How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 568

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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 (568)

“Why not?”

Ulrike asked with cold eyes. People at nearby tables glanced at Ulrike who was standing up. Only this spot was silent in the restaurant filled with the clatter of dishes and chatter. Julia clasped both hands together, then smiled and opened her mouth.

“Well…”

* * *

Ulrike came to Cheringen’s Berlin mansion. He had some intention of going along with this suspicious friend’s movements, but his mind was still on the letter, so he examined every element closely with an analyst’s eye.

“Julia. The only people left are you, me, Leo… and Narke who was called to the government. Lucas, Elias, and Haike are all gone.”

“So if we’re not going to hang out with everyone, you don’t want to go around with one of us?”

When Julia turned her head and smiled, Ulrike answered firmly.

“It’s not that. What kind of leap is that? I just don’t feel like planning something new.”

“Hmm.”

Julia had just said ‘let’s pretend we’re not Royal Mages and go to the market.’ Even Ulrike, who loved to have fun, wasn’t particularly inclined right now. At this time, they needed to minimize being seen out playing around. If they could hide their identities well, he could go along. Ulrike pointed to the robe Julia’s servant had hung on the wall.

“And what good does just throwing on a robe do? You want to go out and make sure people don’t recognize us?”

“Of course.”

“People wouldn’t know who I am even if they saw my face anyway. But more than anything, the biggest problem is that our clothes are obviously expensive fabric that gleams brightly. Look, it’s so shiny even without being in direct light. Not only the urban lower class, but even the middle class don’t use such fine fabric for robes. They’d be lucky to wear it as a jacket.”

Ulrike shook his head at the robe that was clearly made of high-quality silk, unlike the cotton outerwear of the middle class. Julia was listless for a moment, then said a word.

“You know about that?”

Those words felt like being stabbed in the chest with a blunt thorn. When superficial knowledge touched his inner self, Ulrike felt confused, and more than anything, when he thought about his past complacency and ignorance, he felt suffocated.

Ulrike shook his head vigorously and poked at the robe.

“Second, walking around with a robe hood up at this time would be even stranger. Ah, there’s no need to look further than this – it’s over. You’d look like Nicolaus doing political activities while wearing a mask.”

“Hahaha! Why don’t you go tell him that.”

“…Ahem. Lastly, since I’m taller than most humans, if you put all these clues together, people might think that person is a mage. Or maybe a wealthy basketball enthusiast. A wealthy gas lamp lighter or bank guard. A firefighter. A police officer. A non-magical military academy student. Or just a big healthy kid, honor guard, theater actor, logistics center worker… A wealthy lamp lighter, I don’t even know what I’m babbling about. Anyway.”

“There are truly many professions where tall people can get good jobs… So you’re saying we just need to change clothes?”

Since he couldn’t deny it, Ulrike answered coldly again this time.

“There’s some truth to that feeling. But we have too good complexions.”

“Hmm?”

Julia frowned slightly for the first time since coming to the mansion.

“Like people who eat well at every meal.”

“If you don’t want to go out, I’d appreciate it if you just said so.”

As soon as Julia hit the mark, Ulrike briefly held his forehead and fell into thought. Though it might sound like an excuse, Ulrike was considering all possibilities. In other words, he didn’t completely not want to go out, but was saying that the idea of hastily concealing their identities wasn’t very good today. Julia muttered with one corner of her mouth raised, as if she found it absurd.

“Eating meals… This is Germany and we’re even in Berlin. Luise, more importantly, people we briefly encounter won’t catch every detail like our complexions.”

That was true. Though there were still people who went hungry, Germany was quite an economic powerhouse. Many urban people had enough money to eat meals and snacks four or five times a day without starving. Julia tilted her head back slightly and observed Ulrike.

“As you said, there are tall people if you look for them, so couldn’t we just pretend to be Northern European?”

“But I have brown hair!”

“But your eyes are bright.”

“Hey, I’m obviously a proud…”

German. His vocal cords stopped just before letting out the habitual words. Ulrike clamped his mouth shut and twisted his facial muscles. Whether Ulrike threw out various claims in pointless defiance or not, Julia thought for a moment then opened a drawer and pulled out a plain uniform. Ulrike looked at it and asked puzzledly.

“Isn’t that a military academy uniform?”

“As you said, there are many tall students at our German military academies. As you said, in some cases our faces might be a bit much to be accepted as cadets, but who stares at faces that intently? What influences a person’s impression more than anything is their clothes.”

Ulrike raised his eyebrows while stroking his chin.

