WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Reluctant Imperialist

Chapter 16

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Kill, or Save

The Ebenholtz armory looked like a small museum. Along the walls, ornate armor and swords used by past heads of the house were displayed in chronological order, and beyond that were countless magical artifacts worthy of being called treasures.

Out of all those weapons and pieces of gear, none were mine. I still lacked the skill and the qualifications.

“Hmm...”

I wandered slowly, looking around. Engi was not with me. Only direct bloodline members of Ebenholtz could enter this place.

“...Hey. You happen to know something?”

I spoke to the virus.

Squirm.

It actually reacted. The pulse was faint, but unmistakable.

“You understand me pretty well.”

Should I at least give it a name?

Feeling the fragment’s pull, I walked deeper into the armory.

Thump!

My heart suddenly lurched hard. The virus reacted intensely.

“Where? What is it?”

In the corner of a dust-covered weapon stand, an old longsword lay on the floor as if it had been tossed there.

It looked like some antique relic.

“This?”

The blade was tightly wrapped in worn bandages, but at 1.6 meters in full length, it was clearly an Ebenholtz long blade. Still, compared to a normal long blade, this one was slightly narrower, closer to a single-edged saber sharpened on only one side.

I picked it up. The way it settled into my hand felt strangely familiar.

“Not sure what this is, but.”

I strapped the long blade at my waist. It stuck to my lower back like a magnet. Carrying this kind of long sword around was usually a burden on its own, but at least I would not need to worry about that.

“...”

I was about to leave, then I noticed elixirs piled behind a glass case in one corner.

Elixirs so precious that even calling them rare was not enough were aging quietly there. They were the same things I drank like water as a child.

These elixirs had their greatest effect during the growth phase. Whether the user’s talent was high or low, high-purity mana became permanently stored in an infant’s immature body.

For adults, though, the effect was tiny. Once the body was complete, mana compatibility dropped, and the purer the mana was, the less the body could hold it, so it leaked out.

The Ebenholtz mana breathing method already existed to digest the “purity” deposited in the body, and these elixirs were likely set aside for my son or daughter, for descendants in the future.

Son. Daughter.

Could I really have that kind of future? I could not even imagine it anymore.

Thump!

The virus suddenly stirred, and a thought flashed through my head.

“...No way.”

Normally, elixirs only showed explosive effects during the growth phase, around age eleven.

But what if that was not limited to “humans,” and could apply to the virus inside me too?

“Are you still in your growth phase?”

The virus did not answer, but I opened the glass case. I grabbed an elixir bottle by the neck and popped the cap.

Thump.

Feeling the virus pulse, I poured it straight into my mouth.

Thump.

After swallowing all of it, I looked at my collarbone. The virus absorbed the elixir. The exact area where it nested flared blue.

I let out a dry laugh.

“Yeah. Let’s stay alive together.”

Remember this.

If I die, you die too.

* * *

The house I had just moved into was perfectly arranged. The exterior Rodriguez had smashed up was fully repaired, and the inside had been redone in minimalism to match my taste.

Furniture was cut down to the minimum, and the walls and floors were all in a single-tone marble finish.

Outside, a cutting-edge security system had been installed. The outdoor training yard in the backyard, especially, was a fortress covered in every kind of magic circle.

I stood in the center of the training yard and prepared for ten thousand swings.

“So I report to work here now too?”

At some point, Freya had appeared. I flinched. How did she get through?

“Didn’t you say you would not come to work until I finished all ten thousand swings?”

“Even so, I’m your instructor. If my student is doing dumb shit, I should stop it.”

Was she here to shake me down again?

I gripped the bandage-wrapped long blade in one hand.

“Oh, new weapon. I’m jealous. Show me.”

“Yes.”

Whoosh!

I swung my arm. A simple horizontal cut.

As I extended the blade, one.

Then I drew a diagonal line, two.

Three, four, five...

I kept swinging like that, dozens of times.

Sweat poured like rain. My chest felt ready to burst, but I did not stop. In the pain of my creaking joints, I kept cutting. I only counted up to 573.

“Stop now.”

“...”

Without a word, I let the sword hang down. I did not let go.

I knew myself well. The moment I let go, I would never want to lift it again. I was that lazy.

“Now connect the cuts.”

“...Connect them?”

What was she talking about now?

I pushed my sweat-soaked hair back and frowned.

“Yeah. Like flowing water. Let the first cut become the start of the second, and the second become the start of the third. Like one long breath.”

Freya picked up a branch and demonstrated.

Whish, whip, whoooosh!

Three brushstrokes in one flowing motion, like she was painting a picture.

“This is called the Ebenholtz Link.”

