How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 562

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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 (562)

“What are you talking about.”

Ulrike turned her head. The marble hall grew distant and then came back. The animal-shaped statues standing between each door remained the same. The white walls with nothing on them remained the same. The chandelier also didn’t sway.

“You’re saying I’m sleeping?”

That can’t be.

“But everything looks so real like this.”

“It looks that way to me too.”

Lucas threw his wet hair back as if tossing it and grabbed Ulrike’s shoulder again. He says incomprehensible things. If it looks real to you too… then it’s not just looks like it, it’s real, isn’t it? Ulrike wanted to give him a suspicious look and say that. Ulrike first spread both hands and repeatedly lowered them slowly to calm her friend, then turned around. Somehow knowing that Ulrike was about to grab the door handle, Lucas caught her hand. Lucas grew noticeably pale and shook his head vigorously.

“Let’s not open the remaining door. Wait.”

“Why?”

As if it was a difficult question, Lucas pondered for a moment, then quickly decided to be honest and answered somewhat bluntly.

“It’s for superstitious reasons. More than that…”

“…That’s strange. You’re not the kind of friend who brings up superstitions. Did some change happen while I wasn’t aware?”

“I knew you’d say that. But that’s not it. I’m saying I’ll try believing in superstitions since you’re dreaming. Look at what your unconscious has done…”

At that moment Lucas clutched his chest. He grabbed his clothes with widened eyes in panic and bent over. While doing so, he stepped back one step at a time. Ulrike opened her mouth and hurriedly approached her friend. Is it really as he says? That I’m sleeping and therefore seeing scenes that don’t make sense? However, the hypothesis that this was a dream needed more evidence. It was an excessively unreasonable claim. Ulrike precisely recalled the solid ground under her boots, the soft water, and the elastic flesh. She also knew it was strange to see a fountain standing in the middle of a small hall. But Lucas wasn’t usually a friend who talked nonsense, and his current reaction was suspicious. There must be a reason he’s struggling even though no one attacked him.

So is this Lucas in a dream? How could that be. He’s saying things Ulrike herself never expected. Even when Ulrike patted Lucas’s back, Lucas only frowned more. He breathed rapidly and spread his hands.

“Stop, Luise. Stop. Stop…”

“Ah, uh.”

Ulrike hurriedly stepped back. Then she held out the hose hanging from her belt.

“Want to drink my elixir? Lucas. You don’t look well.”

“Didn’t your 3rd Education Institute homeroom teacher write in your student record that you give away all your stuff to everyone around you?”

“You saw mine? The class president told you this, right?”

“No. It’s a joke!”

At Lucas’s laugh-mixed exclamation, Ulrike clapped her hands, going “Oh.” Then she half-opened her eyes and played dumb. Her head really wasn’t working properly. She was definitely aware of it. Lucas raised one corner of his mouth and snickered.

“It was really written… It seemed like there wouldn’t be much left, so eat a lot. That’s what it meant.”

He briefly scanned Ulrike as if calculating something, then turned his head. He rubbed his hands to let magic flow, then as if trying to change strategy, led Ulrike to another room while talking.

“Luise. You know a lot.”

“Not really.”

“You’re thinking from your own standards right now. You know a lot, and you can’t deny that fact. If you plan to treat the products of the benefits given to you as nothing special under the name of modesty, I think that’s a wrong done to everyone.”

“…”

“Even if I say this much, someone might not understand what I’m saying and let it all flow away or pretend not to hear, but I wanted to tell you.”

“Yes, I understand what you’re saying. When my peers from the slums were working in factories, I sat at a school desk studying. That’s what you’re talking about. I’ve never thought about it that deeply until now, but…”

Ulrike muttered while following Lucas and looking around the northern and southern rooms once more.

“You think a lot. My head’s going to explode.”

Even while saying that, Ulrike thinks she herself might not be much different. That didn’t mean Lucas and Ulrike herself were alike. The environment and world the two were placed in was giving them sweet nectar while telling them to either quickly climb up to the command tower and become secret puppet masters who squeeze everyone’s will, or live being aware every moment that everything entering your mouth is blood and pus. Each time they overcome a crisis, they recognize it won’t be long now. Now they had to decide. Would they open their eyes or close them?

Of course they should open their eyes! Then, after opening their eyes?

