How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 102

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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 (102)

At that moment, the surrounding images disappeared.

The strange voices presumed to be Korean could no longer be heard either.

Richthofen clicked his tongue and said.

“That’s a shame. I wanted to figure out where that was.”

“How can I tell you about a place I don’t know?”

“….”

Elias and Leo looked at me with confused eyes.

Still, they didn’t seem to think that place existed in reality.

It had to be that way.

I couldn’t be sure whether my friends would be able to accept the truth, or if they’d treat me the same as before even after knowing.

Especially Leo. His relationship with the Antagonist started from Luca’s magic power.

Given Leo’s personality, if he knew that ‘Luca’ wasn’t really Luca….

‘No.’

There’s no need to imagine it.

Even if I had to bite my tongue and die right now, I would never say it with my own mouth. I can’t let everything collapse after coming this far.

“Fine. As long as we get a conclusion, it doesn’t matter if we take a roundabout way, right? You’ll end up answering anyway. Without the carbonation, you can’t really call it champagne.”

He’s saying in a roundabout way that it has quite a high alcohol content. It’s definitely not sitting well with me.

Unlike my original self, Luca isn’t trained for alcohol, so it can’t be helped.

“Let’s hurry up.”

“This is an independent trial, yet your confidence is remarkable.”

“When did I say I didn’t know?”

Whatever comes up, I need to get through it quickly so it’ll be the Antagonist’s turn. When I snapped back, he laughed and tapped the table.

The lighting was so bright it stung my eyes, making me reflexively frown.

It didn’t take long to adjust to the light.

Cameras and various audio equipment were scattered around.

‘…Sigh.’

Of course, it’s obvious whose memory this place belongs to.

With a 25% probability, I expected it to come up again eventually, but no matter how many times I face it, I can never get used to it.

“It’s not intentional, but what a coincidence. So, anyone want to ask a question?”

Elias and Leo looked at me. Honestly, I didn’t even have the capacity to gauge their expressions anymore.

“Seems like there’s no one. Mr. Ascanien, what connection does this have with activities to maintain safety from Pleroma?”

“Isn’t this an obviously indirect question?”

The voices of Elias and Richthofen echoed and blurred in my ears.

Then, someone lightly kicked next to my shoe.

Leo looked at me, smiled faintly, then looked back at Richthofen.

‘…Hmm.’

I need to pull myself together.

I was surprised because I only thought about this trivial game and didn’t expect it to mess with my mind, but if I want to win, I have no choice but to regain my composure.

“The criteria are ambiguous, but at least it’s not something like ‘how did you feel when you caught Strauchi,’ so isn’t it fine?”

Actually, for the question he just asked, I could simply say ‘there’s no connection’ and it would be fine.

Between my real-world self and Nicolaus Ernst, as far as I know, there’s no connection whatsoever.

But this is no different from poker.

If I answer honestly every time….

‘Later, the moment I empty my glass would be like admitting to the question.’

But if I lie, there’s no telling what might happen.

Since both sides have things they need to get from each other, they wouldn’t have left it to each other’s conscience.

So the method I’ll choose is this.

Keep drinking until luck comes.

I downed the alcohol in my glass and said.

“Pass.”

He nodded without hesitation and brought his wand down on the desk again.

It was somewhere unknown. Under a small bridge with mud messily smeared on it, and around it sat skinny children who looked to be about elementary school age.

There was a fishy smell, as if something was rotting.

‘…Is this Elias’s memory?’

But Elias was just looking at Richthofen.

“Ah, now it’s my turn. Anyone want to ask a question?”

Elias started to say something but looked at me instead.

‘Where are you from?’ It is a curious question.

However, despite being curious, it’s a question of low importance.

I nodded to Elias and said to Richthofen.

“Why are you stalling for time?”

“…Isn’t it interesting? It’s a much better method than just hitting and talking.”

He said that and downed his drink in one go. The image disappeared again.

I let out a light laugh.

“You’re shamelessly lying.”

“….”

They must have set it up so that the Antagonist would suffer when he said something he himself thought was false.

If it were true, there would have been no need to drink just now.

For the first time, I could sense agitation from Richthofen. He unconsciously moved his eyes as if surveying somewhere, then fixed his gaze back on us.

“Is Count Nicolaus Narke Farnese? Mr. Ascanien doesn’t give proper answers at all.”

He lightly flicked his finger.

“…!”

At that moment, Elias’s eyes widened and he grabbed his throat. At the same time, strength drained from his body.

Elias collapsed to the side.

Crash―!

The chair hit the floor first.

I caught Elias with my magic power before he could hit the ground. However, his figure soon disappeared from above my magic power.

“What the…!”

Clang―!

Leo threw his glass and grabbed Richthofen by the collar. Narke’s face, shown through the illusion, was completely distorted.

