WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 117

──────

The Meaning of Politics (3)

──October 30, 14:00

A sealed room in the Imperial Palace.

Kents Bertem, second son of House Bertem, had arranged a secret meeting.

“Chief of Staff, thank you for making time for me.”

Ken bowed politely to Grossman.

Bertem, along with Imperial Guard Commander Goebel, formed one pillar of the Imperial Guard, and Grossman was the Emperor’s closest aide, above them all.

“There is no need to be so formal. Bertem and I go way back. We are close enough for this.”

Grossman lifted his teacup with an easy smile.

“So, what is this about?”

“......I wanted to hear your view on the current situation, Chief of Staff.”

The cartel scandal was causing an uproar, but Grossman had no ties to the cartel.

None at all. That level of caution was essential for a chief of staff.

“My view, hm......”

Even so, watching idiot nobles get drenched in filth gave him a headache too. It upset the balance of power.

If Goebel and Ken fell now, the weight inside the Imperial Guard would tilt hard to one side. Grossman did not like that either.

“Did you take money too?”

“I......”

Ken bit his lip lightly.

“Be honest.”

“Only cash. But in the form of bond dividends-”

“Then you will get caught. Still, should there not be one more person here?”

The original arrangement had been a three-way meeting. Imperial Guard Commander Goebel, Kents Bertem, and Grossman.

Ken let out a sigh.

“Goebel’s request to postpone his summons was rejected, so he is heading to the Sentinel Order now. They are treating the Imperial Guard Commander like this. Are you really going to just watch?”

Resting his chin on his hand, Grossman fell into thought. After a long pause, he spoke.

“......Maximilian is young and hot-blooded. It is exactly the age when pointless justice and chivalry flare up. If someone clumsily provokes him, he could explode.”

Grossman’s eyes turned cold.

“Rash intervention could bring disaster. But we cannot turn him into an enemy either. He is Sebestian’s son.”

“I heard Leutern has deep ties with Maximilian.”

At Ken’s words, Grossman gave a dry laugh.

“You must be desperate, if you are bringing up that loudmouth.”

“I am not desperate. It is just......”

“Kairon.”

Grossman cut Ken off and said the name.

“Senior knight Kairon. I will call him in.”

......

──October 30, 15:00

Main gate of the Sentinel Order.

Year 1 knight Tiana stood there. Not far ahead, there was a procession receiving an absurdly heavy escort despite being summoned.

Imperial Guard Commander Goebel.

He got out of his car and trudged forward in full Imperial Guard uniform.

Arrogant to the core, like a victorious general returning from war.

“......”

He glanced at her, walked right past, and went up to the high floors of the Order.

“......Fucking bastard.”

Tiana found him disgusting. It was deeply personal hatred.

She moved straight to a park inside the Sentinel Order. From a distance, she looked up at a window of the Order’s interrogation rooms.

Goebel’s face appeared there.

He smiled at ease and sat down with his legs crossed. The last thing she saw was a senior knight sitting in front of him before the window turned opaque.

“He will walk free like nothing happened.”

Tiana muttered quietly.

“He will. Same as always.”

An answer came.

Tiana turned. Senior knight Adria and senior knight Jerome were there.

“But something even more important is at stake in this case.”

Adria walked toward her as she spoke.

“Vice Commander Anton.”

They were not fools.

They were not idiots.

Kairon. If he made some deal with the palace in exchange for letting Goebel go, Anton would inevitably be the sacrifice.

“Are you sure Max will let Goebel go?”

At Tiana’s question, Adria shook her head.

“I do not know Maximilian’s true intent.”

“But Kairon will definitely try to release him.”

Kairon’s ambition was dangerous. He had the temperament to do anything to climb up there.

“Tiana. What do you think?”

Adria asked. Tiana held her breath for a moment.

Goebel. The bastard had a long feud with her family. The reason her father and her house had nearly fallen was...... in truth, mostly him.

“It is wrong. He must not be released like this.”

Tiana pulled out a ledger from inside her coat.

“If Knight Kairon insists on releasing Goebel no matter what.”

It was evidence she had personally obtained during Operation Path of Dreams.

“Then we must send this to Knight Court.”

Her mentor Jerome let out a deep breath and shut his eyes tight. He looked almost moved.

“If you need anything else, tell me.”

If they asked her to smuggle out internal secrets, she could do even that.

This was not betrayal of Maximilian or the Sentinel. It was the pursuit of what was right.

