How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 302

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magic Family (302)

 

“Are you ready?”

 

“No.”

 

“We need to do more then.”

 

Emmanuel said as he took out a cigarette containing magic potion from the case. I inhaled the smoke from the nearly finished cigarette and let out a long breath.

 

‘I’m doing all sorts of things in my life.’

 

I already thought I had often experienced things people couldn’t commonly do due to my job characteristics, but here I’m having so many experiences that I couldn’t have even if I were reborn.

 

“Our physical bodies will remain in the material world.”

 

I heard a solemn voice chanting an incantation. The Duke, who had been sitting next to my single sofa smoking magic potions, moved his hands as if giving a speech.

 

“Our souls will be purely separated. We will erase layer by layer what binds us to the material world.”

 

“I don’t want to be separated.”

 

Though I said that, my body was gradually falling asleep. Unlike my body, my mind was still clear.

 

At least the weight of the case I’m handling is lighter compared to what I’ve experienced so far, and since it’s not dangerous work, I’m trying it. Maria has had out-of-body experiences—her claim—several times without any problems. Didn’t she also talk about House of Bourbon after going to France through astral projection? After visiting House of Bourbon, he had been practicing to hone his mind to move his soul to appropriate places.

 

Unlike Maria, if anything happens to my soul, I will immediately leave the extra chapter and return to reality.

 

Emmanuel seemed unable to believe this situation and was just smiling vacantly beside me. I put down the nearly finished cigarette on the tray and received a new magic potion to smoke. Emmanuel stared at me like that, then looked over my appearance once and muttered.

 

“You’re amazing.”

 

“Why am I amazing?”

 

“It seems like I’ve made a good friend for Maria… Whether Count Everett has good character, or whether he really likes the occult this much.”

 

He’s saying it’s amazing that I’m playing along with Maria’s delusional words. Actually, I’m doing this nonsense because of the technology Maria developed rather than because of Maria herself, but anyway, it makes me laugh too.

 

“You go next time.”

 

“Hmm, I guess the latter is wrong. Let’s go with the former.”

 

Emmanuel opened the bronze box. It was an artifact infused with my divine power. He put the wand in the box and transferred the divine power, then brought the wand close to my forehead.

 

“I’ve never used divine power before, so I’m not sure if it will work, but I’ll try… Soon His Grace the Duke will hold your hand. His Grace the Duke will do everything, so relax your mind and release the tension from your body.”

 

Mana spreads out from the ring artifact given by Archduchess Maria. I forcibly woke my body that was about to fall asleep and frowned. I don’t know if I actually did so, but at least I thought I did.

 

“You will move to France 183 years ago by A.A. standards.”

 

Following Emmanuel’s nonsensical words, the world turned black. It was the year the Duke had told us about.

 

“…”

 

I was just in a smoke-filled room, but now I can see a cloudless night sky above my head. The moment I unconsciously opened my mouth to look around, wind suddenly blew and made me close my eyes.

 

“Huh…”

 

At the unfamiliar sound from beside me, I turned my head to see the Duke holding my wrist with his eyebrows raised in surprise.

 

“What is it?”

 

“I never thought I’d actually come with another person. This is really new.”

 

That’s what I should be saying.

 

Is this really possible? Really? I opened my mouth as I looked around the Paris night streets I was seeing for the first time. Since the urban development of Paris hadn’t been completed yet, this place looked exactly like 19th-century countryside.

 

‘This is impossible.’

 

Rather than astral projection, it feels exactly like I’m dreaming. Thinking that, I looked at my body. My body is still visible in my field of vision. Since we haven’t activated the artifact that projects our material world appearance yet, my clothing was familiar as usual.

 

According to the Duke, we are currently only in soul state, and since we haven’t activated the artifact that projects our material world appearance yet, we’re actually invisible, but the reason I can see my body is because I myself thought of my body as ‘something that should naturally be there.’ In other words, this is the appearance of myself that I usually think of.

 

Then the Duke observed me and tilted his head.

 

“You seem to look somewhat different.”

 

“…How so?”

 

“You’ve become more exotically handsome. Do you want to be like this?”

 

“No? Thank you for the compliment.”

 

I answered feeling my head go cold. This is crazy. Is my face mixed up right now? I somehow tried to draw Luca’s face in my mind and took a deep breath. Though I wonder if breathing deeply makes sense for a soul.

 

“But how are you seeing my face, Your Grace?”

 

“We’re resonating with each other right now. We’re influencing each other’s minds.”

 

Resonating, he says.

