How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 93

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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 (93)

As we went outside, the investigator who had been watching the situation from the next room opened the warp mailbox and took out a file.

It was the result of comparing the magic on the other doors with Jurgen Beck’s magic.

“…This is artifact magic.”

“I see.”

I knew it would be.

Using artifacts to cast magic so the caster cannot be identified is a common technique.

‘If I had planned to send Traut to prison, I would have had to wait until the magic on his artery was dismantled…’

Usually, that kind of magic takes three or four days to safely dismantle.

Sometimes even a week or longer.

This information is enough for me.

The information that Hyung is curious about ‘whether I can use magic or not’ and is continuously recycling the cards he’s already played.

I straightened my clothes and asked.

“What about the confession?”

“We got everything. Thanks to Count Ernst. I was worried because he couldn’t use divine power, but it ended cleanly.”

“I’m glad I could help. I’ll be heading back now.”

Before the conversation could drag on, I left and changed the color of my robe in the bathroom, dispersing the mask with magic.

When I returned to the waiting room, I saw the students who had been waiting for me.

“You’re back?! What did they say? Was it kids from other schools?!”

“No, it was an outsider.”

At those words, confusion crossed the student’s face.

“Why would an outsider do something like that? Don’t tell me kids here paid them to do it?”

“That’s not it. They said they wanted to see him use magic.”

“Huh?”

“…Ah.”

Everyone fell silent.

I knew the atmosphere would turn out like this.

Everyone here knows that the criminal wasn’t simply curious about magic power.

Whether the nature as Pleroma was revealed or not.

Anyone would think this incident is related to that.

“Anyway, it’s fine. It’s not true.”

“Right, now we know for sure! If you could use it, you would have made the fire alarm go off, right?!”

The Class 1 student raised his voice unnecessarily. As if wanting to change the subject, he looked outside.

“It’s because of that person that the competition is dragging on now, right? It ended but somehow it hasn’t ended.”

“Right. They probably did it to prevent us from leaving. If they let us out now, they’d block us at the main gate.”

“Oh… As expected, when an incident happens in a ruling family, the response is different! Reassuring, right?!”

That’s true, but…

His way of speaking is subtly more exaggerated than usual.

Is it because the Pleroma topic came up and he was influenced by it?

I tilted my head slightly and asked.

“Are you nervous?”

“N-no, no? That’s not it.”

The student rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“…Honestly, it’s an unpleasant incident. So.”

‘Hmm.’

He doesn’t have that kind of misunderstanding anymore.

Indeed, time is the best solution for any misunderstanding.

I didn’t approach this with the determination to clear up misunderstandings, but anyway, the more allies I have, the better.

I smiled appropriately and answered.

“It doesn’t bother me much. But thanks.”

“What, I’m the one who should be thankful. I won an award thanks to you! Please take care of me next semester too.”

The student extended his hand.

I casually shook it and said.

“We’ll meet again anyway since we have to receive training after Christmas, right?”

“Still. Don’t forget our names!”

“What could I forget in three days…”

Leo, who had been listening absentmindedly, made a realistic comment.

Then, someone knocked on the door from outside.

“Runner-up team, let’s go!”

[Finally, there will be closing remarks for the Bavaria 2nd Year Magic Potion Experiment Competition.]

* * *

“I’m leaving~”

The last remaining student waved and disappeared.

Now there were no Class 1 students left in the dormitory.

“Go.”

I gave a brief greeting and closed the door.

The competition and training schedule was arranged to avoid Christmas and the day before, so everyone went home.

Actually, I should have gone too.

The head butler insisted desperately that even if it meant traveling 14 hours round trip by train, I had to participate in the Christmas dinner, and he actually came all the way to Bavaria to pick me up.

And now, he’s probably writing a letter saying he can’t take me home.

‘Satisfying.’

From the beginning, I had planned to fake all kinds of illnesses and just stay holed up in the dormitory on Christmas day.

And that plan worked perfectly.

Because I actually caught a cold.

‘I knew it from when I was experimenting without drying my hair.’

Actually, I didn’t have time.

I barely bought time with the fire alarm, so where would I have had the leisure to dry my hair?

Something seemed off from the evening, and this morning I started running a fever.

Knock knock―

“Come in.”

“Lucas, here.”

Leo came in carrying bouquets and gifts like before, placing a letter basket next to my bed.

I hadn’t read them for the past three days because I was preparing for the competition, so letters had piled up tremendously.

It’s amazing that interest hasn’t died down even though it’s been almost two weeks.

