Wizard of the Deep Sea

TL/ED – Miso

Dark Night, of course, I already knew she wasn’t in her right mind before meeting her.

But I hadn’t expected it to be to this extent.

“Y-Yes?”

“I said I’ll give you 700,000. Can you not understand simple words?”

As Piercing Blood stammered at her completely unimaginable answer, a murderous aura immediately seeped into her voice.

“You seemed like someone who wanted a fair price, so I doubled it. But what more are you trying to demand? You seem way too greedy. Don’t you know where you are right now?”

It wasn’t just mild irritation, hatred surged up immediately.

As Piercing Blood stood flustered at the drastic emotional shift, so sudden it was hard to believe she’d been calmly conversing just moments ago, I stepped forward.

“Dark Night nim. I apologize, but may I say a word?” To redirect her fury, I spoke as politely as I could. At the very least, to shift the target of her anger onto me.

“Ah, right. You’re called Undercurrent, yes? Nice to meet you.”

But Dark Night didn’t get angry at me.

Like some lunatic (which she truly was), she instantly changed her demeanor again and greeted me in a gentle tone.

“I’m Dark Night. How old are you? You still look young.”

That question came up thanks to the mask I was wearing. It seemed she hadn’t heard anything from Decay.

“I’m not sure, but I think I’m in my early twenties. I was abandoned as a child, so I don’t know my exact age.”

“Abandoned? By your parents?”

Joy crept into Dark Night’s voice at those words.

“I see, that’s a sad story. Could you possibly take off your mask?”

“I’m sorry. It’s related to the Burden.”

“Hmm, I see. Then it can’t be helped.”

Dark Night accepted it lightly and kindly gave her permission.

“So, what did you want to say? I’ll listen, go ahead.”

“Thank you.”

I didn’t understand why, but from the recent exchange, I could tell one thing, Dark Night had suddenly taken a strong liking to me.

I didn’t know the reason, but either way, this was an opportunity. One I absolutely couldn’t miss.

“From what Piercing Blood nim explained to me, if I were to become your…”

I paused briefly, choosing my words. Picking the word that would win over the listener most effectively.

It’s what I’ve done my entire life. Like water flowing, the one word distilled from all the prior conversation left my lips.

“…‘family’, I heard I could receive many things.”

“Ahaha, Piercing Blood explained it well!”

Fortunately, I had picked the right answer.

Dark Night clapped her hands together with an even brighter expression.

“That’s right. If you become my family, you can be freed from that hellish Burden. Forever.”

“Wow, that’s truly astonishing.”

I nodded in admiration.

Of course, I didn’t believe her. Even if such a thing were possible, the price would surely be a life more horrific than the Burden.

“My heart wants to make all of you my family, but, haah… it’s realistically difficult.”

“…”

“So I gather only the children who really need help and adopt them. Even if they’re a bit lacking in quality. But…”

Her voice turned sultry.

“You… you look really good.”

“Thank you. May I ask what you found appealing about me?”

“You’re big.”

It wasn’t sexual harassment. She was talking about my World.

“My World needs a lot of large families, you see.”

“…Why is that?”

“Hm, what should I do? That’s a Secret Affair only the family knows, you know…?”

That sticky gaze could be felt even beyond the window.

How laughable. I smiled lightly and knelt down.

“If you can resolve my Burden, I would even give my life. I still have things to do in the Material Realm, so I can’t do it right away, but after that, I will surely become a member of your family.”

“Really? Let me tell you one thing, I’m not a patient person.”

“One week. Please wait just that long.”

“Can I hear what it is you’re trying to do?”

“Revenge.”

I clenched my teeth. I conveyed the intense emotion with my words.

“Before I’m freed from the Burden, while it still remains, I want to face the root cause and eliminate it myself. Please, just wait a little.”

“Haah, if you become my family, none of that would matter…”

Dark Night slowly added, as if there was no helping it, shaking her head from side to side.

