Wizard of the Abyss - Chapter 293

Chapter 293: Deception (2)

TL/ED – Miso

Ignorance is bliss.

Sharmia took that famous proverb a little differently.

Ignorance, she thought, was a drug that bewitched people.

“Your Highness. May I come in?”

“…Ah, yes.”

Sharmia, who had been idly spinning a dagger around, hurriedly shoved it beneath the desk at the sudden visit.

Holding a blade in front of the retainers who knew her secret was not a good idea. It could look as though she were trying to run away.

Karos, who opened the door and entered with a grave expression, soon studied the office that looked no different at all from the one back in the royal palace, seemingly astonished.

“…It’s exactly the same. I thought the talk of the Dwarves’ craftsmanship, of building a city overnight, had to be exaggerated… but it seems, if anything, I’d underestimated them.”

“I know. To think they could build a city this vast in such a short time. If anything deserves to be called magic, surely it’s this.”

“Though it is a bit cramped.”

At Karos’s words, Sharmia rose from the desk that was still piled with countless documents and headed to the balcony.

A blue sky stretched out wide, giving no hint at all that they were underground.

And, as if in contrast to that sky, a city packed full of all sorts of people and buildings.

Even from this high vantage point, she could tell their condition was far from good.

“As you instructed, we made room in the royal palace as well, but it isn’t enough.”

“Space, you mean?”

“Everything, space included. Everything except drinking water, food, tools for treatment, even basic medicines. But the biggest problem, um…”

With a tense expression, Karos swallowed and tried to choose the gentlest words she could.

“To borrow the Dwarves’ own words, they didn’t expect us to arrive so suddenly, so the preparations aren’t finished. They said we won’t be able to hold out for very long.”

“And we can’t very well leave now, either.”

“Apparently the ground could even give way. And the buildings, under this much load, would soon collapse. They say there aren’t enough hands to keep up with the maintenance.”

“…That means-”

“A long-term stay looks impossible.”

“…”

These were the words of none other than the very ones who had built a new world underground.

There would be no lie in them. This Underground City could be nothing more than a small refuge.

“Everyone must be full of complaints, then.”

“…That’s the very reason I came to see you. Many groups and lords are voicing their discontent over this sudden ‘summons’. Some… are even asking to be let out of this place.”

“That can’t happen. Did you explain clearly what’s going on outside?”

“Yes. But it seems they can’t bring themselves to believe it.”

“I suppose that’s only natural…”

A battle between Outer Gods was something no one could believe unless they had seen it with their own eyes.

And it wasn’t as if she could simply show them. Letting out a sigh, she made a request of her loyal confidante.

“I know it’ll be difficult, but I’d like you to avoid using force as much as possible. If internal strife breaks out in a place like this, it’ll spiral out of control.”

“Yes. Ah, one more thing… Might Your Highness happen to have heard of any deadline…?”

“A deadline, you mean?”

“Yes. If we at least knew how long it will take for matters up above to be settled, persuading them would be much easier.”

“Hmm…”

Sharmia worked her lips for a moment, then answered.

“…For now, tell them a week.”

“Understood. And if that deadline passes?”

“Then I’ll adjust the deadline and tell you again.”

“…”

At that answer, delivered as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

Karos hesitated for a moment, then hurriedly bowed her head.

“…I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

“What do you have to be sorry for, Karos? While the two of them fight up above, keeping everyone safe in the meantime is my job.”

“It’s an apology for disobeying your order. I’ll tell them two weeks, and I’ll make them accept it.”

“Two weeks? Will they really be willing to wait that long?”

“If that is the Princess’s task, then this one is mine. Please, grant me your permission.”

“…All right. Just don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Yes.”

After Karos left the office with a gloomy expression.

Sharmia sighed and rested her chin on the balcony rail.

“Haah…”

Three days had passed since Jern moved everyone into the Underground City.

But no word had come yet. And there was nothing to confirm defeat either, since a victorious Void had not reached out his hand.

