Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 42

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 42
* * *
Meanwhile, at that same moment, Belkiers was also gazing down at the flower colony from the empty air.
“…….”
He let his gaze slide sideways from Liriope, who was carrying her unconscious sister on her back.
“I, I didn’t do anything wrong……. It’s all your fault. I should have just pretended not to see anything, but it’s Mori’s fault for trying to tattle to Zed first…….”
The boy whose gray hair Belkiers was now mimicking—at first glance similar to Evangeline’s silver locks, but far duller and more coarse—
Kam was bound by blue vines, still frantically making excuses.
Even with his body’s freedom lost, the way he thrashed about violently suggested he was fighting phantoms invisible to any other eye.
At some distance away stood another boy with green hair, his upper body twisted grotesquely as he lay with his head planted in the ground.
For just an instant, arrogant contempt flickered across those bloodshot eyes, which had been as cold as when gazing upon lifeless things.
Though Belkiers’ eyes, now tinted by magic, glowed with a hue close to the wellspring of life itself, they looked inorganic, as if minerals had been set within them.
Because of this, there emanated from him a sense of observing dolls within a diorama, as though he existed in a reality separate from all else.
The residual aura of magic that had drawn Belkiers toward the white insect moments ago undoubtedly belonged to that boy called Zed, standing before his eyes.
At first, he had thought the girl in the portrait was the source of that power, but he had quickly realized his mistake.
Because the girl’s magical aura, which he had seen up close, differed vastly from that of the boy called Zed—power that was scarcely better than the insect’s.
Yet beyond that…….
From that boy, he sensed something both disturbingly familiar and far more foul and crude.
Belkiers recalled the time when he had inadvertently shed blood on the grayish-white earth.
‘Trash that wasn’t even worth the bother of discarding has been made.’
Belkiers contemplated something for the briefest moment, then turned his gaze back to Liriope’s retreating figure.
She still tottered precariously forward, burdened by a sister who proved useless to him.
Yet the way she walked ahead without hesitation, despite this, somehow captivated Belkiers’ gaze in an oddly compelling manner.
And why was that?
While watching Liriope like this, Belkiers felt, for some reason, a twist deep within his chest.
Simultaneously, an unfamiliar and strange impulse arose.
That her eyes, which had been turned elsewhere ever since they first met, might catch a glimpse of him, even for just a moment…….
“Uh, uh?”
Just then, the gray-haired boy, awakening from a nightmare, began to look about with unfocused eyes.
Belkiers, seeing this, took one step forward without thinking, then stopped.
The memory surfaced of Liriope’s strong wariness and rejection toward him from moments before.
It was for that reason Belkiers had decided against directly interfering with her and chose instead to observe the situation for now.
And then, at last, the gray-haired boy’s dazed gaze fixed upon the sisters not far away.
* * *
‘My head hurts.’
Liriope shook her head gently side to side as if to cast off the dull throb that had persisted for some time.
But the stabbing pain did not easily fade.
This was a typical symptom that appeared after spending more than a certain amount of time in a place where contamination had progressed.
Beyond headache came chills and dizziness, followed by anxiety and compulsion, and as conditions worsened, various severe physical and mental ailments developed.
In the worst case, death could follow.
Looking at the motley colors of soil and flowers beneath her feet, one could see that the Grayish-Blue Forest had already begun to suffer contamination.
Yet the fact that one must necessarily pass through this place to reach the destination revealed the insidious nature of the Magic Tower.
This was precisely why so many children who had attempted to leave through the exit and return to the Inner Residence had abandoned their trials along the way.
The underground space of this Outer Residence mimicked, to some degree, the environment of the Contaminated Sacred Ground.
For reference, the Contaminated Sacred Ground was structured such that danger increased the further one ventured from the outer edge toward the center.
Therefore, the Outer Residence too grew more hazardous as one moved toward the tree at the center where the exit lay.
If one feared death, they could remain in the relatively safe outer zones like Um’s Territory, where danger was minimal.
But doing so would make escape from the Outer Residence an unreachable goal, so in effect, such security only led to death.
This was an examination of the children’s will and courage to overcome danger, and their desire to seize what they sought.
It was, moreover, tantamount to the Magic Tower’s declaration that only those unafraid of death had any right to become mages.
[Focus harder. Your Magic Circle isn’t holding.]
‘I’m trying…….’
In any case, because of the side effects mentioned earlier, any mage wishing to enter the Contaminated Sacred Ground had to master both basic Defensive Barrier Magic and Purification Magic.
The children seemed not to regard Purification Magic, which had emerged from the Supply Boxes, as particularly important, thinking it similar to simple cleansing spells…….
But in truth, in a certain sense, Purification Magic was something one ought to prioritize over Offensive Magic for survival in the Outer Residence.
Had Zed’s group possessed even a cursory knowledge of such magic, their chances of survival would have risen dramatically.
Liriope was now using both spells, however imperfectly, while enduring Od’s constant lecturing.
Thanks to Od’s meticulous teaching all this while, Liriope was now able to raise a protective barrier awkwardly but adequately enough to shield one other person.
[But the direction of your magic seems…….]
Yet there was a reason for Od’s dissatisfied response.
It was because Liriope’s barrier was directed toward Caliona, not herself.
But protecting her defenseless sister, who continued to suffer through nightmares, was simply second nature to Liriope.
However, the unfamiliar magic kept faltering intermittently, and the stabbing headache grew steadily worse.
“Hnggg……. Die, d—. Die……!”
“……!”
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a violent force seized Liriope’s hair, wrenching it brutally from the scalp.
Before she could react, her body was dragged backward with a jolt.
“Agh……!”
She was thrown hard to the ground, and sharp pain shot through her frame.
The agony was so intense—as if every bone in her body might shatter—that for a moment her breath caught entirely.
“Hng, why, why did you come back again! Die, I’m telling you to die……!”
“Hack!”
Immediately after, the strangling grip around her throat proved equally unforgiving.
Gasping for breath and barely managing to open her eyes, she saw the form of the gray-haired boy bearing down upon her, his eyes a bloodshot scarlet.
“Just die quietly, I’m telling you, don’t squirm around in front of me……!”
Kam’s eyes, unfocused and rolling half-back in his head, spoke words in a curse, his voice rambling and incoherent as though he stood at the boundary between dream and waking.
“I’ve been bothered by you since way back……! All of you laughing at me! You mocked me too……! Someone like you deserves to die!”
[Liriope, use magic!]
“It’s all your fault……! You, you were the first to try to betray me, so I had no choice but to pin it all on you instead! But, but that’s not entirely a lie, is it? Mori, you also wanted to run away from Zed without him knowing, didn’t you?!”
[Protective barrier! Put it back on yourself, right now!]

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————