How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 408

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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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But before that.

 

There’s something I need to check.

 

I took a deep breath and opened the alteration possibility window.

 

―Alteration Possibility: 72.9%

 

Already 73%. What 777 days—it hasn’t even been a year and it’s already exceeded 70%. There really isn’t much left until I see the end.

 

“…”

 

Even though the possibility of escaping a future of death has approached nearly 73%, I feel strangely bittersweet. Thinking of the slim chance makes one corner of my heart feel empty. However, I couldn’t let this innocent body die, so it’s natural that I should achieve 100% early, and after that, I should pray for everything to return to normal…

 

‘…That makes sense. Now, then.’

 

Now, ‘how much will the alteration possibility drop when I finish this test and come out’? Finding that out is today’s goal.

 

Today, this time is the best opportunity to understand, first, what kind of plan the ‘information’ that Adrian Ascanien is hiding in the Supreme Council roughly means, and second, what thoughts Adrian Ascanien harbors toward me and what true purpose he had when he returned to Germany.

 

As Clausewitz argued, war is constrained by the unlimited nature of war through the probability of the real world, and yesterday’s sparring match has very narrow probability compared to such information warfare in certain areas—most battles that take a form combined with information warfare—so if one wants to grasp individual high-level ability levels, it would be better to conduct strategic games rather than sparring, and Adrian Ascanien might have intended that as well.

 

At the same time, Adrian Ascanien isn’t a simpleton who would waste time just to satisfy his personal desires when only Supreme Council meetings are being held repeatedly, so he probably can’t completely distance himself from the first ‘information.’

 

If the alteration possibility drops to an irreversible level, I’ll consider this timeline as one to abandon and continue living, but as I thought when finishing my conversation with Narke earlier, I’ll experiment with hypotheses that had high risk—preferably several of them.

 

Crunch—

 

I slowly took a step in the snow field. The sound of snowballs crumbling and being stepped on is clear. What should I learn here and what should I do?

 

I wondered if there might be victims, but I can’t hear the distinctive vibrations and voices of those contaminated with Vitriol. My gaze is constantly directed at the surroundings. It seems to be around noon, but the shops aren’t open for business yet—I can’t tell if they’ve closed permanently or just temporarily.

 

First, location. This is the northern Pankow district of Berlin, leading to northern Brandenburg, and among these, this neighborhood is where those with poor economic power are concentrated.

 

Next… that red billboard placed on the sidewalk over there. As I thought before, this world possesses cultural aspects of the early 20th century or even some technology of the 21st century and beyond in our world, thanks to qualitative and quantitative growth through magic, but this would be a scene commonly seen in the 19th century of the world I lived in. There are rotating billboards on every street where advertisements can be posted. Instead of letting people paste them randomly on walls for urban aesthetics, they’re designed to be concentrated in one place.

 

I approached closer to it.

 

The billboard’s condition was old, but the advertisements inside were relatively new, and looking at the numbers carved in the official stamp, a ‘tutor urgently needed advertisement’ was posted yesterday. Next to it were job-seeking advertisements from local Human teachers in their 20s who have time during the semester and want employment, a discount advertisement from a large grocery store in the arcade in front posted a month ago, a catalog sample page from a department store in Berlin’s commercial district, a Human janitor’s job-seeking advertisement, a hardware store’s house repair advertisement, a bookstore’s used book purchase and sales advertisement, a bakery advertisement… ordinary advertisements from shops located in this neighborhood were written. I’ve seen one side now. I had to see the remaining five sides too. I spun the cylinder and read through the next advertisements.

 

‘Hmm, there are quite a lot. Bartender wanted, billiard club promotion, lottery shop advertisement, another hardware store…’

 

Having put all the advertisement contents into my head, I approached the newspaper stand outside the arcade and picked up today’s Berlin daily.

 

“Excuse me. I’d like to check this for a moment.”

 

“Ah, if you want to read it, you need to purchase…”

 

“I’m investigating for the Federation. Please cooperate.”

 

The old Human owner couldn’t say much and nodded. I avoided his eyes and repositioned the newspaper.

 

December 20, 1898. A fictional newspaper.

