Chapter 482

“Testing my patience, are you?”

The Duke Caetani of Rome, who had neatly swept his moderately brown hair back, was nowhere to be seen. The young mage revealed as the illusion peeled away ran a hand through his black hair, which fell over his eyes. Gabriele Caetani looked down at Narke with the same cold, sharp expression he had worn when we first met. This time, however, his gaze was fixed on Narke rather than me.

He looked nothing like the Duke Caetani of Rome, who was clearly his parent. Nor did he resemble the Duke Caetani of Pisa that Narke had taken the appearance of. He looked like someone who had simply fallen from the sky. Was Narke the same?

The smell of blood stung my nose. Narke covered the blood running from his nose with his palm.

“Did you come here knowing I would be here? That can’t be it… You couldn’t have known, or you wouldn’t have acted the way you did earlier.”

Narke made no attempt to defend himself against the attack. He simply stared into empty space. It was a completely different attitude from the way he had dealt with his aide, Simone Savelli. Right now, he seemed prepared to silently endure whatever Gabriele Caetani chose to do to him.

Gabriele Caetani was undeniably a powerful mage, but as far as I was concerned, Narke was not someone who could simply be brought down by an attack from him. Under the pressure of the divine power, Narke kept taking short, shallow breaths before hunching over and coughing, a metallic rasp mixed into the sound.

Gabriele Caetani, perhaps because Narke had not answered his question, only pressed the divine power down harder. His expression showed no intention of taking Narke’s condition into consideration, no matter how he reacted.

“The old man of Delphi told me. He said you would return to Rome.”

Delphi. He spoke of Greek fatalism. Hearing him say something like that with the name Gabriele struck me with an immediate sense of incongruity¹. Prophecy proclaimed through the mouth of a prophet—the prophecy of Christianity assumes that one can repent by exercising one’s free will and turn toward a better place. The oracles of Greece, by contrast, meant submission to an unavoidable fate.

Was he referring to his own Insight ability? Or did he, too, have a prophet like Abraham’s Daniel by his side? Whatever the case, the metaphor of the old man of Delphi felt strangely out of place. At least regarding this matter, he seemed to believe there was nothing a person could change. Our coming to Rome had been an inevitability engraved into the universe. Perhaps the things Narke was carrying out were, too? My thoughts grew tangled.

“And yet, while I was seeing through you, you knew nothing even after you arrived in Rome. All this time, even before you left, you looked down from above upon my Pythia of Delphi. So why? On what whim did you do this… Do you really think you have any right to think that way?”

Gabriele’s voice was cold as ice. Narke remained silent. To the left of my field of vision, Elias’s blue mana flared through the divine power, only to fizzle out in the end. Gabriele was stronger than when we had met two months ago, yet he still didn’t act as though he intended to kill Narke. My instincts as a battle mage told me that he had no intention of physically harming Narke.

The problem was that none of us—no matter how poor our relationship with Narke might be—could figure out exactly why Gabriele had suddenly grown angry with Narke, or why Narke was simply taking it without resistance. Confused, all we could do was watch the two figures barely visible between the light and darkness.

Gabriele hadn’t done me any serious harm, at least. As long as I didn’t try to force my way out with mana or struggle against the restraints—in other words, as long as I remained trapped between the bars of light that kept me from moving—I wasn’t in pain. Elias was probably the same. Even as all this went on, the conversation continued.

“How did His Holiness allow such recklessness… in that illustrious Roman Senate? Have you forgotten that you’re supposed to take responsibility befitting your position? Even if you didn’t intend it, don’t you know that showing yourself like this to a suffering life is a sinful thing to do?”

The Roman Senate? Once again, I felt uneasy at the appearance of a concept that seemed more suited to antiquity. Had Narke’s departure from Rome been approved by the Pope and the Senate? Did ‘Senate’ refer to the alliance of powerful Roman families Narke had mentioned? Was it an assembly made up of the heads or key figures of those families?

The most natural and reasonable assumption led me in that direction. But I couldn’t know whether it was actually true. Sometimes the most reasonable assumption turned out to be the most wrong, while the answer was something I hadn’t even considered. Narke remained silent.

“I suppose you aren’t even sorry.”

Gabriele said it without a trace of amusement. As he lowered his head while staring at Narke, his hair fell across the bridge of his nose. Narke was still silent.

The smell of blood grew stronger, gradually drawing the mana throughout my body toward it. My mana struggled desperately to grow stronger, flowing as though it might burst out of my body at any moment. So who exactly was he supposed to be sorry to? I had to somehow turn my attention away. Away from the instinct of my mana and back toward my own reason.