Walking around, you could see that among most Germans encountered – presumably humans – about one in twenty to thirty exceeded 180cm. So if they didn’t wear expensive clothes, people would just think they were unusually tall locals from a brief glance. Ulrike, given his family environment, was larger than ordinary Espers yet held such hope.

“You even have something like this…”

Your preparedness is amazing too. What were you planning to do that you had clothes suitable for changing identities? Normally Ulrike would have excitedly shouted that he wanted one too without thinking, but today he had no such intention. He slumped his shoulders, finding everything subtly uncomfortable right now. Julia glanced at such Ulrike and said calmly.

“Shall we go out?”

* * *

Ulrike’s hope was correct. Julia’s judgment that clothes greatly influence impressions was also correct. People showed little interest in students obviously wearing academy uniforms. Like big city people, they just passed by with expressionless faces. Unlike Ulrike, who hadn’t been in the mood for an outing and had become unnecessarily sharp, picking apart everything, Julia had been acting relaxed as if she’d known from the start that people wouldn’t pay much attention.

Ulrike muttered toward the back of Julia’s head with a face so stern that people avoided eye contact, his cap pulled down low.

“I don’t feel entirely good about this. We’re wearing Lichterfelde uniforms.”

He said not entirely good, but it was actually bad.

Lichterfelde was a teenage cadet educational institution in southern Berlin. If you brought up Lichterfelde to any Berlin citizen, they would understand what it meant. Berlin’s top elite military school! An educational institution that allowed even less wealthy students to serve their country loyally. To Germans for whom military uniforms were the greatest source of pride and formal wear, military academy uniforms like Lichterfelde’s left an image like a proud child who would elevate the family.

Ulrike examined the uniform jacket that seemed never worn and kept his mouth shut. We look like we’re contributing to the Prussian army. But it’s not just looking like it – we really are.

Julia was buying up street food even though she’d already eaten. Did she plan to eat all that? Ulrike had no time to wonder. He whispered quietly.

“Are you the same way?”

“Not really.”

“You’re fine then.”

Ulrike felt unnecessarily more disturbed and sighed while pulling down his cap brim. Julia, who was buying sauerkraut by the box and putting it in paper bags, said.

“But you clearly know. Don’t we wear clothes even finer than Lichterfelde cadets? Unlike this cadet educational institution, we’re officers. The students studying at Lichterfelde internalize the most ideal German values and strive to become officers like us.”

Striving to become like us. Ulrike silently squinted his eyes. It was a good thing. But no longer. Thinking of students who would become parts and proudly move the empire made his stomach feel blocked. Meanwhile, there would surely be some who realized something was wrong like Ulrike, but even considering such cases, it was the same. Ulrike came to the market but couldn’t think of buying anything and just walked like a soulless person. He remained dejected until Julia stopped and fed him newly bought sauerkraut with a wooden spoon, but quickly came to his senses frowning at the strange salty and sour taste that stung his tongue.

“Ugh… Right, I should walk around properly.”

“Not necessarily. Can you immediately return to how you were before after what you experienced today? Echoes usually last long.”

“I suppose so. If it had been around this time last year, I would have been happy to try on Lichterfelde uniforms.”

“But not now. Remember that unpleasant sensation well.”

“Why?”

“These military institutions will be newly organized for them when the wrong people seize power in the future. They’ll reorganize schools and everything else for military power to serve them.”

“…”

“By then it will be too late.”

Before that happens, people are needed to stop the greed. You, as a member of this era who will change the future, needed to remember – this unpleasant sensation will save us later, she said like that. Ulrike knew these words. As the famous German writer Heinrich Heine had said long ago, Germany seemed like it would cause something tremendously big someday, and while that might have been the unified German Empire of 1871, Ulrike still felt that Germany’s current system and the people’s enthusiastic response to that system and sentiment were somehow precarious, so he thought Heinrich Heine’s prophecy hadn’t been fully realized yet. Whether negatively or positively, Germany, and Europe, seemed to be at a critical juncture.

If there was something that felt fresh again, it was that Julia seemed to be watching the situation from a step back even while saying such things. There wasn’t much basis for it. Only her word choice, the air between words, and her expression no different from usual served as evidence.

One more thing – he knew that the days of wearing Eschete uniforms and feeling proud without knowing anything would truly never come again. It was only right. Ulrike looked at the sky and muttered.

“Right. That’s how it should be. So why did we come here?”

Julia’s paper bag was already full of all kinds of street food. Police were walking in lines on the streets creating a tense atmosphere, and occasionally strange explosive sounds seemed to be heard. His heart beat rapidly. Meanwhile, Julia silently picked up a huge hat. It was a wide-brimmed hat with a cone that no one usually wore but many people wore during festivals. Ulrike muttered while holding the prop against his military cap.

