Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 3

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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 3
“Liriope? Why so suddenly……?”
“Let’s go, Caliona. We can’t stay here. Hurry!”
Liriope ignored her sister’s bewildered response and grabbed her hand, trying to rush from the Dining Hall.
But at that very moment, mages in deep blue Robes pushed open the door and stepped inside.
“Now, everyone be quiet. We’re beginning the Sacrament Ceremony, so line up in order and follow the mages here.”
Her heart, which had been pounding anxiously all this while, dropped with a thud.
Indifferent to Liriope’s despair, the children in the Dining Hall began to file out one by one.
The mages of the Northern Magic Tower had brought in nothing but orphans with no connections, and the children obeyed readily once their guard dropped at the promise of food.
“Come here, Caliona. Let’s slip away quietly before we’re caught.”
Liriope mixed among the children first to leave the Dining Hall, then quickly changed direction down another corridor the moment the mages looked away.
“Liriope, wait!”
Of course, Caliona looked utterly bewildered by her younger sister’s sudden strange behavior.
“You’ve been acting really odd. You have to tell me what’s wrong or I won’t understand. Is it because of them from earlier? Is that why you don’t want to be here anymore?”
“It’s not that.”
“Then what?”
But Liriope was even more confused.
“Don’t you see? This place is…….”
“You two there! What are you doing loitering in the Corridor?”
Just as she opened her mouth to speak, a sharp voice cut through the air from the end of the Corridor.
The girls’ hurried footsteps stopped.
A woman with a stern expression, wearing a blue Robe, approached the sisters.
By the two pairs of embroidered wings on her left chest, she was a senior mage compared to those who had brought them in.
“Isn’t the Sacrament Ceremony about to begin? Didn’t you hear that you’re not to wander about outside without us calling for you? There should have been no shortage of food in the Dining Hall, was there?”
Did a dream really need to be this realistic?
If this weren’t a dream, she had thought this place where she’d reunited with Caliona would surely be heaven, but perhaps that was her mistake.
If this were the afterlife, then this place would be closer to hell than heaven.
Otherwise, there was no reason she and her sister would have walked willingly into this ant nest of a Northern Magic Tower again.
Terrible memories from the past surfaced, and nausea rose instinctively in revulsion.
Only one thought filled her mind: she had to get Caliona and herself out of this dangerous, repulsive place as quickly as possible.
“You……. Now that I look at you, your expression is strange. What’s the matter?”
The mage, sensing Liriope’s agitation, drew closer, her eyes taking on a cold glint.
Liriope felt the mage’s gaze sweep over her face and tightened her grip on Caliona’s hand.
“You seem frightened. How long have you been out here? Where were you headed?”
The mage pressed her suspiciously.
“And come to think of it, this is a Corridor that connects to the outside. Were you trying to leave?”
What should she do?
The distance from here to the exit was not far.
If she pushed this woman aside and bolted out now, would something change?
If she managed to escape this cursed Magic Tower holding her sister’s hand, could she alter the future, at least from within this nightmare?
Yes. Just as she had imagined countless times before, thinking of this very day……..
[Acting foolish from the start. Stop it at once.]
Just as Liriope was about to move impulsively, overcome by desire that had been buried so long, the voice came again.
[I was going to watch what you’d do, but I can’t hold back. If you try to slip out now, those Belegotha bastards will kill you.]
A tsk of exasperation suddenly rang in her ears.
Her entire body’s fine hairs stood on end.
She nearly screamed in reflex, but Liriope suppressed the impulse with superhuman force.
[Thinking a greenhorn who hasn’t even undergone the Sacrament Ritual could outrun a Formal Mage with your bare hands — what a pathetically foolish child.]
Who was this?
Who was speaking to her now?
But the resonance of the sound was strange; it didn’t seem to be coming through her ears but rather from inside her head.
Then suddenly, Liriope recognized the voice as familiar.
[I shall grant your desire. Pay the price.]
Yes…… It was exactly the voice that had spoken to her in that dark, rain-soaked forest.
“Sometimes children like you slip through. I thought we’d gotten past it smoothly this year.”
[Come up with some excuse and go to the Sacrament Ceremony. This is serious advice — I don’t want to lose my Contractor already.]
“Wandering about on your own and picked up some nonsense somewhere, or maybe you’ve already seen enough of the free food and changed your mind — either way, troublesome children like you are exactly why this is such a headache.”
But there was no time to question or think deeply about anything right now.
An ominous wave of air from ahead, like sharp claws raking, was unmistakable.
“Hand.”
Following her instinctive intuition, Liriope spoke at once.
“My hand…… my hand hurts so much. I’m sorry.”
The moment a thin, tearful voice rang through the Corridor, the mage’s murderous intent, which had been slowly taking form, hesitated.
“What? Your hand?”
Whether this was a dream or not, Liriope’s body was in a child’s state, fresh to the Magic Tower.
“The Soup spilled on it, and it turned red…….”
As she spoke, her soft, pale cheeks moved with an odd appeal that drew the mage’s gaze, chewing quietly.
“I know I shouldn’t have gone outside, but I was wrong.”
Through her fluffy long blonde hair, her violet eyes glistened wetly, blinking with the gentleness of a young calf.
Young Liriope was, in truth, a girl with an almost angelic appearance.
So much so that the mage’s previously cold, ruthless expression softened noticeably.
“I see……? So you were looking for someone to help?”
“No. I was just going to the Restroom to cool it in cold water by myself.”
Caliona, who had been anxiously watching the situation, stepped forward, worried that her sister might get scolded.
“I’m the one who brought her out. Liriope didn’t ask first. I was worried it might be bothersome, so I was trying to handle it myself, but we got lost on the way. I’m sorry if I upset you.”
Fortunately, the mage looked between the young sisters and, with an air of magnanimity, forgave them.
“Hmph, never mind. I’ll let it slide this one time. The Sacrament Ceremony is about to begin, so I’ll escort you to where the ritual is held. Follow me.”
Liriope felt Caliona’s worried gaze on her and bit her lip.
But for now, with no better option, she had no choice but to follow the mage.
Strange as it was, the dream was oddly realistic, and from her current position, there seemed to be no means by which she could safely escape the Magic Tower.
“Liriope, are you all right?”
Suddenly, Caliona’s grip on her hand tightened.
Whether her sister’s anxiety had infected her, or whether she sensed something ominous and dangerous in the mage’s demeanor, Caliona’s face too had grown taut with tension as she whispered.
The sisters’ hands were damp with cold sweat.

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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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