How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 125

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

How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magic Family (125)

I arrived at the Imperial Palace three hours after receiving the contact.

This time, there was no need to wait in the waiting room.

As soon as I set foot in the Imperial Palace, the Emperor’s servants immediately guided me to the Emperor’s study.

“Your Majesty, Count Nicolaus Ernst has arrived.”

The servants opened the door and stood to the side.

The figure sitting with his back to the sunlight streaming into the study raised his head.

“Ah, you have come.”

“It is an honor to see you.”

I smiled while offering my usual greeting. The Emperor gestured toward the seat in front of him.

“I heard that you have become Bavaria’s special minister. Congratulations.”p>

“Thank you.”

Since this wasn’t a place where self-deprecation was a virtue, I simply nodded obediently.

“So, do you perhaps have an idea why I called you today?”

“I thought you might have called me regarding yesterday’s nightmare incident.”

“Correct.”

Unlike before, there was no trace of laughter on his face.

“Until now, as the day is almost over, victims continue to emerge endlessly throughout the Empire. The number of victims, which was five hundred, has now exceeded a thousand.”

“Yes.”

“Since the Bavarian government has placed you in the response headquarters, you must know something about this incident?”

The fact that Pleroma was involved in this situation had not yet been announced.

Unlike demons, which are considered to some extent in the realm of delusion, Pleroma is accepted as a real danger by everyone.

Since revealing that it was Pleroma’s doing could cause much more damage, it must not be announced until a response system is established.

Of course, Pleroma also knows this advantage, so they will soon reveal that everything was their doing. With time being so urgent, there’s no reason to create potential danger by telling the Emperor.

When I didn’t answer, he added an explanation as if he understood.

“I won’t ask you to tell me that here. I know what weight the position you’ve been appointed to carries. So…”

He continued with serious eyes.

“I would like to make a proposal.”

“Please speak, Your Majesty.”

“As the Emperor of the Empire, I cannot stand by and watch this situation. Before tomorrow comes, I plan to create a response committee by combining the departments related to this incident from the Imperial Government’s Magic Department and Security Department.”

“…”

“I know well that the work you’re handling is already excessive, but I don’t know any other talent like you. Could you take on the chairmanship here?”

I looked at him silently for a moment.

Since it’s the Imperial Government, he’s saying he’ll give me a position much higher than the one Bavaria gave me.

‘It sounds good.’

Words about giving more, giving something more valuable, are always good to hear.

But I have not a single reason to sit in this position.

“I’m sorry.”

“…”

“That position is too heavy for me, Your Majesty. I understand Your Majesty’s deep intentions, but I have a prior commitment that I must follow, so I hope you will understand that I cannot comply.”

If it were a place that was completely on my side like Bavaria, it might be different, but in a place like this that waits for my downfall, I must not take on heavy responsibilities.

If they think the urgent fire has been put out or if even the slightest flaw is seen, I could be dismissed with a dishonorable name.

It’s essentially no different from the Catacombs incident.

‘But profit is still profit.’

Especially now that Adrian Ascanien belongs to the Imperial Government, I have no intention of completely throwing away the opportunity.

“That’s unfortunate, I wanted to work with you. It would have been good if I had been a little faster than Bavaria.”

His attitude was still casually friendly.

I looked at him and smiled faintly as I spoke.

“I cannot take on the leadership role, but how about being an advisory committee member, Your Majesty?”

In this position, it wouldn’t be difficult to criticize them when the Imperial Government does foolish things.

The Emperor looked at me silently, then opened his mouth.

“Would that be alright? It seems your work will become very busy from now on, and responding to advisory requests could also be a burden for you.”

“If I help Prussia based on what I learned in Bavaria, there won’t be much new work to handle, so it’s fine. If I can contribute to the Empire’s safety that way, it would be an honor for me.”

Only then did a gentle smile appear on the Emperor’s face.

