How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 25

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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 (25)

I turned around, locked the door, and unfolded the letter.

Dark green letters written with magic slowly continued, as if Hyung was holding a pen right now.

[To my beloved younger brother.]

[How have you been? It’s already been two months since the new semester started.]

It was the same beginning as before.

I felt strength entering my hands as I looked down at the letters with cold eyes.

Concerned greetings that brothers with a large age gap would exchange continued, and then the main point appeared.

[I heard the news that you ranked within the top 10 of your department in the midterm exams. I can’t tell you how proud and happy I was. I’ve always felt since childhood that you were a clever child, and seeing that you haven’t changed despite any hardships and have maintained your childhood appearance makes my heart swell beyond words.]

I want to tell him to stop putting on airs.

I smiled and turned to the next page.

[But at the same time, there’s a part that worries me. You’ve been a sincere child who never disappoints everyone’s expectations since childhood. Even with poor health, you always made constant efforts not to worry us. I’m concerned that perhaps I brought up grades for no reason, that perhaps my request made you feel burdened and focus only on studying without taking care of your body.]

[I’m not criticizing your achievements and efforts. I probably can’t even imagine the countless agonies and patience you’ve endured. However, if you’re feeling burdened by your brother’s words, I’m writing this letter to tell you that there’s no need for that. Your brother always thinks of your health as the top priority.

It’s still relatively warm here, but I heard the capital has gotten much colder. Always take care of your health, and contact me anytime if you need anything. Let’s meet again in good health on the day we reunite.

Once again, I sincerely congratulate you on the results of your efforts. May God’s blessing always be with you.]

[— With sincerity, your brother.]

“…Haha…”

I laughed with a deflating sound.

I reattached the seal to the letter envelope and put the letter deep in the drawer.

The content of the letter isn’t important.

Only the fact that a letter came from him is important.

Soon, I need to prepare to counter Hyung’s movements.

* * *

Let me list what Hyung can do.

From the most extreme and impossible things to minor but feasible ones.

First, come to kill me right away.

Impossible. Abandoning his current work and coming to kill me during the semester would be too burdensome.

Second, send someone to kill me.

That won’t happen.

Hyung is a terrible perfectionist and doesn’t want to leave even a speck of dust in this matter.

The possibility of Hyung entrusting the task of killing me to someone else’s hands is extremely low, and even if he hired someone to kill me, he’s the type who would only be satisfied after killing that assassin when they returned from completing the job.

Even their relatives and colleagues, everyone.

Third, orchestrate a new incident like in childhood to further damage my image.

It’s difficult to realize due to the physical distance, and Hyung has never orchestrated incidents on such a large scale outside the estate.

He wouldn’t choose this unless he deemed it absolutely necessary.

Fourth, actively seek information.

This is most likely. Hyung has probably already heard my news and investigated everything about Ascanien mentioned in the media.

He’s probably carefully judging whether he should kill me or if it’s not to that extent yet.

At this time, considering Luca’s characteristic of unconditionally following whatever Hyung says, he might have left several possibilities open, and therefore judged that killing me now would be premature.

Even if he chose to safely just kill me regardless, the situation isn’t favorable, so the first and second routes would be immediately discarded.

So the best method Hyung can use right now is the fourth: creating a surveillance network within the school.

Reaching the 2nd Year Lecture Hall of the Magic Department, I passed the classroom and headed to the Central Special Class.

Students who had been hanging around in the Lounge Area in Front of the Special Class stopped talking and glanced at me as soon as I showed my face.

“Those people are looking at Lucas, right?!”

Fai asked while closing his mouth again.

This guy has been constantly hoping for people to pay attention to him. Anyway, thanks to Narke’s concealment magic, others can’t see him.

I answered with laughter instead and opened the door to the Magic Department Special Class.

The Special Class classroom I was visiting for the first time was spacious.

This was because they had given up two lecture halls that accommodate fifty people just for ten people.

With few desks and people, the outside scenery was refreshingly revealed through windows that occupied one wall.

The eyes of nine people already seated turned to me.

Melvin jumped up from his seat cheerfully without reading the room.

“Hi…! Ahem…”

Seeing my expression full of questions, Melvin cleared his throat, stretched, and sat back down.

Narke, who had been showing confusion with wide eyes, bit his lips tightly while holding back laughter.

Since yesterday’s meeting, Melvin’s favorability had rapidly increased to +3.

He seemed to like the analysis materials about Pleroma that I had organized. With the start of full-scale activities, any remaining suspicions would have completely disappeared.

I ignored both of them and asked calmly.

“Does anyone know where my seat is?”

“Next to me!”

Narke patted the seat next to him.

I put down my luggage and inserted books into the bookshelf.

Then, an unfamiliar voice was heard.

“Lucas.”

Leo’s eyes, who had been thoroughly ignoring us and concentrating on studying, reflexively turned to the owner of the voice.

Narke was the same.

I turned around to look at him. A tall student with a very confident expression extended his hand.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Christel Klaiber.”

I shook hands lightly without making any particular expression.

Since it was a name I hadn’t heard during roll call, he must be a Class 1 student.

‘A Class 1 student is acting familiar with me?’

This is surprising.

“I was very curious after hearing the news that you entered the Special Class, and meeting you directly like this feels fresh. Let’s get along well from now on.”

“Sure. Please take care of me.”

I answered his words with an appropriate smile.

This would be a perfectly ordinary situation for normal students, but not for Luca. It’s absolutely not a situation that can be called ordinary.

‘Let me check the situation.’

When lunchtime came, I went to the School Cafeteria for the first time in a while to observe the situation.