 

[German Empire on the verge of perfect Pleroma eradication… Will the ‘War with Pleroma’ end before Christmas?]

 

They put wishful thinking as the title. I can see another article with the title [City blockade order to be lifted soon?]. Curfew from 7 PM to 5 AM. As part of anti-Pleroma policy, it seems there are restricted movement hours set in this fictional December 1898.

 

I glanced at the crossword puzzle section on the back and looked at the personal advertisement column. The tutor wanted and job-seeking advertisements I saw on the billboard earlier are here too. I read through the numerous texts written in the advertisement section.

 

[[All regions] Tutor urgently needed: Human-8 boy/well-behaved/room and board provided/3 interviews/family name will be revealed when interview is scheduled.]

 

[[All regions][Pankow] Seeking tutor position: Violet Brot, Human-27, Göttingen University Philosophy graduate. Will teach sincerely.]

 

[À point, à cœur, amuse-bouche, assiette, lyophilized—common knowledge for chef written exam candidates! We’ll teach you everything from one to ten so you can pass in a short time. Last year’s student pass rate 100%]

 

[Seeking someone to lend a typewriter: Just 5 hours this weekend, will compensate sufficiently, please telegraph to the address below]

 

[Nothing to say but wanted to place a personal ad. Every evening I walk with my owl in Mitte district park, anyone want to come see? But each letter costs ####]

 

[Anyone want to fish at Berlin University? Must bring cash, no checks, absolutely cash, and coins are even better, not responsible if bills tear]

 

[Meet at the orange lily garden, Z.]

 

[Seeking Human to play chess together at 3 o’clock in front of city hall: Prize money 800 fel]

 

Various things like this are also written, and codes are often hidden in such personal advertisement columns. If you don’t think too grandly about codes, many things will catch your eye. For example, what kind of idle person would create something called an orange lily garden, and where would such a thing exist? The unnaturalness is so strong it makes one corner of my heart feel uneasy. In such cases, it’s naturally a nickname they gave to a specific place, unrelated to actual orange weeds. And what about the guy wanting to fish at Berlin University? Obviously, but thinking about it at this point, I should examine all information closely while not overlooking the existence of nonsense.

 

Next to it is a weather forecast section. It’s scheduled to snow tomorrow and the day after tomorrow too. Flipping ahead, I see an article titled [Heavy snowfall across Berlin] in the lower section of page 1. I closed the newspaper and asked the newsstand owner.

 

“Do you have yesterday’s newspaper?”

 

“Here it is.”

 

“What about from a week ago?”

 

“If you’re talking about the Berlin daily, most of the paper stock is sent to headquarters, so we don’t have any.”

 

“Then if you have even one copy that’s older, could you give me the oldest one?”

 

“Um… from three days ago. Here it is.”

 

He rummaged through something under the drawer and pulled out a newspaper. I thanked him and skimmed through the articles. The first thing that caught my eye was [Unusual heavy snowfall expected]. Beyond the weather forecast section, they ran an article forecasting today’s heavy snowfall here too. The weather forecast section on the back page also had the same thing written, so they had anticipated today’s heavy snowfall from at least three days ago. The personal advertisement section, like other pages, is updated daily, so there weren’t many overlapping ads, but the guy wanting to fish at Berlin University and the two tutor seekers had placed ads three days ago too. I roughly solved the crossword puzzle while talking to the frozen owner in front.

 

“But why are there so few people on the streets?”

 

“Well… because materials aren’t moving due to the city blockade order. Food supplies brought in from outside the capital have completely run out.”

 

“I see.”

 

I could feel him looking at me like I was crazy—he seemed somewhat unpleasantly bewildered: which makes sense since the government issued the blockade order and I probably look like a government lackey right now—but I made a meaningless exclamation and continued speaking.

 

“Then places that don’t need inter-regional movement or sell items with lower turnover rates than food ingredients would have opened their shops. For example… stationery stores or hardware stores.”

 

“That’s… probably right. But everyone won’t be able to do business for long. Most food-related shops have closed, and there aren’t many customers wandering around outside since they can survive on government-distributed food alone.”

 

“About how many people come here per day?”