“Normally, I don’t accommodate conditions like this. But I really like you. Yes, I really do. So I’ll make an exception this once.”

“Thank you. I’ll be sure to remember there won’t be a second time.”

“I like how quick you are on the uptake too. You… right, I’ll make you my Elder Brother.”

“…”

It took a tremendous amount of effort to keep my expression from twisting.

At those words, one of the marionettes sitting next to her suddenly stood up in surprise.

“Ah, Dark Night nim. Making him a second-degree relative so suddenly…”

“Why?”

“That’s, there are those who are waiting…”

“Hm. I see. Should I be the one who cares about that?”

“…”

Apparently, even when turned into marionettes, some of them still retained bits of their consciousness.

“Piercing Blood, the World-Sealing Pill will be given to Undercurrent after he becomes my Elder Brother. At 700,000, you have no complaints, right?”

“Y-Yes! Th-Thank you very much!”

Piercing Blood, quick on the uptake, immediately bowed low.

“Then now, go. Finish that revenge of yours as soon as possible. If it really doesn’t seem doable, you can even ask me for help. I’ll take care of it within a day. Of course, I’ll still let you deliver the final blow yourself.”

“Yes. I sincerely thank you for taking my circumstances into consideration.”

“No need to thank me. We’re going to be family soon, after all.”

Dark Night accepted my thanks with satisfaction, then stopped me just as I was about to leave, as if she had remembered something.

“Ah, right. Come to think of it, I forgot to ask.”

“Ask what, exactly?”

“Is there, by any chance, a friend of yours who’s on a similar level? Even if not quite to your degree, I think it would help if there’s someone.”

I was about to say no, then suddenly, something flashed through my mind.

I nodded cautiously.

“Yes. There are a few, but…”

“Really? Then could you ask them if they’d be willing to become family?”

“Yes. But I don’t think it’ll be easy to persuade them. People from the Lower Tier seem to have strange preconceptions about you, Dark Night nim. I’ve heard such things myself.”

“Tsk, those bug-like creatures always spreading weird rumors.”

Piercing Blood, who had become one of those bug-like creatures, lowered his gaze.

“So if you could perhaps explain the part about the Burden you mentioned earlier, I think I could use that to persuade them. Just saying the Burden disappears likely won’t be convincing enough.”

“Hm, I suppose that much is fine.”

It seemed this didn’t count as a Secret Affair of the family, as Dark Night responded without much care.

“It’s simple. If you become my family, your Worlds will also become Puppets.”

“…?”

What was that supposed to mean?

“You mean… my World would become a Puppet as well? But wouldn’t that mean I receive the Puppet’s Burden?”

“That’s not how it works. I take on all my family’s Burdens.”

“Excuse me?”

“Just as I said. I receive all your Burdens. Even now, thousands of Burdens are wrapped around my body.”

So.

In exchange for turning into a Puppet, the original Puppet, Dark Night, bears all the Burdens.

“Of course, in return, you won’t be able to use the Puppet World. If I allow it, you can use a small portion of it from within, but then you’ll have to bear the Burden from the Puppet too. It’s difficult, so I don’t force it.”

“I-I see.”

The risk of being unable to use one’s World meant nothing compared to the merit of not receiving a Burden.

If everything she said was true, then Dark Night was practically a saint.

Not that I believed it.

“Then why do you go out of your way to make Fallen into family? You must be taking on that much more Burden by making them family…”

“Wanting to grow one’s family is human instinct, isn’t it? Of course, it’s not like I gain absolutely nothing from it. There’s a little bit of benefit for me.”

Dark Night replied with a light laugh.

“Actually, my World is on the smaller side. Being in the Upper Tier, it’s still bigger than most of the Lower Tier, but when amazing children like you show up, it’s hard to get a look at what kind of World you have.”

“But Dark Night nim, your World reaches places that take a month of travel.”

“That’s because my family is connected there.”

It took me a moment to understand those words.

“…!!!”

And the moment I did, chills ran down my entire body.

