WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 13

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One Step

The final years of the Empire. A dark, decadent backroom.

Ssssss......

Expensive perfume and unknown drugs mixed like smoke and hung thick in the air. Liquor ran between tangled naked bodies. Giggling faces panted as they traded filthy jokes. In every red-velvet corner, forbidden pleasures burned hot.

Through that sticky, revolting air, Rodriguez walked in.

Back then, he was the master of that room. He held out an amethyst-studded wineglass and smiled obsequiously. Inside was a strangely colored drug.

‘Young master of the great Ebenholtz. One glass of this, and every worry in the world disappears.’

Young master. The word rang as clearly as last night.

This was my past.

Before I regressed, one day among countless days I wasted without meaning.

Pathetic me.

“......”

I opened my eyes and sat up fast.

What a filthy dream.

Rodriguez had been there. No, not just Rodriguez. Plenty of Imperial Guard bastards who called themselves the Emperor’s dogs had been there.

Corruption and decay in the ruling class. One of the many reasons the Empire fell.

I ran a hand through my hair.

“Refreshing.”

The dream was disgusting, but my body felt shockingly fresh. A nap of barely thirty minutes had fully restored my energy.

Was that because of the Mana core too?

I stood and changed into plain clothes. I threw on whatever was within reach.

Now it was time to find a new place to stay.

* * *

An estate on von Kleinschmidt Street, the wealthy quarter of Imperial District 3.

The place was crowded. Two Imperial Guard men under Rodriguez sat on the living room sofa with their legs crossed. The owner, Arman, was nearly wedged between them. Behind them stood six or seven underlings in a line.

“......Mr. Arman. Why not smile a little?”

One of the underlings crossed his legs and spoke. A forced smile twitched across Arman’s lips.

They tapped the Imperial Guard insignia on their chests.

These days in the capital, being in the Emperor’s Imperial Guard carried more power than status or birth. At least, that was what they believed.

“But-”

“No buts. You want to lose your head for real?”

“To pay the amount you demanded-”

“Shut your mouth.”

The “nominal tax” the Imperial Guard had set for Arman, what he had to cough up, was more than all his remaining assets could cover even if sold at full value. Yet Rodriguez was blocking him from selling this estate too.

“You still don’t get it. You think we came here to make a deal? Think of it as the price of your life.”

Knock knock.

A knock sounded right then. Arman flinched. One Imperial Guard man grinned.

“Do it right. Open the door.”

“Yes.”

The youngest moved first and opened it. A man stood outside. He wore a neat uniform, but the hair over his forehead and the baby fat still on his face made him look young.

Step. Step.

The man walked in and sat in the reception room.

“Nice to meet you.”

He greeted only the homeowner. He did not even glance at the Imperial Guard men beside him. He did not ask for introductions either.

“......Yes. Nice to meet you too.”

“As I told you before, I liked this house. It is damaged here and there, but that works for me. I can rebuild it to my taste.”

“Heh.”

One Imperial Guard man laughed at the brat talking however he liked. The homeowner’s face darkened.

Watching their mood, the homeowner spoke carefully.

“Actually...... I apologize for saying this, but someone has already made an arrangement.”

“Yes, I heard. I will pay double what that person is paying.”

An Imperial Guard man cut in.

“Hey. He said there is already a prior deal.”

The man looked at the guard for a long moment, then asked Arman again.

“Who is this?”

“Ah, well......”

“It does not matter. Then I will also pay compensation to the person with the prior arrangement.”

“No. Can’t this punk understand words?”

Thud. The bastard twisted his face viciously and stomped the floor with his military boot.

“Read the room and figure it out.”

“I did. I heard the news too. If I do not buy it, it goes to auction anyway, right? That is why I am offering double. We cannot let some random bastard take a prime location.”

“Random bastard? You little shit, you think you’re funny?”

Just as the mood was about to turn ugly, the staged act moved on.

“Stop.”

The front door opened, and Rodriguez appeared at last. The underlings stood in formation at once and saluted. A pressure tactic.

Rodriguez sat beside the homeowner.

“My apologies. It seems my men were rude to the young knight.”

“Yes. They were rude.”

Rodriguez laughed softly.

“Pleasure to meet you. I am Major Rodriguez of the Imperial Guard.”

The man stared at him in silence, probably stunned by his rank.

Pleased, Rodriguez continued.

“I, as a major of the Imperial Guard, already negotiated with Mr. Arman, the owner of this estate. Various issues are involved, so I cannot explain in detail. I came in person to ask for your understanding.”

“......Is that true, Mr. Arman?”

The man asked Arman. Rodriguez’s eyes slid to the homeowner for a second.

“......Yes.”

Arman answered in a fading voice.

“It’s true.”

Rodriguez lowered his head and suppressed a smile. Then he took out a cigar and put it between his lips.

“Mm. Sorry for dragging you here. Would you like one?”

“......”

The man looked at the homeowner, then back at Rodriguez, as if examining his face inch by inch.

