How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 53

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magic Family (53)

‘Then, a way to call someone…’

Looking around, there were no proper calling devices.

There was a cord in one corner to call servants, but it seemed unused now as it made no sound when pulled.

I had no choice but to go out and check myself, but the problem was I didn’t have the strength yet.

‘Well… I’ll have to wait until someone comes to find me.’

With that thought as my last, I opened my eyes again after feeling a subtle weight.

As soon as I opened my eyes, I encountered an unexpected figure, and after processing too much information, sleep naturally overtook me.

‘But when did they turn off the lights?’

Unlike before, all the room lights were off, so I couldn’t make out anything.

“Oh! You’re awake!”

“…”

Something was moving around on top of me. Even without seeing, it was obvious what it was.

I grabbed the palm-sized bundle on my blanket.

“Squeak!”

I ignored that cry and stroked Fai’s fur.

Even though it was small enough to fit in one hand, it was annoying that it moved around while I was sleeping. Still, seeing it like this was nice.

“He doesn’t care about us at all and only looks for the rabbit~”

“What, you’re awake?”

Footsteps approached, and I heard Elias and Leo’s voices from far away near the door.

I reached for the lamp on the nightstand and turned it on.

Having heard that I was awake, even Narke had come to this room. I asked with a displeased expression at this burdensome scene.

“What, when did you come?”

“Just now. You were sleeping so I turned off the lights, but you woke up right away.”

Narke answered with a smile.

Elias walked quickly, tapping his crutches, and plopped down in a chair.

“Hey, it feels like I haven’t seen you for a whole week~. Good to see you. How’s your body?”

“I’m fine.”

There was no problem moving my limbs, and my vision and hearing were at normal levels.

Even though it was true, he seemed to find it hard to believe, as Elias raised one eyebrow and pointed around his face asking.

“What do you mean fine? Your neck? You hit your head, right? They said you had a slight concussion.”

I knew which incident he was referring to. Seeing him bring that up first, it must have left the biggest impression on him.

It’s not common to hear someone dying, so that’s understandable. I wonder if letting him hear it gave him trauma.

When I remained silent, Elias continued dramatically.

“Do you know how scared I was listening? Geez, they really tried to kill you. I was thinking ‘I shouldn’t have let him go alone~’.”

“It’s fine. You can tell I came back safely even after going alone.”

“Hmm, right. Send me next time. Got it? Make sure you remember.”

“Elias!”

Leo frowned and interrupted.

Unlike expressions like ‘send me’, Elias would just run off if he became convinced that even if he caused chaos, it would be beneficial. Whatever I answered wouldn’t matter much.

When I just smiled without answering, Elias clapped his hands loudly.

“Alright, enough of that. How does it feel to return successfully? You’ve become a complete national hero.”

I hadn’t seen anything yet, so I couldn’t gauge the atmosphere.

Just then, Elias handed me a bundle of newspapers.

Whether Elias had marked them, very roughly drawn circles were on the newspapers.

I started reading the articles marked with red pen first.

They were already prominently displayed in large letters on the front page, so they would have caught my eye even without markings.

[Imperial Central Government’s Magic Department “Planning to award Nicolaus a merit medal, grade under discussion”]

[Nicolaus Ernst volunteers as hostage to reveal Pleroma truth… Sacrifice for 100 million citizens]

[17 countries within Empire grant honorary mage registration to Nicolaus Ernst]

[Nicolaus Ernst kidnapped atop Town Square Clock Tower… 130,000 people gather]

Whether they collected every issue, the article timestamps were all mixed up.

The most recent Imperial Newspaper front page had a photo of the crowd gathered in the plaza.

“How is it, thrilling reaction right?”

“Yeah. Definitely.”

This much… was a success.

As much as last time, no, the reaction was much bigger than last time.

Earlier, Nicolaus’s impression score was at 6.5.

Nicolaus’s impression score, which hadn’t risen even 0.01 despite stealing 4.2 billion, jumped up 1.5 at once.

‘Definitely no more jumping 3 points at once like before.’

Even if the scale was similar, in terms of danger and symbolism it seemed more powerful than the Council incident… I could definitely feel that more and more cost was being invested.

Still, after experiencing a 0.002 point rise from stealing 4.2 billion, I could be satisfied with this much increase.

‘Solving things with money won’t work.’

It’s convenient, but doesn’t produce proportional effects.

From now on, I need to create topics that will remain in the public’s memory like this time.

I slowly nodded and turned the newspaper page.

The newspaper also had many articles about Strauchi.

[Werner Strauch, Mecklenburg-Schwerin Federal Representative, revealed to be Pleroma]

[Who can we trust? Explosive demand for strengthened Pleroma verification in politics]

[Werner Strauch, Mecklenburg-Schwerin Federal Representative, was ‘Pleroma’ Diocese of Osnabrück Deputy Bishop]

[Representative Strauchi anonymously sent letters five times to about 60 Federal Representatives at the beginning of the year during barrier discussions… Induced barrier installation]

This much was satisfactory.

I closed the newspaper, placed it on the nightstand, and greeted my friends.

“Thank you. Without you guys, it would have been hard to succeed.”

“…”

At those words, Leo slightly furrowed his brow.

His expression looked like he was wondering if something was wrong.

I don’t think I remember being unnecessarily stingy with expressions, but his reaction was surprising.

“How refreshing~ But is it just my imagination that I feel like we should do another examination?”

