How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 324

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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 (324)

 

[3, 2, 1. Begin.]

 

As the Mimesis broadcast turned on, Elias quickly scanned the screen.

 

It was inside a building. Coincidentally, they had received a spacious general store as the field, just like the day he had witnessed the 98th’s murder scene.

 

A five-person formation without Albert Mecklenburg. Luca was commanding from outside the Mimesis. Among those who entered the field, Deputy Captain Erich Reichenau had the best skills, and the next most skilled person was the orange-haired mage Luca had asked about earlier.

 

‘Nina Mackensen, wasn’t it.’

 

Earlier, this person had cast a barrier to guide the rampage’s movement path in a direction favorable to the 98th. The stability and speed of her magic were very excellent, but as could be seen from how the barrier melted immediately earlier, her magical power itself was actually in the lower ranks.

 

And among them was a mage with the most unpleasant impression—his surname was Liv—who was somewhat comparable to Nina Mackensen. His technical skills weren’t great, but his magical power was strong, so he was completely opposite in nature to Nina Mackensen.

 

The skills of the remaining two were just so-so. Instead, the unique ability of the person called Hindenburg was worth noting. He was an ability user who could teleport instantly to anywhere visible without memorizing coordinates.

 

He had already investigated all the Special Operations Command members together with his friends. Since it was difficult to remember every trivial detail of what they investigated, he only remembered part of what they had researched.

 

[Good. Split into groups of 3 and 2, and enter through the front and back entrances.]

 

Nina Mackensen and Hindenburg were at the back entrance, while everyone else entered through the front. Their expressions weren’t particularly good, but they couldn’t be called bad either. Perhaps conscious of the watching eyes, they weren’t walking up carelessly but were running properly.

 

“Surprisingly, they’re running.”

 

“….”

 

At Elias’s words, Narke looked at Elias as if he were ridiculous and laughed silently. Did Narke already know the future, or had he deliberately not read it? Elias was about to ask for a hint but gave up and looked ahead.

 

After about 30 seconds, they went up to the 3rd floor where the rampage was and observed the situation.

 

[Grrooooh… ooooh…]

 

The rampage was making strange sounds weakly while staggering out of the bathroom. What emotion he was caught up in just before going berserk was important, and judging by the sounds he was making, this one seemed to have gone berserk from sadness rather than anger. It was information that would only be useful for initial response, since he would go mad the same way once attacked.

 

‘And when aiming for within 5 minutes, initial response is most important.’

 

Thinking this while looking ahead, Elias raised his eyebrows. If there was a slight problem here… it was that the bathroom was close to the back entrance side.

 

“….”

 

The rampage coming out of the bathroom froze upon discovering the mages.

 

‘Wow… this is awkward.’

 

This time of staring at each other with mouths agape felt like an eternity. Since no instructions were being given, it seemed Luca was also observing the situation.

 

[Ooooh…]

 

The rampage gestured passively while moving his mud-covered mouth. At that moment, Elias realized. Whether some reason remained, the rampage was now trying to talk to the mages. He hadn’t experienced such a case directly, but he knew because he had heard from Luca. The rampage was probably trying to ask them to take him to a hospital, or lamenting about the incident that triggered his emotions just before going berserk, without even knowing he had gone berserk.

 

However, only Nicolaus knew this much; there was no way the mages including the 98th would know this far.

 

[…Front entrance team of 3, scatter to 9 o’clock, 12 o’clock, and 3 o’clock positions.]

 

Crash—!

 

Luca was faster. The moment one mage at the back entrance took an attack stance with a wary face, the rampage hesitated then turned around and started running at full speed. Vitriol began flowing madly along his path. Ordinary rampages are drawn to magical power and actually charge at mages, but this one was fleeing after realizing the mages intended to harm him.

 

[Count Raihenau, prepare your unique ability. Since we’re indoors, it should be fine to utilize your unique ability.]

 

‘Mm, that’s right.’

 

Indeed, in the cross-section of the general store visible through Mimesis, the floor from the front entrance stairs was all turned white.

