How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 218

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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 (218)

Cheringen, who had been smiling faintly, stroked his chin thoughtfully, then said to me.

“Ah, don’t panic, Lucas. There’s no backing out either.”

“Hmm?”

“I’ll give it my best shot.”

Cheringen smiled like someone looking forward to something interesting.

He seemed to hide such signs out of courtesy, but still couldn’t completely erase his enjoyment.

* * *

There was a reason I asked Cheringen for this.

First, Leo is acting like we’re not on good terms, so suddenly pretending to be close wouldn’t mean much.

Next, Elias and Narke.

Psychologically, this side would be more comfortable. Since we’re actually close.

‘But I think my friends wouldn’t be able to hold back their laughter…’

Absolutely. Even while pretending to be close, they’d probably collapse from laughing. Actually, sometimes just looking at their faces is funny, so how could I make them act?

Then what about Ulrike or Haike?

Not really.

First, I’m not close enough with those two to ask them to act, and while being together I could raise their favorability somewhat…

There’s a crucial problem. If the stalker tries to attack us, they don’t have enough judgment and magical power to block it.

In the end, Cheringen had the optimal conditions: he wasn’t someone who would collapse from laughter while acting, he had the skills to counter a special ability criminal, and he wasn’t someone who would make things awkward even if I made such a request.

“Hah…”

Today especially, Leo’s sighing is getting on my nerves.

We came to a different building today.

It was the Ice Hockey Stadium, not the main arena where the opening ceremony and international friendship tournament were held.

It had more blue decorations than the main arena, and far fewer people than there. We hadn’t encountered a single person on our way here. I wondered if we might be the only three people in the building.

We walked to our destination while looking at banners and panels installed throughout.

[1898 Berlin Pentathlon]

[We sincerely welcome the athletes from 56 national delegations.]

The blackletter font gave it a solemn feeling.

Then Cheringen said with a smile.

“Ah, how delightful that the three of us have to tour the same place today.”

Cheringen put his hand on my shoulder and asked.

“Right, Lucas.”

“Yeah.”

When I answered with a smile, my eyes met Leo’s.

Since he didn’t know what I was planning, he seemed to question my choice of bringing Cheringen along.

When we arrived at our destination, Cheringen clapped his hands.

“Well, I’ve been moving with Narke until now, but actually we each took charge of one room. Did you two do the same?”

“Yeah.”

“Then… I’ll take the left row on the first floor from this direction. Leo, could you take the right row?”

“What about Lucas.”

At Leo’s question, Cheringen smiled properly and shrugged his shoulders.

“Hm? He has to come with me.”

“…”

Leo silently stared at Cheringen, then turned around and entered the room on the right.

Entering the room on the left with Cheringen, I changed my wand to a staff and struck it down.

There was no other magical power that bounced back after hitting mine. The moment I moved the staff to check the walls instead of the floor, Cheringen closed the door behind us.

Click—

“Hmm?”

“Haha…”

Cheringen glanced at the window and ceiling, then slowly approached me with a smile.

As I was lost in confusion, he waved his hand.

“What’s wrong, continue.”

“…”

I let out a hollow laugh and brought the staff to the wall. Pink magical power flowed along the wall. Similarly, nothing was caught here either.

The moment I moved to bring the staff to the metal shelf in the center of the room, Cheringen grabbed my left arm and pulled. He turned my body and came close to me.

His golden eyes came close to right in front of my nose. Hair that should have been waxed and put under a hat according to regulations touched his forehead.

‘What is this?’

I was too complacent earlier.

It seems like I’ll be the one who fails at holding back laughter.

I desperately suppressed my laughter and whispered to Cheringen.

“…Julia, this isn’t what I ordered from you?”

“Ah, because we’re friends~”

“What do you mean because we’re friends.”

Look how naturally he brushes it off. Seeing how this guy acts, he’s already done this several times, hasn’t he?

Still, seeing that no favorability window appeared, it seemed like he was just acting without being swept up by the atmosphere and having strange thoughts. He also seemed to be somewhat conscious of the window.

I had already come here with several hypotheses about the criminal. According to my guess, the possibility of the culprit watching me through the window was low, but I was grateful just for his effort to do what I asked, so there was no need to mention it.

