How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 204

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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 (204)

“The sewers…?!”

“Why?! How did you know they went there?”

The flustered teammates all stood up from their seats. Since nothing was understood yet, no one was taking any useful action.

‘Damn, what are they saying? What have we been listening to all this time?’

Leo bit his lip and looked around. No matter how hard he searched, he couldn’t see the newsstand selling warp coordinate booklets.

“Narke, do you know what coordinates Lucas was memorizing when he left?!”

“185:2…! I don’t have perfect memory so I can’t remember beyond that…?!”

Narke answered while unconsciously fidgeting with the green ring on his left hand.

Leo squeezed his eyes shut once, nodded, and ran out toward the main road outside the park.

“Everyone, find the newsstand!”

Ulrike’s booming voice could be heard from behind. The teammates who belatedly grasped the situation began running in different directions.

As Leo ran searching for the newsstand, calculations spun in his head.

‘If ordinary students like Oswald or Florian recognized the smell of deodorant as information, it must have been strong enough to sting the nose.’

And he always carries around perfume bottles?

If only one of these facts existed, it could have been someone’s peculiar habit, but as Lucas said, the moment these two pieces of information overlapped, suspicion became unavoidable. Especially since this is an exam situation where information is artificially provided.

Why couldn’t we realize this even after hearing Narke’s words?

‘…We were so obsessed with where the civil servant lives and works, but why didn’t we care about where the beggar lives and tries to survive?’

An inexplicable thrill made the back of his neck feel cold.

It’s a sharp question.

Given the wandering lifestyle of beggars, we thought we couldn’t get any information from their rampage locations, and it’s true that we can’t get information from the rampage locations themselves.

But as Lucas said, let’s think about where beggars live.

They sleep on the streets and live on the streets.

However, as the Penthalon period approached, they would no longer be able to live on the surface. Because they became targets for cleanup. If they wandered around with their dirty appearance, they’d have to pay fines, and having no income, they couldn’t pay the massive fines. Soon they’d become criminals and be locked up in prison.

So where could they ‘survive’?

Illegal dumping fine 5x penalty, plainclothes environmental inspectors, almshouse admission, water and sewage pipe replacement, fountain and drinking fountain water quality inspection, street vendor removal, liquor tax.

The almshouse. It’s the only thing that makes sense.

However, if the beggar had been admitted to the almshouse, they would already be tucked away somewhere invisible, so there’d be no reason to give them a fine notice.

So where exactly did the beggar flee to?

Outside the capital. Good. But even for a beggar, leaving their living ground is difficult, and if they were someone who could do this, they would have entered the almshouse long ago.

Empty buildings, deserted garbage incinerators. Each has clear risk factors but they’re not bad options.

Deserted mountains, under bridges, rivers.

The problem is that if nature were contaminated, many more people would have rampaged. We need to remember that the rampage source is in a place difficult for people to access.

Now, one most likely option that can generally be thought of remains.

The sewers.

If you search well, there are spaces that don’t get wet. Spaces that are built but not used are actually utilized as basements, and sometimes used as shelters. However, due to the nature of the location, people are unlikely to rush in normally.

Especially, if it’s sewage contamination rather than water supply contamination, it explains why many people didn’t rampage.

In other words, that civil servant probably went in to catch beggars under the assumption that the vagrants had fled to the sewers, and then rampaged after prolonged exposure to contaminated air from the sewage pipes. The beggar too.

Since there are only three rampage cases, we’re at the early stage of this incident timeline. If this were real, more victims would be created from now on.

That’s it.

Now it becomes clear where the last victim is. That article we completely excluded is finally being utilized.

‘Water and sewage pipe replacement.’

The last victim would be a plumber.

I couldn’t help but smile.

Humid air brushed against my cheek. The refreshing smell of rain seeped deep into my lungs. Not only had I given up the winning position, but spitefully the newsstand was nowhere to be seen, yet separate from that, knowing this clear answer made laughter leak out on its own.

‘We were complacent.’

It was a victory we had in our grasp.

Leo ran with a bitter smile.

The reason I brought Lucas to our team prepared to accept losses was because even knowing he definitely had a plan, I thought we could block that much.