“So, the Worlds connected through your family. In other words…”

“Oh? Looks like you figured it out.”

She acknowledged it as if it were nothing.

“That’s right. My family are indeed Puppets, but in the end, they’re my Puppets. It’s not a different World with the same name, it’s just one World.”

“…The size of the original Fallen’s World, that’s what it amounts to.”

“Right. That’s why I like it when they’re big. It makes my World that much larger.”

This was, if I had to compare it, it was a massive pyramid scheme.

A pyramid scheme with Dark Night at the top.

She devours Fallen and spawns offspring called family.

The offspring become her. Though they are called family, and possess different memories, appearances, and even genders, in the end, they are mere doppelgängers bound to the same Puppet World.

If she spreads those around, then wherever, whenever, it becomes Dark Night’s World.

This is no longer an issue of size or scale. The more Fallen Dark Night devours, the more the world is covered by Puppets, and eventually, the entire Material Realm will be placed under the Puppet.

Dark Night grinned thickly. That’s how it felt.

“Ah, was I not supposed to say this?”

“…Even if it’s the family’s Secret Affairs, I will soon become family, so I think there is no problem.”

“Mm, right. Then I’m counting on you to persuade them.”

So this is the Upper Tier.

This is what the Crimson Circle really is.

It went beyond disgust, it was terrifying.

But even more terrifying than that was the final thing Dark Night said.

“I’ll be waiting, oppa.”

*

Once they exited Dark Night’s palace and confirmed the surveillance was gone, Piercing Blood immediately asked with a puzzled expression.

“Wh-What the hell? Why didn’t you attack?”

“Like I said, I couldn’t. If I’d shown even the slightest sign of hostility, we would’ve been the first to die.”

I rubbed my neck. Just moments ago, a thread had been wrapped around it.

Even though I had pushed my current sense to its absolute limits, I couldn’t see anything anymore. As I let out a small sigh of relief, a tightness returned to my chest.

It was that Burden I had once told Dersia about.

“Ugh…”

“What’s wrong?!”

“…It’s nothing.”

I need to resolve this unknown Burden quickly too.

After calming down a little and explaining in detail, Piercing Blood now wore an expression of disbelief.

“So, the moment we stood before her, we were already in a state of death?”

“Not exactly. We’re alive right now, aren’t we?”

“If the enemy holds the power of life and death, that means we’re dead. We just survived thanks to the enemy’s mercy. Did you at least find a way to resolve this?”

“No.”

It was a hopeless answer.

To be honest, I didn’t even know when that thread had been wrapped around me.

Even if I had known, whether I could’ve prevented it is a different matter.

The possibility of assassination was practically blocked.

“…Then.”

Piercing Blood now looked utterly despairing and clutched his head.

“So we have to give up…”

“?”

“To be honest, if everything you said is true, I can’t even see a way forward. How can we possibly stand against something like that? We were chasing a hopeless dream…”

“No, what were you even listening to me say just now?”

As I snapped back in disbelief, Piercing Blood flinched.

“Didn’t you just say there’s no way?”

“I said it’s difficult. And…”

I glanced briefly toward the Manganji Kingdom, where Dark Night resided.

“I did find a way, somehow. She told me everything herself.”

“…Is that true?”

“It’s a bit off to say I can ‘kill’ her, but… let’s call it a breakthrough.”

All Worlds possess a Burden.

And that Burden depends on the nature of the World.

As someone of the Deep Sea, I received immense pressure. Wihwa, who had been dreaming daydreams, couldn’t distinguish between reality and dream.

Then what of the Puppet World, which infinitely replicates itself to expand its domain?

“But I need to verify a few things.”

“Verify?”

“Yes.”

The Upper Tier really was full of absurd monsters.

But I already knew that, ever since I met Decay and Lump.

Resolve was the only element I possessed in sufficient amounts.

“She said a week…”

The time I had promised Dark Night.

Within that time, either Dark Night or I, one of us would die.