Chapter 33 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magical Noble Family (33)
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Leo furrowed his brow, his face screaming *what the hell are you talking about?* Elias just shrugged.
Time to change the subject.
"Elias, I've heard you've been in and out of the restricted zones a lot lately. I want to hear what you've found out. We need some fresh intel now."
"Oh, welcome news. My mouth's been itching to spill."
Elias glanced around, then pulled a map from a stack piled in the corner and spread it out on the table.
He snatched a stray piece of graphite with his bare hand and circled a spot on the map.
"The barriers are the problem."
"Barriers?"
"Barrier suitability is too low. They're rated as low-grade right now, but there are seven spots that need mid-grade barriers at least. See?"
One of the students stood to peer at the map alongside Elias.
"We've got fifteen low-grade and five mid-grade now... So that means it should be eight low-grade and twelve mid-grade?"
"Exactly. Fifteen low-grade is an absurd number—they're skimping on the budget to cover everything. Maintaining barriers costs a fortune, as you know."
Maintaining a standard low-grade barrier runs about ten million gold a day.
That's three hundred million a month, three point six billion a year.
If all twenty-one restricted zones were low-grade, the annual upkeep would hit around seventy-six point six billion. That's pocket change at the government level.
But jump to mid-grade, and it's fifty million gold per day.
Per Elias's surveys, twelve would need mid-grade. Annual cost for those twelve: two thousand one hundred ninety billion. And once they survey for mid-grade, they might find spots needing high-grade too.
In the novel, Elias's standards weren't overkill.
He could've pushed harder, but he only flagged the non-negotiables.
"And not clearing the insides of the barriers is making it twice as bad. Places that could hold with low-grade now barely manage with mid-grade. All because they skip the damn cleaning."
Budget issues again. Specifically, the imperial mages' pride wouldn't let them handle such menial cleanup, so funding never got allocated properly.
Melvin hesitated before asking,
"The Imperials wouldn't put people in danger like that... They're just short on cash, right...?"
"They've got it."
Elias shook his head firmly and snapped his fingers.
"But they'd rather line their pockets than spend on safety."
"…What makes you say that?"
"Pushing nonsense like the 'Family Names to Fief Titles Act' while claiming no money for barriers? Hilarious. They wasted session time debating that crap, then grabbed budgets to swap out every nameplate and record across the empire. Passing garbage like that is just code for 'let's each skim our share.'"
"Elias..."
Leo let out a sigh at Elias's rough language.
The wording was crude, but true.
Not long after the Empire formed, some idiot logic about prioritizing magical traits over governing lands led to that law.
That's why some surnames now use family names instead of place or nation names.
But now it's a half-baked mess—most just dropped the place names from old conventions.
In the novel, Elias ripped into the Federal Committee and Imperial Assembly—upper and lower houses—for funneling funds into such frivolities.
*Hearing it straight from him is a treat.*
Leo looked anxious, like Elias might blab outside the group, but as far as I knew, it wouldn't get him killed.
Anyway, Elias hammered the Federal Committee on barrier suitability from his restricted zone surveys.
At the same time, he splashed beast attack stats and flawed ratings across the papers' front pages.
The press rarely ran negative imperial stories, especially on the royals, but Elias had a solid hook.
With public outrage boiling over, ready to erupt, the Committee rushed through a bill mandating monthly cleanings inside every barrier in the Empire.
Beast casualties plummeted after that.
Elias seemed to clamp down at Leo's urging, then muttered low,
"The Imperial Assembly's... just the Committee's lapdog. Forget them—we need to go after Magical Security Bureau too."
"Yeah. Do it."
Leo nodded soullessly.
"But that's not the priority. Federal Committee first. One thing you need to know: they have to pass a budget to overhaul every last one of those damned barriers."
Right on track with the original.
That was enough.
I nodded at his words and asked,
"Eli, which zone did you say you checked?"
"Too many to list. All low-grades except Mephen and one other, and the one high-grade on the day I broke my leg. Mid-grades next—five of them. Oh, Leo, how was Mephen?"
"Normal. Except for the contaminated bugs."
"Bugs~?"
Elias's face hardened instantly.
The students looked shocked too.
"Bugs got contaminated? Never heard of that."
"Did it spread from other animals?"
"…Theoretically, no reason it couldn't."
Elias muttered.
"Bugs contaminated. None in the spots I checked, for sure."
Meaning no contaminated bugs in the fourteen places Elias visited. Matches the novel.
