Wizard of the Deep Sea

TL/ED – Miso

The raw material for the World-Sealing Pill was soil.

Having expected something far more gruesome, tears from someone being tortured to death, perhaps I couldn’t easily accept this.

The power to seal one’s World, from mere white soil?

“Well… maybe not ‘mere’.”

If it were truly ordinary soil, Dersia would have synthesized it long ago. There had to be something special about it.

First, I wove the nearby tree roots into a small door and opened my Workshop through it, then scooped up as much soil as I could carry.

“…Hm?”

But I couldn’t collect very much.

After digging down about a meter, I noticed black soil mixed in. Tasting it confirmed it was equally disgusting, but I felt none of the World-Sealing Pill’s effects. Just as I was wondering if the Crimson Circle had already used up the surprisingly small deposit, I saw the black soil bleaching before my eyes in real time.

In this place, ordinary soil was transforming into the raw material for the World-Sealing Pill.

Only one thing set this location apart from anywhere else.

That tree.

“…”

I went outside, gathered some ordinary soil, and sprinkled it in a line from the entrance to the tree.

I lit a fire and observed for about five minutes. The soil closest to the tree began to bleach first.

“…What the hell is this?”

Suspicion became certainty.

I touched the oak tree, bewildered. This single tree had been converting the surrounding soil into the raw material for the World-Sealing Pill.

After packing the Workshop full of soil, I lightly plucked a leaf and rubbed it against the dirt.

No change this time. Maybe only the tree itself worked.

To confirm, I grabbed a branch to break it off—

“I beg of you.”

“!”

The sudden, solemn plea made my skin crawl, and I leaped back several steps.

It wasn’t the tree that had spoken. The skeleton embracing the tree like a lover was clicking its broken jaw, producing sound.

…No, that wasn’t right either.

A skeleton without vocal organs couldn’t create a voice. When I activated Current Sense, I detected minute currents swirling inside the skeleton’s throat.

“Unbelievable.”

I breathed the word with equal parts shock and respect.

The skeleton had replicated vocal organs by manipulating water pressure differentials with a mastery that bordered on art.

This was definitely a Fallen of the Deep Sea. How it remained alive in that state and could still wield its World’s abilities, I had no idea.

“What exactly are you asking for?”

I kept my guard up and glared at it as I asked.

“I beg of you. Please do not do this.”

“I’m asking what—”

“I beg of you. Please do not do this.”

“?”

The same words repeated over and over.

After a while, the skeleton calmed and returned to stillness. I watched it, then reached for the branch again.

“I beg of you. Please do not do this.”

“A recording…?”

The skeleton wasn’t alive. It seemed designed to trigger certain responses when something touched the tree.

That was even stranger. What could this possibly be? While I was puzzling over it, I tightened my grip on the branch.

The script changed.

“Whatever you seek, whatever rumors brought you here, they are false. Nothing exists in this place.”

“There is only a single tree. I beseech you, have mercy on this pitiful departed soul and leave. I beg of you.”

-Creak…

As I gradually increased pressure on the branch, preparing to snap it—

“Whoever you are, I do not wish to harm you.”

The script changed again.

At the same time, I felt my Water Barrier beginning to compress.

This unidentified skeleton was using water pressure to crush me.

Pathetic. I smiled lightly and let the stars shine in my eyes.

“Go ahead. Let’s see which of us is faster.”

“…”

I formed a blade of wind and held it against the tree, right in front of the skeleton.

My life was already forfeit anyway. If I cut even a piece of it and brought it back to Dersia, I had everything to gain.

But this skeleton had a hostage it absolutely had to protect. A hostage that could neither flee nor fight back.

Surrender was the obvious outcome.

“This world has been corrupted.”

The skeleton began its plea in a tone of resignation (though it was probably pre-recorded).

“If his World had covered the earth in lava, we would have noticed the heat and acrid fumes and stopped it.”

“If his World had blanketed the earth in snow and ice, we would have noticed the cold and darkness and stopped it…”

“…What are you talking about?”

The persuasion was remarkably cryptic.

I tilted my head, genuinely unable to understand what it was trying to say.

“But while the world was being saturated with his lingering presence, we noticed nothing.”

“It could not be helped. In an age before wizards existed, how could anyone perceive the world filling with mana?”

The First Wizard. That guy again.

I furrowed my brow, and the skeleton continued as if lamenting.

“Everything was already over. Before we could even fight, before we could do anything. The world became this.”

“Every last grain of sand in the vast desert became his. The world was reduced to one individual’s possession.”

“—Except for this single tree.”

I looked up at the oak tree again.

“As long as this tree lives… as long as my World protects it, this will remain the sole means of resistance.”

“If you suffer from his curse, eat the soil around it. That way, you can ease your symptoms without harming the tree.”

“But I beg of you, please do not kill the tree.”

“It is the last hope our world left behind. Please, I beg of you…”

“…”

The skeleton fell silent. I stared at it and organized the explanation.

It seemed that while the being called the First Wizard had been dyeing the world with something called mana, this skeleton had managed to protect this one thing.

I didn’t understand exactly how an uncorrupted tree could seal a World. That was for Dersia to figure out.

“But seriously, what the hell is the First Wizard…”

Based on everything so far, it meant this bastard had spread mana throughout the world and created what we now called wizards.

That still made no sense. It wasn’t a scale any individual could achieve.

