How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 546

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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 (546)

Then Ulrike asked with a hardened expression. I wondered how her face had become so rigid.

“What method will you use to fix this?”

“I’ll have to think about that from now on.”

“That Lucas is saying he’ll think of a strategy now!”

Ulrike’s eyes widened as she exclaimed, so I shook my head and swallowed.

“Luise, I only just found out about this news—”

“There’s something I just found out too.”

“What?”

“Lucas turns completely red like a radish at times like this.”

Ulrike couldn’t hold back and spoke with a grin. Now I saw that she had been deliberately making her expression fierce to avoid laughing. I felt my face flush hot again as I muttered.

“That expression sounds old-fashioned.”

“What!”

Ulrike was shocked and grabbed her cheeks again. That would be a fine expression for you people from the late 19th century. Not for me. While Ulrike was frustrated, I patted her back. Ulrike rested her head on my shoulder.

Narke was the only one who grasped my condition and explained it to our friends.

“Haha. Lucas is so flustered his brain isn’t working.”

“Exactly. So…”

Dozens of thoughts rushed in simultaneously. My vision spun. I frowned and pointlessly rubbed my lips. When I started biting the inside of my lips, my friends exchanged glances. Ulrike placed her hand on my shoulder while holding back laughter.

“Don’t be nervous, Verbotenen Schwarm.”

“Hahahaha. Herzensbrecher was more original though.”

At Narke’s words, I squinted.

“Stop it.”

“Er— o— be— rer—.”

“Hahaha!”

“Luise. Will you help my brain start working?”

“Of course. We’re… what was it again. Forbidden lovers, so how could I not listen to your request!”

“What is this kid really doing…”

I squeezed my eyes shut and grumbled. I gave up now. My brain had actually accepted all the meaning from the beginning, but I didn’t want to face this title even with mental magic eye. But that attempt was over too. I didn’t know how not to be embarrassed in this bombardment. When I turned around and moved away from my friends, Ulrike hurriedly ran over and grabbed my shoulder.

“Ah. Don’t do that. We need to unpack our luggage first, so let’s go to the hospital. Let’s go and have a meeting. Can we all stay together in your hospital room?”

“No.”

“We can’t?!”

“It’s not that you can’t go.”

I picked up the newspapers Narke had taken and waved them as I spoke.

“The agreement with Prussia is over. There’s no need to enter the Imperial Central Hospital. You can’t do that after seeing this.”

Everyone seemed to sense the changed atmosphere. The smiles disappeared from Leonard and Narke’s faces.

“Lucas. You’ve already formulated a complete strategy.”

Ulrike pursed her lips, raised one corner of her mouth, and drew out her words. I stroked my chin and looked at a mailbox on the street.

“Yes. First I need to write a letter to the Oberhofmarschall of the Prussian Crown Prince’s Palace.”

* * *

“They say they cannot meet.”

I muttered as I received the letter from the court office that arrived at the warp mailbox. Then I crumpled it roughly and smiled.

“Their audacity is impressive.”

Ulrike, who had entered and sat down first, blinked rapidly in confusion. I put down the staff I had been holding like a cane for the act and closed the door. We had tried to enter the mansion, but conscious of paparazzi or secret police who might be following us, we sought out the school. Since we were still students, there was no problem entering. I sat down and looked around at my friends as I spoke.

“It feels like just yesterday we slept in the dormitory here.”

“Indeed.”

Ulrike replied.

Now the building was empty like a ghost school. Many students had left for the student corps and weren’t sitting in classrooms now. Especially with the recent commotion over Pleroma, it had become even more impossible.

“How will you bring down those articles now? Let’s try contacting the professors. The professors helped a lot with the coverage of your knighthood this time.”

As if to indicate there was no time to be lost in memories, Ulrike spoke. The sun was already high in the sky and shortened shadows were visible beyond the window. I cast thorough soundproofing magic around our table and said.

“No. I won’t bring them down.”

“You’ll stay still?”

“As far as I’m concerned.”

I smiled as I spoke.

“Now, let’s trace the flow after Easter.”

