How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 67

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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 Family (67)

The first people we met were a couple approaching old age.

They responded enthusiastically to our questions, sending passionate support for our plan to launch a local youth newspaper.

I left the building and hailed another carriage, asking as we got in.

―”How was it?”

―”Well, I think the culprits are the next ones? Avin Asmann and Gelda Asmann, those two.”

It seems he didn’t find any clues pointing to Pleroma.

For us, it doesn’t matter whether this side is Pleroma or the next one is Pleroma.

We got off in front of the next house and knocked on the door again.

“Ah, please come in.”

A tall, gaunt old man greeted us with a smile.

This side was similar in age. The difference from earlier was that these were siblings.

Unfortunately, the novel didn’t show the relationship between the two Pleroma very prominently. This was because Elias didn’t care at all about what their relationship was and simply called them ‘those surname bastards.’

When we went inside, there was one more person sitting with a shawl draped over their shoulders. According to our investigation, this was the younger sister.

Even though she was clearly similar in age to her brother, perhaps due to poor health, while her brother looked to be in his mid to late 60s at most, she looked to be about 90.

Narke entered and muttered to me through divine power.

―”This is strange.”

When I glanced at him, Narke continued.

―”I don’t see any signs at all.”

―”…That can’t be right.”

―”I know, your guess didn’t seem wrong. I definitely thought… it would be among these two.”

Confusion flashed across Narke’s face.

If this was the case, either his insight ability was wrong…

Or there was a problem with the time difference from the novel, or things were flowing in a completely different direction from the novel.

―”Let’s start for now. Maybe we’ll catch something if we talk.”

―”…Right.”

Though it didn’t seem right, Narke took a seat.

Whatever the case, having come this far inside, we couldn’t just say ‘we won’t do this’ and leave.

I should draw out the conversation in more detail to make it easier for Narke to judge.

“Thank you for agreeing to the interview today. I am Felix Weichel, preparing a youth new media business to condemn the secret police and government authorities’ media censorship that deprives religious freedom.”

Narke almost couldn’t hold back his laughter for a moment, but when I nudged his elbow, he nodded with a serious face as if nothing had happened.

“Nice to meet you. I am Michael Schultz.”

Actually, he had laughed at the first team too.

When I asked for an explanation afterward, he said he couldn’t help it because I spoke so perfectly in character.

The tall old man smiled and asked casually.

“This isn’t dangerous, is it?”

“Not at all. Actually, we’re very interested in how social safety nets function. Of course, our interests can’t be completely unrelated to religion or politics, but I can guarantee you won’t get into trouble for such reasons, sir.”

It was somewhat nonsense, but fortunately they laughed lightly and nodded.

“First, I heard you’ve been supporting the orphanage in the Heiligenstadt area for a long time. Was there a particular reason?”

“It’s been almost 10 years now. As you can see, we have no remaining family except each other. We timed our business well and succeeded, but after all our family died, we had nowhere to spend this money.”

―”War and epidemic.”

Narke conveyed what he had learned using his ability.

Just then, the old man continued.

“Actually, most of our family died from an epidemic. At that time, we didn’t have money to call a magical physician, but ironically, only after everyone was gone did we have enough money to call mages dozens of times. So from then on, we supported poor children in medical care, then gradually expanded our scope to move to the orphanage.”

“I see. You must have suffered a lot during that time, but it’s truly admirable that you’ve risen up to do such meaningful work.”

“Not at all. It was thanks to the children growing up well that we were able to get back on our feet.”

I talked with him and gradually shifted the topic toward magic, asking whether there were any children with magical talent among the orphanage children, and how many children had benefited from magical medicine.

About 30 minutes after starting the conversation, I moved into slightly more sensitive topics so Narke could properly use his ability.

“Then what do you think about magic, sir? Have you never thought about wanting to become a mage yourself?”

For a moment, the look in both old people’s eyes changed slightly.

For non-mages, the question of whether they want to become mages can sound unpleasant.

‘It’s not even a field where you can become one just by wanting to, and it’s difficult for non-mages, who are the ruled class, to have a good impression of mages, who are the ruling class.’

When some people are wondering whether they have something to eat today while others transcend humanity to stand beside God and use that expensive mana to change their hair color, it would only be laughable.

In a society where mana has become money, the only way for them to break through class barriers and gain mana is to join Pleroma.

Even then, most fail and die in resurrection experiments, so there’s essentially no answer.

Seeing their expressions, I calmly continued.

“I don’t mean anything else by it. I sometimes think it would have been nice if I were a mage. Especially in Prussian lands, isn’t there discrimination in public magical medicine coverage for those who don’t believe in Protestantism?”

The old man seemed to like this comment and clapped his hands.

“You’re interested in this field! Yes. I too often don’t understand what those people are doing. We share the same sentiment.”

I am a mage, but…

Anyway, the fact that the state discriminates against citizens for religious reasons in the public sector was quite shocking from a modern Korean perspective, so I do share his sentiment on this point.

Having lived in reality for over 20 years, it’s also true that my way of thinking is closer to that of a non-mage than a mage.

“When I was young, I was sometimes envious of my mage friends. But… I no longer think about wanting to become a mage.”

“Could you tell us why?”