He’s a mage who can’t warp. No one thinks a bird with broken wings would fly away from its spot.

I even blocked the blood in his hands to prevent mana flow in case Lucas tried to warp, so I thought it was all set.

‘Set my ass.’

Yeah, I admit it.

I really should have tied his legs too, not just empty words. I was careless.

As the price, I was played by Elias and Lucas from start to finish.

Still, just because it’s a game I’ve given up doesn’t mean I plan to quit.

Swoosh— Bang!

That wouldn’t be courtesy to Lucas who gave his best every moment.

Leo, who had been running with mana, stomped his foot on the ground and stopped.

Puddle water splashed onto his pants and seeped into his shoes. His bangs, which had come down from running frantically, covered his eyes.

Even so, Leo’s attention wasn’t there. His gaze fixed on one spot.

‘Found it.’

* * *

I don’t know how much time these bastards have delayed with something that should have been finished in a moment.

I let out a sneer and slowly opened my eyes. However, my body wasn’t as relaxed as my thoughts.

My vision flickers. The illusion that all my organs are shaking due to my heartbeat occurs.

“…”

How long has it been since I warped alone with my own power? 2 weeks? I should have warmed up and practiced, but without any of that, after 2 weeks, and even attempting to warp from a sitting position, I felt the impossible vibration of tinnitus from the back of my neck.

Still, the floor was still under my feet, and I was…

Cold sweat that appeared from who knows when flows down below my temples. The dim mana light spreads all over my blurred vision, and somewhere the sound of flowing water can be heard. A disgusting smell that can’t be hidden even if I try brushes past my nose.

I’m in the middle of the sewer plaza.

“…Hahaha…”

I burst into laughter while catching my breath.

Good.

It wasn’t the Intermediate Realm of dual-space magic or Primrose Pass.

Even though I used warp magic at school, I’m safe. It took too long to face this fact.

Honestly, I’m not confident if I had to warp alone with my own power again, but at least I’ve escaped from the level where I’d be held back at crucial moments.

‘Let’s recover slowly.’

I can’t live just receiving help from friends.

I grinned and tried to get up from my spot, but only after hitting my head on the floor again did I realize that no strength was entering my legs at all.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’

I habitually brought my hand to my waist, then pulled it back.

The spot where my belt clutch should be was completely empty, naturally because Leo had taken it. And Elias had predicted that the friends would search through my clutch and clothes pockets.

‘No wonder he suddenly tried to tear my shirt.’

About 5 minutes before being caught by Leo, Elias tried to put something inside my shirt, and—fortunately now—succeeded. Thanks to wrestling with him wondering what this crazy guy was doing after making me drink fountain water wasn’t enough, I could quickly realize what he had done.

I lay completely looking at the ceiling, unbuttoned my shirt, and pulled the thin string.

A hemispherical transparent artifact came out.

The engraved number 3 caught my eye. It was our team’s exclusive spare artifact. When I blew mana into it, it turned a light pink color.

I hung the artifact on my ear.

“…Ah, ah.”

[Whoa! Luca!]

[Lucas!]

Even though he had directly thrown me to the enemy team, his voice was urgent.

There’s a lot I want to say, but there was exactly one thing I needed to say right now.

“Find the sewer coordinates.”

* * *

Good.

Elias exhaled with exhilaration.

“Th-the sewers? Why?”

“Wasn’t it really the fountain? Why suddenly the sewers?”

“No, Luca is right.”

Elias spread out the map and pointed with his finger.

Nothing could be more refreshing than this. When I reason alone, I can’t find the answer, but working backwards from knowing the answer is easy and enjoyable.

Luca’s conclusions are always clean. Why didn’t I think of this sooner? Elias laughed, feeling like his mind had been cleared.

Auguste asked.

“Who else dies by exploding in the sewers besides beggars?”

“Pipe technicians, I’d guess.”

Julia, who was also smiling, answered.

Right, that’s it.

There was a news story about aging water and sewage pipe replacement workers!

Elias hummed while opening his warp coordinate book.

Among the massive 10,000km of sewers, the places where entry is permitted are limited. Of course, it’s not impossible to sneak in here and there, but the school wouldn’t have allowed that.

