How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 488

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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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“Not ‘why you?’ but ‘why here?'”

I’m not sure what was wrong with those words, but Elias seemed to sense something odd about himself and corrected it. Since his tone was the same, I couldn’t tell what had actually changed. Either way, he had cast silencing magic from the start. Elias pointed to himself and smiled brightly.

“Don’t tell me you came to see us?”

“As if.”

“How touching.”

When Elias answered with a smirk, Leo chuckled lightly and asked.

“Were you touched?”

Elias exaggeratedly pulled down the corners of his mouth and just shrugged his shoulders. Leo opened his pocket watch, glanced at it, then answered simply.

“I didn’t come alone—His Highness and the royal family arrived by portal, and we’re entering the Papacy at midnight tonight.”

“Really? Then what exactly did you come here for?”

“Atropos. It’s hard to explain in detail.”

“Ah~ Atropos. Then we shouldn’t have left first—we should have waited one more day!”

“Exactly. I didn’t expect this either, but I only got the request to come four hours ago.”

Four hours ago? That would be around the time I destroyed the Pythia of Delphi, wouldn’t it? Could it be that if I hadn’t destroyed it, the Papacy wouldn’t have urgently invited the Bavarian royal family?

But wait, what’s the connection between Atropos and the Pythia of Delphi? That’s excessive speculation. Even so, my vision somehow darkened and I pointlessly licked my lips. Leo looked at me and asked.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, of course.”

I nodded with a face that had become clear as if nothing had happened.

“You didn’t seem okay.”

“What do you mean I wasn’t?”

Leo’s mouth hardened with a ‘we’ll see about that’ expression, then he smiled. He looked at Narke and Elias.

“How about you two?”

“Of course we’re fine. But we almost burned to death.”

Elias casually mentioned something that didn’t seem so casual. There was soot on his face, which I had asked about earlier, and it turned out there really was a fire just as I had written in my notebook near Zugspitze. Leo asked with a shocked expression.

“There was a fire? Are you all really okay?”

“We’re fine since we’re standing here like this. If we weren’t okay, I would have jumped on your back the moment you arrived and asked you to carry me home.”

“…”

Leo looked at Elias with an expression that suggested he was either completely reassured or didn’t want to hear any more.

“Then explain it to me later. You look tired—did you drink the elixir I gave you?”

“I drank some of it.”

I said while checking my clutch. Seeing that the bag was completely empty, Leo went outside the silencing magic to ask his aide for an elixir. This guy will never run out of medicine in his lifetime—how nice. I thanked him and downed it all at once. Leo suddenly held out his hand, and while I was briefly wondering what he wanted me to do, he took the empty bottle. Elias pressed Leo for answers.

“So what exactly is this business that’s hard to explain in detail?”

“Why are you asking again about something I said was hard to explain in detail?”

Watching Leo’s reaction, I think I understand why Elias keeps acting playfully. Elias grinned and frowned at Leo.

“Are you going to be like that with us too? Even after setting up silencing magic!”

“It’s work.”

At the cold, businesslike answer that seemed to hold no ill will, Elias’s eyes widened.

“Heh heh heh.”

Elias burst into an incomprehensible laugh while holding his forehead. Only then did Leo glance at the sky with a slightly troubled expression. He put his watch in his vest pocket and said.

“Book a hotel under a false name somewhere you can give me coordinates. I’ll go there too under the name of the Bavarian embassy.”

“Then you’ll explain things, I suppose?”

“Yeah. Even so, there probably won’t be anything spectacular.”

“Hey, right. What spectacular thing needs to happen for us to have fun?”

At the mention of having fun, Leo just gave a soulless smile as if his head hurt. With the formal attire Leo was wearing, those words sounded ridiculous enough. Elias, who had been giggling and going over Leo’s words, hardened his expression.

“Oh, what? Wait a minute. The embassy!”

“What?”

“Illegal entry through the embassy! No, damn it. Why the hardship?!”

He seemed to know that all those illegal entry routes were hardships. I was secretly relieved. Otherwise, I might have truly raced with Elias in the underground passages of Raihenau.

