Chapter 452

The Munich Residenz looked beautiful beneath the moonlight. Not that this was really the time to stop and admire the scenery, but standing in front of Leo’s house as a ghost still felt strangely surreal. It had only been eight hours since I entered the Extra Chapter.

‘…Finally.’

We had finally arrived. This was the fifth time I had experienced that bizarre sensation of my body and soul being separated. By now, I was completely used to it.

“This is impossible.”

The deceased’s excited voice rang in my head. Maria Österreich-Este looked around wildly before exclaiming, “This is Munich in 1898?!”

I caught my breath and nodded. Yes. This was Munich in 1898. It was refreshing, in a strange way, to see someone this delighted in a place where the rest of us had been dying one after another. Even after I explained why we had to come here and everything that had happened up until now, he was still thrilled. As expected, this guy was a scholar to the very core.

“To come to the future through Sir Everett! Sir Everett’s blood and mana brought us…!”

Overwhelmed, he spread his hands, apparently unable to decide what to say. Then he abruptly turned toward me, eyes wide.

“Your innate qualities and mental imagery ability led us to the future—or rather, somewhere that is neither the material plane nor the astral plane. How is this even possible? Coming to the future is fascinating enough, but more importantly, how can a vast, empty world like this even sustain itself? There are no people, no animals, nothing alive except plants!”

“…….”

I had thought about this before. The Archduke had introduced me to various magic formulas, including the technique for copying Special Abilities, but he barely knew how any of them actually worked. As far as I could tell, the process amounted to little more than put in some blood, soak grass inscribed with some strange occult ritual in an elixir and dry it, burn it, place candles at the points of a pentagram, then recite some grandiose incantation straight out of a play.

And this time, too, blood had been an essential ingredient. Just as before, we used Archduke Maria’s blood to prepare the potion and perform the spell. But all that did was take us into the past of EC Stage 1. We couldn’t even travel to the future of EC Stage 1, let alone escape into the present of my own world. As a last resort, I used my own blood. And after everything we had gone through, it had finally brought us here.

‘…I still can’t believe it.’

There were several reasons why I found it unbelievable. Why, of all things, was my blood tangled up in this again? This was a serious problem. I let my soul sink into the mana surrounding this world and fell into thought before finally asking him, “This isn’t the astral plane?”

“That’s right! You see, the astral plane isn’t somewhere separate from our world. It exists alongside the material world, but it’s a world we cannot fully perceive. Mana, you see!”

Right. A world of ghosts, overlapping with ours in the ordinary world. At any rate, hearing the interpretation of a true occult enthusiast, I finally understood. My understanding of the astral plane had been practically nonexistent.

Maria and I were currently in astral form within the astral plane, but the spatial magic that Elias and I had fallen into was not the astral plane itself. Every hypothesis I had come up with until now had to be discarded.

I let out a long breath, and the Archduke immediately began darting about, rattling off one point after another about whatever had caught his interest.

“You know what I told you before. After Ion Forso, we became capable of sensing the aether of the astral plane. But does that mean we can perceive it perfectly? Not at all. We can only detect an incredibly tiny fraction of the aether in this world. And yet we go on and on about Ion Forso and all that. That is what being a mage means.”

“I see…”

Right after I entered the Extra Chapter, the overwhelming sleepiness had made it impossible to do anything. Lukas Everett’s body was perfectly fine, but my mind was not. Now that I had separated from my body and entered the astral plane, I felt much more refreshed, though I still couldn’t exactly call myself energetic.

Whether I was still mentally drained or not, the Archduke continued excitedly.

“Of course, the magical academic community doesn’t exactly accept the concept of aether itself.”

Maria looked around at the sky and continued as though talking to himself.

“More importantly, this place feels like… somewhere whose conditions have been adjusted to allow entry into the astral plane. Almost like Purgatory.”

“What exactly do you mean?”

The Archduke abruptly turned toward me and stared straight into my eyes. It was slightly unsettling. He looked ready to explain yet another theory to me. Opening both hands, he launched into his explanation with enthusiasm.

“As you know, mana drifts throughout our world. Look! The mana floating around here is ambient mana. And there is mana inside our bodies as well, yes? That is human mana.”

“Yes.”

“They are both mana, but they’re slightly different, aren’t they? You can understand that intuitively. We know this because we’re mages, of course, but from this point on, I want you to look at magic from a completely unfamiliar perspective, assuming we aren’t mages at all. Do you think you can do that?”

