How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 318

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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 (318)

 

This doesn’t mean our goal has been completely achieved. Why?

 

“Why isn’t this the end?”

 

[…I’ll signal you when the Vitriol enters its dormant phase. First….]

 

Ulrike’s voice standing next to me overlaps with the artifact’s guidance sound.

 

The 98th Unit didn’t bring us to their disposal site, and we came here to take a farm worker who went on a rampage in northern Prussia to the hospital after receiving our report. Currently, friends are standing one or two at points 500m away from the rampage center.

 

And… Ulrike, who’s with me, is wondering why everyone is still tense as usual even though we’ve achieved our goal. In other words, she was questioning whether we had accomplished our goal since we prevented the use of firearms. It’s a reasonable question. I answered while keeping watch on the rampage.

 

“Why it’s not over is because with that Senior’s personality, he’ll do anything except killing.”

 

“What do you mean….”

 

Beep―

 

“Explanation later. Run!”

 

I shouted to Ulrike and rolled on the ground to lay down a barrier.

 

Since the wheat field’s soil was all mixed up with Vitriol, I needed to lay down a ground barrier to run faster. I felt Narke on the opposite side striking his staff down on the ground barrier to see if the mana had been properly pushed to the opposite side.

 

Crack―…. Boom―

 

I lowered my body against the strong vibration pushed by the staff. Divine power swept away the Vitriol smoke in the air all at once. When divine power hit, the rampage turned his head wildly and roared at the friends running toward him.

 

‘About now….’

 

I opened my mouth when the friends had run to about 100m in front of the rampage.

 

[Fear not. For I am with you.]

 

Crash―!

 

I struck the staff down on the ground. With the loud noise, the ground barrier shattered and a red dome-shaped barrier began to unfold.

 

[Beginning.]

 

When the barrier completely settled on the ground, Leo’s voice was heard briefly. Along with that, there was a sound of something being pushed out, and all kinds of plant stems broke through the wheat field and wrapped around the body of the screaming rampage.

 

[Oh.]

 

[Wow, Leo should only get reports from places like this.]

 

‘Good.’

 

The Vitriol quickly melted the stems, but in this place where Leo’s ability could be fully utilized, it wasn’t a big problem. Soon the speed of accumulation became faster than the speed of melting.

 

This time I struck the staff into the muddy ground without laying a ground barrier and sent mana strongly flowing underground. The dome-shaped barrier connected to the ground compressed toward the rampage.

 

Mecklenburg’s words that Vitriol recovers by the second so it must be dealt with quickly were correct. The moment the barrier mana used for the dome hindered the rampage’s movement, I struck the staff on the ground again. Red glass-like material pushed out along the ground from its end. Since I made it possible to run, now it was the turn of Elias and Ulrike, who were skilled in close combat.

 

I watched them while maintaining the barrier. In the blink of an eye, Elias’s sword that reached the rampage tore through the stems wrapping him, and from that impact the rampage fell to the ground. Ulrike stepped on the rampage’s back and struck her staff down on the core.

 

Crash―!

 

[Ugh, that looks painful. Isn’t he bleeding?]

 

Amid the loud noise, his voice comes through the communication artifact. Ulrike pulled down the corner of her mouth after striking it herself. I could see that even from far away.

 

He hesitated then extended his fist to Elias standing beside him, and Elias stared at it then did the same.

 

‘Today is the third day.’

 

After experiencing the rampage scene at Panopticon Mental Hospital from the beginning, the Grade 3 rampage we encountered next felt quite manageable. Rampages in such wide open places were easier to handle than rampages in buildings with many obstacles, and moreover, with low population density and easy evacuation, there weren’t many people we needed to protect. Still, being Grade 3, it wasn’t very easy, but I learned that more important than the rampage’s own danger level was the environment where the rampage was placed.

 

Then Cheringen praised Leo with a laugh.

 

[Leo did great work this time. To end it so quickly, this is a first.]

 

Cheringen and Haike were in charge of support in this field. Haike looked around at us with his usual expressionless face.

 

‘Hmm.’

 

It looked similar to usual, but to me it seemed strangely different. I caught Haike who was trudging toward me from the opposite side of the field.

 

“Haike.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Are you okay?”

 

Haike didn’t speak and just nodded his head. But contrary to his answer, his eyes that briefly met mine unconsciously darted to the opposite side.

 

“….”

 

I was about to ask why he was avoiding eye contact, but instead patted his shoulder encouragingly and approached the friends with him.

 

Actually, the friend who takes the main role and those who don’t change from field to field. Until yesterday, Leo had mainly been in charge of support too.

 

‘From what I’ve observed… it didn’t seem like Haike had any desire to be main.’