“We can’t do that. We can’t get caught. I can’t trust anyone who isn’t one of my close associates.”

Leo wheedled like that and immediately turned around and disappeared. Elias grumbled, ‘Then why did you say you’d book a hotel under the embassy’s name?’ Booking a room under the embassy’s name—not the ambassador’s name—for someone from the Bavarian side to use isn’t illegal and is perfectly possible. However, illegally entering a country with the embassy’s help is possible but illegal. Elias knows this much anyway, but he’s just trying to nitpick once.

One of Leo’s aides came over to ask if we had communication artifacts, and Elias handed over the artifact he had been using. They would keep it outside while Leo was in the meeting hall, then put Elias’s artifact in his ear when he came out. We could contact them from then on.

Acqua Panna is produced in Florence, Florence is the capital of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany was incorporated into the Papal States, unlike the history I knew. The Papal States received requests for investigative cooperation and divine power support from Austria-Hungary and Germany, so they had no choice but to respond to the Atropos incident. As always, if the Holy See joins hands with Germany, the top priority would undoubtedly be Bavaria. There’s no possibility that the Holy See would now join hands with Prussia, a Protestant state that severely oppressed Catholics. They do try to increase Catholic influence in Prussia through aid, but Bavaria is the only trustworthy country with strong military and economic power that can be made an ally. That must be why they came, but…

“Hmm, somehow…”

I muttered with a somewhat uncomfortable feeling. Seeing Leo made me feel very comfortable yet uncomfortable at the same time… What could be the reason? We also didn’t come here to play, and we actually encountered more difficulties than Leo who just arrived, but now that things turned out this way, it somehow feels like he’s the one who truly came here to work. Elias also seemed to feel like he had done something pointless after going through all that hardship, and started blaming it on our appearance.

“Do we look like beggars?”

“Pretty much.”

“Hmm…”

Elias pondered seriously. Then he lifted his jacket to smell it and grumbled.

“Can we go to a hotel fit for royalty looking like this? My shirt, vest, and pants are all wrinkled.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“It’s not ‘that’s what I’m saying.’ There are two options. Rob someone who looks bourgeois.”

“…”

I’m not curious about the other option even without hearing it. I squeezed my eyes shut then opened them wide to pointlessly check if I was in reality. Then I asked Narke.

“Narke. I don’t even expect there to be clothing stores open at this hour. But do you know any houses? Could we borrow some clothes?”

“Um, sorry. I want to slip away as quietly as possible.”

“But do you think you can leave quietly when Elias is going to rob houses?”

“Haha.”

Narke just laughs ambiguously. When I grabbed my neck and turned halfway around, Elias seriously grabbed me.

“I haven’t finished talking yet. There’s a second option. Call the aide.”

“Oh, right. They’d have spare clothes.”

When my face brightened, Elias smiled and nodded. He pulled the communication artifact from my ear and found his channel, tapping it a few times. An alert would go to the artifact that went into the aide’s hand or pocket. Elias frantically tapped the artifact repeatedly, and I thought this much would make them check it out of annoyance if nothing else.

Sure enough, they contacted us before long. Elias said urgently.

“Sir. Please come back to the plaza where we were earlier.”

“Ask if they have spare clothes first.”

Despite my words, Elias shook his head and said stubbornly.

“You know the coordinates from earlier, right? Ah, yes. Yes. One more person? That’s perfect! We’ll wait. Thank you.”

Elias finished the contact with a grin. Not long after he returned the artifact to me, three aides appeared. There was even someone I hadn’t seen before. Elias immediately spoke as if giving a speech.

“Yes, thank you for coming. I have something to ask.”

“What is it?”

“We need clean clothes—could we borrow some clothes?”

Not expecting to hear such a question, the other party looked a bit flustered. Then they kindly answered right away.

“Since this was scheduled as a same-day return trip, we only have spare clothes for His Majesty the King and His Highness the Prince. I’m sorry, but we cannot lend you their clothes.”

