How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 543

—————
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 Noble Family (543)

“Narke.”

I looked at the one who had been a bear and then became human with an awkward smile. I found out who changed the seasons. Narke must have been observing us from outside and manipulating various things. His slightly curly hair fluttered in the wind. When we met during the day, Narke had changed his eyes and hair to bright colors, perhaps because he was a theology student managed by the Papacy or because he had decided to disguise himself as a priest, but it was indeed better when he had natural colors like now. I could never welcome their standard colors, whether then or now. Narke hesitated and then smiled. Like when Ulrike gave me the eyepatch, he grabbed both my cheeks and shouted in a crazily lowered voice.

“Narke?!”

“What’s wrong~ You begged me 101 times to please come to this manor.”

He should have just come in before begging that much… I don’t know when he sent the contact, but both Ulrike and Narke are truly persistent and tenacious friends. Fai, who had been in Narke’s hood, saw me and hopped like a rabbit—well, he is a rabbit—and jumped over to my shoulder. Since it had been several days, I stroked Fai with my finger as he just squeaked without any intention of speaking human words with divine power. Ulrike spread both arms and shouted.

“Even so, I didn’t know you’d come in as a bear! Besides, I only asked you to change the seasons before coming in earlier, I didn’t order anything like this! How did you do it?!”

Looking at this now, he briefly went out when it first started snowing earlier to meet Narke and came back? Then he deceived us. When I looked at Ulrike with suspicious eyes, Ulrike rolled his eyes to the side. Narke smiled and answered calmly.

“Luise, wasn’t it in the kit you brought?”

“You can become animals in Mimesis?!”

“You can’t actually become one, but~”

When Narke flicked his hand, a huge bear appeared again. As a bear as tall as a person and wide to the sides appeared, Ulrike reflexively stepped back. When Narke returned to human form again, Ulrike stroked his chin.

“Huh… I was so excited I looked roughly and didn’t know there was such a function… So only the professors used this kind of thing.”

It wasn’t used to become animals but for creating exam questions. I suppressed those words and Narke probably did too. Ulrike shouted to Narke with a determined face.

“I want to do it too! I want to be a cat.”

“Oh, why~?”

Meanwhile, Leonard and Cheringen approached from behind. Ulrike raised his finger with a cool face and spoke analytically.

“Listen. Actually, a lion would probably be cool, but something lighter would be better. Cats can jump sideways and upward, so they can roam the world more widely. They’re animals optimized for hunting, so their mobility relative to size is decent. On the other hand, lions would have difficulty jumping up to three or four times their body height.”

“Hmm, that’s rational in a way. But as far as I know, you probably won’t be able to jump upward better. Since you’re not actually becoming a cat.”

Whether he heard it or not, or whether he still wanted to try, Ulrike gestured to Narke with a face that said let’s try once. Narke tapped the air as if there was a controller visible only to his eyes. Then…

“…Oh.”

An unknown yellow-striped cat appeared where Ulrike had been standing. Fai, who had been moving around my shoulder, trembled his whiskers like crazy and then climbed up to my head. I held Fai with both hands so he wouldn’t fall and looked down at the unknown cat whose ears were 30cm above ground. The cat put its front paws on the fence and looked at us. It seemed to mean it would climb over there. The first attempt wasn’t bad, because it smoothly crossed the knee-high fence just like cats do. Narke clapped his hands beside us, making exclamations like “wow.” The cat ran around crazily and then put its feet on a very tall and thin tree. Then, just like a person taking a running start, it climbed up but slipped and came down from about halfway.

“Can’t cats originally climb trees?”

“No.”

Narke answered immediately. After doing the same thing about ten more times, the cat finally lay down on the ground. Narke manipulated the settings to make him appear in his original form. Ulrike rolled his body to look at the sky and spread both arms on the ground.

“Ah~ If the tree had been just a little thicker, I would have climbed well~”

“Can you really climb?”

“Of course! What a shame. Since I’m not actually changing but only the outside changes, it really doesn’t work.”

