Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 59

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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 59
Velkius suppressed his inexplicable emotional turbulence and heightened the intensity of his Mana.
He had unintentionally left Liriope alone in this place for the past several days.
It was because of his body, which had been far worse than Evangellin’s until recently.
Even now, unrepaired organs within him were convulsing and spewing blood.
After the Tower Master of Northern Magic Tower released him, he’d performed Body Restoration as quickly as possible, yet it had still taken time for him to regain a semblance of human form.
For Velkius, it was a familiar pain, so it was at least fortunate that his wretched state didn’t show on the surface.
But depleted Mana taking precedence for Body Restoration in response to survival instinct was a serious problem.
Because of that, the Barrier he’d left with Liriope had vanished against his will.
Moreover, the Contamination Level of the Outer Estate, which had skyrocketed in just a few days, vastly exceeded his predictions.
So when he discovered Liriope just moments before, Velkius’s heart had sunk.
He’d accelerated his speed to distance himself from the source of contamination as quickly as possible.
Then, at some point, he felt his Mana wavering precariously like a candle before the wind. Velkius cursed softly without realizing it.
Whether because he’d halted Body Restoration to treat Liriope, his body—barely maintaining its form—had already reached its limit.
In the end, Velkius couldn’t reach the safe zone of the Outer Estate he’d originally intended, and instead descended to a place that resembled an abandoned beast’s nest.
He set Liriope down in a spot where leaves lay in scattered layers and tried to rise, but suddenly staggered.
Sensing something immediately after, Velkius hastily bent his torso to the side.
“Ugh…!”
In that instant, the putrid, mangled matter that had been torn by the Tower Master of Northern Magic Tower’s Mana for four days and nights came surging up from within.
Liriope, devoid of strength and unable to move a single finger, lay watching Velkius vomit something like dark blood clots with startled eyes.
‘What is this? Where the hell has this bastard been that he’s in even worse shape than Liriope?’
Ode, who had been cursing Velkius until just moments ago, now displayed bewilderment at someone whose body could hardly be called whole by any stretch.
Liriope almost instinctively moved to ask Velkius if he was alright, but then hesitated, realizing they weren’t the sort of relationship to worry about each other like this.
A complicated gaze, full of hesitation, swept over the boy’s form, which could hardly be called anything but completely broken.
She hadn’t thought deeply about it until moments ago, consumed by urgency, but now that she’d regained some measure of reason, something felt strange.
Liriope found the boy before her utterly incomprehensible.
Hadn’t he confined her to the Outer Estate to torment her in the first place?
She’d thought perhaps that was why he deliberately withdrew the Barrier and abandoned her…
But here Velkius was, returning in such a mangled state, and even now he was placing a Defensive Barrier Magic around her again.
“Ugh, ha……”
Watching Velkius collapse beside her like that, Liriope felt deep suspicion and confusion.
“Why didn’t you just leave me alone?”
At her question, Velkius let slip a low voice that blended bitter laughter and a sigh through his blood-stained lips.
“I think we still have much to learn about each other. I don’t want to kill you.”
Had it been before she met Velkius again today, Liriope would have thought it was all nonsense.
After all, the reason Velkius had helped Liriope on the day he sent Caliona out of the Outer Estate was certainly not benevolence, mercy, consideration, virtue, altruism, pity, or compassion.
Liriope recalled the conversations she’d had with Velkius, their memory hazy in her dizzy mind, and questioned him again.
“When we first met… you said you wanted to watch me floundering in the mud, didn’t you? So I thought you were deliberately tormenting me and wanted to see me suffer.”
“Belegoat itself is already a filthy mudpit. Why would I bother going out of my way to do something so tedious? I’d just kill you instead.”
“……”
“And besides, have I ever tried to harm you since the day we first met? Rather, it was you who refused when I offered to help.”
Now that she thought about it, that was true.
But at the time, the other party’s intentions had seemed terribly impure.
“But if that’s not it, why did you keep me from leaving here? There’s no reason for you to find it amusing to keep me here.”
Then Velkius turned his head. His crimson eyes slid across and met Liriope’s.
“Why? I find it amusing. Being here with you like this.”
Liriope was left speechless.
She’d opened her mouth to resolve her questions, yet only became more bewildered instead.
Liriope lay in her exhausted state, watching the Black Mist scatter as it struck the Defensive Barrier, and found herself murmuring without thinking.
“I don’t understand what you want from me.”
“That makes two of us. Actually, I’m not sure either.”
After Velkius’s parting murmur, an odd silence settled between them.
Liriope felt the desire to close her eyes and fall asleep as if losing consciousness.
She’d only just escaped the persistent agony that had plagued her for days, and her tension had eased somewhat.
In truth, allowing such careless sentiment while an unreliable stranger lay so close should have been cause for vigilance.
But for some reason, at this moment it wasn’t easy to stay tense toward the boy beside her.
And somehow… Liriope found herself with the strange thought that he wouldn’t hurt her.
Her eyelids grew heavy, pressing down, and she struggled to keep them open while breathing in shallow gasps. Then, at some point, she impulsively opened her mouth again.
“I miss my sister.”
“Stop talking about your sister.”
Velkius rebuked her as if weary of it.
“How can I stop thinking about her when I’m worried?”
“Your sister is fine, so stop thinking about her.”
“When you pulled her out of the Black Lake, she looked fine… but did she wake up after that? Are you sure she’s really okay?”
“Yes, she’s not just fine—she’s so lively it’s become a problem.”
“Really? Thank goodness… But why is being lively a problem?”
“Why else? She stands out unnecessarily. It won’t do any good if people find out I’m the one who saved your sister.”
“It won’t do any good? Would that put her in danger?”
“Not exactly… Never mind. For now, it’s fine. I attached a Temporary Defense Barrier to her as a precaution.”
“A Temporary Defense Barrier? What is that?”
“It exists. It doesn’t matter if I explain it now—you won’t understand what it means.”
Liriope and Velkius, both in states where their bodies and minds were not normal, simply spoke whatever came to mind.
Perhaps because the words tumbled out without passing through their heads first, their conversation flowed rather smoothly, unguarded and straightforward.
And on the other hand, it oddly sounded natural and intimate, as if they were friends.
At this bizarre phenomenon, Ode let out a bewildered breath. But Liriope, turning over Velkius’s words about Caliona’s safety, paid no mind to anything else.
And once more, an unfiltered word tumbled from Liriope’s lips.
“Thank you……”
If she were to say she harbored no resentment toward Velkius for keeping her trapped in the Outer Estate, that would be a lie.
But she didn’t blame Velkius for her current circumstances.
Rather, strictly speaking, he could even be called a benefactor for saving Caliona.
And the present situation that could be seen as the price for that was entirely her own choice, and she had decided to bear the consequences of it—so there was no one else to blame.
Liriope recalled Caliona, whom she’d last seen without consciousness but still breathing peacefully.
She remembered Caliona’s appearance as she left the Outer Estate, so clean and undamaged that it was hard to believe she’d ever entered the Black Lake, utterly free of any taint of Contamination, and the relief she’d felt then.
And now, having confirmed Caliona’s safety once more from Velkius’s own mouth, the anxiety and impatience of the moment seemed to lift somewhat, along with the darkness in her heart.
So, without her own awareness, genuine gratitude spilled from her lips.

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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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