Chapter 275
Chapter 275
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 275
Chapter Title: How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magical Noble Family
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One minute ago.
*What the hell?*
Elias's eyes widened in bewilderment.
Luca, who had stepped up to the vicar, took a sip of the wine and immediately staggered. Leo and Narke, seated beside him, looked flustered. The vicar standing before him stared at Luca in shock.
*Clang—!*
The moment Elias grimaced and opened his mouth, Luca clutched his throat with both hands and collapsed right there. The silver chalice rolled across the floor, clattering noisily.
“Luca!”
Elias shot up from his seat, shouting. The congregation froze in shock at the sudden turn of events. The king, grasping the situation, drew his wand and rose, yelling,
“What is the meaning of this!”
“I-I don’t know…!”
The vicar stammered, his face drained of color in panic. The royal guards aimed their wands at the vicar and the priests. In the meantime, Elias rushed straight to where his friend had fallen. He shook Luca’s shoulder, shouting,
“What’s wrong? Get up!”
Something was off. It didn’t even seem like his words were registering. His body trembled violently, as if seized by convulsions. Blood trickled steadily from his bitten lip. It was so shocking that Elias didn’t even want to imagine how hard he must have bitten down to cause that—chills ran down his spine.
“I authorize a search!”
At the king’s command, the captain of the guard slammed his staff down. A warp-restriction spell enveloped the church building. Narke, clutching his head and staggering to his feet, pointed his staff at the vicar and cried out,
—Enter through the narrow gate!
The vicar stumbled backward and lost consciousness, collapsing on the spot. Narke strode forward, grabbed the vicar by the collar, and demanded,
“Was it you? Are you the one trying to disrupt the kingdom’s peace?”
“……”
The vicar shook his head. There was no other reaction. He merely dangled limply as Narke shook him, continuing to shake his head. Narke pressed his thumb to the vicar’s forehead, peering into his eyes. Having observed him all this time, Elias knew at once—this was Insight in action. If an ability user like Abraham had possessed the vicar’s body, even interrogation via mental manipulation magic wouldn’t elicit more than a head shake. Relying on Insight right there on the scene was the most accurate approach.
But the response he received was unbelievable.
“Your Highness. This man is innocent.”
“……”
Elias stared up at Narke in a daze. Narke was now scanning the faces of the other priests and congregation members with Insight. Yet confusion lingered on his face. Did that mean there was no culprit among them?
What had happened? The wine in that chalice had been drunk by the king, his advisors, Leo, Narke—everyone up to that point—and they’d all been using the exact same chalices. There was no other chalice here that could have been swapped out. There was no reason for a problem to arise now. So was it the vicar? Or the chalice cloth? Impossible. The chalice had been wiped with the same cloth every time, and from the faint mana emanating from his body, the vicar wasn’t a powerful mage. Hadn’t Narke just confirmed he was innocent?
“Lucas. Stop!”
Leo, who had reached Luca’s side, cast a healing spell as he shouted. Those words snapped Elias back to reality. Luca curled up, clutching his chest. Unlike the cold sweat pouring from him, his body was rigid with tension— even with several people holding him down, they couldn’t straighten him out properly. They had to stop him from biting his lip at least. Blood was already pooling on the floor. As Elias reached for his mouth, intending to grip his jaw, Luca’s face twisted further. In that instant, agony exploded through Elias’s arm.
“Argh!”
Elias screamed and recoiled. He couldn’t believe his eyes. The pain in his arm was irrelevant. Luca, who had been lying on the floor moments ago, had half-risen and was dragging him in. Unfocused eyes stared straight at Elias.
The strength drained from his body. Mana was flowing from the spot where Luca’s hand touched, straight into him.
Elias gaped down at him.
*No way.*
Mana flowing into him was fine. It *should* have been fine. He had no idea how it was possible to siphon someone else’s mana or why this impossibility was happening—his common sense was shattered—but if it was Luca, he could give him mana or whatever. But…
A chill crept down his spine. Whatever the problem was, it wasn’t Luca that made him shudder. It was his family. The man who had given him a gift timed perfectly for his departure from Anhalt. Was that why he’d been lying low all this time? But how in Bayern? And even if he had spies planted in Bayern, the consecrated wine everyone had drunk up until now had been fine!
