How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 598

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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 (598)

Calm down.

And observe carefully. In the face of variables, one must keep their reason colder than ever. Do I need to hypnotize myself? My senses are in their optimal state. Since Hildegart Wittelsbach’s extra chapter is particularly one that doesn’t move according to my will, all information that walks into me on its own feet is welcome. Tall stature, black hair, blue eyes, the neck is hidden by a standing collar and cravat so it’s not visible. The attached collar of the formal shirt is long and thick unlike modern ones, making it difficult to determine whether the Adam’s apple protrudes, which is normal. Especially the cravat almost wraps around the neck. However, decisively, when looking only at the face excluding the clothing below the neck, the facial features where gender is not distinct, an androgynous atmosphere. Espers, high probability of being a nobleman, French… This strange atmosphere is a characteristic that Humans don’t detect well and it took me several months to notice—an Esper-like trait visible to Esper eyes. It doesn’t come from appearance but from life. I could think about this for a long time, but it’s not quite suitable to continue. I have no intention of being leisurely about meeting a Frenchman that Luca Laplace knew, in a situation where I’ve come as a guest to just some minion’s house, not the dormitory, not our school, not Munich Residenz, not Mr. Kruger’s house. Today I went to ‘a medical student senior’s house I had never visited before’ without telling anyone. But a friend whose face I didn’t even know suddenly came to ‘a medical student senior’s house I had never visited before’ and tried to take me away, worrying about what I’d been doing all this time. Then I have no choice but to wonder how this person found me.

“Thank you for letting us in, madam. We’ll be leaving now.”

The Frenchman greets in fluent German. Mr. Hofer stands with his New Human Son with a bewildered face and nods. That New Human Son is also just rolling his eyes blankly. In contrast, this Frenchman is restrained. He’s acting. Since the 19th century is the age of theater, I can’t tell whether this acting is social role-playing in life or acting in front of me, but contextually it would be the former. Thinking that, the place where I stand shifts one position at a time around me. The front door closes behind me. At first my steps were behind the Frenchman, but after passing the awning, thin raindrops fall from the cloudy sky and the Frenchman approaches me. It would have been fine to get wet, but the Frenchman naturally matches his pace with mine as we walk. I looked at his transparent skin then turned my gaze forward. Now, I’ve already extracted his information. Lucien Noailles. His favorability is +6. His traits are divine power, and surprisingly, GPS (Lv.5) with a very futuristic name. I can understand how he knew my location, and thinking that he could appear before me so suddenly like this, interestingly, Luca Laplace also knows of this ability’s existence.

The problem is that the status window doesn’t tell me the relationship between him and me. I looked more closely at the favorability window to see if there was a name attached to me, but it’s blank. Since French honorific systems are very complex, I can’t say just anything. How did Luca Laplace and this foreigner call each other and how did they converse? How did they treat each other? Since I need to find out from now on, I mustn’t carelessly say a single word.

“Where to?”

“We’re going to the train station, Luca.”

He answers affectionately with a smile. The first layer of muscle under the foreigner’s skin is tense. I observe how a person’s facial muscles move and get a feel for it. As always. This person isn’t nervous about conversing with me, but is tense about the situation. His pupils quickly move away from me, but there’s not a hint of awkwardness in that process. ‘Where to?’ Within acceptable range. Let me remember that.

“Then after that, let’s take a carriage to where Madam is. We’ll need to secure your safety there for a while.”

Madam, secure… The situation isn’t good, is it? It wouldn’t be good. The fact that you, a French Nobleman, came all the way here means something happened in France. There’s a big gap between this Espers with elegant manners and that roughly-living Espers from earlier. First, the medical student senior Espers doesn’t show androgynous characteristics much on his face and appears masculine on the outside, which is proof that he learned and grew up with parents with distinct gender concepts, namely Humans. I should talk about this later, but that Espers can be known to be from a bourgeois family that just recently obtained a superficial noble title due to the ‘learned masculinity’ revealed on his face. In contrast, this Espers is different from his attitude. The ‘androgyny’ revealed on his face could partially prove that his family is a renowned noble family in the country. Even so, Noailles is a family with a status equivalent to Germany’s Oettingen as far as I know. The fact that a nobleman of some standing in that country personally flew over to take care of me must be premised on the fact that the situation is not very good, and I had to recall that it’s now November 1851. December 2, 1851 is coming soon.

He knocks on the station office door. The old iron door opens and two briefcases are brought out. It would have been nice to have clairvoyant abilities. I think as I receive the briefcase he hands me.

Should I go or not? Actually, this dilemma would end in 1 second. The fact that the extra chapter situation doesn’t go according to my will doesn’t mean events are turning unfavorably for me. It means that Luca Laplace, though replaceable with someone else as hired help, stands near the eye of the storm and can’t recklessly change many things. In such a place, it’s natural that there’s much information I can extract just by quietly observing. I observe before going out.

