How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 395

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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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Flutter—

 

Right now I’ve returned to Narke’s room and am reading the letter he received from the Vatican. Fai is still nowhere to be seen, probably still in my room. And Simon Sabelli is at the carrier pigeon breeding grounds, now alone in his quarters. Narke has assigned a Priest of Trier to him to prevent him from going to the post office.

 

[Are you saying there’s someone in the Vatican who used holy relics for wicked purposes? In the Vatican?]

 

[Why would it necessarily have to be holy relics? There’s no one in the Vatican with the audacity to steal and use holy relics from Germany.]

 

[The Vatican has completed a thorough investigation of all people, goods, and mail that entered the Vatican at that time. Everything from private letters to tourists from the East. So how can you say the culprit is in our Vatican, Lord Farnese? You surely know there’s fundamentally no one here who could lead such a crime. This is a place where strict divine interrogations are conducted daily. You know better than anyone that this is a place where crimes are fundamentally blocked.]

 

“Letters are pouring in.”

 

Narke, who had briefly stepped out of the room, set down the letter basket that an errand boy had left on the desk. I put the letter I was reading back in its envelope and pushed it toward him. Narke unfolded the last letter I had read and nodded readily.

 

“Hmm… That’s a valid point. The Vatican already completed all investigations at the beginning of this month, and the probability of any cover-ups occurring during that process is extremely low. They would have interrogated to the point of burning brains with divine power. If someone had special unique abilities, they would have created new interrogation methods tailored to that person’s abilities.”

 

He’s confidently saying spine-chilling things while smiling. Anyway, Narke is currently agreeing with the Vatican’s letters. I wasn’t entirely unsympathetic to their claims either. If I were in their position, in a space where having ulterior motives would lead to purging within a day, I would have said the same thing about where any traitors could be. I smiled faintly and spoke quietly to Narke as he rummaged through the letter envelopes.

 

“I’m worried that your reputation might be damaged because of my claims. I’m sorry.”

 

“No, it’s fine. I hoped for this kind of reaction. Me too.”

 

Narke knows my purpose is to make the Vatican chaotic. If it were just my claims, the Vatican officials wouldn’t have reacted like this, but since it’s a shared opinion with Narke, the Vatican is now in an uproar as Sabelli said. That mountain of letters piled in the basket proves the Vatican’s confusion. Narke smiled and answered, then stroked his chin and spoke calmly.

 

“But if cover-ups had originally occurred, if there really was a problem inside the Vatican and that fact had been revealed long ago, the Vatican wouldn’t have assigned me this case. Anyone would do the same.”

 

“Mm.”

 

“Lord Sabelli’s claim isn’t wrong. Just as all governments and royal families in the world are wary of spies or traitors, the Vatican is the same. Since it’s a place covered in divine power, schemes and tricks don’t work easily, making it much freer from such dangers than other countries… but it’s still true that they must be careful and everyone keeps their guard up. That’s how sensitive Vatican people are to traitors.”

 

“Because of that, we can actually use that point to narrow down the range of suspects.”

 

At those words, Narke shook his head and laughed.

 

“Haha… Lucas, you turn every word into a clue.”

 

“It’s fortunate they’re sensitive about this case. That’s probably why I received a letter too.”

 

“A letter? From whom?”

 

“To His Highness Emanuel Wittelsbach.”

 

At those words, Elias, who had been rolling around on the bed, suddenly raised his head. Then he jumped toward me.

 

“Me! Let me read it!”

 

We’re all going to read it anyway.

 

Elias was too much of a whiner to defend against with those words. After a brief tussle, Elias cleared his throat and opened his mouth while holding the letter.

 

“To His Highness Emanuel Wittelsbach. Greetings, His Highness Duke Emanuel Wittelsbach of Bavaria. This is Ptolemaios, Chairman of the Hermetic Society. Are you kidding with the pseudonym?”

 

Since Elias shouted out, I waved my hand and scolded him.

 

“Don’t mix in personal opinions, just read it as it is.”

