How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 469

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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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“Ah…”

Narke shifted his gaze around and let out a deep breath. As if he hadn’t heard my words about choosing between Caetani and Sabelli at all, he turned around with a calm expression. I quickly followed behind Narke while still holding onto Elias, who was trying to look elsewhere and distance himself from us again. Narke was heading through narrow alleys between residential areas rather than main roads, going to places we didn’t know by methods we didn’t understand. Narke looked back at us and this time asked in German—this wasn’t strange since there were many people fluent in German around the Papacy.

“Monk, do you like ice cream?”

“No.”

“I like it though?”

Elias interjected, and Narke nodded and spoke to me as if making a request.

“He says he does. Still, please eat some.”

“Why…”

I don’t know why he asked if this was going to happen anyway.

Narke entered an ice cream shop with a green sign that read ‘Sicilia’—since Narke entered the shop with quick steps, it was difficult to read any more Italian from the sign—and ordered with yet another different Italian accent from before.

Soon after, the owner handed us ice cream cups. Since I wasn’t in the mood to stimulate my taste buds, even though I knew I had to eat the ice cream, I deliberately stirred it with the wooden spoon to delay the timing. Looking at it now, the texture was gelato. Now I felt somewhat inclined to eat it. I sat at a table positioned between the store and street where the sun shone well and greeted him.

“Thank you, Priest.”

“Don’t mention it.”

—”But didn’t we come here to beat up traitors, not to sightsee?”

Narke pretended not to hear my words and put strength into his rising lip corners. Elias nodded with a face that said ‘why ask such things.’ To avoid being caught having conversations through divine power, he shouldn’t nod or make eye contact at random times, but Elias reacted to our words without any concern. I silently stopped him with just my expression.

Anyway, having confirmed once again that I was facing someone who came here to sightsee, I muttered in a half-resigned state.

“Priest and Monk know how to enjoy life.”

—”Your accent is pretty good?”

Every time he spoke, the topic changed, making it hard to concentrate. I just smiled at Narke’s compliment and quietly focused on eating the gelato.

Narke hadn’t come here to rest. He deliberately created leisure by pushing away his impatience and slight reluctance. Elias scooped up his chocolate gelato generously and finished it in just three bites, then rummaged through my pocket. He was definitely looking for the grass blade he’d put in earlier, but instead of going into the pocket, he became interested in the thick newspaper folded four times and pulled it out without permission. He unfolded the pale yellow paper with a satisfied smile. Then, like me earlier, he read the ‘Eugene Lamour’ article and wrinkled his eyes.

“What’s with this person?”

“That’s what I’d like to know.”

Elias’s words contained many implications. Whether Eugene Lamour had really done something problematic and been caught, or whether he’d been caught in the grasp of media and citizens trying to extract sensational stories from something not particularly problematic, and whether he would pay an appropriate price for his crimes through public judgment or be thrown among people who satisfy their own pleasure under the pretext of correcting wrongs—these questions were in Elias’s inquiry. The reason I can somewhat determine his thoughts is because I’d already read Elias’s inner feelings about dealing with media titles, and while the reality of this period might be different, since he’d been suffering from the media’s subtle attacks, his inability to enjoy articles shows in his current expression. According to the article, they say they’ll reveal the tip-off soon rather than right now, but their obvious desire for explosive sales made it even more so.

The front page that was unpleasant to everyone was enough now. I snatched the newspaper away and said to Narke.

“So, let’s not change the subject. Are you lacking sugar?”

“Haha. Preparation activities must be thorough.”

Narke laughed and put the spoon in his mouth. I was certain. Narke also knew well that we had to go steal the seal and planned to do so soon. After rolling his eyes and thinking for a moment, he continued.

“Please decide where you’d like to go for missionary work. If you study with that country as your goal, it will surely be helpful.”

I looked at Narke. He would have known what doubts I was expressing inwardly. But soon, even without hearing any explanation, I intuited why he brought this up.

