How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 572

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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 (572)

“Photos?”

We returned to where the government portal was installed and received the box left there. Inside was a huge camera. When I just tilted my neck to ask, Ulrike shrugged her shoulders.

“Yeah. You think I arranged flowers on your bed for no reason? It was all to record everything. Narke asked, so our government lent us a camera.”

Actually…

I thought she just arranged flowers for no reason. So this was all planned… I fluttered the blanket and redecorated the flowers that had all fallen off back in their places and asked.

“I didn’t hear news that our government was giving us a camera?”

“I didn’t hear either, but when I told Narke earlier to go to a Roman photo studio, Narke said he didn’t know any place open at this hour either, but if we contacted Germany they’d at least lend us a portable camera. We should take at least some photos to show Haike, right?”

The camera Ulrike held was a portable camera that looked similar to a Brownie camera from the world I used to live in, but it looked quite simple compared to the camera Haike carried around. Ulrike tried to casually lie down on the bed but failed due to the pile of flowers and whispered carefully from beside me.

“But Lucas. Why didn’t he ask that mage? This is Narke’s hometown.”

Far behind Ulrike were the Vatican mage and German government mage standing guard at the door according to the agreement established when opening the portal. By ‘that mage’ she meant the Italian mage. He seemed to think that even if he didn’t know, for Narke, rather than asking Germans for a camera, it would be better to ask his homeland’s mage while visiting his homeland.

I knew why he specifically contacted Germany, but I didn’t want to speak without Narke’s consent.

“Well… he works in Germany now. Having come as a German representative, it would be a bit awkward to ask the other country to lend us a camera for our fun, wouldn’t it?”

Ulrike nodded with a face that said that made sense too. A different emotion flashed through the middle of his peacefulness. For a moment, it seemed like the meaning that he shouldn’t ask Narke about this topic passed through his eyes. Even if that wasn’t a judgment born from certainty, he was still catching subtle atmospheres at a subtle level.

Such thoughts made me stare intently at Ulrike. Instantly the camera lens came right in front of my eyes.

Click—

“…!”

“Okay~ one two three.”

“After taking it?”

What’s the point of asking now. It was a useless attempt. Ulrike took one more shot of my face. He held a wand in one hand, created light, then started rapidly winding the film and photographing everything everywhere.

“I wonder how it’ll turn out when developed? Hahaha.”

I shouted to Ulrike who was getting farther away and going to other friends.

“Luise. Where are you going. I’ll take your picture.”

“You’ll take my picture?! Why?!”

“Just because.”

Bang—

As soon as I finished speaking, I caught with one hand the camera that flew lightly through the air toward me. Softly gathered mana caught the camera and immediately dispersed. Oh my… How violent. He probably doesn’t realize he’s like that. It reminds me of the hot-blooded students I saw at school. If we’d become friends at school, it would have been quite a sight. Ulrike stood like a soldier at a slightly distant spot, neatly arranging his jacket.

“What’s that. Smile a bit more!”

“No! They said appearing with a smiling face in photos isn’t dignified.”

“Hmm, but this is friends hanging out together.”

“Is that so?”

Still, Ulrike remained stiff. I photographed Ulrike rolling his eyes around, and shook my head at the large shutter sound that was hard to get used to. After a little while, whatever happened to his resolve about dignity, Ulrike grinned. I was winding the film and didn’t miss that timing, pressing the shutter.

“Oh!”

“What’s ‘oh.’ That worked out well.”

I turned the camera around and took a photo with a smiling face like Ulrike, then returned the camera. This time Ulrike didn’t forget me and approached our friends while smoothly pulling the bed along. Leonard was nodding his head toward the clock tower and talking to Narke.

“…are you going back to Germany now, or…”

“…”

Gradually the bed stopped. My spine grew cold and I reflexively looked back at Ulrike behind me.

Unexpectedly, Ulrike had his usual face that looked somewhat indifferent and conversely somewhat full of curiosity, just blinking his eyes. He was calm while only we were tense. Leonard and Narke also looked back at Ulrike and opened their eyes a bit wider.

Only Cheringen was appreciating all of us with his usual smile. Ulrike said.

“Is it because there’s nothing to do since we came at night?”

“That’s not entirely wrong, Luise.”

Leonard easily agreed.

“No need to worry, guys. We don’t need anything else. If we’re just given time, we can have fun until the day the world ends. Look, sometimes you see cafes open late at night like this.”

