How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 509

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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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Marian Baum closed her eyes and pressed her temples. The atmosphere among the Catacombs leadership was far from calm. Her colleague, Yanina Schweitzer, who had recently become co-chairman alongside Chairman Anze Dracher, openly displayed contempt.

“Where has His Majesty the King gone, and His Highness the Prince wants to meet with us? If they had any conscience, they shouldn’t be saying they want to meet us while bearing that prestigious surname, should they?”

They were in the middle of discussing whether they had the will to meet with His Highness the Prince. Chairman Schweitzer widened her eyes and gestured aggressively with her hands.

“The Wittelsbach side needs our technology, don’t they? They need the spatial magic technology that we had to desperately create to survive on the surface.”

“That’s true, but that’s a secondary matter. From what I’ve heard, and from what I think, His Highness the Prince and the kingdom’s real goal is—”

“Look at that! We should have shot both the Hohenzollern Cadet Branch and the Bavarian Royal Family on the spot when they invaded the Catacombs! Whether they knew about it on the surface or not, they didn’t even know the entrance to the Catacombs, so why should we care? Rather, it could have been a means to reveal our strength. Once they learned our identity, they started coveting our technology!”

Chairman Schweitzer, who had slammed the table with her hand and risen from her seat, shouted while scratching her neck. The chairman’s secretary and fellow radical activists wore equally grim faces. Marian Baum felt her mouth go dry. It wasn’t that she didn’t understand Chairman Schweitzer’s intentions and concerns. Rather, Marian Baum thought that although Chairman Schweitzer might draw criticism from others for being radical, her opinions and logic were also valid, and such people were absolutely necessary in the Catacombs.

She couldn’t handle the Catacombs’ diplomacy alone. That would become a seed of internal strife and couldn’t reflect the ‘Catacombs” will. That would be the will of Marian Baum and a few Catacombs politicians who heard from her, but it wouldn’t represent the Catacombs—an undemocratic state. Although the current situation would also be a confidential meeting where a national referendum couldn’t be conducted, they had to discuss with all the leadership. There were some who shared Marian Baum’s opinion, but half were opposed. The obstacles were enormous as they had to persuade everyone.

Chairman Schweitzer pointed at the floor and shouted.

“They’ve trapped us in the ‘Catacombs’ and now that they need us, they’re trying to bring us out to use us. Hah! This is so absurd it makes me laugh. Is this right!”

“That’s not the case.”

Marian Baum, feeling troubled, shook her head and said.

“The subject is different. We were driven out like this because of Prussia and pro-Prussian countries. Bavaria is the only country trying to return us Catacombs to the surface and the only opponent that can fight Prussia on equal terms.”

One could clearly see how a country’s foundation could be overturned depending on the virtue and values of a single ruler. The parliament and Prime Minister are greatly influenced by the king’s will. Among Prussia’s senators, that is, the Esper nobles, there were those who argued that Human mages shouldn’t be treated that way. However, the Prussian King rejected it, and numerous legislators with similar views rejected it. Surprisingly, among the commoners who held positions as lower house legislators, there were those who, despite being commoners themselves, argued that it was right to kill commoner mages. They sometimes argued this because the mana flowing through commoner mages’ bodies was money used worldwide, and they didn’t want us to gain economic benefits, but if the king changed his mind and declared he wouldn’t discriminate against commoner mages, most of them would change their opinions and ‘admire our Emperor’s generous heart for not discriminating against commoner mages.’ This is the influence of a single ruler.

Similarly, among Bavaria’s senators, there were those who argued that Prussia’s discriminatory policies against commoner mages should be faithfully implemented. However, the King of Bavaria rejected it, and numerous legislators with similar views rejected it.

Thus, many things are determined by the ruler of the time. Would it get better with democracy? If a president elected by the people sits as the head instead of a hereditary king, the parliament and Prime Minister wouldn’t be unable to break the president’s will. Now the media watches the royal family’s mood, but when democracy arrives, there won’t be ‘autocratic’ things like the media watching the president’s mood… Marian Baum once thought this way, but not now. The democratic republic of America, which existed simultaneously with autocratic Germany, made Marian Baum half hopeful and half despairing. Broadly speaking, the two seemed surprisingly different, but when it came to people’s lives, the two seemed surprisingly similar. Why doesn’t an ideal political system function so ideally in reality even when created? Marian Baum pressed her brow, sighed, and touched her temples.

