WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 154

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Turning Point (4)

"Khuuugh! Haaagh!"

Pain-soaked groans echoed through a deep underground pit.

Faces were forced into water, high-voltage current seared skin, joints were snapped, and sadistic torture ran without pause.

This was the temporary headquarters of the Special Imperial Guard unit formed to enforce the 「Imperial Civil Law」.

Temporary for now. If their results stayed strong, it could be promoted into a formal battalion and assigned a proper main building.

"Hmm~"

Lieutenant Colonel Lorentz, commander of the unit, lounged in a cushioned chair and filed his nails. Then he blew the dust off his desk and asked,

"So, how was Maximilian?"

"Yes, sir. We learned a very useful method from him for identifying forged documents."

His subordinates were about to explain, in detail, the investigative techniques they had learned in Maximilian's office.

Lorentz frowned.

"No. Not that technical crap. I mean that bastard's attitude. What kind of eyes did he have when he looked at the Imperial Guard? Was he serious about enforcing the civil law?"

"Ah, yes... He did seem very focused on the investigation... but he said nothing in particular about the Imperial Guard."

"...Did he."

Lorentz came from a commoner bourgeois background. Most of the platoon under him were commoners too. In truth, the Imperial Guard as a whole was like that.

"Guess he's so high up he can't even see us."

Sure, many nobles sat at the top. But compared with the knight orders, magic towers, or regular army, bloodline barriers were lower here. If you proved your ability and loyalty to the Emperor, even a commoner could wear rank.

A very desirable institution.

"From now on, keep watching that bastard. Law enforcement is ours now anyway."

"Y-yes, understood."

"And when you report to me about that bastard."

Lorentz threw the nail file onto the table and knitted his brows.

"Stop bowing and saying 'that honorable sir' every other word."

"Sir?"

"Just call him that bastard, that guy, whatever. Right, I heard people call knights old men these days. Use that."

Inferiority flashed in Lorentz's eyes.

"Anyway, if you're commoners and you keep bending your backs in front of noble bastards, you'll get trampled forever like dogs and pigs."

He stood and looked over his men.

"Hey. You know Rodriguez, right? Major Rodriguez."

Their faces stiffened at once. Lorentz smirked.

"You know him. You, Captain Hans. Captain Quanter. He was your senior. The bastard who did every filthy damn thing imaginable saying he'd pull you into central command."

That Rodriguez had vanished one day. Killed, most likely. They had not even found a body.

"That Maximilian bastard killed him to take his house."

Major Rodriguez, who had built a brilliant record in the Imperial Guard, was gone over just one house.

"You know where that bastard lives? That place used to be Rodriguez's."

Hans and Quanter both flushed red.

They were angry too. A fellow commoner's property stolen by... well, okay, Rodriguez was not really a commoner, but an eastern baron was close enough, right?

"Remember this. We are not worthless commoner scraps anymore. We are His Majesty's blade, Imperial Guardsmen."

Lorentz slapped their shoulders roughly and whispered,

"Even that Maximilian bastard isn't some invincible noble. His head can roll at any moment-"

“This is blatant illegal detention! Open the door at once!”

Suddenly, a loud racket erupted outside the office.

"...What now."

Lorentz's brow twisted hard.

He had been right in the middle of a killer line, damn it.

He went out with his aides.

"You dragged away a student with no charges at all! This violates Imperial law! They are Aran!"

An old man stood there pointing fingers, surrounded by Imperial Guardsmen who looked helpless.

Neat suit. Sharp eyes behind silver-rimmed glasses. A well-groomed beard.

Obviously a noble at a glance.

"Who is that old geezer?"

Lorentz asked a nearby sergeant.

"Ah, yes. Well..."

An imperial pure-Aran noble. A mage from Sentio Magic Tower, currently a professor at Zestpol Magic Tower. Name, Oswin. House, Mason.

"He even has a lawyer's license."

"...Fuck, does he have too much free time? Should've just stuck to studying magic."

Lorentz forced his face to relax and approached.

"First, please calm down, Professor Oswin."

"How could I calm down right now?"

"Well, I heard things on the way over. Any chance there were banned books, or ideological teaching?"

"Never! I am Imperial to the bone!"

"No, not you. Your disciples could've taught weird things to others."

"That man is a magic scholar. He teaches students magic. What else would he teach?"

Professor Oswin's neck veins stood out. Lorentz took off his cap and ran a hand through his hair.

"...Fine. What's the name of the one who got taken?"

"Oliver. Oliver Muller."

A commoner. The name alone said so.

Honestly, Lorentz did not know who that was. They hauled in dozens, hundreds, every night.

"Regrettably, there is no man by that name here."

"No, people in the city all saw-"

"You really don't understand words, do you? If I said he isn't here, then he isn't here. Hey, what are you waiting for, send him out-"

Only then did the big soldiers drag Oswin away.

