How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 290

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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 (290)

 

“….”

 

I forgot to say that I looked forward to working with him too. Instead, I smiled and shook his hand. As soon as I grasped his hand, Leonard blinked rapidly. Judging by where his gaze was directed, he seemed surprised by the magical power he sensed from me.

 

“Well then, Teacher. I’ll see you after class.”

 

The Crown Prince’s secretary said this and disappeared, leading the other servants away.

 

After class ends, I’ll now receive evaluations from both sides. Although the King views me favorably, I’m honestly a bit nervous.

 

“Teacher.”

 

Once everyone had disappeared, Leonard gestured for me to follow him. A typical five-year-old would either drag an adult around or hover nearby, but he didn’t do that.

 

‘…How dignified….’

 

He would have been taught to act like an adult from the moment he started walking, so it’s natural, yet I can see his personality that I know overlapping. This aspect doesn’t seem much different from seventeen-year-old Leo. Of course, I know he’s the same person as seventeen-year-old Leo, but I still can’t believe they’re the same person, so he feels like a separate living being from 17-year-old Leo. And in some sense, that would actually be true.

 

The me from 21st century South Korea and the me from 19th century German Empire are disconnected in one direction.

 

I inherited many things from myself ten years ago, but at the same time, myself from ten years ago is such a different person that I can’t believe he’s a continuous existence with my current self. Whether trapped in someone else’s body or having time reversed, my mind continues moving forward without departing from the unidirectional time axis, and even if I live a 23-year-old life in Luca’s body, I’ll be fundamentally different from my past self who was 23 in my original body, and even if I really return to my 23-year-old body, I can’t be the same as before coming here. The human mind changes under the pressure of time, whether through external or internal experiences. A single drop of water falling from the eaves pierces stone. This person might grow up to become the person I knew, but he also has the possibility of not being able to. I must fundamentally treat this person as a different person. I can’t treat five-year-old Leo the same way I treat seventeen-year-old Leo.

 

‘Of course, gathering information from this period to use on seventeen-year-old Leo is a separate matter.’

 

Anyway, this person being part of that seventeen-year-old Leo remains unchanged. Even if the reverse doesn’t hold true.

 

I sat down at the table in the middle of the garden that Leonard led me to. Only Leo’s chair was a bit higher. When the wind blew, the fragrance of roses in full bloom in the garden brushed past my nose.

 

“Now, since today is the first day, let’s take some time to get to know each other briefly before we begin proper lessons.”

 

Leonard nodded with a smile.

 

“Why does Your Highness like combat magic? I heard your passion is extraordinary.”

 

Actually, I’ve never heard that – I just know from future information. Leonard answered calmly without being flustered.

 

“Because a monarch must be able to protect his subjects.”

 

“A monarch protects his subjects through politics. Your Highness will later sit in the heart of Munich commanding armies instead of going to the battlefield to fight directly. In that sense, it’s correct that Your Highness should be knowledgeable about combat magic, but I heard that Your Highness has particularly strong passion and interest in combat magic compared to other fields like tactics or magical medicine. I want to know the reason for that.”

 

“….”

 

“Please answer honestly. I came here as a teacher. I plan to determine the direction of future lessons based on the reason Your Highness tells me.”

 

“…Magic is….”

 

Leonard finally started looking around as if avoiding the topic, then answered in a shrinking voice while looking elsewhere.

 

“I like it because the light is pretty.”

 

“….”

 

Ah, this is interesting. He’s playing a prank here that he usually couldn’t. How could I hear such words from seventeen-year-old Leo? Even if I did hear it, I’d hear something like ‘I like how it shines when I wave my wand’ in a flat voice.

 

But if I tease him more here, that little kid’s pout will probably come out.

 

“I’m sure you do.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Good. Then rather than separating theory classes and practice, it would be better to connect them immediately.”

 

I could see a bright smile spread across Leonard’s face. Seventeen-year-old Leo only smiles like a class president, and when he’s with us, he’s basically expressionless. He often smiles when wrestling with me in conversation, but that’s not really genuine laughter – it’s mostly sarcastic smiling. This immediate grinning when happy is natural but a reaction that’s hard to see from somewhat older kids.