Since I had focused on grabbing Lucas Ascanien’s identity by the collar and pulling it up, external situations hadn’t caught my eye, so I’m tracing them now. The trends I grasped through newspaper articles during confinement were as follows.

“First, naturally, Prussia was losing in the struggle for initiative. From the moment Bavaria blew away about half of the Pleroma diocese, countless attention turned to Bavaria, and the tendency to analyze the achievements of the Bavarian army commanded by Nicolaus Ernst and the King spread across the entire continent. Is my understanding correct?”

“Correct.”

Ulrike, being Prussian, would have been dejected and sad in the past, but now she wasn’t particularly so. She nodded resolutely.

“Until now, Bavaria has received all kinds of love calls and letters of support from European countries. What kind of love calls, you ask… As you know, constituent states of the German Empire originally cannot have diplomatic rights.”

“Right. That’s why we made economic treaties through pharmaceutical trade and equipment aid.”

That’s right. Only the German Empire government has diplomatic rights, the rest do not. However, the Kingdom of Bavaria and Kingdom of Saxony, being strong in national power, are exceptionally allowed some diplomatic autonomy, limited to non-military treaties of modest scale. The Kingdom of Bavaria and I decided to exploit that loophole. Bavaria made de facto friendship treaties—alliances with Switzerland, Britain, and the Kingdom of Bohemia of Austria-Hungary. The constituent states of the Italian peninsula as well, of course. All of this was a list that Prussia had also wanted.

“Yes. The important thing is that while Prussia became precarious, Bavaria made alliances across the entire continent. Bavaria constantly propagandized with Nicolaus Ernst at the forefront.”

Before going to Prussia to be arrested, I had pre-recorded speeches as Nicolaus Ernst. Bavaria reported on them, and though I only learned later, for a while newspapers throughout the empire were filled with articles praising Nicolaus Ernst. I flipped through the embarrassing yellow paper I had just bought. Page 2 was full of stories about Nicolaus Ernst and Bavaria. The topic still hadn’t moved away from Easter events. Since Pleroma had never been repelled to such an extent, the continent was still captivated by the fantastic story. It was welcome for me, but not something Prussia would celebrate.

Also, surprisingly, French and Russian military journals even speculated that the Bavarian army had allied with the Catacombs. Despite nothing being clearly revealed about the Catacombs or their technology until now. Therefore, Prussia, who couldn’t have failed to hear this speculation, was helplessly bewildered. Even though the rapidly changing continental situation was trying to elevate Bavaria and bring down Prussia, there was nothing Prussia could do. Since they hadn’t accomplished anything properly until now.

“But fortunately for cornered Prussia, a topic finally emerged that they could make a big score with.”

My friends, understanding the meaning, fell silent. Though I couldn’t help but notice the atmosphere that had suddenly dropped, I had to speak. If they were to join me, they needed to know my strategy too.

“Prussia could either kill me to show ‘we can also be tough against Pleroma,’ or reveal my secret contributions to show that the continent’s belief that Prussia was incompetent in Pleroma eradication was a misunderstanding. And as you know, things flowed in the second direction. So, do you understand why I say I’ll stay still?”

Ulrike, with an expressionless face but wide eyes, clapped her hands. She snapped her fingers to show she understood and nodded seriously. Leonard would have known from the start, and Narke would have read my thoughts too. Even so, they were smiling with expectant faces.

“Since Prussia pulled up the Lucas Ascanien card to show they themselves weren’t incompetent, it was time to float Lucas Ascanien as a rival to suppress the continental ‘Nicolaus Ernst idolization trend.’ So now breaking the career direction of Lucas Ascanien would be a perfectly self-destructive strategy.”

“Wow, that’s clean.”

Ulrike’s eyes sharpened as she snapped her fingers.

“This presupposes that Prussia has no talent other than you to oppose Nicolaus Ernst.”

“Yes.”

I answered without hesitation. If there had been someone else besides me, Prussia wouldn’t have reached this point, and strategically wouldn’t have needed to desperately pursue the second strategy I mentioned earlier. Self-deprecation regarding oneself is not a virtue but a flaw, so I speak only as things are. No one laughed or showed reluctance. Ulrike nodded thoughtfully for a while.