 

“Yes. I know well that His Highness the Duke of Bavaria is always busy with work. Also, this is the first time you’ve received contact from our Hermetic Society. Since this is also my first time contacting royalty directly, I’m very nervous… Ah, from here to the next line is too cliché. Skip the flattery. There’s an artifact that came into the auction house, and in my judgment, it appears to be a religiously important Christian artifact. I heard that Your Highness has expertise in that field. I’m writing this letter to Your Highness hoping you would appraise the value and origin of this artifact. If Your Highness would help with the development of the Hermetic Society and artifact research, I believe it would be an incomparable honor.”

 

“An artifact. But why to His Highness Emanuel Wittelsbach?”

 

“Luca, no side comments either~ But there’s something Your Highness should know. Strangely, this item didn’t come through auction. Somehow, it was just sitting in the middle of the storage room the morning before yesterday.”

 

“…”

 

“At first we thought someone had left it by mistake or stored a personal collection item, but after asking all members, we concluded it belonged to no one. We also considered whether someone used summoning magic and it actually succeeded, but we haven’t found the exact cause of how that artifact appeared from thin air. Since we keep great possibilities for occult explanations open, we think positively of this matter, but if Your Highness would take on the appraisal, we thought you should know this fact. We’re also sending a photograph.”

 

Elias looked away from the paper, stretched his mouth wide to both sides, and shrugged his shoulders. He waved the photograph showing a rosary and said.

 

“Artifact spontaneous generation theory.”

 

“Wow~ But setting everything aside, instead of being happy about it occultly, shouldn’t they report it to the police… What if it fell there through theft? Haha.”

 

“Hmm…”

 

Everyone is giving their own reactions. I closed my eyes with my elbow on the desk and spoke.

 

“What we can learn from this is first, a Christian artifact arrived at the Hermetic Society. Second, does His Highness Emanuel Wittelsbach have expertise in artifact appraisal? Third, a letter arrived for Emanuel Wittelsbach this evening.”

 

“What’s with the question form in the middle?”

 

“The fact that questions arose is also an important gain.”

 

“Luca, you seem to be intentionally ignoring the fact that the Christian artifact arrived ‘the day before yesterday’ in the warehouse with a poof. Confirmation bias warning.”

 

“Cut me some slack. Bias sometimes helps too. It’s called hypothesis setting.”

 

I closed my eyes, rested my chin, and tapped my cheek with my finger. Knowing it was nonsense, I heard reactions from both Narke and Elias, but I ignored their complaints and opened my mouth.

 

“The important thing is this. I gave it a little poke and got a real response. What do you think?”

 

* * *

 

“Where are you goinggg—!”

 

“…”

 

I stopped in the street and looked up at the building with an incredulous face. Sabelli was leaning out of a window, shouting toward me. Narke, who was about to enter the building entrance near Sabelli’s room, also looked back at me and shook his head. I quickly went up to the floor where he was staying and caught Sabelli, who had just flung open his door.

 

“Why are you doing this? It’s midnight. Please go in and sleep.”

 

“I can’t sleep without Lord Farnese here.”

 

“How did you manage the past six months… Did you hit your head to sleep?”

 

“At least tell me where you’re going. I’m so nervous I can’t sleep at all and feel like I’m going crazy. Didn’t I even tell you high-level intelligence that Austria-Hungary is trying to annex Bosnia… no, make it independent?”

 

“…”

 

“Your Lordship is definitely a Cardinal of the Vatican.”

 

I looked at Sabelli at those words. He swept his bangs back and continued in a low voice.

 

“I don’t mean to ignore that fact, but since Your Lordship has been in Germany all along, you might not feel it realistically. All Vatican mages are astute. As Your Lordship knows, the two-sentence warning you sent today is sufficient to foretell the Brutus within. Caesar would be our Pope in this case.”

 

“…”

 

“The existence of Brutus who causes civil war under the pretext of serving the Vatican shakes the Vatican from its very foundations. So I’d like to apologize in advance.”

 

I looked at him quietly and opened my mouth.

