Chapter 302

“Are you ready?”

“No.”

“We need to do more then.”

Emanuel said, taking a cigarette filled with a magic potion from its case. I swallowed the smoke from the nearly finished cigarette and exhaled a long breath.

‘I’m doing all sorts of things in my life.’

I thought I had often had experiences that people don’t commonly have due to the nature of my job, but here, I’m having so many experiences that I wouldn’t be able to have even if I were born again.

“Our physical bodies remain in the material world, but.”

An solemn voice reciting an incantation was heard. The Archduke, who had been sitting on the single-person sofa next to me, smoking the magic potion, moved his hands as if giving a speech.

“Our souls will be purely separated. We will erase, one by one, the things that bind us to the material world.”

“I don’t want to be separated.”

I said that, but my body was gradually falling asleep. Unlike my body, my mind was still clear.

At least the weight of the case I’m handling is less than what I’ve been through so far, and since it’s not a dangerous matter, I’m giving it a try. Maria has had out-of-body experiences—by his own claim—several times and had no problems. Didn’t he talk about the House of Bourbon after returning from France through an out-of-body experience? After returning from the House of Bourbon, he had been practicing honing his mind to move his soul to the appropriate place.

Unlike Maria, if anything happens to my soul, I will immediately leave the Extra Chapter and return to reality.

Emanuel, as if in disbelief of this situation, was just smiling with a soulless expression next to me. I put down the nearly finished cigarette on the tray and received a new magic potion to smoke. Emanuel stared at me, then looked me up and down and muttered.

“You’re amazing.”

“Why am I amazing?”

“It seems like I’ve made a good friend for Maria… Is it because of your good character, Sir Everett, or do you really like the occult this much?”

He’s saying it’s amazing that I’m playing along with Maria’s delirious talk. In reality, it’s more because of the technology Maria developed than Maria himself that I’m doing this, but anyway, I can’t help but laugh.

“You go next time.”

“Hmm, I guess the latter was wrong. Let’s go with the former.”

Emanuel opened a bronze box. It was an artifact imbued with my Divine Power. He put his wand into the box and transferred the Divine Power, then brought the wand close to my forehead.

“I’ve never used Divine Power before, so I don’t know if it will work, but I’ll give it a try. …His Highness the Archduke will soon take your hand. His Highness the Archduke will do everything, so please relax and let the strength out of your body.”

Magic Power burst from the ring artifact that Archduke Maria had given me. I forced my body, which was about to fall asleep, awake and grimaced. I don’t know if it actually happened that way, but at least in my mind, it did.

“You are traveling to France, 183 years ago by A.A. standards.”

Following Emanuel’s absurd nonsense, the world turned black. It was the year the Archduke had told us about.

“……”

Just a moment ago, I was in a smoke-filled room, but now I see a cloudless night sky above my head. As I unconsciously opened my mouth to look around, a strong wind blew, forcing my eyes shut.

“Gasp…”

At the unfamiliar sound from beside me, I turned my head and saw the Archduke, who was holding my wrist, raise his eyebrows in surprise.

“What is it.”

“To think I’d actually come with another person. This is truly new.”

I should be the one saying that.

Is this even possible? Really? I looked around the unfamiliar night streets of Paris and gaped. The urban development of Paris hadn’t been completed yet, so this place looked like a 19th-century countryside.

‘No way.’

It feels more like I’m dreaming than having an out-of-body experience. Thinking so, I looked at my body. I can still see my body in my field of vision. Since we haven’t activated the artifact that projects our material world appearance yet, my clothes were familiar, as usual.

According to the Archduke, we are currently just in a soul state, and since we haven’t activated the artifact that projects the appearance of the material world, we are not actually visible, but the reason I can see my body is that I myself think of my body as something that ‘should be there’. In other words, this is the image of myself that I usually think of.

Just then, the Archduke observed me and tilted his head.

“You look a little different somehow.”

“…How?”

“You’ve become more exotically handsome. Do you want to look like this?”

“No? Thank you for the compliment.”

I replied, feeling a chill in my head. This is crazy. Is my face mixed in right now? I somehow pictured Luka’s face in my mind and took a deep breath. Though I wonder if taking a deep breath is even possible for a soul.

“But Your Highness the Archduke, how are you seeing my face?”

“We are currently resonating with each other. We are influencing each other’s minds.”

Resonating.

