How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 138

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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 (138)

Even though I had brazenly entered his room’s living area and set down my bag, Adelbert just stood there with his mouth agape.

Soon he spoke with a face that had turned pale.

“Wh-what do you mean…?”

“Exactly what I said. Congratulations on your first leading role. Shall we go grab a drink together?”

“No, no, no!”

Adelbert seemed at a loss for words, flailing his hands for a while before roughly running his fingers through his disheveled hair and shouting.

“Why would I play Rosalind?! I never said I would do it!”

“It was decided today on a first-come, first-served basis. That’s the last role remaining.”

“…You decided today?”

I silently went to the entrance, picked up the letter from the Drama Club, and handed it to him.

After reading the letter with a face that had turned blue, Adelbert pressed his face into both hands and groaned.

“This can’t be happening…”

“It’s happening.”

“What do you mean it’s happening. I’ve only been acting for one semester. I’ve never even played a leading role!”

“I think everyone there is in the same situation.”

“…”

The Antagonist racked his brain before making an excuse.

“…The gender is different too… Even if it’s first-come, first-served…”

Hmm, so this guy is male.

The name already gave it away though.

Of course, there are cases where names are gender-neutral, or parents just name their children whatever they like, so I have to be careful not to misspeak during conversations.

‘As for why they made people indistinguishable…’

I never got a clear answer in the novel or after coming here.

New humans aren’t born from people’s bellies but are created using magic.

It was one of the insane things the first mages did to eliminate original sin and stand beside God.

New humans received God’s grace and were granted the power to create themselves, so Adam and Eve are ancestors of the old humans, not the new humans. This was the logic of the Nobility.

The reason new humans look down on old humans is also because they think of them as inferior beings with original sin.

Anyway, I don’t know if it was impossible to transfer gender as-is during the process of extracting humans to the Research Lab, or if even this was intentional for religious reasons.

‘Since they’re the type to create a new species to eliminate original sin, the latter is quite possible too.’

Because God has no concept of gender.

‘But still…’

I fell silent for a moment.

Do new humans also distinguish gender when assigning roles? As far as I knew, it was an item at the level of blood type.

Or is this guy making excuses to somehow get out of it?

‘I think it’s the latter.’

I smiled gently and sat on the sofa in the middle of his room.

“Old human gender isn’t our concern, is it?”

“…”

Adelbert pressed his lips tightly and turned his gaze away.

‘It was an excuse after all.’

Even in reality, when studying acting, you go through all kinds of characters regardless of gender and age. That’s how you broaden your range of interpretation.

And here these guys who can’t even be distinguished are nitpicking about what?

After thinking for a while, Adelbert came up with a lame excuse.

“…That character has long hair, right? I don’t have the confidence to wear a wig for two whole hours.”

“You read the content. Except for the beginning, you can just go out looking like yourself.”

The Antagonist clamped his mouth shut.

He must have read a lot of Shakespeare since childhood, so he wouldn’t be unaware. In this play, the Protagonist disguises herself as a man and goes around, so there’s actually no need to change styles. Maybe that’s why the Manager chose this play.

The Antagonist let out a deep sigh, leaned against the window, then fell into despair again and paced around the living room.

I watched him deny reality and then spoke to him.

“I understand. You’re thinking it would be better to study instead of spending time memorizing lines, right?”

“…”

More precisely, he’s probably thinking how can he memorize lines when he doesn’t even have time to train.

That guess seemed accurate. Adelbert silently stared into space with a dark expression.

“If you really don’t want to do it, go tell the Manager directly. He might listen.”

“…Could Senior deliver the message for me?”

“No. I’d like you to take this role.”

Since it’s not confirmed yet, if things go wrong, the role might come to me.

The Antagonist looked down at me with a horrified expression.

‘I can really feel that -5 favorability.’

Isn’t that too harsh?

Adelbert rubbed his face dry and let out an answer that was close to a sigh.

“…Let’s just leave it. I just wanted to take it easy if possible… but it’s not like I can’t do it.”

I looked at him silently.

He probably can’t go outside.

He definitely thinks it’s better to take on a role he doesn’t want rather than go outside and see people. I do wonder how he’ll handle it later, but that’s a future problem.

I rested my chin on my hand and spoke quietly.

“You came to watch my duel earlier.”

Adelbert’s hand, which had been flipping through the script, stopped.

“You came to watch that, but why don’t you go to Clubs? Is it okay to leave all those unpleasant reasons you listed as they are?”

“…”

Maybe because of the -5 favorability, it’s hard to get him to say anything.

I can’t tease him forever, so I should reveal the truth and gradually try to guide the conversation.

“It’s not completely decided yet. It’s just that Rosalind is the only vacant role, and you’re the only person who hasn’t been assigned a role. If you really hate it, at least go and bring it up.”

“Isn’t that the same as it being decided?”

Hmm, so that’s how he sees it.

