Chapter 512

“Where are you going?!”

Archduke Maria called out as he hurried after me, matching my pace. I turned my head slightly and asked, “Where is His Highness Emanuel?”

“I don’t know! I think he left after helping out.”

“Then I need to go find him now.”

“Wait! Don’t you have to go to the Crown Prince? You moved your morning lesson to the evening!”

“Oh, right.”

I bit my lip and stopped. It was time for my lesson. Right. When I was attacked by Ismailov and collapsed, I escaped into the Extra Chapter and met Leonard at dawn. Much later… in Giesing, I canceled my morning lesson so I could recover my strength. I had been attempting astral projection ever since, which meant my lesson would be starting soon. I stood there, pressing a hand to my head as it throbbed like it might split open.

The options running through my mind left me feeling utterly overwhelmed. Raising my Time Difference level again would be reckless. I didn’t want to spend an indefinite amount of time in here while time outside was nearly frozen. What was making me hesitate? I simply didn’t want to lose anything else. Lose what? I didn’t know. I didn’t want to know.

But leaving and entering Mecklenburg’s Extra Chapter would be an even bigger problem. It would take longer to return home than to finish my lesson. Even if I went to Bavaria, I would have to travel to Russia again later if I needed to investigate Yuri Alekseyev further, wasting time twice over. More importantly, I couldn’t get help from the Kingdom of Bavaria over there. Now that I had to search through the churches in Bavaria, there was no way I could rely on the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, which bordered the North Sea.

A short while should be fine. One day here was forty-eight minutes outside, and about three hours here was only six minutes outside. I pressed my fingers against my forehead and the corners of my eyes, then muttered in a subdued voice, “Then I’ll go to my lesson. Ah, I can’t exactly enter the Crown Prince’s palace like this… Wait a moment. Your Highness, please find His Highness Emanuel and ask whether he can clear his schedule today. And…”

“And?”

“There’s a priest named Ralph Huber. He should belong to Bamberg Cathedral. If you have the time, please have someone check whether there’s someone with that surname serving in the Bavarian clergy. His given name may be different.”

“Wow, I guess I should just buy a house in Bavaria.”

So being dragged around so much that you couldn’t even find time to return home means you should settle down in Bavaria? But even if you bought one now, you…

The thought had come instinctively, and it was just as quickly dismissed as pointless. I looked up and rubbed my face dryly. Archduke Maria said, “Alright. I’ll pass it along. Then I’ll go find Emanuel! You have to tell me all about what happened earlier when you’re done.”

“Ah, wait a moment.”

“Hmm?”

“I’d like to get some help with magic. Would you be able to explain some things to me later?”

“What field?”

“Anything.”

Archduke Maria’s eyes widened in surprise, but they quickly lit up with delight. He gave my shoulder a few pats, whistled, and hurried down the corridor of Emanuel’s residence.

Still dazed from the slight shock that followed, I stood there staring down at the floor before lifting my shirt and sniffing it. The smell of the plants I had crushed for astral projection and the burnt scent of solidified mana had seeped into my clothes. Since astral projection was not easy, I had been stuck in that room for quite some time. As a result, I smelled like burnt tree bark. If I didn’t want to announce to His Majesty that the Crown Prince’s tutor had been wandering around the palace reeking of drugs after attempting some kind of insane experiment, I needed to wash up immediately. I didn’t have Emanuel’s permission, but for the sake of his guest, Leonard, and my own safety, I had no choice but to find a suitable bathroom and use it.

My lesson with Leonard went smoothly. I still remembered what we had been working on in the previous lesson, and even Leonard’s strengths and weaknesses from each lesson were as clear as if they had happened yesterday. No one realized that I had left my body and returned.

I pressed my lips together and swallowed a breath. The evening breeze cooled the sweat on my skin. I was sweating even while sparring with a child. That was how enthusiastic and persistent Leonard was. Perhaps it was only natural, considering those eyes were exactly the same as they would be twelve years later. That gaze, endlessly hungry for more magic, clung to the wand, my hands, and the air itself.

It was only when I heard the clock tower chime that I took the wand in both hands and said, “You should rest now, Your Highness.”

