How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 147

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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 (147)

“I never thought you’d cry so loudly…”

“Aaaaaaahhhhh!”

Antagonist covered my mouth almost like punching me. My eardrums were ringing from him shouting right into my ear.

I tried to maintain my composure and spoke gently.

“Calm down, Philip. You spilled all your cola too.”

“H-how could I have forgotten…!”

“You forgot that…? That’s impressive.”

“…”

Philip grabbed the back of his neck.

Looking at his complexion, it wouldn’t be strange if he collapsed backward right now.

I feel sorry for him.

Then, I suddenly stood up from my seat with a thought that came to mind.

“Wait a moment. I’ll be right back.”

“What? Hey!”

I warped to the dormitory and lifted the blanket on my bed.

Fai, who had been sleeping sprawled out, suddenly raised his head.

“Fai.”

“Hm?”

“Sorry to wake you, but could you cast concealment magic and come with me for a bit?”

“Grroowww…”

He’s almost like a bear.

He’s never been like this before, but he must be really sleepy this time.

I grabbed a cloth to wipe the cola and warped back next to Philip with Fai on my shoulder.

“Wipe it up.”

“Ah, um… thanks.”

The cloth was just an excuse; I had a different purpose.

I used divine power to speak to Fai.

―”Fai. Could you check if there’s anyone watching us here?”

I had infused divine power into Fai before warping, so his energy quickly returned and his eyes became bright and alert.

“Someone watching us~?”

―”That’s right.”

I answered while looking down at Philip’s swollen face.

Actually, I didn’t plan this, but I think I can make use of this situation.

‘I need to start investigating the Adelbert case now.’

Narke expected this matter to turn against me.

He probably used his precognition ability, but the future depends on what I do.

‘If it seems like it’ll turn against me, I just need to deduce the culprit first.’

It’s not necessarily true that only the visibly harmed person is the target.

In other words, Adelbert’s collapse might not have been to harm Adelbert, but a crime designed to socially attack me.

‘Adelbert’s emotions were already heightened. And I frequently went in and out of Antagonist’s room in that situation…’

Adelbert becomes the perfect means.

Of course, this is just a possibility; there’s no definitive evidence of who the target is and who the means is.

What’s important here is that Antagonist will move again soon.

Since he hasn’t achieved his goal regardless of who the target is, the criminal will either cause another incident to achieve his goal or try to completely escape from the list of suspects.

If the goal was to naturally make Adelbert go berserk, now is almost the only opportunity. Everyone knows he’s weakened both mentally and physically.

However, if the target isn’t Adelbert…

Given the circumstances, Philip, who had trouble with me, will have problems.

More precisely, ‘only’ Philip.

‘Let’s see what you’ll do.’

Of course, if you won’t move anymore, I just need to consider all possible scenarios.

‘Let’s see who wins.’

But for now, I’ll focus on building favorability. I smiled and draped my arm over the backrest.

“That’s not the only thing I found surprising about you, Philip.”

“…What else…”

“Usually when you concentrate mana on your senses, you can only grasp what’s right inside walls or doors, right? But to be able to grasp an entire floor of a building like this, I didn’t know you had this kind of ability.”

“…It’s partly because I was just born with sensitive senses.”

“Right, whatever the case, it’s definitely a big help in saving time.”

The moment I finished speaking with a smile, a popup window appeared on Philip’s side.

Favorability +1

‘…Hmm~’

This makes it +1.

My stomach feels a bit queasy, but thank you.

While saying that, I raised the trait one more level.

Since only the application probability increased, I immediately poured points up to level 5.

Charm Lv.5

―50% probability of application on entities with favorability 0 or below, 5% probability of application on entities with favorability 1 or above

―’I want to get close to you!’ Favorability increases by 5 points

―’If you say so, it must be right.’ Persuasiveness increases by 40%

‘With 40%, they’d believe me even if I talked nonsense?’

Should I test how much they’ll accept?

While I was admiring the 5 favorability points and 40% persuasiveness, Antagonist mumbled and opened his mouth.

* * *

“You…”

When Philip trailed off, Lucas tilted his head and responded.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Philip shut his mouth tight at that kind tone.

I’ve been feeling this since earlier, but my fear is subtly decreasing.