“Yes.”

I answered briefly, almost in a whisper, exhausted by everything that had happened. The Archduke nodded in satisfaction and continued.

“This is something anyone, even a non-mage, can understand easily. The mana floating freely through the universe isn’t bound to the human body, while the mana within our bodies is bound to it. In other words, they have slightly different properties. Think about it. If ambient mana and human mana were no different, then whenever a mage ran out of mana, they could simply draw more from the air. So why are there so many mages in the world who can’t warp because they don’t have enough mana? The very fact that countless mages are incapable of warping tells us that humans can’t simply absorb ambient mana and use it as their own.”

“…You really are starting from the very basics.”

“Exactly. Let’s follow the same line of reasoning a non-mage would use to understand us. Sir Everett, from this point on, I’ll assume you have at least this level of deductive ability.”

“How considerate of you. Yes, please, continue.”

“Now, what happens when someone else’s mana hits us?”

“It hurts.”

The Archduke really ought to have been a teacher. The moment I gave the correct answer, he clapped his hands with a delighted expression.

“Exactly. Mana is inherently aggressive. I’m excluding special types of mana that are closer to an individual’s Special Ability, such as healing mana, and talking about the ordinary mana used by most mages. Now, next question. What are magic potions made of? What about things like mana lamps?”

“Both are made of mana.”

“Then shouldn’t it hurt when a magic potion made of mana hits us? And if we stand beneath a mana lamp made of mana, shouldn’t our scalps sting? Why doesn’t a magic potion hurt us when it hits us? Why isn’t our skin prickled when we stand beneath a mana lamp? What can we conclude from that?”

I gave a dry little laugh before answering.

“…That the mana contained in magic potions and mana lamps has properties different from ordinary human mana. Unless I were a magic scholar, I wouldn’t know exactly how they differ. But anyone should be able to tell instinctively that they are, fundamentally, ‘different.’”

“Exactly!”

The Archduke snapped his fingers and looked up at the sky.

“Now, let’s think. How is this world different from the one we know?”

“It’s completely empty. There are only buildings.”

“Precisely! Now, one by one. Natural mana, human mana, and artificial mana. Which of the three seems to have the highest purity?”

“Hmm… If purity means having the fewest impurities, then artificial mana might be the cleanest? I’m no magical scholar, so I can’t say for certain. But if purity means how close it is to the essence of mana itself, then ambient mana would obviously be the purest. It existed even before Ion Forso, after all.”

“That’s it. This is a world of high purity mana.”

A world of high purity mana.

For some reason, those words sent a chill down my spine, and I looked at the Archduke. Whatever thoughts were running through my head, he seemed to notice none of them, his eyes shining as he continued.

“The world’s mana purity has been pushed to its absolute limit by removing humans from it.”

“…….”

“You’ve been to the astral plane before. What did you feel there? Even though it was a world from before Ion Forso, didn’t you clearly feel mana floating in the air?”

“I did.”

“That is the ambient mana we normally have difficulty sensing. If, as you told me eight hours ago, this place really is an artificially created world, then perhaps whoever made it calculated this as an intermediate world for entering the astral plane. A world stripped of impurities so that only the mana of nature can be sensed with ease.”

“Would doing that make it possible to enter the astral plane?”

“It makes it much more likely. The magical medicine cigarette I developed for astral projection does the same thing—it allows you to perceive ambient mana. Once you can perceive it and find the point where ambient mana resonates with the mana within the human body, you should be able to move around in an astral body. But no matter how well you prepare the environment, it won’t be of much use if you can’t perceive ambient mana.”

Having explained this, the Archduke’s attention seemed to drift elsewhere as he suddenly spun around and broke into a run.

“More importantly, I wonder how far this space extends… I’m going to take a look around.”

“Wait, hold on—!”

“Ah.”

The Archduke, who had been about to run southwest, abruptly stopped. My first instinct told me he had stopped for a reason unrelated to me. He turned around with a bright smile and clapped his hands.

“If this place is larger than I think, then perhaps it wasn’t made by humans at all! To construct and maintain a vast space like this would be incredibly inefficient in terms of cost. Even if an entire country poured a year’s worth of its budget into it, it would be difficult to create something like this. Just look at how sturdy this space is!”