A single word from the Prince could change the first-come, first-served rule, but he really doesn’t want to face people right now. Or maybe he has no intention of using his authority.

“Well, fine. I’ll help you interpret the script.”

I brought it up naturally.

The Antagonist must have been mentally shaken because despite the negative favorability that would stick to the room, he nodded with a soulless expression.

The next hour was entirely invested in script interpretation.

Even though the Antagonist is about ten years younger than me, he’s still someone else.

Honestly, I can tell what stage he’s at, but I can’t carelessly speak about what weight someone completely different from me in upbringing and temperament might feel.

Until the Antagonist speaks up first, it would be better to build familiarity rather than give advice in hopes of building favorability.

“Here, instead of just raising the ending like you just did, wouldn’t it be better to put strength into the entire sentence? You need to sound like you’re trying to persuade someone out of frustration.”

“…Yes. I’ll do it that way…”

The Antagonist does trail off his words like this, but as if proving he had lived diligently, he steadily followed along properly as much as I progressed. The downside was that he never once strayed off topic.

After answering questions for a while and flipping through pages, when another 30 minutes were about to pass, Adelbert spoke while keeping his gaze fixed on the script.

“Senior.”

“Yes. Where this time?”

“How long have you been training?”

“…”

For the first time, he brought up something other than questions about lines.

I suppressed a smile and answered calmly.

“Not even a few months.”

“…Then, you haven’t had any particular problems so far?”

After finishing his words, the Antagonist was rather startled himself and explained.

“I didn’t ask hoping there would be problems. I was just curious about how it was for Senior.”

“I know. If getting beaten up by magic every day is a problem, then it’s a problem.”

“…What? By whom…?”

“To Teacher.”

“Ah….”

Adelbert nodded his head.

“Which teacher did you learn from?”

“Why? Are you going to learn too?”

“Yes.”

“It’s a bit difficult to tell you. I’ll teach you myself.”

“What?”

Antagonist looked at me with a face that clearly showed his rock-bottom favorability.

“Never mind….”

“Alright. Let’s look at the script.”

Antagonist nodded and read a few more lines, but his concentration had already scattered as he brought up topics unrelated to the script.

“Senior. Do you know what it means that expectations exist to be broken?”

“….”

‘Sigh….’

He’s asking me this. Is it okay to tell someone with -5 favorability what I discussed with someone who had +10 favorability?

“Who said that?”

“I heard it from someone I respect. But I don’t understand it. Breaking expectations – the words are easy, but when such a situation actually comes, there wouldn’t be anyone who could do that.”

“It probably doesn’t mean to break all of them, but rather not to feel burdened….”

“How can I not feel burdened?”

Antagonist’s hand, which had been writing meaningless letters in the script, stopped.

“As long as I bear the weight of House of Ascanien, I cannot act carelessly. My position is one where I must excel at everything. My failure is immediately Emperor’s failure and an act that tarnishes Crown Prince’s name.”

“….”

“Did that person mean I could break expectations even while in this position?”

I looked at him silently.

The burden is excessive.

Even though I didn’t answer, Antagonist, having opened up once, slowly muttered.

“Earlier, you asked why I don’t go.”

“Yes.”

“I can’t go. When people see me, they all turn around and bring up grades. It’s natural since my grades don’t match House of Ascanien’s name.”

Such gossip is only temporary.

Rather, when holed up like this, more talk comes out.

‘Should I tell him the reality.’

“Even if they say it’s okay to break expectations, I’m actually not okay with it myself.”

“Why?”

“Because the point those expectations are directed toward is also the result I desire. If I continue receiving low grades like this, I won’t be able to stand beside the person I’ve respected all my life.”

He must be talking about Crown Prince.

It shows clearly how well Crown Prince has manipulated his younger brother.

In the novel, Crown Prince was less capable than his younger brother Adelbert Hohenzollern in individual areas, but knew how to set up situations – that is, he could see situations from a macro perspective.

If we’re just talking about magical power, Adelbert could easily defeat his older brother and become Crown Prince.

But the eldest used Adelbert’s strong loyalty to transform him from a future emperor into his own guard knight. In the novel too, he used Adelbert as his action leader to attack Elias.

‘…The development.’

Should I try changing it properly this time?

Of course, this wasn’t the first time I’d thought this.

I’d thought about it fleetingly since Antagonist showed favor toward Nicolaus. But I hadn’t considered it because Antagonist’s loyalty to Crown Prince was extraordinary.

I swallowed and smiled. It wasn’t from nervousness.

It was because I really felt this was no ordinary goldmine.

‘I came in with the simple thought of helping him pass the first exam and raising favorability, but thinking deeply about it, this could also be an opportunity to cut the net Crown Prince has entangled him in.’

I hadn’t told Antagonist that Crown Prince had drugged the alcohol. If it followed what I’d read in the novel, Antagonist would repeatedly rationalize it, thinking things like ‘His Highness must have had his reasons’ or ‘His Highness must have thought I was the right person for that plan.’

