How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 502

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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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“That’s right. That’s why I asked if we could discuss magic studies. To fundamentally block the construction of illegal coordinate systems that don’t get caught in the state’s surveillance network and living within them, we need a method to check whether there’s a button to move to a fundamentally different coordinate system or not.”

“Hmm. By that button, you mean something like the book you gave as an example earlier.”

“Yes. In the case of magic that activates when you pull out a book, the book would be the movement button.”

While Archduchess Maria concentrates on my answer and thinks about what to do, Emmanuel tilts his head and stares at me. I also looked at him.

Emanuel Wittelsbach probably doesn’t consider me as close as the words he threw out to lower my guard would suggest. He was the one who first said the nonsensical thing about whether we weren’t friends after seeing each other for just two weeks. He wasn’t someone you could easily approach after seeing him for three or four months. The same would be true even after three or four years. If he’s similar to Elias, then what he said about the period of acquaintance not being important would be true—you can become extremely close with just one motivation to open your heart, or not at all. But that doesn’t mean we’re distant or lack trust either. If that were the case, he wouldn’t have asked me to stop Maria’s astral projection. I think Maria Osterreicheste, judging from her initial public appearance and Emanuel’s labyrinth, would likewise not be easy to get close to, but from the moment she opened with the occult, the walls would have come down more than with Emanuel Wittelsbach. However, this goodwill is not unlimited either. I learned from Emanuel’s extra chapter how he cut down Pleroma in one stroke.

I don’t think I’ll do anything that goes against Maria’s beliefs. While I don’t need to unnecessarily tense up and mess things up in ways that won’t work, I shouldn’t be satisfied with these two quietly listening to my story right now. They’re listening to what I have to say as human to human, not believing in me absolutely. But I have no intention of making up stories to make them believe. If Emanuel’s discerning eye can grasp things other than safety and danger, being found out would be instantaneous, and above all, I don’t want to do that.

Emanuel leaned on the table and asked.

“Count Everett. I’d like to ask again at this point, who says there’s technology to ‘construct illegal coordinate systems that don’t get caught in the state’s surveillance network’?”

“To tell you the truth, I saw it directly myself.”

“When, where?”

“Well. Your Highness, you remember where we went today. That kind of place is similar to the artificial coordinate systems that Pleroma creates.”

The Archduchess spoke with a face that understood what I meant.

“Then you’re saying that thing is laid out under Munich right now?”

“Not now.”

Then Emanuel smiled and said.

“It’s not there, you have good insight. Do they teach such things at Princeton too?”

“Something like that.”

“Ah~”

Emanuel lifted his head slightly and slowly shook his head while lost in thought. He raised his eyebrows and looked at me.

“They didn’t teach such things at the university I attended, but America really is something.”

“It would have been nice if you had come to study abroad.”

“Exactly. I should have gone.”

Emanuel put his hand on my shoulder while talking nonsense. When he started massaging my shoulder blade, I had an intuition. This person is thinking of leading me outside. I gripped his hand tightly so I could shake it off anytime and said.

“If you’re planning to make me drink again, I won’t drink.”

“Hey.”

I turned away from Emanuel and asked the Archduchess.

“Archduchess Maria. Would there be suitable technology?”

“I’m thinking. Not getting caught in the state’s surveillance network…, that’s surprising. Don’t all countries crack down on whether there are illegal coordinate systems installed on their land? Even if not frequently since it costs considerably to patrol the entire country thoroughly. Moreover, without even going to crackdowns, most coordinate systems would be destroyed by impacts occurring within them or external impacts. So everyone tries not to do reckless things.”

“As you saw, it’s sophisticated enough to be called virtually a second world.”

“Wow.”

Archduchess Maria stroked her chin with interest. She lowered her eyes and was lost in thought for a moment, then nodded her head greatly.

“It seems worth trying once with occult technology.”

Then Emanuel said with a disgusted expression.

“Adding blood again?”

Even before Archduchess Maria could answer, Emanuel tilted his head toward me and said.

“Maria puts blood in most magic formulas, and from my experience, if it’s not already an artifacted magic formula, I can’t use such things. Even artifacts seemed to be the same if they were semi-finished products where I had to send some new complex action. What do you call this?”

“Conditional artifacts?”

Archduchess Maria answered. Universal artifacts are artifacts that even non-mages can use, while conditional ones are artifacts that only those with cores, namely mages, can use. Since it wasn’t the answer he wanted, Emanuel waved his hand. Then he continued speaking to me.

