Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magical Noble Family
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“Elias is rubbing off on you….”
Leo muttered with a sigh.
It did seem like it had rubbed off on me a bit, knowingly or not.
But neither Elias nor I had any intention of hitting people just for fun. It just happened to be the only method available in this situation.
With that thought, I stripped the robe off the fainted vigilante.
Leo grabbed my shoulder with a face like he was witnessing utter madness.
“…What are you doing?! You’re not thinking of stealing someone else’s clothes right now, are you?”
“No. You put one on quick too. We need to make our silhouettes match at least.”
“…….”
Richthofen had talked to us earlier from beyond the spatial magic.
He would have heard the spatial magic shatter, and then the connection would have cut off, so he’d come here.
Catching on to my plan, Leo clicked his tongue but still put on the robe and pulled the hood low over his face.
Then, without anyone telling him to, he broke off a table leg.
“You figured it out without me even explaining properly.”
“If you’re bothering to disguise us, it’s obvious.”
Leo positioned himself near the wall on the opposite side of the table.
I blasted my mana to shatter the room’s lights, then aimed my wand at the hallway lights too.
Crash—! Pop—
With even the light leaking in from outside gone, the room plunged into complete darkness.
Leo muttered.
“If more than two come, we’re in trouble. They’ll attack with magic.”
“No, don’t worry. He’ll come alone.”
At my firm words, Leo glanced at me before focusing on the air currents in the room.
After holding our breaths for a while, a ripple began forming in the mana in the air. Someone had warped here and was scanning the darkness around them as they turned.
“…Why’s it dark….”
I swung my wand to bind his body, and Leo charged at Richthofen’s back.
In that instant, Richthofen whipped his head around with a look of shock.
But it was already too late.
Thwack—!
* * *
“Ugh….”
At the unfamiliar groan, I looked down at his feet.
Richthofen’s fingers, limp as if dead, twitched.
Using my staff as a cane, I said.
“Looks like you’re awake.”
“…Ha….”
Richthofen let out a hollow laugh before wincing and pulling down the corners of his mouth as his head throbbed.
‘This feels fresh.’
With Strauch or Genda, I’d been the one pinned to the floor like a corpse….
Now that I was on the other side, I got it.
This suited me much better.
Richthofen muttered in a raspy, cracked voice.
“How primitive. To hit someone on the head with an object instead of mana…. If you’ve forgotten, there’s also this rational thing called talking.”
“Isn’t that something you shouldn’t say to someone who knows what situation you’ve been through from talking?”
I glanced at his hands, bound tight with Leo’s and my mana, as I spoke.
“So, how’s your mana?”
“Blocked quite effectively. Just to be sure, I don’t suppose there’s any damage to my eyesight…?”
That was a fair thought.
I’d covered his eyes completely to block out the light.
“As if. You can drop the act now.”
“…….”
“Everything went exactly how you wanted it.”
At that, Richthofen burst into laughter.
“Truly, trusting your judgment has been the best decision I’ve made all year.”
He kept laughing, as if something was hilarious.
“That Nikolaus being our school’s second-year—no less the Pleroma Ascanien…. No one would believe it.”
“Not something for someone who knew from the start to say.”
“There’s a difference between simply knowing and confirming it for real. So, how long do we have to keep this up?”
“You’d know better than me, senior.”
“…….”
He didn’t answer.
Until now, he’d been sharing senses with Robert Müller.
The ears had disconnected when we hit his head, but the eyes were still linked.
Given that a noble from the Catacombs had come to deal with us here, I’d guessed he’d sacrificed at least that much from someone higher up…. And sure enough, I sensed mana of a different texture emanating from his body. Mana that felt at least ten years old.
“It’s a type of curse magic.”
“Hm?”
“Implanting someone else’s mana into a body is a method used exclusively for crimes, every single time. It leaves your core vulnerable to external mana.”
“You know your stuff. Touch it carelessly and you die~ It’s not just sharing status.”
He laughed in a way that didn’t fit the situation.
“Impressive.”
“First time seeing it?”
“I meant it’s surprising that someone of your skill, who could easily dispel it, has been walking around with it this whole time.”
“…….”
“‘Everything bad I do is forced on me by others’—something like that? You’d need skin that thick to hang around a group feeding off Pleroma tech.”
“…I can’t deny it.”
He burst into laughter again as he spoke.
“But you know by now that dispelling the magic at this point would just get you suspected by Robert Müller.”
As expected, he had no intention of hiding anything more about Robert Müller.
Of course. He’d boldly warped here alone knowing we’d capture him—there was no reason not to cooperate now.
“Well, yeah. So it’s best if you stay like that.”
“Ah.”
I had no reason to consider his circumstances and take on the risk.
Even without that, I had no reason to release him.
No intention of letting go of the upper hand. Why toss away the chance to extract information faster and better?
Just then, Richthofen muttered.
“Fascinating. Surprising that you even realized it was shared…. Surprising that you identified Robert Müller too.”
“No need to be surprised. You didn’t exactly give just one or two clues.”
“Nice that it’s going according to plan. How’d you cut off the sharing?”
I sat down at his eye level and said.
“This isn’t the time for petty details.”
“Ah… haha! True.”
“Let’s start with Robert Müller. Why are you doing this when you’re supposed to be on the same side?”
“Too long. You know the gist already, right? Tell me from the start and I’ll correct any mistakes.”
What a hassle….
Didn’t matter anyway.
I’d asked to verify if my deductions were correct.
Before coming here, I’d pegged Pleroma and Catacombs’ Robert Müller as the ones who’d benefit from my death.
At first I saw them as separate, but that changed.
