novelraw Chapter 343
Chapter 343
Chapter 343
Mecklenburg caught the hand Lukas Müller held out. Lukas Müller had a face that looked refreshed even after hearing that resignation was impossible, and no matter how much Mecklenburg thought about it, he could not understand the reason. Even though he had a face that resembled Adrian Askanian, just seeing that he had plastered bandages all over that face made him look reckless.
After talking to him in person, he became even more convinced that this was a human who lacked any sense of dignity or caution. Thus, the two came out of the reception room and looked around the campus, which was a converted church. The moment he was about to ask for a school tour, Lukas looked up at the spire of the main building with a satisfied face and spoke.
“To be honest, Albert.”
“Yeah.”
“I do not know the geography of the school.”
Mecklenburg subtly frowned and pulled up the corners of his mouth. What did he just hear? What was this friend, who must have attended this school for at least five years, saying right now? Had he left his brain somewhere?
Lukas stood there, crossed his arms, and looked around. Then, he pointed at a student who had been sitting alone in the front row during the oath—who was unusually wearing a student council badge.
“Hey, you!”
“Me?”“Yeah. You are the Vice President, right? I am supposed to give the Hereditary Grand Duke a school tour, but I think it will be hard for me to give a guide that satisfies His Highness. Can I ask you to do it?”
“M-m-me?!”
“Yeah, you. How many times do I have to say it.”
What? Was he going to dump him on another friend right now? Mecklenburg looked back and forth between the two in momentary confusion, then grabbed Lukas’s shoulder.
“Could you wait a moment? You were the one who was supposed to handle the school tour, Lukas….”
“Great, hey! I am so grateful, what should I do? I am going to head out now, so I will see you in the classroom later.”
Lukas quickly grabbed the Vice President’s shoulder and glared. Did he think that would not be visible? Mecklenburg, who witnessed all those threats firsthand, stood there with his mouth open in disbelief. Until Lukas left the spot at a fast walk. Only the Vice President, left alone, reached out toward him pitifully.
“Eh? No…!”
***
“What do you mean by coming in only after the class has started?”
Lukas Müller entered the classroom empty-handed, having left the carrier he was holding somewhere. It was twenty minutes after the class had started, and perhaps due to some internal struggle he went through in the meantime, his hair was disheveled as if it had been plucked. He swept back the hair that had fallen forward with his hand, glanced at the anxious expressions of the students in the classroom, and politely apologized to the teacher.
“I am sorry. I got lost.”
“…….”
You got lost? This is your school. Mecklenburg once again felt absurd and let out a hollow laugh. Right on cue, the teacher spoke the same words.
“You got lost? It is not like you have been attending this school for a day or two…. And I heard you dumped the school tour for the Hereditary Grand Duke onto another friend….”
The teacher, who frowned as if remembering the declaration of resignation, let out a sigh and continued.
“Follow me after the closing assembly. Sit down quickly.”
“Yes.”
Lukas sat down with a proper smile.
It was only right that the classroom should have been sufficiently noisy due to Mecklenburg’s appearance. Previously, before the class started, it actually was so. This was because students from prestigious noble families in this region all gathered around the seat newly assigned to Mecklenburg. However, the tide turned when the protagonist of the resignation commotion appeared.
When one class period ended, the students in the class flocked to Lukas’s seat. A student with a serious face put a hand on Lukas’s desk and looked down at him. Other students gathered around him as well, creating a scene that was clearly very burdensome at a glance. Lukas seemed a bit flustered, perhaps not having expected this.
“Lukas. Is it true that you are going to resign?”
“What are you thinking, Lukas. What happened that made you say such a thing in that place?”
“Yeah, what is going on. Tell us.”
Lukas looked at their worried faces and the students who were pouting, and squeezed out a voice that was not coming out.
“Guys. The thing is, actually….”
Because his voice was a bit cracked, Mecklenburg was surprised before he knew it. The students seemed to be the same, as they exchanged serious glances.
“Uh. Actually?”
“Nothing happened.”
“…….”
Silence flowed as if someone had abruptly removed the sound. Before there was even time to feel absurd, piercing exclamations immediately poured out from all sides.
