How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 317

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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 (317)

 

“Let’s wrap things up here.”

 

At the Crown Prince’s words, people rose from their seats. As he nodded farewell to those leaving the room, he turned his head to speak to me.

 

“I didn’t expect you to come looking for me on your own without being summoned.”

 

“Your consideration is remarkable.”

 

“Haven’t I always been this way?”

 

Having barged into the advisory committee and convened a meeting, I had also sent word to the Crown Prince, and he attended in place of the Emperor, who was the chairman. When he says he ‘didn’t summon me on purpose,’ he means he was being considerate of the fact that I only have one body. Since I couldn’t simultaneously act as Lucas Ascanien and attend the advisory committee as Nicolaus, I had been repeatedly answering their questions through correspondence.

 

When everyone had left and we were completely alone, he lit a cigarette and began treating me with a more relaxed attitude.

 

“I heard the whole story. The 98th and 101st Units must have had quite a show.”

 

“I don’t think they would see it that way.”

 

Instead of answering, he smiled and just raised an eyebrow.

 

His information network is fast as always. Of course, just as Bavaria has an intelligence department, this place naturally has the same organization, so he would have received reports on all the information about political rivals and colleagues, including myself, within the limits of what could be gathered.

 

“I’m curious how the 98th Unit will react when they learn that the 101st Unit’s deputy captain is Nicolaus Ernst.”

 

“I wonder if Your Highness is curious about such things because you’re in a similar situation. If Your Highness gets exposed, you’re guaranteed front page of the Imperial Newspaper for a whole month.”

 

Abraham shrugged with a smile as if that was a decent answer. Not wanting to waste more time here, I handed him the paper file I had brought. Abraham opened it and looked at me with one corner of his mouth raised.

 

“A press release.”

 

“This material will be announced tomorrow at 6 AM, and to summarize, it’s an agenda decided with the goal of securing public stability by expanding information transparency.”

 

“That’s not what’s important. You wouldn’t have just brought something that hasn’t even been announced yet without a reason… You must want something.”

 

Instead of answering, I smiled.

 

By this point it’s an obvious fact, but Bavaria is the most ‘separated’ among the German Empire’s federal states. Separatists are active everywhere, and even those who aren’t separatists have strong national pride, and honestly speaking, there would be no major operational problems if it became independent right now. It often happens that Bavaria alone ignores federal government directives while other places are struggling. That’s why Prussia is most wary of this state within the federation.

 

And the fact that Bavaria is a state with such power is taken for granted even outside Bavaria. The German public can compare Bavaria and Prussia and demand the same level of governance from the Imperial government. Especially in the chaotic situation of being hit with a triple blow of January’s rampage, February’s Penthalon terror, and the mage group disappearance incident.

 

“You’ll probably have to respond no matter what. At least if you don’t want to face a mass migration phenomenon, you should prepare.”

 

“Of course we should. But…”

 

Abraham burned the documents I had brought this time as well, and clasped his hands together as he spoke.

 

“I asked why Count Nicolaus bothered to give Prussia half a day’s grace.”

 

“…”

 

“I don’t even need to hear the answer. I heard you caused problems by using firearms, so you must be planning to prevent that. The problem is that if we disclose materials in detail like Bavaria does, the financial burden increases, and unfortunately, treatment costs are much higher than cremation costs for rampagers. Even if we treat them, more than half die, so we’re already looking at astronomically increasing losses as a primary concern.”

 

“That’s not a surprising statement. Since you say ‘as a primary concern,’ it seems Your Highness also knows the reason why you must bear those losses. So, are you going to tell me to take responsibility?”

 

“You hit the nail on the head.”

 

“You’ll handle the response yourself, so I don’t think I need to tell you about response methods. Instead, I have more suggestions regarding what Your Highness just mentioned. The increased costs are the state’s responsibility, so that’s settled, but some mages on site are saying that the safety of killing is higher than the safety of rescue, so rampagers should be killed. Then wouldn’t it work to maximize the safety and efficiency of rescue to the extreme?”

