How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 557

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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 Noble Family (557)

[…The fire started when sparks from the refinery furnace caught onto timber, but according to the fire department, it spread rapidly without time to extinguish due to causes not yet identified. The wind caused the fire to instantly spread to the street trees in the residential area….]

The artifact carries the message from the command center’s control room. My memory captured every word and the pauses between them while vividly storing the scene before my eyes. I moved my lips toward the eyes burning red with a more yellow tint than Luca’s—no, even more so.

“Narke.”

“Mm.”

Narke squinted and smiled. Sweat flows. I felt the sweat gathered under my hair flowing down to my temples and whispered without realizing it.

“What’s wrong.”

He’s acting differently than usual, as if he shouldn’t stay here any longer. I couldn’t understand why Narke was smiling, why he was contorting his face trying to suppress it, and why I could read desperate effort, determination, and longing in between. Among the dozens of possible causes making him act this way, only one thing—that this fire was draining something from him….

It wasn’t just Narke’s problem. Everyone who had collapsed here was dying because of it. How?

No matter how I felt, my power remained the same. Though my heart was pounding from fear of the fire, I began to feel strength returning due to the adrenaline. I grabbed Narke’s cheeks with both hands. The pulse below his jaw beat in counterpoint to the pulse under my hands. I was startled for a moment and tensed my hands. His blood vessels, the blood and congealed magic within them, or perhaps his heart that circulated his blood—the will of his brain that commanded his heart—felt as if it were in an awakened state. Though there seemed to be some difficulty, Narke’s expression was still like this….

“It’s nothing. My body was just startled by the sudden situation. I’ll adapt soon.”

So calm. Narke spoke nonchalantly, whether to reassure me or because he truly thought so. Before I could ask more, he raised his hand to touch around my eyes. He wiped away the sweat running down my eyebrows and changed the subject.

“So what we can do is use magic to move air and suppress the fire. They probably thought my divine power was needed to handle this special fire.”

“…Right.”

Magic itself doesn’t have the function of extinguishing fires. Like sound-blocking magic that functions by using air as a medium to block sound, it can block air under specific magical formulas. Or it can push air like strongly expelled magic does. It operates differently from barriers that allow air to flow through to some extent. If I memorize the formula used in sound-blocking magic and completely surround this building with magic like a bell, it could only burn until all the air inside is consumed…. I asked Narke, who was alternately looking at the people around and the building.

“Are there people inside?”

The command center said they didn’t know. The fire department said they evacuated people, but now that even the fire department personnel had collapsed unconscious, we couldn’t know if everyone had gotten out. If there were people inside, covering it would suffocate them to death, actually killing the lives inside. But hadn’t people already collapsed from the flames? Those inside would have suffered greater damage, so we couldn’t tell if they were alive or dead. What should we do?

Narke answered with a face slightly calmer than before.

“We’ll have to go in to find out. I don’t know for certain.”

The deliberation didn’t last long. The answer was clear.

“Alright. We need to save people first.”

I turned my head and asked.

“Where is Senior Mecklenburg?”

Water, we need water. The firefighters who came are also collapsed, so we can’t rely on them. We need that person’s unique ability in this situation.

But before I finished speaking, I realized why they had coated the powder with oil. To prevent it from being extinguished with water.

This powder scattered like dust. Would fire really catch easily on each particle? Wouldn’t it be at most the level of a cigarette ash spark? Even if oil covered the surface of that powder, if we poured a large amount of water using unique abilities, would there be enough oil to withstand it? In the case of particles dispersed in a wide space rather than clumped powder, extinguishing fire with water wouldn’t be difficult or impossible, but you’d have to have seen an actual fire scene in your lifetime. My knowledge stops at the theoretical level and has little connection to disaster situations like this, making it uncertain….

It’s ambiguous. When a large amount of water is poured, particles could cool and oxygen could be blocked, stopping the chain combustion, but conversely, if the particles are too fine and float easily in air, spraying water might actually spread the particles further.

But.

If particles were floating that much, wouldn’t water actually be necessary? Since we don’t know where they might settle and start fires again, we need to make it rain heavily in this entire area. I immediately tapped the transparent artifact hanging along my ear.

“Senior.”

[….]

“Senior. Can’t you hear me?”

Only silence. I squinted slightly. I exhaled once and swept down my ear while speaking.

“Control room, can you hear me? Can you contact 98th A Mecklenburg?”

[We can hear you. Three minutes ago, Count Ascanien last contacted us from the residential area where he was dispatched.]

From the residential area? But no matter how much I looked around, Mecklenburg was nowhere to be seen. Instinctively, the back of my neck felt cold.