“If they want to self-destruct while being pushed back by Bavaria’s great leap forward, they’re welcome to turn me into a celebrity. But if they don’t want to be pushed out, they must suppress Nicolaus Ernst, who is racing forward without knowing the end.”

If they don’t want to prove their incompetence.

I clasped my hands and swallowed the last words. In other words, Prussia is at a dead end. Blocked by two versions of me with no retreat route. They have an obligation to obediently take the hand extended by ‘politician Lucas Ascanien.’ I’ve spoon-fed them this far, so if they betray me now, that would be unacceptable… There can’t be people in this world who can’t receive food even when you shove a spoon in their mouth.

“So we don’t need to visit our advisor professor to change the reporting direction of Prussian yellow papers. It would be effective but too slow and tiresome. We can’t visit all professors connected to each media outlet… and if imperial pressure has been applied, connections alone won’t be enough.”

“Then since newspapers can’t keep doing that forever either, we just wait until the articles disappear? But you mentioned earlier and now too that imperial pressure has been applied…”

Ulrike trailed off and became lost in thought.

Here’s something to be careful about: our culprit isn’t unable to receive the spoon I’m putting in Prussia’s mouth due to lack of ability, but deliberately spat it out to annoy me. His subordinates probably just followed his demands without thinking. So we do need to act.

Not as me, but as Nicolaus Ernst.

I smiled as I placed my clasped hands on the table.

“Let’s approach this economically. In a market economy, what is the most common incentive that moves members? What makes actors unable to help but act?”

“Financial profit.”

Leonard answers. I snapped my fingers and asked.

“What determines newspaper front pages?”

“Are you going to keep asking such obvious things? Yes, it’s newsworthiness.”

I showed Leonard a playful smile at his point, then returned to an expressionless face as I spoke.

“Good. Newsworthiness is, in a way, the quality that makes people buy newspapers, in other words, profitability. Then, Leo.”

“Speak.”

“I think I don’t need to be at the Imperial Central Hospital, and don’t even need to be in Prussia.”

I lightly pressed the table with my palm and stood up as I spoke.

“Now, let’s return to Bavaria and write a major announcement.”

Leonard smiles. I tilted my head toward him with pleading eyes.

* * *

Ulrike remained in Prussia. If my plan succeeded, we would meet again today anyway.

Just before leaving for Bavaria, I cast soundproofing magic one block before the checkpoint. Then I whispered to Narke, who would remain in Prussia.

“Narke, I need to send contact to the Papal States.”

“Hmm?”

“This might sound like an unreasonable request, but send this message right now via warp mail. Just close your eyes and…”

Narke nods and looks at me. A hint of shock spreads across his face. I smiled as I watched the corner of his mouth twist.

“Tell them to provide 2,000 tons of divine power to Bavaria.”

“2,000 tons. And just hand it over like that.”

Narke closed his eyes and muttered with a hollow laugh. Bavaria’s treasury currently has about 150 tons. Last year, before Pleroma started causing serious trouble, there were about 700 tons, but even considering that, 2,000 tons is an absurd number. Isn’t it like telling a nation the size of Bavaria to just hand over three times the amount of divine power they normally hold in peacetime? Narke looked straight at me and said.

“You know that’s not a normal number.”

“I know better than anyone.”

“Should I say it’s a request from Special Minister Nicolaus Ernst?”

“Of course. I’ll discuss it with the ministers in Bavaria and send you a letter. When that arrives, contact the Papal States immediately.”

Then Narke smiled. He patted my shoulder and pushed me toward the road where the checkpoint was.

“Have a safe trip.”

And now, 4 hours later.

I started making things happen around lunchtime, and all preparations were finished before I could even eat dinner. Having transformed into Nicolaus Ernst, I stand in the center of a vast speech hall decorated with the emblem of the Kingdom of Bavaria.

I began speaking to the journalists and media cameras waiting for my words with faces full of patriotism.