Ulrike rapidly lost energy. It wasn’t like Richthofen who had his body changed and fitted, but simply deceived our perception, so ultimately everything depended on his own physical abilities. Ulrike clapped his hands and got up from his spot.

“Then I’ll be a lion this time! Being cool is the best.”

“Hmm.”

He’s doing it again? I only smiled soullessly. While Narke manipulated the settings, Cheringen stood beside Leonard and asked casually with raised corners of his mouth.

“Isn’t it about time for you to return to your hometown too?”

“Geez…”

Leonard laughed in disbelief. If this had been outside Mimesis, he would have put on a serious face, but it seemed comfortable. Even if this had happened at school, he probably would have laughed appropriately, but he wouldn’t have been truly dumbfounded like now. However, there was no more time to laugh.

We silently looked down at the male lion that suddenly appeared and looked around at us. Blood runs cold. There was no timing to ask why it had to be a male lion—something that had been Ulrike opened its mouth and roared.

“Roaaaaar!”

“…!”

Could one tooth be half the size of a palm? The lion presumed to be Ulrike charged at us, and the four of us had to run like crazy.

“Lu, Lucas—!”

Fai makes endless squeaking sounds in my ear while shouting. Some paws frantically press against my skin. I, who became twice as frantic, gripped Fai tightly in my hand and ran blindly. The laughter of Leonard and Cheringen, who had changed direction earlier, could be heard from behind. Narke ran in the same direction as me while looking back.

“Ha, hahahaha… So this is how it feels. No wait, still, a bear is a bit better.”

“Better my foot?!”

“Haha, how fierce~”

“Change it back to normal!”

Since we’re friends, I can’t even strike this with magic. The sound of lion paws touching the ground is fierce. Narke clicked his tongue and quickly tapped the air.

“Oh!”

Ulrike, who had been running well, opened his eyes wide and stopped in place. Only then could we also stop while catching our breath. Knowing his body had returned to normal, he made a “tsk” sound and played dumb. I went to Ulrike and silently put my arm around his shoulder. Even though I didn’t say anything, Ulrike preemptively apologized.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay… Don’t apologize.”

Having nothing to say, I showed him Fai, whom I had been holding in my hand. Then Fai, who had been showing his belly, struggled to escape and took a defensive stance.

“Look at him.”

“Cute.”

“He was startled by you.”

“Hup.”

Ulrike made a deliberately serious expression and tried to take Fai. However, Fai refused to go to Ulrike due to the aftermath from earlier. He even bit my hand, so I had no choice but to put Fai on my shoulder and walk around again.

While doing so, I encountered the wild apple tree I had eaten from earlier, picked an apple as small as a ping-pong ball, and took a bite. It was more sour than cooked ones, but it was good for clearing my mind and calming my frantically beating heart. I tried to get one for Ulrike, but he had disappeared somewhere quickly.

I looked back at the barley field behind and was conscious of the priest standing beside me. Every time the wind blew, a clear sound came from the staff Narke was holding. I felt the sunlight shining through my eyes spreading across my vision and asked Narke.

“Why didn’t you want to come?”

Narke said nothing.

Instead, after a while, walking along the barley field, he caught a freshwater snail that looked like a pond snail from a small stream and placed it in my hand. I don’t know why they keep handing me natural objects telling me to do something. I touched the textured smooth snail shell and returned it to the water. Narke caught one more and placed it in his hand, muttering.

“Escargot.”

Lost for words, I removed the snail from Narke’s hand and returned it to the water. Even during this, Narke only wore a ceremonial smile. Even though he had the same face and tone as usual, I felt that it wasn’t the case.

I grabbed Narke’s arm and turned his body so he would look at me. Then I sent divine power to Narke’s forehead.

“Divine power is mysterious.”

“…”

“When I use it on myself, it makes me draw on a lot of strength, but when I use it on others, it’s not difficult at all.”