He spread his arms toward the empty air and gazed up at the sky, leaving me with no idea what exactly I was supposed to be looking at. Even so, I gave him a faint smile. Wasn’t that very sturdiness the reason we couldn’t get out? No matter how exhausted my smile looked, the Archduke was simply too excited to notice.

“This is almost like witnessing the wonders of the universe—!”

“Right… The mysteries of the universe, is it? Then I have to wonder—was he dropped here by some lunatics, or is it the universe itself? Or is the space itself natural, but some lunatics just dropped him here?”

I asked half-heartedly, almost resigned to whatever answer I might get. But no answer came. When I looked up at him, the Archduke was standing there with his mouth slightly open, staring blankly ahead.

“This…”

“What is it?”

“…….”

“Your Highness?”

“I think I need to look into this.”

The Archduke’s expression was gradually stiffening. I narrowed my eyes slightly and stepped closer to him. Unlike before, there was not a trace of excitement in his manner when he spoke.

“Give me some time. This isn’t something I can simply explain based on what I’ve inferred just now.”

“…….”

What kind of hypothesis had he come up with to look this serious?

Regardless, how much time could I afford to give someone from a world that seemed to stop moving whenever I left it? Feeling as though I were putting a damper on his scholarly enthusiasm, I answered.

“…All right. I understand.”

“You said your friend was trapped in this space, correct?”

That was what I had explained to him. Before coming here, I had told him that my friend had been caught in some unknown spatial magic with a future version of Munich as its setting.

The Archduke rubbed his chin and spoke in a meaningful tone.

“It may not have been that someone trapped him out of malice. But it is also possible that they did. Either way, there is a problem.”

“…….”

There was something I wanted to say, but instead, I decided to ask another question.

“Your Highness.”

The Archduke turned back toward me. I looked at him and asked, “You said the astral plane transcends space and time. Then theoretically, would it be possible for your astral body to travel alone to the year 1898?”

This wasn’t the 1898 of EC Stage 1, but I didn’t tell him that. According to the theory I was about to explain, whether this was an Extra Chapter or reality wasn’t particularly important. Either way, it was simply one of countless worlds. Of course, I wasn’t certain that the theory I was about to present was correct, but under the circumstances, it was worth considering.

The Archduke thought quietly for a moment before nodding.

“As I said, it is theoretically possible, but I have never succeeded before. It only became possible now because I used Sir Everett’s blood instead of my own.”

“Your Highness, could you promise me something? From this point on, would you refrain from asking where I learned the information I’m about to tell you?”

“Hm? Yes. I can do that.”

His eyes widened as he turned his whole body toward me. I gently turned him back around by the shoulder and started walking to find Elias.

“There is a theory in quantum mechanics called the many-worlds interpretation. First, suppose we have an observer and an electron. Both the electron and the observer exist in a state of superposition. The moment the observer observes the electron, the wave function branches into different worlds, and once they branch, those worlds can no longer interact with one another. For example, suppose I’m in a world called 1 while my eyes are closed. The next moment, I end up in one of the worlds that branch off from it. To put it simply, let’s say the world splits into 1-A, where I open my eyes and see the scenery, and 1-B, where I haven’t opened them yet. The observer in 1-A can no longer interact with the already-separated 1-B world. The observer in 1-A can’t even confirm that 1-B exists through observation. That’s only possible as a thought experiment. In other words, even if the observer in both worlds is still ‘me,’ the year 1900 in one world is a different 1900 from the one in the other.”

“How fascinating. Laplace’s demon¹ would be in tears.”

“…….”

Even though he had never been exposed to the concepts of quantum mechanics, he immediately understood what I was getting at. He really was a scholar at heart. Talking about this in front of him felt strangely intimidating, even though I only needed to explain the background necessary for him to answer my question, and physics as an academic field was hardly my area.

I nodded at his joke and quietly asked, “Then, Your Highness, through astral projection, could you travel to either 1900 in those two worlds?”

Maria narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin. After thinking for a moment, he answered clearly.

“Anywhere. I can go wherever I want. That is what an astral body is.”

“…….”

“An astral body should be able to move freely between all the worlds in superposition. It exists on a higher level than the material world, after all.”

There was still something I couldn’t understand.

Of course, the very idea of trying to fit quantum mechanics and something like the astral plane together was difficult enough to wrap my head around. But setting that aside for now, I decided to consider it under the assumption that both concepts applied at the same time.

