How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 540

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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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How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magic Noble Family (540)

I couldn’t help but recognize the emotion contained in those eyes. It felt like something made of ice was piercing through my heart. The gaze that had been focused on me when I went to school after finishing filming, or when I opened the classroom door the day after some new topic about me arose—that same gaze was here. Whether it was positive or negative never mattered.

The brief moment of agitation seemed like something that happened in a dream, and I quickly became calm. I smiled, lifting the corners of my mouth in front of a friend who was heartwarming enough to make my heart race.

“Well…”

Ulrike hesitated to greet me. He watched me silently, then approached with hesitant steps. Then he called my name for no particular reason.

“Lucas.”

“Yeah. What?”

Ulrike thought for a moment, then spread his arms. Understanding his intention, I smiled and embraced him. Ulrike’s arms squeezed my back. Even though I must have smelled of blood, he didn’t seem to mind that aspect.

“Are you okay?”

Those were my words. Right now, Ulrike was looking at me as if there was a vast river flowing between him and me, as if he was looking at someone from a distant world. At those words, Ulrike’s shoulders flinched, then he answered playfully.

“Of course. That’s what I should be asking you.”

“As you saw everything, I’m perfectly fine.”

“Having seen everything, I can’t say that’s true.”

That was also true. Drinking human blood and returning it to the surface was not a normal sight for ordinary minds to see, and since I had used that fact, it was natural. Was there another problem besides that? I thought about what might have happened during the time I couldn’t remember. Ulrike rested his chin on my shoulder and muttered.

“But it was something you needed, so you endured it. That must be it… More than that, I was surprised because you felt like a different person the whole time. You really are Adrian Ascanien’s younger brother…”

“Hahaha.”

I patted his back and smiled as I pulled him away. Ulrike looked straight into my eyes and said.

“I’m truly glad you’re alive. Even those who said you should be executed are quiet now. No one will be able to kill you now.”

I wondered if I had truly lived. But saying I was alive was correct. I could breathe freely. My steps were light, and the reason was that I had lost something. Above all, I had suffered loss. But I had not lost. In my hands was what I had lost. I had finally grasped it. I was made to lose by them and gained today, but that gaining was absolutely a loss in terms of ‘me’. This confusing statement needs no further explanation. Explanation would distort my life.

In short, I was smiling with my eyes closed, but when I closed my eyes, I stared at myself expressionlessly. Not the me from my second life, but my complete face that I knew was staring at me like a living ghost, and I knew what was in his eyes. He quietly reproached me. He seemed to sit like the mother who gave birth to me, watching me with unknowing eyes. But there was no regret. It wasn’t because I had decided to act opportunistically out of fear of death or for the purpose of prolonging trivial money and honor that would make me feel as insignificant as an ant in the universe.

Having stepped away from what my heart commanded, I simultaneously approached what my heart commanded. In a situation where I seemed to have distanced myself from my past self, I grew closer to today’s self. I couldn’t waste the life I received from Leonard. It wasn’t just physical death. I didn’t know there were people in the world who would stake not just their lives but their very souls for others. I discovered for the first time that day someone who could give themselves to a completely different person. Therefore, from the day of the third ordeal, this life has been moving forward, received from him who destroyed himself to interfere with the fate of a complete stranger.

Besides the one friend who made me live more than anything else, I had gained something from this. I gained time to spend with all my beloved friends. I gained the opportunity not to send another’s body to the execution ground. I also gained the opportunity to try to protect the people from Pleroma. So, I was granted the remaining years to do my best in matters where I had already recognized injustice. The opportunity to create a world worth showing to the earliest version of myself that I knew… I had sufficient resolve and confidence to hold my breath in anticipation of the future. So I don’t regret taking half a step back before moving forward.

“I’m also happy to meet you alive. Have you been well?”

“No.”

Ulrike was more decisive than I thought—not more than I thought, but he was originally like that. It wasn’t hard to understand the reason for that decisiveness. I rolled my eyes, then raised my eyebrows and placed my hand on my chest.

“Because of me?”