I think I understand why Christian believers view this power positively. The tendency to regard divine power as a sign of good is not limited to Christianity. Divine power doesn’t exist only in Europe. This power has spread to and been received from all continents. Many religions in various places, sometimes the establishment in certain countries, revere this power.

I am grateful to be in a region where my divine power need not be used with the meaning of relief that the high give to the low, that is, where it can be used with the meaning of fellowship. I finished transferring divine power by coming down from Narke’s forehead and patting his shoulder. Narke stared into my eyes for a while and then moved his lips.

“Because it wasn’t my place to come.”

“This Easter isn’t the tribulation Count Gabrielle spoke of.”

Though it might sound out of the blue, I said what I had already guessed long ago. Something that can be overcome with cunning is not called tribulation. Even if it seems so, it is not biblical tribulation. Thinking about it, it’s natural—Pleroma failed to bring their Christ, and we don’t know their next plan. Narke just walked expressionlessly.

I walked beside the barley field and spoke to his back.

“There’s no such thing as a place you shouldn’t come to. Whatever happened, we overcame it. Believing we could do so.”

“Yes, you did well.”

Narke answered composedly. Since he was skilled at acting, he was also skilled at hiding his condition. I watched without hastily judging whether he was deceiving us or not.

“That’s so like you. I always knew you would manage. And the more you do, the more I can’t hold my head up. To satisfy your curiosity, yes. Excuses aren’t my style, but… I couldn’t hold my head up, so I didn’t want to come.”

“Why?”

“Not being able to answer that question is also part of not being able to hold my head up.”

Narke looked back and smiled vaguely. He tried to take my hand but slowly clenched his own. I asked such a him.

“Is this a problem you can somehow change now, or not?”

“…”

“Not?”

I pulled his hand.

“Then enjoy the present now. Those friends told me to do that. That’s why I ended up here even though I had absolutely no intention of coming to play.”

Narke remained silent with a smile. I asked once more. While pulling him toward the barley field. Only then did Narke raise his eyebrows.

“Or do you dislike being with us? Do you want to be alone?”

He doesn’t answer this time either. I looked at the yellow eyes that held light and said.

“If you’re okay with it, I want to be with you.”

“This isn’t quite a fair trade.”

“Who’s at a loss? Me, or you?”

I shook my head and continued.

“If you can’t tell me now and can’t change it… you can leave here as you wish, but if it’s okay, do as the friends want. You said you came here because Luise asked.”

I smiled mischievously and said.

“You already did it. Do it once more.”

Narke looked down at the hand he was holding and opened his mouth.

“You’ve changed a lot.”

“Yes. I think so too…”

“Hey guys——!”

Ulrike’s voice echoes loudly. I raised my eyebrows and lowered the corners of my mouth. The person visible as a dot in the distance raised both arms above his head and waved them sideways.

“It’s a cave――!”

“There’s really everything here.”

I chuckled and turned around, asking Narke.

“Want to check it out?”

Since Narke didn’t answer, I shrugged and dragged him along. While crossing the barley field, he followed behind me without complaint. The autumn sunlight pouring over our heads and the body heat transmitted through the glove on my right hand were both warm. Ulrike called over Leonard and Cheringen and led us inside.

“Ooh――”

As Ulrike made a sound, it echoed inside the cave. It was natural. We imbued our wands with light and went deep inside, and with each step we could feel the walls becoming increasingly damp. We could hear water sounds too.

I asked indifferently.

“Nothing’s going to come out, right? There’s water flowing inside.”

“There must be an underground water vein.”

Cheringen stroked his chin and replied nonchalantly. Then Ulrike, who had been leading the way, started making strange sounds.

“Heh heh heh heh.”

“Hmm?”

“What’s wrong, Luise.”

Despite Cheringen and Leonard’s reactions, Ulrike shook her head and continued making peculiar sounds.

“Heh heh heh heh ehhhhh.”

“Seriously, what’s wrong with her….”

Then Ulrike showed us the box in her hand.

“…!”

We immediately understood upon seeing the small glass bottles and powder contained in that box. Rampage drugs. A box of rampage drugs was here. Leonard said.