‘Well, unless they want to be cursed at forever, they couldn’t do that~’

There are limits to how obscure things can get.

Though his written exam ranking was dead last, since he did read problems from start to finish to achieve that ranking, Elias also knew well what style of problems the school posed.

Elias tapped the map with his pen while speaking to the students.

“There are four doors in the sewers. One each for east, west, south, and north. All exist within our field. There are a total of five warp coordinates up to the Sewer Central Plaza. Luca must have warped there, so we need to warp one or two people each to the east, west, south, and north.”

Oswald clapped his hands and shouted.

“Good! Then I’ll go around clockwise and look for victims!”

At those words, Julia shook her head.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Going around once each is good. But you don’t need to look for victims. Together with Auguste, keep circling around and around until Team 1’s friends come out.”

Oswald, understanding Julia’s meaning, slowly raised the corners of his mouth.

So the conclusion was to trip up Team 1 once again.

Elias placed both hands on the table and looked at the students.

“Alright, guys. We can’t let the fish that Luca caught for us get away, right~?”

“Ah, of course~”

At his teammates’ spirited response, Elias grinned and said.

“Let’s do our best. Though the conclusion seems already decided.”

* * *

The first warp coordinate at the sewer east gate.

Ulrike lowered her wand and tapped the artifact.

“You know who the first target is. Remember.”

Ulrike’s voice, now serious without a trace of her earlier playful mood, flowed through the artifact.

Narke, standing beside her, gripped his ring with trembling hands.

‘1 hour and 20 minutes now…’

He had poured out all the abilities he could currently use. Blood flowed uncontrollably from his nose. Even without touching it, his mucous membranes stung.

Anyway, since treatment wasn’t possible in this situation, finishing quickly and leaving was the best method.

“I’ll start.”

Narke said while wiping away blood. Ulrike, watching this, nodded with a worried expression.

Narke’s plain dark brown wand spun once and changed into the Papacy’s staff. Even though he hadn’t done much yet, wind arose, and Ulrike raised her arm to slightly shield her eyes.

Below the golden dove decorating the top of the staff, numerous keys hanging on the cross clinked against each other with clear sounds.

—Be sober, be vigilant. Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour…

Kwaaaaang—!

Narke, who had been walking with large strides, struck the staff down on the floor. In the sudden gust that came without light, Ulrike had to channel mana into her legs to maintain her balance.

The sound of sewer pipes rattling could be heard.

[What?! This was an illusion?!]

A surprised voice came from the artifact connected to the western entrance of the underground passage.

Narke smiled and continued walking down the corridor.

—…Resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

The power to intervene in others’ minds, and furthermore their souls, belongs only to divine power.

Showing evil visions to others’ minds with mana rather than divine power meant that impure methods were involved. That was the power of evil.

This wasn’t Narke’s personal opinion. It was entirely the Papacy’s interpretation.

‘Though I know it’s Auguste’s unique ability, and I don’t take the Church’s interpretation at face value…’

What I believe in is the scripture, not the Church. Of course, the Church says you should believe in the Church, but that was often the case when things had gone too far to turn back, so he couldn’t do that.

However, there was no need to avoid using an ability that the Papacy had prepared a solution for, was there?

Narke wiped the blood that had entered his mouth with his hand and continued channeling divine power into the staff.

—He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me…

Kwaang—!

Narke muttered while channeling mana into his legs and kicked off the ground.

—I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and to overcome all the power of the enemy.

The back of a Team 3 student’s head, who hadn’t shown even his nose throughout the entire exam, came into view.

Narke struck down the staff.

—Nothing shall by any means hurt you.

As pure white light burst forth, the student turned his head with panicked eyes.

Auguste’s eyes, filled with shock from his abilities not working since earlier, filled Narke’s vision. Narke smiled while looking into those emotions.

“Auguste, let’s end this here.”

Kwaaaaang—!

Auguste stepped back while changing his wand into a sword.

Ulrike, who had blocked Narke’s front at an unknowable speed, charged at Auguste.

Since there wasn’t much divine power left to use, he needed to step back from areas where he could withdraw as much as possible.

Narke stepped back to recover his stamina while checking Auguste’s movements.

