How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 446

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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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“Success.”

Finally.

Ulrike spun around and extended her hand.

“Let’s go! It’s already been four and a half hours, but I can see hope. We can do this.”

“….”

Julia, who had been looking down at that hand, just smiled silently and spread out her palm. As Ulrike looked puzzled at the palm thrust in front of her, Julia turned her friend’s hand around and bent it upright. Then she clapped Ulrike’s hand like applause.

Ulrike belatedly realized what that sign meant. It was something Julia often did with Lucas. Perhaps it meant that at this moment, she trusted her completely as a partner. Ulrike curled up one corner of her mouth, nodded, and turned around.

“We need to get in before those kingdom mages chase us. Especially if French Heretics are involved. That’s our secret.”

“….”

“More than that, making a button to enter through the entrance up in a tree is pretty clever, these bastards.”

“Haha. This isn’t the time to be surprised that you’re calling them ‘those guys’ when you tease Lucas about it.”

“That’s different! I’ve always been like this. I’m different from Lucas.”

Ulrike wiggled her finger, pointing at the air, then smiled nostalgically as she spoke.

“He… I always think about it, but he became a model student over the past year. Always dressing neatly, unlike me he keeps his hair well-groomed by himself, speaks cleanly and well in front of professors…”

Having said that much, her tongue naturally stiffened. Ulrike swallowed and pulled down the corners of her mouth. Everyone fell silent. She couldn’t tell if she was reminiscing about the deceased or thinking of a friend stranded somewhere. If she was reminiscing about the deceased, she didn’t want to do that right now.

“Anyway.”

Ulrike frowned, suppressing her expression as she muttered.

“Everyone seems to be invisible here. …Now I understand. The culprits who entered through this passage spread rampage drugs in the two prison blocks and the guard quarters.”

They entered the building following the path that made them invisible, then revealed themselves and placed the items. That’s probably what happened—while Ulrike was thinking this, Julia swept the air with her wand and said.

“It’s surprising that something like this could be maintained for so long. It would be blocked by barriers and easily detected.”

“Right. Wasn’t this made with spatial magic that we commonly use?”

But if it wasn’t spatial magic, how else could space be created? Having such doubts was a natural progression. This space felt different from ordinary spatial magic—not ‘overlaid on top’ but rather ‘peeled away underneath,’ which made it even stranger.

‘Is it someone’s unique ability?’

Unique abilities are mandatorily registered with each country’s government, but revived Pleroma or illegally immigrated foreigners could escape such administrative surveillance networks, so this might be a space created by someone from France using principles they themselves don’t understand.

‘If it’s not a unique ability?’

I don’t know what theory would need to be brought in to understand this space. Would Lucas know? He brings knowledge from who knows where that’s hard to acquire… But no. Even that friend probably wouldn’t know something like this. Sensing that further thought wouldn’t help, Ulrike clapped her hands and reached a conclusion.

“For now, we can only say it surpasses our technology.”

“Interesting.”

“Interesting…”

Ulrike smiled as she slowly approached where the debris had been—where some still lay scattered. Suddenly the smile disappeared from her face.

Black liquid was pooled there. No, it seemed to be subtly boiling. It also seemed like something that had been boiling was gradually cooling down. Ulrike swept the liquid with her finger. Her skin stung as if burned.

“…Vitriol. It’s Vitriol! This…”

The important thing was that there had been no Vitriol at the spot we had been hammering at earlier. As we could tell from the Bavarian Mages passing by earlier, this space reflected the appearance of the back side like oil paper.

‘So…! The Vitriol that was originally at the collapsed site was all cleared away and gone, so there’s no reason for Vitriol to be only here?!’

But it’s here. How?

As her head began to ache from the continuing thoughts, Julia looked down at the puddle and slightly narrowed her eyes. Ulrike also made the same rigid expression and said.

“…This looks like it was people until just recently. ‘People.’ Did they get crushed somewhere? Why are they all burst open?”

Then Julia quickly bent down and put her hand into the stone crevices under the remaining debris. After fumbling around for a while, she stood up abruptly and searched the debris on the opposite side, then shook her head.

“There’s nothing here, just like the collapse site we saw earlier. The only addition is Vitriol, so what does that mean?”

Julia gestured with her hand in a circular inward motion as if leading to an answer, speaking slowly.

“When the air trembled slightly earlier, someone truly came and went here.”

Julia’s right hand moved toward the wand at her thigh. Ulrike glanced at that action and looked into her friend’s golden eyes. She unconsciously moved her lips to complete Julia’s words.

