Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 14

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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 14
Zed gestured, and his companions behind him stepped forward to bind Liriope and Calionia.
Liriope’s baggage satchel was naturally seized as well.
“Agh, what a fright! What in the world—a snake just flew out of her clothes?”
One of the boys searching her body later gasped upon discovering the dead snake hidden in Liriope’s breast.
“I’ll ask you a few simple questions. If you lie, I’ll burn your fingers off one by one. Do you understand?”
Liriope nodded silently at the threat that seemed to roll off his tongue as naturally as breathing.
“Where did you come from?”
“From the place where a strange mark appeared above my head…….”
“That’s not what I’m asking. I want to know exactly where. Do you want me to repeat myself? Since I’m just asking to verify, quit overthinking and answer.”
“……Behind me there’s a spot where three broken trees are clustered together. If you head left from that tree and keep going straight, you’ll find a large depression in the ground. That’s the place.”
She could have given him a false location to confuse their search, but she decided it wasn’t worth the risk.
Besides, he would never fully believe what Liriope told him anyway, and if they conducted a comprehensive sweep of the area, they would find her companions’ last traces before nightfall.
It was better to feed him some morsels of information—just what he needed—rather than let him dig too deeply elsewhere.
“My companions must have gone to where the mark appeared as well, so you surely encountered them there. Right?”
“Probably…….”
“Probably? Why is your answer so vague? Maybe a finger in the fire will help you speak clearly?”
Unsatisfied with her response, Zed thrust a fireball toward her hand and issued the threat with a snarl.
If this creature had possessed the Red-haired Boy’s temperament, showing weakness here might have been advantageous…….
But before this filth, appearing powerless meant nothing but offering yourself as prey.
“I don’t know anything. The moment we were moved here after the banquet ended, I heard someone rushing toward us and ran.”
At Liriope’s calm demeanor—unmoved even with fire held before her face—Zed’s eyes narrowed.
“Then how do you explain this bag you’re carrying?”
“I found it lying around.”
“Found it? Where?”
“As I was running, I heard sounds of fighting behind me. Then suddenly everything went quiet. Out of curiosity, I went back to the original spot, and all I found was an abandoned satchel with no one there.”
Liriope added that she’d simply taken the ownerless item.
“So your conclusion is that you didn’t hurt my companions, and you have no idea what happened. You expect me to believe that?”
“I’m telling you the truth.”
Zed looked her up and down as if gauging something. Then his eyes shifted to Calionia beside her.
“You two look alike. Are you sisters?”
“…….”
“The fact that you didn’t abandon her and brought her along in this situation suggests you care for each other.”
The scar etched into Zed’s mouth twisted into a cruel smile.
“Good. Devoted sisters.”
He then issued an order to his companions.
“Bring them both.”
* * *
“Get in!”
Grunt.
Bound and dragged by Zed’s group, Liriope was thrown into somewhere.
Shriek!
“Oh no, we’ve been caught again.”
“This time two of them…….”
The moment she lifted her head at the murmuring, her eyes met those of others staring at her.
Several pairs of eyes—mingling fear, pity, and a strange relief—looked at Liriope before turning away.
Liriope had been dragged into an underground burrow shaped like a tunnel open at both ends.
At the front was a mid-sized opening requiring you to stoop to enter; at the back appeared to be a small hole hastily blocked but wide enough to crawl through.
It seemed they’d deliberately chosen such a place for easy escape in an emergency.
The interior space was incomparably larger than the location where she’d hidden Calionia and the brown-haired boy earlier.
In the corner where Liriope was thrown, there were three children who appeared downtrodden at first glance.
Though they weren’t bound like Liriope, they all huddled against the wall with darkened, cowed expressions.
Moreover, two of them bore injuries scattered across their bodies, and one displayed what looked like hives, with rashes visible across patches of skin.
[Is this situation all right?]
Sensing that things were taking an ominous turn, the voice in her head asked quietly.
Liriope attempted to raise her upper body while bound and answered briefly.
‘It’s not good.’
[That one can use magic, so why is he still here? What exactly are the conditions to leave this place they call the Outside Estate?]
‘That’s…….’
Just as Liriope was about to say something in response to the skeptical voice mixed with frustration, one of the children huddled in the corner crept toward her.
“Hey, are you all right? You look like you’re struggling alone—let me help you up.”
A girl with short orange hair and bruises scattered across her face and body caught Liriope’s attention.
In that instant, Liriope’s eyes twitched slightly, as if in recognition.
“……Thanks. Would you help my sister sit up properly too?”
“Oh, of course.”
The girl seemed surprised at Liriope’s composure, unusual for someone dragged to an unfamiliar place, and hesitated.
But curiosity soon took hold, and she glanced at Liriope’s expression as she asked.
“So the two of you were caught together?”
“Yes.”
“I see. You must have been shocked to be dragged here like this?”
“Yes.”
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No.”
Yet despite her replies, there was no emotional disturbance in Liriope’s voice, and the girl found herself at a loss for words again.
“What’s your name, by the way? How old are you? I’m Milena. I’m fourteen.”
But she soon regained her composure and began introducing herself without being asked.
“Those two over there—the one on the left is named Kam, and the one on the right is Binse. Oh, Binse may look like it, but it’s not a contagious disease, so don’t worry.”
Of course not. If it were contagious, Zed’s group would have disposed of him long ago.
Liriope surveyed the three briefly after hearing Milena’s introduction.
The short-haired boy with gray hair and an irritable expression was Kam.
The stocky boy with shaggy brown hair and a melancholic air was Binse.
And the girl with orange-short hair, freckles, and a timid demeanor who had just spoken to her was Milena.
Of these three, Milena was the one Liriope distinctly remembered.
[Hmm? This girl doesn’t seem to have any particular distinguishing features, so why……? Her personality doesn’t seem terrible. Could it be that she and I were close when I was with this group before?]
It was an unlikely inference.
The reason Milena had left such a vivid impression on Liriope was quite simply…….
“By the way, you’re not interested in Zed too, are you……?”
“…….”
“I mean, of course Zed is handsome, so you can’t blame anyone for liking him, but still—Zed belongs to all of us, so I hope you won’t be too clingy. You’ll only end up hurt, so it’s better to let go of impossible feelings early. You understand, right?”
Milena was a true devotee of Zed, her romantic eyes firmly planted on him and him alone.
[Oh, seriously?]

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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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