Chapter 559

“And if I do?”

I placed my hand on the doorknob. Laying it over the back of Abraham’s hand, I guided his fingers back around the knob and slowly pulled it inward. The door leading to the stage closed. I cast a soundproofing spell over it again, then tilted my head as I studied his lemon-colored eyes for a long moment. His yellow eyelashes were right in front of me.

“Honestly, I couldn’t care less whether you succeed in persuading them or not…”

“…….”

“I would simply find it deplorable if Prussia once again failed to look after its own people. And if you are thinking of telling me that a righteous person should behave righteously, then you are the one who should stop. Besides, why not establish a different base? Of course, investing in a place where the necessary infrastructure is already in place would be more efficient, but even so…”

I raised an eyebrow slightly.

“You are perfectly capable of doing something inefficient. You are just far too eager to test me.”

“You know me well.”

“If I succeed in persuading them, are you going to stop this disgraceful manipulation of the press? Simply stopping won’t be enough. I want public opinion of me adjusted to the precise level I intend. No more, no less.”

After all, the person who made the mess should be the one to clean it up. That was the bare minimum. I wasn’t going to settle for merely asking him to stop attacking me. I intended to get something out of this.

I continued slowly, “If Your Highness is willing to cooperate instead of standing by while the press runs wild, then I will do it.”

“Hmm.”

“And make sure you don’t create a conflict between the identities of Nikolaus Ernst and Lukas Askanien.”

At that, Abraham raised his head with an indifferent expression.

“Then this one place won’t be enough.”

“In that case, I will be leaving.”

I walked past him without hesitation. The headmistress and the others had asked to be excused and returned to their seats, so no one was around to witness this act of disrespect toward a member of the Imperial Family. It wasn’t until I had nearly reached the end of the corridor that Abraham finally spoke, his voice slow and unhurried.

“I have proposed a strategy that benefits both you and me. Compared to your utterly shameless maneuver, isn’t the current press campaign practically child’s play?”

Shameless maneuver, huh. He meant the strategy I’d carried out to elevate Bavaria without informing him. It must have stung to be blindsided like that.

I turned to look at him. I’d pushed him as far as I could, so now it was time to hear what else he had to say. Abraham leaned against the wall and crooked a finger at me. When I remained where I was, he muttered, “I take it they don’t summon their subordinates like this in Bavaria. Come here and help me.”

“I was just thinking how astonishingly ill-mannered you are. Has no one ever dared to correct you before? Well done, Your Highness. Since you have chosen to speak like a civilized person, I suppose I can humor you.”

Abraham raised an eyebrow and smiled at me with an expression of truly astounding gratitude. Then he pulled a cigarillo case from his breast pocket.

“Got a light?”

When I didn’t answer, he closed his eyes and pulled a lighter from another pocket. Then he tossed the cigarillo case and lighter to me.

“Light it. I will tell you what you need to know while we talk, until it is fully lit.”

He called it a conversation, but it wasn’t really one. Toasting a cigarillo meant holding it in your hand and using a torch to heat the tip until it caught fire. I didn’t have the skill to do that, so I’d have to light it the way you would a regular cigarette. As if I could talk while doing that. Unlike cigarettes, cigarillos were too thick to catch fire right away. You had to keep heating the tip for one to three minutes before it would properly light. In other words, he intended to do all the talking himself for the next three minutes. But who knew what he’d put in there? Besides, I didn’t want to do anything I’d feel guilty about later when it came to Luka. Secondhand smoke was unavoidable, unfortunately. I regarded him impassively and said, “Doesn’t that go against Prussia’s public health campaign? It is so contradictory that it is a shame it isn’t illegal.”

“You were determined to teach me some manners, and you are giving up already? That is an imperial order.”

“And if I refuse?”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

Abraham smiled as if it were nothing. A lie. It was obvious what would happen if I refused. He’d throw me in a cell on charges of lèse-majesté. Well, knowing him, he wouldn’t hesitate to score an own goal for Prussia, so it was entirely plausible. Just thinking about how I’d get myself out of that mess was exhausting already. He’d been displeased ever since I put him in a difficult position a few days ago, and now he was taking the opportunity to return the favor. Even if the scale of our respective troubles was vastly different.

