How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 473

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

“You know that what you said to me earlier contradicts what you’re saying now.”

After staring at Gabrielle’s face for a while, I began with those words.

“You tell me I shouldn’t believe but ultimately must believe. You say that the one who tells me not to believe is like Satan himself, yet in the end you tell me not to believe anything.”

However, there seemed to be no desire for me to be wrong in those words. Though he compared himself to Satan, such a comparison seemed to flow from strictness regarding himself—from a third party’s perspective like mine, it would be more appropriate to compare him to a Christian walking the broad path rather than Satan. In other words, he knew he was speaking useless words. I looked into Gabrielle’s straight eyes. He still had a serious expression but spoke casually as if addressing an insignificant topic.

“You would have said the same thing if you were me, brother. If reason and compassion had run in the same direction, they would not have been distinguished in the first place. I firmly believe that the invention of compassion is the first fire that allowed humanity to remain human, and the last pole star that keeps us from losing hope even in the darkness that came from humanity repeatedly forgetting morality. Also, I know that despite any advice, you will head toward faith, but sometimes there are words that must be conveyed even knowing they cannot reach, words one cannot bear not to say. I tell you this is not mere avoidance to lessen guilt or responsibility.”

Saying that the invention of compassion, not compassion itself, was humanity’s compass explained the disillusioned faith Gabrielle had shown toward Narke. He was more aggressive and skeptical than anyone, but that attitude was proof of his faith. He wanted to believe in humanity more than anyone.

“Much has already been twisted and strayed from the natural order. It’s not because of you alone. You merely suffered extreme damage in the process of things becoming twisted; it didn’t happen because of you alone. The primary cause lies elsewhere. Though I wonder if I’m speaking needlessly about what you’ll come to know…”

The words about suffering damage in the twisting process made my head ache. He was talking about the end of summer 1897 when I was dragged to this place—or at least that’s how it felt to me. I asked as if entranced.

“What is the cause?”

“…That’s why I cannot lift my head before you. You were robbed of your life, and that is something that cannot be compensated by anything. Even if people who can understand your pace and direction have finally appeared and can quench the thirst that has tormented you throughout life, you will not return. Sometimes to having lost your name…”

He looked at my face and slowly closed his mouth. One second, two seconds, three seconds, silence flowed. He changed the subject.

“If you don’t believe and give up, you will become comfortable. However, the one who becomes comfortable will only be you who became today’s you through this time, and everything will return again.”

For some reason, at this very moment, I recall the words he said after knocking me down during Penthalon. Though I knew nothing, I knew I was racing toward the core. Even while swimming within the core, I wouldn’t know what the truth was. How much remained until reaching the end of the core? I was certain that was the purpose of my coming here. My changeability was soaring toward 100% because of that. I gathered my thoughts and asked.

“I’m curious about something. What is your relationship with Narke? Why did you speak of Narke’s abilities that way?”

“I know well that your curiosity has accumulated over a long time and you are greatly restraining yourself. You seek to coldly understand your friend’s secrets within the bounds of not being rude to your friend. I know it’s because you have several future predictions in mind.”

“You know well.”

“But it wouldn’t be proper for me to tell you everything. I made a promise with that person, and if I tell you many things, all this fabric might be overturned to be rewoven starting from me.”

“Why do you react that way to Narke’s story?”

“It’s not that my reaction is oversensitive, but simply because it’s the truth. Also, even without that person, there are many stories I cannot answer. For instance, if you asked about the Roman Senate, the Pythia of Delphi, the Bishop of Osnabrück, and the Crown Prince of Prussia, I would say nothing. This isn’t because I want to sell you information at a high price, but because it’s too early and would harm you, and because there are things I don’t know.”

Gabrielle still spoke with an attitude of indifference. I thought of him as an iron retaining wall and touched my fingertips together.

“…Then can you answer this? There’s something called the many-worlds theory. To jump to one sentence, it’s the theory that worlds have been branching every moment and continue to do so. Is this true?”

“That is a meaningless story. When we cannot see the other branched worlds, what would be the point of examining them? The omniscient God may know all possibilities that didn’t bloom on earth and the history of every grain of sand swept by past waves. God knows how many protrusions are on the colorful back of a lizard that lived at the Precambrian equator and how much molting and generation they underwent. God knows how many young leaves the olive tree outside the window will sprout and how many fallen leaves it will drop in its lifetime. However, God shows us what color the lizard’s back displays and that the root tips of that olive tree are drying up, but doesn’t tell us the exact number of protrusions or precisely when the dried root tips will be unable to absorb nutrients from the earth.”