 

This isn’t about mental manipulation magic. Mental manipulation magic is an activity where an outsider scrapes out internal things and pulls them outside, but this current phenomenon is about becoming an insider entirely. Like entering someone else’s labyrinth.

 

It’s an inexplicable phenomenon. I quietly asked.

 

“How is that possible?”

 

“That’s something I’d like to know too. How exactly can one interfere so deeply with another person’s soul? It’s fascinating. As if one has gained some kind of authority… So the ancient humanity’s magical studies called by the name of occult have the power to heal the world. They approached the divine and knew how to commune with God. That’s what I’m trying to do too.”

 

The conclusion is that he doesn’t know the principle either. I stared at him and asked.

 

“There’s still something I don’t understand. How did you create the artifact that projects material world appearance? Moreover, I’m curious about how you made it possible to use artifacts, which are things of the material world. You said you bound the artifact to the soul rather than the body, but no matter how I think about it, even that doesn’t make sense.”

 

It was a question about the artifact we would soon use. The Duke was silent. Then, after a long while, he answered.

 

“That method is a secret.”

 

“What?”

 

“Even if I told you, you wouldn’t be able to perform it.”

 

I didn’t expect a proper answer anyway. The Duke introduced various magical formulas including unique ability replication technology, but he knows almost nothing about how they actually work. It just ends with ‘put in blood, burn strange spell-cast grass soaked and dried in elixir, place candles at the vertices of a pentagram, and chant declarative incantations you’d only see in plays.’ It’s a sight that would make magical scholars collapse, and I’m also genuinely curious about how such activities produced good output.

 

I did hear the reasonable explanation that the structure of certain occult magical formulas could be improved and incorporated into general magical studies, but mostly it was difficult to get clear answers. So naturally it’s difficult to be understood by the world. Right now, aren’t I seriously doubting myself whether I’ve gone mentally deranged?

 

‘Still, I did see many records of traveling to the past through hypnosis in 19th to 20th century psychoanalytic literature… Or traveling within one’s inner self.’

 

However, since I was someone who thought skeptically about the factuality of hypnosis even then, this reality is even more unbelievable.

 

‘But I can’t stay like this.’

 

I need to awaken myself like when I first fell into this world. Back then, since death was confirmed, my mind worked quickly, but now it’s not like that so my sanity keeps coming back, but there’s nothing solved by denying what has already happened. I need to become a perfect future person right now and successfully finish this scene…

 

There’s no time to delay. I need to adapt as quickly as possible and create a state where I can absorb even the smallest information.

 

I watched a police officer passing by not paying attention to us, then walked toward him.

 

Crash—!

 

I felt the shock and pain of my body being pushed. Archduchess Maria grabbed me with a surprised expression. I staggered backward, but the police officer continued forward as if nothing had happened.

 

“People pass through me.”

 

I walked forward and touched a residential building with my hand. I felt the rough texture of bricks on my hand. Just like with the police officer earlier, my hand didn’t pass through first. The shock and pain I felt from the police officer, and the texture of the bricks, are all things I judged as ‘what should naturally be felt in such a situation.’ Good. There’s no problem using the astral plane like the material world.

 

The Duke watched me, then smiled brightly and answered my earlier muttering.

 

“Well, Count Everett is currently a soul.”

 

He took out a pocket watch to check it, then looked at the shining royal palace below the hill and said.

 

“Let’s go. The astral plane will take us to our destination.”

 

“Has the meeting already started?”

 

“Yes. It’s a meeting held in a secret space in the basement of the Queen’s study, so normally we couldn’t enter without knowing the password, but fortunately we’re souls so we can go anywhere.”

 

“Right… Because we’re ghosts.”

 

“But that doesn’t sound very nice.”

 

“Yes, but it doesn’t change the fact that we’ve become ghosts.”

 

The Duke laughed even at my soulless complaint.

 

“Enjoy the astral plane. Even though this is an era without magic, don’t you feel that everything here is made of mana? It’s possible because the astral plane is a world of mana alone.”

 

It certainly feels like mana even though it’s the world of old humanity. Though it’s subtle since I haven’t finished adapting yet. I responded with a smile instead of words.

 

“Now, I’ll lead the way, so please be comfortable. We just need to appear before them.”

 

The Duke struck the silver earring he had hanging on his ear with his hand. At that moment, the silver earring changed into a sapphire perure earring, and a wide-brimmed sky-blue hat half-covered his face. Now our material world appearance would actually become visible.

 

Before I could finish preparing mentally and put my hand on the artifact, the Duke kindly activated the artifact for me and stamped his foot. An interior unfolded before my eyes.

 

“…?!”