As I was diverting my attention elsewhere and doing my best to suppress my laughter, light leaked in through the door crack.

“…!”

I tried to push Cheringen away at that change, but it was too late.

CRASH—!

With a thunderous sound that seemed like it would fall off, light from the hallway poured in.

“Hey.”

Cheringen, who was in front of me, turned his head slightly with a relaxed face, then had his neck grabbed by Leo.

Suddenly, intense pain struck my core.

Leo grabbed the back of Cheringen’s shirt collar with a dumbfounded expression.

“What are you two doing.”

“Friendship exchange? We thought we’d try to get closer.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

Leo pushed Cheringen out into the hallway with an annoyed voice and slammed the door shut.

With Cheringen gone, the density of magical power increased, making it hard to breathe.

“What is this. Is this a school? No, even if it’s school, since when have you two been that close.”

“Later.”

I gestured to him.

Leo was now looking at me with a cold face even in front of me. It was clear where his disbelief had gone.

“There’s a misunderstanding. Sorry. Let me try to explain, though I know it’s hard to convince you right now, but this was legitimate fooling around.”

“Legitimate…”

“…”

Hearing this cold sneer makes me feel reality hitting. Leo was twisting his lips with an expression I’d never seen before.

Do you think I was excited? This is just a process to lure the culprit out, after all.

My core is stinging like crazy. I was about to turn his core upside down, but stopped because I knew for certain that I had plotted a rather undesirable plan at work.

“I’ll explain. At least it wasn’t to make only you work while I slacked off, so go out.”

“When.”

He cut off my words and asked, but it was clear what “when” he was referring to.

“Within today.”

I can’t explain now.

I don’t know where that guy might be listening to our conversation, and if my hypothesis is correct, even sound-blocking magic would be useless. Cheringen made such an effort, so I can’t ruin everything by telling all.

I could feel Leo staring at me intently.

After avoiding his gaze and then meeting his eyes, only then did he seem convinced that I wasn’t lying, and he turned around and went outside.

I followed behind him, watching his back.

‘This guy would do well as a Caretaker.’

It’s optimized for surveillance with eagle eyes to prevent any slacking off. After thinking that far, I realized again that he was already the class president.

Leo approached Cheringen, who was retying his necktie, and pushed him toward the left room.

“Switch. I’ll work with Lucas, so you do it alone.”

“Why? Since we’re working together anyway, I want to work with Lucas.”

“Why?”

Leo’s sarcasm could be heard.

“…”

Did he just ask why?

That questioning tone, that look in his eyes—everything about him screams experienced.

Cheringen shrugged his shoulders as if he couldn’t handle it.

“Fine. Then wait a moment.”

Cheringen grabbed me and moved three or four steps away from Leo.

Feeling the chill from behind, Cheringen smiled awkwardly and said.

“We’ll get cut down by Leo before we catch the culprit, won’t we?”

“He’s such a stickler for protocol…”

This isn’t a place for fooling around, so what are we doing—that’s what he’s thinking. That’s why he scolded us earlier asking if this was a school.

We’re doing our job, and if this were a perfect group activity situation, we wouldn’t be able to act like this.

Still, he put the brakes on Cheringen’s reckless straightforward tendency that I didn’t even know existed, so I discovered an unexpected necessity for Leo.

“Hahaha! You know that guy’s a principled person too. Hmm, we’re just having fun while doing our work…”

He laughed and trailed off, bringing up a different topic.

“By the time we finish here and go to the annex building, it’ll be breakfast time. Let’s meet during mealtime.”

“Alright.”

I briefly greeted Cheringen and followed Leo into the right room.

Not wanting to stay together in this eerie atmosphere for no reason, I passed Leo and went ahead. Checking other rooms would save time and be beneficial.

However, inevitably, I was grabbed by the shirt collar just like Cheringen earlier.

“…”

I could retaliate if I wanted to, but why get so angry over a high schooler’s stickler tendencies, and from Leo’s perspective, it would look like I was just fooling around, so I had no intention of saying anything.

After spending a suffocating 3 hours in various ways, it was 8 AM.

I was finally able to meet with Cheringen. Cheringen showed us the meal prepared by a subcontractor of the Imperial Court’s subcontractor and said.

“Mm~ Today’s breakfast is salad.”

