WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Reluctant Imperialist
Chapter 161
──────
Blizzard (3)
Camp.
It was such a painful word, and such a difficult one.
In the future before the regression, the Empire slaughtered people there by the tens of millions.
A factory where human malice was condensed into its most systematic, organized form, where races were exterminated with maximum efficiency.
Gray concrete walls stretched on, barbed wire and watchtowers rose like bones over barren ground... a site still unfinished.
I started the camp project a little early.
Because there were at least ten million Izenheim humanity had to wipe out.
And because the number of other races that had to be saved was just as large.
“It is bleak.”
As I stared at it, someone approached me.
Kairon.
“Yes. The ones who will be locked in here do not need beautiful scenery anyway.”
He gave a small laugh and nodded.
“Anton’s hearing is about to begin.”
...As expected, he had no interest in camps like this.
“I got the letters Anton exchanged. There is room to read them as impure... no, we found a lot of lines that are plainly impure.”
Kairon was a transparent man. He climbed this high without caring about means or methods, and now that position he had wanted his whole life was close enough to touch.
He was probably going mad from impatience.
“Yes. Do not drop your guard.”
At my calm warning, Kairon nodded.
“Oh, right. We got a pretty important mission this time. You know the Yumanov family of the East, yes?”
My brow twitched slightly.
“Of course.”
The Eastern Alliance was, literally, an alliance of multiple nations in the eastern part of the continent. But most of their power came from one hegemon, called Lobrus.
A one-party dictatorship with massive weight, holding vast eastern lands.
Put simply, House Yumanov was Lobrus’s Ebenholtz.
“A direct Yumanov line is visiting the Empire.”
The Yumanov line had only one child.
So the East’s Maximilian was coming to the imperial capital.
One by one, figures I could never have met in my old weak life, giants whose faces I could barely have dared to look at, now walked straight toward me.
“Anyway, this is one of the East's highest-ranking figures, so naturally the Sentinel side should provide solid escort and surveillance.”
Kairon looked at me meaningfully.
Right now, the Empire and the Eastern Alliance smiled while hiding knives. So for the moment, each side still gave the other a certain level of treatment.
“I will go.”
I answered without hesitation.
“As expected, there is no one better than you.”
I had a feeling I would keep handling foreign VIP protection from now on too.
“But be careful. Something about the East has felt strange lately.”
That was when Kairon surprised me again.
With his own intelligence line, he seemed to have sensed, faintly, the flow of the Great Purge.
“There is some odd current moving.”
The East’s General Secretary would soon do something insane.
An incomprehensible act to secure his power, internal slaughter that crushed countless generals and elite families.
“Yes. I understand.”
Before long, a blizzard mixed with blood would sweep the continent.
......
Whoooooo.
Imperial Airport No. 1.
A military transport aircraft, shaped nothing like ordinary planes or passenger liners, landed on the runway. On the front of the fuselage was Lobrus’s emblem, a fierce beast in red.
I watched them and straightened my clothes.
Kooooong-!
The heavy hatch opened, and people walked down.
All of them were Eastern Alliance Adversaries, each wearing a standardized sword at the hip.
Thump-
At that moment, my heart thumped.
There was an Izenheim among the Adversaries.
I expected it.
They checked the area first and formed their escort line, and only then did one person step out from inside the transport.
Tok. Tok.
Elegant footsteps. Ash-blonde hair, cold gray-blue eyes. A woman in a tiger-fur coat looked up at the sleet-scattered sky.
“Ah~”
Heir of House Yumanov, Yelena Ilinachina Yumanov.
“Are you the knight of Ebenholtz?”
Tok. She stopped five steps in front of me.
“Yes. Maximilian von Ebenholtz.”
“Knight Maximilian. A pleasure.”
She smiled brightly. I smiled back and gestured to the car waiting beside us.
“Would you like to go together?”
“Hmm. Will you ride with me too, Sir Knight?”
“As you wish.”
“Then let us go together.”
Her Imperial language was fluent. More polished than most local Imperials.
“As you know, there was that terrible bombing in Western Prozen recently. It is a little scary to ride alone.”
Her posture and way of speaking were those of a true noble. Etiquette, gestures, stride, expression, everything was perfectly refined.
“Yes. Let us go.”
Yelena got into the back seat. I sat beside her at a proper distance. The Adversaries would follow in separately prepared cars.
She said, “Originally I wanted to visit that new factory, Aternum, but they refused, saying it is a top national secret.”
“Yes. Unfortunate. If you are not a pure Aran citizen of the Empire, entry is impossible.”
