WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 156

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Gift (2)

I trusted Sebestian's strength.

No, anyone in the Empire would trust Sebestian.

He was the head of House Ebenholtz and, at the same time, the Emperor's sword.

If Dieter Schmidt had single-handedly held up the Empire's collapsing finances, Sebestian had single-handedly held back the collapse of the Empire's front lines.

Even so, Sebestian had clear limits.

Because he was the strongest himself, he did not look around him. He underestimated threats outside the Empire, and existed as a sword for only one person.

In other words, at some point, Sebestian let go of politics. He closed his eyes to what was happening inside the Empire and lowered the hand that should have reached farther out.

He should never have done that, but maybe he, like me, had grown sick of politics.

"He has arrived at the relic passage with a trusted adjutant."

Schatz said. I gave a small smile and nodded.

"I hope he likes the gift."

Sebestian would easily defeat Gentra's leader, and he would snap his underlings' necks just as easily.

It was a shame I could not keep it for myself, but the Arcane found there would surely please even the Emperor.

"But there has been a lot going on in the Empire lately."

I had just received some rather interesting news.

[Hearing on the Habeas Corpus Petition]

Oswin Mason. A professor at the Zestpol Magic Tower and a noble from a distinguished house. He had formally filed a habeas corpus petition with the Imperial Court to save a disciple unjustly dragged away by the Imperial Guard.

"......"

Before my regression, this was called the "Zestpol Reactionary Incident." Countless professors, students, and young people in Zestpol were teaching civil law, or were simply seized without cause, then tortured en masse, executed, or imprisoned.

The opening developments were similar, but I did not know the details.

Media control had left me with little memory of it.

To be honest, I had not cared.

Anyway.

The Imperial Guard bastards would take everything Oswin was doing as an attack on their organization.

How they would respond next, I would only know by watching it myself.

......

That afternoon, I went to the Imperial Central Court. Wearing a hat and plain clothes, I sat in the very back row of the gallery.

"We will now open the habeas corpus hearing for detainee Oliver Muller."

The judge came in first, sat down, struck the gavel, and declared the hearing open.

It was a relief hearing over an ideology crime, but Oliver himself was not in court.

The Imperial Guard had likely refused to produce him, citing "security."

"Your Honor."

Oswin rose from his seat, barely suppressing his anger.

"My client was suddenly accused of anti-state ideology and illegally taken away. Yet at neither the site raided by the Imperial Guard nor my client's residence was any physical evidence found that could prove subversive thought."

He then pulled an official document from a thick folder and submitted it as evidence.

"This is my client's certified family tree. It proves he is a pure Imperial, an Aran whose roots in Imperial soil go back to his grandparents' generation, with not a single drop of foreign blood mixed in."

A family tree. At this stage, after the Imperial Civil Law had been proposed, it was both the strongest evidence and the most dangerous one.

"Therefore, this was clearly a wrongful execution of the law, and an abuse of power by the Imperial Guard organization, which knew that and still allowed it!"

Imperial Guardsmen sat on the opposite side. Even as Oswin argued passionately, they only sneered with confidence.

The judge glanced over Oswin's submitted family tree with indifference, then asked the Imperial Guard side,

"What do you think of the petitioner's claims?"

A guardsman named Hans slowly rose and snorted.

"I find this very difficult to understand, Your Honor. There is a high possibility that this family tree itself is forged, and even if the blood is pure, if his rotten mind is full of subversive thoughts of overthrowing the Empire, then he is already an enemy of the Empire, more dangerous than any heterogeneous bloodline."

Oswin shot up at that sophistry.

"That is absurd! Are you saying you can prove what thoughts a person has in his head?!"

Oswin Mason. Whatever else could be said, he was a good man. As a noble from a prestigious house, he was taking on something he did not have to do.

"The Empire is the nation of Aran! How can a nation meant to protect Aran trample an innocent Aran youth and make him bleed?!"

His loud voice rang through the courtroom. But it would never reach the judge.

"Also, besides my client that night, there were dozens, hundreds of innocent citizens the Imperial Guard seized without proper procedure!"

"What hundreds?! You do not even know what you are talking about!"

One of the guardsmen sprang up and pointed at him.

