Chapter 466

“What? Why do you need to see it alone?”

The moment Ulrike reached across the table, Elias hooked his arm around Leonard’s neck. Leonard immediately drove his shin into Elias’s leg and shook him off, then hurried into a vacant room farther away and sealed the door with mana. Elias clutched his shin and cried out, “Ow!” while Ulrike came running over and started pounding on the door—he was practically trying to break it down, saying this was his own house—but Leonard couldn’t open it right now.

Besides, how was he supposed to open the door when they came charging at him like that? What were they even doing? Leonard took a deep breath and pulled the potato and tomato brooches from the box. They were nice, too, but the real reason he had come into this room was underneath it.

Leonard took out the thick, hardcover book lying beneath it. Now that he looked at it, it wasn’t a book at all. It was a notebook. It looked like it had been bought fairly recently.

Leonard opened the cover. A red ribbon bookmark and crisp, snow-white pages greeted him.

To my dear Leonard Wittelsbach.

The message on the first page was written in the exact same handwriting as the card. It was very Lukas—straightforward and almost textbook-like. That restraint was very much like him.

Leonard smiled faintly and carefully turned the first page using only his left hand.

A blank page. Another blank page.

There was no preface. Why?

It was only after turning one more page that his writing finally appeared.

[September 1, 1897]

I came to school and decided I needed to become friends with you.

Live long enough and you’ll see anything, right, Leo?

To think I’m writing a diary with you as the subject.

“…….”

Live long enough and you’ll see anything? Those were his words. Leonard felt his breath catch as he checked the date once more.

September 1, Friday. The beginning of the first semester of their second year.

Ah. Leonard finally realized what kind of book this was. Then how far had it been written? He quickly found the last page with a date on it and skimmed through it.

[April 10, 1898]

Today. There was nothing written beyond today. Leonard returned to the first page of the entries and moved on to the next.

[September 2, 1897]

I came up with a plan to become friends with you.

[September 3, 1897]

Idem.

[September 4, 1897]

Monday. I spent the entire weekend making thorough preparations. I thought magic would be really difficult, but it came more easily than I expected.

You remember how I poked around in practical magic class like I was just fooling around? It was fun watching your expression crumple. I enjoyed seeing you react just as I expected.

[September 5, 1897]

Idem.

It was fun watching my reputation change.

Leonard turned the page. The entry for September 6 was much the same. And then—

[September 7, 1897]

Thanks for challenging me to a spar. Thanks for taking the bait just like I planned.

You have no idea how nervous I was that day. We wouldn’t have gotten close if not for this day, right?

That day, I sat beside you after you collapsed in the training grounds and looked up at the celestial sphere beyond the glass ceiling. I spent a long time thinking about how much was going to change from then on. And somehow, here we are today.

[September 8, 1897]

You slept pretty well in the infirmary, too. And you call Elias a sleepyhead?

It’s frustrating that I haven’t beaten you in a sparring match since that day, meaning I haven’t been able to send you back to the infirmary. I’ll learn properly and make sure I send you to the hospital next time.

Leonard couldn’t help feeling dumbfounded. He pressed his fingers against his eyes and closed the book. He didn’t have the nerve to turn another page.

It all felt like something that had happened an impossibly long time ago. No, more than that—it felt as though he’d stepped into some ancient book by an unknown author and was looking out at the scenery of the beginning of time. So much had changed that it was hard to believe all of this had really been the time they had shared. The person he had been back then almost felt like someone else.

Every moment the two of them had changed through the years to reach this point was still preserved exactly in Lukas’s mind. What remained had flowed out as words and taken numerical form. The time that had flowed away was right there in Leonard’s hands. Without a doubt.

He had been given the chance to look through his friend’s eyes alongside him. How could an experience like this not be astonishing? How could he possibly put it into words…?

So Lukas really was Nikolaus. Not only Nikolaus to all people, but Nikolaus to Leonard himself. Leonard slowly continued reading the rest of the September 8 entry.

Just then, someone knocked on the door. Certain that it was Lukas, Leonard flicked his fingers and dispelled the mana sealing the door shut. His friends’ voices came from outside.

“I wanna come in too—”

“Get out.”

Lukas pushed away the friends trying to squeeze through the gap and barely managed to get inside. He leaned against the door and asked, “How is it?”

Leonard’s lips moved soundlessly. He had never imagined he would receive something like this as a Wichteln gift, and he couldn’t figure out what to say. Lukas gave him a mischievous smile.

“I stayed up all night writing it. So? How is it?”

So he hadn’t gotten up early to prepare for the party. He hadn’t slept at all.