Long thoughts made her head ache. Marian Baum only hoped Chairman Schweitzer would agree. However, the chairman firmly denied it.

“The only country that thinks of us? Bavaria? There are also the Papal States.”

“No, they’re aiming to weaken Germany. If they induce a German civil war, the ‘great power Germany’ will collapse and the Papal States will emerge as a new hegemonic power. With the influence of not only Catholicism but Christianity as a whole decreasing exponentially in Europe, the Papal States can no longer maintain power through religion alone, and their land size is insufficient. Since they can’t compete alone, they have the ambition to join hands with Bavaria and eventually devour Bavaria as well.”

Marian Baum spoke with enthusiasm, trying to persuade the leadership sitting in the audience.

“We are Germans, whatever else we may be. If we only wanted not to be persecuted, we would have long since left this damned homeland and gone into exile in other countries! There’s German-speaking Switzerland right away, and countries like America, aren’t there? The reason we didn’t do that and are camping on German soil is because Germany is our hometown and our beloved homeland. Also, unlike the tricks they’ve put in the constitution, we have the rightful right to live on this land as clear ‘German citizens’! As German citizens, we will sternly protest our homeland’s wrongs and reform our homeland, but we cannot watch it be torn to pieces by pointing swords at each other due to other countries’ conflicts of interest. Because we are German citizens.”

Then Chairman Schweitzer answered with a bleak face.

“I can watch it. Only the Catacombs’ victory is my goal. I don’t wish for Germany’s victory. Yet you’re telling me to join hands with the German royal family?”

“His Highness the Prince hinted that this opportunity is precisely the chance to elevate the Catacombs’ status. His Highness the Prince has devised a strategy to save Prussia ‘by breaking the rules and order Prussia established.’ Our Catacombs can erase the debt of Prussia’s miraculous recovery ‘by breaking the rules.’ I don’t expect the Catacombs to return perfectly to the surface overnight, but it means we can no longer tolerate Prussia’s oppression and injustice! Our Catacombs can make that happen!”

“What a benevolent Prince. We were thrown into this position by royalty, yet he’s telling us to rise again with royal power. He’s telling us to be indebted to royalty! What if the Prince is trying to use the Catacombs for Bavaria’s national interests!”

The fact that this royalty is not that royalty doesn’t resonate with Chairman Schweitzer. Marian Baum understood that as well, but gradually became anxious.

“Then how do you plan to rise? How can we escape this crisis without cooperating with anyone?”

“That’s still unknown. But is joining hands with royalty even reasonable? No matter how much our situation was the crime of Prussia and pro-Prussian countries, the Bavarian royalty are also accomplices because they’re the same royalty. They should have stopped it somehow, and if they couldn’t, they should have withdrawn from the German Confederation!”

“Then there would be war again. Don’t you know how many wars our country went through until unification? Unlike now, Bavaria didn’t have such national power then. As always, to minimize casualties and protect Germany from external forces, it’s not time for us to war among ourselves. Don’t you know how many people go to their graves?”

“Our commoner mages were also killed by Prussia. Bavaria is a bystander. A bystander who decided to sacrifice fewer people to prevent Germany’s destruction and millions of casualties. Of course, being a bystander is better than being a massacrer, but rather than being a bystander, I would commit suicide! The Kingdom of Bavaria should have followed ethics with the resolve to disappear into the back alleys of history. Something that cannot be compromised under any circumstances—that is justice!”

Chairman Schweitzer continued with angry eyes.

“So, I said earlier that the German civil war is none of our Catacombs’ business.”

Marian Baum hung her head. She understood why Chairman Schweitzer was so angry. The chairman was a radical and Baum was a moderate. She fully understood the will to choose dignity over immediate recovery, and Marian Baum felt the same. Everyone wanted the Catacombs’ true liberation, but they differed in means. Yanina Schweitzer could probably understand Marian Baum as well, but politics couldn’t be compromised through understanding alone.

