How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 160

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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 (160)

I know it’s a very sudden and bewildering question.

If you want to go, go; if not, don’t.

I only asked this to see the Antagonist’s reaction.

‘If he’s hiding something, he can’t help but show signs of it.’

But no answer came.

I was eating the sauerkraut I went down and bought again with a fork, then looked up.

“…?!”

I doubted my eyes.

Class 1 Ainsiedel was staring at me intently with his mouth agape.

He stared without a single movement, making me wonder what I did wrong or what was behind me.

Only after I glanced back did Class 1 Ainsiedel open his mouth.

“…Huh?”

“I asked if I could visit your house… It’s not in a weird way.”

Now Class 1 Ainsiedel’s eyes shook frantically.

His reaction was excessive compared to the question, making me flustered instead. I waved my hand and said.

“Sorry. I wanted to get closer, but it was too sudden.”

“No.”

Thud!

When Ainsiedel slammed his glass on the table, beer overflowed to the brim.

He downed the drink without stopping and wiped his mouth.

“Good.”

“….”

Good?

But why does he look so determined?

Ainsiedel now stared at me without blinking once and asked.

“Are you okay with it?”

“…Of course. I’m fine with it, that’s why I asked if I could go. More importantly, doesn’t your stomach hurt? If you keep pouring alcohol without eating, you’ll get sick.”

“I’m fine.”

Ainsiedel rambled and shook his head quickly.

Yet his voice remained dry and emotionless.

“I didn’t mishear that earlier, right?”

“Right. You heard correctly. And I really meant I just wanted to visit.”

“I know. I understand. So the words about coming to our house, you said that?”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

I narrowed my eyes and tilted my head.

But he was already completely uninterested in my body language.

I just gave up and smiled.

“Then when should I go? Since I need to formally greet your uncle, how about going after training ends in the afternoon when your uncle is there?”

“…Right. No, I’ll ask first and come back.”

No matter how I think about it, it’s surprising how readily he accepted. I had to bring it up first, but that was because I had an intention.

I can’t believe this worked when we’re not close at all.

The Antagonist might also have intentions like me and acted this way, but that reaction just now was a bit bewildering.

‘Could it really be…?’

No way.

Then why isn’t his affection rising?

While I was lost in thought looking around, Ainsiedel was also fixing his gaze on the opposite side.

A long silence continued.

Class 1 Ainsiedel, who had been blinking for a while, said quietly.

“It’s my first time bringing a friend home.”

I stared at his face intently.

My eyes met with Ainsiedel’s.

“My uncle… might say no. He’s strict. But I’ll try to persuade him well.”

His voice had gotten strangely faster.

If I had insight abilities, I could have known what he was thinking right now.

I opened his affection window that showed no level again, dismissed it, and smiled.

“Alright.”

* * *

Actually, we could hang out in the Dormitory, or if we really wanted to go out, we could go around the School.

There’s no reason to go to someone else’s house to hang out.

But Class 1 Ainsiedel didn’t ask me for the reason.

‘Is he really absorbed in making friends, or does the Antagonist also have ulterior motives?’

Humans with other intentions often show such unnatural behavior.

Like me, who suddenly asked if I could visit his house.

‘More than that…’

Hangover…

I pressed my forehead firmly and closed my eyes.

I think Luca’s body really isn’t adapted to alcohol. I didn’t think I was particularly drunk when drinking, but the aftermath is hitting hard.

‘I only had three glasses and this happens?’

No. Three 500ml glasses is quite a lot.

For Luca’s body, that is.

I finished my brief reflection and took out an elixir from my pocket to drink.

‘Who would have thought I’d use an elixir as a hangover cure instead of dawn.’

The me from a year ago would have wondered what the hell that meant. You really can’t predict what will happen even one step ahead.

Narke, who was watching, asked.

“Should I purify your liver~?”

“No. Let’s start the meeting now.”

“…Right… Narke… Let’s hurry and go train…”

I came here for the third meeting.

Everyone seemed to be in poor condition, probably having played late into the night yesterday.

I probably would be too, but I ended up this way from purifying all of Bavaria while hungover.

Narke opened her mouth.

“First, this exam will be conducted against 4th-grade Rampage. You know they’re the highest grade Rampage we’ll face in the field, right?”

“Yeah.”

Narke naturally became our team’s Team Leader.

I’m first place, but I had no particular intention of leading, so it’s convenient that someone stepped up instead.

“They told us to do as stored in Mimesis for this exam too. Of course, I think we need to consider that the School might throw us into a Train Station with ten thousand people in traffic like last time, or drop us at a 2500m Elevation Point.”

I nodded and asked.

“Narke. Can you predict what the School will do?”