“Oh, really? That’s nice.”

I can feel my core being poked persistently.

What’s he trying to accomplish by giving me looks just for having a conversation? I lightly tapped the table with my hand.

Only then did Leo’s signal stop.

But that peace didn’t last long. Not even 10 minutes into the meal, when Cheringen said something, Leo’s mana went crazy around my core, showing its temper.

“I asked before, but if I give you a new artifact, would you consider getting your ear pierced? There’s really something I want you to wear.”

“…Sorry. I’ll think about it slowly later.”

Saying that, I flicked my finger under the table. Leo, who visibly flinched his shoulders because of it, turned his head as if incredulous and clicked his tongue.

Cheringen, seeing Leo’s suddenly strange reaction, smiled at me.

“Right. I guess I was pushing you too hard.”

“No. Thanks for the offer.”

After that, another 5 hours passed.

This strategy seemed to be effective.

We went from breakfast to lunch, and today I didn’t receive any notes.

‘Good. Just get lost like that.’

And preferably let me punch you once before you go. It’s contradictory, but that’s my honest desire.

I smiled while clenching and unclenching my fist.

Of course, I gained peace from the culprit, but instead I had to overcome several crises of being grabbed by the collar by Leo.

I chased Cheringen away to another place again and said to Leo, who was approaching me with the momentum to grab my collar.

“Why do you keep picking on only me?”

At my words, the guy’s face became even more menacing.

This bastard has gotten too close to me too. That’s why he doesn’t grab Cheringen’s collar but only nags at me.

Or maybe he had some basic level of expectation for me.

Of course, the guy knew his limits and hadn’t actually grabbed my collar yet. He was just threatening with that momentum.

He came right up to my face like Cheringen earlier, and with eerily transparent sky-blue eyes that didn’t blink even once, he said quietly.

“Lucas, work.”

“I am working.”

“Is chattering with Cheringen all day work? Oh, what a difficult mission you’ve been assigned…”

“…”

Since Leo was sneering at me with a fishy smile, I smiled and clasped both hands together and twisted.

“…!”

Leo bent over deeply, then frowned and rubbed where his core was located.

I habitually call Julia ‘Cheringen’ in my mind, but saying it out loud is a different matter.

Moreover, hidden behind his class president persona and model student persona, he had half-forgotten his natural sarcastic skills, but he’s still quite something.

‘Do you need this kind of temperament to live as a politician?’

Anyway, I know why he’s being so strict, but his attitude needs adjustment. Of course, since I was the one who made it look like I was slacking off first, I didn’t plan to go harder.

“I’ll explain later.”

“…”

Leo was about to say something but just sighed and turned around. He seemed to need time to calm his irritation.

I went outside and approached Cheringen, who had been adjusting his necktie all day because of Leo.

“Julia. Stop that bast… stop the class president. Why is he acting like that?”

“…Umm, hahaha! Stopping him won’t work.”

“Why.”

After thinking for a while, Cheringen spoke casually as if letting it slide.

“Well, he’s in a position where he has to care about national interests. You would have been the same, but we’ve grown up that way since childhood.”

National interests?

It’s sudden but I think I’m getting the idea. When I tried to ask for more details, Cheringen grabbed my shoulder before I could.

“What should we do now?”

“What have we been doing so far. Creating a weird atmosphere all day?”

“Haha~ We’re not going to be awkward tomorrow, are we?”

“If you know that, show some restraint…”

But the effect is really the best.

The culprit is so frustrated they can’t do anything—that’s how quiet it is.

Also, as I thought earlier, since the affection window isn’t appearing, Cheringen doesn’t seem to be caught up in that atmosphere where we have to hold back laughter.

At this rate, I can achieve my initial plan of maintaining teamwork while scratching the culprit’s nerves, without the future of ruining all team activities due to unexpected personal feelings.

Cheringen extended his hand to me. When I lightly hit it as usual, Cheringen’s fingers slipped between my fingers.

“…”

I had to hold back laughter again.

Judging by how Cheringen bit his lip, he showed signs of it too—honestly, there’s a limit to holding back laughter, and we were both at our limit—but he started desperately acting out his expression while trying to relax the tension in his facial muscles.

He cleared his throat and smiled while looking into my eyes. My face was reflected in his transparent yellow pupils.