“Do not misunderstand, though. I am not doing this to take your side. It is personal revenge, nothing more.”

“......All right.”

Adria smiled bitterly and accepted Tiana’s ledger.

......

──October 30, 16:00

Kairon was invited to a sealed room in the Imperial Palace.

His counterparts were Kents Bertem and Grossman. Two giants who split the core power of the palace between them.

“Come in. Have a seat.”

They warmly welcomed Kairon to the palace. As soon as he sat down, they chatted, offered him drinks, and built the mood.

“......By the way, this is just a question in case, Sir Kairon.”

As the gathering mellowed, Kents Bertem asked in passing.

“Am I on the Sentinel summons list too?”

Kairon deliberately hardened his expression.

“......I cannot say in detail. The ledger is still being decoded.”

Ken bit his lip, tense, then swallowed another drink.

“But you know, Maximilian is abusing Knight Court-”

“I see it this way.”

Grossman cut off Ken’s careless words and spoke.

“Knight Kairon, we are headed down the same road.”

“......”

Kairon gave no answer.

Because they clearly were not.

“Maximilian is likely the same. In the end, all of us are people working for the Empire.”

Kairon looked back and forth between Grossman, who spoke about Maximilian, and Kents Bertem, who only gripped his glass pointlessly.

Two men touching the heart of imperial power.

In the past, would he have trembled before them? Or felt his chest tighten?

“When it comes to carrying out public duty......”

Grossman was dangerous. Even with Kairon’s intelligence network, he was too deep to read.

“......In that sense, the most dangerous presence in the Sentinel is.”

Yet strangely, he did not feel afraid.

Not even a little.

“Ironically, another knight.”

Grossman lowered his voice.

“Should not the person who can control such a knight become commander? Better than leaving things loose as they are now.”

Kairon understood in that instant.

They did not know. Not even themselves. They were afraid of Maximilian.

A young knight with the blood of Ebenholtz, remarkable ability to match it, and the boldness to charge ahead.

Now that Maximilian had broken out of his shell, he feared nothing.

That fearless advance was provoking fear in those who had much to lose.

“If you, Kairon, are the one who can control this current rage.”

Politics, in the end, was the act of getting what you wanted.

“Then your name cannot help but rise for the position of ‘Order Commander’ later.”

So every word exchanged in this room right now was politics.

“......Yes.”

Kairon nodded with a serious expression he wore like a mask.

“I will do my best.”

At that moment, the room seemed to brighten. It felt as if the lights had flashed.

Grossman leaned back with an elegant smile, Bertem swirled his drink with visible relief, and Kairon became certain of his choice once again.

......

──October 30, 16:00

Imperial Guard Commander Goebel sat in the interrogation room and waited willingly. Legs crossed, relaxed as if it were his own office. Smoking a cigar too.

Creak.

Right then, the door opened and a knight walked in. It was a familiar face even to Goebel, and he smiled at once.

“Good to see you, Commander Goebel.”

“Mm. Good to see you.”

The knight sat across from him.

“Knight Fried Zen.”

Sixth-year knight Fried, eldest son of House Zen.

“I met your uncle once. Excellent man.”

“Ah...... Is that so?”

“Your father must be very proud. Taking part in such a glorious operation.”

Goebel offered smooth compliments. Fried scratched his hair without much reaction.

“Well...... first, there are a few points we need to verify.”

“Ask anything.”

Fried opened financial transaction statements.

“Signs that cartel funds flowed into Imperial Guard accounts were found in the ledger we obtained.”

“Ah, is that so?”

He did not deny too quickly. He kept a stance of that could be possible.

“But I know nothing about it. I do not manage Imperial Guard accounts one by one.”

“I see. Then perhaps these parts......”

They traded questions and answers this way a few times.

“......Same answer for all of it. That is all I can tell you. Do I look so idle that I sit at a bank moving an abacus all day?”

“Not quite.”

Information at this level could all be dodged by cutting off tails.

“Yes. Understood.”

Fried nodded and closed the file.

There was clear evidence, but they could not prove the one behind it was Goebel, so pressing harder was difficult.

“Good.”

The next knights were not much different.

“......Looks like I failed to manage my subordinates properly.”

Goebel kept the atmosphere warm while choosing, in his head, which faces would die in his place.

Major? Lieutenant colonel? About fifteen men should do.

At last, Goebel nodded as if calm.