 

“I should ask what you’re apologizing for first, but then I should say in advance that it’s fine. I understand. It seems I’ve omitted many explanations to Lord Sabelli, and I seem to have not considered Lord Sabelli’s circumstances. That place must be like a hometown to you.”

 

He was about to say something, but I smiled and immediately continued.

 

“The place I’m going now is Berlin. A holy relic was discovered at an artifact trading club. An acquaintance who knows I investigate holy relics informed me of it, so I’m on my way there now.”

 

“…A holy relic, of all things, appeared at an artifact trading club in Berlin?”

 

“It’s presumed to be a holy relic. They said it was suddenly discovered the morning before yesterday. It was just sitting in the warehouse without any connection or understandable process. As if it had been summoned.”

 

At those words, Sabelli’s eyes widened and his mouth opened. Then he showed a hearty smile like when we first met, laughed, and made a ‘sseup’ sound as he swallowed. Holy relic, another holy relic. He’s definitely bothered by that point too. I looked at him, then turned my gaze toward the tile pattern on the floor. Then I opened my mouth in that state.

 

“And I said earlier that I seemed to have not considered Lord Sabelli’s feelings.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“We haven’t known each other very long, so I have no intention of burdening Lord Sabelli’s heart. So could you lend me your ear? Since circumstances have changed, there’s something I really want to tell you now.”

 

I looked at him. Sabelli closed his mouth, stared at me, then bowed his head slightly toward my lips, bringing his ear close. I snapped my fingers to cast a sound-blocking spell and opened my mouth.

 

* * *

 

I came to a huge mansion in Berlin. The mansion owner was definitely an enormous tycoon. The reception room I entered was almost as large as a ballroom, with furniture and pillars covered in gold leaf. A three-tier chandelier that would be hard to see in ordinary mansions occupied the center of the ceiling. I briefly scanned the room and greeted the person who was already sitting inside.

 

“His Highness Emanuel Wittelsbach.”

 

“Count Ernst.”

 

Emanuel stood up from his seat with a smile. Despite having no friendship with me, he now smiles every time he sees me. It makes sense since he’s one of the few people who knows that Nicolaus Ernst is Lucas Ascanien. He gestured toward the door and said.

 

“I accepted as you advised. The chairman said he’d be here soon.”

 

“I understand. But His Highness Crown Prince Leonard didn’t come out. I thought he would want to.”

 

“I thought so too, so I deliberately told him not to come. I thought he’d refuse and come anyway, but maybe because he has a lot to do, he quickly agreed.”

 

Unexpected. But since he couldn’t even do his work properly while having tea with me, it would be good for him to focus on work a bit. Let’s each do our own thing.

 

“Good. Let’s check quickly and return.”

 

Then Emanuel smiled and laughed mischievously.

 

“You don’t want to stay with me long~? What are you hiding at home?”

 

“…No, there’s no way I’d dislike it. That’s not what I meant…”

 

I laughed awkwardly, quickly explained, and turned my head. It’s perhaps natural that the personality I saw in the extra chapter would still remain, but I was surprised since it had been a while. However, unlike then, Emanuel’s teasing didn’t last long, and his expression quickly returned to an extremely faint smile as if nothing had happened. If I weren’t here, it would change to expressionless. Emanuel in his 40s, though his face remained unchanged without aging, couldn’t have the same mind as Emanuel in his 20s.

 

We sat in silence for about ten minutes. Emanuel Wittelsbach was the first to break the silence. He sat in the reception room, took out his pocket watch, and muttered.

 

“Even if we want to finish quickly and leave, it won’t work. Count Ernst must be so disappointed.”

 

“Not at all… Rather, it’s unexpected that they’re this late when Duke Emanuel is waiting. I’ll go out and ask.”

 

“No, it’s fine. Let’s live leisurely. Take this.”

 

Emanuel offered me a cigarette as I stood up. I pondered what to say and answered truthfully.

 

“I don’t smoke.”

 

“Ah, I thought you did.”

 

That makes sense. I was the one who told him to accept it like a Bavarian before. I sat back down and answered.

 

“If you wish, I’ll smoke.”

