Chapter 188
Chapter 188
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 188
Chapter Title: How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magical Noble Family
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“…….”
He stared at me intently before opening his mouth.
“I can sense people’s emotions and thoughts more easily than others.”
“I see.”
“From what I can tell, you don’t agree with my thinking. Am I wrong?”
As expected, after using his ability for more than a day or two, he could read others’ minds even without activating it.
I’d thought about playing along to fish for some information.
But it didn’t matter. If he passed up the chance, it was his loss.
I shook my head.
“I don’t agree. You confess your sins yet act as if you’ve done nothing wrong and your views are the only right ones. You expect me to agree with such hypocrisy?”
“…….”
“Unless you demand that I adopt your old humanity ideology, I’d be willing to join you. Our goals may differ, but I could still be of help.”
He nodded.
“Unfortunately, it seems we can’t find common ground. It would’ve been nice to keep a talented individual who could baptize me in secret by my side.”
In the end, he couldn’t yield an inch from his own logic.
That’s why Ludovica prioritized dealing with the chairman without questioning me, even though there were more than a few suspicious points.
He speaks as if he’s the epitome of reason, but reason doesn’t apply to him.
Better to eliminate types like him as quickly as possible.
‘Though it was surprising that Ludovica knew my target was the chairman….’
On second thought, it made sense.
The chairman, aware of the changes in himself, would have been on high alert within Primrose Pass. Ludovica, assigned to monitor him, would’ve noticed his unusual behavior.
Then, a loafer in priestly robes shows up at just the right moment… He couldn’t possibly be unrelated to Primrose Pass.
Especially since Ludovica knew the chairman was tracking us—meaning he’d realized someone was pursuing him since I entered Primrose Pass. From that, he’d pieced together that something connected me to the chairman.
Thanks to him, I’d saved time and reached this point directly, so his situational judgment deserved high praise, just as I’d thought earlier.
At that moment, the chairman stood from his seat and spoke.
“I simply can’t understand why someone who’s become new humanity would stand with old humanity. In any case….”
He tapped the floor three times with his cane.
The room vanished, replaced by the Primrose Pass street from before. Before I could register it and mount a defense, something shoved my back hard.
Boom—!
I tried to get up, but someone stomped on my back. Vitriol coiled around my finger joints, squeezing tight, then snatched my staff away.
The chairman’s foot approached right in front of me.
“With that exceptional talent for secretly baptizing people, if you side with heretics, I’ll have no choice but to stop you in the name of Christ. Someone’s already cracking my space anyway.”
I rubbed my fingertips against the floor.
A small spark flew.
‘Good.’
Perfect timing from Narke.
It should’ve been like this last time too.
Of course, in the previous timeline, Leo finding me was probably thanks to Narke as well.
“Satisfied now that you can use magic?”
“…….”
“I’m sure you are, Jeremiah. Shall I let you in on a little secret?”
He leaned in and whispered in my ear.
“This isn’t my body.”
“Hahaha….”
“Even if you use divine power to brainwash me, I won’t tell you anything. And if you attack? What’s the problem when it’s not my body?”
Thud—!
His cane slammed down right next to my face.
His voice, as he leaned close to speak, now sounded quite near.
“Your expression looks relaxed, but your heart’s racing too fast. You should learn to control your heartbeat. It gives you away too easily.”
“I know.”
“Do you? Then you must know what you’ve been up to in front of Pleroma all this time.”
What had I done?
I’d just been standing there, and they were the ones thinking of scouting me first. Was that my fault?
I didn’t respond. The chairman smirked and said,
“Let me make a guess. Why did you baptize my body? And how did someone with such ability end up in the Papal Court?”
“…….”
“Probably to meet me. Whether the Caetani name is real or fake, you’re at least descended from clergy. That’s how you could wander around as a loafer and still get recruited into the Papal Army.”
His insight was indeed impressive.
He didn’t remember the past timelines.
Yet he’d figured out I’d baptized him to meet him.
‘He naturally assumes my priesthood stems from bloodline.’
