How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 201

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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 (201)

“You’re here already? Since you’re here, take Haike with you.”

Elias pushed Haike forward and raised both hands to clearly indicate he had no intention of attacking.

Then he blocked the path of Lucas, who had been standing behind him.

Anyway, Haike could warp away on her own—she had chosen to stay by Elias’s side because she was afraid of being scolded by Team 1—and since they had extracted all the useful information from her, it didn’t matter if they returned her to Team 1 right now.

Leo caught Haike as she was pushed toward him, positioned her to the side, and looked at the person behind Elias.

It really is Lucas.

Seeing the warp coordinate booklet in Lucas’s hand, it seemed he had been reading it continuously. He was wearing his blindfold again now.

Despite not being able to see ahead, Lucas looked precisely in Leo’s direction. Then he casually greeted Leo, who was staring at him.

“It’s nice to meet like this.”

“Nice?”

Leo let out a small laugh and raised his wand.

“Then greet me while looking at my face.”

Crash—!

A current of magical power rushed toward Lucas’s face and then extinguished. Elias blocked Lucas’s front and put up a barrier.

“Isn’t that too aggressive for a friend?”

“Then take off the blindfold. I’ll let Haike and me follow behind you from now on, just like Team 3 wants.”

“That’s basically telling us to get caught scheming and die~ Lucas isn’t allowed because he makes plans just by breathing.”

That’s exactly right. So all the more reason he should be able to see ahead. Should I miss this opportunity to completely shatter all those countless possibilities?

It’s been over 20 minutes now. If the plan was to completely drain Narke’s strength, it’s been successful.

As Leo silently glared at them, Elias clapped his hands.

“Now, shall we think about what the plan might be? Our Leo is used to being escorted, so he wouldn’t have come here alone.”

At those words, Lucas burst into quiet laughter.

Leo felt incredulous as he looked at them.

What are you laughing about? Setting aside that the person who’s practically my escort is Lucas, everyone here is equally used to being escorted.

Whether he knew Leo was internally objecting or not, Elias just smiled cheerfully and said:

“Now, let me try thinking like Lucas once. Leo, somehow you broke through Auguste’s illusion magic that had 10 years of experience melted into it…”

“Your word choice is nothing like Lucas from the start.”

“Anyway, after breaking through the magic, you realized we were holding you back. At this point, you must have thought: Ah, Team 3 members have already infiltrated Friedrich Strasse and are sniffing around. And… seeing that not all of Team 3 is at Friedrich Strasse, the remaining members must have gone to look for other rampage locations.”

Elias held up his fingers.

“There are two possibilities here. First, the remaining members are charging in headfirst without any information. After all, saving even a minute would be beneficial.”

“…”

“Second, the remaining members utilized Auguste to get rampage clues from Heike Einsiedel. They would have found new points that way.”

Leo smiled.

Elias smiled along with Leo and tilted his head.

“…You can’t underestimate your opponent, so naturally you’d have to choose the second option. You probably received word from Narke that Heike Einsiedel wasn’t coming. Am I wrong, Leo?”

“…As expected, you and Lucas do have similar aspects.”

“Ah, right. You said that at the beginning of the semester. Anyway, the conclusion is this.”

Elias stared directly at Leo.

“Assuming the second option, you didn’t come here alone. I don’t know where the Team 1 kids whose artifacts I first destroyed are, but at least Narke and Hildegard came outside, right? So is Julia, who went out to investigate, dealing with those two? Or…”

Elias’s hand moved to his ear.

Beep—

“Are you planning to ambush and attack after Julia finds the information?”

[…Hahaha… This really is the most troublesome exam~ Everyone’s so skilled it’s a problem.]

Leo looked at him expressionlessly.

Just because Lucas was moved to the back doesn’t mean he should feel relieved.

Julia and Elias are also opponents that should never be underestimated.

Julia lacks originality and is slow at devising effective strategies, but her results are meticulous, and Elias excels at executing them. Moreover, Elias sometimes comes up with crazy ideas just like Lucas.

Having known both of them since childhood, there was no way he couldn’t know this.