“Take your medicine. I won’t be back until midnight today, so contact me if you have something important to say.”

Leo tapped his ear.

It’s a sensory transfer artifact improved by the Extraterritorial Defense Corps. Leo had been using it at school until the end of the semester.

Since it’s ‘extraterritorial,’ it’s supposed to operate outside Bavaria, but given the timing, I’ve been wearing it continuously since coming here.

‘Fortunately, there were no reports.’

It’s fortunate and unsettling at the same time.

They’re not the type to not retaliate.

It’s about time to start considering what those guys are planning again.

“Got it. When you come back later, let’s do some trend analysis, Leo.”

“Ah, right. It’s about time for an update. I’ll bring newspapers too later.”

Leo waved at me and went outside.

I confirmed the door was completely closed and put away the letter basket.

There’s something I need to check first right now.

This morning, the Emperor’s messenger came to Nicolaus with a letter.

I examined the stiff letter envelope with Imperial magic on it, front and back.

It’s an extremely ordinary letter with red sealing wax on an off-white envelope.

Though I’m not sure if the content will be the same.

[To my dear Count Nicolaus Ernst]

As I unfolded the letter, blue mana spread out and the scribe’s neat handwriting flowed smoothly.

After brief greetings and asking if I remembered our last conversation, the main point came.

[Over the past week, we were fortunate enough to discover five commoner mages. Hoping it will help with your investigation, I’m sending you their interrogation records.]

“…”

They found commoner mages.

Five of them, no less?

The back of my neck grew cold.

They’re incredibly skilled at hiding themselves, and finding even one or two in a month is difficult work. But five in just a week?

‘Just how many secret police did they deploy.’

The Emperor’s resolve is not ordinary.

It also meant he was seriously wary of Elias’s growth.

[As you know, the moment we use divine power or drugs, they forget everything about the Catacombs. For the next commoner mages we find, I plan to attempt only conversation. If useful information comes out, I’ll contact you again.]

‘…Conversation?’

What a ridiculous thing to say. There’s no way they’ll just have a conversation.

They’ll surely use the fact that their very existence is illegal to boldly inflict all kinds of torture.

I felt three or four sheets of different quality paper on the back pages.

I could clearly imagine what fate befell those captured by the Imperial Court, so I didn’t dare turn the page.

‘…This won’t do.’

Feeling my fever starting to rise again, I folded the Emperor’s letter and cooled the heat from my face with my cold hands.

‘I need to move quickly.’

I never intended to listen anyway, but now is not the time to receive additional potion education.

I need to find a way to enter the Catacombs.

Before even one more person gets caught.

With increased crackdowns, if I delay further, the Catacombs’ defenses might strengthen, making it harder to lend them strength.

This isn’t something I can handle alone, so when my friends come later, I’ll need to have a serious discussion.

Until then… I should read some letters others sent to cool my head.

After reading letters for a while and rummaging through the basket, another thick envelope caught my hand.

“…”

This is still coming?

Judging by this thickness, this must be from that same guy as before.

The beginning was very ordinary greetings, so I immediately skipped to the final paragraph of the first page.

[Count Nicolaus. I hope you will always maintain this resolve. There aren’t many who have the resolve to risk their lives to eliminate Pleroma. When I think about it, it seems somewhat glorious. Living a life that will be remembered by everyone is not common. Some want to be remembered but lack the ability…]

[…All subjects must unite. Everyone has grown weary of Pleroma’s long-lasting era and learned helplessness. Count Nicolaus awakened our era.]

“…”

I can manage to read and pass over this kind of content when it’s just a page or two, but when it’s ten pages, it starts to become disgusting.

Searching through the basket more, I found two more letters like this.

‘I should ask about the investigation I requested before.’

First, let me build up some strength to go out.

I lay down, gently pushing aside Fai who was sprawled in the middle of the pillow.

* * *

“We did find three people named Robert Mueller in this area. But they all said they never sent any letters.”

“Is that so?”

I came to the Investigation Bureau after my fever had sufficiently subsided.

The investigator handed me a file and said.

“These are the people. But two of them don’t even have typewriters at home. One isn’t even 10 years old yet.”

“Hmm…”

Since it was a typewritten letter, it becomes a bit ambiguous.

Of course, they might have borrowed one, but if the name itself is an alias, then typewriters and such become irrelevant.

Since we can’t track down who put the letter in the mailbox, this is the maximum we can find out.

I stood up from my seat and greeted them.

“Thank you. I’ll come back if there are any problems.”

“Yes, understood.”

Just then, an ear-piercing alarm sounded from the artifact hooked to my ear.

