How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 315

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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 (315)

 

Along with the sound of a corpse falling, a revolver was placed in my hand.

 

Magical power flowed from the cylinder, suggesting the cartridge was an artifact. I stared at the chunk of metal that had just killed a person, then slowly raised my head to look at the one who had handed it to me. The sight of the 98th Unit mages watching to see what I would do flashed across my vision.

 

“Three shots left, why don’t you give it a try. You need to practice breaking through Vitriol too.”

 

Mecklenburg’s words buzzed and scattered in my ears.

 

“…”

 

As if killing a person wasn’t enough, now they wanted me to practice shooting at the corpse.

 

These people had no intention of rescuing anyone. Neither the government nor the 98th Unit. What had happened to all the people they’d handled so far? They would have only dealt with Grade 4 and below, so maybe they hadn’t killed them.

 

“It would be good to practice when the opportunity presents itself. When the Vitriol scatters from the first shot, you need to fire twice in succession, and while you may have trained with single action during basic military training at the 3rd Education Institute, that won’t work here where Vitriol recovers in seconds. Fortunately, you’re all new humans, so you have an advantage in terms of speed over anyone else.”

 

No one answered, so silence flowed. Mecklenburg’s amber eyes, Elias beside him, the 98th Unit watching our reactions. The burst Vitriol and dark red blood… Blood had flowed all the way to the toe of my boots. Until then, we hadn’t said a single word. Because there was so much to say, we couldn’t utter even one word. What these people needed wasn’t a word or two of rebuke, shouting, and anger.

 

“Can’t you hear me?”

 

“…”

 

I looked once more at the revolver in my hand, no one else’s. I now recalled the fact that some of the 98th Unit were the same age as Adrian Ascanien. Before that, I had thought about the dead rampage victim and why they had taken a leisurely 10 minutes, and now I understood what the hospital nurse meant when she said ‘please make sure there’s no sound.’

 

The 98th Unit was busy watching their weak juniors. They must be happy to be able to legitimately establish discipline. The dead person was not in their consideration.

 

“We should end it here for today. I suppose I’ve asked too much of mages who just started working.”

 

Mecklenburg’s voice was clearly etched.

 

This wouldn’t be just their problem. The fact that they showed murder so casually to juniors they were seeing for the first time meant this method was a shortcut that the government, if not officially recommending, was turning a blind eye to. They wouldn’t consider this murder and would really think it was a ‘good method’ as they said.

 

I felt the smell of blood actually calming my breathing, and at the same time felt my magical power reacting to that smell as I looked into Mecklenburg’s eyes.

 

“How are your impressions?”

 

Mecklenburg, who had been taking out a signal device, looked around as if incredulous and pointed to himself.

 

“Are you asking for my impressions now?”

 

“That’s right. I asked His Excellency Albert Mecklenburg.”

 

“Everyone survived safely, so I’m satisfied. And since this is your first time, let me patiently advise you that asking questions first when you weren’t given the opportunity to ask might not be viewed favorably by others.”

 

He glanced at me and my friends, then smiled.

 

“Looking at your expressions, you seem quite resistant, but I think we’ll soon need to help our precious 101st Unit juniors use the most economical and rational methods.”

 

I understand.

 

Soon he would call us out under the pretext of establishing discipline. If we didn’t improve efficiency despite being ‘helped,’ he would consider it insubordination. So there was no reason for me to shoot the corpse in the first place. If you believe that following their unreasonable orders would prevent us from being harassed, that’s the idealistic thinking of someone who has never experienced military discipline. Our 101st Unit was destined to be tormented by the 98th Unit no matter what we did, and for the situation to improve, we’d have to either wait for the 102nd Unit to arrive or endure some time of absolute obedience to the 98th Unit’s words until they lost interest or acknowledged us.

 

Mecklenburg spread his hand and politely pointed to me as he asked.

 

“So, I’d like to hear what your impressions are now.”

 

“How kind of you to ask for my opinion too.”

 

My friends across from me looked at me with terror-stricken eyes. Only now could I see that. I turned my gaze away from them and answered.

 

“It was the most short-sighted behavior I’ve ever seen or heard in my life.”

 

The air became cold as ice. I slowly looked around at the hardening expressions of the 98th Unit members except for Mecklenburg. Engraving each of those expressions in my mind, I opened my mouth.