 

While Leo’s ability shines outdoors, in cases like 98th Team A’s Deputy Captain Erich Reichenau where unique ability development is insufficient to deploy abilities over a wide area, indoors with many obstacles is actually better. Since the places the rampage can move are limited, it’s easy to utilize previously frozen spots.

 

[By the way, why is that thing running!]

 

[It has reason. The two at the back entrance should use guided attack formulas with extremely low magical attack power, and the three at the front entrance should guide the rampage to prevent escape to each store and the stairs while not losing the lead.]

 

Though it sounds like a vague request, it’s clear. It means everyone should become herders for now.

 

‘Wow, already making them herders.’

 

We started herding after about 3 minutes earlier. It seemed a bit fast, but unlike normal cases, this rampage was focusing on fleeing instead of attacking, so if Luca hadn’t given this instruction, they would have had to play hide-and-seek with the rampage in this huge general store. Still, it was fortunate that the rampage’s attention remained precisely focused on the single point of ‘escape.’ Though luck had to follow regarding the rampage’s disposition, without Luca’s experience and judgment, that luck couldn’t have been utilized either. If they lost the initiative in an instant and let the rampage escape to another path, it would easily take over 5 minutes.

 

The deep wrinkles on Mecklenburg’s brow were noticeable.

 

[Count Mackensen, Count Raihenau. We’ll start now. I’ll count. Count Hindenburg should move forward on the count of 2, and when I count 3, install a barrier overlapping Count Raihenau’s unique ability. We’ll overlap the magical power of four people excluding Count Liv within 1 second.]

 

Indeed, for the bullet role, it’s better to use a mage overflowing with magical power even if lacking in technical skill. The mage called Liv that he mentioned was precisely the person whose magical power stood out second only to Erich Reichenau.

 

[Understood.]

 

[Before that, I’ll ask everyone.]

 

The 98th Team A continued shooting magic toward the stairs, driving the rampage to the middle of the corridor. While blocking doors and guiding him not to enter stores, they waited for Luca’s words.

 

[Can you produce an artifact bullet effect with your magical power intensity?]

 

At that question, the person with the strongest magical power among the three who had come up to the front entrance burst into anger.

 

[What wouldn’t work?! You…! Earlier, earlier you said all sorts of things and now you’re playing around…!]

 

[You could do it. But in this situation, I must present a method that anyone can do immediately without practice, so we’ll go this way.]

 

Luca took a short breath and spoke to that mage in a clear voice.

 

[Count Liv, take out your revolver.]

 

[…Huh?]

 

“Ah.”

 

Not only the friends sitting around but even the 91st showed bewildered faces. A revolver at this point…

 

Soon, Elias, who had quickly retraced exactly what Lucas had been arguing, made a clapping gesture and giggled. Ulrike, who had been frozen and belatedly understood the situation, gaped her mouth wide.

 

“Huh?! Ah!”

 

[Only one shot is allowed. I repeat. One shot. I’ll signal you with ‘now.’ Get ready.]

 

[No, you don’t trust my magical power…!]

 

[3, 2, 1. Now!]

 

[You…!]

 

Crash—!

 

That explosion was the beginning. The sound of breaking glass sharply pierced the eardrums as various magical powers transformed into light and scattered. There was an illusion that the explosion vibration that couldn’t possibly be transmitted reached these seats.

 

The unpleasant roar of overlapping various sounds made his neck stiffen. Haike sitting in the lower row silently covered her ears with her hands.

 

Then came a dull impact sound, the sound of magical power pushing air with fierce force.

 

It was over.

 

[Cough…]

 

Someone could be heard vomiting something mud-like from their mouth. With this, they had caught the rampage’s opening and destroyed the core.

 

Beep—

 

[2 minutes and 34 seconds elapsed.]

 

The sound that came now was the announcement confirming Luca’s victory.

 

Elias looked down at the arena where Mimesis had been projected until just now and smiled.

 

It was even shorter than before. Though luck had to follow that the rampage’s attention was focused on escape from the start, handling it within this time meant Luca’s command of each person was the optimal choice at every moment.