“I’ve only used them once or twice so it’s hard to say, but if you want semi-permanent tools, there would be no point in requesting help. Shall we return to the room now?”

I looked down at him without saying anything. Emanuel was supporting his body with his arm on the desk while turning his head to look at me. While we felt subtly sharp tension, Archduchess Maria scolded with a face that didn’t understand what Emanuel was saying.

“That’s harsh talk. There are many magic formulas that everyone can use. More than that, Count Everett. Can’t we destroy that spatial magic?”

“We can. But to do that, don’t we need to know where the spatial magic is cast? We also need to find the furniture that serves as the button for the spatial magic.”

The Archduchess’s eyes lit up as she held out her finger. After signaling to wait a moment, she dashed off somewhere and returned quickly. She thrust a small semicircular object in front of my eyes. The top was covered with glass and the base connected below was shaped like a black, low cylinder. When I just stared in confusion, the Archduchess shouted.

“Mana vacuum collector~”

“What is this?”

“I used it when organizing the laboratory desk… This is actually used to collect taxes from delinquents.”

“…”

You used that as a vacuum cleaner? I stepped back and received the artifact, saying.

“Collecting taxes. So you take this home and suck up mana?”

“That’s right. If you stand in a room and operate it, mana gets sucked in automatically. Natural mana doesn’t get sucked in, but it collects mana contained in artifacts, elixirs, barriers and such things collected at home.”

“That’s essentially artificial mana. What do you use that small amount of re-collected artificial mana for?”

“Even if it’s a little, it has to go back into the tax warehouse! We use it to manage water and sewage, light street lamps, and for medical insurance.”

“Does the collection amount get filled?”

“Often it doesn’t. Actually, when the state extracts mana from our bodies, don’t they prepare to pull it out by the roots? They scrape mercilessly to the bottom, so it can’t compare to the mana in palm-sized objects. But since most people don’t want collection officers to come to their homes and break their belongings and barriers, most submit on time. You probably didn’t know since there aren’t many delinquents. Collection officers don’t use these things just anytime either.”

He continued while flicking one eyebrow.

“I had no choice but to know since I’m from a ruling family. Anyway, I’m thinking of improving this.”

“How?”

“How to improve it…”

The Archduchess dragged out his words while pondering for a moment. He put the mana vacuum collector down on the desk to disassemble it and said.

“I’ll improve it to suck in all mana except natural mana. If it can suck in human mana and artificial mana, wouldn’t that achieve our purpose? Space is also built on a foundation of human mana or artificial mana. Ah, it would be best if we could make it suck in natural mana too.”

“Then wouldn’t the movement button used as a portal disappear instead of the connected space? Or both would disappear.”

“That’s true. Both would disappear.”

“Are humans okay?”

“Humans… Hmm… Let’s think about it.”

“What are you planning to do?”

Emanuel scolded while looking Archduchess Maria up and down. The Archduchess didn’t even pretend to listen and looked at me, saying.

“We need a non-mage. Someone without a core.”

“So mages can’t use it.”

“They might die…”

Emanuel, who sighed at those words, leaned on the table and looked back at me with a resigned smile.

“Count Everett.”

“I’m sorry. But I think it’s a hypothesis worth listening to.”

“Exactly! When mana comes in, a light turns on like this. This is actually a simple sensor. Adding to it is no trouble at all. Using this, when human mana or artificial mana enters the collector, a light will shine, so we might not know exactly where the movement button is, but we can know whether there’s a button in the space or not! At least if there are no artifacts or mages in that space.”

“And then you lose the button to move next, right? If you put movement magic on a book, only the book remains and the movement magic disappears.”

“If there are advantages, there are also disadvantages, yes, well…”

“Haha…”

“I’ll try to find a way to supplement it.”

When Archduchess Maria’s solemn words ended, Emanuel pulled my shoulder. He led me to the hallway, saying.

“Then we’ll leave the technology development to Maria. We just need to find Father Ralph Huber? Before that, shall we stop by city hall once and try pulling out a book?”

“Going to city hall is just for confirmation so I don’t expect anything to be there, but Emanuel, you’re too conspicuous so I need to think about it.”

“Do you think you’re not conspicuous?”

“Then let’s cut our hair before going.”

I’ll end up resembling someone. That part is a bit worrying though.

“Never mind. It’s the same even if you cut it. My plan is just to call Ralph Huber to our house. Ask him to hold a mass here.”