Ulrike spun around and moved both hands as if to calm us down, spreading them and pressing downward, then pointed to the lit cafe behind us. Even calling it a cafe, it looked more like a form combined with a house.

What could we do at a cafe? Three people who wouldn’t step forward to speak first, two people who were good at small talk but had no inclination to try to make anyone laugh, and even assuming Elias joined—Elias was quite taciturn during many periods—going to a cafe with this combination meant there was nothing to do at the cafe except open our mouths, so it didn’t seem very suitable for a friend like Ulrike who looked for even small events. It would be more fun to dive into the Tiber River and evade police pursuit. Leonard and Narke exchanged glances as if thinking the same thing.

It was Narke who first decided to go in willingly. Leonard, who got me down from the bed and brought me to the couch inside the shop, casually asked his friends.

“When are you going to Germany?”

As if not hearing at all, Ulrike looked at the small menu and asked the shop owner who came close to our table.

“Is it all just coffee? Don’t you have Turkish coffee?”

Then the owner spoke at an incredibly fast pace. The owner kept tilting his head and gesturing with his hands, but it didn’t really help with understanding. When Ulrike froze in confusion, Narke interpreted.

“He’s asking why you’re looking for Turkish coffee in Rome.”

“It doesn’t have to be Turkish. Unfiltered coffee boiled in a brass pot!”

“What else would that be but Turkish coffee~? Haha.”

Narke smiled and conveyed the message to the owner. The owner stroked his chin. While Ulrike waited anxiously and Cheringen, Leonard and I watched them without much thought, Narke finished speaking with a polite smile. The owner also smiled the same way and left.

“He says he’ll try. He seems to know how to make it.”

“Ah, that’s a relief.”

Now at ease, Ulrike took out the camera and leaned slightly. Then he lay back and just held up the camera. Now he stood up from his seat. He struck all sorts of poses to take photos, but didn’t seem to have as much expertise as Haike from the looks of it. Haike wasn’t a professional either, but the time he’d continued as a hobby couldn’t be ignored. He photographed us from somewhat unusual angles and returned to his seat satisfied.

Under the sound-blocking magic, Leonard propped his chin and asked Ulrike.

“Luise. You seem to keep taking photos positioned slightly to the side. What’s the reason?”

“Sharp eye. When Haike wakes up, I’m going to double-expose Haike on this film.”

“…?”

I reflexively squinted and expressed doubt. Cheringen also raised an eyebrow. Even so, he showed no intention of stopping it.

“Hmm.”

“Spirit photography?”

At Leonard’s bleak response as if his soul had been slightly shaken, Ulrike casually put his eye to the camera and muttered.

“Won’t it work?”

“It won’t work. Two images will overlap.”

“That’s why I’m shooting so your backgrounds come out as solid colors as much as possible.”

Why isn’t cutting and pasting an option? We didn’t bother asking. Then the coffee we ordered came out. The savory coffee aroma stung our noses. I received a cup from Leonard and carefully put it to my lips.

“Okay, guys. Drink it all at once right now.”

“I figured it out when you were looking for Turkish coffee.”

Leonard shook his head and laughed, then quickly emptied his cup. He covered the saucer over the cup and flipped it. He says what he has to say while doing what he’ll do. Narke and Julia seemed to have roughly caught on too.

“You’ve all finished drinking, right? Now flip it like Leo! Let’s wait 10 minutes.”

Right, so… Ulrike wants to read fortunes. Coffee grounds.

Thinking about it, there’s no way Ulrike would just go to a cafe and only drink coffee without doing anything. I received the empty cup, transferred the coffee, and flipped the cup after drinking only the last sip.

The 10 minutes passed quickly while chatting.

“Okay, let’s flip Lucas’s and mine first. The rest aren’t ready yet. Stay as you are!”

Ulrike clapped solemnly. Since I didn’t really believe in fortunes, I picked up the cup without any particular thoughts.

The coffee grounds were clumped together in winding patterns like riverside sand, creating ripples on the walls. It seemed like I could see jagged flows like mountains. As a result…

“It just looks dirty.”

“Right.”

“…? You should know!”

“No, no. I roughly know.”

Ulrike snatched my cup away and showed it to our friends.

“Hold the handle. The part close to where your lips touched is the present and near future. And the further down you go, the more distant future it is. Wow, this is a four-leaf clover. Something good must be coming soon! And though every book says different things, they said patterns on the left should be interpreted negatively and the right positively.”