I examined the soil on the ground. Together with Narke, I approached near the fire and circled around the building. There really were no traces of red soil bursting out, so this one thing was worth trying. When I turned my head to ask Narke about safety, he immediately answered.

“Up to this building should be manageable.”

“Narke. You need to use your power to draw water and make it rain.”

I had already heard that Narke drew river water and poured it over the building. He nodded at my words.

“But there’s something you should know. I only made water fall on that archives building. Besides, the archives was….”

“Wide open. This one isn’t. But we need to catch at least the external flames.”

Fortunately, this was the Mitte district. The Spree River that crosses the center of the capital was right in front of us. Berlin has many waterways everywhere, and the Spree River’s water is relatively small compared to them, but since they’re connected, it wouldn’t be a problem. Narke blinked a few times and nodded.

“Alright.”

He sent a brief apologetic glance, then scooped up my legs and leaped over the building. Instantly spreading a curtain, he climbed to the rooftop and jumped to the roof of another building. Feeling his slightly trembling hands, I muttered.

“Sorry, but I can also do building hopping.”

“I know. I know, but….”

Narke was rambling. He probably wanted to say we needed to consider speed. It was true that he was much faster than me. He stood on a building between the Spree River and the residential area, on a rooftop slightly higher than others where both the river and the burning residential area could be seen.

The moment Narke changed his wand to a staff, a clear jingling sound rang out. Having regained his composure as soon as we moved away from the flames, he lightly struck his staff on the rooftop.

—The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

Whoosh—…

Wind starting from his legs fluttered his cloak. The wind went down and violently shook the street trees and house windows. The sound of windows fitted in frames rattling like during an earthquake echoed through the city center. I cast perception disruption magic on the ground with only eye movements, without any gestures or movements. In the midst of the noise from the gale, he looked straight at the calm river and said.

—I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

Kuung…

Kwarrrrung—!

The river water was lifted in a bowl shape. When separating water from water, there was a sound of something splitting. The roar of water surged overhead, sending chills down to my shoulder blades. I looked at the water floating above our heads using divine power as a vessel, and counted toward the building.

“3.”

The water goes beyond us. Then….

“2.”

It stopped right above the houses. I moved my lips.

“1. Now.”

Kwaaaang—!

“Aaaaah!”

“Huh?!”

Someone’s scream accompanied the impact sound echoing through the city center. Water poured down over the city center like a waterfall. Though it sounded like something exploding, that water cleanly extinguished the fire on the trees. Even the fire climbing the building’s exterior walls disappeared. I looked at the fire flickering in the broken windows and asked. Mecklenburg, whose whereabouts were unknown, wouldn’t leave my mind. This was a temporary measure. Since we couldn’t extinguish the fire inside, we didn’t know when it might be blown by wind to catch other street trees and burn nearby buildings. Water had poured on surrounding buildings too, so we bought time, but you never know. The existence of oil-coated blood powder that might remain in the refinery increased the danger.

“You can’t put water inside the building, right?”

“Right. Since I don’t have water as a unique ability, if I tried that…. It would spill before I could even get it in. I can only use gravity.”

Yes, I know. Didn’t I also overturn a river in the extra chapter? If I could use divine power alone here, I would have done so already, but now the best I could do was to use it little by little, unknowingly, riding on Narke’s divine power. Narke grabbed my hand and pulled me along.

“We need to go quickly before it gets bigger.”

“Wait.”

Wasn’t there more to figure out from the fact that they coated it with oil? Was this the time to feel relieved carelessly? Was this all I could think of?

The particles were coated with oil, but how much could that oil amount to—it was disappointingly complacent. In the case of sulfur, the reactivity of finely divided sulfur is much higher compared to lumped sulfur. Simply because the surface area increased. What we can figure out from this is that they developed something like sulfur powder and even coated it with oil so it couldn’t be easily extinguished with water. They probably planned to sprinkle this in powder form, but they were also thinking of other cases.

Earlier, I thought that in the case of ‘particles dispersed in a wide space’ rather than ‘clumped powder’ containing oil, we might be able to compete with a large amount of water enough to suppress the oil’s reaction. Now it was ‘particles dispersed in a wide space.’

Then what about the case of ‘clumped powder’?

For example, if you put a blood powder tank in a container or factory transporting hematite powder and drop a match? The powder-filled sack would immediately catch fire, and in this world where fires must be extinguished using early 20th-century methods that are quite inadequate compared to the 21st century, it becomes an excessively troublesome situation. Because while you can use water pressure to knock off oil particles or rapidly block air in places where powder is scattered everywhere like now, if you spray water on a powder box completely soaked in oil, you might accidentally promote an explosion. Water would become good fuel for a bigger fire.

