How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 91

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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 (91)

[This concludes the semifinal examination. We will now announce the teams advancing to the finals.]

And so, we flowed smoothly from the round of 16 to the quarterfinals, then to the semifinals.

Well, actually the difficulty spiked dramatically from the round of 16 and gave us some trouble…

But as a result, we climbed higher than our original goal.

“Semi, semifinals…”

“…Did we really make it to the semifinals? I’m sure our goal was just the round of 16?”

“Huh? It’s been a while since we passed that point~”

Narke was laughing peacefully by himself as he stuck his hand into his pocket.

I couldn’t tell if he had used his ability earlier to predict this tournament’s outcome, or if this was just his usual personality.

As I was thinking that, Narke put his arm around my shoulder and said,

“This isn’t the time to be thinking about me like that, you know?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re the most carefree one here. We’re up against the Empire’s top school for magic pharmaceuticals, but you weren’t nervous at all~?”

From the quarterfinals onward, our opponents had all been from Bavaria Magic Pharmaceutical Specialized School.

Even Leo, who had remained calm throughout, seemed to be getting slightly nervous from the quarterfinals on, probably conscious of this fact.

“Wh, whoooooo!”

“Waaaaaaah―!”

Just then, cheers erupted from where our school students were gathered.

Looking up at the announcement board, our school’s name was shining brightly.

‘We made it to the finals.’

Satisfying.

That perfectionist wouldn’t stand for unknown information appearing, so he’s definitely watching this too.

So I could say I’d already achieved my goal of moving completely opposite to Hyung’s plans.

Of course, strictly speaking, that started when I showed my face in the round of 16.

As I looked at the announcement board with just a slight smile, a 1st Class Student patted my back.

“Hey, I didn’t know you were so calm~ I’m jealous!”

“I was about to cry snot earlier thinking you wouldn’t make it…”

“Ew, that’s gross…”

Leo grimaced at that expression.

I answered the 1st Class Student’s question with a smile.

‘There’s no reason to be nervous.’

You need to know what you can win against and what’s still hard to call before starting, or you’ll be disappointed.

There are areas where you can compete with pure memorization, and areas where you can’t.

For us who prepared with cramming to beat the Empire’s top school in the highest-level discriminating problems, especially students with the best skills within that school, is almost unrealistic.

‘Of course, we did advance to the finals…’

I can only say we were lucky.

It was only a 0.5 point difference from the opposing team.

Another 30 minutes passed, and we lifted our hands from the table.

[This concludes the final examination.]

“Phew…”

Even Leo was tense with a face that showed this didn’t feel real.

Our team had already secured an award under the Imperial 2nd Education Institute representative team name from the moment we advanced to the finals.

At this point, the result didn’t matter much, but the nervousness seemed unavoidable.

[We will now announce the scores for each team.]

[Prussian Imperial 2nd Education Institute 2nd Year Representative Team, experiment score 28.5 points.]

[Bavaria Magic Pharmaceutical Specialized School 2nd Year Team 1, experiment score 29 points.]

[With bonus points of 10 and 10 respectively… the winning team is Bavaria Magic Pharmaceutical Specialized School 2nd Year Team 1!]

‘Hmm.’

I expected about a 2-point difference, but 0.5 points?

We did better than I thought.

‘But what I’m worried about is…’

I might be the only one satisfied with this result.

Second place was already incredibly lucky, but the parties involved never know that fact.

I looked away from the announcement board and toward my teammates.

“Good work everyone~!”

“Hey, it’s really over!”

Fortunately, no Friend was disappointed about second place.

It would have been a bit shameless to hope for first place after just one week of preparation.

Our school students lightly greeted the opposing team students.

Leo seemed deeply moved as he muttered while looking at the school name on the announcement board.

“This is the first time someone from outside the region won an award in this competition.”

“King will be proud. Even though it’s a Prussian school, it’s like you received the award.”

“Mm, the real purpose behind expanding the competition is separate, so he’ll probably be too satisfied with that achievement to even think about my side.”

“No way. He’s your parent.”

“Well, he’ll be happy about it.”

Leo answered with a rare student-like smile.

[In 10 minutes, there will be an award ceremony. All participating students please move to the Waiting Room.]

Just as we were about to head to the Waiting Room, Someone who appeared to be an Employee hurried over.

“Student Lucas, Student Narke.”

“Yes.”

“Please follow me for a moment.”

* * *

“If you act like this, there’s nothing we can do to help you. Right now, ten thousand people can’t move because of Teacher, so let’s finish this quickly.”

“…”

“Sigh…”

The Investigator shook his head.

Right now, This Location’s Arena and Laboratory have restricted access.

Because the person Narke reported has kept his mouth shut the entire time.

There really was Someone watching me outside our team’s Laboratory, and he said they ran away as soon as they saw Narke.

“You said the door was locked as soon as you arrived?”

“Yes.”

“And this person confirmed that Mr. Lucas was trapped inside?”

The Investigator looked at Narke and asked.

“Yes, there was a locking spell on the handle. The Laboratory Caretaker confirmed it too.”

“Right. Testimonies keep coming in, but if you just keep your mouth shut like this, the matter will only get bigger. Articles about blocking ten thousand people from leaving will come out in an instant.”

“…”

“I don’t know what Teacher knows to act like this, but the person you confined isn’t just any noble – he’s the son of Duke Anhalt. Ascanien won’t stay quiet when they hear this news.”

Since nothing was getting through, he started bringing up Family connections.

Since only I knew that Ascanien would be indifferent even if they heard this news, the face of the person sitting in front darkened.

