Chapter 94 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 94
Chapter Title: How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magical Noble Family
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The moment I returned, I couldn't believe my eyes.
The pain in my stomach vanished in an instant, so I knew time had rewound...
"Argh!"
"Wh-what!"
"Grab him!"
They didn't even give me time to finish the warp spell.
Once more, a dull blade sliced past beneath the letter.
Stab—
"Ugh...!"
The tip of the blade tore through my glove and scraped my palm.
For some reason, maybe because of the cold air, the sensation of my flesh splitting felt more vivid than usual.
'This lunatic...'
Boom—
I seized the old man's arm with my other hand and hurled him far away.
"Aaack!"
People screamed and backed away.
Blood dripped from the torn glove. Now I felt pain above my left hip bone too.
Still, compared to the moment when I'd clearly been stabbed in the vitals, a mere flesh wound was a far more hopeful situation.
'Is this the final checkpoint?'
Elias had given the same instructions back then too.
That time, time had rewound plenty.
I couldn't make sense of why I had to go through this, but I knew well enough that it was a situation I needed to grasp.
The investigators subdued the old man right away. Unlike before, since he hadn't sustained a fatal injury, he didn't seem to be in a panic.
"..."
I tried not to focus on the pain as I chanted a divine spell and gripped the old man's forehead.
"Who ordered this?"
"..."
The old man stared blankly at the floor with unfocused eyes.
'...Yeah, figures.'
Since he couldn't say a word, they must have wiped his memories clean and just implanted the command.
To begin with, it wasn't a feat the old man could pull off on his own, so an investigation would detect Vitriol in his body.
In a flash, mages from the Investigative Bureau set up barriers around the crowd.
One mage rushed up to me and asked,
"Are you okay?! Let's get you to the hospital right away."
Two mages stuck by my side, preparing a warp spell.
Just before we moved, I caught sight of the mages warping to the Investigative Bureau with the old man in tow.
* * *
"You can't use that hand for at least three days. No strenuous exercise either."
"Three days?"
The doctor nodded in response.
"With my abilities, I can't shorten it any further from here. Even with regular medicine, it would take three weeks."
'This is bad.'
When I first arrived here, I'd been healed by His Majesty the King.
Even after receiving treatment from the best in the kingdom, if I had to wait three days, there was no helping it.
"Right. Got it."
"Rest well. See you tomorrow."
The doctor left the room.
I could feel Leo's piercing glare, but I ignored it.
Leo sneered and repeated my words.
"Not satisfied with three days?"
"No."
I took off my mask and leaned against the wall.
How could I not be satisfied?
After going through having a hole punched in my gut, I had no intention of complaining about a few days of treatment.
"If you're thinking of doing something during those three days, forget it. It's Christmas anyway, so if you play it right, you won't even have to see the other team kids."
"Yeah, lucky."
I did have something in mind.
Naturally, contrary to Leo's worries, I had no plans to move around—just something that required only using my brain.
"Hand me the newspaper, Leo."
"Hmm, can't use your hands, so this is perfect."
Leo said it half-mockingly.
It wasn't just because I'd ordered him around.
In truth, within the bounds of not exposing our identities, I'd already worked him to the bone countless times.
With no choice, I propped myself up on one elbow and reached for the side table with my other arm, but Leo snatched the newspaper.
"Don't read it."
"..."
"Later. You know you'll get a fever again, right?"
"I know."
"Then go to sleep now."
Considering his stubbornness, arguing wouldn't get through.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
Anyway, I had skimmed the morning paper earlier today.
'They've ramped up mana checks on commoners.'
The Emperor's doing.
He's trying to find Catacombs people and enter through them. I'd confirmed that point in the letter earlier.
And news of the Imperial mages led by Adrian Ascanien, heightened security in the capital just before Christmas, results of the third-year magic drug tournament...
'Hmm.'
I wished I'd read it more closely.
First off, the most eye-catching was the random inspections targeting commoners.
'...Trying to raid the Catacombs in the middle of this? That's overly greedy, even for greed.'
I had no idea how many people had to die before his greed would be satisfied.
It would be far more efficient and ethical to use those personnel for Pleroma surveillance.
