How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 100

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magic Family (100)

Max Lichthofen.

I had heard his name a few times from Leo.

He sat down calmly in front of Narke and spoke.

“You seem to be in quite a bit of pain.”

Narke looked at him with emotionless eyes.

Since he was currently showing Lucas’s appearance through illusion, he had to be careful not to smile according to Narke’s own habits.

The other person grinned and spoke quietly.

“It’s not about anything else, but our school is the only Prussian team with both 2nd and 3rd year students advancing to the quarterfinals, so it would be troublesome if you’re absent for too long. The Professor also said it would be difficult, but asked if you could come out.”

“I’d like to go too, but sitting for long periods is difficult.”

“Hmm, I figured as much. It’s not an order, so it can’t be helped.”

Everything so far was true.

But what good does truth do?

This isn’t what he’s trying to say.

‘What is he trying to say?’

It’s always difficult to figure out someone you’re meeting for the first time.

Narke silently drank his tea.

“Come to think of it, your face looks fine.”

“…”

Surprising.

I had overlaid Lucas’s appearance from before he was beaten onto myself.

In normal circumstances, there would be no reason to bring up such a topic.

I definitely heard that he hadn’t seen Lucas, so how does he know that his face wasn’t in good condition?

‘So… this also means he figured out that Dietrich Granach is Lucas.’

He doesn’t even possess insight-type abilities, yet he came close to the fact that Dietrich and Lucas are the same person. How interesting.

I’d like to dig deeper, but…

‘Considering Lucas’s personality, it would be awkward to pry into this and that.’

Narke fixed his gaze on the teacup and nodded nonchalantly.

“Is there a reason it wouldn’t be fine?”

“No, it looks good. It would be better if you stayed in this condition.”

“I’ll stay in this condition anyway, even if you don’t say that.”

“Well. However you want to take it is up to you, but I’m speaking seriously…”

He smiled and stood up from his seat.

“Please pass it along well.”

“…”

Narke slowly set down his teacup.

A smile began to creep across his face as he watched the man’s retreating figure.

* * *

Pass it along well.

The meaning was clear.

He knew that Narke was fake and believed that I had entered the Catacombs.

Also, he said ‘it would be better if you stayed in this condition.’

It was a warning not to enter the Catacombs.

‘Sorry, but I can’t do that.’

He said the connection with the Emperor didn’t feel very strong.

But… the feeling wasn’t bad, Narke had said so.

As long as he wasn’t connected to the Emperor, there was no reason to abandon the Catacombs because of him.

“The weather seems warm today. Seeing that it’s raining.”

Marian Baum interrupted my thoughts.

I followed his gaze and looked outside the window.

With January 1st approaching, it was raining instead of snowing.

Now that we were entering the Catacombs prepared for bloodshed, warm weather wouldn’t be bad for us.

Baum looked at Narke, no, Leo, standing behind me and spoke.

“This must be the friend you mentioned before who can use magic.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Michael Schultz.”

Hearing Leo’s serious tone in Narke’s voice was hard to get used to.

Leo had decided to use the same alias that Narke had used before.

Though it would soon be unnecessary, I handed Baum the forged identification and various documents.

He had asked for his information first if I was going to bring a friend.

“Good. Shall we go?”

Baum immediately put the documents in his bag and headed to the rooftop.

“Don’t you need to check them now?”

“You would have brought someone after judging them well. How many people would there be who never use magic even once while getting beaten to a pulp?”

“…”

This… he completely trusts me.

I think it was good that I just took the beating, but on the other hand, I feel sorry.

Of course, those documents would be submitted to the Catacombs Security Bureau, so he was probably just believing that and going along with it appropriately.

“Rooftop?”

I heard Leo’s muttering.

Due to the rain, there wasn’t time to explain everything one by one.

Baum drew a magic circle on the floor with his staff, then quickly tapped the surface with his ring.

“…!”

We were standing on the deceptive glass floor above the empty sky, just like before.

“…Wow.”

