How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 124

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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 (124)

“…A deal?”

Leo asked.

“Luca, are you trying to get into Pleroma~? Those guys won’t listen to reason, you know?”

“Right. They won’t listen to reason.”

The target I want to make a deal with isn’t Pleroma.

You need to have conversations with people who have common sense, not with those who poison rivers. What kind of deal could you make with such people?

To make a deal, you need to be able to offer compensation that matches or exceeds the losses they’d incur from abandoning their actions.

So…

“Crime can’t be a subject for deals. I’m going to make a deal with the Emperor, not Pleroma.”

If I time the revelation of information well, I can greatly expand Bavaria’s influence while perfectly raising and solidifying Nicolaus’s impression score by 8 points, or even more.

The same goes for Elias’s position.

‘Of course, that’s one thing, but…’

In the novel, Pleroma had caused major incidents, and the Imperial Court nearly drove all the Empire’s citizens to death while missing opportunities.

I can’t just let that happen.

When the Emperor was mentioned, Elias’s eyes became slightly more serious.

“What exactly kind of deal are you planning?”

I snapped my fingers and cast a sound-blocking spell in the space.

“To minimize damage to civilians, we’ll need to come up with countless countermeasures immediately. Since we’re going to do it anyway, how about using this incident as an opportunity to reduce the Imperial Court’s influence?”

Instantly, all three pairs of eyes fixed on me.

This problem won’t end quickly.

Since they’ve found the most effective method among everything they’ve tried so far, if water doesn’t work, they’ll do the same thing to the land and air.

The more serious the problem, the more complex the solution will be, but that’s also why we can greatly expand Bavaria’s influence.

Leo, who had been looking at me, asked.

“You’re saying you’ll trade countermeasures to reduce the Imperial Court’s influence.”

“Right. I’ll trade the system with the Imperial Court. Bavaria has already received considerable support from the Imperial Court due to this incident. They’re probably acting nice while secretly preparing to make demands later.”

Elias gulped.

Leo’s eyes gleamed with interest as he realized what I was saying, then quickly returned to their usual calm state.

“…Simple.”

“Right. It’s simple, but there’s a big difference between us moving with deals with the Imperial Court in mind versus not, so I’m telling you. We shouldn’t rashly do good deeds by revealing all information at once.”

“What about the citizens’ safety?”

“Not revealing information doesn’t mean we won’t save the citizens.”

Sending weapon manufacturing technicians for compensation is different from scattering weapon blueprints and principles all over the market.

“If we make information a public good, the initiative will be fairly distributed to everyone, but if we reveal that there are solutions while we hold the core resources or personnel, the initiative stays with us. Of course, we shouldn’t pursue profit with that initiative in this situation.”

“…If we hold the core resources or personnel…”

Leo repeated my words and stared into space, lost in thought.

He seemed to be calculating which elements to handle and how.

“Make the Imperial Court indebted to Bavaria for the Empire’s safety, Leo.”

That will become the power to put Elias on the throne, and will serve as my solid foundation.

At those words, Leo smiled gently, letting his expression serve as an answer.

‘Definite reaction.’

It’s natural since this proposal only benefits them.

I smiled lightly.

“Then, now we need to secure the resources to trade with.”

We too lack both technology and information.

But since everyone except us currently thinks this is the devil’s work, we have plenty of time to create our advantages.

“Leo, when’s the earliest time we can meet with His Majesty the King?”

“Anytime.”

It was currently midnight.

Given the national disaster situation, he seemed prepared to keep his schedule open at all times.

‘Good.’

To gain an advantage in deals with the Imperial Court, we first need the Kingdom of Bavaria’s cooperation.

* * *

[Mass psychosis called demons, is the Empire okay like this?]

[Victims appearing intermittently throughout the Empire from 12 to 6 o’clock… cause still ‘unknown’]

[Daniel Neumann, Archbishop of Munich: “Clearly Satan’s approach… we must be vigilant”]

[[Bavaria] Victims counted at 207 by 6 AM]

[Symptoms perfectly match demonic possession… Papacy: “Will spare no support”]

‘What chaos.’

I closed the newspaper, got up from my seat, and went upstairs to the council chamber with Narke.

30 minutes ago, I had contacted them saying I had something to tell His Majesty the King.

Initially, I planned to meet with just the King, but His Majesty said it would be better to include government ministers and representatives from both houses of parliament, so he called me to the government building.

‘Well, that works for me.’

Instead, in case there were Pleroma members mixed among the politicians, I came here with Narke.

The attendant who came upstairs with us opened the door and said.

“Count Nicolaus Ernst and Bishop Michael Schultz have arrived.”

Unlike the bright hallway, the council chamber was dark with not all lights on, considering they would use magic to display materials.

Nearly thirty ministers from various departments of the Bavarian government and representative legislators from both houses sat with darkly hardened faces.

As I found my seat and sat down, the King entered the council chamber right on time.

“His Majesty the King has arrived.”

The King looked over the legislators and opened his mouth while looking at me.

“Everyone has arrived. I’ve summoned you all here because there’s something urgent we need to know. Then, if the Count doesn’t mind, let’s begin right away.”

“Understood.”

I stood up from my seat again and displayed materials.

“I’ll get straight to the point. From twelve hours ago until now, I’ve checked all articles reporting on this incident. Most reports say it’s the devil’s work. From my perspective, having been to the scene directly, their symptoms were indeed like those of demons.”

