Wizard of the Deep Sea

TL/ED – Miso

“Ah… no…”

“What is all this?”

Ignoring Number 1 who stood with his mouth agape, I answered Dark Night’s question while kneeling.

“It felt like I was doing too little compared to the grace you’ve shown me, so I brought a few more Family members. I hope this doesn’t become a burden.”

“…This is something that shouldn’t be done.”

Number 1 clenched his teeth and took a step forward, glaring at me.

He seemed to be making an effort to hide his hostility since he was in front of Dark Night, but when I turned my current sense on him, his heart was beating quite violently.

It must not have been a situation he wanted.

“If you indiscriminately increase the Family like this without thinking about the consequences, the other members of the Upper Tier will start watching us. They’re already dissatisfied with how benevolent Dark Night nim is, aren’t they?” “Mm, that’s true.”

Dark Night let out a small sigh.

I’d heard this before, apparently the Upper Tier was wary of Dark Night increasing her Family.

Well, it would be an act of turning the Fallen, who are a human resource available to all Upper Tier members, solely into her own servants. It wouldn’t be something encouraged.

Still, since we’re comrades working toward the same goal, they’d tolerate a reasonable amount, but what I did clearly crossed that line by a wide margin.

Dark Night looked at the thirty Fallen with regret and shook her head.

“Sorry, oppa, but I think you’ll have to send all of them back except for three. No matter how uninterested they are in the Lower Tier, to bring them here like this forcibly…”

“No. It wasn’t by force.”

“Mm?”

Of course.

I had thought of all that too.

While Dark Night tilted her head in doubt, I turned my gaze toward the Fallen I had “brought.”

The hesitant ones, with expressions of newfound resolve, knelt and opened their mouths.

“Dark Night nim, please accept us!”

“We beg you!”

Thud! As they slammed their heads to the ground, Dark Night looked puzzled and asked.

“What is going on here?”

“We were deceived all this time. We believed that becoming one of Dark Night nim’s puppets, ah, Family, would only lead to a terrible demise. That we would become unable to think or die, forced to long for death eternally… We believed such slander and kept our distance from you…”

“But after hearing Undercurrent nim’s sermon, we realized that all of it was just us throwing ashes into our own eyes!”

“Sermon?”

I shrugged.

“They’re exaggerating. I merely had an honest conversation with them.”

I finally got to show off some of my skills.

Since the Lower Tier is also a place where people live, all kinds of things are traded. The only difference is that instead of money, it’s traded with World-Sealing Pills.

Using the massive amount of World-Sealing Pills I had accumulated, I bought information from the Keepers.

Of course, they didn’t trust me much, so I couldn’t buy anything too important. Still, it wasn’t hard to find weak individuals who were clearly bottom-tier and wouldn’t last long.

I lured those kinds of people with World-Sealing Pills and gathered them.

Then, I gave them a little persuasion.

“Thanks to that, our eyes have been opened! Dark Night nim, we offer everything. Please, accept us!”

The Fallen even shed tears. People cornered in life tend to hand over their lives to others more easily than you’d think.

I slid in subtly next to the bewildered Dark Night and added an explanation.

“I did a bit of a traveling show, so if you go to Lower Tier now, everyone will know that these people came to Dark Night of their own will. And how could anyone stop that?”

Even if the Upper Tier finds Dark Night’s behavior unpleasant, they wouldn’t be able to stop people who came on their own.

So I had hit a perfect home run.

I brought fifty Fallen with no strings attached for a task that only needed three. And this method could be used again and again in the future.

Now, all that was left was to see Dark Night’s reaction.

Would she get angry and tell me not to do unnecessary things? Would she just let it pass without a word? Or-

“…Haa.”

As I focused on the shift in her mood, she suddenly let out a deep sigh.

“Oppa.”

“Yes.”

“You really do love me, don’t you?”

Well, at least it didn’t seem to be a failure.

Dark Night smiled gently and suddenly raised her hand to pat my shoulder.

Where her delicate hand rubbed, Threads descended and wrapped around me tightly.

However, the number of Threads was not normal.

“Sacrifice is beautiful. Even more so if it was done without expecting any reward.”

“…Thank you.”

Just as I was feeling flustered from receiving far more Threads than I had expected, her words continued.

“Since I still cannot increase the Family, keep them as your Children for now.”

I didn’t understand every detail, but it sounded like she was telling me to keep them under my servitude.

I let the Threads descend and connected them to the Fallen. They gagged briefly and then soon entered the same state as the prisoner I had once bound by servitude.