‘…Lucas must have understood this and entrusted it to those two.’

If those two weren’t there, Lucas would have targeted Narke from the start and planned to incapacitate him. Though significant losses were expected, if there were no people to use as the team’s brains, he’d have no choice but to reluctantly accept those losses.

The reason Team 3 is still confident despite being 1 point behind us is…

Because everything is truly prepared.

Right now they’re getting through with their own strength, but it’s also because they know they can use Lucas as a hidden card when real problems arise.

Just then, Elias started bragging with a smile.

“Leo. Guess what I did, knowing this would happen?”

“What did you do.”

“Haike gave really good information. The first rampage victim you caught was a homeless beggar. Since he went on a rampage, he must have drunk something or been in contact with something for a long time, right? But if he drank river water or rainwater, that actually doesn’t make sense. There should have been many other people rampaging and dying.”

Elias tapped the rain-soaked floor with his foot.

“But actually, there are no clues we can deduce from this, right? So we need to think about the fact that this is an artificial situation called an exam.”

“You’re stating the obvious. So what.”

“Haike brought evidence, you know? It was paper found in the pocket of torn outer clothing that was lying on the street…”

Elias pulled out a yellow paper with a note attached below it.

It’s a fine notice.

Leo’s incredulous gaze turned toward Haike.

You handed that over?

Since this is an exam, there’s a reason the school put that there and left it on the street. That’s the clue that would lead closer to the correct answer.

Haike avoided his eyes and turned her head away.

“A fine notice from the City Hall Department of Urban Aesthetics. Below it, a handwritten personal contact. With the Pentalon International Tournament coming up, I wonder if the government is running some kind of beggar elimination campaign, spreading all sorts of things around~ It was quite pleasant to encounter something I saw in the newspaper during an exam.”

“…”

“The school wouldn’t have just put this there randomly. You probably should have gotten this from Haike, right?”

Elias pointed to the department name written in the billing party section at the very end of the flyer.

On the small paper attached below, there was a staff member’s name, postal address, and what seemed to be warp coordinates for somewhere in City Hall, apparently added by hand.

“…Seeing that they deliberately put this in, the school must have wanted us to visit a location related to this person. How’s that, did I succeed in thinking like Lucas?”

Leo shrugged and said calmly:

“Right. I’ll have to get it back.”

“Good luck. I’m not giving it to you.”

“So. Why do you think I came here right now? You’re not talking about me standing right in front of you, just other stories.”

“You’re obvious. You came to find our team’s ace~ You want to have Lucas take off his bandages and use Lucas’s power to get that last 1 point you haven’t even guessed yet.”

“You know well.”

Leo smiled and thrust his wand forward.

Blue magical power sparked against the barrier.

Elias held Lucas with one arm while strengthening the barrier with the other.

“No way, Leo. How can I give this to you guys? Do you think Lucas, who should be in the main position, is following us around providing support because he’s bored?”

Before Elias finished speaking, Leo spun his wand between his fingers to create a staff. Elias took a stance at the staff’s threatening movement.

Leo raised the staff high above, then brought it down to the floor with force.

Crash—!

“…?!”

Elias looked at Leo with bewildered eyes.

Leo’s magical power didn’t come toward him. Nor was it guided magic directed at Lucas.

Instead, Haike, who had been standing in the corner, disappeared.

Leo asked in a cold voice:

“So?”

“…Oh.”

“So how are you going to stop it, Elias.”

‘He cast spatial magic.’

He didn’t move Haike. We moved.

Even the flow of magical power that could be felt from outside disappeared.

Leo’s spatial magic skills aren’t that outstanding. That doesn’t mean they’re weak, but it means it’s a power that Elias could easily destroy with his own strength.

Then how and why would he do such a thing?

“Narke is attached.”

Lucas muttered from behind.

As expected.

Leo isn’t someone who would act recklessly. He can act like this because he has help.

“Elias, your logic was all good, but there was some misunderstanding. You call Lucas your team’s ace, so would I be any different?”

“….”