I answered while looking out the window. Yelena looked outside too.
“I see. The Empire is decisive in things like this. We should not fight each other, we should learn from each other.”
“You are absolutely right.”
Neither of us meant those words, but with our positions, it could not be helped.
Every sentence was diplomacy.
“Then is your reason for visiting the Empire simple tourism?”
“Haha. Yes, that is right.”
She turned to me and smiled with her eyes.
“I ended up with no special purpose. I only came to enjoy the Empire’s fine culture.”
“I see.”
After that, we said little.
The car soon entered the center of the imperial capital. The roads had already been controlled for us.
“First, a meal has been prepared.”
Top-class restaurant, 「Lilac Vita」.
We stopped in front of it. As we got out together, I introduced the building in front of us.
“The finest restaurant the Empire is proud of.”
“I know. Lilac Vita. So this is the place. Its name is already famous even in the East.”
We entered quietly through the back door of 「Lilac Vita」.
A crystal-cave-like private room reserved for this meeting. A broad table in a sparkling space, and only two chairs.
“Meals for your escorts are prepared in another room.”
The Adversaries hesitated for a moment, but Yelena gestured that it was fine.
“By your command.”
Their response was quite unusual.
Once only the two of us sat down, course dishes were served one by one.
From the amuse-bouche, her eyes widened after the first bite.
“The Empire really has so many delicious things!”
Then she lifted her wine glass elegantly. I raised mine too, clink.
We toasted.
After one sip, she suddenly said:
“I heard Knight Maximilian advocated the 「Imperial Civil Law」.”
...At some point, I had become that person. If the Empire lost, I would probably be a war criminal among war criminals.
Compared to before the regression, the situation was much better, and I even created breathing space inside this law, but my name had become too famous.
“So I expected someone much fiercer-looking, but you are not like that at all.”
More dishes arrived as she spoke.
I picked up my knife without replying.
“You do not look like someone who would discriminate by race that harshly, Sir Knight.”
I cut and ate a bite of truffle-wrapped meat, then looked at Yelena again.
She watched my mouth with interest, so I gave the fitting answer.
“It cannot be helped. This is not discrimination, but difference.”
“Hmm. Difference. I heard the Empire uses a category called subspecies.”
“The East is likely the same.”
East, West, all of them held hatred toward them inside.
They just did not reveal and enact it openly like the Empire did.
Yelena did not deny even that.
“Among subspecies, Izenheim especially are parasites you can never trust. Lobrus should be careful too. If Izenheim enters key posts, society can collapse.”
“...Hmm.”
She set down her fork for a moment.
“Izenheim... the General Secretary has had a headache lately because of that too. Some schemers spread rumors that the General Secretary is Izenheim.”
She shared an internal eastern matter with me on purpose.
Was she testing me?
Most likely.
I hid my expression and answered.
“I hope that is not true.”
But at the same time-
Click.
A sound rang in my head as if one puzzle piece had locked into place.
What if Lobrus’s General Secretary and Eastern Alliance supreme leader, Varmil Makstun, really was Izenheim?
In the history before regression, now not far away, the Great Purge.
Why did the Eastern Alliance’s supreme leader behead so many generals and powerful families so recklessly and collapse his own command structure?
Why carry out a bloody purge while grinding down his nation’s strength?
All history books before regression dismissed it as dictatorship logic, saying it was only to gain power against the Empire, but what if...
What if the fact that the supreme leader was Izenheim had begun to leak, and only a Great Purge could contain it?
“Do not worry. It is probably false. But even if it is true, not much changes.”
Yelena said that with a smile.
I gave a similar smile.
“No. If it is true, a great many things change.”
In a Sled tribe-centered state, the fact that their highest ruler is Izenheim was a fatal disqualification that could overturn the system.
Yelena’s expression stiffened slightly.
“...Do not cross the line, Sir Knight. This too is diplomacy.”
“Then let it remain as unofficial history.”
I did not push deeper either.
“Hmm, yes. Let us do that.”
Yelena smiled with ease again and returned to her meal.
I watched her quietly.
“Oh?”
She ate a bite of steak she had cut. Then suddenly her face melted into that of an innocent girl.
“Wow! This is delicious!”
Her eyes sparkled in genuine admiration. I smiled faintly.
“Yes. Please enjoy.”
She liked fine food. Her dignity was perfect, her composure never broke. She did not try to make enemies, and her convictions seemed very solid and deep.
“Lilac Vita’s reputation was no exaggeration!”