Leonard had already pushed himself past his physical limits casting magic. Only after I spoke did he slowly lower his wand, finish his formal greeting, and sit down on the bench. It was just like him not to collapse where he had been standing. I opened the water bottle I had set aside and approached him. After accepting the water and taking a sip, Leonard hesitated for a moment before cautiously speaking to me.

“Teacher. Do you have some time after this?”

I suppose it would have been strange if he hadn’t asked. I slipped my wand into my belt and answered politely.

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to spare any time today, Your Highness.”

I saw the energy drain from Leonard’s face in an instant. The grown-up Leo would never have reacted so openly, but a five-year-old wasn’t very good at hiding what he was feeling. Since it was only natural, I felt sorry even for having read his expression. Leonard tried to meet my eyes, then let his gaze wander and blinked rapidly. Alarmed that he might cry, I caught him by the shoulders, but thankfully, contrary to my expectations, he remained remarkably calm for a five-year-old. He simply seemed a little down.

He asked, doing his best to pronounce each word clearly with an articulatory system that wouldn’t quite obey his will.

“May I ask why?”

Because I had to go help you and your kingdom. I had a duty to make your plans succeed somehow, and they were my plans too. I stared into five-year-old Leonard’s eyes for a long moment before answering honestly.

“I can’t stay with you right now because I want to be able to help Your Highness in the future. How about this weekend instead?”

Although what I had said about wanting to help him in the future might have sounded vague, Leonard didn’t seem bothered. Weren’t children supposed to have trouble accepting promises about the future? Apparently, I had been wrong. After thinking for a moment, he answered with a smile, though the worry had not quite left his face.

“I’m glad to hear that you’re keeping the future in mind.”

So that’s how he took it. I swallowed the words that nearly slipped out and gave an awkward smile. Leonard was looking up at me with shining eyes, and with nothing to say in response, I carefully opened my arms where I sat.

Leonard stared blankly at me for a moment before cautiously wrapping his arms around me as well. As I thought about how often I had been hugging him today, I also thought of the grown-up Leo, and once again, it felt strange to realize just how much smaller he was now.

I wasn’t going to be dragged away for insulting the Royal Family, surely. Of course not. It did feel a little contradictory to treat the younger Leonard with such care while squeezing the heart of the grown-up Leo until it hurt, but there was clearly a difference between the two periods of his life. For one thing, there were people like those—

I avoided the gazes of the secretaries watching from a distance and gently patted the kindergarten-aged child on the back. This time, I didn’t place any subjugation magic on him.

Once this was over, it would probably be a good idea to spend two or three hours and stay in the Extra Chapter with him for a few days. It bothered me that, in an Extra Chapter meant for Leo, I wasn’t actually able to be with him. Surely, since this was Leo’s Extra Chapter, there had to be something I was meant to discover through the Leonard here, or something I needed to do that would affect him. I had never been able to tell exactly what I was supposed to accomplish in each Extra Chapter. Perhaps there was no fixed, absolute objective to begin with. If the greatest power and ability I had been given was simply the privilege to share in the most important period of someone’s life up to that point—then the only thing I knew for certain was that privilege frightened me.

After the lesson, I returned to Emanuel’s residence. The house had been decorated so darkly that it looked like Halloween, which was obviously Maria’s doing. I had no idea why he had turned the house into this. I knocked away the yellow lights floating in the air as I hurried down the hallway.

“You’re back.”

Emanuel waved from the middle of a large room. Since the door was wide open, I merely nodded and walked inside. Emanuel asked playfully, “What did you call us here for? Going to attempt astral projection again?”

“No.”

I answered calmly, feeling the cold creep over my cheeks.

I couldn’t travel to 1898 through astral projection. Maria’s blood made the future travel that was theoretically possible through astral projection impossible. With my blood, traveling to 1898 was possible, but even if it was technically feasible, the risks of such a plan would be pushed to the extreme. If there was any other way to obtain the information, it would be better to use that method without question.

