How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 215

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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 (215)

We barely drank any alcohol and left for the dormitory at four in the morning.

It was because of my future.

Of course, the fact that I couldn’t tell if the alcohol was going into my mouth or my nose wasn’t just because of that. There was another problem, less important than my future but still significant.

I had only managed to gather 2 points of Eszett favorability.

‘I think I can get about 1 point from Ulrike. But Julia… how should I approach her?’

This is truly a troublesome point.

If they were complete strangers, I could just go ahead and follow what could truly be called a conquest process without thinking twice, but these are friends and team members I have to see until graduation.

If I did such things, it would ultimately become nothing more or less than a ruined group project in the long run.

‘…If I gain favorability and turn back time, does it reset?’

I thought that far and pinched my cheek.

Now I was even starting to have unethical thoughts. No, I realized that all the thoughts I’d had from the beginning weren’t very desirable either.

It feels like my brain is being pickled in the direction this system wants.

Anyway, how can I earn their friendship…

“Gasp, your cheek is really… purple. What happened?!”

Looking ahead, I saw Narke holding the door handle while looking back at me.

I had pinched myself to keep quiet, but it seems I grabbed too hard.

“I pinched myself a bit.”

“Huh…?”

I ignored his confusion and pushed him into the room.

As I entered his new dormitory room, a different scene from before came into view.

“The dormitory is nice.”

“Ah, you didn’t look around before?”

“No.”

The dormitory was neat.

Compared to the dormitory he used before, it was larger and more comfortable.

“Now, you said before that there was something you wanted me to use my ability on?”

Narke said as he found a seat and sat down.

After hearing Daniel’s words previously, I had asked Narke to ‘take a look when you have time since there’s something that needs interpreting.’

Since Narke made a rather unpleasant prophecy, I need to hear another opinion before something happens.

Of course, it’s hard to expect insight on this part. He didn’t see Daniel’s face or hear the conversation.

Just thinking of it as hearing one more opinion, and since I can’t tell Narke everything, let me start with the parts I can talk about – the biblical figure who killed his younger brother.

“Narke. In the Bible, Cain is banished from Eden and goes to Nod.”

“Yes.”

“But what do you think it means that Cain remains in Eden and God has no intention of banishing him?”

“…Blasphemy…?”

I chuckled at Narke’s unconscious answer.

Narke also seemed embarrassed that the words came out reflexively without going through a long process in his brain, so he waved his hand.

“Ah~ No. Of course, if that were to happen, He would have His reasons for everything, but since the Bible isn’t written that way~ Keeping humanity’s first murderer in Eden? Why would that be? Did you hear such words?”

“Yes.”

“It wouldn’t be a story from the Old Testament era. That story of Abel and Cain must be a story to be applied to this era. Are you saying this era’s Cain will remain in Eden? Or are you saying He deliberately placed this era’s Cain in Eden? It must be one of these two.”

“Hmm… That’s the worst case.”

From the circumstances, isn’t Cain Adrian Ascanien?

But that won’t happen.

Even if it does, I’ll make sure to mess it up properly.

“What does it sound like when you’re told you should become Rosalind?”

“Rosalind? Become someone who knows how to love~ wouldn’t it be?”

“I already know how to do that.”

“More sincerely!”

I think I was sincere.

Anyway, this guy can’t get a grasp on this either.

I gave up my expectations and asked the next question.

“Alright, thanks. This is the last one. What do you think ‘now Caesarea is right around the corner’ means?”

“…”

Narke’s expression hardened for the first time.

“Where did you hear such words?”

“From the same place I heard the previous two questions.”

“Hmm… Are you talking about Caesarea Philippi? Since it’s not really around the corner, I wonder if it should be interpreted based on the Bible.”

Since this is a Christian cultural sphere, biblical metaphors are common, so he should know right away, but it seemed like a difficult question for him too without context.

“First, Caesarea is the place where Jesus declared to Peter that he would build his church on this rock.”

“Right. So what does it mean that it’s right around the corner?”

“Well. Should there be another church reformation?”

“…”

How can he say such things so casually…

Sometimes I wonder what this guy really does.

“Haha, is that a bit unlikely? Then I should go a little further ahead. It’s also the place where Jesus asked his disciples ‘Who do you say I am?’ It’s famous as the place where Peter’s confession of faith took place.”

I know that much.

