How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 301

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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 (301)

 

“Maria is, in a word, a dreamer.”

 

Emmanuel spoke with a worried expression, unlike before.

 

Archduchess Maria went to Austria to gather the materials she had compiled, saying she needed to share information about the treasure chest with them. Since the borders of Bavaria and Austria are adjacent, it wouldn’t take long for her to return. She would arrive back here tomorrow.

 

“I’m not saying the world Maria desires is wrong. My aspirations are the same as his, but… he and I differ decisively in terms of execution and the paths we take to obtain ideas.”

 

“So you have the same goals but different ways of thinking.”

 

“Exactly. Still, I genuinely like Maria as a person. That’s why I’ve been helping him all this time.”

 

Emmanuel lifted his coffee cup with the hand holding his cigarette, took a sip, and stared at the surface for a while. Then his words could be heard.

 

“You know what? Actually, when I said I wanted to become closer friends with Count Everett, it was because I wanted to create a friend who could accept Maria. Though I did get along well with the Count before that.”

 

“I know.”

 

“I wanted to accommodate Maria’s wishes somehow. But this time…”

 

Emmanuel let out a long sigh and exhaled cigarette smoke.

 

No one spoke up. This time I genuinely suppressed the urge to snatch Emmanuel’s cigarette and smoke it, and asked what I’d been curious about.

 

“I have something I’m curious about from the start.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“How can we exert influence there in an out-of-body state? I mean, how can we pull souls that were in the astral realm into the past material world when our physical bodies aren’t there? I thought we’d just observe normally and return, but how are you planning to interfere there?”

 

Emmanuel smiled ambiguously and shrugged his shoulders.

 

“I’m puzzled by that too. That’s why he’s making such nonsensical claims. Maria must be misunderstanding something. …I want to help Maria somehow, but I’m increasingly feeling a sense of crisis. He’s saying even stranger things.”

 

“So.”

 

“…Please stop him. We can’t go any deeper from here.”

 

In short, Emmanuel is currently suspecting whether Maria Osterreicheste is showing signs of mental derangement. I agree with Emmanuel’s words, but I can’t stop him.

 

Because.

 

‘Peruer is involved. I can’t.’

 

There’s a possibility this incident is connected to it.

 

His occult enthusiast tendencies might be due to personal taste, but in some sense they were truly for the sake of Humans. That heart of his, trying to enable even Humans to use magic by attempting astral projection for the greater good, is really… I can’t understand astral projection, but anyway, his aspirations and goals are upright. I could feel he was that kind of person. At the same time, I knew he was, in some sense, an artistic person, to put it nicely.

 

Still, I’d never speculated that the family heirloom might be used in such astral projection activities, but now I have to assign high probability to that speculation.

 

‘Hmm… Right. I think I’m going crazy.’

 

I wondered what madman would think to apply new technology to a family heirloom, but if it was used in this kind of process…

 

I can only hope this isn’t fact but merely my speculation. If not, I’ll have to calm my mind thinking there are truly various kinds of people in the world.

 

I organized my thoughts and opened my mouth.

 

“I don’t really think that person will find the treasure chest. I too wish for the future that Archduchess Maria envisions as an ideal, but I’m not someone with imagination like his.”

 

“…”

 

“But Archduchess Maria won’t bend his will. Not until he acts directly.”

 

Emmanuel’s serious eyes turn toward me. I met his gaze and continued speaking.

 

“This time I heard about his intentions from Maria Your Highness. My thinking is this: To prevent Maria Your Highness from becoming obsessed with the occult, rather than blindly stopping him, we should first find other ways to redirect his interests. If we can find ways to increase many people’s welfare without stepping into the occult, he won’t dig too deeply like today.”

 

“Hmm.”

 

“So… I’ll help until we finish this matter. In the meantime, please find more realistic and practical methods for His Highness.”

 

I spoke at length, but first I need to watch this matter to confirm whether Peruer is really being used here. I don’t want to do astral projection either. I really like my physical body, spirits and whatnot aside. If I came out of my body and wandered around in astral form, I’d genuinely feel like a snail that lost its shell. Like I’d die soon.

 

Emmanuel just kept puffing on his cigarette, then nodded readily with an expression of having no choice. He smiled and looked at me.

 

“…Alright. I understand. I’ll have to find good ways to redirect Maria’s attention as you suggested.”

 

* * *

 

“We have a strategy.”

 

“‘We’?”

 

I took the cigarette for spiritual experiences that Archduchess Maria offered and asked back while holding it. The Archduchess arrived the next day as expected, and immediately upon arrival, talked about the astral projection plan.

 

“Honestly, there are many problems with reproducing Rococo clothing. They won’t make those anymore even if you ask. Plus, the dresses of that era were the ultimate in decoration. To be honest, I thought the aesthetics were quite poor.”

