How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 426

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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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Mecklenburg was about to shout something angrily but squinted his eyes and asked.

“…Why?”

“At least you’re asking why.”

“Damn it!”

Mecklenburg spun around sharply. I expanded the range of my sound-dampening magic toward his back and said.

“I’ll head over there at 4 o’clock.”

“Don’t come.”

“Be careful going in.”

Despite my generous farewell, Mecklenburg ignored my words and walked forward looking only ahead. I wasn’t particularly bothered since I expected as much.

“Hmm….”

I watched Mecklenburg walking away angrily while fidgeting with my fingertips in my pocket. The sensation from just moments ago still lingered. His hands were rough compared to his wrists, and the ends of his sleeves were slightly damp. Probably from washing his hands frequently due to his germaphobia. Combat mages’ hands rarely look decent—calluses form according to how they grip their wands—but he should probably stop washing his hands so much.

The last I saw of his boots, they had no dust or dirt on them. Other mages passed by, greeting me with respectful nods. I smiled back and lowered my gaze to their boots. Dirt clung to the sole edges and toe caps. That made sense since this was right next to the Danube River, and being undeveloped, there were few paved roads. Even where I stood now was grass and dirt. This neighborhood itself wasn’t particularly bustling.

I slowly walked around the area. The Danube River behind, the Inn River ahead. The border line was drawn along the Inn River. It was a 25-minute walk from the train station to the Passau-Achleiten border checkpoint by the river. This checkpoint controlled the highway and small vessels crossing the river. If I focused simply on crossing the border and looked for a closer route, it would be 15 minutes. Austria was truly right at our doorstep.

From a 21st-century Korean perspective, it felt natural for borders to have barbed wire fences, but I had to abandon both ’21st-century’ and ’21st-century Korean’ sensibilities here. This German-Austrian border was marked only by boundary stones—’Germany up to here, Austria-Hungary from here on’—with no physical barriers. Magical barriers and walls were only erected exceptionally in areas with high risk of military conflict. Except during times like these, Humans were free to cross borders on foot, but they had to carry documents proving their identity in principle to respond to random spot checks.

Espers could cross borders on foot too, but if they strutted around Germany speaking with an Austrian accent and wearing a wand at their waist, they would inevitably be caught by police, so unless they wanted to be permanently banned from entry, it was better to visit checkpoints and get stamped before entering. Since Espers were mostly nobles, they were very few compared to the total population, and being nobles, they couldn’t ignore their social standing, so hardly anyone failed to follow regulations. And since most Espers possessed magical power so pathetic it was embarrassing to call them mages, even if they somehow snuck in, it wasn’t easy for them to commit magical crimes—there were plenty who used up a full day’s worth of magical power just making light flash from their fingertips once. Even for Espers, it would be more realistic to illegally immigrate to commit financial fraud rather than magical crimes.

Also, Espers with moderate amounts of magical power who didn’t work in combat magic—office workers, professors in non-magical studies, capitalists, etc.—lacked the magical skill to cleanly hide their magical power, so among fellow mages, people would immediately notice ‘that person must be a mage too’ whenever they passed by, making arrest and tracking easy.

The real problem when it came to illegal immigration was mages like Narke and me who strutted around Austria-Hungary yesterday—mages directly selected by the state after evaluating their magical power and skills—in other words, only the very small number of combat mages who had the most magical power while also having the ability to hide their magical power to appear like Humans to most people.

‘Of course, now we have to catch everyone who’s an Esper, regardless of their profession.’

No, we have to catch Humans too. Those who can import Atropos include not only the top 0.01% of Royal Mages, but all Espers, and even Humans beyond Espers.

The checkpoint would handle that as the first line, our 101st Unit would catch Espers entering the train station as the second line. And Human and Esper police deployed in the city center would catch the ‘mediocre and weak’ category of mages I thought of earlier as the third line. In other words, we absolutely had to catch the very small number of strong Espers at our line.

‘I hope those bastards don’t come in.’

Among all the many borders, the possibility of choosing Passau wasn’t high. Moreover, since Austria-Hungary was already in an uproar over the Atropos incident, they might instead enter directly from Italy or via France and Russia.

When I turned my head, Mecklenburg was already out of sight. I looked around at the wetlands, forest, and church, then slowly turned my steps.

* * *

I came in with solemn resolve, but the day is peaceful.

The train station gave us an empty office. It wasn’t particularly spacious for seven people, but since it wasn’t time for trains to arrive and only two were out, it wasn’t bad for four or five to rest. I sat at a long table with an unused typewriter and letter knife, propped my chin on my hand, and muttered.