 

The shop owner opened his ledger and cash register, estimated by eye, then answered.

 

“About twenty people came today even though it’s past noon. There’s another newsstand beyond that alley over there, but usually over a hundred people easily gather because of the morning newspaper. But why are you here…?”

 

The shop owner paused for a long time. He rolled his eyes and asked cautiously.

 

“What brings you here…? Did something happen here by any chance?”

 

“No. Thank you for your cooperation.”

 

I answered while being conscious of people passing by in the corner of my vision.

 

After that, I entered a building with a small used clothing store at the alley entrance. Considering the attention, I couldn’t enter through the store’s main entrance, so I knocked loudly on the locked owner’s entrance side door in the building hallway. The owner, who opened the door with an unpleasant face while smoking, saw my appearance and spoke with a frozen expression.

 

“Th-the Imperial Palace…? What brings you here…?”

 

“I’d like to buy some clothes.”

 

I squeezed in, creating space where there was none, and continued speaking.

 

“Could you pick out something reasonably neat? Anything will do.”

 

“Ah, anything…”

 

He trailed off with a face wondering why on earth I came here, then brought a brown jacket. I placed it beside me and opened my mouth.

 

“Nice. Yes. It’s good but… Could I also get a shirt and pants? Preferably a belt, hat, and shoes too. Oh, and a bag.”

 

“…?”

 

The shop owner looked increasingly puzzled, but brought the items I ordered. I roughly changed clothes and stuffed the uniform I was wearing into the bag.

 

“Thank you for your cooperation. The Federation will pay for this. You must keep everything that happened here completely secret. Do you understand?”

 

“Yes, yes yes.”

 

He didn’t seem to fully trust my promise to somehow handle it on credit, but since he recognized I was an Esper, he wasn’t completely distrustful either. If someone in uniform had been Human, he would have been a bit more suspicious. He just seemed to want me to leave here quickly.

 

I exited through the side door back into the building hallway, and as soon as I came out, I stuck my neck forward and created a hunched posture. Walking around with a height around 185cm is dangerous. Even though I’m now wearing loafers so the boot heels are gone, it’s still true that I’m much taller than the average height of German Human males in this era, so I had to reduce it even a little.

 

Now, at this point.

 

There’s probably a reason I was dropped in this area first. What could it be?

 

I went outside and brushed off the still-falling snow from my shoulders, then swept my hand across the tops of mailboxes and billboards that my hand could reach. Snow falls down with a thud. This was fun when I was young, and it’s still fun as an adult. I walked while sweeping along low fences too.

 

For 20 minutes like that, I played around, clumping and dropping the snow piled on mailboxes, fences, and billboards in this neighborhood.

 

Thunk—

 

This time too, when I mindlessly hit the snow thickly covering a mailbox with my glove to push it off, something fell into the snow piled below. When I picked it up, it was something square-shaped, loosely wrapped in paper string and wax paper.

 

When I untied the roughly bound ribbon, I knew the identity of this square something and let out a hollow laugh. Someone thinking it was food had taken a bite… it was soap the color of sweet bean jelly. Or maybe wax.

 

“…”

 

The image of foam coming from someone’s mouth makes me feel nauseous. Fortunately or unfortunately, when I swept around with my foot, there were no remains of soap someone had spat out. Anyway, I put the free soap in my pocket and continued playing with the snowballs in this neighborhood.

 

Walking around the neighborhood like that, when I returned to a distance about 10 minutes from where I first stood, I discovered a bakery with a purple sign. I happened to be getting hungry.

 

* * *

 

30 minutes earlier.

 

“What are we supposed to do?”

 

Elias put his hand on Leonard’s shoulder and muttered bluntly. Leonard’s eyes quickly turned to the surroundings. Berlin Pankow district. A residential area for Humans with low income levels. No traces of victims are visible. No approaching enemies either. Since they didn’t announce what we should do, that was a problem we had to figure out.

 

Elias grabbed Leonard’s neck and hung on him, saying.

 

“Leooo.”

 

“What.”

 

“Seeing that you and I are paired up, this team member assignment doesn’t seem random.”

 

“I guess so.”