Leo exclaimed involuntarily.

“Amazing.”

“Right? I feel more proud because of reactions like this.”

Baum shouted the command word.

I looked around at the familiar scenery that unfolded once again and asked him.

“Teacher, do you know much about the Vigilante Corps here?”

“Vigilante Corps? I know them. Why?”

“What’s their status here?”

“They’re like the police. There aren’t many police here.”

So there are police.

Since there are more people going in and out of the surface than the population living here 24 hours, there couldn’t be many people whose job it is to handle security.

“But why do you ask that?”

“Yesterday, there was a report that there was a New Human at the tavern I went to.”

“Hmm?”

Baum tilted his head and stroked his chin.

“I haven’t heard such a story? If something like that happened, they would have announced it to the entire Catacombs. More than that, how did they figure out whether it was a New Human or not?”

Leo and I briefly made eye contact.

Something that would normally be announced widely, they didn’t do so yesterday?

“I didn’t hear the details.”

“Really? This is strange. I’ll have to look into it later.”

Marian Baum said that and gestured to us as if telling us to look around the city center, then turned around.

I stopped him.

“Teacher.”

“What?”

“I have something to tell you.”

* * *

After a long while, we parted ways with him and walked to the place we had promised to meet Elias.

Leo was the first to break the silence.

“The report was bait.”

“Right.”

Yesterday’s report was fake.

So they couldn’t advertise it to the Catacombs citizens.

“Who do you think made the report?”

“Well. I thought it might be that 3rd Year Student…”

But for that to be true, when he discovered us before I turned back time, he hurriedly left as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have.

Would such a person make a report and then personally show up?

‘But then again, there’s a contradiction in that he knows Granach.’

Then I’ll put it on hold.

As time passes and more clues accumulate, I’ll naturally find out.

“I can’t know right now. And… Leo.”

“What?”

“Can’t you use insight with that body?”

“…Of course not. It’s just an illusion.”

That’s unfortunate.

Well, if I could have found out through insight, Narke would have told me yesterday.

I don’t have much regret about it.

Leo narrowed his eyes as if feeling uncomfortable.

“…It’s already awkward, why make it more awkward? I had forgotten I was walking around as Narke.”

“It’s pretty decent. It’s refreshing since your eye level is roughly similar to mine.”

“…”

Leo seems disgusted by walking around with someone else’s appearance, but to others it doesn’t seem strange.

Then, in the distance, I saw someone lying sprawled in shabby clothes in a corner of the park.

Next to him, a dog the size of a werewolf I had seen before was circling around.

“Ah, why does he look like someone I know.”

I left Leo’s subtle denial of reality behind and stood at Elias’s bedside.

“What are you doing.”

“Oh! You came.”

Elias, who had been holding the dog’s head, cast a sound-blocking spell and jumped up.

Then he looked back and forth between us and wiped the smile from his face.

“Is this fog? What did you already bring? That’s impressive.”

“I guess you thought there was no need to drag it out.”

Since Marian Baum had also disappeared from our side, from their perspective, they would naturally act now.

I didn’t bother to look around.

Even without doing so, I was already beginning to feel magical power from beneath my feet.

The somewhat gloomy dawn sky in the distance was turning completely white.

It’s spatial magic.

Even in the same place, the outside would be peaceful.

“Right, we expected this.”

Leo drew his wand from the holster on his left.

Can it be dismissed with just saying we expected it?

Rather, I had hoped they would come like this.

Kwaaaaang―!

With an ear-splitting roar, light flared in one side of my vision.

The golden barrier Leo had put up wavered.

The shockwave from it made the surface of my skin tremble finely.

[I clearly told you to deliver the message properly.]

“…”

A familiar voice came from the air.

Along with it, dozens of people in black robes revealed themselves from all directions.

Seeing that appearance, I could immediately understand why Elias had mentioned fog.

[You seem unaware of the Catacombs’ law, but the principle is to kill new humans immediately upon discovery.]

If others said this, I might accept it, but what about the person saying it himself?

