How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 219

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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 (219)

First, let’s judge this before making any hypotheses.

‘Is he planning to take us all out at once?’

Not bad, but for someone trying to eliminate even Penthalon, his attitude is too hasty. It means this could only create unnecessary wariness.

So it’s right to see this as a warning to us.

‘Take it easy, is that it?’

Because he’s angry?

I should be grateful if he got angry. After all, he’s making such a blunder like this.

I immediately snapped my fingers.

My heart lurched belatedly and I thought ‘oh no,’ but I didn’t move and stayed right where I was.

I could feel Cheringen and Leo looking at me with confused eyes as they adjusted to the darkness.

They waved their wands after noticing the situation, but no light came out.

“Mana won’t come out. He must have tampered with the air, so the magic lights went out too.”

Leo reported briefly and tapped his artifact.

Cheringen and I reflexively brought our hands to our ears. But all we could hear was the connection tone.

“The connection’s cut too. …That stalker doesn’t seem to plan on showing himself directly in front of us.”

Cheringen muttered in a bleak voice.

Even though it was easy to miss, Leo didn’t overlook it and raised his head.

“…What?”

It wasn’t a situation where I could answer Leo’s question.

Cheringen was right.

That guy has no intention of appearing before me.

I let out a small laugh and their gazes turned to me.

‘Haha…’

Right. I was careless.

Did I judge him too simply?

I thought he’d come out if I scratched him, but it seems he still has some reason left.

If he wants to play with me for a long time, retaliating like this is rational.

The structural diagram of the game he designed forms in my mind.

Narke said someone was targeting both me and Penthalon simultaneously.

That someone is the person who locked the door just now.

Since his current goal is clearly me, this game will be designed so that I gradually climb onto the palm of his hand.

Eventually, it would be fitting for the game’s ending to have me face him in a situation where I can’t reach out to either the police or my friends, where I can’t avoid him.

I’m standing at the beginning of that board right now.

This game even has Penthalon’s safety at stake. Planning to catch two rabbits at once – what a wonderful idea.

‘Then I should respond.’

Let’s see just how precisely he’s set up this board.

Entering enemy territory and revealing my true nature is my specialty.

Haven’t I been doing exactly that all along?

Of course, I don’t plan to let him have his way until I enter. Like I did with Abraham, I need to advance while burning down the board the enemy put his heart and soul into creating.

Right now this seems like simple retaliation done out of irritation, but I’ll do my best even against such seemingly trivial attacks.

Leo’s voice could be heard.

“Let’s get out first. I already know from experience. It seems like mana won’t come out in this kind of air, but…”

Leo put strength into snapping his fingers. When pale blue light burst out in the darkness, he staggered. His face quickly turned pale.

“If you force mana beyond your limits, you can use magic to some extent. The downside is that you can’t use much of it, and since you literally have to exceed your limits, recovery is essential, but it would be possible to warp just once.”

“What would you do after warping?”

“Let’s have one person go out and call for people.”

“No.”

At my words, Leo looked at me expressionlessly.

“Of course it’s a good method. But is there a need to harm your health by straining your core? If you read the report, you’d know that once you use magic in a place like this, your whole body breaks down. You’d have to pour hundreds of thousands of fel worth of medicine to barely return to your previous state.”

“Are you really the one to say that right now…”

Am I the one to say that? It’s not really something I should say after receiving about a billion fel worth of free medical treatment from Wittelsbach, but what can I do?

I continued speaking before he could lose his mind and bring up other identity issues.

“There’s a way to firmly imprint the seriousness of the situation on people without harming our vitality.”

“The seriousness of the situation?”

I nodded at Cheringen’s question.

“Think about Narke’s prophecy. The Investigation Bureau has been investigating this case for several days now, but who exactly is seeing this as a spark that could threaten even Penthalon? When you think about it, extremely suspicious ability users and suspicious crimes are occurring, but both the caretakers and investigators are simply thinking of it as a crime of sending a few letters.”

Of course they responded seriously, but whether that seriousness led to proper handling appropriate to the situation… not at all.

“It’s not enough for us to walk out looking fine and deliver news that ‘someone sprayed air that removes mana into the sealed room.’ Moreover, news like ‘you can still escape if you put pressure on your core’ – even if the problem is quite serious, it’s hard for that to fully sink in when you deliver such news. No matter how objective you try to be, humans focus on visible damage.”

“…”

“Besides, if this criminal stops supplying the mana-controlling air and removes the air to destroy evidence while we’re moving like that?”

“…So.”