 

How could that be increased? Obviously, the only method currently available is to train strategically and extensively. Conveying this message concretely and systematically is what I need to do from now on.

 

Abraham rolled his eyes, then figured out what I would ultimately say and burst into laughter.

 

“I don’t think I have any incentive to grant your request on this matter. Is there a reason why I must listen to the proposal you’re about to make?”

 

Difficult bastard. I pondered for a moment and smiled.

 

“I’ll give you a good show in a different sense.”

 

* * *

 

When I returned from the advisory committee, it was 10 PM, and about 30 minutes after returning, someone entered the 101st Unit quarters and knocked on my door. The moment I opened the door, I saw Albert Mecklenburg. He had also been in Berlin today except for this morning—the command and quarters are in Brandenburg—and seemed to have just returned. Before I could even greet him, he smiled and said:

 

“Let’s take a walk.”

 

“…”

 

I stood still for a moment, then turned my head.

 

“Let me get a coat.”

 

“Please do.”

 

Without even checking what was available, I grabbed whatever clothing I could find and came out, walking toward the back of the quarters.

 

Behind the quarters was a forest, and the command post was a 30-minute walk from here. Other than that, there was absolutely nothing to be seen. It’s surprising that a mere cosmetic transfer of affiliation led to coming to such a barren place. As I was thinking this, Mecklenburg’s voice came from beside me.

 

“How was your day today?”

 

When I didn’t answer, he glanced at me and changed the subject.

 

“When Pleroma became a social issue about 7 years ago, I came here as a task force member, and this place hasn’t changed.”

 

“Wouldn’t that have been when you were about twenty?”

 

“That’s right. I was assigned to handle the Brandenburg cemetery desecration incident response. I worked with your brother too.”

 

So he had worked with the government briefly even before being selected by the Imperial Court… Impressive at such a young age. But when this topic comes up, my thoughts drift in another direction.

 

There’s something I need to address again. In most cases, the Imperial Mage Association selects candidates starting from college graduates.

 

When the revolver was in my hand before turning back time, I was certain that the 98th Unit’s age was around 25, similar to my brother, and the process was as follows. As you can see from the fact that the Eschete captain position almost went to me, who was first in the third exam, a team’s leadership position goes primarily to the person with the highest score during evaluation. Usually, members of the same unit don’t differ much in age, because magic is a field that relies heavily on talent, so studying a bit more rarely gets you admitted. Considering universities’ early graduation systems, the 98th Unit is the same age as Adrian Ascanien or one year older.

 

For someone competent enough to work in government at twenty, Mecklenburg’s Imperial selection was late. If most are selected starting from college graduates, why was he late? Well…

 

‘Considering the precedent of entering the Imperial Court at 13, it couldn’t have been late.’

 

What I meant by thoughts drifting in another direction was that whenever he mentions anything related to his abilities, I think of Adrian.

 

Adrian Ascanien, Albert Mecklenburg’s friend, is an Imperial Mage Association 89th Unit mage selected in October 1886. This is why I needed to find out how much of outliers these two students were. Adrian Ascanien is a genius among geniuses who skipped over ten years and was directly appointed to the Imperial Court, while Albert Mecklenburg is a prodigy of his grade.

 

‘The only students who could communicate with each other.’

 

The professor’s words are likely wrong. Of course, I’m also considering the possibility that he was truly close to Adrian Ascanien, but… from experience, the hypothesis that Mecklenburg truly cherished and loved Adrian is almost fantasy. I asked since it came to mind.

 

“I heard you were close with my brother.”

 

“That’s right. Have you ever heard Adrian talk about me?”

 

“No, I heard it through school.”

 

For a moment his face stiffened, then quickly regained its earlier composure. I roughly understand why. Mecklenburg answered briefly.

 

“Still a cautious friend.”

 

“I just haven’t had many opportunities to talk with my brother. He’s often in Berlin because of school and Imperial duties.”

 

“That would be the case.”

 

We walked in silence for a while. Perhaps because I didn’t speak even when he waited, he asked with a light laugh.