He checked the train ticket and quickly boarded a car. I followed him and sat in the compartment car. He closed the door and sighed. He looks down at the edge of the curtain and naturally closes his eyes. He seems tired and has no intention of talking. That won’t do. I opened my mouth.

“I still have things to do here…”

When I muttered while looking through the train window curtain with an anguished face, he spoke decisively despite his gentle face.

“No, it’s not time to do that. Let’s take refuge for now.”

“Did that person order it?”

“He’ll find it out even without you now. Above all, Luca, you couldn’t even approach the club.”

Hmm.

He heard everything. That club must have been quite important to France too, but what kind of club was it? I had a general idea of the whole situation when I entered the senior’s house, but thanks to this person following me in, my only gain is a tattoo. Contextually it’s not the senior’s tattoo but a tattoo left on my body, but first, I’ve never discovered a tattoo on Luca Laplace’s body while washing. He wasn’t the type to leave such traces either. If I couldn’t see it, it means it’s on the back, but then where? Demand information that can be collected structurally. Now I wonder if I should regret not having an extra eye on the back of my head.

We were silent from when the train left the station until it stopped at the second station. The Frenchman before my eyes has deep worry on his face.

That day Louis Napoleon Bonaparte’s coup is suppressed and Henri Bourbon stabilizes the political situation. This is a future event they don’t know. And, recently Henri Bourbon came to Bavaria and returned to Austria. Since Henri Bourbon is the most promising presidential candidate put forward by the Bourbons and the one to become master of the restored monarchy, did President Bonaparte, who was watching Henri’s immigration status, notice something? That his coup is destined to fail?

If President Bonaparte’s knowledge changes, naturally the situation changes too. I need to be careful whether he still fails at the coup even after this, or whether some other variable will work to make him succeed here.

President Bonaparte is someone who was elected with tremendous support of about 75%. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, presumed to be a similar figure, was elected for a 4-year single term in the history I knew and couldn’t serve again, so he led the military and occupied Paris. He succeeded in his coup and received overwhelming approval votes in a national referendum, not a secret ballot, and was crowned Emperor. In contrast, President Bonaparte here was elected with similar approval ratings but failed in his coup and was disposed of by Henri Bourbon, but why? Both Bonapartes chose December 2nd, which has deep meaning for French people of this era, so what divided their fates? Luca Laplace’s responsibility and direction are intertwined with this huge difference. Recalling what I thought then, the reason for the coup’s failure is first, as I presumed, because of Bourbon’s matador. That is, some of the people who initially elected Bonaparte no longer support him. Representatively, Bourbon created a frame of foreign incompetence for Bonaparte and went around various countries behind the scenes engaging in kickbacks—ordering them to ‘highlight Henri Bourbon’s diplomatic abilities outwardly in exchange for money.’

However, coups don’t succeed through popular support. What coups utilize is not democracy but military oligarchy, and what they aim for is dictatorship, so unless power tries to defend democracy, the people’s will doesn’t matter in that position. Even if only 10% of the people support Bonaparte and the remaining 90% wish for his failure, this coup first succeeds with the military’s guns. Then it continues through combination with writing. Though it’s a coup prevention faction, the ‘new intellectual cultivation plan’ that Bourbon planned and Luca Laplace was involved in can also be represented as one example of combination with writing.

So I can’t help but think of the second factor. The second failure factor is naturally the military. In the history I knew, the military supported Louis Napoleon, but seeing this coup’s failure here, the military here pretended to support President Bonaparte but actually supported Bourbon.

Then why did this nobleman come to me? I caught one most likely variable. Isn’t it obvious?

“The trends have changed.”

I pretended to doze and then opened my eyes. After keeping my mouth shut for so long, my jaw muscles are stiff.

Thinking ‘isn’t it obvious’ and already two hours have passed. This person’s taciturnity is quite admirable too. I nodded while being conscious of the sound-blocking magic surrounding us. He said while looking out the train window.

“General Saint-Arnaud.”

Isn’t it obvious. It really was obvious. The general’s trends have changed. Then we Bourbon scholarship student Luca Laplace, who needs to prevent the coup, would also need to move differently as a spy, right? General Saint-Arnaud. Yes, according to my investigation, he became Paris garrison commander last October. And this is the same in the history I know. Though he’s an opportunistic royalist originally on the political opposite side of Louis Napoleon, Louis Napoleon wins him over. Then he hands over the Paris garrison commander position. This was two months before the coup. This General Saint-Arnaud is recognized for his contribution to the coup’s success and promoted to French Army Marshal when Louis Napoleon becomes Emperor. He reached the very top thanks to choosing the right side once.