What a desperate little attention seeker. Muttering that to myself, I gave him an indifferent look, put the cigarillo between my lips, and held a flame to the tip. The smell of tobacco was right under my nose, the same overpowering smell I’d already breathed in throughout the Crown Prince’s Palace of Prussia. It still hadn’t caught fire, so no smoke was getting into my lungs.

“This is my way of apologizing.”

Abraham spoke as he watched me.

“You would have figured out what was going on anyway. Even if I stopped interfering with the press now, the articles had already affected the girls’ schools in Prussia, students and teachers alike. But is this really just a matter of manipulating the press?”

“…….”

“You need to think about that. I am saying you should have seen this coming from the moment you decided to win people over from the ground up. Even if the article had never been published, the flames were already spreading among the students. Did you really think the teachers would never get a chance to look down on you, acting as though they were the students’ parents? Did you honestly think Prussian students would never support you in ways you didn’t want? Adrian Askanien was practically deified from an early age, so there were no signs of this with him. But now that you are trying to start from the bottom, you get to see all sorts of things.”

I coughed briefly and caught my breath. His cigarette was just an ordinary cigarette, without a trace of magic.

That was the difference from the very beginning. Adrian Askanien had always presented himself as royalty and was seen as someone untouchable, beyond anyone’s reach. He probably hadn’t received many love letters like the ones I’d gotten. That, in itself, was a form of respect.

As Leonard and Abraham had said, the closer I got to people, the lower the barrier between us became. It wasn’t that I seemed easy to approach in a bad way. People simply felt the closeness I had deliberately tried to create.

“…That is why I have given you a chance to work through this. It is a rehearsal for everything that lies ahead, as well as your first real test. A thousand or so students and faculty members aren’t too small a crowd to practice on, are they?”

I shook my head instead of answering.

“The people involved rejected our proposal for the very reason you’d expect. That is all there is to it. In other words, a persuasive negotiator could settle the matter just like that. But I have already told them that I prepared a speech to win over the school before negotiating with the principal.”

Religious ideology was what led Victoria Lyceum, a Lutheran school, to reject the Imperial government’s proposal. Prussia’s offer of divine power was rooted in Bavaria’s policies. If the school accepted Prussia’s proposal, it would receive and use divine power from Bavaria—and that divine power was part of the five thousand tons of divine power donated by the Papal See.

Lutheranism is a branch of Protestant Christianity that follows the teachings of Martin Luther, the father of the Reformation, which began on German soil. That is why so many Lutherans in this era are nationalists.

Let’s take a brief look at the history. Prussia had been suppressing German Catholics under the banner of the Kulturkampf, or ‘culture struggle.’ There were several reasons for this, but one of the most likely was to weaken the Centre Party, a political party made up of Catholics. Some members of the Centre Party were as devoted to the Papal as they were to Germany. For example, they believed that the Pope should regain his power and that the German Empire should therefore help restore it. Even today, with the Papal See still standing strong, there were people who held such beliefs.

As a result, German Protestants and nationalists tended to view German Catholics as an evil force that hindered the nation’s development and independence. Whatever the reality might have been, that was how they were regarded in Prussia. Victoria Lyceum, run by Lutherans, wasn’t simply refusing to accept divine power. It was claiming that it couldn’t accept the five thousand tons of divine power the Papal See had contributed to secure its influence in Germany. No matter how much Prussia stepped in to mediate.

“You could just force them to comply with that precious imperial order of yours.”

I exhaled and took the cigarillo from my mouth. I knew. Even an imperial order couldn’t be abused. Persuading people whenever possible, as long as they were willing to listen, was a basic principle of any government. Prussia was no different in that regard, in its own way. It was obvious that Abraham was treating me exceptionally. As one might expect, I’d either caught his attention or landed on his shit list. For better or worse.

“Perhaps Your Highness needs a tutor you can’t stand to teach you some manners.”

I said this, then brought the cigarillo back to my lips and revived the ember before it went out.

“Isn’t it a little early to give up?”

Abraham glanced at the half-lit cigarillo and replied as if it were nothing before continuing.

