How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 146

—————
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 (146)

“…What conversation.”

“Right, no need to drag this out. Why do you keep getting startled?”

“Ah, startled my ass, damn it….”

Philip forced out a laugh.

When I took a step closer, he flinched and stepped back.

I asked with a smile.

“Not startled?”

Philip’s face contorted.

Just then, the door handle turned and got stuck.

From outside, Cheringen asked in a flustered voice.

[Lucas?]

“Go ahead first. I have something to discuss with Philip.”

[…Ah~ I see.]

Cheringen understood and laughed.

He must have found Philip’s behavior annoying too.

When no one tried to force the door open, Philip made a shocked face and frowned.

“…I have nothing to discuss. Move aside.”

“Neither do I, Philip. Do you think I want to have this conversation?”

“What?”

“You might have nothing to discuss, but don’t you think your grade feels differently?”

“….”

He clamped his mouth shut.

I took that opportunity to check my watch.

About 15 minutes left until the next team’s reservation time.

I drew my wand from its holster and said.

“Let’s talk while sparring. 15 minutes should be enough.”

“…What, no, why now of all times…!”

“Why? You’re excessively afraid of me, so do you think we can get teamwork points like this?”

We can’t.

I personally selected the Grade 1 to 3 victim specialist mage teams currently active in Bavaria.

And if I applied that same process to the school, our team would obviously be eliminated.

Normal team activities would be impossible when one side unilaterally fears the other.

The provocation seemed to work as Philip’s face reddened and he bristled.

“Afraid? Don’t make me laugh! What are you supposed to be…!”

“Then prove it. Draw your wand.”

“….”

“If you want to run away, I won’t stop you, but….”

With each step I took, he kept backing away.

I flicked my hand to pull over the spatial magic artifact placed far away. Then I summoned an empty exam hall.

[3, 2, 1. Beginning.]

“…!”

Everything around us turned pure white.

I had my back to the entrance so I couldn’t see it, but it probably disappeared. Since we entered Mimesis, we couldn’t leave this space until time ran out.

‘If you want to run away, I won’t stop you’ – what nonsense.

Of course it was just words. There’s absolutely no way out.

As expected, shock filled Philip’s eyes when the entrance vanished.

“Well, that must be quite surprising. I was definitely the one who used to fear you, but now you’re the one avoiding me.”

I said without taking my eyes off him.

“Philip.”

His expression was quite worth seeing.

I wanted to bring Luca here. The guy who used to ignore and look down on you is now in the completely opposite position – shouldn’t you see this?

I smiled and tilted my head slightly.

“Are you scared I might drink your blood or something?”

“…!”

Kwaaaaang―!

I covered my front with both arms and quickly shifted mana to my legs.

Philip’s grayish-brown mana that hit my barrier scattered in midair.

He had been pushed quite far back, showing how hard he had attacked.

As I slowly straightened my lowered body, Philip aimed his wand at me while trembling like mad and shouted.

“Don’t come closer. I’m serious, damn it, just try coming closer! I’ll kill you.”

“I’m not a mosquito, why would I drink blood? Philip, think logically.”

“I said don’t come closer! Ah, damn it. Where’s the artifact?!”

My ears are rotting.

I tried to empty my mind and smiled.

“Well, fine. Since you’ve drawn your wand, let’s do this properly.”

Kwaaang―!

I deflected his attack and deployed a defensive formation.

A look of disbelief crossed his face.

“Do you prefer wands or swords? Which is more comfortable?”

“…What….”

He would obviously want to use a wand.

He wouldn’t want close combat.

I personally prefer wands for their lower energy consumption, so it doesn’t matter.

It wouldn’t be bad to show him that close-range attacks are possible with wands too.

“Well, if you don’t like either….”

“Uaaahhh!”

When I tried to approach him, he screamed like a madman while swinging his wand wildly.

I was speechless at his completely random attack pattern. Then I laughed.

‘What the hell is this.’

I already knew that bullies never have any real substance, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen someone whose exterior and interior are so completely different.