Only time, in which nothing changed at all, went slipping by, and Sharmia felt a helplessness she hadn’t known in a long while.

“There’s nothing to be done. Nothing at all.”

-Round and round.

Sharmia lifted the dagger again and, spinning it, brought it lightly to her throat.

‘Should I go back and ask?’

But even if she did, the answer that came back would most likely be that he didn’t know.

She waited, and she mediated the disputes. And she waited for news of victory.

For Sharmia, who could return at any time, it was a truly rare feeling of helplessness.

‘If only I could help.’

The thought struck Sharmia out of nowhere, and she soon let out a small laugh.

Because she knew it was impossible.

“I’d only get in the way.”

One hundred and twenty-one times.

That was the number of times humanity had been destroyed.

A number she had hidden from Karos, from her parents, even from Jern.

The Capital burned, nine-tenths of humanity was slaughtered, and every Wizard suffered the Fall into the Abyss – if that was what one chose to call destruction, then this was the figure that came out. One hundred and twenty-one.

And none of it had even been Void’s own doing. It was the sort of thing where actions born of Void’s actions swelled beyond control until they became an avalanche.

The world was destroyed, cut apart, burned. By its own people.

Sharmia had watched all of it through to the very end. So that if the same situation ever came again, she could stop it. So that she would never have to see the same sight twice.

In the course of it, she had learned again and again just how frail a thing humanity was before the Outer Gods.

Helping was an impossibility.

A being that humanity, destroyed one hundred and twenty-one times over, could not dare to oppose; one that could bring them down with a few light flicks of an Outer God’s hand.

In the end, Jern was right. Humans could only ever be a hindrance; they could never become something that helped.

Protecting humanity here and praying for Jern’s victory was the most correct option she had.

Though she had no idea how to pray in a way that might actually help.

“Haah, I wonder if he’s doing all right up there…”

“Shar… mia.”

“…?!”

Just as she let out a deep sigh, shaking off those idle thoughts.

A voice that should not have been there came from behind her. Startled, she pitched forward, and just as she was about to tumble off the balcony, a cold hand with no warmth to it caught her.

“My apologies. I appeared far too suddenly. Perhaps I should have at least tapped you on the shoulder.”

“J-Jern…?”

Sharmia caught her breath at the sight of the Outer God, who had somehow grown taller than her.

He was not in good shape. His body was scratched all over and his clothes were torn, so that he looked as though he’d been caught up in a storm.

“That’s fine, but- no, are you the one who’s all right, Jern? You’re not in one piece.”

“Yes. I’m perfectly fine. Really.”

“…Ah!”

Watching him, Sharmia soon felt goosebumps rise across her whole body.

Jern’s expression was brimming with confidence. Like someone who had pulled off something momentous.

The reason Jern, who until moments ago should have been fighting Void up above the world, would be wearing such an expression.

As far as Sharmia knew, there was only one.

“…You did it!”

“Sorry?”

Unable to contain the emotion welling up inside her, Sharmia threw her arms around Jern.

“You succeeded, didn’t you?! That’s why you came back! Haah, do you have any idea how worried I was, three whole days with no word? I even went as far as wondering whether I should die and go back just to ask!”

“Ah, no. I’m sorry to get your hopes up like this, but no.”

Jern calmly pushed Sharmia away and shook his head.

“I didn’t bring Void down. No, the truth is the fight isn’t even over.”

“…What?”

“I thought it was Heaven, but it wasn’t; it was something else entirely. Every single one of my plans was twisted and torn apart. If Void hadn’t been wary of me, I’d have been shredded to death long ago. I managed to buy some time in that opening. It was sheer heaven-sent luck.”

“You… you lost?”

“Hmm… it’s not exactly that I lost…”

Jern rubbed his chin, mulling it over, then averted his gaze.

“…I lost. Yes, I think I did lose.”

“…”

Her mouth hanging open, Sharmia struggled to hold on to her reeling mind.