It'd also delay the time until Elias purges him.
Then Leo's hollow laugh reached my ears.
"Need sleeping pills or something?"
"No. No need for that."
I opened my eyes and sat up again.
Not many people could calmly fall asleep from fever after nearly dying moments ago.
And truthfully, now wasn't the time for that.
I needed to think about the culprit. Who in the world would dare pull off something this bold right in the heart of the Bavarian capital?
'Could it be Trout?'
No.
Overreach.
If he'd planned the crime, he would have connected Nikolaus and Lucas.
No one but my brother—who overthinks every possibility—would make that leap, and even he couldn't have included it in a letter to Trout.
Even if he had, it hits a wall here.
'The fact that I would have died without rewinding time.'
My brother's concerned letter has a clear limit: he can't instruct murder.
As long as Adrian kept up his act of doting on his sick little brother, Trout had no reason to kill me. Unless it was to verify my purity, maybe.
But this crime aimed for murder, not verification.
'Good, narrowing it down.'
Lucas is unrelated.
Now, which group benefits from Nikolaus's death?
That's the clue to finding the mastermind behind this crime.
Boom—
At that moment, the door flew open with a terrifying bang.
Leo didn't flinch, so he must have gotten prior notice.
Elias arrived with a grim face and stared at my hand in disbelief.
"...The Imperial Post was real?"
"..."
"What the hell happened right in the capital... Where's His Majesty?"
"He stopped by briefly earlier and left."
He had a strategy meeting to attend, so he couldn't stay long at the hospital.
Elias nodded quickly and looked around as he asked,
"Where's Narke? He took the exam with you guys, right?"
"He headed to the Investigative Bureau to interrogate the perp the moment the incident blew up."
Leo cast a soundproof spell around the three of us and said,
"While you were getting treated earlier, the investigation results came in. No Vitriol, but they detected corrupted mana in his blood."
'Hmm...'
No Vitriol?
That was the strongest, most reliable method.
Elias frowned, clearly thinking the same.
Then something clicked, and his lips moved.
"Planned."
"Yeah. On that note, have you read the letter from Robert Müller, Lucas?"
Elias cut in on Leo's words.
"Robert Müller?"
"Nikolaus fanboy. Impressive. Turning cultish crap like 'our souls resonate' into forty pages is a talent."
Leo handed Elias the previous letter, and gave me what seemed like a fresh, crisp one.
This time, only three pages—probably due to time constraints.
[To my dear Sir Nikolaus Ernst,]
[I heard the news. What on earth happened? I can't believe it.]
'Pretty mundane start for someone I'd suspect as the perp.'
Skip the trivial stuff.
I flipped to the page Leo had pre-folded after reading.
[It was so cool.]
'...Hah.'
Of course.
Where did the disbelief go? Now it's "cool."
[If I were in the same situation, could I act the same way? Truthfully, I wanted to help you, but I didn't get the chance, and I regret it. If I'd been a bit more nimble, I could have assisted you, right? But since you were only two steps from the criminal, even someone nimble would have struggled.]
Only two steps away.
I chuckled and said,
"Sounds just like he watched the whole thing go down."
"Yeah. Warp magic and foot traffic are both restricted right now. The Imperial Post hasn't run a detailed report yet—just the headline. But..."
Leo shoved the envelope and proof under my nose.
"See? Warp postmark from Hamburg Free City, sent ten minutes ago."
The Empire's north.
About as far from here as you can get.
Everyone at the scene was locked down, unable to leave, yet the letter came from another region's post office?
"The only explanation is he knew the incident was coming."
"Right. The letter's content contradicts the postmark to advertise it as a planned crime."
"Why advertise that?"
"To hide the real culprit."
'Hmm.'
I nodded at Leo's words.
Some of it aligned with my thinking.
The obsessive letters rambling about streams of consciousness up till now were smokescreens.
Intentionally leaking info at the crucial moment to make it look like a 'slip-up.'
Leo continued,
"You've probably guessed who the perp is too. But gut feelings don't count. The Investigative Bureau judges solely on evidence, so they'll conclude it's Robert's crime based on this letter."
"Go on."
"Remember right after the report came in? For Pleroma, the execution was sloppy. You sensed something off and dodged the fatal blow, right?"
