How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 243

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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 (243)

 

The Minister nodded his head.

 

“What they want.”

 

“Our lives are held as collateral. We can only break this curse by fulfilling the terrorist’s demands. If we can’t do as he wishes, the terrorist will then blow us up and kill us.”

 

As I finished speaking calmly, someone sitting across the table spoke sarcastically, perhaps finding my attitude unrealistic.

 

“Shouldn’t we find out what that want is as quickly as possible? Adrian Ascanien is truly serene.”

 

Well. I’m not serene even inside. Though I need to gather all information before using retry, if the terrorist activates the curse magic immediately, I’ll just die without retry or anything. Is there anyone who could have peace of mind in this situation?

 

Moreover, even if I turn back time, victory isn’t guaranteed for me. Facing such a massive enemy now, I might not succeed even if I keep turning back time until my points reach zero.

 

I’m just deceiving even myself.

 

I looked at the blue mana in my palm and slowly shifted my gaze to look at him.

 

“Want to know why I’m serene? Because there’s nothing we can do.”

 

“Noth…!”

 

“The initiative in this situation belongs to the terrorist from start to finish. Am I wrong? Since the mana lamp terrorist incident, have you people accomplished anything properly? Fine. Then properly mourn the millions of citizens who are about to die due to your management failures. All you can do is report that it ended up happening after everything explodes. Since my name will be included in the casualty list, I’d appreciate it if you’d pray for my soul too.”

 

“…”

 

“After creating this situation, clarify whether that pride believing you have the ability to find out what the terrorist wants is bravado, failure of self-objectification, or mental victory. If it’s the first two, it’s weakness, and if it’s the latter, it could be a strategy of sorts.”

 

Even though I spoke openly sarcastic words in a flat, dry tone without inflection, no one reproached me. They probably didn’t have the mental capacity for it. The mage who had questioned me just avoided my gaze with a troubled expression and let out a deep sigh.

 

I stared at him intently and pushed the report toward them.

 

“Now the terrorist will present what he wants to us. Since we don’t have the ability to directly dig out what the terrorist wants, let’s find a way to solve the phenomenon first.”

 

Of course, the emergency committee did their best in their own way. They completed materials in less than an hour and gathered 300 dismantling technique specialists from across the nation to deploy them in developing dismantling methods. But wouldn’t it be better if they utilized even the time they’re spending being frustrated to get involved in the field and do something? If these guys discover countermeasures, I’ll use them effectively in the next world, so I hope they quickly devise methods.

 

Of course, even if they ultimately can’t find a method, their helpless attitude doesn’t help at all. Though there are many ministers and mages working hard in the field, if the Minister of Magic, who is the general supervisor of the emergency committee, is in this state, they all just look like targets I’ll have to completely overhaul.

 

The Minister of Magic also seemed to think that sitting here just talking wouldn’t solve anything, so he nodded and stood up from his seat. At that moment, several civil servants sitting around the table grabbed their hands and screamed.

 

“Ahhh!”

 

“What, what is it?!”

 

“…!”

 

Intense pain also struck my hand. Some kind of shock had passed through – the artery in my wrist hurt as if it would snap.

 

‘This…’

 

Now it’s starting to move.

 

I stared at the mark glowing brighter in my palm. The mark that had definitely been dark blue was now glowing almost white.

 

As if the shock from the mark wasn’t just from boredom, an urgent voice came from the artifact placed in the center of the table.

 

[M-Minister! Minister! Can you hear me?]

 

“I can hear you. What’s wrong?”

 

[Right now, you need to come down to the Main Stadium right now. Quickly, immediately!]

 

He was almost screaming. A person talking to the Minister like this couldn’t be in their right mind.

 

However, no one in this area was in their right mind. The Minister rushed outside frantically. He was so flustered he didn’t even think to warp and just ran. All the other emergency committee members were the same. I exchanged glances with Leo and followed after them.

 

Mages sent as support from each federal state were guarding the darkened opening ceremony venue. Their gazes were directed at the screens mounted all around the opening ceremony venue. Our gazes followed theirs.

 

“That…”

 

“What is that?”

 

Several emergency committee members frowned as they looked around at the screens on all sides.

 

Because the space was magically expanded to accommodate 150,000 people, a vast sky was visible. White messenger birds released by the government for analog communication were crossing the night sky.

 

And below that, on the black screens installed diagonally on the dome’s walls, divine power was written in white letters and rippling. Setting aside how they manipulated this mana field, the phrases displayed on the three screens were not ordinary.

 

I let out a hollow laugh as I read those phrases to myself.

 

[“Anatomy, Physiology and Scientific Medicine Archive”, 1854 / 230170~230180]

 

[“4th Class Liberation Struggle”, Volume 2, 1875 / 528392~528397]

 

[“Revelation of John—Johann Gottfried Herder”, 1829 / 25192, 25193, 14615, 7082, 107138, 9521, 268121, 43197, 1077]

 

‘Suddenly?’

 

“This is…”

 

The Minister widened his eyes and muttered. He seemed to have realized what this meant.

 

I said quietly.

 

“It’s purely intended to torment us.”