 

He was happy. The 91st was showing a favorable reaction to Luca. The Representative Mage was interested in the 98th Deputy Captain’s unexpected good performance, then realized that the leader of that game wasn’t the 98th Deputy Captain but Luca, and then… he didn’t know what meeting they had this morning, but by now he was satisfied with Luca’s rational arguments. The overall atmosphere of the 91st wasn’t much different from that Representative Mage’s intention. He had properly fulfilled the expectations of the name Ascanien.

 

However, the instinctive anxiety he felt now was different—worry surged that the public opinion Luca had just laid down might be overturned since he had used firearms.

 

‘…Mm. Actually, there’s no need to worry.’

 

Luca had deliberately utilized tools regarding Liv’s magical power at this moment. It wasn’t a brilliant idea, so it was something anyone could mention at any time. Even as a counterargument to Luca’s claims. So Luca had to make the first move, and there must have been a reason why he couldn’t mention it earlier but had to show it now.

 

Mecklenburg had mentioned total cost earlier. In other words, he had argued that the cost of training centered on firearms was less than the cost of training according to Luca’s method. Here, cost meant time and effort.

 

That was actually true.

 

1. Using magical power minimally only for herding and encirclement while focusing on shooting accuracy.

 

2. As herders or bait, driving the rampage’s attention to one place, with everyone outputting the strongest barrier magic at the same timing, and shooting magical power concentrates at the barrier in the split-second timing before the rampage seeing the barrier makes its next decision—using a revolver.

 

Which was easier and required less practice was obvious. The former just required polishing individual shooting skills—the fact that everyone had been handling firearms since single-digit ages eliminated psychological barriers—while the latter required adjusting teamwork between team members until complete adaptation, no different from any other training. Even if Luca had succeeded, it would be different for other teams’ training.

 

And the total cost of the latter training was the same whether using a revolver to send out magical power concentrate cartridges or using a wand to send out magical power concentrates. In other words, even using tools, the development process was completely different from Mecklenburg’s method.

 

‘Even so… if he had said this from the beginning, well, he could have just gotten permission quickly and been done.’

 

However, Luca, who always sought precision, would have worried that if he mentioned this fact from the start, the essence of what he wanted to say might become blurred. As Luca said when commanding earlier, using a revolver is best only when it ‘anyone can do immediately without practice.’ It would be natural for citizens to be bewildered and anxious if guns were drawn at any rescue scene.

 

Luca basically wanted to implement magical power concentrates using wands, but if he said the wishy-washy statement—even if obvious—that ‘when magical power is lacking, you may borrow the power of artifacts to break through barriers’ from the very beginning, there was the problem that Mecklenburg, an active supporter of firearms, could intercept the flow in his favor. Since the same statement has different persuasive power depending on the arrangement of the story and the audience’s readiness, Luca chose to use shock therapy first rather than being flexible from the start, postponing compromise and choosing to be hardline first.

 

‘He calculates tremendously even in trivial matters.’

 

Considering and moving through all this and that would make one collapse from exhaustion. He seemed like a natural orator, so it might be good to spend his life just giving speeches. However, it wasn’t actually such a complex calculation and anyone would make such considerations in this situation, and since Elias himself had no need to choose a route with even slightly more potential loss, he would have made a choice not much different from Luca’s.

 

Luca and the 98th Team A returned here quickly. The complex expressions of the 98th and Luca’s relieved appearance were visible.

 

The 91st Representative Mage’s gaze was fixed on Luca’s face. Elias cast a sound-blocking spell and leaned toward his friend who had returned to the seat next to him.

 

“…I’ve seen you command plenty, so that’s fine. But those seniors moved better than expected—how did you do it~? Huh?”

 

“We became close.”

 

Luca said with an embarrassed expression.

 

‘Huh.’

 

At that moment, Elias was certain. He didn’t know why, but somehow it seemed the aftermath of the acting wasn’t over yet. Even setting aside whether they became close or not… This friend was absolutely not one to make such an expression!

 

Sure enough, when he spoke the next words, his facial muscles quickly began returning to the usual blunt smile.

 

“So, it seems this matter has reached some conclusion for now. What do you think?”

 

* * *

 

“Even though we solved the Penthalon terror, honestly it didn’t feel real.”