I looked at my watch. The second hand’s clicking movement felt like a time bomb’s gauge. Seeing my expression, Narke tapped his artifact. Without speaking, we inevitably knew what each other was doing, so I conveyed what I wanted to say to Narke through divine power.

—”Command center control room, can you hear me?”

“This is 101st Farnese. Can you hear me?”

—”From now on, contact all factories, ships, freight trains, and dye shops that possess hematite and iron oxide, iron oxide dyes, and other red powders. Check if oil is seeping from containers holding powder, and if it is, immediately dispose of everything according to safety protocols and maintain strict security. There’s a possibility of fire. Even a bottle-sized amount is not acceptable. Dispose of it unconditionally.”

Narke recited exactly what I said, not missing a single syllable, with only a word’s difference in timing. Then he grabbed my hand and instantly warped to the front of the house. He had been remembering the coordinates he heard once. The fire department’s newly arrived cars and carriages were visible. The fire department personnel who had just arrived grimaced, then spotted us and handed over all sorts of equipment.

“The government said to entrust this to the Guild mages. They said divine power was needed….”

The fire department mage looked uncomfortable about entrusting work to us students. He seemed to have mixed feelings. We nodded at his words and put on the equipment he handed us—though it was just leather helmets, fire-resistant coats, rubber boots, and a breathing apparatus that looked half-made along with a rope made of magic, all primitively incomparable to the 21st century! But the problem lay elsewhere. The fire department mage asked.

“Where are the other 101st members?”

“We don’t know.”

“Is that so? First, let me tell you that someone has already gone in. A 97th Guild mage who can use divine power, albeit weakly, was the only one who entered. Please join them.”

“What did you say?”

The fire department mage looked at me in confusion, as if wondering whether he had to repeat what he’d already said.

I almost turned to look at Narke. For me, this was like a bolt from the blue. Since there would be no risk of being discovered indoors, both Narke and I had planned to use divine power, which was more efficient than magic and excellent for purification, to quickly resolve the situation, but that was impossible now. It meant that even indoors, only Narke should use divine power. Narke pulled me along with an unconcerned expression. He thickly wrapped both of us in divine power, then thrust out his wand to push back the flames at the entrance with magic.

Paang—…

I readjusted my grip on the fire hose they had given us and entered inside with Narke. My vision was red.

Hwareureuk—

Eerie sounds came from everywhere. How long had it been since we pushed it back with magic, yet we couldn’t even see ahead. My breath was completely blocked. I had never entered a place with flames in my entire life. I felt my mouth drying up as I suppressed my wildly beating heart. My heart was beating as if it would tear apart soon.

I stamped my feet to send out magic while frantically spraying water at the remaining flames. And as soon as we entered the building, I reinstalled a barrier around us with my divine power for Narke’s sake. I couldn’t spray divine power over the entire fire, but this much was within a range that wouldn’t be a big problem when meeting the unfamiliar 97th mage. It had to be.

“As we saw from above, the building is long sideways.”

I muttered like that.

There’s one hallway with rooms lined up along it. And there are stairs on both sides and in the center, with so many stairs that fire would keep rushing down to the first floor unless we extinguished the upper floors. The noise from water pressure drowned out our voices. Narke silently caught the flames burning on the ceiling.

Kwaaang—!

“Ugh…!”

I grabbed Narke, who was following a step behind, and moved back. Debris fell from the ceiling and dust and smoke spread out. Narke took a deep breath and swallowed. As soon as we entered the heart of the flames, Narke’s condition was getting worse.

“It’s five stories high. Extinguishing the fire is important, but let’s quickly find if there are any living people and get back.”

Narke nodded. I placed my hand on his back and channeled divine power. I created a simple barrier with divine power, giving him a moment to remove his respirator and drink the elixir. During this time, the gentleness in Narke’s eyes gradually disappeared. After a while, I grabbed his hand and kicked the door open. Narke’s divine power immediately pushed the flames up to the ceiling. This repeated endlessly.

I hadn’t realized it until now, but when we reached the 2nd floor, I understood. Sweeping through the first floor had been easy compared to what came after. The floor shook as if it would collapse at any moment, and I could only hope it was my imagination. I couldn’t get used to this fire at all. When I entered the third room on the 2nd floor, I found someone collapsed on the floor. They weren’t burned. I knelt beside them and channeled divine power into them. Were they dead? My heart raced faster than ever before. I lifted them onto my shoulders and approached the window. I could see mages outside. When I smashed the window, the mages saw me and the person beside me and raised their wands. I handed the person over to them and went back into the room.

