How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 42

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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 (42)

Elias seemed unable to recover from the shock of gaining 60 years from the start, flipping through the booklet this way and that.

In my peripheral vision, Narke lowered his head, pressed his forehead with his hand, and silently shook his body.

Even without seeing his expression, he’s 200% laughing.

Ding―!

〈 Chapter 4. Constant water drops pierce stone (2) 〉

Proposal 3: [Impression] Score 5 Defense (0/N) (167 hours 59 minutes 57 seconds)

* Route 1 — 〈 Chapter 5. Good things require time (1) 〉

* Route 2 — 〈 Chapter 5. Don’t praise the day before evening comes 〉

Right… it appeared well.

It’s something I need to deal with anyway, so it’s good for me if it moves to the next chapter.

“Did you buy this with money?”

“Uh-huh… 1 fel.”

Elias’s hollow laugh could be heard.

To be honest, while I expected up to the 40s, I never thought about the 70s.

Even if you’re going to guess wrong, this is really wrong.

Nicolaus hasn’t revealed anything properly, so it’s hard to judge his age easily.

Still, through his voice, silhouette, and overall atmosphere, you can roughly tell that he ‘seems like a young person.’

Then how did such a shocking age of 70s come about?

There’s something to consider here.

Mages have drastically different lifespans depending on the magical power they possess.

So, having a youthful body at 77 years old isn’t entirely impossible.

Even Luca’s Father is approaching his 70s now, but his body is frozen at the equivalent of a 40-year-old non-mage.

‘That said, jumping 60 years isn’t exactly common.’

While it happens occasionally, you absolutely can’t say it’s common.

Looking at 17 and saying 77…

Even for a mage, that was too much.

Of course, that’s from my perspective.

It’s only too much from the standpoint of knowing my age, but those who don’t know me at all would understand that I’m in my 70s while maintaining a youthful body around 30-40 years old.

‘Let me think about one more thing.’

Since they didn’t just roughly group me into the 70s, I can’t ignore the possibility that they found out my age from some document.

‘If that’s the case, then probably… they misread 17.’

That could happen if it was handwritten material.

Before, when I heard that my name had somehow ended up in the military without my knowledge, I asked Leo about the process of convincing the family elders.

The reason Leo could keep a suspicious person by his side despite that important position was largely because that person was a friend from the same year and department as Leo.

They seemed to think there was at least no risk of being stabbed in the back.

However, that doesn’t mean he told them exactly who Nicolaus was.

Ascanien forms a duchy and is the ruling family of the Anhalt Region.

And in noble society, especially among the ruling families of various countries within the Empire, there’s quite a bit of exchange.

This is why Leo couldn’t trust and tell even his own family.

Then let’s think about it.

One day your child appears on the front page of the newspaper with some thief-like guy wearing a black mask as an attendant without any prior notice, and moreover, he’s stubbornly refusing to reveal who that masked guy is.

Still, trusting the story about being a classmate based on the guarantee that he never talks nonsense, but then if he says ‘I need to make him a citizen ID but there’s a slight problem so I need to change and submit his birth year,’ how could you trust that?

So Leo couldn’t manipulate my age after already informing his family that some unidentified Hunter was a classmate.

Elias, who had somehow wiped the bewilderment from his face, nodded seriously.

“…Right, he’s 77 years old.”

“Really?”

“No? I don’t know. How can you tell a mage’s age just by looking at their face? I didn’t ask.”

“Ah… I see…”

“What, did you deduce the reason they wear masks too? Extremely ugly… what’s this? Adultery, what? What’s this about being a wanted criminal?!”

Elias looked at Leo and laughed like crazy.

Leo sighed with a troubled face and said.

“No. Don’t believe this stuff.”

“Really? Well, there’s no way someone hired by Wittelsbach would be a wanted criminal…”

“The other things too. Usual conduct is also included in the qualification requirements.”

The classroom fell silent for a moment at his unusually humorless response.

A friend who was close to Leo glanced around and then patted his back.

“Hey~ the mood got too heavy! You never know though. You only see him during work hours, how would you know what his private life is like?”

“What don’t I know? I’m saying no because it’s not true.”

Leo answered with a frustrated face.

It’s understandable he’d be frustrated.

He sees him at least 12 hours a day so he can answer with certainty, but he can’t tell them that Nicolaus is right here in the same class listening to the conversation.

“Even so, how would you know that…”

As the Student was about to repeat the same thing tactlessly, Elias propped his chin and looked at him.