Pleroma was desperate to obtain Maria Österreich-Este’s knowledge and technology. They had been that way ten years ago, when Maria died, and they were still that way now. In that situation, was I supposed to put something believed to be Maria’s soul in front of Pleroma in 1898? I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t make him suffer even after death. No matter how carefully I concealed his appearance, I couldn’t gamble with someone else’s dignity when there was even the slightest possibility of something going wrong. If I was truly human, I couldn’t knowingly put someone else in danger and still have the nerve to continue with such a method. I simply shouldn’t do it. Not unless things became truly irreversible—unless the situation grew so dire that I had no choice but to tell Maria everything and somehow obtain the permission of someone as stubbornly resolute as him…

I can’t show him to Terminus Eukairia either. They know that Maria Österreich-Este is an important mage. There is even a world that exists in 1898 where the impurities have been removed so that only the mana of nature can be easily sensed. A world where entering the astral plane is easier. With a world like that existing, how could I possibly say the future is safe? I can’t put Maria in danger again.

I had considered targeting this world at this point in time and using astral projection to get around, but there was something that concerned me. Unless I truly had no other choice, I decided that I would travel through this world myself.

Emanuel and the Archduke noticed the change in my expression and silently watched me. Looking at their faces, I asked quietly, “Could you refrain from asking about what I’m about to tell you?”

“We’re not going to be put in danger, are we?”

At Emanuel’s casual question, I answered flatly.

“I don’t know.”

“Hmm. That’s all right, then. Bavaria isn’t going to be put in danger, is it?”

“That’s what I’m trying to prevent by doing what I’m doing today.”

Only then did the playfulness disappear from Emanuel’s face. I spoke immediately.

“Tonight, I need to go to Bamberg City Hall. I also need to find a priest.”

“Bamberg City Hall. So, northern Bavaria. The city hall on the bridge?”

“That’s right.”

I had been told that the entrance to the Archdiocese of Bamberg was in the third bookcase in the farthest room on the third floor of Bamberg City Hall. At this point in time, Pleroma should only just be beginning to establish itself. I don’t know whether the diocese has already been established, but I need to find out. And if it has already been established, I need to know where. My goal is to find the places that lead to the offices of their high-ranking clergy.

Emanuel asked quietly, “Why?”

“That’s why I asked you earlier not to ask. Because I can’t give you an answer.”

But I had no intention of saying nothing at all. Looking at Emanuel and Maria, I continued, “If I told you it was for the safety of Bavaria… would you believe me?”

I could see the confusion on both their faces. I continued.

“I understand that neither Your Highness nor the Archduke would find it easy to believe that a mage from America would say something like this.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to say I don’t believe you. But you have the favor of His Majesty the King, and… well, that makes me even more concerned.”

Emanuel had regained his earlier playfulness and was teasing me subtly despite his serious expression. I knew all too well that there might be genuine concern hidden behind that face. Resting a hand on the desk, I closed my eyes and asked, “Do you know of a group of mages called Pleroma?”

“You asked me about them before, didn’t you? I know them!”

Archduke Maria exclaimed.

“Your Highness, what did you think of what we saw today?”

“That was fascinating. I think it’s worth studying.”

“And?”

Archduke Maria knew there was a particular answer I wanted to hear, so he waited. He also wanted me to explain when and what time that world was in. But he didn’t ask first.

“There were people dying there. Pleroma was the first to make people suffer like that. Right now, you probably think of them as nothing more than a Gnostic sect, but they’re capable of crimes far more extraordinary than that. I heard they’re trying to establish themselves in Bavaria.”

“How do you know that? Are they in America?”

“They’re not in America. They’re essentially a German community made up of Germans.”

“They’re that dangerous?”

Emanuel asked with a faintly doubtful smile. Were they really that dangerous? The Emanuel from twelve years later overlapped with the one standing before me. I couldn’t say a word.

Emanuel drew on his cigarette and said, “Dangerous enough that we need to deal with them now?”

“Yes.”

I slowly closed my eyes, then looked at him.

“I can stake everything I have on that.”

Emanuel looked down at me, then shrugged.

“What’s the point of having friends? Sir Everett going beyond simply playing along with us and actually suggesting that we do something ourselves is new, too. So let’s hear him out.”

Playing along with us? He must mean playing along with Archduke Maria. I drew another deep breath, lowered my gaze to the table, and asked, “Do you really consider me a friend, despite the fact that we’ve only known each other for a few months?”

“How long we’ve known each other doesn’t matter. Isn’t what matters what’s in here?”

“I agree. Absolutely.”

Perhaps it was because of our shared interest in the occult that Archduke Maria said it so seriously. Emanuel, on the other hand, spoke so casually that even those words sounded slightly playful. He eventually pulled out another cigarette and held it out to me.

