How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 284
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magic Family (284)
Now Leo was also naturally calling the Crown Prince Abraham. I could feel how great his antipathy was.
When we crossed over to the coordinates the Crown Prince had guided us to, I saw familiar lemon-colored hair in the distance. Leo smiled appropriately and greeted the Crown Prince.
“It’s been two weeks since we last met, Your Highness.”
“You’ve come. I sent word two hours ago, and I’m grateful you came to find me.”
The Crown Prince smiled and greeted Leo who had approached first. The weight I had felt when he was in official settings wasn’t there, but it was obvious he had intentionally erased it.
“I heard you recently went to New Guinea. You must have been very tired coming back immediately and resolving the Penthalon matter.”
“I can’t say that’s not true. But it’s fine since there are people around me like Your Highness who I can ask for help anytime.”
I listened to their continuing conversation while checking the scenery that came into view. We were at a plateau owned by the Imperial Court. Along with three horses.
Since it was past mealtime, the Crown Prince suggested we talk while horseback riding together.
‘Hmm.’
How surprising. To call us all the way here. This place is a space only for direct Imperial family members, and while they might invite collateral family to rest here, it’s not used as a social venue for entertaining foreigners like this. Of course, diplomatically it’s a good thing.
Then, the Crown Prince looked at me and greeted me.
“It’s good to meet Count Ascanien again as well.”
“It’s an honor.”
“You’ve been doing many things since Penthalon.”
“I’m merely doing what must be done as a ruling family.”
“I’m relieved to see you seem to be doing well.”
The Crown Prince spoke with a gentle smile instead of his usual insane-looking grin.
‘Since when has he been sitting there worrying about me…’
I’m living completely well, so there’s no need to worry unnecessarily. I didn’t store his words in my head and answered appropriately.
“So what business did you call us here for today?”
“No matter how I look at it, this scandal seems to have happened because of you, Count.”
“…”
Seeing him throw out this kind of talk right away, no matter how much he acts like an ordinary person, his essence hasn’t changed.
This was a fact not known to the public. Leo’s gaze turned toward the Crown Prince. He was looking at the Crown Prince with the same expression as before, but I could easily tell that all his attention was directed at the Crown Prince.
“Starting from the hospital to the Federal Committee, the executive branch, the judicial branch… You made quite a grand first step into politics to send away one older brother. Of course, no one would know it was your doing.”
This was the first time Leo was directly hearing a conversation between me and ‘Abraham’ in one place. As soon as he heard the words ‘to send away your brother,’ the mana flowing around Leo’s core fluctuated minutely. The fact that someone other than Elias, Narke, and himself knew about this situation seemed to strike him as newly strange.
“Legislator Marlene Staufenberg is impatient and hot-tempered, so she has many enemies. The policies she pushes are also extremely biased to one side. To send copies of letters exchanged between Friedmann and Legislator Staufenberg to her political enemy’s office – your effort was remarkable. Since reporting anonymously to the Imperial Newspaper would likely be buried, you must have passed it to someone who could pressure the Imperial Newspaper. Using a third party’s hands to cleanly trigger a scandal – the method is neat and certain, I like it.”
“Praising me here won’t help.”
I neither actively affirmed nor actively denied the story about the scandal’s starting point, maintaining appropriate distance with a smiling face. I had no intention of affirming or denying it. I didn’t care whether this guy knew or not, but there was no reason to give him a definitive answer. The Crown Prince raised an eyebrow once and said.
“The problem is that things didn’t stop with those two but exploded dramatically, and there’s a common point among the people involved in this incident. Major figures weren’t swept away, and most of those who fell were new politicians or politicians without very strong foundations. And such people were commonly following one person.”
He crossed his arms and smiled.
“Your older brother.”
“…”
His tone of speech had changed. Instead of Herr Askanier and Sie, he was using du. An expression mainly used between people who are familiar with each other.
Leo smiled faintly. This was how he expressed his displeasure as a politician. Leo was also wary of the Crown Prince approaching us. Since Leo didn’t reveal anything more than that and quickly returned to his original expression, there was no problem.
