Chapter 41 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magical Noble House (41)
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The reporters jotted down his answer.
Another reporter directed a question at Leo.
"The Papal Court has announced its intention to provide divine power support to the Empire regarding issues stemming from heresy. Your Highness the Crown Prince purified Bavaria alongside that classmate early on the seventh—has there been any plan for Bavaria to scout him first, given that he's currently receiving offers from all over the Empire?"
"We've sent a request, but nothing's been decided yet."
That was about Narcé.
He might be a foreigner, but these weren't times to be picky, so he must have gotten plenty of offers too.
At that moment, one reporter raised his hand.
"If I may ask an impertinent question... Sir Nikolaus, you never remove your mask even at official events. Could we know the reason why?"
I shook my head as I replied.
"That's a question I can't answer."
"Have you known His Highness the Crown Prince for a long time? You mentioned coming from the Papal States—did you work there on anything...?"
"I'll only answer questions relevant to the topic."
Leo's aide, sitting beside him, cut off the question.
A few reporters shot me disappointed looks but, realizing it was futile, tossed out questions fitting the press conference instead.
'...Hmm.'
I'd have to think about this issue soon enough.
More and more people were recognizing Nikolaus, so it was only natural that curiosity about the face beneath the mask would grow.
After fielding their questions directly for a good while and listening to Leo's responses, time had flown by.
"With the allotted time up, we'll conclude the press conference. Thank you to the citizen representatives and members of the press who participated."
Leo and I left the conference hall, leaving the aide to wrap things up behind us.
After walking in silence for some time, Leo dismissed the protective mage trailing us and entered the room used for warping.
"...It's over."
Leo muttered as he collapsed onto the sofa like melting ice cream.
"You did well."
"Eh, now let's go pick up Elias."
"You got the update?"
"They proved he's male using an ordinary mosquito. Your mana restriction will lift once you arrive too."
"Good, that's a relief."
I raised my arm in front of Leo for the warp.
Just like the first time we met, he eyed the mana-crime restraint bracelet with distinct distaste.
"...You really look like a criminal."
"Let's not say it out loud."
"Sorry on their behalf. We really shouldn't have left you two alone."
"It's fine. We got everything we wanted."
"Getting what we want twice might be the end of us..."
Leo let out a hollow chuckle and infused his mana. As the guarantor's mana touched it, the bracelet's restriction vanished in an instant.
I felt the blocked blood surging fiercely to my fingertips.
Without hesitation, I snapped my fingers with a sharp crack, deploying the warp spell.
* * *
Having fully resolved my mana restraint issue, we entered the isolation cell reserved for serious magical offenders.
We'd come to see Elias.
Though his actions weren't a serious crime, his mana couldn't be controlled through normal means, so they'd transferred him here.
"Woo-hoo~"
Elias, looking considerably worn out by now, waved lazily from the bed like it was his own room.
His complexion suggested he'd been pretending to be fine all along despite the strain.
Elias shot up in bed and nodded at Leo's uniform.
"What's with the outfit? That's straight-up royal."
"You're focused on clothes right now?"
"Of course not. And... Nikolaus is here too."
Elias's gaze shifted to me, the mischief slowly draining from his face.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to cause trouble—my thinking was shortsighted."
"No, it's fine."
*Thanks to you, I pulled a nationwide favorability bump of 3 points in a single day.*
...Not something I could say out loud.
I sat in the chair beside him as I replied.
"No need to apologize. It's not like I went in blind."
"What?"
"I'm the one who judged you could pull it off perfectly, and I'm the one who recommended you for the job. I didn't hand you this role ignoring the risks or overriding the team's objections."
There had been opposition in the team when we set Elias up as the lead petitioner.
It made sense. No one would easily accept sending the school's biggest troublemaker to court and parliament.
Elias stared at me wordlessly for a long moment before bursting into laughter.
"Hahaha! That's a first. You expected me to cause a scene and still gave me the gig?"
"Because it'd be a justified scene. Your final choice amplified the reaction beyond our expectations. See?"
I handed Elias the newspapers I'd bought near the conference hall.
He carefully read through the heavily censored pages, then burst out laughing again.
"...This isn't fake news, right? They actually granted the demands?"
