Chapter 552

“What are you doing…?”

I asked Ulrike, shivering. Even then, Ulrike did nothing but laugh heartily.

“Hahahaha!”

“Stop laughing and tell me. Mimesis isn’t supposed to work like this, is it? We’re supposed to be in the same space. The place where Leo and Julia are is way too far away…”

“No! They’re in Berlin.”

“What are you talking about? They’re supposed to be in the south, not here.”

There was no way they wouldn’t be in their own country at a time like this. I asked, narrowing my eyes, but Ulrike just laughed and shoved me out of the water.

“Go! Go say hello!”

Pushed along by Ulrike, I waded through the stream and came out into the bushes. Water dripped from my boots with every step. I shot another glare at Ulrike, who was still laughing, then eventually laughed myself, took off my boots, and poured the water out.

I walked over and looked at the two friends sitting on the hill, smiling down at me. I tipped the brim of my hat in greeting, and Zähringen spoke with the same courtesy as though we had met at a formal reception.

“It’s a pleasure to meet the protagonist of this turning point in German history.”

“Julia! Aaaaaah.”

Ulrike followed after me, shouting as he dragged out the last sound. There was no mistaking what he meant: don’t. Only then did Zähringen flash a grin, rest his chin on his hand, and greet me.

“Congratulations, Lukas.”

I answered with the same smile instead of words. Zähringen gazed at me for a long while, his eyes filled with meaning, before speaking.

“You’ve earned yourself a chance to go farther.”

“I already know about the help you gave me. I owe you a great deal.”

“Debt? It was mutual benefit.”

At the mention of mutual benefit, Ulrike looked back and forth between Zähringen and me. He knew Zähringen had helped through the press and contributed to changing public opinion about me, but was wondering what I could possibly have done for Zähringen in return.

I wondered the same thing for a moment, but I quickly understood what he meant.

Oh. Surely not.

That thought was gradually being pushed aside by the saying that assuming the worst can get you into trouble. I froze for a moment, then clicked my tongue.

I shifted my gaze slightly to the right. Leonard gave me a faint smile.

We didn’t need to say anything more. Before coming here and after arriving, we had both anticipated what might happen to each of us. I had discussed every step of the process with him as we made our way through that crisis.

The result was a success.

And I was standing before him as proof of it.

I hadn’t expected us to meet like this, but…

I held out my hand to Leonard, and he took it and gave it one firm shake. The measured pressure of his grip around my bones felt steadier than usual.

I asked them, “So, you two shouldn’t be able to be here. How are you here?”

“Hahaha. Ever the pragmatist.”

Zähringen laughed heartily before explaining.

“Compared to His Royal Highness Grand Duke Wilhelmina and His Majesty King Hildegard, we have considerably more freedom.”

That made sense. Even if those rulers had handed a great deal of authority over to their heirs, the reins ultimately remained in the rulers’ hands. But that still wasn’t a sufficient answer.

“So?”

“We made some time. That’s all there is to it. What more do you want me to say?”

“Don’t dance around the question, Julia. You need to at least be within the same field to connect to the same Mimesis. So are you at the Wittelsbach mansion right now?”

Zähringen merely smiled, so Leonard answered in his stead.

“The building next door.”

Even if he called it next door, it had to be quite a distance away. Seeing my expression, Zähringen answered.

“We set up Mimesis in an underground room connected to this mansion, then came in through there. I bought the mansion yesterday.”

“You bought it. To play around in Mimesis?”

“Of course not. It’s useful to have the residences of the ruling houses of the southern Empire close to each other.”

I stretched my mouth to the side and gave him a suspicious look. Zähringen burst into hearty laughter, while Leonard raised one corner of his mouth and snorted. They were completely of one mind. Sometimes, seeing things like this, I could understand why the two of them had been so close. They had always had something fundamental in common, enough to remain friends all these years…

In any case, seeing the two of them go along with Ulrike’s plan made me wonder if they, too, had believed that we absolutely needed to meet today.

