How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 573

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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 (573)

The shop owner, seeing pigeons swarming and crashing into the window for the first time, grimaced and stepped back. He asked us something in rapid Italian, but Narke didn’t provide any real answer. When Ulrike carefully approached and opened the door, a pigeon got stuck in the doorway and struggled frantically.

“Aaaaah!”

Ulrike, shocked by getting hit in the face with wings, flung the plump pigeon far away and shut the door again. He stared at us with a dazed expression, blew the pigeon down off his cheek with his breath, and continued to stare at us blankly. Our reactions weren’t much different. Ulrike said what I wanted to say.

“Are they crazy?”

“…”

“I’ve never seen birds like this before. They don’t seem to be ordinary messenger pigeons. Looking at how persistently they follow magical power…”

“Magical power?”

The shop owner asked in a low voice, tilting his head. He asked as if he had just figured out our identity, making us suddenly tense. So what did he think we were before? Foreign theater actors? A traveling troupe? We were holding masks in our hands, so that would be more common.

There’s no law against mages entering a shop, but the atmosphere can indeed be frightening. Swept up in our tension, Ulrike naturally played dumb as if he had never said such a thing.

Narke, who had opened his pocket watch to check the time, stood up from his seat.

“I can’t let them into the shop. I’ll go out and see.”

“You? What if those pigeons peck at you?!”

“They came for me.”

“Huh?”

Narke carefully opened the door and went outside, then gathered his left fingers inward and flicked them to cast light around the window. Instantly, the shop owner’s face became peaceful, and he casually turned around and went into the kitchen. He must have cast a mind-affecting spell, but it didn’t apply to me, probably because he didn’t raise the intensity properly. When Narke spread his hand and held it out horizontally, a pigeon landed on his fingertips. The chaotic scene from earlier was no more. Narke took out a paper from the small tube tied to its leg and sent the pigeon back to the sky. Repeating this several times, he collected letters from all the pigeons, crumpling papers that overflowed from his grasp because there were too many to hold. He appeared to pick any paper without calculation, but it certainly wasn’t just ‘any paper.’ He selected what must have been the most important letter and read it. Then he folded it again, set it aside, and unfolded another.

“The Papal States are telling me to come to the diplomatic site.”

I made eye contact with Leonard. Knowing that Narke didn’t regard the Papal States with complete favor, we looked at Narke again.

“Why?”

“Well. They didn’t write down such reasons. It’s a bit unusual that the Papal States sent what Germany would likely send, but since I’m originally from this country anyway… They might have thought such distinction wasn’t necessary.”

“But you came today as part of the German government, right? No matter how much the Papal States is your country’s government, affiliations should be strictly separated.”

Narke didn’t answer Ulrike’s words. Though Ulrike spoke to take Narke’s side, the fact that Narke was not only a citizen of the Papal States but also affiliated with the Papal States made it ambiguous to distinguish, which probably made him close his mouth.

However, as Ulrike said, today Narke came as a member of the German government, specifically an institution under the German Imperial Court, and while this new identity might not completely block the Papal States’ demands, it should have been treated quite differently. To summon Narke like this, they should have first consulted with the German government about the schedule.

“The German government also gave permission. That’s why.”

As soon as I finished thinking, Narke picked up another note and spoke. I can’t even think freely in front of this friend. Really, isn’t the brain supposed to be my own space even if the world ends? If this gets breached too, what should I think about while living? Where exactly should I have unrefined thoughts? For example, wanting to flick these guys with a pendulum to find out what they asked me, or even if I’m not that curious, it wouldn’t hurt to know… If I’m rudely having such thoughts in front of him, isn’t that no different from speaking to him with thoughts? So if you’re listening, please say something. Narke turned his head pretending not to know. What are you pretending not to know? You can rifle through my head anytime, so you didn’t ask me anything else during that opportunity earlier, did you? Really?

―”There were days when you resented it being your own space.”

So if I transfer your heart directly to me, couldn’t that lighten the burden a bit?

Narke threw in those words once more.

I was about to laugh bitterly with the feeling of ‘look at this guy,’ but lowered my eyes worried that our private conversation might be overheard. How shameless… I couldn’t refute it. Because there were days when I wished it wasn’t just my own closed space that only I knew. But I never thought days would come when my brain would be open without my will and friends could come and go as they pleased, and I didn’t wish for that much. Narke gave a slightly playful apologetic look as if he would control it, then unfolded another paper. He nodded his head a few times, then told his friends.

“You haven’t seen Julia’s cup yet, right? You stay here. I’ll go with Leo for a moment.”

“Is it really just for a moment? If not, we’ll come too. I’ll carry Lucas on my back.”

At Ulrike’s words, I squinted and quietly protested.