Beeeeeep―

“…!”

It’s a Pleroma report received from the nearest location.

Then I heard a voice calling my name and providing warp coordinates.

My condition isn’t great, but it’s not bad enough that I can’t use magic, and since my name was called, I can’t not go.

I immediately rolled the coordinates of the guided location and rubbed my fingers.

Cold winter wind rushed in under my mask.

The warp location was the rooftop of a building not far from our lodging.

“…This was the reported location. Ah.”

Leo, who had arrived first, was frowning and turned around, then raised his eyebrows when he saw me.

His face asked why I was here, but now wasn’t the situation to answer that.

This was definitely the reported location, but there was nothing here.

“H-here! This is the right place!”

Countless people were shouting from below the building. I could see personnel who had arrived early blocking the entrances.

Whether it was really right or not, I extended my wand to staff length and struck the ground.

Kwaaaaang―!

I had to try everything possible before the golden time passed.

As if a copied space had really been overlaid here, long bloodstains appeared on the rooftop that had been clean just moments before.

[Count Ernst, support personnel will arrive at the scene.]

I listened to the notification from the Investigation Bureau while setting up a barrier around the building and covering Leo.

When I opened the door and stepped back, Leo sighed briefly.

“Damn.”

In the middle of the stairs going down from the rooftop to the 4th floor, a blood-covered person was sprawled out.

“…Their condition isn’t very good. I’ll take them to the hospital and come back.”

“Yes.”

Since I don’t know the hospital’s coordinates, Leo, who knows Bavaria’s warp coordinates well, has to go.

Then another support notification came.

[We’ve arrived.]

“Control the warp and search from the 1st to 2nd floors.”

I briefly conveyed this and went down to the 4th floor.

Kwaang―!

Standing at the end of the corridor and striking my staff forward like pushing, bright white light spread out like waves.

I held my breath and observed the flow of divine power, but nothing reflected back from any living beings.

The 3rd floor was the same.

[Nothing on the 1st and 2nd floors.]

They’ve clearly already fled.

An unpleasant sensation crawled up my body.

‘Let’s get out first.’

The main gate will be crowded with people.

Thinking that, I went to the back gate, but even more people than before had already gathered at the back gate.

People were already excited in the overheated atmosphere.

From my perspective, this level of environment was simple enough to be completely deflating, but it didn’t seem to be the case for them.

‘This won’t do as it is.’

I said to the Investigation Bureau member standing nearby.

“We need to deploy control personnel here. Please contact the Investigation Bureau. And please lift the warp control.”

“Ah, yes.”

I said that and looked around.

Everyone was moving without much suspicion, but the atmosphere was strange.

They openly attacked people and then released them this easily?

On the festival day, countless people including Oswald who were harmed weren’t attacked openly.

There were no witnesses, and the victims themselves had no memory of it.

‘…This isn’t the method those bastards used.’

Let me think quickly.

Even if they don’t know about other members, the prince’s location is openly revealed, so if they commit a crime around here, Leo will inevitably be contacted.

At that time, since Nicolaus is always by the prince’s side assisting him, when Leo is dispatched, Nicolaus will come out too.

Those bastards know this much unless they’re idiots.

So, this current crime isn’t targeting civilians.

The real target is… either Leo or me.

‘I should go back.’

Right now.

Didn’t I also receive that strange letter today?

As I moved my fingers to warp, something flew past the corner of my eye.

Crash―!

“…!”

“Aaah!”

“What?!”

A stone about half the size of a fist hit my barrier and fell to the ground.

At that moment, as if the perimeter had been breached, I heard the death cries of several people from behind.

An unfamiliar arm pulled my waist with strong force. A worn letter was held in the heavily wrinkled hand.

And…

“…!”

Stab―

Something shining entered my vision and then disappeared.

I quickly turned around and grabbed the old man’s shoulder to push him away. No, even before I could do that, someone from the Investigation Bureau caught him with magic.

“Sir, you can’t do this…!”

The investigator’s face turned pale. His gaze alternated between the robe and my face.

“…”

I reached toward my waist. Hot liquid surged up.

The moment I confirmed what it was, the screams people were pouring out faded from my consciousness.

‘Living through life and again…’

No, this isn’t the time for this.

This is either Pleroma’s retaliation for this incident, or the work of whoever sent that letter.

Of course, whichever it is, both are clear elimination targets for me.

‘Thanks for the attack.’

They seem to have prepared quite earnestly, but their goal won’t be achieved.

I put strength into my neck and called up the retry window.

“Return to before this time.”

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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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