"Let go! Let go! I said let me-!"

Forced back, Oswin glared at headquarters and clenched his teeth.

Honk honk.

A car horn sounded beside him.

"What happened?"

Reporters, Oliver's classmates, disciples, friends, and family crowded around him.

Oliver had been a good student and a good son.

That was why people of every status came together to save him.

"First we'll file a formal habeas corpus petition with the Imperial court, then use our contacts."

Oswin gestured reassuringly to them, especially to Oliver's mother. The middle-aged woman, tears still in her eyes, kept repeating her thanks.

"Jensen! You go find reporters. I'll head out separately."

"Yes, sir!"

His disciples split into multiple cars, while Oswin hurried off on foot, a desperate scene full of tears.

"Whole damn circus. Absolute circus."

In the distance, Lieutenant Colonel Lorentz watched it all carefully.

* * *

The Empire had been boiling over the newly proposed 「Imperial Civil Law」 lately. Zestpol was the worst.

Still, that area's misery could not be helped. I had no way to intervene.

It had been full of immigrants and subspecies from the start, so of course Izenheim were crawling there too.

“Ready!”

This was a prison in central Empire.

To handle the rising number of executions, old facilities had been torn down and replaced with a wider hanging platform.

“Execute!”

Thud. The floor dropped, and the condemned fell. Thick ropes snapped their necks.

Thump.

My heartbeat paused for a moment. Izenheim were dying.

But not only Izenheim.

Among those executed were surely many real Imperials and other subspecies as well. Imperial madness could not sort race cleanly.

"...I almost died there too."

Behind me, Schatz muttered in a low voice.

"If it hadn't been for you, Sir Knight."

It was a grateful thing to say, but even without me, you would not have died. That had been true in the future before my regression.

"Schatz."

"Yes, Sir Knight."

I looked at the now-empty gallows and spoke.

"Why didn't they leave the Empire earlier? Why did they struggle so hard, even forging status and family records, just to hold on?"

Schatz was silent for a moment before answering.

"Maybe because they had nowhere to go in the first place."

Thinking about it, she was right.

People who, just for being subspecies, were treated as less than human not only in the Empire but across the continent, and had endured persecution for generations.

"...Are you sad about their deaths, by any chance?"

Schatz studied me and asked carefully.

I shook my head.

"No. More than sadness..."

I forced down the killing intent boiling from my core and spat the words out.

"It's furious rage."

My voice rose a little. Behind us, the warden and the guards lined up nearby flinched.

Izenheim.

Because of that one race, too many innocent people bled and died. They were forced to die, and we were forced to kill, for the most righteous cause there was, humanity's survival.

"...I see."

If I succeeded in wiping out the Izenheim, how would people see me in the future?

How would our descendants judge a life dragged forward through blood?

Those questions rose in me now and then.

"Schatz."

Before my regression, the world knew my weakness.

"Yes."

That weak man stood here now to save the world.

"I saw what the continent has never seen."

I had become a prophet who had witnessed the continent's future.

"And I went through what the continent has never gone through."

I had become a pioneer searching for the path to the answer.

"...What was it?"

Schatz asked. I met her clear eyes and smiled faintly.

"Later. I'll tell you when you can trust me completely."

"I already trust you enough-"

"No."

I pulled an envelope from inside my coat.

"You need this first."

I handed it to Schatz. She tilted her head and opened it.

"...!"

Her eyes widened as if they would split.

"...Mason Industries."

The enemy she hated most on this continent, the one that killed her father and tried to send her to the gallows too.

"That bastard's family tree."

Now, at last, even race and bloodline alone could become grounds to cut off his head.

"He wasn't pure Aran after all. His grandfather was Mer. He fought hard to hide it, but he couldn't erase everything."

She stared at the family tree for a long time, then dropped to one knee before me. It was the knightly form for swearing loyalty.

I asked her,

"Schatz. Do you think revenge will be sweet?"

She bowed her head and stayed quiet for a moment.

"...No. The pleasure will last only a moment."

The voice of someone who already understood the emptiness of revenge.

"But."

She raised her face and looked straight at me. A clear, unwavering will shone in those transparent eyes.

"Through this revenge, I can finally carry on my father's will after he died unjustly."

Carry on.

"...Carry on."

I rolled the word in my mouth.

To connect cut-off lives, trampled purpose, family and self.

"That is a good word."

Yes. I wanted to carry humanity forward.

To do that, I would have to kill tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, no.

Millions.

......

"It's a request from House Mason."

Inside the Sentinel Order office, I looked at the unannounced visitor with open disbelief.

"An innocent person is in there?"

"Yes."

Sonnet Kandel. One axis of Imperial Guard power, and in practice the effective owner of Kandel, was making this request.

"He is a pure imperial Aran magic scholar who did not spread subversive words in night classes and did not criticize this Imperial Civil Law."