Leo asked with an ominous expression.

What is he asking? I looked at his face in the darkness and said.

“You should know there’s a way to let more people know, stimulate more people’s sight and hearing, and trap the mana in the air so evidence can’t be destroyed.”

“…Don’t tell me…”

Leo pressed his forehead as if he’d heard something he shouldn’t have.

Right, this guy would understand. Fortunately, this time there are no people in the building who need to evacuate.

Cheringen looked back and forth between me and him.

“Why? I’m curious what the plan is.”

I searched through the area where I had examined the general supplies earlier.

Although magic lights were installed here, since it wasn’t yet an era where they were widespread, obtaining what I needed from this supply room wasn’t difficult.

Scratch—! Flare—

Getting fire wasn’t difficult, I mean.

When I struck the match hard against the striking surface, it lit. Thanks to striking three or four at once like before, the flame quickly grew larger.

“Huh…?!”

Cheringen let out a hollow laugh.

I grabbed another five matches and struck them hard against another matchbox’s striking surface. I held ten lit matches in one hand. The fire that had spread to the wooden parts heated my hand hotly. I quickly stepped on the ladder Leo had set up and brought the fire to where the sprinkler’s solder was located. I could see the sprinkler getting scorched.

‘Like before.’

One, two, three…

Four.

Pop— Whoooosh—

Five.

With the sound of something that had been blocked flowing downward, cold water spread out in all directions from overhead.

The fishy smell of water and the sulfur smell of matches lingered at my nose.

‘Ah, this is good.’

Beeeep— Wheeeee—

A loud warning sound that made my heart pound loudly could be heard. Red light flashed through the gap under the door. Water that wouldn’t stop until turned off from outside continued falling to the floor.

I grabbed Leo’s outstretched hand and came down from my position.

Whoooosh—

[A fire has occurred. Citizens are asked to quickly move to emergency exits under the guidance of safety personnel. A fire has occurred. Citizens are asked to…]

I stepped on the flooded floor and looked at the pitch-black door as I spoke.

“They’ll come now. The Investigation Bureau will also get their act together a bit more, and that guy… will now have restrictions on his range of action.”

If he can no longer approach me due to strengthened security?

That’s a good thing – I’d have achieved more than half my goal.

Conversely, if he’s not restricted even though security is strengthened?

That would provide good material for reasoning in its own way.

Converting someone else’s trap into my trap is always enjoyable. Now that he’s caught in my plan, from now on he’ll have no choice but to add weight to one of my hypotheses with every breath he takes.

At my relieved words mixed with laughter, Cheringen stood there dazed for a moment before bursting into laughter.

“Hahahaha!”

“Why?”

“Really, what is this….”

Cheringen stood up from his seat. Along with an alien notification sound, white text appeared before my eyes.

Ding—!

Affection +1

Cheringen had already approached right in front of me.

He whispered in a voice barely distinguishable from the sound of water.

“Lucas.”

“Yeah.”

“…You’re really the best.”

I’d heard those words before.

Even in the darkness, I could feel the joy and excitement in that guy’s expression.

He didn’t give affection points when acting before, but now he finally gives them.

‘Does he like ideas that would earn him a fine….’

Since I’d already done this before, it wasn’t new to me, but since that guy hadn’t participated in the magic potion experiment competition, this must have felt fresh to him.

This is the first time I’ve seen someone give affection points for setting off sprinklers.

For some reason, I felt like I should withdraw the hope I’d held for Cheringen as I smiled.

Bang—!

Someone burst the door open.

I squinted and looked toward the doorway where red light was streaming in.

Three people looked at us with surprised eyes.

“This way is right!”

“Someone locked the door from outside! Did you know? But more than that, the fire?”

“There isn’t one.”

“What?”

“Someone made it impossible to use magic, so there was no way to get out.”

A mage snapped his fingers with a puzzled face. When nothing happened, his face turned pale.

“Huh? But warp worked?”

“You used mana outside this building, so it worked. You can’t use it here.”

“That’s true. We should have brought oxygen spray at least….”

“Can’t you contact anyone with artifacts?”

“No. We were already looking into it because we couldn’t contact each other with artifacts even before the alarm went off.”

They had complicated expressions and were showing with their whole bodies that they couldn’t do this or that.

Unlike modern times, sprinklers going off doesn’t automatically contact the fire department, but now that they’d discovered another problem, they needed to report it immediately. But both mana and artifacts were dead, and if they left this place right away, running would make them late. Speed is life in mana crimes because evidence destruction through air is easy.