This was the most impulsive behavior I’d ever seen from him.

“You…!”

“No matter how I look at it, this one seems more like Nicolaus. Seeing how he’s covering for his partner….”

Richthofen smiled and shook his head.

“Attacks don’t work, I told you. You probably can’t get a feel for it since you’ve never seen this kind of double-space magic outside the Catacombs.”

“What did you do.”

Blue magic power sparked from Leo’s hands.

Richthofen shrugged his shoulders.

“Actually, even without participating in the game, Elias Hohenzollern’s identity is clear. There’s no need to keep him around.”

He looked back and forth between me and Leo as he spoke.

“You seemed to lack urgency. I need to change the situation a bit. If you have any last words, say them now.”

In this situation… should I ask if Robert Mueller is above you?

No, that’s an obvious question.

I need to think of a more important question.

“Tell me the real order. Not some vague instruction to find out who Nicolaus Ernst is.”

“….”

He raised the corner of his mouth and looked at me.

Then, after a long while, he said.

“He told me to capture Nicolaus alive and kill the other two. Does that answer your question?”

“…”

If Nicolaus is the target, then there’s no point in keeping his companions alive.

Now the Antagonist is holding Elias’s life in his hands for the command to find out who Nicolaus is.

‘…I’m starting to understand.’

From their plan to Richthofen’s plan.

That ambiguous puzzle where if one part fit, another part was wrong – all the pieces are falling into place now.

I understand why the Antagonist proposed a game while stalling for time, and I also understand that he’ll continue to drag things out like this.

If my prediction is correct, the Antagonist’s plan is better than I thought.

So much so that I can’t believe things could go this smoothly.

* * *

‘He said he’s stalling for time.’

That’s what Lucas said earlier.

Leo grabbed his head and closed his eyes.

‘He really is stalling properly.’

The game had changed.

Now Richthofen had stepped away from his seat.

He said he would make sure Lucas wouldn’t feel guilty about revealing who Nicolaus Ernst was.

‘He told me to read the memories directly.’

At first it seemed ridiculous, but after taking the drug he gave me to verify, I clearly realized what the Antagonist wanted.

I might be the only one thinking this way, but those definitely weren’t memories that would be good for Lucas to read.

Leo looked at the liquid placed in front of him with the urge to break the stem of the wine glass.

Again… there’s a drug in there that converts mana into vitriol.

It hasn’t manifested in me yet, but it’s just speculation – I think the plan is to turn someone into Pleroma and have them reported.

Then, Lucas, who had awakened from the drug around the same time as Leo, muttered.

“It’s a good strategy. If you divide the opposing side, you can win without dirtying your own hands. After seeing everything down to the bottom, you can’t help but betray.”

“…Lucas.”

“What.”

Leo silently let out a deep breath.

Is this really the time to be doing such analysis?

Lucas must have also read memories that would be uncomfortable to show me.

Yet he’s still following his instructions.

From what he said earlier about stalling for time, it seems like he’s figured out what the Antagonist’s plan is.

‘Well, since Elias has become a hostage, he has no choice but to do so…’

He’s definitely drunk.

Since he’s someone who doesn’t usually drink much, it must have hit him harder.

[You’ve waited long enough, right? This game now, or a new game? I’ll give you a chance to choose.]

Lucas pressed his forehead firmly with his fingers as his vision seemed to spin, then opened his mouth.

“What’s the new one?”

[It wouldn’t be fun if you knew in advance. Leave it to luck.]

Lucas chuckled.

Leo could also tell what he was thinking.

It’s obvious.

Deliberately giving two choices while not revealing information is essentially telling them not to choose the other option.

Who would readily jump into a game with no information at all?

Based on their experience so far, they might face even greater danger if they made that choice.

But thinking about it the other way, it means Richthofen has a definite advantage in the current game.

So, even with the risk involved…

“…Let’s go with the new one, Lucas. You don’t seem to be in good shape right now.”

Lucas rolled his eyes to look up at Leo.

Then he looked at the empty space where Richthofen’s voice had been coming from and quietly muttered.

“Let’s continue with what we were doing.”

“You…! What are you saying!”

At those words, Lucas removed the hand that had been pressed to his forehead and slowly raised the corners of his mouth.

“There’s no need to take on new risks. And right now, I think I’m speaking clearly.”

“…”

Leo just furrowed his brows without saying anything.

He’s right.

But aren’t there people who speak perfectly fine even when drunk? Though their thinking isn’t quite right.

Lucas might not have his usual cognitive abilities intact either.

‘But…’

Every time he’s acted like this so far, there’s always been a reason.

Perhaps that’s why the words wouldn’t come out.

Meanwhile, Lucas continued speaking.

“I’ll choose the drinks. Since I’m playing along this much, you can at least let me drink something I like, right?”