I'd come that close to death, but whatever—Leo had noticed the sloppiness too.
I nodded for him to continue.
"That sloppiness was deliberate. If it screamed Pleroma-led murder, it'd backfire. You're not the only one Pleroma needs to handle."
Elias tossed in lightly, as if he already knew.
"They'd have to handle me and you too."
"Yeah."
For royals, the risk was too high.
When Leo didn't get agreement, he added,
"If the plan's solid, you could definitely take out Adrian Ascanien. But why haven't they?"
"..."
"They're in the same boat. Killing outright would rile up public sentiment. It'd make you a hero martyred fighting injustice."
"Yeah, better to erode trust in us royals for a cleaner win."
"Exactly. The real plan against us will probably unfold while Nikolaus is laid up recovering. No other reason to bother with this decoy crime."
"...Yeah, solid logic."
As I rubbed my chin in thought, Leo whined,
"You look like you're about to jump in again. You can't go. Remember that."
Elias, who'd been deep in thought, chimed in.
"Ah~ Warp magic triggers alarms now. They suddenly ordered foot travel only, so I figured something was up. Turns out it was you."
"...If that's the case, why tell me who the perp is?"
"No way you couldn't guess this much. I said it to make sure you absolutely stay put."
I shrugged at Leo's smile.
"Yeah, I'm not going."
"...What?"
"No plans to."
Leo asked with a dumbfounded look.
"What scheme you got now?"
"...Why ask if you're just gonna complain about me going..."
"No, just human concern for your track record..."
"Shut it! Cheer me on when I say I'm staying!"
Elias finally regained his usual playfulness at Leo's realism, smacking the bed.
Truthfully, I had no intention of going.
This was bait to lure us out.
'Bait inspired by the Strauch case too.'
Leo's logic wasn't bad, but adding one thing he could never know shakes his hypothesis.
Without rewinding time, I'd be dead.
As Leo said, killing me outright was simplistic. Even using a rabid fan.
When things hit the extreme of death, wouldn't anyone boldly guess Robert Müller was a Pleroma smokescreen?
Of course they would.
Even in a situation where Pleroma was a prime suspect, they'd stabbed with intent to kill.
'The reason's gotta be this.'
The planner isn't Pleroma, but someone positioned to gain from my death.
I unfolded the letter I'd read earlier.
[I hope you always keep this resolve. There aren't many willing to stake their lives to take down Pleroma.]
[...The subjects must unite. We've all learned helplessness from the long Pleroma era. Sir Nikolaus, you've awakened our time.]
After this, it devolved into useless drivel, but it revealed the guy's ideology well.
'Messy plan, but the gains are clearer than I thought.'
First, pin the Nikolaus murder on Pleroma to maximize anti-Pleroma sentiment.
Second, turn Nikolaus into a hero who fought Pleroma to the end.
Under the assumption of a deranged superfan mindset, it's a fine ending.
It twists once more the guesses: 'Pleroma would never make it look like Pleroma' and 'Only Pleroma would target Nikolaus.'
'Well-played strategy.'
Finally, a worthy opponent.
"No Vitriol at the scene, right?"
"Yeah."
"Not trying to fool us—they just couldn't get real Vitriol. Instead, they used that to mimic a Pleroma crime."
The spatial separation magic at the scene was remarkably Pleroma-like, though.
There was a group similar to Pleroma, but not Pleroma.
'Catacombs.'
In the novel, Elias had contact with the Catacombs too.
More precisely, he'd been positioned as a unifying tool for them, just like me.
The events unfolded differently for us, but...
If Robert Müller really was one of theirs, the situation wasn't all bad.
I already had reason to infiltrate the Catacombs, so now was a good time to try a new plan.
I flashed the friendliest smile I could and said,
"Shall we move on to the next plan?"
"...!"
Leo grabbed his nape like he couldn't believe what he'd heard.
"It's nothing big. Simple."
Leo pressed his forehead.
It really was simple, but he wouldn't believe it.
Elias, unlike Leo, leaned in with a serious face.
I looked at them both and said,
"All we have to do is stay put. At least, Nikolaus Ernst does."
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