How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 236

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magic Family (236)

“….”

Have I ever seen strange phrases or letters?

Of course I have.

But I need to think about whether to tell him or not.

I blinked my unfocused eyes. Gradually, his face began to come into clear view. I frowned and asked him.

“What were you doing that you’re only coming now?”

“I’m asking you.”

“Can’t you even answer that? Is this what you have to say after meeting for the first time in two days?”

“…There were some circumstances. If I had time, I would have come to see you right away.”

“….”

So he didn’t have time to come see me until now.

Let me test him one more time, for sure.

If the Antagonist urgently sought me out because there was something he needed to find out from me, it also meant there was information I could extract from him.

I took a deep breath and erased my ego. I had to do that to avoid feeling nauseous.

“Do you know I’ve been waiting only for your notes this whole time?”

“…What?”

“When I wake up, I check if there’s anything left in my room, and when I walk around, I keep looking at the sky to see if a note might fall from somewhere.”

“….”

The Antagonist blinked rapidly, apparently flustered.

Instead of missing that signal, I delivered another line.

“I’ve been thinking about when you’d come this whole time.”

“…Don’t tell me you really….”

“You don’t even know what I’ve been doing for the past two days.”

“….”

He slightly contorted his eyebrows and moved his mouth as if trying to make some excuse, then soon closed his mouth with a troubled expression, avoiding my eyes. Because I was looking at him with cold eyes, his complexion gradually darkened.

Good. Thanks for the information.

The Antagonist definitely ‘couldn’t’ observe my every move for the past two days. As I initially suspected, there must have been fighting within Pleroma.

I wanted to tell this crazy bastard that it’s normal not to know if you don’t tell someone, but the Antagonist was feeling guilty about not knowing my daily life—about not being able to stalk me.

He didn’t approach me knowing I had received the matches.

I sighed and answered.

“…Never mind. Sorry for pressing you.”

“I’m sorry too. I really didn’t have time….”

“….”

He’s sitting there apologizing for not being able to stalk me because he didn’t have time. Even though I said something to him, this is truly surprising. I should be more surprised that I’m complaining about him not stalking me, this bastard….

Those words came up to my throat, but I couldn’t say them. I now asked about what he originally wanted to know.

“Strange, you say. What did you see that made you call it strange?”

Why would he urgently call me to ask if I saw something?

Basically, it must be because it goes against his interests.

At the same time, it might be harmful to me too, but I can’t just obediently do something good for the Antagonist. If it becomes a problem, I can tell him the truth later or turn back time.

“Literally, did you see sentences that don’t make sense, random letters, or symbols and shapes?”

“…Well. At least there was nothing noticeable.”

The Antagonist looked at me silently.

He smiled mysteriously and said.

“Really?”

“….”

So this is how he’s coming at me.

I almost pulled up one corner of my mouth, but maintained an expressionless face.

“Then should I say I saw something I didn’t see?”

Instead of answering, he glanced to the side and said.

“I’ve gathered a lot of the medicine you mentioned before.”

“….”

“Should we do it now? I have to go out soon so it’s inconvenient, but if only you do it, I can help you.”

“I also have to go out in 30 minutes.”

“Hmm, that’s true. But I have to stay conscious.”

He got up from his seat and extended his hand to me.

“Come on, get up.”

* * *

Of course I expected this, but there was no choice.

I looked at the blue string tied around my left arm and thought. My vision was blurry, but I could see that one thing clearly.

‘As expected, there’s no reasoning with this bastard.’

[What are you?]

Someone is gripping my neck.

It obviously wasn’t an attempt to kill me, and judging by the pressure on the side where the carotid artery is, he seemed to be injecting mana into me. My neck felt prickly and burning.

It can’t be helped when he’s pounding general mana instead of healing magic into me. But the Antagonist probably had no choice either.

Stalker said in a flustered voice.

[You do this every time and still take medicine? Do you perhaps find stability in the feeling of dying? You shouldn’t do that… you need to live long and well. Very peculiar….]

You’re more peculiar, you bastard….

I need to send this guy to a prison cell. Of course, I was the one who suggested we take medicine together before. But he’s not taking the medicine himself?

I insisted that I wouldn’t do it until he also took medicine with me, but the Antagonist was unreasonable like the crazy bastard he is. While persuading me, he recited Pleroma’s magic formula and stuck a syringe in my arm without even looking at the blood vessels.

‘Damn it…. Just go ahead and take it all yourself.’