“Wow, everyone here is looking at Lucas~!”

Fai climbed onto my shoulder, stood on two legs, and quickly turned his head around.

As Fai said, I was able to receive tremendous bombardment of gazes here.

Students glanced at me throughout my meal.

Occasionally, words like Ascanien or Lucas flowed into my ears.

‘I’m sure it wasn’t to this extent based on my memories from last semester.’

No, even until right before the midterm exams, they didn’t stare at people like animals in a zoo to this extent. Rather, they would avoid eye contact and leave if anything.

‘That Class 1 guy wasn’t being unusual.’

Certainly, after becoming a second-year and after the midterm exams ended, students’ interest had grown.

When I brought up this topic after arriving at the Training Ground, Leo provided a clear answer.

“A lot of kids are interested in you these days.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, even among my friends, there are some thinking about trying to talk to you once. Well, it’s more curiosity than really wanting to become close.”

Curiosity? Laughter burst out.

“What about Pleroma? How complacent.”

“That’s how shocking your change was. Honestly, if you were the last in the entire school and suddenly became top 10%, wouldn’t you be interested? And… the reason kids avoided you wasn’t just because of Pleroma rumors.”

I acknowledge that.

As I thought on the first day of school, there are various reasons why students openly avoid me.

First, for entering through donation admission despite not being able to use magic.

Second, because of Pleroma rumors.

Third, because students with good standing at school like Leo dislike me.

Of course, this isn’t everything.

A friend who always trails off when speaking, has a completely disheveled appearance, and walks around with hunched shoulders—if there’s no special connection, not wanting to go out of your way to befriend them is also a reason.

If we count four reasons total, the first and last reasons have already been resolved.

I’m still known for being unable to use magic, and the fact that I got in through a donation admission hasn’t changed… but now that I’ve crushed most students with my written exam scores, those points don’t hold much meaning.

Leo added to his response based on my reaction.

“Of course, I’m not saying your rumors have disappeared completely. It’s just… you know. ‘Anyway, seeing how he even raised his grades this time, he must really be planning to go to university, so surely he won’t pull any crazy stunts.’ You get the feeling? There’s also talk that Ascanien won’t stay quiet.”

“I see.”

It clearly shows their narrow-mindedness in assuming that just because they’ve staked their lives on college entrance, others must be doing the same. Anyway, I welcome the fact that negative emotions are turning into curiosity.

“Naturally, there are more friends who fear that you might win people’s hearts and turn them into Pleroma. But the proportion of friends I mentioned earlier has also grown to a level that can’t be ignored.”

“That’s fortunate. It’s a good thing. But…”

I ran my hand through my hair and continued.

“Except for one thing. Hyung sent me a letter today.”

Leo froze for a moment with his mouth open, then stroked his chin.

“Things got complicated.”

“Right, I can’t easily figure out who among the people approaching me or showing interest is Hyung’s spy.”

“Do you think your brother has already assigned someone, or are you saying that’s going to happen soon?”

“Well.”

Today, when the letter arrived, is already a week after the ranking announcement.

From Hyung’s perspective, there’s no reason to delay gathering information any longer.

‘But given his cautiousness, it would take time to select someone to use as a spy.’

The letter was sent this past Tuesday.

That means he only obtained the information a few days ago.

I stood up from my seat.

“I can find out by checking. If there’s a spy at School right now, someone other than me would have received Hyung’s mail today.”

“You’re going to the post office? They won’t readily tell someone who’s neither the recipient nor sender about delivery status.”

“They won’t tell me. That’s fine.”

I could feel Leo looking at me incredulously.

I put Fai, who was playing in Leo’s bag, into my jacket pocket and checked my watch.

8:57.

All School facilities close at 10 o’clock.

There’s plenty of time.

* * *

“Hello.”

I entered the Campus Post Office tucked away in the corner of the left side of campus.

Fortunately, there were no people around, and only one staff member.

The employee, who had been left alone writing something in a ledger with dead eyes, pulled his chair slightly back with even more sunken eyes when I sat at the counter.

I pretended not to notice that reaction and brought up the topic with a troubled expression.

“It seems like there might be something missing from the mail I should have received. Could I check how many pieces of mail came addressed to me from a specific sender?”

“Yes, please tell me.”

“Adrian Ascanien.”

He nodded and pulled out a file folder. Whether he already knew my name without me telling him, he didn’t ask me any questions. He seemed like he didn’t want to initiate conversation.

I waited for a while, watching his quick hand movements.

The employee drew lines through names with a short pointer, then stopped his hand at one entry.

“We delivered one letter to you this morning, right? That’s all there is.”

“Ah, I heard there was something else, but that’s not addressed to me?”

The employee looked at the entry he was pointing to again and shook his head.

“Yes.”

“I understand. There must have been some confusion. Thank you.”

I left the post office with a puzzled expression. Fai suddenly poked his head out of my jacket pocket.

“What was that just now? Why the confusion?! Did you make a mistake?”

“No, I had something to confirm.”

I shook my head with a slight smile.

Leo’s point was valid.

If I had asked whether Adrian Ascanien sent other mail to School and who received it, the employee wouldn’t have answered.

There’s no reason to inform a third party about mail sent between others.

So I used leading questions.

If there hadn’t been anything else sent by Adrian Ascanien, the employee wouldn’t have answered “yes” so cleanly.

But by affirming my question, he clearly indicated that other mail exists, and it’s not even addressed to me.

Hyung sent mail to someone at Imperial 2nd Education Institute.

For what purpose?

Obviously to receive reports about me.

The surveillance would have started today.

In that case, I need to find out who received the letter from now on.

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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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