Still, the lifespan of the woman smiling in front of me was not long.
House Yumanov would soon be annihilated by the General Secretary.
Direct line and collateral line alike, every single one would be purged.
“Of course.”
The rebuilt 「Royal Opera House」.
I should take her there.
“Yes. I look forward to it.”
Slide. Slide.
She focused on her food again. I moved my knife and sank into thought.
The Great Purge was a major event that weakened the East’s strength. In other words, it benefited the Empire. So there was no reason to stop it, and in the first place, I could not stop it with my power alone.
Even if I told the woman in front of me right now, “You will be purged by the General Secretary,” she would not believe me, and diplomacy would collapse on the spot.
“Delicious. Why did Lobrus never develop cuisine like this...”
The Great Purge changed the Eastern Alliance forever. Their military power shook, but because opposition forces against the General Secretary disappeared, the alliance actually unified more tightly and resisted the Empire.
So there might be value in saving at least one person who could strike directly at the General Secretary’s legitimacy.
At least that much might be within my power.
* * *
Late at night in the imperial capital.
Back in her hotel suite, Yelena thought about that man she met today.
-Tss. Tsssss.
In the drifting cigarette smoke, the face of a man named Maximilian rose before her.
He was handsome. At the same time, he was a thoroughgoing racist. His usual demeanor was soft, but when discussing subspecies he became endlessly cold.
He was the one who categorized the entire eastern Sled tribe as heterogeneous bloodline, an extremely dangerous man no member of the Sled tribe should ever dare associate with.
In his heart, Yelena herself was probably nothing more than a disposal target.
“...It really has changed.”
Leaning on the balcony, she looked down outside. As much as Maximilian, she was bothered by the Empire’s current condition. Compared to the imperial trends eastern secret police gathered in the past, today’s Empire was truly transformed beyond recognition.
First, the eyes and footsteps of the citizens on the streets were different.
Blind loyalty and an unknown vigor wrapped the whole city.
“Izenheim...”
The word for that race, which Maximilian had dropped during the meal, lingered at her lips.
Rumors that the Eastern Alliance’s current leader Varmil was Izenheim, or Mer, were slowly leaking out from the deepest levels of the eastern high command.
But for Yelena, it did not matter if the leader was Mer or not. He was clearly a leader with the capacity to stand against the Empire-
Knock knock.
A sudden knock. Yelena tilted her head. She had reserved this entire floor.
She stubbed out the cigarette and walked over, then opened the door.
“...Eh? Knight Maximilian?”
Maximilian stood there. Bright yellow eyes, bright yellow hair.
“Yes. Maximilian.”
He gave a wry smile and glanced aside.
“I planned to send someone to deliver this, but I thought you might suspect it.”
Around him, the Adversaries stood with sharp eyes. Yelena nodded.
“Ah, I see. What is it?”
“Nothing much. A gift I failed to deliver earlier.”
Maximilian handed over a small box.
A gift? Blinking, Yelena took it, then suddenly turned playful.
“Uwah-!”
She opened the lid toward Maximilian.
“...?”
Maximilian tilted his head. Yelena laughed.
“...What are you doing?”
“It could have been a bomb. Just a joke.”
“...I see. Then I will leave.”
Maximilian answered dryly and turned away. Yelena scratched the side of her head awkwardly, went inside, and checked the box.
A rough sheet of parchment and a small paper note sat inside.
She picked up the note first.
────────
I very much enjoyed meeting you today.
This parchment is a very special item that allows us to exchange written messages regardless of distance.
Our situations seem rather similar, so I offer it in case it helps someday.
────────
What is this?
She stared at it for a while, picked up the fountain pen on the table, and scribbled playfully in the margin of the parchment.
[Can you read my handwriting like this?]
Within seconds, blue text appeared.
[Of course. Also, this parchment has communication range broad enough to cross the continent, and it emits no mana waves, so there is no risk of leakage. However, it is a single-use consumable and fundamentally cannot be reused. The production cost is also extremely expensive.]
In other words, do not waste it on useless sentences.
“You wrote a much longer one yourself.”
Yelena rested her chin on her hand and stared at the parchment.
As a real power in the Eastern Alliance, she had no reason to keep an intimate backchannel with an imperial knight, but his words, “Our situations are similar,” did resonate with her.
“It is not polite to reject someone’s goodwill.”
More than that, Yelena was curious about what was in Maximilian’s heart. An imperialist obsessed with the false elite consciousness called Aran.
Why did a man who clearly despised me, a member of the Sled tribe, hand me this parchment?
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