Elias pondered with a stiff expression, then shook his head and asked,
"…Nah. Why'd you ask where I've been?"
"To see if you'd spotted contaminated bugs elsewhere. Since you haven't, let's move on. Got something to say."
"What? Spill—I'm dying here."
"I think the restricted zones were used as testing grounds. Narké and Leo agree."
As the students exchanged confused glances, Elias's eyes widened in surprise.
"…That's a hell of a pivot."
"What're you talking about, Lucas? Sounds like you just heard something earth-shattering."
One student let out a disbelieving chuckle.
Elias smiled faintly and rubbed his chin.
"We're past debating suitability. Barriers meant to protect people ended up enabling free experimentation instead."
I figured we'd use the suitability angle too, but waited while he sorted his thoughts.
He unfocused his eyes and drummed the table with his fingers.
"It tracks. No reason it couldn't. Even I'd reverse-engineer that isolation policy if I were Pleroma."
His gaze shifted to me.
"But here's the issue: how the hell do they get in—repeatedly—without tripping the barriers? Unauthorized objects or anything bigger than a certain size sets off alerts the second it crosses. And it hits with feedback shock too painful to shrug off."
"What if all twenty-one zones are their habitats? Or there were passages already in place before the barriers went up."
Melvin's jaw practically unhinged.
Elias's stone-cold expression twisted into a slow grin.
"So there's a traitor in the Imperial Family."
Everyone's eyes snapped to Elias at the sudden shift in tone. He grimaced and reverted to normal.
"Not necessarily the Family—at least one high up in the imperial government. Right? Pushes the 'dangerous signals from those flitting experiments' line to get barriers installed. Then goes wild with tests unchecked."
Leo pulled out his prepared files and spread them.
"Yeah. So we checked who pushed hardest for the initial barrier installations."
"Oho, when'd you dig this up?"
"Before visiting your hospital room. Upper echelons: Florian Amalie, Albert Ernst, Winfred Hintz. These three drove the agenda."
Elias nodded and asked,
"All Federal Committee members?"
"Yeah. Esther Friedrich, Wiltrud Albrecht, Sander Ludovica, Werner Strauch abstained."
"Not like the unpaid lower house—these upper guys? Pleroma ties aside, they're classic tax thieves."
"…Fair, but... Rudolph Heinrich, Henning Berend, Trud Leopold were the big opponents. All cited excessive costs."
"These guys too, in their own way..."
Leo ignored Elias and flipped to the next page.
"In the press: Astrid Metzler, Ditmar Peschke pushed the barrier story hard. Scholar: Friedrich Schuller."
"We'll need their imperial connections too."
Elias scanned Leo's list and grinned.
"This just got fun. Luca, this your way of screwing over the Imperials?"
"Don't remember saying that."
"Details. So, what's the plan from here?"
* * *
"Our heartfelt thanks to Crown Prince Leonard Bayern and Lord Nikolaus for your efforts on behalf of Mephen."
The baron flashed a trustworthy smile, lips firmly upturned, as he handed over the plaque and offered a handshake. Shutter clicks and flashes erupted from the reporters he'd invited.
We gave short answers to their questions and slipped away quickly.
"What about your schedule after this...?"
"Back to school."
Leo smiled briefly at the reporter, then we headed to the warp site the baron prepared.
Thanks to the baron's immediate telegram to the academy yesterday, we'd come back to Mephen today—Tuesday. But with school on a weekday, we could only drop by at dawn for quick hellos before leaving.
"Why'd the monthly exam get postponed?"
"Uh... classified for now."
Today marked the end of October, but the surprise delay meant classes as usual.
A relief, really.
I was walking around with a jar of contaminated mosquitoes in my bag. I'd arrived early before the baron's estate and collected them.
*Want to chuck this thing right now.*
At least it gave me time to haul it back to the meeting spot.
Dawn broke, and I set the collection jar I'd brought ahead on the table.
Elias perked up immediately.
"Whoa, what's this? Wild colors."
"The mosquitoes from yesterday."
Melvin and a few others licked dry lips at the sight of the jar packed black with mosquitoes. Melvin mustered courage and pointed.
"Uh... so why this, Lucas?"
"Let's breed some mosquitoes starting now."
Melvin stared at me like I'd hit him with lightning from a clear sky, soul fled from his eyes.
"Why...? Why...?"
"Why else? Gotta propose a bill."
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