Chapter 336
Chapter 336
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 336
Chapter Title: How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magical Noble Family
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All I could think was that he was insane. That single thought looped endlessly in my head, leaving no room for anything else. Leo had embedded an artifact in his arm. So, beneath that shirt hem and the bandage, there had to be a knife scar, and under his skin, a gem altered with mana. I'd known for a while that he'd do anything for his goals, but this was too much. My mind reeled at the sheer abnormality of it. I stood there dazed for a long while before a utterly pointless question finally slipped from my lips.
"...You came here in summer clothes just to tell me about this?"
"What do you think?"
Leo tilted his head slightly as he asked. I'd had this experience before—him answering a question with another question—and the memory flashed by like a montage. So that meant yes? He'd really gone this far on purpose? For a moment, I was so flabbergasted that I collapsed back onto the bed. Pushing aside my suspicion that he'd come just to mess with me, I still couldn't believe there was a gem embedded in his arm. I'd read in magic history books about mad ancestors who fused artifacts into their flesh to inject mana directly into their veins, but I'd never heard of someone implanting one in their body to prevent it from being taken. An unprecedented lunatic stood before me. And that lunatic was the future King of Bavaria. The man who would crown a new Emperor of the Empire. A bizarre sense of crisis suddenly gripped my entire body. I pressed my hands to my face, rubbed them dry, and said.
"...That's not like you."
"What kind of person do you think I am?"
"Someone who listens well, obsessed with rules, the kind teachers love."
I pictured him standing there with an armband on, hands behind his back. He must have been like that until just recently. Even knowing I was being sarcastic, Leo smiled calmly.
"You think I listened well and left you alone for the past six weeks like that, right?"
"...Yeah, thanks for the consideration. I don't know how you'll take this, but I'm more sorry and grateful than words can express. I mean it."
"Hmm."
"But why are you so nonchalant? You think embedding a gem in your body is something to brag about?!"
"To repeat myself, I didn't expect you to pull that stunt over a dozen times in that position."
Leo's eyes, staring straight at me, burned cold. After glaring piercingly for a long time, he turned his head and spoke calmly.
"I know it's not your fault. I won't ignore the moment you awkwardly demanded consideration for me or the guilt you felt from it and lash out selfishly. That's why I had no choice but to do this."
"......"
It's not your fault, he murmured softly, his voice like ashes scattering in the wind. I thought of the red knife scar, about the length of a finger joint, hidden under that bandage. Since it wasn't my fault, instead of blaming me, he'd embedded the artifact in his own body—that's what he meant. The tears that had welled up beneath his pale sky-blue irises when he first saw me overlapped with his now dry eyes. The more I heard, the more distant it felt. I felt like I understood the meaning, yet I didn't. He was different from the abstraction in my head. The living, breathing Leo outside my one-dimensional fantasies understood me far more deeply, and because of that, even though he could blame me, he didn't pour out his raw emotions unfiltered—and because of that, he'd come back having done something even crazier.
"You're grateful, right? You always make the best of the worst, finding the optimal world even now. I understand your consideration for me fully. Lucas, that's why I can't stand myself."
A bitter smile crossed Leo's face.
"I know full well what you're worried about and despairing over... But separate from appreciating your kind consideration, I'm not so weak that I have to hide under your goodwill forever."
As those words ended, the soundproofing spell doubled. Leo continued with a softer expression than usual.
"I want to be with you in every moment, no matter the time. Is that privilege something I shouldn't have?"
"......"
Only the sound of wind blowing through the window remained in the room. He wasn't weak enough to hide under my goodwill, so he'd decided to share every moment with me. No matter what I said, he'd do it. I knew those fragments of time, now mere midday dreams, clung stubbornly to his memory, etched in his eyes. He knew it too. He clearly knew what had happened to him, yet he was saying he'd gladly fall into the heart of that time. Unable to close my mouth, I looked at him and said.
"It's not a privilege."
Only then did Leo smile peacefully again.
"Right, turning back time isn't a privilege. But sharing the burden you carry alone—a burden no one else in the world knows about—is clearly a privilege granted to me, and as your friend, it's my rightful duty."
Beyond claiming rights, he invoked duty. A duty that was neither excessive nor insufficient. The child I'd taught for dozens of days in another world now wore a grown face, having fully made the raw knowledge from his childhood his own, and naturally spoke its fruits.