People nodded and waited for my words.

I quietly looked at the materials I had displayed, then turned my head toward the ministers in their seats and said.

“If that were the case, I wouldn’t have requested this meeting. This incident is not the devil’s work.”

“…The victims showed symptoms identical to demonic possession, but you say it’s not demons?”

When one minister asked, another minister said calmly.

“We don’t have time, so let’s hear what the Count has to say first.”

“Thank you. First, recently I infiltrated Pleroma and secured their documents and drugs. I heard His Majesty also received a report about this from His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“That’s right.”

The King answered as if confirming.

Without his guarantee, I couldn’t prove the credibility of my materials, so it was an appropriate response.

I nodded and returned to the original topic.

“Everyone. Did you know that the same problem occurred in Baden-Baden a week ago?”

“…The same problem?”

“I was requested by the Papacy to provide divine power support and went to assist with exorcism activities. And I discovered one characteristic. All victims had drunk or touched hot spring water.”

Several ministers’ brows furrowed.

Since they could see the common point with today’s mass appearance of victims ‘near the river,’ it was natural.

“Are you saying they poisoned the water?”

“That’s correct. Vitriol synthetic compounds were detected in the local hot spring water.”

The council chamber immediately stirred.

One minister pressed his hands on the desk and asked.

“Then, what happened to that place now?”

“They withdrew after confirming my arrival. Since then, no drug reactions could be detected in the hot spring water either.”

As the outline gradually became clear, the ministers’ faces hardened even more than before.

“What are they doing this for? Is it revenge?”

I displayed the document I had read with my friends earlier.

“‘Vitriol is deemed an unsuitable subject as it vaporizes rather than transforming into a core.’ When the drug enters the body, if the same phenomenon we witnessed occurs, that person is unsuitable for Vitriol. They likely wanted to repeat experiments like this to find suitable candidates and expand their forces.”

Silence followed.

For them, it was too much information hitting them all at once, so it was understandable.

But there wasn’t time to explain everything in detail one by one.

“Count, you already experienced this situation long ago…”

“A week ago. Since there were suspicious aspects to call it the devil’s work, I analyzed it by comparing it with materials brought from Pleroma.”

Again, only silence flowed.

Just when I was wondering if I should ask why they weren’t speaking, the King finally opened his mouth.

“There’s nothing more to see. Bavaria has not been abandoned by God.”

“…”

Not abandoned by God. At those words, several ministers nodded slightly.

The deep worry that had been etched on their faces before the start had now changed to relief and fatigue of a somewhat different nature.

The King slowly rose from his seat and looked at me.

“Thank you. Thanks to your thoroughness, Bavaria can now shed the stigma of being called a land of evil.”

Then the King looked at the ministers and legislators and said.

“Now that we’ve realized what the true culprit is, what remains is responding to Pleroma. I expect that with the insight Count Ernst has just shown us, we’ll be able to respond swiftly to Pleroma’s threats to our survival.”

“…”

“Therefore, I wish to appoint Count Ernst as Director of the Magic Disaster Response Headquarters. Are there any objections?”

“None.”

Without long deliberation, various voices were heard weightily from all around.

Just looking at their expressions, none seemed to have any intention of opposing the King’s words.

Unlike other regions, I could realize anew that this was a region that had been favorable to Nicolaus from the beginning.

“Count Ernst, please take on the position of Director of the Response Headquarters starting today.”

“…”

“Since the ‘Headquarters’ is an organization under various government departments and it’s standard for minister-level personnel to serve as director, simultaneous appointment as Special Minister will also be necessary.”

The King brought up those words as if it were nothing.

I smiled and looked into his eyes.

‘Minister, huh.’

I had said that Bavaria’s cooperation was needed to gain the upper hand in dealings with the Imperial Court.

It was because while revealing that a solution existed, ‘Bavaria’ needed to possess the core resources or personnel.

The fact that Nicolaus was a Royal Army Mage was ambiguous. Just because someone was a Bavarian citizen didn’t make it impossible to enter the Prussian Government.

So there was a need to have weight befitting this incident.

And he had called these people to this place before even hearing what I was going to report. To seat me in a ministerial position without any noise.

From the beginning, he intended to nail down all of Nicolaus’s ideas and strategies as Bavaria’s.

‘I like it.’

Since our intentions align, it’s convenient to move.

“So, what are your thoughts, Count?”

I smiled while looking at the King who was grinning confidently just like Leo.

“I will not betray Your Majesty’s trust.”

* * *

[Nicolaus Ernst Takes Office as Bavaria’s Magic Disaster Response Headquarters Director]

[Nicolaus Ernst Appointed as Bavaria Government Special Minister]

When morning came, articles with similar content appeared in newspapers everywhere.

Now that the position was created, it was time to establish the system.

I put down the newspaper and stood up from my seat.

Knock knock―

Just then, someone knocked on my office door.

When I simply said to come in, someone with a familiar face entered the room along with a servant.

“Count Ernst, I’ve come with something urgent to convey.”

‘Hmm.’

I couldn’t help but smile upon seeing him.

As if he had received orders from his master to bring me without fail, his face clearly showed signs of tension.

‘Moving quickly.’

The Emperor’s Messenger I had seen before was standing before me again.

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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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