“Hey!”
“Aaaaah! Ah, I am really getting stressed because of him?”
“Hahaha! Guys, why would I resign! Hmm?”
“Is he crazy….”
“You just said that in that place? Really?”
The students laughed and slapped Lukas’s back. Setting aside whether this was something to laugh about, he was truly lightweight. Although I had guessed it to some extent seeing him in the position of student council president.
Mecklenburg looked around at the faces of the students in this class. For some reason, Lukas was also observing the students, but he turned his gaze after showing a smile to the other students who were sitting in their respective seats and snickering along. Lukas’s face, which eventually saw the group that had stiffened their faces and unnaturally fixed their eyes on their books, showed a flash of empathy for them.
‘…Hmm?’
Mecklenburg narrowed his eyes. He feels empathy for the students who are looking at him as being frivolous? Why? Was that joke just now uttered on purpose, or was what I read from those eyes my misunderstanding? Lukas laughed moderately, and when the students’ chatter died down, he erased his smile and spoke calmly.
“To be honest, my condition has become very bad lately. It was true that I wanted to rest for a bit, but it was something I should not have done. I am truly sorry for saying such things in a position representing the school.”
“Uh-huh, it is okay~ It was just fun. Did you see the teachers’ faces? It felt so refreshing to me.”
Answers that continued to play around without knowing Lukas’s intention were heard. He resolved it with laughter, but since it was not entirely a laughing matter, he seemed to have tried to wrap it up seriously, but what a pity. Thus, he should not have acted so flippantly from the beginning. Mecklenburg evaluated him as such and turned his head.
He expected him to fill the answer with laughter, but unexpectedly, Lukas’s dry voice was heard.
“No. I did not see them, so I should go and apologize properly. Before that.”
Whether they finally understood the meaning, the students’ laughter decreased a bit. Lukas stood up abruptly from his seat and asked his friends.
“Before that, guys. Do I seem a bit strange today?”
“No. It is not today, you were always like that.”
“Could it be… you just realized it?”
“…….”
Lukas did not answer. It was clear that he substituted the answer with action. Asking if he seems a bit strange today, why such a question? Mecklenburg poured all his interest into Lukas even while flipping through the school operation status inspection record delivered from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. When he was lost in thought until the black letters printed on the paper moved randomly, a long finger tapped his shoulder.
“Albert.”
It was Lukas. Mecklenburg answered while showing a moderate smile.
“…What is it?”
“Do you want to go to the teacher’s office with me?”
“I hope you go and apologize by yourself, Lukas.”
“You are quick-witted. I am going.”
That was the end of the conversation for that day. No, there were two or three more times. Mecklenburg asked like this after three or four hours had passed.
“Lukas. Could you give me a guide to the science lab?”
“I am sorry. I do not know where the science lab is.”
Mecklenburg, who stayed still for a long time not being able to accept those words at once, eventually made a crack in his smile. Then Lukas laughed lightly and spoke as if explaining.
“I am sorry, but I really do not know. If you find out, could you let me know too?”
Naturally, Mecklenburg did not tell him the location of the science lab. How could someone not know the location of the science lab in their own school after attending for several years? He was indeed an ill-mannered human.
However, it weighed on his mind that he somehow had a face exactly like Adrian Askanian, and it remained uncomfortably in a corner of his heart that he was the top student in the school, and beyond that, the best honors student in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. That meant he would soon graduate high school and advance to the Imperial First Academy, and would quickly be attending together with Adrian Askanian and Mecklenburg himself. We had become third-year high school students, so that was also coming soon. Not only would we meet for just this one week, but we would be together for several years in the future, and perhaps that Lukas Müller would become a competitor for Mecklenburg himself during the selection for the Imperial Mages’ Association.
At that time, if I were to lose to that face again.
Mecklenburg burst into laughter at the ridiculous thought that suddenly occurred to him. His fork fell onto the plate. The taste of the meat from the satisfying dinner that had occupied every part of his taste buds until just now felt like the taste of a cold lump of fat. The student sitting next to him and eating saw his complexion and asked worriedly.