Can one decide not to be privileged? That’s impossible. It’s not about worrying about a future without benefits, but like how a brown rabbit rolling in snow can’t become a white rabbit. Having grown up privileged, one can’t pretend to be ‘non-privileged’ from now on, and that wouldn’t be right. It would be stealing without even knowing their lives. Certainly many of them tried to easily turn someone’s life into morning dew on the execution ground without even knowing, but just because humans all live so hastily, she couldn’t do shameful things herself. Moreover, behind the many people who make hasty judgments, don’t people who coolly consider conscience and reason definitely exist? Ulrike wanted to become someone who deliberates before she, like the public that tried to take her friend’s life with self-centered bias and immature misunderstanding, displays self-centered selfishness and stubborn old man-like misunderstanding to throw someone’s heart and life, the future world into an abyss. She wanted to become a blade that cuts wrongdoing rather than a chain of wrongs.

Lost in thought, Lucas in front of her waves his hand with an absurd expression. He muttered somewhat reluctantly.

“I can’t say anything in front of you.”

“Didn’t you tell me to think?!”

“Of course, but I didn’t know you’d be this sponge-like.”

Lucas glanced at the door behind and laughed. He seemed to think it worked out well that Ulrike’s attention was diverted. Lucas placed his hand on the door attached to the dining room and said.

“Then think simultaneously. Your world is made up of your knowledge.”

“Yeah.”

Opening the door attached to the dining room revealed a dark hallway. It felt familiar, but all manor hallways look like that.

Lucas propped tableware in front of the door so it wouldn’t close and went inside. Sound-blocking magic covered the two.

“Your knowledge, wisdom, and experience form your perspective, words, and actions. The reason different impressions come from looking at the same object is because everyone has different knowledge, experience, and wisdom. People like that gather among themselves, so they believe they have ordinary thoughts, but everyone is definitely different. Isn’t that right?”

“I know. There’s also the saying ‘you are what you eat.’ But?”

“So that’s where it comes from. Anyway…”

Going inside revealed a kitchen bathed in sunlight, wooden floors, and the warmth that place held, which touched Ulrike’s heart. There was a soap smell, suggesting a laundry room nearby. At the end of this hallway, going out where the sunlight shines, there would be a small garden with clotheslines. The adult servants here greeted Ulrike warmly whenever they met her. Whenever Ulrike was lost in thought, Lucas looked back and spoke calmly.

“So I can’t tell you to open the western door now that we’ve looked around the north, south, and east doors.”

His eyes held a coldness and concern as if calculating something. He still seemed to maintain the hypothesis that Ulrike was sleeping. Just the fact that Ulrike realized this herself showed he wasn’t sleeping. Instead, Lucas seemed half-asleep. Ulrike grew increasingly afraid. Who’s right? For now, as Ulrike herself thought, this being a crazy space was one thing, but it was a different problem. Her mind was very clear.

“This isn’t the first time falling into such a space. Since you and I are both command center members and went there together, such places wouldn’t be very new. But I thought we shouldn’t think from similar perspectives. That’s why I keep talking to you. Are you convinced now?”

“No. So?”

“You need to wake up here.”

“Lucas. I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

Lucas looked back expressionlessly. His cold pink eyes looked transparent under the sunlight. Ulrike also had no intention of backing down. Her friend was someone with clarity in everything, but that didn’t mean correctness in all things. She would keep possibilities open for his words, but there was no need to keep completely quiet when she had doubts.

“Why do you think I’m sleeping? You and I are seeing the same things.”

“Because your dream became space.”

“What?”

Lucas didn’t speak. Ulrike spread her trembling hands wide and shook them.

“If it were my dream, things much more unreasonable should happen. We’re in a peaceful manor hallway. Besides, what about you? What’s your reason for thinking it’s my dream, not yours?”

“Listen carefully. Luise. I…”

Lucas pondered for a moment, squinted, and shook his head.

“This is the most I’ll say. Your unconscious might do something to us, so I can’t say just anything, and at the same time, knowing your sharpness and learning ability, I’m testing the line. Of course I have to break through your unconscious, but when playing Jenga, you don’t randomly pull out bottom wooden blocks.”

“Nice analogy.”

“And I don’t think it’s my dream because I don’t know which me that refers to. That definition changes every time. If it were ‘my’ dream right now, something else would have appeared instead of all this you’re seeing.”

“What kind?”

“Black lumps, or school… Letters pouring out each time you pull up and release, things like that.”

“What are you pulling.”

To Ulrike’s question, Lucas answered quickly and dryly as if saying something he didn’t want to explain.

“Pulling the day to go to the ossuary, what else. There’s a newspaper that makes you die earlier if you read it often.”