“It’s a wizard hat. A pointed hat that no actual mages wear.”

“Right. They brought it for the spring festival but it didn’t sell.”

“They couldn’t have festivals when all that chaos happened just recently at Easter.”

“Then we should buy it. This lighting set looks good too.”

Julia showed a small pumpkin-like lighting set. Normally he would have clapped and been delighted, but today Ulrike asked seriously, knowing he was different from usual.

“Are you serious? You’re buying this?”

“I thought you’d naturally welcome it.”

Right, I’d welcome anything nice. And this was nice, reflecting Julia’s taste. Ulrike closed his eyes and gently pressed his brow bone. Then he spread his hands. Julia, who had finished paying, looked at Ulrike silently.

“Julia. To be honest, I don’t understand why we need to spend time on this street. It’s fun going around with you, but no matter how I look at it, that letter is something to be wary of. I want to go find out what’s written in that letter without delaying even a second.”

Ulrike clamped his mouth shut only later, worried that this friend he hadn’t fully befriended yet might be somewhat hurt. But it was needless worry. Julia was quietly looking at Ulrike in the crowd as usual, gradually curling up the corners of her mouth while moving her eyes toward her ear. She pressed her ear with her hand and spoke to a third party.

“Did you hear?”

What? Had everything really been transmitted this whole time? To whom? To what dangerous element? In front of Julia who was openly revealing danger, Ulrike slightly narrowed his brow and twisted his lips. Whether Ulrike did so or not, Julia smiled and conveyed words from beyond the artifact.

“They’re scolding me for not playing more entertainingly. Can I make excuses about the letter?”

“What is this…”

Ulrike’s face was becoming increasingly serious, but Julia remained the same.

“Let’s go back now.”

* * *

I lay in bed, leaning against a pillow with my body slightly tilted, watching my friends. In the distance, Leonard was holding his ear and saying something.

“Instead of being considerate of Ulrike who’s already having a hard time, you drag him around at your pace, so of course he wants to go back. Listen carefully, Julia. Even if I had been there, I would have already fallen asleep standing up.”

What conversation are they having? I don’t know either. Though I have some plan, I couldn’t hear voices coming through others’ unconnected artifacts. In the distance, Narke was also silently laughing, perhaps hearing the same conversation through an artifact in her ear. They had finished their assigned tasks and returned to the hospital, now gladly fulfilling my request. Though I made things a bit bigger, I hoped Ulrike would like it accordingly. We were all moving with such feelings.

Leonard briefly stopped moving and touched his waist area, then opened his eyes wide and looked at the ear with the artifact. He soon burst into refreshing laughter and finished sarcastically.

“Scolding? Hahaha… It’s advice, Julia.”

It wasn’t hard to tell that he was being particularly kind to other friends. In front of friends he’d known long, he acted not much different from them. Whether they became similar from knowing each other long or remained close because they were similar… I closed my eyes in the blowing wind. Unable to get up and move from my spot, sleepiness poured over me. Leonard made another sarcastic comment in a voice that carried faintly here with the wind.

“…It’s your job. …Mm, I’d like to do some sightseeing. Come back quickly. Let me see with my eyes.”

The night wind tousles my hair. Today this place was quiet, and being a place prepared for us, there were few people.

The problem was that since my bed was placed outdoors, one layer of blanket couldn’t handle the cold, but naturally I’d already received help and layered up thickly. I was in a hospital room but now I’m outdoors – it sounds crazy.

How much time passed? In the distance, the air shimmered and Julia’s figure appeared. Ulrike, who followed in, hurriedly looked around, and now I could see that Julia had entered with Ulrike’s arm held by magic. It felt like a criminal caught in the act. Julia was calm, but Ulrike had a tense face and was looking around frantically like a rookie police officer.

But it was brief. As soon as they entered this place, Ulrike’s sharp eyes became round. As the color of the atmosphere melted into his face, his mouth that had been stiff with tension slowly opened. His gaze didn’t reach any of us, but was on the scenery beyond.

“…Wow.”

The mana that had been connected to Julia’s arm was released as if asking when it had ever been caught. Ulrike grabbed his head, then covered his mouth, then held his cheeks with both hands and stretched them down like rubber while opening his mouth wide. The change in expression was so amusing that laughter came naturally. I had often seen his eyes hold stars under the night sky, but this was the first time I saw them sparkle so freshly. The corners of Ulrike’s mouth naturally turned upward. He finally let out a scream.

“Waaahhhhh!”

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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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