Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 117

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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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Episode 117
“Are you really that dizzy?”
“If I just stay still for a moment, I think it’ll pass.”
“Is that so? Would you like to go to the bed and lie down?”
“No, I’m too weak to move that far right now. I’ll just stay like this for a bit.”
Saying this, Belkiers shamelessly pressed himself closer against Liriope.
“Belkiers? Hey, you’re too heavy… Ow!”
The problem was that Belkiers, who had never feigned weakness before, didn’t know when to stop and leaned far too much of his weight against Liriope.
In an instant, their center of gravity shifted and Liriope stumbled.
Belkiers, startled, quickly braced Liriope’s waist with his arm. With his other hand, he caught the table in front of them to steady themselves.
Screech!
A sharp sound rang out from the table as it scraped against both Liriope’s body and Belkiers’ hand.
And an unexpected contact accident occurred.
“…!”
“…!”
Belkiers didn’t immediately recognize what that soft, supple sensation lightly pressing against his chin was.
But when he lowered his head, he saw Liriope staring up at him, her eyes wide in shock, her face flustered.
She suddenly raised her hand to cover her mouth, then hastily pushed Belkiers away and sprang up from the table where she had been half-reclined.
By then, Belkiers, who had grasped the situation, froze in his position supporting himself against the table.
[This woman! Something’s suspicious about this, isn’t it? Didn’t this scoundrel deliberately lay you out on the table just now?]
“No, I mean… it was an accident. An accident.”
Liriope, unable to hide her bewilderment, spoke aloud to Od.
Then, realizing her mistake at once, she hastily made excuses to Belkiers.
“I’m saying that my body suddenly tilted and caused this contact accident. Yes, it’s nothing serious.”
[Nothing serious, my foot! In the first place, it’s clear that this wretch was feigning illness just to flirt with you! You should just leave this fellow be and go back to your room with that Aquilium’s heart that you’ve collected!]
Liriope came to her senses a bit faster than Belkiers did.
‘How can that be? You saw yourself earlier how he bled like a bucket. How can it possibly be feigned illness?’
If anything, she grew more concerned, wondering if Belkiers was so dizzy he could barely keep himself upright.
“Belkiers, but are you really okay? You seem quite dizzy. Let me help you—why don’t we go sit on that sofa over there?”
Belkiers, bewildered, entrusted himself to Liriope.
Liriope grunted as she led Belkiers to the nearby sofa and sat him down.
Despite the short distance, moving such a large, heavy person left her gasping for breath.
Still, seeing Belkiers lean limply against her, she felt a pang of sympathy, wondering what could have brought him to this state.
Of course, Belkiers wasn’t actually limp—rather, his mind was half-paralyzed from the unexpected contact accident.
“Belkiers, let me know if you start feeling better. And if you get any dizzier or feel worse anywhere else, tell me.”
“Yeah, I will……”
Liriope grew worried at Belkiers’ unconvincing response.
The image of Belkiers’ wound that wouldn’t regenerate and Tyrisha’s face from earlier weighed heavily on her mind.
“By the way, about Tyrisha earlier. She seemed to have something wrong with her body. Why is that? You just said you sometimes experience a decline in your regenerative ability, didn’t you? Could it be the same side effect? Tyrisha seemed to mistake it as though her time had come……”
Belkiers came to his senses at last upon Liriope’s careful inquiry.
From this angle, he couldn’t see her face very well, but one didn’t need to see her expression to know her state or mood.
He appreciated that Liriope cared about him, but he didn’t want her to worry to this extent.
Belkiers set her mind at ease.
“No. Neither I nor Tyrisha experiences this very often—there’s really no need to worry. Especially with Tyrisha, it’s just like I said before—she simply ate something she shouldn’t have.”
“What did she eat?”
“Tyrisha is the weakest among us. So she’s had a habit of eating whatever she finds, trying to grow stronger.”
“You mean things like potions good for Mana?”
Belkiers’ expression became inscrutable for a moment.
“Well… something like that.”
He couldn’t exactly tell her that Tyrisha had eaten a shadow from the Contaminated Holy Ground, so he had no choice but to deflect vaguely.
Then, struck by a sudden thought, he cautioned her while looking at Liriope.
“Now that I think about it, you said you’d be making a Mana Enhancement Potion too, didn’t you? Once you finish it, don’t try it out by yourself first. Show it to me first. I know you said you got the formula from a trustworthy source, but there’s always a chance some charlatan fed you false information.”
[This impertinent pup—who does he think he’s calling a charlatan? Liriope! Strike him down this instant!]
Od bristled in indignation.
Liriope merely soothed him and changed the subject.
“Now that you mention it, things will get busy once the Flood Period starts. But wait—if your body is in this state, wouldn’t it be dangerous when you go into the Contaminated Holy Ground? You’ll have to be even more careful in the center.”
“Are you worried about me?”
“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Belkiers gazed down at Liriope, whose brow was furrowed in concern.
Her worry for him certainly had a peculiar addictiveness to it. The small creatures around her clearly understood this taste, stimulating her protective instincts and drawing her attention in the same way.