"Then disclose it transparently!"

Oswin stared him down without yielding an inch and fired back.

"Who you arrested, how, where, and on what charges! And what objective evidence you have to prove those charges! Reveal all of it without hiding anything......!"

* * *

The first hearing of the first trial ended without meaningful results. The judge gave no clear conclusion and postponed further review to a later date, and Oswin gathered in a conference room with other lawyers from Zestpol.

"......As of now, more than forty wrongfully arrested university students have been identified."

Oswin roughly yanked his tie loose as he spoke.

"In the end, family trees will matter most. The certificates?"

"We have securely obtained thirty. The other ten...... should we make them look real?"

"Absolutely not."

Oswin shook his head firmly. In times like this, forging a family tree was a capital crime. Those recently caught forging family trees, even clumsily, had all been executed without exception.

"......Every document we submit must be real. Not almost real. It has to be real."

The likely force behind 「Imperial Civil Law」, the purest form of disaster.

If anything caught Maximilian's eye, even by chance, that alone could destroy them.

"What is the media trend?"

"It's all the worst."

A lawyer threw today's newspapers onto the table. Instead of exposing Imperial Guard brutality, only articles influenced by them were printed in giant front-page headlines.

[Reactionary Group Hiding Underground in Zestpol, Swept Up at Once!]

[Night School Students Who Tried to Shake the Empire's Foundations with Subversive Ideology, All Under Arrest and Investigation]

"......Goddamn it."

Oswin covered his face with both hands. The law had been bought, the media had been controlled, and their opponent was the Imperial Guard of the palace.

"Still, they have no other evidence, so if the family trees are solid, our chances are still good enough."

No matter what, he could not leave his innocent disciples in the dark like this.

......

Bang!

Lieutenant Colonel Lorentz slammed his hand on the interrogation room desk and hardened his expression. On the desk lay a document demanding supplementary physical evidence.

"Those motherfuckers dare cause this kind of mess over the enforcement of an imperial order......"

His bloodshot eyes stabbed into his adjutants.

"So, that old man's family tree he submitted in court?"

"......We believe it is real. We checked it carefully, but..."

"How the hell are you sure of that, you stupid bastard!"

Lorentz shouted and hurled the file at the adjutant's face.

"If we back down here over a scrap of paper, what do you think happens to our organization's dignity and standing?!"

The Special Imperial Guard. Formed to enforce this imperial command, they had to build visible results.

"Bribe someone, no matter what it takes. Bring me an expert who will testify that family tree is fake."

Lorentz's lips twitched.

"A forgery appraisal expert. Grab one of those guys who used to hold public office and put him on the stand."

"......Yes, understood."

They would add another capital charge, "family tree forgery," on top of the impure intent those Zestpol worms held toward the Imperial Civil Law.

"This is a good chance to make an example. Remember this. We have 'that person' behind us."

Kents Bertem. The second son of House Bertem was backing this case from behind.

It meant there was nothing to fear.

......

A few days later, the second hearing opened in the Imperial Central Court.

The first witness requested by the Imperial Guard, a forgery expert, cleared his throat with a tense expression.

"......Yes. Based on my analysis."

Pointing to the family tree submitted by Oswin, he stated firmly,

"I consider this a very skillfully manipulated forged document."

"No, what are you saying! Exactly what part is manipulated?!"

Oswin shot to his feet and shouted.

"Order! Keep order in this courtroom! Order!"

A guardsman on the opposite side slammed the desk and barked.

Oswin hurriedly appealed to the judge.

"Your Honor, appraisal is a subjective field where experts can differ in opinion. Therefore-"

"Objection denied. This court finds the appraiser has sufficient authority and qualifications."

The judge avoided Oswin's eyes as he denied it. Oswin did not give up.

"Then please allow our side to request another witness who can determine this document's authenticity!"

At Oswin's request, the judge glanced toward the Imperial Guard side. Their faces were relaxed.

No matter who Oswin recruited, they were confident they could buy him with money and power, and if that failed, they could simply invoke palace authority and reject the witness admission itself.

To begin with, in times like this, there was no one who would risk his own life to give proper testimony.

"Funny old man......"

Lorentz watched the trial and chuckled.