Ludovica probably thought the same. Despite my excommunication-worthy behavior, they accepted me as a priest because of my clerical lineage and divine power—they figured I’d been plugged into the position through family ties.
“Papal Army? Ancient history.”
“Heh heh… Sometimes I forget the passage of time.”
“You’re mistaking delusions for facts. Time to enter the grave.”
At my sarcasm, he just smiled before speaking.
“Now you must want to know who I really am, right?”
“…….”
“No answer.”
Boom—!
“…!”
He slammed my head into the floor. Pain shot through my right forehead.
‘This bastard’s been doing this from the start….’
Soon, it felt like my hair was being yanked out. He wrapped his hand in my hair, lifting my head to meet his gaze.
“Habit. Occupational hazard.”
An occupational hazard for gaining agreement?
It was the same behavior from the previous timeline—resorting to violence the moment words failed.
No need to look far for barbarism.
It was right here. Why go all the way to old humanity?
“Even if you want to eliminate me, you can’t. This world will soon be filled with countless versions of me and my descendants. Could you possibly hunt down every single one, as numerous as the stars?”
“No.”
“As expected. That’s why you’re tormenting me now—because you want to kill me right here.”
Wasn’t I the one being tormented…?
I snorted at his words.
“If you’re still so at ease, try casting a spell. Say, ‘Enter through the narrow gate.’”
He pulled my vitriol-covered right hand and placed a wand in it.
As I stared down at it, the weight on my back increased. My ribs felt like they were crushing, though only my back was being stepped on. Again, the illusion hit that my fingers were snapping. Gripping the wand tight, I raised my wrist.
—Enter through the narrow gate.
At the short incantation, his eyes glazed over.
“Tell me your name.”
“Hahaha… Such a simple question. Haven’t I said it already? Abraham.”
A chill ran through me, forcing out a laugh.
His half-mad face spoke precisely.
It had to be. He wasn’t possessing Marco’s body. His ability was strong, making it seem similar, but telepathy and possession weren’t the same.
My spell had only attacked Marco’s mentality, not the chairman’s.
“Impressive ability.”
“You see it doesn’t work and still don’t lose your nerve?”
His eyes darted wildly, jaw grinding. I watched him deliberately flex each rigid finger joint to grip his cane.
For my own mental health, I dispelled the mental manipulation spell on him.
His ghostly, unfocused eyes regained their sharpness. Aside from the external changes, nothing had altered, just as he’d said.
“Want to try attacking? It’d just waste your mana, of course. This isn’t my body, nor is the pain mine. In an emergency, I can have another body rescue this one.”
“Rescue.”
Rescue.
Ignoring my mutter, he continued.
“Or are you scheming some other clever method, like baptizing me to meet me?”
The chairman rose and gestured to his subordinates.
“We need to repair the space, so let’s prepare.”
The vitriol released from my hand.
Someone cuffed my wrists.
Gratefully, like with Asman, it was single-hand cuffs—not connected between hands.
Whether the same person or not, someone sliced open my cassock sleeve with a knife. A needle pricked the vein inside my elbow.
They were prepping revelation serum. It’d fail at the consent stage anyway.
Instead of the chairman, the highest-ranking subordinate spoke to his men.
“Search him. His reaction suggests he’s hiding something.”
One of the chairman’s men rummaged through my cassock pockets. A vial emerged.
“What’s this?”
“Chairman. You should check it.”
“Hmm.”
Taking the vial from his subordinate, the chairman burst into laughter.
“Hahaha! I get why Pleroma carries this to spike others’ drinks, but why would a Catholic priest? Suicide? Or meant for me?”
“…….”
“You don’t seem to know—people like me don’t die from drinking this. We might experience brief confusion, sure. But an unverified like you, without vitriol? You’d have to leave it to the god of probability.”
He toyed with the vial, muttering.
“And this amount is perfect for one person. Did you think I wouldn’t bring subordinates? You’re not that stupid, so what gives you such confidence?”
I hardened my expression.
The chairman, watching with interest, chuckled and tossed the vial at my feet.
Thud—
“If this is your ace in the hole, drink it yourself.”