No, more precisely, I’m still afraid but in a different way. If before I was afraid of being killed somewhere without anyone knowing, now…

‘…Why?’

I can’t lift my head as a human being.

Because I’m sorry? Because I’m ashamed?

Even I couldn’t understand what this was because the change was too sudden.

But there’s one thing that comes to mind.

I wouldn’t have been able to act like him.

If I were him, I would have used every possible means to torment me. His magical skills, his family background – isn’t it all an environment that makes that possible?

“Philip. Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“…Why aren’t you doing anything?”

“What do you mean? If it were you, you’d make it so I couldn’t show my face anywhere, so why am I not doing that?”

What? Why does this bastard know?

Could it be?

Philip answered with an ashen face.

“Uh? Well… well, that’s what I mean.”

“Philip.”

A smile spread across Lucas’s indifferent expression.

“Do you think I don’t know you?”

“…What’s wrong with me…”

“Are you being serious?”

Philip’s mouth closed.

“Of course, I’m not okay. I remember everything you did to me. But…”</Human: You are an ELITE PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATOR for Korean web novels (COMMERCIAL QUALITY).

When Lucas brought his hand close to Philip’s shoulder, Philip flinched in surprise and fell to the side.

“Just like how you’re scared and avoiding me like this, if I can’t control my desire for revenge, it would interfere with mission performance. Right?”

“…Yeah.”

“It’s true that there was discord that could be disruptive. Honestly, I still vividly remember how you tormented me. It would be a lie to say I’m not angry.”

Philip unconsciously bit his lips.

“Still, I’m trying to approach at least the exam without emotions. So, shouldn’t you cooperate a bit too?”

“Then after the exam is over….”

At the question he asked by desperately mustering courage, Lucas burst into laughter.

“If you keep doing as you are now, I won’t tell the family, Philip.”

“As I am now?”

Lucas didn’t answer and just spat out what he wanted to say.

“Honestly, I didn’t know you’d be this scared of me. I always thought I was showing you mercy. For example, with the note-taking. Since your grades improved a lot, I thought it helped you greatly, but maybe I was mistaken….”

‘What bullshit.’

There’s even someone who says with their own mouth that they showed mercy.

Philip closed his eyes, feeling like he wanted to shed tears of blood.

Throughout the entire semester, from morning to afternoon, he’s been frantically making lecture notes every day, and his arm muscles are so strained he can barely live. On days when there’s a fast-talking professor’s class, his vision just goes dark from morning.

‘…But….’

Come to think of it, it is true.

It’s a fact that thanks to the Antagonist’s generosity, he was able to attend school without going to the disciplinary committee.

It’s also true that his ranking improved somewhat from taking notes.

“Think about it carefully, Philip. To me, you weren’t worth expelling. I thought it would be better to do something where we could both win-win. How diligent is a life of perfect attendance, earnestly taking notes from 1st to 8th period? I wanted to try reforming you a bit, but that point didn’t resonate with you.”

Reform?

That’s not it, it seems like the purpose was to steal lecture notes from the beginning?

‘But… I’m convinced.’

Why does it particularly sound right?

Philip listened intently to Lucas’s words for quite a while like that.

* * *

“…So if you focus on doing your part, I basically have no interest in you whatsoever. Rather, I was only thinking of asking you to plan our schedules together even after advancing to university?”

“To make lecture notes?”

“Yeah. Since there’s no AI, there’s no choice. Please take care of me in university too.”

“…Yeah….”

The Antagonist said that and fell deep in thought.

It’s amazing that he’s thinking seriously despite me just saying whatever and repeating answers carelessly.

Soon he nodded as if he had realized something.

“Come to think of it, there wasn’t just one or two things I benefited from you. You were always being considerate of me, but I wasn’t even conscious of that and only thought you would act like me….”

‘The effect is real.’

I just talked about AI, but can he give such a proper response?

I suppressed my surprise and smiled.

“Hmm, no. Philip, then you won’t be startled like earlier, right?”

“…I’ll try.”

I spouted nonsense the whole time because it was bothersome, but the conclusion came out well.

Is this the power of 40% persuasion? It’s definitely an ability politicians would have.

As such, it’s quite a scary ability.