“Hey guys, cut it out~ Are you trying to say that the Bavarian Royal Family hired such a piece of trash?”

“…”

That’s…

I let out a hollow laugh.

“…No… that’s not what I meant.”

“That’s exactly what you meant.”

Elias answered with a smile.

“Didn’t this newspaper kill someone last year? But it’s still popular?”

“…”

Elias grabbed the booklet he had put down on the desk and said to the Student standing in front of him.

“If you understand what I’m saying, don’t believe what’s in here. Can I take this?”

“Huh? Uh… sure.”

The Student answered with a reluctant face.

The situation ended when the Professor entered the classroom for roll call.

When everyone sat down with sour faces, Elias glanced at me and raised an eyebrow.

* * *

As I entered the Meeting Place, the gazes of friends who had arrived early all focused on me at once.

Seeing them gathered on their own even though there’s no meeting today, today’s events must have been shocking to them too.

Of course, having expected them to gather and come here, this isn’t the reaction I should show.

“Oh my, elder… uhahahaha!”

Elias stood up from his seat with a serious face, then collapsed onto the table laughing like crazy by himself. Leo looked down at him with eyes mixed with contempt and pity.

If I had felt bad, I would have retaliated, but I just found it funny too. Honestly, 77 years old was too absurd.

Narke asked while suppressing laughter that kept bursting out.

“Lucas.”

“Yeah.”

“How does it feel to be 77 years old, Leo’s 8th cousin, a wanted criminal, a missing great mage, and the ugliest person in the Empire?”

“I don’t really think about it.”

“Dastrothe says you’re currently meeting seven people. That’s the preview for the next issue.”

Narke folded and waved the back cover of the magazine.

Aside from morality, I don’t know if I’d realistically have the time for this.

It seems like the next issue is planning to go entirely with that story…

Certainly, seeing them talk about things unrelated to my achievements and unproductive, it really is yellow journalism.

“They seem to have lost touch with reality trying to report too sensationally.”

“Aren’t you upset about them saying you cover your face because of appearance complex?”

“Well. In context, it’s a hypothesis worth considering at least once.”

It seems less suspicious and has no ethical problems compared to saying I can’t reveal it for personal reasons, so maybe I should just switch to this line too.

As I was pondering, Narke smiled.

“Still, you don’t seem too bothered by it. That’s a relief.”

If it had been cleverly mixed with facts, I might have gotten angry, but since everything from one to ten is completely absurd, it actually makes me calmer.

It’s just funny to think that all the citizens will see that nonsense and wonder if it’s real or not.

Unlike Narke, Elias, who had been openly expressing his bursting laughter, caught his breath and asked.

“Hahaha… Phew… Luca, but honestly, even I was getting pissed off reading it. Don’t you want to go right now, take off your mask and smash everything? If you just take off your mask, all that nonsense ends.”

“Forget it. It’s much better to listen to nonsense than to mess up the work.”

I briefly opened the status window to check my impression score.

Lucas Rene Ascanien

Impression: -9.9 (+0.1) [+5.0015131]

In the meantime, my impression score had jumped from 5979 points at the end to 15131 points.

It hasn’t started declining yet, but according to the proposal’s content, it seems it will start dropping in earnest from now on.

Even so, it’s not a difficult task.

This proposal is a time to take it easy for me.

That doesn’t mean the opponent is easy by any means. Those who kill people with pens can’t be easy.

But this problem isn’t a problem for me, rather it’s beneficial.

That’s why I can approach it with a bit less tension.

The social image Nicolaus is gaining is similar to my past hyung. The idea that he’s someone who gives to society without compensation, giving and giving again.

Separate from my problem, hyung will probably have some degree of interest in such a Nicolaus.

The fact that he’s someone hyung might be interested in and look into. This is where the problem arises.

So I must block all paths that could lead to guessing who Nicolaus is.

Then, Leo slammed down Daslotte and said quietly.

“Lucas.”

“What.”

“You didn’t read this properly, did you? If you had read it all, you couldn’t be so calm.”

“I read it.”

At my answer, Elias raised his eyebrows and whistled.

Leo watched me silently.

“I read it all from beginning to end. I need to know how the opponent is coming at me to properly deal with it. I can’t ignore reporting that might trip me up.”

“Right, then you know well. This isn’t about being wronged or not, it’s just character assassination. Lucas, you’re a student at Imperial 2nd Education Institute, but Nicolaus isn’t. Daslotte is treating you as an adult and saying all kinds of disgusting things.”

