TL/ED – Miso
The Princess kept her end of the contract, considering she tore it up.
“She’s not coming.”
“Who isn’t?”
“Nothing.”
The cabin.
It had already been a week, but Sharmia’s side hadn’t pressured in any way.
No, it seed like there was no interest at all, as if eting Sharmia had been nothing but a dream.
[The rebellion was real. Who let the Crimson Circle into the Capital?]
[Perfect response by Her Highness, Princess Sharmia]
The newspapers I had opened contained roughly those kinds of headlines.
The Capital was no longer safe. The unease of those who realized that fact continued to escalate without end, and conversely, Sharmia’s value skyrocketed.
It was because it had been revealed that detaining them on treason charges actually saved them. The orders, clearly issued by the Crimson Circle, ntioned that the assassins were struggling because the nobles they were targeting had not co outside due to being imprisoned.
Thanks to that, the approval rating of Princess Sharmia, which had seed like it couldn’t go any higher, reached 98%. It was unfortunate for Lumia, but perhaps her sister remaining unmarried was the only way for her to beco Empress.
While lying on the bed, I showed Elysia the part about Alletus from the newspaper, as she was making flas rise.
“That’s good. They say the negotiations will be over soon. You be able to return to the mansion.”
“Hmm…”
It was good news, but Elysia let out a hum with a slightly uncertain expression.
“Can’t I just stay here?”
“No. The mansion is much better than here to begin with.”
“Here I can sleep when I want, eat when I want, you’re here too, and I don’t have to take classes.”
“That last one isn’t true. Can you use all the elental magic now?”
“Yep!”
With a proud look on her face, Elysia raised her hand.
Wind swirled so that the fire and water wouldn’t touch each other, and in between, pebbles floated up.
…Now that I’ve learned the Enhanced Mana Body, I can tell. Even considering it’s elental magic, it’s an incredible level of skill.
I’m still stuck on wind magic. I cleared my throat and patted her head.
“Good job. Just a bit more practice and Lord Alletus will probably allow you to go out.”
“Okay, I’ll keep trying!”
Leaving the now-focused Elysia alone, I moved to the desk.
The incident was over, but my task was not.
“….”
I looked at Elysia and quietly renewed my resolve.
I knew, of course, that bastard couldn’t keep using Wihwa’s ability forever. Recently, I had been taking short naps during the day and watching Elysia at night, but I hadn’t been able to confirm the Lump possessing her.
But as long as that thing is alive, I can never relax.
Even aside from that, its hedonistic behavioral pattern was too dangerous. Especially when combined with its mimicry ability.
-Finding and killing the Lump was the top priority placed before .
…For now, I don’t even know where it is or what it’s doing, and even if I et it, I’m not confident I can win.
But if the opportunity cos, I won’t miss it. Until then, I’ll just steadily move forward with what needs to be done.
For example.
I looked down at my ankle.
“…Hmm.”
Other places still had violet bruises in spots. But the ankle was fine. Pressing it didn’t even hurt.
That’s impossible. It was already a miracle that I didn’t get crushed to death in the depths, but the fact that not even a scar remained…
There’s always a cause behind a result. This ti, it was clear.
“Elysia, what do you think this drawing is?”
“Huh?”
I showed her what I had drawn in the notebook.
A yellow jellyfish. Well, to be exact, it was a disgusting creature with thick tentacles several ters long. I was confident I had drawn it well, but Elysia tilted her head.
“This is really gross.”
“…The drawing?”
“Yeah. Jern, you draw really well. But why draw sothing like this? If you’re going to draw sothing, why not my face.”
Leaving the now-chatty Elysia to her chatter, I jotted down the details beside the drawing.
-Yellow jellyfish, sticky. Seems to look disgusting.
That’s about all I could say for now.
Since I don’t know anything, there’s nothing to describe. After a brief hesitation, I added one more detail at the end.
-Can assist the Burden in so way.
“…What was it.”
I tapped the notebook with my pen as I fell into thought.
Was that tentacle trying to help ?
Or was it trying to kill , but the fluid that was protecting its body happened to stick to and ended up helping instead?
Is that even sothing to ponder? Of course, it’s the latter. The world hates , why would it try to help?