“Huh? Haha, I’d need to see the professors’ faces to know that, but I haven’t really encountered them so far~”

Yesterday and today we only met our homeroom Professor.

If the First Education Institute is setting the questions this time too, there’s no way for Narke to know either.

The other Students didn’t know about Narke’s ability, so they just passed this off as a joke.

“Now, shall we discuss the important things? Since I basically have no unique ability, let’s go around starting with Oswald.”

“Your divine power is your unique ability~”

Oswald said playfully, flicking his finger.

If there’s a problem in our team, it would be this Friend.

This Friend was the one who played Faust during the festival before.

Whether it’s because he has memories of being attacked by Pleroma, or just his personality, he moves most aggressively.

Oswald pressed his nose tip and said.

“For now, I’m not particularly useful either. I do have a good sense of smell, but Vitriol has no scent.”

“Hmm, that’s true… Still, it’s worth remembering. So, what about Helene?”

Narke pointed to another friend.

She was one of the two Class 1 friends who had participated in the Potion Competition together.

“Invisibility. It only works when I’m in good condition, but it is a unique ability.”

“Oh~”

Oswald exclaimed in admiration.

In this exam, many students with quite notable unique abilities had made it up.

It couldn’t be helped – if everyone performed similarly well, they had to select students with good unique abilities.

In the end, I think the key would be how well one could apply and utilize their unique ability.

“That’s cool~ What range can you use it in?”

“Everything I’m in contact with. But I can only use it for less than a minute.”

“It’s probably because it’s an illusion-type magic. If you get good at it later, you might even be able to use divine power?”

Narke said that and looked at the next student.

The other one was just one of Leo’s many friends.

Leo himself didn’t think they were close, but these were the type who considered themselves close to Leo.

And, as most of Leo’s friends—self-proclaimed—tend to be, he didn’t like me.

Whether they liked me or not was none of my business, as long as it didn’t interfere with training.

“I use fire. You saw it during yesterday’s exam, right?”

He said, looking back and forth between me and Ainsiedel.

Not that he was speaking to me. He still seemed hurt in his pride about being pushed back despite receiving the same field.

Moving on, when it became his turn, Class 1 Ainsiedel silently shook his head. Narke smiled and coaxed him.

“Still, tell us. We might be able to utilize it somehow.”

“It’s useless. Even more so in this kind of combat environment.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

“…”

Class 1 Ainsiedel looked Narke up and down.

Taking his gaze off him, Ainsiedel said with an expressionless face.

“I can read the past of objects by touching them.”

“Objects? Hmm~ That’s a wonderful ability, isn’t it?”

Narke asked, staring intently into his eyes.

“Do your family members also have this kind of ability?”

“Some have different ones, some have similar ones. Why?”

“No, it’s just that people with similar dispositions often have similar abilities. I personally think it’s a wonderful ability, so I asked.”

‘Hmm…’

Actually, Narke could easily figure out unique abilities without asking. He had easily discovered Asman’s unique ability before too.

He could relatively quickly grasp things that were already fixed and unchanging.

Instead, he couldn’t easily grasp things that were currently changing continuously or had too many entanglements.

That was the common pattern I could deduce from his past actions.

He would have known Ainsiedel’s unique ability without asking, but there must be a reason he deliberately drew it out and asked if his family had similar abilities.

Anyway, it was an overall ordinary combination.

Not just our Team 2, but Team 3 and Team 4 were the same.

“Alright, that’s enough sharing of unique abilities. Shall we start training right away?”

Narke said, getting up from his seat.

* * *

The third training session went smoothly.

‘Is this okay? Isn’t this easier than the second round?’

There were no friends who feared me like Philip, and everyone moved making full use of their respective unique abilities.

All the other teams would probably be similar, so it seemed more difficult to eliminate 6 people here.

‘Well, it’s comfortable and good anyway.’

The school might bring another field like Zugspitze, so I’d stay alert, but since being alert wouldn’t solve anything, I should enjoy this peace.

I had to enjoy it to the fullest while I could.

When training ended, Narke encouraged the students and stood in front of Class 1 Ainsiedel.

“Haike. You look like you’re in a good mood today.”

“Do I?”

Class 1 Ainsiedel answered curtly.

For reference, he didn’t look like he was in a good mood at all on the outside.

“Yeah. I felt you did well in the second round too, but today’s training was wonderful. I’ll look forward to next time too.”

Narke said that and shouted to the students.

“Alright, you can go back now. I’m going to have a strategy meeting with Lucas.”

“Okay~”

“See you tomorrow!”

The students waved and disappeared.

Class 1 Ainsiedel remained by my side, then spoke curtly as before.

“I’ll ask my family and come back. If it’s okay, let’s go today.”

As he warped away and disappeared, Narke tidied up the empty training ground and led me outside.