“That’s not like that Senior.”

Just as I was about to call out “Ulrike,” Ulrike, who had been standing at the doorway, whispered to Cheringen as he entered the office.

“…Lucas has been talking to himself ever since meeting the 98th Unit representative earlier…!”

‘I can hear everything.’

It started as a soliloquy but wasn’t really one. It was what I was about to say to Ulrike anyway. Just as I was about to chuckle and call Ulrike, Cheringen smiled and replied.

“It’s not a soliloquy.”

I stared wide-eyed at Cheringen. Cheringen looked at me and continued.

“If it were a soliloquy, it would be ‘that bastard’ instead of ‘Senior.'”

“What, how….”

I burst into surprised laughter and trailed off. Cheringen tilted his head with a knowing smile, so I crossed my arms, rolled my eyes, and finally admitted it.

“Right. We’re outside so I can’t just say anything… But have I ever spoken that harshly in front of Julia?”

“You understand each other perfectly.”

“…You, Leo, and Elias too—do they teach insight in ruling families or something?”

“Haha. It’s not like that, but everyone expects us to quickly grasp situations at all times.”

To survive in the ice-thin political and noble circles from childhood, whether you like it or not, you have to measure opponents from head to toe and derive insights from that. That’s how this intuition was honed. I understand.

Ulrike sat in the seat in front of me. I pulled out the chair next to me for Cheringen and asked.

“If it were you, what would you call him in a soliloquy?”

“That person.”

“Leo would say the same.”

“Right. But Elias would have spoken like you, Lucas.”

I think so too. That bastard, that guy, that son of a bitch… Various things would come out. Ulrike, who had been listening quietly, chuckled at those words.

“Surprising. I thought Lucas would speak exactly like Julia?”

“I thought so at first too, but from what I see, Lucas has aspects similar to Elias.”

Cheringen stroked his chin, lost in thought, then continued.

“Well, it can’t be helped if I’m wrong. It hasn’t even been a year since I properly got to know Lucas, so I hope we can get to know each other deeply in the future, just like the time I’ve known Elias.”

He naturally smiled and extended his hand toward me. Get to know each other deeply in the future? I lightly tapped his hand and replied.

“We have to know each other for over 100 years, Julia….”

At least until the monarchy collapses or the Imperial Court dissolves the team for political reasons, we have no choice but to spend our lives together. By the time we’re ready for coffins, these people will have been the ones I’ve lived with longer than my parents, seeing each other’s faces. Excluding me, Narke, and Haike, the remaining four have been close since their days at the 3rd Academy, some even before that, so it’s really like being together from cradle to grave.

‘Come to think of it, now I understand why Ulrike always worries about my relationships….’

Haike was fine since she took care of herself directly, Narke had no reason for concern since she perfectly blended in with 2nd Academy students from the moment she transferred and always had people around her, and I appeared to be someone with no long-standing relationships or connections who just constantly competed with the future King of Bavaria, who received the entire school’s love….

Cheringen nodded with a satisfied expression and said.

“That’s right. I’m just happy to have the opportunity.”

“Me too! I was in the same class as Julia and the others several times at the 3rd Academy. I’m glad to work with friends I met for the first time at the 2nd Academy, like you and Haike.”

“Even having to work together for another 100 years?”

“Ahem….”

Ulrike cleared her throat and rolled her eyes. Then she changed the subject.

“So what was different? What did that Senior say to you?”

“Hmm, it’s not that….”

I thought carefully, then shook my head and continued.

“He was too honest.”

“Honest. In what way was he honest?”

“He admitted his mistake.”

At those words, Ulrike’s mouth fell open. She seemed even more shocked since she hadn’t even thought there could be personal mistakes to begin with. Cheringen asked with an expressionless face.

“Was he someone who wouldn’t admit mistakes? Unless he had different standards for mistakes and didn’t even recognize his own mistakes.”

“Right, he’s someone who admits mistakes when he thinks they’re mistakes. Still, how should I put it. I expected the admission, but… what came after was mysteriously warm.”

“Warm?! That’s really strange. He acts warm but isn’t warm at all… that kind of Senior. Didn’t you misunderstand that?”

Ulrike replied with a frown. It seems she also saw through that he pretends to be nice on the surface but is actually difficult and troublesome. Rather, it’s been a while since he even pretended to be nice to me, so it feels unfamiliar. I propped my chin and narrowed my brow, shaking my head.