“More precisely, it’s because of how people treat you.”

“I’m sorry about that. But I need to move now, so if it’s okay, could you wait for me at school?”

“Where are you going again already?! Can’t I come with you…?”

Ulrike asked as usual, as if he had never hesitated when looking at me. When I glanced at Mecklenburg, he thought for a moment and nodded.

After having a simple lunch at the Imperial Court, we took a carriage to move for rest. I had somewhat expected it, but there really was an Imperial Newspaper interview scheduled for noon. Since our intentions aligned, I wanted to praise the Imperial government for this much at least. I leaned back against the backrest and crossed my arms.

I’m curious about something.

Pleroma left me in the hands of the public. They tried to isolate me through the public, and that succeeded briefly. But now that the public has turned their backs on Pleroma once again, how will they respond? Didn’t they expect that I would overturn the situation once more? Or are there more games prepared that I must play against them?

To think rationally, it would be right to assume the latter and prevent Pleroma’s next plan. What methods could Pleroma use to try to kill me again? We must think about this and defend against everything from Pleroma’s most trivial counterattacks to their grand schemes.

When the carriage started, Ulrike spread out a bundle of newspapers he had bought after eating and stacked them one by one on my lap.

“Here, newspapers. Everyone’s only talking about you!”

The front page of the Imperial Newspaper was fixed with a photo of me speaking to the subjects while raising my fist with blood-stained gloves. It was taken from the left half-profile, and the screen looked full, probably zoomed in from among the people. Even I found it embarrassingly spirited and passionate. At least my eyes were captured much more sharply than Adrian Ascanien’s eyes, which appeared wise and strong, so I didn’t look like my brother. Instead, there was an aspect that looked more vigorous and aggressive than him. Above it was an incomprehensible title like “Young Man Who Conquered Blood.”

I turned to page 2 and raised my eyebrows at an unexpected phrase. There was an article that copied headlines from other newspapers and commented on them positively.

“The Second Gladstone. This must be part of the strategy too?”

I mean the friendship strategy with Britain. For Germany to attach the name of Britain’s Prime Minister to a promising candidate they decided to accept as an emerging politician—Britain wouldn’t be displeased but would rather feel proud inside, which meant my speech had succeeded continentally. I had already become synonymous with reversal in less than two hours. I had become someone who broke through the injustice created by Pleroma and pioneered a path toward justice… That justice was within the bounds that the public could accept, but even that much was sufficiently revolutionary to the observers. The justice I had compromised was itself a shocking blow to the back of their heads. I pulled up the corners of my stiff mouth. Once you acknowledge that groups change like fluid in a slightly different way from individuals, it’s no longer surprising. Just as I believed before coming to this place, it briefly becomes so today as well.

Anyway, although Prussia seemed to be promoting me excessively, thinking this was the right time, seeing them do such bold things meant it wasn’t entirely without basis. I tapped the newspaper and asked.

“What do you think, Senior?”

Mecklenburg said nothing. He seemed to have so much to say that he said nothing at all, moving his lips before turning his head. Ulrike put his arm on my back and muttered.

“I really thought of that person.”

“Really?”

When I tilted my head and smiled conventionally, Ulrike narrowed his eyes and gestured with both hands to explain further.

“You were, well, incredibly… seasoned. The camera made you look angry, but when I saw you directly, you looked like you had experienced such speeches dozens of times.”

“I see.”

“If it were me, I would have gotten angry or upset, but you were calm from beginning to end… And also…”

I rested my chin on my hand and listened attentively while looking at Ulrike. Ulrike clasped his hands together and looked at the carriage floor as he spoke.

“You told people they were wrong.”

“…”

“Everyone must have felt that you were scolding them. It would have been difficult for you to say such things from your position, but you did it anyway. To me and others, it looked exactly like Gladstone, who was British but criticized his fellow Britons. Even if they were from the same country, you pointed out what was wrong as wrong. Actually, we really need such politicians. The subject leading the politics of that era—whether it’s us subjects or fellow politicians, if someone is going seriously down the wrong path, we need politicians who will tell them they’re wrong and to reflect.”