“Good evening, citizens of Bavaria. It’s been three days since we’ve regained peaceful evenings.”

It’s been four days since Bavaria regained its glory. Only three days have passed since the day we became able to bring down the baseless leader of the Empire. Unlike Prussia, Bavaria is in a festive mood, and this atmosphere hasn’t changed yet. In this situation, I only showed my face on Easter Sunday and haven’t appeared until now. Well, I was under house arrest.

So until now, Nicolaus Ernst’s announcement is bound to have unexpectedly great impact.

Having started this way, I continued the announcement with simple greetings. The faces of Bavarian journalists grew brighter and brighter. I had to persuade the audience with only a firm voice while barely using hand gestures, but despite this, things were proceeding smoothly.

“…In recent days, our Bavaria has eliminated 18 Pleroma dioceses, which is estimated to be over half of all Pleroma dioceses. As the French Empire feared, chaos from terrorist organizations intensified, but our Bavaria preemptively resolved it.

However, many tasks still remain, so it’s premature to lower our guard. This is a time when you citizens and our government must be of one mind. Therefore, our Bavarian government feels immense gratitude for the cooperation of you Bavarian citizens who are working even at this moment for continental peace and order. Your civic spirit is leading our Bavaria to a more peaceful place.”

I paused for a moment, created a brief silence, then opened my mouth again.

“I have come here as the temporary spokesperson of the Bavarian government to announce a decision that will contribute to continental peace. Currently, the Papal States have provided our nation with 5,000 tons of divine power for continental safety and friendship with Bavaria.

Until now, our Bavaria has worked for Bavaria’s safety and will continue to do so, but as one of Germany’s great powers, and as a member responsible for continental safety against terrorist organizations composed of our fellow Germans, and as the leader of anti-Pleroma operations, we feel the need to consider supranational support. Deeply moved by the Papal States’ intention to lead world peace by faithfully following religious teachings, we plan to first support part of the 5,000 tons of divine power for the emotional and physical healing and recovery from aftereffects of Prussian citizens, who among our Empire’s citizens have suffered most greatly from Pleroma.”

Just because I announce this doesn’t mean Bavarians will get angry saying we should use it for Bavaria…

There are none. Originally there would have been, but the situation changed around Easter.

If I had made such an announcement when Bavaria was firmly the second power, Bavarians would have protested ‘we’re too busy surviving to take care of others,’ and that would have been natural.

But now that Bavaria has clearly escaped the second position but isn’t the first, now that they’ve seen with their own eyes Bavaria’s power and contributions being recognized by the world while oscillating between first and second in the 1.5 position, now when they might be on the verge of pushing Prussia aside and taking the throne, Bavarians’ perception has changed.

They know that exerting global influence rather than military force within Germany is the path to becoming strong. They instinctively understood today that they could subdue Prussia without military attack. Even those who didn’t know encountered columns with such analysis. Bavarians began to have the consciousness of world citizens. Not that their level of consciousness improved, but that it expanded. Even though the cause is to become a great power, it has more significance than Prussia. Just as German citizens yearning for a unified state were born under Prussia’s militaristic soil, regardless of what preferences one has for political forms, nations interact with their people. This nation will be able to properly cultivate the soil for the next generation. I believe it can create citizens different from Prussia.

I looked at the camera again and continued speaking.

“Bavaria has centers in every region that protect victims’ families and guarantee damage recovery, but unlike our Bavaria, Prussia has no such centers. So if the Prussian government permits reciprocity between federal constituent states, we would gladly work for our citizens regardless of nationality. Also, if regional leaders who feel Bavaria’s cooperation is needed discuss with authorities and contact us, we are prepared to support our brother-like citizens with our technology and divine power.”

Naturally, Prussia won’t be the only one involved here. Contact will come from all sorts of small German states. Not seizing opportunities would be disloyalty to their own citizens, so considering public opinion, it will happen that way.

This is a path that satisfies the Papal States without giving them excessive authority while expanding Bavaria’s national influence. The Papal States benefit by expanding Catholic influence in the German Empire against the Protestant state Prussia, and Bavaria benefits by solidifying its position.

