How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 233

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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 (233)

“Are you referring to the entire French representative team?”

“Ah, the university and research divisions have separate schedules, so you only need to take care of the high school division.”

At those words, Elias whistled.

“Hmm… Luca’s quite popular.”

“You take it.”

“Should I?”

“No.”

I was just saying that.

Someone as twisted as earlier should absolutely not be paired with Elias. There’s a high probability that Elias would try to crack his head open within an hour of meeting him.

“I actually have something to propose to you anyway. I need you to listen to my story, so you wouldn’t have time to give tourism commentary, would you?”

Elias looked up at me and smiled. I don’t know why he’s jumping to conclusions like that, but I have no intention of refusing their request.

‘They came here as distinguished guests.’

We were assigned to handle their reception. Although it’s limited to welcome ceremony protocol and accommodation security, considering that they officially contacted us requesting me as a guide, accepting their request would be less troublesome than refusing.

Besides, there’s no particular reason I shouldn’t go. Whatever those mentally immature kids might grumble about doesn’t really affect me anyway.

‘…Well, that doesn’t mean I’ll just let it slide if an opportunity comes to quiet them down.’

Just as I was about to accept their request, contrary to Elias’s wishes, Leo’s voice was heard.

“I’ll go.”

The friends’ conversation completely stopped. The employee looked at Leo with a troubled expression and said.

“Ah, they said they wanted to meet Mr. Ascanien.”

“We can go together then.”

Silence flowed.

All the team members looked at him.

Narke and Elias were probably worried about showing that we were already close, and the rest were probably surprised wondering if Leo wanting to do something together with me was real. The employee stroked his chin for a moment before answering.

“Should we do that? But it could be problematic for both the vice-captain and captain of Eschete to leave their posts, so could just one of the other members come?”

“Me! I want to go!”

When Elias stepped forward, the employee’s face darkened. A questioning expression appeared on Elias’s face.

Just as Cheringen, who had only been smiling, was about to speak, Haike raised her hand.

“I’ll go.”

Leo’s expression changed to look slightly surprised before returning to expressionless.

I share most information with my friends right away, as long as it’s not something that would make them angry. So I had already told them about becoming close with Haike around lunchtime yesterday.

Although they had briefly heard the story from me, they seemed curious seeing that taciturn guy step forward himself.

The employee nodded to Haike and asked me.

“Is that alright?”

“Yes.”

I smiled at Haike and followed the employee out. Haike hurriedly put her robe back on and chased after us.

I cast a sound-blocking spell and said.

“We get to hang out together again.”

“This is work.”

Haike said in a strangely excited voice. On the surface, that’s true. It probably won’t be a playful atmosphere either.

But I couldn’t help but notice that she came along because I was going. I smiled lightly and said.

“Anyway.”

If we discover white phosphorus matches again, it would be better to share immediately, so it’s good to be with her.

Following the employee’s guidance, we warped to the top floor of the banquet hall building where Academia Puissance was located. After knocking a couple times on the open door and entering, I saw the high school division first place I had encountered earlier.

I greeted the Frenchman who raised his eyebrows upon seeing me.

“We meet again. Mr. Antonie Gramont.”

“Ah, you came. It’s nice to meet again even though we just saw each other.”

He smiled brightly and gestured to his friends sitting at the table.

“These are the high school division friends from our representative team.”

“I see. Nice to meet you for the first time. I’m Lucas Ascanien.”

“I’m Heike Einsiedel.”

The three high school students he introduced just stared at me with wide eyes despite our greetings. Seeing them make strange smiles while looking at my face, they seemed to already share similar intentions with Gramont.

One tall new human stood up and extended his hand.

“I’m Maelys Lafayette.”

After that, fortunately the other two also greeted me and Haike without problems.

After finishing brief introductions, I took out the notebook I had brought and said.

“Is there anywhere you wanted to visit? There are many places I’d like to introduce, but since time is limited, if you give me your opinions, we’ll visit those places first.”

No one opened their mouth.

They just stared blankly at me.

‘Do you actually want to go sightseeing?’

Of course, that Gramont guy or whatever probably called me alone to pick a fight. What are they hoping for? This was decided from the moment they specified me.

If that’s what they want, I won’t just go along with it quietly.

I smiled appropriately and said.

“Is there nowhere you particularly want to go? Then… let’s start with Unter den Linden.”

* * *

Unter den Linden is a street in Berlin that starts from the Brandenburg Gate.

I looked up at the sky with my hand shading my eyes.

Blue linden trees preserved in their July state by magic were lined up under the bright blue sky. Gramont said to me.

“Nice weather.”

“Indeed. Even the weather seems to welcome you.”

“…!”

Haike almost laughed and coughed instead. I had just given the greeting that people of this era casually exchange without much thought, but to Haike who knows my personality, it must have seemed awkward.

Gramont continued smiling and looked around.

“Berlin really is wonderful. What comes up if we keep going straight?”

“If you go to the end of this street, you’ll reach Museum Island on the Spree River. Lustgarten and Berlin Cathedral are also in that direction. If you go down a little, there’s also the Imperial Old Palace. Do you like museums?”