“S-so… you’re saying Void was far stronger than you expected. That’s what this means.”

“Precisely. You catch on quickly.”

“Don’t go forcing out compliments! Th-then what happens to us?”

“Princess. There’s still time left. To be precise, that’s exactly what I came here for.”

Jern’s expression turned serious as he looked at Sharmia.

“Please, help me.”

“…Yes. Of course I will.”

Seeing the confidence still flowing in his eyes, Sharmia pulled herself together and nodded.

“But even if you ask for my help, I don’t know what I could possibly do. We’re powerless. On a battlefield of Outer Gods, humans can’t even serve as pawns.”

“I thought so too. Until I met your father, Princess.”

“What? My Royal Father, I mean, His Majesty?”

“Yes. He’s right here-”

Jern glanced at the empty space beside him and clicked his tongue.

Then he moved his fingers and created a pool.

“Come out. Tell her yourself.”

“…Dad?”

Sharmia covered her mouth with her hand at the sight of the old man dragged out of the pool like so much baggage.

Those eyes, that figure. It was unmistakably the Emperor – her own father.

“N-no. Why is my father, who’s supposed to be in the hospital-”

“…Do not call me your father.”

The Emperor forced out a voice she couldn’t remember the last time she had heard, refusing to meet Sharmia’s eyes and trying to hide from them.

“I am not your father. I am the monster that had been hiding in your blood.”

“What are you-”

“The being you knew as your father never existed to begin with. I was born because I chose to exist, and I made you, the most convenient tool of all, and laid a curse upon you. A curse that would make you protect humanity.”

“…”

Feebly, the Emperor raised a finger and pointed at the dagger clutched in Sharmia’s hand.

When Sharmia stood there with her mouth open, unable to get out a word, Jern spoke up in her place.

“This so-called Emperor was, in fact, the culprit who sent you back over and over without end, Princess. You were a tool designed from the very start to protect humanity.”

“…I see.”

“I understand how you must feel, but I’d ask you not to be too angry. As I said, it was closer to a tool than a human. It only carried out the most efficient method available…”

“That’s not it.”

Sharmia gathered her thoughts for a moment, then took the hand of the Emperor, whose head hung low.

When the Emperor flinched and tried to pull his hand away, she gripped it all the tighter.

“It’s true, if I were ten years old, I might have hurled every curse imaginable at you.”

“…”

“If I were eleven, I might have tried to kill you by any means necessary.”

“……”

“And if I were twelve, I might have decided death was too much of a mercy and kept you alive to torture for the rest of your life.”

Sharmia smiled at the Emperor, who sank lower and lower.

“But now I feel nothing at all. Thanks to it, I was able to save the people I’ve come to cherish. I’ll think of it as a slightly mean birthday present.”

“Sharmia…”

“You can still call me your daughter, you know. I mean, technically speaking, um… it’s not as though you made me the way Jern makes his Deep Sea Creatures, right?”

Sharmia blinked, then was suddenly horrified.

“…Did you?”

“I, I did not. I used a human body.”

“Phew. Then that’s fine.”

“-I’m sorry.”

Unable to control his increasingly trembling body, the Emperor sank to his knees, still clutching Sharmia’s hand.

“I did something that should never have been done. Just because you’ve forgiven me doesn’t mean it’s a thing that can be forgiven…”

“It’s fine. If you want to argue that point, at least save it for after everything is over. Right now, you need me, don’t you?”

Sharmia soothed the Emperor for a moment, then looked at Jern with a serious expression.

“To be precise, my ability is what will help in taking Void down. Am I right?”

“…You really do catch on quickly.”

Jern nodded gravely.

“There’s something I want to ask of you, Princess. I know it’s cowardly of me to say this while being certain you’ll never refuse, but you’re free to turn me down.”

“I’ll consider it, so tell me.”

After just the slightest hesitation.

Jern spat the words out.

“…I’d like you to go back, quite a long way.”

*****

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