I thought of my other friends. Narke should be in Berlin right now. I didn’t know when he would be released from the government, but he was nearby as well. As for Heike, there was no way we could bring him here even if we wanted to. And the remaining one…

“What about Elias?”

“No one knows.”

Leonard cut the question off cleanly. I nodded.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know. He simply wasn’t going to tell me. He probably hadn’t told Zähringen where Elias was, either.

Prussia would be watching for a chance to arrest Elias for siding with Bavaria, so Elias was in a position where he couldn’t show himself in public right now. Both Elias and Leonard had known from the beginning that there would be repercussions for taking part in the operation. And in the south especially, public opinion had formed around fervently applauding and supporting Elias Hohenzollern’s actions, making him an even greater thorn in the Imperial Family’s side.

That was why they couldn’t tell me where Elias was hiding, either. Especially since I was still in a position where Prussia could summon me and interrogate me again at any time.

Leonard was firm when it came to drawing a line. That was how he protected Elias and his friends with the power he held.

“So, why are you here?”

I asked as I stepped onto the sloping dirt, making my way up the high hill. A barrier suddenly appeared and blocked my path. Recognizing it as Leonard’s, I looked up. He answered with an expression that seemed to say, Why are you even asking?

“Why else? I came to play.”

“You?”

“Yeah.”

Without hesitation, Leonard threw himself down the hill and landed below. He held out a hand to Zähringen, who was still sitting at the top. With a relaxed smile, Zähringen took his hand and came down the same way.

Leaving us behind, the two of them headed downstream together. I liked the sound of the birds.

As Ulrike followed after them, he spotted a raspberry bush. He pulled out a pocketknife, hacked off a branch without a second thought, and handed it to me. Completely dumbfounded, I couldn’t decide whether I should mourn the poor bush that had been so brutally hacked apart or be grateful for Ulrike’s kindness.

Since I couldn’t bring myself to say anything, I decided to pick the berries one by one and feed them to Ulrike instead.

“Mm.”

He savored the taste, then furrowed his brows and shuddered. It must have been sour. Even so, Ulrike didn’t ask me to stop and continued eating every berry I gave him.

After a while, I tried swallowing one myself. That was when Ulrike quietly said, “But you know, Lukas.”

“Yeah?”

“This is a set from school, remember? So, like, with our third round exam and that purple bread at Headquarters, shouldn’t we be careful about just eating things like this?”

“…….”

He had a point.

This could actually be a poisonous plant. It was a little different, but it reminded me of the time Elias made me drink some mysterious water in the Mimesis.

Ulrike went deathly pale and whispered, “If I die and get kicked out of Mimesis, I’ll come back in. You have to wait there until I get back in!”

“Okay…”

He really had to say that after eating all of it…

I immediately lost my appetite and simply trudged along, carrying the bush with me. Time passed, but Ulrike showed no sign of getting kicked out. When I refused to eat the raspberries, he took them for himself, tossed them into the air, and played a game of catching them in his mouth until he’d eaten them all.

I watched the brown rabbits and mice that occasionally passed in front of us, as well as the blue birds flying across the sky.

With everyone being quiet, I could hear the conversation ahead of us clearly.

Zähringen was speaking.

“…but it doesn’t feel unfamiliar. We used to play somewhere like this when we were six. Do you remember?”

“We did.”

“I remember thinking it was pretty boring because you were always reading books.”

“And you couldn’t answer any of the fluid dynamics questions I asked you.”

“Hahahaha! I wonder if it’ll be the same today.”

Zähringen and Leonard kept up their argument, neither of them managing to land a single blow on the other. Come to think of it, had six-year-old Leonard really looked at a stream and thought of fluid dynamics? Once again, I found myself realizing that Leonard had already been Leonard even as a child, and let out a hollow laugh.

Whatever the case, the two of them were watching each other with warm eyes and relaxed smiles. Strangely enough, despite what they were saying, they seemed to be reminiscing about memories that belonged to just the two of them. As heirs to the ruling houses of neighboring states, they must have had plenty of opportunities to meet. Especially before they started school, they probably had more chances to see each other than either of them had to meet Elias. That was simply how their friendship had taken shape.