I was quite impressed by that very petty method. Truly befitting an opportunist. To look for opportunities in such a way, he really has no dignity.

Of course, still.

‘It’s worth watching.’

Having even received a ring, what more couldn’t I do?

It’s a similar situation to Abraham’s time. If this process was truly a loss, I would have turned back time or forced my way out of the situation.

Even if the Antagonist doesn’t take medicine, this situation is beneficial to me anyway. The Antagonist believes I will now only tell the truth.

Clack—

The small lantern I had seen before appeared in front of my eyes. The Antagonist examined my pupils, then turned off the light and went around searching through something with rustling sounds. I felt something being stuck deep into my arm where sensation was disappearing. Mana flowed through my arm to my entire body.

[Is it better now? It’s a sedative.]

“….”

[Sorry. I want to do it together too…. I sincerely want to have the same experience at the same time as you, but if I take medicine too, both you and I will die. There are many people targeting you and me right now….]

All week he nearly died countless times trying to block those who wanted to attack me. Even now, if they knew he was here, they would come to attack immediately, so he had to stay sober to be able to defend at any time.

My ears were intermittently muffled so I couldn’t hear well, but it was definitely that kind of story.

He doesn’t need to feel that sorry. If he’s really sorry, he can just chatter a lot right now. There’s fun in gathering scattered clues together.

[Let’s do it together when Penthalon is over.]

I closed my eyes and fell into thought.

As I always think, when people think they have their opponent in their grasp, they paradoxically become most vulnerable.

They end up giving countless pieces of information to the opponent they’re underestimating without realizing it. From someone who’s on guard, you can’t get meaningful body language or unguarded questions that come out in an undefended state.

So the information I can extract from this situation is expressions and tone, speed of speech, the list of information he’s curious about, the order of questions, what his next question that seems quite removed from my previous answers implies, the Antagonist’s answers that I have to directly distinguish as true or false myself… that’s all, but this always provides the path closest to the correct answer. This is actually more accurate than direct words. When feeling above the other person, words can still be fabricated, but the complex elements in between are difficult to fake.

‘…Now, let me think again.’

Thanks to the new drug the Antagonist injected, breathing became a little easier.

I parted with the Antagonist early Monday morning. He doesn’t know what I did from Monday to Wednesday.

So far, there are two ‘strange’ things related to me. The phrase in the art festival play bouquet and the alphabet on the white phosphorus matches.

The Antagonist doesn’t know I received white phosphorus matches. Even with some evidence, he can only guess that ‘something strange might have come to me,’ but he has no confirmation that something strange actually came to me. If he had that, he wouldn’t go around in circles like this but would directly ask ‘you must have received a strange object, what phrase was written on it.’ If he doesn’t do that, there’s a possibility of wasting time like now.

The conclusion?

First, regardless of anything else, the Antagonist at least knows I’m lying. In this case, the Antagonist would already know there was a strange sentence in my bouquet. Given his stalking behavior, this possibility can’t be ruled out.

Second, apart from loving me, he can’t believe my words at face value, so he’s trying to verify their accuracy directly. Honestly, this possibility is the greatest.

The Antagonist’s thought process leading up to giving me medicine is one of these two.

So I need to think carefully. Since this medicine doesn’t work well on me with divine power, I’m fine mentally even if not physically.

How I respond here will determine whether the Antagonist realizes ‘whether the drug works on me or not’.

If the Antagonist knows that ‘I know A’? Naturally, if I answer that I don’t know A even while under the influence of drugs, he’ll realize not only that the drug isn’t working, but also that I’m deceiving him.

‘Well, I have plenty of points, so I’ll expect to reset if needed.’

If the Antagonist’s reaction is even slightly suspicious, I’ll reset immediately.

[…You always tell me the truth as it is. That’s the only way I can protect you. People are targeting Penthalon, trying to get too much from it. I told you before. I am you…]

Useless words continued.

[…This time I went to see a rabbit born albino…]

“…”

[…while I couldn’t see you, I’ve been thinking about things I want to do with you in the future. But if one of us dies, we won’t be able to do them, right? Resurrection…]

Every time I closed and opened my eyes, the topic he was talking about changed, so it seemed I kept falling asleep. I was indeed constantly overcome with drowsiness. It was better than before receiving the unknown drug injection, but I still felt short of breath. I buried my head in the blanket.

[You said you do morphine. You seem to frequently use relaxant-type drugs rather than stimulant-type ones. But…]

Ice-cold hands touched my cheek. I squinted and looked at him. The world looked all blurred as if my vision had deteriorated, but I still had to express my intentions. He pressed my eyelid with his finger and said.