“If you become obsessed with what you weren’t given, you’ll miss the happiness you could have had.”

Narke looked at me and nodded.

It seemed no strange points were discovered in him.

I smiled and asked his sister as well.

“Thank you for those good words. Do you share the same opinion, ma’am?”

“Yes. I feel the same.”

“Don’t you think it’s unreasonable?”

Though it was a question thrown for Narke’s sake, these words were sincere for me. Even though I’m a mage and hold quite a high position among the nobility.

The particularly old-looking woman clasped her trembling hands together and continued speaking with difficulty.

“Young man, you may have already noticed that our world flows unreasonably. That’s not wrong. You’ve seen it correctly. You’ve probably often seen them easily rise to public office with nothing but the ability to use magic, and cause trouble because they can’t understand the pain they’ve never experienced and never will, the life their imagination can never reach.”

She paused for a moment to catch her breath.

I waited for her words to continue.

“My husband was dragged off to die in a war started by mages. All my children died because they couldn’t receive treatment after the mage who was mayor that year cut the public magical medicine budget to maintain street aesthetics. What do you think is the way for us to live without going insane in this world?”

“…”

I didn’t answer and waited.

She looked at me piercingly and opened her mouth again.

“It starts with knowing that we are complete as we are.”

―”…That’s enough. Lucas.”

Even through Narke’s ability, no signs of Pleroma were found in him.

Even without hearing his words, I could immediately tell what kind of people they were.

Would people who say you can live with dignity in this absurd world without becoming a mage really fall for Pleroma’s temptation?

“I understand well, ma’am. I will take your words to heart.”

I said this while looking at them.

“This has been very helpful. Thank you sincerely for taking the time to participate.”

“Not at all. Thanks to you, it was interesting.”

The tall old man laughed heartily as he saw us off.

As soon as we left the house, we hailed a carriage and sank into the seats.

‘…No matter how I look at it, this side isn’t Pleroma either.’

Of course, the same was true for the first house we visited.

‘Let me think. Why is there a difference?’

The most likely hypothesis is that the timing didn’t match.

The time when events happened in the novel was about six months to a year from now.

Surely they didn’t frame innocent people as Pleroma in the novel.

‘Something definitely happened in between.’

But even if there are no Pleroma among them, there are suspicious aspects.

The parts related to Pleroma now seem to be moving differently from the novel.

But Elias hadn’t changed. Not only that, but there were so many missing persons concentrated in this area that he noticed a whole year early.

The factors that make Elias act are the same in the novel and here.

In other words, there were three or more Pleroma involved in this matter.

The novel just failed to catch them all.

I closed all the window curtains and took out the sponsor list from my bag, handing it to Narke.

Narke muttered while scanning through the list.

―”…Strange. This can’t be right. Your guess was definitely correct.”

After that, with time to spare, we visited other promising candidates on the list, but there was no one affiliated with Pleroma.

And two days later, on Wednesday, we were able to understand why our predictions didn’t match.

[Carriage Accident in Northern Capital’s Heiligenstadt… All Passengers Dead]

Both Narke and I were left speechless.

Heiligenstadt was the area we had visited on Monday, where the orphanage was located. All the sponsors we met were residents of this place too.

And the names of the deceased written below the article were…

Avin Asmann and Gelda Asmann, the people we had met two days ago.

That evening, I headed to Heiligenstadt again.

I went to that house, but couldn’t meet anyone except those cleaning up inside.

On the third day after the accident, I unfailingly brought Narke and visited that house again.

Knock knock―

“Is anyone there?”

No sound could be heard from inside.

The neighboring residents began to watch Narke and me with suspicion.

They probably saw us as people trying to steal the old rich man’s fortune. It was obvious without even hearing it.

I knocked on the door once more.

To make matters worse, rain began pouring down. I heard the carriage had slipped and overturned due to heavy rain, and it seemed the dark clouds still hadn’t cleared.

‘If the novel’s progression is still correct…’

This is the beginning.

No, I had witnessed a moment before everything had even properly begun.

Clank―

“Who is it?”

I really didn’t expect it to open, so I nearly stopped breathing for a moment.

The person inside the house was a young woman I’d never seen before.

‘…No, is it really someone I’ve never seen?’

Somewhere, she resembled that old man I had seen before.

I opened my mouth without taking my eyes off her face.

“…Nice to meet you. I’m Felix Weichel. If you don’t mind me asking, what is your name?”

“Where are you from?”

“A local newspaper preparing for a new launch. Please verify if necessary.”

I held out the business card I had hastily made a few days ago.

“Youth New Press? I see. What brings you here?”

“I came to meet Mr. Asmann. Is he inside?”

“Which Asmann?”

From the moment I saw her face, I felt an inexplicable sense of déjà vu, and feeling my heartbeat quicken, I opened my mouth. Let me mention just one name here.

“I came to meet Ms. Gelda Asmann.”

I said that much and then opened my mouth again at a sudden thought.

Gelda Asmann had definitely said she lost all her children.

At the same time, Pleroma’s disgusting slogans about eternal life and resurrection churned through my mind.

“Are you her child?”

I focused all my attention on her expression.

At my words, the young person tilted her head.

A curious smile spread across her face.

“I am Gelda Asmann. What do you need?”

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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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