“What’s your recommendation, Priest?”

“If you’re confident in learning languages, wouldn’t Asia be good? That place isn’t part of the Christian cultural sphere. I heard from a friend that there’s a Jesuit monk who luckily survived Corte Sabella, and he joined French missionaries in Vietnam.”

“Ah…”

I rolled my eyes and roughly nodded. I don’t know about Vietnam, but thinking of Korean history from this period, I don’t think it would be a good place for missionary work, but since the East of this world’s era had progressed differently from the East of the world I lived in, Korea also didn’t have much foreign exclusion. I should speak properly here to avoid unnecessary suspicion. I thought for a moment and played along.

“As you know, Priest, missionary work in the East must be carried out in a different way from what naive fairy tales of old suggest. Since they’ve built a highly systematized civilization over thousands of years, there isn’t much room for Christianity to newly enter. In that place, the teachings of Buddha and Confucius, not Christ’s teachings, occupy the worldview of the nation and people. So wouldn’t Eastern missionary work be too difficult for novice monks like us?”

“Exactly. You have too many expectations, but we’re not Matteo Ricci, so we don’t know anything… But what’s this about?”

Elias, who had been shamelessly acting, thrust his head toward us and whispered. I cupped my hands to Elias’s ear and whispered.

“We’re going to steal a seal from either Sabelli or Caetani, but Narke says it’ll be hard to rob the Sabelli family.”

“This means that?”

Survived from Corte Sabella… This was the Papal court jurisdiction that the Sabelli family possessed, and Narke had criticized earlier that the Sabelli family was raking in money backed by their authority. He was informing us of what advantages and difficulties there were in robbing the Sabelli family.

He couldn’t trust Elias’s behavioral management if he spoke through divine power, and he didn’t want to stimulate the curiosity of Espers who might be in this shop and street by casting sound-blocking magic. He probably thought it would be better to have conventional conversations as monks to draw everyone’s attention away. In Rome, we must not do anything conspicuous. While it would be inevitable for us to deceive some mages through illusions, to stay in Rome as long as possible, we had to minimize that frequency.

“It’s like a code. It would look strange to cast sound-blocking magic here. Focus on Narke’s answer, not mine.”

“Anyway, that’s a relief. Somehow your conversation was getting annoying.”

“Right…”

He always worried about the collusion between missionary work and expansion policies, so he didn’t particularly like going on missions to countries outside the Christian cultural sphere. As Elias said, we happened to speak with the average perspective of this place rather than in our own way. It meant our concept-building had worked successfully.

Elias fell deep in thought with a face wondering why we had to steal seals at all, but basically didn’t seem to have much aversion to stealing other people’s house seals. When I played along, Narke answered seriously.

“It will certainly be difficult. However, accepting the civilization and culture developed in Asia will help your own development, Monk.”

“They seem to have quite deep relations?”

The relationship between the Papacy and Sabelli, and between Orsini and Sabelli. Narke looked into my eyes and answered.

“That’s right. Haven’t our philosophers often attempted to combine the philosophy that the East has compiled over thousands of years with Christianity? If done well, it will surely have a great impact.”

“Hmm…”

It’s a bit difficult to understand, but combining Narke’s earlier words with the current code, Sabelli is a family more closely connected to the Papacy than Caetani. Stimulating Orsini through Sabelli would be much more effective. However, it would be difficult. Elias snapped his fingers and asked.

“What other places besides Asia would you recommend?”

“If you can speak Spanish, going to South America wouldn’t be bad either. Since the environment there has become somewhat similar due to colonial rule, it would be familiar for living.”

Then Elias leaned toward me. He whispered in my ear.

“Where is this place again?”

“Caetani.”

Narke continued speaking simultaneously with my answer.

“But personally, I don’t want to do missionary work in South America. Why should we provide ourselves with additional burdens when our intentions for pure missionary work without other purposes could be misunderstood as imperialistic advancement?”