‘He’s skilled, but… I can see why he didn’t make it into the top 6.’

His unique ability was excellent, but that was it.

Auguste frowned and widened his eyes. Having trained only centered around his unique ability, his other skills were at best upper-tier level. Not top-tier.

With no time to spare, he couldn’t accommodate such an opponent technically.

Ulrike seemed to have the same thought, as his mana began sparking around his sword.

“Let’s settle this after the exam.”

“…!”

Auguste’s eyes widened. His mana swelled to an intensity that overwhelmed everyone present.

Kaaang—! Crash—!

Through the shattering mana, Ulrike’s hand flew toward Auguste’s heart.

Ulrike suddenly sent mana flowing into his core.

Kwaang—!

Auguste, who lost consciousness from the shock to his core, collapsed to the floor.

Narke praised Ulrike while infusing divine power to help Auguste recover quickly.

“Amazing that you managed this in 30 seconds. Should we have done this from the start?”

“Haha, the field was wide back then~”

“Still. Anyway, now Team 3 has four members left.”

Auguste and Lucas were now excluded from Team 3’s forces.

Whether Lucas had lost consciousness from the aftereffects of warping, no information could be detected about him.

That made sense.

Just this morning, he was absolutely not in a state to warp alone.

The school probably didn’t expect Lucas to suddenly warp either. Since they had already checked everyone’s health condition before the exam, the professors also knew that Lucas showed abnormal reactions to warping.

[No.]

Then, Leo’s cool voice was heard.

[Oswald and Florian will be finished too.]

“Huh?”

[Ulrike. Move to the south gate coordinates and go straight. You can handle both of them alone, right?]

“Ah, of course.”

Ulrike smiled confidently and warped.

Although she couldn’t show much activity due to breaking the artifact from the beginning, there’s a reason she’s been holding first place in Class 1 for two years. Since she had already used insight from the start, Narke, who knew her abilities, modified the strategy.

Now only Elias and Julia remained from Team 3.

‘Both are troublesome, but… Leo and Ulrike should be able to handle this much together.’

I couldn’t move anymore even if I wanted to.

Stopping Auguste’s illusion was the maximum effort I could show in this exam.

Narke sat down on the floor as if collapsing, leaning against the corridor wall.

* * *

10 minutes north from Central Square.

Elias chuckled inwardly and shook his head.

“Wow, how did you find me? This sewer is 10,000km long~”

“I thought we should share some information.”

Leo had half-crazed eyes. Elias already knew well when that state would appear.

When his desire to win was ignited, or when he was truly immersed in training – that’s when this expression came out.

“Share? Well, our Leo came long after we arrived here. You probably don’t have much information.”

“….”

Our Team 3 arrived at this location early before Team 1 could catch up, and we’d already finished searching most areas.

Now only one place remained. Behind the street where Elias himself stood. The victim was definitely there.

But this sneaky Team 1 was clearly planning to steal the information we had obtained.

‘But I can’t give them information.’

Elias giggled and shrugged his shoulders.

“From now on, let’s carefully look around north, south, east, and west~”

“I don’t want to.”

Leo’s mana rushed right in front of Elias. It wasn’t just mana. Elias lightly stepped back from Leo and transformed his wand into a sword.

“What happened to Haike and your other teammates~?”

“….”

“Ah, I know. Just like your team members cut down our team friends, our team did the same thing.”

Elias smiled and took a defensive stance. Regardless, Leo’s wand moved in a large arc.

It was an attack that was easy to read. At movements unbelievable for Leo, Elias’s eyes narrowed.

‘Right now, surely…’

Leo avoided Elias and passed by his side.

As expected. Elias let out a laugh and shook his head.

Kwang—!

Elias’s blue mana struck down right in front of Leo’s position. The dark corridor briefly flashed and brightened.

“You can’t go. It’s 1:1 now, so why are you in such a hurry? You think you can easily take care of someone like me~?”

“That’s not it.”

Leo tilted his head and looked beyond.

“…I didn’t expect there to be one more person. Why did you bring Lucas? Narke said he seemed to have fainted.”

“What? Wow… you should become a super-sensory ability user too. You really can do anything when it comes to competition.”