He continued absorbing the mana flowing from my hand toward himself and muttered.

“You know your mana is really unique, right?”

“Of course I know. Even the color is different from yours.”

“Haha, that’s not what I meant… Come to think of it, you’re probably the only one in this world with pink mana.”

“Right.”

I smiled while feeling goosebumps on the back of my neck.

“So, do you know why I keep asking for your hand?”

“I don’t know?”

“Really? Then it’s better if you keep not knowing.”

Cheringen smiled brightly. I looked at him with a face asking why he stopped talking mid-sentence.

I could understand one thing: that the unusual mana and asking for my hand were connected.

At that moment, Cheringen smiled and let go of my hand. He seemed to think he had definitely caught my interest.

It was right after that when I learned the truth.

I turned my head at the sound of footsteps from behind and let out a hollow laugh.

Cheringen had let go of my hand because Leo had come all the way here.

However, Leo didn’t say anything. He just glanced at us with cold eyes and passed by.

“….”

Seeing that expression, Cheringen began to let out an awkward laugh. It seemed like 18 years of big data from his childhood friend had manifested.

Of course, I sensed it too. Those weren’t the eyes of someone looking at the same human being. Even without hearing him speak, this wasn’t ordinary disobedience, so this reaction was understandable.

Cheringen grabbed my hand and chased after Leo.

“Come with us, Leo.”

“….”

Leo looked at Cheringen with a contemptuous expression, then walked forward again.

Whether we followed or not, Leo unfolded the map he was holding to check the location and opened the large door in front of him.

Cheringen deliberately spoke up despite knowing the atmosphere had turned cold.

“Wow, it’s spacious~”

It was labeled as a supply room, but it was essentially a warehouse. It smelled like people hadn’t been in and out for a long time.

On one side were everyday items, and on the other side were artifacts piled up. From mana lamps to radios and projectors, they were all things that didn’t use electricity. And far in the distance, maintenance equipment whose purpose was hard to determine was neatly organized.

“It’ll take a long time to find something showing abnormal mana reactions here. It always takes a long time in places like this.”

Cheringen muttered like that and tapped the shelf containing mana items with his wand.

Since Leo blocked his side, I naturally took charge of a spot far away from them. It was where the non-mana items were.

“Wow, it looks like they’re planning to broadcast Penthalon in color. Leo, did your family’s mana go into this Penthalon’s capital too?”

Cheringen said while examining the artifacts in the warehouse.

Color video isn’t used often because it costs more money. That’s because the mana has to be dyed.

“….”

When no answer came, Cheringen apologized in a serious voice.

“You’re in a bad mood. Sorry.”

“With two people not working and just playing around, I don’t know who would be in a good mood.”

Leo answered with a laugh mixed in. Naturally, it was closer to mockery.

‘We weren’t playing around though.’

Still, we had ruined the atmosphere. Even we who were acting got goosebumps, so how nauseating must it have been for a third party to watch?

‘I need to provide some mental compensation for this, humanely speaking.’

We were trying to catch one culprit but ended up making our friend feel sick too.

I should think of a rational way to appease him when we get back.

At that moment, the door on the left side of my vision shook.

Crash—!

“Huh?”

“….”

We all made eye contact. The door that had been open was now closed.

As Leo jumped up from his spot, the mana lamp’s light went out at the same time.

‘The mana lamp went out?’

It wouldn’t go out unless the artifact’s lifespan was over or the mana in the air was cut off.

There was no way its lifespan naturally ended just because the door closed, and the mana in the air….

As soon as I thought that, the light that had been seeping in through the door crack from the hallway also faded away.

It was complete darkness.

Click—

Leo immediately approached and turned the door handle, but it wouldn’t turn. It was the same no matter how many times he tried again.

The moment we realized the door was locked, the air in the room turned cold.

“Julia, Leo. Did you guys sense anyone’s mana from outside just now?”

“No.”

“…Not at all. There was nobody in this building except us to begin with.”

I didn’t sense anything either.

What could this mean?

It was obvious.

Although we couldn’t meet face-to-face as originally planned….

‘Finally came out, this bastard.’

The fact that he showed behavior other than letters.

That was what mattered.

Now, it was time to verify the hypothesis.

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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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