“…You mean they’re still here? But the problem is this. Why is this Vitriol here in this spot? Why? For what purpose?”

At those words, Julia’s eyes narrowed and the corners of her mouth turned up.

This was the building where Elias and Lucas and Leo and other mages had been, and Leo was injured but fortunately came out alive. Elias and Lucas should have been buried in this building with the prisoners, but all that remained was this Vitriol pooled cleanly on top. Someone had sprinkled it later. The timing was definitely…

“Julia! Follow me!”

Ulrike cast a sound-dampening spell and gripped her staff with her other hand as she looked up. Then she struck hard at the atmosphere where the Vitriol would have fallen and charged forward.

Kwaaaaang—…

A deafening roar that made her ears ring. The crack that hadn’t yet healed in the space’s atmosphere split open, and light shot up long into the sky as it tore apart. Darkness spread. Was it an illusion? Ulrike felt herself falling into it.

Kuwoong—…

Just before opening her eyes again, another impact sound came from the oak tree where Ulrike and Julia had fallen, and the panicked voices of Bavarian Mages echoed from afar.

[Huh! Huh?!]

[It just went black in front! Here…]

Consciousness regained control of her body. Had even the Bavarian Mages finally fallen into the ‘transparent space’? With that thought, Ulrike’s eyes snapped open. Where she lay was yet another different place.

“…Ha.”

Breathing that wasn’t mine.

Ulrike quickly raised her head. She could see Julia’s face above, pushing the air aside left and right. Light crackled and sparked around the torn edges of the spatial magic. She was standing where she had been with Ulrike earlier, preventing the crack from closing. Seeing her exert force without immediately coming over, Julia was probably thinking ‘what did you expect to find beyond the entrance that those Vitriol chunks were passing through when you just barged in’—that’s how Ulrike felt. Just as she expected to get an earful, she heard faint laughter.

“…Your initiative is amazing, Luise.”

“…Right? I know! Thanks for the compliment.”

Ulrike giggled, then turned her head expressionlessly to look at the floor where she had fallen.

‘Debris.’

She was lying on debris. This time even the debris remained. Just like at the time of collapse. But the Bavarian Mages had cleared most of this away?

‘Ah.’

This is also another space. I definitely saw the crack and fell below it, but we didn’t go outside—we fell into yet another space.

‘…No, was this actually two layers of oil paper overlapping on the map? Did I tear through one of them and come up?’

Since Julia was looking down at Ulrike from slightly above, it might not have been ‘coming up,’ but anyway, she had moved.

‘This is fascinating. To think there was a space in Bavaria that no one knew about…’

To go this far, honestly it feels like a space beyond human capability. Is this an unreliable intuition? Ulrike shuddered with unease and swept the floor with her hand. Then, struck by a sudden thought, she bolted upright and fumbled around the stone chunks of the collapsed building. Perhaps, underneath here, Lucas and Elias, the prisoners…

“Elias! Lucas!”

Ulrike cast a sound-dampening spell around the prison ruins and shouted loudly. There was nothing. Strangely, there were no signs of people at all. There didn’t seem to be any animals either. Well, there hadn’t been any signs of people until now either, so what was strange about it…

‘Strangely, there’s an enormous amount of Vitriol.’

Incomparably more than that puddle from earlier—everywhere was covered with Vitriol. If the place we were initially at was the original coordinate system, shortened to ‘original,’ then that original had been cleanly cleared of Vitriol. But here, as if an arduous battle had taken place, Vitriol remained throughout the streets and ruins, and there was even some Vitriol that looked slightly red, as if blood had mixed with the black liquid. Ulrike examined further below. Pure blood was dried and stuck to the stones.

These were definitely traces of ordinary people, not rampagers.

Ulrike had an intuition. Elias and Lucas and Count Nicolaus Ernst, and perhaps other mages too, had all been here! Just like the rampagers were here. Ulrike turned her head to look at the rampagers lying collapsed in the distance.

‘Are they asleep?’

It seemed like everyone had fallen asleep all at once. As if someone had used divine power…

Ulrike swept the Vitriol with her finger.

Sizzle—…

Unlike earlier, the aggression was weak. It seemed to have already been dulled after being hit by divine power once. Ulrike muttered.

“…Someone used divine power here. Was it Count Ernst’s divine power?”

Julia didn’t answer, but that wasn’t important. That thought flashed through her mind. If there had been divine power but no one was here now, it meant they had warped somewhere. Or they had escaped through spatial magic.

‘There was a crack.’