It’s not about mind-control magic. Mind-control magic is the act of scraping something from the inside and pulling it out from an outsider’s perspective, but this phenomenon is about becoming an insider. Like entering someone else’s Labyrinth.

It’s an unexplainable phenomenon. I asked quietly.

“How is that possible?”

“That is something I would like to know as well. How on earth can one interfere so deeply with another’s soul? It’s fascinating, isn’t it? As if one has gained an authority… That is why the magic studies of the ancient humans, called the occult, have the power to heal the world. They were close to God and knew how to communicate with God. That is what I am trying to do as well.”

The conclusion is that he doesn’t know the principle either. I stared at him blankly and asked.

“There’s something I still don’t understand. How did you create the artifact that projects the appearance of the material world? Also, the artifact is a thing of the material world, and I’m curious how you made it usable. Even if you did bind the artifact to the soul instead of the body, I can’t seem to accept even that.”

It was a question about the artifact we would be using soon. The Archduke was silent. Then, after a long while, he answered.

“That method is a secret.”

“Why?”

“Even if I told you, you wouldn’t be able to do it.”

I didn’t expect a proper answer. The Archduke has introduced me to several magic formulas, including the unique ability replication technology, but he knows almost nothing about the operating principles. It’s just ‘put blood in, soak a strange spell-cast herb in an elixir, dry it, then burn it, place candles on the vertices of a pentagram, and recite a declarative incantation you’d only see in a play’. It’s a sight that would make magic scholars faint, and I’m also genuinely curious how he managed to get a good output from such an activity.

I did hear a reasonable explanation that the structure of a specific occult magic formula could be improved and incorporated into general magic studies, but for the most part, it was difficult to get a clear answer. This is why it’s naturally difficult for the world to understand him. Aren’t I also seriously doubting whether I’m having a psychotic episode?

‘Still, I have seen many records of traveling to the past through hypnosis in psychoanalysis books from the 19th to the 20th century… Or traveling within one’s own mind.’

However, since I was a person who was skeptical about the factuality of hypnosis even then, this reality is all the more unbelievable.

‘But I can’t go on like this.’

I need to awaken myself, just like when I first fell into this world. Back then, my death was a confirmed state, so my mind was working sharply, but now it’s not like that, so I keep coming back to my senses, but there’s no solution in denying what has already happened. I have to become a perfect person from the future right now and successfully finish this scene, so…

There’s no time to delay. I need to adapt as quickly as possible and create a state where I can absorb every single piece of information.

I watched a police officer passing by not giving us a glance, then walked toward him in the direction he was coming from.

*Kwaang—!*

I felt the impact and pain of my body being pushed. Archduke Maria grabbed me with a surprised expression. I staggered backward, but the police officer continued forward as if nothing had happened.

“People are passing through me.”

I walked forward and placed my hand on a residential building. I could feel the rough texture of the bricks on my hand. Just like with the police officer earlier, my hand did not pass through first. The impact and pain I felt from the police officer, and the sensation of the bricks, were all things I had judged as ‘what should be felt in such a situation’. Good. There’s no problem in using the astral plane like the material plane.

The Archduke watched me, then smiled brightly and answered my earlier monologue.

“Because you are a soul right now, Sir Everett.”

He took out his pocket watch and checked it, then looked at the shining royal palace at the bottom of the hill and said.

“Let’s go. The astral plane will take us to our destination.”

“Has the meeting already started?”

“That’s right. It’s a meeting held in a secret space in the basement of the queen’s study, so normally we wouldn’t be able to enter without the password, but thankfully, since we are souls, we can go anywhere.”

“Right… Because we’re ghosts.”

“But that doesn’t sound very good.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t change the fact that we’ve become ghosts.”

The Archduke laughed even at my soulless complaint.

“Enjoy the astral plane. Can’t you feel that everything here is made of Magic Power, even though it’s an era without magic? It’s something that’s only possible in the astral plane, a world of only Magic Power.”

It certainly feels like there’s Magic Power, even though it’s the world of Old Humans. It’s faint since I haven’t finished adapting yet. I replied with a smile.

“Now, I will lead, so please be comfortable. We just need to appear before them.”

The Archduke tapped the silver earring he was wearing in his ear. In that moment, the silver earring changed into the earring of the sapphire parure, and a wide-brimmed light blue hat half-covered his face. Now our material world appearance will actually be visible.

Before I could even finish preparing my mind and place my hand on the artifact, the Archduke kindly activated the artifact for me and stomped his foot. The interior of a room unfolded before my eyes.