Link. I repeated her word in my head and reset my stance.

Whoooosh!

I launched a horizontal cut. The instant the blade’s center of mass reached its peak, instead of dropping force, I used that centrifugal force to link into the second cut.

Swaaaash!

The blade crossed the air. I raised it in an upward cut.

Three cuts were drawn in space, then my wrist naturally twisted and sent out the fourth cut.

“...?”

The cuts connected to each other. I had not used even thirty percent of the strength and stamina I thought I had spent.

I blinked, stunned.

“That’s it.”

My teacher gave me a crooked smile.

“It’s not strength. It’s not speed. What matters is flow. The flow of strength, mana, and the body. Connecting all of it into one.”

I nodded. Each cut was not an isolated action.

It was part of one huge wave, a river that never stopped.

Ebenholtz was a noble’s sword that carried that flow forward.

“Do it again.”

“Yes.”

The moment I understood, the sword became astonishingly light. I no longer needed to swing with raw force. Waist rotation, footwork, even breathing, all of it became forms for Link. The sword moved like my own limbs, an extension of my will.

Freya smiled, satisfied.

“Do you know the real advantage of Ebenholtz swordsmanship? You do not need big movement. The blade is very long.”

She was right. A 1.6-meter long blade had an overwhelming range by itself.

“The moment sloppy fools try to push into your space, their necks are already gone. You just stand where you are and swing elegantly. Approaching you is impossible in the first place.”

Freya stepped one pace closer and asked me:

“On that note... Maximilian. What is a noble?”

I steadied my rough breathing and smirked.

“We do not permit lesser people to approach.”

“Right. Ebenholtz were nobles who built their own fence first. They have many secret techniques made to pass only through blood relatives. As arrogant as they are, they are refined and hidden.”

She picked up the branch. Twirl. She spun it lightly up and down and continued:

“For quite a long time, a lineage of Iron Men continued in Ebenholtz. I thought your father, Sebestian, was the finished product.”

Freya looked at me with a strange gaze.

“...Anyway. Do you understand now why I called Ebenholtz the sword of nobles?”

“Yes. I understand, but I still have a lot to learn.”

She nodded.

“Good. Become the real thing, Maximilian.”

Right then, I unleashed a linked chain of strikes at Freya. She slipped between my sword arcs and closed in instantly.

“Ghk!”

Her knife hand jabbed into my solar plexus. My breath locked up.

“Get up.”

Her strength was on a different level, but I smiled and got up.

Back then, this kind of training was boring as hell. The reason was simple. I was bad at it.

“Going again.”

The better you were, the more fun it got. The worse you were, the less fun it was.

“Yes. Come.”

Now, I was having plenty of fun.

* * *

...Last night, I fell asleep with muscle pain like my whole body was being torn apart.

When I opened my eyes this morning, I felt fresh, as if I had been washed clean.

This was probably thanks to the Mana core too.

As soon as I got up, I grabbed my car key and left home. While driving myself to the Order, a thought crossed my mind.

“Should I hire a chauffeur too?”

Right then, I got a call from Dieter on my personal terminal. It had only been a few days since I bought him a computer and a terminal, but he already seemed to know how to use them.

“Sir Knight. This is Dieter Schmidt.”

“Yeah.”

“Reporting on the land purchases in the southern Vermus district.”

“Go on-”

“We divided it into five zones and began buying under different shell corporations. To avoid market suspicion, we intentionally staggered both purchase timing and prices. Contracts for zones 1 and 3 are complete, and the remaining zones will proceed in sequence. In the final stage, our Veritas will secure all ownership. The expected total acquisition cost is around 2.2 million dollars.”

I listened quietly while driving. A few of Dieter’s sentences slipped past me. I could not follow all of it clearly.

Thump!

The virus pulsed and rewound Dieter’s voice.

‘...began buying under different shell corporations. To avoid market suspicion, we intentionally staggered purchase timing and prices, and contracts for zones 1 and 3...’

No need to replay even that.

Still, the virus clearly restored my memory. Anything I saw or heard once, I would not forget anymore.

“Proceed.”

“Yes. Understood.”

That was when it happened. A loud alarm blared from the terminal.

It was an emergency alert from the Sentinel Order.

[Eastern Gennen Autonomous Territory - Large-Scale Protests Break Out]

[Local security forces may be unable to contain the situation. Any knight without a separate assignment is to move to the site immediately and report conditions.]

My first official deployment order had come down.

I searched my memory. The Gennen Autonomous Territory was the Empire’s powder keg.

Around this time, protests and unrest always broke out.

“This is Knight Maximilian. I will deploy to Gennen.”

I sent my response through the terminal and turned the wheel.

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