“Seeing Adrian Ascanien’s supporters swept away in large numbers, how could I not know? I couldn’t help but know. Besides, who else would be bold enough to trigger such a major incident without any hesitation.”
I didn’t give a definitive answer and tilted my head while smiling.
“Well, I don’t know about other things, but your expectations regarding my capabilities seem quite high, making me not know where to put myself.”
“Moreover, your methods always have characteristics. Where on earth do you learn information that no one else knows? How did you know that materials remained in Andrea Friedmann’s house? When you baptized me, and now too…”
Abraham’s eyes gleamed coolly in the shade under the tree.
“You’re living as if you can even move through time.”
“…”
Time. That was information he couldn’t know. There was no way he could know. It was just speculation using his insight.
I raised the corners of my mouth at those words. I could feel Abraham’s golden eyes tearing through my facial muscles and beyond my irises. Then his eyes slowly turned toward Leo. My eyes were still on the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince had been smiling leisurely throughout, and it was the same now as he observed Leo’s expression. He was trying to confirm his reasoning through Leo’s reaction.
“You have a rich imagination. I’ll have to work harder to meet Your Highness’s expectations.”
“…”
Whether he had achieved what he wanted or not, the Crown Prince stopped his analysis and spoke with a gentle face.
“I’m curious what would happen if you worked even harder here. Now, today I called you to briefly discuss state affairs, and there’s work I’d like Eschete to take on. Of course, I also have something to discuss separately with Count Ascanien, but let’s do that a little later.”
The Crown Prince grabbed the reins of the horse behind him and handed them to me.
“I heard Count Ascanien doesn’t own a horse, so I brought one that would suit your temperament well. Do you know how to ride?”
If you don’t have a personal horse, you usually can’t ride. When would Luca have learned horseback riding? He knows this but deliberately called us here anyway. Really, nobles all do the same things.
I smiled and turned my head as I spoke.
“I know how to ride.”
“That’s fortunate. Did you learn from His Highness the Prince?”
“That’s right.”
“Good. Let’s ride slowly.”
I blew mana into the horse once to calm it, then adjusted the stirrup straps. Since Leo had his own horse in Berlin, he could mount immediately without such a process.
So we rode across the plateau. While saying we’d go slowly, they were just galloping. Since it wasn’t a horse I had trained, I observed the Crown Prince’s aids and the horse’s corresponding reactions and followed suit. I could roughly match the pace. The Crown Prince, who glanced back at me following behind, said.
“Count Ascanien has talent for horseback riding.”
“Is that so.”
Since I didn’t have much to say, I answered roughly. The Crown Prince slowly reduced his speed.
“I’ve been tired lately with many things to think about, but coming out and getting some fresh air like this makes me feel better.”
“That seems likely.”
At Leo’s simple answer, the Crown Prince turned his head toward him.
“I just finished reviewing punishments for the scandal targets, so before getting into the main discussion, I’d like to hear Your Highness’s opinion first. This scandal is creating even bigger waves because it’s connected to the Penthalon terror – what do you think about selecting one person as an example and sentencing them to death?”
Usually death sentences aren’t given unless it’s murder or attempted assassination of royalty. This was true in our world’s history too, except here they also give death sentences for what’s called ‘harming the authority of magic’ – otherwise it’s the same as original history. Legally and customarily, this wasn’t a matter that should go as far as execution, ethics aside.
Leo stiffened briefly then shook his head.
“Support gained through blood doesn’t last long. It could actually harm Your Highness.”
“Hmm. Blood calls for more blood. That’s Your Highness’s view.”
“That’s right. I respect Your Highness’s decision, but in situations where public sentiment can be calmed through other means, you should be cautious.”
“I understand well. Then let me ask Count Ascanien this time. What methods do you think should be used in this situation to defend approval ratings and prevent corruption from recurring?”
“…”
It feels like he’s testing us. If not that, then he’s laying groundwork.
He’s not someone who would ask because he doesn’t know such things. Leo seems to feel the same way. Leo looked at me with an indiscernible smile. I looked at the forest spread out in the distance and spoke.