Next ti I see it, I should burst it and sar that fluid on myself.
Thinking that, I looked around.
[…]
[…–…..—……]
I hadn’t consciously paid attention to it until now, but there are a lot of Deep Sea Creatures.
Now I had to be conscious of them. Their threat level is incredibly high.
Each one recognizes using current sense, and they probably can control water pressure or currents too. Their physical form alone is threatening enough, of course.
Above all, they are endless. If the end of the Burden ever cos, I’ll have to face a situation like what happened at the spire again, and that ti I’ll die.
But I’ve also co to realize they can be helpful.
If I can’t avoid the encounter that’s bound to co soday, then observation alone isn’t enough. I had to create a personal bestiary.
While the thin, cracked glass wall between them and still exists. As much as possible.
[…–……–?….—…..]
[….–…—~~~….–]
“…Are they talking?”
They’re definitely on a different level from Earth’s deep-sea creatures.
Just fish no, they don’t even seem like fish. Similar species groped through the sea, communicating in so way.
They didn’t fight with one another. Like chickens passing each other by, they just brushed past.
And they simply swam, with fins, shells, and tentacles.
As if they were searching for sothing.
…Well, probably .
“J-Jern?”
I began drawing their appearances one by one in the notebook.
The small, agile ones, the ones that looked dangerous, the ones that seed like they might be helpful, and so on.
As detailed as possible. I wasn’t good at naming, so I just decided based on appearance.
Shell Shark, Giant Anchovy, and so on.
As I was diligently drawing, Elysia looked at with a worried expression.
“Did you have a nightmare? Why are you drawing things like that?”
“Yeah. I t them in a nightmare, but they keep appearing. So I’m drawing them one by one. They say fear cos from ignorance.”
“Are they bothering you?”
“So are, and so… not really.”
More accurately, so are helpful, I guess.
As I vaguely said that, Elysia asked a new question.
“What do they eat?”
“That’s-”
…What do they eat? I haven’t seen them fighting each other.
Do they live by drinking seawater like ?
I don’t really know. Just as I was about to give so vague explanation, sothing brushed against my current sense.
At first, I mistook it for a knight, but then I saw a familiar face and tilted my head.
“Hold on a sec.”
“Huh?”
Why is she here?
I went outside the cabin, and before I could knock, the door opened.
“Ah, Jern!”
Linl stood there with a bright expression.
It hadn’t even been that long since we were apart… but she seed a little taller. Kids grow fast.
I wondered if I had grown too, but there was still a height difference. I rember hearing that girls grow faster at this age. I cleared my throat, brushing away a slight feeling of insecurity.
“So, I ca because I had sothing to give you…”
Linl, who had started speaking quickly, suddenly trailed off.
Wondering what was wrong, I saw that her smile had slightly faded as she pointed behind .
That finger was aid at the girl lying in the room.
“W-Who’s she?”
“Ah, Elysia?”
Now that I think about it, this is their first ti eting.
I gave a bit of a warning.
“Miss Elysia is a noble lady. Don’t point your finger at her carelessly.”
“Oh, I see.”
“…Linl?”
“Mm, it’s nothing. I was just wondering why you’re together.”
“Ah, I’m her teacher.”
“I see.”
“I’ve been teaching her for a while now. Lately we’ve been together all the ti.”
“I see.”
What’s up with this kid.
When I looked at her with a slightly baffled face, Linl fidgeted and brought up her reason for coming.
“Uh, the maid-nim asked if you could stop by the mansion for a mont, so I ca to deliver the ssage.”
“The maid? Who?”
“She said you’d know if I ntioned Ciel.”
Hmm. Probably sothing related to Dersia. I was surprised Linl knew about it.
I closed the book I had been using to draw the Deep Sea Creatures and nodded.
“Alright. Thanks for telling . Want to co with ?”
“…No, uh.”
Unexpectedly, Linl shook her head slightly, then looked behind .
“Would it be okay… if I talked to Miss Elysia?”
“What? Why?”
“Uh, it’s nothing big. I just wanted to chat for a bit. I have so things I’m curious about.”
“Hmm.”
Looking at Linl, who seed a bit anxious, I shrugged my shoulders.