“Mm.”

“And most don’t do that. They easily point out the mistakes of politicians from other parties, but they never point out the mistakes of the voters who hold their legislative seats. Instead, they sweet-talk them. They say what they want to hear and implement the policies they desire, but that’s actually natural. The people elect representatives to realize their will. Because the people want imperialism, they elect an imperialist Prime Minister. And if the people want war to secure hegemony, they choose and place politicians who are active in war. So politicians who tell the people what imperialism really is and what the reality of war is like are very rare. You played that role today even though your life was in everyone’s hands. So it’s a sufficient title. That’s what I think.”

I listened to his words silently to the end and answered quietly.

“So that’s how my words sounded.”

“Yes.”

What I lack is not lacking in many others. It means the speech found the appropriate line between me and the public. But would I stop here? No. If I succeeded in approaching the line, shouldn’t I gradually push that line to the other side?

When the carriage slowed down, I smiled and said to Ulrike.

“Now I have to go interview with the Imperial Newspaper. Pleroma doesn’t seem like they’ll stop here.”

At those words, Ulrike clapped his hands and opened his eyes wide. Then he squinted again and shrugged his shoulders.

“Ah, right. It’s strange. They probably didn’t expect you to escape so well… but actually, if it were those guys, they could have prepared more thoroughly. If they intended to confuse the subjects by saying you were their Christ, then other actions should follow accordingly.”

“Exactly. It’s obvious they’ll do something else.”

“What kind?”

I put the newspaper down on one side of the carriage and answered while adjusting my clothes.

“We don’t need to look far. The answer will be in the Dead Sea that the continent is currently excavating.”

* * *

Pleroma will not hesitate to utilize the biblical manuscripts discovered in the Dead Sea. This is the first among the topics we can expect as their minor and trivial responses.

If we know this, what should we do? It’s right to strike first and kill the sprout.

30 minutes after the interview broadcast aired, as the interview was about to conclude, I was sincerely answering the interviewer’s question about how I thought Pleroma would respond next—why on earth would they ask such a thing to a student like me? First, because my image as a student had already been diluted, and second, because it was a rigged game with the government.

“Therefore, I would like to urge the subjects. Now that Pleroma’s goal of confusing the subjects has not been fully achieved, they may tell any lie to divide the Empire and the continent once again. They might have fabricated some false biblical manuscript and hidden it in Ain Feshka, or they might have torn apart a perfectly good biblical manuscript and subjected it to clever editing. Especially their biblical interpretation is originally very heretical, because they decide on results that fit their intentions and then force-fit the text. In exactly that sense, this Ain Feshka manuscript is truly worrying.”

“Ah, yes. It’s a very important topic indeed.”

The interviewer nodded with a deliberately serious face. I continued with a worried expression.

“No matter how I look at it, Pleroma will definitely use that biblical manuscript for wrong purposes. Certainly the Ain Feshka manuscript is a precious heritage of humanity, but heretics are using its value to divide subjects, the Empire, and the continent, thereby diminishing it. Subjects, whatever Pleroma says with the Ain Feshka manuscript, whatever sensational news the manuscript conveys, you must not believe it.

Scripture that conveys God’s words and will must originally have appropriateness of specific temporal conditions and content, which is why the current canon was established through long periods of verification and discussion. On the other hand, New Testament apocrypha and pseudepigrapha are insufficient books in that sense. Even if they claim with their characteristic anti-Christ values to have discovered new scripture, and even if they convey sensational news that the scripture depicts a future where some Gnostics gain power or identifies who the next Christ is, such information is as full of divisive intent as it is sensational, and far from the truth. If it were truly scripture, it would generally contain content that makes us uncomfortable with our inertia or fills our lives with joy, rather than being sensational. So everyone, you must not shake the Empire as Pleroma wants once again.”

“I agree. The subjects should first believe all information that Pleroma presents as false. Since they’re trying to destroy the Empire, look what has happened—isn’t our Empire weakening as if a war had broken out?”