Oh no. I thought even the aides would have spare shirts—because in this era, shirts are no different from the cotton undershirts worn underneath—but it’s unexpected that they’re not this thoroughly prepared. I always carried extras considering that Nicolaus’s black robe might get contaminated with Vitriol. Elias didn’t look shocked at all, as if he expected this—perhaps he would think I over-prepare everything—and just nodded.

“Ah, if you traveled by portal, that would make sense. I understand. Then what do you think about us switching clothes?”

I stared at Elias in bewilderment. What kind of crazy talk is this? Sure enough, everyone was opening their eyes wide like me, so I didn’t need to be more surprised and quietly returned my eyes to normal. The older aide who had known Elias for a long time shook his head.

“That’s not quite right.”

“No, listen. You and I would switch clothes. The jacket is too conspicuous, so I’ll leave that as it is. I really can’t do anything about His Highness the Prince’s royal command in this state. His Highness the Prince just told us we absolutely need clean and dignified clothes because of what he discussed with us. If you find it hard to believe, you can go ask him… His Highness. Your clothes are really dignified.”

“That’s because our attire is responsible for Bavaria’s dignity. I have no choice but to refuse this request.”

“Why? Then you could borrow from the hotel. You came legally by portal, so you can go to the hotel without any worries.”

Shocked by those words, I hastily explained.

“…There’s a misunderstanding. We also came legally. It’s just that our current appearance is so shabby that if we went to a hotel good enough to stay at under the kingdom’s embassy name, the staff would definitely find it strange.”

I’m not sure if the illegal border crossings to northern Italy and the entry process full of lies can be called legal, but we did walk through the checkpoint. Elias narrowed his brow and frowned deeply while waving his hand.

“Exactly! What if we get kicked out before even entering the lobby because we look terrible?”

“Your Highness!”

The older aide who had been watching Elias for a long time scolds his manner of speaking. Another aide said carefully.

“You’d just stand out, but they wouldn’t kick you out if you pay, right?”

“That may be true, but you know well that we can’t stand out. How about you wear our clothes to the hotel and get cleaning service there? Hotels have irons too, don’t they?”

I knew Elias acted without regard for anything, but I never get used to it. I couldn’t face the aides and looked away, trying to stop Elias.

“No, just go. What are you talking about? Pull the brooch tight and wrap yourself in the robe.”

“The robe is all wrinkled too!”

“Just wet it with water and shake it out to wear!”

Even in the midst of all this, Elias shouted as if haggling prices at a market.

“What are you even saying? Come out. Just the shirt! Oh, no, the pants too. I’ll just borrow these two items. As for the vest, well, if you button it up, it’s like there’s nothing underneath anyway, right? A few wrinkles are fine. I’ll just wear it. How about just lending me these two items? If you do that, I’ll repay this kindness by next month.”

* * *

It wasn’t like he was saying he’d repay it for life, but what did he mean by repaying it by next month? It was absurd, but at least it showed his intention to say something relatively realistic. So we borrowed relatively well-pressed clothes. Unlike me, who felt insanely sorry—Elias didn’t feel sorry at all since he already considered them close adults—I sprayed the German perfume that Narke had brought all over my vest and jacket to deal with the independently arising unpleasant feeling. We were going to wash and return the clothes anyway, but I didn’t spray it on the borrowed clothes for fear of damaging the fabric. Narke leaned in and sniffed.

“It smells like water~ I was thinking of trying something different, do you want this perfume?”

“Does it smell fishy?”

“No… I mean it’s refreshing. You’ve become quite sensitive.”

“Hmm.”

I brushed it off roughly and asked.

“Not really. But what scent are you going to use next time?”

“Well. Musk?”

“With summer approaching?”

“Ah, is that a bit much? This is the first year I’ve chosen perfume myself.”

Rather than buying it to spray on herself, Narke mostly used it to spray on letters. As if her goal was to experience the same things her friends had. But I couldn’t understand why she wanted to collect more.

So, we moved to Sicily according to Narke’s choice. Unlike Venice, which had somewhat lax security, Sicily was stricter, and we had to move secretly with Narke’s help again. While passing through an alley, Elias said.

“One of us should check in. I should wait a bit and follow later. I’ll look around for cats and come in later.”