 

Thinking that, I brought up a question that might sound somewhat out of the blue.

 

“Did you happen to come to my room yesterday?”

 

“…!”

 

The smile immediately disappeared from Leonard’s face. The expression typical of kids who did something wrong appeared. Meaning he turned pale and froze. Leonard answered quietly without taking his gaze off my eyes.

 

“Yes.”

 

He doesn’t lie. That’s just like him. If I asked seventeen-year-old Leo like that, he would have answered annoyingly like ‘I came, so what?’ but this 70-month-old Leo has an interesting reaction. I suppressed my playfulness and asked.

 

“Why?”

 

“…I’ve only learned theoretical magic, so this was my first time having a combat magic mage as a teacher, so I was curious.”

 

Now I see he speaks well and at length. His pronunciation is a bit slurred, but kids are originally like that, so setting that aside, he’s speaking more properly than I expected.

 

“Hmm, so I’m the first. It’s an honor.”

 

Leo seriously got into combat magic after seeing Luca’s magic, so that won’t be for more than half a year from now. Right now is before that, the stage of just getting a taste, so it makes sense that I’m the first.

 

Leonard just smiled at my words, then asked.

 

“I’m curious about something too. What’s that thing on your ear?”

 

For a moment, I felt my blood run cold.

 

The thing on my ear? It’s a location tracker and artifact with a core-beating function. It’s even an artifact containing the magical power of this very child who just asked me about it.

 

But in a world where any mage uses artifacts, what’s the reason for asking about this?

 

Could this be connected to this five-year-old’s core? It can’t be, right? If it is, then I’m currently….

 

“…It’s just an earring.”

 

“It’s an artifact. Did you make it yourself? Or did you get it somewhere?”

 

Leonard corrected my words and asked.

 

From this persistence, I felt it clearly. This is Leo. This is definitely the past of that seventeen-year-old Leo. Instead of answering, I lightly tapped the table with my finger.

 

“Your Highness. Is your core alright by any chance?”

 

“It’s perfectly fine. Why do you ask?”

 

As expected, the quick-witted Leonard grasped that there must be some connection between my hand movement and my question, and followed suit while asking.

 

‘…Thank goodness.’

 

It’s not connected to Leonard’s core here. I won’t be dragged away for the crime of attempting to assassinate royalty.

 

“Just wondering. This artifact was given to me by a friend. More importantly, is there any food you like?”

 

I changed the subject.

 

After that, trivial conversation continued. It was a process I had to go through to capture any student’s heart, regardless of who they were. Still, since he was much younger, that process wasn’t difficult.

 

When I could see Leonard starting to get tired, I brought up a story that would interest him.

 

“Now, shall we try using some magic?”

 

“…! Yes!”

 

As if his energy had been revived, Leonard ran to the clearing on one side of the garden. When I stood in front of him, he pulled out his wand with a confident face and lightly extended it toward me.

 

I touched the light blue magical power spreading through the air with my hand. Even without mixing healing magic, it barely stung. Compared to seventeen-year-old Leo, there’s really no aggression.

 

It’s optimal for magical medicine, but there are many problems for going down the combat magic path he wants.

 

‘He must have worked hard.’

 

Right now, it honestly hurts when I get hit by the magical power Leo unconsciously releases. Didn’t Leo say so directly? Even if it’s magical power suitable for healing magic, aggression remains, so to properly use healing magic, you have to polish and refine it.

 

Leonard was looking at me with a tense face, so I smiled and answered.

 

“Your magical power is clean. Objectively, it’s excellent. Now, before we begin in earnest, did you see my magical power yesterday?”

 

The royal guard had come even before the King arrived, so I wondered if this guy had been sitting there. I heard later that only the royal guard was there and none of the royalty, but I asked just in case.

 

Leonard tensed up, then nodded.

 

“I saw it from far away. But I want to see it in person too.”

 

From far away?

 

Anyway, I understand well. I stood up while rolling my wand in my hand to transform it into a staff.