Richthofen is a noble family of Prussia.

Someone bearing that surname saying such things is simply absurd.

[Two new humans, one of unknown identity. If necessary, you may kill even the one of unknown identity.]

Before those words even finished, I had to swing my wand with all my might.

Kwaaaaang―! Bang―!

“Wow, how brutish. Where do you see people shooting so openly like this?”

Gray magical power shot from all directions shook our barrier.

Elias stood calmly behind the barrier Leo and I had put up with a nonchalant face.

This wasn’t the time to be relaxed.

With dozens of people’s magical power pouring out at once, the barrier wavered even though we were continuously reinforcing it with magical power.

Leo continued swinging his wand while shouting.

“Don’t want to listen? Then there’s a good way to just take it directly. Did you forget everything after resting for two months?!”

“That’s too much~ More than that, we’re completely surrounded right now. I should have lain down somewhere with cover…”

Elias let out a deep breath and raised the corners of his mouth.

He lightly shook his wand to turn it into a staff.

The smile disappeared from Elias’s face as he raised his head.

“Keep it up.”

Before I could tell him to give proper instructions, Elias struck the ground.

Instantly, my ears became muffled.

The barrier Leo and I were maintaining was instantly pushed away by blue magical power and shattered into pieces.

The roar came a beat later.

“Ugh!”

Crack―

The body barrier I had wrapped tightly around myself cracked.

‘…That was almost a disaster.’

If I hadn’t been able to withstand it with magical power, I would have gone straight to the intensive care unit.

I almost cursed, but I understood well what Elias intended.

I hesitated for a moment, then swung my wand at the vigilante corps mages rushing at us.

To reach a place with cover, we had to deal with the guys surrounding us from all sides in one strike, so Elias pushed forward fiercely with his magical power while using our barrier as an attack tool.

But that only works for a moment.

I can’t keep defending forever with such ambiguous attacks.

I surveyed all directions.

‘Two… three. Five are attached to me.’

I can’t use divine power. Wouldn’t that reveal who Nicolaus is?

Of course, even considering just magical power, I have the advantage whether five or ten attach to me.

But the field is too wide, so there are limits to pushing forward.

I need to change strategy.

I stopped attacking and strengthened my body barrier, running toward the residential area behind the park.

Kwang― Bang―

‘Ugh…’

Running while putting weight on my legs to avoid being pushed by attacks is harder than I thought, but…

Swish―

As soon as I entered the alley, I turned around and crouched low. A gray attack barely grazed over my head.

I cast a transformation spell on my wand to change it into a sword and kicked off the ground to run.

Two mages have now entered the path.

More will come soon, but there’s enough time.

“Stay still.”

I looked at the legs of the mage closest to me and cast a binding spell.

Perhaps it wasn’t for nothing that he was active as a mage hunting new humans, as he quickly shook off the magic that caught his feet with practiced ease. His ash-colored mana rushed toward me.

‘Of course, I should dodge.’

Setting up a barrier in this kind of close combat would be a bad move.

The light and noise would cause me to miss the attack timing and hand over control of the situation.

Of course…

Kwaaaaang―!

I just need to apply that to my opponent.

When mana touched the thinly spread barrier, a flash occurred and the barrier shattered.

I grabbed the shoulder of the mage who was now showing me his back.

“…!”

“I’m not sure where you’re looking.”

I pushed mana toward the position where his heart would be, behind his back.

Puuk― Kwaaaaang―!

“Aaaaack!”

I scattered the mana that had formed the sword and slammed the mage to the ground.

Since I shattered his core, there’s no need for him to fight me anymore.

I extended my wand to strike the ground, then immediately rushed at the guy who had been behind that mage. The one who had been providing support from behind now changed his wand into a sword like me and joined in.

‘How unlucky that both are rushing at me.’

Of course they would.

I’m a target they need to kill, so why would they come at me one by one?

I parried their attacks while frowning.

‘…But something’s strange.’

I examined the mana while smashing another guy’s core.