He should have realized it when Lukas said he was going to sleep somewhere else. Leonard’s lower lip twitched, and Lukas smiled as if to say, You finally figured it out? He gestured toward the hardcover notebook and said, “Actually, I was reading Principia before. I thought about picking out a book for you to read next, but if I just gave you a hint, you’d probably go buy it and read it yourself anyway. I wanted to give you something a little more special for once.”

From what Leonard had seen when he skimmed through it earlier, more than half the notebook was already filled with neat handwriting. Everything from September to today in April was there—the thoughts and impressions of all the time they had spent together since becoming friends.

He wanted to give something a bit more special? He had certainly succeeded. If it were Leonard, he wouldn’t even have thought of giving something like this—so how could it not be special?

Leonard murmured, “It’s just a Wichteln gift. You went this far for it?”

“As you know, we don’t know when this will end. I couldn’t wait until your birthday next month.”

Leonard understood. The two of them knew all too well the weight behind the words we don’t know when this will end. The air grew slightly heavier. It felt as though a neighboring key had been pressed along with the one meant to be played, throwing the whole melody off.

Leonard wasn’t the sort of person who could simply brush something like this aside. He slowly spoke.

“I can’t turn to the next page.”

“Why?”

“Why do you think? Because I’m afraid I’ll read through all the time you gave me. I don’t want to let these pages slip by in an instant.”

“…Wow. You really are different… Look at you, getting all sentimental…”

Lukas muttered behind his fist. Leonard raised an eyebrow, not understanding what he meant.

“Different how?”

“No, never mind. If you’re going to say something like that, then I’m glad I went to all the trouble of making it.”

So what exactly was so surprising? Still, Leonard didn’t feel like pressing him further. With one corner of his mouth raised, he spoke to Lukas, who was leaning back with his arms crossed and watching him.

“Thank you. It means even more because it came from a close friend. I’m glad I get to see the time we spent together from your perspective.”

“Honestly, it’s amazing that you’re saying all this. I’m glad you aren’t disappointed, just as I expected. Don’t be so careful with it. Just read it.”

“No. Absolutely not.”

Lukas burst out laughing. His laugh was so open that his teeth showed and dimples appeared in his cheeks. He seemed more than satisfied with Leonard’s reaction. After laughing for a while, Lukas lowered his gaze and said, “There are plenty of things I can’t do. I just spent half a day writing down whatever came to mind. It’s not like I spent days agonizing over every word.”

“That’s only because you already knew everything you wanted to say. Can you really measure the value of your thoughtfulness by the amount of time you spent on it?”

Leonard unconsciously murmured as he studied the letters in Lukas’s handwriting, neat and unmistakably characteristic of his friend.

“If time were the only thing that mattered, heliocentrism would still be nothing more than a doctrine of the Pataphysics school by now, and our way of thinking should still be confined to classical Mediterranean civilization. You know that you can’t call everyone you’ve known for years a bosom friend, and that even someone you’ve known for less than a year can understand you better than anyone else.”

Lukas raised an eyebrow at that. Leonard only realized belatedly that he had said quite a lot, but he had no intention of holding back words he wanted his friend to hear simply because they were embarrassing or because his friend might understand them without being told. Saying what could be said outright was a courtesy to someone you loved. It was a little embarrassing, but that wasn’t enough to stop him. Looking his friend in the eyes, Leonard continued.

“I know better than anyone that the length of time has nothing to do with the truth of something. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t know until today. No matter how much time you spent writing this, knowing the thought and care you put into it makes me happy.”

“Oh, look at you, getting all eloquent. Go on, say more.”

Lukas’s reply was obnoxiously smug, but the delight in his voice and smile was plain to see. Leonard smiled, thinking that he had done the right thing by telling his friend exactly how he felt. After a brief silence, he brought up a more suitable topic.

“What did you get?”

“Who knows? I haven’t opened it yet.”

“Really? Then let’s go open it now.”

“You’re not going to read any more of the diary I wrote for you?”

“I told you I’m going to savor it.”

At that, Lukas let out another hearty laugh, his head thrown back far enough to show his throat. Leonard could feel exactly how ridiculous Lukas found it, too. Feeling embarrassed all over again, he laughed and sighed at the same time before pushing his friend out of the room.

---

‘He actually says things like that.’

I could only laugh. I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen Leo this excited, like a kid who just got a Christmas present. Could I genuinely say something like that too? I don’t know. If I tried, I could probably do it, but I doubt words arranged like that would ever come to me so easily.

“Honestly, I never expected you to think of something like this.”

Leo said that as he pushed me from behind. He seemed to have finally recovered from his emotional tsunami—though it was surprising enough that he’d actually been as moved as I’d hoped he would be—and, apparently having thought of something he was curious about, leaned his head toward me and asked.

“How did you even do that? You’re not that kind of person.”