However, Marian Baum now thought she stood at a turning point that could reverse the Catacombs’ fate. The international situation and the Prince’s plan she heard from the Prince were truly an opportunity. An opportunity that wouldn’t come again, one they might have to wait decades or centuries for if they missed it this time.

She already knew the Prince possessed outstanding strategy. Some say his having an advisor like Nicolaus Ernst or his consistent political success to some degree is just luck, but it’s certainly not just luck. If Marian Baum could trust her own experience and guard against confirmation bias, the Prince she knew from limited information always observed and accepted.

That acceptance was easily misunderstood as passivity or timidity by impatient people, and this was a misconception arising from differences in position. The Prince, regardless of what he thought, was inherently different from others. He would need to acknowledge this to avoid unintentional arrogance. Marian Baum and most people had to walk toward opportunities themselves and grasp them, but that Wittelsbach Prince existed in a position where everything flowed in like a tide from the moment he was laid in the cradle. Beneath his feet lay countless wealth, pleasures, talents, and resources. Everything has two sides. From this moment, the real problem slowly raises its head on the red velvet of the throne. Too much is as problematic as too little—a monarch can use the golden waves surging at his feet to pave the path to death or achieve a reign that will remain in history forever. The monarch had to carve out his destiny by choosing one of three: embracing all gold and silver treasures and his human desires and falling beneath the throne, being swayed by immature judgment and warm, sticky affection to repeat ambiguous choices, or being separated at a certain distance from everything he loved and hated to observe all things with a cold head and make optimal choices. Therefore, the achievement of advisor Nicolaus Ernst is the Prince’s foresight and achievement for not missing the timing when the talent Nicolaus Ernst came to his feet and appointing him to such a high position, thus providing Nicolaus Ernst with freedom and appropriate power. He was naturally appointed to that position because he uses divine power, or personal connections placed the foreign national of unknown identity Nicolaus Ernst in that position—that’s only part of it. Bavaria could have given Ernst a lower position while being optimized for divine power use. Bavaria’s use of Nicolaus Ernst not just as a simple Arcane Mage or kingdom military but as a political advisor was possible due to their discernment. Bavaria bet and succeeded. The Prince had to operate all the chess pieces given to him neither too little nor too much, placing them in appropriate positions at appropriate times. Continuously solving this difficult problem is his role as a future monarch and the duty that should become his life’s greatest agony. Because it is precisely the ruler’s duty to move his chess pieces to positions where they can display their abilities to seize victory and control them.

It’s the same thing. Nicolaus Ernst is just the most direct example; a ruler must and has made such judgments every moment. Filtering and reassembling the countless information flowing into the royal family through his own brain and outstanding talents to achieve explosive results, instantly reversing moments of barely avoiding national crisis into great victory—that’s what the Prince accomplished this dawn. The foundation has been perfectly laid, so only execution remains. Only the royal family, where all excellent resources gather, can do this. Leonard Wittelsbach’s strategy was supremely clean and destructive. Enough to break through all obstacles rushing at Bavaria’s chariot and reach its peak. In a strategy with high chances of victory, the simplest thing is the most difficult operation. He was a born commander. I won’t say he’s unbelievably excellent for his age because he’s the next monarch. Marian Baum knew that growing up in an advanced family environment devoted to learning formed the Prince’s intellect and knew that acknowledging this wouldn’t be problematic for their values, but she had no intention of allowing statements that might sound like defending the legitimacy of hereditary rule, and such evaluation wouldn’t be praise for the Prince either. However, he was certainly excellent as human to human. Also, judging from the minor information Marian Baum herself knew, though she had no intention of explaining what that information was to them, the Prince also greatly aligned with Marian Baum in terms of values. It had to be this era. Right now, when a companion who knows sin and duty exists, is the right time. No matter how much Marian Baum thought about it, she couldn’t miss this opportunity.

“Chairman Schweitzer.”

At Marian Baum’s words, Chairman Schweitzer frowned and looked at her.