 

There’s a reason I said that.

 

The terrorist probably intended to give us information through this. However, what he’s demanding is simple enough that it doesn’t seem necessary to complicate it, and it’s a problem format that doesn’t match the atmosphere where 1.37 million people are about to die.

 

The Minister of Magic tapped the artifact at his ear and shouted.

 

“Get those books right now! No, contact the Imperial Central Library and tell them to check the 1854 edition anatomy archive, page 230, 17th to 18th word, or page 230, lines 17 to 18!”

 

Even the Minister of Magic, whose brain had frozen due to death pressure, quickly grasped the answer.

 

The reason that’s possible isn’t because the Minister suddenly became smart, but because that cipher is a book cipher frequently used in this era. To explain:

 

The number 18325 is presented. Then you find the 25th word on page 183. Sometimes if the sentence itself is a cipher, it refers to lines.

 

‘At least it’s fortunate I discovered this before turning back time.’

 

One thing that still bothers me is that they deliberately revealed the book titles.

 

In the case of allies, sharing book titles is normal. But why make it a cipher? When in hostile relationships like the terrorist and Imperial Government, there’s absolutely no reason to reveal book titles.

 

‘Hmm, the culprit being so generous…’

 

It’s not for nothing. It means they needed to adjust the difficulty.

 

There’s no test that orders you to solve 100 high-difficulty problems in 10 minutes. Whether increasing time, lowering difficulty, or reducing the number of problems, test makers try to balance things.

 

Then lowering the difficulty like this means that in the terrorist’s perception, there are clear limits to our resources. For example, some problem with our manpower, time, mana, etc…

 

[Minister! We’ve just contacted the Library Director. We’ll connect you right away!]

 

At the same time, someone came here carrying a huge brass telephone artifact.

 

The Minister exhaled as if seeing a ray of light and took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his forehead. Anyway, since you need something to solve an incident, he seemed to think it was fortunate that at least the culprit’s message was given.

 

Since leaving work to others wasn’t my preference, I extended my hand meaning to hand over the telephone. The Minister readily handed me the telephone, perhaps feeling burdened anyway. When I cast amplification magic on the telephone, an unfamiliar voice came through loudly.

 

[Hello. This is the Imperial Central Library Director. I heard the Minister of Magic is looking for a book called ‘Anatomy, Physiology and Scientific Medicine Archive’ published in 1854…]

 

“Yes, that’s correct.”

 

I answered while checking the mana screen mounted near the sky again.

 

230170.

 

The Minister mentioned page 230, 17th ‘word or line’.

 

Word and line – two possibilities. Let’s not waste time. I need to decide definitively on one of the two.

 

I need to split the numbers properly. Page 23, 017th word isn’t reasonable. If that was the intention, there’d be no reason to put 0 in the middle, so page 230 is certain.

 

The problem here is the 0 at the end.

 

‘The 0 at the end wasn’t added for nothing.’

 

Something like page 230, line 170 doesn’t exist in standard-sized published paper books.

 

Then let’s assume it’s the 170th word. Cases where 170 words fit on one page are almost nonexistent unless it’s a dictionary or a large magazine with one side divided into three parts and packed densely with text. Cross-verification with other books would be needed, but based on the information so far, the clues the terrorist gave are…

 

230-17-0 and 230-18-0.

 

Then my conclusion is this.

 

“Page 230, lines 17 to 18. As quickly as possible, please.”

 

[Huh? Wait, is this perhaps a codebook? Understood. 230, page 230.]

 

“Did you find it?”

 

[Lines 17, 18. Found it.]

 

The librarian took a breath and continued.

 

[‘Heart activity time in a room without air can be assumed to be 30 minutes.’… That’s it. Is this what you needed?]

 

“…”

 

This vast space was filled with silence. Not a single living being’s breathing could be heard. Mages from other federal states who had come as support and were guarding the arena looked at us with bewildered eyes, and people with marks on their hands just stared down at the telephone with widened eyes.

 

While I was opening my mouth speechlessly, someone stammered and shouted.

 

“Wh-what is this?! W-w-wait! What does this mean…!”

 

“…”

 

The faces of people wearing marks on their hands turned deathly pale.

 

Since no one answered due to panic, I steadied my breathing and spoke slowly.

 

“It seems our lives have 30 minutes left. The countdown probably started from that earlier pain.”

 

[What? What did you say? Your lives have 30 minutes left?]

 

Before the librarian could ask more unhelpful questions, I quickly checked the opposite billboard.

 

528392 to 528397.

 

“4th Class Liberation Struggle Volume 2, 1875 edition, page 528, line 39, second word to seventh word, please.”

 

Fortunately, the librarian began turning pages quickly without saying anything.

 

[Found it. ‘An enormous problem to solve.’]

 

The moment I turned my head to check the next electronic display, someone with a mark on their hand urgently asked.

 

“Playing around?! So how do we solve this…!”

 

“They must have put clues about that in the Book of Revelation.”

 

I brought my finger to my lips, signaling not to say more. As soon as the surroundings quieted down, I called out the third code.