That’s yellow journalism.

Not surprising at all.

Even without Nicolaus, countless politicians and celebrities have been targets of yellow journalism like Daslotte.

Some people have ended their lives by suicide after being tormented by them.

“So what do you want to do?”

“It’s not ‘want to do’ but ‘will execute.’ I’m going to stop Daslotte distribution in Bavaria.”

“That’s a good warning. Don’t actually execute it, just warn them. They’ll back down on their own.”

“What are you saying after reading all of that!”

Leo frowned and stood up from his seat.

“Two-thirds of the Empire belongs to the Imperial Palace. If we can’t stop Daslotte there, what’s the point of driving those bastards out of Bavaria, which is one-seventh of the Empire?”

“…”

Of course, it’s meaningless in the sense of ‘cutting off distribution to prevent people from reading Daslotte,’ but that doesn’t mean it’s completely meaningless.

Though expressed as one-seventh to make it seem small, as an individual kingdom it has the second-largest territory after the kingdom ruled by the Imperial family, and the second-largest population.

It’s not a place that’s just big without substance – its economic power is also formidable. Its influence is also great in that it completely dominates magical medicine.

So from a businessman’s perspective, it’s not a simple matter.

“People without hope don’t discriminate. Business is the same. If distribution is actually stopped in Bavaria, Daslotte will naturally be frustrated. It will deal a tremendous blow to their sales. But conversely, that means they can bite Bavaria like crazy, having permanently lost it from their customer base.”

Leo glared at me, then sighed and sat back down.

I looked at Leo taking deep breaths and continued.

“Sorry for speaking harshly. But you already know that just threatening is enough. Threats only have meaning when they end as threats.”

“Right, Leo knows that too, but he must be very angry.”

Narke gestured toward Leo with her eyes as if to indicate there was no need to give him realistic explanations now.

She seemed to have used her insight ability.

He has no choice but to be angry.

Even superficially, they’re slandering the person chosen by Wittelsbach, the mage trusted by the crown prince, so in a way this isn’t just insulting me but insulting the royal family as well.

Probably not just Leo but other Wittelsbachs are also showing negative reactions to Daslotte’s moves.

“…Right. I got excited. Sorry.”

“No. It’s definitely something to get angry about if you’re you.”

“It’s the same subject for you too.”

Leo looked straight at me as if driving the point home.

“Right, that’s correct. I am angry. Honestly, I was at first.”

“But not now?”

“Right.”

At this point, there are several reasons why I’m not taking a big hit.

First.

Unlike others who became Daslotte’s targets as themselves, I’m wearing the fictional character Nicolaus, and I’ll reveal that he’s a fictional character within 3 months at most.

If I had to live as Nicolaus for life, I’d seriously take a hit. Because then he wouldn’t be a fictional character anymore but another me.

And the moment I reveal that Nicolaus is me, 95% of what’s written in Daslotte becomes printed garbage.

Without needing deep explanations, just looking shows nothing matches.

Second.

There’s a blind spot in the first point. After revealing my identity, couldn’t they pin Nicolaus’s suspicions on me?

There are no such suspicions to begin with, and even if there were, there’s no need to worry.

As I’ve pointed out before, articles about students are heavily censored. Photos and videos especially are managed even more strictly.

This applies to all students receiving Imperial support, so even after advancing to Imperial 1st Education Institute, which is a university, I can be protected from such wasteful and unproductive gossip.

In short, there’s no sustainability to the controversy.

Fire needs firewood to burn.

I opened to the part where it said 77 years old.

“Why 77 years old specifically?”

“They probably guessed?”

Elias answered leisurely.

“Well, that’s possible, but what if this is the result of confusing 17?”

“Must be terrible handwriting. But well… sometimes you do see bastards who write like that.”

“Right… Anyway, yellow journalism doesn’t just list delusions from start to finish. They also need evidence to make their claims convincing, and they need a foundation for that evidence. Exaggeration and fabrication will definitely be included somewhere, but it’s not like those bastards don’t investigate at all.”

“So.”

At Leo’s words, I gestured toward the magazine he had put down.

“Did you only check Daslotte?”

“Yeah.”

I took out another magazine from my bag.

“Other places also put out similar content. Of course, not as full-scale as Daslotte.”

Elias opened the magazine I took out and laughed.

“Why does this one say he’s in his 20s?”

This is exactly why it’s beneficial to me.

As I thought before, I can scramble the information.

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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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