 

So he’s really planning to go to the Human era and naturally blend in among French Human female nobles. The objection that this was nonsense rose to my throat, but it was already too late. I should have said this when he suggested astral projection, or actually, when he mentioned there was a golden treasure chest.

 

Of course, then I wouldn’t have become this close to the Archduchess who pretended to have no interest in the occult.

 

“I see… So you don’t really want to wear it?”

 

“Exactly. So we’ll go with the concept of time travelers from the future.”

 

“…”

 

Ah, this is strange. What am I listening to?

 

I shook my head and slapped my cheek. Archduchess Maria looked at me strangely and continued speaking.

 

“If we explain that everyone becomes tall and sturdy in the future, won’t they understand? And it’s not a lie. The average height of Humans continues to grow compared to people of old times.”

 

“Then we can just wear the suits we’re wearing now? Say this is exactly what future women wear. It’s half true, so what can those people do if they don’t believe it?”

 

“I thought about that too, but there’s a problem. Humans are sensitive about gender. Divine beings living eternal lives in an Edenic world don’t need to reproduce, so there’s no reason for gender distinction, but Humans thoroughly bound to the material world, unlike us, assign great meaning to sex chromosomes and have the characteristic of othering life forms that look slightly different. For example, when looking at humans, they first identify them as ‘male’ or ‘female’ rather than just ‘human’ like we do. You don’t need to worry about reliability though. I learned all this while minoring in Human studies at the University of Vienna.”

 

“I know this well too, so you don’t need to explain…”

 

What reliability is he worrying about…

 

As soon as spiritual topics came up, his occult lecture skills from before are showing again.

 

The Archduchess clapped his hands with a pleased expression.

 

“Good that you know well! As you’re aware, if we go in this state, we might be mistaken for Human males. We’re technically mixed-type, but who’s going to examine that closely? Crucially, we’re taller than most Humans, so at first glance we’d easily be mistaken for unusually tall Human males. At this rate, they won’t let us into the club.”

 

“Sorry, but while you might be mistaken, I’m not mistaken but actually have a male body.”

 

“But you’re a New Human.”

 

“That’s true…”

 

I realized this conversation was strangely misaligned between us. I don’t want to discuss this topic any further. The Archduchess enthusiastically explained, paying no mind to my self-defeating tone.

 

“So while our innate elements will be dismissed as futuristic, we need to roughly match appearances so they can feel kinship. If we present something completely new that deviates from that era, people will feel rejection. We need to mix new things with old ones so people can gradually accept them without feeling rejection. In that sense, if we just match the clothing appearance, our tall height or slightly ambiguous appearance by Human standards can become good tools to emphasize the mystique of future humans. We can instantly win the favor of occult enthusiasts.”

 

“I’m not sure if it’ll be favor, but you’ve calculated a lot.”

 

“These are calculations that come immediately upon seeing. It’s harder to explain such obvious things. Now! We can do this! Now…”

 

Archduchess Maria opened the clothing suitcase he brought, seemingly planning more serious preparations. I hurriedly waved my hands.

 

“Wait. I still have questions. I understand observing the material world in astral form. But how can we interact with them?”

 

“There’s no reason it should be impossible. You know Goethe’s works well. It’s complex to explain, but to summarize, Mephistopheles can be seen as a being of the astral realm. Yet he converses with Faust, who is human, and even makes contracts with him, doesn’t he? Sometimes he reveals himself to everyone, sometimes only Faust can see him.”

 

“That’s because he’s a demon… Not petty spirits like us. And that’s just a creative work.”

 

I’m clearly alive, but being called a petty spirit feels strange.

 

And actually, unlike our understanding, Goethe’s works are divinely revered by some philosophers and writers, as is Goethe himself. Since I grew up in a country across the sea, I think of Goethe as ‘the most famous writer in 18th-19th century Germany,’ but it’s different for them. To people of This country and this era, if you asked them to name five things that could serve as ‘beacons we can follow instead of Christ,’ Goethe would definitely be included along with Enlightenment elements like science and reason.

 

Archduchess Maria spoke with an utterly serious face.

 

“Goethe is someone who knows the spiritual world. He captured in his works the process of interaction between the spiritual world and material world; he didn’t create that process itself. Demons exist in our lives, so we must always be careful, doesn’t Christianity teach that too? Spiritual beings from the astral realm influencing the material world is a common occurrence.”

 

“…I see…”

 

Let’s not talk further. Now starting from astral-material world interactions, another occult studies lecture will begin extending to Satanism—though the Archduchess extremely hates Satanism.