“Cats…”

At my chuckling response, Elias asked.

“Or should I do it?”

“No. Go look for cats. Call me if you find any. I want to see them too.”

“Okay!”

Elias grinned and ran with light steps.

The place we arrived at after turning through the alley was the San Domenico Hotel in Taormina, a port city on Sicily. Since many nobles and royalty of all nationalities stayed there, it would be good to enter using the name of the Kingdom of Bavaria embassy. Elias looked at the sea that spread out widely, shimmering and glowing under the white moonlight, and grinned from ear to ear. I left him and Narke outside and entered the lobby alone.

Fortunately, there were rooms available, so I took the key to a room with an ocean view and climbed the stairs. The room wasn’t much different from what you’d see in a noble’s estate, and it had two terraces, making it comfortable to look outside. The chrome-colored terrace railing sparkled. I enjoyed some leisure time alone in the room and called Elias and Narke about 20 minutes later. When my two friends arrived at the room a little later, I asked them about the situation.

“Did you find any cats?”

“No. But I found fish!”

“Well, of course. They’d be scattered all over there.”

I pointed to the black sea outside the terrace and said absurdly. Even though Elias had seen it from outside, perhaps the view from inside was different, as he laughed and ran to reach his hands beyond the terrace as soon as he saw the sea. Then he quickly hardened his expression.

“They’re quite security-conscious here. There’s a bidirectional barrier installed on the terrace?”

“Isn’t that good? Were you planning to go out on the terrace?”

“Yes.”

“Why would you…”

I poured Elias’s share of alcohol into another wine glass. Elias gulped down the wine made from Etna’s Carricante like beer and praised it as quite good. Elias put his arm on the back of the couch and lay half diagonally while looking outside.

“When is Leo coming~”

“Around four in the morning.”

Narke answered instead. At that vagueness, Elias’s mouth fell open. Then he staggered up and jumped into bed without even washing, rolling around.

“I paid a lot of money but have to return home without even sleeping one night. There’s no fun in checking the bed and pillow quality by seeing how well I sleep.”

“Sleep now. I’ll wake you up in four hours.”

“No way! But then when we go back, can we also enter through Leone’s portal? Disguised as servants?”

The topics kept changing so quickly it was dizzying. I raised my eyebrows trying to regain my senses. Instead of me, Narke answered calmly.

“It seems they deliberately requested to open a portal in Rome rather than the Papal States for that purpose.”

“Aha~”

Elias clapped his hands with a relieved expression. A moment of silence flowed. I got up from my seat to listen to some music on the SP. I should have enjoyed that silence, but Elias got up again making a loud noise, put on his shoes and said.

“I can’t just roll around like this and leave. Such a boring dawn is ridiculous.”

I asked carefully with an uneasy feeling.

“Then how should it be fun?”

“Well. I heard they often hold weddings at hotels like this.”

“Humans? That’s right.”

“I went to a human wedding before, you know? It was a complete party. I need to go down and buy something!”

“What are you going to ask for?”

I looked at Narke hoping he’d stop him, but he just smiled while moistening his lips with wine.

Elias arrived at the room 30 minutes later pulling a cart himself, and I opened my mouth as if my jaw would fall off. Narke just stared at it in amazement.

Elias had brought all the flowers from the wedding venue. Surely not. I thought that and deliberately didn’t ask, so saying he brought them from the wedding venue is just speculation. Maybe he threw a tantrum like before and cleared out their inventory. Do they even stock flowers as inventory? I don’t know. My head is starting to hurt. I looked at the bright flowers filling the cart that entered the room and felt my stomach churn as I whispered.

“The smell is too strong. I feel like I’m going to suffocate to death…”

“I’ve never heard of a human suffocating from flower scent.”

“Then you’ll see it today.”

“Come on!”

Elias giggled and placed the flowers in a line on the floor and furniture. It wasn’t like he was playing a game of making lines with flowers, so I couldn’t understand why he was arranging what he had brought like that. I was on the terrace for my nose’s health, but couldn’t stand watching, so I collected those flowers again and tied them appropriately to put in vases. Since Elias didn’t particularly stop me from doing this, I used my aesthetic sense to group and arrange flowers of matching colors together. The perfume scent and flower scent mixed and vibrated, making my nose even more numb. My vision was becoming hazy, so I gave up on how the room’s appearance would turn out and sighed.