“Do you think I was deployed alone to deal with Lucas?”

“Haha….”

“Narke’s spatial magic skills are quite good.”

With those words, Leo’s mana rushed right up to our faces.

Lucas’s hand slipped away from Elias. Even in a situation where he couldn’t see ahead, Lucas sensed the flow and created distance. Elias glanced back at Lucas.

‘Good skills.’

I was amazed just watching directly, but being on the same field as an ally makes it feel even more certain. To say this is skill from just five months of training seems a bit excessive.

Even now, Lucas is guiding the distance control so Leo can’t make his attack range too wide.

When Leo moved away, he would step a few paces closer, and when Leo approached me, he would retreat further back. It was simple, but if the distance suddenly widened or narrowed, having to care for both Luca and my body would increase the things to consider, so this consideration makes it much more convenient.

At the same moment, Leo listened to notifications flowing through his artifact while swinging his wand.

[I got Haike out. Let me check if a rampage happened here.]

“Check and go straight to city hall.”

Kwagwang—! Bang—!

‘By the way….’

Leo thought while looking at Lucas’s dark brown hair fluttering in the mana.

The real thing is better than the fake after all. Much more human-like. Different from that atmosphere earlier that seemed like he’d come crawling out of a coffin.

‘Ah, come to think of it, that illusion couldn’t implement even scent.’

It had to be that way. Lucas pays attention to others’ sense of smell to separate his and Nicolaus’s identities, but while I, Narke, or Elias might know that, there’s no way Auguste would know.

Now I have a tool to distinguish illusions. Now Team 3 using the same method on me again would be meaningless.

“Our Leo doesn’t focus on his opponent when fighting~? Since when did he become like this.”

Kwaang—! Kkeegik— Gigeegeek—

Leo was pushed back while striking the floor with his staff.

His eyes examined Elias’s expression and posture. A slightly sweaty face and collapsed shoulders caught his eye.

Though Lucas was being considerate of Elias, Elias, who had to protect others rather than just defend himself, got tired faster than usual. Just talking confidently for show.

Leo ignored his words and spoke to Lucas.

“I see all kinds of sights in my lifetime. Where else would you find someone taking an exam with their eyes covered?”

“You just saw one here~”

Behind Elias’s teasing, Lucas spoke calmly.

“Logically, it would be absurd. I understand.”

“It’s not just absurd, Lucas.”

“That’s because you still can’t abandon common sense. If we took the exam according to common sense, we’d be completely screwed. At times like this, even though you’re the opposing team, you should be tolerant of visuals that look a bit crazy, and even though it feels like visiting an eye clinic and feels like playing hide-and-seek going back 10 years and Luca saying with his own mouth that he needs to enter a pyramid now makes that image unforgettable, anyway you need to have tolerance for this visual so our team can survive too. Right?”

“Decide whether you want to tease me or Leo. Pick one.”

This isn’t the time for such nonsensical talk.

Leo, naturally ignoring their words, spoke in a cool voice.

“Not everyone can take an exam with their eyes closed. Not without the resolve to block the team’s path and become a hindrance. Closing your eyes, even though I think why not plug your ears too, isn’t a bad idea. But normally, closing them is no different from being doomed.”

“….”

“I think….”

The whispering voice became even more ominous than before.

“I made too many things physically possible for you, Lucas. Right?”

Bright sky-blue light filled Elias’s blue eyes. Leo’s pale mana, which didn’t look threatening at all, now approached with an aura close to killing intent.

Kwaang—! Deudeuk….

At the sound of the barrier shaking, Elias gritted his teeth.

Leo’s attack was directed at Lucas, not Elias. Trying to create a barrier against attacks from outside his field of vision was no easy task for Elias himself.

But he couldn’t show any openings here.

“So you’re testing where human limits are…. Haven’t I already let you test that every day? Isn’t that enough? If you want to know where the limits are so badly, you should have done this during training.”

It was obvious sarcasm to anyone listening.

Lucas, who had been clearing Elias’s barriers and firing magic wildly, raised one corner of his mouth and let out a hollow laugh.

