How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 387

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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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“The blood rushing to my head makes it hard to answer.”

 

Helga Brandt sneered as she slowly spoke. Mecklenburg, who had approached at some point, was pointing his wand at her.

 

Let’s think about this. Is Helga Brandt the same person as Lilli Lebendro, or not? There are more clues that can be used as evidence that the two are related.

 

First, the facts I mentioned earlier—the same scent, apparent age, and the same unique ability.

 

Second, Helga Brandt is an original member of Pleroma. She has deep connections with the Bishop of the Diocese or has sufficient background to become a leadership figure like the Bishop of the Diocese herself.

 

Third, Helga Brandt substituted Ishmael for Pleroma in the letter. The possibility that the name Mikhail ‘Ismilov’ came from here has increased.

 

Ishmael is Abraham’s firstborn son and illegitimate child. In Christianity, Ishmael is banished to the wilderness with his mother after his younger brother Isaac is born.

 

In the letter exchanged between someone suspected of being leadership and Helga Brandt, we can see that their interpretations of Ishmael subtly diverge. The suspected leadership figure used Ishmael as ‘Diadochi,’ the numerous generals who claim to be the legitimate successors of Alexander the Great, meaning ‘those who must be driven out before the Pleroma version of the Warring States period begins.’ To put it more bluntly, they can be seen as those who must be expelled before turning Pleroma into chaos. I think it would be better to compare them to Cain instead.

 

On the other hand, Helga Brandt used Ishmael as a word representing the suffering, those who walk the path of hardship and are rejected. Helga Brandt considered Ishmael to be like Pleroma as viewed from the outside, and digging deeper, he would have inwardly considered himself to be like Ishmael. As a mental-type ability user, he had no way to prove what he foresaw to others, so no one believed him.

 

‘And the fact that Yuri Alekseyev was called Ismilov in 1898… it’s because Helga Brandt ultimately won.’

 

Or he’s on the verge of victory.

 

He renames Alekseyev to Ismilov to proclaim to everyone that he was right, and that the ‘persecuted ones,’ meaning Pleroma treated as heretics, would defeat orthodox Christianity. This is currently the strongest hypothesis.

 

I said to Helga Brandt, who just kept laughing.

 

“It seems like it would be a bit difficult for you.”

 

“What would be?”

 

Mental manipulation magic, that is.

 

I smiled and pressed my finger against the skin of his neck. While doing so, I asked calmly.

 

—Do you know the Lebendro family? Tell me the truth.

 

“It’s as if you’re speaking through the Holy Spirit.”

 

“…”

 

He vaguely noticed that I had mixed mental manipulation magic into my words. If Mecklenburg had known, he would have shouted about how I could use such magic, but as expected, Mecklenburg didn’t seem to notice at all.

 

Even if I used mental manipulation magic fully, it’s uncertain whether it would be effective against Helga Brandt, who is a mental-type ability user, but since I didn’t want to reveal that I was also using divine power here, I hoped for only a very slight effect. Like a charm characteristic where you can’t immediately tell if it’s working or not.

 

Helga Brandt’s eyes flashed as he answered.

 

“Why are you Declinatio, you ask? Why? Don’t you understand even at this very moment? It felt exactly like the Holy Spirit was conveying words to me just now.”

 

“…”

 

He doesn’t seem to have noticed that I used divine power… look at his skill in forcibly fitting in the Holy Spirit and such with just one feeling.

 

“Answer me.”

 

“I don’t know about Lebendro. Hahaha… But why would you ask that? I’m truly curious about that. Have you also seen something?”

 

“…”

 

If divine power worked, the thought that he must answer truthfully would have been planted in his unconscious, so it’s likely true, but it’s still hard to completely believe.

 

It wouldn’t be easy to deal with someone who is treated as a heretic even among heretics.

 

Let me think for myself. First, how the Esper Helga Brandt could manifest in the body of the Human Lilli Lebendro can be divided into two possibilities, one of which is the hypothesis that Helga Brandt changed his appearance with divine power and appeared before us. From Pleroma’s perspective, since we have no way to find out his identity anyway, it would make sense for him to appear in a fake form. And about the other possibility, I won’t think about it now. Because that hypothesis leads to too many other possibilities.

 

Moreover, if we consider only this moment, what’s really important is this: both are thinking in the same way. The leadership negotiation team led by Lilli Lebendro said that I and Ismilov should be put together. And Lilli Lebendro already told me I was ‘complete alone.’ Just like how Helga Brandt is now calling me Declinatio.

 

‘My head hurts.’

 

Thoughts keep connecting in an endless chain.

 

I already knew how things had flowed and were supposed to flow.

 

The situation is this. Ismilov is the person who looks most like a ‘messiah’ on the surface. He is a blank canvas, an empty vessel. Much changes depending on what is drawn and what is contained.

 

Pleroma would have put many people’s abilities into Ismilov since 1897, and tried to add the abilities of Narke, me, and Haike as well. This was the thought I had previously.