 

Maybe he’s worried about not being helpful to us. Even if that’s not it, there was no reason his current dispirited appearance couldn’t be understood. Since he’s only been doing support from the first day of high-risk deployment, he might have doubts about whether things would roll along fine without him. If I didn’t misread his expression, that is.

 

“Everyone’s gathered. Good work. I called the medical team now….”

 

Leo said while looking around at us. Meanwhile, I observed Haike’s complexion and thought.

 

‘…Next time I should plan some strategy utilizing Haike’s abilities.’

 

I’ll worry about that tonight, but now we need to return to headquarters. There was something I had to do when we got back.

 

As I told Ulrike earlier, the 98th Unit probably hasn’t come to their senses yet. In other words, from now on we need to seriously change the power structure.

 

* * *

 

“Releasing.”

 

After three gunshots ended, one mage from the 98th Unit released the sound-blocking magic. When another mage’s staff struck the heart of the rampage collapsed on the ground, the rampage’s voice, already screaming in pain, grew louder. As the rampage’s movements gradually subsided, Mecklenburg took out a signal device and said.

 

“Terminated. Returning.”

 

The artifact asked if they were staying in their original position. If they answered yes, new humans trained in post-processing would come to collect the Vitriol and write a list of facilities that needed repair.

 

[…We’ll send a cleanup team to the coordinates. You may return.]

 

The mage receiving the communication ended with those words in an indifferent tone. Naturally, for the 98th Unit A Team’s rampage report, there was no mention of sending a medical team. Of course, since they usually ended by killing. They too would have heard from the Defense Ministry.

 

Mecklenburg quietly looked at the blood and Vitriol flowing on the ground and said.

 

“Please send a medical team as well. We need to transport to the hospital.”

 

[Understood… Excuse me?]

 

The quite flustered other party answered they would do so only after a moment. This side didn’t know what the Imperial Court had instructed. Mecklenburg cut off communication by striking the artifact with an expressionless face and approached the rampage. Even when taking out the signal device, blood was still gushing from his right thigh, but thanks to the Vitriol cauterizing the wound, he didn’t need to worry about dying from excessive bleeding. Mecklenburg felt the Vitriol mana disappearing from around the rampage’s heart and said.

 

“It’s a decent method.”

 

Unlike the other four who looked satisfied, one team member who had been making an uncomfortable expression alone spoke up.

 

“…We can increase the hospital transport rate, but…. If we do this, well, I’m not saying it will definitely happen, but.”

 

Mecklenburg exercised patience and looked at him silently. He carefully continued.

 

“…Won’t this require leg amputation with high probability?”

 

“His Majesty ordered us to increase the survival rate.”

 

“….”

 

The team member understood the meaning and closed his mouth. Mecklenburg looked into his eyes and thought.

 

If statistics capable of countering Bavaria’s public stability policy were needed, then that’s what should be created. Since that’s His Majesty’s will, it should naturally be done that way. There was no reason not to use efficient methods in the process.

 

“Grade 2 rampages mostly die even when taken to the hospital. Even if they survive, do you think they can return to daily life?”

 

It’s not speculation, but the reality is that they usually can’t return. They have to spend the rest of their lives in the hospital or receive life support treatment for decades… This seemed unreasonable to Mecklenburg himself. It might not be something he should judge. However, suppressing rampages using the most efficient method within allowed limits is my job. Since this fact hasn’t changed, there was no particular reason to be reluctant.

 

Mecklenburg took out an elixir from his clutch and drank it.

 

Fortunately, though it was Grade 2, it wasn’t overwhelming. It was thanks to conserving strength by using firearms. Unlike the 101st Unit, which had only faced low-risk rampages in actual combat so far and received some convenience, from today the 98th Unit A Team through C Team had to cover up to Grade 2 rampages.

 

Medical personnel began arriving at the rampage scene. Mecklenburg nodded to them and said to his team members.

 

“Let’s go back.”

 

* * *

 

As soon as we returned to headquarters, we encountered the 98th Unit A Team. Albert Mecklenburg smiled and greeted us. On the first day he was eagerly looking for faults to find, but now he didn’t seem to have such intentions.

 

After they passed, Narke, who was standing beside me, cast sound-blocking magic and said.

 

“As expected, they used it again this time.”

 

“….”

 

“This time… they had no intention of killing and didn’t kill, but still.”

 

As expected.

 

Exploiting the boundaries of laws, orders, or policies. Isn’t that a virtue of politicians?

 

As I told Ulrike, I didn’t believe they would honestly stop using firearms from today. Because as long as they don’t kill and send them away, it fulfills Emperor’s instructions. That’s why I said it was the beginning of beginnings, and why I had to make the second proposal to Abraham.