Ulrike, just as baffled as I was, pursed his lips and watched the two of them.

The stream grew wider and deeper as we made our way downstream. After going down for a while, Ulrike took off his shirt, leaving only his undershirt, and jumped into the water. Zähringen and Leonard stopped in their tracks when they saw him. They remained perfectly unperturbed, while I was the only one standing there with my mouth hanging open at this sudden turn of events.

“…What are you doing? Aren’t we going to the village?”

“Ah~ You expect me to just stand still after seeing water like this? Lukas! You should get in, too.”

“No, thanks. I’m more comfortable sitting here, and I like it.”

I politely held out my hand in refusal. But neither my smile nor my words of refusal got through to him.

“No way! You came all the way here, and you’re going to say no now?”

Ulrike slapped the surface of the water, sending green mana flying at me. I leaned aside to dodge it and shook my head.

“No, really, do I have to? Really—ah.”

Now I understood why he had made the weather feel like summer. The moment I came to that realization, Ulrike tried to persuade me with a perfectly logical expression.

“Turning down a chance to play isn’t something an Imperial Second Academy student does. Think about it, Lukas. The hems of your pants are already wet.”

“So what? That just means I should let them dry.”

I wasn’t given the chance to finish that sentence. I felt a hand shove me from behind, while at the same time, I realized that vines had wrapped around my shoulders and were holding my upper body down against the ground so I wouldn’t fall in headfirst.

BANG—

“Ugh…”

Feeling my heart jolt once again, I ran a hand over my chest as I found myself standing in water that came up to my solar plexus. Holding back a hollow laugh, I closed my eyes, braced my elbows against the ground, and raised my head.

I could hear snickering coming from all around me. When I opened my eyes, I saw Zähringen and Leonard looking down at me from above with gentle expressions.

They had planned this.

You little bastards— The words nearly escaped my lips. Meanwhile, Ulrike had his arms wrapped around me from below, holding me up in a way that made me wonder whether he was helping me or not, and he laughed and cheered.

“Not all of it got wet~ Leo said I shouldn’t get all of it wet.”

“Yeah, but what good does that do? Luise, you at least left your top up there. If I go out like this, I’ll freeze to de— I mean, I won’t even have anything to change into….”

“Gasp.”

Ulrike’s eyes widened, but he patted my back as though it were nothing.

“Then wear mine!”

“…….”

And what are you going to change into? Nothing. I rubbed my face with both hands and, for now, tossed my less-soaked jacket somewhere sunny, hoping to save it.

Ulrike, apparently happy either way, splashed around in the water and shouted, “Lukas, let’s race to over there.”

“I’m too weighed down to move. Some people threw me in with all my clothes on.”

“Guh…”

Ulrike made a strange noise as he drifted farther away. Ever since we got into the water, his attention had been fixed entirely on playing in it.

I leaned back against the grass beside the water and closed my eyes for a moment. Surprisingly, the water was warm after staying in it for a while. Maybe because this place got so much sunlight.

The two ruling-house brats watching us started talking among themselves. When I opened my eyes again, Leonard, who had been looking down at me, said to Zähringen, “You said you wondered if we’d do the same thing today.”

“Hmm?”

“Who knows. Whatever you’re thinking, neither of us is the same as we were back then.”

I openly craned my head backward to watch them upside down. The sunlight stabbed at my eyes. The distant call of a cuckoo made the scene strangely peaceful.

What Leonard was saying was that the things they had once considered lacking in each other had now been made up for. Leonard had learned how to play, while Zähringen had devoted himself to scholarship just as much as Leonard had—though Zähringen was already academically beyond reproach, so that part was hardly in question.

The former, however, was a little questionable.

Perhaps thinking the same thing, Zähringen provoked him with a crooked smile.