“Are you finally getting it? I’m not Lukas.”

“Seriously.”

“Fine. I’m still the same Lukas you’ve known since our second year.”

“I know that Lukas very well. He could never do something like this.”

“But I did it today, didn’t I?”

Leo broke into a childish grin, clearly pleased with himself. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to ruin the moment, but he was right about one thing. This wasn’t something I would normally do…

The truth was, I had gone about it like this. If I wanted to give him a gift that would truly touch him, I had to think like someone living in this world, in this era. How? I did the opposite of the things I would normally think of, the things that felt emotionally dry and practical to me.

The first things that came to mind as gifts for Leo were good-quality chocolate that wasn’t too sweet, everyday necessities, things like that. Since they had immediately occurred to me, though, they probably weren’t gifts with very good odds of making an impression. I couldn’t think of anything else, so I followed my instincts and started with a simple three-line letter—something Leo probably wouldn’t be particularly thrilled to receive.

Then, as I stared at the card, an idea suddenly struck me. People are happiest when you do things they wouldn’t expect from you right away, then what if I wrote him hundreds of letters?

I went straight to the shopping district in Frankfurt to buy a fountain pen and a notebook. I came back with high-quality ink that wouldn’t bleed or fade over time and a book with a leather cover that wouldn’t wear out easily. Instead of handing everything over to the head butler to wrap, I borrowed a room and spent the time from dinner until eleven that night doing nothing but writing.

To be honest, around the sixtieth day, I seriously reconsidered the whole thing for a moment. Fortunately, I finished writing the diary entries up through mid-November before our Stone Age excursion, and wrote the rest—from late November to early April—in the early hours of the morning.

I’m just glad it worked. Setting aside how grateful I was for Leo’s sincere words, I thought my arm was going to fall off.

More importantly, though, there was something about what Leo had just said…

There was something that kept nagging at me. There was something about this world that I had always found strange, and the more I wrote the diary, the more suspicious I became. One of the things Leo had just said only deepened that suspicion. It was worth keeping in mind.

When we came back outside, Elias, who had been waiting at the table, ran over, grabbed Leo, and asked, “What did you get to make you look like that?”

“Why would I tell you?”

No matter what Leo said in response, Elias quickly let him go and came over to me, studying my face.

“Why’s he like that now? Luka, what did you give him?”

I patted Elias on the shoulder and walked over to the gift box sitting all alone in the middle of the table, waiting for me. The name written on the card was—Lukas Askanien. There were drawings of animals beside it. Seeing all the animal faces and confetti flying around his name, I burst out laughing and called to my friend.

“Luise.”

“Huh? You figured it out right away?”

“You’re the only person here who’d draw all over a card like this… Wait, was it really you? You went into town with me yesterday.”

Ulrike clapped his hands and turned to the others.

“Wow~ Look at that! Even Lukas couldn’t predict it!”

I had no idea what he took me for. Unless I was taking an exam or dealing with an enemy, I was perfectly capable of turning my brain off and living normally. Apparently, the Headquarters exam had left quite an impression on him. I could only give a dry laugh as Ulrike patted my shoulder.

“That’s why I kept talking to you yesterday when we went out. I had to figure out what you liked.”

“Hahaha! Oh, so that’s what it was… And I told you everything without realizing it.”

I had thought he was watching me like a hawk to figure out what I was going to give Leo, so that explained it. I untied the ribbon around the box and said, “Now I’m curious what you got me.”

At that, Ulrike seemed to have figured out to some extent what I had given Leo. He grabbed my arm with a horrified look. “No! It won’t be nearly as thoughtful as what you did for Leo… Please, don’t expect anything like that!”

“Oh, I know what people usually give each other for Wichteln. Don’t worry.”

Usually, Wichteln gifts were things worth around twenty thousand won or less. It was really just a lighthearted game. Basically, you gave each other things like the ribbons, party hats, or potato brooches I had bought. Whoever I had been paired with, I would have put as much thought into their gift as I had Leo’s, but I didn’t expect the same from my other friends.

With everyone watching me, I met each of their eyes one by one before gripping the lid. Then, just before they could start complaining about when I was going to open it, I lifted the lid in one swift motion.

“Oh.”

I picked up a large square paper envelope. A light touch told me that there was a thin disc inside.

“A shellac record?”

“Yep! I noticed you had a gramophone when I visited your house before.”

Elias, who had been watching from beside me, quietly said, “That’s some serious observational skill.”

“Yeah. You remembered…”

As I marveled at that, Ulrike pulled another envelope from the box and said, “Of course I remember! This one’s music, this one’s music, and this one’s music too… I didn’t buy any of the records you already had at home. I picked all of them to have the opposite kind of feel from what you had. And this one, I recorded myself ages ago to give to you! You can listen to it on your birthday.”

