Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 16

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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 16
“Watch closely, all of you. This is what happens to a traitor!”
Thud!
In the next instant, a sharp blade fell without hesitation, piercing the defenseless body sprawled on the ground like a harpoon.
Once. Twice.
Each time the blade stabbed through the motionless corpse with clear intent to sever all breath, fresh red blood spilled onto the dirt floor, pooling in small crimson puddles.
Right before everyone’s eyes, the child was slaughtered without mercy, their body trembling faintly for a moment before going still—no final cry, just silence.
Liliope watched as black smoke rising from the dead body was drawn in like a current toward the girl called Natalie, absorbed into her completely.
Natalie glanced down at her own forearm and then broke into a radiant smile.
“Look at this! I’ve finally passed the halfway mark on my black gauge!”
“Congratulations, Natalie!”
“This is all thanks to Jed. Really, thank you so much!”
It was a nauseating execution staged to reinforce their twisted bond.
Jed’s Group cheered as if celebrating a festival. In contrast, the three enslaved children grew paler by the moment, as though the others were draining the very life from them.
Jed bathed in his companions’ roars and set the corpse ablaze with Magic, pushing the fervor to new heights.
“Hey, Blondie.”
That was when he called out to Liliope.
The other children gathered there turned their glittering gazes toward Liliope in turn, following Jed’s lead.
“You came here today after going through the Coming-of-Age Ceremony with a batch of new recruits, right? How many of them were with you?”
Intimidated by their surge of intensity, Liliope straightened her spine stiffly and answered with care.
“According to what the sorcerer said after the Coming-of-Age Ceremony, there were probably over ten of us. But aside from me, they were all in a state where they couldn’t move properly.”
Jed looked satisfied at her response.
“Listen up! Everyone knows that for our plan to succeed smoothly, we need as many companions as possible. So let’s first recover our lost comrades and gather new recruits. Make sure you all understand that.”
Jed announced his unilateral decision as though it were obvious, and no one contradicted him.
In the strange atmosphere where wild fervor still rippled, Jed’s Group began a meeting to plan their next moves.
* * *
“We’re going to die. All of us here are going to die.”
Not long after the meeting began, a pessimistic murmur drifted from beside her.
The source was a boy named Bins, one of three children sitting next to Liliope, his face covered in hives.
As if seized by cold, he hugged both knees and trembled violently.
Milena turned toward Bins and objected as if such ridiculous talk made no sense.
“No way! Why would we die? That’s why Jed is out looking for the others now, isn’t it?”
But she flinched at her own words and nervously glanced at Liliope sitting beside her.
“Milena, you always spout that flower-headed nonsense. Does it feel good to cover your eyes and pretend everything’s fine?”
When Kam, who had been quiet until now, criticized her sharply, the atmosphere in the corner of the cave instantly turned cold, contrasting with the overheated center.
Now that Liliope thought about it, the three of them had seemed off since before—they weren’t particularly close at all.
“Hey, um, don’t listen to what those two are saying.”
Perhaps for that reason, Milena quietly inched closer to Liliope’s side, persistently trying to engage her in conversation.
“When I was first captured by the children here about half a year ago, I was actually terrified because I heard rumors that Jed ate people?”
That was certainly helpful information.
If Liliope had truly been a thirteen-year-old girl, Milena’s thoughtless gossip would certainly have only deepened her fear.
“But all of that’s just baseless rumor. Jed is so loyal, you see? Actually, Jed met his Qualification last year and could have gone straight to the Inner Estate, but he stayed here because of his comrades. He said if he wasn’t here, all the poor children would die, that he had to help them from the sidelines…….”
[Does this child actually believe such nonsense? Even I, seeing this Jed fellow for the first time today, can tell he’s not that kind of person.]
The voice in her head clicked its tongue in contempt. Milena’s words were utterly hollow and absurd.
“And Jed and the others really do know a way out of the Outer Estate!”
Yet Milena pressed on with her hopeful narrative undeterred.
“So if we just follow along with us, you’ll be able to reach the Inner Estate soon too. We might even set a record for the fastest escape from the Outer Estate ever! So you meeting Jed the moment you arrived at the Outer Estate today was really lucky…….”
“Please, just stop already! Lucky, my ass!”
But Kam shouted loudly that he couldn’t take it anymore, cutting Milena off before she could finish.
“At the end of the day, you’re number 28 and she’s number 29! Both of you will just tumble around uselessly and end up as a Mana Gauge when you die! Just like Mori did a moment ago, who was number 27!”
“Hey, you all be quiet, would you?”
As Kam’s voice grew louder, the children in the center of the cave shot them sharp glares.
Kam suppressed his heightened emotions, grinding his teeth and turning his head away.
After that, a heavy silence hung in the air for a time.
[Tch, the situation here really is a complete mess too.]
“Um, hey. Kam is being oversensitive right now and keeps saying things that might be misunderstood. There really aren’t many children who actually died by becoming a Mana Gauge, so don’t worry too much!”
Though there was no real need, Milena seemed gripped by an odd sense of obligation. She made an effort to explain away this chaotic atmosphere to Liliope, the newcomer.
“Oh……. Now that I think about it, you don’t even know what a Mana Gauge is yet, do you?”
Milena hesitated for a moment, then rolled up the unbandaged sleeve of her arm. A diamond-shaped mark inscribed on her skin came into view.
“You’ve been too busy to check yet, but after the Coming-of-Age Ceremony, something identical to this should have appeared on the inside of your wrist. We call this a Mana Gauge.”
Unlike the mark on Liliope’s arm, Milena’s was slightly stained black at the edges.
Milena explained.
“When you kill something in the Outer Estate, the gauge fills in black little by little depending on the danger level of what you killed. The rumor is, once you fill it completely, you can go to the Inner Estate.”
She casually added that corrupted creatures fill the gauge more quickly, while humans have a lower point value.
“But this method is inefficient, so……. Even Jed, who’s the strongest among us, hasn’t managed to fill his gauge completely in a year.”
Milena’s voice took on a more conspiratorial tone.
“So we’re going to escape the Outer Estate by a different method!”
Because Milena was sitting right beside her and speaking so secretively, Liliope frowned as her ear tickled.
Why does she need to come this close to talk?
If Milena, a slave in the Group, knew about it, the information would already be shared among everyone here—it wouldn’t really be a secret at all.
As proof of that, Kam was looking at Milena with an exasperated eye beside them.
“Ahem! According to what Jed has discovered, there’s a hidden exit somewhere in the Outer Estate leading outside.”
Milena looked at Liliope with bright, eager eyes, as if to say, “Surprised? Isn’t it amazing?”
“The door only opens for exactly thirty days during the Coming-of-Age Ceremony each year, and we’ve already narrowed down several possible locations, so now we just need to verify them.”
“Really?”
“Yeah! It’s a relatively safe method, and this way many of us can escape together, so isn’t that fortunate?”
Milena smiled brightly as she spoke, looking genuinely delighted.
[So to sum it up, there are two escape routes from this place called the Outer Estate?]
That was correct.
The first: filling the diamond mark on your wrist through killing.
The second: finding an exit hidden somewhere underground.
At least Milena wasn’t lying to Liliope now.
These were facts Liliope already knew from her past experience.
In fact, before the time reversal, Jed and his group had found the exit through this very method.
Of course, the process and the outcome had been far less beautiful than Milena imagined.

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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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