The problem is the interpretation.

If even Narke finds it difficult to grasp, it would be better to put it on hold for now.

“Hmm, it’s too abstract~ Could it mean you should recognize God? But you can use divine power even without faith, so… I think there’s probably no need for you to believe in God now.”

“Can you really say that?”

“Huh? Of course not!”

“Right…”

I can’t figure him out.

But I was able to understand why he spoke that way not long after. Narke said with sparkling eyes.

“While it’s not theoretically impossible to learn and use divine power, there’s never been an actual case of it happening. An atheist using divine power – shouldn’t such a unique case be preserved a bit more?”

“Your curiosity is amazing.”

“Well, anyway, the interpretation I gave isn’t one I’m satisfied with either. I’ll explore it more too, so let’s take our time with that when we have time and start with predicting the future…”

“Narke.”

“Yes?”

I looked at his smile and thought.

There’s something I need to ask before getting to the main point.

He definitely said before that Haike hadn’t used her ability often.

I naturally asked Haike that assuming she hadn’t used it often, but she said she used her ability frequently?

In this case, there are four possibilities: Narke’s standards differ from ordinary people like Haike or us so there was no agreement, or Narke’s insight ability can’t read the distant past of about 10 years ago, or Narke lied to me, or his level 2 insight ability malfunctioned back then.

“Narke. You told me before that Haike hadn’t used her ability often.”

“Yes.”

As if he knew what I was going to ask, he immediately explained.

“That… honestly, when I heard today that she used it often, I was a bit flustered, but let me tell you the information I received back then. ‘I can’t use my ability on people. What if someone tells me to use my ability? On people? I’m not prepared for that at all.’ …I thought that if she was thinking and feeling this way, Haike probably hadn’t used her ability often yet.”

“…”

I remained silent and then smiled.

“I see.”

“…Ah, how can I become friends with Lucas…”

I think there might be other possibilities to his words, and he knows I think that way.

That’s why he’s showing that reaction.

But basically, I don’t distrust him. I’m still relying on his insight and prophetic abilities even now, and he has been a good ally of mine.

And since I also can’t reveal everything to my friends including him, I don’t intend to blame only Narke.

“Aren’t we already beyond the point of discussing whether we’re friends or not? I trust you, Narke.”

“Of course. I know.”

He smiled and changed the subject.

“Now, shall we move on to a different topic?”

“Right. Why are you saying you’ll do your best for me?”

“Haha….”

As the situation arose where she had to read the future, Narke’s complexion began to darken.

“I can’t bring myself to tell you. Actually, I’m not even sure if I read the future properly.”

“What exactly did you read?”

“Ugh… I really feel sick.”

Narke trembled and gave a faint smile as if her soul had left her body.

“….”

I don’t know what she saw to react like that.

“You need to tell me what you saw, Narke. That way I can prepare.”

“…The only thing I can say for certain right now is this. The Penthalon inspection activities don’t seem like they’ll go favorably for us. Honestly, I’m not sure if we’ll be able to handle this until the closing ceremony.”

“We can’t handle it?”

“Won’t we have to step down for safety reasons?”

She’s probably saying that because there’s a lot of potential for change in a month.

Anyway, I smiled and shook my head.

“If that’s the case, it would be better to just step down now.”

“As you know….”

“That won’t work at all.”

“Right. And avoiding it won’t solve anything. Penthalon is a problem, but we’re also a problem.”

It’s not that trouble breaks out because we’re doing inspection activities at Penthalon Stadium….

“We’re also targets and Penthalon is also a target?”

“Something like that.”

Then even if we leave Penthalon Stadium, Penthalon will still be attacked, and we’ll be attacked in our own way at whatever location we move to.

This changes things.

“It’s fun knowing life in advance.”

I smiled while looking into midair.

If we’re going to do it anyway, shouldn’t we kill two birds with one stone?

Since I’ll have to bear some losses no matter where I run, if I’m going to experience it anyway, let’s experience it a bit and catch both.

At those words, Narke, who had been laughing quietly, gradually lost her smile and tilted her head.

“Lucas. Honestly, I doubt whether I read it properly.”

“Then why did you tell me….”

“I still had to tell you. Just in case this really happens.”

“Then you need to tell me in detail so I can avoid it.”

I sense an infinite loop coming.

Narke shook her head.

“You can’t avoid it, and the only advice I can give is this.”

