Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 127

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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 127
Something was wrong.
She couldn’t pinpoint exactly what, but an uncanny certainty had burrowed into her mind—something had definitely gone awry.
“Ah, say, Liriope? You’re not too upset, are you……?”
“Are you joking right now? Of course I have every right to be angry, don’t I?”
Caliona’s indignant voice to Zakael drifted past her ears like a distant murmur.
Liriope lowered her head to inspect her own clothing.
In that moment, her eyes caught on something, and she flinched.
“Wait, hold on—look there!”
“What is it? Why is an Inner Tower mage here?”
It was just then that a clamorous whisper erupted from somewhere beside her.
“Could she have come to the banquet for patronage……? No, that can’t be it.”
“Wow, I’ve never seen anyone like this up close…….”
Identifying who had thrown the 40th Floor Level mages into such disarray was not difficult.
“You vermin, get out of the way. Don’t let the stench rub off on my clothes.”
The mages who had begun murmuring in shock fell silent, instinctively parting before the approaching figure.
It was partly the man’s disagreeable tone, but also the overwhelmingly oppressive Mana presence distinctive to the Magic Tower Master’s adopted son.
Everyone shrank back in instinctive tension, as though afraid even their robes might brush against him.
When he drew close enough that even the mole on his face was visible, only two people in the corridor held their heads up: Liriope and Caliona.
Evangellin brushed a speck of dust—which didn’t exist—from his spotless garments with obvious distaste.
“I swear, the air from the lower floors always smells so turbid and repulsive.”
The faces of Liriope and Caliona, meeting his gaze, stiffened of their own accord.
“I have no idea how everyone survives in a place like this. My constitution is so delicate that even a brief stay brings me out in hives.”
“Then it would be better to return to the upper floors at once. So why have you deigned to drag your precious self all the way down to this lowly place?”
Caliona shot back with biting sarcasm, stepping in front of Liriope to shield her.
Evangellin, observing her wary posture, let slip a sneer.
“I didn’t come to see you, so don’t get the wrong idea, hmm?”
In the next moment, his gaze slid past Caliona.
Evangellin tilted his head and looked down at Liriope with a sharp, incisive stare—as though examining something—before he smiled, pulling his lips into an expression of feigned gentleness and reached out his hand to her with an air of magnanimity.
“This is yours, isn’t it? It looked like you’d lost it, so I thought I’d return it.”
Yet something felt amiss. Beneath his smile lay undisguised malice.
What Evangellin handed to Liriope was a button that had originally been fastened to her dress—but it was shattered, as though someone had deliberately trampled it.
“Next time, do be more careful.”
His whispered words fell chill against her ears.
“If you don’t want to end up like this again for being so reckless. Understood?”
With that warning, Evangellin turned on his heel as though he had nothing more to say.
‘Od.’
Liriope watched his retreating figure with cold eyes, running her finger across the broken button as she quietly called out to Od.
‘He used Mental Magic on me, didn’t he?’
[That’s right. So you can finally hear my voice now?]
Evangellin’s command of Mental Magic had reached a considerable level. So considerable that Od complained it was difficult to reach through the barriers Evangellin had placed.
‘Do you know what happened to me?’
[For now, pretend to go back to your room. Then go where I tell you.]
Liriope did as Od instructed.
She sent Zakael on ahead, then told him she was tired and would rest immediately. Caliona looked at her face with concern.
It seemed she was angry because of Evangellin’s rude behavior. But perhaps out of consideration for Liriope, she soon told her to get plenty of rest and withdrew.
After that, Liriope moved under Od’s guidance.
After walking down a winding corridor for some time, she finally reached her destination—a hallway that she was certain she’d never seen before, yet something about it felt strangely familiar.
[That button was something you detached and discarded yourself when Evangellin tried to use his magic. Since it was just a decoy anyway, it didn’t matter if it broke.]
‘I thought so. The real one is somewhere else, right?’
[Yes. Follow the thread of Mana attached to the button.]
The Magic Tower was saturated with traces of countless spells.
While there were differences depending on each mage’s tendencies, the mages within the same Magic Tower generally left similar Mana signatures.
Belegot’s mages all possessed Black Mana, differing only in density.
Among those with exceptional Mana Sensing Ability, a rare few could distinguish each individual Mana signature, but they were exceedingly uncommon.
Of course, there were cases where one instinctively recognized the Mana signature of someone intimate, but not between Evangellin and Liriope.
Liriope had realized from her conversation with Zakael that her memories had been tampered with.
Od had told her it was Evangellin’s doing.
Liriope had been caught off guard, but Evangellin had acted carelessly, unaware of this variable. That was his mistake.
And that mistake had given her the opening to strike back.
‘Found it.’
The object connected to the thread of Mana was discovered not far ahead.
An inconspicuous shoe decoration.
If she lowered her head to look, she could confirm that the decoration attached to the instep of her shoe was missing its pair.
Liriope had felt a premonition of danger the moment she encountered Evangellin.
So she had hidden the “real” one—the object containing a portion of her memories—beneath the carpet in the corridor, then deliberately made a loud sound throwing the button elsewhere to draw Evangellin’s attention away.
Since the spring of this year, Liriope had been able to transfer short memories into objects.
This was an ancient magic Od had taught her—learned from remembering how the Magic Tower Master had erased Belkiers from the world before the time reversal, and making preparations to prevent anyone else from interfering with her memories. It was insurance against just such contingencies.
For now, she could only transfer five to seven seconds of memory, but it was enough to prepare for a crisis like this.
So while this wouldn’t give her everything back, she would at least recover the most crucial portion of the memories Evangellin had tried to erase.
Crack!
Liriope broke the shoe decoration in her hand without hesitation.
The Magic Circle hidden within activated, and scattered fragments of Mana drove into her mind like a wedge.
In an instant, strange yet familiar memories layered themselves over her consciousness.
As she drew a sharp breath, the air—cold and desolate—clung thickly to her lungs.
The broken shoe decoration slipped from Liriope’s weakened hand and fell.
Her violet eyes widened in shock, then clenched shut.
Liriope stumbled backward, hurrying away from that spot.
* * *
Liriope’s destination was the 80th Floor of the Magic Tower.
Unlike usual, the room was dark as though black ink had been spilled across every wall.
She stopped in the center of the empty, unwelcoming space.
“……Belkiers.”
She called his name quietly, and a small sound of presence stirred from the inner bedroom.
Why was that?
Even though she had visited many times before, Liriope felt the air of the room prickling strangely unfamiliar against her skin.
More than that, her spine tingled with an odd tension—as though she had walked naked into the lair of a venomous serpent or a monster’s den.

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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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