How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 69

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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 (69)

“…What….”

“Huh?”

Leo and Elias simultaneously wiped the smiles from their faces and stared at me with dumbfounded expressions. Now that I looked, Narke was also wide-eyed with his mouth agape.

‘I must have said it before using Insight….’

“Whaaaaaaaat?!”

Elias tried to jump up but Leo grabbed him, causing him to sit back down as he shouted.

“Why would you drink that?!”

“What the hell are you talking about, Lucas.”

“Exactly what I said.”

“You know what effect that has, right?”

Leo asked, emphasizing each word.

“Would I say I’d drink it without knowing?”

“Right now, saying you’ll try to love Pleroma doesn’t make rational sense, but yeah, you’d definitely do that to find out Gelda Asmann’s plan.”

“You understand perfectly.”

I looked around at my friends and continued.

“Gelda Asmann can go to Pleroma’s world anytime, so casting magic on that body would be too risky. But if she casts it on me, there’s no problem at all. Since she said she can read emotions, if I make her think she has me in the palm of her hand and lower her guard, things will become much easier.”

“…You’ve always had an exceptional spirit of self-sacrifice.”

Leo squinted one eye and spoke sarcastically.

As I always think, he shows rejection first when it comes to things that seem impossible. Actually, if I were in his position and someone made such a statement, I would have reacted the same way.

Anyway, what I need isn’t simple opposition, but the reason for that opposition.

“If you’re going to object, I’d like you to point out exactly what’s wrong with the plan.”

“Maybe you lack experience since you haven’t come outside for the past 10 years, but do you think you’ll be able to betray and kill that Pleroma after you fall in love with her? Are you confident you won’t help with her plan?”

I am.

He probably thinks Luca lacks experience, but I’ve never been so senseless as to forget what I must do.

Leo looked at my expression and continued.

“Yeah, you’ll say you are. Everyone says that. And they all come back with a screw loose somewhere.”

That… is definitely true based on what I’ve observed of others so far.

From a third party’s perspective, there are quite a lot of incomprehensible things.

I thought friends getting drunk and calling at dawn over love problems was just trite nonsense, but when I realized it actually happens, I was so dumbfounded I could only laugh.

I’ve tried to understand it my whole life, but I’ve never once succeeded.

However, now is the time when this personality will be helpful.

I can guarantee that I’ll be able to maintain boundaries more sharply than others.

“There’s an antidote, so what’s the problem? I’ll just detoxify when it’s over.”

“The problem is that everyone refuses to take it~”

Elias smiled and rested his chin on his hand.

Leo agreed.

“Right. That kind of emotion is also an addiction. Even if they don’t know at first, if they keep taking the drug, they habitually push themselves into those emotions and situations.”

Addiction.

That’s a new perspective.

So he’s saying that those who drank the potion avoid it even when offered the antidote… I’m curious how strong the stuff they drank was.

“Yeah, that seems somewhat right. But there’s no need to worry. You guys are here.”

“Us?”

Elias raised his eyebrows.

“If I refuse to take it, you guys grab me and force me to drink it. Please.”

Leo narrowed his brow with a displeased look, stroked his chin, then nodded.

“Hmm…. The three of us should be able to do it.”

“….”

Looking at this guy, he’s even worse than me.

This isn’t even a brain-numbing drug, but still, how much does he think I’ll lose my reason that he’s planning for three people to subdue me….

From what he was saying, it seemed he thought it wouldn’t just be physical fighting but that magic would be involved. If it were just physical fighting, Luca couldn’t beat any of the three here in the first place.

Then Elias grinned and said.

“Hey, but this will be interesting. I’ve only ever seen you listening to class with a completely stiff face, so I’m curious how you’ll react?”

“Me too.”

“You guys will have to go there yourselves to see….”

Leo buried his forehead in his hand and muttered. Then he looked at me and said.

“Alright, I’ll get it.”

“Thanks.”

“But promise me.”

When I stared at him, Leo said with a serious face.

“I’m talking about if things go wrong. Whatever methods we use to avoid turning you into an enemy, know that it’s not because we hate you.”

“What kind of methods.”

“I think it’s better if you don’t hear about it, Lucas.”

Narke said with a smile.

“….”

If that guy says it like that, it really might be better not to hear about it.

* * *

Leo’s reaction is completely understandable.

Being swayed by love and betraying comrades to side with the enemy?

It’s absurd, but it’s a possibility that can’t be completely dismissed.

‘They don’t need to worry that much though, I have no intention of going over to Pleroma’s side.’

The moment I go over to the enemy in terms of magical ability, it would become even more troublesome, so it would seem even more problematic.

“Wow, nice packaging.”

Though it was a weekend afternoon, we gathered after hearing that the package had arrived.

Elias admired the dark wooden box trimmed with gold.

Leo opened the box’s lock mechanism with a still disgusted expression.

Inside were ten bottles containing yellow liquid.