“I love them! What do they mainly exhibit?”

“The Neues Museum is famous for displaying Egyptian artifacts. If you want to see Greek and Roman plaster sculptures, I recommend visiting the Altes Museum, but if time is short, visiting just the Neues Museum is fine. There’s also an exhibition hall there. You can also see prehistoric artifacts there.”

It doesn’t feel very good to give this kind of introduction from the perspective of someone not from an imperialist power. Egyptian artifacts. How do you think they got those?

‘How did they get them? They dug up other people’s land and stole them.’

I remember their grave-robbing habits causing great controversy in Joseon too.

After that, we walked silently.

Walking from the Brandenburg Gate to the Spree River, Haike and I introduced Humboldt University and the State Opera House. Those guys listened to our explanations with reasonable interest.

Then, Gramont asked with a polite smile.

“There are commercial districts like this in Paris too, isn’t there somewhere more unique?”

“Well. Places where people live are all similar. We’re going to the museum soon anyway.”

“Where is Wittenberg University? I’d like to see the birthplace of the Reformation. We’re not Lutheran, but we’re Protestant, so we wanted to visit at least once.”

“That’s in the Saxony region. We cannot take you outside Brandenburg, which is our jurisdiction.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

Gramont answered that way and talked with his peers.

I wasn’t particularly listening carefully to their conversation, but as their voices gradually got louder, I couldn’t help but hear.

“Their biblical interpretation is really strange. Heretics are definitely different in some way. What pastor would interpret and preach the Bible in such a way?”

“Don’t tell me you actually examined how different they sound from our church? That’s why they’re heretics~ They’re already too far removed from what we know.”

‘They must be talking about Pleroma.’

I agree. Interpreting what is obviously the same being differently is extremely fishy from the start. It’s a method that heretics love to use.

Also, this is something I felt from Ludovica, but those guys are pulling plausible passages from various places and weaving them together to rationalize their claims. At this level, it’s just recreating the Bible.

“But you know.”

Haike said quietly beside me. A one-way sound-blocking spell was cast.

“Why does it feel like they’re criticizing us when they’re criticizing Pleroma? The content is definitely criticizing Pleroma though.”

Because they’re talking while looking at us.

They’re talking about Pleroma while glancing at me, so how is that not taking a jab at me?

‘Damn brats.’

Anyway, it’s hard to live as a Pleroma—well, not really—but still.

Instead of going up to the New Museum, we walked straight along Unter den Linden street.

After passing through Lustgarten, the wide park in front of the Old Museum, the Berliner Dom appeared. It was a building with a grayish body and three blue domes on top, with the exterior decorated lavishly in Neo-Baroque style. I pointed to that building and said.

“This is the largest Protestant church in our country. If you’re Protestant believers, it would be good to take a look around at least once.”

“Oh… a Protestant church? It looks just like a Catholic church.”

“It started as a Catholic chapel. Currently it’s also used as the tomb of the Hohenzollern imperial family, but you have viewing permission, so feel free to look around without burden.”

Even while the other three high school students approached that building, Antonie Gramont was still beside us. He said with a smile from behind.

“I passed by without much thought, but this is next to Lustgarten.”

“That’s right.”

“I learned that it was used as a parade ground while Napoleon occupied Berlin. Is that correct?”

“…”

What’s so proud about the history of trampling another country’s park that he’s bringing it up here?

Just as the atmosphere was about to freeze, he waved his hand.

“I didn’t mean anything special by it. In fact, didn’t we lose to Prussia after that? Rather, it’s a painful place for us.”

“You know well.”

“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I just wanted to confirm whether it was definitely used for military purposes. I heard that the Imperial 1st Education Institute has been conducting magic training there recently.”

It’s obvious what kind of story will come next.

He tapped his waist where his wand was and asked.

“I didn’t get an answer earlier. Could I ask you once more?”

I burst into laughter at those words, then composed my expression.

“I should have told you precisely, but I failed to do so.”

I stepped one step closer and pressed the button on his open wand holster to close it.

“…”

“I’m here to protect Your Excellency, not to duel with Your Excellency. I know well how passionate and excellent the people who entered Académie Puissance are, so I understand why Your Excellency wants to duel so much. If I weren’t affiliated with the Imperial Court, I would have obliged, but it’s difficult right now.”

Surprisingly, Gramont was clean about it. He smiled with a disappointed face and nodded.

“I understand. I feel embarrassed for being rude.”

“No, you don’t need to feel that way.”

We now wandered around the park silently, waiting for the three students who had entered the church.

I know how vicious kids who are considered top in one field can be.

Not everyone is like that, but some who grew up a bit extremely are immersed in competitive logic from a young age, enjoying trampling others and being sensitive to attacks on their position.

Being attacked here doesn’t literally mean receiving direct attacks from someone, but rather having a superior competitor appear and the attention around them moving away from themselves.

Though it wasn’t the result I wanted, I was also in such groups at work and school, so I know. The fact that he’s the top of the high school division and his attitude so far suggest he’s that type. That childish attitude of wanting to fight me to confirm his skills comes from this kind of impatience.

