How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 380

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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 did you do it?”

 

How did I do it, he asks. With divine power, of course. His memories must be a complete mess, so he probably has many questions, but I have no intention of answering any of them. The only thing that bothers me is that for some reason, his question lacked any soul. For whatever reason, no matter how I changed my hair color, his interest had already completely left that topic.

 

Since I had grabbed him anyway, I ran my hand through his hair that had been slicked back boringly with pomade, messing it up. He should have been startled and swatted my hand away by now, but he just stood there with his mouth hanging open. I considered messing up my own hair too, but since I had only wet it with water from the start, it was more free-flowing than Mecklenburg’s, and I knew that just the fact that most of the pigment had faded already made me look quite different from my original appearance, so I decided not to mess with my hair.

 

Now there shouldn’t be any more questions. I silently climbed the hill.

 

“W-wait a minute.”

 

He urgently grabbed the end of my sleeve from behind, so I turned around with the sun at my back.

 

“How you did this, I won’t ask right now. Anyway, you, you, every time…”

 

Mecklenburg pressed his forehead and covered his eyes. Since he couldn’t continue speaking, I looked down at his frowning eyes and chuckled.

 

“Have we ever had an ‘every time’?”

 

“Change your hair color back.”

 

“…”

 

An order?

 

Though it felt more like he didn’t have the energy to refine his tone… I put my hand on my neck and let out a deep breath. I don’t know how to deal with this hopeless young master from a ruling family.

 

I looked at the empty field behind Mecklenburg, devoid of any people, and thought for a moment before irritably touching my neck and opening my mouth.

 

“Why? Get a grip. This opposite color is the best. You’d be amazed how much a person’s first impression can change just from hair color and eyebrow color. With just this, I can fool 95 out of 100 people passing by. If I change the hairstyle and eyebrow shape too, witness testimony…”

 

I felt a strange sense of crisis. The person I’m facing isn’t the type to quietly listen when I ramble on like this. By now he should have responded with something like ‘who doesn’t know that.’ I turned my gaze from surveying the surroundings to the guy in front of me.

 

Mecklenburg wasn’t saying anything, just keeping his mouth tightly shut while staring at me intensely. I let out a hollow laugh at his unexpectedly serious reaction.

 

“…What’s wrong with you, really.”

 

How boring. I grabbed him since he showed no intention of moving on his own and dragged him up the hill.

 

Touching the cross I had hung around my neck on the train, I approached the village. I had secured permission to warp around western Russia for today, so if I need more time, I just need to return to the train station before midnight tonight to extend my coordinate system usage rights. They wouldn’t let foreign mages warp freely—that might be different for domestic mages—so I have to get permission from the central or local government like this. I managed to obtain this legitimately, so I can feel at ease about this part.

 

‘The important thing is that it’s until midnight tonight.’

 

Still, time might actually be sufficient.

 

Every time I see the distinctive dome shapes of Russian architecture in the distance, I feel it was worth enduring those 51 hours. Now I need to act like someone who came from Germany for a study tour…

 

‘Good.’

 

I’ve created the whole setting. From now on, I’m an academically passionate German university student. Fortunately, I’m dressed boringly like a bourgeois university student of this era, so it’s perfect.

 

I cleared my throat to create a calm voice and turned around to call Mecklenburg.

 

“Albert?”

 

I gestured to Mecklenburg, who was following from a distance as if he had been dragged unwillingly to a place he didn’t want to go. He had been glaring at the back of my head with wary eyes—to think he was staring like that, he must have burned a hole through it—when he suddenly looked startled and forced a smile while matching my pace. I brought my head close to his and lowered my voice.

 

“Listen carefully. Who wants to be the subordinate? Or friends?”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“Our relationship. We’ll have to explain when we go in there, right? Decide quickly.”

 

“…You be the subordinate.”

 

“No. We’re going as friends.”

 

“Why did you ask then?!”

 

“I don’t care what I call you, but thinking about it, our appearances are problematic. Even if I act like your subordinate, no one would believe it and it would just create an awkward feeling.”