I blinked while listening to this Christian believer’s cosmology. Gabrielle continued.

“Thus, the most important thing is which world God is looking at and what world He shows us.”

“…”

“God is looking down at this world now. God can see other spacetimes through His omniscient eye, but God’s love and grace are here. Other spacetimes untouched by God’s love are no different from non-existent. Since God rules Chronos, without His grace, it would be like not permitting time to flow in that world. He has only permitted us to perceive time linearly. However, if God’s grace reaches another world, that world finally becomes one we can say exists.”

“I’m getting the idea.”

“No. You still know nothing, brother.”

“That’s harsh.”

I whispered while pressing my palm against my left eye pierced by the blazing sunlight. Gabrielle spoke pitifully with the face of one looking at sentient beings.

“Someday you’ll completely understand my words.”

“I already understand to some degree. Why exactly? Was my indifference the key?”

In the answerless air, I waited three seconds.

“I must have chosen the right answer.”

One, two, three, I spoke again.

“So in the end, it had to be empty. That was the premise, wasn’t it?”

Again. I tried to maintain composure.

“You close your mouth whenever I get close to the right answer.”

“Think as you please.”

Only now did Gabrielle answer.

“If not, then why don’t you answer?”

“I don’t know how far I should explain my guilt.”

“If you’ve done nothing wrong, you have no reason to feel that way toward me.”

“Even if there isn’t, don’t humans naturally feel compassion?”

“I learned for the first time today that I’m a human deserving of compassion.”

I felt a sensation different from being pierced. It was like sticky air pouring over my body. Without realizing it, I felt strength enter my arms and hands and relaxed them.

“I know it’s presumptuous, so please forgive me.”

“No. It’s not such a grave matter requiring forgiveness.”

Then Gabrielle flicked his clasped hands inward as he usually did when shrugging his shoulders. I looked at his pure white hands and muttered.

“There’s something I read before… One of them, try to guess what it means. ut nihil non iisdem verbis redderetur auditum.”

“It’s Latin. No word can be repeated exactly as heard.”

“And?”

“Well. That’s all.”

Having answered thus, Gabrielle calmly looked into my eyes and said.

“That sentence wouldn’t appear in 【Natural History】.”

I knew he had used insight. Since I was thinking of 【Natural History】 Volume 2, Chapter 7, Section 24, he was correct. So far. I tilted my head, waiting for what came next.

“Then?”

“Well.”

“…Fine.”

“You experimented on me.”

I nodded. Speaking incomprehensibly to someone who spoke incomprehensibly worked. I thought he might be troubled, but there wasn’t a trace of confusion on his face. Knowing I thought so, he averted his gaze and said.

“…The important thing is that what doesn’t seem to be so is indeed so.”

“You’ve reminded me so many times I won’t forget. Rather, how will you help us now?”

Whatever I asked, he either answered with a religious worldview or didn’t answer at all. If hearing answers would complicate matters further, I had no intention of listening either, and originally, no matter what I asked, he wouldn’t answer important questions. Gabrielle spoke as if to himself.

“The traitor of Orsini. I won’t go directly to meet Roman nobles. I cannot.”

“I expected as much. Then can we discuss with my friends beforehand?”

Gabrielle looked sharply at the door with distasteful eyes, then assumed the appearance of the Duke of Caetani. When he rang the bell on the table, a servant entered from outside. Gabrielle imitated the middle-aged master without any sense of incongruity.

“Bring the guests from the reception room. But don’t enter the reception room, just knock on the door and convey the message. Then gather all servants on the reception room floor and have them go to other floors immediately. Move when the guests enter here.”

“Yes, understood.”

Such a suspicious order for the first time. Despite the obviously suspicious request, the servant showed no bewilderment and left. Soon after, Narke and Elias entered the room. Due to servants being in the corridor, Narke hadn’t properly cleaned off the blood yet. Narke looked at us with a quiet face. Though he might have used insight as much as he worried Gabrielle would tell me nonsense, he didn’t bother and immediately withdrew his gaze, sitting on the sofa. Gabrielle began speaking immediately.

“It would be better to meet Orsini’s people directly, but do you have time for that?”

“At least until this week we’re on vacation, so we have plenty of time. If things go well, we’ll rest until next week too.”

“Good. When meeting family members, they’ll inspect very thoroughly at the family level. This time they cleanly inspected all drinking water and food ingredients purchased from each family’s restaurants.”

It must be because of Atropos. What would they think about the possibility of transmission through insects? However, since this place was full of arcane mages, it wasn’t time for us to worry about Rome. They would surely be purifying the city every hour. Gabrielle spoke without even looking toward Narke.