It’s a bit awkward to say such things while spouting lazy words from the perspective of ordinary European monks. If he wanted to say this, he should have said it earlier too. This wasn’t about South America but about Narke’s personal story regarding Caetani. A subtle atmosphere settled over the table.

Elias stared at such Narke, nodded, and said.

“Honestly speaking, accommodation is most important. We need to go somewhere that can provide a comfortable sleeping space.”

“Why would that be important for missionary work?”

“You need to sleep well to finish successfully. And there’s more. We need to go somewhere we won’t meet diplomatic envoys. I don’t want to become famous.”

I guessed Elias’s requirements were: a structure good for infiltration, and no one who would recognize him. Still, since he was still a student, his face wasn’t constantly sold to the media, so there was a chance as long as it wasn’t diplomatic envoys who had directly encountered Elias in Germany. Then Narke, whose head seemed complicated, exhaled.

“Whew…”

* * *

I was the last person to put down the gelato spoon. We left the shop and walked. Again, I couldn’t tell where we were going. Rome’s morning was too hot. Hotter than Germany. That much was certain.

And it was also certain that Narke’s condition of not having a single proper chat since coming to Italy remained the same. I followed behind Narke, who was walking alertly, and asked.

“I guess gelato didn’t cheer you up?”

—”Your Italian sounds nice.”

—”If you’re still worried, let’s go drink espresso.”

—”Espresso.”

Narke repeated my word and let out a clear laugh for the first time in a while. I didn’t sense any mocking tone, but wondering what else I should call espresso if not espresso, I shot back.

—”Then what should I call it?”

—”No, no. It wasn’t wrong… But it would be better to say caffè. If you don’t want to arouse even the slightest suspicion of being a foreigner.”

—”Good thing I know now. Thanks. Let’s just go drink coffee.”

—”Should we?”

Narke didn’t seem to have that intention. He walked looking at a world I didn’t know, beyond the sunlight floating before us and the wind that scattered and disappeared through the trees. Again. The fact that he didn’t blink even once while the wind penetrated our clothes made me drawn to the quiet turmoil occurring in his universe. Only after a long while, as he passed under the shade of sparse olive trees, did he speak.

—”Caetani’s manor comes out if you go straight up from here. Neither would be good buildings to sneak into, but… if we had to choose, there would be more people among the Sabelli family members who have already met Elias. Sabelli started focusing on external activities in this generation. In contrast, Caetani focused on internal plans like Farnese.”

—”Certainly having Sabelli’s seal would make it easier to provoke Orsini. But it’s decided then. We have to enter Caetani.”

That’s exactly what Elias wanted. Elias wanted to go somewhere good for infiltration where they wouldn’t recognize him.

—”Then, Narke.”

—”Yeah.”

—”Where is that person?”

Narke immediately knew who I was talking about. Without any delay, he calmly let the words flow to me.

—”Gabrielle Caetani isn’t in Rome. He transferred his registration to Caetani of Pisa, so there’s no reason for him to be in Rome’s Caetani. Since Caetani of Pisa lives in the Two Sicilies instead of Pisa, he’s probably in the Two Sicilies now too.”

I didn’t think he would be in Rome. I already knew that Gabrielle Caetani had participated in Penthalon as part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. But the phrase ‘transferred his registration to Caetani of Pisa’ sounds like he was originally born to Rome’s Caetani but later deliberately moved his family branch and nationality.

—”I’m not sure if Caetani of Pisa and Rome are really blood relatives.”

Narke spoke as if reading my thoughts.

—”Still, Caetani of Pisa wants the reputation of Rome’s Caetani. And they want to gain benefits too.”

“…”

Caetani of Pisa and Rome aren’t blood relatives—how could that be if they’re branches of the same family? Are the two families just families with the same name but no connection whatsoever? Is discovering family secrets also an effect of insight? He hadn’t spoken clearly about anything regarding Italy. I also didn’t want to keep asking after seeing his expression. I had to change the subject.