The work was easier than expected, and that made it fun. Watching that old noble panic was deeply satisfying.

"The petitioner's witness request is approved. We will end this review here and recess."

Bang. Bang.

The judge struck the gavel.

Oswin and the Zestpol lawyers tried to recruit many experts. Most refused them to their faces, and even those who first agreed later withdrew, or had their witness admission denied in advance.

Time ran short, and their request to postpone the trial was naturally denied.

In the end, even by the day of the third hearing, they still had no witness.

-Sarak. Sarak.

Snowflakes, hard as pebbles, settled over the Imperial Central Court.

"......"

Oswin arrived in despair and stood blankly in the parking lot, staring at the massive court building.

At that moment, a top-class vehicle slid up beside him and stopped.

Oswin turned toward it.

Jiiing-

The rear window lowered smoothly, revealing a woman's impassive face.

"You look troubled."

It was his old disciple, Sonnet Kandel.

"......Sonnet?"

"May I give you one piece of advice, Professor?"

Oswin stepped closer and nodded.

Right now, he needed any words, any help.

"From what I can see, Professor Oswin, you seem trapped by prejudice."

"I am, by prejudice?"

"Yes. You, who told me to guard against prejudice more than anyone else."

She added, lifting a brow.

"There is one person you are failing to see clearly. In the end, is that not ideology as well?"

Oswin stared straight into Sonnet's eyes. His expression said he did not understand at all.

A strange curve formed at the corner of her lips.

"So, Professor, if you step away from prejudice and look only at this situation again, in the coldest and clearest way possible."

She suddenly gestured with her eyes toward somewhere.

"You will see the most precise person for this situation."

Leaving those cryptic words behind, the car carrying her vanished into the snowfall.

Oswin stood there blankly, and when he looked where Sonnet had directed her gaze,

"......?"

he saw a man walking into the Central Court.

A man in a coat and hat, while the aide beside him carefully held an umbrella over him. He seemed to be trying to hide himself, yet his bearing and authority still drifted out like snow, the mark of a noble.

The one Sonnet had called "the most precise person."

Oswin murmured quietly.

"......A forgery appraisal expert."

The very man who had precisely identified even tiny forgeries in family trees and sent dozens to the gallows.

'If you step away from prejudice and look only at this situation again, in the coldest and clearest way possible, you will see the most precise person for this situation.'

The man Sonnet's advice had pointed to

had come here.

......

Third hearing. The most important issue in this review was whether the family tree was forged.

As if determined to press their advantage, the Imperial Guard brought three more experts. All of them pointed out strange parts of the family tree and repeated only one word, forged, like parrots.

"......Defense counsel?"

After all questioning of the Imperial Guard witnesses ended, the judge cleared his throat and looked down at Oswin.

"Until the trial date, you did not submit a single witness application."

Oswin kept his mouth shut and stared into empty air. The guardsmen opposite him snickered, certain victory was already theirs.

"Counsel. Are you giving up your argument?"

The judge asked again.

Gulp. He swallowed. Even in a body this old, he was tense.

That was how much this was... a gamble close to suicide.

Oswin shook his head.

"......No. I did not submit a separate witness application."

He took a deep breath and slowly rose from his seat.

"Under the in-court witness rule, I wish to request, as an appraiser, a new witness who is currently present in this courtroom."

"......Here?"

The judge's brow tightened slightly.

"Yes."

Oswin nodded with a resolute face.

"The witness I am requesting is in this very gallery."

Oswin scribbled a name in fountain pen on a blank witness application form and handed it to the court clerk. The judge's expression wavered for a moment after receiving and checking the paper.

That was the weight of the name.

It held pure power, power that frightened even judges.

"......Is this name correct?"

"Yes."

"This person is in this courtroom right now?"

The judge's voice trembled faintly. Every gaze in the courtroom turned to Oswin.

"Yes. He is."

Exhaling the breath pressed against his chest, he looked toward the very back row of the gallery.

"I."

Under the hat pulled low, he met those cold, sunken golden eyes.

"I wish to request the Sentinel knight seated over there."

A man no one in the Empire dared treat carelessly, a man even the Imperial Guard could only bow before.

"I wish to request Sir Maximilian Ebenholtz as the appraiser."

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