"They had no choice. The media's been censored and cut down, but protests are breaking out everywhere."
Leo added.
Elias flipped through the paper faster, his face flushing with excitement.
"Yeah, looks like it. All the deletions mean we nailed it big time. Our supporters—yours and mine—must've skyrocketed. Hey, Uncle's gotta be sweating now~"
"Does this count as successfully screwing over the imperial family?"
"Obviously. Way more than I expected."
Elias snickered at my words.
He handed the papers back as he said.
"Thanks. If I'd stuck to your plan, I'd probably just be clinging to the Imperial News director's career for blackmail. Never thought of broadcasting it... Ah, now I see—you know how to raise the stakes. Nationwide broadcast? Still gives me chills thinking about it."
"...You were really planning to blackmail him?"
At Leo's question, Elias shrugged like it was obvious.
"Of course."
Leo smiled faintly, his expression caught between turmoil over the chaos and satisfaction at the goal achieved, before speaking.
"Elias."
"Yeah?"
"...You talk better than I thought."
"..."
"..."
I stifled a chuckle at Leo's awkward face.
It was just like the first day we'd made him a teammate.
Elias exchanged baffled glances with me before asking Leo.
"What's... what's gotten into you?"
"Even praise gets a comeback?!"
"Nah, I'm glad you're finally recognizing my talent."
Leo smiled faintly at that.
"Yeah, you did great. Bavaria might be fine, but the rest was seriously risky. It's only natural people are reacting to you and Nikolaus like this."
"Right~? See, I seem saner than Uncle or the Federal Committee, don't I?"
"Yeah."
Elias's eyes widened in disbelief.
"What?"
"Yeah."
"..."
Elias's jaw dropped.
*Seeing this in person...*
This felt a bit premature too. I nearly mirrored his expression before catching myself and smoothing it out.
"You're supposed to lecture me about blasphemy or whatever right now."
"It's the truth. The whole nation's probably thinking the same."
"Lu... Nikolaus."
Elias called me with a grave look.
"Yeah."
"What's with him? Has the content changed since earlier?"
"It's the same."
"Say something...!"
Elias grabbed Leo as he turned away.
"No, thanks. I was just shocked—it's the first time you've said something like that."
"Jeez..."
"Good for us. Seems Leo's on board without complaints from now on."
Elias grinned and whipped his head toward me.
"Can't miss this chance. What's next? You're not stopping here, right?"
"Nope."
There were endless ways to boost our image scores.
I couldn't stop at 5 points anyway—I had to keep moving until I hit 9.
Leo asked, sensing something ominous.
"You're not planning another mess, are you?"
"Don't worry. No politics this time."
I looked at Elias and Leo in turn as I continued.
"But first, something to tell you. I found Pleroma."
"What?"
Leo and Elias turned serious.
"More precisely, the most likely candidates. Two of them—one from the moderates, one from the anti-barrier faction."
Surprisingly, the pro-barrier faction showed no significant changes. Meaning no one there bore me much ill will.
"Two? Two Pleromas~?"
"Could be both, or just one."
"So, who are these candidates exactly?"
"Werner Strauch, Mecklenburg-Schwerin assemblyman, and Hermann Ribbentrop, Prussia assemblyman. Moderate and anti-barrier faction, respectively."
Werner Strauch's favorability was -5.
Not exceptionally bad given -10s existed, but the lowest among moderates.
Even lower than the anti-barrier folks hovering at -3 or -4.
From past interviews like "I'll follow the will of the subjects," he seemed the most pro-barrier among moderates.
If that was his genuine stance, there was no reason for him to dislike me.
And he'd quietly slipped out midway through the meeting.
Couldn't gauge his final favorability, but that alone made him suspicious. Couldn't rule out him storming off in frustration when things didn't go his way.
'But stepping forward... if he's really Pleroma, he wouldn't want to risk exposure by breaking cover now.'
No reason to abandon his stance and openly oppose me and Elias.
Secondly, Hermann Ribbentrop ended with the lowest favorability among those present.
Started at -6, ended at -5 even after traits—meaning -8 without them.
Could be genuine distaste for our claims, but who knows.
"So now the question is, which one's Pleroma."
"Yeah. Got a way to find out? Could just go beat 'em up and see..."
