How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 378

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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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“Where are you going?”

 

Leo looked at me with anxious eyes. Seeing this, I was certain. This guy was afraid I might cause another incident—though I personally think I’ve never caused any incidents, but this was the look you give to someone who causes trouble all day long.

 

I rolled my eyes and pointed outside. Leo firmly furrowed his brows and answered.

 

“No.”

 

“Why not? This is ridiculous. Are you my teacher?”

 

“I’m your friend.”

 

“That’s true. But that has nothing to do with where I go. Just wait three hours.”

 

“I said no. I won’t give you blood either.”

 

“…”

 

I let out a sigh and leaned my head against the sofa.

 

“Then I’ll stay here.”

 

When I pointed to the distant hallway, he glanced at the numerous doors and stared at me intently again. I answered his demand more precisely.

 

“I’ll be in your room. Give me the blood.”

 

“This is my room.”

 

Leo said, pointing to the living room we were currently in.

 

“Who doesn’t know that? You have another room in your room. I’ll be in the study you lent me earlier.”

 

“What are you going to do? I lent it to you because you don’t like staying only in the living room, not for you to secretly do something.”

 

“Isn’t your definition of ‘secretly’ a bit wrong? I told you everything.”

 

“No.”

 

Leo said firmly and leaned toward me.

 

“You haven’t said anything about what you think you’ll figure out, Lucas. Did you find a way to save Haike?”

 

A way to save him? Not yet. How could I, who’s not even a doctor, know such a thing?

 

I’ve only traced back to the cause of this incident by combining all the information that’s come out so far. If I know that cause, I might be able to turn back time, and then perhaps I could save Haike, but to answer his question, I’d first need to know whether I can eliminate that cause or not. In the first place, I’m not even certain whether the cause I deduced is correct, so I need to verify it from now on.

 

I shook my head and said calmly.

 

“There’s nothing I can tell you for certain right now. I have to consider the possibility that my reasoning is wrong.”

 

“If it’s wrong, we can fix it together then. Just tell me first.”

 

“I can’t tell you.”

 

Leo narrowed his eyes, perhaps because my answer was stubborn.

 

“Why?”

 

“You…”

 

I was about to speak but closed my mouth.

 

The words you said that day keep circling in my head and won’t leave. You said that preventing Pleroma’s prophecy from being realized was what we should rightfully do. Moreover, from the moment you developed the resolve that ‘the one life I lose is yours’—a depth I cannot fathom—I became even more unable to tell you. I have the extra space-time called extra chapters, but you don’t. What if you encounter danger while trying to help me by rummaging through this real world?

 

“…”

 

In the first place, could he not know what I can deduce? What I’m reasoning now isn’t derived from information only I know, but from information I’ve all shared with Leo. So he might figure it out too, but…

 

At least I don’t want to create the beginning with my own mouth. It’s better for me to pull information from that world first. I held my head and stared only at the floor before saying quietly.

 

“Because I’ve come to understand your feelings.”

 

“What?”

 

“That’s why I can’t tell you. Is that enough? Now give me some blood. I’ll go into your perfectly safe room’s study with a warp mailbox and a notebook, do some perfectly safe meditation, and come out.”

 

Leo let out a hollow laugh with a displeased face.

 

“…If you’re going to use the mailbox, it’s not meditation. More than that, can you verify all the causes you mentioned in 3 hours? That can’t be possible.”

 

“You’re right. Of course that’s impossible. This is the first step.”

 

Leo closed his eyes with a face that said he knew this would happen.

 

“…Then why are you asking for blood?”

 

“To figure out Ishmailov’s nature a bit, like you said before.”

 

Actually, I’m trying to enter an extra chapter, but… it’s not entirely wrong.

 

When there was no answer, I looked and saw Leo watching me with an expression that didn’t seem very trusting, yet without any particular change. When I just blinked, he turned around and unlocked the most distant room with a key and went in.

 

A little later, he came out holding a bottle containing blood. I smiled at Leo who silently handed me the blood and said.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Wait.”

 

Leo grabbed me as I was about to get up from my seat.

 

“What now?”

 

“I’ll help you drink the blood.”

 

“No!”

 

Before his words even finished, I felt my soul completely drain away as I waved my hands. The texture of the glove that had pressed down on my tongue earlier came to mind, and before that, Abraham’s slimy smile.

 

“Stop now. Stop. No.”

 

“What? Why are you like this?”

 

“Common sense is shattered and falling from the sky like rain…”

 

“What kind of nonsense is this…”

 

“I’ll try to do it well myself. You don’t need to help me, I can do it.”

 

Leo watched me quietly in silence, then asked softly.

