Chapter 277

“Leo.”

Narce, who had been sitting on the sofa staring only at the floor, suddenly lifted his head and muttered. The door hadn’t even opened yet, so Elias glanced at him.

Narce’s insight was accurate. Before I could even go out to greet him, Leo entered the room with quick steps.

“What about Lukas? Is he awake?”

“Yeah.”

Leo answered Narce’s question curtly and took out a bottle of blood from the safe in the corner of the room. The blue magic power cast on the safe vanished all at once. Narce, seeming unsatisfied with the short answer, narrowed his brow slightly and stood up.

“I have to go now…!”

“Wait.”

Leo’s cool reply cut off his shout. Narce stared at him with a hardened face, then silently sat back down. A suffocating silence ensued.

Elias, who was sitting on the sofa next to Narce, spoke.

“Leo. Let me see you for a moment.”

Leo nodded without a word and went out of the room. Elias, who followed him, asked quietly.

“What are you going to do.”

Narce was more genuinely worried about Luka than anyone. But even so, he said he couldn’t give blood for the experiment, that he couldn’t give his own blood.

Why?

For what reason? Narce wouldn’t answer. Since the ‘experiment’ mainly involved feeding Luka blood and measuring his magic power reaction, it was understandable that he wouldn’t give blood due to the unpleasantness. To be honest, Luka would probably throw up if he knew the truth.

But having someone with Narce’s abilities not give a proper answer and just brush it aside made it even more bothersome.

We didn’t know if Luka had lied to us for the right of succession, or if Adrian Askanian was truly a person who cared for his younger brother. Only Luka would know the truth.

But the him I had seen was not someone who would frame an innocent person as a villain for something like the right of succession. Was that also an act? Really? I prided myself on being able to distinguish between acting and not acting more accurately than others. I didn’t get the feeling that Luka was acting to us about his brother.

Then, a stoic answer came from in front of me.

“It’s a question I’ve answered many times already.”

“……”

“I only believe what I’ve seen.”

I thought there was nothing I didn’t know about him after 18 years, but I couldn’t tell what Leo was thinking right now. We hadn’t had much time to talk over the past three days, rushing from dealing with the media to the temperament experiment.

Elias asked, his gaze fixed on the dark hallway floor.

“What if Adrian Askanian is a good brother?”

It was a topic no one had brought up. Leo paused for a moment before walking again.

Do I think he is a good family member?

If I answered with my heart, no. Lukas Askanian is still my good friend, and Adrian Askanian is a target to be dealt with.

The friend I’ve seen is not someone who would slander his brother with lies, driven mad by the right of succession. But can I, dare I, view the world in such a way? Even if a small possibility remains, is it right for me to see one person as good and another as evil based on a profoundly personal opinion?

‘I feel like my head is going to explode.’

According to our experiments, Adrian Askanian’s medicine was effective in suppressing magic power absorption. That was a given. How could it not be, when it killed the core’s performance to the point it couldn’t even function? In that case, what if Adrian Askanian really intended to use it as medicine?

‘…He must have intended for us to think this way.’

I had to believe that. As of now, there was no reason to side with Adrian Askanian. I, too, believed what I saw. I must not waver here.

Because we are in the same boat, though the truth of that premise is now unclear, I, at least, must believe in Luka no matter what. People mad with power can do anything. If my uncle were framing me as a Pleroma, and I drank the wine in a glass and manifested a temperament like a first-generation Pleroma, what I would desperately need is the support of my friends. Therefore, since there’s a possibility my friend is innocent, I cannot side with Adrian Askanian.

Where should my justice lie? If my personal experiences mix with justice, is it still justice? But I cannot just stand by and watch until the truth is revealed. It wouldn’t matter even if we weren’t in the same situation. If Luka is innocent, and now that he’s at risk of the whole world turning its back on him, I must be the one to take his side to maintain balance. That is my personal conclusion.

Perhaps being in the same boat created this favoritism. Perhaps I had been alone for too long.

‘Erah.’

I am no monarch, and though I talk about slitting my uncle’s throat like a habit, the chances of me actually becoming a monarch are not that high, and I’m living a precarious life where I’d be lucky not to be killed by the current monarch. From the day my magic manifested, I became a human who could not walk only the righteous path. Trying to be overly just might be due to the traces of my uncle. It might be a reaction. So, for this moment, I will follow my heart, even if the conclusion is not just.

I have reached my conclusion, so now the problem is….

The other friends.

“What do you think.”

Leo asked, turning around. Elias had already made up his mind, but he didn’t feel like answering. He tilted his head and said.

“You first.”

“Nicolaus is my subject. Only one with the quality to think of the monarch before himself and focus on the monarch’s affairs is an ideal talent to be a minister.”

I waited, but Leo said no more and just walked towards Luka’s room. I didn’t want such an ambiguous answer. Elias said sharply to his back.

“It’s the monarch’s role to choose such a subject and make him his own, so the subject’s fault is the monarch’s fault. Do you think you only learn about the principles of monarchy in a royal studies class?”

“That’s what I wanted to say.”

Leo now slowly turned back.