 

“Turn back.”

 

* * *

 

“…Actually, forget about the 98th Unit, we haven’t even met the 100th Unit seniors, haven’t been to the Special Operations Command, and haven’t heard about how the special whatever system works.”

 

I heard Elias’s words from earlier. I could see the expression of a civil servant who seemed to be tolerating us because we were from ruling families, though annoyed.

 

Leo, who had been walking ahead, turned toward me briefly, then looked forward and walked again. His face was pale. Looking at his coldly pressed lips and tense eyes, I couldn’t help but feel that it was an expression filled with anger.

 

I too found it difficult to maintain coherent thoughts, but there were things I needed to know now, so I had to suppress my emotions.

 

“When will firearms be issued?”

 

“…”

 

When I asked suddenly, my friends’ surprised gazes turned to me. They would wonder why we needed to be issued human weapons, and I wasn’t certain they would necessarily be issued either.

 

First, what did I need to know?

 

I should first find out if it was true that ‘everyone’ did this, as Albert Mecklenburg said.

 

The civil servant glanced back with a puzzled face, wondering when I had heard that news, then answered.

 

“If you write a request form, we’ll give it to you right away.”

 

“Do many people use them?”

 

“I’ve heard that some people carry them for protection when dealing with high-risk rampage victims. Because you could die at the hands of a rampage victim if something goes wrong.”

 

“For protection. So they’re only used in unavoidable situations?”

 

“According to regulations, of course.”

 

“…”

 

According to regulations. The word regulations was laughable.

 

“Is there a procedure to verify appropriate use?”

 

“No.”

 

The civil servant answered briefly. Then he continued in a flat voice.

 

“Use your discretion.”

 

Kill at your discretion.

 

I understood perfectly. As expected, the state was also an accomplice.

 

“How many cartridges can we receive at once?”

 

“I believe 30 rounds per person are distributed monthly.”

 

Should I praise them for setting limits? Now even obvious things seemed very grateful. They said you need to shoot three times earlier, so with what one person receives, you could handle 10 reports. If there are at least five people per team, that’s 50 reports. That’s the calculation for shooting exactly three times, so even if we safely cut it in half, 25 times means most reports coming to one team in a month could be ended by killing. The civil servant seemed annoyed with me now too and blocked further questions.

 

“Even if you ask me more, I only handle report assignment paperwork, so I don’t know much.”

 

“Yes, I see.”

 

I answered soullessly and looked toward the Victory Column. It wasn’t just the 98th Unit’s problem, but it was clearly a predetermined future that they would soon kill people. Even if we turned back time and avoided meeting the 98th Unit altogether, they would commit murder in that five-story general store and call us out someday. Running away wouldn’t solve anything.

 

I pulled Leo back and cast a sound-blocking spell. But Leo opened his mouth first before I could say anything.

 

“Right after the first shot, I’ll do it.”

 

“…”

 

I couldn’t not know what he meant to do in this situation. I neither affirmed nor denied, just looked ahead and walked.

 

Leo’s opinion was the same as mine. Usually we thought we were really different, but every time like this, I realized again why he and I were friends. In the end, where we looked was ultimately not so different.

 

Instead of answering yes to his response, I changed the subject slightly.

 

“Our affiliation has changed too, and I wonder if we might end up in the brig at this rate.”

 

“Hmm, your way of thinking is a bit like soldiers.”

 

“…”

 

He was saying how could I worry about that as a member of a ruling family during peacetime. At Leo’s—completely unmalicious—royal-like remark, I was at a loss for words, and at the same time, thanks to his words, I was able to finish speculating about the risks our plan would cause. Leo briefly added, as if he had been pondering my words.

 

“Even if we go, I won’t change my choice. You’ll be the same, right?”

 

Right. No matter where we flee, the result would be the same, so I felt the same way.

 

Leo, standing before the 98th Unit, looked at the revolver holster hanging from Mecklenburg’s waist. They acted no differently than before and said the same things as before. I don’t know what state of mind we walked in. Thus we arrived at the five-story general store once again.

 

“…It’s not anything else, but I heard it took 15 minutes to subdue the rampage victim, so I called you because I have something to tell you.”