 

And the past of the leadership figure presumed to be Lilli Lebendro now tries to put me in the seat where Ismilov sits. While considering Yuri Alekseyev as the messiah, while considering him so important, he chose me for that position instead of Yuri Alekseyev.

 

Now what’s important is what he knows and how far.

 

“Lebendro is enough now. Do you know Ainsiedel?”

 

“Why are you asking that again? Is that related to this now?”

 

Mecklenburg snapped with an anxious voice.

 

Unique ability. I need to confirm whether Helga Brandt knows about unique abilities. My real purpose for coming here was ultimately to save Haike Einsiedel. I had to find out why Haike and Ismilov showed similar reactions at the same moment, and why they didn’t show the ‘same’ reaction.

 

Helga Brandt raised his eyebrows and answered.

 

“The Ainsiedel family. A Junker family.”

 

“Besides that.”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

He doesn’t know Ainsiedel? That can’t be.

 

‘…Is he so obsessed with Yuri Alekseyev alone that he doesn’t know other news?’

 

Since he had already left Germany from 1888, he couldn’t know everything happening in Germany. Ainsiedel at this time seemed to have connections only with the Brandenburg Archdiocese. Seeing that Munich-Freising was also accepting and educating Ainsiedel as a prospective believer, not all of Pleroma knew him. This person was also in Russia, so it might have been difficult to know about him.

 

“Let’s return to the main point. Why do you think I am a complete person?”

 

“Do you also know that you yourself are complete?”

 

I ignored his crazy statement and continued speaking.

 

“You already failed to prove your claims to your colleagues. Why is Yuri Alekseyev important? How exactly is Yuri’s ability related to salvation?”

 

“…”

 

“I’m really curious what you would have answered to these questions. Now try telling me. I’ll gladly believe you.”

 

Helga Brandt cannot explain what he ‘foresaw’ to his colleagues. He 1. couldn’t even prove that Yuri Alekseyev had an ‘absorption’ ability—well, he would have learned it by chance through his Envoy of the Covenant ability—and 2. couldn’t prove how that absorption ability was related to Pleroma-style salvation.

 

I put the control device that I had dropped, that had been on my left hand, on his right hand and pulled out the magic extraction box.

 

“Let me tell you in advance that I know this. You made a plan to give blessings to everyone at Lavrentiev Monastery to prove to everyone that Yuri Alekseyev has absorption abilities. People can bring out power they didn’t know they had in crisis situations, so if you’re lucky, you could show that Yuri Alekseyev has ‘qualifications’ and more than that.”

 

At those words, Helga Brandt laughed again. He kept showing the same reaction. He gasped for breath because his body was bent backward, laughed, and observed my face. While doing so, he listened carefully to my words, and laughed again.

 

Ignoring his annoying reaction and thinking about it, after leaving this place and exchanging letters with the Bavarian intelligence department to confirm—this is why a warp mailbox was needed—the actual Lavrentiev Monastery in the past was destroyed by fire. Everyone must have died after the blessing. If only corpses were left, the villagers would find it strange, so they must have set fire to the building.

 

Although there are no rampage drugs at this time, there have always been those who can accept Vitriol and those who cannot. Helga Brandt took a deep breath and opened his mouth.

 

“You came here knowing and looking for Yuri Alekseyev. As expected, you knew that he was your Malak.”

 

“…”

 

“—Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

 

I could feel strength entering the stomach I was pressing down with my knee. He tried to raise his head that had fallen backward as much as possible and looked straight at me. I could tell from his fist tightly gripping the wand that Mecklenburg’s wariness was intensifying.

 

“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples this. So what did the disciples answer?”

 

“…”

 

Dozens of thoughts rushed into my head and connected organically. I stared down at him and said quietly.

 

“…Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

 

“So Jesus asked his disciples, ‘But what about you? Who do you say I am?'”

 

“…”

 

“Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Hahaha… Unlike ‘the people,’ Peter gave the correct answer.”

 

“So, what are you trying to say?”

 

“Who do people say I am! I who recognized who you are am like Peter. Since it’s come to this, just kill me. If it weren’t for you, would I have known this much? Even if I die, wouldn’t it be glorious to die at the hands of someone like you? Soon because of me, you will know who you are, so this would be a righteous death!”

 

Hearty laughter continued. I could vaguely understand why he kept laughing. He completely believes that his foresight was correct. He caught his breath while laughing and shouted again.

 

“I saw it! And you appeared directly before my eyes like this. You said you would come in the future, but you came today.”

 

“He’s crazy. This person right now…!”

 

Mecklenburg whispered urgently. I unconsciously swallowed my saliva. Goosebumps ran all over me. This is what a crazy person is. Not anything else, but this is what crazy is. He firmly believes something that isn’t truth or anything else by himself and is asserting it with certainty. I felt like I had become a cult leader without wanting to. Mecklenburg also began to turn pale. His face was extremely cold and aggressive, but even so, it would be difficult to suppress primitive fear in front of a madman who couldn’t be reasoned with.