They’re around the sa age, so it’s good if they hang out. Elysia would get bored being only with all the ti.
“Okay. Just make sure you’re polite, alright? Not that I think you’d be rude.”
“Y-Yeah.”
As I left Linl and stepped outside, just in case, I sent out a current sense.
[Huh? Who are you?]
[I’m a friend who’s known Jern for five years and ate with him every day. Jern asked to hang out.]
[…Really?]
Well, nothing suspicious.
Feeling relieved, I got into the carriage.
*
After arriving at Dersia’s mansion, now a familiar ride.
“Jern-nim…”
Ciel was waiting for at the front gate.
Her expression was quite ambiguous. If I had to categorize it, it was a mix of guilt and anger, half and half.
“You didn’t have to co out to et yourself. What did you call for?”
“Well, um…”
Sothing had happened.
As I braced for the worst, Ciel spoke again.
“Master has woken up.”
“What?”
That was good news.
But what was the problem? As I tilted my head, Ciel sighed and led the way.
“This way.”
Dersia’s room. The door was open.
It looked clean, probably because Ciel had been diligently cleaning, but there were still many papers written in unidentifiable language.
Dersia herself was nowhere to be seen.
“Where is Master?”
As I tilted my head, Ciel picked up a letter from the desk.
“She left this behind and left.”
“Huh? To where?”
“Perhaps it’s written in there.”
I frowned, wondering what kind of nonsense this was, and Ciel rubbed her temples as she added an explanation.
“This has never happened before, but it seems she ran away. Twice now.”
“….”
Without hesitation, I opened the letter.
[There is a very simple way to survive the Burden of the Deep Sea.
That is to escape from the species called human.
There was such a thod, yet I never reached out to it.
I don’t know why. It’s confusing.
But now that I’ve found the answer, I will briefly return to my holand.
Ignore everything Ciel says. It’s nonsense.]
“…What on earth does this an?”
Has she lost her mind?
I couldn’t understand what she was saying. The contents were so incoherent, it was hard to believe they were written by the always-intellectual Dersia.
As I stood there confused, Ciel politely reached out her hand.
“May I take a look?”
“Sure.”
She carefully read the letter, then clicked her tongue.
“Her condition is quite serious. We must go find her.”
“I’m not so sure about that. I wonder if we’d be needed.”
I couldn’t deny that Dersia didn’t seem to be in good condition.
But still, chasing after her was a bit much.
Even if a hundred of us went, we wouldn’t match Dersia’s power, what would we even do if we found her?
“She’ll co back eventually, so let’s just ask her about this letter that sounds like she’s got a brain disease when she does.”
“Jern. Do you believe the last line written in this letter?”
Ciel suddenly handed the letter back with a sour expression as she asked.
I thought for a mont, then shook my head.
“My Master’s grace is as vast as the heavens, but Master in her current state…is hard to trust completely. I’ll have to hear it and decide based on my own judgnt.”
Honestly, it’s not even about trusting or not trusting, it’s just too hard to even understand.
At that, Ciel’s expression beca even more serious.
“I’ll speak frankly. I hope it’s just my misunderstanding, but Sia, Master has been in a dangerous state for a long ti. I believe I must go now to stop whatever she’s planning to do.”
“…What do you an by that?”
It was hard to accept the idea that a 9-Star wizard could be unstable.
Who in this world could pose a real threat to her? Even the Crimson Circle executives had fled with their tails between their legs.
“She herself beca that threat.”
“…?”
I mulled over those words for a mont, then frowned.
Dersia, becoming a danger to herself.
There was only one thing that could an.
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Well, the Crimson Circle people clearly said that unless they’re a child, falling into the Abyss is nearly impossible. A 9-Star master who’s lived for hundreds of years, falling? Is that even possible?”
“It’s not impossible.”
“…”
Well… that’s true.
As I couldn’t reply, Ciel added further explanation.
“I respect Master, but I can say for sure that she’s not in her right mind. No Elf has ever chosen the path she did. She insisted all Elves should beco books and even tore the bark off the World Tree, saying it was just a tree, to investigate it. The bizarre things she did in the human realm could fill an entire book.”
Indeed, Dersia wasn’t exactly normal.