That crack wasn’t created by Ulrike’s strike, but had been there originally. She had created even a small gap before the original crack could heal. If they had come out following that crack, Ulrike and Julia should have already encountered Elias and Lucas and the other mages. But that hadn’t happened, which meant…

‘They didn’t come out, they only went in.’

Now she knew for certain. That crack had been created because the culprit who made the air around the prison’s south gate ripple had been going in and out of this place.

‘Then…’

Suddenly Ulrike felt the back of her neck grow cold. She quickly raised her head to look at her friend and said.

“They were taken.”

“….”

“Someone came in here and took our friends, Julia.”

Julia was either already intuiting this or had figured it out long ago, just looking at Ulrike expressionlessly. But there was determination in her golden eyes—Ulrike knew this. She wanted to realize that determination immediately. Words like ‘we need to warp too’ rose to the tip of Ulrike’s throat.

“….”

But she never spoke them aloud. The traces of battle extended beyond the prison to the main road, and if their friends could have warped, they would have fled to safety without fighting. We couldn’t warp because we didn’t know this world’s warp formulas.

[Your Highness Cheringen! What’s happening?!]

Julia turned her head. Several Bavarian Mages who had crossed over to this place came running right up to the crack.

‘At a time when we can’t shake them off…’

If someone had taken them, who that ‘someone’ might be was clear in this situation. The possibility of it being the French Imperial Family had decreased at this moment—setting aside the reasons for now—the one who took their friends was probably someone from Haike’s relatives, the Ainsiedel family. We couldn’t take them along on the path to catch that person, so what to do? Ulrike, who had reflexively frowned, suddenly widened her eyes at a thought that struck her.

‘…No.’

Her thinking had been short-sighted. For now, she needed to accept help. The Bavarian Mages took hold of the right side of the crack Julia had been supporting and reached out their hands. Their voices echoed resonantly.

[We’ll hold the space, so Count Kleist! Grab my hand and come up!]

How could they ask us to come out when we found a different space? That was impossible. Ulrike shook her head and spoke firmly.

“No! If it’s alright with you, please wait here. Count Cheringen and I will investigate quickly and return.”

[That won’t do! Wait, first tell us what this is all about…]

“No! Please. We don’t have time. Please trust us and wait.”

Ulrike ignored the Bavarian Royal Mages who raised their hands to stop him and continued speaking rapidly like a machine gun.

“If we let the culprit know that the kingdom is aware of this space’s existence, we might lose any chance of rescuing those trapped in the building even if we find them. Honestly, it’s dangerous even now. If we two die, then just let me and that friend handle things at home. No, sorry. I know it sounds ridiculous, but what I mean is, we won’t die.”

Ah, speaking officially in front of adults is something friends like Julia, Lucas, or Leo would be perfect for! As Ulrike had such thoughts while rambling incoherently, he could see Julia trying to hold back laughter. The kingdom’s mages looked down at Ulrike with expressions wondering what this high school student was talking about. Eventually, they slowly drew their wands.

[That won’t do, Count Kleist. The Kingdom of Bavaria has a duty to protect foreign visitors to the kingdom.]

“Foreigners! We’re all Germans. But anyway, look right now. You all also hit the oak tree in the original world and came to this ‘transparent space,’ right? Do you know how to get out of the ‘transparent space’?”

[Hmm, the space Count Kleist calls that has a different structure from ordinary spatial magic. We’ll have to find a way out from now on.]

“That’s it. We’re also searching. To be precise, we’re looking for a path to other missing people, and we really found a space leading to another path.”

Creak—

Ulrike glanced at the crack gradually closing from above and shifted his gaze to the mages’ eyes.

“That’s why we need to go now. We reopened a crack that was healing by hitting it again, and coincidentally the crack is getting narrower.”

It was fortunate that they entered here just before the magic power was completely restored. By the same token, someone from the Ainsiedel family had just left this place. Our friends too. Ulrike looked around at the mages above him and said.

“If we can’t return, please act as if you never saw us here.”

At those words, the mages blocking the crack showed surprised faces and then slightly grimaced.

[We cannot—]

[I agree with that opinion.]

Julia’s figure standing outside the crack was no longer visible, but his answer was clearly heard. He was laying groundwork so the mages wouldn’t be questioned from outside no matter what happened here. However, Julia didn’t think the Bavarian mages would let the current situation slide with just this much consideration, so he called Ulrike. That’s how it seemed to Ulrike.

[Count Kleist.]