“This is a Greater Pleroma training game field.”

“A lower version of Violet Brot.”

Leonard nodded at Cheringen’s response. Ulrike asked with a cold gleam in her eyes.

“So is this box all there is? It seems like it was a plan to contaminate the groundwater.”

“Probably not.”

From experience, no. If I had to say, the cave is somewhat of a peripheral answer key. Leonard nodded at my answer. Then everyone’s eyes took on somewhat the same light. Ulrike raised one corner of her mouth and rolled her eyes toward each other.

Honestly, I could point out where the other boxes are even with my eyes closed. I don’t know what grade this game is for, but it’s definitely not a game given to upperclassmen. While thinking this, Ulrike tapped my shoulder. Fai, who had been hanging on my shoulder half-asleep, moved to the opposite shoulder.

“Lucas. You’re out.”

“Why? That’s disappointing.”

“If you join….”

Ulrike closed her eyes and waved her hand in circles, choosing her words. Leonard, Cheringen, and Narke all showed the same meaning in their eyes as they looked at me. Ulrike shouted.

“If you join, it’ll end immediately. You can’t. You’ve been getting first place every time, and you want to compete with us again?!”

Hah. I exhaled and asked.

“Then what do I do?”

“Follow us around!”

“…Alright….”

Ulrike looked around at her friends with a refreshed face and said.

“Good. Then I~ want to team up with Leo!”

“What about me?”

At Cheringen’s words, who had been on the same team during the Violet Brot test at headquarters, Ulrike tilted her head and changed her words.

“Hmm, the results were good though. Then I should team up with Julia.”

“What about me?”

At Narke’s playful words, Ulrike now held her head and pondered deeply. Ulrike raised her hand toward Narke, and Narke touched hands like Cheringen did. Thus teams were formed with Leonard and Cheringen, Ulrike and Narke.

I had to choose a team to observe, and my choice was Ulrike and Narke. I’m thinking of following behind them. There’s no particular reason, I’m just curious whether someone with insight abilities gets advantages in tests.

After splitting into pairs, Narke and Ulrike discussed where the remaining boxes might be. First, Ulrike pointed to the top of the mountain.

“The upstream of the stream!”

That’s not my thinking at all. Though it’s more intuitive than the cave, it’s inefficient. There are two choices much closer to the correct answer.

Fortunately, Narke slowly rubbed his jawbone and shook his head.

“No. That’s wasteful. Besides, there’s a high probability they’d notice something was wrong before problems actually occurred. Even if the residents realize there’s something wrong with the village, it would only be effective after problems arise.”

“Then….”

Ulrike looked around and made eye contact with Narke again. Narke pointed in a direction with his staff and said.

“The well, and we should go to the brewery.”

“Good thinking.”

We ran to the large building with a big, tall chimney—the brewery. Ulrike stopped at the gate, then smiled triumphantly and opened the brewery’s mailbox.

“Oh.”

Narke raised his eyebrows seeing the box wrapped in newspaper inside the mailbox. When both of us looked at them with faces asking how they knew there would be a box here, Ulrike shrugged and said.

“Since what we found in the cave was unopened drugs. If this is a test to recover boxes like this, naturally there’s no need to go into the cellar. If someone had received the box from a carrier, they would have already put the drugs into the oak barrels in the cellar. There’s no way they’d leave a box of rampage drugs in the cellar. There’s also the option of a carrier secretly placing a drug box in the cellar, but without any particular situational information, using the mailbox can induce the widest range of ‘next steps.’ Of course, we might not have accessed some information, so I was prepared to go into the cellar. Since they didn’t store oak barrels in the cave, if it’s not the mailbox either, they must have a cellar underground. But that wasn’t necessary.”

“Good. Then, the well.”

Narke smiled and answered. The well, a good choice. But what’s next?

Narke stroked his chin and ran to find the village bulletin board. Ulrike decided to find the house where the village chief lives.

What are the chances of a box just sitting at the well? Let’s think about it. Tests must necessarily have clues given. It was time to find those clues. I wandered around here and there and picked up the village newspaper.