“Haha, maybe Lucas is just like that originally. So straightforward.”

“When have I ever not said what I should say?”

“No, it’s not that… you don’t react much even when things explode.”

I never didn’t react, but I guess it seemed that way.

Elias furrowed his brow briefly in thought, then clapped his hands.

“No. Saying thank you in such a nonchalant tone is just so typically Lucas~”

“I put as much sincerity as possible into it. Did it sound like that?”

“No, I wasn’t trying to criticize. Speech patterns are just personality. Were you like this in first year too? Leo, how was it?”

“…Probably. We never had long conversations.”

Leo answered while avoiding eye contact.

The Antagonist seemed unwilling to recall his first-year days because of the attitude he had shown toward Luca.

He seemed to lack energy anyway, perhaps from being shocked by the Pleroma incident.

I’d let the tired Antagonist rest, and I should ask about what I needed to find out.

“Let me ask just one thing. As you know, I came down without a mask.”

“Don’t worry about it. Nobody knows.”

Leo muttered.

“Right, really. I asked on my shoulder.”

Narke smiled playfully and patted her shoulder.

That alone wouldn’t be enough.

Perhaps reading such thoughts from my expression, Elias provided a proper answer.

“He warped here before his feet even touched the ground. I think it was about 30 meters up in the air?”</Human: You are an ELITE PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATOR for Korean web novels (COMMERCIAL QUALITY).

“Haha, it felt just like our world. I was lucky.”

As expected….

If Narke, who could read my hypothesis, had said it, I might have been a bit suspicious, but since Elias told me, I could quickly accept it.

Actually, if you wanted to look it up, you could easily find it, so there’s no point in lying about such a topic.

“Thanks.”

I greeted Narke and looked at the clock.

It seemed to be around 5 PM when I was at the Clock Tower, but looking at the clock placed in one corner of the room, it was almost midnight.

Now there’s one more thing I need to ask.

“By the way, Narke, there’s something I’m curious about.”

I softened my expression and looked at Narke.

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Are you a Bishop?”

Narke’s eyes widened and then burst into laughter.

“Ahahaha, I knew you’d ask this.”

“Right, we said we’d tell him when Lucas woke up.”

Leo crossed his arms and leaned back against his chair as he spoke.

“Let’s go through this from the beginning. We contacted the Papacy, and the Papacy said they would immediately send a mage to the scene. And you showed up.”

Narke just nodded with a smile.

“How are you a mage sent by the Papacy, and how did you have the Papacy’s staff, and how did you appear at that place dressed as a Bishop… honestly, we don’t understand. What’s going on?”

Elias was also watching Narke with a face containing slight interest. From what I knew, that expression of Elias’s was by no means friendly. It meant he was viewing him as someone to be somewhat wary of.

‘He’s already aroused suspicion before even becoming completely close with those two.’

That’s understandable.

I had doubts even in the midst of all that chaos.

“First, about you guys mistaking me for a Bishop… yeah, that’s understandable. My fascia was pink.”

Narke nodded and spoke calmly.

“I kept quiet at school, but it’s true that I’m a mage of the Papacy.”

When Narke snapped his fingers, his eye color and hair color changed. They turned generally white as I had seen before losing consciousness.

He pulled out his wand from his waist and waved it slightly. Now the wand’s true form was revealed.

The straight dark brown wand transformed into an old tree wand with a handle that curved gently. At the end was a golden dove ornament. This too was a wand of a Papacy mage.

“It’s the standard color set by the Papacy, right? Same with the wand. Especially the wand can’t be forged.”

“Wow, he looks like a completely different person when he changes all his colors. I guess it’s because I’m not used to it.”

Elias said while observing Narke’s face.

Strict dress codes apply to those belonging to the Papacy, and for mages who use divine power, even hair and iris colors are included in the dress code.

Honestly, this system seems almost like a disease, but they want to create standards of holiness and make humans conform to them.

Individual mages don’t have much complaint about this system either.

That’s understandable, because mages believe they themselves are qualified to stand beside God.

They have already desperately strived to pursue the created sanctity, and have actually become very different from ordinary humanity, even excluding magic.

From my perspective, they’ve already crossed a river that’s completely irreversible in many aspects. In such circumstances, something like color wouldn’t matter at all.

“But I’m not a Bishop.”

Narke said as he changed his wand back and tucked it into his waist.

“Mages officially recognized by the Papacy find it difficult to reveal their identity in public. As you know, assassination attempts are frequently made on mages. Above all, we don’t want individuals to become too famous.”

“That doesn’t mean everyone goes around wearing masks though.”

“Right, hahaha! Honestly, I wore it because it looked fun seeing Lucas do it. Of course, I also wore it because I needed to hide my identity. I’m not exactly in a free situation either.”

“Not in a free situation?”

“Not as much as Lucas, but yeah.”

Leo slowly nodded, then frowned.

“No matter how difficult it is to reveal your identity, you can’t wear attire that’s not permitted for your rank, right? That strict Papacy wouldn’t allow that.”

“Hmm, in principle, no. But when you’re actually doing the work, you can’t just follow principles. There are special circumstances.”

“….”

No one could easily accept it.

That Papacy would allow just anyone to wear Bishop’s robes? If they did that, everyone would dress like Bishops.

Even Elias looked at Narke with an incredulous smile.

“That you’re not a Bishop, fine. I’ll believe that. But….”

Leo looked into Narke’s round eyes and asked.

“You’re not just a Priest, are you.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————