How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 377

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

I instinctively covered my mouth as I stared up at him blankly.

 

‘…Why cover my mouth? Are you going to feed me something?’

 

Sorry, but I am—whether I’m just contrary by nature or all humans are naturally contrary—the type who absolutely doesn’t want to do something when told to do it, and wants to try something when told not to do it, so naturally I had to cover my mouth. Of course, just because I have a contrary mindset doesn’t mean I live particularly contrarily, but wouldn’t it be better to be that way right now? Actually, to get to the real reason why my thoughts are spinning so frantically right now, it wasn’t ordinary that of all people, ‘Narke’ had ignored my words and come to find me, then spoke completely unexpected words in an eerily subdued voice. Perhaps I was thinking too much, because Narke held his head and said with a slight smile.

 

“My head hurts, Lucas.”

 

“Then don’t read it.”

 

“Won’t you do it for me?”

 

“….”

 

Do what.

 

I gulped. When Abraham told me to do it I did it, but I won’t listen to his words? Does he already know I came after drinking blood? He might. If it’s Narke, naturally….

 

Ever since learning about Ishmailov’s ability, ever since understanding why Narke had warned that ‘Ishmailov and the three of us shouldn’t be together,’ I had expected this. Even though I was always prepared for him to know things I hadn’t told him, hearing it directly made my heart start racing. I looked around the storefront to see if anyone was sitting nearby, watched Narke tilt his head quietly, then opened my mouth.

 

“…!”

 

Something unbelievable happened. I instinctively closed my mouth and bit down hard on his two fingers that had entered my mouth. Familiar divine power burst forth and flowed down below my throat. The sensation of the bone structure felt beneath the thin leather glove fabric being crushed between my teeth was still impossibly horrifying.

 

“Ow, that hurts~ What if my hand gets cut off like this?!”

 

Narke feigned a surprised voice while continuing to press down on my tongue with all his strength, pushing in divine power. I tried to pull my legs out from under the table, turning my body and grabbing at his forearm.

 

“Mmph! What are you?! This crazy…!”

 

“Yeah, just a moment.”

 

Narke pressed on my jawbone with his other hand and chanted a spell.

 

—Wash away my sins completely and cleanse me of my iniquity. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.

 

Divine power containing purification magic circled around my core for a while before spreading throughout my body. My stomach, which had been unpleasantly hot as if burned, now had no sensation left. As soon as I thought that, the strength left the fingers pressing on my tongue. I immediately released his fingers that I had been biting through the glove, wiped my mouth with my sleeve, and took a defensive stance.

 

“It’s okay. It’s all over~”

 

Narke took off his saliva-soaked glove and waved his hand with a smile. It wasn’t just empty words about worrying if his hand got cut off—I could see blood pooling in his hand. Even that sight didn’t look good to me.

 

“Why are you so cheerful? Throw away that glove.”

 

“You looked like your stomach was bothering you, so I wanted to help.”

 

“What are you, an internal medicine doctor?”

 

“It’s not good for your body to keep carrying that stuff around.”

 

“….”

 

Don’t say things that make me feel hopeless with such a nonchalant attitude. You don’t need to let me know how much you know. Besides, once it’s converted to my mana anyway, it doesn’t have bad enough properties to be called ‘that stuff.’ I sighed deeply and collapsed onto the table. Narke said thoughtfully to himself.

 

“Come to think of it, I once went to Spain to examine someone’s tonsils. Their tongue kept getting longer, so I had to press it down with a silver rod.”

 

“I don’t know where to start pointing out the problems with that….”

 

“It was someone possessed by an evil spirit after eating paper with a curse on it.”

 

“….”

 

This guy definitely didn’t live like a student. What kind of experience is that supposed to be? Meanwhile, the sound of shoes moved far away. It seemed like someone was going downstairs to order.

 

Thanks to the divine power washing away all of Abraham’s mana, I felt refreshed, so I spent a long time wondering whether I should praise this or get angry. In other words, I completely missed the timing to get angry.

 

As I lay there like that for a while, I felt someone gradually lifting my hair with mana.

 

“Stop it…!”

