WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 125

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A Fake Play (2)

At a salon in Bolska, Hanna got her hair permed for the first time in her life.

"......How much?"

"30 bolan."

The woman in the mirror looked unfamiliar. Her once-rough hair now fell in neat, businesslike waves.

"Here."

Leon handed her a new ID and a new role.

"Our weapons broker will start floating rumors that you're trying to smuggle arms. You pretend to be a businesswoman, make contact, and find out who's behind it."

She left the salon and walked to the hotel they had arranged.

"Have you ever bought things cheap and resold them?"

"Ah, tons of times!"

Hanna was a commoner from a tiny rural backwater. But she had recognized her own talent early, and the moment she decided she wanted to become a knight, she understood she needed money.

So she worked every job she could find. She gathered herbs and sold them, skinned animals and sold the hides, shouted for customers in crowded markets, and scraped money together through sheer grit.

"Really?"

"Yes. I'm proud to say this, but before I got into Empire Point, I earned ten thousand dollars on my own. Without that, I would've starved."

Ten thousand dollars. For some nobles, it was a single night's drinking money. For an average imperial worker, it was half a year's salary.

But if you said a country girl made that between ages eight and thirteen, no one would believe you.

"So you were already a veteran? Then just think of this as doing the same thing on a bigger scale."

"......But. Don't I need money to look like a businesswoman?"

"You're fine. Max replied."

Leon handed Hanna a key card to the most luxurious hotel in Bolska.

"Get your operation funds there. If the operation succeeds, the Empire will reimburse everything anyway, so spend as much as you need."

Right now.

Hanna unpacked in the suite. She liked what she saw in the full-length mirror.

"Maybe I should keep this hairstyle."

The waves came out well. At Empire Point, it had been such a hassle that she always cut it short.

Ding-dong.

The moment she heard it, Hanna tensed.

"......"

Gripping her dagger, she moved slowly and pressed herself against the wall beside the door. She felt for any faint vibration from outside.

Nothing.

Even so, she warmed up her mana and slowly pulled the door open.

Creeeak-

No one was there, but a bag sat on the floor.

Hanna carried it inside. She set it on the table and opened it carefully.

"Whoa......"

Her eyes widened. Bundles of cash packed tight like bricks.

A note in Maximilian's handwriting lay on top.

[ Operation Fund Support Rules: 5,000,000 Dollars ]

Hanna stared blankly between the money and the note.

"Five million...... That's three years of my salary."

No, wait. After taxes, living expenses, savings...

"It's more like five or six years."

Either way, it was far more than enough for operation funds.

She nodded to herself and closed the bag.

* * *

Sentinel Order office.

I picked up a document lying on my desk. It had come from Bolska.

[ Maximilian Foundation Support Application ]

[ Year 0 Knight 'Hanna Usar' ]

An intense intelligence war was unfolding beneath the surface. Before long, anti-Imperial terrorist attacks would start coming in waves, so they were likely moving now after picking up the warning signs.

Leon and Hanna were both trustworthy.

I turned on the terminal.

"Schatz. Have someone send five million dollars to Bolska. In cash."

“Yes. Understood.”

For now, money was all I would provide. I had no room to worry about what was happening in Bolska right this moment.

Because it was tomorrow.

Unless something changed drastically, a terror attack would happen tomorrow night at the Royal Opera House.

The day Justine slipped past her guard knight and came to the theater alone.

The attack happened at that exact moment, and with Leonard's help, the two of them built a romance.

“Sir Knight. What about the operation you mentioned last time?”

At Schatz's question, I looked at the poster.

「New Production: The Phantom of the Opera」

“We have detected suspicious signs inside the opera house.”

If my guess was right.

If Izenheim had engineered Leonard and Justine's meeting to draw in the princess.

If the most romantic tragedy before my regression had actually been their script.

"......It has to be done."

“Yes.”

I had thought hard about this.

Could I win the princess's heart instead of Leonard? If I saved her in that moment, could I take his place?