“If you succeed, you will have proven that you can always stand as Nikolaus Ernst of Prussia, even when something like this happens at any of the countless schools across the country. The people of Prussia already know you are brave and resolute. They know you are capable, too. But knowing something in your head is different from knowing it in your heart. It may not seem fair to you, but…”

Abraham took the cigarillo from me. I hadn’t wanted to smoke, so I’d only held it loosely to my mouth and breathed as usual. But when he drew in a deep breath, the tip of the cigarillo flared brightly. He blew smoke in my face as he spoke.

“What can you do? Blame the way you were born.”

“I’m sick and tired of this.”

I continued speaking as I heard a knock on the door from the other end of the hallway.

“I understand perfectly well why you want me to go out there. In short, it might be an opportunity that benefits me, too. If I am confident I can succeed, then there is nothing to lose. However, that depends on whether you are willing to meet all the demands I laid out earlier. If you can do that, I will gladly oblige.”

Abraham raised his eyebrows in place of an answer.

“From now on, you will actively support me, whether doing so benefits Prussia or works against its interests. Any support you provide must be coordinated with me. And make sure you don’t interfere with the future prospects of the people around me.”

“You are asking for more than I have the authority to promise.”

Abraham smiled and gave a slight nod. Then he answered without hesitation.

“I will do my best, within my means.”

There were people whose words I could trust, and people whose words I couldn’t. Einsiedel was relatively easy to trust. This person wasn’t. Perhaps it was because Einsiedel made no secret of how single-mindedly he pursued his one goal, treating everything else as a nuisance. I was just as wary of both persons as enemies, but with this one, it was different.

“Proof?”

“My, my. What am I supposed to do to earn your trust in the first place?”

“There is no way. Even I couldn’t earn your trust, and didn’t that lead you to do all sorts of pointless things?”

“You think rather highly of yourself.”

Abraham closed his eyes, looking as though he were deep in thought. In reality, he was trying to remember where he’d put his bracelet, not hesitating over whether to provide proof. He took out the familiar bracelet and uttered two short phrases, with a pause between them. I watched firsthand as the bracelet failed to activate when he promised to honor our agreement, only to activate the next time, when he deliberately and blatantly pulled one of his stunts. Only then did I turn to leave.

The faint smell of blood lingered in the corridor.

Creeeak—

I opened the door again. The seats were now completely filled. Everyone sat properly, waiting for the speaker. With each step I took, more of the room came into view. My head grew hotter and hotter under the flood of thoughts.

Four or five windows appeared in rapid succession. Thankfully, the system was helping me. Whether it was actually helping me or just trying to leave me speechless, I couldn’t tell…

Time to come up with a strategy.

What should I reveal, and what should I downplay?

I was a student at Imperial Second Academy and a mage in the Imperial Mage Association. At my age, belonging to the Association was enough to make me an object of envy among my peers. In other words, setting my status aside, my résumé was bound to make a poor impression on students my own age.

I looked at the many high school students sitting in the audience. It was complicated. I could read the light in their eyes, and though it made my stomach turn for a moment, there was something familiar about it, too. It almost felt like coming home. Whatever kind of scene Abraham had expected, this felt more than anything like where I was supposed to be. At the very least, it felt less unfamiliar than standing before ten thousand people. The fact that I was this accustomed to it came as another shock.

Let’s think this through. First, some of them might see me as a rival their own age and resent my track record. Even in a society where the effects of the class system still lingered, people could feel that way about someone from a ruling house. That was simply human nature. And what about the others?

Some might react in the opposite way. There was one thing New Humans tended to overlook: some people judged others differently depending on whether they were the same sex or the opposite sex. I wasn’t talking about situations where sex-based differences actually mattered. Even in areas where there was little reason to make such distinctions, people reacted differently depending on whether the person carrying out a task was of the same sex as them or the opposite sex. I wasn’t even sure whether such a tendency was really limited to just some people. In my eyes, as someone who didn’t instinctively notice a person’s sex when meeting them, the world was full of profound disconnects. I’d therefore come to feel that those who judged the achievements of men and women differently, even when they did the same thing, were not a minority but a majority. But that was only my own judgment. I had no way of knowing what the reality was. Regardless, this was what I’d observed: while some students at this school might resent the achievements of someone their own age, others might actually view my track record more favorably simply because I was of the opposite sex. That had nothing to do with solidarity or camaraderie.

I swallowed. The sound of heels striking the wooden floor stretched on, slowly swallowing up my thoughts.