 

“I’ll show you properly after class. Now, I’m going to launch a light attack. Try dodging it once.”

 

“Yes!”

 

I lightly waved my staff.

 

Leonard panicked, opened his eyes wide, jumped back recklessly, and deployed a barrier.

 

“Ahhh!”

 

Just before my magical power touched the barrier he created, I pulled my staff in the opposite direction and withdrew my magical power. Leonard keenly noticed this, caught his breath, and turned around. I smiled and said.

 

“When there’s a severe difference in magical power amount or skill level, it’s better not to deploy barriers if possible.”

 

“Why, why…?”

 

“Because barriers break easily. Unless you can immediately disperse the magical power of a breaking barrier, you usually can’t, so you suffer secondary damage. Like glass breaking, it becomes like this.”

 

I set up a barrier, then slightly drew on Leo’s magical power surrounding my core to break my barrier. Then I caught the fragments, showed him the broken parts, and immediately scattered them into the air.

 

“They’ll naturally disperse when they can’t maintain their form over time anyway, but by then it’s too late. And even if it doesn’t break, dodging is preferable when possible. Light and sound interfere with your senses.”

 

“Ah….”

 

This was all taught to me by Leo.

 

Now I’m teaching it to another Leo.

 

This feels strange.

 

“For the time being, we’ll only practice dodging attacks with your body first like this. This is the foundation of combat magic.”

 

“…Understood! I want to try again.”

 

“Alright.”

 

Given his age, I expected he might cry when things don’t go his way, but this guy doesn’t do that. It’s because his nature is inherently calm, and his passion for learning is also excellent.

 

The class ended only after two hours had passed.

 

‘What?’

 

Is this really a kid?

 

A 70-month-old concentrated for two straight hours? Isn’t it usually 30-40 minutes at best? Even though he’s 70 months old, New Humanity has far superior stamina compared to Old Humanity, but actually, this kind of thing involves mental strength too, so even New Humanity children can’t train for two whole hours at once.

 

Leonard was looking only at my wand while wiping sweat, though he didn’t seem to be struggling much.

 

“Your Highness. You shouldn’t overexert yourself. Let’s stop here for today.”

 

“Yes.”

 

‘No, I guess it was difficult after all.’

 

That magic maniac usually forces me to do just five more minutes every day, so considering that, this ended much more cleanly than expected.

 

Leonard plopped down in his seat. I offered him the children’s elixir I had received from his secretary.

 

“Please drink this.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Is it fun?”

 

Leonard answered my question with sparkling eyes.

 

“Very much so.”

 

‘How honest…’

 

I nodded and sat beside him, asking trivial questions.

 

“Do you have a unique ability?”

 

“Yes, I do.”

 

Leonard flicked his hand. Then plants grew around where I was sitting.

 

‘Oh, could it be…’

 

Is this Leo still in the period before developing his unique ability? The plants he grew with his ability didn’t crawl up as if to devour people, but simply grew upward.

 

“Your Highness. Would you like to try bending this plant with your unique ability?”

 

“Bend it?”

 

Leonard looked flustered and just waved his hands around as if he couldn’t get the hang of it.

 

I lightly grabbed the plant’s stem and tilted it slightly.

 

“No, like this…”

 

“Huh?”

 

Leonard’s eyes widened. He looked back and forth between me and the plant with a dumbfounded expression.

 

I was doing the same.

 

“…Gasp…!”

 

I belatedly jumped up from my seat. The moment I bent the plant, light green stems grew like vines from the soil around it. Leonard spoke rapidly in broken pronunciation.

 

“T-T-Teacher also has a unique ability…!”

 

“No?!”

 

“Huh?”

 

This isn’t my ability. It’s Leo’s ability – how could this be my ability?

 

I turned around and strode toward the end of the garden. I could hear Leonard calling me from behind. The moment I sat in a corner and placed my hand on the soil, green leaves suddenly sprouted from the brown earth where there had been nothing.

 

I felt like all the skin on my body was turning into goosebumps.