“So you decided to go to his house?”

“Yeah.”

“He said his unique ability was reading the past of objects.”

Narke suddenly brought up the topic.

I confirmed that a sound-blocking spell was deployed and nodded.

“But that’s not all. From what I can read, he can use it on people too.”

“Are you talking about reading the past of the soul, or the past of the body?”

“Is there much meaning in separating that~? I don’t know that far. Probably Haike himself doesn’t know well either since he hasn’t used his ability often.”

Narke continued speaking as he plopped down in the rest area outside the training ground.

“The ability doesn’t activate just by touching. Since he doesn’t use it often, it probably only activates when he wants it to. Still, since that friend is approaching you, be careful.”

“Got it.”

A moment of silence passed.

Narke, who had been looking out the window, suddenly opened his mouth.

“And there’s one more thing you need to know, Lucas. That friend and Ainsiedel have the same ability.”

“What?”

When he said Ainsiedel here instead of Haike, it was obvious who he meant.

“Reading the past is Ainsiedel’s unique ability. Of course…”

Narke narrowed his eyes and touched his head.

“I only met him very briefly and he’s a difficult type to read, so I couldn’t read anything beyond his unique ability.”

“That’s helpful enough. So that’s why you brought up family earlier.”

“Right. Usually family members receive similar abilities.”

Then they would indeed be blood relatives.

Initially, Ainsiedel had introduced himself as ‘Ain’, and I was the first to mention his surname.

Since I had read the name Ainsiedel from the status window, the possibility that he had faked his surname was rather low.

‘To think they’re blood relatives when they look so completely different.’

Maybe they only didn’t resemble each other in appearance, but might be similar inside.

“But, Narke.”

“Yeah?”

“Does your authority work completely on Haike?”

“…”

A smile spread across Narke’s face.

“No. You’re in a similar situation too, aren’t you, Lucas? You also have an ability similar to insight.”

“Yeah. There are some ambiguous parts, so I was asking.”

“Me too. When I try to read him, I get a feeling like I’m being blocked. I didn’t expect to encounter such a person at school, but it’s interesting~”

I fell into silent thought.

Perhaps deciding not to think deeply about what she couldn’t read further anyway, Narke had already moved away from Ainsiedel and brought up a different topic.

“By the way, Lucas, do you like sauerkraut?”

“Hm? Why?”

“I was at a food booth yesterday, and I kept seeing you come down to buy sauerkraut.”

“It’s not that I like it, it’s just a familiar taste.”

“Haha, right~”

Just then, I saw a white mass peering at us from far away. When our eyes met, Elias quickly ran over.

It seemed like break time had just started.

“Why are you guys here? I was just thinking about you and was surprised to see you~”

“We were talking about team members.”

I expanded the range of my sound-blocking magic and answered.

Elias pulled out a chair and sat next to us.

“Really~? Hey guys. I have something to tell you right now.”

Narke seemed to catch on and immediately spoke up.

“You went to investigate Primrose Pass again last night.”

“Right. I went home. Yesterday after the arts festival ended, suddenly the Imperial Newspaper pulled their article about Primrose Pass.”

“They pulled the article?”

When did they apply various charges and conduct searches and seizures, and now they’re doing this?

‘Hmm…’

The intention is clearly visible.

It means there was collusion with Primrose Pass and they’ll soon withdraw from the investigation.

“Right. Soon the local newspapers will pull their articles too.”

Elias clenched his fist and opened his eyes wide.

“I knew this would happen, so I already scraped and saved the articles a long time ago~ That’s what I’m saying. Right?”

“Thorough…”

“Of course. Listen. Does it make sense for all the businesses in Primrose Pass to band together and sue the Empire?”

“Mm? It makes sense, but now heads will roll~”

“Right! That’s exactly it. Then, do you think it makes sense for those prosecutors to end the investigation because they’re afraid of being sued?”

For a moment, my eyes met with Narke’s.

‘As expected…’

Are they planning to move this hastily when the heat hasn’t even died down yet?

If the Antagonist is involved in the rampage incident as Elias suspects, this can’t continue.

And they’ve committed more than one or two crimes, but they’re going to turn a blind eye to this?

“This story seems like it’ll be long, what are you guys doing later? Do you have time?”

“I was supposed to go to Haike’s house.”

“What?!”

Elias showed another intense reaction and asked.

“Why are you going there?! Are you allowed to go?”

“I don’t know. I went to ask the adults of that family.”

“Oh… Really?”

Elias stroked his chin and fell into thought.

“Luca.”

“What.”

“There’s a way to visit the Ainsiedel ancestral home and hear about Primrose Pass. We can do two things at once and save time.”

“…”

“Just say it properly.”

“Let’s go together.”

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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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