“Your Highness, is something the matter?”
“It is nothing.”
Even though they came to be in the same school, the noble children did not speak comfortably to Mecklenburg. Mecklenburg looked at the student council president who was playing around frivolously at the opposite table. The student council president was busy reciting Rimbaud’s poems backward as if he had completely forgotten when he had blathered such nonsense as resigning and going to Munich. He clearly found the presence of the restraint device on his wrist bothersome, and he must know that with a word from me, he could undo it and secretly try to go to Munich….
Just getting lost to Munich would not be bad. Going there and not returning would definitely be a fine thing.
Mecklenburg looked at him for a long time and stood up from his seat. He felt no interest in the meat from which fat was dripping or the red wine that had already changed in taste.
It was the third day. Mecklenburg and Lukas hung out in separate groups. Actually, it was not an atmosphere where students gathered separately enough to be described as groups, but it was clearly not a situation where they naturally intertwined, and the reason was clear. Lukas hung out widely with various students, but he played more often with students like himself, while Mecklenburg mainly hung out with children from wealthy families who had particularly good financial power among the nobles. Because the children who were spirited enough to approach the Hereditary Grand Duke of this country were usually of that sort. The children who came to Mecklenburg were only friends who laid out stories about politics and economy all day long to somehow find a corner that would make money, and friends who were trying to create connections.
“Ah, I cannot run anymore.”
“Agh….”
It was the day to measure physical strength to mark the new semester. Annoyed voices were heard from the playground and then gradually moved away. Then they got closer again and then moved away. A few students returned to their seats while trudging, and the physical education teacher recorded their long-distance running performance. Now that two weeks had passed since the new semester—the reason for timing the measurement for the day of Mecklenburg’s visit must have been an intention to advertise how excellent the physical strength of the students at this school was. However, Mecklenburg’s gaze was not on the physical education teacher who was constantly glancing back at him. Lukas, who ran with a peaceful face as if he were putting in no effort, continued to circle the track until only three or four students remained. In the meantime, one student returned to his seat with a face turned white. After repeating it for a while, a sharp whistle sound spread through the wind. The physical education teacher called the name of the student council president.
“Stop! 1st place, Lukas Müller!”
1st place, at those words, cheers burst out from the seats. Lukas grinned with a triumphant face, took off his training uniform, wrapped it around his arm, and ran while fluttering it. When he winked at the students who had stood up and were whistling loudly, the teacher made the students sit down and warned him as well.
“Do not perform strange ceremonies.”
“I will try.”
The teacher smiled and opened the record book at the words he answered slyly with a laugh. That smile looked frivolous no matter how one looked at it. However, I knew. That person was also of the same sort as Adrian Askanian. All his smiles, words, and actions moved with a peculiar magic and captured everyone’s attention. As if that were his unique ability.
1st place, 1st place, 1st place… he must be happy. If Mecklenburg had also participated in this measurement, Lukas might have been pushed to 2nd place. However, it was clear that he was a student who was not at all inferior even when compared to the magic department students of the Imperial Second Academy. The anxiety arising from that thought made his stomach churn. Mecklenburg looked at Lukas, who was tidying his T-shirt and putting the training uniform back on. Their eyes met, and Mecklenburg did not avoid it. However, Lukas turned his head with a face that looked completely uninterested and talked with other friends.
Lukas Müller was at the center of the students until the end of the day. Right before the closing assembly, at a time when the sunset was coming through the window and everyone was weary, we had a magic theory class. The boring voice of the teacher resonated in the classroom.
“What does Ion Forso mean? If we say it is 56 years before Ion Forso, what is this? Anyone want to answer?”
The students were as quiet as dead mice, but the teacher looked around the students with a determination to pick someone out somehow. Then, he pointed to one friend.
“There. Helen!”
“Pardon? Yes. That is time….”
“Time?”
“It is just time.”
“…Sit down.”
“Yes.”
Now it became impossible to know to whom that baton would return. The students began to bite their lips and roll their eyes, and eventually, one friend subtly turned their head and looked at Lukas. As a fellow student, it was impossible not to know what that gaze meant. Lukas also answered that friend with a smile and a wink and stood up from his seat.