 

[Uhhh… Ahhhhhhh…]

 

The light from the magical lamp unpleasantly stabbed my eyes. The rampage victim wandering in the distance made only hard-to-hear sounds, unaware of their fate. None of us responded, and Leo and I exchanged glances. Mecklenburg looked around at us and said.

 

“Recommended time, good. But if we honestly follow that, we won’t live to see our natural deaths. It seems no one has told you a good method yet. I’ll show you how everyone does it…”

 

Albert Mecklenburg drew his revolver from its holster. Time seemed to flow slowly. Leo’s magical power was so quiet without a hint of wavering that it felt like he had no intention of moving, but Leo would execute his plan right after the first gunshot as he said earlier.

 

“…”

 

“Watch carefully.”

 

Right. I had certainly confirmed that Leo’s plan was the same as mine. But on this one thing, my opinion differed from his.

 

I had no intention of pushing this task onto Leo.

 

Bang—! Crash—!

 

When I blinked once, the shot that went ahead shattered my barrier cast in front of the rampage victim, and the revolver rolled on the floor just before the next firing. Leo’s eyes widened as I stole his initiative, then quickly contorted.

 

I grabbed the revolver and shouted to my friends.

 

“Everyone draw your wands!”

 

* * *

 

The 98th Unit gave up using firearms because our continuous attacks toward the rampage victim made them miss the chance to capture. Our two teams subdued the rampage victim with magic alone and succeeded in sending the rampage victim to the hospital.

 

So now it was time to follow the predetermined steps.

 

“Your back is slouching?”

 

“…”

 

At the 98th Unit vice-captain’s words, I took a deep breath and corrected my posture.

 

Military discipline exists everywhere.

 

At this point, I feel sorry for military discipline, so it might be better to call it shitty discipline instead. If that sounds the same, it can’t be helped. From the gifted schools kids attend to special purpose high schools operated by class systems, liberal arts middle and high school clubs, universities, the military, certain professions, etc… At least in the times and places I’ve been through, such things existed to some degree.

 

And 19th-century Prussia was the complete version of shitty discipline. The 98th Unit in front of me now was arguing how new human-like and rational it was that they were making us ‘exercise’ instead of beating us. Right, what I’m doing now doesn’t even qualify as corporal punishment in this era, so from their perspective, it would indeed be hard to call it establishing discipline. Even so, seeing them do this to mages in the same position with just different class numbers shows that fundamentals are different no matter what.

 

“Stop!”

 

The 98th Unit’s vice-captain shouted. Albert Mecklenburg was surprisingly excluded from the physical punishment, but instead had a chair set up and sat down to watch us. My friends glanced around nervously before getting up from their positions. I anticipated what the 98th Unit might say, but got up from my position along with them for now. In situations like this, it’s better to just do as you’re told, even if it means getting picked on.

 

The vice-captain tilted his head with an expressionless face.

 

“I don’t know what nerve Ascanien has to stand up.”

 

‘Oh, right. If I didn’t stand up, you’d make a fuss about that too.’

 

Breathing is a problem, not breathing is also a problem. I suppressed my sneer and put my hands back on the ground.

 

“The rest of you, come forward and turn around.”

 

The other six turned to face my direction. I felt sweat beading on my chin as I thought. This is why I couldn’t leave this to Leo. It’s obvious how they’d torment him, isn’t it? If he, not I, had taken Mecklenburg’s revolver, Leo would be in my position right now.

 

After a while, Mecklenburg helped me stand up. He spoke with a slightly regretful expression.

 

“You know what would happen if today’s incident were reported to headquarters. Let’s end it here. Do you understand now how dangerous what you did today was?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Then will you continue to refuse our 98th Unit’s methods like today when we deploy to the field together in the future?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“…”

 

If you’re asking whether I’ll refuse to kill, of course. Even if these bastards give me military discipline training every day, I will never retract this answer. This isn’t something I would dare refuse even as empty words.

 

The expressions of the other mages standing behind turned menacing. Mecklenburg shook his head with a worried face, and after all my friends returned to school, I continued that ordeal alone for another 30 minutes.

 

After being told I could leave, I got up, dusted off my clothes, gave a brief greeting, and left the Imperial Mage Association’s 98th Unit Training Ground.

 

‘Ridiculous. Asking if I know what would happen if headquarters found out.’

 

Nothing would happen.