“If Nicolaus is wrong, then the fault lies with me for accepting him.”

“……”

“Yes, a subject’s fault is the monarch’s fault. A monarch who only reaps the rewards of his subjects’ merits and casts them aside at the slightest trouble is not fit to be a monarch. Whether right or wrong, if criticism is poured on Nicolaus, it needs to become my share, and I need to support him by the weight of the burden Nicolaus has shouldered for our royal family. I’ve decided to accept him once, and I have no intention of revoking it.”

Elias looked at Leo without a word. I could see his unwavering, upright eyes. Leo, with a calm expression, not angry or anything, the same expression as Elias’s own, spoke calmly.

“I know what you’re thinking. Don’t worry about what I think. It’s enough for each of us to keep our balance. Since you’re already identifying yourself with Lukas… it should be much easier.”

Elias showed no outward reaction to those words.

Wrong. Easy? It’s not easy. From observing court etiquette to drinking in the middle of the day on the streets of Berlin filled with commoners, nothing in this life was easy for me. This matter with Luka was the same. Leo was also very tired. It wasn’t a situation where anyone could choose their words carefully, so I could understand Leo’s choice of words.

And to some extent, it was also true. The reason I was particularly demanding Leo’s reaction to Luka’s situation was likely because I was in the same situation as Luka. Leo must have read that. The words ‘I know what you’re thinking’ came from that context.

Leo’s answer to this incident was also his answer to the Emperor’s potential slander against me. I was not his subject, but it didn’t matter. To him, personal gain was always an excuse.

Elias walked a little faster and slung his arm over Leo’s shoulder. Leo glared but didn’t say anything in particular.

“Well now, let’s see what Luka is up to~”

“Only now…. I have something to talk about with Lukas, so you can’t come in.”

Leo clicked his tongue. Elias pulled his cheek and let go, then opened the door. I felt Leo throw a punch from behind, but fortunately, Elias wasn’t hit.

It couldn’t have been, because the moment the door opened, they both froze on the spot.

“Huh.”

*  *  *

1886.

‘Huh.’

Standing there dumbfounded, I rolled the number around in my mouth for a while before dusting off my jacket.

‘This is no time to be standing around. Quick!’

I needed to count a few things. I realized I was wearing a rather high-end suit, which, absurdly, was not mine. This suitcase wasn’t mine either.

‘A pen. A pen… You don’t even carry a pen?’

Right. That sounded like me. I’d left it behind before and had to borrow from Leo.

No choice. I clutched my head and spun around, thinking.

As someone born in the 21st century, it was a very distant number, but Luka was born in October 1879. In October 1886, he would be 7, and since it’s March now, he’s 6.

Around the time he turned from 6 to 7, Adrian Askanian entered the imperial court, so this was before that. With only a few months left, it was practically just before. Adrian Askanian was 7 years older than Luka, so this was a world where Adrian Askanian was attending the Third Academy.

The past. The past, of all things.

‘It’s after the servant murder case.’

I grabbed a person walking down the street.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes? Gasp…!”

The passerby looked at me, startled, and disappeared.

Right. In 1886, the possibility of pink eyes existing wouldn’t have been widely known. It took a long time for the fact that Luka had pink eyes to become known. It was a time when the influence of Pleroma was not as significant as it is now.

I let him go and stomped my foot, changing my eye color. Then I grabbed another person passing by.

“May I ask you something. Who is the Duke of the Duchy of Anhalt?”

“…Isn’t it Georg?”

The passerby, though bewildered by the sudden question, tried to answer kindly. I didn’t have a mirror, so I couldn’t be sure if it worked, but my eye color was now definitely blue. And, seeing Georg here meant this was the world I knew.

“Then who are his children?”

“Isn’t it Adrian Askanian?”

“Isn’t there one more.”

“I think there might have been a young child…”

“Yes. Thank you.”

I replied and turned away.

‘…Hmm, so this means I should investigate Adrian Askanian here.’

But the murder case was already over, and Adrian Askanian would soon be going to the imperial court.

Of course, considering the timing when the ability manifested, it seemed right to use it from now on. The Extra Chapter trait appeared the moment I collapsed. This trait was the result, triggered by this incident.

‘The problem is, it’s an annoyingly good ability.’

Just like with Retry, an ability that seemed too good was not always welcome. Applying the experience from Retry, even if I gained a ton of information in this Extra Chapter, I predicted there would be so many obstacles to overcome that it would render the information useless.

‘Of course, if this is my baseless assumption, and it’s a trait that will genuinely make things easier for me, I welcome it.’

It’s just that, if things had to be difficult, I thought it would be better for it to be difficult to obtain information rather than having many future obstacles.

Why? I had already finished my calculations on what to do in reality. I just couldn’t tell Leo because he had suddenly left to get something, but when he returned, I would talk about the future plans. If I obtained information more easily than the level of difficulty I had experienced so far—it would be great, no doubt—but I couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling that something else might happen to mess up the calculations I had made.

I walked aimlessly, pulling the suitcase, and looked around. I should have had trouble walking after being bedridden for so long, but I didn’t. My stamina was soaring as if I could run a lap around Berlin right away.