 

“We’re~ pretty close within the 101st, aren’t we? Let’s work hard today and become even closer.”

 

“…”

 

Leonard didn’t respond. Everyone knew that Mimesis cameras were watching them from all directions, so Elias wasn’t disappointed or hurt by Leonard’s lukewarm reaction. After all, hadn’t Elias himself not decorated his words considering his friend and the cameras from the start? His firm trust in a friend he’d known since childhood meant Leonard’s actions no longer left any questions for Elias. Elias looked around like Leonard and opened his mouth.

 

“So, then.”

 

“…”

 

“You know what we have to do, right?”

 

Elias said playfully while patting Leonard’s shoulder. Leonard left such Elias behind and moved first. He took out his Federation certificate at the newspaper stand outside the arcade and said.

 

“Excuse me, sir. Could you cooperate with our investigation for a moment?”

 

“Yes? Oh, yes…”

 

The newsstand owner stepped back with a flustered voice, furrowing his brow. It meant they could look around freely, but he was clearly uncomfortable.

 

Leonard spread out the newspaper, cast a sound-blocking spell, and spoke to Elias.

 

“This winter. Looks like they’ve almost wiped out Pleroma.”

 

“This is too unrealistic… mmph.”

 

Leonard covered Elias’s mouth and stroked his chin.

 

“If they wiped out Pleroma but started the test here…”

 

What could that mean? There was no one at headquarters who wouldn’t understand this. Elias read Leonard’s thoughts exactly.

 

“It means remnants are still around. Anyway, Leo, go be a tutor or something.”

 

“…”

 

“Or want to get a chef’s license? Hey, I could get certified. ‘Perfectly cooked,’ ‘ingredient core temperature,’ and what was it, amuse-bouche is just amuse-bouche, right? But there are people here who need typewriters too.”

 

Leonard glanced at the advertisement Elias had been reading. After amuse-bouche came assiette for single-serving plate service, and lyophilisé meant freeze-dried.

 

Leonard muttered while scanning the advertisement below.

 

“Pointless talk. Anything that looks important?”

 

“Hmm… I’m hungry.”

 

When Elias gave an irrelevant answer to the question, Leonard exhaled deeply and spoke in a low voice.

 

“Can’t you tell from the article about the blockade order? Most places have closed. Especially food-related businesses will be even more so. And what’s the point of eating in Mimesis anyway.”

 

Leonard immediately dispelled the sound-blocking spell and spoke to the still-stiff newsstand owner, looking between the two of them.

 

“Thank you for your cooperation. We’ll pay for the newspaper through the union soon.”

 

When Leonard folded the newspaper in half and left, Elias followed.

 

“Where are we going~?”

 

“Reconnaissance for now.”

 

Leonard answered briefly. Elias was asking while knowing what they needed to do. It was safe to say there was no scenario where Elias wouldn’t choose what Leonard was planning to do. Elias was now leaving everything to Leonard and stepping back to observe.

 

After walking the streets for about 10 minutes, Elias whistled and asked.

 

“It’s nice and cool~ but will we get answers just wandering around like this?”

 

“About this tutor.”

 

When Leonard suddenly brought it up, Elias also closed his mouth and looked at him. Leonard stared straight ahead and muttered.

 

“Why would Violet Brot, who wants to work as a tutor, place an advertisement instead of applying to the families right here nearby? During times when blockade orders are issued like this, the economy contracts. Naturally, employment has to contract too.”

 

“Yeah, I know that too.”

 

“Did Ms. Brot already contact the family next door that ‘urgently needs someone to teach an 8-year-old human’ and get rejected… so she posted her own advertisement? Or was she hoping for more contacts beyond just one or two households? But jobs that pay this well don’t come up as often as you’d think.”

 

“It didn’t pay that much though.”

 

At Elias’s words, Leonard closed his eyes and sighed.

 

“By commoner standards, having all room and board provided is a huge merit, Elias.”

 

“I know that. Well, I get why you’re eyeing this advertisement. There are tutor-wanted ads posted on that bulletin board over there too.”

 

Leonard shifted his gaze to where Elias was pointing. Elias added in a serious voice.