For the first time, Gabriele let out a sharp-edged laugh. His voice didn’t sound amused in the slightest, and his expression carried the kind of feeling that made it impossible for any real laughter to come out.

“I don’t expect you to care about me, but to your so-called friends—”

“I came here to catch Orsini’s traitor.”

Narke’s calm voice cut him off. Despite his eyes being bloodshot from burst vessels under the pressure, Narke remained composed.

What did he mean by his so-called friends? I wanted to know what he had been about to say before Narke cut him off. Once again, Narke gave him that piercing look. Then he let out a quiet “Ah,” and spoke with a composed expression.

“He left for Milan on government business… Duke Caetani of Rome isn’t here.”

The smell of blood grew stronger. Each time Narke spoke, I could hear the resistance of blood running down his throat mixed into his voice. Gabriele’s cold voice rang through the drawing room.

“So you pushed yourself using one ability, and now you can barely keep up with the bleeding… It doesn’t suit you at all. Give up this ridiculous act already.”

He had clearly suffered internal injuries after using Insight. Regardless of what Gabriele said, Narke continued with what he had come to say.

“There is someone in the Papal See who is in league with the heretics in France.”

“If the prefect is simply doing his job as prefect, how exactly am I supposed to interfere?”

He was implying that calling them “heretics in France” made it sound as though this were still within the normal duties of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Despite Gabriele’s cold sarcasm, Narke remained unfazed. He tried once more to persuade him.

“They aren’t ordinary heretics. They are people like Pleroma. They have the House of Orléans in the palm of their hand and are manipulating France. We have to stop them from leaking the Papal See’s secrets.”

“Have to stop them?”

Gabriele tilted his head slightly and continued, his eyes hard.

“There is no greater hypocrisy than this.”

Suppressed anger ran through his voice. The moment I sensed the hostility directed at Narke, I felt a sense of unease. I twisted my hands between the dozens of bars of divine power crossing my body at different angles, so that I could break through the divine power and rush out the moment Gabriele threatened Narke’s life. The divine power burned against my skin, but I had to dismantle my mana restraints somehow. I couldn’t just stand by and let something happen to Narke.

And even as I worried about Narke, I couldn’t shake the fact that I still had no idea why Gabriele was speaking to him like this.

“Is this how someone like you is supposed to act? If you truly believe this must be stopped, then you should stay in the Vatican and abandon this. You know as well as I do that this is no time for you to be in Germany… More than anyone, you yourself know that better than anyone else. How dare you say something like that?”

“I’m trying to stop what has already happened from getting any worse. I only want to set right what has gone wrong. Help me find the traitor in House Orsini.”

“If you can look down upon the Pythia of Delphi, then finding out who Orsini’s traitor is should be an easy feat. You shouldn’t have to beg a halfwit like me for it. And those people you call your friends probably want you to return to the Vatican rather than remain in Germany. If you did that, instead—”

“It’s gotten out of hand.”

At Narke’s quiet words, Gabriele fell silent. White sunlight streamed in through the tall window above, illuminating the two of them.

“How do you intend to deal with the consequences?” Gabriele asked in a hollow, emotionless voice.

“…….”

“You need to understand that you’re living in a daydream. When the play ends, everything you think you’ve had until now will disappear like a mirage. And that’s because of you. No matter how far the Roman Senate drove you to the edge, all of this happened because you failed to reflect on yourself, because you failed to fulfill your responsibilities, and—”

“Enough!”

Elias shouted. Gabriele stopped without even looking in his direction, and silence filled the room. Elias seemed about to shout again—but Narke opened his mouth at the same time.

“You’re right. At this point, I don’t expect this to be anything but a daydream.”

“If that’s how it was going to be, why did you start?”

“The person I was that day was different from the person I am today. Just as wind slowly carves away at a rock and changes the landscape of a village, time has changed who I was then and who I am today. Even though I knew nothing was immutable, everything I once believed would remain unchanged eventually changed. It had to. But the name I bore that day is still mine today, and I will take responsibility for it. So please, help me set things right, even if it’s only now.”

Silence settled between them. Only after the curtains hanging by the window swayed four or five times in the breeze did Gabriele quietly speak.

“You have never once been beneath my feet.”

“…….”

“So did you think I’d be happy if you let me win? Did you think I’d feel even a little satisfaction if you simply endured whatever I dished out?”

Narke coughed. Since he was lying down, perhaps blood had begun to enter his airway, because the sound was rough.

“That is what they call a winner’s composure, not a reversal of fortunes. Even if I have you beneath my feet right now, I’m not happy. You cannot atone through something like this. In fact, I don’t think you could atone for it no matter what you did.”