 

I pointed up and down with my finger, from the free-flowing hair swaying in front of me to the shoes made by royal craftsmen that Nicolaus often wore. Of course, even servants wouldn’t bring someone from a completely different class, but we look too similar, and if my outfit were more shabby it might be different, but if a servant went around dressed like this, it would mean the master is no ordinary person, which would only burden whoever we talk to. Rather, even if we’re both nobles, saying two peers came to visit would be better in terms of psychological burden, I dare to guess.

 

“…”

 

Even at words that could sound annoying, Mecklenburg looked down and remained silent, then opened his mouth at the same time I was about to say something.

 

“…With your face, that would be the case.”

 

“Rather, you’d be my subordinate… what? What’s gotten into you?”

 

I squinted and asked, unable to believe he had said such a thing.

 

And at that moment, I suddenly realized. It was too unimportant to me, so I hadn’t thought that far immediately.

 

I let out a hollow laugh and said.

 

“That friend you said I resemble has blonde hair. Right.”

 

“…”

 

“How is it? Do I look similar?”

 

“…”

 

“Fine, I guess we’re similar. Compared to me, how is that friend?”

 

“…Kind. Unlike you, he doesn’t show off, he’s calm and serious. …There’s a lot to learn from him, he’s always gentle, that kind of friend.”

 

“Hmm~”

 

He’s trying hard. As his words near the end, the tension in his voice fades. As if he’s given up. I whistled and muttered.

 

“I’m gentle too.”

 

“Ah, the weather here is really cold. Whew…”

 

“What did you say?”

 

“So, what are we supposed to do?”

 

“We’re classmates who met at Greifswald University’s theology department. We’re majoring in magical theology. You know some theology, right?”

 

“Of course. Anyone from a ruling family would have finished it before turning ten.”

 

“Right, you’re so great. Anyway, if it’s undergraduate level, we can somehow manage, so don’t hide too much and actively say something. Got it? People who would come all the way here shouldn’t have ordinary passion.”

 

“An undergraduate level for a high school student? Is that possible…?”

 

Mecklenburg said in a voice full of worry. The 25-year-old Mecklenburg would never say something like that. I patted his shoulder and shook my head.

 

“What’s the big deal about the First Education Institute. Did you learn theology in high school? No, right. I don’t know theology well, so you handle everything. Got it?”

 

“What? You’re first place though.”

 

“Ah, that damn first place! Here’s the key point. Now it’s time for you to show off the theological knowledge you learned with money your family made by putting the commoner assets they’ve accumulated for generations into banks and multiplying it through stock investments.”

 

“What are you saying?! This is blasphemy…!”

 

“And you asked a few days ago if I spoke Russian well, right? Forget it. Speak in Greek. The Orthodox Church also requires Greek study.”

 

“Wait, I don’t know Greek…!”

 

“You can’t do it?”

 

When I asked that, Mecklenburg stopped abruptly and stared at me without blinking once. Just when I was wondering if his eyes weren’t getting dry, he answered in a low, clear voice.

 

“…There’s no way I can’t. I’ll be better than you.”

 

For some reason, I feel like he’s overlapping someone else in those eyes.

 

“I’m sure you will.”

 

I smiled faintly and turned around. As we walked slowly toward the monastery, the villagers going about their business glanced at us outsiders. Unlike most of them who wore jackets suitable for work, we were dressed completely differently, so it was natural we’d draw attention.

 

Standing in front of the monastery’s main gate, I signaled to Mecklenburg, and he reluctantly knocked on the door while speaking in Greek.

 

Knock knock—

 

“Is anyone there?”

 

There was no response. Even after waiting a long time, no sound could be heard, so we put our hands in our pockets and looked up at the sky.

 

Then the door suddenly opened.

 

“Who are you?”

 

The person who opened the door was the elderly monk who had urged me to speak Russian. His Orthodox monastic robes and prayer knots had weathered and worn over the three years, and the wrinkles around his eyes had deepened. Though it might be the difference between an 8-year-old’s perspective and an 18-year-old’s perspective.

 

Mecklenburg and I hastily straightened our posture and showed proper smiles. Mecklenburg quickly produced a warm voice.

 

“We are people studying magical theology in Germany. We developed a deep interest in the Orthodox Church and discovered this monastery while touring Russia, so we knocked on your door. Could we meet the abbot?”

 

The monk looked at us with slightly flustered eyes before beginning to speak in Greek.