‘Is he really as great as his name is mentioned so often? From my perspective, he’s just a Pleroma that the German Imperial Court thoughtlessly employed, so why is an atmosphere of revering that Pleroma being created even in our France?’

He must be thinking like this.

Moreover, since the adults from the same academy look down on the German Imperial Court, if he defeats me, it becomes an opportunity to prove how foolish the German Imperial Court was and add fuel to criticizing the Imperial Court.

Even if he’s not a real Pleroma, the title of defeating an enemy country’s peer top mage is quite sweet.

The reason Philip and he are similar lies here. Both are obsessed with hierarchy.

‘Well, whatever he does, I’ve passed the age of living like that, so he just looks cute to me…’

Not that he’s actually cute, just funny. I guess every group has one guy who’s a bit twisted like this.

Anyway, if Luca had faced this situation instead of me, it would have been quite annoying. After dealing with guys who ignored him at school, now even foreign guys are acting up.

What I said about dueling if it weren’t for Eschete wasn’t empty words. But for now, I needed to be careful with my actions. Since they came as precious guests of the state, I inevitably have to be in a relatively weaker position.

After that, we moved to the museum with the three students who came out of the church.

Since it was impossible to check all of Berlin’s attractions in a short time, we had to check only around Unter den Linden street and return.

At 6 PM, one hour before our return, we stopped by the guest room on the top floor of the banquet hall to pack our luggage, then warped to Brandenburg where the VIP accommodations were located.

Since there was a barrier installed at the Tis Hotel in Brandenburg, we had to warp to a location about 1km away and walk.

I moved to the warp point first with Haike’s help, then greeted them as they followed. I laid down thin barriers and spatial magic so their appearance wouldn’t be visible.

Though I’m not particularly skilled in spatial magic, since I just needed to make them invisible rather than for physical defense purposes, there was no problem.

Had we walked for about 10 minutes?

When we were halfway there, Gramont, who had been talking with his friends, asked as if trying to include me in the conversation.

“How many rampagers occur per day in this area on average?”

“Hmm, it’s decreased a bit recently, so about thirty cases occur in Berlin.”

“Including Brandenburg, it must be enormous.”

“Though the land is vast, Brandenburg has a small population and isn’t very densely populated, so the damage isn’t as great as you’d think.”

“So how many cases occur in total?”

Gramont was persistent. It was obvious this would get annoying, so I answered expressionlessly.

“You seem to have many questions? Combining Brandenburg and Berlin, close to sixty cases occur per day.”

“Oh, that’s amazing…”

“…”

I almost smiled but composed my expression.

‘He’s doing this on purpose.’

Is he trying to provoke me by bringing up the Empire’s failure to control Pleroma? Even if it’s not to the extent of inducing a duel with me through such words, as I thought earlier, I’m clearly nothing more than a ‘symbol of the Empire’s incompetence’ to these guys.

He glanced at me with eyes trying to find my weak spot.

The reason he goes out of his way to talk to me and ask various things is probably to find topics that make me feel inferior or conversation topics I don’t like. Since he can’t duel, his psychology of wanting to achieve victory by provoking me in this way is clearly revealed.

Even Haike seemed to sense something strange, as her expression was more subtle than usual.

“You must be very tired dealing with rampage reports all the time.”

“Well. It’s manageable.”

“You’re really amazing. Our high school division hasn’t been deployed on missions yet, and since there are no rampagers in our France yet, I don’t really understand Mr. Ascanien’s feelings.”

“You’re lucky. I hope it continues that way.”

At those words, the high school students smiled and exchanged glances among themselves.

Gramont smiled and said.

“Can it continue that way? We’ll soon be assigned to work on rooting out Pleroma who have infiltrated our empire. Ah, right now I lack experience compared to Lucas Ascanien, but by then Mr. Ascanien and I will have something to talk about!”

“Hmm, congratulations. You’re scheduled to take on an important responsibility.”

“Is that so? Come to think of it, Vice Minister Adrian Ascanien is doing similar work.”

‘Oh my…’

I held back laughter and licked the inside of my lips with my tongue.

His intentions are so obvious that it’s now pitiful. Someone please shut his mouth.

He definitely considers rampage report processing as lower work than Pleroma detection operations. He’s revealing that he and Adrian Ascanien will be doing similar level work.

Adrian Ascanien is quite a recognized mage overseas too. And I, as his younger brother, am inevitably perceived as someone who has Adrian Ascanien as a role model.

‘I’ve been doing that detection work like crazy since last year.’

It can’t be helped since he doesn’t know I’m Nicolaus.

More than that, it would be good to stop creating dark history. Even though it’s not dark history I’m creating, I can’t help feeling sorry watching someone else’s desperation.

If he shows signs of continuing to create dark history, I should tell him to get duel permission from headquarters, then I’ll face him.

The moment I just smiled instead of answering, one side of the view where I had installed spatial magic rippled.

“…”

I grabbed my wand.

It wasn’t a distortion only I saw, as I immediately made eye contact with Haike.

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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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