Gabriele’s divine power withdrew. I felt the divine power embedded in the wall break away, taking with it the force that had been holding me up, and quickly got to my feet. Before I could even act on the thought that I needed to help Narke, Elias rushed over to him and lifted his head so the blood wouldn’t flow the wrong way. Even then, unlike his usual temperament, Elias didn’t attack Gabriele. There was only one thing his refusal to pass judgment based on personal experience until the truth of the incident was revealed could mean. Elias, too, remained in much the same state as I did.

“Know that you have atoned for nothing. Just as the Roman Senate has not atoned to either you or me, neither have you.”

Narke didn’t answer. It was understandable. Gabriele’s words were nothing more than another reminder of the resolve Narke had made earlier, only expressed differently. By echoing Narke’s resolve, Gabriele wasn’t simply giving voice to his suppressed anger and distrust. It meant that, even at the edge of his patience, he was still holding on to the last bit of faith he had in him. Gabriele felt something close to disgust toward Narke, and yet he was willing to place his hopes in him one more time. What kind of hope was it? Probably a faint expectation still stained by disillusionment.

What exactly was Narke supposed to set right? What had he done wrong? I had no idea. When it came to Narke, the more I knew about him, the more I realized how little I actually knew. Whenever I seemed close to getting to know him, he stopped me at an appropriate distance. Even when I wanted to get closer, I couldn’t, and if Narke didn’t want me to, I didn’t want to force my way in. We might not have been friends, perhaps comrades-in-arms instead, but Narke never treated us as comrades. I probably hadn’t treated him that way either. So, deep down, I hoped he had done nothing wrong. What exactly? I didn’t know. Even if he had done something wrong, I hoped he could set it right, just as he said he would. I knew nothing about what had happened before he came to Germany, and I was wary of him to some degree precisely because I didn’t know what he was hiding from us. But that was separate from this wish.

Once Elias had wiped away all of Narke’s blood and released him, Narke slowly pushed himself up from the floor and returned to what he had been talking about.

“The traitor among the Orsini is stealing holy relics belonging to the Papal See and leaking information that should be kept within the Papal See to the French Imperial Family. The Roman Senate, who still remembers what House Colonna did centuries ago despite their current devotion to the Papal See, cannot turn a blind eye to this.”

Now that Gabriele had made it clear that he was willing to place even a hope steeped in disillusionment in Narke, it was only natural for Narke to ask for his cooperation in finding the traitor among the Orsini. Gabriele himself had said he would help.

As expected, Gabriele closed his eyes and quietly replied.

“What are you going to do once you find Orsini’s traitor? Finding them isn’t the end of it, is it?”

“From there, I’ll take care of my own business.”

Finding the traitor was the end of it. As the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith—in other words, a high-ranking clergyman with the authority to judge criminals—Narke intended to deal with Orsini’s traitor himself. In other words, once we found out who the traitor was, the three of us could return to Germany.

Gabriele’s gaze finally settled on me. His face held no trace of a smile as he said, “We meet again.”

Narke looked at me. A trace of wariness passed through his eyes, then quickly disappeared. Gabriele kept his eyes on me as he continued.

“Before you approach Orsini’s traitor, there’s something I’d like to say to Lord Askanien.”

“No.”

Narke cut him off without hesitation. As if he had expected that response, Gabriele answered at once.

“The old you would have simply smiled at ease and told me to go ahead, just as I’ve seen you do more times than I care to remember. You would have sensed that I don’t wish to die at my age.”

“…….”

“If you know what I’m going to do, then let him go.”

Narke gently raised the corners of his mouth, though there wasn’t the slightest hint of a smile in his eyes. Then he sat down on the sofa with Elias.

Gabriele immediately left the room. Narke smiled and gestured for me to follow him. I had no choice but to follow Gabriele as well. By then, he had already taken on the appearance of Duke Caetani of Rome. After climbing two more floors, he opened a massive door flanked by marble busts and let me enter first.

The long windows here offered a clear view of the blue courtyard and the rear gate. I sat down at the round table by the window. Gabriele had returned to his true appearance by then and did the same. His unusually sharp features stood out even more at such close range.

Just as I had thought, there was nothing about him that resembled Duke Caetani of Rome, who was clearly supposed to be his family. I had heard later that he and Narke had been created using the same blood and mana to a certain extent, but even he didn’t resemble Narke.

Perhaps Narke only seemed softer at first glance. Come to think of it, his features might actually be quite sharp as well. A fully grown human with a well-developed frame and no excess flesh could hardly have truly soft features. But at the very least, there wasn’t the slightest resemblance between his features and Gabriele Caetani’s. Did they really have to be this different? Why?

“You’re thinking about that.”