“You said you would commit suicide rather than be a bystander, that the Kingdom of Bavaria should have followed ethics with the resolve to disappear into the back alleys of history. My thoughts differ. If Bavaria perished, Prussia taking that land would be a natural course. If Prussia had taken Bavarian land, we would have all died by hanging before we could even be here. Not only that, we would lose the only barrier that can stop Prussia’s rampage. I think if there hadn’t been Bavaria that didn’t cooperate every time Prussia tried to do something, Prussia would have accelerated Catacombs oppression more than now. When there’s no longer a country that openly humiliates their political influence, would there be reason to hesitate?”

Chairman Schweitzer raised both hands as if she had something to say again, but Marian Baum quickly continued, fearing a rebuttal would come.

“You called Bavaria a bystander.”

“Yes. I did.”

“That’s right. They are bystanders.”

Chairman Schweitzer turned her head. Marian Baum swallowed and continued.

“Bavaria condoned Prussia’s wrongs for peace from war and more lives. Also, that decision would have included issues of national interest. Because countries are not philosophers’ schools. Therefore, Bavaria couldn’t save everyone. Countries will always commit wrongs to one side.”

Marian Baum looked around at the Catacombs leadership who were only looking at her and said.

“Also, you said that the Catacombs gaining benefits through this opportunity is merely ‘borrowing royal power,’ ‘being indebted to royalty,’ and ‘the Prince bestowing charity’ upon the Catacombs.”

Chairman Schweitzer nodded. Marian Baum answered firmly.

“Wrong. We are receiving repayment of the debt they owe.”

At those words, the chairman squinted and opened her lips. Other leadership figures also looked as if lightning had struck their heads. Marian Baum strongly argued what she could infer about the Prince’s intentions from limited information, and what she thought the Catacombs people should maintain toward the royal family.

“We have unresolved rights. Bavaria’s Prince is seeking us to return our rights that his country couldn’t actively secure. Not to exert influence over us, but because returning us to our rightful place is his duty and the debt the kingdom owes us, he wants to meet with us. He has debts to settle and we have debts to collect from them. The time has come for us to reclaim our rights that we haven’t received. Therefore, I don’t think we’ll be indebted to Bavaria by accepting Bavaria’s operation!”

Chairman Schweitzer remained silent while squinting. She kept her mouth shut and fell into serious thought with her eyes squeezed even tighter. Marian Baum looked at them and finished speaking.

“We are reclaiming what we should rightfully receive from Bavaria. That’s why we want to meet with the Prince.”

Marian Baum hoped the Catacombs people wouldn’t suffer from the consciousness of being indebted. Marian Baum also held the view, like co-chairman Yanina Schweitzer, that she’d rather not receive anything if it meant being indebted to Bavaria. However, Marian Baum never considered the information Bavaria provided and the joint operation proposal as debt. It was finally receiving some of all those rights the Catacombs hadn’t received. The Prince was searching for where his creditors were, representing the kingdom.

Other Catacombs figures shouldn’t think they were indebted to outsiders or receiving grace from high-ranking people. This operation was inherently not a vertical relationship but horizontal cooperation premised on mutual benefit, and even if the Prince passed information due to third-party inducement, it wasn’t his charity but his ‘original’ duty, and we alone must clearly know it was our rightful right that we should have received long ago. Those who believe the Catacombs must accomplish everything from start to finish independently or else it’s not victory must properly understand this fact. The Catacombs originally had rights to receive. To think that reclaiming stolen rights as debt is being indebted—Marian Baum realized this was precisely not knowing that the rights robbed by someone were debt itself, and felt dismayed.

Other moderates and some radicals in the leadership audience nodded slightly. Even if they weren’t favorable toward the royal family, they weren’t hostile either. They probably wouldn’t have been originally, but after hearing Marian Baum’s words, they became a bit more open to possibilities.

The chairman, who had been lost in thought with a grim face, slowly clasped her hands and looked at Marian Baum.

“I’m curious whether the Prince thinks the same way.”

Marian Baum bit her lips and held her breath. Success—this was just the beginning. The chairman also meant she would step back and observe.

If only we think of this as a horizontal relationship, we can’t guarantee safety. We must know whether the royal family thinks the same or not, and only when we document their correct consciousness will our Catacombs act.

Marian Baum had fulfilled her duty. What remained from now on was the royal family and the Prince’s attitude.

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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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