Leo took out the leftmost bottle and handed it to me.

“Here. Try it once. It’s the weakest potion, so detoxification should be easy too.”

The usage is simple. Just drink it and look into someone’s eyes.

Who should I test it on.

I pondered for a moment, then opened my mouth.

“I’m going to see the professor. Let’s meet back here in 5 minutes.”

“What? Let’s go together!”

Elias shouted.

I immediately warped to the dormitory, grabbed my textbook, and headed outside.

Somehow Elias had appeared again, magically floating his crutch and putting his arm around my shoulder.

“We should go together, Luca. Are you trying to see this interesting thing by yourself?”

“Use your crutch properly first. You need to get better quickly.”

“Yeah, but….”

I found my homeroom professor’s research lab and knocked on the door.

Elias snickered and said.

“This kind of taste? Someone in their 60s is a bit much no matter what….”

“No.”

I answered before Elias could even finish speaking.

This is purely a test.

I don’t have any suitable friends to call right now to test on students, and if I were to test on a stranger, there wouldn’t be enough time to confirm the effect after suddenly grabbing them and taking the drug, so I chose the most appropriate target for the current situation.

Especially since just looking at them makes me drowsy, I thought it would be easy to confirm the effect.

I’m sorry to the professor in many ways, but I’ll detoxify right after 5 minutes, so it shouldn’t become a big problem.

“Come in.”

“Professor, I have a question.”

“The student in the back?”

“Oh, I just came to listen along.”

Elias answered with a grin.

No matter how you looked at it, he wasn’t someone who came to study, but the professor just went along with it and gestured toward my book.

“Let me see.”

I handed the book to the professor and asked.

“I learned that differentiating the total utility of magic gives marginal utility, but I’d like to hear the calculation process one more time.”

I tossed the pill I was holding into my mouth and swallowed it while the professor was looking down at the book. There was no change yet.

“That’s right. The more you hear this part, the easier it is to understand. Now, look here where it says delta X. You remember that delta means the amount of change, right?”

“Yes, I know that.”

The professor was still pointing at the textbook, not looking at me.

Elias was silently laughing behind me, watching the situation.

“Let’s look at the utility function. The horizontal axis is magic, the vertical axis is utility. Marginal utility is the increase in utility when you increase magic consumption by one unit. Now, let’s say we increase consumption by delta X here. Then there’s also an increase on the vertical axis of the graph. This is delta U.”

Then, the professor raised his head and made eye contact with me.

“You understand up to this point, right?”

* * *

Surprisingly, there was no change at all.

‘Well, at least I understood the content well.’

Of course I did, since I listened to the explanation. As expected, studying has better effects the more you repeat it.

When I returned to the meeting place, Leo, who had been waiting for me with Narke, immediately asked.

“How did it go?”

“Same as usual.”

“Wow, how can you be so unaffected~”

Elias laughed as he warped over to follow.

Leo nodded and took out the medicine bottle placed third from the left.

“It’s different for everyone, so there’s nothing we can do. That’s why we have to test it first. You… level 1 probably won’t work.”

“You can just tell by looking.”

“Your personality doesn’t go anywhere.”

Leo handed me the medicine bottle.

After trial and error, I learned that I needed to start from level 5 to feel any human-like affection.

“Are you perhaps a machine?”

“What are you talking about…”

I laughed lightly at Elias’s nonsense and put the level 6 medicine bottle in my pocket.

Seeing that there are up to 10 levels, I think starting to feel effects at level 5 is probably just average.

Finally, I put on glasses and completed the appearance formula I had recorded earlier in my mind while looking in the mirror.

Soon my hair curled softly and turned red. The freckles I had created to divert attention also came back to life on my skin.

Then, Elias pointed to my clothes pocket and said.

“Shouldn’t you test that? It seems like it might be weak for you.”

“No, since she can read emotions, I need to be careful. Rather than jumping up suddenly, it’s better to raise it gradually.”

Narke, who had been sitting quietly and watching, shook his head.

“Lucas, wait. Level 6 or 7 doesn’t matter, but let’s change your clothes now. And change to clean glasses too.”

* * *

Since I hadn’t taken the medicine yet and had no emotions, I wasn’t conscious of the fact that everyone pays at least some attention to their appearance when going to see someone they’re attracted to.

It was because I was only focused on the disguise function.

Because of that, I heard Elias ask if I was a machine one more time, which was a bit unfair. I’m using medicine because I don’t have emotions in the first place – if I had them, I wouldn’t be doing this.

Most importantly…

‘This is an enemy I have to deal with after all.’

In a natural state, it’s even harder to develop good feelings.

I had sent a letter to Gelda Asman in advance to make an appointment.

I pressed the doorbell, cleared my throat, and brought my glove to my mouth to take the level 6 medicine.

‘I hope no one else shows up.’

There was no change yet, but I had already experienced the effect appearing the moment I looked into someone’s eyes.