I understood why the Crimson Circle wanted to bring him down. But that didn’t mean the First Wizard seemed normal either. His existence appeared certain, but…

I looked between the tree and the skeleton for a moment, then just sighed and turned away.

First, I’d send the soil. If more was needed, I’d come back and cut some.

With that decision made, I exited the Bottomless Pit. Piercing Blood and Damyu, who had been standing guard, brightened and welcomed me.

“Undercurrent-nim!”

“Undercurrent. You made it back safely! So, did you find anything useful in there?”

“See for yourself.”

I opened my Workshop and showed them the white soil packed inside.

Piercing Blood looked puzzled at first, then his eyes went wide as he realized the soil’s color was familiar.

“…Don’t tell me this is all—”

“There’s still plenty more. It’s being produced automatically. If I had to describe it, there’s something like a World-Sealing Pill mine down there.”

“Oh, what about security inside?”

“No reason to post guards. Anyone besides me who goes in there dies instantly.”

I shook my head.

You couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see, and the labyrinth was insanely complex. Thanks to Current Sense, I could perceive everything and navigate easily, but without a similar detection ability, even if someone developed oxygen tanks or something, they’d likely die before reaching the labyrinth.

A natural fortress created by a dying Fallen of the Deep Sea. That was the Bottomless Pit. For the Crimson Circle, it was far easier to leave it unguarded than to post sentries and risk arousing suspicion from the Lower Tier.

“M-may I taste it?”

“Go ahead.”

Amid his nervous subordinates, Piercing Blood took a pinch of soil and brought it to his lips.

“Mm…”

“Boss. How is it?”

“—You fools.”

Piercing Blood turned around with a grave expression, then—

Smiled so wickedly that any child who saw it would burst into tears on the spot.

“It’s definitely the raw material. This is easily enough to make fifty thousand pills.”

“Oh, ohhh…!!”

“Well, defection would still be difficult with just fifty thousand. Is it possible there are other mines like this somewhere else?”

Unfortunately for the hopeful Piercing Blood, I shook my head.

“No. This is probably the only place in the world that can produce the raw material for the World-Sealing Pill.”

“Tch, figures…”

He clicked his tongue, but he was still smiling.

“But yes, now we’ve definitely found a way out.”

“A way out?”

“Even if the Upper Tier tears itself apart and collapses, as long as we know the World-Sealing Pill is made here, we don’t have to fear death anymore. We no longer need to share the Crimson Circle’s fate.”

That alone seemed to satisfy him. Piercing Blood looked extremely pleased.

“Undercurrent, is there anything you want? As someone from the Upper Tier, there probably isn’t much I can do for you, but if there’s anything you desire, I’ll do my best to accommodate. Without you, finding it and exploring would have been impossible.”

“Ask me in the next life.”

“What? Hahaha! You can joke around?”

Watching him laugh it off, I steeled myself.

I’d found the raw material for the World-Sealing Pill. I knew where they operated. I had a rough sense of what these people were working toward.

All that remained was figuring out how to find the hidden behind the veil—

The time had come to gamble with my life.

***

Having resolved myself, I acted immediately.

“A, i, e, o, u.”

“…”

“What are you doing? Repeat after me. A, i, e, o, u.”

“…A, i, e, o, u…”

For one week.

Locked in an underground cell, I studied language one-on-one with Cheon-hwa.

For a challenge I’d undertaken with the resolve to die, it felt a bit underwhelming.

The studying itself wasn’t particularly difficult, but Cheon-hwa… how should I put this…

Treating me like I was actually a child was a bit much.

“This word would be ‘hungry.'”

“Well done. Here is your reward.”

She would say things like that while popping candy into my mouth. It was always lemon-flavored.

Being treated this way while studying gave me mixed feelings, but since Cheon-hwa insisted it was necessary, it wasn’t unhelpful.

[…moving—??…—-north…]

My ears had opened.

“…These things were actually communicating this whole time.”

Realizing that the Deep Sea Creatures—which I’d previously seen as nothing more than incomprehensible monsters—were saying things with actual meaning was quite a fresh experience.

“Then put what you have learned into practice.”

“Yes.”

As I grew slightly nervous, Cheon-hwa stroked my head.

“I have selected only the most reliable words. Nothing should go wrong.”

“Understood.”

I took a deep breath.

And opened my mouth near my Water Barrier.

[North, something.]

What came from my lips was not human language.

It was the vocabulary of Deep Sea Creatures that Cheon-hwa had taught me.

It was merely stringing together similar sounds, but—

[…?]

[…???]

They reacted.

It wasn’t just an automatic response to sound. Every creature that heard it turned its gaze northward.

I nodded, feeling a small surge of elation.

“It worked. At this rate, I might actually be able to have conversations with them eventually.”

“Not every individual will respond, but some definitely will.”

“How can you be so certain?”

“Because I have memories of seeing another of the Three Evils besides you.”

Cheon-hwa brushed it off casually and handed over a stack of books.

“Well done. But your pronunciation is still awkward. Practice with the teaching materials for at least an hour every day. Write down every new word you hear.”

“Ah, thank you. I’ll make sure to do that.”

“Hmm…”

I answered eagerly and bowed my head deeply.

Cheon-hwa looked down at me for a moment, lost in thought.

“…Perhaps it is time I entrusted you with a task.”

“A task?”

“Yes.”

After a brief pause, she spoke.

“Have you ever killed someone?”