 

“If it’s just your will, it would be possible without help. But what if something goes wrong after drinking Ishmailov’s blood?”

 

That seems to be the problem. Isn’t that why he made the crazy decision to make me drink 220ml of blood before? I thought for a moment and shook my head.

 

“I already confirmed it’s okay. I drank it right before falling into the water.”

 

“…”

 

Silence flowed. When I looked out the window in bewilderment, Leo said quietly.

 

“I thought that might be the case.”

 

“…Right. Senior doesn’t know?”

 

“He didn’t say much. He probably thinks it got torn during the scuffle.”

 

Is that really the case? I can only hope so.

 

There were two reasons for jumping into the water, one of which was for evidence destruction. Whether I lost consciousness from the shock of falling into water or from having my magic drained by Ishmailov, briefly departing to the other world was the same, so it was worth washing the blood from my mouth in the river water.

 

I pulled out the metal from behind my ear and placed the subordination artifact in his hand.

 

“I’ll take this off for a moment.”

 

“Says who?”

 

“…”

 

This stubborn guy… I ignored his habitual objection and curled his fingers to make him grip it tightly.

 

“Just bear with it a little. When I drink blood, my heart beats fast. It’s a bit awkward for that to transfer to you.”

 

“How novel. Your condition was already strange twice during the day.”

 

“Right, that’s what I mean by it being awkward. Wait, why are you being so specific? Don’t you have work to do?”

 

Leo smiled emptily with a soulless face and raised his eyebrows.

 

“Come to think of it, I haven’t heard an answer about what happened either.”

 

“…”

 

It must have been Abraham and Narke’s doing respectively, but I can only say it’s fortunate that it’s not just when drinking blood that shows elevated heart rate reactions. I don’t want to reveal either of them in any way. I pretended not to know and gestured, quickly waving my hand.

 

“See you in three hours.”

 

I entered the study and locked the door.

 

The plant decorations placed here and there somehow resembled the guy who was just next to me, which was slightly annoying, but it couldn’t be helped. I buried myself in a chair that covered my entire back and placed the warp mailbox I had taken from Nicolaus’s desk in the living room on the table.

 

Thud—

 

First, there’s something I became certain of while drinking Abraham’s blood today.

 

The operating method of extra chapters differs depending on the person. Especially S Stage.

 

Both Abraham’s extra chapter and Ishmailov’s extra chapter were S Stage. Abraham’s S Stage has a broken name from the start and won’t open, while Ishmailov’s S Stage has an intact name and opened briefly.

 

In Abraham’s case, even drinking more blood didn’t change the extra chapter. It might be because I haven’t drunk a larger amount yet, but drinking more blood might not be the opening condition in the first place.

 

On the other hand, in the case of Ishmailov’s extra chapter that opened briefly…

 

‘It’s worth trying.’

 

I dipped my finger in blood and properly closed the lid, then took a long deep breath and put it to my mouth.

 

Whoosh—

 

“…!”

 

Blizzard, once again. The sunlight reflected in the pure white world stings my eyes.

 

Cold snow crystals got inside my eyelids. It feels like my lungs are freezing. A child wearing a fur hat with black hair and blue eyes grabbed my shoulder.

 

“…Are you okay?!”

 

“Gasp.”

 

The moment I gasped in surprise, I opened my eyes in the study again. The scenes changed so quickly that I couldn’t immediately tell which was reality or what was what. Only after taking a few breaths did I finally realize reality, and I burst into laughter at the fact I suddenly understood.

 

‘This is right.’

 

Unlike Leo, Mecklenburg, and Abraham, Ishmailov’s extra chapter opens in proportion to the amount of blood consumed.

 

I took a long deep breath and swallowed another half mouthful of blood before quickly closing the cap.

 

Whoosh―

 

“…Maybe it’s because it’s too cold. Your eyes went blank for a moment and I was startled. Are you okay?”

 

The child I had seen earlier pulled me closer with a bewildered look in his eyes. I had just been in warm spring weather, but now I was facing the harsh winter wind, leaving me speechless. Moreover….

 

‘…Right. Damn it.’

 

I’m also in a child’s body right now, aren’t I? I could feel there was more flesh on my cheeks than before. Not only was my face frozen, but the facial structure itself didn’t follow the muscle movements I was familiar with. Feeling my mind grow distant, I tried to gauge my age by the size of footprints in the snow and the size of wool gloves before giving up and looking at Ishmailov in front of me. Anyone could see he was a child. I probably look like this too. Is there any need to think further….

 

I gathered myself and brought out the maximum Russian I knew―I’m fine, thank you. Then Ishmailov’s eyes widened and he covered his mouth.

