How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 30

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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 (30)

The window that hadn’t appeared after successfully completing the proposal in Chapter 3 has now appeared.

Sometimes you move directly to the next chapter after achieving a proposal, but there are also cases where there’s an interval in between.

Seeing it appear now means I’ve finally entered Chapter 4 in earnest.

It seems like I’m going in the right direction according to the flow.

‘Anyway.’

I need to think about why the development has changed.

From Pleroma’s perspective, the most likely major event significant enough to change the progression would be the appearance of Leo and me.

At this point, one might wonder.

Didn’t the protagonist also go around stirring up the Restricted Area in the novel?

The protagonist hid his identity as royalty and pretended to be a common lower-class noble mage.

He even controlled the amount of reward money he received, considering that he might draw suspicion or attention.

Looking at the results alone, he wasn’t a risk factor from Pleroma’s perspective.

But Leo’s appearance is different.

Leo and the mysterious hunter who uses divine power captured public attention.

Moreover, unlike in the original work, the Chimera creatures were also discovered by the Imperial Palace.

If it’s certain that those guys created the Chimera creatures, then from their perspective, this becomes quite a troublesome situation.

In any case, at this point, there’s only one conclusion.

Since there are variables that could lead to the worst-case scenario, the benefits gained from handling the problem are significant.

If done well, I could completely turn the situation around.

As I was preparing to go outside after finishing my work, the door burst open.

Leo skipped greetings and asked straight away.

“Did you see it?”

“See what.”

Leo held out a bundle of newspapers.

I didn’t need to turn the pages. The first page was already full of stories about Leo and me.

[Prince Leonard of Bavaria Visits Meppen’s Restricted Area]

[Count Nicolaus’s Charity Event by the ‘Blue-Eyed Hunter’]

[Skin Disease Disappeared at His Touch… The Miracle Count Nicolaus Performed in Meppen]

“Simple headlines.”

“…Look how calm you’ve become after experiencing it once before… Local newspaper reporters are swarming outside. They were interviewing people as soon as they came out.”

“Hmm, that’s fortunate.”

“It’ll spread nationwide by tomorrow.”

It would.

They wouldn’t miss Leo’s visit.

And they got a good story to go along with it.

Leo plopped down in the seat in front of me and straightened his clothes.

“So, did you find out anything?”

“The talk started about two weeks ago. Some people said they heard about mosquitoes around October 18th.”

“So it started around then.”

“Right. The patients also appeared around that time, so it wouldn’t be unreasonable to say the insect contamination started then. Whether contaminated or not, there are always creatures escaping the barrier, so there wouldn’t be much difference between the symptom manifestation date and contamination date.”

“That makes sense.”

I handed the newspaper to Leo, who was nodding.

“I looked through local newspapers from two weeks ago. It happened to rain on October 17th too.”

“What a coincidence. You’re saying they chose rainy days for experiments, right?”

“Yeah, that’s the most likely possibility for now.”

It’s time to bring up the hypothesis I briefly considered before and put on hold.

If the hypothesis that they used the Restricted Area as a resurrection experiment site is correct, whether they contaminated the entire region or contaminated insect colonies, they would conduct experiments on rainy days so no evidence would remain.

Especially from a month ago when they learned that Leo and his entourage were entering the Restricted Area, they would have been even more thorough about destroying evidence.

There’s no need to create troublesome situations.

“You seem to believe it happened artificially. Well, if the insects were naturally contaminated, they would have been contaminated long ago.”

“Right.”

Now I need to seriously look for ways to utilize this situation.

I gave appropriate responses and got up from my seat.

“It’s already midnight. Let’s go back.”

* * *

We stopped by the Baron’s Manor to pay our respects, then warped from there to the Barony of Bavaria before moving to school.

It was a decision made in case we might be followed.

‘I didn’t sleep properly, so I’m in terrible condition.’

I downed headache medicine with coffee.

Meanwhile, the classroom was noisier than usual.

“Leo, what was yesterday about?”

“I saw the article! Did you catch magical beasts there again this time?”

“Yeah, after catching them, I briefly stopped by the village.”

“There was an article saying Baron Meppen would give you and Count Nicolaus a plaque of appreciation. Did you hear about it?”

“I didn’t know about that. He must have announced it after we returned to school.”

The story that appeared in local newspapers last night even made it to the Empire’s newspapers today.