"The difficulty of earning one person's trust is no different from earning a kingdom's. I've earned that trust from you. Even if staying with you fades my soul with the fatigue you mentioned, even if that crisis comes, I won't regret it—and if we're together, it won't happen. There will be more incidents like this ahead. You'll always feel double the fatigue in successive deaths, leaving me behind, and I want you to never lose the clarity of your soul. Is it wrong to want to repay you for doing your best to ease my pain?"
His correctness manifests in all his kindness. He said I'd considered him, but I felt that sentiment toward him. Though the result was bewildering enough, its essence remained unchanged. I watched the soul in his eyes pulse in the light for a long while, then slowly moved my lips, which hadn't closed.
"You've already cut open your arm and embedded the artifact—what are you even asking?"
"......"
He understood what I meant. Only then did Leo smile brightly, raising his eyebrows.
"Good thing. I was worried you'd insist on slicing my arm open yourself."
"If I said slice it, you'd let me?"
At my words, Leo crossed his arms and shrugged. That utterly shameless smile pissed me off subtly. We'd talked enough. To change the subject, I punched out with a mana-infused fist, shattering the soundproofing spell, and nodded toward Elias.
"Eli's gonna get pissed."
"I have no regrets about Luca, but I do about this annoying prince. With three of us here, putting up a soundproof spell in front of a friend—what manners are those? I held back from smashing it."
Elias draped an arm over Leo's shoulder, glaring, then looked at me with pitiful eyes and said.
"What the hell did you two do? What's this artifact? Don't be vague—tell me too!"
I tried to brush it off vaguely, but Leo cut his pleading with a cold voice.
"You don't need to know. Just rot at home."
"Why! Tell me too! I'm your friend!"
As his eardrum-piercing shout rang out, Leo leaned away from him, then immediately fired back rapid-fire the moment it ended.
"You secretly met with Lucas all last week and didn't tell me a word, no matter how much I asked. Why should I explain to you?"
"You're playing with Nikolaus. I'm playing with Luca. Why should I explain playing with Luca to you? And Narce was in those meetings too!"
"Hoo..."
Leo furrowed his brow. He'd probably decided there was no point dragging out the conversation with Elias. Elias glared at Leo, then flopped face-down on the bed, muttering.
"Ah~ Wonder when Narce'll show up. At this point, check on Trier Cathedral and come back after getting your shit together."
'Watching these two is entertaining...'
Leo and Eli, that is. Knowing from the novel they'd be like this into their late twenties, I had no expectations for growth. They'd probably stay the same until death.
More importantly, now for points. As I'd guessed, Leo probably thought I'd used up nearly all twenty-two chances. He was right. I had 4 points left. I'd burned through most of what I'd saved plus the luck score increases, leaving just enough for two more tries. Just in case, I needed to find ways to earn more points...
I'd leave that to the system for now. Right now, I needed to go give someone a simple greeting. I asked Elias.
"Where's Senior Mecklenburg? He's hospitalized here too, right?"
* * *
"Senior."
I didn't hear a come-in, but I flung open the door to the room I'd been directed to. Mecklenburg, sitting on the sofa in his outing clothes reading a book, looked up at me in surprise. I'd just finished discharge procedures, and he seemed about to head back to Brandenburg soon too. I took a long, deep breath and opened a window I had no real desire to face.
Albert Mecklenburg
Favorability +5 [攻略 possible (Stage 3/5)]
'Hmm.'
I thought it'd be decently low, but nope. That time fighting together in the Brandenburg Archdiocese must've changed his view of me.
I'd looped time multiple times, and in the final loop at headquarters, I'd replicated exactly what I'd done in the first run with 98th Batch A-Team and Albert Mecklenburg. Butting into Erich von Reichenau's strategy game, answering the 91st Class Rep's magic strategy questions the next day, blocking firearm use, getting the military dog off on Mecklenburg—and this time, passing it to someone else—and otherwise taking leave, warping away to avoid Leo, returning only on strategy exam day. I'd revealed I was Nikolaus over ten times now, been trapped with Mecklenburg behind the warehouse five or six times, and secured plenty of conversation time with him.
In one timeline, inside the back-wall closet of the warehouse, he'd asked me.
"Why hide that you're Nikolaus?"
I'd stared at him silently. In a few more timelines, he'd asked the same, but only in the final one did I respond differently. I'd entered the warehouse too early then, needing to buy more time.
"What do you think of my brother?"
Right—I'd repeated in the final loop the question I'd asked him in a now-vanished timeline. I could see confusion hardening on Mecklenburg's face again. Skilled at hiding emotions, in that extreme situation—still reeling from encountering Nikolaus—he bared everything on his face. His immediate reaction let me respond in kind, building a consistent intimacy with him each timeline, washing away some fatigue. Ironically, the more timelines passed, the greater my closeness to him grew. Fellow feeling forged in extremity, perhaps. Still disliking his 19th-century ethics, and having seen comrades die protecting me multiple times, it was close to one-sided sentiment.