“Not much different from usual, but… no, no matter how I look at it, it’s very different. Am I going crazy….”

“…Did he say something strange…?”

At Ulrike’s question, I narrowed my eyes and said.

“It’s not that. It wasn’t too strange for him to do.”

“But when you put it all together, it’s strange?”

“Something like that. Why is he being so kind?”

Perhaps because of my serious expression, Ulrike and Cheringen immediately responded.

“I’m curious what that Senior’s reaction would be if he heard this.”

“What just happened was within acceptable range, but it’s unfamiliar to see him display maximum kindness within that acceptable range… is that what you mean?”

“Right.”

“Is that so shocking?”

“Not quite shocking.”

I’m not invested enough to be shocked. I’m just curious. Was that mysterious kindness pity for my relationship with Hyung or my situation? I didn’t feel pity anymore. Probably because I’m not in a position to be pitied. A sense of kinship? Maybe that’s possible. Since his friend came barging in. Or is he becoming honest as a friend? Well, 18-year-old Albert Mecklenburg maybe, but 25-year-old Albert Mecklenburg wouldn’t consider me a friend. Depending on what appearance or situation I’m in, he’d see me as either his friend’s younger brother or Nicolaus Ernst. Or is he accepting me as a colleague at headquarters? That’s possible too. The joint operation at headquarters was one thing, but since our 101st Unit alone defeated the seniors and succeeded in the Austria-Hungary intelligence operation, from that meritocrat’s perspective, he might accept me. But hasn’t my success been going on for more than just a day or two? Didn’t he know from the beginning that I was Nicolaus Ernst?

Anyway, he tried to accept me as an equal. What psychology drove him to do that? I want to know.

I checked the time and stood up, saying.

“It’s time to change shifts, Luise, Julia. Let’s go.”

* * *

“What do you think Haike is thinking right now?”

While Narke was conveniently organizing the cargo compartment of a small freight train cleanly, Ulrike cast a sound-dampening spell and asked me. As I was choosing an answer, he continued on his own.

“She must be hungry. She’s eating through injections.”

“….”

I nodded. When I remained silent, Ulrike said to me energetically.

“When Haike gets out of the hospital, let’s go to Italy together for a restaurant tour.”

“Go that far?”

“I played board games with Narke and Elias before, and they said there’s lots of delicious food in Italy.”

‘…Played board games with Elias? And what does Italian food have to do with games….’

I roughly understand how the conversation flowed, but somehow this progression just makes me laugh. I smiled and observed Ulrike’s expression. Unlike a few days ago when he was gloomy, he had regained his usual complexion. But I couldn’t tell if his heart felt the same. I forced strength into my drooping mouth corners to lift them and said.

“But why are you guys hanging out without me?”

“Huh? You weren’t there! If you wanted to play, you should have matched our schedule!”

“It’s happening again…”

“You’re the only one who’s never around for board games. Even Julia joins in sometimes these days, but you’re never there~!”

“Fine. Keep having fun without me from now on.”

“We’re already doing that~!”

“…”

I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. Ulrike kneaded my shoulder as if joking and moved to the next car. Getting off the bright platform and climbing back into the dark cargo car hurt my eyes. Ulrike followed behind me and asked.

“Don’t you have any friends on our team you’d like to get closer to?”

“Hmm, you.”

“Me?!”

Ulrike stopped abruptly, tilted her eyebrows, and grabbed my shoulder.

“Weren’t we already close…?”

“We are close. I want to become much closer than we are now…”

“That’s all our relationship amounted to?!”

“…”

How many years has it been since graduation that I’m hearing this nonsense? Still, I caught a glimpse of how she looked during the winter break potion experiment competition. Having nothing to say to this high school student, I just smiled and pushed past her. Ulrike grabbed me as I tried to pass and said.

“I’m joking~ Not me!”

“There isn’t anyone. We’re already pretty close with everyone.”

“No way! There has to be someone. Just one more person.”

Haike’s name rose to my throat, but I immediately swallowed it. I had to. Unless I wanted to slowly shut Ulrike’s mouth.

“Well, Julia? But I already train with Julia sometimes… and we talk politics at the residence, so that’s fine.”

“What about Leo?”

So this is what she wanted to ask. I knew it. I smiled and answered.

“Leo and I are already close.”

“Come on~”

“…”

Won’t she believe me…? Just like Mecklenburg earlier, what’s going on with all these people who won’t believe anything I say? I took Ulrike’s hand and said solemnly.

“It’s true, Luise. I’m being serious. Leo and I are close.”

“Sure, I’m sure you are.”