[You can’t sleep yet. Answer my question and I’ll let you sleep.]

“…”

[You don’t smoke, right? They say it’s good to smoke together when doing drugs. Everyone seems to think they’ll be healthy forever…]

A coffin experience?

Since I’m already lacking oxygen even without smoking, there’s no need to recommend cigarettes.

[Do you smoke or not?]

“Don’t…”

[Ah, good. You’ve got the strength to answer. Then let’s get to the main point now.]

His soft voice was heard closer. The platinum hair that fell beside his ear brushed against my neck.

[Have you ever seen strange phrases, characters, or symbols?]

“…”

[I told you not to sleep yet. I’ll let you sleep for twelve whole hours from now on, so just answer.]

“…Actually.”

[Actually~?]

“I received one before.”

My speech was excessively slow, but the Antagonist didn’t mind.

The Antagonist’s eyes changed. The Antagonist quickly turned my head to face him. He smiled with what seemed like ecstasy and brought his face close to mine.

“It was in a bouquet, saying Audienz dubioses schockiertes… I still don’t know what it means.”

[…Hmm? When did you receive that?]

“January…”

I exhaled once and rubbed my face with my hand.

“I don’t know the date. Do I have to think about such things in this situation…?”]

[January? Not that far back, what about last week or this week?]

“…”

Hm?

I checked his face and asked back with a frown.

I had to do it deliberately because my act almost slipped for a moment.

“This week?”

[Yes.]

“…I said no. How many times do I have to say no…”

I felt him staring intently at my eyes.

[Really nothing?]

“That’s what I’m saying. I haven’t seen anything. I’d tell you if I saw something, wouldn’t I.”

[Ah, yes, yes.]

The Stalker breathed deeply and laughed as if finally relieved.

[Make sure to tell me if you find anything. As you know, what I’m talking about is related to Penthalon.]

The Antagonist’s voice became serious.

[Our diocese has half-withdrawn from Penthalon, but other dioceses are still obsessed with Penthalon. Among them are places that target strong mages like you. I’m blocking such dioceses, but just in case, don’t decode anything, and even if you read something, don’t follow it. Always move according to your instincts.]

“…”

[Because that could kill you.]

I looked at him. He was still smiling with a satisfied face.

His hand covered my eyes.

[…Anyway, that’s a relief. You can sleep now.]

* * *

“Lucas!”

A sharp pain struck my core, and I opened my eyes with a start.

As soon as I opened my eyes, Leo’s panicked face appeared. Because it was winter and the sun set early, I could see the night sky beyond him.

I felt grass in my hands. Looking around, it was the bushes behind the art museum where I had lost consciousness earlier.

Leo silently took out an elixir from his pocket and cast a simple healing spell on me. Since I had already received a sedative there and had a good nap, there was absolutely no problem with my health, but to Leo, the abnormality in my core had happened just a few minutes ago, so it made sense that he would want to treat me immediately.

“How did you get here?”

“Terror countermeasure meeting. Mother came too.”

Leo answered briefly and finished the healing spell.

He seemed to be talking about the meeting I was supposed to attend later. Looking at my watch, it was 10 minutes before the meeting.

I was preparing myself mentally to hear some scolding, but Leo unexpectedly said something ordinary with a calm expression.

“I heard from Haike. He said that person sent a note.”

“Yeah, right. He asked if I had received any strange writing recently.”

“Your answer?”

“What do you think I did.”

Leo nodded as if he understood what I meant.

This made it clear.

A competing diocese in Freiburg is sending codes to Haike and me.

The Antagonist doesn’t know that I’ve figured out his identity, so I don’t know how much he suspects I know, but the outline is gradually becoming clear.

Of course, what I’m thinking is just speculation, and to know if my speculation is real, problems need to actually break out for verification.

‘He said he would protect me.’

The expression was different, but that’s what it meant anyway.

I’m grateful, but a promise to ‘protect’ from someone who lacks common sense isn’t easily trustworthy. I’m decoding the cipher in my head whenever I have time. I’ll know the answer before long.

Perhaps because I was silent, Leo handed me a sympathetic nerve blocker.

“Why?”

“Just take it.”

He seemed to think that archbishop had given me a similar drug as before. Since it didn’t seem entirely impossible, I just took that hypertension medication.

I entered the council chamber 5 minutes before the start. Quite a few people were already inside.