From now on, nations that received aid from Bavaria won’t be able to rashly decide on matters harmful to Bavaria later, nor can they cooperate with such decisions. In other words, it’s severing Prussia’s limbs.

This is why the Papal States could readily offer 5,000 tons of precious divine power to Bavaria, and why I chose the Papal States as cooperation partners before the speech. Would the Papal States refuse a strategy that benefits everyone?

1 hour and 30 minutes later, 6 o’clock.

After finishing the speech and organizing the supplies our side would support to the Papal States, I returned to Nicolaus Ernst’s office. Leonard, who had gone to meet His Majesty the King, came in a little later than me.

I smiled as I unfolded the bundle of tabloids I had bought earlier.

“They completely changed the front page.”

“Hmm.”

Lucas Ascanien’s face that had been prominently featured on the tabloids was nowhere to be seen, replaced by scenes from Nicolaus Ernst’s recorded speech. Some tabloids hadn’t changed, but from page 2 onward they were filled with Nicolaus Ernst stories.

Leonard raised the corner of his mouth with satisfaction. Then he took off his jacket and said.

“The photos came out well earlier, shouldn’t you have kept a copy?”

I was at a loss for words and looked at him with a hollow laugh. It would have been good if it ended there, but Leonard lightly laughed as if something else occurred to him. As if even that was restrained, now he laughs out loud.

“Herzensbrecher… Haha!”

“I trusted Your Highness at least.”

“It doesn’t seem entirely wrong though.”

Leonard said with his eyes downcast, wearing a smile without any sign of remorse. Still, a friend is a friend… He doesn’t miss opportunities to tease. I bit my lip and shrugged my shoulders.

Leonard sat on the sofa and leaned against my desk. He looked up at me and said.

“Keep wearing the clothes you wore today. Sky blue suits you well.”

You, he’s talking about Lucas Ascanien. I snapped my fingers to remove the cognitive disruption magic that changed my eye color and said.

“With eyes this color?”

“Because it contrasts.”

“I suppose.”

Clunk—

While we were having pointless chatter, light entered the warp mailbox installed on one side of the desk. I flicked my hand to extract a letter with magic power from inside. Leonard watched with interested eyes.

A letter in a golden envelope with red wax seal. Letters were stamped in a circle on the wax.

[Royal House Hohenzollern]

I showed it to Leonard. Leonard gave me the same smile. I raised one eyebrow and said.

“Good effect.”

* * *

He’s lost his mind.

He’s lost his mind in a restrained manner. After being granted access to a place in the Prussian Crown Prince’s palace I had never been allowed to enter, and stepping foot inside, that was my first thought.

The room I’m looking at now had white marble floors with glass walls on all sides showing the garden behind, but it looked more like a jungle than a garden. The chandelier above becomes useless due to sunlight entering through the glass walls. Unknown glass is scattered all over the marble floor. It was probably glass crafts, glass furniture, tables, things like that.

I walked toward the two people, grateful that my boot soles were much thicker than regular shoes. The Crown Prince in shirt sleeves, holding a staff like a royal scepter made of platinum, turned to look at me. His sleeves were rolled up, showing the scar from where I had bitten him a few days ago. He hadn’t used healing magic, so it was barely healed. I thought as I roughly looked him over, though it wasn’t polite. His appearance looked informal and active, so he probably smashed the glass directly with that staff, probably for brainwashing purposes.

“Sit.”

Abraham smiled and pointed to a red sofa. Two red two-seater sofas faced each other with a round glass table between them.

I looked at the person sleeping in an iron chair behind the Crown Prince. Like me a few days ago, he was tied to the chair, but his condition was fine. He was just sleeping while sweating coldly. Abraham, who had a gold-decorated pipe in his mouth instead of cigarettes, finally put on his vest and sat on the opposite sofa.

“I saw your hospitality well.”

“Is acting leisurely every time you fail a hobby?”

At those words, Abraham raised his eyebrows and smiled. Before he could start spouting sophistry, I slowly continued.

“I also saw well. You did something interesting.”

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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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