“Yes. I have a plan, so as a Royal Mage I’ll take full responsibility for my plan. Instead, while we’re here, please help us as colleagues. Do you have rope? Or magic cord?”

Ulrike deliberately spoke everything quickly in succession to give the other party no opening.

[We have magic cord instead of rope.]

One mage pointed to a rope pouch at his waist. It was a tool for connecting magic power, and aside from the material being made of magic power, it wasn’t much different from ordinary rope, but it could connect between spatial magic and spatial magic. The problem was that while it could serve as a marker, you couldn’t follow it to get out. Still, it would be useful now.

“And we need to know where the warp magic power leads. Is that possible right now?”

[We have an artifact that finds warp connection points, but since it’s portable, I can’t say it’s very accurate.]

“Good. There were people here until just now. They either escaped the space or warped somewhere, and while we can’t know the formula… can you tell roughly how far they warped?”

Ulrike pointed to a spot where the earth had sunk slightly as if struck down by divine power with a staff. Then one mage tied a cord around his waist and came down below the crack, standing in front of where Ulrike pointed. He closed his eyes and slowly waved his wand—the wand itself seemed to be an artifact for finding warp connection points—slowly extending the wand in all directions, then opened his eyes after a while.

“It’s correct that they moved not long ago. At most about 5 minutes have passed. They seem to have moved from here toward Nuremberg, about 40km away, but I don’t know exactly where. It might be 45km…”

The mage answered while rolling his eyes.

“Are you certain it’s toward Nuremberg?”

“The coordinate system is different from what we used, so I can’t say for certain numerically, but instead I can feel the same magic power emitted upon arrival from that direction.”

“Good! Then, please help us from now on.”

Ulrike patted the Bavarian mage’s shoulder and ran north without hesitation. If it was toward Nuremberg from Giesing, that would be northwest. The Bavarian mages behind tried to catch him, but Julia’s voice could be heard landing below the crack and stopping them. Ulrike thought his own persuasion skills were hopeless, so now it was time to trust Julia’s eloquence.

Before long, someone grabbed Ulrike’s shoulder.

“Wait.”

“You came? How was the persuasion?”

Ulrike replied while running forward. Julia gestured to the side and said.

“Success. They won’t chase us now. But are we just going to run?”

“Then what?”

Julia tilted his head with an ambiguous expression, neither smiling nor not, and said calmly.

“Why don’t we steal a bicycle or something.”

“Oh.”

Ulrike smiled sheepishly and raised the corners of his mouth.

Come to think of it, of course they couldn’t run 40km in this situation! No matter how fast you could run with magic power, the stamina consumption was too severe. It was obvious, but since he was about to dash off recklessly, his brain had stiffened and he couldn’t think of it immediately. If there were people launching attacks, they couldn’t ride bicycles, but all the rampagers in this area seemed to be asleep, so it was fine.

Julia, who first got on an old bicycle from a residential house, gestured to the back. When Ulrike quickly got on behind him, Julia circled around the fence to exit the house’s yard, then headed toward central Munich. It wasn’t hard to find a bicycle shop. Weren’t bicycles everywhere?

“Julia, over there!”

Ulrike landed on the ground before Julia had completely slowed down and got on a reasonably sturdy-looking bicycle. Julia also switched to a bicycle next to it and headed north of Munich. When they crossed above Marienplatz, there was a growling sound.

‘Rampager.’

Ulrike licked his lips with his tongue. The divine sleep magic hadn’t reached this far, as three or four rampagers were still wandering around the city. It wasn’t too many, so it should be fine but…

“Let’s be careful.”

Ulrike nodded at Julia’s words. Then he whispered.

“I know we should be careful, but let’s try looking once. With the resolve to abandon the bicycles.”

Then Julia, who had raised his eyebrows, chuckled and answered.

“With the resolve to abandon them and fight? Right. We have to go 40km by bicycle, so it would be good to make sure before going so we don’t waste effort…”

“Right? Elias—! Lucas—!”

Ulrike shouted while suppressing the magic power circulating in his body as much as possible. Even though the city was completely empty and the sound echoed loudly, there was no response.

[Grroowww…]

As expected, only rampagers responded. Ulrike’s eyes met Julia’s for a moment. Ulrike giggled, then bit his lips tightly and lowered his body while pedaling harder.

“Shall we pedal harder~!”

“You’re already doing that.”

Julia replied with a faint smile. It didn’t take long to pass through the plaza, reach northern Munich, and completely leave Munich. The sounds of rampagers who couldn’t find them in the complex streets gradually grew distant.

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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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