*Or…*
Or.
A mad thought flashed through his mind.
It was absurd, but Luca himself from the very beginning…
*No.*
Even if that were true, it didn’t matter. But making him *believe* Luca had such a disposition could be part of his strategy. He needed to stay cautious.
Luca’s breathing grew ragged—was Elias hallucinating? In that moment, the flow of mana halted.
*Thud—*
Luca collapsed back to the floor. The sound of mages from Bayern’s National Medical Center arriving at the king’s summons reached them. Whether they had arrived or not, Leo hurriedly checked his pulse.
The bewilderment on his face vanished, replaced by a shock Elias had never seen in all the years he’d known him. Elias felt a chill at the nape of his neck as he asked,
“Why.”
“……”
“Why did this happen?”
There was no answer. Elias shoved Leo aside and placed his palm over Lucas’s heart. It was still, as if someone had flipped the power switch off.
* * *
“You’re back again.”
I was at that familiar white round table.
Cutlery in hand, an empty white plate before me. The wide-mouthed wine glass brimmed with wine. One shake and it would spill over. A bizarre scene.
Tunnel vision clouded my perception. I looked up to see the person seated across the table. An unwelcome face.
The archbishop sipped his wine and asked,
“Why the glare? Didn’t you once call it a positive-sum game? You saw this coming. If half-killing you was the end of it, would that truly be positive-sum? Recovery just brings it back to zero anyway.”
“……”
“Of course I get why you’re looking at me like that. You’re even fooling yourself. You’re exceptionally good at living as a 24-hour actor.”
My vision shifted slowly, contrary to the sounds. Ignoring him, I scanned the surroundings, and the archbishop spoke again.
“At least your heart stopped before you caused a scene in front of everyone. You’ve got a way to revive and get out of this, I assume?”
“……”
“After coming this far, failing due to cardiac arrest would be anticlimactic.”
I blinked slowly. Come to think of it, I wasn’t breathing. I looked down at my motionless chest and drew in a breath. Nothing.
I spoke slowly.
“Positive-sum is not a term from this world.”
“Is it? Then it’s just your delusion before crossing the river. The two worlds I know share similar information.”
“‘The two worlds I know share similar information’… You speak of things beyond your knowledge while calling me unpredictable?”
“Then my answer might already be one of your hypotheses. You’re the type to imagine a hundred possibilities for a single event—plenty possible, right? Think carefully about what’s truth and what isn’t. Or better yet, ponder how long you can keep up the act. Everyone stays fooled as long as you fool yourself….”
The archbishop leaned toward me as he spoke. My detached senses blocked any sense of wrongness in the surreal scene. I stared blankly at the trembling wine surface. Meanwhile, he continued.
“The important part is this.”
“What is it.”
I only lifted my eyes to him. The archbishop’s blue eyes gleamed sharply.
“You’ve judged me worthy to be your ally in this strategy game. That’s why you summoned me before crossing the river. I’m honored.”
“I didn’t summon you—you infiltrated me.”
“Right. I’m you, after all. But if that’s true, it means you’re hallucinating, so you probably don’t want to believe it.”
“Now you’re contradicting your first statement.”
“People on the brink of death aren’t in their right minds. Of course, everything I say is part of the game. You’ll have to figure out where I twisted the logic, how much is true…. But that’s not important now.”
He folded a finger.
“First: who forcibly shut you down? You’ve finally received the world’s reward—one you hadn’t claimed yet.”
“Reward.”
“Repayment for your grace. Unfamiliar? You already know something you call the ‘system’ secretly sided with you without anyone knowing.”
“Hearing this from your face sours my mood.”
“The system must have grown fonder of you than expected. Bringing you even forbidden things—I wouldn’t go that far. Well, it resolved things with a four-minute grace period death, so that system isn’t exactly normal either.”
He folded another finger.
“Then: what’s happened to ‘me’? Obviously dying. I wonder if your friends can revive you before the golden hour passes.”
“That’s not important.”
“Of course not. It’s time to interpret Adrian Ascanien’s response to the empire’s new hero.”