I'd never harbored much hatred for people, so I accepted Mecklenburg's twists and perversions as mere immaturity. I felt strong disgust at the evil acts stemming from that immaturity and judged them wrong, but unlike him, I didn't hold intense malice toward humanity. That would've been wasteful. My feelings toward him hadn't started negative, but the unexpected imbalance was ironic.
Anyway, he answered my question as before.
"He's a good friend."
"What do you think of him, Senior?"
"I said he's a good friend."
"Do we have time for word games?"
"What's so word-gamey about what I said?"
"Weren't you going mad wanting to beat my brother?"
At that, Mecklenburg stared blankly at me. His eyes blinked rapidly. He was older than me, yet in that moment, he seemed endlessly childish. Worst memories layered in his eyes. Fear seeped over them too.
"Going mad? Speak properly. I never..."
Denying it further got nowhere. Even needing to stall longer before leaving, we didn't have forever. Mana for soundproofing had to be conserved. Staring into eyes that seemed to see both Nikolaus and Adrian Ascanien reflected, I prodded him.
"What are you hiding when you can't even look that little brother's face properly?"
"...What did you say..."
"You want to beat your brother but never have, just losing for over a decade, now choking up at the sight of his face? Sure, getting vicarious satisfaction from a seven-years-younger junior's respect..."
"...Stop!"
Mecklenburg cut me off. I saw his face flush red again.
"Yeah. So? I'm not even fit for Adrian, so even Sir Nikolaus Ernst finds me ridiculous? I don't know from the perspective of the brilliant little brother with the brilliant big brother, but being eternal runner-up isn't easy."
"......"
I realized words were spilling from his mouth uncontrolled. He was blurting out whatever in a voice ready to break at a touch. I calmly soothed him.
"I never said you were ridiculous. I just wanted a straight answer since I know it all."
"Then what should I say? That after the phase of wanting to drag that bastard down into the mud if I could, now I don't even want to tangle with Adrian Ascanien types, can't stand Ministry of Magic news? That even then, fifteen years of grudge won't vanish? That the time to beat Ian has passed, he's climbed beyond anyone, and no matter how hard I try, I stay stuck, seething? That no matter where I look or what I do, I can't catch my friend—heartbreakingly so—and that's why you're scratching at me in this shit situation?"
He was more pissed, but good. This was the answer I needed to draw out. Claiming eternal friendship with Adrian forever led nowhere. Besides, the soundproofing shook wildly from his agitation. His legs kept bumping annoyingly. And crucially, with only 4 retry points left then, I'd rubbed my forehead and waved him off. But before my stop reached him, he machine-gunned words.
"Just when I tried forgetting Adrian and living my life, you show up as my junior with that face. So I was scared, couldn't keep you underfoot lest I get trampled by that face again, couldn't shake fifteen-year-old instinctive terror, yeah, honestly, I wanted your recognition—or better, to crush you for satisfaction. But then, in that mess, you turn out to be Nikolaus...!"
I covered his mouth. His breathing hitched raggedly, words unending—like a madman. And... yeah, his frenzy stemmed partly from recently learning I was Nikolaus.
"Fine. I'll tell you why I brought this up now."
When I released his mouth, Mecklenburg hung his head, muttering.
"...Now that you've heard me, you probably can't breathe from disgust. Music to a genius family's ears."
"...You're sick. Listen to me now."
"I get it. No one trampled me. I trampled myself. Some problems can't be solved even knowing them. I want to fix this more than you. I know I've insulted your precious brother so much you'd hate seeing me."
"......"
"I won't bother you anymore. It's done. I've been slowly forgetting that friend since graduation, and though we'll be on the same team soon, like always, my problems are mine to solve. Sorry for projecting Adrian onto you, who's done nothing wrong. Once I leave here, I won't act like I know you..."
I clamped his mouth again. No, got it. Shut up already. Since you know I'm Nikolaus—and as someone seen as Adrian Ascanien's close associate—I can't leave you be. About 30 seconds until the Monsignor enters. I glared at my watch, then snapped my gaze to his eyes.
"You won't act like you know me? By whose say-so?"
"......"
"You said insulting my brother made me hate you now. 'Now'? Where's your confidence it'll be that way from now on?"
"...?! No...!"