So, what did General Saint-Arnaud here do to make this Frenchman come to me now?

The other party’s gentle voice is heard.

“It was recently revealed that his greed is more than we expected. Somehow he made a child without our knowledge, due to be born next year, and it seems he received magical power from Orleans. He tried to put Orleans in the child’s name.”

“Orleans allowed that?”

I was genuinely surprised without acting. Nevertheless, the Frenchman didn’t feel any awkwardness from my reaction and answered with a slight smile.

“No. No, he didn’t. But isn’t it important that he’s looking for an opportunity? If the opportunity arises, it seems he’s thinking of changing his own name to Orleans like his child.”

Hmm. I stroked my chin and leaned back deeply into the backrest. So this level of informal speech seems to be within acceptable range. That’s good and…

The smell of quite uncomfortable hard leather chair wafted. I seriously shook my head while thinking about how to put the rose-scented naphthalene placed by the window into the sofa somehow. I was serious and the other party was serious too.

He whispered while looking out at the rapidly passing outside.

“I don’t know what will happen at this rate.”

Thinking about the radical surname issue… it’s certainly something hard to know. First, in the history I knew, Saint-Arnaud abandons his political inclination as a royalist and switches to the Louis Napoleon line. However, Saint-Arnaud here is a firm royalist, a peculiar fellow who wants to put Orleans in his own name. Would such a person help Louis Napoleon? Not any Bourbon branch but ‘Bonaparte’?

He would rather help Henri Bourbon. However, if there’s a problem, President Bonaparte might also have noticed that he’s such a firm royalist that he’s impossible to win over, and so he might be ousted from the Paris garrison commander position…

Thinking that far, I withdrew my earlier complacency in 3 seconds.

This theory only functions under the possibility that Saint-Arnaud is ‘satisfied with the position of Defense Minister.’ Saint-Arnaud wants to put Orleans in his own name too. Even knowing it’s impossible.

What if it’s like this? Saint-Arnaud is not satisfied with the Defense Minister position. Saint-Arnaud himself wants to become king. In that process, which faction Saint-Arnaud chooses becomes key, and whether that chosen faction has the ability to prevent the ‘another rebellion’ that will be caused by Saint-Arnaud after the coup ends becomes key. The problem is that if Saint-Arnaud has a brain, even if it’s a French Revolution distorted compared to the history I knew, he would know that French citizens have the spirit of having overthrown things once, and therefore Saint-Arnaud can’t help but know that the possibility of him being king for long is slim. First, rather than staging an independent coup himself, he’ll hold his breath under Louis Napoleon while deciding his course. This is a reasonable person’s thinking, and if he lacks common sense, he’ll try to become a second Robespierre without having even Robespierre’s abilities.

Or just because he wants the Orleans surname doesn’t mean we can conclude he wants to become king. He might want the title of ‘French Army Marshal of royal origin.’ All kinds of uncertainties exist here.

However, I have the most efficient route for Saint-Arnaud to win.

Saint-Arnaud suppresses President Bonaparte’s coup. Then Henri Bourbon prepares to become president while attributing the credit for suppressing the coup to himself. At this time, Saint-Arnaud creates an enemy of the people frame by claiming Henri Bourbon is ‘someone who won the presidential election but tries to restore monarchy ignoring citizens’ voting rights.’ Even if it’s somewhat predictable, depending on how a frame is constructed, suddenly some things can become evil, and what passed yesterday might not pass today.

Only this route is the path for Saint-Arnaud to reach the top. If only Saint-Arnaud gives up becoming king and accepts the presidential position, if only he abandons his political inclination, the people are ready to elect Saint-Arnaud as the new president.

And I…

I’m bothered that Saint-Arnaud tried to accomplish something impossible. What if that was a show? What if he deliberately did ‘royalist’ things in coordination with President Bonaparte? Then Henri Bourbon can’t suppress the coup. And Luca Laplace and this Frenchman are on Henri Bourbon’s side. That would be bad for Laplace.

I muttered.

“You must be very anxious.”

While saying that, he got up from his seat and sat next to me.

“That’s right. Why did you do that? I don’t know exactly what you said, but you shouldn’t have stepped forward. It just keeps increasing unreasonable demands on you.”

Shouldn’t have stepped forward. Okay, good. Unreasonable demands keep increasing… Originally there weren’t many expectations, I suppose. That would be it. When I was with Hildegart Wittelsbach with Henri Bourbon lying on the floor between us, we extracted information from Henri that would help national interests and our safety. When asked what should be obtained from Luca Laplace, Henri couldn’t give a big answer. Letters, letters, letters. That’s all. This is both the few meaningful pieces of information Henri answered and the meaningless information that made up most of it.