“……”
“Quite the spectacle. Not an easy opponent, as expected. Prodigies rarely remain prodigies to the end, but he succeeded into his twenties. Still, up till now, you’ve been the one landing all the blows on Adrian Ascanien, unilaterally.”
He chuckled softly. Then, slicing the meat on his plate, he said,
“Chicken or egg? Is the knowledge I had correct? That strikingly vivid blood scent? Who’s the real villain? What happens to me if I leave here? Is this permanent?”
“…….”
“I don’t know. Those are the questions you’ll have to answer from now on. Clues are too scarce for now. But as you’ve noticed, your brother isn’t one to give such a simplistic gift. In some way or another, this was part of his plan.”
The archbishop wagged a finger. I nodded slowly.
“Yes. In some way or another.”
The archbishop was mirroring my thoughts exactly.
Whether he orchestrated the incident himself or foresaw it happening, Adrian Ascanien had known about today in advance.
The archbishop fell silent now. It was time for me to think on my own. He was waiting for my words.
“My friend can always check my core’s status.”
“Feels like having a dedicated doctor, huh.”
“I’m glad I took out that insurance.”
I brought the wine glass to my lips. Blood stained my clothes and tablecloth. It only looked like wine—it was blood. Or maybe the wine had turned to blood, the blood to wine. As the blood slid down my throat, air rushed into my lungs. I spoke.
“There was no issue with the wine in the chalice. Not just me—countless others drank it, and my friend right before my turn did too. He was fine, naturally. So did the vicar cast a spell on the wine just for my turn? Possible, but he’d have had to do it before the chalice reached me—I’d have sensed the mana flow he emitted before even drinking.”
“Indeed. Sharp judgment even in this state.”
“So the collapse during Mass was mere coincidence; the anomaly in my core happened earlier? Say, after returning from the terrorist attack. But there were no issues with my core in the meantime. If there’d been even a hint of a problem, that friend would’ve told me immediately. So what was the real trigger?”
I murmured, rubbing the blood on my hand.
“The wine itself might’ve been fine, but it ‘reacted to me’ and caused the problem. Here’s the issue: not often, but I regularly attend Mass following my other friend. I’ve always drunk the consecrated wine—nothing’s happened until now.”
“The consecrated wine up to now was fine. So what’s the real variable you’re thinking of? Why did this batch react to you only now?”
“……”
I licked my lips. Possibilities abounded. But I deliberately held back. Too few clues.
The archbishop’s voice came.
“Good. You’re still with me, so information’s lacking. You can’t draw conclusions until you investigate this incident. So let me tell you something you must never forget.”
The archbishop steepled his fingers and continued.
“You were quite rattled this time. I’ve never seen you so shocked—it was astonishing.”
“……”
“Listen well. What if the good and evil you’ve known from the start were wrong? What if there’s no reason for you to be this shaken? Get a grip.”
His eyes gleamed fiercely. His firm voice grew louder.
“The stories everyone believes no longer function as fiction. No matter what happens in this game, you can’t lose your center. Whether something’s true or false, the moment you let the enemy’s logic steal it, you’ve lost the game. Even if the whole world says the sun orbits the earth, you must steadfastly believe the earth orbits the sun. Even if there’s a cliff beyond that sea by this world’s truth, *you* must know they’re wrong. If you can’t destroy it from outside the world, become Ahura Mazda yourself and shatter Zarathustra’s worldview. Isn’t that your way?”
“…….”
“It’s not someone’s conspiracy destroying you—it’s your own beliefs. Got it? Don’t let yourself destroy you. If you lose here, what does that make me?”
I said nothing, just stared piercingly at him.
Even without a word from me, the archbishop smiled and continued.
“Yes, Rosalind. I’m speaking of things I couldn’t know. Does that matter? What matters is this is the start of the strategy game between Adrian Ascanien and you—not a threat to your identity or anything else.”
The chandelier, lit by a single candle, went fully dark. Darkness spread. The wine glass in my hand dissolved, blood spilling to the floor.
Only the voice remained in the space.
“If you’ve resolved to survive once, see it through to the end.”
* * *
“Lucas.”
Before I even opened my eyes, a familiar voice sounded.
Blood.
I tasted the lingering blood in my mouth as I opened my eyes. A familiar face came into view. Leo looked down at me in disbelief.