How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 137

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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 (137)

No sound could be heard from inside.

Just then, a notification sound from Elias came through the artifact with transparency magic.

Beep beep—

“What?”

[Luca! Are you done with counseling?]

“Yeah.”

[Ah~ Got it. You’re coming now, right? Leo and Narke are here to see you too.]

I guess he’s asking if I’m coming to the dormitory…

After experiencing ordinary sparring that others do, I can’t bear to see Leo’s face.

I was truly grateful that he helped improve my skills, but my fists felt differently than my reason and thoughts.

It would be better to control my mind so my fists don’t itch when I see Leo, then express my gratitude.

“Sorry, but I can’t go. I’m here visiting Hans at the hospital.”

[Huh?!]

“I’m hanging up.”

Knock knock—

I knocked on the door again.

Actually, I’m a bit conflicted about this.

The Antagonist probably doesn’t want to see my face right now.

‘I’ll just knock until here, and if he doesn’t answer, I’ll leave.’

To the club instead of the dormitory.

The moment I took my hand off the door, the Antagonist’s voice came from inside.

[Come in.]

“…”

Click—

Hans was lying on the bed. The friends sitting next to Hans froze and stared at me.

Actually, I didn’t think it was serious enough to be hospitalized.

‘Well, still…’

He must have come because he was in pain, right? I should just accept that.

And the reason I was fine was because I had adapted thanks to Leo diligently pounding my weak spots. Normally, it wouldn’t be fine.

I pulled out a chair, sat down, and asked.

“Does it hurt a lot?”

“…”

Hans just shrugged without answering. Whether he was embarrassed or had nothing to say, the Antagonist slightly avoided my gaze.

I took out two bottles of elixir from my bag and threw them. Hans caught the bottles and asked suspiciously.

“…What is this?”

“A get-well gift.”

“…”

The Antagonist looked at the bottle back and forth with a complicated expression.

“It’s Wittelsbach medicine.”

“Yeah. You need to get better quickly.”

“…I’m grateful, but I feel awkward accepting this. Since you bought it, you should drink it.”

Is it because of the price? There’s no problem since I have plenty rotting in my room.

From now on, if the Antagonist and I can’t communicate in our conversation, I’ll need to push once more, so it’s good to lay this much cushioning before bad feelings reach their extreme.

I showed a serious expression and shook my head.

“I already have plenty. Just accept it, Hans.”

“…”

“I don’t want today’s sparring to interfere with your 1-2 exam.”

Hans nodded reluctantly.

I smiled and gestured.

“Drink it now. It’ll help you recover.”

“…Mm, alright. Thank you.”

The Antagonist also seemed to dislike having his condition ruined before the exam, as he drank the medicine without much hesitation.

“How is it, not bad right?”

“That’s right.”

If you drink it after sparring, your stamina will be completely recovered the next day.

Maybe this is why Leo felt comfortable striking my weak spots with a wooden sword.

I suppressed the reflexive tension in my fists again and opened my mouth.

“So, then…”

Does he still plan to object to my grade evaluation?

And I need to find out if he still holds bad feelings toward me and plans to escalate the problem.

Actually, just thinking about Pleroma and Hyung is overwhelming enough, so I need to end school matters here.

The moment I crossed my arms and leaned back against the chair, the Antagonist opened his mouth.

“You were good.”

When I looked at him silently, he avoided my gaze.

“…Honestly, I didn’t believe it. Since you hadn’t been learning for long, I naturally thought it was normal that you couldn’t do it well… Also, to my eyes, you seemed to just be making up for it with mana quantity.”

He kept his gaze fixed on the blanket and continued with his head down.

“But I guess I didn’t have a good eye for it. Thinking about the skill you showed today. The Professor, Leo, and Julia must have recognized your ability within those 58 seconds.”

“…”

“…You probably already knew, but I suggested sparring because I was going to object to your grade. I thought you received a grade higher than your skill level deserved, so I had negative feelings toward you. You must have known everything… I’m sorry for making you worry unnecessarily.”

The Antagonist gradually shrank as he spoke.

Clean.

I’ll judge that no more problems will come from the Antagonist.

I looked at Hans, who still couldn’t make eye contact, and answered appropriately.

“It’s fine as long as you understand.”

At those words, Hans flinched.

There’s no way there wouldn’t be guys like you.

When the last-place student who entered through donation admission suddenly received a 1+, I never expected all 1,000 people would believe that grade.

I’m just grateful there were guys who came at me this hard. Didn’t they provide a stage for me to prove myself directly?

Hans slightly raised his head and looked at me.

The Antagonist hesitated then opened his mouth.

“Thank you.”

“What for. There aren’t many friends who acknowledge things as refreshingly as you do, so I’m the one whose heart feels much lighter thanks to you saying that.”

And thanks to you, I swept up 120 points.

