WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 109

──────

How to Reach a Dream (4)

......Ken Steiner firmly rejected the tax reform plan Maximilian had proposed.

Lawmaking had always been the exclusive authority of the Imperial Assembly.

Of course, knights, as guardians who oversaw the Empire as a whole, could still offer input on legislation, but their role was clearly limited.

“Your Excellency Chancellor, will this be all right?”

Even so, Finance Ministry officials, and even nobles in the imperial palace, looked at him with concern.

Their worry was not only about Maximilian. Everyone knew the Emperor’s heart had already turned toward war.

“I will speak to His Majesty myself.”

Still, Ken Steiner trusted the long bond between himself and the Emperor.

For years, he had been the teacher who instructed the Emperor in many disciplines before he became Emperor......

“Your Excellency Chancellor, Maximilian is not an easy man to handle. You saw Gennen.”

The officials who followed Ken still feared Maximilian.

They knew his ruthless decisiveness, the man who had sealed off a city with a tank division and summarily executed every official in the Gennen Governor-General's Office.

“......That is exactly why I am doing this.”

Maximilian was no longer someone who could be treated as a single point.

Born of Duke Sebestian, yet a different kind of monster from Sebestian.

That was exactly what Ken planned to report to the Emperor.

More than tax reforms like withholding tax, Maximilian himself felt dangerous. No matter how Ken looked at it, the man was different from his father, Duke Sebestian.

The aura around him, the force he gave off, resembled an ambition that was deeper and darker.

“For His Majesty’s sake, we must control Maximilian.”

He walked the palace corridor like that.

......Tap. Tap.

His footsteps rang out clearly. They seemed to continue, then suddenly cut off.

When he stopped and turned, there was only darkness. The officials who had followed him had vanished before he noticed.

Looking back now.

Was controlling him ever truly possible?

“......”

Ken returned to the present and looked at him through the glass.

Under the white light of a streetlamp, flickering like shattered fragments, stood a hazy blond knight.

Maximilian.

──Step.

He took one step toward Ken.

──Step.

The echo of that stride spread like a cold wind.

Swaaaaa......

The fallen leaves rustling in the street seemed to scrape at the heart in his worn old body.

“Haah.”

Ken let out a breath, closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them.

──Step.

Maximilian’s shadow stretched long.

Now close enough, he tapped the rear window.

Knock, knock.

Ken rolled the window down. Looking straight into Maximilian’s eyes, he spoke.

“......Knight Maximilian. This is the capital. The imperial palace is not far from here. Such rudeness cannot be tolerated.”

“I know.”

Maximilian answered calmly. No agitation at all, only a quiet, settled expression.

“I know very well.”

An agent who appeared out of nowhere dragged the driver out. The driver vanished in an instant, like a piece of baggage hauled away.

“......Hm.”

Maximilian climbed into the empty driver’s seat.

Ken sank into his seat, and Maximilian looked at him through the rearview mirror as he spoke.

“It is good to see you, Your Excellency Chancellor.”

That ordinary greeting felt absurd to Ken. It was a deception completely out of step with this situation.

“What did you come here for?”

“Do you not know?”

He answered a question with a question.

Ken stared at Maximilian’s reflection in the window. Neatly arranged blond hair. Gold eyes, sharp and sunken. He looked like the ideal Imperial Aran, yet right now......

He was like a wolf tearing into a human throat.

“Haah......”

Maximilian let out a long breath. Even that small motion seemed to tighten around Ken’s throat. He felt tension so fierce his heart might burst.

At his age, this kind of meeting was far too bad for his health.

“Your Excellency Chancellor.”

The corners of Maximilian’s eyes softened slightly.

He looked out the window and murmured.

“It is very dark outside.”

“......”

“Can you not see?”

“......What are you talking about right now?”

Maximilian took the wheel.

“Mana is a truly mysterious force. It moves automobiles, and at the same time, it can illuminate what cannot be seen.”

The ‘virus’ manipulated the nature of mana and amplified its output.

Flash!

The headlights flared. White light dozens of times stronger than usual tore apart the darkness on both sides of the road.

Inside that flood of light, black silhouettes were revealed for an instant.

Between trees. On top of walls. In grass at ground level. Along both sides of the asphalt road.

They faded in a blink, but their presence was undeniable.

“Did you know? They had been attached to you since inside the palace.”

At those words, Ken stayed silent. A brief stillness settled between them.

Maximilian waited quietly. The air inside the car felt gritty, like fine sand drifting around them.

“......”

Suddenly, Ken’s gaze sharpened. Mana from his younger days condensed in his pupils.

Outside the window. Only now could he feel movements rippling in the dark.

They were waiting for a chance.

Yet they still could not come in.

Not because of me.
Because of the man in front of me.

“......Your Excellency Chancellor. I used to respect you.”

He said it suddenly.

“I read your books and sought your teachings. Until fairly recently.”

Though at some point he had fallen into being a chancellor in title only, he still said he respected him.

“But now, His Majesty wants war.”

His voice crumbled dryly.