 

My tongue still stings because of you. I was definitely not in the mood for jokes. Before I could finish speaking, Narke pushed a fork with something on it into my mouth and smiled.

 

“Fave chocolate~”

 

“….”

 

It’s sweet. I silently chewed it thoroughly, rinsed my mouth with bitter-tasting coffee, then asked grumpily.

 

“What.”

 

“I bought it. It’s the chocolate Leo likes, right? We ate it together often whenever we came here to study for exams.”

 

“You and Leo came here often, I see.”

 

“Yeah, we did.”

 

Unlike me, who couldn’t act familiar except at his personal training ground and dormitory because I couldn’t show that I was close to Leo, Leo and Narke, who were both friendly with Class 2 friends, would have hung out together occasionally. Along with Elias. Narke muttered while looking out the window.

 

“Those times were fun.”

 

“….”

 

I know that Leo and Narke’s relationship hasn’t been good lately. While I was wondering if I could bring up their relationship more carefully, Narke pushed a plate toward me.

 

“You probably don’t like sweet things much, but I think you need to recharge right now.”

 

“It’s interesting that you concluded I don’t like sweet things when I drank so much cola at school.”

 

“The reason you like that isn’t because it’s sweet, is it?”

 

“…Hmm, that’s true.”

 

I nodded while looking at the floor, picked up a fork, and said playfully.

 

“I’ll eat well. My mood got down because you suddenly did something crazy.”

 

It felt like visiting an internal medicine clinic. Damn it… there are only quack doctors around me.

 

“Haha. So, didn’t you need to verify my authenticity?”

 

“Um… Sorry. I should have asked once more if it was okay to let you in, but I was in a hurry because of time. I didn’t need to worry about authenticity because that guy has tools.”

 

I kept watching just in case, but the possibility of change didn’t decrease either. Even considering the possibility of it going up and down, it wasn’t a red flag. I said simply to Narke, who was waiting for my words.

 

“Abraham doesn’t know about Ishmailov either. More precisely, he’s someone Abraham knows well but doesn’t know well. There are few people who can access important information as much as Abraham, but even Abraham wasn’t given information about Ishmailov.”

 

“Hmm, I see. I thought that might be the case, but it’s disappointing.”

 

“Right.”

 

But no matter who else we met, we couldn’t have gained as much, so that conversation with him was essential. I answered briefly and said while looking at students wearing Imperial 2nd Education Institute uniforms in the distance.

 

“We would normally be preparing to enter 3rd year by now.”

 

“Haha, it’s March? There’s still over two months until vacation.”

 

“Still. Narke, what were you planning to do during vacation?”

 

“….”

 

Narke looked out the window in silence. Why is he silent? According to the plan from a year ago, the exchange period would have ended in summer and he would have returned to Vatican, right? Surely there was no summer vacation for you.

 

But…. It didn’t seem like that was the reason. I watched him for a while before speaking first.

 

“Did you know this would happen?”

 

“That’s a difficult question. I couldn’t foresee this far. I also came this far feeling like I was playing a dice game. I’m just watching where fate leads you all. I know how the universe will move according to logic, but that’s not the same as knowing the future for certain.”

 

I nodded.

 

“Haven’t you heard anything from the hospital?”

 

“Not yet.”

 

“Do you think there’s a way to save Haike? Isn’t it a situation where only her body is alive right now?”

 

“….”

 

The atmosphere became heavy again when Haike was mentioned. Narke said in a subdued tone again.

 

“If the body remains, I believe I can somehow bring her back. If my guess is correct.”

 

“What your guess is….”

 

“I’d like to tell you, but I can’t. We both have things we can’t tell each other anyway, so you can understand, right?”

 

“Hmm.”

 

I stared at his eyes, which had darkened perhaps from stress, then answered.

 

“Okay.”

 

I stabbed a piece of chocolate with my fork and held it out to Narke. Then Narke, who had been looking somewhat tired, smiled brightly and ate the chocolate. I chuckled at Narke, who had swallowed the fork I was holding.

 

“I meant for you to take it and eat it yourself.”

 

“Ah!”

 

“What do you mean ‘ah.'”

 

“I don’t read all the time, Lucas…. Besides, you don’t like me reading you, do you.”

 

“And yet you came all the way here to find me.”