“That’s how it should be. I suppose we’ll have to see just how well our class president can swim, considering he’s never once taken a dip in the Spree.”

Leonard’s lips curved faintly as he looked at him.

“Isn’t it time you moved on from a peer group that considers swimming in the river something to be proud of?”

“Why run away from a peer group like that as though they’re asking you to do something so difficult? If that’s what everyone wants, wouldn’t it be worth humoring them, even if it’s something as trivial as this?”

“What if you don’t even see any value in taking part?”

“Well, our class president never has any shortage of people around him even when he does nothing.”

Zähringen smiled leisurely. Leonard had no need to do the sort of thing ordinary children did, like diving into a river to show off their strength or their vitality to others. Zähringen patted Leonard on the shoulder and looked down at Ulrike and me.

“There’s no need to point out that the group you lead has completely broken through the norms of such a peer group and practically formed its own school. You’re already rewriting the culture among your peers at school. I’m truly curious to see what you’ll be like once you ascend the throne.”

I couldn’t understand why they talked as though they were always in high society. Still, they seemed perfectly accustomed to it. Their personalities were already showing through here. The reason Julia hadn’t frequently interacted with Leonard and Elias after coming of age, that same tendency, was evident even in their most trivial conversations. Then again, I was staring straight at the two people responsible for throwing me in here, and neither of them seemed particularly concerned.

Leonard raised an eyebrow at that and rolled his eyes to the side, but whether that was his response through facial expression alone, he said nothing more. He quickly took off his jacket and vest, stretched a little, and stepped into the water. I heard Julia’s interested little hum. Apparently, Julia had assumed Leonard naturally wouldn’t get in the water, and so had I. Julia only took off his jacket and vest like Leonard and sat on the bank with his legs in the water. Then, quite naturally, he slipped farther in.

Since exposing bare skin outdoors was considered extremely undignified at this time, getting into the water in nothing but an undershirt like Ulrike had was the norm. But it seemed my two friends from ruling houses didn’t even want to do that. Zähringen swam over to where Ulrike was and gestured for him to go farther downstream.

I watched my three friends with my eyes half-lidded before speaking from the heart.

“You’re really going out of your way to make things difficult for yourselves.”

“How old are you?”

Leonard, standing beside me, asked with his usual deadpan seriousness, openly mocking me. Wasn’t there such a thing as a teenager who didn’t want to swim, even if they were a teenager? Unfortunately, as someone who was at best in his mid-twenties, I could only say that much. When I snapped at Leonard, asking if that was really something he should be saying, Ulrike, who hadn’t gone any farther yet, opened his eyes wide and quickly looked back and forth between us.

Fortunately, there was still a trace of laughter on my face—a hollow laugh, at least—so Ulrike soon smiled in relief. I called out to Leonard, who hadn’t gone very far yet.

“Leo. Why are you here?”

“I told you. To play.”

“You mean because you have to play.”

Leonard turned toward me and answered without the slightest hesitation.

“You know me well.”

He climbed back onto the bank and spoke with his back to the sunlight.

“Your speech was impressive enough.”

“…….”

“Lukas, from now on, you won’t be absent whenever modern history is discussed. I mean that you’ll be the one changing the history of our continent.”

“I’m not at that point.”

“Everyone expects that you will be. If they found someone with this level of leadership, no one would simply leave you alone.”

Leonard flatly dismissed my denial. He smiled gently.

“I’m proud of you. I promised I’d make you win somehow, no matter what it took.”

“Yeah. Since we’re on the subject, thank you. It was much easier thanks to Bavaria managing to win over the people of southern Germany.”

“Don’t mention it. But I’ll admit I’m worried our plan might branch off in other directions. Today, when the day has finally come that I might have to call you not just Sir Ernst, but Lord Askanien…”

Leonard murmured as he gazed into the distance.

“We want to make sure. Even if our concerns turn out to be unfounded.”

It was obvious what he meant to make sure of without my having to ask. He and Zähringen shared the same concern as Ulrike. I nodded.