“Whether you wanted it or not, His Majesty had only that path. Did you not know?”

“......I knew.”

“Then why did you look away?”

Ken gave a bitter smile.

The corner of Maximilian’s mouth twisted faintly.

“You are no longer one of His Majesty’s special people. His Majesty wants only subjects who follow his will.”

Why had the Emperor’s heart become so extreme?

How had he changed so completely?

Why was he trying to wage a war he could not win?

After killing and killing and killing countless people, what did he plan to achieve?

“Do to me what you came to do.”

Those words were spoken with death already accepted.

“......Haah.”

A breath mixed with a faint smile slipped through Maximilian’s teeth.

“Even so.”

He pulled something from inside his coat and passed it back. Wiping the cold sweat at his neck, Ken took it without thinking.

It was a plane ticket.

The destination lay beyond the Empire’s western sea. The Kanillan Independent State.

“I cannot allow a man of intellect in this Empire, like you...”

Suddenly, Maximilian glared at the darkness outside as if he despised it, and continued.

“To die at the hands of ignorant trash like those.”

Only then did Chancellor Ken Steiner understand.

“So.”

Maximilian had not come to kill him.

“Please leave the Empire.”

He had come to save him.

......

Imperial palace office.

“Maximilian moved first?”

“Yes.”

The intelligence director bowed to Grossman.

“We had no opening. They had more manpower than us, and they were highly organized.”

“......Hm.”

It looked like their operations had overlapped.

He was fairly surprised, but it was not entirely bad.

“So Maximilian really made up his mind this time.”

Cool on the outside, but inside he burned like molten metal, a hot-blooded man.

“He is a friend like cold fire.”

Ken Steiner was not someone they could cleanly dispose of. Just touching him could trigger attacks from inside the palace.

Normally everyone found the old man bothersome, but once he was dealt with, they would surely wrap him up as an ‘elder of the Empire’ and use him as a political weapon.

But if Maximilian did it instead?

Letting someone else handle it while keeping your own hands clean.

In any case, he was not a man of the palace, and all the aftermath would be his burden alone.

“There is one issue. It seems he will not dispose of Ken Steiner directly.”

“Of course not. No matter what, that would not be the noble way.”

Grossman laughed softly. The intelligence director, still wearing a stubborn expression, asked again.

“Should we keep pursuing?”

“No. Let him go now. Politically, he is as good as dead anyway, so do not stain our hands for no reason.”

“......Yes.”

“You may go.”

At that gesture, the intelligence director turned and left, hiding his disappointment.

──Step. Step.

Walking down the corridor, he fell into thought.

As intelligence director, his private opinion on Maximilian was this: he appeared similar to Duke Sebestian.

Every one of his companies faithfully paid taxes to the Empire, distributed profits fairly to workers, and steadily purchased imperial bonds.

Every action and statement proved him to be a loyal subject of the Empire.

Yet Maximilian was clearly different from Sebestian.

An instinct invisible to the eye. He was too perfect a vassal, and that itself was suspicious......

The intelligence director still had not let Maximilian go.

* * *

A country with clear sea wind, yet a gloom deeper than anywhere else.

Ken Steiner arrived in the Kanillan Independent State with his wife and grandson. His only son had died of illness years ago, so the direct Steiner line now consisted of only these three.

“Let us go.”

Steiner led the way, and his grandson held his wife’s hand and guided her.

Outside the airport, Kanillan looked like a ruined nation. Silence drifted through the streets instead of life.

Shops and companies were open, workers came and went, but there was no hope on their faces.

All of them were people working to repay debt.

Just as Ken had predicted and warned the imperial nobles, the economy had collapsed.

Screeeech.

A black limousine suddenly stopped in front of them. Ken flinched and stepped back, and his wife hid behind him in fear.

Had imperial pursuers followed them all the way here?

“I will handle this!”

Just as the grandson tried to pull mana up with full force.

The rear door opened, and a man in a neat suit stepped out.

“Nice to meet you, Dr. Ken. I am Dieter Schmidt.”

“......Dieter Schmidt?”

“Yes. Knight Maximilian’s administrative officer. I have been waiting for you, Dr. Ken.”

Doctor.

His title in the Empire was gone, but the degree he had earned was not.

“Please get in.”

Ken hesitated for a moment, then boarded with his family.

Wheeeeeen.

The limousine glided over the smooth road.

Soon they reached a downtown area not far from the airport. In its center stood a building that looked like a museum.

“This is 「Kronen Schatzinsel」.”

“A bank?”

“Yes. We would like to hire you here as an advisor, and if possible, as president.”

“......?”

Ken blinked and tilted his head. His wife and grandson looked stunned too.

“I am only an administrative officer, but I have always respected your economic insight and fiscal knowledge, Dr. Ken. I hope you will realize that vision again here at this bank, not in a bureaucracy.”

“......Wh-what? Here?”

“Yes. Ah, before that, you should settle your luggage first. We have prepared your residence as well.”

The limousine soon passed the bank and arrived somewhere else.