“I’m not sure. There’s a possibility it could develop into results that are difficult to handle.”

“It’s not absolutely impossible, is it?”

“I’m just trying to be cautious.”

Emanuel, who waved his hand as if he understood, led me to the dressing room and rummaged through clothes, then handed me the Bavarian civil servant uniform he had. Since the age written on Lukas Everett’s passport was true, because my height and build had grown somewhat as I aged, it wasn’t as uncomfortable to wear as when I wore Leo’s clothes with an 18-year-old body. I straightened my clothes and headed inside the mansion walls where the warp point was.

Emanuel opened his coordinate book and muttered numbers while grabbing my arm. We moved to Bamberg where the Bamberg Archdiocese was located. The wind that changed direction swept through my robe. I was just in Munich in the south, but now I’m in Bamberg in northern Bavaria, what a fresh feeling. Emanuel headed toward the bridge over the river as familiarly as someone who had been to Bamberg many times. City hall rose strangely in the center of the bridge. He shrugged his shoulders in front of the closed city hall door.

“So, how are we going to open the door?”

“…”

I took out wire and put it in the lock, poking around here and there. Unfortunately, since I’m not Elias, I don’t know how to pick locks with wire, but… There’s something worth trying based on an idea from Elias. Remembering the shape of how the wire went in, I pulled it out again and closed my eyes. Then I pushed mana into the lock and cast solidification magic to harden it firmly for an instant. Visualization is as important as calculation formulas in magic, but it was difficult to cast magic because I couldn’t grasp the shape. It kept coming undone. Then what should I do? I have no choice but to compete with speed. After calmly counting from 3, I closed my eyes tightly and quickly turned the end of the hardened mana while imagining the shape. With a click, the mana turned to air and scattered.

“Wow.”

Emanuel whistled and entered first. He went up to the 3rd floor and waited for me, and I looked up at him leaning against the railing on the stairs and went upstairs. The room adjacent to the hallway window, and the third bookshelf.

I went inside. Emanuel looked around the room, humming.

“There are no books.”

I slowly nodded and carefully swept the empty bookshelf with my gloved hand. I also felt the back, but there was nothing to catch except spider webs and no passage anywhere. After shooting mana around the room and searching through other objects, I dusted off my hands and said.

“As expected, there’s nothing here. Let’s go.”

As expected, it’s certain that Pleroma in 1898 changed the entrance to a place considered safe after the destruction of the Munich-Freising Archdiocese. This means we need to find a new way in here. We need to catch Father Ralph Huber and find out. Emanuel gestured to leave quickly.

We restored the lock to its original state and returned to Emanuel’s mansion. More precisely, to his room. There are three things I need to find out. First, is another space connected to city hall? We need to cross over to their world to know where important facilities like the offices and archives of high-ranking clergy from each diocese are located. Second, now that we know it’s not at city hall, is there meaningful information we can get from Father Ralph Huber? Pleroma of this period doesn’t have a large religious influence yet, and accordingly lacks manpower and technology. Therefore, there wouldn’t be much progress in spatial magic technology, so they might not have properly constructed their own world. In this sense, finding Ralph Huber would be meaningless. Therefore, third, focus on cooperation with Maria. Creating technology that can be used to eliminate Pleroma even in 1898 by combining Archduchess Maria’s technology with my knowledge of magic studies from 1898. This was originally the most important thing and still is, so right now I need to either go to Maria immediately to share ideas or go meet Ralph Huber.

But Emmanuel had no intention of sending me anywhere. I held my head and asked.

“Why won’t you let me go.”

“I never stopped you.”

“What do you mean you never stopped me when you give me looks every time I try to get up.”

I tried to get up while making noise by hitting the floor with my shoe heels. Emmanuel blocked the door with magic. Sorry, but I could easily break through that. I wondered if I should just destroy it completely, but that wouldn’t be polite. I returned to the sofa and sat down roughly. Emmanuel handed me alcohol while smoking a cigarette. I shook my head. There were more points to consider regarding the technique Archduchess Maria had proposed earlier. I felt my body becoming drowsy and held my head.

“I don’t really understand why you’re keeping me here, but if you have nothing to say, I’ll go to bed now.”

“Do you know why this house is so dark and gloomy?”

Out of nowhere? I really don’t understand what this situation is about. I squinted my eyes, unable to read his intentions.

“I don’t know.”

“Didn’t you see the yellow lights flying around in the hallway?”

“That’s exactly why I said I don’t understand why it feels like a secret club party atmosphere.”