 

“The concept of quitting smoking is interesting… but once you quit and put it back in your mouth, don’t you want it more? It would be troublesome to be a bad influence like this.”

 

“I don’t have much of an addiction problem.”

 

“You quit easily? That’s nice. I can’t do that.”

 

He lit it and shook his head.

 

“Come to think of it, age is also a factor. I’ll smoke this alone.”

 

He made a gesture of lifting a mask. If he smokes anyway, don’t I also breathe the smoke? What’s the problem… I didn’t bother to nitpick and answered, “Please do.” I sat quietly, tried to ignore Emanuel’s cigarette smoke as much as possible, gave up, and opened my mouth.

 

“Your Highness.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Do you have expertise in artifact appraisal? This is the first I’m hearing of it.”

 

“Actually, I’m hearing this for the first time too. That’s why I sent a letter asking Ernst to verify it.”

 

“I see. This is quite absurd, but I understand for now.”

 

‘Ptolemaios’ didn’t rush into the reception room until another 5 minutes had passed. A Human old man who looked like quite the bourgeois entered with a secretary who appeared to be an Esper, and greeted us upon seeing us.

 

“It’s an honor to meet you, Duke Emanuel Wittelsbach of Bavaria. And Nicolaus Ernst. I apologize for being late after asking you to come to this place.”

 

Emanuel extended his hand first to shake hands with him—the other party stood there with shocked eyes, wondering if it was acceptable to grasp royalty’s hand, so quite a bit of time passed—then asked the chairman of the Hermetic Society.

 

“Did something happen?”

 

“Well… I sent another letter to Your Grace’s secretariat, but it seems we were too late.”

 

The chairman spoke incomprehensibly while casting his gaze downward. He took out a handkerchief to wipe the cold sweat from his neck, then spoke cautiously.

 

“Actually, after troubling Duke Bavaria to come all this way, it’s difficult to say this… but the artifact appraisal we requested today will have to be canceled. I’m truly sorry.”

 

“Excuse me? What happened?”

 

“The artifact has disappeared.”

 

At the chairman’s words, I narrowed my eyes. The artifact disappeared?

 

“What do you mean by that? Please explain in more detail.”

 

“…We moved that Christian artifact from the warehouse to the chairman’s office the day before yesterday. My secretary and I are always stationed there, and today I also sat in the chairman’s office continuously to send a letter to Emanuel and wait for a reply. But this evening, just two hours ago, what was in the chairman’s office safe disappeared. I checked the safe every hour, you see. There were definitely no intruders…”

 

The chairman trailed off and hung his head.

 

Emanuel didn’t know much about theft cases, but he too seemed to sense something strange and looked at me. I exchanged glances with Emanuel and closed my eyes.

 

“Very well.”

 

When I opened my eyes, all gazes were focused on me for having uttered those words. I asked Emanuel, who was sitting beside me.

 

“Duke Emanuel Wittelsbach, would you spare me some time?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“I have questions for Chairman Ptolemaios. First, do you have spare photographs of that artifact?”

 

“Of course.”

 

He gestured to his secretary. The secretary handed me one of the files he was carrying. It contained more photographs than what I had seen in Emanuel’s letter, and there was even a list with other doctors’ names written on it, as if they had planned to send appraisal requests to them as well.

 

“Thank you. Now for another question. You wrote in your letter that Emanuel has expertise in artifact identification—why did you think that? Emanuel has never engaged in artifact appraisal activities.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

The chairman looked at us with a surprised face, then opened his mouth. His expression said ‘what are you talking about?’ We two were equally bewildered. The chairman wiped his cold sweat with his handkerchief and spoke incoherently.

 

“No, that letter clearly mentioned things that only someone who was there during the founding would know… I heard that Emanuel worked together with the founding teacher to create artifacts that would allow Humans to use magic. The fact that there were research materials for Human magic in the early days is unknown even to those who were here before this place became a full-fledged auction organization. So I thought you must have personally examined many artifacts in that process…”

 

“…”

 

What nonsense? That was something Maria Osterreicheste did alone. Emanuel actively helped Maria, and in the end he scraped together every bit of data available and burned it all, so there might be some connection… but it’s clear that the facts are very subtly distorted.