“In a capitalist society, what… If such a thing existed, wouldn’t everyone die early? If it doesn’t sell, it would be discontinued, so no one dies and that’s good. At least better than unknown places like this.”

Lucas looked like he wanted to say ‘that’s not important right now.’ But he looked around and tried to return to where he had brought Ulrike.

“Wait, aren’t we looking back there? Seeing the sunlight, it goes outside—”

“Thinking about your learning ability changed my mind. You said it would be discontinued. That’s reasonable to think, but most people get pleasure from seeing it. So it makes money. Very few people wither from it, and informing about that fact removes the pleasure, so the fact that those letters become a big pillar for the mental medicine industry is taboo.”

Learning ability? Ulrike squinted as she was pushed along as he directed. He returned to the dining room where massive pillars supported the walls and ceiling. Lucas pulled out a chair and sat. Seeing him leisurely despite saying there’s no time, did he find a solution, or…

Is his mind falling asleep? Ulrike scanned her friend with sharp eyes. While also playing along.

“What are you talking about… Then shouldn’t society not seek pleasure to save those dying people? Anhalt wouldn’t be this different…”

Given the location, Ulrike felt like she and her friend were Greeks standing in the Academy of Athens. She actually knows it’s not about Anhalt. Nevertheless, Ulrike wanted to receive confirmation that it was about Anhalt. Lucas dipped his finger in the wine glass—Ulrike’s mouth fell open—and spoke without taking much time.

“Media that portrays those dying people as protagonists doesn’t tell whether those people are in a state where they can endure or not. They only draw the shining appearance in front of cameras. Under the pleasure and longing that light gives, no truth should be spoken. That’s the rule.”

“Why? Complaining about not wanting to work wouldn’t be acceptable, but treatment improvement is different. If those ‘dying people’ were a profession, this would require forming a labor union.”

Then Lucas, who had been coldly composed, opened his eyes wide.

“Complaining about not wanting to work isn’t acceptable? An 18-year-old… I understand why you didn’t complain while working even at this age… You’re more orthodox than I thought.”

“I’m a bit of a model student.”

Lucas lowered his head and smiled showing his teeth. Ulrike felt briefly betrayed by such a friend but soon smiled too.

However, the laughter didn’t last long. What Lucas was saying sounded exactly like a fantasy story, and if it wasn’t fantasy, it sounded like a story created by wrong people. Cameras? Does he mean photographers? Or the Imperial Newspaper? Opera? Is he saying the public watches those people die? That can’t be, so it must be a metaphor. But even as a metaphor, it was quite an unpleasant situation.

Lucas wiped his ringed hand on the tablecloth and put his gloves back on while saying.

“You said to form a union, but it’s impossible. Shall I predict what thoughts will attach to what I’m saying now? They’ll say those who have everything are whining because they’re full. That person is holding money bundles and went crazy, while I have no money and went crazy too, but going crazy in money bundles is better than living pitifully like me, stop the dramatics…”

Suddenly the ceiling light flickered. Ulrike felt chills, whether from the light or from hearing words her brain couldn’t think of, and muttered.

“…That’s not what you think, right?”

“This is insulting.”

Even while saying that, Lucas answered with a smiling face for Ulrike’s sake. He looked up at the chandelier. Ulrike exhaled the sigh of relief she heard earlier and apologized.

“Sorry. It doesn’t make sense.”

“I guess it doesn’t to you. People who say such things hang out among themselves, so they don’t think it’s strange.”

“That’s impressive in its own way.”

“That also becomes mainstream sentiment. Just by repeating heard words, I’ll be told I’m strengthening the position of those who don’t need protection. Or they’ll be indignant that someone who should give smiles is trying to teach them. Suggestions to let them stop dying are misunderstood this way. The fact that not only universal lives exist in the world and such lives might not want death doesn’t exist in their view. The fact that they themselves can’t be very universal in some dimension is also forgotten. So no one here can form something like a union.”

Ulrike swallowed. Her throat was dry. Maybe because incomprehensible words were actually not difficult to understand. Either way, she was definitely anxious for unknown reasons. She looked at the water glass. The half-used water glass from earlier was now full. Huh? Ulrike swallows again.

“No matter what method I devise, it’s not very hopeful. For example, if I make works with colleagues and provide them, and their job as professionals is the basic contract to provide viewing to production companies, then those demanding the right to dismantle life are always breaking mutual contracts.”

Th, Ulrike moved her lips. Lucas sitting here having a conversation despite saying there’s no time, Lucas doing all the strange talking alone while telling Ulrike herself to wake from the dream, what Lucas was telling her now, the water glass, everything moving differently than she expected made her heart beat a little faster.

