How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 143

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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 (143)

The Crown Prince’s attack was exactly similar to Adelbert’s movements.

It had to be. This was the Antagonist’s dream after all.

I blocked the Crown Prince’s attack and opened my mouth.

“It’s all just your thoughts.”

[No, that can’t be. His Highness had every reason to be disappointed in me…]

“How dare you presume to judge whether His Highness would truly think that way or not?”

[…!]

His body flinched, so I could tell the Antagonist was surprised.

It was a distasteful thing to say, but I tried it because it seemed to match the Antagonist’s way of thinking, and sure enough it worked.

Adelbert’s confusion was cut off, and instead I felt his bewilderment.

It was advantageous for me, but this guy really needed to fix his way of thinking as soon as possible to live normally.

I held back a sigh and swung my wand toward the approaching vitriol.

Kwang—!

Bright yellow magical power like sunlight scattered around, dazzling my eyes.

Strangely, even though it was Adelbert’s magical power, it was as colorful as Luca’s. Now even its power was no different from what I usually unleashed.

I swept my wand horizontally and continued speaking.

“Didn’t you respect His Highness? Is the person you respect someone who would speak like this and attack his younger brother with vitriol?”

[…]

“Then that’s disappointing. This is my first time meeting Crown Prince, but I never knew he would be such a cranky and narrow-minded person… And a Pleroma on top of that?”

Suddenly nausea surged up. I dry heaved and covered my mouth.

‘No, this bastard…’

He’s resisting in this way.

Right. He has extreme aversion to the very thought of disparaging the Crown Prince.

How much does he respect the Crown Prince to show such a reaction just from some criticism?

Of course, thanks to that, things were going smoothly. I continued speaking while deflecting the Crown Prince’s vitriol like when sparring with Adelbert.

“No? Then say it with your own mouth. Is that something your hyung would say?”

I felt bad for constantly calling him hyung, but since the environment had changed anyway, I wasn’t using the exact words that old humans used.

“You might think you’ve always done your absolute best, but your hyung who matured before you wouldn’t think so. So, how did Crown Prince treat your immaturity? Isn’t the reason you respect His Highness because he’s magnanimous and understanding, and because there’s something to learn from such an attitude?”

I could feel the magical power circulating in my body gradually calming down.

Good.

The Antagonist was slowly feeling a sense of dissonance.

It was burdensome to speak in defense of him when I knew how Elizabeth Hohenzollern had used his younger brother…

But he wasn’t foolish enough to reveal his true nature right in front of someone’s eyes.

He had grasped that Adelbert’s loyalty was exceptional, and utilized Adelbert’s only disadvantage and his only advantage—the difference that comes from experience—to make Adelbert look up to him.

And the areas where Elizabeth actively differentiated himself were understanding and mercy.

I responded to Adelbert’s reaction.

“No. Right, it wouldn’t be like that. How dare Elizabeth Hohenzollern be such a person? This is quite an insulting dream.”

Kwang—!

Until just now we had been confronting each other with equal power, but now the strength was draining from the vitriol the Crown Prince was unleashing.

Adelbert himself must have pushed out the vitriol trying to settle in his core from outside this dream.

At that moment, the vitriol that had barely been blocking my magical power disappeared instantly.

“…!”

It wasn’t because Adelbert outside had completely driven out the vitriol.

This was Pleroma’s strategy.

The moment my magical power snapped the Crown Prince’s head backward, I squeezed my eyes shut.

Not because I couldn’t see, but because I couldn’t show Adelbert that entire scene.

[Aaaahhhhh!]

Following the scream, there was the sound of something heavy falling to the floor.

Whether due to Adelbert’s fear, the world turned red. For a moment, I too held my breath in eeriness.

But normally, firing one spell wouldn’t make body parts fly off.

This was fake, created to maximize Adelbert’s fear.

“It’s fake. Firing one magical attack wouldn’t make a head get severed and fly off!”

Even as I spoke, Adelbert was in panic as if he had really witnessed a family member being murdered before his eyes.