A quiet, upscale residential district not far from 「Kronen Schatzinsel」.

“This is your official residence. Whether you accept our offer or not, this will be your space.”

A location chosen for easy commuting. A comfortable mansion where family could live safely, with security personnel patrolling twenty-four hours a day.

“Not only security, but the mansion’s mana lines are fully connected too, so......”

As they listened to Dieter’s explanation, Ken and his family got out of the car.

The grandson gave a hollow laugh, and his wife looked deeply moved.

Ken stared blankly, then suddenly asked Dieter.

“......Officer Dieter. Did Knight Maximilian build this bank?”

Dieter did not answer.

“He did this in Kanillan too, a project that requires this much money.”

He still did not answer.

Ken quietly twitched his brows.

“......A month or two ago, I heard a rumor.”

Only then did Dieter open his mouth and ask back.

“What rumor, if I may ask?”

“That someone bet on Kanillan’s collapse. Very few in number, but they accumulated wealth beyond imagination because of it.”

Ken’s eyes turned sharp.

“And one of the people who gained the largest profit was an Imperial.”

“......”

“Was that Imperial Maximilian?”

Dieter closed his mouth again. He only bowed with an expressionless face.

“Then, please unpack and rest.”

He got into the limousine and left without another word, but it was answer enough.

“Hah.”

Ken let out an empty laugh.

Was Maximilian not just an ignorant man of the sword who wanted to collect more taxes only to wage war? Was he not a war fanatic trying to squeeze the Empire with absurd economic logic?

Then perhaps he had seen a path farther and deeper than mine.

Ken himself still did not know.

Perhaps his steps from here would prove it.

* * *

A peaceful afternoon in the mansion garden.

“Woof.”

Leo’s bark had already grown fairly dignified. It had deepened and rang out clearly.

“You have grown this much already.”

I stroked his head and gave a faint smile.

He was still cute, but I was secretly disappointed that the old cotton-ball look was fading away.

“Master, how is Leo doing?”

I asked Freya, who was cutting steak at the outdoor table.

She speared a piece of meat with her fork, put it in her mouth, and answered calmly.

“He learns faster than most humans, for sure. His sense for handling mana and his ability to apply it are already high level. If things go well, he might even reach a level comparable to a decent knight. A dog like a knight. What kind of absurd-”

“Woof!”

Leo understood the praise and puffed his chest out proudly. Freya coldly pointed her knife at him.

“But you must not become arrogant. A noble must always be humble.”

“Woof.”

He immediately settled his tail and sat properly.

Even this dog thought of himself as nobility.

“Good.”

I nodded in satisfaction and straightened my clothes. Freya’s brow twitched.

“You are dressed quite neatly. Going to the palace?”

“Yes. I am going to the Emperor’s National Support Council. There is an important agenda.”

When I went to the palace, I needed a clean and tidy suit, not excessive decoration. Dressing too flashy would make me look like new money and could earn the Emperor’s dislike.

“Hm.”

Freya returned to her steak as if she had no interest.

“Master, are you not interested in politics?”

“I am not.”

She leaned back in her chair and stretched both legs out. She looked perfectly at ease.

She used to tell me to keep noble dignity.

“My dream was to be a rich unemployed person. Looks like I almost made it. Yaaawn.”

I watched her lazy yawn and sank into thought for a moment.

Come to think of it, House Ebenholtz had no branch families.

The reason was simple. Because of House Ebenholtz’s unique hereditary illness with an unknown mechanism, they could not have more than one child.

That was why descendants were so precious. From the moment of conception, they drank the family’s inherited elixir and underwent strict care.

So in five hundred years of Ebenholtz history, records of more than one heir born in a single generation were extremely rare.

Even those cases were all twins, and one side was infertile.

I said to Freya.

“Please take good care of Leo.”

“There is nothing special to ask. I am getting paid for dog lessons. Dog lessons. What a ridiculous phrase. Hmph. Dog lessons...... fucking......”

I let Freya’s complaints go in one ear and came out to the parking lot.

I got into the waiting car. Johann was already in the passenger seat, and when I looked at him by chance, I flinched.

“......”

His hair was slicked cleanly all the way back.

With his forehead fully exposed, combined with those sharp eyes, his face overlapped with his infamous look from before regression, when he was a class-1 war criminal.

“......Is something wrong?”

Johann felt my gaze and asked carefully.

“That hairstyle does not suit you.”

“Ah. Yes. Is that so?”

Johann touched his hair awkwardly. He only touched it.

I frowned.

“Undo it.”

“......Pardon?”

“Put your hair down.”

“Ah, yes.”

Johann lowered the hair he had carefully fixed with mousse.

At a glance, it looked like a normal, unnecessary correction from daily life, but it was actually important. This too was part of controlling Johann, part of controlling a class-1 war criminal.

I had to control even the smallest details, so I could wield them exactly as I wanted whenever necessary.

“Yes. Understood.”

Johann lowered his hair more neatly. He had already put so much mousse in it that it looked like a cow had licked it, but it was still much better than slicking it back.

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