“What is it? Tell me that at least. I’ll take it to heart.”

“Don’t get involved with people.”

* * *

Don’t get involved?

When I need to collect 10 points of Eschete favorability.

Of course, it’s also difficult not to encounter other humans.

The work we have to do inevitably involves meeting people.

“Everyone who comes here will bring identification since they’re not Old Humanity. Currently, only mages are allowed entry. Most are people who come daily, so you can relax while doing this.”

The next day at 6 AM, we came out to the arena early.

Checking identification isn’t our main job, but something we’re doing lightly to gauge the atmosphere of this place.

From this afternoon, we’ll need to sweep the arena with magic power to check if any dangerous elements have been installed.

‘I took the exam to send victims to the hospital, not to do arena inspections up to the third exam.’

We tried to process even one more victim so other teams wouldn’t have time to interfere, but that became difficult while we remain here.

Still, since we learned there’s someone targeting Penthalon, I have no major complaints about being deployed here.

A civil servant from the Penthalon Special Division looked at us and said.

“Things are unsettled because of Pleroma lately, so you need to be firm. You can subdue them and hand them directly to the police, or use magic, but if you appear too aggressive, people’s anxiety will grow, so handle it well… you know? Basically, remember to be kind. Even fellow mages are surprisingly afraid of people at your level.”

I heard the order for warm iced americano loud and clear.

At the words to find the right balance, slight tension appeared on the team members’ faces.

“If they ask for handshakes, just do it, and unless it’s too personal a question, please respond kindly. And obviously, you can’t eat anything other than water while inspecting, so contact us and we’ll briefly rotate you out. We’ll be coming back here from 12 o’clock anyway, so you can wait until then.”

“Yes.”

I wondered why they’d even shake hands, but other mage organizations had been in charge of this place even before the national representative teams from various countries entered the country. It seemed like experience accumulated from that time.

That was the end of the briefing.

I went to my assigned entrance and waited.

There were hardly any people from 6 o’clock, but when 7 o’clock came, people began crowding in.

The people who came with dead faces—since this was the employee entrance, they were workers here—began looking even more dead when they saw me.

Since this was no longer surprising, I didn’t care at all.

What was truly surprising was that there were people who didn’t show that obvious reaction. People who just looked at me with round eyes gave me favorability points even with brief greetings.

Ding—!

Favorability +1

‘Oh.’

The reaction isn’t bad even though this isn’t school.

I watched that unexpected number and returned the identification to the mage who was looking at me like seeing something fascinating.

“You may enter.”

He nodded and went inside.

Occasionally there were people who really asked for handshakes, ranging from people around my age to elderly people.

“Congratulations on first place.”

“Thank you.”

I lightly grasped the hand of a mage I was meeting for the first time and smiled.

The favorability window appeared again.

Like that, 10 o’clock.

The favorability I collected today alone would probably be around 50 points.

‘It’s good, but… I’m glad we’re only doing identification checks for today.’

Standing in the same position for four hours straight, my legs are getting….

Instead, since I was observing favorability, it wasn’t boring.

Organizing the characteristics of people who passed through me for potential accidents was also fairly interesting.

There was one common point: they all had the lowest-level general 9th-grade ratings.

Mages at the level we almost call ordinary people, that is, non-mage level mages who barely possess enough magic power to only use warp magic.

They’re probably lower-class nobles so close to commoners that it would be embarrassing to call them nobles.

Then, a young mage wearing a pressed-down hat and even a robe hood pulled up approached me.

“I’ll check your identification.”

“….”

Perhaps because the inspection staff had changed, he opened his eyes wide and stared intently at my face.

Just as I was about to tell him to hurry up and present his identification, he opened his mouth.

“You’re Ascanien, right?”

“Yes.”

“Could I ask for a handshake? Ah, I was really impressed. First place in Eszett.”

‘How dramatic.’

I felt inward doubt at his large gestures and extended my hand.

However, he tried to grab my hand but quickly pulled his hand back.

“Could you take off your gloves?”

“Excuse me?”

Unable to understand what I had heard, I quietly stared at him.

The moment I was certain he had indeed brought up gloves, all sorts of thoughts flashed through my mind.

Take them off? Why?

Surely he’s not asking me to take them off? He wouldn’t want to tour the Police Bureau, so he’s probably not planning to steal outright.