 

‘In the end, his unique ability is the basis for all his conviction, is that it?’

 

“I know I made a mistake. But unlike me who knows now, in the future people will still not know who you are, like ‘the people.’ This time too they will be ignorant, but conversely they will be ignorant. Just as I mistook John the Baptist for Christ, they will continue to do so.”

 

“…”

 

Synonymous substitutions are repeated countless times. He called Yuri Alekseyev Malak and now he’s calling him John the Baptist.

 

That means Lilli Lebendro knows that Yuri Alekseyev is not the ‘real’ Envoy of the Covenant. Then what was Yuri Alekseyev to Lilli Lebendro?

 

‘…Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming.’

 

Ismilov must have been ‘my messenger.’ Lilli Lebendro believes that I am the Envoy of the Covenant.

 

“…”

 

My stomach churned.

 

He would have tried to put me inside Ismilov.

 

Or I would demonstrate ‘completeness’ and devour Ismilov.

 

The latter is just a hypothesis, so I don’t know if it’s possible or not, but putting Ismilov and me together is never a losing proposition for him.

 

What’s certain is this. Helga Brandt and Lilli Lebendro targeted me. Even if his foresight was wrong and his judgment was completely misjudged, it was clear that Lilli Lebendro was actively using his confirmation bias to drive me toward being the Envoy of the Covenant. Even during this, Helga Brandt shouted in a voice trying to convince someone.

 

“Still, I won’t stop you. Lord, may it not be so! This shall never happen to you—No! Unlike Peter, I know. That you are one who can die and come back to life. Peter was too ignorant. We have already mastered the New Testament. We will not repeat the mistake he made.”

 

“…You’re insane.”

 

“I have no idea what to do with a Declinatio who doesn’t know he is Declinatio. How should I explain on what basis I made such a judgment? You are one who needs no explanation.”

 

“You’re crazy…”

 

I slowly shook my head. Helga Brandt is indeed insane. As his colleagues suspect him, as no one can accept him…

 

But at least Lilli Lebendro, who is ideologically the same being, ultimately won in our world. Under the premise that the two are the same person, Helga Brandt, who was an original Pleroma member and the group’s madman, eventually gets promoted to Bishop of Brandenburg and names Yuri Alekseyev as Mikhail Vladimirovich Ismilov to commemorate Ishmael’s victory. Falsehood triumphed.

 

Let me think again at this point.

 

His ‘Envoy of the Covenant’ ability, judging by the name, would be seeing and hearing revelations about future events. The difference from ‘foresight’ would likely lie in the degree of dependence on God, but first of all, it’s questionable whether God even exists, and it’s also questionable why two abilities that seem essentially similar are marked differently. The ‘Envoy of the Covenant’ trait might be the ability to see and hear specific visions or voices that are ‘mistaken as given by God,’ unlike ‘foresight’…

 

‘Then this ability should be called delusional disorder.’

 

How are all the names written in this system determined? Leo’s words cross my mind again. Does the system truly care for me? No, now wasn’t the time to think about that. In the end, what did I need to know here to save Haike?

 

I felt my head cooling as I spoke.

 

“I’ll give you authority.”

 

“Hey, what are you trying to say…!”

 

Mecklenburg grabbed my shoulder with a panicked face. I removed his hand and fixed my eyes on Helga Brandt’s pupils. Helga Brandt tried to raise her body and barely managed to ask.

 

“What authority?”

 

“You’re mistaking me for… So I don’t think you would dare refuse this opportunity. To convince that headquarters of your fanaticism, you’ll need to experiment too.”

 

“…”

 

“Go ahead and do as you please.”

 

Mecklenburg’s wand was now pointed at me. Terrified, he began shouting something at me. I shook my head and continued speaking.

 

“Do to me exactly what you were going to do to Yuri Alekseyev.”

 

* * *

 

Crash—!

 

As soon as I came out of the extra chapter, I forced magic power into my unmoving legs and opened the door with a loud noise. Leo, who had been leaning against the wall, looked at me in surprise.

 

“What’s wrong, Lucas.”

 

“Narke.”

 

“Narke? This isn’t the time to look for that kid, you…”

 

“Where’s Narke.”

 

Leo frowned at my question and answered with a puzzled face.

 

“Trier Cathedral.”

 

“What? Since when.”

 

Trier Cathedral. It’s a place related to my plan, but Narke is there now?

 

“It’s been a few hours. …But you timed it well.”

 

What does he mean by timing? My head hurts. As I closed my eyes while catching my breath from the aftermath of what I experienced in the extra chapter, Leo held something out.

 

“Check this out.”

 

It was a letter in a black envelope with gold trim. The moment I took the letter, golden letters in neat cursive appeared on the envelope.

 

[To His Eminence Cardinal Nicolaus Ernst of the Vatican]

 

“…”

 

They’re looking for me as a Cardinal.

 

When I looked at Leo, he answered expressionlessly.

 

“It’s a letter that came for you 10 minutes ago. It’s probably asking you to come to Trier now.”

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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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