“Good. Let’s establish an advisory committee in the Imperial Court rather than the government. By custom, I will be the chairman, so I would like you to serve as vice chairman. Would that be acceptable?”

I looked into his eyes silently.

Surprisingly, he was trying to reduce my burden while also guaranteeing my achievements.

As long as the Emperor is the chairman, even if problems arise, the possibility of blame being directed to the advisory committee is greatly reduced.

At this level, it’s fine as a trading attitude.

“Of course.”

* * *

[Establishment of Imperial Magic Security Advisory Committee… Emperor Friedrich: “Will function as the practical command center for the nightmare problem”]

[Emperor Friedrich “Appoints Nicolaus Ernst as Vice Chairman of Advisory Committee”]

I read through newspapers published in various regions one by one.

The Emperor signed a contract with me and immediately announced the news to the Imperial Newspaper.

After that, newspapers from all over the country similarly followed the Imperial Newspaper’s report.

‘By the way, he’s using the word “command center” for an advisory committee.’

It just makes me laugh.

It’s only called an advisory committee in name, but this is…

Peculiarly, he’s fully acknowledging the information and ideas I bring as my own.

No, it’s not just acknowledging – he’s openly promoting Nicolaus.

‘It’s a bit surprising, but he has no choice.’

If he tried to cleverly take credit for himself like before, I would have no reason to lend my name to the Imperial Court.

Therefore, he has no intention of going against my feelings.

He believes I will successfully solve the problem in Bavaria, while simultaneously judging that Prussia lacks that capability.

‘Even though calculations are involved, this side has also trusted me…’

Now I need to live up to that trust.

So far, I’ve proposed two countermeasures.

I filtered the public briefing report I participated in before departing for the Imperial Court.

[From 12 o’clock today, the response headquarters has installed patrol teams and barriers at 100-meter intervals along all rivers and streams within the territory. Purification treatment has been completed, but please refrain from approaching rivers for the time being.]

But this countermeasure is only a preventive measure to reduce problems that will arise in the future.

From now on, I need to establish methods to deal with people who have been contaminated so far and those who will be contaminated in the future.

Methods to subdue and treat those who are rampaging due to drug intoxication.

‘For the treatment method, I’ve already told Leo the idea I had in mind…’

That’s already been instructed, so it’s done.

I need to figure out how to achieve maximum suppression effect with minimum cost.

Since mages are woefully insufficient and reports come in every 10 minutes, I need to find the most efficient team system.

So I’m going out to the scene as soon as reports come in.

‘I need to experience it directly first to know how many people to deploy.’

Leo, who came out with me alone this time, climbed up on a building and looked down as he spoke.

“That person’s condition is worse than I thought.”

“They said he’s the strongest among the victims who appeared since afternoon, so that makes sense.”

Leo gestured to me and quietly counted.

The moment he finished counting, I warped to where the victim was.

He quietly opened his mouth.

“I heard you became vice chairman of the Imperial Advisory Committee this time.”

“Yeah.”

It wasn’t exactly a conversation that suited the situation, but if not now, there would be no time to talk.

It was because there was a lot of work I had assigned to Leo for developing the treatment drug.

Leo continued speaking while breaking the barrier.

“That’s good. You’ve gained three positions just today.”

“Right.”

“Your hyung said he knows you use magic. Yet he’s been making you take medicine to prevent that…”

Crash―!

Vitriol rushed toward the staff barrier I had extended.

I blocked the victim’s attack while putting strength into my heels.

Leo’s blue magic split the sky. The gray sky that had persisted even as dawn broke finally turned blue.

Swoosh― Bang!

Leo, who had been pushed back, stomped his foot and pushed his magic power forward. While doing so, he quietly continued speaking.

“The fact that he’s now saying he supports you living normally whether you take the medicine or not is honestly far more suspicious than forcing you to take medicine.”

At dawn, Leo and Elias persistently asked about my hyung, so I briefly shared the news.

“I think he probably knows that you’ve become close with me. If you need other magical medicine to recover even after taking the medicine the servant brings, where would you get it? You haven’t spent any of the money in your account at all.”