Mecklenburg's eyes twisted. I smiled at them. Ten seconds until the Monsignor.
"Kidding. Actually, rather..."
I folded fingers signaling remaining time, speeding my words.
"What if I've started to like you after hearing about my brother?"
Mecklenburg's eyes narrowed, then exploded wide realizing my meaning. Liking someone who'd insulted his brother? Absurd. We couldn't discuss further after. No time left in there, naturally.
And now, I looked down at him sitting in outing clothes in his hospital room. As I silently stared, the healthy-complexioned Mecklenburg—free of bloodstains—looked back awkwardly.
"...Uh, say something when you come in."
"Senior."
"Yeah. Stop calling me that and get to the point."
"How's your body?"
Mecklenburg straightened abruptly, as if chilled. I chuckled in disbelief; he shook his head.
"I'm fine. No major injuries, nothing to treat. Rather, you must be exhausted from constant spell... magic use."
"I have mana overflowing. I'm good."
"......"
Mecklenburg eyed me like, what the hell's with this obnoxious punk. I sat in the chair before him, pulling an apple from his fruit basket.
"Want one?"
"You know it's not okay to just barge in like this?"
"Crown Prince Your Highness? Of course I know."
"......"
Mecklenburg narrowed his eyes suspiciously, mouth agape, then rubbed his face dry.
"...I've been thinking since yesterday, Nikolaus in the Imperial government... with Bavaria's Crown Prince..."
"We're both in the 101st Batch of the Royal Mage Alliance, Senior. We both learned well from our 98th Batch seniors."
"......"
"Thrilling, huh? By the way, of all the seniors there, you're the only one who knows, Senior Mecklenburg."
Mecklenburg kept his hand over his face, exhaling deeply. Then he looked at me, averted, repeated—lost in thought, speechless. Finally, he spoke.
"...Since when?"
"Since when what? From the start. What're you asking?"
He'd said he'd been thinking since yesterday; left unchecked, he'd spout nonsense again. I shrugged, taking the lead.
"Honestly, I didn't come for a long talk."
"Then why? We'll see each other at headquarters after leave ends."
"Gotta say hi. I survived thanks to you, Senior."
"...I'm in no position to receive greetings. I survived thanks to you."
I smiled, changing subjects.
"Remember our warehouse talk? You wondered why I'm Nikolaus and why I hide it."
Mecklenburg stared, then nodded.
"Yes."
"I said after hearing about my brother, I started liking you. You remember that too."
"Of course. How could I forget that crazy talk."
"As you guessed, creating the Nikolaus identity relates to my brother."
"......"
That one line let him infer something between Adrian and me. Surface relations be damned. He couldn't know exact details, but he could guess some undisclosed negativity bound us. Silent, then meeting my eyes squarely, he said.
"Even if I asked, you could've brushed it off as an excuse. Why tell me?"
"Because our goals align. Even if motivations differ. Right?"
Mecklenburg's eyes hardened. He sensed it wasn't trivial. No normal person hides an identity like Nikolaus's, so it was natural. To ease his tension, I gave a relaxed smile.
"And since you've already learned my identity, no choice. You have to help me now, Senior."
Despite my casual phrasing, he looked at me dead serious. I guessed the thoughts in his expression. Long after, his words came—affirmation.
"Guess so. Since I know."
I smiled at him. With that simple greeting, I slipped out. Right outside Mecklenburg's room, a white blob stood before me. Elias, dressed like he had to dash off somewhere, arms wide, yelled.
"Luca! Narce is here!"
"Yeah? Where?"
"Crown Prince's palace. Grab your stuff and swing by!"
"My stuff? Why?"
I had no desire to go there now. And it was a hassle. Seeing my lukewarm reaction, Elias's sparkling eyes grabbed my ear, declaring gravely.
"We're going to the hot springs."
"What?"
"To Yulia's place!"
Now? He'd been nagging to go for ages, so timing-wise yes. Bewildering, but with all of us on leave, best rest now. I started to smile, saying I'd grab my bags soon.
Ding—!
[Chapter 7. Verily, verily, I say unto you...]
Proposal 2: Raise Elias von Hohenzollern Favorability +1 within time limit (0/1) (23 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds)
* Route 1 ― [+5 Points]
* Route 2 ― [Proposal 3]
'Hmm.'
It offers a chance. I'll check details later... I tried swiping away the natural window, then froze at the name inside. Whose favorability? I closed and reopened—no change. Elias waved his hand before my eyes.
"Luca~?"
I alternated between the proposal window and Elias's face. Darkness closed in fast.