The interviewer, famous as a pro-Emperor political commentator, waved his hand in a circle and agreed with my words. He smiled and recited his closing remarks.

“We have been interviewing Count Lucas Ascanien. As we knew several months ago and saw this morning, there’s a reason he’s praised as the Second Gladstone. Do you have any final words?”

“Yes. I do have final words here. I’m very grateful for being called the Second Gladstone, but I want to be more humble. His Excellency Gladstone was truly an outstanding politician and a great man of Britain. I’m still too young to be called that and haven’t even fully entered politics yet. I want to work for the honor of our homeland and for you subjects, but I’m not yet familiar with it. I appreciate the praise, but it seems it’s not yet time.”

“Amazing. If I had received such a title at Your Excellency’s age, I would have jumped for joy. But you certainly made a huge impact, didn’t you?”

I smiled and raised my eyebrows as I answered.

“I won’t deny that.”

“Hahaha!”

“But the subjects also contributed to meaningfully accepting this discourse. It was the subjects who recognized the problem with my appeal and decided not to give strength to Pleroma anymore. I hope the subjects will continue to make wise choices without being swayed by their every word. There are times when decisive action is possible and times when it’s not. The power to distinguish between injustice disguised as justice and real justice must lie with you.”

“The more we talk, the more I feel this is a young man with a very promising future. The graduate of our homeland’s finest prestigious school is indeed different.”

I was inwardly shocked by a statement that would have been difficult to make openly in the 21st century, then smiled and checked my impression value. +5, considering that it becomes harder to rise as the number gets larger, it was an incredible figure. The interviewer praised me effusively until the end.

“It reminds me of His Excellency Adrian Ascanien.”

6 PM.

“I suffered major injuries during the operation and still need treatment. Especially since I walked without crutches when I stood in front of the square this time, my broken leg probably became weak again, so I want to take better care of that and focus on treatment”—I said this during the middle of the interview to clear some future schedules. Though this wasn’t discussed with the Imperial Court, it was obvious they would refuse if I consulted them first, so it was right for me to make the first move. There are things to compromise on and things that aren’t. To avoid identity conflicts with Nicolaus Ernst, the Lucas Ascanien identity shouldn’t have densely packed official schedules.

But since I came out today, I had to go around until the end. I took a car instead of a carriage and stopped by the Imperial Second Educational Institute. It was something I had discussed—or rather, unilaterally decided—with the Imperial Court through Mecklenburg. Journalists who had heard about the route in advance were taking pictures, so I showed them my palm expressionlessly as royalty and high-ranking politicians usually do. I got out of the car that arrived in front of the Imperial Second Educational Institute and saluted the seven or eight faculty members waiting in front of the main gate. They saluted back. The professors who had been waiting for me welcomed me with proud smiles, and some with reluctant but smiling faces. Shutter sounds, more shutter sounds… Even after receiving salutes, they specifically shook hands with me, which wasn’t unpleasant. Seeing my homeroom professor’s proud, silent smile made me smile too. I had already read his letter and knew what help he had given me. Before I could greet him with words, the newly appointed Head of the Magic Department grabbed my shoulder and patted my back, speaking to the journalists.

“This is the rising star of our Empire’s political world. We’re just happy that our school’s student has become the very symbol of progressive aspirations.”

So from the moment I proved my innocence most dramatically in the worst situation, from the moment I succeeded in adding strategic speech to it, I was no longer a student. Student politician—no, that’s wrong—I was an icon. What kind of icon? I represented breaking France’s carefully planned “Prussia vs. Continent” and symbolized the “Germany vs. Cult” structure. Furthermore, I became a symbol capable of expanding to “Continent vs. Cult.” Only Mecklenburg on the opposite side remained stiff. That person has been in that state all along. Perhaps Ulrike was briefly like that too.

I answered with a confident smile instead.

Whatever I had become, the key now was not to leave the rapidly rising icon as an icon but to land safely, and so far I was succeeding. I would continue to do so. Because I would make it so.