 

“Hmm, I was a bit worried. Especially on days like today… it’s better to be together than alone, isn’t it.”

 

I answered with a smile and silently drank my coffee. We both did that. We split the chocolate we bought in half. We didn’t try to divide it exactly in half, but it naturally turned out that way. We were tired and needed sugar to recharge our energy. Narke, who had been reading a palm-sized bible, closed the book loudly when the chocolate ran out and asked.

 

“Then shall we head back to Nymphenburg now? You can organize your thoughts when we get there.”

 

“Sounds good.”

 

Even as I said that, my feet wouldn’t move. I looked at the scenery outside the window. I could see the street I had walked with Haike. Somewhere in that distant path leading away from the city center, there’s a photo studio.

 

“….”

 

Bavaria is more comfortable than Prussia, and Munich is more comfortable than Berlin. Being able to fall asleep in Nymphenburg, Munich is fortunate for me.

 

But it remained unchanged that the most peaceful six months of memories here, whether good or bad, were in Berlin at the Imperial 2nd Education Institute. At the time, I didn’t even know it was peace, and it might not have actually been peace, but I only realized after a friend’s consciousness disappeared that the time I thought had no great meaning was actually not like that.

 

When we arrived at Nymphenburg like that, my room had evaporated once again.

 

“Hah….”

 

“What.”

 

Leo, leaning against the empty room that used to be mine with his arms crossed, asked.

 

Why didn’t I foresee the future implications of the disappearance of my duty to monitor Ishmailov? I pressed both hands to my forehead and looked up at the sky. Even though my frustration must have been visually expressed, Leo was this calm. I’m curious how a friend who sanctifies my mouth out of nowhere and a bastard—no, friend—who blows up my room whenever he gets the chance are both by my side. I muttered, unable to organize the countless thoughts floating in my head into one.

 

“What I heard from someone earlier….”

 

I can’t tell him about that. Right. He’s probably doing this out of consideration for me, so I shouldn’t complain too much. Though I want to.

 

I resigned myself and moved with him to Nicolaus’s study. If this doesn’t work, I’ll change my mindset. From now on, this isn’t the Prince’s Palace but Nicolaus’s study. I threw my bag onto the bed in the study’s sitting room and stepped into the hallway.

 

“Hey. Can I pick my own room?”

 

“Do whatever you want.”

 

Leo seems to feel at ease only when everything is somewhere he can manage. Having taken away my room again, he answered in an indifferent tone while keeping his eyes fixed on his notebook. This guy is really planning to move with me if someone casts warp magic on the floor. Though casting warp magic in the Prince’s Palace would be impossible in the first place.

 

I found a room with many books and shamelessly decided to use it as my room, then came back outside. When I returned to the sitting room where Leo was, he muttered without me even asking.

 

“I’m looking for a way to rebuild Haike’s core.”

 

All sorts of notebooks and pens were scattered across his desk. I nodded silently and sat down in the chair across from him.

 

“Can’t you just do the same treatment you did on me? My core condition was at its worst too.”

 

“That was only possible because of your talent.”

 

I asked with hope even though I expected exactly this answer 100%, and sure enough. As I closed my eyes and let out a long breath, Leo said calmly.

 

“Lucas. Cores don’t heal at such a fast rate. It’s rare for them to crack completely in the first place, but occasionally people who are brought in with their cores completely shattered from combat usually lie there for at least several months. Even then, many die.”

 

“….”

 

“Your core last year wasn’t in a condition that could be healed just by drinking dozens of bottles of core recovery medicine made from materials I provided and receiving treatment from Mother and the doctors.”

 

I know. I already figured it out after the Ash Wednesday ceremony, after I gained the ability to absorb mana. How could I not know? At the time, I just thought it was natural that Luca’s core recovery was exceptionally good since he had the qualities to become the family’s greatest mage. It wasn’t a wrong thought, but now that I know those qualities were of this nature, I can only laugh.

 

Ishmailov could recover vitality by drinking blood, but Haike can’t, Elias’s frustrated voice replayed in my head. I closed my eyes again. Leo responded calmly as if he had read my troubles.