In the meantime, Leonard planted his feet on the ground and jumped into the distance. Clear water splashed toward me. A moment later, he surfaced again. With a bright smile, he held out his hand to me.

“Playing isn’t that hard, Lukas. Right?”

The friend who had spent his entire life as far removed from playing as possible was telling me that playing wasn’t difficult. Thinking about how unlike himself he was being, I laughed and gave a vague nod.

Leonard had been about to use the hand he’d grabbed to pull me into the water, but he paused for a moment before asking, “Want me to make you a raft?”

“No… For someone who’s going to be king someday, you know how to do quite a lot.”

I took a deep breath and leaned back to float. The moment my head briefly sank underwater, my body twisted instinctively, but Leonard quickly helped me back to the surface and let go.

After that, I did nothing in particular. I just floated along, looking up at the sky.

Honestly, this is how I relax. As long as I’m not cooped up indoors, I’d rather do nothing at all. Even in the 21st century, I often went abroad just to take a break. Before I became well-known overseas, I liked wandering alone through the alleys where people lived.

Leonard swam at a comfortable pace with the current, occasionally tugging at his shirt collar. Every time he did, I grumbled.

“Hey, I said we should just float around here.”

“How is that playing?”

“I thought you were on my side.”

With no other choice, I—we—made our way down to where Ulrike and Zähringen were playing.

The water gradually alternated between shallower and deeper stretches, while the stream itself became a little narrower. Zähringen wrung the water out of his hair and sat on the bank. When Ulrike saw us, he swam over to us in an instant.

“Refreshing, right?”

“No, it’s nice because it’s warm.”

At my reply, Ulrike looked at me as if something was strange, but he shouted without paying it any mind.

“Look! I caught a fish!”

Ulrike carefully opened his fist and showed me what he had been holding inside. There was a small, grayish fish in his hand. I laughed as I watched Ulrike doing exactly the kind of thing I used to do back in elementary school.

Meanwhile, Leonard went over to Zähringen. The two of them soon began laughing and talking. They were probably going to bring up more stories from their childhood that none of us knew about…

Zähringen dipped his hand into the water and splashed Leonard in the face. Leonard looked at him with his characteristic dead-eyed stare. Then the two of them started laughing.

As I floated there with my eyes closed, doing absolutely nothing, Ulrike carefully placed a large oak leaf over my eye. I tilted my head and knocked it off.

Ulrike grabbed his cheek, pulling it downward, and shouted in a voice that had dropped lower and lower until it was almost unrecognizable.

“It’s an eyepatch!”

“Oh, so that’s what it is.”

I was momentarily confused, but I picked up the leaf again and simply held it in my hand for the time being. Just then, Zähringen waved a similar-looking oak leaf from where he was sitting.

Apparently, everyone was getting an eyepatch…

I closed my eyes again, and Ulrike grabbed my shirt collar. When I opened my eyes to see what he was doing, something slippery touched my skin. I slapped a hand against the area just below my collarbone and asked Ulrike, who was standing blankly beside me, “What are you doing, Luise?”

“A fish.”

“…….”

I lowered myself a little farther into the water and used mana to pull the fish out from inside my clothes and send it back where it came from. Then, as I thought about it, the whole thing became increasingly ridiculous. I let out a hollow laugh and rubbed my forehead.

“No, seriously, you…”

“Julia did that to me earlier.”

“Then why do it to me too?!”

Ulrike merely grinned and straightened my clothes for me—it was probably meant as a gesture of sincerity, though I couldn’t imagine what difference it made when I was lying in the water anyway. Then he disappeared underwater.

I couldn’t keep up with the high schoolers’ logic, so I decided to just try floating again.

Then.

“Hmm?”

I heard Zähringen’s voice. A faint “Huh?” from Ulrike drifted over from beside me as well.

I opened my eyes when something cold fell onto my cheek. It wasn’t water.

Something with a definite shape had melted against my skin and turned into water.

What I saw drifting through my field of vision was pure white snow.