Shortly after I found a seat and sat down, it became the exact time and the Crown Prince’s servant opened the council chamber door. Everyone inside stood up from their seats.

“We greet His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“It’s been a while.”

There was no smile on his face. He probably wasn’t taking this matter seriously, and he too must be acting.

Abraham, no, the Crown Prince stared at me intently, then finally smiled and tilted his head.

“It seems Deputy Chief Eschede is not in very good physical condition, so shouldn’t you go home… I think.”

“…”

Being sarcastic?

Seeing him say that, it seems Leo didn’t just give me the sympathetic nerve blocker for no reason.

I almost cursed but came to my senses and answered.

“No, sir.”

“Hmm… I see. Good. It seems everyone is here now.”

The Crown Prince said while slowly looking around the interior.

“72 hours until the opening. Let’s start right away.”

He scanned the dark-faced politicians and gestured to the Head of Imperial Security. The Head of Imperial Security briefly greeted and cast amplification magic before speaking.

“Yes, we already shared the situation report in the previous meeting, and we reported to those who didn’t participate in the meeting through warp mail, so let’s move directly to countermeasures.”

He turned a page of the paper he was holding and continued speaking.

“Though it may sound contradictory, everyone will know that we discovered the terrorism at too early a time. That’s why I know all of you have set external schedules and gathered here in utmost secrecy. The basement is also preserved as is, but since a rampage occurred due to rats that escaped outside, there’s a high possibility the terrorists will relocate or abandon their plans. Also, there’s no guarantee that Pleroma stored the contaminated rats only in that location.”

He spoke with serious eyes.

“Within 72 hours, we must root out all contaminated animals nationwide.”

The people sitting beside him nodded.

“A war against rats, then.”

“We must also examine insects like mosquitoes. We don’t know how far their technology has advanced. The barriers we’ve installed throughout the stadium, dormitories, and Berlin lack the ability to defend against small animals or insects below a certain magic power level.”

“That’s right. They were installed with human defense as the goal.”

It’s refreshing to hear the Chief of Public Security say such things. This bastard didn’t listen even halfheartedly when Elias earnestly told him last year to spend some money on magical beasts, yet now he’s solemnly declaring we need to catch magical beasts.

I can see Leo sitting far across also has a slightly subtle expression.

“Also, a mechanical device was discovered on the basement shelf. The analysis results are in. It’s a bomb imported from the Russian Empire 27 years ago.”

“27 years? I wonder if this thing even works.”

“If it’s old-fashioned, it’s entirely possible. But bombs are still being made nowadays, so why specifically…”

To the questions heard from around, the Chief of Public Security shook his head.

“I think many of you will find it puzzling. It’s a true old-generation invention that can be used without inputting magic power. Currently, even Human inventions are made to require magic power input for use, but that wasn’t the case back then. Such old-fashioned items won’t be caught by barriers, so they probably intended to bring them in on the day of Penthalon.”

“That’s a bit strange. If it’s for causing rampages, that’s one thing… but Pleroma has no real reason to actually blow us up and kill us, right? They made citizens rampage to verify eligibility for Vitriol.”

Though the Minister of Magic raised a reasonable question, that opinion was quickly refuted.

“Pleroma views our very lack of belief in their doctrine negatively. There are Pleroma who think it’s better for everyone to die cleanly rather than not believe in God their way.”

“Hmm… That’s true.”

“Though I’ve said this, the bomb is likely a decoy. No matter how much it won’t be caught by barriers, it could easily be caught at inspections, couldn’t it? It’s hard to see the bomb as the core of the plan. So, I’d like to make a proposal here.”

The Chief of Public Security stood up and looked at the Crown Prince as he spoke.

“For the next 72 hours, I propose we devote all our efforts to rooting out contaminated animals. Please deploy half of the mages from the Royal Mage Association to nationwide inspections.”

Half.

Currently, mages deployed to guard Penthalon Stadium and the dormitories make up a quarter of the total. Considering how extremely tight security became after the Grand Hotel terrorism, you can tell how massive this deployment amount is.

It means having twice that amount roam the entire nation for 72 hours.

“Hmm.”

The Crown Prince only smiled an unreadable smile while stroking his chin.

Though it seemed he’d already reached a conclusion in his head, the bastard was causing trouble here too with his usual unpredictable personality. Of course, no one else would think this way.

At that moment, he looked at me and spoke.

“I’d like to ask what Deputy Chief Eschete thinks about this.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————