“It refers to the day magic was granted to our mankind, so if we say 56 years before Ion Forso, it refers to 56 years before the appearance of magic.”
Sighs of relief burst out from various places, and Lukas snickered. The teacher already showed a satisfied expression and flicked his hand.
“Hmm, more.”
“The dictionary definition of Ion Forso is the progress of time.”
“More.”
This is why none of the students want to answer. Isn't he demanding more than what he first asked? Mecklenburg felt a surge of desire to know whether Lukas could say more or not and turned his head toward him. Lukas pondered for a moment and then poured out everything he knew.
Shutterstock
“Just as the sun seems to rise upward, move sideways, and then fall downward from the perspective of the ground, the progress of Ion Forso does not mean only moving forward, but includes all movements of up, down, left, and right, and yet has the characteristic that such movements themselves entirely become a flow in one direction. Just as the Earth orbits the sun. Although it cannot be seen as a complete metaphor, the introductory book I read used this metaphor. It is an abstract concept where two states coexist, and it is unknown who began to call this ‘the day magic appeared.’ Currently, I heard that discussions are underway to replace it with another term as it is evaluated as being anti-Christian.”
“…….”
The teacher raised his eyebrows and nodded.
“It is a difficult concept, but you understand it well. It seems there is no one in this class who knows this much, so I hope everyone does not forget their duty as students and stays faithful to studies outside the textbook as well. To speak of it, Ion Forso is….”
“I survived thanks to you.”
Whispers of students were heard.
“Be very grateful.”
Again, a frivolous joke came back as an answer.
It was such a day. There was almost no time to be with him. Even if I approached him anyway, he would avoid everything with answers like ‘I do not know either’ or ‘Should I ask that friend for you.’ Just like he put forward a flimsy excuse that he does not know the structure of the school he has attended for years.
“Do one more set!”
“Even if you do, you guys lost.”
Mecklenburg went in front of the school tennis court. Right on cue, he encountered Lukas coming out with a bag slung over his shoulder. Lukas raised his eyebrows and flicked his hand in greeting. Even if I said let’s get close, there would be no lower noble anywhere who greets like this.
“Why are you standing like that. Go in quickly and rest.”
“No. Wait.”
Lukas rolled his eyes, nodded, and stood in front of Mecklenburg. The student council president badge pinned to his haphazardly worn jacket sparkled in the sunset light. As if it resembled the badge his friend had terribly, Mecklenburg muttered while looking at that badge that was an eyesore.
“I heard you were going to Munich.”
“I gave up.”
“What?”
“I said I am not resigning? You said I cannot. More than that, I never knew you were this interested. To think the first thing you say to me after two days is ‘I heard you were going to Munich,’ thanks for remembering, hey.”
Lukas giggled and played around even in this situation, then tried to turn his body. Mecklenburg spoke while putting on a gentle voice.
“The talk is not finished, Lukas. I still have not heard the explanation of why you look like my friend.”
Lukas only tilted his head at those words.
“I am sorry, but how do I explain that?”
“Aside from that, there are more than one or two suspicious parts about you….”
“You can just go back to the Imperial Second Academy in Berlin like this and play with your friend who looks like me, and I can just enter a national institution or go to Munich after working hard at school life in the territory you rule, right? I will disappear since I must be an eyesore. I gave up since I cannot go for now, but I will go next year. Happy?”
“No, wait.”
Mecklenburg grabbed Lukas recklessly. He had something he wanted from me. To be honest, I did not know what to do now either, but I knew this one thing. Could I not be wary of this person who resembled Adrian Askanian in everything from his face to everything else? Letting him go to Munich when everything about him was suspicious was clearly not right in principle, but at the same time, the thought occurred that I wished he would not take interest in university or such and just disappear to Munich altogether. This impatient student council president looked around while Mecklenburg was choosing his words and tapped his shoulder.
“To be honest, I have absolutely no idea why I have to listen to stories about your friend? So, a round of tennis~?”
Mecklenburg asked a question instead of answering this nonsensical talk.