Then Emmanuel laughed while exhaling cigarette smoke for a long time.

“Maria was delighted that you were the first to bring up magic studies. She found it refreshing that you actively sought help with such an urgent expression on your face. That’s what she said.”

So she made the house like this? I responded with a face that showed I now understood. I should visit the Archduchess later to bring up the topic. I can’t just say I’m happy too out of nowhere, so I’ll need to choose the subject carefully…

When I opened my eyes, I had my head resting on the sofa. I pressed down on the fabric that somehow felt unfamiliar and frowned. When did I fall asleep? Even at this moment, I kept feeling drowsy. There was no unpleasant sensation, but the fact that I had fallen asleep without knowing was shocking. And from my past experiences, this was enough for me to intuitively understand what had happened.

“How can I convince you of my loyalty to Bavaria?”

I hadn’t drunk any alcohol and hadn’t smoked the cigarette he offered… Then how? I rolled my barely opening eyes to look toward where the voice came from. Emmanuel was sitting on another sofa, looking at me. There was no cigarette in his hand. He was drinking water. You’ve been smoking cigarettes all this time, so why? Ah, damn. Right. What a seamless technique. Did he apply some oil on himself so it wouldn’t work on him? Is this human using Archduchess Maria’s creation?

“Even though His Majesty the King has approved, I need to hear more.”

Why. I opened and closed my mouth. No sound came out. It must be because I’m sleepy. My throat has fallen asleep. Emmanuel understood my intention and kindly answered.

“Because you are my nephew’s teacher, my cousin’s subject, and an unidentified foreigner in his kingdom. Also because you are my new friend and my old friend’s new source of support… So please cooperate.”

“Ugh…”

“It’s true that a person named Lucas Everett really attended Princeton. In that sense, you’re not unidentified. But Count Everett’s friends in the United States showed some differences when testifying about you compared to the you I know.”

Yes, that would be the case. Unlike guessing Lucas Muller’s information, I couldn’t guess Lucas Everett’s information, so I had no chance to act accordingly… I closed my eyes. Drowsiness invaded my body. External voices scattered.

“Honestly, my brain tells me you’re not dangerous and my heart tells me not to be wary of you… But I am a bit concerned about you bringing unknown information and asking for technical help.”

That brain must be his unique ability of discernment. The heart must be about what he felt during the past few months living together… He confirmed my safety with his unique ability, but he can’t just dismiss it as resolved with that alone, nor can he just leave it be thinking there must be some circumstances. Because he’s royalty and I’ve entered the royal palace, because I’m deeply involved with the things he loves, he has no choice but to seek answers from me. He wants to hear something more truthful than what he read with his ability—invasive, crude, without any emotion, time, or depth, not in the realm of intuition and information. I had to convey certainty to him directly with my mouth, with my own voice, with my own face. That’s what he wanted.

I understand completely. I swung my fist to maintain balance and raised my body. Having squeezed out what little strength I had to reach the backrest, I was overwhelmed and hit my head against it. Thanks to the cold leather of the sofa transmitted through my cheek and shirt, I managed to regain some consciousness. The freshness I had as an untouched surface would soon become hot from body temperature—I think I’m going to vomit. It’s gradually becoming summer. Whether I resemble someone or not, I should just hit my head hard, otherwise I feel like I might vomit right now. My stomach is churning so I can’t anymore…

I struck the sofa and scattered divine power. The cold air of divine power that barely came out due to drowsiness at least served as breath for me. I gathered as much consciousness as possible and spoke to Emmanuel.

“I knew you’d be like this. Calling me a friend?”

I know. He’s demanding answers from me because he wants to remain friends. I also know. I probably stimulated his anxiety today. Even if Archduchess Maria doesn’t know, someone as naturally sensitive as him would definitely be bothered by it. Damn, but to come at me like this, I wonder if I should call this very Wittelsbach-like… From the perspective of remembering that initial mysterious sharpness, it’s not that I didn’t expect it at all. Silence always plunges everyone into fear. But then again, how much can you believe if I explain?

Emmanuel shrugged his shoulders.

“Friends often play around like this.”

“Well, what should I do for you. What do I need to do to satisfy you.”

I said that while knowing the answer. Emmanuel remained silent, and so did I. I knew what I had to say. I blinked my drowsy eyes for a while, then frowned to wake myself up. Emmanuel was watching me. Only when it seemed like a long time had passed did I open my mouth.

“Fine. I’ll tell you simply. I can time travel.”

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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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