Maybe he was called a coward as a child and it became a trauma.

His bullying behavior must have been both a defense mechanism and proof of the high status he desired.

I stood still, deflecting his attacks while saying.

“Talk. That’s the only way I can decide whether to fix something or not.”

I suddenly concentrated mana in my legs and kicked off the ground.

Kwaaaaang―!

Getting close to him was ridiculously easy.

If my opponent had been Leo or Cheringen, charging straight like this would have already gotten me slammed into a wall.

I watched Philip frantically twist his body and shifted my body’s mana to the right rear.

“…!”

When I used mana to immediately turn 180 degrees, Philip gritted his teeth, probably because he didn’t have time to attack.

As I continued pursuing him, Philip’s wand began trembling even more pathetically. The attacks that had been hitting my barrier just moments ago now scattered without even reaching it.

‘This is just… Hans was much more skilled.’

Well, the fact that he was running backward probably contributed to this terrible performance.

I lowered my output to match his level.

“If my guess about why you get so startled when you see me is wrong, then tell me yourself.”

“We, we already finished training properly! Whether I’m startled or not, what’s the problem?!”

“What’s the problem, you ask.”

I slightly furrowed my brow.

I could see the Antagonist flinch at that reaction.

Crash—!

I blocked the stream of magical power coming at me from behind with a barrier.

He’s trying to attack from outside my field of vision.

But when attempting such attacks, you need to add supplementary attacks to distract attention for it to be effective, which the Antagonist didn’t do. Well, he probably didn’t have the mental capacity to spare since I was still chasing him.

“If we were just selecting based on skill, we could just line up according to grades. Why do you think they make us do team activities? Have you never tried to understand the intent behind the questions? Even if you don’t get along, you shouldn’t show it during exams. So tell me.”

“What?! What exactly!”

I’ve been saying it this whole time.

Is he too scared to think straight?

“Why are you avoiding me? I need to know to decide whether to solve it or not.”

“You can’t solve it!”

Crash—!

I stomped my foot.

Red magical power spread in all directions and rushed toward Philip.

The Antagonist’s face crumpled when he saw it. At the same time, his body tilted backward.

“…?!”

Thud!

Whether there was confusion between his arm and leg movements, the Antagonist stepped on his own foot and fell over.

When I approached to help him up, the Antagonist screamed and pulled his body back.

I was so dumbfounded that I stopped in place, and the Antagonist pressed his face with his arms.

The part of his face that wasn’t covered was excessively red.

Just as I was thinking he should go to the hospital and looked closer, the Antagonist twisted his mouth severely.

“Scared…”

“…”

Hm?

My thoughts stopped for a moment.

Unable to hide my confusion, I let out a hollow laugh and asked.

“Hey, are you right now…?”

The Antagonist let out a long string of curses close to a scream and shouted.

“I’m scared!”

“…”

“I’m scared of your magic, and I’m scared you might suck my blood like you said, and what?! I’m scared your family might retaliate if I get on your bad side. Are you satisfied now?! Damn it, why, why do you keep asking embarrassing questions…!”

‘He’s being quite detailed.’

The Antagonist started crying openly now.

Another hollow laugh escaped my lips, but the Antagonist didn’t seem to have the mental capacity to care about such things right now.

Right…

He would have various thoughts. Though I don’t understand them.

‘I could tell from when he was obsessed with hierarchy.’

This must be the Antagonist’s true psychology.

Having many fears isn’t a sin, but hiding those fears and acting tough while bullying others is a sin.

Now that I think about it, looking down on and tormenting Luca might have been to prove that unlike others, he wasn’t afraid of Pleroma.

“Hey.”

Whatever the case, the ones who should be crying right now are our team members who won’t get bonus points because of this guy.

I bent my knees, sat in front of him, and said the best thing I could say right now.

“Get up.”

* * *

I leaned comfortably against the school bench and gulped down cola.

The carbonation refreshingly scratched down my throat.

‘Nice.’