But there’s no problem. I also set off the sprinklers to secure evidence.

I opened one of the many glass bottles on the shelf and scooped up water from the floor.

“The mana in the air should have dissolved into the water. If you analyze it, you’ll find mana other than from us three. It might even be illegal magic potions.”

“…!”

The mage took it and exchanged glances with the other mages.

Another mage spoke to us.

“Thank you. Could one of you follow us? Please come outside this place and warp to Pentalon Headquarters. We’ll go to the Police Station and Investigation Bureau.”

“Yes.”

Cheringen strode out. Then he looked at us and smiled. It was an expression that clearly showed he thought he’d had real fun.

Another mage gestured to us.

“Please come outside the building and wait. We’ll quickly contact the Police Station to call for support personnel.”

Without time to answer, the mage and Cheringen went down to the first floor.

I shook off the water from my coat and hat as I came out of the supply room.

The sprinklers were still operating.

Leo was staring at the floor in a daze, getting soaked, thinking about something.

* * *

“Leo.”

Lucas called me from far away.

His words didn’t stick in my head and flowed by like background noise. The water on the floor had already risen to the height of my shoe heels. The dark blue water’s ripples and the red light overlaying them kept changing shape.

“Leonard.”

Lucas seemed to be shaking water off his hat and coat, then called me again.

I knew I had to go outside, but my feet wouldn’t move an inch. Other thoughts completely occupied and trapped my mind.

‘…’That stalker has no intention of appearing directly in front of us.”

Julia had said that.

And when I asked what he was doing earlier, Lucas said he’d explain ‘within today.’

If he’s going to explain within today, what difference does it make whether he explains now or before going to bed?

It was frustrating, but I could guess from my experience with him so far.

It meant there was a valid reason he couldn’t explain right now.

So Lucas’s unusual attitude and Julia’s words meant….

‘….’

I acted like a fool again, just like in my first year.

How many times has this been in front of Lucas?

So he didn’t rapidly become close with Julia without my knowledge, nor did he form the only relationship in the world that I couldn’t interfere with.

If such a relationship were real, Bavaria would have no way to intervene, which is why I’d always been watching Julia.

Julia Zehringen was someone with the ambition to challenge anything to get what she wanted. Also, even without knowing Nicolaus, she recognized Lucas’s infinite potential just by looking at him. That he was someone who would have a tremendous influence on a nation.

With her excellent eye for people, she never liked her and her parents’ advisory staff, and as a child, she even tried to recruit Bavaria’s retired prime minister as her political mentor.

So knowing Julia Zehringen well, I had no choice but to compete from that moment to not lose that talent desired by both the light and shadow of the Empire.

If everything I saw today was just acting as a criminal’s rival to catch a stalker, if that’s really all it was.

‘Lucas won’t be going over to the Grand Duchy of Baden, at least not yet.’

The natural feeling of not wanting another country to steal away a talent that Bavaria had fully supported and nurtured spread into a sense of victory that I still held the upper hand over Julia, and relief that Nicolaus still remained in Bavaria.

And, separate from that….

“….”

The impatience I showed earlier was something I absolutely couldn’t stand to watch.

If I had thought more deeply about my friend’s safety rather than Bavaria’s ownership, I could have understood why those two were acting that way.

Leo remained silent, taking the water falling on his face as it was.

Victory gained by revealing everything about myself is not true victory.

However, regardless of my regret, this incident was a good opportunity to shake me out of my complacency.

Nicolaus hadn’t gone over to Baden yet, and using today’s lesson as a stepping stone, I would ensure he wouldn’t go over to Baden in the future either, as long as his heart didn’t change.

Just once before that.

This time I want to hear the answer from him directly. Apart from national affairs, if Lucas’s will differs from mine, I have no intention of keeping him tied to Bavaria.

“….”

After moving only my lips for a while, I looked at the red warning light reflected and rippling in the water on the floor and said.

“You won’t go to Baden.”

* * *

“….”

I looked at Leo standing far away.

I could clearly hear it even through the sound of water.

That guy brought up Baden.

Right now, whether sound-blocking magic would work on the culprit or not is unknown, and the probability it won’t work is higher, but it’s better than nothing.

I cast sound-blocking magic and pondered his words carefully.

‘I wondered if there was a reason I didn’t know….’

Now the puzzle pieces fit together.

Cheringen is from the Grand Duchy of Baden and Leo is from the Kingdom of Bavaria.