Ulrike still didn’t believe me. I could see the distrust in her expression…

I had no intention of deliberately lying to Ulrike lately, so whenever she subtly asked like this, I answered truthfully, but she never accepted it even once. Even if I said we were close, she ultimately didn’t believe it because of what she had seen herself. It seemed Leo’s usual expressionless face had left a strong impression in Ulrike’s mind. Since Leo often smiled at school—social smiles—when he wasn’t doing that, his school friends would often read the room. That’s how rare his expressionless face was at school.

I waved my wand to check the flow of mana and passed between the black drums while casting protective magic over my body. Even during this, Ulrike persistently asked.

“Are there any friends you’re uncomfortable with? Like you said, we’ll have to work together for the next 100 years, so now…”

“There aren’t any. What about you and Elias?”

“Hup…”

Ulrike made a strange sound as if she hadn’t expected me to ask back, then answered stiffly.

“I like Elias.”

“You seem to…”

Elias probably doesn’t particularly like Ulrike. Not in a serious sense of disliking her, but in the sense that he doesn’t think much about it. Conversely, Elias doesn’t dislike her as much as Ulrike thinks. If Elias truly hated Ulrike, one of them would have had to resign by now from fighting so much. Elias was that kind of guy, as far as I knew.

As I was contemplating Elias’s public personality, Ulrike also seemed to be thinking about something for a while before saying.

“But Elias probably doesn’t want to get closer to me. I understand.”

“Why do you understand?”

“The school kids don’t like Elias. Since I’m friends with those kids… it’s natural that he’d see me as one of them too.”

“…”

“Actually, Lucas, you’re probably the same! Leo is close with kids who don’t like you. Now that I think about it, I was being a bit thoughtless.”

“No, it’s fine.”

She doesn’t seem to know yet that Leo doesn’t consider those guys real friends. Well, she’s spent much longer at school and from the outside it looks like he gets along well with everyone, so it can’t be helped.

We finished our inspection and came outside, signaling to Narke. Narke smiled and entered the train.

So Ulrike stayed next to Narke, and I headed toward the station entrance. Going to the entrance, I saw Elias yawning as he stood there.

I quietly approached him holding an air sprayer and said.

“Luise says she wants to get closer to you.”

“I know.”

“You know? Then why are you like this?”

At my cold voice, Elias rolled his eyes around with a confused face.

“…Huh? That’s weird~ I didn’t do anything?!”

“That’s true. Do you dislike Luise?”

“No. Please show me your identification.”

Elias extended his hand to a visitor and said. I took the air sprayer from Elias and dusted off the visitor’s shoes covered in dirt and grass, then the dust from their clothes.

Elias searched the visitor’s pockets and handed me their bag. I sensed the mana in the bag then searched through the items directly. A hip flask caught my eye. I confiscated it and returned the bag to the visitor.

“The government has issued an emergency order prohibiting entry into the station with any liquids. Is this medicine?”

“No, it’s not that… If I pour out the alcohol inside, can I keep my flask?”

“No, you cannot.”

The visitor nodded with a confused expression. After letting him inside, Elias cast a soundproofing spell and continued our earlier conversation.

“The kid doesn’t say what she wants to say! If she doesn’t want to do something, she should say she doesn’t want to! Listen. If a senior she dislikes comes and talks to her, she should answer curtly or tell them to get lost or something! Right? But she listens to everything and gets her soul drained, then comes out all worn out like this.”

“Tell them to get what?”

Since Elias showed me his middle finger, I hit his hand in disbelief. Then Elias made a strange sound and clung to my shoulder. I felt the back of my head go cold and my future look bleak as I muttered.

“Luise is good at social life…”

“Anyway, I have to look after everything from behind, so she doesn’t suit me.”

So he was saying he did take care of her… Given his personality, he wouldn’t just stand by and watch, so he probably did help.

Anyway, I understood well. The aftermath of what Elias did earlier still lingered in my head, making my brain tingle. As I stood there dazed, focusing on what I had to do, at some point the number of people entering and leaving clearly decreased. Elias cast a soundproofing spell and said.

“Shift’s over, Luca.”

“Right.”

“Can’t I go to the bathroom?”

He asked this because I had told our team friends not to use the train station bathroom. If they needed to go, they should return to headquarters or go to the Bavarian Palace. I firmly shook my head.

“No. Is it an urgent situation?”

“No, not really. Just asking just in case.”

Elias made an incomprehensible sound, then handed the air sprayer to Leo and Cheringen who had just arrived nearby and said excitedly.

