Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 48

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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 48
“Hey, everyone look at this for a second. I found this note in the belongings of that fire-throwing creature, and seeing as it’s made from the same material as the paper with this magical circle drawn on it, it looks like this was originally stored in a supply box too. Any idea what it means?”
Kassel brushed aside the magical circle he couldn’t hope to replicate no matter how long he studied it, and instead pulled something from his own pocket.
The moment Liriope saw what it was, she couldn’t help but gasp.
Kassel had actually managed to steal a hint about the escape method that Jed had been keeping hidden.
There were several notes, but their contents were jumbled.

“Hmm. Some of it I think I might understand, and some of it I have no clue about.”
“Come on, be honest with us. You don’t actually understand most of it, do you?”
“Why have you been especially irritating these past few days?”
While the two boys bickered in front, Liriope fell silent upon reading the words on the notes.
It felt real now—their escape from the Outside Residence was within arm’s reach.
Would everything that lay ahead unfold the same way it had before the Time Regression?
That was…… something she’d have to experience firsthand to know.
“For now…… let’s just head for the Great Tree like we originally planned. Either way, I think it’s best we get out of here as quickly as possible.”
In Kaliona’s face, anxiety and worry were plainly etched, impossible to hide.
With no one in disagreement, they rose one by one to quicken their pace.
“Liriope, is it hard to get up? I can carry you.”
“No, that’s alright. What good would two injured kids do? I’ll carry you, so step aside.”
Kassel kindly approached to help Liriope, who had sustained injuries.
Thud!
But the moment he knelt down and lowered his body in front of her, something suddenly tumbled out of his trouser pocket.
They were smooth, translucent and glimmering—too rough to be called gems, yet too refined to be mere stones—perfectly round gemstones.
All four of their gazes naturally flew to them and fixed there.
Dino was the first to dash forward, pick one up, and his eyes went wide as saucers.
“Captain, what are these? Don’t tell me they’re jewels?! Where did you get them?”
Kassel, who had frozen for a moment, responded to his subordinate’s question with an awkward, flustered excuse.
“Ah, no. Well, I found them along with the note in that fire-thrower’s belongings, and I thought we might get some money if we sold them outside, so I kept them…….”
“Wow! So Captain, does that mean we’re going to be rich now?! But why didn’t you say anything earlier?”
“I wasn’t thinking straight…… I forgot…….”
Because of Dino’s tactless excitement, Kassel couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.
In his glance toward Liriope and Kaliona, his expression bore the unmistakable look of someone caught red-handed doing something wrong.
“What, what, why? I found them, so they’re mine, aren’t they……?!”
In fact, even though the sisters hadn’t said anything, the moment their eyes met, Kassel grew flustered and snapped at them as if struck by sudden guilt.
But rather than taking offense, Liriope’s eyes lit up and she grabbed Kassel’s shoulder firmly.
“You did very well.”
“What, what?”
“You stole something we need right now.”
“Huh? What do you mean? Aren’t these just jewels?”
Of course, these were not mere jewels.
Mana Stones—rare drops from Supply Boxes in the Danger Zone, containing both Attack Magic and Defense Magic.
Exactly what they needed to reach the Exit.
With renewed confidence, Liriope and the others set out again.
As the ominous atmosphere grew thicker, surprisingly few dangerous creatures appeared.
The Mana Stones that Kassel had reluctantly surrendered proved invaluable.
The forest had fallen silent as if swept clean by a storm, and even the sound of insects faded away at some point.
Whenever they spotted familiar traces of fire, it was easy to imagine who had passed before them.
As their certainty grew that they were closing the distance to Jed’s Group, the tension naturally intensified.
Even so, having someone clear the path ahead of them was undeniably fortunate.
Yet the anxious tremor embedded in everyone’s breath only grew thicker.
Walking on thin cracked ice, a precarious tension still lurked all around them, so much so that even breathing loud felt impossible.
Moreover, whether it was her imagination or not, Liriope felt as if spider-web-like gazes were clinging to her back from somewhere.
Still, after nearly two full days of walking, they finally reached their destination.
A lake black as pitch, unfathomable in depth, and at its center, a tree of overwhelming grandeur rising as if to pierce through the ceiling.
“We found it…… We finally found it.”
“C-captain, does that mean we can finally get out of this wretched place?! That’s completely awe…….”
“Shh! Be quiet for a moment!”
But before they could truly celebrate, their instincts screamed danger and their spines stiffened in alarm.
A boy with dark greenish hair and grey eyes stood before them—someone they recognized.
“But…… what, what is that?”
An unexpected reunion with Jed—the last person they wished to encounter here.
But the Jed before them was not the one they knew.
* * *
One hour before Liriope’s party arrived.
Jed’s Group reached the tree with the Exit first.
“Is the entrance really here?”
Like Liriope’s party, they too were moved to tears upon finally reaching their destination after an arduous journey.
But it didn’t last long.
“But wait, we’ve made it here, so what do we do now? I don’t see any door that looks like an exit anywhere…… Should we search the surroundings?”
“And it’s so dark here. And somehow…… it feels kind of scary?”
The tree, massive enough to be intimidating just by looking at it, was surrounded by the lake, and within its dark waters hung a peculiar, eerie atmosphere.
No matter how hard they looked around, nothing resembling an exit came into view.
Because Jed was meticulous about supply management, the children’s knowledge was limited to what he had told them.
So it would be fair to say they knew almost nothing beyond the fact that an exit existed somewhere nearby.
“But it’s okay! We’ve come this far, what else could stop us? Besides, we have Jed!”
Still, they encouraged one another.
In times like these, the pillar of support was none other than the strongest of their group—Jed.
Of course, throughout the journey they had felt a strange fear of him, but honestly, their safe arrival here was entirely owed to his efforts.
“Jed…… Thank you so much for bringing us this far.”
Before everyone’s eyes, the past year flashed like a lantern show.
Emotions that had been buried erupted, and tears fell.
One boy, tears glistening in his eyes, broke into the brightest smile of the past year and spoke.
“We’re really close to the exit now. From now on, we’ll trust only you and follow you to the very end!”
Whoooosh!
But the beautiful future they had anticipated never came.
The boy’s bright smile was buried beneath a crimson inferno and disappeared.
The scream that faintly brushed through felt far too unreal—more like a hallucination.
The children, who had frozen with their smiles in place, unable to process what their eyes beheld, only belatedly began to shriek in piercing terror.
“Aaaahhhhh!”

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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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