Still, I brought an antidote just in case, so there shouldn’t be any problems.

As I was trying not to look around, the door opened.

“You’re here.”

Fortunately, the person who appeared before me was Gelda Asman.

Asman smiled and opened the door wide.

“…”

“Mr. Baichel?”

“…Ah, yes. I’m happy to see you again. Thank you for making time.”

“Not at all. Let’s go in.”

Level 6 is quite strong.

To feel such emotions toward someone who wasn’t a consideration at all – the technology really is good.

I looked around as Gelda disappeared from my view.

First, while I don’t know about the 2nd and 3rd floors where guests rarely come and go, the first floor is as bleak as before.

No, there was one new thing. In the room visible across the hallway, there was a diploma with Gelda Asman’s name hanging in a frame.

‘Avin Asman must have changed his name since he was reborn.’

The diploma hanging next to it had the name Eric Asman written on it.

Pleroma must have prepared it. To avoid problems with any reports that might come in, they would need to create a new 25-year life history matching the current timeline.

It means they intend to utilize them properly.

‘Let’s stop looking around.’

If I examine everything too closely, it’ll only raise suspicion.

As I turned my gaze back to look at the unremarkable sofa inside, Gelda Asman set down tea and asked.

“Your friend from before didn’t come.”

“He had something to do.”

I answered with a gentle smile.

Gelda was looking me over with a meaningful smile.

“Really? Is that so?”

“…Well, what do you think?”

I smiled like her and tilted my head.

Looking at that expression and words, she definitely knows my condition. She noticed that I’m not here because of the media business.

‘Faster than I thought.’

I didn’t plan to reveal it this quickly. Even if she figured it out using her ability, I thought she would naturally pretend not to know.

Anyway, Leo was completely wrong in his assessment.

Unlike the subtle heat rising to my face due to the manipulated chemical reaction, my reason was still working perfectly fine.

Of course, if I raised it to level 10… I’m not very confident about that.

Fortunately, Gelda just smiled and then reminded me of my purpose for being here.

“Let’s start the interview. We agreed to do it until 7 o’clock, right? There are only 40 minutes left.”

“That’s right.”

Good timing to bring it up.

From now on, I’ll use the emotions the other party knows about me as a shield to find out the information Pleroma created.

Going forward, to obtain Pleroma’s actual plans, I first need to become close with Gelda Asman.

To do that, I need to know what kind of person she is.

So, I spent a long time asking Gelda Asman questions that were nothing short of a background check.

At 6:58, Gelda asked.

“Now, are you finished with your questions?”

“No.”

Gelda widened her eyes and looked at me as if asking what else there was.

“Do you have time from now on?”

Damn it… To think I had to say such things to someone I never even thought about… Such thoughts and intense reality hit me, but the drug’s effect was excellent.

Soon all self-loathing flew away and only my heart rate was accelerating.

‘So it can be used for this purpose.’

I should remember this.

Gelda Asmann burst into laughter and asked back.

“Starting now? You clearly said the interview was until 7 o’clock.”

“That’s right. But now I’ve changed my mind.”

“It’s not about the media business, is it?”

“Of course not.”

At my words, Gelta smiled and tilted her head without answering.

“You said you came up to the capital a week ago. There’s a theater 30 minutes away by carriage from here, do you know it?”

“I see. I should visit it next time.”

Gelta raised the corners of her mouth in a smile mixed with shamelessness.

She kept her eyes on me the whole time, watching my reactions.

I suppressed the urge to clean everything up and go to the dormitory, and asked with a smile.

“No. Schiller’s play is going up in an hour, so if you don’t mind, would you give me the opportunity to join you?”

* * *

I returned to the dormitory close to midnight that day.

Then, led by Fai who had been camping out in my room, I warped back to the meeting place. Sure enough, my friends were gathered waiting.

“You kept Fai awake at this hour just to call me?”

“Yeah! You need to take the antidote!”

Right, there was that.

I downed the transparent liquid that Leo took out and handed over in one gulp.

“So, how did it go?”

“How did what go, it’s still just the beginning.”

“I’m asking if you set up the next appointment.”

I took off my glasses and pressed my eyes as I answered.

“Of course I did, what are you asking.”

“Wow, even covered with freckles and glasses, Adrian Ascanien’s younger brother doesn’t go anywhere~.”

“Do you feel good when you praise the Emperor?”

“Ah, geez.”

Elias laughed and shook his head.

I had exhausted all my energy for the day and melted into the chair.

Drug effects aside, having Pleroma in front of me meant I couldn’t lower my guard.

‘Anyway, the other party will just think I was nervous, so no problem.’

“We agreed to meet again tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll take it to level 7.”

“Looks like you became a machine again…”

“No.”

I let out a hollow laugh and continued.

“I need to pick up the pace a bit. I have to become Pleroma too.”

“Huh?”

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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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