I showed a good-natured smile. Hans seemed flustered as he rolled his eyes, then pressed his lips shut and lowered his head.

Just as I found that reaction strange, white text appeared before my eyes.

Ding—!

Favorability +7

I almost choked for a moment.

‘Wait… he’s giving away 7 points like this? Really?’

I opened the favorability window.

Hans Fritsch

Favorability +5* [Capturable (Stage 3/5)]

What’s with casually displaying “capturable”?

It even feels like the function has expanded?

Just as I made a face thinking that, that part disappeared from before my eyes.

“…”

If you’re going to display it while reading the room, why not just not show it at all? And does this thing really have self-awareness?

‘Show it again.’

I should check out new functions first.

As I stared at the reappeared text, a new window appeared.

Stage 3: A friend who’s better than expected

‘So this is how he thinks of me.’

This is pretty good.

It’s like a trial version of insight ability and I like it.

If it gives me information, there’s no reason to refuse it.

I brought out a gentle tone I didn’t even use with my friends and spoke to Hans.

“You’re done talking now, right? Don’t keep worrying about it and focus on recovering first. The exam is in just three days.”

“…Yeah.”

I nodded roughly and got up from my seat.

“I’m going now. It’s almost club time.”

“Lucas.”

“Hmm?”

When I stood at the door and turned around, he rolled his eyes for a while before speaking.

“Thanks for today. I’ll cheer you on for the second exam.”

Hmm.

For some reason, it really hits me that I’m in high school.

I answered with a light smile.

“Yeah. You do well too.”

* * *

Just for properly accepting his thanks once, another point went up.

‘I’m grateful, but at this point it’s scary.’

How does it go up so rapidly like this?

I must have received one point each from his friends too, so I’ve already exceeded 210 out of 300 points.

I continued to dismiss Elias’s constant connection approval requests ringing in my ears and listened to the manager.

“We’re going to draw roles now, but you know we don’t have many actors compared to other schools, right? There are only eight of us, so some people have to take on two roles each.”

The manager spoke enthusiastically while tapping chalk on the blackboard.

Our club was deciding on roles for the upcoming regular performance.

I wondered if this was the time for such things, but the school actively encouraged club activities, advertising it as being for students’ mental health.

I had only been suspicious until now, but I became certain when an editorial praising the student welfare of the Imperial 2nd Education Institute appeared in the Imperial Newspaper recently.

‘They must really hate getting criticized.’

Of course, thanks to that, a stage was prepared, so it’s welcome since it opens up another venue for gaining favorability.

‘I need to raise my charm trait as soon as possible.’

It’s only been three days, but Hyung isn’t the type to just sit still like that.

Considering Hyung’s pathological perfectionism, he must have at least thought about what to do if something like this happened.

‘I think he’ll try to invalidate the test results by staging another murder case or something.’

I can respond to that with Nicolaus, but it’s better to reveal such a good card later.

Since I don’t know how things will unfold, it’s important to drastically increase favorability so the public won’t believe Hyung’s false rumors.

Also, if something happens that can’t be solved with just impression points, I’ll need to turn back time to gain an advantage, so I should try leveling up the retry trait too.

As I was lost in various calculations for a while, the manager suddenly clapped and asked.

“Now, who wants to play Rosalind first~?”

No one raised their hand.

The play our club decided to do this time was Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It.’

And that role was one of the characters that could be called a lead.

Everyone was just watching each other, probably because it had the most lines and carried heavy weight.

‘Since they’ve been doing club activities for a semester, some people probably came without intending to take on lead roles.’

As I was resting my chin and looking at the blackboard listlessly, the manager pointed at me with sparkling eyes.

“Would Ascanien do it?”

I wondered for a moment what I had just heard.

Was Rosalind actually a man despite the name? Since I had already read the script, I knew for certain that wasn’t the case.

‘Hmm….’

I was momentarily flustered, but thinking calmly, it wasn’t really a problematic suggestion.

For new humans who had no apparent gender differences, unlike old humans, it was normal to assign roles that suited one’s acting style well.

So the manager probably picked me for the role with the most lines because of my memorization ability.

But since I had lived as an old human for an overwhelmingly longer period, I didn’t particularly want to take it on.

“No. Since I just joined this semester, it would be better to leave it to someone else.”

“You don’t need to worry about that! Skill is everything~”

“No. I’ll take a different role.”

The manager nodded as if disappointed.

More than that, there’s something that’s been bothering me.

Adelbert didn’t come to the club.

I looked around and asked.

“Do friends who didn’t come today not get assigned anything?”

“Ah, we sent a letter saying we’d decide roles, but he didn’t come. He really should have come today….”

The manager squinted with a troubled expression. Then gestured to a first-year student.

“Daniela, you said you’re in the same class, right? Can you go tell him now?”

“Ah…. He hasn’t been coming to class for two days either.”