He shook the pink-wrapped package as he said it. I took it from him and asked, “There’s still six months until my birthday. Can’t I listen to it now?”

“No!”

Ulrike firmly took the record from me and set it on the table, then pulled another small box from the gift box. I peered at what he was holding.

“There’s more?”

“Of course there is. This is an arm strap!”

Out of nowhere? When did he even buy this? Puzzled, I took the box and asked, “Why?”

“What do you mean, why? You write a lot when you’re thinking, don’t you? So yesterday, when you said you’d used up all the notebooks you’d bought and were going to get new ones, I was so happy because I thought, I totally called it.”

At that, Ulrike narrowed his eyes halfway and gave a hollow laugh.

“Now I realize you only said that as an excuse to buy one…”

“…No. I really had used up all the notebooks I bought. If I’d had a spare new one, I would’ve written in that and given it to him.”

“Right? I thought so!”

Ulrike snapped his fingers, cast a soundproofing spell, and patted me on the shoulder.

“Leo looked so genuinely happy that it made me happy too. Let’s keep things going like this from now on!”

“Thanks, Luise. But we were already going like this.”

“Yeah, let’s keep it up! Anyway, from now on, don’t roll up your sleeves when you’re writing. Use this to hold them in place!”

He dispelled the soundproofing spell, took the strap out of the box, and handed it to me.

I’d probably use it quite often. I’d noticed it for a while now, but Ulrike was observant. More than simply remembering information, he was good at taking what he remembered and connecting it to the person in front of him. Hmm. Connecting things. Connecting information…

I thought about it for a moment before murmuring quietly.

“Luise, if you ever decide to get into stocks, want to share our picks with each other?”

“Listen to you talking about stocks.”

Leo cut in with his usual mild expression, but I was serious. Right now, I was splitting the money coming in under Nikolaus’s name between the Catacombs, Bavaria, and Elias’s business. I couldn’t keep pouring it into Anhalt’s ventures, since I had no way to explain where the money was coming from. And every time I invested in something, I felt more keenly that sustained operations required even more money. Society needed people who took action, but it also needed people willing to fund them.

Beside me, Narke whispered, “Why are you actually serious about this? Hahaha.”

“Don’t read.”

“Okay.”

I slipped the strap Ulrike had given me around my forearm. Ulrike clapped his hands, clearly pleased.

“Wow, it really suits you! Good thing I got it in black, the exact same color as your holster.”

“Thanks. I think it’ll be really useful. I’ll put it to good use, Luise.”

Taking a cue from Leo, I answered sincerely, and Ulrike broke into a bright smile. For some reason, I felt like laughing too, so I gave him a quick hug to hide my expression and asked, “Then, Luise. Who did you get yours from?”

No answer.

Nobody around us answered for him, either. Sensing that something was off, I quickly pulled my arm away from his back and looked at Ulrike. He started laughing out loud.

“Hehehe.”

---

Translator Note

A small correction regarding pronouns: I recently realized that I accidentally misgendered one of the female Old Humans in my translation. 🥲

The reason is that the author uses 그 when referring to characters and also often uses 사람 (‘person’) for Old Humans instead of indicating their gender with 남자 (‘man’) or 여자 (‘woman’). While 그 is commonly translated as ‘he’ in English, it is not inherently a masculine pronoun in Korean. In its original usage, 그 is actually gender-neutral. It can be understood more like ‘that person’ or ‘that someone.’ The author even uses it for some explicitly female Old Humans, so I mistakenly assumed a few were male and used ‘he’ in English.

More explanation here~

For some context, 그 isn’t really a pronoun in the same way English pronouns are. It originally functions as a determiner meaning ‘that,’ and when used without a following noun, it can be understood as ‘that person.’ Its use as a pronoun became common in written Korean partly through translations from Western languages, where gendered pronouns are required for context. Unlike 그녀, which specifically means ‘that woman’ and is feminine, 그 itself is not strictly masculine or feminine.

그녀 is actually not a word you would normally use in everyday Korean conversation. The word itself was only coined in the 20th century as a translation of the English ‘she,’ so it remains largely limited to certain forms of writing or more formal contexts. You generally won’t see native Korean speakers casually using 그녀 the way English speakers use ‘she,’ and depending on the context, using 그녀 to refer to a woman can even come across as rude or insulting. This is also why 그 can still be used to refer to women in Korean written works.

For now, I’ve decided to determine the gender of Old Humans based on their names when translating. If their name happens to be gender-neutral… well, I’m screwed. 😭 But yeah, please feel free to correct me if you notice that I’ve misgendered an Old Human again! 🩷