…Let’s consider the former possibility first. If these students saw me as a rival and resented my achievements, it would certainly be difficult to handle—difficult enough to make my stomach turn. But I knew what to do. I knew how to quell those feelings, even if only temporarily, or turn them in my favor.

But if the students started showing romantic interest in me, as in the latter case, that was something I had to worry about. If that happened, the teachers would come to resent me intensely for disrupting the academic discipline of promising high school students who would one day lead the future, and the negotiations would fail completely. It was unfair. What had I even done? But in practical terms, there was no way to avoid the teachers’ hostility.

I might have told myself I was being conceited for even considering the possibility, but I knew that the looks in their eyes were hardly any different from the mild interest and curiosity I’d seen in the 21st century from people of the opposite sex—whether they were around my age or seemed much older or younger than me. If I’d spent my entire life at the center of a stage I’d never intended to step onto, how could I possibly fail to recognize it? What kind of fool would that make me?

If they saw me the way they would an actor or a celebrity in their city, that was fine. The distance between us kept us both safe. I’d grown used to that. But if it was something else… that wouldn’t do. It couldn’t. Not now. I didn’t want this. The dull discomfort I’d learned to live with over a lifetime, that indescribable sense of separation, was slowly eating away at me in subtle ways.

Ding! Windows appeared all across my field of vision, bursting into view before scattering like dust and vanishing. I stood before the podium and raised my head.

Let’s think this through. This kind of curiosity was just that—curiosity. It wasn’t affection, only a shallow fondness. But if I gave a successful speech, it could easily grow into something stronger. Was there any way to make someone lose interest once they’d taken an interest in me? They were the only ones who could let go of it themselves—and I’d spent my entire life without finding another answer. My only other option was to walk away from this stage, but making both myself and the other party leave disappointed wasn’t something I considered an option.

I looked at the white text in the window that kept appearing whenever I almost forgot about it, and continued thinking.

If I succeeded in my speech, the students’ positive curiosity would likely turn into affection, just as Abraham intended—and ironically, even after proving myself as Lukas Askanien the politician, I’d end up becoming a Herzensbrecher all over again. Abraham and I both knew it. That would earn me the teachers’ intense resentment. No, it wouldn’t stop at resentment. They’d form the worst possible impression of me, and the negotiations would ultimately fail. The teachers had a duty to protect their devout Lutheran female students from a male student who had become notorious nationwide as a Herzensbrecher. And I, too, hoped they would fulfill that duty faithfully. Even if I was the very person they were supposed to keep at bay…

Ah.

A slow smile spread across my lips.

All I had to do was win the teachers over. Win their hearts, and the problem would be solved. A good daughter, a good son, a good… a student worth raising. I had to show them potential they’d never seen before, without appearing more seasoned than they were. That was the strategy.

The confident smile that had come naturally to my face quickly changed, taking on a hint of distance and nervousness toward the audience, much like it had during a shoot back in high school when I was playing the model student and student council president. I had to be good at acting like I wasn’t entirely comfortable standing in front of teachers.

Back then, when I was told to look a little shy despite being more accustomed than other students to standing before adults like teachers, and not to appear weighed down by a sense of duty, I’d briefly wondered what kind of ridiculous direction that was. Even at my actual school, not just on set, I’d been class president. I’d dealt with teachers with a strong sense of responsibility as the go-between for teachers and students, and since that was my job, I’d had little reason to act shy.

But I understood. The director meant I should act like the kind of student adults liked to imagine: friendly, lively, and youthful, someone pleasant for them to watch. I’d understood that deep down even back then and done as I was told, so it was already too late for me to feel anything about it.

I looked at the audience and spoke in a calm voice.

“Good afternoon. I am Lukas Askanien from the 101st Unit of the Imperial Mage Association.”

This shouldn’t be difficult. After finishing my introduction confidently, I swallowed at the sudden barrage of Affinity windows that appeared.

The important thing was that my strategy didn’t mean I had to act genuinely naive in every respect. It had to remain confined to my facial expressions. Strategically, I needed to show that I was more seasoned than the adults gathered here.

I placed my hands on either side of the podium, lightly gripping its edges, and surveyed the entire auditorium. Making eye contact with everyone, I continued smoothly.