Black liquid was flowing from his body.

The color was like vitriol, but it just flowed down without that kind of viscosity.

No matter how I looked at it, it couldn’t be considered normal.

‘I’d like to do some interrogation…’

Kkaang―!

I turned around and blocked a sword against the mana I suddenly felt from behind.

Of course, I never intended to do that with these small fries in a place like this from the beginning.

There’s someone else I need to interrogate.

Max Richthofen, that is.

I now cleared my mind of distracting thoughts and swung my sword.

After damaging the core of the last guy, I ran toward the building where Elias was.

“…!”

I turned around at the faint mana I felt from behind.

There’s someone lying in ambush.

At that moment, the sound of breaking glass rang out.

Crash― Bang―!

“Aack!”

Before I could even launch an attack, one mage grabbed his heart and screamed.

“Ah, I was really wondering when you’d come out~”

From the 3rd floor of the building behind, Elias scattered the bow made of mana into the air while winking. Next to him, I could see Leo narrowing his brow with a face that said he should have helped earlier.

Elias looked up at the sky and said.

“So, this is the end, but I wonder why they’re not sending more?”

“…”

“They said they had to kill us, right? They’ve already brought all the guys who were in position and it still didn’t work, so there’s nothing else they can do. What are they hoping for?”

Elias sneered heavily as he tore at the broken window and jumped down.

“That’s right.”

“…!”

Richthofen entered the spatial magic and walked toward us.

He looked around at the other unconscious mages and said.

“I hoped you’d kill them, but you only shattered their cores. That’s not a method I like.”

Kwang―!

Elias thrust his wand down.

He easily blocked Elias’s attack and said.

“No, I’m not really here in person, so it won’t work. What could I trust when dealing with you people?”

“That’s not something I want to hear from a guy who just told his subordinates they should have killed instead of just shattering cores~”

Elias immediately continued.

“And, aren’t you a new human? Why is a guy from the Imperial 2nd Education Institute Magic Department doing vigilante work in the Catacombs… This is quite curious.”

Richthofen didn’t answer and stared at Elias, then brought up something else.

“Earlier you said ‘are they not sending more because there’s nothing left to do?’ That’s exactly right. To think that about thirty mages would be enough against Elias Hohenzollern was a bit complacent.”

“…”

“Rather, if it’s a mage who travels with Elias Hohenzollern and would infiltrate the Catacombs systematically… it would be Count Nicolaus Ernst.”

He smiled as he looked at Leo and me.

“Which one of you is it? The commander gave orders to find out somehow.”

“…”

I twisted the corner of my mouth.

This is why I said we shouldn’t go with Leo’s face as is.

Excluding the crown prince, naturally the only person left is me.

From the strange liquid that’s neither vitriol nor blood, to specifically trying to find ‘Nicolaus Ernst.’

I’m thinking of two cases.

Either the entire vigilante corps has been tainted by Pleroma, or Robert Mueller is here.

“What if we don’t want to tell you?”

Elias shrugged with an indifferent face.

“Well, it can’t be helped. There’s no way out, so I’m curious what you’ll do.”

At that moment, the spatial magic dissolved and the grayish-blue sky turned completely red.

The fact that they could change colors so arbitrarily made it immediately clear that the Catacombs itself was a space made of mana.

Whiiiiing―

[Two new humans and one of unknown identity have infiltrated Bavaria Catacombs 1st District. Please evacuate to a safe place immediately.]

An unfamiliar announcement was heard.

At the same time, colorful mana formed a huge image in the sky.

“…!”

Elias opened his mouth.

Images of Elias and my face, taken who knows when, were repeatedly played in the sky and various places.

Below them, our names were written large and glowing.

[Karl Han/Elias Hohenzollern]

[Dietrich Granach/—]

[—]

‘So this is how it turns out.’

As I burst into laughter, Elias looked back at me.

They’re really expanding the game for us.

‘I’m grateful for that.’

I was just wondering how I could turn the entire Catacombs to my side anyway.

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