“But since blood has burst, it would be better for that person not to approach directly until it completely heals. I’m not sure if he can properly control magic power like before even now. No matter how much he stole from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he can’t prevent magic power leaking out of his body due to blood. If anyone learns that Farnese has returned, Rome will stop.”

I looked at Narke. Narke showed no reaction—at least he didn’t twist his shoulders, tap his fingertips on the armrest, or furrow his brow, but his facial muscles gave off an atmosphere that didn’t look very comfortable. It would be the same even if he smiled. Rather than the strange fact that Rome would stop, he seemed uncomfortable that Gabrielle had said those words to me. Elias became uncomfortable in a different sense and confronted Gabrielle with a head gesture.

“Then why did you make the blood burst?”

He doesn’t ask why he attacked family and friend. Elias himself would be someone who could attack family under calculation, so that would be why. Instead, he only asks why he did it knowing it would be troublesome to bleed after sneaking into Rome. Gabrielle answered dryly with an unimpressed face.

“I didn’t know he’d be so weak.”

“…”

Elias looked at me and Gabrielle with an absurd expression. If Narke was weak, then Elias and I were no different from being even weaker. According to what had been said so far, Gabrielle must not have known he had ‘become weak.’

“That makes sense…”

Even while Elias muttered thus, Narke didn’t refute and remained detached, looking only ahead. He seemed to have no intention of responding whether Gabrielle’s words were true or not.

“One of Orsini’s cardinals is the minister of the Congregation for Divine Worship. A person named Fabiola Orsini. Do you know her?”

“I know.”

Minister of the Congregation for Divine Worship, one of the two Orsini cardinals is a minister. It means she’s someone significant even among the College of Cardinals, so I’m already breathless. Having answered and thought about it, I got chills. Isn’t the minister of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith sitting next to me? Fabiola Orsini was, though not doing the same work, in the same position as Narke in terms of rank.

“You’ll know that since Urban VIII, the rights of beatification and canonization have been completely attributed to the Apostolic See. When the Congregation for Divine Worship submits collected materials and decisions to His Holiness, His Holiness recognizes beatification and canonization candidates as blessed and saints. Here are letters exchanged between the Caetani of Rome and the Papal States. A month ago they exchanged letters with the Congregation for Divine Worship requesting recognition of a deceased Caetani cardinal as blessed, but there’s still no definitive answer from the Congregation for Divine Worship.”

“Then we can meet Orsini’s cardinal for beatification. But to meet that person, we’d have to invoke the name of the Duke of Caetani, wouldn’t we? You just told me you wouldn’t meet Roman nobles, yet you’re saying it’s fine to use the family seal?”

“I’d prefer not to if possible. I’m just giving you options. The other Orsini cardinal is a member of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life. Not a minister or vice minister, but belongs within it. Since it’s the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life, your accessibility might be somewhat higher, but unfortunately he’s not Jesuit, so prepare other excuses.”

Despite us wearing servant clothes—though we wouldn’t look Jesuit even in regular clothes—Gabrielle had figured out what lies we told to enter here.

“And the Orsini priest belongs to Santa Croce. If you go to this church at an appropriate time, you’ll easily meet a priest named Matteo Orsini.”

“Then…”

Instead of doing all this to send letters to the Orsini family, wouldn’t it be better to just go to Santa Croce? As if reading my thoughts, Gabrielle says.

“But Farnese won’t welcome it.”

“Why?”

“Because Matteo Orsini has particular attachment to Farnese, so he’ll recognize him immediately.”

Only now did Narke show noticeably troubled signs. He narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Gabrielle with a tired face. Narke seemed to want Gabrielle to keep quiet, and yes, Gabrielle had said something I couldn’t even guess.

This person named Matteo Orsini wouldn’t be fooled by the outer appearance Narke wrapped himself in with divine power? No, beyond not being fooled, he would recognize that the subject using illusion magic was Narke. Unlike the two cardinals, the priest was said to have just turned twenty. Since they’re similar in age, they might have interacted for a long time like Simon Sabelli. I asked with slight uneasiness.

“Is he someone like Mr. Simon Sabelli?”

“You seem to know that person. Isn’t he on the favorable side?”

As the conversation about Narke continued, Gabrielle spoke in a soulless tone—one that seemed somewhat bothered. So Matteo Orsini treats him even more obsessively than Simon Sabelli treats Narke? Why must they all be like that? I’m curious about the reason, but trying to find out would only hurt Narke. I stroked my chin and muttered.

“That’s terrible. Then let’s make plans with the other two, excluding Matteo Orsini.”

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