“Archduke Maria, you said you minored in Paleoanthropology at the University of Vienna, correct? Was there another field you considered studying?”

“Hmm. I was so passionate about Paleoanthropology that I never seriously considered anything else, but there was a time when I briefly thought about studying sociology.”

“According to that theory, you should also be able to astral project yourself into a world where you minored in sociology at the University of Vienna. What do you think?”

“I’ve never succeeded in traveling to a world where another possibility unfolded. I suppose my training is still insufficient.”

He couldn’t move freely between worlds. That was the key. Unlike what the theory suggested, in practice, even with the use of his astral body, he could not travel between worlds at will.

“What kind of past can you travel to, then?”

“That’s a rather difficult question. For now, it seems I can travel to a past I’ve actually experienced. Which brings us to the time we traveled 183 years before Ion Forso. If I can only return to specific branches among the countless worlds that branched off before I was born… doesn’t that conflict somewhat with the theory you described, Sir Everett?”

“I suppose it does. Though, to begin with, I’m not sure ‘return’ is even the right word.”

“That may be true, but I’m speaking for convenience. If we can only travel upward along a specific branch even when we astral project ourselves, then doesn’t that mean the world isn’t really branching in the first place? If there truly are worlds that branch like this, the spell I’m currently studying becomes rather troublesome as well.”

We had reached the question of whether the many-worlds interpretation itself was actually correct.

Good. I wanted to ask about other interpretations as well, but he was probably already thinking about how we could get out of this world. If I was going to ask anything, I should prioritize the questions I most needed answered. I nodded and brought up another one.

“Your Highness, does Laplace’s demon actually exist?”

The Archduke tilted his head and looked at me. It was obviously a metaphor, and he seemed to understand what I was getting at. I continued.

“According to the many-worlds interpretation, we cannot directly observe other worlds. So whether those other worlds exist or not is almost irrelevant to us.”

“Exactly. If this ‘many-worlds interpretation’ of yours is true, then the only being capable of observing all those worlds would have to be God.”

“What if humans became capable of observing worlds other than the one they inhabit?”

“Humans? Hah… If ‘observation’ itself appears to affect the world, then… answer me this. Does observing something mean intervening in it?”

“…Perhaps.”

Because the moment you observe it, time continues to move. I swallowed that thought.

The Archduke narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment before answering almost immediately.

“Humans can only see the single world that becomes determined before their eyes after they observe it, correct? Then anyone who can ‘actually’ observe other worlds could not be human. It would have to be God. And if we were to assume, purely hypothetically, that a human could see another world… then that would be a very unfortunate person.”

Before I could even ask why, he continued, one answer after another.

“But all the same, we came to the astral plane of this space in our astral bodies, did we not? We are ‘observing’ other worlds as though we have borrowed the authority of God. This is not authority that belongs to us humans. It is authority lent to us by God.”

“…….”

“That is why magic research must always be approached with caution. Linking the occult with our magic studies is an intriguing challenge, and the work of my lifetime, but it is not something that should be freely permitted to every mage of our age.”

He moved away from my question and began focusing on the occult instead.

I silently nodded. Once again, I was reminded that there was a ghost beside me who was no longer alive. Perhaps because he was such a rare person even among the nobility, I suddenly remembered that he was, in fact, a remnant of the past.

A victory for the many-worlds interpretation. At least in this respect. If I used the many-worlds interpretation to explain why Maria Österreich-Este was alive, then there could be worlds where he never existed, while others, if I searched far enough, where he did. Wasn’t that exactly what EC Stage 1 was?

And yet, in principle, there was no way to directly observe another world.

‘There shouldn’t be.’

But my Extra Chapter ability made that possible, even though I should have had no means of interfering with other worlds in the first place.

I had met a mage who claimed that the astral plane existed and who could leave his body behind. He could, within limits, observe other worlds—the worlds described by the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. It had become utterly complicated. That was the only way to put it. Fine. For argument’s sake, let’s assume that it is possible to observe other worlds through an astral body. The Archduke’s astral body clearly had limits to how far it could ‘travel.’

But I had expanded the range of Maria Österreich-Este’s astral-body travels. Whether physically or spiritually, I had become a complete rule-breaker. My head was starting to ache.

The Archduke whistled cheerfully and murmured, “I would love to visit a world where Ion Forso never happened.”