 

“You spoke?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“You finally spoke to me! ―――!”

 

Ishmailov spread both arms and spun around, jumping before throwing snow into the air. I tilted my head at his unusual reaction and opened my mouth. Was I supposed to be the silent type? Did this world’s Lucas Ascanien make that choice?

 

‘Sorry, but that concept has to be abandoned starting today.’

 

Ishmailov was so excited he kept bouncing around and stuck close to my side. I felt a tremendous distance from myself being helplessly pushed around by this body tackle from a kid who couldn’t even be 140cm tall, and also felt distance from Ishmailov’s childhood as I closed my eyes.

 

‘It’s unfamiliar.’

 

To think this is Ishmailov’s childhood. My chest grows increasingly tight.

 

Anyway, I need to ask questions now, but there’s a problem. I know English, French, German, and Latin and Greek that I learned after coming here, but I don’t know Russian at all. I hesitated before finally asking in German.

 

“Are we going to class?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Class. Class… class.”

 

I used every foreign language I could so he would understand. When I spoke Greek, he clapped his hands.

 

“We’re going to pray now.”

 

“Me too?”

 

“Yes, of course! You’re a student at our school now.”

 

“I’m not feeling well, can’t I skip it?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Not going. Sick. Achoo… Whatever. Can’t I?”

 

“No! You’ll get in trouble. Really, really big trouble. We have to pray seven times a day.”

 

Ishmailov gripped my arm tightly and spoke with a frightened face. Looking at the child’s face that had turned red from the cold, I forced out a smile that wouldn’t come naturally. Even though I’m not looking at my own past, my mouth tastes bitter.

 

The little kid standing here didn’t look like someone who would grow up to be that Ishmailov. I feel the same sentiment I felt with Gelta Asmann here again. Pleroma ruins several people and makes them irreversible.

 

This wasn’t the time to be lost in bitterness. I immediately asked Ishmailov to achieve my purpose for coming here.

 

“By the way, what’s your name?”

 

Mikhail Vladimirovich Ishmailov, since Pleroma brought him claiming he was the messiah, this name that anyone could see was fake instead of the original name you had. Ishmailov tilted his eyebrows and answered.

 

“Don’t you know? I told you….”

 

“Sorry. I’m not familiar with Russian. Could you tell me one more time?”

 

“Ю́рий―――.”

 

Words that were hard to understand followed. Ah, damn it. Native pronunciation. I couldn’t understand anything except that his name was Yuri. I grabbed his sleeve and asked.

 

“Could you say it slowly just once?”

 

Dong― Dong―

 

“―――!”

 

I flinched at the bell sound and loud shouts from ahead. Orthodox monks were shouting something and gesturing to the children. Ishmailov, no, Yuri grabbed my hand and ran.

 

“Come quickly! It’s prayer time.”

 

I ran after him while memorizing all the letters written on the nameplates of the monastery buildings. I don’t know the Russian alphabet, but I had to memorize them for now.

 

“Hurry, Lucas!”

 

Here too, I was still Lucas. Yuri pulled me from where I stood at the main gate into a small chapel on one side. When did they shout at us to hurry, the monks scolded us not to run once we stepped on monastery grounds.

 

‘To think I’d get scolded not to run in a body that seems like an elementary school student at this age….’

 

It’s absurd.

 

After entering the chapel, another confusion struck. I swallowed while looking at the interior architecture that was both familiar and unfamiliar.

 

‘Hmm, it’s full of difficulties from the start.’

 

I’m certainly familiar with Christian culture―even though I’m an atheist―but that’s limited to Catholicism and Protestantism, not Eastern Orthodoxy.

 

Let me list what I know about Eastern Orthodoxy.

 

Eastern Orthodoxy is the second largest Christian denomination in the world. Due to the Great Schism between Eastern and Western churches in the 11th century, the universal church was divided into Western and Eastern churches, and that Eastern church was later called the Orthodox Church. Just as Catholicism centers on Rome, Orthodoxy centers on the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

 

The end.

 

That’s all there is. My knowledge of Orthodoxy doesn’t exceed the level of general knowledge.

 

So, how do you pray?

 

‘Hahaha….’

 

Do I know? Of course not. I had no choice but to glance around and follow along. The students lined up in the chapel closed their eyes. After closing my eyes and following for a few minutes, the monk standing at the front opened his mouth.

 

“―――.”

 

It was a common prayer containing the word Jesus. The problem is I can’t understand anything except Jesus. The Russian students repeated the phrases the monk recited. Then, I heard a familiar name being called in an unfamiliar accent and voice.

 

“Lucas.”

 

When I carefully opened my eyes, the monk was pointing at me and sternly saying something in Russian. Yuri leaned over and whispered.