They’re neighboring countries, and the difference in status between them is much smaller than the gap between Anhalt and Bavaria. Even if it’s less than Bavaria, Baden is also a nation with large territory and good military power.

Also, Cheringen and Leo have surprisingly similar tendencies and abilities. Though their personalities are somewhat different.

So Leo would have always had to interpret Cheringen politically.

Now all the answers have come out.

‘That bastard.’

Having Nicolaus is enough.

I know that as a politician, he can’t just get along happily with friends, but seeing him already agonizing over securing human resources makes me think it must be quite exhausting.

Of course, national competitiveness is maintained and developed based on capital, so his unwillingness to miss even a single human resource shows he has excellent qualities as a ruler.

Of course, that’s Leo’s situation, and I will continue to get along well with Julia Zehringen.

Not because Julia is the future Grand Duke of Baden, but because he is upright and kind as a person. Even without the unique brilliance of Elias or Leo, he always shines softly and is someone who’s not easy to dislike.

‘If Leo approaches politically, I need to approach humanly to balance the neutrality.’

It’s not my nature, but.

However, beyond human relationships, if I were to answer his political question politically…

I faintly spread divine power and answered so only he could hear.

—”Yes. I won’t go.”

“…”

—”I don’t know why you’re asking something so obvious. If I don’t stay in my own country, how would Anhalt function?”

Leo looked at me with widened eyes.

“…Ah.”

He seemed to understand now.

I nodded with a pleased smile.

‘Should I punch him once?’

The Antagonist apparently thought I would naturally work in Bavaria as Nicolaus for life.

Of course, since the kingdom’s support contributed about 90% to my survival, if I stay in this world, I’m willing to work for Bavaria for life, but basically Anhalt comes first.

Leo burst into light laughter.

“…Good, that’s a wonderful resolve.”

At his refreshing answer as if nothing had happened, I asked sourly.

“Where did that Teacher persona from earlier go?”

“Huh? Hahahaha…”

Leo laughed as if he’d lost his mind.

Has it returned or not?

I dragged him outside before he became even more of a drowned rat.

All three of us, including Cheringen, were already in a state where we needed to wash our clothes again, but he was worse than me. Water dripped with every step he took.

Leo didn’t care at all and burst into laughter as he spoke.

“I’m still dumbfounded.”

“Tell me.”

“You created that romantic atmosphere all day just to do this one thing?”

“…”

Romantic atmosphere – so he also felt more than just simple friendly pretense…

I’m satisfied that Cheringen and my tearful collaboration produced such excellent results.

As I was pondering where to start denying this, Leo said quietly from beside me.

“Sorry.”

“For what?”

“If I had thought a little deeper about your situation, I wouldn’t have said anything to you. You must have been quite troubled already, but I made things harder for you and Cheringen. I know you’re not someone who would do that without reason, but…”

It wasn’t really hard, I just thought it was very model student-like. Even this apology is just like him. I wasn’t particularly angry, but he was thinking this way.

I smiled and waited for his words.

In the darkness, I could see Leo avoiding eye contact. He held back laughter for a moment, then tried to make a serious face as he continued.

“…The first scene I saw was you and Cheringen right before kissing, so I misunderstood.”

“What?”

“Next time, even if something like this happens, I won’t stop you… though I’m not sure if I can manage that, but I’ll think that you have a plan. But…”

“…”

Just how far did the misunderstanding go?

I grabbed my forehead.

My vision went dark. Now I completely understood why Leo had been so oversensitive.

If he saw that, it would have looked that way. Julia’s hat touched my hat and fell, and his hair touched my forehead, and then he walked in. It seems like Cheringen was blocking the window with his head and had turned his head.

He held back laughter for a moment, then cleared his throat and asked.

“Really… ahem… you didn’t actually do it, right?”

Seeing him keep chuckling, it seems even he thought our actions were ridiculous.

I felt my head cooling as I answered.

“You thought that’s what happened? What were you thinking then?”

“Really honestly, my first impression?”

“Yeah. Honestly.”

“These guys are so smitten they’re doing what kind of nonsense in the workplace? Is this a dormitory? A school? Ah… what do we do about team life from now on.”

“…”

“Of course, I had other thoughts second. Like thinking the people I know aren’t the type to do this.”

Though he made his own excuse, my attention was focused on his first statement.

‘These guys are so smitten they’re doing what kind of nonsense in the workplace.’

If I had seen this scene in the workplace, I would have smacked these crazy bastards and kicked them out. His grabbing Cheringen by the scruff and throwing him out wasn’t such an extreme action.