“I would recover the money used for corruption and invest it in visible government projects. If you want to prevent recurrence, confiscating assets would be good. Of course, if you want to go even safer, you should create the same effect by imposing fines exceeding their wealth rather than ‘asset confiscation.'”
“Visibility, fines… Good. You’re saying to pay attention to what’s seen.”
“I just think that to quickly break through the current situation, you must ‘also’ pay attention to what’s seen. If there’s no benefit or concrete improvement from executions, the people have no reason to give long-term support to that. What’s important is putting real benefits in the people’s hands or giving them faith that it will soon happen, thus restoring the previous state of trust.”
I said that, paused once, then looked at the Crown Prince.
“I think Your Highness already knows this.”
“Haha.”
The Crown Prince laughed briefly and looked ahead as he spoke.
“No matter how much one knows, politics must be cautious. Gaining confidence through advice from political partners is important.”
I understand. It must be important. Verifying whether his choices are right comes second. Even if he listens to advice, he’s not the type of person to change his choices based on it. This conversation is diplomacy in itself, and as he just said directly, it means he’ll acknowledge us as political partners. As has always been the case on the surface, he’s either intending friendly relations with Bavaria, or trying to expand influence over countries related to Eschete. Seeing him call me along for this, it’s probably closer to the latter.
“In my father’s era, our Empire became more ethnically unified. In the era that will follow, our Imperial family hopes the Empire’s constituent states will completely as one people.”
More groundwork laying. I thought that while lightly patting the horse’s back. The horse I was riding moved forward matching pace with the two ahead. The Crown Prince immediately got to the main point.
“I’d like to entrust the vacant positions at the Imperial Central Hospital to Bavaria’s magical medical practitioners. Your Highness, what do you think?”
Leo seemed accustomed to such verbal contracts and smiled without being flustered.
“It’s a pleasant proposal. I’ll discuss it with King Hildegard.”
“Good. I’ll be waiting.”
The Crown Prince said that and turned his head slightly toward me.
“Even excluding this scandal, I was impressed seeing the various projects Count Ascanien recently prepared in Anhalt. The way you care for the people really reminds me of Deputy Minister Adrian Ascanien.”
“Is that so.”
“I have no intention of directly intervening in the Anhalt succession fight. Whatever happens, Adrian Ascanien is my friend and precious subject.”
And also a competitor.
I suppressed those words and just looked at the Crown Prince.
“But I’m willing to level the starting line equally. Even knowing the reason Count Ascanien had to spectacularly blow up the political world, I can’t just stand by and watch. To start on equal terms with Adrian Ascanien, wouldn’t you need Hohenzollern’s help?”
“…”
“Do you like the horse you’re using now? I agonized over choosing it for you.”
“How gracious. I like it.”
I can see Leo glancing at me due to my dry tone and expression. The Crown Prince, having already figured out my style, didn’t take issue with it. He just stared at me intently and spoke.
“Let it be given as a gift from Hohenzollern.”
“To me?”
Why? I didn’t voice that question out of courtesy, but the Crown Prince was quick to catch on.
“Please allow Hohenzollern to do this much for a mage they trust. Prussia will soon be awarding you the Black Eagle Order anyway.”
“….”
It’s Prussia’s highest decoration.
Certainly, nothing could match it in terms of legitimacy.
“What’s the reason for doing this?”
“It’s because of Count Lucas Ascanien’s achievements. I have no intention of neglecting such precious companions as you two. Since it’s the same decoration that Deputy Minister Adrian Ascanien possesses, I hope you’ll be pleased with it.”
I responded with a smile instead of words.
The Crown Prince, having no intention of saying more to build relations with us beyond this, changed the topic of conversation.
“I mentioned there was a mission to request of Eschete. Rather than speaking through intermediaries, I thought it better to tell you directly, so I called you here.”
“Yes, please tell us.”
“A jewel owned by a branch family of Habsburg was stolen in the German Empire.”
“…Excuse me?”
Leo spoke as if dumbfounded. I felt the same way. A jewel. Was he asking Eschete to handle a theft case?