“…….”

“I’ve never actually been there. Astral projection isn’t nearly as easy as it sounds. But there must surely be future worlds where time continued to pass without Ion Forso ever occurring.”

There certainly were. I’d come from one. I simply stood there without answering. The Archduke put a hand on my shoulder.

“Since we came to the future using your blood, perhaps it’s worth giving it a try~? Hahaha!”

“…….”

A chill ran down my spine.

I was sorry, but there was no guarantee we could travel to the future. To me, this place and this moment we had arrived at were unquestionably the present. He thought we had traveled into the future, but from my perspective, I had merely returned to the present. And if I applied the many-worlds interpretation, I had not even returned. I was simply continuing forward.

“I’d like to meet myself from this time.”

“…….”

“What do you think I would be doing? I wonder how many members the Hermetische Gesellschaft has now, whether I managed to establish the theory of entropy reduction I’m working on, and…”

“And?”

“I also want to know whether Old Humans have learned to use magic.”

“…….”

“And what my younger brother and my friends are doing.”

I said nothing. There was no version of him from this time in this world. He was a ghost, nothing more than a remnant of the past that had somehow come here. How could I possibly say that to him?

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? For what?”

“…….”

“Whatever it is, don’t be sorry. I still can’t believe I’ve come to the future like this in my lifetime. When I go back, I’m going to record everything I experienced today without leaving anything out and use it as research material. And if I manage to finish a paper worth publishing, I’ll make sure your name is on it, Sir Everett. After all, this research wouldn’t even exist without you!”

The Archduke patted me on the shoulder. I smiled. He wouldn’t move unless I remained in the world of the Extra Chapter. So this time, too, I said nothing. I couldn’t. Only after a long while did I quietly say, “Thank you.”

“Oh, for what~?”

I let out a small laugh at his effortless response and asked, “So, how do we get out of here?”

“Hmm. I’ve been thinking about it from earlier until now. Since your friend was trapped here in the flesh rather than as a spirit, we need to figure out how to get the body out. To leave this place, we’ll first have to make the magic within the human body resonate with the ambient mana. Then we need to create a crack in the ambient mana and slip through it. That seems to be the only way.”

“As expected, scholars really are different. But when you say ‘create a crack,’ what exactly are we supposed to do? Make a black hole or something?”

“Well, getting out of here certainly seems to be the tricky part. Just give me a mo—”

BAAANG—!

Both of us turned our heads toward the sound at the same time. It had come from the southeast, from the direction where I had left Elias.

“He seems to be fighting.”

The Archduke spoke again, his voice suddenly serious. I felt my heart pounding even though I didn’t even have one right now. What had happened eight hours ago was still painfully vivid to me. I should at least go help him with my mana.

There was a reason I could only help with mana—since we hadn’t used the projection artifact, Elias couldn’t see me right now. I would be weaker than when I could use magic through my physical body, but I could still manipulate a small amount of mana in this state. I should at least be able to provide some support. I ran alongside the Archduke and said, “Your Highness. Now that we know how to do it, could you create a crack for us? I know it won’t be easy, but I’d appreciate it.”

“Yes. We have to try.”

Rumble…

Far ahead, I began to see Elias’s mana glowing in the distance. I drew the wand I had created with mental projection and pointed it at a Rampager. I concentrated my mana at its tip. Light burst forth before me.

KABOOM—!

[AAAAAAAGH! Ugh…!]

‘Wait.’

That came out stronger than I expected. There were no issues in terms of sheer output, but Elias was definitely going to be a little surprised. Just as I was internally startled by it, Elias’s dazed face turned toward me. He was clearly looking at the spot where the mana had come from. A faint voice reached me.

“Luka?”

“…….”

For a moment, I doubted my own senses. My head slowly turned.

Elias shouldn’t have been able to see me. We hadn’t used the projection artifact. And yet he was staring straight into my eyes, mouth slightly open. The Archduke had also frozen, staring between Elias and me as if he had no idea what was happening. Elias stood there blankly for a long moment before his lips finally moved.

“Luka, you…”

Translator Note

1. Laplace’s demon: A thought experiment proposed by French mathematician and physicist Pierre-Simon Laplace. It imagines an intellect that knows the exact state of every particle in the universe and, from that information, could predict the entire future and reconstruct the entire past. ↩︎