“I didn’t think it had been that long since I left school, but stepping onto school grounds again like this brings a certain sense of nostalgia. Today, I have learned for the first time that I can feel that way even at a school I never attended. The beech trees and clusters of towering trees I passed on the way here also line the road leading to the back gate of Imperial Second Academy. Perhaps that is why.”

Unlike my previous speech, I spoke as though I were reading aloud from a book. I couldn’t tell how my voice sounded, but my even, measured delivery blended peacefully with the sunset spilling through the auditorium windows.

Now, there was another concern I hadn’t considered earlier. Should I maintain the same approach I’d taken in my previous address to the public?

I had two problems to deal with. First, I had to overcome the teachers’ hostility. Second, I had to persuade them on a contentious religious and political issue.

I’d already reached a conclusion about the first problem, and it was clear what I had to do. I couldn’t give the same kind of speech as before. I had to be both experienced and studentlike.

The answer to the latter problem was just as easy to reach. This wasn’t something that could be resolved through religious or political persuasion. It would be even more impossible while maintaining a student’s image. I absolutely could not try to persuade them directly. So what was I supposed to do? Simple. If a broad issue couldn’t be resolved through a broad debate, I could approach it through something more personal, something closely connected to our everyday lives.

I turned my head slightly toward the students and gave them a warm smile.

“On a side note, it just so happens that the jacket I am wearing today is the same color as Victoria Lyceum’s uniform. Don’t you think?”

The moment I met the students’ eyes, Affinity windows appeared by the dozen. What had I even done? I was grateful for their goodwill, but at the same time, I felt a little afraid of it. I had to keep myself from looking flustered. The students, for their part, returned my gaze with polite, courteous smiles. The atmosphere among the Prussian city councilors and students had eased somewhat. I looked around at the teachers, whose expressions remained a little more guarded, then faced forward and continued.

“There is something I didn’t mention when I introduced myself earlier. As many of you know, though it may not be the first thing that comes to mind, I am still a second-year student in the Department of Magic at Imperial Second Academy. I studied under Professor Johannes Rohn of Class 2.”

I smiled as I noticed a few students among the curious faces beginning to widen their eyes.

“Is that news to some of you? I am eighteen. My nineteenth birthday is now just six months away. I imagine there are students here who are the same age as me, aren’t there?”

Instead of smiling, I lowered my gaze for a moment, leaving a brief pause before looking back at the audience and continuing.

“Under normal circumstances, in a couple of months, we would be wrapping up the second semester of our second year of high school and getting ready for the first semester of our third year. It is an exciting, complicated time, with your final year of high school just around the corner. Some of you may have made memories this semester that you will never forget. Others may have gone through painful experiences and grown in ways you will never forget, too.”

The students nodded. That was when I noticed Affinity windows appearing from a different direction. They were faint, but for the first time, some appeared among the teachers as well. I continued speaking at a steady, measured pace.

“In my case, the second semester of my second year at Imperial Second Academy has been taken up by the Student Military Corps selection exams. That is when I made unforgettable memories and met friends I will never forget. Ah, I see I have caught your interest.”

I tilted my head toward a student whose eyes were shining more brightly than the others’. Fortunately, the student I’d singled out didn’t seem particularly shy. She smiled confidently, just enough to show her teeth.

“Since it has been so long since I last met students my own age who weren’t my teammates, I would like to tell you all sorts of things. But that would make for a very long story. There is one thing I can say for certain, though. The first half of this year has also brought us pain we will never forget.”

I felt the audience settle into silence, and at the same time sensed their attention quietly drawing closer, like a blue tide rolling in on a windless day. My eyes were open, but my gaze felt distant, as though I were looking at the world without truly taking in anything around me. I spoke.

“It feels like only yesterday that I sat by the Spree with a friend I had made that semester, and we promised each other we would go swimming when summer came. Yet now, we can’t even go to school, and I can’t see that friend open his eyes and speak. Sometimes, I think I must be dreaming. I wonder if, unable to accept the reality we are living in, I somehow made up in my mind the ordinary school life we could have had. …I have heard many times about how fiercely the teachers and students here have fought for the victims. Perhaps it isn’t the best choice to share such personal experiences and reflections with those of you who devote yourselves to keeping the victims alive and helping them recover. You have faced souls crying out from the depths and witnessed firsthand how they fall apart without proper help. After seeing lives that heartbreaking—lives that belong to me, to you, to all of us—the pain I am experiencing now seems like nothing at all, when I can still sit down and eat with the people I love, in a body with all its limbs intact.”