 

“Does it feel real now?”

 

“Completely.”

 

We finished the brief—eventful for me—verification time in the morning, processed the reports, and returned. Today we took a slight detour to where the dormitories were located, and I could hear the 91st Captain mages talking.

 

“From the way he speaks, he could be a federal legislator right now.”

 

“Right, he did well even though he probably has no experience.”

Since it was said with laughter, it wasn’t exactly an argument that I should actually do so, but I’ll gratefully accept the compliment for now… I became embarrassed and quickly turned around to retrace my steps.

And then, I encountered someone I had actually wanted to meet.

 

“Ah.”

 

“…”

 

Mecklenburg spotted me and smiled faintly. I nodded my head for now.

I changed my mind. Since he was leading the Vitriol detection dogs, I no longer wanted to encounter him. It wasn’t the dogs’ fault, but I wasn’t very familiar with large animals I was seeing for the first time, so it couldn’t be helped.

Now I could see several other mage soldiers leading dogs behind him. Mecklenburg gestured for them to go ahead first and approached me with a smile.

 

“Making everyone you meet into your ally is an enjoyable thing. Isn’t that right?”

 

“…”

 

“I wonder if that’s also something you inherited from your brother.”

 

“When did I ever make everyone my ally…”

 

“Good. You inherited this trait too.”

 

Mecklenburg said as he took another step closer.

Was this telling me not to play dumb?

Immediately after finishing the morning verification, the 91st prohibited direct firing at Rampage rather than barriers, and from now on Albert Mecklenburg could no longer use the method he had been obsessed with.

 

From now on, he and Class 98 Team A had to use exactly the method I proposed.

 

So it would appear that the 91st had become my ally.

 

‘And… seeing this guy react like this, it seems the five members of Class 98 Team A didn’t speak too negatively about me after the verification ended.’

Making everyone you meet into your ally—when exactly did I do that?

Perhaps he was reacting this way because Class 98 Team A’s response to my command was much better than Mecklenburg had expected. Why do I speculate this? Because… whether that strategy I had intended to use on Mecklenburg first worked well on the Class 98 Team A members, I too felt throughout commanding and returning with them that they treated me much more gently than expected. It was confusing.

 

So… right now Mecklenburg had reason to feel isolated. The fact that this person, who would never openly show hostility, was saying such things directly to me was different from usual.

 

“No one is on my side.”

 

“…”

 

“Aren’t you worrying prematurely? The 98th seniors are perfectly Lord Mecklenburg’s colleagues and subordinates.”

 

Even though I mentioned the 98th, instead of being incredulous, he quietly looked at me and opened his mouth.

 

“You must feel satisfied now that you’ve blocked firearm use as you wanted.”

 

“Rather than prohibiting firearms…”

 

“You defined our method as firearm abuse, and the 91st seniors prohibited firearm abuse. Are you trying to play word games with me?”

 

“No.”

 

“Is that all you have to say?”

 

I rolled my eyes and then seriously met his gaze.

 

“I want to get along well with you too, Your Excellency.”

 

“…”

 

He stared at me intently, then frowned slightly and laughed.

 

“That’s good. I feel the same way.”

Of course you’d always say that. I smiled and replied.

“It’s an honor. Then, I’ll be going now…”

 

“Before that.”

 

When he extended his hand, the dogs that had been sitting approached me. I reflexively stepped back.

 

“What luck to encounter you while helping the soldiers. You’ll handle the military dog management here for the time being.”

Hmm…

Where were these military dogs here in the first place? And even though I’m temporarily living here with a house, strictly speaking I’m a borrowed rider, so why should I do this? You do it since you’re 100% affiliated here.

 

But I had no intention of speaking like such a simpleton.

 

“I’m sorry, but the Prussian army should have a separate unit for military dog management, so for me to take charge…”

 

“Many things have changed thanks to Count Ascanien’s reforms.”

 

He tilted his head slightly and gave a faint smile. I never reformed anything like this. I could predict that related orders had been issued from above.

 

‘Suddenly? Is this related to the reason for gathering A-class members to form a new team?’