The sky is clear. The green leaves of the roadside trees and the grass in the park, growing verdantly without a layer of magic, are pleasant to see.

‘Alright, let’s see now.’

I don’t know what the time difference is with the outside world, so let’s try this as quickly as possible.

There were no warp checkpoints at this time yet. Of course, since the checkpoint system wasn’t fully established even after I came to this world. I could just warp directly to the Anhalt coordinates I knew. I was a bit reluctant to warp blindly, but…

‘This is no time to be picky.’

I’ll give it a try. I snapped my fingers, and a familiar notification sound was heard.

Tiring—!

Access Denied Area

“……”

Hmm.

So that’s how it is. Right.

Ah, I thought it was going too easily. How easy would it be if I could go directly to Anhalt? Without any hesitation, I could just capture Georg Askanian and Adrian Askanian, cast mind-control magic, and get the evidence, and it would be over. Of course, if Adrian Askanian’s mental strength was already at an immeasurable level back then, I’d have to give up.

‘Then the Third Academy.’

Access Denied Area

Failed.

The Second Academy. The First Academy. All the same.

‘…Fine. Let’s do this.’

12 years ago, Georg Askanian was ruling Anhalt, so pass. 12 years ago, the chamberlain worked as an officer in the Prussian army. Thanks to memorizing all the coordinates during the third exam and poking around the capital even after Eschet, I knew well what was where and what the warp coordinates of which buildings were.

Access Denied Area

‘Ah, right. Of course.’

I snapped my fingers, mindlessly reciting coordinates from the Imperial Mages’ Association to the Ministry of Magic building, anywhere I might be able to meet the adults of the Askanian family. Thanks to that, I felt my awkwardness about warping wash away a bit.

Why? It’s only scary when something moves, what’s to be afraid of when every attempt fails?

“Phew….”

Access Denied Area. I put my head in my hands at the thirteenth window and sighed. People passing by started to look at me strangely.

The reason for the access denial was actually obvious. No matter how different the ages, there couldn’t be two of the same person. It might be fine for others who don’t know my face well, but my family would surely find out.

Contrary to my expectations, it seemed I was wrong about obtaining information easily and quickly, but as I thought earlier, that was for the better. For now, it was the only source of information, and…

‘If I use it well, it could be advantageous.’

Couldn’t I investigate the past lives of the Archbishop, Abraham, and Ainsidel here?

Is this really a delusion? Would they give a delusion as a trait? This system isn’t one to do pointless things. Although that restricted area, which I don’t know whether it’s trying to help me or not, baffles me, I understand it.

‘It’s clearly a place worth digging into.’

To be precise, the question is what, how much, and how to dig.

Especially since I can’t even set foot in places related to the Askanians, what information am I supposed to get here? The fact that this is labeled Stage 1, not the entire Extra Chapter, might mean I’m not supposed to get all the information here. If so, how do I move on from Stage 1 to 2 and 3?

Tiring—!

Suggestion 1. Find a job.

— Reward: EC point +1

‘Huh?’

I was grateful for the new window.

It’s good to have some kind of guidance. But do I really have to get a job?

‘What… there’s even a trait that tries to get you employed.’

But for some reason, a sense of foreboding washed over me, and I opened the suitcase on a nearby park bench. It was about time to check this.

A wallet. There was a wallet I’d never seen before. I opened it and saw…

“……”

There was only enough money to ride a train once. I took out the single banknote, checked five times that it was indeed just one, and put it back in the wallet.

As far as I could guess.

To get information here, I had to treat this as a world in itself. I had to spend time here, nourishing my body. The sun would set and time would pass just like in our world, so I needed to find a place to eat and rest, and if I found a useful source of information, I would need money to associate with them. Seeing as the clothes I was wearing outside didn’t follow me here, it’s impossible to bring money from reality to here.

‘…Damn it. I can’t believe I have to worry about money again in this life….’

I remembered my first days living as Lukas Askanian. There were no magical beasts here, so earning money by hunting them was impossible.

I lifted my head and looked at the Imperial Bank at the far end of the street.

Should I get a loan? I’m experiencing so many things in this crazy world. But of course, there was a problem.

My job, as of 1898, is an Imperial Mage.

“……”

You may not know this, but I’m actually a mage who will be hired by the Hohenzollerns 12 years from now. They’d believe that, sure. My only options were a pawnshop or a loan shark. And of course, I didn’t want to go that far. I didn’t even have any possessions, so going to a pawnshop was also impossible.

I stomped my foot to cast a barrier and upended the suitcase. A change of clothes, toiletries, a passport, a spare wand, an old pocket watch, an American Elixir.

There’s nothing in here. I really need to find a job….

‘But why is there no German on this passport?’

It’s all in English, and now that I look, it’s an American passport. I opened the passport, feeling puzzled.

Lukas Everett

Lukas Everett.

Since when was I an Everett?

With a hollow laugh, I checked the birth year below it, and an unfamiliar number was written on the line.

October 1862.

Not born in ’79?

‘…The system has figured out my pattern 100%.’

Seeing as it kindly created a new identity for me on its own.

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