 

“That’s generally speaking. Everyone has different magical qualities and talents, so it varies greatly. That’s why the doctors knew your case was unusual from the start, but… they couldn’t deduce that ability you and I are thinking of now. You don’t need to worry about that.”

 

“Right, I’m not worried about that.”

 

Seeing how quickly that answer came out, he must have thought about various things too. When it comes to treatment, any words I add would be unnecessary. I picked up an empty notebook from Leo’s desk and scribbled down what I heard from Daniel earlier while asking.

 

“Where’s Luise?”

 

“Julia is taking care of her. She hasn’t said much yet, but… she seems to need some time.”

 

Leo looked at me and continued.

 

“You went to see His Highness the Crown Prince, right? Nothing happened?”

 

“….”

 

If drinking blood counts as something happening, then something did happen, but I can’t tell him that. I shook my head and said seriously.

 

“No problems, and first, we can divide the information sources into two categories.”

 

Perhaps because it sounded like I was about to speak in earnest, Leo nodded and leaned forward.

 

“Abraham has a prophet named Daniel. We can divide it into information obtained from talking with that prophet and information obtained from Abraham… but Abraham doesn’t have any information to begin with.”

 

“Even that person doesn’t know anything?”

 

“Right. After synthesizing my conversation with Daniel, it seems like this problem should start with Ishmailov rather than Haike. So I asked Abraham about Ishmailov first, but there are almost no people who know about Ishmailov. Among those who know nothing, Abraham is among those who know the most. It’s only because it was him that I could draw out today’s conversation – if it had been others, they wouldn’t have known of Ishmailov’s existence at all.”

 

Leo nodded silently.

 

“Leo. Was there anything important on August 31st last year? Whether it was nationally important, something that happened personally, or something that happened around us – tell me if you know anything.”

 

“I don’t remember any events. Why?”

 

“They said Ishmailov has been raised as a messiah since then.”

 

“…What? I thought he’d been raised like that for ten years, but it’s more recent than I thought. Why specifically last year?”

 

Exactly. That’s what bothers me too, which is why I’m asking now.

 

August 31st last year. I don’t have any particular connection to it either. The only thing that bothers me is that it was shortly after I came to this world. School started on September 1st, and I fell into this place in August.

 

‘…But it’s not the same date.’

 

If it had been the same date, I would have gotten goosebumps. Though there’s no reason it would be the same date in the first place. I just worried about it once because it would be very suspicious when putting the clues together. Thinking that far, I shook my head again and hardened my expression.

 

August 31st was the first day they prepared to make Ishmailov a messiah. It might seem like too obvious a thought, but the fact that such a specific date was mentioned means it’s likely a recorded date rather than just the first day it was discussed. The fact that Abraham is merely someone who obtained information from an associate rather than being directly involved strengthens that assumption. Then when did the discussion to make the decision begin, not the day the decision was approved or executed?

 

“….”

 

Even if the dates don’t match, it’s suspicious enough. Why specifically August last year? As someone who was dragged here in August last year, I’m very concerned.

 

‘Could it be that Pleroma was performing necromancy and accidentally….’

 

No way…. Could that really be possible? I’m making a huge mistake. I chuckled, then couldn’t laugh and seriously clasped my hands together with a blank expression, then chuckled again.

 

‘No way.’

 

I grabbed my head again. As I kept laughing then getting serious then laughing then getting serious, Leo asked with a sour expression.

 

“What’s wrong, Lucas.”

 

“No, just some nonsense… I had some nonsensical thoughts.”

 

“What kind of thoughts?”

 

This isn’t something to think about now. No, it is something to think about now. But thinking more about it won’t give me an answer. What I need to do now is synthesize the information and decide whose extra chapter I should enter to get additional information, or who I should go to for more information.

 

First, I should find out how Haike and Ishmailov ended up being harmed in this incident, and try to resolve my earlier doubts in the process. Since Ishmailov is involved in this matter anyway, investigating his origins is essential. Whether I really came here by being wrongly caught up in ‘unknown activities Pleroma was trying to perform on Ishmailov’ or not, I’ll have no choice but to resolve that doubt whether I like it or not.

 

‘For now, I can’t rule out the possibility that the timing coincidentally overlapped.’