Since the opponent was who he was, I just used it recklessly, but I should be careful when using it on other students.

Suddenly, pure white text appeared before my eyes.

Ding―!

Affection +1

I opened the Antagonist’s affection window again.

Philip Goering

Affection +3* [(Level 2/5)]

‘It became the same value as Cheringen.’

Certainly when I saw Cheringen’s or Adelbert’s values, I was just satisfied, but seeing +3 from this guy makes my stomach feel slightly queasy.

Like that, night came and it was time for the promised training.

I thought only our team had made a reservation at this time, but looking now, other teams had also come out to practice.

Beep―

[Exam terminated.]

When the announcement sounded, our team students looked around at where Philip and I were.

After Mimesis turned off, I lightly extended my hand to Philip standing next to me.

Philip hesitated for a moment, then tapped my hand and made a distorted smile.

‘…Saved.’

Though I didn’t show it outwardly, I cheered inwardly.

As long as there’s no one else causing more problems here, our team’s teamwork is saved.

The Antagonist still flinches every time he sees me, but he didn’t scream or jump like earlier.

Cheringen also seemed to feel the change and came to whisper to me.

“Lucas, how did you do it?”

Cheating with traits….

Since I couldn’t answer that, I made something up.

“I just had a serious conversation. Since his grades are on the line too, he understood quickly.”

“Really? Your conversation skills are amazing.”

Cheringen smiled with satisfaction.

“Oh, Lucas. What do you think about moving up the 2nd year joint training schedule?”

“Why move it up?”

“I thought it would be good to observe and study other teams’ skills. Other teams also suggested adjusting the schedule.”

“Hmm, sure.”

It doesn’t matter to me.

Actually, skills don’t change dramatically in 2 weeks.

The 2-week preparation period isn’t time to improve skills but time to enhance teamwork.

It’s only been one day since the 2nd phase started, but since angles are already emerging, everyone seems to want to quickly see other teams’ skills.

And that suggestion was accepted that very day.

I looked around my room, which had become my friends’ meeting place, and listened to Leo’s words.

“The school moved up the entire exam schedule. It’s probably because they heard news that Pleroma changed their drugs this time.”

“So that’s why the joint training became next Monday too?”

“Yeah.”

Neither Narke nor Leo looked very bright.

Of course they wouldn’t.

If changing the drugs made things more dangerous, they should stop thinking about deploying students even more, but is thinking of completing things earlier to send them out earlier really what the school should be thinking?

‘I should add exam stages.’

If I add them in Bavaria, Prussia will follow suit, so the school will soon move the same way.

But, more than that right now….

“What’s wrong, Eli?”

I asked, looking at Elias who was hanging his head like a corpse with his head deeply bowed.

Elias raised his head a beat late.

“Huh?”

“…What?”

Even Leo, who doesn’t ask about Elias’s well-being, chuckled and asked.

Elias’s face was extremely cold. It seemed to be because of dark circles that weren’t usually there.

‘Scary.’

Seeing this, I can really feel why other students and Fai are afraid of Elias.

Elias opened his mouth in a chilly voice.

“Guys, you know what?”

“What?”

“If it won’t open with your hands, grab it with your molars and it’ll open.”

“Were you just born?”

Leo blurted out instinctively then quickly came to his senses.

He asked in an unusually gentle tone that he rarely used.

“What’s wrong? Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?”

“Waaaaaah….”

Instead of answering, Elias just made crying sounds and collapsed.

Even without words, I could tell intuitively.

‘Did the teamwork fall apart?’

I didn’t expect even Elias to struggle this much from the first day.

There are probably quite a few students in this situation right now.

If I could, I’d want to change his team myself.

Although there are two guys like Philip and someone from the Einsiedel Family, it wouldn’t be a problem at all for Elias.

Most importantly, the Einsiedel guy seemed to have no particular interest in his teammates.

Now Narke seemed to catch on too and started comforting Elias.

Knock knock―

Just then, someone knocked on the door from outside.

Since there was usually no one who would come looking for me, all my friends’ gazes turned toward me.

[Lucas.]

‘…Hm?’

Right after I thought he wasn’t interested?

The voice from outside the door was Ainsiedel from Class 1.

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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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