How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 183

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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 (183)

“What?”

It felt like I’d been hit in the head.

Did I mishear?

Had I gone crazy from being beaten for too long? Did I perhaps wish to return without realizing it? The person in front of me might also be a fake I created. Since my ears are already not functioning properly, I might be hearing sounds that couldn’t possibly exist…

Kwaaaaang—…

In an instant, Leo turned his upper body to block the attack.

My ears had already blocked sounds above a certain decibel level, but I could see him gritting his teeth with an expression I’d never seen before through my vision blurred with light.

“…”

I understood.

The Leo before my eyes was real.

I had never imagined that he might not respond to attacks with ease. He had always been the standard of magic for me, the teacher who could beat me at any time… This Leonard who exceeded my imagination must be real.

Leo stomped his foot and erected a barrier behind him.

The vibrations that had been approaching right in front of me grew distant. He put all his mana into the barrier and slapped my cheek.

“Can’t you hear?! Lucas…!”

I can hear you. I opened my mouth as quickly as possible, but my time and his time seemed to move at different speeds. Before even hearing my answer, Leo wrapped around my neck and began frantically muttering incantations.

[Beloved, I wish above all that you may prosper and be in good health… He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.]

His usually crisp voice was nowhere to be found. I realized his composure had completely crumbled when Leo’s voice began trembling violently. He recited the final incantation with a choked voice.

[…The old order of things has passed away.]

Kwaang—!

Amidst the endless roaring sounds, Leo pulled his face away and grabbed my shoulders.

“Turn it back. It’s enough now, Lucas. Stop this and go back.”

“…”

“I may not be able to erase your memories, but this isn’t right. If this is the greater good, then I…”

He knows about the retries.

My heart began beating frantically.

“If this is the greater good, then I don’t know what justice is anymore. I’m still lacking and don’t understand. I’m not a brilliant politician like my mother, nor do I relentlessly pursue justice like Elias, whether from stubbornness born of rebellion or whatever. I… have always walked the path laid out by everyone, and while I know that many lives are needed to maintain that path, I can’t accept it in my heart.”

That would be the case.

But even so, this isn’t something I can back down from.

He said the Old Humanity would massacre the Jewish people, but he’s not much different.

If New Humanity were truly transcendent beings as he claimed, he wouldn’t spout such nonsense about needing to suppress Old Humanity.

Dividing subjects simply into black and white and making hasty judgments is evidence of how little experience one has in thinking for themselves. More things in the world than expected cannot be split in half as if cut with a knife. Knowing that I cannot divide the totality of my thoughts into 0s and 1s, with what wisdom do I define others?

Though they can no longer be considered the same human species, in that they cannot escape binary thinking and wish to rise by trampling others, New Humanity is no different from Old Humanity.

He embodies the very image of the Old Humanity he so vehemently condemns as inferior. Such people will be the ones to massacre Old Humanity. This is why it cannot end with simply saving the Professor.

As if knowing I would say such things, Leo continued as if responding to my thoughts.

“I know. I know too. They stand on peace built with their ancestors’ blood and kill countless people merely for profit. But…”

Leo spoke with an expression I couldn’t interpret.

“Why does it have to be you?”

“…”

“Why must you be the one to punish them? I’m not just talking about jumping into this affair, Lucas. What is it, why did something give you the power to turn back time so that you have no choice but to resolve their evil deeds? What is giving you such opportunities? This is absolutely not on your side. It can’t be. A being that tries to burn you to obtain peace cannot be on your side. Even if it’s the god of this world, the fact that he doesn’t care for you doesn’t change.”

Leo suppressed his quickened breathing.

The Chairman, perhaps unable to believe I had been reborn, attacked Leo’s barrier in an excited state unlike before. The Antagonist seemed to have realized that I hadn’t given him baptism out of boredom but had some ulterior motive. If I get caught again, interrogation to find out the reason would probably be waiting.

At the same time, numerous mages warped into this room.

Leo smiled faintly while protecting me from the attacks.

“…Still, I have to be grateful for that ability right now. Even knowing that your ability is strangling you to death, I hate this situation where I must rely on it…”

“…”

“Promise me, Lucas. Say you will.”

Leo grabbed my blood-soaked hands and used healing magic.

His mana was completely unstable. As soon as I realized this, the barrier he had spread behind him began to crack.

“Go back. Let’s meet in the past.”

* * *

At that moment, I raised my head.

Had I always seen the world with these eyes?

Far in the distance, a red sun was setting and a gray sky was descending.

Though fatigue remained, my vision was clear as if I had gained new eyes.

I am now standing on the ground with both feet.

The moment I realized this fact, I reflexively clenched my hands. All my bones were intact. My fingertips that had been stained with blood from lost nails, my ear senses, my throat and head that had been constantly numb from drinking water—everything had returned to its original state and felt incredibly light.

“Lucas?”

When I stopped abruptly, Narke, who had been walking ahead, turned around. It was a welcome face.

Now I noticed that Narke’s black hair had changed to gold. The hair that stung my eyes was an even brighter gold. I quickly cast my gaze beyond Narke.

In the distance, I could see the alley leading into Primrose Pass.

I had returned.

To that situation before meeting Ludovica for the second test.

‘It’s over.’

Relief made me laugh.

Drowsiness poured over me from fatigue, narrowing my vision. The moment I realized this, Narke opened his mouth with a surprised face.

* * *

‘…Hm?’

I don’t know how much time has passed.

I had just been on the street, but when I opened my eyes, I was inexplicably under blankets.