 

The possibility that bringing dogs that weren’t here originally was this guy’s independent decision was low. Then why dogs too? It couldn’t be that instead of waiting for Rampage reports to come in, we should go looking for Rampage ourselves…

 

While I was speculating about their plan, Mecklenburg smiled with his usual composure.

 

“Even if it’s called management, there won’t be much for you as a mage to do. You just need to properly learn their mana until full utilization orders come down. Class 98 Team B was about to take charge of that management during the adaptation period, but they have no spare time since they have to change their training methods. Class 101 should already be familiar with your training methods… You can make time, right?”

 

“I don’t understand how Class 98 Team B was about to take charge. Basically, this isn’t our job.”

 

“If you can’t believe it, go ask them.”

 

He said in a gentle voice.

 

“From what I can see, you’ll get along well with these friends, so I don’t know why you’d have reason to complain.”

 

“…”

 

I let out a hollow laugh. I had hoped for some distinction between public and private matters, but as expected.

 

He took my hand, opened it, and handed me the leash. I smiled, thinking I should immediately warp and call someone to help.

 

The strategy I had thought to use on Mecklenburg was still valid. To prepare for that, I opened my mouth.

 

“Are you ordering me to do this, Senior?”

 

Mecklenburg glanced back at me. There was no answer yet, but I acted out the same expression from earlier and said:

 

“It’s an honor.”

 

* * *

 

For the next three days, we repeated report processing and training like crazy.

 

The initial grades now had no meaning whatsoever. Most of the 91st had fallen to B-class, and Class 98 Team A held their ground as expected, mostly maintaining their positions, but the majority of the remaining 98th fell from B-class to C and D classes.

 

And…

 

As I had heard before, I rose to A-class.

 

There were familiar names among those in A-class with me, and naturally, Albert Mecklenburg was prominently among them.

 

“You can do it. You know that?!”

 

“Yeah…”

 

Today Ulrike was cheering me on with a face full of fighting spirit. Today was the day of the final strategy training, and once this time passed, I wouldn’t have to do any more training games.

 

‘Instead, I’ll be going into real combat.’

 

Though I still haven’t heard what kind of real combat it would be.

 

It was an important occasion. Since it was training to select the overall commander of the new team to be formed. In terms of training performance, this position practically meant first place. There was a clear reason why Ulrike was acting like this—it was because even a chief of staff had come to evaluate.

 

“It’s unfortunate that you’re on the same team as that… senior. And with Leo on top of that…”

 

Ulrike couldn’t finish her sentence and let out a deep sigh. I lightly responded to that complaint-filled concern.

 

“Tell me about it.”

 

It was a game where the top 4 A-class members were divided into pairs of two, dropped into Mimesis, and their strategies evaluated. I was on the same team as Albert Mecklenburg, with Leo and the Representative Mage of Class 91 as the opposing team.

 

‘Of course, even though we’re on the same team, we’re competitors in the final results announcement.’

 

Because rankings were assigned to individuals.

 

I nodded to Leo standing at the other end of the hallway and entered the waiting room. Mecklenburg, who had entered first, looked at me expressionlessly and turned his head away.

 

Previously, Narke had told me, ‘He doesn’t just hate you unconditionally because he sees Adrian Ascanien overlapping with you.’

 

This statement from Narke was good material. It was from this statement that I was able to soften the hostility of Class 98 Team A a few days ago.

 

First, what emotions Mecklenburg had toward me—that was both important and unimportant. When how he perceived me became important was when I knew his exact sore spot and tried to utilize it at the right time and place.

 

Also, the part where how he perceived me wasn’t important was that regardless of whether he was secretly satisfied with me—which would never happen—or not, I had no intention of leaving alone someone who didn’t value human life and fired guns recklessly, and I had no intention of leaving alone someone who would continue to be hostile toward me until he established a hierarchy in his mind.

 

The firearm issue was perfectly resolved, so that was done. Now it was time to handle the second problem.

 

[Please enter.]

 

This announcement came as soon as I entered. It was worth deliberately entering late for the timing. As Mecklenburg opened the waiting room door first and went outside, I followed behind him.

 

“We’re on the same team.”

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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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