Elias said that and grinned while shrugging his shoulders.

“He’s our teammate, so how could I not take care of him~ Huh? Looking at Leo again, you have no loyalty.”

Leo lowered his eyes as if he had forgotten that Elias was in front of him. It felt like his attention was somewhere else entirely.

Strength slightly entered Elias’s legs.

Snap—

With the sound of fingers snapping, Leo disappeared from sight. Elias curled up one corner of his mouth and turned around, starting to run at full speed.

Right now Leo warped behind me.

More precisely, to the north gate.

He must be planning to adjust coordinates one space at a time and warp from the north gate.

This corridor runs straight and wide, but there are many branching paths on both sides.

There were still countless possibilities for where the second victim might be lying.

However, Elias ran straight ahead without hesitation.

Swoosh—

“Oops.”

Elias jumped over grass stems trying to grab his feet and struck the floor hard with his staff.

Under the pressure of mana, Leo’s unique ability couldn’t exert its power.

At the same time, Leo ran forward with coldly sunken eyes. It was slightly curved so he couldn’t see Elias, but he could feel his mana pressing along the floor.

And…

The impossible smell of wood could be felt again.

Lucas had awakened at some point. It made sense since it took quite a while for me to get here.

Then what I had to do was clear.

Seeing Elias wandering over there, they must have initially divided the area and searched together.

In other words, Lucas would be looking for the victim now. Since I would naturally look for Lucas, Elias would head straight toward me.

[But the Lord knows all the ways I go.]

Kwang—!!

Leo, who had cast a guidance magic formula, struck his staff down on the floor.

Finding where the cedar scent was stronger wasn’t difficult. Finding where the impact sounds came from was equally easy.

In the distance, an explosion sound came from the right path.

Leo channeled mana into his legs and ran toward where the sound came from.

He could see Lucas collapsed on the floor of the opposite corridor. And in the middle of the path, someone in work clothes was lying face down.

It was over.

‘186:056:348.’

Leo silently recited the hospital’s warp coordinates and snapped his fingers.

Plant stems shot up at invisible speed from the soil in the cracks between the sewer bricks. Leo gathered the mana needed for warp magic in one hand and used the other hand for recoil, landing right in front of the victim’s nose.

The moment he reached out and grabbed the victim’s arm, a red flash erupted from one side.

A familiar voice was heard.

“Not happening.”

“…!”

Thud—!

Leo, who had hit his head on the floor, opened his eyes with a frown.

Elias’s characteristic confident smile was visible.

He hadn’t moved anywhere.

It was because they had warped to the same coordinates simultaneously. No, more precisely…

Leo gritted his teeth.

Beep—

It was because he had given the opportunity to someone else first by a 0.1 second difference.

Pure white letters glowed in the darkness.

[Team 1: +1]

[Team 3: +2]

+2.

A number he had never once imagined until Lucas warped to the underground passage was floating before his eyes with clear light.

Beyond the notification window, Elias, who had grabbed Leo’s collar, let out a laugh and asked.

“Hahaha… Doesn’t this feel like déjà vu?”

“….”

“Do you feel like you lost to Lucas again this time?”

It was over.

They had given even the last point to Team 3.

It was completely our defeat.

[Time taken: 96 minutes 01 seconds.]

‘…But still…’

It was the first time in my life that I felt so little resentment despite being defeated.

It was a defeat I could accept. I had sensed it from the moment Lucas warped to the sewers.

Leo’s lips slowly curved upward as he exhaled and looked out the window.

He had done his best, and had no regrets.

[The exam has ended. Thank you for your hard work.]

Simultaneously, everything around them turned pure white.

* * *

Beep—

[Attention to all students participating in the Imperial 2nd Education Institute Student Military Corps exam. Students from 2nd year Teams 1 and 3, please gather in the results announcement waiting room by 7:30 PM.]

“Let’s go.”

Leo, who had been sitting in a chair in the break room, stood up.

Elias, whose lips were pouting after getting an earful about why he dropped a friend who couldn’t even warp into enemy territory, sluggishly got up and followed behind Leo.

“Why don’t I feel good even though I won~? Isn’t this all Leo’s fault?”

