trying to climb up to the Upper Tier, but when I think about it, it’s not exactly a bad thing from our standpoint either.”

“Really? Why’s that?”

“At least you can hold a conversation.”

“?”

“Have you ever had a conversation with the Upper Tier guys?”

I tried to recall my conversations with Decay and Lump.

“Hmm…”

“So you have. Those guys are impossible to talk to. Their egos are too rigid. If they suddenly stop making World-Sealing Pills for three months, we’re all dead. It’s like entrusting your lifeline to a rabid dog.”

“So what you’re saying is, if someone like me, who can at least talk, goes up to the Upper Tier, it wouldn’t be bad for you either.”

“Yeah. At least then there’ll be someone who can tell us what those bastards are thinking. Actually, we even came up with a similar plan before. Back when there weren’t seven of them, we tried to send one person up to the Upper Tier. It ended in failure, though.”

“And now?”

“I guess we should revisit the discussion.”

With a hardened expression, Piercing Blood tore apart the original request form he had given me.

“We don’t know you. We don’t know your World, are you still going to stick to that?”

“Well, I still don’t know.”

“Then that means we’d have to invest our manpower in someone whose World, strength, and character we don’t even know.”

“Hmm, I suppose so?”

“We’re not lunatics like the Upper Tier. We can’t do that. If you want to become the core of our plan, you’ll at least need to provide proof that you can be.”

“Is the down payment not enough?”

“This is a matter of trust.”

“Well, alright. How do I prove it?”

“Strength.”

In the end, what Piercing Blood wanted to say was the same.

“Prove your ability. Not from a mission list, show us with our own eyes, in person, something we can believe.”

“…”

There’s no helping it now.

Looks like I’ll have to team up with these lunatics after all.

Thinking that, I sighed and frowned as I looked at the torn-up mission.

“Why’d you tear this one up?”

“As grounds for targeting the Upper Tier, a mission like this isn’t very useful.”

Piercing Blood snorted and pulled out a new mission form.

“If it’s for a lunatic who wants to challenge the Upper Tier, it’s got to be at least this level.”

What could it be?

Destroying a small nation?

Assassinating the Tower Master of the Magic Tower?

If it were the latter, maybe I could beg her to just pretend to be dead. With that thought, I checked the mission.

And then.

The moment I saw it, I shook my head and furrowed my brow deeply.

“…Hmm, this is seriously an impossibly difficult mission. Isn’t there something else?”

“I understand. But it has to be at least this level, for there to be any guarantee that you’ll be accepted after taking down a member of the Upper Tier. I won’t blame you if you give up.”

“Is that so…”

[Assassinate the Princess’s knight, Karos]

“Well, it can’t be helped. I’ll do it.”

“Hm, you’ve got guts, pass.”

Inside, I let out a silent sigh of relief.

*

As soon as I returned to the base we were using as a hideout, I woke up Damyu, who was sleeping peacefully.

“Hey, you don’t happen to know any fairy tales related to the First Mage, do you?”

“Th-the First Mage? That’s, um…”

She wiped the drool from her mouth, and less than an hour later, she came back with dozens of fairy tale books stolen from a nearby village.

I didn’t think I’d be reading fairy tales at my age.

I read them, combing through every word to find hidden meanings.

“Hmm…”

The detailed accounts were all over the place.

Some described the Crimson Circle as a group of fiery enemies, others as rebels. The number varied, seven, twelve, thirty, even three thousand.

The First Mage was portrayed as male, female, a god, very diverse.

Despite that, the content was oddly consistent in its variety.

The First Mage discovered magic and spread it across the world.

But the evil Crimson Circle killed them.

The resurrected mage punished the Crimson Circle.

The Crimson Circle was punished in eternal suffering.

The mage lived happily ever after and died. The end.

As I read through the fairy tales, I frowned.

“This is really, literally-”

A fairy tale.

Pastel-colored illustrations easy for children to understand, rhythmic words, good triumphing over evil.

Next to no real content.

If the Crimson Circle actually believed this and named their organization after it, then the empire being brought down by such people would be pitiable, it was that childish.

“Is there no original version of this?”

I asked Damyu, who was sitting properly next to me, and she shook her head.

“No? What do you mean original text? This is just a traditional fairy tale. Haven’t you heard it when you were young?”

“What?”

“They’re really famous. Most commoners learn about wizards through stories like these. Some say the nobility made them to spread how great wizards are or something like that…”

“This mentions a group called the Crimson Circle. What do you think about them having the same name as ours?”

“Well… maybe they just used the name as is? I don’t really know what the higher-ups think…”

Leaving the puzzled Damyu alone, I went on reading the rest of the fairy tales.

“Hmm…”

I came to a conclusion quickly.

I have no idea.

Maybe trying to understand the thoughts of lunatics is the problem to begin with. Even if they do believe in this stuff, there’s no real reason to follow it.

Even if they’re trying to kill the First Mage as described in the stories, the endings are always the same, ascending to the Celestial Realm or living happily and then dying. So what’s the point?

Anyway, I figured I should at least inform Dersia, and said to the smiling Damyu.

“The next mission’s been decided.”

“Ah, yes. So you’ve finally decided to carry out a mission with someone else. What is it? Since it’s your first, I assume it’s an easy one…”

“It’s the assassination of the Princess’s knight.”

“…Huh?”

“That’s what it is, so get ready. We’re leaving in three days.”

“W-wait. You’re joking, right? Excuse me? Undercurrent nim?”

There was a lot to do.

Letting Dersia know about the intel I’d just learned, getting help from the Princess, and preparing to head to the Capital, none of that was going to be wrapped up in just a day or two.

To set a proper plan in motion as quickly as possible, I left the trembling Damyu behind and began heading up the stairs.

“…Kuh.”

-A throbbing pain surged from my chest.

“…?”

What was that?

A pain sharp enough to make me wince. It disappeared quickly, but it clearly didn’t feel natural, so I tilted my head.

Burden, water pressure?

No… it felt different from water pressure, more like a pain from deep inside.

Could it be a new Burden? I tried to recall any situation within the Deep Sea where such chest pain might occur, but nothing came to mind.

“Haa…”

Regardless, even my sighs now felt cold.

Well, thinking about it, maybe this is actually a good thing.

“While I’m at it, maybe I should fix this too…”

It seemed like I’d be seeing Master instead of the crow for the first time in a while.