“In that case, here.”

“No, thank you.”

“It’s a new one.”

“…….”

I had no choice but to take it. I raised an eyebrow at him and slipped it into my pocket. He called it a token of friendship, so I couldn’t exactly refuse it. I didn’t even carry a lighter, though, so I had no idea what use it would be.

Apparently satisfied, Emanuel winked with the eye closest to me.

“…Anyway. Your Highness, the person I asked you to look for earlier—is he really part of the Archdiocese of Bamberg?”

“Yes, well. Apparently so. Ralph Huber. He’s a decent priest who’ll be in his forties soon.”

I made use of the information Einsiedel had given Ulrike. This was the person who would eventually become a Pleroma auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Bamberg, and the only auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Bamberg without a Special Ability. I could think of several reasons why he might have become an auxiliary bishop despite having no obvious Special Ability. First, he might be an exceptional combat mage despite lacking a Special Ability. Second, he might have a close relationship with the diocesan bishop. Third, he might have served in the diocese for a long time.

All three could be true at once. In particular, the second and third reasons could overlap. And as it turned out, they did. Emanuel had just confirmed that a priest named Ralph Huber really was a priest of the Archdiocese of Bamberg. Had he joined Pleroma in hopes of advancing his career? Whatever the reason, it didn’t matter. Ralph Huber had been there since Pleroma first began establishing itself in Bavaria.

“We need to stop by the city hall and follow Ralph Huber from here.”

Neither Emanuel nor the Archduke understood the weight of what I was saying when I told them we had to follow someone suspected of being part of Pleroma. To them, it seemed like little more than going out for a stroll around the neighborhood. The brightness on their faces made that clear.

Unlike them, I had too much to consider, and I needed to get my thoughts in order. I wasn’t going to let them learn about Maria Österreich-Este’s abilities at this point in time. Aside from Terminus Eukairia, the Hermetische Gesellschaft was the biggest factor that could lead to Maria’s abilities becoming known, so stopping their activities had to come first. But even now, I had to remain on guard so that my interference wouldn’t derail their future.

I was already doing so.

“Your Highness, are you also well versed in spatial magic?”

“I’m confident in my abilities, but the way you’re asking makes me a little worried. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m particularly well versed in it.”

“Maria’s ‘not particularly well versed’ is still other mages’ level of ‘well versed.’”

Emanuel cut in. Maria tilted one corner of his mouth into a crooked smile at that, and I smiled as well.

“Good. The reason we need to stop by the city hall is that they’ve connected their spatial magic using certain objects. I was given information that there’s a spatial magic connection in the city hall. For example, if you pull a book spine out like this, another building appears. They live within spatial magic connected to other coordinate systems like that. Though I suspect it’s connected somewhere different at this point in time than the location I was given beforehand…”

I looked at the Archduke again.

“Your Highness, is there any tool that can detect whether an object has spatial magic placed on it?”

“A tool like that…”

The Archduke rubbed his chin, furrowing his brow.

“Spatial magic is still magic, so a mana detector should work. Have you tried that?”

The Empire of 1898 already knew to take that simple approach. Even when checked that way, they usually wouldn’t detect anything.

“Most detection devices won’t pick it up.”

“Hm, I see. Why is that? Is their spatial magic really that advanced?”

“That would be one way of putting it. They can conceal it with remarkable precision. But I don’t think that’s necessarily the case in this situation…”

I wonder just how impressive Pleroma’s technology was in 1886. At that, Emanuel pursed his lips and let out a soft breath.

“Just what was this information Sir Everett said he obtained…?”

Maria cut off his question and held out a hand.

“If you move an object just a little, does it take you to another location?”

“That’s right.”

“Oh… So it’s a sort of portal. I don’t quite understand why you wouldn’t be able to detect something as ordinary as that. Now I really want to meet this Father Ralph Huber.”

Did he want to meet him just to hear an explanation of the magic? Emanuel and I exchanged a look, both of us looking rather unimpressed. Maria, however, calmly got to the heart of the matter.

“We’ll find out which object you have to touch to move into another space by following Father Ralph Huber. If you’re asking me how to detect spatial magic, there must be another reason you need that method.”