It was clear that their condition was different from mine. It seemed only Dark Night could increase the Family, and the rest of us could only increase our Children.

And by Children, it must refer to this zombie-like state. When I turned all fifty Fallen into that, Dark Night patted my back as if I had done well.

“Well done. But… you’re still wearing that mask? Didn’t you say it’s a Burden?”

“Yes. It doesn’t torment me anymore, but I’ve grown used to it. I feel uneasy without it.”

“Hmm, well, if that’s the case. You’ve done well, so rest for today.”

“Thank you.”

As Dark Night left in quick, light steps, looking pleased, Number 1, following behind her, gave me a glare so intense it looked like it could kill.

I met it with a light smile.

What can I do?

If something like this makes him mad, he won’t last long.

*

Since that day.

With Dark Night’s permission, my main field of activity became not the Manganji Kingdom, but the Lower Tier.

It usually went like this: using World-Sealing Pills as bait, I would gather the scattered Fallen in various places and give them a sermon.

“So, what you’re saying is that becoming Dark Night’s puppet is the only way to escape the Burden without any side effects?”

“Exactly.”

“How are we supposed to believe that?”

“Look at me, I’m standing right here like this.”

The name Undercurrent was already fairly well-known in the Lower Tier.

The fact that such a person had gone under Dark Night and continued proselytizing like he was still sane, yeah, most people thought it was at least worth hearing what I had to say once. And there were World-Sealing Pills on the line, too.

Let me add something here, personally, I think Dark Night should’ve gone into religion instead of playing family.

Her abilities were just too specialized for that.

“Look! Right now, I feel no Burden whatsoever and I’m this fine! Of course, at first, you’ll lose your sense of self and be used like a puppet. But once that time of atonement ends, you can become her Family like me and be promised eternal life.”

“O-Oh…?”

“Yes, I understand you’re more afraid of surrendering your self-awareness than of dying. But think about it logically. Do you think offering just your life is enough to erase the Burden? Suffer a bit, and then live on as her Family, that is truly…”

As I kept talking, even those who were skeptical at first would nod at least once or twice.

Of course, they had all heard rumors about Dark Night, so they weren’t quick to believe.

But in the end, weren’t they all living lives where they’d die after endlessly taking World-Sealing Pills?

From the beginning of time, religion has existed for people like them, those at the very bottom.

“I… I want to believe…”

“Tsk, but no one’s come back yet! How can you trust something like that!”

“…”

Even if it wasn’t enough yet, I was still able to regularly bring about ten Fallen to the Manganji Kingdom every week.

Compared to before, when Dark Night had to slowly increase the Family by one or two each month, either by buying Fallen with World-Sealing Pills or hesitating due to how it would look, I was receiving high recognition from her.

Three weeks. That’s how long it took for me to become the ace.

During that time, the number of Threads on my body increased to tens of thousands. And inside my head, I now had over a hundred remote controls.

Internally, that was the extent of the change.

Externally, well.

“Number 33, you’ve brought more devout Believers again, I see.”

“Today there are a bit fewer.”

It wasn’t much, but I had gotten to know a few of the Family members.

Stepping down from the dragon’s back, now a familiar routine, I was having the Children lead the Fallen, who were turning into mush, when Number 11, a man in his early to mid-thirties in charge of playing Dark Night’s grandmother, let out a sigh of admiration.

“You’re using the puppets under your servitude quite well now.”

“Yes. It’s not all that difficult, after all.”

“Well, that’s true. Still, you do learn rather quickly.”

Indeed, with Puppets, as long as they’re tied with Threads, all you have to do is give commands. Number 11 praised me a few more times as if he were genuinely impressed, then got to the main point.

“Number 1 is calling for you.”

“Hmm, I see.”

“Don’t make yourself too hated. And don’t even think about fighting. You’re no match.”

“How could I possibly oppose a mother as lofty as the sky?”

Conversely, Number 1 was just itching for a reason to tear me apart.

Upon entering the Capital’s palace and tying up my horse at the stable, he appeared from the back with a displeased expression.

Looked like he’d been waiting for me.

“Ah, Number 1 nim. I heard you were calling for me.”

“…”

Of course, it wasn’t the first time I’d felt hostility, so I brushed it off calmly.

Grinding his teeth, Number 1 finally opened his mouth.

“Dark Night nim is calling for you. Be at the Royal Hall’s terrace by evening.”

“Understood. But if that was all, wouldn’t it have sufficed to relay the message through Number 11?”

“I had words of my own to deliver to you as well.”

“I’m all ears.”

It was probably going to be another petty quarrel like before.