“But I’ve heard that arrogance is a trait of wizards. Doesn’t that prove how exceptional she is instead?”
“That is also true. But Jern, Master wasn’t exiled from the Elf Forest just for insulting the World Tree. The bigger reason was because she learned magic.”
That was the first ti I’d heard that, and I opened my eyes wide.
“Huh? Why? Is learning magic a cri?”
“Longevous races must stand still for a long ti.”
“…?”
There was a hint of sorrow in Ciel’s voice.
“No one can walk the Path of Magic to the very end. Not even Elves. In the end, you stand at the final point granted to you, staring endlessly at the path you can never tread. For the rest of your life…”
“For humans, it might not be a problem. Their lifespan ends before inner demons build up too much.”
“But for longevous races like Elves, they stand at that final point, looking beyond for countless ages. That is the reason long-lived beings never touch magic, and why they despise wizards and refuse to marry them.”
“…”
So that’s the backstory.
As I couldn’t respond, Ciel spoke in a low murmur.
“Dersia-nim reached that end point a long ti ago. Of course, until now, it didn’t really matter. Dersia-nim was able to govern herself by simply reading books and recording things in her mind.”
“Then isn’t that enough?”
“But it didn’t look very stable. I feared that if she ever took her eyes off the Path of Magic and looked elsewhere, it would beco dangerous. As Head Maid, I tried my best to fulfill my role by guiding Master to occasionally look away from the Path and focus on other things. To go outside, to talk with people, to find sothing to imrse in besides magic.”
“…”
I kept my thought that she sounded kind of like a mother to myself.
“When I heard that she decided to teach a boy, and a young boy at that, I honestly thought she was being undignified and immature, but at least I felt relieved. I didn’t know it was because she’d seen the trait of a Fallen.”
I ignored that last remark. Apparently, Dersia hadn’t been entirely talking nonsense.
“Do you think this recent change has sothing to do with the Abyss?”
“I believe the possibility is high. Master has often fought with herself whenever inner demons ca, but she had never lost. But now, this is her second ti running away. Sothing is strange.”
I imagined it for a mont.
Dersia, the 9-Star wizard, fallen into the Abyss.
To be honest, nothing ca to mind other than the end of the world. The Material Realm would beco more horrifying than the Deep Sea.
“Please don’t worry too much. It’s probably just overreacting. But I wanted you to understand why, as Head Maid, I cannot tolerate my Master running away.”
Certainly, the idea that Dersia had fallen, it was very likely just a misunderstanding born from Ciel’s deep concern. The idea that a 9-Star wizard would suddenly fall into the Abyss just from teaching was simply too absurd.
But I still needed Dersia.
To kill Lump, and to overco the Burden.
And to ask about the Deep Sea Creatures as well. At the very least, I absolutely had to consult with Dersia about that.
Finally, after so thought, I asked an important question.
“You seem to know where she is. The letter only said ‘hotown.’”
“Yes. What Dersia-nim refers to as her hotown isn’t a country, but a region. It’s probably in chaos right now. The World Tree must be drinking the blood of Elves and blooming red leaves.”
She said it so casually that I couldn’t tell if it was a joke or the truth.
Could I really trust this Head Maid, who seed just as unhinged as her master?
What exactly would I even say when I t Dersia?
After a long deliberation, I ca to a conclusion.
“I guess there’s no choice. Honestly, I still don’t know how I can be of help, but… I do have a reason to see her, at least.”
“Jern, you can help through shock therapy.”
“Why would you do shock therapy on soone about to fall into the Abyss? No, more importantly, how exactly am I supposed to be shock therapy?”
At that, Ciel gave a gentle smile.
No, a sly one.
“I heard you’ve recently taken on a new master.”
“…Yes.”
“You’ve entered the knight course, I believe?”
“Uh, that’s not exactly it… But from the outside, yeah, that’s what it looks like.”
“And your master is a Dwarf?”
“Yes.”
As I wondered what she was trying to say, Ciel nodded in satisfaction.
“Let’s bring him along, too. When she sees her beloved genius magic disciple has degenerated into a Dwarf’s knight squire, she won’t be able to help but co back.”
Looking at Ciel smiling unpleasantly, I thought:
…Maybe I really should follow the last line of that letter to the letter.
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