How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 29

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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 (29)

I wrapped magic power around my gloves and placed my hand on the dirt ground.

The ants that had been wandering around changed direction and scurried about, then began climbing up onto my glove all at once.

Even after I shook my hand once, the ants climbed up my hand again.

“The ants are contaminated too?”

“Yeah.”

Contaminated insects didn’t appear even during the Protagonist’s visit. The Protagonist had surveyed several Restricted Areas while hiding his identity, but back then he just happily went around beating up contaminated vertebrates.

“Good thing we came. Let’s find out why the insects are contaminated.”

“You don’t think they experimented on insects either?”

“There are several possibilities.”

Would there be a reason to specifically catch moths and ants to take them for experiments? And not just one or two, but entire groups?

Of course, there might be reasons we don’t know about, but it’s more reasonable to assume the entire region has been contaminated.

I found a spot without ants and swept the dirt. The soil didn’t separate but clumped together stickily between my fingers.

“It’s quite moist.”

“The rain probably hasn’t dried yet. There’s also a wetland nearby.”

This makes things difficult.

With the trace amounts of magic power that remained after being washed away by water, I can’t tell if this came from contaminated animals or if it’s evidence of an attempt to contaminate the region itself.

“Let’s go to the Swamp.”

After walking for a while and catching a pile of contaminated rats along the way, we finally reached the Swamp.

When I sat on the embankment and put my hand in the Swamp, a different current from before swirled around my fingertips.

Leo muttered.

“Even the soil here isn’t in proper condition. It’s amazing it hasn’t spread further.”

“The Swamp must be the source.”

This was the case in the novel too.

I got up and walked along the Swamp that stretched out like a stream.

Sure enough, with each step I took, I could see contaminated animals lying dead with their bodies half-submerged in the Swamp.

I sat on the embankment again, placed my wand on the Swamp’s surface, and purified it by channeling divine power.

Unless we uproot the demonic beast, I’ll have to purify it periodically, but I should at least do this much for now.

The problem is why insects are contaminated unlike in the novel, when the Swamp remains the same.

This ultimately means the insects weren’t contaminated by the Swamp.

‘The novel is already starting to change bit by bit.’

Now, I’ve gathered all the information I can get here.

“Leo, let’s head back.”

“Already?”

“I want to do some investigation. Animals occasionally break through barriers, so insects should be able to do it too.”

“Since this is a low-level Restricted Area… they could definitely break through.”

Leo answered nonchalantly, then couldn’t close his mouth and furrowed his brow.

“There must have been times when biting insects went outside and caused trouble. Let’s find out when there were problems.”

* * *

“Strange symptoms?”

“Yes, has anyone complained of abnormal symptoms within the past month? Unknown illnesses or sudden pain that was briefly experienced and then disappeared would be good. Besides that, if there are any stories about insects or bugs, please tell me everything even if it seems trivial.”

Having returned to the Office, I opened the notebook I brought and prepared to write down the Caretaker’s words.

“Nothing particularly like that… Oh, if it’s about bugs, I did hear complaints about mosquitoes flying around in cold weather. They were really complaining about why autumn mosquitoes are itchier than summer ones.”

Since This Location is at the northernmost tip of the Empire, it already shows winter-like weather from the last week of October.

It’s not suitable for mosquitoes to survive.

“Is there anything else?”

“Within my knowledge, no.”

I closed my notebook and stood up.

“Thank you for your answer. Then I’d like to look around the Village for a bit…”

At that moment, before I could finish speaking, the door burst open.

People in uniforms entered and lined up along one wall.

At their visit, the Caretaker stood up with a frozen expression and hesitated.

The people bowed respectfully toward Leo.

“Welcome to Meppen, Your Highness the Crown Prince of Bavaria.”

* * *

“…This is awkward.”

When the other party briefly stepped away, Leo muttered at a volume only I could hear.

He really did look flustered.

This was because he always avoided telling anyone about visiting places to prevent such situations.

Those who suddenly barged in were people from the local Baron’s Manor.

Since the baron was away from the region on military business, his assistants came here to pay respects to the noble visiting the region.

To hear their story as well, we moved to the Baron’s Manor as they suggested.

I had tea with the assistant and brought up the same question I had asked the Caretaker earlier.

The assistant stroked his chin and drew out his words.

“Strange symptoms… Well. One of the servants in this manor has had worsening skin disease.”

“Since when?”

“I heard it’s been like that for two weeks.”

“Has he ever been bitten by bugs?”

“It happened after that, but there was also talk of blisters from bedbug bites that are still lingering. I knew because I introduced him to a doctor the day before yesterday.”

I nodded and wrote down the details in my notebook.

‘This will be hard to figure out.’

Everyone would just brush off minor symptoms, making them difficult to remember specifically.

“Was there any problem in the contaminated area?”

“I’m just investigating. Thank you.”

Then, someone knocked on the door, entered, and said.

“Count Heinz has arrived.”

“Ah, I’ll step out for a moment. Please make yourselves comfortable.”

“Yes.”

After the assistant left, silence followed.

I looked over what I had written and spoke to Leo.

“This isn’t easy.”

“Right. There are many suspicious stories, but it’s hard to be certain they were caused by contaminated insects.”

“Hmm…”

What should we do.

Then Leo immediately continued.

“Let’s go around the Village now. If insects came out this far, they would have already reproduced long ago. We need to find out where they reproduced and if there are signs of contamination.”

“That’s the only way.”

We have to return to School in a few hours, so we need to move quickly.

I stood up, then immediately stopped.