His shoes, his clothes, even his accessories.

“......You look like a man who could not even afford gift tax, even if it were free.”

Rodriguez’s brow twitched.

“You should watch your words.”

The man only smirked. Open mockery.

“Is this fucker insane?”

The underlings behind Rodriguez reacted first. Rodriguez raised a hand to stop them, and the man took out a checkbook. He scribbled his signature and handed it to the homeowner.

“I do not care what promises you made. I am buying this house.”

“Ha......”

A vein bulged at Rodriguez’s temple. A dry laugh spread across his lips. He forced his anger down, while homeowner Arman looked at the check.

“What is your reason? Starting this kind of fight with the Imperial Guard will do you no good.”

Rodriguez asked like a threat, and Arman’s eyes slowly widened.

He had read a certain name printed on the check.

“Because I liked it.”

Truth was, I had not even looked around inside properly.

I was just pissed off. What these bastards were doing was fucking disgusting.

“Whatever promise you made with the homeowner, I do not care. I do not give a damn.”

Bastards like Rodriguez ran wild in the Empire’s final years. A country like that deserved to collapse.

Edmund blamed himself and said the world ended because of him, but what ended the world was the Empire itself. The true culprits were these trash bastards eating it away from within.

“Well, well.”

Rodriguez still pretended to be relaxed as he set the cigar down.

“A young man like you, how piti-”

“......Maximilian Albrecht von Ebenholtz?”

A voice cut across the room, calling that name. It was the homeowner. His eyes trembled as he stared at the check, and Rodriguez’s face turned cold and rigid.

The man, Maximilian, looked into the other’s eyes again.

“I am buying this house. So.”

Tap. Tap.

As if shooing a dog away, he tapped the desk twice with his finger.

“Know your place and get out.”

Rodriguez’s face burned with fury and humiliation. He bit down hard on his trembling lips. But that was as far as he went. He could not force out even one more word.

He had already heard the name Ebenholtz.

* * *

After all the sword-wearing men left, the estate stood empty.

I looked at the homeowner.

“You kept this place well.”

Arman’s shoulders flinched. Understandable. The man he had to deal with had changed from Rodriguez to Ebenholtz. At the very least, that was not an improvement.

“Yes. It has been our family home for a long time, since my father......”

“This place is far too good to be filled with filth.”

“Ah......”

I leaned forward and met his eyes.

“Take this money and leave the capital tonight.”

Tap. I placed a finger on the check on the desk.

“If you stay here any longer, nothing good will come of it. The south has a better climate. Marang should do.”

The south was one of the few places less affected by both the coming winds of revolution and the Empire’s tyranny.

“About that......”

“Right now.”

I pressed him. He swallowed dryly, stood, bowed deeply, and left to pack.

“......”

I watched his back for a moment, then quietly picked up the terminal. I dialed a familiar number. Before it rang more than a few times, the call connected.

“Yes, Sir Knight.”

“Yeah, Engi.”

Engi was the best butler.

He was also the best adjutant I knew.

“I need a favor.”

“What kind of favor?”

Engi’s voice turned serious.

“You know a guy named Rodriguez, right?”

“Yes. Imperial Guard, transferred up from the east last quarter.”

Engi was always sharp with this kind of information.

“I clashed with him. He had already planted himself in the house I wanted to buy.”

“I see. Were you able to complete the purchase safely?”

“Yeah. Bought it. I offered the original owner double market price.”

“Yes. The House head will be pleased as well.”

A faint smile mixed into Engi’s voice.

Sebestian would not call that wasteful. He would see it as my boldness and approve.

‘If you want it, take it. Do not care who stands in your way. You still do not know the weight carried by your name. In this Empire, no one has more right than you.’

If we wanted something, we took it. If we wanted to break something, we broke it.

That was the other face of Ebenholtz.

“But listen. It is obvious what those bastards are going to do.”

“Yes. It is.”

“The homeowner may not be a pure Imperial, but still, if someone who traded with me gets dragged through hell, that reflects badly on me, right?”

“Of course.”

Rodriguez. Before regression, he became an Imperial Guard officer. A moron who peddled drugs and booze, then got executed by the Revolutionary Faction.

“Engi, you know it too, right?”

He was stupid, weak, evil, dull, and above all else.

“These days the Imperial Guard bastards are way out of line.”

Out of line.

“I cannot let that slide.”

Better to keep things smooth.

Before I regressed, I lived under that illusion. There was even a time I hung around Imperial Guard bastards because members of the Order looked down on me.

......I should have crushed them.

“Help me just this once.”

I would not make this kind of request often. In the end, Engi belonged to my father.

Still, I had chosen to live again, and that meant I needed people of my own.

“Yes. Understood.”

“Good.”

I hung up.

Engi was Sebestian’s right-hand man, and the first commoner to reach the core of Ebenholtz. He was also a monster who carried out orders by any means necessary.

All I had to do was wait quietly.

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