—”So, have you thought about how we should enter Caetani?”

—”I can’t enter with this face. Whether it’s Caetani or Sabelli, people from major families know my face. I absolutely have to use illusion magic, so I need to delay when I’m deployed.”

—”Then…”

—”You and Elias will have to work hard.”

How am I supposed to? I don’t have a plan? As soon as I thought that, Narke laughed.

—”This is really absurd.”

—”Haha.”

I secretly moved my arms to put on the silver restraints Narke had given me, dividing them among my limbs. Now it was time to perfectly control my magic power and cross the barrier. I wondered if it was okay to use special items that only the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith could use for illegal activities, but since the Minister gave them to me, it should be fine. I had to comfort myself with such thoughts.

* * *

I arrived at the Caetani manor without any plan whatsoever. Once I arrived, a plan formed.

After passing Campidoglio Hill and making one turn, the Caetani manor appeared. To the north and east of the manor, other mansions faced the Caetani manor with some distance between them. There was no garden outside the manor, and to the south and west were other mansions built right next to it. According to Narke’s explanation, beyond the facade was a courtyard, and there was an arcade at the building’s rear entrance through which one could enter the inner courtyard. On the first floor were a gallery, three halls, a chapel, guest rooms, a restaurant, and two spare rooms. On the building rooftop was an observatory. An observatory, not even a laboratory—this was equipment that could only exist if one had considerable interest in science. In front of the building was a small window that connected to the basement. I looked back and forth between it and Elias warily.

Narke handed me an astronomy journal published by this manor and whispered quietly with Elias. I quickly skimmed through the journal and closed it. Now was not the time to be reading journals.

“The eave decorations are splendid, Father.”

Elias pointed to the manor’s eaves with a casual tone, raising his eyebrows. He prowled in front of the manor like a lion before its prey.

My heart pounds every time Elias points out specific parts of the manor. I think that’s understandable. From the building rooftop down to the wall below, there were eaves of just the right width for a person to walk on. I quickly surveyed the entrances of the mansions to the south and west of the building. Elias might babble about jumping from a neighboring rooftop to the Caetani manor rooftop. Perhaps he might even suggest starting from a neighboring basement and digging a tunnel. Elias spent a long time examining the building and pondering before leading us between the alleys.

“Father, Brother.”

“Yes.”

“We’re going to enter the house next door.”

I grabbed the back of my neck at the scenario I had anticipated. This is driving me crazy… Now he’ll either jump from the rooftop or dig a tunnel from the basement.

“Just kidding.”

Elias grinned as he looked at my expression. Narke smiled and tilted his head while looking at Elias. Feeling both relief and absurdity, I looked at him with half-opened eyes as Elias snapped his fingers. Then he snatched the journal I was holding.

“Why are you taking it?”

“This is probably Brother’s plan. I now understand Brother’s tendency to be safety-oriented while taking excessive risks at appropriate moments.”

I raised my eyebrows at those words. Elias continued with sharp, gleaming eyes.

“The fact that an astronomy journal is published means there’s naturally a society here… And having a society means professors and scholars frequent this manor. Since we’re also well-versed in astronomy, wouldn’t we like to attend once?”

It was an unexpected suggestion. Elias could use such ordinary methods? My eyes met Narke’s. He too wore a satisfied smile. I snatched the journal back from Elias and opened the back page.

“Good. Then from now on, we’ll visit the scholars whose addresses are listed here and…”

“No!”

What’s wrong now? I narrowed my eyes and pulled my head back. Elias cupped his hand to my ear and whispered.

“Luca. Name the planets starting with Mercury.”

“What should I say? The order? Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune?”

“Good. Perfect.”

Perfect? A sudden thought struck me as I grabbed Elias’s arm and shouted.

“What’s perfect? Wait!”

It was wrong. Before I could stop him, Elias quickly ran to the entrance and pounded violently on the massive iron gate with his fist.

“Is anyone there―!”

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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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