Leo shot Elias a look of disdain at his half-joking words.
Anyway, figuring it out was simple.
I spoke slowly, lost in thought.
"If I hadn't tipped them off, Pleroma would've gained massively, so they'll punish the one who botched it thoroughly. And the Pleroma in charge will harbor massive grudge against me."
"Yeah."
Leo nodded.
"What would that guy need to do to regain honor or position internally?"
"Score a win equal to this failure."
"Right. So, he'll have no choice but to come after me or Elias."
Elias had said I knew how to raise the stakes.
Our value had gone up accordingly. Same for Pleroma.
"Eliminating us, who gained nationwide support from this, blocks future damage we could cause them and shows they're not just taking it lying down. Fastest way to results among many options, and it'd shock the public massively."
"Our deaths as their propaganda tool, huh?"
"Exactly."
Elias laughed like it amused him.
I continued.
"Whatever the timing, he'll contact us to offset the damage. And whichever reaches out first is the Pleroma hurt by this."
* * *
The next morning, Monday, I headed back to school.
The parliament stuff had been so intense that even just two days off over the weekend felt like ages since I'd last come to class.
No contact from the spy yet, so I had a few days to investigate.
I set my bag on my seat in the special class and opened my divine power textbook.
'No Class 1-B kids.'
Only four from Class 1-A were here.
Why no Class 1-B students... I could guess.
I exchanged nods with the Class 1-A student I'd spoken to before and took my seat.
As soon as I sat, the students resumed their chatter.
"I thought the lawsuit thing was fake, but it was real? Saw it on the Imperial News yesterday—friend tipped me off right before it ended. You see it?"
"No one missed it. They ran out of paper five minutes in and had to refill."
"I thought I was seeing things. XX, did my head break? Everyone's saying the same."
"Exactly. The shock's that he could say that. Ah, should've stayed in Class 1-A... Who even pushed him to 1-B?"
The Class 1-A kids in special class huddled, whispering and laughing.
"Quiet down and study!"
The supervising professor yelled from the hallway, window open, finally cutting them off.
Even leaving special class or entering the classroom, it was the same.
Elias was on everyone's lips throughout the school.
Well, he always had been.
But before, it was for causing trouble—now, riding the nationwide praise, his school image had flipped too.
They might grow up to be like those assemblymen someday, but for now, with their sense of justice intact, most seemed to agree with Elias.
His desk was swarmed by students, same for Leo and Narcé.
Leo drew attention for his own reasons, Narcé for the mage selection buzz.
'Pretty noisy.'
Listening in, my name popped up occasionally too.
They'd once pegged me as a full accomplice with Elias.
So the spotlight on Elias spilled over equally to Nikolaus.
It just felt concentrated on Elias since this was school and he was a student here.
But inside and outside school alike, interest in Nikolaus differed slightly from Elias's.
"Why doesn't he take off the mask? Leo, you've seen his face?"
Leo smiled and smoothly deflected without answering.
While Elias got focus on his feats, Nikolaus drew more curiosity about what hid behind the mask.
The questions from the Bavaria conference were the Empire's common intrigue.
'Can't be helped wandering around suspiciously.'
I'd react the same.
Fine for hunting as a concept, but going to parliament like that? Unavoidable.
"Elias, how'd you meet Sir Nikolaus?"
"Leo introduced us. I'm sleepy now—let me crash properly~"
"Wait, Elias. This real?"
A student handed Elias a magazine with an obviously sleazy cover.
Elias, who'd been dozing facedown while half-listening, snorted in disbelief and read the cover.
"What, Nikolaus Ernst special edition?"
"Came out in Dasrote this morning. This stuff true?"
Dasrote was the Empire's premier tabloid.
'...'
What do they even know to do a special on me?
No expectations for real content. Just curious what nonsense they printed.
Elias glanced at me briefly, chuckled, and opened the booklet.
"Let's see... 'Personal info obtained in Bavaria, eyewitness accounts.' Hey, Leo! Tighten up info management."
"What's it say."
Leo asked.
Probably just rumors.
Even thinking that, I couldn't easily ignore it.
Who wouldn't be curious if someone made a booklet about them?
"Dunno. Let's read from the start. Alright, 77 years old... Huh?"
"...?"
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