He lightly brushed off his clothes and, hiding a bit of his hostility, began speaking.

“You probably think I hate you for no reason. That I enforce pointless rules and do all this just to keep your rising popularity in check.”

“Not at all. I never once thought that.”

I answered calmly, though I was quite surprised inside. I hadn’t expected him to admit it.

Number 1 let out a sigh as if he already knew everything.

“Right. Listen closely, because you need to understand the situation. What you’re doing now is, quite frankly, unbelievably dangerous.”

“…?”

“In the beginning, yes, there used to be a lot like you. Seeing Dark Night nim’s youthful appearance, and those terrifying powers… and then witnessing that abnormal obsession with Family and sacrifice, anyone with half a brain would always reach the same conclusion.”

Looking up at the sky as if recalling something, he then locked eyes with me again.

“That she could be used.”

“How could I ever harbor such impious thoughts about Dark Night nim…”

“Don’t try to fool me. If you just match her values around Family and sacrifice, a good number have thought they could manipulate and control her from the side. You’re doing exactly the same thing they did, doing things she would like, by any means, to gain her trust.”

At this point, it sounded like something worth listening to.

But Number 1 slowly shook his head as if to warn me not to be mistaken.

“I’ll tell you now, it’s impossible. Did you think I’m the second-in-command? That because she listens to me, I must be the mastermind controlling her? Ha!”

He let out a sharp, self-mocking laugh.

“The only reason I’ve been able to stay by her side for so long is because I know my place. I never tried to understand her, never tried to make sense of her. I just fulfilled the role given to me and didn’t cross any lines. I was desperate just to maintain the status quo, and the others who couldn’t do that all ended up dead… that’s how I got this position.”

“If Dark Night nim ever killed a Family member, I believe she had a valid reason.”

“There was a valid reason. But it was valid to her. And there isn’t a soul in this world who can understand her standards…”

With a slightly softened tone, Number 1 began trying to persuade me.

“You’re already provoking her more than enough. If you try to go any further, you’ll cross the line. Be satisfied and stop here.”

“What is your true intention in saying this to me?”

“Because it’s us who will have to deal with the consequences of what you’ve done.”

“Excuse me?”

“A Family member’s mistake is the Family’s responsibility. I won’t say any more. From today onward, stop bringing in Fallen. Stop acting to win her favor.”

“I see. Understood.”

I nodded with a gentle smile.

“However, bringing in the Believers is something I’ve already started, so I don’t think I can stop that. I ask for your understanding on just that matter.”

“…It seems you didn’t understand what I said.”

“No, I understood. But I cannot, on my own judgment, stop doing what Dark Night nim desires.”

“Enough.”

Number 1 stepped back, his expression far colder than before.

On his face, there was now more resolve than hostility.

“You’ve made the wrong choice.”

“Being here at all… maybe that itself was the wrong choice for all of us.”

There were no more words exchanged.

All that remained between us now was action.

Even if my relationship with Number 1 had collapsed beyond repair, I still had things I needed to do.

For example, responding to Dark Night’s summons.

“Ah, oppa. You’re here?”

“I came because you called.”

She was waiting for me on the terrace bathed in the evening glow.

“I heard you brought more Fallen today? Good job.”

“Yes. However, their numbers have been dropping lately.”

“It can’t be helped. Fewer people will believe your words over time.”

I didn’t know why Dark Night had called me.

I hadn’t spent all that much time with her, but she was someone who acted purely on emotion.

Even if I tried to read her by looking into her eyes…

“Hmm?”

Those lusterless eyes.

No information could be extracted from the eyes of a corpse.

So I didn’t think Number 1 had lied to me just to deceive.

I had never once thought that manipulating Dark Night, or lightly touching upon topics like Family or sacrifice, would make her act how I wanted.

“But there’s still a method left to bring more Fallen.”

“Really? That won’t be easy. The Empire now legally protects natural-born wizards, and magicians never travel alone anymore…”

“It’s not that. In truth, there’s another way to extract more from the Lower Tier.”

“Hooh?”

Dark Night turned to me, seemingly intrigued.

I wasn’t sure if this was an opportunity. But I didn’t have much time left either.

“There are many among the Fallen in the Lower Tier who are capable of developing faith. But they express concern about how those who come here never return.”

“Really? Can’t you just take an ‘Child’ with you?”

“They’ll probably ask many questions. Questions that only that specific Fallen would have known. If I can’t answer them, I won’t even be able to bring the ones I otherwise could.”

“I see. That’s troublesome.”

“Therefore…”

I raised my head.

“Please allow me to access the memories of our Family as well.”

I stated my intention.