“Now I know your way of speaking isn’t as exemplary as I thought.”

“Is this the time for nonsense?”

Leo swung his wand.

The two who had been continuously retreating completely escaped through the building’s rear entrance and were cornered in the small street behind.

Amid the roar of mana clashing, Elias turned his head and shouted to Lucas.

“Luca, watch out for the manhole behind~ What’s with the construction signs that have been there since earlier?”

He could already feel mana sinking into the floor from behind and a current seeming to creep up from within.

More than that….

Lucas thought while feeling his vision mysteriously brighten thanks to the sunlight.

‘This is too wasteful.’

Lucas naturally changed his wand to a staff and struck it down on the floor.

The space still had no cracks. Since it was a space combined with two people’s mana and Lucas himself was skilled at escaping spatial magic, he didn’t think his friends would have made this place carelessly.

Thinking that and about to support Elias again, Lucas stopped moving and looked at where the ground should be.

“…!”

Right now Narke is focusing his attention elsewhere.

The divine power forming this space keeps coming in and going out repeatedly.

As if receiving and blocking attacks someone was pouring out, it had an appropriate rhythm.

He could faintly feel the space’s stability dropping. The flow of mana came in much more sensitively than usual, making it easy to notice.

“Eli, this is the timing. Just a little more and we’ll make it.”

“Ah, I understand.”

“I’m going to take off the blindfold, so buy me a little time.”

If Narke was concentrating all his attention only here, it would be difficult to see ahead—since he would relay my thoughts to Leo in real time—but he doesn’t seem to have that presence of mind right now.

Just buy me about 30 seconds for light adaptation and distance sense adjustment. Only when I open my eyes can I go beyond doing 0.5 portions each and finally attack my full share.

However, an unexpected reaction came from Elias.

“Hmm, no.”

“What?”

“Even out of stubbornness, I can’t do that. The reason he came this far… it’s not enough with the rampage scene we found, he came to get even the remaining 1 point with your power. Right?”

[The Lord is my strength and my shield.]

Kwang—!

The impact sound heard after Leo’s defensive spell was clean. Meaning the barrier didn’t get pushed back or crack.

Elias’s attacks are starting to lose strength now.

What would he do in this situation?

“If you directly hold a wand and fight, we’d naturally win, but… anyway, in such an obvious situation, I can’t let Leo have his way, Luca.”

“So.”

That’s right.

It might be deliberately inducing me to come out and fight directly.

But what method could there be?

“Just watch. I know how to distract him.”

Kwaang—!

An impact sound came right in front of Lucas’s nose. His hair flew in the wind then gradually settled.

Elias’s barrier was blocking in front of Lucas.

At the same moment, Leo came out in front of the barrier and frowned while looking at Elias, who had taken his attack.

“What are you doing.”

“Leo. Listen.”

Leo just flicked his wand without saying anything.

His attacks, extending in dozens of branches, flew toward the barrier behind Elias.

Kwang—!!

Elias flicked his wand to deflect it.

However, this time the target was different.

Leo’s magic power that followed threw Elias far away.

Leo approached while pressing him down with magic power. Then he began searching through Elias’s robes.

“Hey, what’s this. Looking for a flyer?”

“….”

“But I have something I really need to say… Isn’t the Empire better than Bavaria? For displaying talent, a wide world like the Empire is the best.”

“You said you didn’t like it before. If you’re going to talk nonsense, do it quietly.”

Leo searched through Elias’s robes with one hand while continuously pointing his wand at the barrier in front of Lucas with the other hand.

The sky-blue magic power grew darker, already completely shattering the barrier Elias had cast. Now all that remained was the barrier Lucas had reinforced inside.

“Nonsense? No. You should listen carefully.”

Elias raised his voice amid the roar and rolled his wand between his fingers. His wand stretched long, transforming into the Imperial Staff.

Even as Leo’s gaze turned that way, Elias only opened his mouth with a relaxed expression.

“You know what? No matter what you say, the moment I hold the royal scepter, Luca will be taken by Hohenzollern.”

“…?”