Such fragmentary shock couldn’t completely eliminate the future where Adelbert becomes Crown Prince’s limb and attacks Elias.

Instead, if I raised Antagonist to be an independent person, that would be different.

“Breaking expectations doesn’t mean anything else – it means don’t leave your value to others’ recognition.”

“….”

“You mentioned the weight of House of Ascanien. Among those who hand their value over to others, none can become leaders.”

Antagonist is probably going through a relatively long tunnel in his life right now, but from my perspective, for Antagonist to break away from Crown Prince and live independently, this incident was actually essential.

When my form of address changed, Antagonist looked at me in confusion.

“A leader? I’m….”

“If you dislike that expression, fine. But it would also be impossible for you to lead yourself. If you truly want to walk together with the person you respect, rather than being obsessed with immediate expectations, you should polish yourself first.”

Whether my words sounded like those of the letter sender, Antagonist’s eyes wavered.

“But, that, what you said first was speculation, right?”

“Speculation or not, isn’t it obvious? To me it sounds like that person advised you that way.”

“….”

I relaxed my shoulders again and leaned back into the sofa.

As my tone returned to being indifferent, Antagonist briefly looked at me with the same eyes he used to look at Elias.

Soon Antagonist nodded and let his unfocused gaze wander over the script.

The 3+ had already happened.

They say maintaining consistent condition is also a skill, but what can you do?

Even if he’s frustrated, his grade from the 1-1 exam was already fixed at 3+.

Between failing the next exam like this and pulling himself together to recover his grades, anyone could see the latter was more beneficial.

So if I were Antagonist, I would resolve to work hard to get a 1+ on the next exam instead of wasting time like this.

But such thinking wasn’t something a person who had only climbed upward their whole life and fallen for the first time could do.

‘I can’t voice advice that doesn’t match his current stage.’

As I was thinking this and watching Antagonist’s expression with my chin propped up, Antagonist hung his head low and sniffled.

“Sniff….”

“?!”

Why?

There hadn’t been anything particularly stimulating in any direction.

“You’re not crying, are you?”

“…No, I’m not….”

Though it seemed like he wasn’t not crying, fortunately Antagonist quickly composed his expression and lifted his head normally.

He must have become emotional due to the shock.

I took out the holy water I carried around and placed it on the table.

I should at least purify him. At this rate, a rampage could happen in an instant.

Just as I was wondering if I should have responded more gently to what just happened, pure white text appeared before my eyes.

Ding—!

Favorability +5

‘…Hmm.’

Why…?

Of course, I came in to raise favorability, but I’m genuinely surprised.

Since I started thinking about changing the development, I know myself that I just lectured him, never mind favorability.

I asked tentatively to probe.

“Weren’t you offended by what I said earlier?”

“I think I was a bit offended.”

“….”

Isn’t this guy funny…. He’s unnecessarily honest.

Maybe he just felt better because he opened up.

I stood up from my seat and said.

“Come to Club tomorrow. We can’t finalize the casting because of you.”

“Yes, I will.”

Antagonist roughly wiped his face with his sleeve and stood up following me.

“…Thank you for listening to my story.”

“….”

He definitely didn’t talk for long, but hearing him say that made me feel a bit guilty.

Still, he seemed to look more human than before.

I roughly slung my bag over my shoulder and turned around to open the Antagonist’s status window.

Stage 2: Senior

Simple.

I like it at this level.

I thought that and closed the window.

* * *

And so, Friday.

Busily going back and forth between Bavaria and school, the day of the 1st-2nd stage exam arrived quickly.

[1st Place] 9.9: Leonard Wittelsbach-Elias Hohenzollern

[2nd Place] 9.7: Narke Farnese-Hildegard Blomberg

[3rd Place] 8.5: Ulrike Kleist-Auguste Rosenheim

[4th Place] 8.3: Melvin Klockner-Josefine Ruon

I looked at the ranking board written in huge letters on one side of the exam hall.

First-year students who hadn’t taken the exam yet were peeking into the exam hall and murmuring among themselves.

“Looks like they’re showing rankings this time.”

Of course.

This is the first exam where people get eliminated.

24 out of 72 second-year students, meaning 12 out of 36 teams, would be eliminated.

Since 32 out of 36 teams had already finished their exams, this list was practically the same as the first-stage pass list.

Starting from 25th place, which was in the elimination zone, the names were written in red letters.

‘Leo, Elias, and Narke are confirmed for the second stage.’

Now, among the four of us, I’m the only one who hasn’t taken the exam yet.

Cheringen came over at some point and was looking at the ranking board.

“Our goal should be to safely aim for the top 10.”

Top 10?

I let out a light laugh at those words.

Cheringen, who said that, also had a smile on his face.

He must be aiming for 1st place too, but judging by his expression, he didn’t seem too burdened by the first-stage exam.

Just then, we heard our team being called from afar.

[2nd Year Team 33, Lucas Ascanien-Julia Cheringen.]

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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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