 

‘I’d like to change the present situation, but… the problem is that realistically we can’t take on the 98th Unit A Team’s reports as well, and they won’t give us permission to take them on.’

 

So we need to quickly move to the next action.

 

One might think why not just ask Abraham to properly intervene instead of going the hard way, but he’s a negotiator and businessman, and won’t do anything unless reasonable profit returns. Even when he brought up Maria just before parting, he left immediately thinking the main topic was over. Yesterday too, today’s results were possible because I created an environment where he had no choice but to act, not because Abraham’s generosity was broad enough to help me.

 

“I have something to tell Lucas, so I’ll go over there first.”

 

Leo said while looking around at the friends. I followed behind him and stopped in front of the strategic training room. The list we were looking for was posted there.

 

“It’s here.”

 

[A-Klasse] [91st Unit A: Albertina Hohenzollern]

 

It was a long list starting with that. The second proposal I made to Abraham was to reorganize the training system limited to mages in charge of rampage disposal.

 

‘It’s not like there’s much to system reorganization.’

 

It’s just maintaining the various training originally scheduled and creating new grades based on such training results. I proposed a new evaluation system that makes it easy to categorize and visualize all our abilities. That’s the N-Klasse in front of me now.

 

There was something important here.

 

I said that I took advantage of the fact that we’re in an ambiguous state—neither soldiers nor officers. The 91st and 98th generations truly came here with officer badges, while we’re still in positions borrowed under the authority of the Imperial Mage Association. In this ambiguous situation, we could have said that since it’s become an emergency, they should commission us as officers too. After all, if we dislike being disciplined under the class system and want a reversal of power dynamics, wouldn’t becoming officers be a more rational way to compete?

 

‘Easier said than done.’

 

There’s the issue of minimum service period required for promotion, so no matter how well I perform, it’s impossible to surpass the 98th generation in rank immediately. Those from the 98th generation have met the time requirements needed for promotion to first lieutenant, and given the Imperial Mage Association’s preferential practices, they would all have been promoted accordingly. No matter what we do now, we can’t even reach the same rank.

 

Crucially, performance evaluation systems exist everywhere, so for this system’s meaning not to fade, we must not be commissioned. Among officers where rank itself proves ability to some extent, this proposal cannot shine, and only when the class system that cannot prove ability by itself combines with an ability evaluation system can I achieve the effect I want.

 

Conveniently, Abraham doesn’t yet have the conditions to forcibly commission us. I asked Leo when he thought the agreement between the Prussian army and the Kingdom of Bavaria would be finalized, and heard that there’s no intention to finalize it immediately.

 

‘So, which class are we in…?’

 

I slowly lowered my gaze from A-Klasse. By the time I found my name, I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.

 

[D-Klasse] [101st Generation: Lucas Ascanien]

 

‘Hmm…’

 

Not just me, but all 101st generation names have ‘D-Klasse’ written in front of them. The 91st generation is A, the 98th generation is B.

 

I chuckled and said.

 

“Based on experience.”

 

“Since there’s no usable skill data here, that makes sense.”

 

Leo answered as if he expected this. Looking at the training schedule written next to the names, I said.

 

“This is a bit troublesome. It seems D-class doesn’t get to properly participate in training right away.”

 

“We do get to go in for odd jobs though.”

 

Leo looked at the brief word ‘Sub’ written in the 101st generation schedule column and snickered lifelessly. Today’s joint training was an anti-Pleroma strategy game that didn’t even seem like proper training, with only the 91st and 98th generations participating as mains.

 

Strategy games literally refer to games like chess, but here it means games where you take turns giving military orders against an enemy. In militaristic societies like Prussia, great mages would have played these frequently from childhood, and recently they use Mimesis, so various institutions widely use them for training beyond just games.

 

For now, we’re sub players as written. As far as I know, this is roughly like being the person who places pieces on a real board when AlphaGo plays Go.

 

‘…Mm… I should try not to think like this in front of Narke…’

 

Though I’ve already done it plenty. Anyway, it’s a bit ridiculous how they’ve set up this half-hearted system—whether they didn’t properly understand the Imperial training initiation orders or have no intention of training intensively from the adaptation period. Though given the name, it’s not completely off-base. Leo stroked his chin, then turned his head toward me and asked.

 

“What will you do? The opportunity isn’t coming as early as expected.”

 

I shrugged.

 

This isn’t really about becoming Klasse A or not anyway. That’s obvious, and also secondary.

 

The real purpose of proposing this system is to create an atmosphere. Changing the flow of the air is my goal. I must clearly understand this subtle difference. In that sense, the opportunity has already come.

 

I nodded appropriately and answered.

 

“Not bad as a start.”

 

“…”

 

Leo let out a hollow laugh with a face that seemed to ask what exactly wasn’t bad about this.

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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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