As he finished, someone gripped between my jaw and neck, applying force. Another held my legs. I jerked my neck back with all my strength. My reaction too fierce, someone pinned my head to the floor.
I tried to shake my head while holding my breath. The chairman’s smile flashed at the edge of my vision.
A water-like liquid splashed onto my lips.
“Gah…!”
“Just in case, you know. If you rampage and survive, you might easily agree with me…”
The chairman spoke leisurely, then wiped the smile from his face.
He shot to his feet.
“What the….”
Boom—
Far off, someone collapsed. Those around me froze, then slumped to the floor.
I held my breath, but the air I’d already inhaled made my core go berserk. The mana from Wittelsbach suppressing it surged wildly.
—Curse the dominion of illusions that deceives dazzling senses!
I laughed as I watched the chairman chant desperately. Gone was his earlier composure and smile.
Realizing the situation, he snapped his fingers to flee, but stayed rooted.
“What have you done…!”
No chance of that.
Because…
‘It worked.’
I’d blocked everything.
This was what I’d asked Ludovica for.
Dissolving rampage potion into the street’s air.
And the vial of Pleroma’s rampage potion.
Obviously, the glass bottle was a decoy. What touched my lips was just water.
Earlier, the chairman had said “qualified ones might face brief confusion but won’t die.”
Even if they recovered quickly, it didn’t matter.
That brief confusion was all I needed.
Finally, what I’d requested from Ludovica and Narke: distort the space’s mana to block warping.
As a high-ranking Pleroma, Ludovica had easy access to potions and knew the street best—perfect for my plan.
Struggling not to breathe the air, I chanted.
—Therefore, son of man, though you dwell among thorns and thistles and scorpions…
My wrists burned. The cuffs’ mana seared my hands.
Wittelsbach’s healing magic spread through my body, resisting the rampage potion. I was grateful for Leo’s big picture at that moment. Without it, even my purification magic would’ve had limits.
I stood and frisked the one who’d cuffed me. In his jacket’s inner pocket was the same unlocking tool from Asman.
Click—clack—
I slowly released the cuffs, continuing to chant purification inwardly as I faced forward.
The chairman pinched his nose, chanting nonstop. I stared at him, black smoke billowing from his body.
Marco Schreiber’s core thrashed. Realizing it, vitriol rushed at me.
Boom—!
I snatched my distant staff and deflected his attack.
Even without my attacking, he was losing consciousness on his own.
“You’d say you can just find a new body no matter what I do, but that’s not what you want. That’s why you said you’d have another body rescue Marco Schreiber’s. Right?”
Give revelation to another body and live through it?
He’d never said that, but if he tried, it’d be a bluff.
After building a life in that body worthy of being called chairman for so long, he could just switch to another?
If I suddenly returned to 21st-century Korea in this body and stood before people, would they accept me? They’d think some crazy foreigner was impersonating me.
It’s the same. To the chairman, Marco Schreiber’s body was as good as his own.
Looking down at him, I said,
“You asked what I prepared.”
Before, Marian Baum had told me this:
If you taint along with the victim’s core, you get trapped in my inner self—not entering the victim’s like with Ernst.
I didn’t know why I alone had this unique ability…
But the time to use it had come.
The chairman, like the other Pleromas, lay collapsed, barely moving his mouth. I read his lips.
What are you going to do.
Reading that far, I smiled and replied.
“You don’t need to know.”
I placed my hand on his core and pushed divine power in.
My vision went black.
“Wait for me.”
* * *
[…As of 3 a.m. on December 31st of the 87th year, we bring you this breaking news. French forces have crossed the imperial southwestern border and occupied the imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine in the south. As of now, loyal subjects in Berlin are prohibited from approaching the Prussian Rhine region, the Grand Duchy of Baden, or the Kingdom of Bavaria.]
About ten years ago.
“…….”
My vision was blurry.
I slightly lifted the rimless glasses perched on my nose.
My hands were covered in wrinkles.
“Haha….”
I slowly turned my head, checking my reflection in the window.
Success.
Marco Schreiber’s face stared back at me.