It was a natural reaction. Even for me as a third party, it was a shocking sight, so expecting composure from the Antagonist was too unreasonable a demand.

‘Then I have no choice but to calm him down myself.’

This—if I had entered alone, there would have been nothing but certain death. As expected, I can’t keep up with the thinking of these blood-sucking corpses.

I ignored his screaming and gathered plenty of magical power in my right hand. Then, I struck my left shoulder hard with my fist.

“…!”

I bit my lips tightly.

It was effective. Adelbert’s attention focused on the pain.

I took advantage of that gap and shouted.

“If you truly respect His Highness, you should know that this scene right now is an insult to him. Did His Highness teach you to be this weak?”

Shouting at the top of my lungs had an effect.

Perhaps sensing that the opponent would be pushed back in the power struggle, the location changed in the blink of an eye.

‘This place is…’

It was where I first sparred with Adelbert. Elias’ Training Ground.

As if that wasn’t enough, now a different person was standing before me.

Looking around the floor, both blood and corpse had already disappeared. As expected, it was just pretending to be dead.

That was natural. I needed to find and deal with the core of the nucleus—the core that keeps generating vitriol—and piercing the head wouldn’t solve it.

‘Wow, this really is a dream.’

I burst into laughter looking at Nicolaus who was glaring at me with fierce eyes.

To think I’d experience fighting against myself.

I wiggled my hand and said.

“Let me see what kind of skill this Nicolaus here has.”

“His Highness should learn some manners.”

The voice and tone were chillingly well imitated.

I thought that as I swung my wand widely.

Kwang—!

Nicolaus created pure white magical power like a shield.

“Oh.”

Pure white?

Now he’s even attempting deception.

Is this artificial intelligence? Well, keep learning.

Nicolaus held the Bavarian Royal Army’s wand and said quietly.

“I’ve been watching all of Your Highness’s actions.”

“I see. Are you disappointed again?”

At my impudent words, Adelbert desperately tried to block my throat.

“Could it be expressed as disappointment? You’re exactly the same as you were a few months ago. It was just yesterday that you tried to break Duke Elias’s leg, and now you’re attacking Crown Prince—that temperament of yours still hasn’t changed.”

“I didn’t know you thought of yourself that way. Elias definitely would have told you to stop digging and wrap things up appropriately…”

I was talking with Nicolaus, but in reality I was talking with Adelbert.

It was worth questioning, but Adelbert didn’t react at all, perhaps due to being in shock.

And naturally, this state was advantageous to Nicolaus.

“Your Highness. You asked me to become your sparring teacher.”

“No. I don’t need it anymore.”

“Please take up your wand.”

“Why?”

“Wrongdoing must be punished.”

“…”

If I said such words in reality, from that moment I’d have to worry about what to engrave on my tombstone.

Do you think he would speak to a prince like that? Really? Considering it could put him on an express train to a death sentence, I think Adelbert would be the one getting punished…

Anyway, it seems Adelbert took our previous duel as a lesson. That’s why Nicolaus is acting like this.

I unleashed magic power like crazy without any incantations.

Nicolaus barely managed to dodge and block those attacks. He seemed to be trying to go beyond just defense and attack more aggressively, but he kept failing, and our standoff had lasted nearly 5 minutes.

“How many more mistakes must you make before you come to your senses?”

Crash—!

I put up a barrier to block the Vitriol and swung my wand at him once more.

Continuing this kind of standoff was meaningless. The most important thing was changing Adelbert’s mind.

Actually, there was a simple solution I could use right away.

I could tell Adelbert that I was Nicolaus himself.

But…

‘I can’t do that.’

Safety wasn’t the issue.

With his loyalty, he wouldn’t tell anyone that I was Nicolaus.

The problem here was…

‘This guy needs to learn how to make friends first.’

The problem was that Adelbert didn’t know how to form human relationships beyond respect.

If I revealed that I was Nicolaus, he would respect me at school too.

To make him independent from the Crown Prince, I couldn’t let that happen.