“I think that’s ridiculous.”

If I didn’t want to intuitively see blood flowing from my stomach, I should at least lie down looking at the sky. Narke unfolded another note, looked at it, then stared into space for a moment. He stood up and put on his coat. Ulrike was looking up at Narke with a serious face. He paid the owner and gestured toward the outside.

“Let’s go. Together.”

We headed toward the Sant’Angelo Bridge. The Sant’Angelo Bridge had a simple portal leading to Germany, guarded strictly by mages from both Germany and the Papal States. Narke bent his finger and tapped the barrier, then spoke to the mage standing guard in front.

“I heard you were looking for me.”

“I didn’t hear that you would come here. The Papal States said you should warp directly to the Apostolic Palace… Your Excellency.”

This Papal States mage started to say “Your Highness” but trailed off and changed his words. He knows Narke. Moreover, he was speaking in Latin. While Italian is generally their native language so they don’t avoid it entirely, Latin is mainly used in the Vatican rather than Italian. Whether this mage recognized Narke’s face or just received instructions, I don’t know.

Contrary to my worry, Ulrike seemed to have no particular questions.

“No, since I was moving with colleagues, I had to walk here.”

“I understand. Please leave these people here. We will protect them.”

Narke stared at the mage before answering.

“I came here to tell you that I cannot go now. Please tell me what the matter is for calling me to the conference. Surely before coming here, I said I was accompanying for the portal’s safety. Therefore, I received an artifact to be contacted immediately if problems arose with the portal. People as qualified as I accompanied the diplomatic conference. I think this is sufficient, so what else is there? Right now I have urgent matters requiring my intervention and cannot attend there.”

“I do not know that matter.”

The mage answered politely while bowing his head slightly. Narke’s instincts seem to know that this isn’t the treatment he should receive. His expression gradually hardens indifferently without containing great resentment. Because the other party is too polite? No. It was the opposite. However, Narke seemed to have no great regret about that either, and soon looked across the river at the Vatican and spoke.

“Tell them this. Among the notes sent from the Vatican, there was an unknown poem included.”

Ulrike, who was standing beside me holding my hand, stiffened at those words. He looked at Julia once, then looked at me again. Ulrike’s expression had become bleak.

The mage heard this and answered with a thoughtless face.

“Excuse me, but what is the point of that?”

“It could be a code, Father Marino.”

The title of Father, neither Your Excellency nor sir, made the opposing mage close his mouth. He was not a simple government official but a spiritual member who shared sacred responsibilities within the Catholic community. His iris wavered briefly, perhaps startled that Narke knew his name.

“The Papal States, which values extreme efficiency, would not send meaningless passages without authorization. Someone attempted to disrupt the Papal States’ communications. Shouldn’t I go and examine this now? It’s a letter that came to me, and this is a city whose geography I know well. That is, if you cannot prove urgency to me right now, I will go find the place this poem indicates.”

Then the mage took out a locket from around his neck and spoke.

“Your Eminence Bianchi, please come to the Sant’Angelo Bridge warp point for a moment. This is a request from His Excellency Farnese.”

Before long, the cardinal called Your Eminence Bianchi appeared inside the Sant’Angelo Bridge barrier. He made the sign of the cross and came outside the barrier without any resistance.

“It is an honor to meet you.”

Cardinal Bianchi tactfully didn’t specifically mention Narke. This bearded old man, who didn’t seem to be an Esper, stood before Narke and waited for Narke to say something. Narke took out the bundle of papers that had been attached to the messenger pigeons’ feet and handed the letter with the poem to Cardinal Bianchi.

“Look at this. This came to me mixed in with the Papal States’ messenger pigeons.”

“Brother, you know what numerous messenger pigeons mean. It means urgent orders. Also, you have the ability to distinguish what are and aren’t the Papal States’ messenger pigeons.”

“They all came from the Papal States’ messenger pigeons, so that would be problematic.”

Then Cardinal Bianchi looked perplexed and moved his lips as if that couldn’t be.

“The Papal States has never sent a letter with such content.”

“I know. But it was included with other perfectly normal letters. Someone from the Papal States used messenger pigeons with authorization while transmitting codes they needed.”

“Then all the more reason for you to conduct internal interrogation at the Papal States—”

Cardinal Bianchi was speaking well but suddenly closed his mouth. As if his mouth had been glued, yet he wasn’t flustered and instead lowered his gaze. Narke, who had been waiting quietly, opened his mouth.

“I don’t have that authority.”

“…”

I looked at a white pigeon circling and gliding in the distant sky. A messenger pigeon had come to the front of the barrier and was gradually descending. Narke stretched out his arm and let the pigeon land on his fingertips. He opened the container attached to its leg, took out a note, and shook it lightly in a cross pattern.