 

‘…This is crazy… Why? Why…? What’s causing this?’

 

Unique abilities can be copied? Wow, this is really exciting. I composed my expression as if nothing had happened and got up to return to Leonard. This wasn’t the time to think about this.

 

“Your Highness. This isn’t my ability.”

 

“Huh? But just now…”

 

“Could it be that Your Highness succeeded in bending the plant?”

 

“But…”

 

“Congratulations. You’re really talented. Keep doing it like that.”

 

I patted Leonard’s shoulder with a smiling face to divert his attention. At this point, he was also confused about whether this was genuine praise.

 

I gathered my scattered soul and brought up another topic to divert his attention.

 

“Today’s lesson ends here, and now we need to wrap up. Is there any magic you’d like to see?”

 

“…! Will you use whatever I request?!”

 

“Well, it’s not difficult.”

 

“Th-then something flashy…”

 

“Hmm.”

 

“Earlier I couldn’t properly appreciate your magic because I was busy dodging. I’d like to watch carefully this time.”

 

“I see…”

 

That’s really like you…

 

‘No, do more. Use more’ – maybe I should take it positively since he’s being polite.

 

What should I do? Covenant magic is the most flashy, but I can’t use it since there’s no content to make a covenant about. If I don’t want to be arrested for attempted regicide, I can’t use highly offensive magic either.

 

Then there’s a perfectly suitable magic. It’s protective magic that uses divine power. I’ll mix mana with it too.

 

I lightly struck down my staff.

 

—For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.

 

Kwaaang—…

 

With the sound of air exploding, blue mana climbed up the staff, shot upward, then spread in all directions. The mana blew my hair backward.

 

At the same time, Leonard opened his mouth. His sky-blue eyes were glowing blue.

 

“It’s like fire.”

 

“Is it?”

 

“It’s like looking at blue fire.”

 

“…”

 

I nodded. Then the light of divine power covered that spot, flowing on the wind to Leonard and me. Leonard was gazing around the brightly glowing garden in a daze. He caught the gradually dissipating divine power in his hands. Then he looked up and stared at me intently before saying:

 

“Please use it one more time.”

 

“…”

 

For a moment, I felt a chill at the back of my neck. His eyes remained the same. Those frighteningly bright pupils weren’t looking at my eyes, but at what was inside my eyes. Surely this same gaze was still alive twelve years later.

 

To think this gaze had been there since this period – his passion for magic is certainly real.

 

I sat down to match his eye level and suddenly flared mana in my hand. This time too, those eyes turned blue like a summer sky. Leonard muttered without taking his eyes off my magic:

 

“Could there be another mage in the world who uses magic like this?”

 

“There is. He’s around Your Highness’s age, and I’d like to introduce you.”

 

“There is?!”

 

“Yes. Try to become friends when you meet. You can play with that friend later.”

 

“‘Later’?”

 

“Because you’ll meet someday.”

 

Perhaps this wasn’t what he meant to ask, as Leo shook his head.

 

“What about you, Teacher?”

 

“You’ll study with me too, but when Your Highness goes to school, you won’t need a private tutor. The school Your Highness will attend is a boarding school, so it will be difficult to assign a private tutor. Play with that friend then.”

 

“…”

 

“Of course, that’s still far off, so for now you must focus on my lessons and improve your skills. Do you understand?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Leonard nodded with a face lost in other thoughts. His expression was slightly dark.

 

Three days passed like that.

 

I had a feeling something was wrong. What was the problem with those last words? That’s the only thing bothering me now.

 

I’m moving around various parts of the manor garden to avoid the five-year-old chasing me. For the past three days, Leonard has tried to come to me after lessons and stick to me like gum. No, actually he often tried to skip even the lessons.

 

‘Kids are usually a bit like that.’

 

I also have experience teaching students, though briefly. When both teacher and student are young and there’s an appropriate age gap, students sometimes regard their teacher as a friendly older sibling. This is possible because the student is good-natured and young.

 

So I already expected it. That he would follow me around to some extent. But there should be limits – this exceeded my expectations.