“We never did it, neither of us had any intention of doing it, and we had no such plans…”

“What? Then why was Cheringen putting his face to your face…”

“Right, it was understandable to misunderstand.”

So that’s why he interfered so desperately.

If romance starts within the team, they’d have to be uncomfortable for at least until graduation, at most for life. Not 17 people but only 7 in the team, and two of them fall into romance?

Even if they get along well, there’s concern it might interfere with missions, but if they break up, it’s an even bigger problem. Tears of blood in many ways.

Politics aside, as Team Leader, he couldn’t have watched such a situation.

Instead of my earlier listless answer, I gave him a proper response.

“Julia just properly fulfilled my request. Of course, I asked him to act friendly, not to create that kind of atmosphere, but to provoke a stalker, simple friendly acting wouldn’t work. I’m just grateful.”

“That’s right. I’ll apologize to Cheringen later too, so don’t worry about the team atmosphere getting bad because of me and Cheringen.”

No, there doesn’t seem to be any need to apologize.

Rather, Cheringen and I are sorry for not telling him in advance.

Actually, as Leo said, it’s not school but a place no different from a temporary workplace, and spending all day doing skinship with a friend – it’s behavior deserving criticism.

But even if I tell him it’s unnecessary, he’s someone who definitely apologizes for things he thinks he did wrong.

‘That’s why he’s maintained good relationships despite that inflexible, by-the-book personality.’

It’s good to clearly express what should be expressed, so I won’t stop him.

“But why do you keep calling Julia ‘Cheringen’? You used to call him Julia just fine.”

“…Well.”

Leo answered briefly and smiled at me.

Even without him saying it, I could tell it was because of the nerve war with the Grand Duchy of Baden.

‘Childish…’

Friends getting along well. Whether he calls him by surname or whatever, I can tell even better that they’re close to each other.

Soon the first floor became noisy. The mages who went outside and warped seemed to have called for support personnel.

Perhaps knowing that team peace was maintained, Leo, much softer than before, gestured to me.

“Let’s go.”

* * *

5 PM.

Unlike the interior that was completely dark like night, outside was still bright.

“We should install gas lamps.”

“No, before that, we need to prevent the spraying of magic potions in the air. The opening ceremony is this weekend – when would we lay gas pipes?”

“There’s no other way.”

The sound of investigators arguing with each other could be heard through the window.

There were already crowds of people gathered outside.

Most were investigators and mages. Civilians were also peeking at this place from across the street, but given the serious nature of the situation, they couldn’t come over here.

‘This should have been done from the start.’

Look how they’re only being cautious now that the situation is serious.

From the fact that even in the main stadium where they verify identities before letting people in, notes from unknown senders could appear right in front of us in real time without their investigative abilities being able to catch it, they should have already been operating under the premise that special ability users exist.

Both Julia and Leo were called outside for questioning.

Left alone indoors, I explained the situation to the Investigation Bureau mages stationed at the organizing committee and received spare clothes from the dormitory to change into.

“Why do I keep having to borrow from you guys?”

I let out a hollow laugh as I buttoned up. Since outsiders couldn’t enter the Wittelsbach estate that I was using as lodging, Narke had lent me clothes.

“Haha~ What’s the big deal! I only wear it when going home anyway.”

Narke laughed while patting the collar of my coat.

Right. It’s really just something to wear when going to the dormitory, so I wonder if it would be okay to just wear anything when going back. I’m going straight to my lodging without stopping anywhere else.

As if knowing what I was thinking, Narke started chuckling softly.

When I returned after changing clothes, the mage who had been recording my statement closed his notebook and said.

“You may go back now. You must have been quite shocked, so please go and…”

“Excuse me, could you both come back out please?”

An investigator opened the door without knocking and spoke.

I think we were called out like this about five times.

Narke and I got up from our seats.

Since they needed to verify the safety of the barrier to be placed around this arena, Narke and I were called out for divine power and magical power tests respectively. Among all the mages here, the Eschede mages had the strongest magical power, so it was more like we went out.

Elias, Ulrike, and Julia were also strong enough to test barriers, but there was no particular reason why I went out and they didn’t. It was just simple labor, so they just picked the first person who caught their eye.

‘Since all I have to do is hit the barrier with all my strength…’

The investigator beside me spoke in a grave voice.

“We’ve reinforced the barrier as you mentioned earlier. Now it shouldn’t crack even when receiving vertical impact.”

“I see. Let me test it once.”

—”I think it’s going to crack again this time.”

Narke used divine power to speak so only I could hear.