But I did not need to go that far.

I quietly crumpled the poster in my hand.

The night of the 「Royal Opera House」.

Maybe because a new production was opening for the first time in a while, the street in front was packed with people.

If history stayed the same, terror would break out here today.

I moved to the side of the opera house.

A rear entrance I had scoped out in advance. A narrow passage where staff moved stage equipment in and out.

I already had an employee badge around my neck, along with work clothes and a beret.

"......Leo."

Crackle. A cute response came through the earpiece.

- Woof.

Leo was already inside.

Today's mission was a two-man team with Leo. From now on, I would treat Leo as a human, not a dog.

"Move. Just like I told you."

- Woof.

Then I entered backstage. Staff rushed around everywhere. I was trying to assess the situation first, but then:

"Hey, you punk! What are you doing?! Take this!"

A bad-tempered middle-aged man shoved a ladder at me.

"......Yes."

I took it.

"Set it up over there."

I was disguised as staff, so I had no choice. I helped with stage prep first, doing whatever they barked. Put this there, not there, there, you son of a bitch, crazy bastard, are you brain-dead, damn it, is this guy total trash.

"......Are we done now?"

I turned around and he was already gone.

"You little......"

They called opera an aristocratic art, but behind the curtain it was still wild.

"What are you doing there?! Move, dumbass!"

Someone yelled from somewhere. I swallowed a sigh and stepped back.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The stage lights went out. The audience was already packed.

Sliiide......

The curtain slowly opened to both sides, the stage came alive, and the new opera I had personally imported, 「The Phantom of the Opera」, began.

Shhhhhh-

A soft light fell on one point of the stage. Leonard's back.

I watched him, then quietly moved away. Like a ghost, I slipped into the shadows and kept moving.

* * *

Beneath the Royal Opera House. A hideout that did not exist on the blueprints.

There, a rehearsal more precise and more secret than the opera itself was underway.

"Preparations are solid."

The operation strategist, opera house composer Cecilia, spoke.

In front of her was a detailed map of the opera house, with tonight's projected routes for the princess and Leonard connected by red strings.

"......Will this work?"

A comrade asked uneasily.

They had dared to stage a romance plot targeting the Emperor's daughter. If discovered, even beheading would be too light for that level of treason.

"Of course it will. Do you know how many times the princess has come to see Leonard?"

She pointed to a calendar on the wall. Every one of Leonard's performance days had a red circle. Whenever he was the lead, she never missed it.

"Almost every time. That noble lady slips past her guards and hides in a corner of the theater."

And was Leonard's family lacking? Not at all.

A house with deep tradition and high honor, just a little short on scale.

It was the perfect family to take a son-in-law from.

"The princess's heart is already leaning his way. All we need is one small trigger. And tonight she has no guard."

Revolutionary Faction. An organization linked like dots.

"We have to do this."

Each of them supported their cause in different ways.

"The Empire is obsessed with war right now. The moment war breaks out, too many people will die. We need someone inside who can pull the brakes."

Princess Justine. The Emperor's only daughter, and the Empire's future.

If she fell in love with Leonard, who held open-minded views?

"There is no other way but to win over the princess. We can't defeat the Empire with blades and guns."

The most romantic political operation.

She pointed at the map. It showed explosives placed across the building, and positions of armed Revolutionary Faction members who had volunteered for the cause.

Crisis, rescue, and love.

The script was already prepared. The actors stepped onto the stage without knowing their roles, and the lights came up.

Now all they had to do was follow the route they had planned in advance, and tragedy would turn into love like fate.

"Let's begin."

......

“O song of night! Embrace me!”

「The Phantom of the Opera」, a major success in the Western Prozen Republic.

With Maximilian's help, it landed in the Empire, and carried by Leonard's voice, it shook the audience.

“I am one who cannot see you.”

The opera he had always wanted to sing. Leonard poured out his voice as if he were finally emptying years of bitterness. Noble, commoner, bourgeois, everyone was absorbed.