 

“Showing this many means something’s fishy, and it’s really useful information for the test. Well, the answer might not be in the newspaper though~”

 

“…”

 

Leonard looked over there silently, then turned his head forward again and said.

 

“How about we go send a telegram to Ms. Brot, Elias.”

 

“To scam her about needing a tutor?”

 

“That’s right.”

 

“Ooh~”

 

Elias burst into laughter at the uncharacteristic suggestion from his friend. That aside, Elias was feeling somewhat uneasy right now. This wouldn’t be the end. Considering the four-hour test time, he felt that luring out Violet Brot wouldn’t be enough to solve the information this test required. Moreover, while the many posted advertisements were definitely strange, there wasn’t enough situational information to guess that Violet Brot was connected to Pleroma.

 

And Leonard was thinking exactly the same thing.

 

Elias silently followed Leonard, and after another 10 minutes or so, he frowned at a shop nearby.

 

“Hey, you said many shops closed because of the blockade order.”

 

“Food-related only. And not all of them closed.”

 

Though Leonard answered stiffly, Elias didn’t back down. Elias had also seen the many closed restaurants and still-operating bookstores on the way, so he knew well which places were closed and which were still operating. And he knew well that not 100% of food-related shops would close just because they were taking a hit. Nevertheless, Elias firmly grabbed Leonard’s shoulder to stop him and turned around.

 

Elias pointed to a baker moving around the counter inside a bakery with a purple sign. The lights were on, making the interior bright, and bread that should have sold out long ago was displayed on the shelves.

 

“That bakery over there is operating?”

 

At the same time, Julia and Ulrike were looking at a newspaper. After scanning all the newspaper articles, they focused on the personal advertisements section just like Lucas, Elias, and Leonard had done. While Julia remained silent, Ulrike poured out words non-stop.

 

“What’s this about fishing at University of Berlin? Banknotes? This is fishy.”

 

“…”

 

“Should we look for the orange lily garden? Julia, what do you think?!”

 

“That’s difficult. We can’t even be sure if that garden is really a place, and there are no additional clues to figure out what it is.”

 

“Hmm. That’s true…”

 

While Ulrike pondered, Julia silently absorbed the newspaper text and spoke.

 

“Luise. Do you remember what Lucas said? About codes.”

 

“Oh, what was it. ‘The basics of coding is to write down information that looks nutritionally worthless at first glance.'”

 

“Good memory.”

 

Julia took the newspaper from Ulrike, folded it in half, and smiled.

 

“Things that look like codes at first glance aren’t the answer, Luise. That’s what I think, but what about you?”

 

“…It seems like that too~? Haha.”

 

“I’m glad we agree.”

 

Julia smiled brightly and pointed to the advertisements written on the upper part of the folded page.

 

“From what I can see, these two tutor job postings and… other ordinary advertisements catch my eye. Like the chef advertisement or typewriter stuff. What do you think?”

 

“…Hmm, having three interviews does seem too picky. So? Should we contact them?”

 

“There seems to be a reason we were given four whole hours.”

 

Julia opened her previously closed eyes and continued with a smile, despite feeling some deep uneasiness.

 

“So I think contacting them is right. What do you say? Want to go send a telegram?”

 

* * *

 

‘I wonder what the kids are doing right now.’

 

I thought this as I walked toward the bakery. I was already hungry, and ‘luckily’ this place had kept its doors open.

 

Ding—

 

As expected, when I entered, there wasn’t much bread left on the display. I had expected the rich smell of butter when I entered, but unfortunately the shop didn’t smell of anything, as if no bread had been baked in the past few hours.

 

I glanced at the hard bread on the display—it looked like bricks from what I could see—and headed straight to the counter. The shopkeeper turned his head with a listless expression and spoke perfunctorily.

 

“What can I do for you, customer.”

 

“Is Ms. Violet Brot here?”

 

At that moment, I felt the air freeze. When the shopkeeper stopped what he was doing and his eyes changed completely, I took out the soap wrapped in oil paper and paper string that I had put in my pocket.

 

“I came to deliver lyophilisé bread to Ms. Violet Brot.”

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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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