[Miracle Performed on 150 People… Count Nicolaus’s Charity Magic]

[9 Families Within the Empire Express Intention to Sponsor Unprecedented Scale Charity Magic Event]

[Who is ‘Blue-Eyed Hunter’ Nicolaus?]

[Baron Meppen: ‘Will Present Plaque of Appreciation and Honorary Citizenship Within This Week’]

These are all article titles I confirmed while passing by today.

I focused on my book while waiting for morning assembly.

But no matter how much I tried to tune it out, it was difficult to completely ignore the boisterous commotion coming from the same classroom.

“What kind of person is he? To be able to use divine power for that long, he must be from a really good family. He’s probably quite old too.”

“How did you get to know him?”

“Narke, do you know someone named Nicolaus? Is he famous in the Papal States?”

“Well, there are many with that name, so I’m not sure.”

Narke responded with a smile.

It’s all fine… but I can’t concentrate because they keep talking about me in the classroom.

I should drink some coffee and focus my mind.

“But is it okay to use magic domestically as a traveler like that? Ah! Of course, he did good deeds, but…”

Leo shook his head at that question.

“He’s a Bavaria citizen. I employed him as a Royal Army mage, so you don’t need to worry about problems arising.”

“I see!”

‘…’

Army?

Since when?

I shot up from my seat. At the sound of the chair scraping, Leo turned his eyes toward me.

Fai, who was in my jacket pocket, suddenly poked his head out.

“What’s wrong, Lucas?”

I’m thinking of getting out of the classroom before I spit the coffee back out.

Just as I passed through the door and came out, a student came running frantically, grabbed the doorframe, and shouted into the classroom.

“Hey! Come down and look, come quickly! You need to see this right now!”

* * *

Now I understand how he convinced the Wittelsbach Family about an unidentified person.

Saying not to worry about problems arising means not to worry because if problems do arise, I’ll be punished under military law.

‘Things suddenly got serious.’

Well, it doesn’t matter since I won’t be going around causing problems anyway.

To live as Nicolaus, I need a guaranteed identity, so gaining kingdom citizenship without any effort is actually beneficial.

I just need to avoid causing trouble.

Fai kept talking to me from inside my jacket pocket.

“Lucas, do you know what I did over the weekend? I tried making a hometown.”

“How do you make something like that….”

“I stacked up tons of stones! And I put flowers there too.”

“I see.”

“Come visit later!”

“Sure, thanks for the invitation.”

I answered Fai’s words almost like a stream of consciousness and checked my watch.

Morning assembly would start soon.

I left the park next to the lecture hall and approached the main gate.

“Aaaahhh!”

Just then, a scream echoed from the completely empty plaza in the distance.

When I approached, I saw a student with crutches had fallen down. The student was muttering various curses.

“Damn rainwater… This probably earned me another two weeks of treatment.”

He seemed to be exaggerating.

Anyway, he showed no signs of surprise or avoidance when he saw me. I sat beside him and helped him up by supporting his shoulder.

The student smiled refreshingly and greeted me.

“Oh, thanks. You saved my life.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“But I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before. What’s your name?”

“Lucas.”

I picked up his crutch and handed it to him.

At my answer, the other person frowned and observed me.

“Hmm, Ascanien? You’ve really changed beyond recognition. You have a better impression than I thought.”

“Have we met before?”

“Even if you don’t know, people know you. Anyway, we’re in the same class now. See you later.”

He smiled with the corners of his mouth raised and waved his hand, then disappeared while moving his crutch energetically.

Same class?

Now?

‘I’ve never seen him before.’

He wasn’t in Luca’s memories either.

Could it be….

The moment I turned around to get another look at him, Fai poked his head out.

“Lucas, aren’t you late?”

“Ah.”

Looking at my watch, I wasn’t late yet.

I climbed the stairs leading into the building. Upon entering the lobby, I could see it was packed with people without room to step.

‘What’s with all these people?’

Even though morning assembly would start soon, everyone seemed to have no intention of leaving.

I approached closer.

A student standing in the center had a bright red face and was grinding his teeth while pressed tightly against the side of the stairs.

Looking at what he was doing, his hands were tied to the stair railing.

‘…Isn’t that a school necktie?’

Familiar purple fabric connected his wrists to the railing.

‘Why can’t he untie that and get out?’

Everyone seemed to have the same thought, as a student who had just arrived like me expressed the same question.