“It’s a legacy that’s been passed down since the Holy Roman Empire era. Since it could escalate into a diplomatic issue with the Austrian Empire, I’d like Eschete to take on this case.”
“…Why would Habsburg property come all the way here… More importantly, it would be better to leave finding stolen goods to investigative agencies. We’ve received military and intelligence training, but we’ve never been trained in recovering stolen items.”
Leo spoke with characteristic bluntness while maintaining a polite expression. The Crown Prince acted with a good-natured face and smiled gently.
“We’ve already entrusted this matter to all investigative agencies, but there’s been little progress. I’m just hoping Eschete can add their help to the effort.”
“As I said again, we’re not optimized for such work.”
“That may be true on the surface, but there’s no one more suitable than Eschete. Count Ascanien will probably want this later as well. We also need the abilities of Count Heike Einsiedel on that team.”
“Why do you think I would want that? Wouldn’t it be what Your Highness wants?”
“You’ll understand once you experience it.”
The Crown Prince seemed to have no intention of compromising further. He and we just rode around on horseback—usually that’s all there is to it—and prepared to return when enough time had passed.
The Crown Prince stopped in place while returning to the starting point. When Leo looked back at him, the Crown Prince spoke to him.
“Lastly, I have something to discuss with Count Ascanien. Could you wait for us?”
“….”
Leo’s expression stiffened for a moment, then quickly relaxed.
“I’m sorry, but Count Ascanien and I have things to do when we return, so I can’t spare much time.”
“Just a moment will do.”
“Then please do so.”
Leo, having kept his wits about him, didn’t cause the same commotion as before. The Crown Prince smiled in response and turned his horse to the back.
“Go ahead.”
I nodded at Leo’s words and followed behind the Crown Prince. As we were about to enter the forest, I spoke to his back.
“It seems you’ve already said everything you wanted to say?”
“You become eerily impolite when it’s just the two of us, Count Nicolaus.”
“Your Highness is the same.”
“Haha.”
After passing through the forest, a landscape I hadn’t seen before unfolded. Another plain was visible below the cliff.
“Quite a refreshing view. Don’t you think?”
“Indeed.”
“Perfect height for dropping a carriage.”
“….”
I tilted my head. When I stared at his face intently without blinking once, he pulled the reins to signal his horse and came closer to me.
Then he smiled as if his assumption hadn’t been wrong.
“You’ve become stronger. Did the rumors become reality?”
“….”
Did he notice what kind of mana was flowing through me? I immediately understood what rumors he was referring to. This is why dealing with perceptive bastards is troublesome.
“I was examined at the Imperial Central Hospital recently. If you’re suspicious, I’ll have the results sent to the Imperial Palace.”
“The examination results were clean, I suppose.”
“The examination results are everything. Won’t you believe me no matter what I tell you?”
“Did I ever tell you this before? Pleroma is an organization with only a good facade. They advertise that they can save people through blood, but they don’t actually know how to use blood magic. They’re just a bunch desperate to have the authority to control people through blood, but there’s no one there who can actually handle blood.”
“You clearly know they can become stronger and sustain life by drinking blood.”
“Ah…”
The Crown Prince narrowed his eyes as if feeling sorry.
“You’re confused about something. How could a mere human possess the authority to control blood? They haven’t dominated blood; they’re merely subordinated to it.”
“The more I hear, the more absurd every word becomes. Your Highness seems to want to believe you’re not a ‘mere human’?”
I knew from when he used the name Abraham. He was like that from the beginning. He thinks that having the ability to handle blood means he’s not someone who should rot away in Pleroma. ‘Unlike them, I can consume blood and approach the lives of others’, ‘That ability Pleroma truly doesn’t possess’. Those were words he said to me in a time that has already disappeared.
“Aren’t you being too sharp? You’re complete with this. You should be happy, so why are you reacting like this?”
“Delusions are also a disease.”
“You seem worried I might stab you in the back again. Do you need another confirmation to trust me?”
“….”