“Two sheets again this time.”

Cardinal Bianchi’s face began to show sternness. Narke checked the contents and handed over one sheet.

“I must go to the place this poem presumably indicates. If you can proceed without me, please do so, and if it still cannot be resolved, I will attend after crossing over again as a Papal States mage rather than a German official.”

Cardinal Bianchi looked at the note Narke handed him, sighed, then returned it. He answered politely.

“I will convey that as stated.”

* * *

“What kind of letter did you receive?”

Since Narke didn’t tell us anything and started walking, Ulrike asked while pushing the bed at an insanely fast pace. Narke silently handed him the note. Ulrike expressed doubt while reading the poem.

“Clover, what clover nonsense. This was originally daffodils.”

“What do you mean.”

“This is a poem I know too. It’s an incredibly famous poem.”

Ulrike, who finished reading the note, gave it to me.

[I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden clover;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.]

[Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.]

It’s Wordsworth’s poem “Daffodils.” I silently passed it to Julia and Leonard. Ulrike spoke in a lowered voice, having become serious.

“Why does such a letter follow us to Italy? …It means the Antagonist is in Italy too. No, they were in Germany too. To say we should be careful of government officials who followed us, since the Antagonist touched messenger pigeons… does that mean it’s someone from the Papal States?”

He continued speaking through the silence.

“Or it might really be Ainsiedel.”

“But is Ainsiedel someone who would follow us to Italy and leave such letters?”

At Cheringen’s usual dry question, Ulrike answered firmly.

“Absolutely. You know how wide the web that person has spread across Europe to achieve their goals. We only found out later that he was involved, but looking back, from the relic theft onward, there’s no incident Ainsiedel wasn’t connected to. This time too, he’s sufficiently possible as the Antagonist.”

Narke came down from the bridge to the invisible path and stood on the warp point. Unlike his solemn demeanor from earlier, his face showed no great concern, and he was even smiling, perhaps because he had successfully deflected the Papal States’ demands once.

He glanced at the warp coordinates carved into the floor and walls, then looked at his friends.

“Good. Decoding this letter should be our priority. Clover field, golden light, lakeside trees… We have enough clues.”

“Do you know where it is?!”

“Well, I’ll have to think about it…”

Narke closed his eyes and fell into thought.

“The original text wasn’t golden clover but golden daffodils. If it’s a place where daffodils bloom, there’s the Farnese Family’s Botanical Garden… But since the sender changed daffodils to clover, we don’t need to look for daffodils now. The reason I’m mentioning this is… golden daffodils can exist, but golden clover cannot.”

With that, Narke bowed his head and asked me.

“Lucas, who should we ask?”

“Don’t omit parts of your sentence when asking. Ask what?”

But thankfully, he was completely unhelpful. Narke smiled and gestured to Julia.

“Julia, please. It would be good if you could switch with Leo later.”

Cheringen didn’t even ask what the favor was and simply lifted me up from where I sat leaning against the bed, then stood beside Narke. So we’re going to warp. I patted Cheringen’s shoulder and closed my eyes as I watched my friends take Narke’s hands.

When I opened my eyes again, we were in an unnamed plain. Clover swayed gently in the wind. Narke raised his arm along the riverbank.

“This place is by the riverside and has clover too. Right?”

“…Wow.”

Ulrike looked around and narrowed her eyes.

“It’s much better having a friend who knows Rome’s geography.”

“Haha, is that so…? But…”

But this isn’t the right answer. I thought so as I looked at the surrounding scenery.

At the same time, Narke raised his staff and lightly struck the ground. With a clear ringing sound, the darkness lifted and sunlight shone down from above. Everyone looked up quickly in surprise.

It was an illusion. Though an illusion, it felt real, and we watched in fascination as the sun set in the west like time was fast-forwarded. Narke, who had gone to the steep hill and touched the grass with his hand, spoke as if confirming my prediction was correct.

“The hill blocks it, so the clover field can’t turn golden at sunset. This isn’t the space the sender designated.”

The hill was blocking the clover field by the riverside from the setting sun. Ulrike was surprised but quickly learned and stroked her chin.

“So that’s how we should interpret golden clover… Then you’ve already found the answer?”

“I can’t say that exactly. Sunny clover fields by the riverside exist everywhere, so we need to figure out what more the letter sender is asking for.”

“But there’s no more to the letter.”

Ulrike carefully grabbed Narke and said.

“Earlier, I received a letter saying ‘Also you, angel of midday. Do you not wake those who still sleep?’ Could it be related?”

“Halfway, yes.”

Narke answered without hesitation. He took our hands again as he spoke.

“More letters will come as we look around. Let’s check a few places.”

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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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