Chapter 42 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magical Noble House (42)
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Elias couldn't shake off the shock of jumping sixty years right from the start and kept flipping through the booklet this way and that.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Narke bowing his head, pressing his fingers to his furrowed brow, his body shaking silently.
I didn't need to see his face to know he was 200% cracking up.
Ding—!
〈 Chapter 4. Constant Droplets Pierce the Stone (2) 〉
Proposal 3: [Impression] Score 5 Defense (0/N) (167 hours 59 minutes 57 seconds)
* Route 1 — 〈 Chapter 5. Good Things Take Time (1) 〉
* Route 2 — 〈 Chapter 5. Don't Praise a Day Before Evening Falls 〉
Yeah… it landed well.
I needed to tweak things a bit anyway, so moving on to the next chapter is perfect for me.
"Did you buy this?"
"Uh-huh… 1 phel."
Elias let out a hollow laugh.
To be honest, I had anticipated up to his forties, but seventies? Never crossed my mind.
Even when I was way off base, it was off like this.
Nikolaus hadn't revealed a single proper detail, so it was impossible to gauge his age easily.
Still, from his voice, silhouette, and overall vibe, you could at least tell he seemed young.
So how did that shocking age of seventy-something come about?
There was one thing to consider here.
A wizard's lifespan varies dramatically based on their mana capacity.
So, it wasn't entirely implausible for someone to have a youthful body at 77.
Luca's father, for instance, was approaching his seventies but had the physique of a non-magician in his forties.
'That said, jumping sixty years isn't exactly common.'
It happened occasionally, but you couldn't call it frequent.
Seeing 17 and pegging it at 77…
Even for a wizard, that was a stretch.
Of course, that was from my perspective.
Knowing my own age, it felt excessive, but to those who didn't know me at all, they'd just see a seventy-something maintaining a youthful body around thirty or forty.
'Let's think one more thing.'
The fact that it wasn't vaguely lumped into "seventies" meant we couldn't rule out that they'd dug up some document with my age.
'In that case, they probably… misread the 17.'
It could happen with handwritten records.
Before, when I heard my name had somehow ended up in military records without my knowledge, I asked Leo about how he'd convinced the family elders.
The reason Leo could keep a suspicious figure like that in such an important position was largely because he was a classmate from the same department and year.
They figured there was no risk of being duped, at least.
But that didn't mean they'd been told exactly who Nikolaus was.
The Ascanien family ruled a duchy and governed the Anhalt region.
And in noble society—especially among ruling families across the empire's various states—there was quite a bit of interaction.
Even if it was family, this was why Leo couldn't just come out and say it.
Think about it.
One day, your kid brings along some thief-looking guy in a pitch-black mask as an attendant, and it ends up on the front page of the papers—without even revealing who the masked guy is.
They'd bought the "same department classmate" story as a guarantee, given he never spouted nonsense, but then if he says, "We're getting you a citizen ID, but there's a slight issue, so we need to fudge the birth year," who'd trust that?
So, after already telling the family that some hunter of unknown origins was a classmate, Leo couldn't fabricate my age on top of it.
Elias, having wiped the bewilderment from his face, nodded seriously.
"…Yeah, 77 years old."
"Really?"
"No? How am I supposed to know a wizard's age just from their face? I didn't ask."
"Oh… I see…."
"What's this? You guys even figured out why the mask? 'Too ugly'… what's that? Affair? Wanted criminal?!"
Elias burst into mad laughter at Leo.
Leo sighed with a troubled expression.
"No. Don't believe that crap."
"Really? Well, if the Wittelsbachs hired him, he can't be a wanted criminal…."
"None of it. Daily conduct is part of the qualifications too."
The classroom fell silent at his unusually humorless reply.
A friend who hung out with Leo glanced at him and patted his back.
"Hey~ the mood's too down! You don't know everything. You only see him at work—how would you know about his everyday life?"
"I do know. That's why I'm saying no."
Leo replied with a frustrated look.
He had every reason to be frustrated.
I was with him at least twelve hours a day, so he could answer confidently, but he couldn't exactly say Nikolaus from the same class was listening in right now.
"Even so, you'd know that much…."
As the student obliviously repeated himself, Elias propped his chin on his hand and stared at him.
"Guys, ease up~ What, you trying to say the Bavarian royal family hired trash like this?"
"...."
That was…
I let out a hollow laugh.
"…No… not that."
"That's exactly what you're saying."
Elias replied with a smile.
"Didn't this paper kill someone last year? And it's still popular?"
"...."
Elias snatched the booklet from the desk and spoke to the student standing in front of him.
"If you get what I'm saying, don't believe the crap in here. Mind if I take this?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah… sure."
The student replied reluctantly.
The situation ended when the professor entered for roll call.
As everyone sat down with reluctant faces, Elias glanced at me and winked.
* * *
As I entered the meeting spot, the eyes of the friends already there turned to me all at once.
No meeting scheduled, but they'd gathered anyway—must mean today's news shocked them too.
Of course, it wasn't the reaction I'd expected since I figured they'd meet up.
"Oh dear, sir… uhahahaha!"
Elias stood from his seat with a serious face, then collapsed over the table laughing like a maniac. Leo looked down at him with a mix of contempt and pity.
If I'd been annoyed, I'd have countered, but I just laughed too. Honestly, 77 was absurd.
Narke suppressed his bursting chuckles and asked.
"Lucas."
"Yeah."
"What's it feel like being Leo's eighth cousin, a wanted man, a missing archmage, and the ugliest guy in the empire at 77?"
"No big thoughts."
"Dasrote says you're seeing seven people right now. Next issue teaser."
Narke shook the back cover of the magazine.
Setting aside morals, realistically, did they think I had time for that?
Seemed like the next issue would double down on it….