“I need to use the hot springs…”

“Oh? Me too!”

Elias jumped up at the mention of hot springs, as if the flowers he brought were no longer of any concern. Narke’s eyes also lit up, but I grabbed Elias’s arms and stopped him.

“Don’t come in!”

“Why?!”

“Because you’ll swim in there.”

“That’s true.”

Having no energy to say anything, I ignored them and went to the hot springs alone.

I entered the warm water and rested. After such a stormy day, it’s nice to have time to listen to my friends’ nonsense—I certainly heard a lot of nonsense on Raihenau Island, which was definitely chaotic, but anyway—. I thought Elias would follow soon, but he didn’t, so I felt my eardrums and nasal mucosa were no longer stinging as I dove alone in the vast hot spring bath. If Elias saw this, he’d say why are you complaining about swimming when you dive too, but at least to me, the two were somewhat different. It’s not that I was telling him not to swim, but from previous experiences, when Elias was given clean water, he acted like he would seriously test all swimming strokes. I wanted to rest quietly.

How much time had passed like that? When I was getting bored enough to think it would be okay for Elias to come and do butterfly strokes, suddenly my core tingled and I had a fit as I went outside the bath. When I came out, Leo hadn’t even arrived yet. He probably sent a signal meaning he would leave soon. I struck his core in response and entered the hot water again to soak my body. After about ten minutes, I thought I should go out, so I put on the shirt and pants I was originally wearing and left. The aide’s clothes were conveniently sent for cleaning, so I could return them when going back home. Having such peaceful thoughts, when I slowly returned to the lodging and opened the guest room door, what I heard was a currently popular piano piece and what I saw were flowers.

“What are you doing?”

I asked looking at the flower heads spread like a mat on the floor. For some reason, all the stems were cut and gathered in a vase in the center of the table. No, more than that, I’m sure they were sparsely spread on the floor earlier, but now it seems they decided to pile them at the entrance. The flowers I had carefully arranged were also scattered in bundles on the furniture. I’ll have to sweep away all the pollen dust with divine power before leaving, or we can’t leave like this. When I took out my wand to clean the room, Elias shouted and stopped me. Having no choice, I carefully jumped over them to enter.

“Hey, how can you turn a borrowed room into a mess?”

“A mess? I worked hard to decorate it!”

“Right, sorry… Where’s Leo?”

“He’s not here. Why? Is he coming now?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, no wonder he was contacting Narke earlier. He can’t come now?!”

Why can’t he? If he hasn’t come yet, I should have looked at the frescoes beyond the corridor on the way from the hot springs. I thought that while drying my hair with a towel. Elias busily opened a matchbox and lit a fire. He quickly lit the candles that were on the table. Just then, it seemed a bit noisy outside. However, from the moment any fire other than the fireplace was lit, I stood up with wide eyes and approached him closely. Even before worrying about burning everything down, Elias floated the candles in the air and grabbed the flower bouquets on the sofa and the bundle of stems gathered on the table. Just then, there was a knock on the door. Elias leaned forward to open the door and stepped back. Leo, who had been looking down trying to remove the artifact from his ear, narrowed his brow and looked up. Elias suddenly held out the flower bouquet and bundle of stems.

“Ta-da~ Wooooo~!”

Elias looked around at us trying to encourage a response. Then Narke started clapping, but I hadn’t even figured out what he was trying to do, so I didn’t do anything.

“…Ta-da? What? What is this?”

Leo looked around the room with a confused face. I also couldn’t answer since I hadn’t been inside Elias’s brain. Narke, who at least knew Elias’s intention, just smiled and watched whatever Elias was doing. Elias waved the bouquet up and down as if his arms hurt, but Leo had no intention of receiving it and stood frozen like a statue, having a staring contest with us before carefully asking.

“I shouldn’t come in, right?”

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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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