Then what more could Luca Laplace do for Henri?

“I know you’re loyal. But you don’t have to do what you can’t do with your abilities. That person has many people even without you, so he can do anything.”

He leaned toward me and held my hand. His appearance is perfectly typical of a 19th-century person, so I held back a hollow laugh. 19th century or whatever, it’s always creepy when someone you’re not close to gets near. Favorability +6. Recalling that, I quietly got up to go to the front seat but stopped. Thinking of Luca Laplace’s personality, I answered bluntly yet passively.

“I’ll keep that in mind. But I just wanted to be helpful.”

“I’m here so you don’t need to worry about that.”

I’m at a loss for words and don’t know how to respond. I understand that thanks to this person being close friends with Luca Laplace, Laplace is avoiding hardship. He said calmly.

“For now, I’ve said you’re sick, so rest for a while. Right now that person’s attendants are moving around this area. When the schedule ends, I’ll come get you the day after tomorrow. So the day after tomorrow, even if you go far, you need to be near Madam’s residence.”

The GPS ability seems to be one that doesn’t work at excessively long distances. Yes, I don’t expect much from a Level 5.

And I think I somewhat understand why they brought Luca Laplace. The variables that General Saint-Arnaud created ahead of next month’s coup are so infinite that, though people here might not know for certain whether a coup will happen next month, from Friend’s perspective, it seemed Henri’s attendants would make unreasonable demands on Luca Laplace again, so he temporarily took refuge.

But… I’m gradually curious about what this person was doing in 1898. The things I need to go out and find out keep piling up like this.

We got off the train and went to Madam’s house.

I don’t know where, but Madam was a young Frenchman living in Germany. Maybe early twenties? Already married at this age? Can’t she go to school? My common sense tells me to call this person Mademoiselle, not Madam… However, I glanced at the ring on the Human I’m seeing for the first time and thought it might be Madam after all. Or an engaged Mademoiselle. That person I’m meeting for the first time gave me cheek kisses and hugged me, greeting me joyfully. It seems she’s not meeting Laplace for the first time.

I checked her abilities just in case, but only found out that this person is also a Mage and has a favorability of +7, with no other gains. The Frenchman who brought me went upstairs, and I sat at the kitchen table with Madam. In a situation where I need to learn about France, this feeling of gratefully entering the practical heart of France on my own is quite new. As expected of Laplace, worthy of being talent raised by Bourbon. Madam sat next to me and asked.

“Have you been well?”

“Mm.”

Perhaps because my reaction was lukewarm, Madam froze a bit then said.

“You must have been very tired. Well, that person demands quite a lot of information from you. If he hadn’t brought you here, he would have definitely done something harsh to you this time too.”

I didn’t answer and drank tea. The skill of purifying liquids invisibly has developed quite well now. Madam propped her chin and leaned toward me, saying.

“I’m glad to see you. We’ve been apart for two months.”

“That’s right.”

“Hahaha.”

Madam pats my shoulder and laughs. I looked at his hand puzzledly then fell silent.

Wrong. Revise strategy. But how? I don’t know what kind of relationship this person and Laplace had, so what tone should I use?

“Did something happen?”

First, I’ll go politely. I spoke as I would to school friends.

“No… I came here so suddenly that I’m not sure. I’m just confused. I had work I was doing.”

Then Madam made her mouth round and suddenly asked.

“You’re not being bullied at school, are you?”

“That’s right.”

“Oh, really?”

You’re not surprised?

I felt perplexed and added. While doing so, I raised my left hand that was under the table and gestured.

“Until about last week. Anyway…”

“Wait, Luca.”

He grabbed my hand. Since he didn’t continue speaking and only observed my palm, I carefully asked.

“Mm?”

“Where are the cufflinks?”

I looked down at my hand and looked at Madam’s face. Cufflinks what? Intuition that I shouldn’t ask stops me. The back of my neck feels cool. I’m glad I didn’t use any title like Madam or Mademoiselle. I quickly spread one hand to signal to wait a moment and opened the briefcase at my feet with the other hand. Busily rummaging inside, I took out a small box that came into my hand and opened the lid. Pictures that appear to be symbols of two families and an unknown date are engraved in relief on gold cufflinks.

What I need to know is that in 19th-century France, engagement rings or wedding rings are not commonly exchanged. Only women wear rings. Instead…

After grasping the situation, I can’t even manage a hollow laugh. I quickly changed the cufflinks and put them on. Then I pushed my arm toward him and completely changed my tone from earlier. I had to.

“…Here they are. Ah, I didn’t mean to surprise you like this. Were you worried?”

Only then did Madam smile coldly.

“No.”

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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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