How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 71

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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 (71)

‘….’

Gelda Asmann silently stared into the eyes of the one who had grasped her hand.

He wanted to help.

Did he not know what he was saying?

He had casually uttered words that could get him killed without a trace at any moment, yet there wasn’t the slightest hint of that kind of hesitation on his face.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“No, you do know.”

“This is your last chance.”

“Is that so?”

Asmann looked into his light blue eyes.

He was meeting her gaze calmly without a single waver.

Asmann turned her gaze away from him and fell into thought.

‘It’s embarrassingly easy to read.’

He was trying his best to appear unhurried, but the emotions she could read with her ability were far from relaxed.

The more she read, the more ridiculous his pretense of calm seemed, making her want to shatter his composure and expose his true feelings.

‘One emotion is beyond doubt… Let me calm down first and think.’

Felix Weichel had spoken words that only Pleroma could know.

Considering his emotions and the situation, he was definitely a fellow Pleroma believer.

But if he was among the first generation of Pleroma, it would be troublesome no matter how much emotions served as a safety net.

Judging by when he became Pleroma, there was a high probability he would be above her in rank.

“Your baptism?”

“I’m still attending doctrine classes.”

Asmann almost let out a sigh of relief without realizing it.

If he was still attending doctrine classes, then naturally he was a lay believer.

An ordinary person with no abilities. Just one among hundreds of thousands who had drawn a number hoping to receive Pleroma’s blessing once.

Asmann relaxed her shoulders and leaned back in her chair as she asked.

“Where did you hear about my story?”

“I didn’t hear it. It’s just that what you said before about wanting to use magic kept bothering me.”

“Tell me in detail.”

“You can use magic if you become Pleroma, can’t you? If you don’t mind, I wanted to fulfill your wish even if it meant borrowing Pleroma’s power.”

He tilted his head as he continued.

“But… to bring up baptism first, you always exceed my expectations, Miss Asmann.”

“….”

Of course. She had essentially admitted to being Pleroma herself.

Having reached that thought, Asmann forced a smile to hide her expression.

‘…Why do I feel like I’ve been caught in Weichel’s web?’

However, she didn’t detect anything particularly strange in the emotions she was reading. As Asmann was reviewing their conversation wondering if there had been something odd, a question suddenly occurred to her and she spoke up.

“This topic came up while talking about what we did during the day. If your offer to help me means helping me become Pleroma, doesn’t that contradict what came before? I was certain you were offering to help with what I did during the day.”

“Actually, when you said you couldn’t tell me about today’s events, I wondered if you might be walking the same path as me. Of course, I’m willing to help with any request from you, Miss Asmann, regardless of the field.”

“….”

Asmann realized for certain that she had indeed been caught in his web. Whatever his true intentions, he had merely been testing the waters, and if she hadn’t shown signs of panic, it would have been something that could have passed naturally.

Asmann raised the corners of her mouth in response to Weichel’s questioning smile and fell into thought.

‘…This worked out well.’

Rather, it was advantageous to be in the same group.

Advancement within the cult and the power of life and death depended on the first generation.

Weichel was beyond being any threat – he had essentially handed over his lifeline.

So then…

‘There shouldn’t be any problems if I get a little close to him.’

The fact that the first person she had opened her heart to since coming here was in the same situation as her while being in a lower position pleased Asmann immensely.

‘Finally, let me ask one thing as a test.’

Asmann looked into Weichel’s eyes again and asked.

“You said you’d help.”

“Yes.”

“Can you give me your blood?”

“….”

Weichel, who had been smiling leisurely throughout, looked at Asmann with his mouth slightly agape.

‘Of course.’

Second generation didn’t drink blood, so it was natural for him to be surprised.

Still, she asked to let him know that she was first generation and to test his loyalty.

Test aside, if she didn’t reveal that she was first generation, Weichel would feel betrayed when he learned the truth later, just as she had felt anxious moments ago.

‘Let’s see how he responds.’

Lay believers who had just stepped in weren’t accustomed to matters involving blood. Thinking of how Weichel would be horrified made her feel bitter for no reason.