She took out a file and set it on my desk. I skimmed the identity certificate.

The person in the photo had blond hair and golden eyes. At least by appearance, Aran.

"Well... what is your connection to this Professor Oswin?"

"He is my legal mentor."

Sonnet answered in an unshaken voice. Her eyes held no emotion at all.

"He was also a colleague of my older brother, Jun Kandel."

"And Oliver Muller is his disciple?"

"Yes. That's right."

Oliver Muller. I looked at the name and face, then asked again.

"So you want me to meet that prisoner in person?"

"No. I am only asking you to permit Professor Oswin and the family to visit him directly."

"House Kandel's name should be enough."

"This is not a family request. It is a personal one from me."

As always, she remained impossible to read.

"Professor Oswin only wants to know the truth, what exactly his disciple did wrong to be locked in a place like that."

The core funding line of the Imperial Guard. One pillar of the underworld. The woman who effectively owned Kandel. In this bloodstorm around the Imperial Civil Law, what exactly did she want to secure, and what did she want to smash?

"This will place you in my debt."

She quietly held out a prepared visitation request form.

No extra conditions, truly a simple request for visitation.

"...A visitation."

I laughed softly.

Sonnet Kandel was asking a favor from an Ebenholtz knight. Before my regression, she had been someone I could not even look at.

"Fine. I'll open that channel."

I signed it with a quick stroke.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the outer garden of the imperial palace, where elegant flowers bloomed despite winter.

Kents Bertem requested a private meeting with Leutern II. It was an outing more than a private audience, and a highly political meeting more than an outing.

"Leutern. What do you think about this agenda?"

Kents opened carefully as they walked beside the garden fountain.

"Not sure."

At that moment, Leutern II's real thoughts about Kents Bertem were this:

What the hell is with this guy? He used to look down on me quietly, then the moment he gets Lilac Vita reservation tickets, he comes to me like this. Ha. Sorry, but you're already out. Anyway what agenda? What even is it? Don't know, don't care, screw it.

"Whoa~ the flowers are pretty."

He had almost cursed out loud.

"They are pretty."

Leutern cleared his throat and looked around the garden. The palace had lots of Aran Shepherds, gift hounds from Ebenholtz. Since those dogs came in, guards and royal guards loved them. Internal security got twenty times easier, or so they said.

Anyway, these days Ebenholtz, no, Maximilian, was especially serious about shepherds. He was spreading bloodline breeding methods and training methods everywhere.

"..."

Watching Leutern II, Kents Bertem's thoughts were this:

This bastard is pretending not to know while knowing everything. His real face is already exposed, and he still slithers around acting clueless like before. Pathetic. Most of his life came from his daddy's power anyway... Ah, one thing he has on his own. Lilac Vita reservation tickets.

If today's talk went well, Kents had hoped to get at least one.

Still not easy.

"...You must have some thoughts, no?"

Kents tried to probe him again, lightly.

Woof! Woofwoofwoof! Grrrrr!

Suddenly, in the peaceful garden, two Aran Shepherds started fighting each other.

"Ohh. Dogs are going wild all of a sudden."

Leutern II watched with clear interest.

"Maybe a servant let go of the leash. Irresponsible, right?"

"..."

Kents Bertem listened in silence.

Normally it sounded like empty nonsense. Like attention-deficit chatter. But not now. Every word and action hid a high-level political metaphor.

"...Ha."

Dog. That meant the Imperial Guard rampaging under the civil law.

And the servant of the Emperor who could not control that dog... me, House Bertem, and Kurt Grossman.

Kents clenched his teeth and rubbed his dry face.

"Hey, Ken. By the way, you've been hanging out with those Imperial Guard guys a lot lately, huh?"

Leutern II tossed it out casually, just to needle him.

"Your older brother doesn't say anything when he sees that?"

In an instant, Kents's face went cold. Every feature hardened like grit.

"...What?"

Did this snake bastard lose his mind?

Kents's expression twisted grotesquely. Leutern only looked more amused and smirked.

"You..."

Then he froze. He sensed the scheme under Leutern's smile.

"Why? What? Say it~"

"...Shit."

Kents Bertem's older brother, the first son, was Kents's raw nerve.

Leutern II had spoken carelessly because he had no interest to begin with, but to Kents it felt completely different.

- Ambition to collude with the Imperial Guard and push out the first son. My will to swallow the house.

Had Leutern seen through even that?

Was he now threatening me by throwing it back in my face?

"..."

Kents swallowed his surging rage. In the end, he turned sharply and left the garden without a word.

Revealing yourself was never good. Leutern was not as much of an idiot as I wanted him to be, so I had to endure this...

"Tsk tsk. Dumbass. No matter how hard you glare and snarl, I'd die before giving you a Lilac Vita reservation ticket~"

As Kents walked away radiating killing intent, Leutern II laughed with a much lighter heart.

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