 

Eight people in black robes who had been standing around a round table turned to look this way with widened eyes. A human who seemed to be in his 60s, looking the oldest, quickly hid his confusion and shouted angrily.

 

“Who are you!”

 

‘This is crazy…’

 

My vision goes dark. A pentagram was drawn on the round table, with candles attached to each point. Goosebumps spread all over me.

 

The Duke wasn’t flustered at all by the shouting and drew his wand, speaking solemnly in French.

 

“Now listen! I shall tell of the glory of our Dardanian bloodline.”

 

“…?”

 

“The descendants to be born from the ancient Italian bloodline, I shall unfold the story of those who will become great souls and inherit our name and legacy, and reveal their destiny!”

 

‘Are you kidding?’

 

What is this nonsense? When explaining his identity wouldn’t even be enough, what is he doing?

 

Unlike my madly beating heart, my expression remained frozen. Even if bloody tears came out, I had to maintain my composure to finish the job I was assigned.

 

When the Duke’s recitation of the Aeneid ended—considering the situation where the passage he used came from, it seems he was probably trying to emphasize that he himself is transcendent, prophetic, and benevolent—the middle-aged man who seemed to be the second most powerful person said.

 

“Who are you? State your names.”

 

‘…They’re not chasing us away?’

 

Since they don’t seem to have any intention of taking up weapons and trying to harm us, are they trying to resolve this through dialogue? Still, I would have chased them away… The Duke nodded solemnly and opened his mouth.

 

“We are Hermetic mages from 1886. Knowing that you have great interest in magical studies, we came from the future like this to help you.”

 

“….”

 

They exchanged glances with expressions that said they were looking at some madman. I was definitely being treated like a lunatic, but that actually brought me a sense of relief.

 

One of the French Noblemen spoke in a still sharp voice.

 

“A Mage, you say. How can we believe such words?”

 

‘At least they have common sense.’

 

Duke silently drew his wand and slashed it through Midair. The moment the French Noblemen reflexively stepped back, the divine power I had lent him sparked from its tip. The Noblemen’s eyes widened.

 

“You have seen it. I can use magic. The Mage here can do the same.”

 

The color drained from the faces of the shocked Noblemen. However, wariness still lingered in their eyes. Fortunately, I could once again sense that they were reasonably sensible people.

 

Duke nodded as if he had expected this. Then he casually touched his bracelet and flicked his wand. A stream of water appeared in Midair, spiraling toward them.

 

“…!”

 

“Isn’t this proof enough?”

 

I thought their faces couldn’t get any paler than before, but I was wrong. Their faces were turning almost blue. No matter how much these people wanted to use magic, they were still people from an age without magic. The sight of water appearing in midair was something that shattered their common sense. Regardless of whether they believed our words or not, the fact remained that something impossible had just happened before their eyes.

 

While everyone stood frozen, looking at each other, Elderly Nobleman broke the silence.

 

“I asked you to reveal your names. Please understand that we cannot be certain your intentions in coming Here are benevolent. We must confirm whether you are people we can trust.”

 

“I am Maria Österreicheste of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and this is my Younger Brother who shares the same name as me.”

 

When did that become the case? Anyway, I didn’t object. Elderly Nobleman, his brow furrowed, asked him.

 

“Österreicheste, you say. Not House of Este? Since when have Austria and Hungary been the same Empire?”

 

“Our Austria and Hungary becoming the same Empire is a matter of the 19th century. It’s something that won’t happen for about 150 more years.”

 

Since he had asked sarcastically, he probably didn’t expect to actually get an answer. That Human still shook his head with a disbelieving expression, but nevertheless, doubt and fear began to fill his eyes with the thought that maybe, just maybe.

 

“…How did you get in Here?”

 

“Walls and keys mean nothing to us. This too was accomplished through our magic.”

 

“….”

 

Elderly Nobleman closed his eyes in thought, then pointed to chairs near us.

 

“Please sit.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Duke sat down with a confident smile, pleased that he had succeeded. I couldn’t believe we had somehow made it this far. As expected of people who wanted to use magic, the difference was clear—ordinary people would have immediately thrown us out and reported us, but these people were telling us to sit down. I was already feeling anxious, as if eight more Maria Österreichestes had just been created.

 

After swallowing nervously and taking a seat, all seven Humans except for that Elderly Nobleman looked at us with eyes full of wariness. They didn’t seem to have any intention of sitting down. Elderly Nobleman, befitting the leader of the Club, quickly regained his composure and sat down across from us.

 

“That aside.”

 

His eyes sharply scrutinized us.

 

“You look quite strange. Let’s talk about that.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————