‘…If he reacts that way, I’ll have to tamper with his mind and erase my existence.’

If that wasn’t enough, she would have to kill him.

But if asked whether she was confident about doing that now, Asmann knew she had no confidence at all.

Fortunately, he quickly regained his composure and smiled.

“Not yet.”

* * *

“Can you give me your blood?”

Look at her coming on strong.

The question being somewhat out of the blue makes it feel like a test.

She’s probably trying to see how far I’m willing to go.

If I answer wrong here, the plan and everything else becomes null and void.

But the truth is I can’t give it.

Since mana flows in my blood, she’ll realize I’ve been lying all along.

Let me answer appropriately.

“Not yet.”

“You mean you can later?”

“Of course. As long as I’m mentally prepared.”

Gelda burst into laughter.

It was laughter as if asking why one would need mental preparation for such a thing.

‘She’s already thrown away common sense.’

Common sense would dictate – who could casually say “help yourself” when someone wants to drink their blood? She should recognize that even half-agreeing to it is miraculous.

‘The conversation is probably wrapping up, let me check.’

Gelda Asmann

Favorability +7.5*

‘…Her favorability went up…’

Perhaps because she knows I’m in a position where I can’t overcome her, it seems her guard has definitely lowered a notch.

The fact that her favorability increased after learning this gives off a familiar scent for some reason, but I decided to just ignore it anyway.

After all, Pleroma wouldn’t use purely innocent and naive people as chess pieces long-term, so it’s not particularly surprising.

“I see.”

While I was looking at the favorability window, Gelda seemed to have made up her mind and spoke up.

“As you now know, I’m a first generation Pleroma.”

“I see.”

“As you said, by becoming Pleroma, I gained the qualification to use magic. But as you’d know if you’re also involved with us, it’s natural that everything has a price.”

‘Gained the qualification’?

Usually in this situation, one would say ‘became able to use it,’ but this is a subtly roundabout way of speaking.

Has she not yet been granted the ability to use vitriol?

I asked while having these various thoughts.

“The price?”

“The price for gaining eternal life and magic. The mission given to me is to make new lives join His will. This is what I couldn’t tell Mr. Baichel today.”

No matter how false emotions were filling my reason, I could immediately tell that the other person was talking nonsense.

I tried to ignore my growing headache and continued my act.

“A mission… How magnificent. How was it given to you?”

“I receive a revelation the moment I’m reborn. I can know it without anyone teaching me.”

Gelta smiled with a face that seemed genuinely proud.

So… it’s not like there’s an organizational quota presented like ‘bring 10 people within a month.’

Since she called it a revelation, it wasn’t delivered in documented form either.

In other words, there are no documents I can steal from her. To catch documentary evidence, I need to go higher up.

Thanks for the good information. I’ll need to revise my strategy once.

Then, Gelta narrowed her eyes as if thinking for a moment, then asked me.

“Actually, I have something scheduled for tomorrow. Would you like to come with me?”

* * *

I shook off my rain-soaked hair, drank the antidote, and sat down. Today, none of my friends could make eye contact with me.

“Why.”

At my sharp question, Elias finally failed to manage his expression and leaned back laughing.

“Hahahaha! Hey, did you really stay home for 10 years? I thought you’d be nervous… but you’re speaking more normally than I expected?”

“…”

I couldn’t carry the recorder because the risk of discovery was greater than with Strauchi given the situation.

Instead, I used sensory transfer magic again, and they’re probably acting like this because of what I said today.

Since it’s ‘sensory’ transfer, storage or re-recording isn’t possible, but it was a decision I made to try using even a little of Narke’s ability.

Narke was covering her mouth with her palm and snickering, so there was nothing more to see.

I looked at Leo, who was averting his eyes, and called him.

“Leo.”

“…”

This guy heard it too.

Perhaps considering that I might be embarrassed, he was pretending to be serious alone, but it ended with him being unable to make eye contact.

Guys who are hiding something either make eye contact excessively often or act obviously like this guy. Now that I look at it, he seems to have a bit of amusement too.