 

“Johann Gottfried Herder’s Book of Revelation, 1829. Page 25, line 19, second and third words, page 146, line 1, fifth word…”

 

[W-wait a moment! Yes, got it. Please continue!]

 

“Page 70, line 8, second word, page 107, line 13, eighth word, page 95, line 2, first word.”

 

30 minutes. The fluttering sound of pages turning sounded like it was counting down my remaining life. I felt my heartbeat quickening as I waited for his answer. For me, at least, it felt like an eternity.

 

[Yes, got it. Please tell me the next one.]

 

“Page 268, line 12, first word, page 43, line 19, seventh word, page 10, line 7, seventh word. What does it say when connected?”

 

[…I have.]

 

The Librarian paused briefly before continuing.

 

[Already shown the answer to over 100 people.]

 

* * *

 

“To summarize what I’ve already said, the Terrorist has already shown many people the answer to solve this problem. Given that they announced it along with the fact that we have 30 minutes left to live, we need to find that answer for either the time limit to be lifted or the curse to be broken. Us finding the answer – that’s what the Terrorist wants. What they plan to gain from it is none of your concern.”

 

“What?! W-wait…!”

 

I rattled off my words like a machine gun and immediately stood up, running toward the Stadium Corridor. The panicked Minister tried to ask me something more, but I had no time to listen. I attacked his Subordinates who were chasing me and used magic to pick up the Imperial Newspaper and filter that had fallen to the Floor.

 

Good.

 

I even secured the clue I wanted to obtain earlier.

 

22 minutes of life remaining.

 

I die in 22 minutes. As if proving that the time limit was real, one-third of the cross on my palm had disappeared.

 

I would turn back time, but this urgent number gave me considerable pressure. Moreover, if I failed even after turning it back, that would only be a brief extension of life. No, next time I wouldn’t listen to the curse transmitted through the Imperial Newspaper, so I alone would survive. But then I’d have to read an article about 1.37 million people gathered from around the world being massacred. I’d have to hear the Continent’s wailing.

 

I bit the inside of my mouth until it bled and swallowed.

 

“Hey!”

 

“There he goes!”

 

‘Hm?’

 

At the sudden unfamiliar shouts from somewhere, I turned my head. And at that moment, I couldn’t help but be shocked.

 

‘…?!’

 

A black Dog the size of a Werewolf appeared around the corner and charged at me at insane speed. I wasn’t unaware of who it was, but before I could even try to have a conversation, the Dog tackled me.

 

Crash―!

 

Before I could even be flustered by the shocking fact that a wild Animal visual was right in front of my nose, I saw two Caretakers who had been chasing the Dog. The Caretakers were shocked to see me and the Dog, then threw the metal skewers they were holding at the Dog.

 

“You bastard!”

 

“No, that’s not right! Please wait a moment.”

 

Before I could watch another person―though it’s a Dog―die, I pinned the Dog to the Floor and blocked them. Of course, whether to save this person immediately or not, it was already clear that everyone had less than 20 minutes left to live, but considering why this calculating and cautious human had rushed to me in this state… there must be something he needed to tell me. Even trivial information would be useful to me. In fact, given who he was, it wouldn’t be trivial.

 

The two Caretakers looked down at me with puzzled eyes. My gaze naturally went to their hands. They were people without marks.

 

I forced out words that still wouldn’t come due to the shock of the Dog charging at me.

 

“This is… This is my Dog, no, a Dog I take care of.”

 

“A Dog you take care of? Why is a Dog here…?”

 

“It was a Dog that originally lived on this site. I took care of it a few times and it followed me into the Building.”

 

I said that as I stood up.

 

Since they were looking at me with confused eyes, I quickly added words to wrap up the conversation.

 

“I’ve caused a disturbance in an already bad situation. I’m sorry. I’ll take it outside.”

 

“Ah, yes. It kept trying to bite us so we were in trouble, but it seems fine in front of you, Teacher.”

 

“Haha.”

 

Though I didn’t feel like laughing, I made a laughing sound and stood up. The Dog looked back at me several times, then ran forward like crazy. I held back my curses, nodded to the Caretakers, then ran after the Dog.

 

The Dog ran too well. With a human body, New Humanity or whatever, I couldn’t catch up. I’d have to run at full speed to match the pace they run at without exerting themselves. When we moved to a place with few people, I remembered that I had less than 20 minutes left to live―unfortunately, I had never forgotten―and called out to him loudly, meaning he should slow down a bit.

 

“Senior!”

 

The Dog looked back at me once with what seemed like cursing eyes, then disappeared somewhere into an Alley.

 

I caught my breath as I turned into that Alley. Due to the darkness, I couldn’t properly distinguish objects. The problem was that the Alley split into two paths again…

 

I didn’t need to worry.

 

Crash―

 

Because the Dog had finally transformed into human form and grabbed me by the collar.

 

Riechthofen, who led me to the left Alley, had a frighteningly cold face. It was a face completely in panic, and I could almost hear his heartbeat from here. After listening to the surrounding sounds for a moment, he cast a soundproofing spell and spoke quickly.

 

“Junior, you know.”

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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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