 

“Are you usually this quiet?”

 

“Yes. I apologize.”

 

The professor wasn’t seeing things when he praised his character after all. Even with my answer showing no intention of improvement, he didn’t show his temper and continued talking while matching my pace.

 

“I heard there were three reports today. It must have been very difficult.”

 

“It was, but one was a misjudgment, so it was actually Grade 4.”

 

“Grade 4 isn’t easy either. I fully understand how much effort it took to handle that directly and get them to the hospital.”

 

He found a completely worn-out bench and sat down. He didn’t specifically tell me to sit, but I sat at the end too. He looked at the empty air silently before opening his mouth.

 

“Yesterday I was transferred here and given the mission to educate you all. Do you know what I received along with that?”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

He took out a leather-wrapped booklet from his bag. It was a Human recruit training manual. He smiled lightly and said:

 

“It was quite perplexing. I also entered this place yesterday, so I’m rather in a position where I need to learn, and I’ve never met the 101st Unit before. Moreover, the crucial problem is that you’re neither Humans nor soldiers, are you? Another problem is that you can’t exactly be called officers either.”

 

This is why the Imperial Court ‘usually’ selects college graduates. It’s because they want to recruit people who can become officers after graduating from military academy—in this case, magic school. However, at the beginning of this year, even high school students became Imperial mages, and that’s when our position started floating. And as you can see from our situation so far, we’re still floating.

 

“That’s natural since we’ve never been commissioned.”

 

“You know well. Moreover, there’s the crucial problem that Prince Wittelsbach is already part of the Kingdom of Bavaria military, so the Defense Department still hasn’t been able to confirm any system externally. Instead, they’re trying to seek Bavaria’s help.”

 

‘Looking at it again, this is a complete bomb…’

 

Our 101st Unit, that is.

 

More than that, I’m curious why he’s putting so much effort into stating these obvious things. I already know well that we’re floating, and that the Defense Department, already complicated by the emergency situation, is still fumbling with rampage handling. Actually, when making my second proposal to Abraham, I had used this loophole to make my argument.

 

“As you know, from the commander to the chief of staff, everyone here is a mage from the Imperial Mage Association, and it’s a reorganization gathering the finest personnel currently able to operate from the Association. The essence won’t be much different from before… For now, I’ll teach you what I’ve learned. From now on, everything I say is clearly spoken as an Association senior.”

 

I stared intently at his face. He had been looking at the quarters buildings in the distance, then turned his head toward me and spoke slowly.

 

“We must become killers.”

 

“…”

 

“Since no one would have told you, let me put it this way. You must forget the peace you learned in high school. What we must protect is orders. If His Majesty says we must sacrifice some subjects for the greater good, we must be able to handle the designated subjects as ordered, and if He commands us to do our best to prevent more rampagers from appearing, we must strive to realize those exact words. If an order comes to kill my colleague, we must do exactly that. As His Majesty’s subjects, that’s what we do.”

 

“Are you killing people because His Majesty ordered you to do your best to prevent rampagers from appearing?”

 

“It’s different. However, part of it could be considered correct. What’s certain is that this is the most efficient and most economical method.”

 

Economical… Someone shares that opinion. Though there is a crucial difference from that someone.

 

I suppressed the countless other thoughts I had and smiled.

 

“Why are you telling me this?”

 

“Well, aren’t you the one who opposes our directives most severely among the 101st Unit?”

 

From a senior’s perspective, he shouldn’t be able to laugh while talking about a junior opposing them, yet he showed a gentle smile with an understanding expression. The intent of my question wasn’t that, but rather why they’re trying to force this method on us, but thinking about it, that wouldn’t be much different from asking why they’re trying to strengthen the harmful effects of the class system, so I gave up.

 

“I understand that it’s still difficult to adapt. What fault could the 101st Unit members have? I just feel bad about having to teach such things to you who haven’t even entered, let alone graduated from, the 1st Training Institute.”

 

He finished speaking and gestured toward me with his hand. Not knowing what he wanted me to do, I frowned slightly, and he nodded toward my hand.