Ulrike looked into my cup once more and said.

“There’s a dog on the left. Dogs mean friends. This came out negative, so what does that mean? Did you make bad friends or something?”

“Not now… no.”

“But in the past it’s right?”

“What’s your standard for friends?”

“Just~ if you get along well in various ways, you’re friends. Even if you can’t call them close friends.”

“Then it must be an old story.”

Hmm, Ulrike casually moved on and pointed to the bottom.

“Lucas, there’s something like a blade here. It means you’ll receive someone’s help. And if you look, it says here that you should eat properly.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Don’t just eat sauerkraut, eat some cake and meat. It’s even better if you go out to eat.”

“Ah… My mouth won’t accept it though. What else?”

“It says it’ll be hot in summer.”

“Is there a sun drawn by any chance?”

“Right. And you’re repeating something. For example, if you ate sauerkraut yesterday, you’ll eat sauerkraut today too. Or if you spent a whole year receiving military training 5 years ago, you’ll probably do the same this year. But the sauerkraut you ate yesterday tasted like green onions and the sauerkraut you ate today tastes like cabbage. So you almost threw up after eating sauerkraut yesterday, but today’s sauerkraut was fine, so you resolve to keep eating sauerkraut from now on.”

“Ah, sauerkraut collapse…”

“What’s that?”

“It exists. So does that mean I can eat more sauerkraut, or not.”

“I don’t know. And it says here that you read too many books.”

“Me? This coffee shop isn’t very reliable, is it? Maybe a few months ago, but I haven’t been reading much lately.”

Then Ulrike, who had been rolling her eyes, shook her head seriously.

“Would what’s little by your standards really be little? Instead, it says you should play. Then you’ll probably say ‘reading books is playing,’ right? Wrong.”

“Then?”

“You need to run around and play. Especially tonight was a very good choice. To get through this fortune, you need to go out and play with friends often, about seven times a week?”

“I heard your wishful thinking well. Stop making things up.”

“Hahaha!”

Julia and Narke reacted simultaneously. Then Ulrike, who opened her eyes with a frown, answered confidently.

“Half of it was real.”

I nodded roughly and picked up the cup of Leonard, who was sitting right next to me.

“What about this one?”

Ulrike, who was checking the cup, twisted her mouth slightly this way and that, then said.

“It’s similar to Lucas’s. Hey, I haven’t looked at Julia’s and Narke’s yet… Since you’re on the same team, your daily lives seem to flow similarly. Haike is sleeping so even if she looks at the coffee shop, it’ll come out differently from ours, and if the tendencies are this similar, I’d like to see Elias’s too?”

Ulrike held up my cup and Leonard’s cup simultaneously, showing them to us and shouting.

“Look, they’re really similar!”

“They’re really similarly dirty. Who on earth started this coffee shop thing…”

“Ah ah ah. No. Look at this. A huge blue covered the wall surface. There are mountain-like things too. Hmm, there’s something different. There are fish on the floor. There are beetle-like things too… Leo, everything that came out like a unique ability is all nature!”

“Really? What do the fish mean?”

Silence. At my question, silence flowed over our table.

“Fish distribution business. Royal trade?”

Ulrike, who was guessing randomly, shrugged her shoulders.

“I guess he eats fish dishes.”

“So this is how you’ve been interpreting things all along…”

Ulrike didn’t care at all and pretended not to hear us, then carefully picked up Narke’s cup. However, Narke’s cup didn’t come off the saucer. Ulrike’s eyes widened instantly. He waved his arms and said to everyone.

“Do you know this? It’s the ‘Prophet’s Cup.’ When it all sticks together like this, there’s no need to look. It’s really perfect fortune. Narke, you must have really good luck.”

While Ulrike clapped her hands in joy, Narke smiled slightly. Leonard’s gaze was fixed on him. I was no different. I let my gaze slide from his golden eyes, tracing down the smooth curve of the cup that gently fell from the octagonal base to the cup rim. Between the gold-rimmed edge and the saucer, thick black liquid clung without missing any corners. Narke smiled and lowered his eyes, then politely raised his hand. When the shop owner approached, Narke held out his cup to him.

“Could you take this away?”

Scrape— Tap tap tap— Click—

At the sound of glass scraping, everyone’s gaze turned to the window at once. There was a sound of breathing in. The shop owner was startled and frowned, pulling his chest back.

It was the Royal Guard. White pigeons were fluttering their wings and banging their heads against the shop window.

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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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