Above all, Lucas’s strange words induced discomfort.

“They have the freedom to break contracts. Isn’t this the age of liberalism?”

But for Ulrike from a conservative family, liberalism was progress, and because it was progress, it was good. Ulrike looked at the wine glasses. Both glasses were transparent water glasses. Had they always been like that?

“That sounds like the freedom to murder.”

“The freedom to choose one’s profession came before that.”

“I’ve never heard of a profession that deserves murder. They didn’t choose to be murdered.”

“No, but. That freedom is a law that binds even oneself. Because I chose this profession, I’m checking if there are gaps in the windows today. The fault of this death lies with me for not being able to endure the environment.”

What does checking for gaps in windows mean? Ulrike didn’t ask. He looked at the chandelier. He thought of the relationship between the North Gate and South Gate, the East Gate that hadn’t opened, and the West Gate that Lucas had told him not to open. Why?

Lucas’s words grew slower and slower. He looked at the tablecloth as if concentrating on some other situation, occasionally mixing breaths into his speech.

“Perhaps because I didn’t decide from the beginning, I seem to be… somewhat distant from the responsibility of my prayers. What about you? Did you decide?”

“I think so…”

Ulrike felt his vision ripple once more as he stood up from his seat. He had to escape this situation. The thought that he must consumed his body. The edges curved inward as if seeing the world through a marble. Yet his voice was clear.

“At least I never thought I’d end up in a pit of fire today. Like other civil servant mages, sitting at a desk doing paperwork, or teaching children, or… I thought it would be like that.”

Lucas also stands up from his seat. He creaks as if he’s really doing something else somewhere else.

“You say I don’t complain, but I’m not sure. I think I shouldn’t complain about daily life not knowing when I’ll die since I was born with magical power, but I’m curious about the premise itself. Espers are rushing toward destruction. Just looking at the number of people who cheered to kill you, everyone will welcome the end of Espers. Right? But that welcome is just cheering for the lifting of monopoly. They’re cheering for this era’s ‘promise’ that science and magic will bring better goods to everyone.”

Rumble, as soon as they left the room, a strange sound came from the sky. It was a sound from the sky, not from the hall’s ceiling. Why is it like this here? Damn, Ulrike cursed inwardly while moving his trembling jaw to speak.

“In the near future, all people in the world will become Espers. Whether they truly become Espers as many scholars in the Republic predict, or become conceptual Espers. Actually, humans have never not been Espers in the past. They were human! They keep running toward death. Only the outer shell of phenomena changes while the essence remains unchanged. So if I don’t ask why I must die now, if I don’t ask everyone why I should become bone dust instead of sitting at a school desk, what will happen to humanity in the future?”

Ulrike feels his back is hot. He reached out to touch it, but there was nothing like blood. Now warm wind swept over his upper body. It seemed like he was perceiving cool things in reverse.

“I know there are people who believe that because I have magical power, I should shut my mouth and face death. But to me, if I don’t speak about this irrationality, it seems like keeping silent about all of your predetermined deaths.”

Lucas doesn’t answer.

Saying this, Ulrike returned to the central hall. Strangely, there were no people. Shouldn’t someone have appeared by now to attack us? Why aren’t there any? Ulrike turned to Lucas who was following behind and asked.

“Why did you tell me not to open the West Gate?”

“What will you engrave on your tombstone later?”

Ulrike turned his head anxiously. Looking at the clock on the wall, the second hand was moving incredibly fast.

“Lucas, continue what you were saying earlier. About me dreaming. Now is the time to talk about that.”

“I was curious whether a cross would be carved next to my name or not. In the tombstones where I lived, if you had a religion, they’d carve it next to your name.”

Ulrike circled around his friend who was only talking nonsense as if asleep. His anxiety wouldn’t subside. Lucas watched him like that. Ulrike asked quietly.

“Is Anhalt like that?”

“Well. Since I was baptized, I’d probably be carved with a cross.”

“Then me too. I’m not sure yet, but our family is Protestant.”

“Do you like it?”

“So-so? There’s no reason not to like it. Rather, wouldn’t it be good to have something to rely on after death?”

“The afterlife.”

“Don’t you believe it exists? There’s Pascal’s wager too! Pray to God even right before death. It’s unfair to die at this age, and it would be unfair to wander as a ghost too. There’s nothing to lose by believing.”