“…It’s not that I did such a thing…”

“Yes yes, right. Teacher didn’t do such a thing?”

“…”

The conversation didn’t continue further.

The Investigator’s face gradually turned ashen.

At this rate, they’d really have to seal the Building even after finishing today’s competition.

What could have been quietly resolved was about to escalate into a foreign ruling Family’s child confinement issue, so even I would have mixed feelings.

I don’t have insight abilities, but just looking at his face, he seemed ready to immediately get a divine power usage warrant. Of course, even if he got one, there were no investigators who could use divine power.

‘For me, the matter escalating isn’t a problem, but…’

The problem is Bavaria’s position.

No matter how much Luca is treated as insignificant, the fact remains that he’s fundamentally in a position that can’t be ignored.

If things escalate with talk of confining a member of a foreign ruling family in the heart of Bavaria’s capital, it would only cause trouble for Bavaria.

‘Actually, the probability that this person is the mastermind is low. Since he said there’s a hyung behind him, I should assume there are two or three intermediaries like before.’

He might be worried about being threatened by the ringleader if he says something wrong. In such a case, it would be better for someone more trustworthy than an investigator to listen to him.

For example, someone with the ability to protect his identity.

Of course, the Investigation Bureau is the best when it comes to identity protection, but despite that reality, everyone basically has distrust toward the Investigation Bureau in terms of perception.

‘…If I were to choose someone more public-friendly… somehow I feel like he might talk if it were Nicolaus. Should I give it a try?’

Just then, Narke suddenly raised her head.

“Oh, that sounds good.”

“Pardon?”

“…”

Looking closely, she’s casually reading my thoughts, isn’t she?

Narke signaled to the investigator that the three of them should have a conversation.

The investigator, catching the hint, told another investigator to watch the suspect and moved to the back room, locking the door.

“Thank you. I happened to have something I wanted to ask. Doesn’t Count Ernst work with the Investigation Bureau?”

“Count Ernst… you mean Count Nicolaus? That’s right. He’s affiliated with the Royal Army. This is the Bavarian Federal Government.”

“How about just having him handle the interrogation? If we get a divine warrant issued, he should be able to conduct the interrogation.”

“Pardon? He’s not even from the Investigation Bureau…”

The investigator tilted his head with a troubled expression.

“Is it against regulations?”

“No… leading a conversation would be fine, but doesn’t he need to assist His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?”

It’s not that it’s not allowed, but it’s burdensome to call the Crown Prince’s guard who isn’t even part of the Investigation Bureau… that’s what this is.

I exchanged glances with Narke.

* * *

It would be possible if we just got permission.

Hearing that answer, we ran back to the waiting room.

The investigator said he would contact them directly, but since we said we’d get Leo’s permission and come back, that became unnecessary.

‘It wouldn’t work if they contacted him.’

Since I’m Nicolaus, I can’t be in the same place at the same time.

I ran here directly with the intention of leaving.

As soon as Leo saw us, he stood up from his seat.

“You’re back? Who was behind it?”

“Haven’t found out yet. Leo, I’m going to the Investigation Bureau.”

“Now?”

Leo shrugged with an expression asking if I hadn’t just been there.

―”I’m borrowing Nicolaus.”

“Ah, that side. Do as you please.”

As I nodded and turned around, Leo called me to a stop.

“Lucas.”

“What?”

“Just in case, say you got permission. I’ll also say I heard about it tactfully.”

“Alright, thanks.”

“Is there anything I can help with?”

“You already helped. I’m going.”

Leo looked puzzled for a moment, then caught on and nodded.

I quickly prepared and warped to the Investigation Bureau.

Knock knock―

The door opened almost immediately.

The investigator I saw earlier greeted me warmly.

“Ah, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for coming despite our urgent request, Count Ernst.”

It’s awkward to have this first greeting when I definitely just saw him.

I adjusted my altered voice and spoke.

“I heard from His Highness that this could become a big issue. Where should I go?”

“Over there.”

The investigator guided me to a room while continuing to speak.

“He won’t answer. All he’s said so far is his name. And even that was barely said 10 minutes ago after we brought up punishment.”

He handed me a file.

“Is this the materials?”

“Yes, it’s the case record written based on testimonies. Um, but…”

“Please speak.”

“We found out he has magic cast on him that prevents the use of divine power. It would have been good to know in advance, but we discovered it while examining him to get a warrant issued.”

“…Where?”

“On his artery. We don’t know the dispelling method yet. As you know, there aren’t many divine mages in the kingdom.”

They really went all out.

They used a person as a hostage to prevent interrogation.

“Then… there’s no problem with making him talk without using divine power?”

“From what we can tell now, that’s correct. But he still won’t talk, so it’s really frustrating.”

“I see. Thank you.”

I opened the thick iron door and entered.

The person I saw earlier was sitting with his head deeply bowed.

“Good day, Mr. Wurgen Eder.”

He glanced at my eyes and bowed his head again.

Even if I can’t use divine power, there’s no problem.

I can resolve this gently with words using the information given before me.

‘Before that, let me check one thing.’

Jurgen Beck

Favorability +6

‘Hmm.’

I never get used to it no matter how many times I see it, but even someone committing such dishonest acts doesn’t have a particularly bad impression of Nicolaus.

Anyway…

That issue aside.

“…No, it’s Mr. Jurgen Beck, isn’t it.”

“…!”

The other person visibly wavered and raised his head.

I quietly spoke while examining his fine clothes and gleaming watch chain.

“If you react like that, you’re proving that Mr. Beck’s surname isn’t Eder… what do you think?”

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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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