“Right. Hyung thinks that moving rashly now would make things worse… so he probably thinks I’ve secretly built up some forces.”

There is someone helping me.

This is the most reasonable hypothesis my hyung would think of.

Leo pointed his wand toward the victim and continued speaking.

“Well, I don’t think you need to worry too much about it though.”

“Why?”

“Just look at the positions you’ve gained and you’ll have your answer.”

Leo said with a satisfied smile.

He was right.

Nicolaus’s impression score had shot up from 7.6 to 7.9 points in just half a day.

Since not one but two governments had appointed me, it seemed there was a synergistic effect on trust.

“Special Minister, no matter how I think about it, I like the sound of it. Though it may not have the same standing as an Imperial Minister, if you combine all three positions, you’re at least on par with Ascanien.”

“What if you get more excited than me?”

“After deceiving them this long, you can’t die at Ascanien’s hands now. Of course, even if they try to kill you now, Bavaria won’t just stand by. We can’t afford to lose talent like you.”

Well, since there are benefits, Bavaria naturally wouldn’t let me die. That was good.

I silently focused on subduing the rampaging victim.

After a while, I aimed my wand at the core of the victim that Leo had perfectly subdued. The sight of it thrashing about with its limbs twisted as if possessed by a ghost never got easier to watch, no matter how many times I saw it.

[Aaaaaaah! Aaah!]

―The Lord said, I will go myself, I will give you rest!

[Gah…!]

The black smoke the victim had been emitting subsided, and strength drained from its limbs.

Leo wiped his sweat and said.

“It took us an hour together. Trying to prevent collateral damage made it take twice as long.”

“Hmm.”

At this rate, we’d need support personnel just to set up barriers.

I recorded various details in the notebook I’d brought and crossed out options one by one.

Leo, who had been watching me, said.

“When you’re done with that, let’s go to the research institute, Lucas.”

“Why?”

“Let’s test that drug you mentioned. I finished making it.”

* * *

I spent a full two days completing the response system.

Fortunately, school had disaster holidays until yesterday, so I was able to finish all the work and attend classes.

‘Titles really are just good in name only.’

Now that I’d completed the response system, I had to think of specific methods to implement it. Also, I had to properly negotiate the system Bavaria had completed with the Imperial Court.

Of course, the biggest problem was making the medicine.

Making the medicine required draining my divine power, so I spent all day at the research institute extracting divine power while receiving healing magic.

‘And I have to go do that again today.’

It’s laughable.

Anyway, the results were successful.

First, my impression score exceeded 8 points.

[Nicolaus Ernst “Installation of over 100 emergency treatment centers in Bavaria territory… Must take preventive medicine immediately upon suspicious symptoms”]

[Nicolaus Ernst “Victim classification system reduces processing time by 3 times”]

It seemed to be because my name was mentioned more often than the name Bavaria Crisis Response Unit.

Whether it was more convenient to mention my name since I was active in both Bavaria and the Imperial Government, or whether mentioning my name rather than the crisis response unit helped newspaper sales much more.

Second, I thought that reporting it as Pleroma’s doing rather than demons’ would increase those consumed by fear and worsen the damage.

But perhaps because the fact that Bavaria supplied medicine as emergency relief supplies throughout the Empire was reported together, the number of reports remained the same as usual.

I let the lecture go in one ear and out the other while scribbling various matters in my notebook.

Near the end of class, the professor put down his chalk, looked at us, and spoke.

“Well, let’s wrap up the lesson here. Today, an inspector from the Education Department is coming.”

The school’s atmosphere was completely dark, no different from outside.

Inspector or whatever, with this atmosphere, the school wouldn’t receive any warnings about student conduct.

Perhaps everyone thought the same, as no one showed any particular reaction.

But the professor’s next words were quite surprising.

“It hasn’t been reported yet, but the Imperial Court has issued a mobilization order.”

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