“Should we go over there toward the border?! I saw a dog wandering around earlier.”

“Do we really need to go out…”

Elias didn’t seem to care what my answer was as he whistled and dragged me outside. A 15-minute walk away, there was a small church. Elias walked in that direction and said.

“I can’t believe it. On such a nice, peaceful day like this, there might be lethal magic potions going around.”

“Tell me about it.”

“And if Humans drink it, it’s just water… It’s poison made exclusively for Espers. Poison that takes advantage of mana flowing through Esper bodies.”

Elias muttered in a serious tone, then turned his head toward me and spoke rapidly.

“This is kind of like that, you know? It’s like shoving allergens at people with allergies. Or like giving grapes to dogs.”

“Well, yeah. Anyway, those guys intended to cause different chemical reactions in specific people’s bodies even when exposed to the same water. If magic can be viewed as chemistry.”

“Oh~ that’s it. Then I’m right.”

Elias fully displayed his characteristic stubbornness, being obstinate about something he didn’t need to insist on, and grinned. How long had we been walking like that?

“There’s a university here too~ Oh, so where’s the dog? I saw it earlier…”

Elias pouted, seeming dissatisfied that the dog was nowhere to be seen. Not long after he said that, Elias made a “huk” sound and ran forward like crazy, looking only ahead. The white dog in the distance started running in the opposite direction when it saw Elias.

“Puppy~”

“Will you catch it like this?!”

“I’m just playing with it!”

So we chased the dog for over 10 minutes—to be honest, I was chasing Elias. Since the dog crossed the Austrian border and went into a house right in front, we had no choice but to turn back. Elias said regretfully.

“So it was an Austrian dog…”

“Whew…”

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and said bluntly.

“We came pretty far, didn’t we?”

“Yeah. Now let’s find another dog!”

“No! Leave the dog alone.”

“Then a cat.”

“….”

At my repeated cold stare, Elias pouted and buried his face in his shoulder. I continued to catch my breath while looking around. There was an Austrian farm ahead. Fields and farmland, and a stable. I could hear cows mooing. No, it wasn’t just mooing sounds—they were actually out there in the distance. Occasionally I heard chickens too. Though it was noisy because of the train station, it was about a 20-minute walk away, and with all the grass around here including near the border, it seemed like a suitable environment.

“Cat….”

I heard a strange sound by my ear but pretended not to notice. Elias put his hands together and spoke like a hypnotist.

“You’re getting the urge to find a cat….”

“Me?”

“Yes. Which is faster—a cat, a dog, or a human? Luca. Don’t you want to know?”

So now he wants to have a chase with a cat? Unlike dogs, if you keep chasing a cat, it’ll climb up a tree. There’s no way this guy didn’t think of this obvious fact, so I’m starting to suspect Elias is developing ways to play around with me.

Just then, perhaps because we’d been standing in front of the farm for a while, a grandmother came outside. She approached us and greeted us loudly.

“Good day. Is there something you need?”

“No, ma’am. We were just looking around for a moment.”

I pointed to the stable with its door open and continued.

“You raise cattle.”

“That’s right. There are ranches everywhere.”

The old woman chuckled as she answered, then looked over our appearance and said.

“Earlier, people in similar clothes were passing by. Are you from Prussia?”

“That’s right.”

“What a chaotic day.”

The old woman clicked her tongue, then smiled at us encouragingly.

“You’re doing hard work.”

“Not at all.”

I wonder if she even knows what kind of work we do. I had many things I wanted to ask—who she saw earlier, what time they passed by—but like with Ulrike and Cheringen earlier, if Elias heard, he’d wonder why I was curious—so I just smiled, gave a brief reply, and left. Before that, I memorized the address posted on the fence.

“Luca, I have no idea what you’re thinking. Was there something?”

“I didn’t say anything though?”

Then Elias pointed to the farm’s address sign and shrugged. I clicked my tongue at his perceptiveness and continued walking silently. When we got close to the train station, I asked Elias, who was trudging along.

“What time is it?”

“…3:40….”

Hmm.

It’s time. Now it’s time to go see Mecklenburg. I’ll walk straight to the checkpoint like this. I turned around. I could see Elias looking puzzled since I hadn’t stopped.

“Elias.”

“Yeah?”

“I changed my mind. Let’s go look for a cat later.”

“…! When?!”

“Around 5 o’clock.”

“Oh~ great. But wait.”

Elias nodded and grinned, then looked at me with a somewhat suspicious expression.

“Why do you want to look for a cat?”

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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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