I finished greeting the journalists and warped into the school with the professors to have a brief conversation. It was too early to meet politicians to establish a foothold in politics. It was beneficial for me, who wanted to win over the majority, to start from the periphery connected to politics—scholars, professors, journalists—and narrow it down.

10 PM, while I was greeting journalists, Ulrike, who had entered through the back door and wandered around the school, and I headed to the Wittelsbach mansion in Berlin. Since this was my personal residence that the school also knew about, there would be no problem resting here.

As soon as I entered the garden, I could smell the characteristic grass scent. I greeted the Wittelsbach servants of the mansion with gestures and smiles, then took off my hat and jacket and handed them over. Ulrike did the same and asked me.

“Actually, earlier…”

“Yeah?”

“At first, when I saw you, I didn’t say anything for a moment.”

“That’s right.”

“You suddenly felt like someone in such a high place that I wondered if it was okay for me to treat you as usual.”

When I turned my head at those words, I met eyes with Ulrike’s calm face.

“What are you talking about? No matter how I give speeches, the fact that we’re friends doesn’t change.”

Since that was the only topic I could guess, I brought up the speech first. As if that was correct, Ulrike tilted her head and said.

“That would be true. But usually when circumstances change, people gradually grow apart.”

“….”

“Until last week or two weeks ago, I thought I’d be with you all for over a hundred years, but today I’m not so sure. Could we continue like today even without the team that binds us together?”

If I think coldly with an adult mindset, I should deny these words. The idea that all seven of us would always stay together like brothers is difficult, even though the possibility isn’t low since we’re in a special profession and are peers selected from the same school under special circumstances. Right now, isn’t Ulrike the only one in this team who wants everyone to become close friends? The others would of course find it good, or sometimes nice, if they became personally close to each other—there was no one who truly refused or disliked it, it’s just that circumstances don’t allow it—but at the same time, since we’re bound together as a team created to work, they think there’s no need for everyone to become friends as Ulrike wishes. However, like everyone else, I didn’t want to voice honest probability calculations in front of a friend who said she wanted to keep being close, and personally I also wanted these friends to have as enjoyable a time as possible, and since we’ve already met like this, though it might have been different if we’d remained just classmates from another class…

“If you want to continue that way, of course. At least I want to be with you all for over a hundred years.”

I couldn’t turn away. After thinking for a long time to speak honestly, I answered like that.

At those words, Ulrike stroked her chin and fell into thought. I expected to hear an answer like ‘then that’s a relief,’ but she was staring into space, deeply thinking about something. Did I say something wrong…? But there were no empty words. I don’t say things I don’t mean in matters like this. In the first place, unless it’s an urgent time requiring acting, I rarely say things I don’t mean because it truly makes me unbearable. The only question is whether I’ve already given enough trust to make her believe my sincerity. I spoke my true feelings, and whether others accept it or not is already out of my hands. I could only wait nervously.

Ulrike followed where I was going and sat on the sofa in the center of the second floor. Since she sat there, I had to sit beside her too. Ulrike said quietly.

“Actually, if I said I don’t doubt you anymore at this point, would that be hard for you to believe?”

I raised an eyebrow, wondering what she meant.

“It could be that I was fooled by Pleroma’s announcement and doubted you, only to believe you after seeing such extreme proof today. From your perspective, I mean. I should have told you I believed you right then on Easter day…”

“Luise. You don’t need to worry about that. I have no resentment toward you right now.”

I smiled and answered conventionally. Even so, Ulrike leaned both arms on the sofa, looked at me with wide eyes in a crooked posture, then said seriously.

“You’re misunderstanding something. I’m more afraid that you won’t be yourself in front of me than that my sincerity will be doubted.”

I often lose words in front of Ulrike because she sometimes becomes greatly honest. I never knew what to do in front of such purity. When I said nothing, she asked quietly.

“So you’ll keep treating me like you do now?”

“No, Luise.”

I closed my eyes and shook my head.

“No.”

“….”

“How am I treating you?”

Ulrike slowly straightened up and answered.

“You seem to stay in that same state from when you were giving the speech. Even if not for a moment, you seem to return to that state.”