He definitely used insight. I shook my head while holding back laughter.

Soon the outdoor breeze brushed against my face. The mage apologized to the numerous investigators and royal mages as he pushed through the crowd toward where the barrier was.

The mage turned to look at us and said.

“One at 10-meter intervals, and if it breaks, we’re planning to immediately disperse it into gas form in the air…”

“Ah!”

At that moment, Narke made a sound of shock and grabbed my shoulder, pushing me back.

Splat—

A raw egg hit the back of another mage standing nearby.

“What?!”

I wondered where an egg would suddenly come from here, but before I could be flustered, something flew into the corner of my vision. I heard something bursting near my ear.

“Ah.”

In pain, I touched my temple.

Something slippery fell onto my shoulder.

The mage and Narke simultaneously showed silent shock. Narke brushed it off and wiped my face with his hand.

He used magic to pull the hat that had fallen to the floor toward him and picked it up.

“…”

While I remained silent, the mages around us stepped back from me and the mage who had also been hit by eggs.

“What’s this?”

“Weren’t there only Imperial personnel here right now?”

“What the…!”

An investigator who noticed the situation blew his whistle and changed his wand to a staff, striking it on the ground. He tapped the communication artifact he had fixed and spoke to his subordinate.

“Seal off the entire arena branch immediately! Restrict warping and track magical power to see if anyone has already warped.”

[What?!]

“The culprit has appeared. We’re going to search everyone inside one by one. Process this quickly while I divide the areas!”

While he quickly ordered the lockdown, other investigators and friends came running toward me.

I looked up at the sky. I could see the edge of the semi-transparent barrier dyed red for testing.

‘Search everyone one by one.’

What a joke.

Until I catch them, they’ll never be able to catch the culprit.

Leo, who had come running with a soul-drained face along with Julia, seemed to have forgotten that he needed to act like we weren’t close, and asked me.

“Are you okay?!”

“…”

It wasn’t a situation to answer.

I observed the raw egg remnants on the ground transforming into pink note fragments. The eggs must have definitely had magic cast on them.

I grabbed a handful of those note pieces and read them one by one.

[Sprinkler! I have 200 copies of the Anhalt newspaper you appeared in, but five of them have already lost all their magical power from being looked at too much. To think I’d get to see in person what I’d only seen in newspapers. I should have taken photos.]

[I trapped you so you could feel the oxygen disappearing with every breath, but I was too complacent.]

[I just thought of something – want to go see an opera?]

[I’m happy that you’re so conscious of me. But people should have limits – making me this angry is a bit much, don’t you think…]

[I’m going to be watching you for a long time, and you’re trying to lure me out like this. I almost really appeared in front of you all. If I had, I’d be locked in prison and never see your face again for the rest of my life, yet I almost actually carried out such a foolish method. You know how angry I was, right?]

[As expected, being first place in the top 1% means thinking differently. Right? I watched all the exam videos. It’s a really good method!]

‘Acting cocky when you don’t even know how much has been exposed.’

Almost carried it out?

It’s not that he almost did it – he already gave me information by taking action.

I smiled slightly and let go of the notes.

Leo was flustered for a moment, then looked at my expression and asked calmly.

“…Why are you smiling? This isn’t the time to smile.”

“The hypothesis was correct.”

Narke answered expressionlessly.

“What hypothesis? Is it related to that guy’s identity?”

“No, later.”

Leo’s question was quickly cut off by Narke.

Narke also seemed to understand that this absolutely couldn’t be spoken aloud.

I nodded and answered.

“I can’t say it. We don’t know where he might be listening. Instead…”

I looked up at the sky again and continued.

“I need to resolve this before Penthalon ends. I’ll tell you soon. But we should also create a code to communicate with.”

Leo cast a sound-blocking spell with a frustrated expression and answered.

“Is this the time to talk about codes? Go back quickly and rest. You don’t need to… explain to me. Even if you don’t explain, I’ll do whatever you want to do.”

“What? Are you really Leo?”

I laughed lightly while staring intently at the sticky residue remaining on my hand.

Hearing Leo, who used to always challenge my plans asking if they weren’t too dangerous or realistic, say this now feels refreshing. It’s really unfortunate that even at this moment, my head is full of thoughts about the culprit and I can’t purely admire Leo’s change.

My vision is even shaking from all the possibilities and thoughts.

Anyway…

I was also planning to go straight back to the estate earlier, but now my mind has changed.

“Narke.”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Will you take me to school?”

I smiled and extended my hand to him.

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