Ulrike glances at the clock. Cold sweat flowed. How should I wake this friend up? Why is Lucas saying such illogical things? He could fully sense that his words weren’t false, but that made it more problematic. He felt anxious as if facing someone laying out their thoughts while on sleeping pills. The thought that he needed to change the situation immediately crept up. Lucas answered.

“I don’t know. Belief in common sense is meaningless now.”

“…Wow, I didn’t know because you laugh often, but you’re surprisingly pessimistic.”

“It’s an honor. I should laugh often in the future too.”

Lucas reached out his hand. Ulrike reflexively stepped back and rolled his eyes. Lucas smiled for some reason, then swallowed as if he too faced a task ahead. Even if he was acting calm, he seemed actually nervous.

“Luise. There’s a saying, ‘You are what you eat.'”

“Yeah. I said that earlier.”

“Is Pleroma who drinks blood multiple people?”

“One person.”

“But they put magical power in that blood and made it their own.”

“Hooo.”

When he moved his immobile vocal cords to act normally, Lucas tilted his eyebrows and burst into laughter.

“No, what is this…”

“I got curious. In what sense is the saying ‘you are what you eat’ used? Feuerbach, who borrowed this phrase, was a materialist. Pleroma is fake, but they believe themselves to be Christians anyway.”

Ulrike answered as best he could. Striking his friend’s neck to wake him up was for later. Maybe he could find a hint in these meaningless words, or maybe he could make him let his guard down.

“From Feuerbach’s perspective, Pleroma strengthening themselves through others’ blood is predation in a materialist worldview. They truly ate it as real food, which is correct, but thinking about it in terms of social relationships, wouldn’t it be converted to a problem of psychopathology? Or drinking blood would be accepted as exploiting the weak or displaying dominance. In other words, rather than becoming multiple people, they become one being who preys on multiple people.”

“Mm.”

Lucas, moving his eyes quickly as if searching for something, hummed. Ulrike continued speaking while feeling watched by Lucas’s eyes.

“Feuerbach and Christianity often conflict, but in this case, from a Christian’s perspective, drinking human blood wouldn’t be becoming multiple people either. Instead, thinking of the communion where one drinks Christ’s blood, drinking a brother’s blood would also seem like trying to take various meanings like salvation contained in the blood… so it would be directly opposing God. Conversely, from Pleroma’s perspective as fake Christians, drinking a brother’s blood is getting closer to God. The strengthened magical power is God’s grace, so they receive grace and live eternally. If they have the consciousness of getting closer to God themselves, that might be becoming multiple people from Pleroma’s perspective. Carrying countless lambs in their bodies and living eternally to become God themselves. But I’m not interested in theology or philosophy, so I don’t know. I thought of everything based on what I heard in class.”

“I know. Don’t feel burdened.”

But why this? Just thinking about Pleroma made his heart beat rapidly. The confusing conversation, where he couldn’t tell if he was dreaming or if his friend before him was dreaming, became the foundation of this pounding. As if he had to carry his sleeping friend and escape this place quickly, he felt as if he’d been left alone in the world.

“Listen carefully, Luise. This isn’t your fault. When you think about it, it’s strange that I’m fine. I should have become like you too.”

“What?”

“When you open your eyes, you absolutely must not be surprised. You mustn’t fall into guilt either. We don’t have time to indulge in sentiment anymore, we’ll leave here and return to the surface, and we need to find the people who made it like this. Understand? If you say you understand, I’ll put away my staff and come to you.”

Lucas takes a step closer. Ulrike looked at the face right in front of him and said.

“You’re in front of me.”

“No, Luise.”

Lucas distorted his eyes and raised his hand. He grabbed his ear as if speaking in noise.

“You need to wake up before I make you into me.”

Ulrike’s eyes turn toward the back. His vision shakes as if there was an earthquake and pillars collapse.

CRASH―

Anxiety made of darkness erased the light and struck down like lightning between them. Rumbling incantations overlapped making words hard to understand and flowed swiftly.

―I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from Yahweh, which made heaven and earth.

Ulrike sees Lucas’s hand shaking madly. Blood flows on his friend’s face who had been fine just moments ago, and he’s bewildered not knowing the reason. Darkness spread in all directions. The sharp tip of his transformation-enhanced wand was aimed right above Lucas’s solar plexus. Lucas’s hands held no weapon and didn’t defend himself. Instead, he only placed his empty hands on Ulrike’s head and shoulders. Loud spells stretched thickly like collisions from clouds.

―The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

Ulrike sees one second flow like an eternity. Ah, green magical power was forming a blade at the tip of the wand touching his friend’s stomach. This can’t happen. A mage’s reflexes preceded thought.

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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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