But as for him……
For some reason, Belkiers found his gaze slipping downward, and he felt embarrassed about it.
Until now, he had always loved meeting Liriope’s eyes directly.
Those violet eyes, sparkling with strong vitality and will, had never failed to capture his gaze from the moment he first saw her.
But now, he kept……
The sensation of her lips touching his chin returned to him, and whenever his guard slipped, his gaze would slide downward of its own accord.
His insides tingled strangely and his throat felt parched, making it impossible for him to keep looking at her face for long.
“……Still, I won’t die, so you should take care of yourself first.”
Belkiers finally averted his gaze from Liriope and spoke in a slightly lower, quieter voice.
“If you come back injured again like last time, taking a hit meant for someone else……. then I’ll be sure to kill that useless bastard.”
Naturally, Liriope thought Belkiers’ tone had changed because he was recalling the previous accident.
“It was just a common injury in the Contaminated Holy Ground. It wasn’t because of Cassel. Still, I’ll be careful.”
Since Belkiers was always sensitive about Liriope’s injuries, she obligingly agreed to be cautious.
After that, Belkiers claimed to be fine and sent Liriope away sooner than she expected.
Liriope wanted to stay a while longer and keep watch over Belkiers, but he was quite firm.
“No, I just remembered something urgent I need to do. I’ll go out for a bit and come back.”
“Now? You’ve been busy a lot lately, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, there’s something I’m looking for outside.”
“Then let me help you search.”
“That won’t be necessary. I’m almost done looking anyway.”
Left with no choice, Liriope could only return to her room with the last material Belkiers had procured for her.
And that night, she immediately set about with Artifact Restoration and Mana Enhancement Potion crafting.
[Oh dear, failed again. Half the precious materials are already gone……. Wait, why are you cutting it again? Don’t tell me you’re going to try once more?!]
‘Why not? Maybe if I try once more, I’ll succeed.’
[In my view, you may have a knack for Artifact Restoration, but you have no talent for potion-making. So why don’t you just keep those materials and save them for later……. No! You’re mixing it all together anyway!]
Liriope pressed on with her potion-crafting, drowning out Od’s protests.
Od, well-versed in ancient magic as he was, also possessed deep knowledge of Magical Artifacts and potions.
In particular, he had a unique talent for understanding the principles of artifact composition and restoring them.
The ability to revive the magical functions of broken ancient artifacts was naturally an enormous accomplishment.
‘Thanks to Od all this time, my magical skill has improved by leaps and bounds……. but still, if I’m to venture deep into the center of the Contaminated Holy Ground later, I’ll definitely need auxiliary means.’
The turbulent Mana fluctuations of the Contaminated Holy Ground sometimes prevented magic from activating at all.
So Liriope had been studying diligently under Od, and by now she had learned to imitate him to some degree……
Unfortunately, while Liriope was exceptional at Artifact Restoration, she had no affinity for potion-making whatsoever.
‘Come to think of it, Fabien also broached the subject of a teaching master with me before, then backed off……. Hmph.’
Liriope felt a rare twinge of sullenness and pouted her lips.
‘Then the best option right now would be Daphne’s instruction, wouldn’t it? She’s virtually the only person in Belegot who takes an interest in Artifact Restoration….’
Boom!
“Oh!”
[Just as I thought. That’s why I told you to conserve the materials!]
The fourth potion exploded while Liriope’s attention had wandered.
At this point, Liriope herself was becoming stubborn.
Regardless of Od’s laments, she set about crafting the fifth potion.
The result was……
* * *
“Ah, Liriope! Over here, here.”
Samuel, who had been glancing at the entrance of the banquet hall, came rushing over the moment he spotted Liriope.
Liriope also looked around and gave him a polite greeting.
“Hello, Samuel.”
“Yeah, you’re a bit late today. I’ve been waiting since earlier, but I didn’t see you, so I was really worried you might be skipping the banquet.”
The banquet held every weekend on the 40th Floor Level of the Northern Magic Tower.
It was one of the social gathering places for mages seeking valuable connections and information.
As everyone knew, from the 50th Floor onward, one was recognized as an exceptional mage who had surpassed normal limits and earned the right to meet the Magic Tower Master in person.
With more experience and recognized ability, one could even rise to a position overseeing and instructing the mages on lower floors.
Precisely because of this, mages at that threshold felt an even more desperate need for someone who could lift them higher.
Thus, the attendance rate at this banquet among mages dwelling on the 40th Floor Level was very high, and high-ranking mages from upper floors frequently made appearances as well.
Of course, not all mages had purely virtuous motives for forming connections.
“By the way……. you look even more beautiful than usual today. You wore clothes that match the color of your eyes. They suit you wonderfully.”
Samuel complimented Liriope while his cheeks flushed pink.
“Ugh.”
At that moment, a sound came from beside him that made one’s stomach turn.
“Oh, pardon me. I thought I heard something so sickeningly greasy from somewhere—like someone just gulped down a whole bowl of chicken fat.”
Cassel, having felt eyes on him, picked up a drink from among those placed around the banquet hall and downed it in large gulps while speaking.

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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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