 

“The abbot is currently bedridden and cannot be seen. But please come in.”

 

His voice had become thinner than three years ago, with metallic sounds mixed in between. We quietly followed him. This was the same corridor I had seen directly from a low eye level in Ishmailov’s extra chapter. The monk walked with restrained steps on the old wooden floor that must have been solid as new decades ago but now creaked and had pieces falling off with loose screws, and soon led us to small wooden chairs in the abbot’s office. Instead of me, who maintained silence even after sitting down, Mecklenburg naturally opened his mouth.

 

“It seems there’s a school attached.”

 

“It’s an educational institution for the village children. It’s not comparable to the formal schools in the city.”

 

“Monastery schools have been institutions responsible for public education since medieval times. There would be no disagreement about their importance.”

 

“Heh heh.”

 

The monk closed his eyes, nodded, and let out what didn’t quite sound like laughter. At that tired-looking reaction, Mecklenburg and I briefly made eye contact. Mecklenburg quickly looked away from me awkwardly while maintaining his earlier smile.

 

“Don’t children who grew up here sometimes go to the city and then return here again? In terms of creating such a virtuous cycle, isn’t the school a pillar of the community?”

 

“Sometimes there are such cases.”

 

The monk tightly shut his mouth with an unexpectant expression. I could feel Mecklenburg’s confusion. Mecklenburg had heard everything I had learned about Yuri Alekseyev before coming here, and he knew well that I wanted to find that student at this place. So, displaying his personality of doing well what he’s told, he had clearly tried to subtly bring up the topic of ‘outstanding students currently at this place.’

 

After saying that, the monk looked out the window.

 

“I must think of it as a mission given by the Lord. So, you seem to be mages—what brings you here?”

 

“We have to go to another region after today, but could we stay here until before midnight tonight? We want to learn a lot about the Orthodox Church and would like to experience staying here directly, so we’re making this request. We’ll provide sufficient compensation.”

 

“Midnight…”

 

“We’d also like to help with the work.”

 

Mecklenburg quickly added to what I had said. The monk clasped his hands together and nodded, then slowly opened his mouth.

 

“We do have an empty room to rest in. But our monastery is not in good circumstances right now, so it would be difficult. We have to teach students and care for the abbot, so we don’t have the capacity to accept outsiders right now.”

 

“If we offered money…”

 

“We would gladly accept, but we don’t fund our operations through tourism or lodging income. We’re grateful for the sentiment alone. Also, we truly regret that we don’t have the capacity to properly host guests and cannot provide you with proper hospitality. We hope you’ll understand with a generous heart.”

 

“Wait a moment, we’re not here for tourism…!”

If not tourism, then what. They won’t accept any other reason. I grabbed Mecklenburg’s hand and pressed it down. The monk also shook his head as he replied.

“I’ll escort you back to the entrance.”

Mecklenburg looked at me with confused eyes, then quickly swallowed and turned his gaze away, then looked back at me repeatedly. If he’s going to look, he should just look—all this back and forth is quite a commotion.

We had no intention of being a burden, but from the monastery’s perspective, they feel burdened. Being foreign nobles, they probably don’t think direct harm would come to them if they were negligent in their reception, but they clearly think that to properly host nobles as guests, they’d need not just rooms but luxurious food and attendants. The last part is key. As he said directly, the monk is busy working as acting abbot and wouldn’t have the capacity to stay by foreign nobles’ sides all day, and judging by the state of the buildings, the other monks would be equally busy.

This way, our 51 hours would be wasted. No, even without considering the time invested, this strategy would be a failure, so I’d have to think of a new way to utilize the 1891 extra chapter.

I can’t let it fail at this point.

Creak—

The moment the monk pushed back his chair and stood up, I placed my hand on the table and asked.

“Then, couldn’t we just take one quick look around?”

Mecklenburg’s gaze turned to me. With a serious face without a smile, maintaining a calm voice, I continued in Greek.

“We have to leave the region soon anyway, so I’d like to tour this monastery a bit more while we’re here, but I can’t go against your wishes. If you could just give us a chance to briefly look around the chapel and buildings here, I’d be grateful.”

 

“…”

Mecklenburg swallowed. The monk slowly nodded and briefly replied.

“I understand. If it’s brief, please feel free to look around. Let’s go.”