I let the white specks of light from the Affinity windows drift and scatter at the edge of my vision. I moved slowly, while the world around me seemed to accelerate. Smiling again, I continued.

“Now that I think about it, Victoria Lyceum and I have more in common than just the color of our clothes.”

I decided not to rush anything. I let my smile fade and gazed at the audience with a thoughtful look, keeping my expression from growing too stern.

“Every day, I meet people who are blown apart and dying. Before the victims can be brought to rehabilitation facilities like this school’s hospital, I pull them back from the brink of death and send them to the hospital. I also work to keep the aftermath of Rampager incidents from spreading into urban areas. To do that, I took a leave of absence from school and became an Imperial Mage who travels throughout the Empire. The Imperial Second Academy said it needed its students’ help, and I was more than willing to do my part. Members of Victoria Lyceum, whenever I meet others who share in the work you do, I find myself feeling a deep respect for them. Some of you may be indifferent to observing the condition of the victims and helping them recover. Others may have your own reasons for being less than enthusiastic about it. But whatever the case, the path your community has chosen is one that takes you away from the daily life you once considered home and brings you closer to the unknown, the chaos, and the irreversible changes you had only ever watched from a distance, never experienced firsthand. All of us fighting against Pleroma’s massacre, which will go down in history as one of the defining events of 1898, have chosen to leave behind the stable lives we could have had. That is why, whatever choices you make from here on, I cannot help but respect what you have done so far and the relief efforts you will continue to carry out.”

Though there are only a few hundred people seated here, Affinity windows keep shattering at the edges of my vision. I paused for a moment, then looked at the entire audience and continued.

“Religious beliefs are an important matter.”

I gripped a stone and aimed it at the surface of a lake, its waters beginning to tremble.

“Religion is tied to our minds, our values, and our identities. In particular, the fact that the Papal See has spent centuries tirelessly striving to establish itself as the ruler of Europe is a serious cause for concern.”

As expected, the Affinity windows stopped moving for a moment. There was no need to directly point out that the school was refusing the proposal for political reasons. They also believed they were standing by their convictions for religious reasons. At the same time, there was no reason to avoid political and religious matters altogether. This was enough. I wasn’t going to persuade them on political or religious-political grounds. As I’d already concluded, this wasn’t an issue that could be resolved through persuasion. Instead, I had to appeal to them as people.

“Everyone, I believe you all know why I’m here. The Imperial Government asked me to persuade you, and that is why I stand before you. But that is impossible. I have been speaking to you not as a representative of the German Empire, but as a comrade standing on the front lines of slaughter and destruction. And I still am. I cannot tell you that you must make this choice or that you must make the other. I would, however, like to quote a passage from Pascal’s Pensées.”

The teachers’ gazes settled on me. Looking back at them, I spoke.

“There is enough clarity to enlighten the elect and enough obscurity to humiliate them. There is enough obscurity to blind the reprobate and enough clarity to condemn them and deprive them of excuse.”

In the original text, ‘clarity’ is rendered as ‘light,’ and ‘obscurity’ as ‘darkness.’¹ As they listened to me, they would understand both meanings at once.

“While expressing my heartfelt gratitude and respect for all of you, whom I hold in such high regard…”

I slowly swept my gaze across the audience and continued.

“I would like to ask that we reflect on what we should take as our light when faced with the value of life we have upheld until now.”

Silence fell.

Then came the sound of applause. Just as before, it quickly swelled throughout the auditorium. The Affinity windows, which had been appearing at a leisurely pace, finally began pouring into the edges of my vision at an accelerating rate.

I let out the breath I had been holding back. I had done everything I needed to do. Now it was time to let the heat rising to my face cool.

Translator Note

1. The original French passage reads, “Il y a assez de clarté pour éclairer les élus et assez d’obscurité pour les humilier. Il y a assez d’obscurité pour aveugler les réprouvés et assez de clarté pour les condamner et les rendre inexcusables.” In French, clarté means ‘clarity’ but can also mean ‘light,’ while obscurité means ‘obscurity’ but can also mean ‘darkness.’ ↩︎