Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 104

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 104
Caliona had observed closely how the two of them exchanged messages in their daily lives, so she was able to deceive Stella flawlessly.
Stella had grown too dependent on Hyde over time, and that carelessness was her undoing.
Had she paid closer attention, she would have noticed that this Magic Necklace wasn’t nearly as sophisticated as she thought.
She might have realized that Caliona withdrew her Mana just before entering the examination chamber, turning it into nothing more than an ordinary necklace with its X-ray Vision function gone.
“Ugh!”
Then Stella, pinned beneath Caliona’s foot, refused to yield and launched a desperate counterattack.
Crack! Pop-pop-bang! Boom, crash!
All manner of brilliant Offensive Magic struck at Caliona.
Caliona blocked them with Defensive Magic, but some of Stella’s desperate spells grazed her body.
By the time Stella’s Mana finally ran dry, Caliona bore several wounds of her own.
Caliona wiped the blood flowing down her cheek and let out a soundless laugh.
“Ah, you were just as ruthless back then, weren’t you?”
“Hgh, hgh…hhgh.”
“I talked about it before, didn’t I? You remember, don’t you? Back when I’d only just entered the Inner Estate?”
Caliona knew Stella’s ears were damaged, but it didn’t matter. She simply had to say this aloud, at least once.
So she continued her one-sided conversation.
“That day you beat my face to a pulp before leaving me alone in the Contaminated Sanctuary.”
It was during one of Caliona’s third or fourth expeditions to the Contaminated Sanctuary the previous year.
That day too, Stella had approached with a gentle smile, playing the part of a kind senior, before shredding Caliona’s face like a rag.
Then she’d abandoned Caliona in an inconspicuous place and returned to the Magic Tower with only the other students.
Since Caliona hadn’t yet distinguished herself, Cameron never bothered to search for the incompetent newcomer.
“Wake up, you idiot. Stop your whining.”
Caliona regained consciousness in the dead of night.
The moment her eyes opened, Evangellin stood before her, looking down with contempt.
Her ruined face had healed completely, and despite having slept undefended in the Contaminated Sanctuary for half a day, she hadn’t been poisoned.
It was then that Caliona first discovered her monstrous recovery abilities.
“Not long ago, I kept wondering whether Stella ever felt even the slightest regret or remorse for that day. But seeing her try to harm my sister in the Contaminated Sanctuary the same way… there’s nothing left to ask now.”
She’d never really expected anything, but now she was certain: Stella would never reflect on her wrongdoings.
So Caliona could act without hesitation.
“I waited for today. For this moment, when you’re helpless and defenseless, when even a rescue call would bring no aid, when you’ve chosen physical restriction of your own accord.”
At a time when no one was watching her either.
“I won’t kill you, Stella. That would be too simple. Instead, you’ll lose what matters most and live on in agony.”
Today’s examination had a twelve-hour time limit.
Once the maze was complete, the Recovery Room would heal most injuries cleanly.
Unless she intended to kill Stella, any wound, no matter how severe, would be meaningless.
But Caliona had no intention of leaving it at that.
She thrust forward the left arm Stella’s attack had torn open. From within it, a thick, pitch-black liquid dripped steadily.
Stella felt heat so intense it was as if molten metal were being poured across her face.
In an instant, it ate into her wounds, rotting flesh and melting blood vessels.
“Ah, ahhhh, aaahhh!”
All Stella could do was thrash like a beetle overturned, her silent screams tearing from her throat.
Eventually, unable to bear the terrible agony, Stella lost consciousness.
She was discovered twelve hours later, after the examination ended.
The injuries covering Stella’s face and body looked so severe that even the Recovery Room’s chief administrator was called.
Fabien took direct charge of Stella’s treatment, but ultimately rendered a verdict: irreversible damage.
Stella herself heard the pronouncement with her own ears as she regained consciousness.
Wrapped in bandages covering her entire face, she writhed and raged wildly.
Some voices condemned Gawain for using such dangerous toxins and traps in a mere 21st Floor examination.
In fact, the poison that ruined Stella’s face hadn’t come from the maze’s traps at all, so the examination supervisor Gawain could have clarified the truth.
But he made no such explanation, only laughing as if amused by the whole affair.
Gawain emphasized that the examination had been conducted through proper procedures and dismissed the complaints entirely.
Stella claimed someone had deliberately done this to her, but naturally, no investigation took place. Even if it were true that someone had used the trap’s poison to harm her, it wouldn’t violate the rules.
At first, Stella suspected Caliona of being the culprit.
But after wracking her brain, she reached the opposite conclusion—it couldn’t possibly be her.
By her reasoning, Caliona must have certainly given up at least two bodily functions in pursuit of Exam Bonus Points.
Yet the culprit who’d done this to Stella showed no signs of Physical Restriction whatsoever.
Moreover, when the shocking news arrived that Caliona had failed the 21st Floor examination, Stella’s conviction only solidified.