Third-year Raynel left, and not long after.

──Creak.

The door opened and a man walked in. Goebel’s eyes tracked him.

Blond hair, golden eyes. A cleanly carved face and body. His uniform was immaculate, without a speck of dust.

With surprisingly tidy movements, he sat down and looked at Goebel in silence.

“......”

A dry gaze pressed in.

It was not on Goebel’s face, but on his crossed legs.

“Show proper manners.”

The voice was low, but cold. Goebel’s lips twitched. He did not uncross his legs.

He sized him up as an opponent.

As Imperial Guard Commander, if he showed weakness too quickly-

“Commander Goebel.”

Suddenly Maximilian raised his head.

He looked Goebel straight in the eyes and bit the words out.

“Do I look like a joke to you right now?”

A chill ran down Goebel’s spine. Even then he tried to hold firm......

“Ahem.”

Soon he cleared his throat and uncrossed his legs. He refused to uncross his arms, and Maximilian let that pass.

“Read this.”

Maximilian held out a file. Goebel skimmed it with ease.

It was not very different from what the previous knights had shown, but Maximilian asked in a slightly different way.

“Commander Goebel, are you certain you did not know the source of these funds?”

“I certainly did not know.”

“You have no idea where this money went or how it was handled. You were never involved. Is that true?”

Maximilian’s golden eyes.

His irises looked like shimmering desert heat, and meeting them alone felt heavy.

“......I already explained all this to the previous knights.”

“Yes. I heard everything too, but I wanted your confirmation.”

Maximilian took back the file and nodded.

“Then I will explain as well now.”

He leaned forward. Golden pupils came closer.

“If even one thing you said here.”

A frost-like chill settled into his voice.

“Turns out to be false.”

Goebel narrowed his eyes while facing him.

“You will have to deal with me.”

Maximilian was not a monster.

There was no reason to grant this young knight some grand narrative and fear him. They had no proof. He only needed to endure a little longer.

And yet......

“Do you understand?”

Goebel could not answer at that moment.

Knock knock-

With that knock, the door opened.

It was Kairon.

“Max. I need a word. A message from the palace.”

A message from the palace.

Maximilian stayed silent and controlled his expression, while relief rose across Goebel’s face.

* * *

──October 31, 00:00

A day passed, and midnight darkness settled on the Sentinel rooftop.

I stood by the railing, cold wind against my skin. Autumn had come again before I knew it.

“......Max. For now, let us just kill some time here. As if I am desperately trying to persuade you.”

Kairon loosened his tie and sighed.

“Talks with them went well, but politics is difficult.”

I gave a small nod.

“I think of it as holding back vomit.”

“Vomit.”

Kairon smiled bitterly.

“Yes. But that is only holding it back. One day we will have to let it out.”

For me, no, for us, that was true.

Until the right time came. Until my longsword held greater power.

We had to swallow the disgust and wait.

“By the way...... did you really have evidence to bring Goebel to Knight Court?”

Decisive evidence to cut Goebel’s throat.

The so-called smoking gun.

“Yes. We already have evidence.”

My certainty seemed to surprise Kairon.

“Could you at least give me a hint?”

“Commander Goebel has a vanity problem.”

“Vanity?”

“Yes. A kind of evidence he has seen too often, while eating, going to the bathroom, bathing, walking, changing clothes, so often that he no longer notices it himself.”

Paintings, sculptures, and other art displayed all over Goebel’s mansion.

In one of those ‘gifts,’ one specific painting hid a fatal trap from cartel boss Pellier.

That fact had been discovered after the Empire fell, during the war-crimes trials.

“......Hm. Anyway, I think requests will start pouring in to me now. I already have lunch and dinner invitations, and even brunch plans in the morning.”

The palace lower ranks would certainly be cut off. Still, we could only go that far for now. If the power of the palace Imperial Guard twisted too fast, it would trouble me as well.

Power was like a living creature. When one side died, the other side swelled out of control.

“Yes. You are carrying a heavy load.”

“Heavy load, sure. Anyone with ambition should treat not suffering as a sin.”

Whoooooosh-

On the rooftop where the night wind blew, Kairon set a hand on my shoulder.

“......Max. I will carry all the dirty things and climb with them.”

Pat. Pat.

“You take everything clean and look farther ahead......”

He tapped my shoulder a few times, then turned and went down the stairs with a pleased expression.

It seemed he had drunk quite a lot.

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