 

“Thank you.”

I smiled and greeted him in Greek until the end, then stood up from my seat.

“This place consists of six buildings. That building at the very back, in the center, is the dormitory. This place is the livestock barn.”

Before entering the main building, we toured the monastery grounds while being introduced to the smaller buildings first. Instead of me, who remained silent, Mecklenburg stepped forward and stuck close to the monk’s side, asking various questions.

That guy seems quite uncomfortable being with me. I walked looking straight ahead, conscious of the bright eyebrows fluttering before my eyes.

Classes must have ended as several children poked their heads out of windows. Since we had wands at our waists and wore clothes different from the shabby attire of the local commoners, it wouldn’t be difficult to tell we were Espers. I waved to the children pressed against the windows as if they might tear through the old, rattling glass and come out, then turned my gaze forward again. I saw Mecklenburg watching me do this before quickly turning his head away.

“…”

 

“What’s that place over there? Can we enter the main building now?”

 

“Of course.”

Still, Mecklenburg seemed to understand well that he shouldn’t directly bring up Yuri Alekseyev’s story—if he were going to do that, he would have sent a letter under the Mecklenburg-Strelitz family name—so he didn’t mention that child’s name.

The monks in the main building saw our attire and greeted us formally. Unlike Mecklenburg, who naturally received greetings and smiled, I had to fabricate my reactions. I waved and greeted the children visible throughout the main building. For some reason, the number of students seemed to have decreased significantly compared to three years ago, but I still hadn’t encountered Yuri Alekseyev yet. They were all Humans.

Should I put weight on the hypothesis that Yuri Alekseyev was already taken by Pleroma, or that we simply haven’t discovered him yet?

“This is the library, and the room next to it is where the monks study. The doors are different, but once you go inside, there’s another door connecting them so you can easily move between them.”

 

“What a wonderful structure.”

So we exited through the back door of the main building, passed the chapel and dormitory, looked around the pine forest and fence I had toured with Yuri, and came back out to the monastery’s main gate. I politely greeted the monk.

“We had a good look around. Thank you.”

 

“Not at all. I hope our situation improves so we can have the opportunity to host you properly in the future.”

The monk finished speaking in a voice more worn than three years ago. I responded with a smile and turned around with Mecklenburg. Had we taken about ten slow steps? Mecklenburg whispered quietly beside me with a soulless expression.

“Where do we go now?”

 

“You’ve become quite calm. Usually you would have said, ‘What’s this?! We rode the train for 51 hours and now we’re going back?!'”

 

“When was I ever that noisy?!”

 

“Just now.”

I shrugged. Mecklenburg muttered that it was ridiculous and huffed. I produced the gentle smile I had worn at the monastery, put on a calm tone and inflection, and lightly pressed his opposite shoulder.

“So, why have you become so calm?”

 

“…”

 

“Come back to how you were when we rotted together for 51 hours on the train, Albert. When you’re taciturn, you’re no fun and become the type I don’t want to hang around with.”

 

“What?!”

 

“Hahaha.”

I laughed like Adrian Ascanien, then suddenly felt disgusted and ended the laughter with a smile. I should walk slowly, but my pace was gradually quickening. I leisurely slowed my steps, and Mecklenburg, as he had been doing all along, tried not to look at me while muttering.

“So what about Yuri Alekseyev? Did you see him among the students earlier?”

 

“Not at all. More than that, did you just notice? The monastery’s atmosphere is generally subdued. The facilities are seriously deteriorated, and even if that’s acceptable, they haven’t even tried to fix them. Plus the abbot is sick…”

 

“No, wait. Do you even know what Yuri Alekseyev looks like?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Then what do we do?! We came to find him, so why am I the only one getting anxious while you’re so carefree? Huh? Aren’t you serious about this? We’re about to head back to Germany!”

 

“Ugh, you’re so noisy I could die.”

 

“What?!”

Since he was ranting and arguing, I grabbed both his shoulders and grinned.

“Yeah, I knew you’d come back to this state.”

 

“This isn’t the time for…!”

Suddenly Mecklenburg’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open. Shock appeared on his face. He stumbled and fell toward the bottom of the hill we had climbed earlier, grabbing my arm tightly.

“Uh, wait…?!”