To teach him about human relationships beyond respect, I had to start as his friend, not as Nicolaus.

I didn’t respond to Nicolaus’s words and kept attacking while speaking to Adelbert.

“Hey. I thought about what you said regarding the book.”

[…]

“Do you think a Bavarian prince’s guard could make such political statements to a Prussian prince? Think about it logically.”

At that moment, Nicolaus’s expression crumpled.

Now I could see that these guys changed quickly when it seemed like I might win. He spoke in a deliberately angry tone.

“How did Your Highness interpret my reply? When I said expectations exist to be broken, I didn’t mean you should repeat such rude words and actions.”

‘Oh…’

I was the one who wrote the letter, but if Adelbert was interpreting it himself like this…

That worked for me. I was curious how well he matched my intentions.

I asked with a smile.

“Then tell me what intention you had when you wrote that.”

“I only meant not to put excessive pressure on yourself regarding the exam, not to abandon courtesy. Isn’t that obvious?”

“Explain in more detail.”

“…”

Nicolaus didn’t answer and focused on attacking me.

I chuckled and muttered.

“Everything I said that day bounced right off. Not surprising.”

Earlier, I said I would start as a friend and wouldn’t reveal my identity.

But as long as I didn’t definitively state I was Nicolaus, I could give subtle hints, right?

I spoke with a smile.

“Your Highness.”

[…?]

Realizing I was speaking to him and not Nicolaus, the flow of magic power around his body changed slightly.

“I told you, didn’t I? I said that because I wanted Your Highness to practice not leaving your self-worth to others. I explained this before, but do you still not understand?”

I could feel Adelbert becoming quite flustered.

Of course he would. A senior he thought of as some vampire was speaking like Nicolaus.

“Your Highness said that the point where the Crown Prince’s expectations are directed is exactly the result you desire. But if others’ recognition harms your center, then it’s poison, not medicine. In that case, you need to distance your heart from that recognition.”

[No, right now…]

“In other words, that statement didn’t mean it was okay whether you failed the exam or not, but rather to place others’ expectations in a position where they can be broken or not, where even if they are shattered, they won’t damage your center. Do you understand?”

Even if he understood it intellectually, he wouldn’t be able to put it into practice. I wasn’t saying it for him to understand.

Someone who could understand would have lived well without fumbling around until his mid-twenties.

But…

It was enough to confuse him about my identity.

I thrust my wand forward as I had been doing.

Crash!

Nicolaus’s Vitriol was pushed back, and I soon heard the urgent sound of landing.

‘Good.’

Just like when I sent away the Crown Prince, this was also a success.

Nicolaus’s Vitriol began to lose power. Now that the Vitriol’s influence had diminished was my chance.

‘What should I do?’

Since this was a dream, I could feel him constantly losing consciousness and resetting his thoughts. I had to act quickly.

Should I attack that Nicolaus since he might have a core, or would it be better to purify this entire space?

The conclusion came quickly. Remembering that this space itself was Pleroma’s creation, what I needed to do was clear.

I could feel Adelbert becoming flustered at my overly confident voice.

[How could you…]

“Who knows.”

I changed my wand to a staff and drew power from my core.

“How do you think I would know?”

I could feel Adelbert becoming wildly agitated.

The Vitriol would have lost just as much power. Unlike before when we faced off with equal strength, now I could handle it.

As if understanding my intention, the entire space turned pitch black.

I gripped my staff tightly while chanting the purification spell.

—You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

Crash—!

The moment I poured all my power into the staff, an intensely bright light spread that could blind anyone.

* * *

“…!”

“You’re back.”

Narke looked down at me and spoke.

Adelbert was still deep in sleep.

‘It’s over.’

Perhaps because Narke had been continuously infusing us with divine power, my body felt refreshed despite having collapsed suddenly.

He answered what I was about to ask first.

“5 minutes have passed.”

“Really?”

35 minutes remained until the exam.

I looked at Adelbert, who was now emitting normal wavelengths unlike before, and channeled divine power into my fist.