“Luca didn’t tell you, I guess. Luca will become the Prime Minister who rules this Empire’s 100 million people. He promised me, didn’t you know?”

Elias looked into Leo’s eyes and smiled confidently.

The moment those eyes filled with distrust began to waver slightly, blue magic power the same color as Elias’s eyes flickered faintly below Leo’s vision.

Kwaaaaang—!

“…!”

Leo covered his face with both arms and stepped back, furrowing his brow.

‘…Damn.’

It didn’t take long to realize he had fallen for Elias’s trick. Space magic was breaking from the tip of Elias’s staff, and the magic power in the air was collapsing.

Elias kicked at Leo, pushed off the ground, and stood up. Then he pulled Lucas with magic power and ran.

“Luca! Let’s go!”

[Huh?!]

Narke’s surprised voice came from Leo’s artifact.

The situation was already chaotic due to the standoff with Julia and the other Team 3 members, and now even the space magic connected to Leo, who was supposed to capture Lucas, had broken and disappeared, so she couldn’t help but be surprised.

Leo made an incredulous expression and shouted angrily at Elias’s back.

“What am I supposed to do about that?!”

“Hahaha! What to do? You get lost!”

Leo belatedly activated his unique ability, but Elias had been dealing with it his whole life and could easily escape.

Elias, who had been cutting through plants and running, suddenly stopped.

“Leo!”

Elias put one hand to his mouth and raised his voice as he continued.

“Did you forget anything?”

[Leo! If that’s not working, just finish up and come out! Julia and Auguste are interfering with reading this street’s memories! Ugh, you guys~]

Narke whined while blocking attacks.

Leo’s expression hardened as he readjusted his artifact.

‘Interfering?’

Lucas and Elias were at the end of that street, and Florian and Oswald had been left at the first scene after their artifacts were destroyed.

Then the remaining Team 3 members were Julia and Auguste.

‘If Julia and Auguste are blocking our team’s entry, someone from Team 3 should be searching for victims inside the street.’

But…

Team 3 has no one left.

There’s no one who could search inside the street.

But what reason could there be for interfering with our team’s entry.

“…Narke!”

[Yes?!]

The time Elias took the fine notice and the time he shared its contents with his teammates would be the same.

And that time was when I was caught by Auguste, so almost 15 minutes had passed since then.

Leo shouted into his artifact.

“Get out right now! You can’t stay there!”

From Narke’s artifact, only the sounds of blocking attacks could be heard for several seconds.

As if lost in thought, Narke muttered in a low voice I’d never heard before.

[…Ah~ damn.]

You said 15 minutes had passed.

The time Elias first learned the information, that is, the time he shared the information with his teammates, was 15 minutes ago from now.

And I destroyed Florian and Oswald’s artifacts and came here about 10 minutes ago.

There’s a 5-minute gap.

The reason Julia and Auguste are blocking Heike Einsiedel’s entry is nothing other than…

Because no rampage occurred on this street.

Instead, there’s another likely rampage location that can be found from that employee’s personal information.

We need to go to City Hall.

Right now.

Beeeep—

That notification sound I heard earlier.

Leo rarely looked up with a flustered face.

* * *

[Team 1: +1]

[Team 3: +1]

It’s a tie.

Lucas, holding up his bandage, squinted due to the sunlight.

Looking at the identical +1 scores didn’t feel too bad.

“Well~ now it’s the last one.”

Right. The last one.

We’ve come this far with just Julia and Elias’s strategies.

Since it’s tied, the final match will be decided here.

More than that…

“Elias.”

“Yeah?”

Elias turned his head with an excited expression.

However, the words that came from Lucas’s mouth weren’t particularly positive.

Lucas, who had escaped from the earlier confusion, now scolded with a smiling face.

“How could you mention the royal scepter and Prime Minister here?”

“Hahaha~ We have to win first. Right? The professors can’t see what happens inside the space magic anyway…”

Elias paused for a beat, then continued nonchalantly.

“No one listens to what I say, Luca. No need to worry.”

Even though it was said with laughter, somehow a strange atmosphere was felt.