Did she just refer to a classmate as ‘he’ in that formal way?

Adelbert is even a year younger since he skipped a grade. How impressive.

‘But earlier it looked like he was in his seat.’

It’s unfortunate that he didn’t come.

It’s customary for absent people to get the roles everyone else avoids.

As I was thinking that and scanning the roles written on the blackboard, the manager called me cautiously.

“Ascanien, do you happen to be acquainted with that underclassman?”

* * *

I think they specifically mentioned me because we have the common point of being from ruling families.

Since we inevitably meet more often in social circles than regular nobles.

Since the manager asked me to deliver a message, I came to the Magic Department Dormitory instead of staying in the club room.

‘Today is almost entirely a day of looking for people.’

Earlier the favorability was quite rewarding.

I hope it’ll be the same now, but I’ll probably get turned away at the door.

Of course, I don’t mind.

Once I deliver the message, I have free time.

Because my role has already been decided.

‘A lead role again this time.’

Fortunately, I got to play a character with fewer lines than Rosalind.

It wouldn’t take much time to prepare, and I had thoughts of using the stage as an opportunity to build favorability, so I didn’t refuse.

And, as expected, no one wanted to take on the role of Rosalind with many lines. Though not confirmed yet, when I checked at the end, it was the only role left vacant.

Knock knock―

I knocked on Adelbert’s dormitory door. I had been standing in front for a while, but couldn’t hear any sounds.

When I concentrated mana on my senses, I could hear him rustling around.

Knock knock―

“Adelb….”

When I knocked again, the door opened.

‘He opened it?’

Then, Adelbert muttered with hollow eyes.

“…Senior.”

I briefly held back a hollow laugh. He looked completely like a shut-in.

Unopened letters were scattered at his feet. It seemed he hadn’t opened the letter from the drama club either.

‘That’s why he didn’t come even though we were deciding roles.’

Still, he should have checked Nicolaus’s letter….

It probably wasn’t much comfort.

There’s a strict gag order about the Prince’s life at school. It’s been that way since enrollment.

So Nicolaus, being someone outside the school, gave advice without knowing what grades Adelbert received. No wonder it didn’t really resonate with Adelbert.

‘I didn’t expect much from writing one line anyway.’

But should I really let this direct channel to hear news about the Emperor and Crown Prince slip away?

My current face makes it a bit awkward, so I should try to arrange a meeting with Nicolaus.

“Your club friend said he wouldn’t open the door, but he did.”

“…Because of mana.”

Adelbert muttered.

It seemed he meant he recognized me through the mana he used to amplify his senses.

More importantly, the conversation was getting off track.

Either his brain wasn’t working, or Antagonist just stood there quietly, staring somewhere into space.

“Aren’t you going to let me in?”

“Why did you come?”

Adelbert asked weakly, as if telling me to state my business and leave.

The shock of 3+ must have been quite severe.

‘Having such emotional changes during times like this won’t do any good.’

He must be taking the distributed purification medicine properly.

I thought this as I opened the window.

Adelbert Hohenzollern

Favorability -5* [Capturable (Stage 1/5 stages)]

Come to think of it, this side is also a goldmine. There’s a lot to raise.

Should I check what he thinks of me?

‘I bet it’ll probably come out as something like “not-close Senior.”‘

Stage 1: Vampire

“….”

No, this bastard….

I’m so dumbfounded I can only laugh.

I glanced at my wristwatch.

It’s still 4 o’clock.

Training with Cheringen is scheduled for 6, and I’ll go to Bavaria at 7 after dinner as usual.

‘2 hours left.’

Seeing the letter Antagonist wrote to Nicolaus confirmed it once more.

The Emperor’s urging to join Team 1 is probably because of Elias, but Antagonist didn’t write about Elias in his letter.

Communicating through Nicolaus and letters has limitations for extracting more of the Emperor’s intentions.

And crucially, the next exam is less than 3 days away.

He can’t just give up in frustration and fail the exam. If Antagonist passes, the amount of information I receive from the Emperor will become richer too.

So since I have time, I’ll cure Antagonist’s lethargy and escape from that annoying Stage 1….

‘I’ll raise his favorability before I go.’

First, I need to get inside to have a conversation.

When I didn’t react, Adelbert tried to close the door.

I closed the window and grabbed the door.

Adelbert let out a deep sigh and frowned.

“…I want to rest now, Senior. If you’re not going to say anything….”

“No. You received the club script collection last week, right? Did you check the amount of lines?”

“…What? Yes.”

Adelbert answered, narrowing his eyes.

I smiled and said.

“I came to congratulate you in advance for getting the role of Rosalind.”

Antagonist stared at me blankly, then his mouth fell wide open.

Success. It was the strongest reaction I’d seen from him so far.

I pushed past the silently shocked Adelbert, entered the room, and locked the door.

“Shall we talk about the script?”

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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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