Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 72

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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 72
The cubes suspended in midair—one for each recruit—materialized before them in perfect alignment.
“These are Isolated Spaces crafted from Mana. Inside, you’ll undergo Adaptation Training to acclimate yourselves to the Toxic Miasma of the Contaminated Holy Ground.”
Cameron explained this to the bewildered children.
“We’ll start with the outer seventh concentration zone. Take note—you won’t be able to use Magic during Adaptation Training. I’ll extract you after one hour. If you maintain consciousness and your wits about you, you’ll pass. Now, begin!”
Before the children could even react, the enlarged cubes above their heads suddenly engulfed them.
* * *
– Ah, aaaargh!
– Sob, sobbing! P-please, let me out…. Get me out of here!
– My head hurts, it hurts so much, ughhhh…….
Cameron sipped his tea leisurely, using the anguished cries echoing from inside the cubes as background music.
Because Cameron had blocked Mana flow, no one inside could cast Purification Magic. They had no choice but to endure the pain raw.
Of course, this wasn’t to torment them for amusement, but rather to cultivate their capacity to survive in Contaminated Holy Ground even without Magic’s aid.
The Black Land held too many variables. No matter how thoroughly one prepared, situations frequently arose where Magic became unusable, leaving one defenseless.
For the children trapped in the cubes, a single minute stretched like a year. But for someone outside, an hour passed in a blink.
Zing!
At the precise moment, the black cube automatically ejected the children.
“Ughh, sob……! Save me, please…….”
“All of you, regain your senses!”
Cameron barked at the children suffering from Contamination Side Effects.
Yet inwardly, he was astonished.
Somehow, of this batch of ten new recruits, only three had lost consciousness.
If they performed this well in their first Adaptation Training, this cohort was extraordinary.
Cameron issued orders in turn to each child still conscious.
“Tell me your name, age, where you are right now, and who your assigned supervisor is.”
“Uh, w-what?”
“Failed. Back in the box.”
Cameron showed no mercy, so even a moment’s hesitation was unforgivable.
“Tell me your name, age, where you are right now, and who your assigned supervisor is.”
“Hhh, my, my name……. P-Peter, and my age, my age……. Uhhh, how old am I?”
“Tsk. You too—back in.”
Even those awake were so delirious from Contamination Side Effects that they couldn’t answer properly.
These children would spend the rest of their lives deepening their Contamination Adaptation, ascending through higher stages as they climbed the tower—they were only beginning.
Cameron was already mentally preparing to place every child back in the Mana cube as he approached the last one still conscious.
“Tell me your name, age, where you are right now, and who your assigned supervisor is…….”
“Liriope, fourteen years old, Underground Recruit Training Room of the Inner Estate at the Northern Magic Tower, supervisor Cameron Lozaiur.”
And the girl’s voice—crisp and precise enough to make one doubt their ears—halted him in his tracks.
“You…… what are you?”
“Liriope, fourteen years old.”
“Why do you look so fine?”
“I’m not fine, Cameron Lozaiur.”
“What?”
“I said I’m not fine. Liriope is sleepy.”
Yet her eyes were extraordinarily alert and clear for someone claiming drowsiness.
Cameron wondered if she was deliberately lying to provoke him.
Under his suspicious stare, Liriope suddenly blinked her wide eyes slowly, then her head began drooping forward with all the vigor of a sickly bird.
Cameron couldn’t decide if she was genuinely drowsy or simply scratching his nerves with an act.
He checked whether one of the cubes might be defective.
But its performance was normal.
Cameron, amid his confusion, soon arrived at a plausible explanation.
“You……! Remove that Cloak and go back inside. I see now—you were under the effects of a magical item the whole time!”
The expression Liriope directed up at Cameron then turned subtly insolent.
“Why? Liriope passed. Cameron Lozaiur, did you lie?”
“You impudent brat, what is this disrespectful tone since earlier……!”
Cameron’s irritation boiled over.
“And don’t address me so casually. I never gave you permission!”