“Is it under a spell? Why can’t he get that off?”

“Yeah. They say it’s no ordinary magic. Even the professors can’t untie it.”

The face of the student caught by the necktie turned red and blue alternately. He shouted angrily at the numerous crowd gathered in a circle watching him.

“Ah, aren’t you leaving?! Get lost! What’s so good about standing around gawking?!”

“Student, stay still while we’re undoing the formula!”

“Who did this?”

“How would I know that? Ah, this is really annoying as hell….”

“Student, once this is untied, follow me to the dean’s office.”

“Ah, shit….”

What a strange guy to encounter.

Seeing him remain at school despite acting so recklessly, he seemed to be a first-year.

It’s best not to worry about someone who’ll be expelled soon anyway.

I ignored the guy and pushed through the crowd to go up the stairs.

Not long after I took my seat, a professor opened the door and appeared.

“Yes… there was a bit of commotion this morning. Don’t pay attention to useless things, and I hope our Department of Magic second-year class 2 students will focus only on their studies.”

The professor cleared his throat and opened the attendance book.

“Agnes Mitchellen.”

“Present.”

“Gert Seiler.”

“Here.”

As the roll call was almost ending and my turn approached, I looked up from my book and straightened my posture.

“Lucas….”

Clunk―!

While everyone was seated, someone leisurely opened the door and appeared.

“Ah, I’m a bit late, aren’t I? Sorry about that.”

Just like when I had entered the classroom at the beginning of the semester, a subtle tension spread among the students.

The student with crutches smiled as he entered, swept his gaze around the classroom, then sat in an empty seat.

From his completely wrinkled uniform shirt to his rain-soaked jacket, nothing about him looked proper.

It was that student I saw earlier.

For some reason, I felt a sense of déjà vu.

‘Not just from seeing him earlier, but for some more fundamental reason….’

Besides just now, I definitely seemed to have encountered him somewhere before.

Then the professor frowned and looked over the student’s appearance.

“Student, where did you leave your necktie?”

“I lent it out. Professor, am I late?”

“You’re fine since I haven’t called your name yet. But what do you mean you lent it out?”

“There was someone who seemed to need it. The way he was screaming was pretty funny. Right?”

“….”

Leo’s face, which had been frowning with displeasure since the student entered, became even more distorted.

The professor also stared at the student blankly and shook his head.

“…Don’t tell me you tied up a first-year student in the lobby?”

“First-year, right? I figured as much seeing he hasn’t been expelled yet.”

“Answer me.”

The student’s face turned serious at the professor’s firm question.

“Yes, that’s right. It was me.”

“You came to school to avoid repeating the year, and now you want to get expelled for school violence?”

The student stared at the professor silently for a while, then shrugged his shoulders.

“He called me a cripple who can’t even walk properly.”

“….”

“I held back from breaking his leg the same way. I wanted to tie up his legs, but he couldn’t sit because of his crutches. Do you know how hurt I was by such harsh words?”

His expression didn’t particularly look that way though.

I alternately looked at his confident smile and the professor’s face, which seemed quite shocked.

“…How did your leg end up like that?”

“I fell from a cliff. I’ve already submitted the medical report to the Professor’s research lab. Fortunately it was shallow, so don’t worry.”

“Whew….”

Endlessly bewildering remarks continued.

As far as I know, no, as far as everyone at this location knows, there’s only one person who would fall from a cliff and injure their leg, then unhesitatingly bind a student’s hands after being humiliated.

And it’s someone not in Luca’s memories.

In our class, there’s a long-term absentee who transferred from Class 1.

In the novel too, there was a long-term absentee who transferred classes.

Since the entire story was written from his perspective, there wasn’t really a feeling that he was absent.

‘No way….’

The Professor, frowning as if troubled, stared silently at him spinning around with a smile, then quietly opened his mouth.

“Follow me after roll call ends. Student Elias.”

“…!”

I unconsciously held my breath.

Hearing his name, I could be completely certain.

That person is the novel’s protagonist.

Ding—!

〈 Chapter 4. Constant Water Drops Pierce Stone (2) 〉

Suggestion 1: Make ‘Elias Hohenzollern’ your ally. (0/1) (23 hours 59 minutes 58 seconds)

* Route 1 — 〈 Suggestion 2 〉

* Route 2 — 〈 Chapter 5. Don’t Praise the Day Before Evening Comes 〉

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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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