A drowning man dragging others down? I opened my eyes wide, then squeezed them shut as I grabbed his collar with one hand and stomped my foot hard.

Crash—!

“…Gasp…!”

Mecklenburg hit the blue barrier that appeared behind him with a thud, his body jerking, then opened his eyes wide. Soon realizing he hadn’t buried his head down there, he exhaled rapidly. I released the strength from the hand gripping his collar, slowly raised the angle of the barrier, and carefully extracted my shoe heel that I had driven into the soil of the slope to prevent my own fall.

“Can’t you see what’s in front of you? We almost went to the other world together.”

 

“…Sorry.”

 

“No, why are you apologizing? You’re not that kind of person. I’m starting to feel wronged.”

 

“What’s wrong with apologizing?!”

I laughed lightly at those words. Then Mecklenburg opened his mouth again and stared blankly before quickly turning his head away. Then, like someone who had missed something, he opened his eyes wide and looked back toward me.

No, it wasn’t toward me. I turned my head toward where he was looking—above my head.

“…Uh…”

On the hill above, a Russian child was staring down at us blankly, his mouth slightly open. His gaze went to our waists, then moved to the blue barrier, then fixed on our faces.

“…”

Mecklenburg quickly grabbed my arm and cast a sound-blocking spell.

“Hey, hey…! That kid…?!”

I looked at the child and smiled gently.

Neatly trimmed black hair and still blue eyes, black monastery school robe worn slightly askew, though probably not intentionally.

Having grown up mixed among Humans, there was no holster at his waist or thighs. Looking at the face that was somewhat more mature than the 8-year-old face I’d seen a few days ago but still very much a child’s face, I whispered.

“Yeah. He’s still here.”

11-year-old Yuri Alekseyev was right before my eyes.

Good that we met. Now I have things to ask. What from three years ago could have been an event significant enough to be a turning point in your life?

I snapped my fingers to break Mecklenburg’s sound-blocking spell and asked gently in Greek.

“You must be a student at Lavrentiev. What’s the matter?”

Yuri clenched both hands and moved his mouth before answering in Greek.

“…You said you needed a room until midnight tonight, right? I can guide you all day today!”

 

“…”

At the sudden declaration, Mecklenburg was stunned. I maintained my smile and tilted my head.

“But your teacher said he couldn’t accept us.”

 

“No! That’s not it. I persuaded him. He says it’s okay to call you back!”

 

“In that short time?”

 

“…Actually, if Your Excellency would be willing to accept touring with me… He told me to say he’s sorry for the rudeness. And Teacher has to see a doctor from now on, so he can’t do it.”

 

“Ah, that kind of thing…”

 

“But Teacher listens to everything I say, unlike with other people. I came out on the condition of taking supplementary classes instead of skipping today’s lessons. I’ll lend you the room next to mine! I got first place this time so I got the biggest room, and the room next to it is big too. I’ll show you around the village too. You’re curious about the Orthodox Church, right!”

He rattled off things I hadn’t even asked about, and without giving me a chance to say anything, he raised his voice excitedly as if afraid we might slip away.

Though he hasn’t told me his secret in this world yet, I can guess why that monk came to listen to everything Yuri says, and why he indulged Yuri’s tantrum. It’s because Yuri is the only mage here, and from Yuri’s perspective, we’re adult mages he’d never meet in his lifetime unless he broke into a noble’s estate.

Looking at such a Yuri, I asked.

“Thank you for your consideration. But why are you doing this for us?”

Yuri hesitated, then glanced at the wands tucked at our waists and said.

“…I heard what my friends were saying. You two are mages, aren’t you?”

Then he turned halfway around to look at Mecklenburg—probably turned without much thought—with anxious eyes and asked me.

“…Are you going to leave like this?”

 

“We’d have to, wouldn’t we?”

When I tilted my head and answered that way, Yuri’s mouth fell open. Such easily readable despair crossed his face that Mecklenburg’s mouth also opened in shock.

“Hah… haah.”

 

I grinned at Yuri before Mecklenburg could smack my back at full power.

 

“Back to Lavrentiev, I mean. Thank you.”

 

Only then did color return to Yuri’s face. He bounced in place, smiled brightly, and extended his hand. I smiled back at him and dragged Mecklenburg up the hill.

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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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