Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 81

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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 81
Velkius wiped away the remnants of shadow that trailed down his cheek with a rough hand.
The image of Liriope’s dejected face, seen just after meeting Caliona a few days ago, surfaced unbidden, and a sigh escaped him.
Part of him felt lighter knowing that the distance between Liriope and the sister she’d clung to so desperately had grown wider, yet the sight of Liriope’s spirit dimmed somehow darkened his own mood just as inexplicably.
Whether Liriope drew close to her sister or drifted away, something twisted inside him either way—he couldn’t make sense of it.
In truth, Velkius knew that even if Liriope had become caught in some unforeseen accident at the Polluted Holy Ground today, she wouldn’t face any real danger.
But knowing that didn’t mean he could simply sit idle with his hands folded.
Mulling over his options, Velkius found himself turning over in his mind a gambit he’d kept in reserve for moments exactly like this.
He didn’t particularly like it, but he had no choice.
If he truly wanted to gain the right to make everything bend to his will, he would need to possess a strength that yielded to no command, no threat, no pressure whatsoever.
Only those who stood at the very apex of the food chain could possess completely not just the insignificant creatures beneath their feet, but themselves as well.
Yet Velkius did not yet possess the strength to regard all things so naturally from above.
Not yet, anyway.
But he would ascend to that throne someday. Inevitably.
Before long, he would seize that glorious crown for himself, and ensure that no one dared ever place him beneath their heel and have their way with him.
– Evangellin.
“Hmm?”
Velkius deliberately buried himself in shadow, concealing his form, and sent a message to Evangellin.
Evangellin, sharing the same surname as some of the boys around him, had just frowned while enjoying an elegant afternoon tea at the Magic Tower.
‘Velkius? What’s this about? I heard he hasn’t come back from the Polluted Holy Ground yet. Why’s he suddenly reaching out?’
– Didn’t you mention you had somewhere to be today?
‘Somewhere to be? Me?’
Bewildered by Velkius’s sudden words, Evangellin hesitated as he mentally reviewed his schedule. In that same instant, a Spatial Transfer Magic Circle suddenly materialized beneath his feet.
– That’s right. You. You need to go see your Contractee right now.
At that moment, Evangellin could only gape in shock.
“What? Evangellin, where are you going all of a sudden?”
“Seriously? You were just talking to us and now you’re disappearing? Honestly, this guy’s got no manners—the worst of us all.”
The other boys enjoying their tea turned to regard Evangellin in bewilderment.
“Wait, don’t tell me you’re going to meet your girlfriend?”
“Ooh, really? That pretty dark-haired girl with the aloof look that Evangellin contracted last year?”
“Though honestly, isn’t she more of an unrequited crush? That girl doesn’t seem to care much about Evangellin at all. I’d think Stella—the girl Hyde’s been courting—would be easier to win over.”
The crudely gleeful chatter of the boys around him barely registered, so profound was Evangellin’s shock.
It was stunning enough that a Magic Circle had been activated from such a distance, but his alarm went deeper than that.
Just as a person’s handwriting is unique, each mage who wields a spell leaves their own mark—yet this was…
The density and distribution of Mana in the Spatial Transfer Magic Circle beneath his feet, the size of the circle itself and the manner in which it had been drawn, even the indescribable characteristic aura embedded within it—
‘Is this bastard mimicking me?’
What chilled him most was that none of the people around him had any inkling that Velkius had drawn this Magic Circle.
“Hey, let’s follow him!”
“Yeah, Evangellin, we’ll help you win her over, okay?”
Several of the boys found the situation immensely amusing and piled into the Spatial Transfer spell alongside him.
But Evangellin was too dumbfounded to stop them.
Thus Evangellin was forcibly transported by Velkius to Zone 7 on the outskirts of the Polluted Holy Ground.
Naturally, it was a deeply frustrating and infuriating situation, but the one he should have been directing his anger at wasn’t here.
And even if Velkius had been standing right in front of him, Evangellin’s pride wouldn’t have allowed him to show his resentment openly.
* * *
“Eeek!”
“Ah! W-what? Where… where is this?”
The Magical Artifact greedily swallowed those caught in its light.
Liriope, Stella, and some of the other children were caught up in a tremendous surge of magic and hurled somewhere unseen.
When they opened their eyes, their vision was engulfed in a milky-white space veiled in pallid light.
The place was so grandly overwhelming that it resembled either the palace of an ancient kingdom or a temple forsaken by gods themselves.
Everywhere bore the marks of neglect through countless ages—vivid decay, rust, and deterioration in places.
And had it not been for the vines creeping up the walls and overtaking the ceiling nearly in their entirety, the vista would have been far more resplendent.
Ting, ting…
From somewhere came the faint, crystalline sound of a bell, so ethereal and unreal that it seemed to belong to another world entirely.
Liriope stood among the panicked children, her eyes narrowed as she surveyed her surroundings.
She recognized where she was immediately.
‘The Ruined Ancient Ruins…’
This was an Isolated Space completely separate from the reality they had inhabited.
The domain of ancient sorcerers, where all manner of inexplicable forces flowed.
A realm of mystery that countless mages of later generations had studied with unwavering focus and still conquered less than half of.
The remnant of a great Ancient Magical Civilization long lost, said to have once existed in what was now the Polluted Holy Ground—now transformed into a land of death.
The reason novice mages received warnings about Magical Artifacts when searching the Polluted Holy Ground was precisely to prevent unguarded transfer into these ancient ruins.
How the old ruins and artifacts remained connected despite having surely been destroyed and lost long ago was never definitively answered, even before the regression.
The prevailing theory was merely that various magical mechanisms had become tangled when the ancient civilization perished in catastrophe, resulting in this phenomenon.
In any case, there were many ancient ruins accessible through Magical Artifacts, each with varying degrees of danger.
Some could be traversed as casually as a stroll, while others were so perilous that even with meticulous preparation, one might fall instantly without managing a single move.
What was reassuring now was that this particular ruin fell into the former category.
Fortunately, Liriope had read an expedition journal of this ruin in her previous life.
‘But I never expected Stella to be this bold.’
She’d suspected something was being plotted, but to actually bring a Magical Artifact…?
Of course, Stella wasn’t the type to invite needless danger upon herself, so she must have known the artifact was stable.
‘Could Cameron have obtained it for her? No—even if he indulges Stella, he wouldn’t participate in such a foolish prank.’
Liriope’s gaze slid toward the girl with golden-sandy hair and amber eyes.
She was just turning her head toward Liriope as well.
But just before their eyes met, someone who had been holding Liriope pushed her body forcefully to the side.
So the first thing Stella’s eyes took in was not Liriope sprawled flat on the ground, but Caliona standing beside her.
“Wait, Caliona? Why is my senior here?”
Stella’s voice rose as though she’d discovered some unexpected impurity.
Though Stella had orchestrated this situation, it seemed not everything had gone exactly as planned.
Liriope, cast aside to the side, looked up at her sister with an expression caught between laughter and tears.

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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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