Cola is already available here. Come to think of it, it does have some history.

But from the faint memories left in my head, this shouldn’t have been imported at this time period.

‘Well… they probably warped it from the North Sea.’

Due to various preservation processes and added tariffs, the price became double that of the mainland.

Though the taste was different from what I used to drink, finding something that also exists in modern times here made me feel good for no reason.

I emptied half the bottle right where I sat and asked Philip, who was gripping his bottle tightly.

“Don’t like cola?”

“…I’ve never tried it.”

“Really?”

Well, I only know because I’m from modern times. Not everyone would know about something that just got imported from across the continent.

“If you don’t want to drink it, just throw it away.”

“…”

The Antagonist pondered for a long time before opening the cap.

He looked at the contents with extremely suspicious eyes, then brought it to his lips just as cautiously.

Then he raised his eyebrows.

I smiled in a way that would be received as reasonably friendly and said.

“It would have been better if you drank it right away when the cooling magic was still on it.”

“…Mm.”

The Antagonist continued drinking while remaining suspicious.

I don’t want to spend even 1 won on this guy, but since teamwork is at stake, I need to lay a proper foundation so nothing goes wrong.

Favorability, that is.

Conveniently, I have an ability that increases persuasiveness in my traits, so let’s slowly raise it by 1 point at a time without him noticing.

“Philip. I want you to understand this.”

I clasped my hands together and gazed at the students wandering around the school garden in the distance.

“I’m not you, so no matter how much I want revenge, I wouldn’t suck the blood of someone like you.”

“…Cough?!”

The Antagonist barely covered his mouth and coughed for a long time.

I was relieved to see that fortunately the area remained clean.

“What, what are you suddenly talking about?!”

“In the first place, I’m not even Pleroma. More importantly, why are you so afraid of Pleroma?”

“…”

“If you can’t say, then forget it.”

What wouldn’t a cowardly guy be afraid of?

Perhaps because of his earlier whining about being scared, the Antagonist didn’t argue back this time.

“To be honest, I could use magic without drinking blood.”

“Then why have you been…?”

“I don’t need to tell you that much, do I?”

I answered that way and opened the traits window.

Charm Lv.2

― ‘I want to get close!’ Certain target’s favorability increases by 3 points

― ‘You must be right.’ Persuasiveness increases by 30%

― 3.0 points until next level

* Available points: 27.0 points

‘Good.’

I should save about 10 points to use for time reversal.

Things are relatively peaceful now, but you never know when something might happen.

‘Let’s just raise it one level for now.’

With that thought, the text in front of me changed.

Charm Lv.3

― 40% chance of application on entities with favorability 0 or below, 5% chance of application on entities with favorability 1 or above

― ‘I want to get close!’ Favorability increases by 4 points

— ‘If you say so, it must be right.’ Persuasiveness increased by 35%

‘Now it’s finally showing me the application probability.’

The trait had always been applied to the Antagonist anyway.

I closed the window and looked at the Antagonist’s face.

The Antagonist, who had been sitting listlessly just moments ago, furrowed his brows as if he had noticed something strange. Confusion was clearly written all over his expression.

It was natural since his feelings toward me had changed without him even realizing it.

‘….’

The increase in favorability was definitely a good thing, but considering who the target was, it made me feel uneasy….

Anyway, when I opened the Antagonist’s favorability window, the value had risen as expected.

Philip Goering

Favorability 0* [Capturable (Stage 2/5)]

“Bavaria even conducted an inspection, but if you can’t believe that I’m not Pleroma, there’s nothing I can do about it. I don’t have any obligation to convince you of that.”

Philip nodded reluctantly.

Those with hierarchy ingrained in their heads will look down on you if you’re too nice to them just to remove their fear.

‘Annoying bastards.’

I don’t know how much I need to tell him before he comes to his senses.

But if I come on too strong here, he’ll continue to be startled enough to interfere with future activities.

So I’m sorry, but I’ll have to use both approaches. I managed my expression and opened my mouth.

“That’s unexpected.”

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