“…….”

I’d overlooked the fact that he was an Insight user. Even so, I wasn’t particularly surprised, so I simply looked at him without changing my expression. He already knew that I had figured out his name back at the Pentathlon, so he wouldn’t be surprised that I knew about his ability either.

“How much did you read?”

“‘Read’ isn’t quite the right word. I simply know that you felt a slight sense of unfamiliarity when you looked at me.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes.”

Narke hadn’t been like that. I pushed the thought aside, and just then, Gabriele quietly fixed his gaze on me and spoke.

“This isn’t exactly a situation where I should say it’s good to see you, but it is. I’m glad to see that you’re alive and here, having safely accomplished what you had resolved to do.”

“…….”

“The fact that we’ve met again today means that the natural order is rapidly going awry. At least, on that day, I never thought we would be seeing each other again today.”

“I thought the same.”

“You must have sensed it, then. Which is why I have to tell you this today.”

Tell me what? But that wasn’t what I needed to know. Looking into his eyes as they remained fixed on me, I asked, “Is this something the Pythia of Delphi would say?”

“No.”

He turned his head and looked out the window, where silver sunlight shimmered brightly.

“But it is. I’m going to tell you about something that is bound to happen to you. At the very least, I know more about it than you do.”

Translator Note

I haven’t really been active in the fandom, so I honestly didn’t know that some readers were still confused about why I translated Lukas’s surname as ‘Askanien’ instead of ‘Askanier,’ which seems to be the version some of the fandom uses. I only found out about this recently when a friend who reads my translation asked me about it.

I actually already had a footnote explaining this in chapter 2, when ‘Askanien’ first appeared, and in chapter 181, when I changed my translation of Lukas’s surname from ‘Ascania’ (the English form of Askanien) to ‘Askanien.’

There are three things I want to clarify. I didn’t explain all of this back then, so here we go:

1. The author uses 아스카니엔 (Askanien) for Lukas’s surname, not 아스카니어 (Askanier). I’m just following what the author actually wrote.
2. The difference I mentioned between Askanien and Askanier wasn’t something I made up. I had it fact-checked by a German friend (no, this is a different friend from the one who read my translation).

   I actually had to look into some German-language sources myself before asking this German friend to check whether I had understood everything correctly. I do know a little German myself, but I’m definitely not an expert, so if I’ve gotten something wrong here, especially from a German-language or historical perspective, please tell me! I’m always open to being corrected if I’ve misunderstood something. 😊

   Historically, Askanien and Askanier are both terms associated with the history of the House of Ascania, but they are not simply interchangeable. Askanier is the established term for the dynasty and its members. In other words, I mistakenly described Askanien as referring to both the house and the dynasty previously. (I’m sorry, I’ve changed the notes now 🥲) The dynasty is referred to as the Askanier.

   Askanien, meanwhile, refers to the house name. The historical terminology is a little more complicated than simply ‘house name’ versus ‘dynasty and its members,’ but this is the distinction relevant to why Lukas’s surname is Askanien.

3. In chapter 33, Elias mentions the ‘Act on Using House Names as Surnames.’ I couldn’t find a historical law that corresponds to this, so I take it as something specific to the novel’s setting. And this is actually relevant to the point above. If the novel is specifically talking about using a house name as a surname, then Askanien fits because Askanien is the house name, whereas Askanier refers to the dynasty and its members.

   That said, the idea of house names being associated with families, and sometimes becoming surnames, is definitely something that existed historically. So within the novel’s setting, I don’t find it particularly strange that the author uses Askanien as Lukas’s surname.

I never really explained the whole thing in one place, so hopefully this clears up why I use Askanien and not Askanier.

I’ve also been told that a few readers get confused about Bavaria and Bayern, so just to clarify, they’re the same place! Bavaria is the English name, while Bayern is the German name. The same goes for Munich / München and Prussia / Preußen. They’re not different places. I’m just using their English forms in my translation.

I chose the English names because, from what I’ve seen, those are the forms the fandom is more familiar with. Since I haven’t been very active in the fandom, though, I could be wrong about that. I’m sticking with the English forms for now, but I’m open to hearing if there’s a strong reason to use the German forms instead.

I’m actually a little bit of a perfectionist, so honestly, if you manage to convince me, I might end up changing the whole translation lol.

Footnote:

1. Delphi was the site of the Oracle of Delphi, the most famous prophetic oracle in ancient Greece, where the Pythia delivered prophecies believed to reveal the will of Apollo. Gabriele, meanwhile, is the Italian form of Gabriel—the name of the archangel Gabriel who serves as a messenger of divine revelation in the Abrahamic religions, particularly Christianity. ↩︎