Lucas roughly understood the meaning and nodded.

“…Well, fine. If that’s what you think.”

“Haha, can I continue what I was saying? Now I need your strategy, Luca.”

“I know.”

But I shouldn’t think about it now.

I shouldn’t simply give me information and ask for an answer either.

Because all of that would be passed to Narke.

Lucas thought this and said briefly to Elias.

“You said you need a strategy. Since you know I can’t think in ordinary ways, think carefully about methods you can use.”

“Ah~ that’s right. It doesn’t matter what method I use, right?”

“Right. Do whatever you want as long as you can succeed.”

“Good. Give me the City Hall warp coordinates. Florian and Oswald should be there, so let’s meet up there.”

“188:231:425.”

Lucas was about to pull out the warp coordinate booklet from his pocket, but instead just recalled from memory and called out the numbers.

Earlier, he had taken a warp coordinate booklet from one of the newspaper stands scattered throughout this field and memorized it from beginning to end. If you didn’t know the coordinates, you’d have to run around until you found a signboard, so memorizing them was beneficial in many ways.

Perhaps because it was such chaotic information, it seemed like even Narke had turned off her insight ability when he was memorizing this.

“Okay~ I’ll warp us.”

Elias took Lucas and warped to the front of City Hall.

As soon as they moved, they were able to meet the two Team 3 students who looked unusually excited. Oswald waved his hand as he approached.

“Elias!”

“Hey~ Good job. What floor was the second victim on?”

“They weren’t in the building? They were collapsed in the park behind City Hall.”

Just then, Julia and Auguste received the warp coordinates from Elias and warped to this location.

Leading them into a suitably empty building and finding a place to sit, Elias tapped Lucas and said.

“Now~ Luca, cover your eyes and ears again!”

“…Doing this constantly is making me feel really bad about it.”

Even as Lucas said this, he covered his eyes again.

The final 1 point.

If information leaked to Narke at this decisive stage that would determine victory or defeat, it would be quite troublesome.

Of course, there wasn’t much time left to use this method now.

Elias cast a sound-blocking spell and looked at his teammates.

“Alright, guys. Let’s start by consolidating information. We can’t run around the neighborhood again looking for the remaining person. It probably won’t work out that way anyway. Even if it did, Team 1 would definitely use their heads and we’d lose to them.”

“That’s right. There must be a reason the school even implemented parking tickets and included them as evidence.”

Elias nodded at Julia’s words.

“Right. First, the rampagers are probably the beggar and the person who gave out that parking ticket. These two definitely had a connection. So there must be one more person related to these two.”

“But how long does it take to give out a parking ticket for both of them to rampage? Did they drink the same water or something?”

Oswald frowned as if he couldn’t guess anything at all.

“Exactly. That’s definitely the point that doesn’t make sense.”

“So I brought a newspaper, it’s an article released by the Urban Aesthetics Department regarding Penthalon. Try reading it once. I’m not sure about it, but I thought maybe you guys might have some ideas.”

Julia pushed the newspaper she had been holding rolled up in her hand toward them.

The content was ordinary.

It talked about how water and sewage maintenance would be conducted in preparation for Penthalon, urban littering regulations would be strengthened, and massive fines would be imposed for carelessly damaging urban landscaping.

Elias read through it carefully and then passed it to his friends beside him.

“…You guys read it too. I’m not sure either. Is there anything particularly relevant here?”

“Haha… I thought the same thing. What kind of relationship could there be between a beggar and a civil servant for the school to link them together and include them as evidence…”

Julia glanced at Lucas sitting beside her, unable to tell what he was thinking.

“I can’t figure it out. It’s already been about 25 minutes since the exam started. Is it okay to delay any longer?”

“…”

The students exchanged glances with each other. Their gazes moved to follow Julia’s line of sight.

Elias broke the sound-blocking spell and tapped Lucas on the shoulder.

“Luca.”

Lucas lifted his blindfold and looked at Elias.

Elias was wearing a strangely ominous smile.

“…As long as we can succeed, it doesn’t matter what method we use, right?”

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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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