“I only told Narke, so how do you two know?”

“We need to hear what Gelda Asmann is saying too. Hearing it directly is more reliable.”

Elias answered.

From my perspective, it seems like they just listened because it seemed interesting.

Anyway, since they need to hear this story anyway, there’s no problem. Since I don’t need to explain it again, things will move faster.

“If you heard it, you know?”

“Yeah, I looked it up just in case…”

Leo cleared his throat, loosened his voice, and pulled out a newspaper from his bag, pushing it toward me.

On the back page of the Imperial Newspaper, in a small corner section, there was a missing person article.

[Looking for Missing Child]

Name: Anna Bauer (7 years old)

Missing Date: December 4th, 3 PM

Missing Area: Heiligenstadt Civic Park

Physical and Clothing Description: 117cm, 19.5kg, municipal orphanage bag and name tag

Circumstances: Missing during Hailigenzei Orphanage afternoon walk free time (15:00~15:10)

“Something already happened. The plainclothes police who were attached for 24 hours said they didn’t notice any signs during that time.”

* * *

Yes, this was the pace.

In the novel too, they captured and handed over people without hesitation. That’s also how they caught Elias’s attention.

December 4th was a crime that occurred on the day I met Asman for the third time, before I extracted the fact about Pleroma from him.

Timing-wise, it was a crime there was no way to prevent.

Even so, I couldn’t help but feel heavy-hearted.

“We’ve arrived.”

I took Gelta’s hand and helped her down from the carriage.

Heiligenstadt Municipal Orphanage.

While Gelta pressed the doorbell, I read the nameplate hanging at the entrance. Before long, the thick iron door slid open smoothly.

Normally I would have made small talk, but today, even with the drug’s effects, I didn’t feel like it.

Since I wasn’t talking, Gelda Asmann looked around and muttered.

“The atmosphere is dark.”

“It would be.”

Since you captured and handed over a person.

We completed the procedures for identification and safety and headed to the Activity Room. Given the timing, outsiders were subjects of suspicion, so we could only enter on the condition of being in the same space as a Teacher here.

As soon as we entered the Activity Room, we could see a Teacher watching the Athletic Field with a dark face. Even from the children playing outside on the Athletic Field, we couldn’t feel any lively atmosphere.

“Teacher.”

“Ah, you’ve come.”

The Teacher looked at us with a faint smile.

Gelta sat across from him and spoke with worried eyes.

“I heard about everything. You must be deeply troubled.”

“…”

The Teacher didn’t answer and turned his head to look out the window, then belatedly replied.

“…To disappear in just 10 minutes…”

Gelda Asmann took his hand and caressed it while speaking in a calm voice.

“It must be very difficult. Even I, who met these children not long ago, feel heartbroken, so how much more must you feel, Teacher. Let’s believe she can return.”

“We have to.”

He tried to smile again but finally began to shed tears. From what I heard, this person was the Teacher who took the children aged 7 to 10 out that day.

Once he had calmed down somewhat, the Teacher said he would gather the children and opened the glass door to go outside.

Gelta looked at the Teacher who had crossed over to the Athletic Field and spoke to me.

“You wouldn’t feel guilty, would you?”

“…Of course not.”

Can’t you feel it?

I ignored the twisting in my stomach and smiled.

Gelta nodded and looked at the children.

“She should know it as glory. Is the opportunity to dedicate one’s body to Him an opportunity that comes to just anyone?”

“…”

After capturing and handing her over there, you say to know it as glory.

For the past few days, Gelda Asmann, who had shared daily life with me, seemed so human that I had forgotten.

Asman’s brain has already been manipulated by Pleroma and cannot think normally.

She’s a human scum with no hope of salvation. No, can such words fully express this ugliness? If I could, I’d want to find a more appropriate expression.

‘…What am I doing in front of whom.’

The disgust I felt when I first faced the resurrected Asman comes alive again. Even though it’s fake emotion created by drugs, since it’s something I’m feeling, a completely different kind of self-loathing from when saying embarrassing words welled up.

Then, Asman turned her head toward me and asked with a worried face.