 

They can’t report it in the first place. They’re angry about the fact that we 101st Unit took away their field leadership. Go ahead and report us for stealing the scene. Then they’d have to explain how they dawdled for 10 minutes before leisurely going and using firearms that should only be used for protection when not under life-threatening situations to kill a rampage victim. They’d do well to go report that.

 

It’s not easy to take matters that should be handled tactfully to official channels, and seeing how the leadership also turns a blind eye to the killings shows they’re all in cahoots… But they can’t discipline us, who aren’t even commoners, our team that even includes foreigners, and openly side with the 98th Unit. Just as Leo said earlier.

 

The reason the 98th Unit uses ‘exercise to sharpen mental strength without beating us up’ is actually because we’re from ruling families like them, so they used humane methods.

 

‘Of course, I have no intention of continuing to accept this.’

 

I prevented the immediate murder case with this, but I currently have two problems. First, they will continue killing rampage victims. Second, unless the power structure changes, they will force the 101st Unit to do the same.

 

So this work is just beginning now.

 

I recited the coordinates to move to the school warp point and snapped my fingers. As soon as everything went black, I heard someone’s surprised voice.

 

“Whoa~”

 

I had warped with the intention of lying down at the warp point if I collapsed, but thankfully someone caught my arm and pulled me up. It was Elias. I could see the Eschede friends gathered at the school warp point.

 

I led them toward the dormitory, and as soon as we arrived, I headed straight for the bed. Not long after, I heard the sound of friends knocking on the door. Even though I clearly heard multiple voices, only Leo came in, probably because he stopped the others.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“Of course.”

 

I pointed to my core and gestured as if to say why are you asking when you felt everything through it. Leo, who looked exhausted from being tormented all day, smiled and said clearly.

 

“I said I would do it, Lucas.”

 

“…”

 

I knew that would come up from the start. Leo seemed to be trying to calm his anger, only opening his mouth again after a long while.

 

“It’s not that you were wrong. I also concluded that snatching the gun was the only way to prevent immediate murder. If I had snatched it instead…”

 

Honestly, it would be burdensome if I told him the real reason I beat him to it. I was thinking about what to answer that wouldn’t be too burdensome, but contrary to my prediction, Leo clearly knew my intention. He let out his characteristic cool laugh and said.

 

“Right, if you’re going to be like that, I have to say it. Is it okay for you to go through this kind of thing? I just need to endure it a bit. Those people can’t be too harsh anyway because of my status.”

 

“Isn’t ‘just enduring it a bit’ the same for me? If it had been Luise or Haike, it would have been worse than this.”

 

“…”

 

Leo was at a loss for words. He stood looking only at the floor, then sat down silently and cast healing magic on my arms and legs.

 

“Oh, that’s refreshing.”

 

At my exclamation, Leo looked at me with eyes that seemed to say ‘what’s with this guy.’ I felt déjà vu. Just as I was about to ask what, I heard unexpected words from him.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“…”

 

“But you don’t need to make yourself hated like that. Especially not you.”

 

“Is that so. Thanks.”

 

It seemed to contain many meanings, so I answered briefly, not particularly wanting to bring up his past. The new human body really is good. I quickly recovered my strength, jumped up from my seat, and rummaged through my desk. I took out a usable notebook and pen and sat back down in front of Leo.

 

“There’s no need to make ourselves hated, but actually, we have to turn the 98th Unit into our enemy anyway. Even if we hadn’t snatched the revolver and had condoned the murder, we couldn’t have gotten along amicably from the start. If you think about what Mecklenburg said just before I turned back time, you’ll get the answer.”

 

“…Right.”

 

“Let’s cleanly abandon relationships we couldn’t choose. We can turn one into an enemy without turning everyone into enemies.”

 

The Imperial Mage Association, and the Special Operations Command we’ll be entering. Though his face still looked worried, a faint smile spread across Leo’s face.

 

“…Well. We’ll need to go beyond not turning them into enemies and make them ours.”

 

“…”

 

He’s also saying we need to crush the 98th Unit with our own hands. To think I’m in agreement with this FM-obsessed guy while plotting insubordination, my lips slowly curled up without me realizing it.

 

Right, what am I thinking in front of the person who installed a new emperor.

 

I got up from my seat and said.

 

“Now the problem is how to seriously win over everyone. I should bring Elias and Narke.”

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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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