I must have just fallen asleep from exhaustion.

But…

‘What the hell.’

I cursed and bolted upright.

What I should have seen upon opening my eyes was my room. No, since my room had been sealed after the incident, where I opened my eyes should have been my infirmary room.

I quickly turned my head.

Navy blue velvet curtains that couldn’t be seen in the dormitory hung on every large window. The room was twice the size of the dormitory, and unnecessarily old-looking furniture reminded me of my room in Anhalt. Or maybe Adelbert’s room.

However, in conclusion, this was a place I’d never seen before.

‘Don’t tell me, again…?’

Did someone warp me again?

No way. I cannot go through this insane ordeal twice. Humanly speaking, I shouldn’t have to, and my patience has now hit rock bottom and is drilling through the core. I grabbed my frantically pounding heart and concentrated my mana. Fortunately, there was no problem at all with mana manipulation.

‘This time I’ll just sweep everything away.’

Instinctively, my fists clenched with force. I’m not sure why I stupidly didn’t block mana, but I’m grateful for it.

Kwaang—!

“Oh, Lucas!”

The door burst open and Narke suddenly appeared.

The moment I saw him, the tension in my shoulders completely released.

“…Narke?”

“You’re awake. Haha, you suddenly collapsed on the street, so I was startled~”

He approached me and turned my face this way and that while using his insight ability.

“Drinking a whole bottle of alcohol at once was the problem… doesn’t seem to be it. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. But why are you here? No, where is this?”

“Ah.”

Narke smiled awkwardly by himself and looked toward the doorway.

As the room became quiet, regular footsteps could be heard clearly from outside.

The sound stopped in front of the door.

Creak—

Leo, with his ivory hair neatly arranged as before, was looking at me with his usual stoic expression. I couldn’t read any thoughts in his frighteningly pale eyes.

“…”

“You two have a chat~”

Narke didn’t properly answer my words and just smiled as she left the room.

Leo roughly organized the bundle of documents and miscellaneous items he was holding and sat on the sofa next to me.

“Did you get some sleep?”

“….”

“That bed was brought from the royal palace, but I’m not sure if it suits you.”

I didn’t answer and stared at him intently.

This wasn’t the time for such carefree talk.

Leo looked into my eyes with the same expression as me, then smiled faintly.

“You kept your promise.”

“….”

He knows.

He knows what I said in that time that has already disappeared.

“Though you completely failed to keep the promise you made first.”

This time I couldn’t answer for a different reason.

‘I have nothing to say.’

I thought it would be a perfect crime if I turned back time, received treatment from Narke first, then met him, but I didn’t expect such a variable.

Instead of interrogating me, Leo just smiled and extended his hand.

I silently placed my hand on his. Leo turned my hand around and said quietly.

“It’s fine.”

“Of course it’s fine.”

The hand bones and fingernails were all in place. The skin color had also returned to normal.

Leo placed my hand back on the bed and said.

“Just because your body is fine doesn’t mean everything is fine.”

“….”

“So, did you get all the information you wanted?”

“Yes. All of it.”

“You worked hard.”

I raised my head to look at him.

To hear such words from Leo’s mouth, of all people.

This was almost as shocking as Leo telling Elias ‘your actions are right.’

“You said you’d tell me when everything was over. I don’t know what needs to end, but it seems like there’s still a long way to go before I hear your words. Am I wrong?”

“No. But….”

He’s right. I still can’t tell him everything.

But there’s no reason to make excuses about this part I can talk about now.

That time became a time only Leo and I know about, and since we already know what each other knows, there might be no need to voice it out loud.

But I have to. That’s the minimum courtesy I can show to my friend.

“It’s as you know. I can turn back time.”

“….”

“Though I can’t freely choose the point to return to every time. As you said, you’re right that I fell to Primrose Pass that day, obtained information, and came back again. This time was the same.”

I continued while looking down at the blanket covering my legs.

“You’d want to ask when I became able to do this. It’s an ability I gained the day I met Strauchi. I don’t know why this was given to me either.”

Leo, who had been watching me for a while, nodded.

“…I see. Thank you for telling me.”

He crossed his arms and leaned back against the backrest. After a long silence, Leo looked at midair and said.

“Since you trusted me and told me, I should do the same. Lucas, I can see the time you erased.”

I reflexively held my breath. I had expected it, but hearing it directly felt different.

Otherwise, he couldn’t have suddenly appeared before me and said ‘turn it back.’

“To be precise, I can only see the time remaining to you, and time related to you. It’s just a guess, but… since you’re the one with that ability, traces of already disappeared time remain only in your mind, so that’s probably why. I can just read that.”

“Since when.”

“From the moment you were dragged to Primrose Pass, turned back time, and immediately warped back to my room.”

“….”

I almost let out a hollow laugh.

‘…He knows everything.’

“At first, I wondered if you had done drugs somewhere instead of going to the Police Bureau, but I was certain when you came to our school and interrogated the professors. Ah… now you’re talking about a different time.”

“Just from that?”

“No matter how well you hid it, you acted exactly like someone who had fallen into that place and returned, and you knew information you couldn’t possibly know.”

He felt traces of already erased time.

‘Instead of going to the Police Bureau, you did drugs.’ The traces of receiving those guys’ new drug had completely disappeared when I turned back time. There was no way Leo could have known.

Perhaps taking my silence as insufficient evidence, Leo smiled faintly and said.

“You can’t warp alone anymore either, Lucas.”

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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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