“…?!”

Eight people wearing black robes, who had been standing around a round table, turned to look this way with widened eyes. An Old Human who looked to be the oldest, perhaps in his 60s, quickly hid his surprise and shouted.

“Who are you!”

‘This is crazy…’

My vision goes dark. A pentagram was drawn on the round table, and candles were lit at each of its points. Chills run down my spine.

The Archduke, completely unfazed by the shout, drew his wand and spoke solemnly in French.

“Now listen! For I shall tell of the glory of our Dardanian lineage.”

“…?”

“The descendants to be born from the ancient Italian lineage, who will become great souls and inherit our names and heritage, I will unfold their stories and reveal their destinies!”

‘Are you kidding me?’

What is he doing? What is he doing when he should be explaining his identity?

Unlike my frantically beating heart, my expression remained frozen. Even if I were to cry tears of blood, I had to maintain my composure to finish the job I had been entrusted with.

After the Archduke’s recitation of the Aeneid, which I didn’t want to know the reason for—considering the context of the passage he used, it seems he was trying to emphasize that he himself was a transcendent, prophetic, and benevolent person—the middle-aged man who seemed to be the second-in-command spoke.

“Who are you. State your names.”

‘…You’re not kicking them out?’

Since they don’t seem to have any intention of harming them with weapons, are they trying to resolve this with conversation? Still, I would have kicked them out… The Archduke nodded gravely and opened his mouth.

“We are Hermeticist mages from the year 1886. We know you have a great interest in magic studies and have come from the future to help you.”

“……”

They exchanged glances with expressions that said they were looking at some crazy people. It’s clear they’re being treated as crazy, but that’s why I feel a sense of relief.

One of the French aristocrats still spoke with a sharp voice.

“Mages, you say. How can we believe those words?”

‘So they have some common sense.’

The Archduke silently drew his wand and cut through the air. The moment the French aristocrats instinctively backed away, the Divine Power I had lent him sparked from its tip. The aristocrats’ eyes widened.

“You see. I can use magic. The same goes for the mage here.”

The color drained from the faces of the shocked aristocrats. But their eyes were still filled with caution. Fortunately, I could once again feel that they were, to some extent, people with common sense.

The Archduke nodded as if he had expected it. Then he lightly touched his bracelet and flicked his wand. A stream of water that appeared in the air flew toward them in a spiral.

“…!”

“Isn’t this enough proof?”

I thought their faces couldn’t get any paler than they already were, but I was wrong. Their faces were turning almost blue. No matter how much they wanted to use magic, they were people from an era without magic. The sight of water appearing out of thin air was something that shattered their common sense. Whether they believed our words or not, the fact that something unbelievable had happened before their eyes did not change.

While everyone was frozen, looking at each other, the 60-year-old Old Human broke the silence and spoke.

“I told you to state your names. Please understand that we cannot be sure if your intentions in coming here are benevolent. We need to confirm if you are people we can trust.”

“I am Maria von Österreich-Este of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and this is my younger brother of the same name.”

When did that happen? Anyway, I didn’t object. The 60-year-old Old Human with a furrowed brow asked him.

“Von Österreich-Este. Not the House of Este? Since when did Austria and Hungary become the same empire?”

“Our Austria and Hungary becoming the same empire is a matter of the 19th century. It will take about another 150 years.”

He had asked sarcastically, so he probably didn’t expect a real answer. The Old Human still shook his head with a look of disbelief, but nevertheless, a doubt and fear that it might be true began to fill his eyes.

“…How did you get in here?”

“Walls and keys are meaningless to us. This too was accomplished with our magic.”

“……”

The 60-year-old Old Human closed his eyes and thought, then pointed to a chair near us.

“Please sit.”

“Thank you.”

The Archduke, pleased with his success, smiled confidently and sat down. I couldn’t believe we had made it this far. As expected of people who want to use magic, if they had been ordinary people, they would have kicked us out and reported us immediately, but the fact that they told us to sit shows a difference. I felt a wave of anxiety, as if eight more Maria von Österreich-Estes had just been created.

After swallowing my saliva and sitting down, the seven Old Humans, excluding the 60-year-old, all looked at us with eyes full of caution. They didn’t seem to have any intention of sitting down. The 60-year-old Old Human, as the head of the club, quickly regained his composure and sat down in front of us.

“That aside.”

His eyes sharply scrutinized us.

“You look very strange. Let’s talk about that.”

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