“What’s wrong?”

“…”

I changed my mind.

How should I act to catch explicit evidence a little faster?

I stared intently at Asman’s face and opened my mouth.

“…I’m feeling a bit unwell. Actually, I got caught in the rain on the way back yesterday.”

“Ah, it did rain. Can you stay here continuously?”

“We have the plan we set up for today. I have to do it.”

“I can do it alone, so it’s fine. If you’re really not feeling well, go in and rest.”

Would I let you kidnap someone alone?

I shook my head while grasping the hand that reached toward my face.

Of course, kidnapping doesn’t happen immediately on the day the target is chosen. I learned this through our long conversation yesterday.

He said that if a disappearance occurred on the day he visited, he could become a suspect, so he chooses a different day to carry out the crime.

So today, he came to select a target.

Anyway, there would be a few days’ gap before Antagonist executes the kidnapping.

I had time to lay the groundwork and gradually put my plan into action.

“No, I can endure enough for today. Hurry up and do it.”

* * *

I’m too sick to go.

That was the content of the letter I sent to Asman the next day.

The kidnapping execution date was set for three days later, and I pretended to have caught the flu in the meantime.

I walked into the school carrying Gelda Asmann’s letter that had been warped to the public mailbox.

When I warped from the dormitory back to the Student Union Building basement, Elias, who had been reading the letter I left, waved his hand and read the text aloud.

“I didn’t know that target curse magic could be cast on food. I’ll have to be careful when meeting other Pleroma in the future. Of course, if it’s Mr. Asman… Hehehe!”

“Pfft…”

Narke, who had been reading my letter with Elias, hurriedly covered her mouth with her hand and burst into laughter.

“Don’t read it.”

I suppressed the urge to tear up the letter I wrote immediately and took out a newspaper filter.

I had seen Elias insert one into a newspaper before.

It’s thin paper that regenerates the magic power of magical paper or ink, often used to hear sounds recorded in articles.

‘Of course, that function isn’t what’s important.’

This was just a cover to prevent the letter from melting; in fact, regular paper would work fine too.

However, among the papers I knew, it was the most durable while allowing the contents to show through clearly—since it was originally made to be placed over newspapers for reading—so I chose it.

I put the letter in the filter and placed it between heated iron plates.

While the filter was being heat-pressed to adhere to the letter, Elias began reading the letter written by Gelda Asmann.

“Thank you for the reply. I’ll write back using the magic ink you sent along. It disappears after an hour, I didn’t even know such a thing existed. It’s perfect for us… Wow, how thorough~?”

Elias winked at me.

I hadn’t lied.

It really was ink that disappears without a trace exactly one hour after activation.

It’s commonly used nowadays, but it was a magical item that hadn’t been invented 40 years ago when Asman lived, so it was bound to be unfamiliar.

Since I needed to reassure him to include detailed plans in the letter, time-limited magic ink was an essential tool.

‘Of course, even if I reassure him, it becomes useless if the letters really disappear…’

Fortunately, there was one point I could exploit here.

To put it simply, like saying 1+1 equals 2, if you disable magic power, naturally even magic completed by gathering magic power can’t function properly.

So I destroyed the magic power contained in the ink by heat-pressing it.

Although magic has considerably disrupted existing scientific systems, it’s still a field that interacts with our ecosystem.

When I received materials from Leo and converted poison into a strengthening agent, I succeeded in the conversion by controlling heat and concentration. Through all my experiences, I could clearly tell that magic power is also affected by heat.

I could borrow a camera from the Bavarian Kingdom Newspaper to photograph it, but since it would no longer be the original, I coated it directly since the materials were simple anyway.

Leo, who had been helping put the letter in the filter, raised the corners of his mouth and muttered.

“Your cunning mind still works well.”

“Cunning mind, really.”

The expression wasn’t great, but this time Leo seemed satisfied too, so it was fine.

I smiled while looking at the handwriting and the post office stamp on the envelope that had now hardened completely and would never disappear.

He said there were no documented materials.

Then all I had to do was guide him to create them directly.

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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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