I acknowledged that it was difficult to understand this strange request with my common sense.

So my answer was only one.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I’ll inspect your mage registration first.”

“Oh, of course. I have it ready.”

He pulled out a crumpled paper from his pocket, grabbed my hand firmly, and placed it inside. After shaking off his hand, I held my breath at the strange smell that stung my nose.

It smelled like he had gathered every perfume available and sprayed it on the paper.

I held my breath as much as possible while checking the name.

[Alex Mueller]

[Hanover Governor Certification: General Grade 9]

Mueller.

His surname caught my eye.

It’s a common surname that’s everywhere.

The name is likewise unremarkable and common.

Even while I was checking the paper, he stared intently at my face. Or at least, it seemed that way.

“Nice eyes. Really feels like a mage? How does it feel to have such a unique color?”

“Where do you work?”

“Basement Cafeteria in Building A. We just got a new manager.”

I nodded while looking back and forth between the ID and him.

There was nothing abnormal about his magical power.

There was nothing suspicious about his appearance either.

Try telling me to interview some crazy guy who came here after spraying about 20 types of perfume on paper?

‘Not bad.’

I immediately tapped my artifact to call the security team.

The security team mages who quickly warped here looked at the person in front of me and gave me a meaningful look.

When I handed over the ID, they frowned slightly.

“Excuse me, but due to security issues, we’ll need to search you briefly.”

“Yes, go ahead.”

He obediently raised his arms and quietly watched the mages search his pockets. Then he looked at me and said.

“But I thought that person would do it, but they’re not?”

The security team mage, who hadn’t seen the earlier strange behavior, answered casually.

“We’ll handle it~ Nothing unusual. These days aren’t good, so we even check for bad odors before letting people through. If you come prepared and checked, you can pass through quickly.”

“Ah, yes. I understand.”

He got his ID back from me and stared at it intently.

Then he raised his head without blinking once.

“I’ll have to keep this for life.”

“….”

Were you going to throw it away?

Of course you should keep it.

‘The world is wide and there are many madmen.’

And they come in different varieties.

After seeing this person, the magic fanatic at the opposite entrance of the arena seems like a relatively mild madman, making me feel warm inside as if I’ve confirmed that I don’t have a crazy person as a friend.

Of course, this is just an immediate impression.

‘Alex Mueller, he said.’

If someone is this suspicious, I can’t ignore it.

The likelihood that this guy is the reason Narke said she felt nauseous has increased.

The remaining 2 hours went smoothly.

As lunch time was about to end, I slowly got up from my seat.

Just then, the lounge door burst open.

“Oh, Luca~”

Elias suddenly opened the door to our team’s exclusive lounge where I was. This time it was a 2-person team, so I was with Elias.

‘I wanted to be with Narke.’

Unfortunately, she has to use divine power so she’s working alone.

I asked Elias.

“You ate early?”

“The bread tasted like crap so I just threw it away.”

“Hmm, okay. I’m going to the bathroom for a moment. Wait.”

“What for?! Me too!”

I’m going to wash my hands and put my hat back on, but he has to ask about this.

He’s always been someone who goes in and out of places frequently, but Elias must have been really bored today.

Thinking this, I returned to my seat with Elias following behind me.

“…Huh.”

“What?!”

Look at this. He’s asking a lot of questions today and his voice is unnecessarily loud.

More than that….

‘Where did my gloves go.’

What should have been on the table wasn’t there.

Elias, who had been watching me, asked.

“No gloves? Do you have spares?”

“….”

I do have some.

But….

Elias pulled out new gloves from his belt pouch and handed them to me.

“Thanks. But, Elias.”

“Yeah, what?”

“Earlier, someone asked me if they could shake hands without gloves.”

“Huh?”

Silence fell.

Elias’s expression as he failed to understand what he had just heard was priceless.

“…Should we call Narke here? The lounge is both the best and worst place for strategic meetings.”

“We should talk through the artifact.”

“Right, we should. Should we just go to where Narke is?”

“No.”

We should talk, but there’s no need to meet in person to ask more questions. If a bigger problem arises, Narke will contact us anyway.

There’s no physical evidence that the thief is that person, but the circumstantial evidence is clear, so now the answer is just to catch him and hand him over.

“Let’s observe a bit more.”

And, crucially, if we catch him and shake him down thoroughly, we’ll get physical evidence.

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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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