‘Both.’
Robert Müller had joined hands with Pleroma while also looking out for Catacombs’ interests and safety.
I opened my mouth.
“The Catacombs excel in spatial magic but lag in other fields. With oppression only worsening over time instead of easing, you’d want to bolster your numbers and strength. And conveniently, the perfect material was at hand.”
“Vitriol, you mean.”
Richthofen answered.
I continued.
“The Catacombs vigilante squad Robert Müller belongs to must be working to get Vitriol from Pleroma. More accurately, complying with their blackmail.”
“Hm, spot on.”
“You needed to arrange things so both Pleroma and the Catacombs profited. Paradoxically, it’d be even more ideal if there was a way to check Pleroma at the same time.”
“…….”
“It seems unlikely, but the logic held up. Killing Nikolaus would foil Pleroma’s ‘real’ plan to painstakingly drag him down. And conveniently, it wouldn’t be a total loss for Pleroma either.”
“…Hm.”
Even Leo, who’d already heard my explanation, was listening intently.
“It shows Pleroma can kill anyone the populace trusts and follows whenever they want. From the Catacombs’ view, they get closer to securing Vitriol while sowing resentment toward Pleroma across all levels…. They profit while shortening Pleroma’s lifespan.”
“…….”
“But you failed to kill me, didn’t you? With no gains for Pleroma and suspicion and resentment maxed out, they need to make up for the blunder by properly capturing Nikolaus this time and handing him over.”
Richthofen stayed silent for a long stretch, only letting out deflated laughs.
“Curious how you reached that conclusion. Who told you?”
I took it as confirmation there were no errors.
Ignoring his question, I asked.
“Since you cleverly botched the orders, you clearly don’t share his goals. Right?”
“Right. Unlike him, I believe Nikolaus Ernst must live no matter what.”
He continued.
“Being from a noble house constantly undermines my position. Prioritizing blocking Pleroma over the Catacombs’ revival just grabs my ankles too. Whatever I decide, it always boils down to the noble perspective.”
Richthofen’s tone grew steadily calmer.
“But… even if it means getting chased out of the Catacombs forever, some things just can’t be done. The Captain plans to share most of the Catacombs’ spatial magic tech with Pleroma in exchange for a system where everyone in the Catacombs gets Vitriol.”
“…….”
My eyes met Leo’s.
Share it with Pleroma.
They were practically handing them the keys to build a Pleroma world.
The novel definitely didn’t go this way—must be the changed developments making them feel the need for tech advancement.
“Shortsighted. They might look stronger for a moment, but the Catacombs can’t exist independently and will soon fall under Pleroma. The pride of building their own world to escape government persecution will just be a joke then.”
Fair point.
Would those guys settle for just spatial magic tech? They’d covet the Catacombs’ people and their well-built city too.
Then, Richthofen muttered.
“…Before contact with Pleroma, we were constantly attacking them. You might not know. Time isn’t distorted in Pleroma’s world, right?”
“It wasn’t.”
It hadn’t been when I entered before. Pleroma’s time flowed six times slower, at a 1:6 ratio.
“A problem from applying pressure to their coordinate system. They might not even know it was us.”
Richthofen chuckled lightly before bitterly clamping his mouth shut.
The past of attacking Pleroma was gone, leaving only absorption ahead—that reaction made sense.
By the way….
‘…That was a sign of the collapse.’
To pull off attacks like that from here.
No matter how you sliced it, they had unmatched spatial magic tech.
At this point, the Emperor even seemed foolish. The Catacombs were an opponent you couldn’t let slip away.
“How long since contact with Pleroma?”
“Two weeks now.”
“How much tech has been handed over?”
“Nothing substantial yet. Except for one dual-space magic. The spell I used when I was with you earlier.”
Richthofen hadn’t taken damage earlier despite being in the same space as his opponent.
That method had gone to them.
“…….”
“You’re walking into your own grave.”
He was doing a favor not just for Pleroma but the Emperor too.
Of course, they’d dug their own grave to some extent, making it far easier.
I continued quietly.
“Alright, time to raise the stakes. What’s the situation outside this building right now?”
* * *
“Ha….”
It felt like every person in the Catacombs had come out here.
Elias let out a sigh-like laugh as he eyed the square packed to bursting with people.
Countless people pointed at Elias, veins bulging in fury.
“Kill him now!”
“A royal dares enter this place?!”
The vigilante gripping Elias’s nape said.
“The reaction’s hot.”
“Aaah… this is too much. I’m not even here to play.”
“The only place commoner mages can breathe, and a noble barges in putting on a beggar act—don’t you think the noble’s worse? Or not?”
“Sorry about that.”
Elias apologized with an emotionless face.
“Trying to brush it off with a light word shows how shallow your thinking is right away. Never expected blue blood to understand us, but….”
“…Calling me blue blood here, rude bastard there…. This hurts my feelings~?”
“Looks like you’re still half-asleep.”
The knife he held touched Elias’s throat.
Elias furrowed his brow and exhaled.
“Hey, wait a sec~! Isn’t this too fast?”
“You don’t seem to get what I’m saying, so no choice.”
“No, I get it. Why’re you judging on your own and freaking out?”
He looked down at Elias expressionlessly.
“You’re not thinking of luring Nikolaus Ernst here? Figured you’re baiting him openly so he’ll come right to you.”
Crack—!
The mana restraints on Elias’s wrists shattered.
I didn’t know how Luca judged it, but if my guess was right….
This guy was Müller.
Elias grabbed the hand on his shoulder with his own and grinned.
“Now it’s obvious what Robert Müller wants.”