Narke saw this and his mouth fell open.

“Huh? Wait, Lucas…!”

Crash—!

“Gasp!”

The moment I struck his heart, Adelbert convulsed and opened his eyes.

He bolted upright and looked surprised to find both of us there.

“…!”

“You’re awake.”

“S-s-surely… Senior.”

“No, I’m not.”

“No, what do you think you know…?”

“That’s not what’s important right now. I’ll just mention that this side used the divine power.”

I calmly pointed to Narke.

Since Narke is famous at school as a mage who uses divine power, the antagonist would accept this explanation.

Actually, it feels a bit awkward to lie after talking about truth, but if the antagonist knew the facts, he’d fall into denial of reality, so hiding it might be beneficial for everyone.

Narke silently channeled divine power into Adelbert to check if any Vitriol that hadn’t been cleared away still remained.

While she did that, I looked into Adelbert’s eyes and spoke.

“You almost went berserk. You know that, right?”

“…Senior, you…

“Entered your body, right. As you can see from that kind of thing, it was a dream. It seems Pleroma is thinking of expanding their activities in this direction.”

“…”

He just held his head with a shocked expression.

Ding—!

Affection +5

“…?!”

Again so suddenly?

This guy keeps throwing affection points out of nowhere.

Then a new notification window appeared.

Ding―!

Congratulations!

‘Proposal 1: ‘Affection +300 within deadline (500/300)’ Success!

‘Route 1 ― 〈 Proposal 1 〉’ confirmed.

Excess reward ― +10.0 points

‘Hm?’

What’s that last thing?

And 500 points? Right now?

Come to think of it, I already surpassed 210 points three days before entering the 1st-2nd phase.

At this rate, I would have hit 400 points when I finished the 1st-2nd phase.

So that means…

‘They gave me 10 more points for accumulating even more?’

That’s 25 points total.

I can’t believe this situation – is this really okay?

Actually, I need to raise affection even without missions, so if they give me more for accumulating beyond 300 points instead of stopping there, I welcome it.

‘I should try raising them one by one after the 2nd phase announcement ends.’

I closed the window with satisfaction.

During that time, Adelbert removed the hands that had been pressing against his face and spoke.

“…Thank you.”

“You remember, I see?”

He didn’t answer and fell into thought.

The anxiety he had felt in the dream could no longer be found on his face.

Thanks to the dream, it seemed like his thoughts had actually been organized.

After remaining silent for a while, Adelbert answered me.

“Yes, I remember. I’m sorry. I kept holding you back in there.”

“It’s natural since you were drugged.”

At those words, Adelbert’s eyes turned fierce.

I could immediately tell what he was thinking.

There was someone who tried to drug the prince an hour before the exam to make him sleep and go berserk. Naturally he’d be angry.

But now isn’t the time to look for that person.

“The culprit can wait. I brought this friend here without reporting it because it might harm you. Given that, I can’t go blabbing about it right now.”

Adelbert slowly nodded at those words.

But there’s no reason to stop here. It’s worth dragging this out until the exam.

I opened my mouth.

“Let’s be clear about one thing.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Someone desperately wants you to fail.”

“…”

“They probably intended to kill you or turn you into Pleroma. Failing before even taking the 1st-2nd phase would be natural.”

Adelbert’s eyes turned cold.

It seemed his thoughts had reached that point as well.

Expectations had served as motivation to maintain high grades, but ultimately they only brought burden. They couldn’t be called very good motivation.

Then I just need to change it.

Fortunately, he was the type with a temper.

I know what’s best for guys like this.

Revenge is the best thing to use short-term.

I smiled and lightly tapped his shoulder.

“I’m sure you know how to successfully pay them back without me telling you.”

Adelbert answered with a silent smile.

His face already showed proper resolve.

* * *

The 1st year first phase exam was completely finished.

And I had been at Bavaria with no time to worry about the 1st year exam, then returned to the 2nd Year Dormitory.

Now it was time for the 2nd phase team announcement.

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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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