Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 13

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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 13
[What’s going on?]
‘You said my sister isn’t in immediate danger right now, didn’t you?’
[That’s correct.]
‘Well, that’s a relief, but… what exactly is this Broken Vessel thing you mentioned? Why did you call my sister that?’
Even as Liliope asked what had been bothering her since the Initiation Ceremony, she still couldn’t make sense of it.
And the answer that followed was far more shocking than she’d expected.
[It seems they don’t use that terminology anymore. Those born with a constitution incapable of gathering Mana naturally—like your sister—are called “Broken Vessels.” The condition also goes by other names: Congenital Mana Core Abnormality, or Mana Loss Syndrome.]
Liliope gasped in alarm and instinctively rejected what she’d just heard.
‘That can’t be right! My sister was spoken of as the most promising candidate for the next Tower Master. A Congenital Mana Core defect? That makes no sense.’
How many brilliant titles had been attached to Caliona’s name all this time?
The Mage of Black Lightning.
Master of Explosion Magic.
Fastest to clear fifty floors.
The only beloved disciple acknowledged by Salome, a recluse of Rank 7 who was famous for never taking students.
A genius among geniuses who reached Rank 6 at merely twenty years old.
And every one of these countless honors—all of them achievements accomplished in merely ten years since her entry into the Northern Magic Tower.
[Well, there’s no reason her constitution would have been different before the Time Regression. If someone without the proper vessel displayed such remarkable ability, then there must have been some significant external variable at work.]
The tone was speculative, but it didn’t feel like genuine ignorance.
[A variable so critical that it could turn the impossible into the possible.]
That voice carried something cynical about it, and to Liliope as she was now, its meaning seemed laden with implications she couldn’t begin to fathom.
[Eventually, when time passes, you’ll understand it too.]
After that, the voice resonating in her mind simply faded, as though the speaker had lost interest in continuing.
Liliope pressed for more answers several times, but ultimately received nothing in return and was forced to fall silent.
As Liliope resumed walking toward her destination with her sister on her back, her mind churned with confusion.
That such a formidable mage possessed an imperfect Mana Core—it was absurd.
No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t believe what she’d been told.
Could the voice’s owner simply be mistaken?
That seemed quite likely.
Yes, an ignorant wretch who didn’t even know of Um’s existence, something known even to infants…
[Wait, I think I just heard something deeply insulting.]
‘What, feeling like you want to say more? So you only speak up when you hear something disagreeable?’
[You insolent brat, how many times have you shown disrespect to me? Do you have any idea who I am, speaking so recklessly?]
‘I’m not interested right now. Since you’re talking anyway, finish explaining about my sister.’
[This wretched child, I could…!]
So busy were the two of them quarreling that they failed to notice the sinister movement drawing near.
Whoosh!
“Hey there. Don’t move.”
A sharp warning suddenly flew from behind, coiling around Liliope’s neck like a snare.
Toward Liliope, whose body had gone rigid with instinctive caution, a more threatening voice followed.
“Put down whoever you’re carrying and kneel. Hands on your head. Any suspicious movement and I’ll roast you alive.”
A bead of sweat gathered at her chin and rolled down.
It wasn’t merely a physiological response to tension and surprise. The temperature around her had visibly and sharply increased since moments before.
“…….”
Liliope’s eyes turned cold and steely.
They’d moved as fast as they could, yet they were still too late.
Would they have avoided this if they’d gone faster, or if they’d remained in that previous location a while longer?
No…
It was only ever a matter of time. No matter what choice they made, they would have been caught soon anyway in her current condition.
Liliope didn’t resist.
Footsteps approached as she obediently complied with the instructions.
Simultaneously, a brilliance so intense it nearly blinded her vision moved into her line of sight.
When she opened her eyes after one long blink, she saw a ball of fire burning in midair.
Beyond it appeared the figure of a boy who looked to be about fifteen.
His hair was pulled back in a high knot the color of deep forest shadow, and his eyes were a sharp, steely gray.
The boy with a long scar running down the right corner of his mouth—bearing a vicious expression—looked at Liliope and opened his mouth with interest.
“By the look of you, you haven’t been here long. Are you one of the new initiates?”
“…….”
“Actually, I figured it was about time for this year’s Initiation Ceremony to begin. But seeing as you’re fully conscious like that, you must have remarkable Mana Affinity?”
In his eyes, which held the burning flame, a brilliant gleam passed across them in the next instant.
“Well, that’s neither here nor there. But the pack you’re carrying looks awfully familiar to me.”
She’d hoped they wouldn’t meet, but it seemed the flow of events would unfold much like before.
“Where are the rest of our people you’ve encountered? If you don’t want to suffer, tell me now.”
The boy whom the enormous white worm had consumed—the leader of those pursuers: Zed.
He had been the first nightmare Liliope knew in this era, before the Time Regression—the demon of the Outer Estate.
* * *
“Liliope! Are you awake? Thank goodness. I thought you were going to…!”
This era, the past that Liliope had experienced for the first time.
When she opened her eyes amid her sister’s sobs after days of unconsciousness following the Initiation Ceremony, the two of them were already part of Zed’s Group.
More precisely, they had become ‘slaves’ of Zed’s Group.
Not just the two of them, but roughly ten other children who had undergone the Initiation Ceremony together faced the same fate.
Apparently, Zed’s Group had appeared the moment they fell into the Outer Estate and dragged away the unsuspecting children.
Remarkably, Zed and his companions were children from the previous year’s Initiation Ceremony, having come here a year prior.
“You should count yourselves lucky to have met us the moment you arrived at the Outer Estate. We’re the ones who’ve survived here for over a year—real veterans. And yet we feed and protect useless things like you? Where else would you find such charity?”
He spewed such nonsense to the children whenever he got the chance.
“Plus, we already know how to pass the Estate’s trials. One more month. If any of you prove useful, we’ll take a few along when we leave.”
But none of the children, least of all Liliope, believed being part of Zed’s Group was fortunate.
Rather, he was their nightmare and their misery.
“Hey, move faster, can’t you? If you had any conscience, you’d earn your keep at minimum. Keep dawdling and I’ll sear your backside with fire.”
The reason was that Zed treated the children in his grasp like slaves, tormenting them without restraint.
But what they found most unbearable was being used as bait to scout for danger.
The Outer Estate was full of perilous places and creatures.
One child was sent ahead to test whether they could cross a rotting bridge spanning a swamp—the plank gave way and they fell to their death.
Another was hurled out tied to a rope to lure beasts, then devoured alive.
In those four days before Liliope woke, one child had already perished and three others bore wounds both large and small.
“So you’re Liliope? Sleeping away, and finally you wake? Good. Now you can make up for lost time—work twice, three times as hard as the others.”
“Don’t touch my sister! I’ll pay her debts too, just leave her alone.”
While Liliope could do nothing but tremble with fear, Caliona had to endure countless indignities in her stead.
The atrocities Zed committed were numberless, yet no one could resist him.
And the reason was…
“See this flame? They say the most painful way to die is by fire, right? Cause trouble and I’ll burn every inch of you to ash.”
It was because of this scorching inferno, now wavering threateningly before Liliope’s eyes.
[This wretch knows how to use magic! And the aura he gives off is filthy—be careful, contractor.]

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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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