 

“He’s asking why you’re not doing it.”

 

“――.”

 

The monk sternly questioned Yuri about something. When all the praying students’ gazes turned to both of us, Yuri carefully answered in Russian. I couldn’t understand everything, but seeing the word ‘German’ repeated, the monk seemed to be telling us not to use German here, and Yuri seemed to be answering that I wouldn’t understand if he didn’t use German. I’m not certain since I combined it from three words I could understand.

 

Eventually the conversation ended with the monk’s victory. Yuri hung his head with a dejected face, and the monk pointed at me and said something lengthy. The prayer sounds from surrounding students had now completely stopped. The monk stood still and looked at me, seemingly wanting me to recite the prayer.

 

‘Hmm.’

 

I looked out the window once, confirmed that the shadow created by the sun was shortest, then turned my gaze back to this burdensome chapel.

 

Sorry, but I don’t know what prayer is used for noon prayer in Orthodoxy. And the important thing isn’t praying, but knowing Ishmailov’s full name and the name of this monastery school. There are a few more things I need to know too.

 

‘Good.’

 

It was my mistake to expect that learning one name would be simple. The language doesn’t work and I’m too young for any argument to be effective. Here, it’s impossible for me to try to abandon school like I did in Mecklenburg’s extra chapter.

 

Then shouldn’t I go out and study again? Let’s go out.

 

“….”

 

I said let’s go out.

 

The surroundings didn’t change. I was briefly confused before realizing the situation and closing my eyes. Instead of having the right to stay as much as I drink blood, I can’t even leave on my own.

 

‘If I drink too much at once, it’ll be the end.’

 

And I’m also finished now that I can’t escape… no, go out to study. I looked at the middle-aged monk standing with a solemn face and tried to think of something to improvise. That person somehow expects me to recite prayers in Russian fluently, and I have neither the intention nor ability to do so.

 

Now all that’s left is to see whether negotiation attempts work with a face that looks less than ten years old. So, I mimicked the monk’s expression and opened my mouth with a solemn face.

 

“Teacher?”

 

Gasp―

 

“…!”

 

I convulsed on the sofa and opened my eyes.

 

‘Amazing timing.’

 

The effect of the half mouthful of blood I drank was over. I immediately got up and pulled out all the Orthodox and Christian liturgy books from Leo’s study.

 

So, 20 minutes after imprinting the book contents in my head. When I drank another half mouthful of blood and entered Ishmailov’s extra chapter again, my vision was dark. I, who had been standing just moments ago, was now with my forehead against someone’s chest. Small hands were patting my back. When I raised my head, I could see the monk and Yuri pointing at me with dark expressions while conversing.

 

“―――! ―――!”

 

“…――.”

 

“――? ―――!”

 

What’s this? The monk waved his hand while looking at me. At that moment, Yuri put his arm around my shoulder and quickly stood up, hurriedly leaving the chapel with steps I couldn’t tell if he was supporting me or what.

 

“Where are we going?”

 

“I wasn’t seeing things wrong when we came back from the village earlier, right? I thought you were sleeping standing up then too. It was really brief though~”

 

Yuri was so excited he was almost flying as he ran and dragged me along. I roughly understand why this kid who looks like a lower elementary school student is excited. Kids like wandering around during their daily routine.

 

And that’s not very important to me. What’s important now is knowing information including this guy’s name.

 

“So where are we going.”

 

“You suddenly went wobbly~ like that. The teacher said to move you to the infirmary for today. So we’re going to the infirmary.”

 

“What?”

 

Wait. Then does that mean I can’t meet Ishmailov today?

 

I can’t wait a whole day. I don’t think the amount of blood I have left will last that long. If I have to part ways now, I need to ask him everything I need to know right now. I urgently grabbed his arm and turned around. Or tried to. Yuri grabbed my shoulder with a serious voice.

 

“This was an opportunity.”

 

“Sorry, but I have some things I need to ask.”

 

“No, listen, Lucas. This is more important.”

 

“No? I don’t think so.”

 

“It’s important!”

 

Yuri blinked rapidly and brought his face right up close to mine.

 

“Did you hear what I said?”

 

“…No.”

 

This isn’t the time for this. I frowned and swallowed. Yuri, who had been grinning mischievously, scooped up snow piled on the ground and threw it into the sky while shouting.

 

“I convinced them that since you’re impossible to reason with, I should skip too! We’re cutting class today! Yay~”

 

I silently watched this elementary schooler and threw some snow into the sky as well.

 

“…Wow~!”

 

Good. I’ve secured time.

 

Now all that’s left is getting a proper answer from this unpredictable elementary schooler.

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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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