“Why are you saying you will not go to Munich.”
“What do you want to tell me.”
Annoyance rose on the face of the student council president who was always smirking.
“Is it such a problem that I look like your friend? I am sorry, but I am not him.”
“If you advance to the First Academy, you will meet us. Around autumn next year.”
“…….”
Lukas Müller let out a laugh with a face that looked like he knew it would be so. He also looked incredulous.
“You are truly consistent. No, right. Because you are 18….”
“You are 18 too.”
“…Right. I am so incredulous. Where did my disappeared time go…. Whether it was 5 or 6 years, anyway.”
He really only spat out nonsensical words. Then he clapped his hands and suddenly spoke.
“Ah, right. Unlike what you said a few days ago, it seems you want me to go to Munich? Why should I go to Munich?”
“…….”
“Right, you cannot say it. Then shall I tell you why I am trying to go to Munich?”
Mecklenburg frowned while maintaining a smile. The student council president put an arm around his shoulder and brought his face close. Having a bit of mysophobia, the sudden contact was unpleasant, but it was tolerable for now.
“I am telling you because you are someone like the Hereditary Grand Duke. You must not tell anyone. Can you keep a secret?”
“I do not recklessly pass on words I heard from a friend.”
“Ah, right. Right. I am sure you wouldn't. Then I am telling you?”
If it were me, I would have already said it in the time it took to say such words. Mecklenburg suppressed a sigh and maintained a smile. Lukas’s clear voice was driven directly into his ear.
“If I go to Munich-Freising, I can become stronger.”
“…Wait, Freising? What are you talking about.”
“Truly. I am telling you I can use magic power hundreds of times stronger than here? Magic power that would not even be a match if it were not divine power.”
Hundreds of times? Magic power that would not even be a match…? Mecklenburg stayed with his mouth open and then brushed off Lukas’s arm. Mecklenburg frowned and asked cautiously.
“…Are you talking about the Pleroma? That you will have Vitriol?”
“Ah, as expected. You are fast.”
“Was that what you meant by saying you would go to Munich?!”
“Do not be surprised. I have someone I know well there. They said if I just come that way, they can definitely make me strong. So about that….”
I heard crazy talk and understood nothing. Lukas’s words only sounded slow. Soon, even crazier talk was heard.
“Do you want to go together? I heard you are pretty good at the Imperial Second Academy. If you just undo this bracelet for me, we can become stronger together.”
“…….”
Mecklenburg shook his head and stepped back. His expression gradually stiffened. Strangely, Lukas did not care at all even after seeing that expression, and continued to speak like a person for whom things were going smoothly.
“Did you develop a sense of aversion? Or does my suggestion sound crazy? So, are you interested too? Or are you not interested? Are you not going together?”
Just ask one thing! It is crazy talk. It is crazy talk, but….
At the same time, a certain future suddenly unfolded in his head.
What if I catch this prospective Pleroma at the moment he becomes a real Pleroma?
If so, I can reveal to everyone that I am not inferior to Adrian Askanian. That I am not inferior to that friend who is already working as an Imperial Mage even though he is a high school student. If I personally capture a problematic mage trying to enter a pseudo-organization of tomb raiders….
All sorts of thoughts came to mind. Lukas was observing such a Mecklenburg intently. Although it seemed like he was reading Mecklenburg’s thoughts because he was smiling subtly, right now Mecklenburg had no intention of being swayed by such blatant observation.
The fact that the problematic mage Lukas Müller was a person of Strelitz was not even a problem. He had already shown a wrong appearance to the people of the Ministry of Internal Affairs starting from the resignation commotion, and in the first place, there was not much to be caught regarding a mere lower noble, and if Mecklenburg himself, the successor of Strelitz, captured and handed over Lukas Müller, his nationality would not be a major obstacle. So, I….
“…No, I like it too.”
At those words, Lukas’s eyes curved into circles. His blue eyes and eyelashes sparkled under the sunset. With a satisfied smile, he tapped Mecklenburg’s shoulder.
“Great, Albert. Then now we go to Munich together and become Pleroma.”