“How is it my fault? You heard the same thing when we went to visit Narke at the hospital.”

“…That’s true~ But do you think I like doing this? Luca would think warping is better than losing!”

Elias repeated the same excuse he had made earlier.

That was true.

Lucas would choose victory.

Leo didn’t respond and led all the other students except Lucas and Narke toward the waiting room.

The time when the exam completely ended was 7 PM.

With grading and meal breaks in between, nearly half a day had passed since the start. Of course, the main factor that caused such a long delay was something else.

Unlike our Teams 1-3 who finished the exam in 1 hour and 30 minutes, Teams 2-4 who took the exam after us just wandered around for over 6 hours.

‘And that was only 6 hours because the school forcibly ended the exam.’

Three hours after the match started, Team 4 alone scored 2 points.

However, during another 3 hours, neither Team 2 nor Team 4 could solve the final 1 point, and when it seemed like there would be no answer even after a full day, the school finally forcibly ended the exam.

Since everyone took the exam on the same field, this was ultimately a problem caused by the school setting the exam to match the level of Teams 1-3.

‘The school that only allowed early termination after 6 hours is really something…’

Leo let out a hollow laugh as he looked at the scene in the waiting room.

Twelve students from Teams 2-4 were sitting on chairs on the opposite side. The faces of the Teams 2-4 students, who had belatedly watched all the footage of the Teams 1-3 match, had turned ashen. It was a natural reaction, since they couldn’t finish an exam that could be completed in 1 hour and 30 minutes even after 6 hours.

‘But our team friends…’

Leo crossed his arms and looked at the Team 1 students.

Despite losing, everyone’s expressions weren’t bad. Rather, they were now playing around close friends as if there had never been any team divisions.

There wasn’t a single student who hadn’t instinctively known it was over from the moment Lucas warped to the sewers. The other students had felt the same as Leo. Nevertheless, this atmosphere was possible because the students who were the core of the team gave their best as if it wasn’t over yet, and they all committed to the end without regret, leaving nothing more to review and reflect upon.

“Come to think of it, when are Luca and Narke coming?”

“They’re probably already here.”

The moment he answered simply, an employee opened the waiting room door leading to the announcement hall.

“2nd year students, please enter!”

The students all got up from their seats at once.

This was the end now.

The long exam that had lasted for a month was finally over.

Leo felt secretly refreshed as he walked along the corridor.

[…We extend our deepest gratitude to the 24 students from each grade who sincerely participated in the exam until the end with hearts devoted to the Empire’s safety. Regardless of the results, all students have achieved wonderful accomplishments. Also, to all students of the Imperial 2nd Education Institute who participated from the document evaluation…]

Following the corridor, the employee guided us to the dimly lit audience seating.

Leo looked around the audience seating once.

All students from the 2nd Education Institute were sitting by department. Far away, at the very back, there were also several groups of students from the 1st Education Institute to the 3rd Education Institute.

“Leo, Elias~”

Narke was sitting in the front row of the audience seating, waving at us.

Lucas, sitting next to him, habitually tried to greet us but turned his head away.

Since the two had gone to the hospital as soon as the exam ended, this was the first time meeting them again.

Leo smiled and greeted Narke, then found a seat in the row behind them.

[Now, we will announce the final selection results for the Imperial 2nd Education Institute Student Military Corps in order. 3rd year 1st place. Max Lichthofen.]

“Waaaah—!”

A familiar name was called.

He knew he was skilled, but hearing it like this was… Leo thought this way as he observed Lucas and Narke’s expressions.

As expected, they too had subtle expressions on their faces.

After that, about 20 minutes passed, and all 18 names of the 3rd year successful candidates were called.

[Congratulations. This concludes the announcement for 3rd year Teams 1 through 3. Next, we will announce the rankings of 2nd year successful candidates.]

The 2nd year seating, which hadn’t been particularly interested in the 3rd years, suddenly became quiet.

The tension could be felt rising.

[2nd year 1st place.]

The gazes of our classmates were directed toward me.

Leo ignored the piercing stares and focused on the announcer.

I don’t know what they’re expecting, but I definitely know what name will follow.

It wouldn’t make sense if it wasn’t that name.

[Lucas Ascanien.]

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