I finally understood why she was acting this way. I had reached a strategic compromise with myself and was in a sufficiently good state as an actor, but friends who didn’t know this process noticed that some subtle difference had emerged. What I thought was different was that I had been confident throughout, unlike usual, but from Ulrike’s perspective, it would have seemed strange enough that I kept being triumphant after going through crazy events. Wouldn’t that be so? I shook my head to provide some explanation.

“Not really. It might not be intentional.”

When I stubbornly denied it like a child, Ulrike snapped her fingers with a serious face.

“Just now you definitely weren’t.”

“Right. Well, I’ll explain if you want. But…”

Ulrike waved her hand to cut off my words and said.

“Ahhhhh. Wait. Then.”

Then what. I tilted my head, thinking about what she was trying to say. Ulrike made a face like kids before Christmas and shouted.

“Then you know!”

“…Right, what do you want to say. What’s next?”

“I want to see that you continue being yourself too. Are you free tomorrow? You said you have no schedule since you’re going to the hospital tomorrow.”

“No way. Absolutely not.”

Isn’t the hospital a schedule? I set aside the momentary question.

Why is Pleroma staying quiet? That means they have a plan. Of course, even if they actually don’t—there’s a possibility I’m constantly overestimating them—it’s much more rational to assume they do. So I need to stand by on the surface, and just with the Lucas Ascanien identity overlapping with Nicolaus Ernst, I’ll be busy going back and forth between Bavaria and Prussia.

“I suppose that’s true… Then tonight?”

“I need to sleep at night.”

I didn’t really plan to sleep, but I wanted to strategize more than that. As if she already knew me well, Ulrike clasped her hands and asked with a disbelieving face.

“Are you going to sleep?”

“….”

I stared at her quietly, then shook my head with a defeated expression.

“No. Luise, I think I know what you’re trying to do, but I can’t go outside. Especially going out to relax is absolutely not allowed. I want to refrain from anything that might change public opinion until the official schedule.”

“Oh oh. Of course I know~ I understand that much without you saying it!”

Ulrike grabbed my hand and pulled me from my seat. I got up bewildered and followed her. She took out an unfamiliar note from her pocket and went up one more floor. Then she stood me in front of a room at the end of the hallway and patted my back.

“Go in!”

“Why? What is it?”

“The set they made at school earlier looked good so I tore it out. I want to follow Elias’s example too.”

“What is this supposed to mean?”

I answered feeling my head go cold. My head was already aching and I wished she would fill in all the necessary sentence components when speaking, but such words didn’t even come out.

“I met the Professor too. Actually, I came to this manor before you.”

“What?”

I narrowed my eyes and looked at Ulrike. Ulrike frowned with a serious face and gestured at the door. I needed to understand what she meant by coming to this manor before me, but looking at her expression, she didn’t seem inclined to explain. I watched her with suspicious eyes and opened the door for now. Ulrike didn’t miss the timing and pushed my back.

“Uh, wait—”

There was no chance to say more. Because I realized there was no ground under my feet.

“Uhhhh?!”

Crash—

I hear the sound of water. Water splashes on my cheek.

The moment my breath caught in my lungs, Ulrike grabbed my shoulder and started laughing as if something was so funny. It turned out she had pushed me and then grabbed me again to fall together. Fortunately, the actual bottom was only about 30cm deep from the ground, not very deep, but the problem was…

We had fallen into stream water. The sharp cold water entering inside my boots made even my heart tingle. Ulrike’s laughter was unnecessarily bright, so I looked up at the sky in disbelief. Meanwhile, I saw two people sitting on the bank next to the stream. It was Leonard and Julia. A strangely clear sensation, and the hot weather that suddenly became like a summer day, I don’t know how we entered the same magic when it shouldn’t be close range, but friends who appeared when I opened the door and some stream water… I was so dumbfounded that I forgot to be happy to see friends I’d met for the first time since the interrogation and looked back at Ulrike behind me.

It was Mimesis. This was what she said she had torn out from school.

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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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