[8/27]

[As announced, the central plaza well can only be used until the end of the month. The water supply installation will be finished the day after tomorrow, so we plan to open the water system all at once. Please use water at home.]

A short notice that seems like the village chief wrote it is embedded in the center of the newspaper. I raised my eyebrows and whistled. Now that water supply is being installed and the well can only be used for just 5 more days, it’s a very good time for Pleroma to throw the village into chaos. The answer is already out, but I don’t know where the other two friends are. Then Ulrike cast sound-blocking magic connecting to me from far away and came running.

“Look at this, Lucas! These are the contact details for the surveyor and people who will demolish the well!”

“The demolition side is settled. We should find the surveyor’s house.”

Narke, who approached from the opposite side somehow knowing what was said inside the sound-blocking magic, answered. He threw a box upward to show us. Ulrike put her hand on her cheek and screamed. Now I notice her voice gets high when things are good but endlessly low when they’re not.

“We already have 2?!”

“Yeah.”

Narke answered with a grin. Excluding what we found in the cave, two have already come into our hands. We don’t even know how many are hidden, but they’re finding them so well. Fai, who had been sleeping like hibernating, woke up and was happy together even though it wasn’t her business—presumably copying Narke’s reaction—I don’t know what kind of scene this is. Seeing those with different temperaments from me playing and rejoicing together, I instead felt drained and just smiled. I might match better with friends who act like Leonard or Cheringen.

Ulrike solemnly held out the note with the surveyor’s contact information. A simply drawn rough map and address were written on it. It’s around where the stream is again. Instead, it’s a house on a hill overlooking the stream, a bit higher than this village. We immediately ran to find that place. On the way, unsurprisingly….

“Was this a game where you could steal too?”

We encountered Leonard and Cheringen. Being with Ulrike, Narke, and Fai and then seeing these two, I could tell that the atmosphere of these two was surprisingly similar. If Elias has somewhat similar aspects to Ulrike, Leonard and Cheringen, having grown up as orthodox ruling families, felt so similar they looked almost like real brothers.

Even though I was thinking leisurely like this, the situation wasn’t quite so—there was a reason Cheringen spoke like before—Ulrike drew her sword to snatch the box Cheringen was holding and suddenly squeezed between Leonard and Cheringen, creating distance.

Clang―!

A chillingly sharp sound scratched our ears. Cheringen created a sword and blocked Ulrike’s sword horizontally. Leonard, who exchanged glances with him, stepped back and slowly approached toward the surveyor’s house. Meanwhile, Narke ran first and entered the alley leading there. Cheringen asked Ulrike.

“Coming back from the brewery?”

“Why?”

“It seems our class president made a misstep.”

Ulrike didn’t think much of it and put force into her sword. Green magical power sparked.

Screech― Screeech―!

Lightning-like light rose along the sword blade and flew into midair. Cheringen, who had been blocking horizontally with both hands, instantly tilted his sword backwards to deflect the opponent’s sword and leaped around to Ulrike’s back.

Crash―

Ulrike’s sword tip, turning her body together at an impossible speed to follow, grazed the front of Cheringen’s clothes. As Ulrike’s eyes tracked Cheringen’s body like hunting prey, Cheringen’s mouth corner twisted.

“Catch, class president.”

At that moment, the box Cheringen threw glided over Ulrike’s head. Leonard, who quickly flicked his finger to change the air flow with magical power, caught the box and smiled at Ulrike before running toward the alley where the surveyor’s house would be. Before Cheringen finished speaking, Ulrike clicked her tongue and turned toward Leonard while stamping the ground with her foot, but Cheringen blocked her path.

“Can’t do that.”

Ulrike tried to kick off the wall and go over Cheringen’s back. Before she could, Cheringen grabbed Ulrike’s clothes and spun her around once before embracing her. Then he threw his body toward the ground without hesitation.

“…!”