“Lowly and insignificant, one who cannot approach you.”

Half his face hidden behind a mask, he sang as the phantom and filled the theater with his voice.

“You, become my music!”

At the moment Leonard, immersed in the play, reached out and grasped at empty air.

Crk-crk.

A tiny fracture started among the audience seats.

It began in the third-floor general section.

A slight split, or the sound of a screw loosening.

Krrrkkk-

The vibration grew.

The disturbance spread to the second floor, then reached the first-floor VIP seats.

"......What?"

"What uncivilized commoner......"

Nobles frowned and turned around. Their eyes were ready to scold the uncultured fools daring to make noise during sacred opera.

But the commotion did not stop. It swelled like a wave, until even the actors on stage were shaken.

At last.

Kwaaakrrr-

The sound of something breaking.

- ......

Leonard's song stopped. The orchestra cut off too.

Then the explosion surged.

KWA-AAAAAH-!

The opera house ceiling twisted and debris rained down. Stage pillars collapsed.

KUUUUNG-!

The audience area became chaos. Screams, explosives, sparks, and smoke mixed together and surged upward.

Ratatatat!

Gunshots from unknown sources tore through the air and sent the whole area into panic.

"This way! Hurry!"

Leonard and the staff shouted, pointing to emergency exits, but his focus was fixed on one place only.

"......"

Leonard had already located the princess. An opera house ticketing employee had prepared in advance. Inside the thin paper wristbands given to entrants, they had embedded a delicate spring mechanism.

A mechanical resonance device that signaled location through tiny vibrations. Because it did not use mana, no one would notice.

Vmmmmm.

The receiver on Leonard's wrist vibrated.

Without hesitation, he changed direction.

KWA-AAAAANG-!

A bomb exploded at the planned spot. Smoke rose with the blast.

Through the thick haze, he saw the back of a woman in a robe.

She was walking toward the backstage corridor.

!

Right on cue, the second explosion.

Ceiling lights crashed down.

The timing was perfect.

"Hup!"

Leonard sprinted at full speed. He threw himself past the falling debris.

He rolled across the floor, holding the princess in his arms.

"......Are you alright?!"

He did not check who she was. He did not try. Her face was hidden by the robe anyway.

Right now, all he had to do was play his role and save the person in danger.

Boom! KWA-AAAAANG-!

The explosions grew fiercer.

"This way! I know somewhere safe!"

Leonard grabbed her wrist and pulled her along.

To the escape route planned in advance. To the place where comrades waited, where fate was supposed to begin.

Tap.

Backstage.

In the corridor, Leonard's legs suddenly stopped.

"......"

By instinct, Leonard stepped back.

A grim chill ran down his spine.

Step.

Someone was walking out of the darkness.

Step.

Not a comrade. Not staff. Not security.

Bloodshot eyes. A man dragging a bloodstained axe, murderous intent pouring off his whole body.

An entrance not in the script.

Leonard's instincts screamed.

If that man caught him, he would die.

* * *

Royal Opera House. Explosions everywhere, debris flying, people scrambling to escape in chaos.

Countless gunshots rang out, but no one was actually dying. People were being caught in accidents, but that was not the point.

I thought:

If this whole incident was their script, I could not dance to it. I would not.

So I needed to make the situation fairer.

I decided to flip the board instead.

The surest way to ruin a play was to unleash the real thing.

At the Empire's bottom, plenty of men would do anything for money. Underground lunatics.

I paid them to infiltrate this opera house. Their orders were to assassinate Leonard and escalate the terror.

I brought in real killers, not actors.

- Woof!

Leo's voice came through the earpiece.

"......You found her."

Leo had found the princess.

I turned toward that direction.

"Hold position."

They underestimate life.

Life is not a play.

Its essence is chaos.

It is never something to take for granted, but the single most important thing humanity must cling to with everything it has.

"Let's go......"

From here on, we step onto the real stage.

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