“Seeing that there was someone here really…”

Narke muttered. We need to search all the way to the 5th floor. There might be more people. That’s what he wanted to say. But he lacked the strength. I wasn’t sure if he could hold on much longer. I looked at the magic rope wrapped around my waist. I couldn’t trust this rope. No one else could enter anyway. Narke was only holding on thanks to divine power, and most arcane mages didn’t have purity matching Narke’s level.

[Can you hear me?]

Sophia Nussbaum’s voice came through the artifact. It seemed Ulrike had properly delivered the spare communication artifact we’d taken from Mecklenburg. Sweat was flowing. I wasn’t conscious of what I answered, but I definitely said something. Sophia continued speaking.

[Wow, this is fascinating. You mages use things like this too, it’s unfair.]

“Well…”

I didn’t originally live using such things, and I developed it myself. Perhaps as the price for using that fascinating device, I seemed to be burning to death. In a society that treats magic power like money, what meaning is there in revering humans with magic power? Whether it’s what mages say among themselves or trying to make everyone praise mages, the series of public opinions that highly evaluate mages seems to well conceal that it becomes a cheap tool to handle the problem of inadequate social safety nets that the mages themselves – who are merely ‘cornucopias producing national power, magic power, in the government’s eyes’ – couldn’t pay attention to while indulging in their divine games. Those tools are scattered all over that street. I’m no different. It’s too hot for my head to work properly. I bit my lip hard with my teeth. A disgusting salty taste, that’s all. At least I had enough presence of mind to do my best not to fall into panic. I tried to keep my vision and eyes, which kept turning white, back in place while using magic power. What happened to the Class 97 mage? Is Mecklenburg even here? What about civilians? While others would die first from the fear and actual shock of having their magic power drained, I was about to faint from the shock of falling into the middle of flames without any training. Occasionally, when gas and heat that magic couldn’t block entered, my lungs felt like they would burn up.

If I’m like this, what about these people? Their magic power is disappearing too. Support is needed, but there’s no one who can provide support. I need to pull myself together.

[Are you listening? Your condition doesn’t look very good.]

I’m listening. He’s reluctant to talk about buildings used by socialist-related organizations. Of course he is. If I were him, I couldn’t tell such things to a royal bastard. Especially in Germany where the Social Democratic Party isn’t very popular? Ah, even more impossible… But I had never been royalty my whole life, and I lived in the 21st century watching the pillars of capitalism crumble one by one, and though I benefited from it, I was more destroyed by it, probably ended that way, so I’m not trying to find out such information to screw over socialists…

Whoosh—

“…!”

I dropped the hose and thrust my hand out to push the fire up to the ceiling. It came at me endlessly. I kept swinging my hands. Extreme fear coexisted with the thought that I had to use magic carefully since there might be people beyond there. In any case, I had no way to convince Sophia. No one would believe such words. I agree with the economic maxim that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I think that way about capitalism, not according to their intentions. My fellow citizens who lived in the 21st century probably wouldn’t think that we were running down a path to death by capitalism while benefiting from capitalism, and therefore someone in the world wouldn’t even accept that I could think all of that felt overwhelmingly vast despite having recognition equivalent to money in society. Enough, the habit of recalling too many things was problematic for this reason. I need to persuade them somehow, but I don’t even have the strength to speak. Since I’m only breathing in, I hear a hesitant voice.

[About socialist-related organizations. In my view, it would be better to search by including places related to the Conservative Party and National Liberal Party as well, since the opponent clearly made the Social Democratic Party appear to harbor resentment against its competitor, the Conservative Party…]

CRASH—!

I opened my eyes wide at the loud noise. A gale blew from behind, pushing the flames all the way to the end of the hallway. Something unknown surged in my chest in an instant… I pulled the Class 97 representative mage I’d found on the floor into my arms and spun around. Narke, who was crouched low against the wall, also turned his head.

“I said I’d see you in 5 minutes.”

Even amid the noise, the voice was clear. I looked at the person shooting a fire extinguisher hose into the room next door. Ulrike, with something like a rubber hose in her mouth, bit down on it with her teeth and raised the corner of her mouth in a grin. Even while extinguishing the fire with the hose, something like a barrier continuously emanated from her body. The magic power of that barrier was gradually being absorbed by the pushed-back flames. But what caught my eye was something else. She had a personal tank in her arms that looked like it could hold at least 5 liters, and she was inhaling something coming from it. Though her legs were trembling slightly, her face and eyes were filled with more intense fighting spirit than anyone else’s as she tapped the hose in her mouth and shouted loudly.

“I came 10 minutes later though! I was busy making something.”

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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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