[Do as you please.]

“You can make whiskey sour, right? Brandy sour would be good too.”

[We’re ordering everything from outside anyway. Do whatever you want.]

“I don’t like lime, so skip that. Since we’ll finish drinking, don’t skip the garnish and make it look proper.”

Lucas added unnecessary specifications to his order.

‘He’s drunk…’

Leo held back a hollow laugh.

If you tell them not to use lime in a sour cocktail, that’s basically asking for lemon, but wouldn’t it be easier to just ask for lemon from the start?

Surely he doesn’t have some plan even for this.

Soon two whiskey sours were placed on the table. Lemon slices were stuck in as decoration.

There was no particular voice to be heard. The method was obvious, so there was no need for them to speak up again.

“Lucas.”

“No, sorry, but I can’t.”

He didn’t even let me finish speaking?

Leo bit his lips tightly.

“…I’m sorry, but I really can’t give in.”

“I know, whatever trick those bastards pulled, I’ll probably appear in the drug you received anyway.”

“Right, that’s what happened. So that’s why I’m saying this.”

“I won’t get hurt. Don’t you trust me?”

“Right.”

At the words that he didn’t trust him, Lucas quietly waited for Leo’s explanation.

Leo himself knew that those words were the worst thing to say in this situation.

“…To be precise, it’s not that I don’t trust you. I don’t trust humans.”

“Tell me.”

“People don’t know anything until they experience it. Even if you try to treat me like nothing happened, I don’t know how your thoughts might change after seeing the past again. Leaving past time in the past is different from replaying it in the present.”

“…”

“I’m sorry. I don’t want to grow distant from you.”

Lucas stared at Leo intently, then just shrugged his shoulders.

“I won’t do that. I became friends with you knowing everything. Don’t you know?”

Lucas said that, then smiled with an exaggerated frown.

“We are friends, right? I’m not the only one thinking that, am I?”

“…Of course…! What are you saying at this point?”

“Right, then trust me.”

“…”

“I’ll show you that trusting can lead to something not so bad.”

Leo looked at Lucas, who was smiling leisurely.

I can’t be certain where that laughter and confidence comes from.

From what he’s saying, it seems he knows I’ll read last year’s memories…

He might have just been rambling drunkenly. Maybe I should hit him on the head like Elias would.

But for some reason, the words wouldn’t come out of my mouth.

“Thanks.”

Lucas seemed to read Leo’s expression and smiled faintly as he took the glass.

He removed the lemon from his glass and examined it, then suddenly threw it into his mouth.

Then he pushed his glass away, knocking it over.

Crash—

“…!”

“Sorry. Not like this – I’ll tell you directly later.”

Leo was shocked speechless, his mouth hanging open.

“Hey, what did you just eat…”

“It’s not like this is inedible, right?”

“No, I know that!”

Seeing him eat raw lemon like that made his mental state seem unreliable.

Lucas silently removed a lemon slice stuck in the glass and examined it from various angles.

“Have you ever eaten lemon?”

“Of course I have.”

Suddenly the air became refreshing, as if a cool breeze had rushed into his lungs.

It was only for an instant, so there was no time to tell if it was an illusion or not.

Lucas suddenly thrust the lemon right up to his nose.

“Eat it. It’s delicious.”

“…Didn’t you just grab that?”

“Ugh… you’re so picky. It’s not dirty.”

“No, logically there are germs.”

“…”

Lucas looked at him like he was seeing some strange creature, so Leo unconsciously averted his gaze.

“Ah, fine. I’ll eat it… But why are you telling me to eat this.”

“To lessen the shock. Eat it and drink right away. I’ll drink right away too.”

I have no idea what he’s thinking.

I’m seriously considering hitting him to sober him up.

But what can you expect from a drunk person.

Soon Lucas will read my memories and sober up, and he probably won’t mess with me so easily anymore.

I didn’t understand it, but there wasn’t really any desperate reason to refuse either.

Leo chewed the lemon garnish for the first time in his life and took a sip of the cocktail.

* * *

Drip—

The sound of dripping water could be heard.

At the end of the public training ground, yesterday’s rainwater was dripping from a ceiling that hadn’t been repaired yet.

“I want to go back to the dormitory.”

“This damn school never gives us a break.”

I can hear my friends’ voices.

Just like a year ago, I was sitting in the middle of the circularly arranged stadium seating, listening to my friends’ trivial conversation.

‘Lucas is…!’

I wanted to turn my head, but I couldn’t.

My body wouldn’t listen as if it wasn’t mine.

Then, a small commotion began to be heard from behind.

“Did he really get screwed over?”

“Ah, would it really be true? If it’s true… fuck…”

Only then did my head turn back. My friends did the same.

A brief question came out of my mouth involuntarily.

“What is it.”

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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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