Clatter―

Ulrike, who dropped her sword with a horrified face worried her friend might get stabbed, rolled sideways on the ground together with Cheringen. Before she could grab the stone on the ground―

“Aaaaaaah―”

They rolled down the hill. Cheringen just laughed refreshingly while falling together.

Splash―

Screaming sounds could be heard from far away. I sighed and chuckled. Looking down, Ulrike was rolling around in the shallow stream getting angry at Cheringen.

“I trusted you! I trusted you~!”

“Thanks.”

Just seeing him answer “thanks” when she’s too annoyed to speak properly shows that Julia is Julia. I watched him remove a freshwater snail attached to a stone and stick it on Ulrike’s hand, just like Narke had done earlier. Ulrike pretended to watch with interest then screamed and jumped up to start running. As if Cheringen’s real target wasn’t Ulrike, the laughing Cheringen swept his hair back and instantly turned his head to look at me. His target probably isn’t me either. It would be Narke. I pointed out the next direction to go to Ulrike from the hill and followed behind Narke.

“Run quickly!”

“Huh?!”

Narke pushed my back as he began to run faster. He tried to keep his mouth shut but gradually burst into laughter. There were times when he would return to an uncontrollably dejected expression—though he was still smiling, so from my perspective it was highly likely—but thinking of Cheringen who would be chasing us from behind, I continued to push Narke’s back.

“Let’s go to the pasture now! Don’t rest, keep going!”

“I was thinking the same thing.”

Narke burst into laughter at my roughened voice and spoke gently.

And so we had to end our game not long after. About an hour later, when it was around 4 AM by outside time, the five of us lay sprawled in the grassland, gazing up at the sky where the sun hung slightly tilted. Perhaps because he didn’t want to keep lying down, Leonard washed his face at the stream and returned to sit by our heads. It was fascinating to see how his eyebrows and eyelashes were the same bright color as his hair that had fallen down. Unlike when he swept his hair back like the King, his bangs now hung down over his forehead, making him look much more like a teenager. Meanwhile, Fai woke up from sleep, so I placed Fai, whom I had been holding in my hands, down onto the clover field.

Even as I turned my gaze away, Ulrike was still looking at Leonard upside down, blinking her eyes as she muttered.

“You’re really handsome.”

“….”

Leonard was at a loss for words and gave a perfunctory smile. Though it was a gentle smile that seemed harmless on the surface, Cheringen burst into low laughter. I heard him mutter something like “So that’s how it is,” which made Leonard start looking at Cheringen with reproachful class president eyes. Since Ulrike had spoken thoughtlessly, she thoughtlessly changed the subject again, curling up her body and rolling from side to side as she began to express her grievances.

“3:3, really. Ahhhhh….”

“Haha.”

At Cheringen’s simple laughter, Ulrike made another strange sound and pressed her eyes firmly with both hands. She must still be upset about rolling down the hill because of him. Ulrike said.

“I wanted to win.”

“I’m curious what you were planning to do if you won.”

“Listen to what I have to say.”

Cheringen propped his head on his arm and turned to lie on his side, looking at us. It was impossible not to notice his expression that said he wanted to know what she was going to say. Ulrike looked up at the sky and spoke slowly.

“…Let’s agree to meet here whenever we can gather. When we get tired of this set, we can get a different set to play with.”

“That’s something we could listen to even without you winning.”

At Cheringen’s words, Leonard propped his chin and smiled. I also agreed.

“That’s right. What about you, Narke?”

Narke moved his lips slightly, then lowered his eyes.

“If you’re going to ask 101 times again, I should say yes before that happens.”

“Yay~”

“That worked out well, Luise. Right?”

Leonard muttered briefly. Ulrike kicked off the ground and stood up with clenched fists, looking like she was asking what he meant. Narke smiled as he got up. Ulrike clapped her hands and shouted.

“Should we look for a four-leaf clover?!”

She was suggesting we search for something that would disappear once we left this place. However, no one expressed any objection to those words. I and Cheringen, who had been lying down until the end, exchanged glances and smiled as we got up from our spots.

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