She concluded that she couldn’t possibly have been harmed by someone as insignificant as Caliona.
It was an error born from not knowing that Caliona had actually forfeited no bodily functions at all, having never intended to pass the examination.
Day after day, Stella raged like a madwoman, exhausting the Recovery Room’s dedicated medical mages.
Then one day, as if by the hand of fate itself, a strange rumor reached her ears.
A secret about Cameron that Stella alone had never known.
A disgusting and terrible story about Cameron’s lover—someone who bore an astonishing resemblance to Stella.
* * *
“The 21st Floor examination is really terrifying……”
As they ate lunch together in the Dining Hall, Milena trembled with fear.
“Did you all hear? About Stella’s face? It’s completely ruined—they can’t fix it at all.”
Not just her, but everyone from the Lowest Floor was talking about Stella.
“And Caliona failed too, which means the test is so hard… oh, I wonder if someone like me is doomed to stay on the Lowest Floor forever… eep!”
“Milena? We’re eating. Let’s not talk about gloomy things. Have some more bread.”
As her patience wore thin, Caliona cut off her companion with displeasure.
Milena swallowed the bread Caliona had given her with a miserable expression.
“Liriope, if you just eat bread, it gets dry. Have some juice too.”
“Wait, it’s got a weird taste to it.”
“That’s because I ground vegetables into it. It doesn’t taste good, but it’s good for you. Now drink it quickly.”
Liriope regarded Caliona—who cared for her with such kindness and solicitude—with an enigmatic gaze.
Part of it was her reluctance to drink juice that tasted like dirty dishwater, but that wasn’t the only reason.
Liriope knew it was Caliona who had ruined Stella’s face.
Though the timing was accelerated, the incident that befell Stella resembled what had happened before Time Regression.
‘When she said she wanted to settle things directly with Stella, I had my suspicions… so that girl really was going after my sister’s face then too.’
Stella had once deliberately approached Liriope with the intent to harm Caliona.
Using Liriope as bait, she’d lured Caliona to her room and torn apart her face with magic.
What’s more, she’d forcibly confined Caliona to prevent her from going to the Recovery Room for treatment.
Cameron had ignored Liriope’s pleas for help and even covered up Stella’s wrongdoing.
‘When my sister was finally released much later, her wounds were absolutely horrific. All the medical mages shook their heads at the sight.’
So Liriope had no choice but to beg Fabien, supposedly the Recovery Room’s most skilled healer, for days on end.
Though Fabien grew exasperated with poor Liriope’s persistent nagging, he eventually treated Caliona on credit.
Even with Fabien’s remarkable skill, it took quite a long time to restore Caliona’s face completely.
So Liriope didn’t think for a moment that what Stella had suffered was excessive.
‘At least in this lifetime, it seems Stella only attempted to go after my sister, not succeeded.’
When she’d asked Milena, the latter said Caliona had never sustained injuries serious enough to require the Recovery Room’s care.
‘And now I understand what my sister meant when she said she’d stay by my side even after the examination.’
Now that she thought about it, it seemed Caliona had never intended to pass the examination at all.
But honestly, she was glad. The prospect of climbing the Magic Tower with Caliona was something Liriope treasured beyond measure.
“By the way, Liriope, are you going to visit Cassel today too?”
“Yeah, I’m planning to go after lunch.”
“But even when we all went yesterday, he wouldn’t open the door.”
Caliona seemed displeased with Cassel’s cold shoulder to her sister.
Milena nodded as she swallowed her bread.
“So I’m thinking I’ll go alone today.”
“By yourself? That seems pointless anyway……”
“Today will be different.”
At Liriope’s confident words, Caliona and Milena exchanged puzzled looks.
Liriope recalled Cameron, who had issued orders for self-study and then vanished.
His face, which had grown darker and hollower each day from constant nightmares, had paradoxically grown a little brighter since misfortune befell Stella.
Liriope had deliberately let slip to Stella the rumor Cameron had desperately hidden all this time, for the sake of bringing matters to their final conclusion.
Now it was time to witness the final fruit of that scheme.
“Cassel, you hate Belegot, don’t you?”
After lunch, Liriope went alone to find Cassel.
“I hate it too. Want to go up the Magic Tower together and tear it all down?”
“What did you just say?”
Cassel had secluded himself in one of the empty Magic Training Rooms rather than his chamber, apparently finding her repeated visits tiresome. Yet Liriope had found him easily enough with Detection Magic, and now she made a rather bold proposal.
She’d stepped out of line a bit.
“I’m telling you this first as a special privilege, but I’m planning to reach the summit of the Magic Tower and climb to Babel within nine years.”
“Huh?”
“But thinking about it, that won’t work if I’m just good at magic by myself. Plainly put, I need someone to become my ally and handle the dirty work. So I want to recruit you.”
“Wh—what?”
“I’ll remove Cameron from the Lowest Floor within the week. Then will you do as I say?”
“Wh—what?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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