 

‘There must have been something at the end. This guy who would react this way just to mana… well, he would, but the degree is too severe.’

 

I really feel like I don’t even have 8 hours to myself per day. There’s a separate nanny – that New Humanity secretary who was attached to Leonard was the person doing the childcare – but I feel like I’ve taken on that job too.

 

I also want to be alone gradually.

 

Still, during that time I achieved the 24-hour proposal, so I raised the time differential level again. Now 1 hour here is 2 minutes outside. 24 hours is 48 minutes. Since it’s flowing much faster than when I was in Pleroma’s world, I have no intention of raising it further. If I stayed here 100 days but less than a day passed outside, that would create too much disparity, and 1 day to 48 minutes is sufficient to achieve my goal of advancing the birthday celebration. The King’s birthday celebration is now about ten days away, so even if only about 8 hours pass outside, it’s fine.

 

I cast stealth magic and lay down in the forest behind the Crown Prince’s Palace. The coldness transmitted to my head feels refreshing.

 

Crack—

 

The sound of a tree branch breaking came from right beside me. It’s a person. When I raised my head, I saw a familiar face.

 

‘…This person.’

 

“You shouldn’t say things like that to kids~”

 

Emanuel Wittelsbach was looking down at me with a grin. Unlike when I saw him before, he was wearing a casual shirt with no trace of formality. He really is the same type as Elias after all.

 

More importantly, why is he here? How did he know I was here?

 

As I tried to break the stealth magic and get up, Emanuel waved his hand dismissively.

 

“No, please lie down. I know you’re resting after a long time, so I’m sorry. More than that… hahaha, he went to His Highness that day and cried all day long.”

 

He’s telling me this story when we’ve only met once?

 

More than that… I know well who cried. If it had been 17-year-old Leo, I wouldn’t have felt that sorry—17-year-olds don’t cry over things like that in the first place—but since he’s 5, I feel bad.

 

“It wasn’t something worth crying over.”

 

“Kids understand everything even when they seem like they don’t. Didn’t His Highness the Crown Prince say they’d have to part when he goes to school?”

 

That was the meaning, yes.

 

When I couldn’t answer, Emanuel Wittelsbach smiled leisurely and pointed to his own eye area.

 

“His Majesty the King must have suffered so much that his dark circles came down to here. What if he presents you with a lifetime contract agreement for Kingdom Mages now?”

 

“…That would be a bit…”

 

Emanuel Wittelsbach nodded as if agreeing with my words and opened the bottle. He tilted the bottle toward me, asking if I wanted a drink.

 

“Thank you, but I’m fine.”

 

Emmanuel nodded and took a drink. Then he wiped his mouth and spoke.

 

“It’s hard to see kids, isn’t it? Even if you’re leaving soon, you can’t tell them the truth. You have to talk as if you’ll play with them for life.”

 

“…”

 

“Later, they get distracted by other things and there comes a time when they don’t care whether you leave or not. That’s when you can leave naturally.”

 

Someday that Leonard will also see Luca’s magic. By then, his level of interest might drop.

 

“I see. But do you think I’m going to leave, Your Highness Emmanuel?”

 

“The private tutor position seems like you’ll quit soon.”

 

“I have no intention of quitting.”

 

“You don’t seem like you’ll stay in the kingdom long either… Though it doesn’t seem like you’ll go to another country forever, I don’t know why I get this feeling.”

 

He didn’t pay attention to my words and just said what he wanted to say. Emanuel Wittelsbach took another drink and asked quietly.

 

“You came here looking for someone.”

 

I turned my eyes to look up at him.

 

Emanuel Wittelsbach’s eyes, half-closed with a gentle smile, were darkened under the forest shade.

 

“What’s the reason for looking for someone from the Austria-Hungary Empire?”

 

“…”

 

Can level 3 insight ability know even this much? If it’s ‘insight ability’ and not precognition, what are the chances of that? What does this question mean? Even if not a definite hypothesis, aren’t several plausible hypotheses being formed?

 

I sat up and tilted my head.

 

“It seems Your Highness knows this person.”

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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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