Definitely yellow journalism—unrelated to my achievements and utterly unproductive.
"They went too sensational and lost all realism."
"Not mad about the 'hides his face due to appearance complex' bit?"
"Well, contextually, it's a hypothesis worth considering once."
Less suspicious than "personal reasons I can't disclose," and no ethical issues—maybe I should switch to that line.
As I pondered, Narke laughed.
"Guess it doesn't bother you much. Good."
Facts cleverly mixed in might've pissed me off, but since it was all nonsense from one to ten, it actually calmed me.
Just thinking of the whole nation wondering if the bullshit was true made me laugh.
Unlike Narke, Elias—who'd been letting his laughter explode—caught his breath and asked.
"Hahat haha… whew… Luca, honestly, even reading it made me furious. Don't you wanna rip off the mask and smash it all right now? Just take it off, and all the nonsense ends."
"Nah. Better to hear bullshit than ruin the job."
I opened my status window briefly to check the impression score.
Lucas René Ascanien
Impression: -9.9 (+0.1) [+5.0015131]
In the meantime, the impression score had jumped from .5979 to 1.5131 at the end.
Not declining yet, but per the proposal, it'd start dropping for real soon.
Even so, it wasn't hard.
This proposal was downtime for me.
Not that the opponents were easy. People who kill with pens weren't pushovers.
But this wasn't my problem—it was a gain.
That's why I could take it easy.
Nikolaus's public image was similar to my brother's from the past: someone who gave endlessly to society without asking for anything.
Regardless of my issues, my brother would have some interest in such a Nikolaus.
The problem arose because he was someone my brother might investigate if interested.
So, I had to block every path that could lead to guessing who Nikolaus was.
Then, Leo slammed Dasrote down like swatting a fly and said lowly.
"Lucas."
"What."
"You didn't read this properly, did you? If you had, you wouldn't be so calm."
"I did."
At my reply, Elias raised his brows and whistled.
Leo watched me silently.
"Read it all, start to finish. Gotta know how they're coming at me to counter properly. Can't ignore coverage that might trip me up."
"Fine, then you know. This isn't about unfair—it's straight-up character assassination. You're an Imperial Second Academy student, Lucas, but Nikolaus isn't. Dasrote treats him like an adult and spews every disgusting thing imaginable."
That's yellow journalism for you.
Not surprising at all.
Even without Nikolaus, countless politicians and celebrities had been Dasrote's targets.
Some had ended their lives after being hounded by them.
"So what do you wanna do?"
"It's not 'wanna'—it's what I'll do. Halt Dasrote distribution in Bavaria."
"That's a good warning. Just warn them—don't actually do it. They'll back off on their own."
"What are you saying after reading it all!"
Leo stood, face twisted.
"Two-thirds of the empire is royal territory. If we can't stop Dasrote there, what's the point of driving them out of Bavaria, one-seventh?"
"...."
Of course, "cutting distribution to block Dasrote access" had meaning, even if not total.
One-seventh sounded small, but as a single kingdom, it was the second-largest after the imperial royals', with the second-highest population.
Not just vast land—it had massive economic power. Dominating magical medicine amplified its influence.
So, for businessmen, it wasn't simple.
"Desperate people have nothing to lose. Business too. If distribution actually stops in Bavaria, Dasrote will panic, sure. Huge sales hit. But that means they'll rabidly bite at Bavaria, forever excluded from the customer pool."
Leo glared at me, sighed, and sat back down.
I continued, watching him deep-breathe.
"Sorry for being harsh. But you already know a threat alone is enough. Threats only work if they stay threats."
"Yeah, Leo knows, but he's pissed."
Narke eyed Leo's direction at me, signaling no need for more realistic explanations—like he'd used insight.
No wonder he was mad.
Even on the surface, this was slandering someone the Wittelsbachs selected, a mage trusted by the crown prince—not just me, but dragging the royals into it.
Probably not just Leo; other Wittelsbachs would react negatively to Dasrote's moves.
"…Yeah. I got heated. Sorry."
"Nah. It's a topic that'd piss anyone off, especially you."
"It's a topic for you too."
Leo nailed it, staring straight at me.
"Yeah, true. I was pissed at first, honestly."
"Not now?"
"Nope."
Several reasons I wasn't badly hit.
First.
Unlike others directly targeted, I had the fictional Nikolaus as a shield. At longest, in three months, I'd reveal he was made-up.
If I had to live as Nikolaus forever, it'd hurt—I'd be another real self.
And revealing Nikolaus is me would turn 95% of Dasrote's print to garbage.
No deep explanation needed; it just wouldn't match up.
Second.
Flaw in the first: after reveal, couldn't they pin Nikolaus suspicions on me?
No such suspicions existed to begin with, and even if, no worry.
As noted before, student articles face heavy censorship. Photos or videos especially strict.
Applies to all students backed by royals, so even at Imperial 1st Academy university, protected from such wasteful gossip.
In short, no controversy sustainability.
Fire needs fuel.
I flipped to the part saying 77 years old.
"Why 77 specifically?"
"They guessed?"
Elias replied leisurely.
"Dunno, maybe. But if it's a misread 17?"
"Must be terrible handwriting. Though… yeah, some people write like that."
"Right… anyway, yellow press doesn't just list delusions start to finish. They need basis for claims, foundation for that. Sure, exaggeration and fabrication everywhere, but they do some investigating."
"So."
At Leo's word, I nodded at the magazine he'd set down.
"Just checked Dasrote?"
"Yeah."
I pulled another magazine from my bag.
"Others ran similar stuff. Not as in-depth as Dasrote, but."
Elias opened the one I'd pulled and laughed.
"Here it says twenties?"
That's why it benefited me.
Just as I'd thought before, it muddied the information.
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