 

“…”

 

This person’s friend had also asked for my hand before. Feeling déjà vu, I extended my hand. He pushed up my glove to check my skin, then spoke with a pitying expression.

 

“I should send some medicine. I’ll have someone send it when I return.”

 

I was impressed in many ways, so once again I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut. I understood why the Professor said he wanted to raise his own children like this. If he was this thorough everywhere, he was truly praiseworthy in every sense. He spoke with a gentle expression.

 

“As I said earlier, you really worked hard. But from tomorrow, we’ll handle our share of the reports ourselves.”

 

“….”

 

“You can stop proving yourselves now. Let’s meet at the first deployment tomorrow.”

 

Tomorrow we’ll go kill more rampagers, that’s what this is.

 

Saying we’ll meet at the first deployment means he plans to drag us to another 98th Unit rampage processing site. Since we receive reports from the control center and move separately, there’s no need to meet otherwise. The strategy of physically pushing the 101st Unit to break their will and make them agree to weapon use ends today, and tomorrow they plan to take a hard line approach.

 

Mecklenburg patted my shoulder. Instead of answering, I responded with a smile. As if trying to guess the meaning of my smile, his gaze lingered on my face for a long time.

 

* * *

 

He really did send medicine. Leo took it away saying he’d check what was in it, so there was no need to use it.

 

And today we met both the 91st and 98th Units. Contrary to my expectations, the place where we all gathered was simply a meeting room. However, I didn’t voice this since telling my friends it was unexpected would probably earn me the same words I’d heard from Leo.

 

Each unit was divided into three teams, with the 91st having 20 people and the 98th having 18. Somehow there are only 45 people total to handle high-risk rampagers occurring nationwide.

 

The representative mage of the 91st Unit, who had briefly introduced himself and sat at the head seat with an expressionless face, continued speaking while keeping his eyes fixed on documents.

 

“…Therefore, from today, the 91st Unit will handle all rampage reports from Hessen-Darmstadt. Second, the Bavarian government has reorganized the scope of information disclosure in accordance with the emergency declaration.”

 

When those words came out, Elias, sitting next to me, reached under the table and tapped my hand. I glanced at him briefly then turned my gaze back to the 91st Unit mage.

 

“The Imperial Court has shown deep interest in survival rates by rampage stages. While Bavaria subdued rampagers and transported them to hospitals in an impressive 98.3% of rampage incidents, our Prussia’s hospital transport rate is 72% of total reports, making us…”

 

He narrowed his eyes with displeasure and continued.

 

“Second from the bottom among all federal states. The Imperial Government said they had no plans to make this public, but when Emperor Friedrich heard this news, he ordered improvements to prepare for any contingency. We must raise the transport rate to 95% by March to meet the federal average. What happens after that is the hospital’s responsibility.”

 

“….”

 

Albert Mecklenburg’s head, sitting far away, slowly turned. He must have finally grasped the meaning of my smile.

 

This is the beginning of beginnings.

 

I looked at him expressionlessly. There was no confusion on his face as he looked at me either. The emotionless voice of the 91st Unit mage continued.

 

“There’s one more instruction. Only the representatives of each team from each unit remain here, everyone else is dismissed.”

 

* * *

 

With this, they can’t send people to their deaths, and they can’t force that method on us either.

 

And this isn’t the end of successfully restraining them as a primary operation.

 

“The Ascanien Family seems to pass along information quite well.”

 

Mecklenburg said while looking straight into my eyes. I still faced him expressionlessly.

 

If I relaxed my expression even slightly, I felt like I’d burst out laughing, so I couldn’t. What a misconception. It was none other than me who made such instructions come from the 91st Unit representative’s mouth. Naturally, he couldn’t even anticipate that, and instead believes I heard the information from Adrian Ascanien.

 

The 98th Unit standing behind him was looking at me with stern expressions without even knowing the situation. Ironically, the person with the most normal expression among them was Mecklenburg. He smiled gently and patted my shoulder again.

 

“I’m not saying that’s bad. Let’s work well together going forward.”

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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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