 

Right, since there are too few clues to confirm that there’s a common relationship called Pleroma between me and Ishmailov now, I need to be careful not to over-interpret just because one timing matches up. I also need to check whether my interpretation is committing the error of confirmation bias.

 

Since Leo was waiting for me silently, I mentioned the second most significant piece of information I heard from Abraham.

 

“Next, Abraham didn’t participate in Ishmailov’s brainwashing. That means there was another person with brainwashing abilities.”

 

“Like Narke?”

 

“Right. There must be a mage in Pleroma who uses strong mental magic. Since they would have had to be away continuously from September last year to March this year, they must be someone who lives in Pleroma entirely. The problem is, at that level, I wonder if that person shouldn’t be the messiah instead.”

 

I laughed sarcastically as I said that.

 

It would be nice if I could see Ishmailov’s mental power stats, but his status window only showed ‘―’ marks for everything. Not even question marks, what does ― mean? It can’t mean he has no mental power.

 

I quietly fell into thought and spoke whatever came to mind.

 

“Narke has been saying from before that she, Haike, and I shouldn’t be close to Ishmailov.”

 

Leo looked at me with questioning eyes. I brought up something I had only told Narke.

 

“Ishmailov has the quality to absorb mana and unique abilities. That’s probably one of the reasons he’s the covenant messenger.”

 

“…What? That ability….”

 

“I’ve only been certain about it recently. As expected, Ishmailov has multiple unique abilities. Considering that Narke tried to separate the three of us – herself, me, and Haike – from Ishmailov, she must have judged that our three abilities among the Eschete were particularly dangerous.”

 

“…Abilities that would be dangerous if they went to Ishmailov.”

 

“Right.”

 

Gradually, this conversation was becoming one where I organized my thoughts. Despite not understanding why Narke’s story suddenly came up, Leo was patiently listening to my unpredictable information transitions. As I fell into thought, Leo asked.

 

“So there are two pieces of information from Abraham. Now I understand. Then what did Daniel say?”

 

“First, the seven stars, seven golden lampstands prophecy isn’t important in the current situation. This didn’t happen because of that prophecy.”

 

“Why?”

 

If that had been the core issue in this incident, Daniel would have thrown out some meaningful words. That should be set aside as secondary. I gave a rough excuse.

 

“I don’t know the reason for that either. Most of it was warnings about me. To beware of Pharisees, to beware of those who stand alone but want others to stand alone… And he said Ishmailov and Haike have no relationship.”

 

There was more conversation after that. But it’s unrelated to the current matter and was a topic difficult to tell Leo about. Leo didn’t pay attention to my intentionally shortening my words and brought up something else.

 

“That you should be wary of someone. The fact that you’re telling me this means you trust me.”

 

“Hmm…? Of course.”

 

Perhaps it was only obvious to me, but Leo, who had been dejected since the Haike incident, smiled. Then he quickly played innocent and asked.

 

“Haike and Ishmailov have no relationship – this is shocking. Does that mean a third party attacked them?”

 

“Since you and Elias were near those friends at that time, they didn’t appear here to attack directly but attacked remotely….”

 

Haike’s core was under Narke’s protection, so if something happened, Narke would know immediately. Wasn’t the subjugation of him laid down in preparation for when Haike would show abnormalities? And if someone had attacked remotely before Haike collapsed, Narke would have said so immediately. I don’t even know if remote attacking is possible. I mean it’s technically impossible. The conversations that had flowed so far repeated connecting and disconnecting in my head.

 

“….”

 

Ah.

 

When I opened my mouth at a sudden thought, Leo held his head and let out a deep breath.

 

“I understand why you didn’t ask His Highness the Crown Prince about Haike first. From the moment you heard that the two have no relationship, you fell into a complete maze. Investigating Ishmailov’s side would actually be more….”

 

“I got it.”

 

The road is long, but I caught one hypothesis. As I jumped up from my seat, Leo looked up at me with a flustered face.

 

“What? What do you know.”

 

“Leo. Can you give me some of Ishmailov’s blood?”

 

I grabbed Leo’s shoulders and looked into his confused eyes.

 

“And wait just 3 hours. I’ll be back.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————