 

“Of course, since we’re not powerful spirits, we can’t transfer our physical forms to the era our astral bodies travel to. As Count Everett pointed out. But what if we could use artifacts to project our physical appearance onto our astral bodies to make them visible to people in the material world?”

 

“So our bodies don’t go to the past, but we leave our bodies here and become visible ghosts?”

 

“Exactly! It’s more accurate to say we sent spirits from the future.”

 

“…”

 

I was momentarily speechless. Then I pressed one hand to my throbbing head and spoke.

 

“If we have to become ghosts… We’re living people, so I can’t emotionally relate to why we should, but I understand that Your Archduchess has a method. Then I’ll follow as Your Archduchess’s escort.”

 

“…! Then we can’t get into the club.”

 

Shock appeared on the Archduchess’s face. The prospect of having to earn entry to the club alone seemed daunting. My head hurts. He does seem to know that it’s not normal for a foreigner and future person’s spirit to blend in with people of that era. Of course, I still can’t be certain he actually visited old France’s Royal Palace.

 

“Your Archduchess alone is sufficient. Remember well and tell me about it.”

 

“Oh no…”

 

Just becoming a ghost is driving me crazy—actually, this is the biggest problem. A ghost?—and now I have to wear unfamiliar clothing too? Humanly speaking, can’t you leave at least one familiar thing?

 

The Archduchess asked as if ready to grab and cling to my clothes.

 

“Is there any part of this plan you don’t like?”

 

“The clothing isn’t very familiar.”

 

“Ah! Yes. I feel the same. All New Humans would feel that way. So if we try wearing them for a few days beforehand, won’t we adapt?”

 

“…So that’s how you’re approaching this. Actually, I don’t particularly like new things. The psychological burden is great.”

 

“Ah…”

 

The Archduchess looked surprised and drooped his shoulders.

 

“Then it can’t be helped. My words must have been burdensome until now, I’m sorry.”

 

“No, it’s not something to say that about. I really want to help Your Archduchess too, so I’m the one who should be sorry.”

 

I just need to know whether Peruer is used in this activity as I suspect, and if so, whether he casts magic on Peruer or just uses it as an accessory to indicate noble status. If the Archduchess really uses important magic on Peruer as I predict, then who knows that Peruer is an artifact.

 

I think he’ll probably make it into an artifact that overlays material world appearance as he said earlier. Since artifacts usually appear as ordinary gems to non-mages, showing no signs of being artifacts, the question of ‘who knows Peruer is an artifact’ depends on how the Archduchess manages the artifact after this incident. If the Archduchess lets someone touch Peruer, I’ll have to suspect that person.

 

In other words, there’s no need to follow along at all. Moreover, non-mages can’t detect the magical power contained in artifacts. Aren’t all the old people he’s going to meet non-mages?

 

I asked the Duke with a somewhat more relaxed mind.

 

“But how are you going to convince them that we’re people from the future? You seem confident about entering the club—are you thinking of using magic? Can you use magic even in astral form?”

 

“You’re perceptive.”

 

The Duke snapped his fingers with eyes that had become lively again, as if he had never been dejected.

 

“I’m planning to appear before those people as if warping directly, but while that might surprise the club members, it won’t be enough to gain complete acceptance. People like us would demand additional occult proof. Unfortunately, astral bodies can’t cast magic outward.”

 

“What? That’s a problem from the start.”

 

“While we meet the spiritual conditions for using magic, we don’t possess the same amount of mana as our physical bodies. Only the unamplified dimension of ’emotion’ remains. So how should we prove that we’re from the future?”

 

He gave me an expectant look, then opened his carrier and took out a box that had been placed on the floor. I froze at what I saw in that moment.

 

Blue gems lay on black velvet. The very item that had been stolen from our world and disappeared without a trace, the jewelry set I had only seen in photographs from investigation records, was right before my eyes.

 

But I had expected this much. The problem was what the Duke said next.

 

“I’m going to use this. There’s no way to prove I’m a nobleman other than my attire. I’m thinking of wearing this parure to reveal my status, and since I’ll be using artifacts anyway, it would be better to turn the gems into artifacts.”

 

“…”

 

“I’ll cast the unique ability replication magic formula I told you about before on these gems. If I store various unique abilities in them and demonstrate from there, I can show that I’m a mage even if I can’t output mana directly.”

 

Hmm.

 

Right. So that’s how he plans to infiltrate the club. He creates opportunities well even in limited circumstances.

 

If things proceed this way, I need to change the thoughts I had earlier.

 

I looked into the Duke’s eyes and smiled.

 

“I’ll just go with you.”

 

“…! You mean you’ll enter the club together with me.”

 

“That’s right.”

 

“While I’m pleased to have someone to go with, why the sudden change?”

 

Why, you ask.

 

Because there’s now a possibility that the thief isn’t from our Empire.

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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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