 

Instead of Emanuel, who remained silent, I picked out one thing from the chairman’s words to ask about.

 

“A letter? What letter are you referring to?”

 

“Ah, a letter came addressed to me. About Emanuel. It’s quite old—it seems it was lost for a while and only recently discovered. It said that Duke Emanuel Wittelsbach of Bavaria greatly helped in the founding of our Hermetic Society and has considerable knowledge in artifact appraisal.”

 

“…”

 

A letter that came long ago but was recently discovered? And it mentions Emanuel Wittelsbach… I pursed my lips and twisted the corners of my mouth. Then I quickly fixed my expression back to how it was and asked.

 

“You didn’t forget even though it came long ago. Why did you send a letter only to Duke Emanuel Wittelsbach without requesting appraisals from other doctors?”

 

The chairman, who had been calmly listening to my words, turned pale as a sheet at something in my question and opened his mouth.

 

“Ah, this is, perhaps there’s a misunderstanding… Even though I’m Human, I don’t harbor any ill feelings toward royalty or anything like that. I absolutely had no intention of causing harm to Duke Emanuel Wittelsbach! I just… wondered if I could hear about what kind of person our founder was… I only sent the letter because I wasn’t confident you would come out like this. If it seems suspicious, you may search right now.”

 

He spread his arms. As a 21st-century Human—though my body is an Esper anyway—I felt my vision darken and held back a sigh.

 

“Could I see the original of that letter?”

 

“Of course.”

 

The chairman took out a cream-colored envelope from his jacket’s inner pocket. However, it had originally been a white envelope that appeared to have aged and discolored over time. I could see the edges slightly frayed with paper dust flying off. Emanuel narrowed his eyes at the letter’s condition and let out a hollow laugh. I took the letter and breathed deeply. There were no chemicals on it. An old letter with nothing written on the outside. The red wax had naturally already lost its adhesive power. A seal that appeared to be from a German government office was stamped in the wax. I carefully extracted the letter from the envelope. This too was moth-eaten and yellowed with age. I exhaled deeply, grateful that I had gloves on my hands 24 hours a day.

 

“Where on earth did you find this…”

 

“Ah… actually, yesterday I had a servant reorganize the bookshelf and it came out from there.”

 

The letter’s contents were worth remembering. As he said, an elaborate false story about Emanuel was written at length over two pages, and the sender called himself X. And on the last page, the address of Emanuel’s secretariat was written.

 

[Maximilien Kahr

 

6 Ludwigstr

 

München, Deutsches Kaiserreich]

 

“That’s my secretary’s name.”

 

Emanuel, who had been looking at the letter beside me, added.

 

“Is that so.”

 

I knew that. I answered roughly and turned my attention back to the address.

 

‘Maximilien Kahr. 6 Ludwig Street… Building number 6 on Ludwig Street.’

 

I read the line below aloud and said.

 

“Nice. Munich, and the German Empire. Well, these are international times after all. But not Empire allemand, German Empire, Duitse Keizerrijk, or Impero tedesco, but Deutsches Kaiserreich.”

 

At those words, Emanuel maintained his smiling face while raising an eyebrow. He was probably asking why that was good. The chairman of the Hermetic Society sitting in front also looked at me with questioning eyes. I spoke without taking my gaze off the address.

 

“They wrote the German Empire in German, didn’t they? What dedication. But… 6 Ludwigstr?”

 

At those words, the chairman quickly nodded and answered.

 

“Yes, Ludwigstr. 6.”

 

“That’s right. That’s what it means. But what’s written here clearly says 6 Ludwigstr.”

 

At those words, the chairman still tilted his head. But Emanuel was different. He moved his fingers from his chin to his mouth and opened his mouth.

 

In Germany, building numbers are written after the street name. As the chairman said, it should be written as Ludwigstr. 6, but the letter says 6 Ludwigstr. Countries that write it that way—there are two representative examples.

 

“The writer isn’t German. They’re either British or French.”

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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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