“Oh, sorry. Ever since I heard it before, it’s stuck to my tongue.”
Cameron made an effort to suppress his anger. The reason he didn’t seize the Cloak and tear it to shreds was caution—he still hadn’t learned who was backing Liriope.
‘Why on earth did that noble tell her even my family name? Are they on such intimate terms that they’d share something so trivial?’
Lozaiur was a clan that dwelt on the border between the Contaminated Holy Ground and the city, making their living collecting and selling beast dung.
Cameron had fled that repulsive village in childhood and had the fortune to enter the Northern Magic Tower.
Since he’d concealed his origins thoroughly, few within Belegot knew of them.
“Quiet! Regardless, you’re going back in the box. If you emerge unscathed this time, I’ll mark you as passed.”
But an hour later, the result was the same.
“Liriope, fourteen years old, Underground Recruit Training Room of the Inner Estate at the Northern Magic Tower, supervisor Cameron Lozaiur. Are we done now?”
“Yes…… you pass. You may return to your quarters.”
Cameron wanted to pick at her further, but after placing Liriope in the box three times over, he reluctantly acquiesced.
Just as some people possessed exceptional physical resilience, Liriope clearly had an unusual resistance to Contaminated Toxic Miasma.
Unless—she had broken through his Mana Blocking and used Purification Magic inside the cube…….
But he couldn’t fathom that a newly admitted recruit from the Outer Estate could have risen to a higher Rank than himself, who bore four pairs of wings.
‘Perhaps there truly is reason the noble took notice of her. Irritating as she is, I’d best watch and wait.’
“Wait.”
Just as Cameron turned away, suppressing his emotions, Liriope caught him.
“My Cloak.”
“…….”
“You should return it.”
Cameron, caught in the act of intending to take Liriope’s Cloak away to investigate its source, flushed.
“Ahem! Since you’re undergoing recruit training, I’ll keep this for now.”
“Is that so? I received this Cloak as a gift before arriving at the Inner Estate…… and the person who gave it to me treats it like a second body, saying never to take it off even for a moment…… but if you absolutely must force it from me, well, I suppose I have no choice but to be sad and tearful. Though I’ll certainly tell the Cloak’s owner the whole truth later…….”
“Here, take it, take it! Who’s forcing anything? Actually, thinking about it, I can just wear it and take it off during lessons!”
Liriope didn’t resist at all and promptly took the Cloak back, pulling it on again.
Cameron’s insides churned with fury.
But being pragmatic, he feared offending the noble if he became Liriope’s enemy, so he ultimately had no choice but to let her go.
* * *
Having left the training room first, Liriope glanced back briefly.
True, Magic couldn’t be used inside the cube as Cameron said—but only under ordinary circumstances.
Liriope had broken through Cameron’s Mana Blocking and maintained Purification Magic throughout, allowing her to rest comfortably inside.
But leaving the other children behind while she alone departed weighed on her slightly.
Yet it was also true that to survive any longer in the Contaminated Holy Ground, one needed to build resistance to Toxic Miasma.
No blow can be taken for another.
Moreover, though such words sounded cold, Liriope couldn’t harbor optimism that all those children would safely reach adulthood within Belegot.
Nor could she protect them all for the rest of her life…….
So to raise survival odds even slightly, they too needed to temper themselves ruthlessly.
‘No…… but if I’m being honest, the bigger reason is that I don’t want to bear responsibility for others.’
Liriope offered a bitter smile.
In truth, helping the children in the Outer Estate was the limit of warmth she could show.
Even if she wished to do more, refraining was better for her own sake.
An individual’s time, resources, and passion to give others had definite limits.
Liriope had already decided whom to devote most of this lifetime to.
So she didn’t want to create any more people to whom she might carelessly open her heart.
‘In the end, I’m not the sort to be called a leader.’
For a moment, the red-haired boy who’d earned that title passed through her mind. But Liriope quickly shook her head, brushing him away.
After that, her expression hardened, and she quietly returned to her barred quarters.

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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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