When Leo didn’t hear my footsteps, he turned around.

“What’s wrong?”

“Leo, you’ll have to go alone.”

“What now. What about you?”

“I have something to do here.”

There’s a much more efficient method than going around directly.

* * *

“Count Nicolaus, it’s already over 100 people.”

“Please close it here.”

I couldn’t keep being called an attendant or blue-eyed Hunter, so I created an alias.

I obtained one of the rooms in the Old Monastery that is currently being used as a School.

‘…No, it’s hard to even call this a room.’

It was a room, but… you could gather about 500 people here and give a speech.

They gave me an unnecessarily large space when all I needed was one desk and two chairs.

“Ah, ah.”

….

As expected, it echoes.

I immediately stood up and requested a different room.

The vassal of the baron, who had been smiling proudly beside me, looked flustered and guided me to a room on the opposite side of the corridor.

It was about the size of one classroom, with a reception table and chairs placed inside.

“This is good. I’ll take this one.”

“Are you sure it’s alright to have you in such a cramped place….”

“I like this much better than that previous place.”

They probably wanted to choose a place that would photograph well for media coverage, but I couldn’t conduct a proper investigation in a place where every sound echoed.

The vassal nodded half-heartedly with a disappointed look.

“Then Count Nicolaus, I’ll bring them in now.”

“Yes.”

Shortly after, an old man carefully opened the door and sat in front of me with an impressed expression. Then he clasped his hands together and muttered something.

“Thank you, thank you, teacher. God’s blessing will be upon you.”

“…Ah, yes. Thank you.”

I couldn’t hide my confusion and barely managed to answer.

It’s a bit bewildering, but there’s a reason he’s saying such things.

The people here have no opportunity to encounter magic except from outsiders, and they have even less access to divine power.

And I’m planning to purify people with divine power from now on.

It was a decision to draw in those who had experienced strange changes recently.

Of course, there would also be those who aren’t sick but want to receive purification from a cleric—since I use divine power, they regard me as such—at least once.

Actually, I was aiming for that, so there’s no problem.

If I focused on treatment, it could act as a psychological barrier for those experiencing mild symptoms, so it’s better to frame it as religious charitable work rather than magical medicine.

When I had met over fifty people, I requested a break and briefly examined my records.

‘One case of skin disease from ticks, four people bitten by mosquitoes.’

The tick case wasn’t a problem.

But the latter needs attention.

They said they were bitten by mosquitoes two weeks ago, their skin turned purple like a bruise, then returned to normal after two days.

“Let’s start again.”

I swallowed a headache pill and called out.

A little later, a young man came in carrying a baby in his arms.

“Hello, teacher.”

“What brings you here?”

“The skin condition isn’t very good. It’s not me, but I’d like you to take a look at my child.”

He showed me the baby.

‘Hmm.’

The skin had turned a sickly blue-green color that was hard to look at, and pus had accumulated in the joint creases.

Just by the color, it’s similar symptoms to the person who said they were bitten by mosquitoes earlier.

“We’ve been seeing doctors for a week now, but no medicine seems to work. They say it needs to be treated with magical medicine, but the cost is an issue….”

After reciting the purification formula in my head, I infused divine power into the baby’s pulse. The blue energy drained from one arm and gradually returned to its original skin color.

The young man, who had looked gloomy the entire time, furrowed his brow and took a deep breath.

“…!”

“It really does seem likely to be a problem caused by magic power.”

I controlled my strength to avoid damaging the organs, but when I slowed down just a little, the blue energy spread across the skin again.

Only after a long struggle did I succeed in removing all the contaminated magic power from the body.

The young man clutched his now-healthy baby and shouted.

“Thank you! Thank you so much. I don’t know how I can repay this….”

“Just answer my questions. Have you seen any mosquitoes?”

“Mosquitoes? Yes. This year they didn’t die and are still alive even now. No, I should say we thought they were dead but they appeared again…. So last week the villagers gathered together and turned the area around the river upside down.”

“When did the mosquito talk start?”

“I don’t remember exactly, but I think it was around Saint Luca’s feast day.”

Mid-October.

That means about two weeks ago.

This is the same story from the fifth person.

“That’s detailed enough. So, did they decrease?”

“No. There aren’t that many coming out anyway, so people said to just leave them alone. Even after working on the river, nothing particularly changed….”

That won’t work.

I couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh.

Right now, instead of working on the wetlands around the river, they need to burn down that entire restricted area.

I didn’t think much of skin color changing for a day or two, but seeing the baby’s condition changed my mind a bit.

‘If this is used well, it could spread very widely.’

It’s quite useful.

Of course, from Pleroma’s perspective.

What if, after experimenting, instead of contaminated magic power residue, they could load the drugs or magic used in experiments directly onto insects?

Or if they could contaminate magic power dozens of times stronger than now and use it as a weapon?

For Pleroma, it would be the greatest fortune and a turning point that determines the cult’s great success, and from the Empire’s perspective, it would mean offering the country as a resurrection experiment table to some pseudo-religious group trying to find the formula for eternal life.

‘The scale is bigger than I thought.’

And that means there’s a lot to gain from solving this large-scale problem.

I’m not interested in the Empire’s safety when they handle affairs this way, but it’s worth trying to solve.

If done well, I could make it Nicolaus’s first achievement to solidify his support base.

Ding―!

‘Route 1 ― 〈Chapter 4. Constant Drops Wear Away the Stone (2)〉’ begins.

「 Chapter 4. Constant Drops Wear Away the Stone (2) 」

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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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