The Crown Prince rolled up his sleeve and gestured to the bracelet I had seen before. It was a tool he had made for truth verification.
“I intend to harm you.”
His sleeve was turning red. The smell of blood stung my nose. Abraham smiled and said.
“See, it’s a lie. I sincerely wish for your well-being. I just want to be helpful to you.”
“Then you should know that this current situation isn’t helpful at all. I have no reason to drink blood.”
“Keep saying that. I understand. We each just need to say what we have to say. That aside, isn’t it a bit much to always be indebted to a friend?”
“….”
He’s talking about blood, I see.
He acts like he has insight abilities when he doesn’t.
To answer the question myself, I can’t say no.
Humanly speaking, with what kind of mindset could one keep asking a friend for blood? Yesterday I inevitably needed blood to disrupt information that would reach Hyung, to neutralize Andrea Friedmann’s machine and advertise that I was healthy, but now I don’t want to do that anymore. This is something I can’t do to Leo.
However, there’s no reason to inform this bastard of that. I turned in the direction we came from.
“If you only plan to have such unpredictable conversations, I’ll be leaving now.”
“I’ll give you my blood.”
I reinterpreted this absurd statement two or three times and turned my head.
“…What did you say?”
“I said I’ll give you my blood. Drink my blood, not your friend’s.”
“Drinking blood is something you would do. There’s a limit to treating me like Pleroma.”
Abraham maintained a calm expression despite my words and took out a syringe and vial from his clutch. I understand why he carries those around. He carries them to use when dominating someone’s body. I opened the possibility window and stared at him.
He drew blood and threw the bottle to me.
“Take it. Tell me anytime you need it. It’s fine even without repayment.”
“Your Highness seems to let all words go in one ear and out the other. I don’t know about other things, but it might be worth trying for experiments.”
“Haha.”
He laughed briefly and lowered his sleeve.
And I smiled while staring straight ahead.
‘What is this.’
I got goosebumps for a moment.
The possibility of change increased by 1%p. Just from receiving Abraham’s blood, the possibility increased. How is this possible?
‘Should I divide it and try experiments?’
Or is this something actually worth drinking? Giving this isn’t something done without a price. Whether he observes my progress after drinking blood or there’s something I don’t know, there must be a reaction Abraham expects. Yet the possibility of change increased?
While I was thinking such thoughts, the Crown Prince looked around quickly, then turned his head toward me again.
“I don’t have more time to detain you, so let’s meet again soon.”
“….”
“Tell Count Leonard I went ahead.”
Suddenly the space where he had been distorted as if crumbling, then returned to its original state. He definitely broke through space magic and left.
After that, I turned my horse around and went to Leo, then warped directly to the Imperial Palace. It didn’t take long to pass through the checkpoint at the Imperial Palace and return to the manor.
‘Blood.’
I need to do something about the blood. That thought was all that filled my mind.
When Leo and I returned to the room to organize what had happened today, I saw Narke.
“Oh, you’re back.”
“You’re here too.”
I guess my room has become a place where people can freely come and go now… I’m sure I had this same thought before, and it’s still the case.
“Well, I have something to tell you. Do you have time?”
“Of course.”
Is this about that task the Papacy assigned him? I didn’t expect him to come find me today. I hadn’t heard this news before turning back time, but it seems like he didn’t tell me then because my health wasn’t good.
I quickly washed up and changed clothes, then sat down in front of Narke.
“What is it?”
“Are you done? Actually, the Papacy assigned me a task this time… Ah, you heard about it from Leo.”
“Stop using Insight.”
“Haha~”
Narke pulled a chair closer to sit in front of me and continued speaking.
“Anyway, I came to talk about that. First, this time…”
Narke was about to say something when he let out a deep sigh.
“Haah…”
“What’s wrong? Is it something difficult to talk about?”
“It’s not that exactly… Maybe because it’s my organization, but now that I’m about to tell you, I feel a bit embarrassed. I would have preferred to only share good news with you.”
Narke let out a bitter laugh and pressed his face with his hands, then spoke with a troubled expression.
“A holy relic that the Papacy was keeping has been stolen.”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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